The following was emailed to me today by a lady at my local electric cooperative who had it posted near her desk. I asked her to pass it on to me because I found it interesting. I hope you like it as well. It's a great example of how something goes viral.

I believe . . . That just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I believe . . . That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I believe . . . That no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I believe . . . That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I believe . . . That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I believe . . . That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I believe . . . That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I believe . . . That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I believe . . . That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe . . . That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I believe . . . That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe . . . That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I believe . . . That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe . . . That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe . . . That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe . . . That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I believe . . . That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe . . . That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe . . . That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life Forever.

I believe . . . Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe . . . That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I believe . . . That even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I believe . . . That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe . . . That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

While reading the July/August issue of ForeWord magazine, I discovered an incredible number of great book covers. You can review these covers to help you design your own great covers.



I love the cover of this romantic thriller.



I also love the design of Mara Purl's Milford-Haven mysteries, like the one above.



Here are two poetry books with great covers.



Kunati does some great book covers that must really appeal to the people who like to read their sort of novels. I find these covers very attention getting.

Check out the book cover designers featured at http://www.bookmarket.com/101des.htm.

Create some online pizazz! Learn how to create more Internet traffic for your website, service, book, product, cause, or idea!

You came to this website because we made an impression. That's what ten million eyeballs are all about.

What are eyeballs? They are impressions. And what are impressions? They are the beginning of sales. They are, first, the way to get the attention of the people who you want to reach. Get their attention, and then you have a chance to make the sale or to convince them to take whatever other action you would like them to take.

The next Ten Million Eyeballs Event will be held in Houston, Texas on Saturday and Sunday, September 20 to 21, 2008.



Dates: September 20 to 21, 2008, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day

Location: Holiday Inn Select near Greenway Plaza, 2712 Southwest Freeway, Houston, Texas 77098; 713-523-8448. Web: http://www.houston-greenwayplaza.hiselect.com. Tell them you are with the Ten Million Eyeballs Event from Open Horizons to get a special room rate.

For more information, go to http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com

If you missed Steve Harrison's teleseminar from last week on selling books by the truckload, watch the following video that explains more about how to sell 10,000 ... 30,000 ... 200,000 books at a time: http://www.MillionDollarAuthorClub.com/videotruckload/?10005.

I just added a great little page to my website that offers book promotion advice. Check it out at http://www.bookmarket.com/bookpromotion.htm.

Good-bye to U.S. News and World Report. With their new design and change to a twice-monthly schedule, they are clearly focusing on building their online presence rather than their print publication.

Their website already gets 5 million visitors a month, three times the print magazine's readers.

Alas, with the new biweekly publication schedule (they call it double issues: two issues in one), they will simply be providing their subscribers with fewer issues probably for the same price as their current weekly issues. Alas. They won't get my resubscription with that ruse.

Stephanie Galindo, one of the readers of my Book Marketing Tip of the Week newsletter, has asked me to do a book cover test for her new book, Finding Your Own Home: The Cat Lovers First-Time Home Buying Guide. The question is: Which one of the following book covers would you pick up first?

A   B   C

Send your choice to Stephanie via email: mjollee@hotmail.com. Tell her your choice: A, B, or C.

I won't do this for everyone, but I do like to encourage you to test your book covers -- but for most of you I would suggest testing your book covers on a high-traffic website that targets the audience for your book.

When you do the test, you can ask a question like I did above: Which on of the book covers would you pick up first?

Don't ask which cover they like, because that question doesn't tell you which book would they actually buy. You want them to think of taking an action (picking up a book, buying a book, or something similar).

Here are a few excerpts from Jochem Klijn's The Law of Networking. As you know, I highly recommend making friends as a key way to market your books. To make friends, you need to learn how to network. Check out these excerpts:

Excerpt from page 4:

If you want to make a difference in how you network, try showing genuine interest in other people and listen attentively to what they have to say. If your focus is on them and not on yourself, people will notice and appreciate your character. Mark my words, people will not only notice how you present yourself, they’ll begin to gravitate to you because they want to be around someone like you -- a person they can trust and whom they can take seriously.

