Mini Version

My publisher is taking my manuscript to the Frankfurt Book Fair to try and sell the rights overseas, which is very exciting. They wanted a photo of me for the catalogue they are publishing, and of course I only had a range of incredibly daggy snapshots taken for Facebook or while I was on holiday. I sent them through a selection of the least embarrassing, and will alow them to choose. Must get some professional headshots taken soon.
Another thing that I have had to put together is a "miniature" version of my book, a brief thousand words explaining to potential interviewers what the book is about and why I am so interesting. This was a difficult process, causing me to go back over the book, select a few highlights and shrink them down to a sentence each.
And oh, the errors I found in the manuscript! Enough to make a man weep. Hopefully the copy editor will notice them all. Just in case I am marking them all in red so that when I get the final edited version back I can double check. The agony of the simple, foolish error!

Guerilla Networking

I'm kind of determined to make my book a bestseller, and am willing to pursue any avenue to make it so.
To that end I ordered a whole heap of self-promotion books from Amazon, and for the past couple of days I have been immersed in Guerilla Networking by Jay Conrad Levinson and Monroe Mann.
What a terrific book!
It's central premise is that the only real way to network correctly is to make yourself so fascinating and attractive that people will want to come to you. What a brilliant angle! Of course, they are absolutely right. A lot of the time you spend aimlessly schmoozing could better be spent actively working toward something really big that will make you a somebody, and therefore nullify the need to network. Just make 'em come to you.
More than a book on social networking, it is really a piece of inspirational literature, encouraging you to dream big and aim high. A piece of advice that particularly hit home was this:

Right now, you are certainly not doing nearly as many noteworthy things as you should be doing...and you know this. Right now, there are a number of things you know you could be doing to stand out from the crowd; to make a mark for yourself...that you are not currently doing. Our advice is simple: do these things! Do the things that are going to set you apart from your competition. Do the things that are going to make you noteworthy.

Ouch! I had more than a twinge of recognition when I read this.
Some more of their tips include: Help someone else become successful; Always smile and Get Media Exposure.
What I like about the book is the outrageousness of its advice - become an expert, write a book, get on Oprah. None of your usual milquetoast recommendations here.
So I thoroughly recommend this one to authors interested in making it big. A little bit of daring, dreaming and tough love to move you up!