Jennifer Lancaster

November 5, 2020

Self-Help Writing Prompts

Fiction writers have a whole host of writing prompt blogs and crazy Reddit posts, but people writing their first self-help book can find few resources to be a catalyst for their stories. Rather than simple imagination, for the self-development writer, it’s more memories that we want to access… or finding others’ quotes and stories to back up what we’re saying. Examples of Writing Prompts Look at some of my writing ideas from past books: An idea about happiness and our outlook came one day when I observed the primary school kids leaving school, running, skipping, gleeful to be free… when my daughter talks about learning music, her face lights up. Why don’t adults run, skip and smile when they come out of their workplace? (from Create Your New Life of Abundance) Does something irk you? In How to Start a…

March 27, 2020

Book Writing

Writing a Book in Australia, in a Crisis

Like many who rely on the wonderful authors of this world, I need optimistic books right now! So this post will talk about what you can write a book about during this Coronavirus crisis, that also won’t date too much. If you like writing non-fiction, the topics I am brainstorming here for 2020 are: Career transitions. What a great time to write about skilling up for a new career or home-based business, and as a bonus, discussing the technologies many of us need in modern business life. I wrote How to Start a Freelance Business. It is simple information, but just what someone starting up needs to consider, which they may not have done. Next wave of Lifestyle Books: fresh ideas. We’ve had all the turmeric latte/cacao cookbook ideas we can handle and a plethora of health or yoga books;…

April 7, 2020

Book Writing, Updates

Sharing Your Creative Side

Part of the Creative Ways with Money philosophy is knowing your own strengths, skills and resources and then finding creative new ways to share them with others. In the book, we do this through finding our life’s purpose (our Ikigai), knowing what’s real and what’s not, and applying our strengths to business or online income streams. It seems everything is changing at the moment and many of us can’t figure out what to do with our time. Remember that we don’t just create in a vacuum. We must look at what is real right now and set an intention for ourselves. Here is one personal development author’s take on it: “Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart truly desires must come to…

November 29, 2021

Publicity, Selling eBooks and Media

Should I Advertise My Book?

Should I advertise my book? is a common question, especially with the number of book launches today. Moreover, should I use Amazon Ads? In AuthorU, a LinkedIn group, I posed this question to expert in book publicity, Sandra Beckwith. Here’s what she replied to whether a newbie should use Amazon Ads: “Nobody — regardless of whether it’s their 1st or 10th book — should be buying ads until they have a lot of positive reader reviews. If it’s the former (authors doing it themselves), authors can manage their own advertising, but should learn how it works first. There are a lot of courses available that will help with that. Just as authors shouldn’t self-publish until they spend time learning how to do that, they shouldn’t spend on ads until they truly know what they’re doing. And…the books that will do…

March 12, 2020

Self-Publishing, Selling eBooks and Media

What is a Publishing Asset?

Today, I want to talk about Publishing Assets, and what are they? Well, because publishing a book is such a lengthy endeavour, with a lot of time and money involved for sometimes small returns after the initial launch, people are looking at implementing other ideas that can also add value, either after the book is launched… or with the book, or instead of the book. So things like workbooks can help someone who’s doing an online course of yours, or they can also be given in real life courses as a workbook that’s printed out. And you can get great design templates these days for your workbooks, so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Why Offer a Weekly Planner There’s also weekly planners. Good if you’ve got clients who need some help with their scheduling. I was talking to a…

February 19, 2020

Course Content, Selling eBooks and Media

How Can I Recession Proof my Book Publishing Business?

It’s that time in the economic cycle where the rubber hits the road… and starts flying off everywhere. Only 1 in 3 employers state they are going to increase salaries by over 3 percent. Costs are rising. Small businesses are hard enough to run, but with the global competition of book publishing at an all-time high, it starts to make you worry about the future of your fledgling book publishing business. There is no need to wail. One, because business training for adults is getting cheaper (more on that soon). Plus, while others still seek to get their first book published, you can start looking at creating online courses, workshops and membership offers. While many are ‘trying’ to do this and going on side ventures and $$$ courses, you can whiz by them and actually do it, launch it, and…