When writing and marketing your book, creativity is a necessity, but sometimes an author can go too far. While authors may be proud of being unique or even eccentric, they will want to avoid stepping over the line into crazy.

Hundreds of experts are out there writing, blogging, and speaking about what authors need to do to promote their books, but sometimes, authors need to hear about what not to do as well.

I’ve assembled a few of the more outlandish stories I’ve heard, and while they may seem truly crazy, I guarantee they are all actual things authors have done in the process of writing or marketing their books. Just on the slim chance you might be going down the road to crazy authorship, here are a few warnings of what not to do:

Bookstore Mistakes:
These two stories were both told to me by a friend who manages a bookstore:

We agreed to carry this author’s book on consignment. As long as a book continues to sell, we will keep carrying the book. But one author did not sell any books, so after six months, I called him to tell him we could no longer carry his title. He informed me that he had actually sold twenty books in my store. I told him the stack of eight books we had initially taken from him was still there. He replied that he had been coming in every couple of weeks and refilling the stack. Because we are not a computerized store but do manual inventory, when he kept refilling his stack, we had no way of keeping track that the books had sold, and consequently, I couldn’t pay him for those books. Bottom line, check with the bookstore manager before leaving new books in the store.

We had a local author whose books we placed in the local book section. One day I came into the store and all of her books were on the table in the front of the store with the bestsellers. I moved them back to the local author section. When the situation happened again, I explained to the author that customers looking for local books would have difficulty finding her books if they were not in the local section, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. A few days later, I came in and her books were again on the front table. After I had to move them a couple more times, I finally called the author and told her we would not sell her books anymore.

Festivals:
This story was told to me by an author who attended an art fair:

I was at an art fair and sharing a booth with another author. She had just had her story turned into an audio book. As a way to market herself, she decided she would bring a pair of headphones with her so people could stop by and listen to the audio book. Only she didn’t stop there. She stood outside of the booth and then ran up to people and put the headphones on their heads without asking their permission all the while exclaiming, “Listen to my book!” Needless to say, she kept people from getting anywhere near the booth to see my book and people were clearly starting to go out of their way to avoid us when they saw what she was doing to other innocent passersby.

Interviews:
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard authors say the following when I’ve interviewed them. It does not make an interviewer happy:

            “In your book, why does your character Mary decide to…?”
            “You’ll have to read the book to find out.”
            “Can you tell us though why you decided to have Mary do it?”
            “No, I’m afraid I’ll give too much away. You’ll have to read the book to find out.”

In short, if an author doesn’t want to tell me about his or her book, I’m not going to want to read it.

Book Introductions:
One author wrote an opening paragraph to his introduction that said something along these lines:

Because I realize the situations in my book and the fantasy world I’ve created might at first be confusing and hard to follow for readers, I decided to write this introduction to explain things so my readers won’t get lost while reading the story.

Trust me, telling a reader your book is confusing is not going to help you sell books, and if your book is confusing, you need to keep working on it rather than publishing it.

Children’s Books:
You may not believe this, but some authors don’t know what is appropriate for a children’s book. I heard about one author who had his animal characters investigating a murder. Worst of all, the murder victim was a female, and the primary suspects were her husband and her lover. I hope I don’t have to say that murder, much less adultery, is not an appropriate subject for children.

Websites:
I could list many mistakes here that authors make with their websites, but this author made what has to be the winner for all time craziest story. The following is a slight rephrasing of a posting I actually saw on an author’s website, but it represents what I’m afraid I’ve heard about more than one author (hence the fill in the blanks):

If you want to buy my book, I can’t mail it to you because _______ [the post office, the U.S. Government, the League of Evil, the aliens secretly running our planet, etc.] is purposely stealing books I’ve mailed so people won’t learn the truth about _______ [Bigfoot, King Arthur, the Bermuda Triangle, Jesus, aliens etc]. So I’ve turned it into an ebook you can download from my website.

Perhaps as an author your books are not selling as well as you wish and you’re wondering what you’re doing wrong, but after reading these stories, I’m sure you can pat yourself on the back that at least you’re doing a few things right.

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.