Excerpt from page 51:

It has been my experience with networking that there are two types of entrepreneurs. First, there are those who consider it important to meet people and try to establish business contacts. Then there are those who don’t see the necessity of it. The former are generally ahead of the game when it comes to getting positive results from their efforts. Conversely, the latter often see no results because they put little or no effort into cultivating a network.

Excerpt from page 68:

I heard a story once about a well-known soccer player on his first visit to Barcelona, who took a taxi to the soccer stadium and on the way, tried to give the driver directions on the best way to get there. It’s a rather silly little anecdote but it’s also a splendid example of pride.

Pride always has to know better and loves to show everyone. So don’t be this way. Even if you are smarter than everyone else, be modest about it because eventually others will figure it out anyway.

Excerpt from page 98:

Get to work with these steps and the rest will take care of itself!

1. Sincerely believe that networking is essential for doing business; it is a fundamental ingredient for gaining success. If you don’t see results as quickly as you would like, ask yourself what could be the reason. Be conscious of the fact that you might be wrong. If you think networking hardly works, if at all, realize that this idea has a cause. Probably you haven’t seen very many results or it doesn’t mean much to you yet.

2. You must truly believe in the principle of sowing and reaping and be convinced that with the right attitude, you will gain by it as well.

3. Take action. Decide to start networking. Make the decision to begin and trust that it’s the right one. Make a plan and get to work. Don’t just decide to change things, go do it!

For more information, go to http://www.thelawofnetworking.com.

Question: What does every website need? Answer: Traffic, search engine ranking, and sales!

Do you want to drive more qualified traffic to your website--visitors to buy your products & services? Then check out http://www.videotrafficguys.com for their 30-day trial offer.



I imagine you do want more leads, but don't want to work dozens of hours every week uploading videos and articles to social networking sites, writing blog copy, doing podcasts, exchanging links, and all the other stuff that may or may not work.

If you want something that sparks interest, note that more than 52% of Internet content today is video. Videos are many times more powerful than articles and now you don't even need a camera to make them!

So save yourself the time, headache and labor and use the most efficient and effective tool for video distribution on the web -- Traffic Geyser: http://www.videotrafficguys.com.

Here's what Traffic Geyser can do for you:

==> Help score top organic search rankings, fast, fast, fast.

==> Make down-and-dirty videos in minutes without a camera, using an exclusive Slideshow Creator.

==> Save hours, even days of time uploading and submitting promo messages. Their proprietary technology distributes to 70 locations automatically and in minutes!

==> Spin one message into more than 70 videos, social bookmarks, blog posts, directory entries, and podcast episodes with the click of a button -- all linking back to your web pages.

==> Create podcast channels and episodes in minutes and get them listed in the top podcast directories...driving even more qualified prospects to your sites.

==> Build list-building video lead pages for you automatically!

I know the owners of this company. They've agreed to give you a 30-day risk-free trial of the system so you can see how well it works. Even if you don't have a video, this trial will show you how to create one so you can test this for yourself asap. Their instructional videos are all you need to get started creating and marketing videos.

Again, check out: http://www.videotrafficguys.com for their 30-day trial offer.

Please note that I have had to cancel this event due to personal difficulties with the very irrational landlord and next door tenant to the home we are currently renting. I need to remain here in Taos to protect my wife from their actions. My apologies for this inconvenience.

As soon as I can I will be presenting this Event as a webinar series. I'll let you know when that becomes available.



John Kremer's Ten Million Eyeballs Event: COLORADO

August 9 to 10, 2008, 9 to 5 each day, in Boulder, Colorado

If you want to sell more books or other products via the Internet, you have to get to one of these Ten Million Eyeballs Events. During these events you will learn four simply yet effective ways to reach ten million people via the Internet to let them know about you, your books, your website, and your services.

Millenium Harvest House Boulder, 1345 28th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302; 303-443-3850; 800-545-6285. The Denver International Airport is about 45 minutes away via shuttle (Super Shuttle: 303-227-0000 with hourly departures from DIA to Boulder from 7:10am to 11.10pm.) or car rental. Mountain scenic drives are minutes away.

