But most significant thing I gained from conferences was an insight into Zeitgeist—the German word for spirit of an age, a trend of thought and feeling in a period--in African American Publishing Industry. Just as Civil Rights movement resulted from a Zeitgeist—Black people as a whole getting tired of being treated like second class citizens—the new Black Renaissance in Literature has arisen from same backlash.

Across board, writers have gotten tired of being locked out from mainstream publishing. With desktop publishing, affordable graphic designs, Internet, and print-on-demand, e-books, teleclasses, many writers have become publishers and information entrepreneurs.

I recently attended second annual Los Angeles Black Book Expo on 6-10-05 at http://www.labbx.com/ as a panelist.

Every year for past 5 years I’ve been a panelist and workshop conductor at Dr. Rosie Milligan’s Black Writers on Tour. (www.blackwritersontour.com.)

I will be participating as a workshop conductor with my hometown Detroit Literary Entrepreneur Conference on 8-26-05 to 8-28-05. http://www.mllbnetwork.com/MetroDetroitLiteraryAwards.html. http://www.mllbnetwork.com/Itinerary.html

To find out about local conferences in your area, go to http://writing.shawguides.com

2. Persuade naturally: Develop a partnership with your customers. Approach each client's situation as a team effort, rather than something that you are supplying. Don't rattle off your capabilities; instead, tell your prospect a story about how you helped another client.

3. Develop your personal presence: A winning image starts with how you look. Pay attention to your appearance, way you make eye contact, how you use your voice, things you talk about, and firmness of you handshake - these reflect how well you think of yourself and how you want others to think of you.

4. Create right telephone presence: A phone call may be first contact you have with a potential customer. Create same kind of atmosphere that you would in a face-to-face meeting. Listen carefully to what your prospective client says and really respond.

5. Handwrite a message in your correspondence: Include this personal touch whether it's a thank-you note or a simple P.S. at bottom of a letter.

6. Show your customers that you appreciate them: Do things that help your clients. For example, record a "tip of day" on your voice mail message, send clients two tickets to a special event with a note, photocopy interesting articles and send them to clients and prospects with a hand-written "FYI" note and your business card.