Last month (Monday, June 28, 2010) the US Supreme Court issued a ruling that may just be turn out to be the straw that finally broke the camel’s back in the decades-long effort by the Catholic Church to deny any legal or financial culpability in the priest abuse scandals.

In its ruling, the Court refused to reverse a couple of lower court rulings that said a victim could hold the Catholic Church responsible financially responsible by suing for damages for sexual abuse suffered as a child.

The case involved an Irish priest, Father Andrew Ronan. After Ronan admitted sexually abusing a boy in the Archdiocese of Benburb, Ireland, Church officials did nothing to either punish or keep him away from other underage victims.

Instead, in a classic case of setting the fox among a new group of chickens, they transferred him to an all-boys high school in Chicago where, not surprisingly, he later admitted sexually abusing three male students.

Alas, once again, the Church was more interested in protecting itself against scandal than in protecting the well-being its young parishioners.  Ronan was transferred again. This time he was sent to St. Alban’s Church in Portland, Oregon where, surprise, surprise, he allegedly abused the victim who brought suit, who is identified in court documents only as “John Doe.”

In its defense, the Church claims it has no responsibility for Ronan’s actions because, in the words of Vatican’s attorneys, “Sexual abuse is clearly outside the scope of a priest’s employment.”

The argument would be laughable if its consequences weren’t so tragic.  Over the course of the last thirty or forty years hundreds of priests have admitted to literally thousands of cases of groping, fondling and raping underage boys (as well as a few girls). No one knows how many other cases have never come to light.

Hopefully, the recent High Court ruling will make any continued efforts to cover up cases of abuse so expensive that the Church will finally do what it should have done way back in the beginning, turn pedophile priest over to the proper authorities for investigation and prosecution.

The whole sorry mess of sexual abuse by priests is examined in some detail in a well-documented and beautifully written book called Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in the Age of Scandal (Broadway Books, 2004) by David France, a reporter who covered the Church crisis while serving as a senior editor for investigations at Newsweek magazine.

I bring it to your attention because France’s book was extremely helpful to me in researching the background for the story that ultimately became The Chill of Night.

James Hayman spent more than twenty years as an advertising copywriter and creative director in New York City before moving to Portland, Maine to begin a second career as a novelist and the creator of Mike McCabe. 

The Chill of Night is James Hayman’s second Mike McCabe suspense thriller (after 2009’s The Cutting).  In The Chill, one of the key characters is a former priest named John Kelly who was himself abused as a young teen and who is a key suspect in the murders of a teenage runaway and the lawyer who was trying to help him.

I am on a book tour with my latest memoir/self help book, HEALING WITH WORDS: A WRITER’S CANCER JOURNEY and I am exhausted. But I haven’t even boarded an airplane yet. My state of exhaustion is probably a combination of planning for my daughter, Regine’s wedding and these two blog tours set up for me since the book’s release on June lst.

When the idea of a blog tour was first presented to me by my publisher and three publicity firms, I thought it was a great idea—a book tour from home, how cool, no suitcase, no boarding passes, no security checks or airport transfers.

What I quickly realized was that in many ways a blog tour is more tiring than a traveling book tour. The part I love about in-person book tours is greeting and meeting my readers, visiting interesting cities and writing in my favorite place, the airplane. This list does not include my favorite pastime of people-watching in airport terminals which supplies me with endless story ideas. One major advantage of the traveling book tour is that it gets the writer away from the computer and the seductiveness of the social network scene. Surely, you will agree that we spend far too much time on the computer and it is leading to an enormous amount of stress. In fact, a colleague of mine was recently diagnosed with psoriasis which is stress-related and for this very reason, her doctor prescribed an internet holiday!

During the course of my blog tour, I also realized that in addition to doing my creative work, the blog tour meant I would have to write answers to interview questions and sometimes even craft original material to be posted on the host’s blog site. I was also informed by one blog tour coordinator that many bloggers do not like reprints. I thought to myself—gosh, that’s a big demand of someone who doesn’t even paid for filling up the pages of a stranger’s blog!

Similar to a physical book tour—the blog book can make the author feel special by spotlighting an interview. But in no way does it match up to the charge an author receives by seeing a room full of people keenly listening and enthusiastically asking questions.

