Hey Guys! How are you holding up with all the chaos in our world? I’m sorry I missed my podcast last week, but I was on the road traveling. I told you I bought what I am fondly referring to as the “super bus”? Well, the pups and I packed her up and took a drive to visit mom and dad in Michigan. I know it’s crazy to think I haven’t gone south in the winter, but with all the chaos in the world it was just time to go home for nurturing. Sometimes life gets wild and returning to familiar gives you a bit of grounding and comfort. So, here we are being mobile in the super bus! We have a home and an office on wheels! There is something quite freeing about this. With all the chaos we can pick up and go wherever we need. We aren’t bound anywhere. And we left Utah just in time for the arrival of snow! In fact, up on our arrival here in Michigan we had mid 70’d and sun. It was awesome to have a few nice days to get acclimated.

Anyhow, I hope you are doing well and have made peace with whatev...

No! No! No! No! No! You do not need permission to write a book!

You Guys want to know my most popular podcast episode? It’s the “Done Is Better Than Perfect” Episode!

Why Guys? Why? Seriously…why?

Before we get going to far along here, let me introduce myself… I’m Nicole Gabriel, the founder of the Let’s Get Your Book Published Program and former reluctant author of my first book that was ten years in the making…ten years you guys! And once I gave birth to that baby I gave birth to three more. I gave myself permission. And you know, I actually waited not just ten years to birth my book but during the editing process I was waiting for someone to tell me I had done a good job or to tell me “you can’t write that!” Or “fix that because it’s not perfect and someone will judge you!” And let me tell you that my first book was completely judge-worthy! I spilled the beans in that baby! I put myself in a very vulnerable spot! I talked about my spiritual awakening, my love losses, my unawarene...

Nicole (00:17):

For 25 years, Daniel ed has supported the public sector, healthcare nonprofit, K through 12 and higher ed organizations. As a management consultant. He holds a master's in business administration and international business from the Alberta school of business and economics at Seattle university. He holds certifications and strategic planning and group facilitation. Dan has a Kaplan Norton balanced scorecard graduate and certified lead practitioner. He has also held the project manager professional certificate and is an experienced pilot trades examiner through the Alliance program, leveraging the genetics of leadership cracking the code of sustainable team performance is Dan second book. His first was transformation management published by Spiro press in 2003. Dan lives in Bellville, Washington, not far from the world headquarters of Microsoft T-Mobile Expedia and Amazon, his wife, Hey, is the pediatric physical therapist for the local school district. Dan serves o...

The Future of My Book—Where Do We Go From Here?

Hey Guys! Welcome back to the final and 5th part in the 5 part series on working with a designer. We are going to talk about what we do once we have a book in hand…how to make changes in the next print runs, how to sell and market your book, and how to get started working with me on the design and layout of your book. So, let’s get started…

How do I make changes to the book’s content in the future?

• Many authors seem to get confused about future reprints. When there is no more Word doc and the book is already printed it is best to contact the designer or editor directly. You will work with the Editor and Designer just like you did when you were making your final changes.
• Many authors start to look into cutting costs after their initial print. They start to look into print on demand, soft cover books, and also look into distribution savings and inventory control.

As you will hear in some of my earlier podcasts, all of this sh...

Your Manuscript Layout is Complete - Now What?

Hey Guys Nicole Gabriel here! I hope you’ve listened in on the previous 3 parts to this 5-part podcast series on working with a designer. We are moving into part 4 to talk about what to do next once your manuscript is complete—working with the professional printer, editor, and the costs associated.

You are ready to print your book

• You should have already had some dialog with the printer, but until you are aware of the final page count there really isn’t much they can do prior.
• A general word or character count will give them some idea on the page count for quoting you a rough estimate of cost. But, you might need to discuss the size of your book prior to instructing the layout person.
• You’ll just want to begin the relationship so they are not caught off guard when you call the printer and you’re ready to roll with your print job. Sometimes they do need to schedule you in, especially if they are busy printing holiday cards and c
...

