Now, I just put novel away..and wait. The wait has been known to last six months to a year. Sometimes longer. For others, time frame may be shorter, but eventually they will come. The inner voices, I mean. I no longer hold verbal one-sided conversations with myself. My characters have one-sided conversations with me..in my head. When they start talking to me about dialogue and plot, that tells me it’s time to pull out novel and jump in again.

So, go on. You try it: Open up your mind and listen to your inner voice. If we ever meet at a conference or a book signing and you tell me that you’ve been hearing voices, I won’t think you’re crazy. I promise.

Copyright © 2004 – Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission.

3.Visit corporate website containing links to all subsidiaries;

4.Pick out those stations within a 500/1000 mile orbit;

5.Visit each local station website individually;

6.Scan daily programming schedules;

7.Highlight those shows that might identify with topic of your book;

8.Note presenter’s name;

9.Email him/her with a well-couched request for a live interview;

10.Follow that up with an identical snail mail request;

11.Follow that up with a telephone call (you’ll get to speak to someone in authority);

12.You know your topic inside out; speak up with confidence and you’ll get your interview; maybe not straightaway but, if you sell yourself and your project professionally, you’ll be logged into and up-and-coming slot in station scheduling.

Go for it…it’s free!

Postscript: Those eleven live interviews did more than sell books on radio – they resulted in several direct invitations to repeat my pitch on local television.

MILKING INCREMENTAL INCOME STREAMS AS AN AUTHOR

As your book(s) become available online and offline your reputation as an expert in your particular subject will flourish. This brings with it additional opportunities for attracting incremental income; opportunities such as…

1.Public speaking engagements;

2.Book reviewing;

3.Magazine article contributions;

4.Foreign translations of your work;

5.Book club sales;

6.Public Lending Right (PLR); you get paid every time some borrows your book from a public lending library;

7.Fees under licence (when another publisher reproduces your work);

8.Broadcasting rights;

9.Audio tape and disc rights.

The fees you earn are incremental to your book royalties and they soon mount up over a period of time. My new creative writing course ‘Secrets to Churning Out Bestsellers’ contains several chapters on how to milk these additional income streams. http://www.1st-creative-writing-course.com