All this makes me wonder what the future holds for authors. Are we going to become even more isolated in our writing studios? Are we going to completely forget our social skills?

Does anyone have a crystal ball to provide me with answers? If yes, I would love to hear from you!

Diana Raab is an award-winning memoirist, essayist, poet and author of eight books and editor of two essays collections, including the latest, Writers and Their Notebooks (2010) with an introduction by Phillip Lopate. She’s authored over 300 articles and poems which have appeared in national publications. She is a journaling advocate and teaches in UCLA Extension Writers' Program and in various conferences around the country. Her memoir/self-help book Healing With Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey was just released by Loving Healing Press in June 2010.  Visit Diana Raab at http://www.dianaraab.com.

Breaking news is news in the truest sense of the word — from “hard” news about national and world events, politics or major scientific breakthroughs, to entertainment news about celebrities or sports stars. Breaking news is what drives the media; and tying your pitches to breaking news is a great way to grab the media’s attention for you and your book.

What’s great about breaking news is that it answers the “Why now?” question for the media and increases your chances to share your insights, commentary or expert opinion. Breaking news also answers the “Why should I care?” question for media. In news meetings, editors and producers constantly ask their reporters to answer one question from the point of view of the reader, viewer or listener: “Why should I care?” As an expert, you’re there to serve the media and help them media answer that question. After you pitch, be prepared to jump when the media calls. The earlier you can get involved with the story, the greater your impact in the conversation and the greater your chance to be part of the follow-up.

Here are some key things to remember when preparing:

1) Give the media your cell phone or other numbers where they can contact you 24/7. When they call, pick up. If you can’t pick up, call back ASAP!

2) For TV interviews, you often must be available to fly or travel on short notice. The travel may be local or you may have to fly across the country. Be prepared for spur-of-the-moment schedule changes and be ready to make travel arrangements before you pitch.

3) Print and radio interviews can often be done by phone. Make sure the most reliable landline is used and that all sound bites are practiced and prepared in advance.

4) Provide a link to your book and your online press kit so the interviewer can prepare and familiarize themselves with your expertise. Online press kits are one of the most convenient and useful resources for print, broadcast and online media.

5) Expect to be thrown a curve. You can ask the media for a list of questions they plan to ask, but be prepared for spontaneous questions too. This is where media training ahead of time can be very valuable, because there is little time to train once you get the call.

6) Think like a journalist. The more you watch, listen to and read the news, the more you can anticipate and prepare to comment when news breaks.

A lot of this may seem like common sense. But when it comes to PR, it’s usually the smallest things that determine whether or not you land that placement. So being prepared and making sure you’re on top of all the details will do nothing but increase your chances of shining when news breaks.

L. Drew Gerber is CEO of www.PublicityResults.com and creator of www.PitchRate.com, a free media connection service for journalists, experts, and publicists.  Sign up now for free publicity advice including a free online marketing course. Gerber's business practices and staffing innovations have been revered by PR Week, Good Morning America and the Christian Science Monitor. His companies handle international PR campaigns and his staff develops online press kits for authors, speakers and companies with Online PressKit 24/7, a technology he developed (www.PressKit247.com). Contact L. Drew Gerber at: AskDrew@PublicityResults.com or call him at 828-749-3548.

I'm inundated with e-mails, newsletters, and tweets telling me "they" can help me climb the social media ladder and get high rankings, increased sales, and who knows what else.  Let's face it, social media is over-hyped and many are attempting to make bucks for themselves as experts without concrete results for the authors. I also see many authors state they have launched a social media campaign because they have a Facebook page or are using Twitter. Unfortunately this isn't a social media campaign.

To have a social media campaign you must:

• set  a goal

• develop  a plan

• identify tactics

• execute the plan.

Deciding whether or not social media is right for selling your book is simple:

1.  Accept that social media is over-hyped and it's not the silver lining that will get your book to the NYT Best Sellers List.  It's very possible it will not make the list so accept it, or buy into it.

2.  Recognize  social media is only  one marketing tool in  sea of others. I've listed only a few examples below.

3.  Decide whether or not your book is right for a social media campaign.  It could be all your "friends" on your Facebook list already have the book or aren't interested in it. Or maybe your book isn't relevant at this time.  As well, avoid spamming your friends.  If they want the book, they will buy it after one or two invitations to do so.

