Key Business Partners, LLC

Folkheart Press and Key Business Partners ran a “True Love” writing contest where we ask for an essay to describe your true love.

Well, we have a winner!

Dalton Teczon’s essay “One True Love Memory” was selected by you the voters to be the First Place winner!

Second Place goes to Jenn Krentz who wrote “True Love”.

Both winning essays will be featured on the Folkheart Press Blog in the coming weeks.

1) You wrote about true love – what would be your advice to others who seek it?
Don’t go looking for it, it will find you when the time is right. Sometimes you need to first believe that you deserve to be loved as well as are willing to give love.

2) And in a few words…what does true love mean to you? It’s the feeling of total completion. It’s as if there was no other life before and could never be a life without your true love. Love is unconditional, longsuffering, forgiving, nurturing, strengthening, it’s life itself. It’s being two idividuals, but of one soul. You feel part of you is missing if the other is not around.

3) Other than poems, do you write other formats (short stories, novels)?
Yes I do, I write novels and screenplays.

4) How long have you been writing? I started writing when I was 13 years old.

5) Do you plan on enter more contests in the future? Yes

6) If you have other writings, please share with us where we can view and/or read them.
I have a few poems on poetry.com and I am in the process of finding a literary agent/publisher for my novels. And I also have written two celebrity biographies on tv.com.
http://www.tv.com/julia-english/person/167077/summary.html?q=julia english&tag=search_results;title;1
and
http://www.tv.com/ric-marlow/person/65702/summary.html?q=ric marlow&tag=search_results;title;1

This week while watching the half pipe (I think that is what it is called) at the Winter Olympics, I noticed some of the girls were either listening to their i-pods or texting (or tweeting) something on their phones. I thought, “They are in the midst of one of the biggest dreams of their careers and they are taking the time to send a text to someone or tweet something. Wow!”

I even saw on one of the new reality shows when a business owner got shafted by one of her clients, she mentioned she was going to post something on Facebook about this person. Even a bigger wow!

It really does go to show you the “power” of the social networks these days.

TWEETS-ACULAR for Writers and Authors

:
February 19th

@writerscoach tweeted about her blog post titled 5 Easy Ways to go from Unpublished Writer to Published Writer at @missyfrye Incurable Disease of Writing –>great advice about submitting your writing to article directory and small local publications to name a few.

@peggybechko tweeted about a post at Pick the Brain blog called 10 Writing Tips from Masters. –>Right from the top of the article it starts with a good one. Every time you are included to use the word “very”, replace it with the word “damn” and most likely you won’t mind taking it out of a sentence. Another one is about learning to “love” criticism. –>I know this was a bit hard for me to get used to when my editor started editing my writing. But quickly I learned it was for the betterment of my writing.

@frugalbookpromo tweeted “see how the net has changed the art of writing a press release” in regards to her recent press release. –>All I have to say is, “Nicely done!”.

And I will end with this–

@merlynkevans tweeted via @thecreativepenn about how to become a Amazon Kindle Bestseller by @jakonrath. He shares his story about his ebooks he sells on Amazon Kindle. He even talks about a plant called Kudzu. –>Great story about how writers shouldn’t give up and sometimes it is about finding the right path for your writing.

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s Tweets-acular!

To my fellow writers—keep writing!

As authors and writers, you search for ways to get more people to know about your book. I am a writer myself and know this feeling all too well. In fact, I am in the process (final editing step, at least I hope) of getting my first novel completed and published by the end of 2010.

I know that you want for others to witness the presence of your words on paper and celebrate the final product of all of your hard work, however, if you rush and put the book out there before setting a foundation for you as the author, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment.

So to offset this disappointment greatly, I would like to share three top rated ways to gain more exposure for your book while you are writing it so when it is published you will have more people who know about your book.

1) Create an Online Presence – Having an online presence in today’s environment, is almost essential for the success of any business endeavor, especially a book.
The process of creating an online presence is much easier than it used to be in past years. As a writer and/or author, you will want to have a website and a blog. You may be asking why both? Well, the website is the home station for your readers and followers to come back to when they are wanting to read about you and your background. Your blog allows your online community (followers and readers) to read about you and your writing on a consistent basis. Think about it this way–>when you are looking for a book, where do you go first…to the internet, right?

2) Create an Offline Presence – Being known offline is just as important to your marketing efforts for your book. Many of us don’t have the privilege to meet the authors of our favorite books, however, what if you could or did before their book came out? Wouldn’t you just be excited that you knew the person even before their book was done. Your readers will be excited to listen to you talk about what inspired you to write your book or how you developed the characters and possibly how you felt about the writing process.

