Category Archives: Integrity in Business

Being on Target

1 Comment

“All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis what they need to know.” ~Alexis Carrel

Hah! I knew I should listen to my intuition or the big guy in the sky who has been telling me to press on, not to listen to all the doubters, to carry-on with what feels right and just! I am talking about social media marketing!

One of the most high of all feels the same way I do! The Pope just advised his people that they need to spread the word by responding to “today’s cultural shifts” and if that means messing about with electronic technology and the virtual world, so be it! The Pope is an advocate for the use of electronic images, blogs, websites and videos to communicate with the masses of people throughout the world.

I concur! This is also what I have prescribed for opening up doorways of opportunity for all of our independent publishing clients! See that, sometimes it really pays to listen to your intuition or whatever elevated “being” you listen to!

Are you paying attention?

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Weekend Indie Publishing News

Leave a comment

Have all of you spent time with Frank lately? I have an appointment with him at 9:30 am MT, and you can listen in, too! Frank Gromling’s radio show “Cover to Cover” for authors and publishers will be well worth listening to. It is every Saturday morning at 11:30 am Eastern Standard Time, 10:30 am Central Time, 9:30 am Mountain Time and 8:30 am Pacific Time.

It is a great way to stay on top of the ever changing trends in publishing, hear interviews with local and nationally known authors, tips for independent publishing and industry tips of the trade. Tune in to www.wnzf.com.  You’ll be glad you did!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

Prepping for An Event

Leave a comment

“The potential possibilities of any child are the most intriguing and stimulating in all creation.” ~ Unknown

The buzz has begun, excitement is in the air, things are  beginning to transition and I am getting ready!

A few hints won’t hurt a soul-

  • The location could be here or elsewhere
  • It will be worth the wait
  • The anticipation is more than I can stand
  • It will all come, in due time
  • You won’t  be left out

What is it you may ask? That is for me to know, and for you to find out! In the meantime, I am getting dressed. We all hate to be left waiting. Come on back, anytime!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Writers Revelations

Leave a comment

“The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses.” ~ Francis Bacon, Sr.

I didn’t know writers were a superstitious group! In truth, it never crossed my mind. Except for a few, all superstitious beliefs escape me. Every once in a while, I will search for the allusive four leaf clover and I walk around rather than under a ladder. But that is more out of concern for safety than thinking bad luck will befall upon me.

Yesterday, I was reading Poets and Writers Magazine www.pw.org and there is a page where writers recommend their secrets to success. Each had unique words of wisdom, but writer Jonathan Lethem suggested that his belief in superstition has helped him succeed along the way. To quote him “Have lucky things. It doesn’t matter what they are. I bought a green cardigan sweater for a quarter at a thrift store in Bennington, Vermont and wore it nearly every day through the writing of my first three novels, until it was in tatters.”

Jonathan has struck my curiosity! Are writers really, as a group, a superstitious lot? What would you add to a list of quirks, habits, superstitions and rituals that you practice when engaged in a publishing project? You can post them on this blogsite for all to see.

I’ll bet Poets and Writers Magazine has some words of wisdom they could add – they have been publishing the magazine for 40 years! I hope they remember to blow out all the candles on the cake! Happy Birthday, Poets and Writers Magazine.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Trim, Clip and Snip!

Leave a comment

“In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I can stand it no longer! I feel like I am sitting amid chaos. It is time for me to switch gears over the next few days. I must become an editor and clean up my act.

Being all surrounded by mail, papers, files, e-mails and other extraneous things leads to the feelings of exhaustion and confusion. I can no longer think succinctly. This is not typical of the way I operate, clearly something must be done.

Organization experts say 80% of your desk should be empty. I have  a long way to go! Ridding myself of what is no longer needed will clarify and simplify my life once again. After all, the tax man will be coming to call pretty soon. I need to organize records that have accummulated all year long and be ready.

Now, where do I start? I think I will start with my hair. A new style! It will be like my desk – even if I don’t like the clean new look, it is bound to grow back .  But, at least for now, I will be able to see clearly once again.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Beyond Ourselves

Leave a comment

“Compassion is the basis of all morality” ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Yesterday, we had a very timely speaker at our Kiwanis International weekly meeting. Dr. Dawn Obrecht and her husband Erik Landvik were there to speak with our group about the disaster relief work they have done all over the world. They set up a medical clinic to assist the victims of the Indonesian tsunami, Dr. Obrecht doctored the injured after Hurricane Katrina and has in fact, volunteered her time to five other calamitious events resulting in great loss of life and widespread destruction.

As we watch all that has happened in Haiti over the past week, it gives me pause to think, what this world would be like if Doc Dawn and her husband Erik and thousands of other extraordinarily compassionate individuals did not exist in this world.