4.  Acknowledge that your book may not have social media appeal because you are an unknown author.  You're not Dan Browne so you'll have to work 100 times harder on your campaign than his publicist would.

5.  Understand  that for social media you have to use the same  business models as you would for any business: branding, research, reader retention, e-commerce, and generating leads. (See article on landing pages.)  If you have a product for sale (your book) you have a business. Treat it like a business.

6. Realize social media isn't free.  What?  It's free to sign up on Facebook and Twitter.  But, that's not what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about top-notch website/landing page and your time.  Yes, you need to get paid for the work you do. Oh gosh, I almost forgot;  Your Book Must Be Top-Notch.  That means professionally edited, good character development and plot,  is relevant and you must have credibility.

7.  Be aware it takes more than 10 minutes a day to execute  a successful social media campaign.  Many experts tell you all you need to do is spend a few minutes and post on Twitter and Facebook daily or several times a day. Wrong.  If you do that, that's all you're doing -posting on Twitter and Facebook and it's not moving the dial on the who-gives-a-crap meter.

Examples of social media tools:

Remember, there are many  social media tools available so you aren't bound by just using Facebook or Twitter.  Some others are:

MySpace - great for targeting the younger crowd.
Linkedin - more professional and business like than Facebook
Flickr - it's a good  place for uploading photos of your book launch
Podcasting - needs to be relevant to your book but not a blatant advertisement for your book
YouTube - a place to upload your book video to.  It's the second highest search engine.
HowCast - great place to post your "how-to" video
TubeMogul - upload your book video once and they distribute to other video sharing sites
Google Alerts - plug in key words pertaining to your book and you'll be alerted what blogs are commenting on that topic.  You can then post a response leading back to your landing page.  (However, don't spam your book!)
Blog - Have one.  But, only if you are willing to post an article three or four times per week.
Articles - Write articles and post them on article sites. 

These are just a few tactics that can be used effectively in your social media campaign.  If you Google "Social Media Tools" you'll become exposed to hundreds of them.  Do research and decide for yourself whether or not social media will actually bring sales of your book.  One more reminder (I know, I keep harping on this!!) anything you do to market your book has to move the dial on the who-gives-a-crap meter of the potential reader. (And, that doesn't mean Mom, cuz Joe, or Aunt Mae - it means someone that doesn't know you.)

I'm looking for responses.  What has worked for you?

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.

Authors often deride plot-driven books in favor of focusing on character development. However, focusing on characters over plot can leave a reader asking, “What’s the point?” The characters and the plot are actually integral pieces of one another.

A complaint many reviewers have is that the novels they review are lacking in story or plot, especially in books by first-time authors. Beginning authors often enjoying creating comical, quirky, or interesting characters, and strong, well-rounded characters are definitely integral to a book because they are whom the reader will identify with. Too often, however, authors overlook the importance of creating a strong plot centered in the character and instead create episodic stories that read like a character’s biography.

Stories that are “plot-driven” have gotten a bit of a bad name in recent years. Think of all the car-chase type movies and the special effects used in films that are about the plot more than the characters. If the characters aren’t well-developed, readers aren’t going to identify with them; these films and many action/adventure/suspense books have focused so much on the plot that we lose interest in the characters, and if we don’t care about the characters, then we don’t care what happens to them or to the plot.

A good plot is just as important as interesting characters, but the plot needs to be integral to the characters. Emphasis on plot and characters are really inseparable for a piece of fiction to be successful. Yes, I’ve heard the argument that life does not have a plot and we should create realistic fiction, but I beg to differ that plots are unrealistic. People who feel life doesn’t have a plot often have not chosen a plot, a path, a purpose yet in their lives. They tend to be boring people. What makes our lives interesting is when we have dreams, plans, goals, and difficulties to overcome. However much we might like certain characters, they aren’t interesting unless we have a reason to cheer them on, to hope they succeed.