3) Create your Own Presence – You might be thinking, well, that sounds very self promotional. No, not at all. You can be present in different places online and offline and make yourself known by being involved with helping others achieve their goals. Perhaps you could allow another author to create a guest post for your blog. Or if you have a newsletter, allow them to write a short article to showcase their writing. Or you could host a book fair for local authors in your area.

Being a writer, you have a strong need to share your writing with others that sometimes you may tend to send your book out into the world with little or no introduction, only setting yourself up for shortcomings. You can use these three top rated ways to gain more exposure for your book; online presence, offline presence and creating your own presence to truly boost your visibility to those who will wish to read your book.

I would like to share with you a lady who wishes to help women spread their message  by inspiration, encouragement and support each other, Edie Galley, founder of By For and About Women.  I had the pleasure of talking with Edie on the phone and her enthusiasm for her work just comes shining through. I love that! Thanks Edie for sharing with my readers.

Please share with the readers a bit more about you and your background?

I started out being an extremely shy person who would look no one in the face and dropped college classes because I thought I was the ONE person that did not belong.

What changed my life was while working for Verizon, I had an opportunity to take a Dale Carnegie Class. Although I did skip a couple of nights because of fear, it had a HUGE impact on my life. I went on to be a Graduate Assistant for Dale Carnegie and that sparked my interest in reading self-development books voraciously.

I worked for the phone company for several years before realizing that would not satisfy me long term. I found a great opportunity in sales and spent the next few years in sales, marketing and training. Working as a consultant developing marketing strategies allowed me to experience many different types of companies and industries, which is what lead me to Radio.

I believe in following your calling, so my career has been very diverse and I have been fortunate to find opportunities that allowed me to learn and grow continuously.

I have experienced many of the issues in my life that we deal with on the radio show and I know what a difference finding out you are not alone and hearing stories of success can have in the lives of others.

How did you become interested in the radio industry?

You know that thing that got you in trouble as a kid, for me it was the one thing I loved to do, TALK.  It is part of what made sales easy for me. Through my work as a Marketing Consultant I took a project on for a Business Talk Radio Show in South Florida and fell in love with the work. I went on to do Production and then Hosting for the show. It was a great experience.

I launched BFAWomenRadio in 2005 when online radio and pod casting was just starting. I wanted to reach more people than the local AM station could and I wanted to explore other topics to benefit the listeners.

What really interests me about the radio industry is the amazing opportunities for growth and the opportunity to reach so many people.

Share with the readers about your radio show By, For and About Women.

By For and About Women Radio started broadcasting  in April 2005 with an archived on demand single radio show format. We have grown into a network of radio shows broadcast in a live streaming format offering a wide range of topics of interest to women and are adding new shows each month. With the capability to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7days a week, and offering archiving, pod casting and syndication of all radio shows BFAWomenRadio truly is sharing the voice of women everywhere. The goal of our work, through the radio show, website and resources is to support women in producing extraordinary results and creating lasting changes that lead to seeing their dreams come to life.

Our listeners are over 83% women  and our guests have included people like Lisa Nichols (The Secret) Dr. Bernie Siegel (Love Medicine and Miracles) and Libby Gill (You Unstuck).

How can By, For and About Women help entrepreneurs and business owners such as writers, authors, speakers and coaches?

It provides them with a platform for additional exposure with the opportunity to really reach out and connect with our audience. We have thousands of listeners in over 57 countries and along with that we promote them through Social Media and to our database of over fifteen thousand people. Once a show is complete it is still available via archiving and on-demand so it continues to create exposure for them.

We will soon be transcribing audio so that the interviews will be available to readers via the web. This will create additional exposure as well.

When other Producers go searching for their guests it gives them more opportunity to be found.  I have talked with several people that have been guests on Oprah and all of them have said they did not get invited by solicit or contacting the show. They were all found through their online content and exposure when the Producers where looking for their expertise or experience.

It is a very conversational relaxed easy environment which makes it a great opportunity for them to gain some experience doing live interviews if they have not done that many.

It gives them a great platform and opportunity to really connect and get their word out. It brings them personally to the listener.

They can also learn from other guests who may have experienced something they are dealing with in their career or life.

What would you say are the three top benefits of having internet radio as part of a marketing plan?

The people you meet and connections you make. The radio show creates an avenue to open doors to phenomenal resources.