Dr. Dawn Obrecht has chronicled her experiences through the writing of her independently published book, Mission Impossible: A Missionary Doctor’s Journey of Healing. http://www.docdawn.com/book1.php.  The perils that she has been up against in her work as a missionary doctor will leave you with an increased understanding of the compassion, kindness and unique human qualities that exist in individuals that are so willing to put themselves, at their own expense, on the line for others.

Dr. Obrecht’s work is not done, she has gotten calls to help in Haiti, however, until there is more order and structure with the relief efforts, she has been advised to wait. Hopefully, Erik will be at her side as this extraordinarily gifted couple work together to fulfill the work that is so important in their lives and to the survival of others.

It has been an honor to begin to know Dr. Obrecht, who like me, was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland! We will  be working together with the Macedonian Mission for Humanity, to help raise funds through an international dinner,  to ship a container of much needed medical supplies to children’s hospitals in Macedonia.

What small thing can you do to help your community or another community of people who are in dire need of help?

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

What Am I Getting Myself Into?

Leave a comment

“The value of many men and books rests solely on their faculty for compelling all to speak out the most hidden and intimate things.” ~ Friedrich Nietzshe

How many times have you had a book in your hands ready to buy, but then put it back on the store shelf because you didn’t know if you would like it or not? I don’t know about you, but I have done that frequently! The text on the back or inside flap covers gives us a glimpse into what the book is all about but sometimes that is just not enough. With just a little more insight into the book, perhaps you would be pushed over the edge into buying!

Guess what? Like movie trailers, which tease us into seeing a film, many independent publishers are now offering book trailers for the books they are selling on-line. I like that idea! For me, one extra flash of information about the book helps me discern whether to buy or  not.

Have you as an independent publisher put a book trailer on your list of ways to market your book? It may be the very thing that will grab the attention of a potential buyer and turn interest into action! As consumers, whether we are purchasing clothes, shoes, a book or a film, we all  want to know whether it “fits” prior to purchasing.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Weekend Indie Publishing News

Leave a comment

One of the best on-line guides to what is happening in the publishing world that I know of is the Southern Review of Books!

http://www.anvilpub.net/southern_review_of_books.com

This on-line resource is choked full of breaking news on books, trade shows, book fairs, book festivals, seminars  for authors, publishers and micropresses. Check it out, and subscribe!

**************************************************************

Guess who is featured in the March 2010 American Artist Magazine?  Artist Nancy Guzik! The March issue will be hitting magazine stands on January 26 and I have heard from one artist, that his issue has already arrived via subscription! The article features Nancy Guzik’s portraits and still life paintings and she shares her personal artistic journey with readers.  Don’t miss this important issue!  www.interweave.com.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

Is This Just for Me?

4 Comments

“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.”~ Albert Einstein

Isn’t it funny how chance and timing lead to opportunity? We all have situations from time to  time that work out perfectly in our favor, in very unexpected ways.

This Saturday (tomorrow) is a perfect example of what I am referring to! My plans were to drive to Denver to drop my son and his college roommate off at the airport so they can  return back to school. My plans got even better when I received a telephone call this morning from a Colorado Independent Publisher Association member asking me if I would like to attend their Saturday meeting. www.cipabooks.com.

Perfect! I will be driving right by the site of the meeting just in time! Any opportunity to network with this group of publishing professionals is a great one! And to make it even more worthwhile, the speaker of the morning will be Brian Jud. The program will be The Buck Starts Here – How You Can Sell More Books in Special Markets!  He is also author of Beyond the Bookstore. Is this not just what I blogged about yesterday???

Turn down the chance to learn all I possibly can about this subject matter? No way!! Not when the timing is this perfect!!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Opportunities Lead to Choices

Leave a comment

“You just don’t luck into things as much as you’d like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it is friendships or opportunities.” ~ Barbara Bush

Over the past years, I have made a concerted effort to stop living in the “what if” frame of mind, at least from a negative point of view. I have decided we are all better off if we look at “what if” from a perspective of opportunity and possibility, instead.

Have you ever stopped to think how e-commerce (on-line, internet selling) has opened up a whole new world of possibilities?  Orders can be placed from all reaches of the globe. Such are the advantages of e-commerce.

Independent publishing lends itself quite naturally to  niche publishing and social media marketing provides great opportunities for reaching those niche markets. A war historian in the U.S. can publish a book on WWI or WWII and a history buff in Europe seeking out the lastest book to add to his collection, will order with little regard of where it is being shipped from.

You will need to figure out how to get the order to your customer, in far off reaches of the world, the most reliable and economical way possible. Global shipping means a conundrum of options with customs forms to match! Each country has it’s own regulations to deal with, too.

Don’t be caught unprepared! Knowing how to get the order across the globe so that it does not go astray, can be part of the battle, too. When contracting with an order fulfillment company, of all questions, ask whether they ship worldwide. It matters!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.