The bottom line is that good fiction requires that the plot and the main character be intertwined. The plot is essential to the main character. In writing a story or novel, the author must ask him or herself, “What is at stake?” and more specifically, “What is at stake for the main character?” The reader needs to know what really matters in the first chapter, preferably on the first page; the tension created by something being at stake is what will keep readers turning the page.

What is at stake for the main character can be something as simple as deciding what college to go to or as serious as having his child kidnapped. Whatever is at stake has to be something so important to the main character that it spurs him or her on to action. The main character also has to be developed so he or she will react in a believable way to what is at stake. And if that can be done creatively, all the better.

For example, in a bank robbery situation, if the main character is a middle-aged housewife who has never done anything heroic in her life and is afraid of mice and everything else she encounters, it makes no sense for her to tackle the bank robber. However, if the main character is a little old lady, while she may not seem likely to take out the bank robber, if she is developed to have an interesting past, such as she was part of the French Resistance during World War II and shot some Nazis, then she might just have it in her to tackle the bank robber. The little old lady’s heroic action is not out of character while the housewife’s might be.

A good plot will make readers unable to put down the book because they will want to find out what happens next, how it’s all going to turn out, and they will care enough about the main character to want to see him or her succeed. What is at stake for the characters might also be something that is at stake or has been at stake for the reader. Trying to find your place in the community, trying to find love, trying to succeed at something difficult are all situations the everyday person encounters and which will help the reader identify with the character.

A well-known novel that successfully weaves plot and character together is “Gone With the Wind.” Here, Scarlett O’Hara is the main character. The plot includes survival during the Civil War and also Scarlett trying to find love and figure out which man she loves. Although Scarlett O’Hara is not the most likeable character, readers can relate to her quest for love and survival, and they understand that the decisions she makes are based in her need to survive; she wants love, but she has to choose survival, which means marrying men she doesn’t love but who have money to save her plantation. That the man she loves is unavailable to her adds fuel and a small degree of acceptability to her actions.

For authors planning to write a novel, I suggest you start by creating an interesting character. Then ask the following questions for creating the plot:

What is most important to the character?
What does the character want in life? What are his or her goals, desires, or dreams?
What does the character most fear?
How could that fear interfere with the characters dreams and goals?
What would the character do if what is most important to him or her were threatened by what he or she feared most?
What obstacles would the character have to overcome to make things better or return things to normal?
What is within the character’s nature and within the range of reasonable possibilities that can lead to a resolution of the problem?

A good plot will not only cause a character to take action, but it will help the character to grow and change, often in surprising, but ultimately affirming ways.

In writing a novel, don’t forget the character development, and don’t forget the plot, and especially, don’t forget that they are really one and the same.

If men and women couldn’t talk to and about each other in print, a whole lot of literary fun would be lost, and numerous industries would disappear overnight. If the present couldn’t interact with the past, college seniors would have to abandon history majors and play accordions in the street. Unless you’re contemplating a change, you are what you are, and unless you’ve bested both the relativity and quantum physics folks, you live in the era to which you were assigned. So, in order to do anything fun with sex and/or history, your research will never be first-hand. Add a hot-button male or female issue to the mix, present or historical, and you’ve walked right into the mine-field of clueless inappropriateness, from which few emerge with limbs intact…and you did it on purpose!

In the case of fiction, authors who delve into the psyches of their opposites often forget the mission, which is to write an engaging story. The ego, however, says “You’re writing a book – you must be an expert on this.” And then we’re off, spraying the pages with global conclusions we couldn’t possibly have reached through any useful criteria, then generalizing them to and past the point of absurdity. Congratulations – you began with a pretty good story line and ended up a complete horse’s ass.

Ask the questions -  We know how useless and dangerous generalizations are, but we must also stop using our characters as evidence we had no way of attaining  to solve eternal mysteries. It’s much more important to ask the questions in storytelling, anyway. Humans don’t mind if you ask the right questions. The author who implied that conclusions are those things common to all bad books was largely correct.

Learn the speak – If you’re going to deal with historical characters in your writing, remember that history has weeded out most of the ordinary folks, and your subject might be more special than you are (sorry). If you’re fictionalizing Mark Twain, spend a lot of time learning not only the drawl, but its tempo changes and the whole code of etiquette behind speaking and writing of his region and time…yes, I said “code of etiquette.” If you intend to introduce Dorothy Parker as a character, you’d better hire a staff of the best wits in the writing industry, because ten to one she’s sharper than you. At a minimum, read everything she published until you get into the flow of her thinking and language.