The opportunity for exposure to your target audience.

Being able to provide your audience with value and create a connection with them.

What is next in 2010 for you and your business, By, For and About Women?

We are launching a new website and expanding because of our listeners. We will be doing additional radio shows weekly and be broadcast on more platforms.  And as a result of our success we are developing resources for others to create their own radio show that can increase exposure and become income producing. We will also be transcribing audio interviews and making them available via the web.

Here is a fun question just for fun sake. What is your favorite color and why?

Fun question and probably the hardest one for me, because I LOVE color in everything. To me, colors have a meaning and usually evoke a feeling.  So I have different favorite colors for different things. For instance, I love to wear orange but would not like to paint my house orange, I love green on the inside of my home. I love to experiment with color, I dislike all beige homes. Color brings everything to life.

If I had to pick just one color, it would be a teal blue/green because that is FULL of beauty and great feelings to me.

How can people get in contact with you?

I want to thank you for this opportunity Teresa, I appreciate your interest and time. And I highly value your readers and followers. I would welcome the opportunity to speak with any of your readers.

The website is http://www.BFAWomenRadio.com and they can reach me by email at edie@BFAWomenRadio.com or on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/ediegalley

WIth our fast paced world, we are bombarded with you can make a 6 figure income in 3 months, or you can write a whole book in a weekend. Now, I am not saying it can’t be done, however, for most of the writers I met, writing a book takes time. Quite a bit of time. Trail and error. And that is okay with writing.

If you place pressure on yourself to complete it now is like telling yourself,  “here eat an elephant in ONE bite”. Well, logic tells you it can’t be done so all you have done is set yourself up for defeat. No writer wants to add stress to the one thing they enjoy doing the most, their passion.  And many times, especially with writers, by setting yourself up like this leads to writer’s block and then the writing can stop.

So, I encourage my clients to take the necessary time to write the best page, chapter, article or book they can and don’t focus so much on the end result.  If you focus on the end, you are not enjoying the writing itself as much as you could.

Don’t try to conquer the whole writing project all at once. Embrace the process of writing. That is why you are a writer.

Folkheart Press & Key Business Partners announce
TRUE LOVE writing contest
Deadline: January 30, 2010

Be one of the first five people to submit a personal essay about a true love in your life (or the life of a friend or family member).

Contest rules and prizes:

The five authors will need to:
1. Write a personal essay (330 word limit) about one true love memory.
2. Post the essay to your blog or website and then email that link with essay posting by January 30, 2010 to folkheartpress@comcast.net.

Details:
All five authors will:
• Be highlighted in Folkheart Press blog & Key Business Partners blog w/link to essay post on January 31, 2010.
• Be mentioned in Folkheart Press March e-newsletter w/link to essay post
• Be notified of results by email on February 8.
• The winner will be publicly announced February 8, 2010 & will receive:
= Family Folktales: Write Your Own Family Stories workbook
= Heirloom flower seeds in package designed by Illustrator Tricia Rennea
= Valentine Memo Pad & Pen
= Q&A on Key Business Partners website
= Promotion and mention on Twitter & Facebook
= Highlight on FolkHeart Press website
• Voting runs February 1-February 7.
• Authors are encouraged to send others to vote for their essays.

GOOD LUCK!
Remember only the first 5 entries will be chosen for the contest.

This week got a bit away with me and so I am a day late on delivering to you the Fab Friday post. Please don’t let that stop you from visiting these great posts (and possible following these fellow twitterers).

Let’s get going…

First, I will start with @sylviabrowder tweeted about a post on her blog offering female authors a spotlight feature on her site and in her virtual book club to the members. So if you are a female author who would like another place to showcase your book, this is your opportunity.

Next, @jppastor tweeted about a post about What it will mean when the ebook comes first. The post discusses about the recent shift in popularity of ebooks (it was in the news that more downloadable books aka ebooks were sold than print books) and how this will change the relationship for authors, agents and editors.

Then, @thecreativepenn tweeted about a post by @selfpubreview titled Publishing as a Business Decision. All I can say with this post is it is very thought provoking about the decision to which direction to publish a book, self publish or traditional.

Finally, one of the most important topics for writers (and really any entrepreneur), self respect and the writer tweeted by @rachellegardner about a post done by Ami Spencer discussing how we all need to respect our gifts to ask for what we deserve to get paid in our work.

I really hope you have enjoyed this post of some wonderful tweets and posts. And as always, send me your comments on these posts for open discussion. Thanks for reading and keep writing!