Gary Kliewer's Blog (14)

More important than ivy-league academics or descriptions of your decades of experience, the endorsements you have received and testimonials you have earned convince and sell your readers that you are the top-of-the-line master. Face it, people want to base their decisions on the judgments of someone else they consider an expert. It is true whether they are voting for a candidate or buying a novel. Naturally, it is especially, critically true when they are selecting a how-to book or a text on…

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Do I have to? You’ve written and perhaps published your book. You’ve discovered how much time it takes to make even a traditional sales kit look professional. You fought for some local publicity. Now you are asking, do I really have to get into the social media thing, too? I am supposed to tell you “yes.” But the honest answer is “maybe.”

To find out if you should commit your precious time to building your social media presence—or if it is more likely to be a…

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Every book we are working on now has multimedia elements.

Among the textbooks for which we manage production, a large percentage of academic references are website links; that’s where the current, peer-reviewed, accurate sources live now. Most reference works and textbooks have supplemental websites where students go for the in-depth research, study questions, and video. After all, for today’s students, bound books are inefficient and old fashioned.

No longer do the visual…

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Whether working with a major house or self publishing, an author today must maintain a website. Having a professional online presence is as standard as having a sales sheet and a business card. But the old (that is, more than two years ago) expectation that a website can be just a glorified billboard is obsolete thinking. What can or should an author-and-book website do for an author now?

First, the site does serve as a sales tool, but only if it is a dynamic tool where reviews and…

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Even if you are not personally ready for base jumping, you may enjoy watching extreme sports. Now we have extreme publishing: James Joyce has been quoted inside the DNA of a bacterium!

Researchers from the J. Craig Venter Institute stitched together the entire genome of the bacterium Mycoplasma mycoides. We have been adding and subtracting bits of DNA for decades, but this engineering feat is a milestone. This time, the scientists started from the raw recipe, the…

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You are convinced authoring a book would be great tool for your business and boost your career. You have built up the expertise and perhaps some articles or a history of blog posts to draw from. But you are also overwhelmed by the prospect of putting a book’s worth of content together. Right?



Well, if you just want another fluffy pep talk, you’re reading the wrong article. Because I will tell you that if you do NOT feel intimidated by it, then step back for a reality check. There are… Continue

I have never smiled through an entire film, reveling in the eye-candy, the characters, the convincing fantasy world, the 3D effect, total invisibility of any line between live action and CGI, the implications of it on future cinema, and the sheer pleasure of the wow-factor. Yes, Avatar blew my socks off. And I’m a sci-fi junkie.



One of the most endearing features of this fantasy world to me is the meticulous detail built into the natural world, in most ways scientifically plausible… Continue

By Gary Kliewer, on December 18th, 2009



Authors—especially those writing in support of a cause or as part of a business—recognize that publishing a blog keeps the interest high and grows the audience. Fortunately, if you’ve written an entire book, you already have a ton of material to draw upon for those blog posts, just by adding new examples, catching a news peg, or exploring new angles. Yet, no way around it, maintaining a blog is a significant amount of work and a long-haul… Continue

By Gary Kliewer, on December 4th, 2009



You must tell your story. For that cause to which you have made a commitment, your perspective is unique; if you do not share it, the world will not have it. You alone employ the life experiences that guide your skills, making your contribution literally priceless to the rest of us.



Your voice is also yours alone. You can and should emulate heroes, learn from masters, and borrow insights to carry them forward into applications. But no… Continue

At a recent gathering of social entrepreneurs, marketing icon Mark Victor Hansen asked how many in the audience were writing or planning to write a book. Every hand in the room went up. These folks are working for peace in the Middle East, replanting Amazon rainforests, and helping the homeless in the Southwest. They sustain these efforts through business ventures. So the books they are writing will champion their social and environmental causes with passion and compelling detail, of course—but… Continue

Are you combining the passion of a social mission with your innovative but practical business solutions? If so, then you face the ongoing challenge of describing and explaining your vision and strategies. The most versatile and virile/viral medium to tell your story may be in a book.



Don’t scoff and tune out yet! The definition of “book” has radically changed in just the last few years, and its dizzying evolution presents opportunities for the nimble business leader. We may be… Continue

You’ve caught the fever to write a book. Great! Or at least you have set yourself the goal and you have a vision—clear or a bit fuzzy—of what your book could be. Your business or personal audience keeps suggesting that you put your message into a book, as if you hadn’t thought of that. All the consultants say you should write a book to establish yourself. You’ve had people close to you encourage you in the effort. You have done your brainstorming and scribbling and the “High Concept” has taken… Continue

I just posted a collection of reviews about the Vook, one of many contenders for the ebook/Kindle turf. Makes for a good fantasy for authors - imagine your work in this format! Some Looks at Vooks

How are you using a database in support of your professional writing? Here are eighteen database ideas you might create for yourself to be more efficient, organized, and productive. Confluence Book Services

Confidentially, I like the last two best:

17. Organize notes and backstory bios of your fictional characters and locations.

18. Run your brainstorms into a database: make it a place to save the half-baked… Continue