Generalizations – Your mission is the character at hand, not bringing the tablets off the mountain to solve the riddle of the sexes. Tell us what he or she thinks, how he or she behaves and speaks, where he or she comes from – but only this one character, not his or her billions of chromosomal family.

Don the robe of history – The further you go back, the more different social conditions were. To completely rid your work of twenty-first century characteristics, you need as fine-toothed a comb as you used for typo-hunting and grammar-cleaning. We don’t think like they did (one hopes not, anyway), and you’re telling the story of them, not you. Get out of your year, even if it makes you feel like a heel.

Remember, one character at a time, no playing God, learn history’s lingo – one false move…kaboom!

G.F. Skipworth has toured most of the western world as a concert pianist, symphony/opera conductor, composer and vocalist. Educated at Whitman, College, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and UCLA, he worked in speech, comedy and academic writing as well. Entering the fiction world with the four-volume series, Fables of the Carpailtin Campfire, he moved on to historical fiction in his last two efforts, Stormfield – Tales from the Hereafter, and The Simpering, North Dakota Literary Society, a Midwestern American tale set in 1919.

Please visit G.F. Skipworth’s site at rosslarebooks.com.

Before the internet, we would write in our journals or notebooks for our eyes only. Back then, we were more private. The advent of the blog in the mid-1990s drove many devoted journal writers to the public forum. They blogged about anything and everything from their husbands, kids, lovers and even what deodorant they preferred. We were all exposed. More recently, however, I’ve noticed a trend towards more universal blogs and the subjects have wider appeal.  In many ways they are more interesting to read.

Even if blogs are more universal in nature, we are still left with the philosophical question of  “Where are the boundaries between the personal and the professional? Do they continue to be blurred? To help answer the fate of this question, I’d like to turn to a compelling editorial in USA Today on June 10^th, called, “ A Doctor’s Request: Please Don’t Friend Me.”

The author, Dr. Katherine Chretien, a professor of medicine at George Washington University deftly put words to an issue we will all have to address in the years to come as social media forums become even more commonplace. One of the many problems is that social media makes us all feel that we are not alone and we get immediate approval for what we are doing or saying. In many ways, it’s attention-seeking behavior and at times can be seductive.

Dr. Chretien was particularly addressing the facebook issue, but the editorial’s focus really has an even wider appeal and presents some deeply philosophical questions.

The editorial begins like this, “As your doctor, I might sit on the edge of your hospital bed and try to quell your fears and anxieties of being ill. Or, I might bounce into the examination room with a bright smile and try to make you laugh with one of my very funny (read: corny) jokes. We might sit together and catch up on your life over the past six months since we last saw each other. In fact, we might have a patient-physician relationship that makes other patients and physicians utterly jealous…. But please, don’t ask me to be your friend. That is your Facebook friend.”

As a former nurse, I completely understand what she’s saying. I remember meeting a patient in the grocery story and her wanting to show me how nicely her wound was healing and I had to say, “Sorry, not here.” More recently, I have been asked to be friended by people who work for me or who I have worked for in the past. It seems to me that some people are clearly more sensitive to personal boundaries than others, but if we all honor one another’s privacy it will be easier and less stressful to adapt to these changes.

Dr. Chretien makes the point that having a so-called dual relationship with a patient can lead to serious ethical issues and potentially impair professional judgment. She says, “we need professional boundaries to do our job well.”

I bow to Dr. Chretien’s courage for writing this editorial and also for her personal integrity and ability to draw this professional line—something many people have difficulty doing, as much as they might try.

Diana Raab is a memoirist, essayist, poet and author of seven books and editor of two essays collections, including the latest, Writers and Their Notebooks (2010) with an introduction by Phillip Lopate. She is a journaling advocate and teaches in UCLA Extension Writers' Program and in various conferences around the country. Her forthcoming book, Healing With Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey is forthcoming from Loving Healing Press in June 2010. Visit Diana Raab.