Hey Guys! Nicole Gabriel here!

This is part 3 of a 5 part series on Working With A Designer. I may bore you with the details in this podcast, but we’re gonna plow through them because every author wants to know how this works when they get to this phase in the book production process.

There are a ton of elements that go into making a professional book cover. Obviously, the first is the artwork for the cover. But, understanding and collaborating on all the other elements are the things that divide the professional book cover designer from the amateur. The cover designer plays the role of project manager too, not by just gathering all the elements, but to understand all the working components and stay abreast of the latest technologies and trends. Let’s walk through a few of these vital elements that make up the book’s jacket…

ISBN, Library of Congress Control Number, Pricing Barcode, & Publishing Imprint
The ISBN number is the birth record of the book, but where does it come from? This...

The Book Cover Sets the Tone

This is part 2 in my 5-part series of working with a designer. In this podcast we are going to talk about how the book cover sets the tone.

• The book cover sets the look and feel of the entire marketing campaign—business cards, event banners, letterhead, etc.—for the life of the book (unless it gets revised in the next edition).
• If you know that you are going to write multiple books, you may want to carry a theme throughout.
• If you are writing your book to begin your platform, then the book cover might set the stage for your entire branding image, look, and feel for all the work you do going forward.
• A good designer will pay attention to the trends in the industry for all the components that make up the book cover. Be sure to tell your designer why you think something would be a good fit. He or she will also ask to get an understanding of your book project’s goals and objectives.
• A current trend that has been going on for some time: women are big
...

What Does A Professional Book Designer Do?

Hey Guys! Nicole Gabriel here!

Welcome to a 5-part series on working with a book designer. We are going to begin with discussing “what does a professional book designer do”.

First, let me start by saying that I’ve been doing book cover design for more than a decade now. I came from a pretty intensive branding background having worked for all the top ad agencies - McCann Erickson, J Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam, and in and around brand management for the first decade and a half of my career. I was in executive management in the auto industry in Detroit and sat in on some of the most fabulous branding strategy meetings in my day. I helped create the first websites for all our traditional brands over at McCann Erickson. A team of just 5 of us built the first Detroit Edison, Delphi Automotive, Buick, and GMC Truck websites ever in existence. I sat on the eGM team for GMAC and played roles in many branding strategy meetings for all the metr...

Here's the transcript for today's interview...

Nicole (00:08):

Okay today, we have a special author interview. I worked with Jason recently on his book project Selling With Authentic Persuasion: Transforming From Order-Taker to Quota Breaker. And I'm happy to have him here today to share with you what the book is all about. What inspired Jason to write such a book, to tell us about the process of writing it, what inspired him and how he plans to use his book going forward. And hopefully he'll give us some tidbits about how he goes about selling with authentic persuasion. So the one thing I love about doing these interviews is really getting to know my clients and of course, sharing them with you because I love them all. I am my client's biggest fan. So let me read you Jason's bio. So Jason cutter has a degree in Marine biology from the university of California, Santa Cruz, and an MBA from Southern New Hampshire university. His life has been focused on selling and helping others ...

We used to buy books at book stores but now the harsh reality for many is that Amazon has replaced the ability to browse, smell, feel, and otherwise admire books. The delightful physical ability to peruse books (and all those fun little kick-knacks) down the isles of your favorite bookstore…slowly disappearing.

Now instead of leaping off the shelf screaming “pick me up, buy me!” We have to either more or less know what we are looking for or be held at the mercy for whatever Amazon serves up. Of course, there are a few advantages as well…like global distribution and generally we can find books on our subject that we would have never seen in a bookstore due to it’s giant search engine. As well, there is Author Central, which allows us to follow all of our favorite authors. And, as a buyer, we love the prime shipping.

Hey Guys! Nicole Gabriel here! Today’s podcast is all about navigating Amazon. Let’s dive in…

It’s believed that Amazon uses algorithms for it’s search results and those ...