Event details at http://www.tenmillioneyeballs.com.

Each month, I host several free teleseminars to allow people to ask me questions on book marketing and book publishing. These teleseminars replace the free consulting I've done in the past answering questions over the phone or via email. Use these times to ask any book marketing questions you have -- at no charge to you.

You can still listen to the call from July 8th. Just click here: http://www.InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3004059.

Unlike other months, I'll be doing another free Q&A call-in on Thursday, July 17th, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. Log-in to listen via the web at: http://www.InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=3492057.

Phone number to dial for both calls: 218-486-3696
Use this conference ID for both calls: 2092800#

If you would like to have a paid private consultation with me, check out the details on my consulting services at http://www.bookmarket.com/consulting.htm.

Below is an interesting advertising technique featured in the Levine Breaking News e-newsletter today:



I'm just curious how many potential clients/dates/customers would be bold enough to attempt to tear her number off her skirt. I'd be willing to try. I willing to make any sacrifice in researching markets and new advertising techniques.

Congrats to Encounter Books for deciding to no longer send review copies to the New York Times since the Times neglects their conservative-themed books anyway. Check out the publisher's explanation on their Encounter Intelligence blog at:
http://www.encounterbooks.com/books/encounter-bids-the-new-york-york-times-farewell.

Looking for another use for books besides reading them. On their website, the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel offered a number of ways to display and decorate with books. As they noted, flea markets and garage sales are repositories of old books and encyclopedia sets that can be used to decorate.



Books as wallpaper -- Invest in a large number of leather-bound books in the same shade to create a wall of color. Note: Movie set decorators do this all the time. They often rent books from used bookstores like Strand in New York City.



A spot of color -- Have a monotone room? Pick out a few books in a striking color to add dimension. Several retail stores like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters sell books but also use them to highlight color schemes for the clothing they sell (and to set a certain ambiance).



Books as furniture -- Use a book or a stack of books to create end tables, coffee tables, and pedestals. When I began self-publishing 25 years ago, I used cases of books to support a bed. Also see the book bar in the photo above.

Leni Leth, owner of Book Decor, a California company that specializes in refurbishing and selling leather-bound books, suggests forgetting the shelves, and instead using books as risers for candles and lamps, on coffee tables, and even in bathrooms.



Augment with books -- Try hanging books over the rungs of a ladder or lining the edges of a room with books.



Books as art -- When books were more rare, they were displayed face out. Take some favorite books and display them on bookstands. Many people use coffee-table books as decorative items on -- of all things -- coffee tables (actually, that's why full-color beautiful books are often called coffee-table books.

Note: The Associated Press (http://www.indystar.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/LIVING02/806140307/1007/ LIVING) also has a great article on using books as decor.

Finally, here's a great bookshelf blog (all about bookshelves!): http://theblogonthebookshelf.blogspot.com.

Want to know about how to sell books and other products with a soft sell approach rather than a crass hard-sell approach? Then check out the Soft Topic/Soft Sell Copywriting Secrets teleconference on Thursday, June 18th at 5:30 p.m. Pacific, 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The cost is only $10.00.

To sign up, go here: http://www.judithandjim.com.

The following is taken from The Copywriting Maven blog by Roberta Rosenberg. I found some misleading statements in her summary of the article. As she notes in the comment below, those misleading statments came from the writer of the article and not from her. Nonetheless, they must be corrected. My response is highlighted in dark blue.

In the April issue of Steve Harrison’s Book Marketing Update, there’s an article based on author John Kremer’s (1001 Ways to Market Your Book) thoughts on book titling. With so many of us involved in self-publishing POD and ebooks, I thought I’d synopsize the recommendations.

1. Make your title memorable, since 80% of books are sold by word-of-mouth.

This really is the top consideration when creating a title for any book. I agree with this statement.

2. Short titles are best, most successful titles are around 5 words. Add a subtitle to expand and/or illuminate the information about your book.

While a short title, in most cases is best, I've seen many successful long titles. So the true rule here is this: The title should be the right length to describe what's in the book and yet provide the reader with the right motivation to buy the book.