I have a cousin who chose to become a carpenter rather than going to college. Fortunately for him and those who benefit from his beautiful work, he did not heed the many family members who told him he would fail and never make money without a college degree.

Once while he was on vacation he came to my home in Hawaii. It was hot. At the time the only air conditioning I could afford was a window unit, but I had no window to put one in.

My cousin took one look around and said “I can put it in this wall.” He went out, bought a saw, cut a hole and installed my air conditioner — on his vacation. After that, my whole house was cool.

Since then he has built an extension onto my stepfather’s home that looks better than original parts of the house. My cousin pursued his passion, and now he makes more money than most of my other cousins.

It is great that he is financially successful as a contractor. But more important to me, he is fulfilled. My cousin comes home each day from doing what he loves. You can’t put a price on that.

Huna, the traditional Hawaiian philosophy of my lineage, teaches we will know we have found our true path when it resonates with our spirit, Your vocation is no longer work. It transcends a job or career. It is who you are.

In Huna, you are what is known as “pono.” This word does not have a direct English translation, but loosely translates to being “right” — not as in I am right and you are wrong, but right with yourself and others. When you are pono with yourself, it is a sign you are on your path.

I am not saying that everyone should skip college and learn a trade instead. As an educator and trainer, holding a doctorate in psychology has opened doors for me and expanded the knowledge base from which I teach.

My studies gave me theories but not actual tools for helping other people. The techniques I teach that allow people to create shift in their lives come from Huna, an indigenous system that dates back thousands of years in Hawaii.

One example is a psychiatrist who attended my trainings and has since become a good friend. After decades working in the prison system, he told me he is seeing results in the prisoners he works with as a result of his training in Huna.

Among the many teachings of Huna is the importance of finding your path. So how do you know if you have found yours?

For one thing, work will not seem like work. I have students who ask me how I can teach eight, nine or 10 hours and come back the next day with more energy. And I look at them and say, this is not work to me. It is not something I have to put a lot of effort or energy into. Instead, it energizes me.

In contrast, if you are pursuing a vocation or career that is not your path, you will only be able to do it for so long before you burn out, no matter how good the money, perks or prestige.

If you are not doing what you love, it will not resonate with your soul. Everything trickles down — spiritual, mental, emotional, physical. And at some point you will just say “I can’t do this any more.”

This is why I have seen people walk away from some of the most amazing high-paying jobs. Other people ask “why did you do that?” It didn’t resonate.

So what does this mean for our kids as they head back to school? Not that we try to dissuade them from getting a good education. I have a 10-year-old son and a daughter soon to be 3 and I absolutely will encourage them to go to college.

I will also tell them not to confuse their education with their path. An education, no matter how good it is, can put you into a box if you begin to think your academic learning is superior to other people’s practical life experience.

As our kids and other loved ones head back to school, be it elementary or graduate school, we should find out what they love and cultivate that, accepting them for who they are. If they are pursuing their path, they will find happiness, fulfillment and purpose.

Matthew B. James, MA, Ph.D., is President of Kona University. His new book, "The Foundation of Huna: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times" details forgiveness and meditation techniques used in Hawaii for hundreds of years. He carries on the lineage of the one of the last practicing kahuna of mental health and well-being.

Incredible: (adjective) amazing, extraordinary, beyond usual, remarkable, unique.

Have you said or thought of one of these sentences?

I know have an incredible book but nobody seems to be interested in it.
My incredible book has been on the market for the past year and I've only sold 47 books.
I don't see why I need a website, the incredible book should just sell on its own.
Everybody should read my incredible book.

Wa wa wa wa wa. Sounds like the teacher in Charlie Brown cartoons. In reality, your book probably isn't incredible and not very many people care if you've written it.

I know this isn't something you are happy to hear, but I need you be rationally open to what I have to say especially if you haven't sold over 1000 books in the first year. (According to Publishers Marketplace the average sales for self-published, subsidy, or small publishers is 200 books - total - lifetime of book. And, those are usually purchased by friends and relatives.)

As I've said before, if you haven't had high sales your book is just not moving the dial on the who-gives-a-crap meter. I'm not being insensitive or heartless, I just want you to get into the mode of making some changes for your own benefit.

Historically speaking marketing, publicity, advertising, and promotion:

1. is doing the same thing that worked 20 years ago
2. is using a communication style of buy-me or ad-speak
3. isn't incredible because the book isn't incredible either
4. doesn't net any book sales.

Great publicists know how to create a story that shows not tells about your book. They also understand your target audience. These are the publicists that create huge sales for the authors.

However, what I'm finding is that many authors that are attempting to do their own marketing and publicity don't know how to show, they just tell, and they don't know their target audience so they end up imitating something they see done by someone else.

You Can't be Incredible by Mocking Someone Else
No, imitation, replication, or reproduction doesn't work regardless if you've been told it does. Besides, your efforts are not going to come through as authentic and will look like you are trying to copy another author. You have to recognize who you are speaking to - your target market - and how they read and buy. (Fiction and nonfiction.) And, you have to share something in your marketing venue that is incredible.

Writing your own "show" marketing content will move you from being boring to being ahead of others in the same genre.

Planning for Word-of-Mouth - Moving the Dial
Recently, just to see what is going on in the industry, I've been following some blog tours and listening to podcasts. You are about to guess...no they didn't move the dial on my who-gives-a-crap meter! I found a lot of same-old, same-old questions:

How long did it take you the write the book?
Was it hard to get published?
What type of marketing are you doing?
Are you writing any more books?

Huh? Who cares??? I can guarantee you if you went to your local book store and polled readers none of them would care if it was hard to get your book published or that it took 15 years to write the book. Sure you can concentrate on talking about your writing, but, that's not good enough. It will not sell your book!

What you want is for the reader to be delighted to read such an incredible book and refer all their friends and family to read it. Incredible doesn't mean incredible to you, it means incredible to the reader. Repeat...incredible to the reader. (And, it's NOT Mom, Uncle Buzz, or your next door neighbor.)

Triggering Word-of-Mouth
You've been waiting for this, right? I can give you some pointers but unless you move your own dial it's not going to work. Huh? Didn't make much sense did it? Read on.

First of all , I want you to think of the recent few times you participated in word-of-mouth about a book you read. (Please don't tell me you don't read.) The book either exceeded your expectations or fell flat. Either way, your word-of-mouth was a result of:

Relevancy - the story or information was or was not pertinent to you, current times/social issues, or currently popular.

Writing - well written, good plot line, informative or had editing issues and/or poor character development.

Uniqueness - the plot or information was nothing that you've read before, or it was the same thing others have said.

The more incredible the book was, the stronger your word-of-mouth was. Right? Or, the other way around. If you didn't like the book, you made sure and told others you didn't.

No different than you, other readers are triggered by the same things. So, that means you have to figure out what triggers your readers.

Connect with Your Readers
You need to be proactive to create a word-of-mouth experience for your readers. Rather than telling them it took 4 years to write your book, tell them what is relevant to them. Connect with your readers on their level on a level playing field. Be transparent. Give them what they want, not what you think they want.

Use Reader Reviews as Word-of-Mouth
Reader reviews are one of the most imperative and powerful tools in your cache. But, not all reviews are created equal. Reviews must:

*Be honest. Any sense of a canned review or one that is extremely polished comes off as phony.
*Demonstrate the reader actually read the book and found it relevant. It must also show it filled a need.
*Have a credible name behind it. "A Reader" or "P.K" isn't credible. Neither is "X-Y-Z Blogger" with 3 followers.

Authors should significantly feature reviews that meet the above criteria.

Final Words for Creating Word-of-Mouth
Optimize your readers' experience by producing an incredible book (not your words, their words!) And, then, and only then, concentrate on spreading the word. If your reader doesn't experience your book as being incredible and you try to tell him or her it is or it doesn't match your marketing hype, you'll get burned. Be real! Offer relevancy and credibility. If you do, you'll have an incredible book with word-of-mouth buzz.

Do you use word-of-mouth to tell others about books you've read? What moves your dial when you read a book? Please leave me your comments.

Irene Watson is the Managing Editor of Reader Views, where avid readers can find reviews of recently published books as well as read interviews with authors. Her team also provides author publicity and a variety of other services specific to writing and publishing books.