3. Numbers in titles can be very effective for non-fiction, just as they are when writing headline copy.

Numbers can be effective, but 95% of titles, including the most successful, do not include numbers. Of course, my book does.

4. Include keywords for non-fiction titles. You want to put the main search terms for your subject in your title or subtitle, but don’t use terms that are too generic.

A good title is more important than stuffing keywords, unless you are selling your book primarily online. Then keywords can be important.

5. Try inventing or coining a word for your title, but strive for conceptual clarity rather than showing off how clever you are. (I coined ‘macromize” for a promotion I did for a book about um, Wordstar macros years ago. I still like it. :)

Coining words for a title is an absolute no-no, unless the coined word is a brand or can be made into a brand. Even then, coining words is generally, almost always, not a good idea.

6. Try to think brandable - the Chicken Soup, Idiots and Dummies series represent genius-level book branding at its finest.

When critiquing titles, I always work to see if the title can be made into a brand. 99% of titles cannot be made into brands, but the few that can be are often very successful.

7. Don’t try to do too much with your title. Think brand, then add the specific audience you’re going after.

Don't try to do too much with your title. The purpose of a title, firstmost, is simple: Attract attention. Get the attention of the people who really need or would want the book.

Here are two more photographs of John Kremer during BookExpo America.



In the above photo, John Kremer is surrounded by two beautiful women, the way he would like to be all the time.



Above is a photo of John during his talk for the Small Press Center / Foreword Magazine small press theater. And below is another photo taken during that same talk.

Have you seen the latest issue of the Journal?
It's all John Kremer this, John Kremer that,
and nothing about us.
On Thursday, PR Leads is hosting a teleseminar with cartoonist Stu Heinecke, who is credited with inventing the personalize cartoon genre of direct mail. This should be a great teleseminar to listen in on. The teleseminar will be held on Thursday, June 12, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. To sign up for this free one-hour teleseminar, go to http://www.prleads.com/postcards.

Below is a great service offered by PR Leads. Check this out as well:

PR Leads Expert Resource Network — This PR Leads service provides you with the names and contact info of reporters and editors who are looking for experts and other people to interview for stories, news, etc. You can do a one-month trial for only $99, or a year for $995. I know people who have gotten into major newspapers and magazines using the hot leads this service provides. It's a lot less expensive than hiring a PR service or publicist and probably as effective.

Here's the scenario: you have a project and a deadline. Then wham! You find out your live-in lover of two years is seeing someone else. The wedding bells are now ringing like a death knoll. And your project? It gets dumped just like you did.

Is that fair? Maybe not. But it happens. People come and go in our lives, for a myriad of reasons. Yet as writers, we have to continue on our creative journey. And more importantly, the deadline is nearing. The emotional distraction didn't give a flip about you but your writing does.

But how do you get over the drama and still keep pressing on when your mind is being torn apart like a game of tug of war?

Here are four quick and fool-proof ways to work through any emotional distraction when writing is your mission but life has other ideas:

1) Write about your feelings thoughts and emotions in the 3rd person. Like you're talking about another couple. Many revealing discoveries may surface.

2) Write a journal entry, but from your best friend's or family's point of view.

3) Write from your pet's point of view. If it's a cat or a dog (I have two cats), you've got a veritable gold mine, but don't discount your goldfish's observations, either.

4) Then go back and finish that project.

My mother once told me (and of course, this is a no-no cliché, but I still like it), that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. We don't always get to choose which. But we can choose what we do with the experience.

The answer is as transparent as Gladwrap: we write about it. I always say experience and the changes in our lives, if nothing else, make for good fiction.

Nancy Padron is a freelance editor, writing & life coach. Her work has been published in numerous national magazines. She is one of the most sought-after freelance editors in the nation. For more information on how to break through writing blocks and finishing that project, contact NancyMPadron@yahoo.com The first 50 authors to respond will receive a free workshop lesson. A $50 value.

Internet marketing expert Kathleen Gage, indie music marketing expert Bob Baker, and book marketing expert John Kremer caught at the Midpoint party during BookExpo America in Los Angeles, California.