This is the seventh post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

In this post I want to peel the curtain back and discuss the topic of book endorsements. You know, those blurbs at the beginning of books (and sometimes on the front or back cover) that say how great it is? They normally feature famous people and other authors.

I have to confess that I rarely read them. But I do notice them, and I scan through to see the names I recognize. It can be impressive, and while I don’t know if that’s convinced me to purchase a book outright, it does add legitimacy and credibility to the product.

Before I go too far here and start sounding cynical, I want to stress how honoring it was for me to have 17 endorsements on my book for the initial printing. I look at my endorsements less cynically than I do for most other books. Read this to understand why:

1) Did They Read the Book?

I’m the kind of person that won’t even write an Amazon review for something if I haven’t used the product. That goes for books as well. I need to read it in order to write a review. But not everyone is so steadfast to that rule.

A lot of authors, famous and not-so-famous, love to see their name in print. They love to have top billing in the endorsements, and maybe even get on the front cover along with the author.

If you have a big name and a huge audience, you have influence. That influence can help sell books, because while a potential reader may not know the author, if they know the reviewer and trust what they say, they are more likely to notice the new guy and his book. Attention and audience sells a lot more books than great content.

And then a lot of these big names are busy. They get asked to endorse a ton of books every year and can’t possibly read them all. Some do it to be nice, and some do it to support the author or a cause. I can understand that a bit more, but I still think if they do it too often or endorse a lot of junk, the value of their recommendation will diminish.

2) Do They Know the Author?

Some endorsements are not about the book at all, but are testimonials for the author. If you serve people well, you will have fans. And sometimes those fans will say great things about you. Those things can lend credibility to the things you create, including books.

So maybe they didn’t get a chance to read it, or maybe no one was allowed to read it in advance. A sincere recommendation for an author from a friend or client is perfectly valid…most of the time. The bigger risk here is for the author. I wouldn’t want to burn my connections by putting stellar endorsements in my book, only to have it bomb and make them look bad or have regrets for having done so.

3) Did They Even Write It?

And this is the biggest surprise of the entire process: most endorsements are not written by the person who “said” it in the book. They are initially written by the author or a publicist, then given the green light by the big name endorser. Sometimes a few words will be changed, but that’s it.

Now there are some endorsements that are 100% written by the endorser. But can you tell which ones are which? And does it matter if the words are true and accurate to the endorser’s beliefs about the book?

This process is used to make it easy for the endorser. Can I really expect someone who is famous and/or successful to take the time to read my book and come up with a one paragraph book review? Some will, but most won’t. Make it easy and you have a better chance.

4) How Did I Do It?

As I am not famous, did not have a large audience, and the book was being self-published, I simply started by making a list of all of the people I knew who might endorse my book. I included the relatively well known authors and business connections I have, as well as colleagues and former clients. The list grew to nearly 100 people.

I separated out the bigger names, all of whom I had some connection with (no need to waste my time approaching Oprah…but I’d answer if she called! Seriously, call me…please!). With this handful of folks I crafted a sample endorsement or two, based on what I thought they might say. I wrote very nice emails and provided advanced copies of the book for them to review. Then I simply asked for their endorsement and said they could use/adjust what I had written or send whatever they wanted. Most made a few edits, congratulated me, and wished me well.

For my colleagues, I used a similar process. Using a private forum we were all a part of, I listed a collection of possible endorsements and allowed them to claim the one they liked best (or write their own). Again, it made it easy. Some picked one, some tweaked one, and some wrote a new one from scratch.

For my clients, I simply asked for an endorsement of me or the book. These meant so much to me because they reflected at a deep, personal level the impact I had made on their lives. It reinforced the reason why I’d spent three years crafting the book, and why it needed to finally go to the printer to be shared with others.

That’s pretty much it. I do want to reiterate that I have personal connections with everyone who endorsed my book, though some are deeper than others. I take great pride in what they said, even when I wrote the bulk of what they agreed to. But some of them wrote every word of their endorsement.

So who wrote which endorsements in Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite? I’l never tell!

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!

This is the sixth post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

This is a post about how my book got its name. If you want information on crafting a good title, talk to someone else. I pretty much stink at coming up with great book titles (as you’ll see below).

That’s not to say I don’t think they’re great at the time. I fall in love with them. And if that gets the book writing process moving, I guess that’s a good thing. The worst thing you can do is spend all your time coming up with a title without writing the book! Maybe that’s why they call it a “working title”, eh?

1) This Is Not Easy

Make It Look Easy was the title of my book when it was first conceived. I was playing on the concept that the greatest performers–in sports, stage & screen, business, etc.–are so good at what they do that they make it look like anyone can do it. Some examples:

• Auto Racing: How many NASCAR fans think they could get behind the wheel and race? Probably an overwhelming majority. After all, 97.4% of all drivers think they’re above average! [think about it…now laugh]
• American Idol: People who can really sing make it look so darn easy! Are the people auditioning for AI really that clueless about their singing ability? Probably (unless they just want to get on TV to be made fun of). I’d much rather find the hidden talent of people who can sign but have never bothered to find out. Maybe that’ll be Simon Cowell’s next hit show…random people singing on the street!

Anyway, this title started to die about halfway through the writing process when Dan Miller told me he didn’t like it. He asked me, “What is ‘It’?” and that was the end. The title wasn’t intriguing enough to be mysterious, and it wasn’t specific enough to tell a potential reader/buyer what it was about. Back to the drawing board…

2) 50 Titles and Counting

Luckily I didn’t waste too much time worrying about finding a new title. Well, I probably did. Not having the title nailed down was frustrating. But after a bit, I focused on the writing again instead of the title.

As the book neared completion, I knew it needed a real title. I started playing with words and had an actual list of more than 50 titles written down.

I ran many of them by friends, and eventually picked my top ten (including the original title) for a poll amongst my book team members:

• Simple Planning, Significant Results
• 50 Shades of Strategic Planning
• Build Your Own Roadmap
• Unstuck
• Make It Look Easy
• Put Your Potential to Work
• Planning for Greatness
• The Roadmap
• Do What Works
• Simple Strategic Planning
• Effortless

I narrowed it down a bit and did another poll. I had new ideas and pitched them to the group. The churning continued as the deadline for publication neared, and I still needed enough time to develop a book cover, artwork, and maybe even a new domain and website. Ugh!

3) Superman Rises

It was April 23rd, 2013 at 11:02 pm when, about 30 posts into a thread on my private Facebook group for the book team, the word “Kryptonite” first emerged. Who else could have hit the word but Chuck Bowen, my mentor and the creator of the Simple Strategic Planning process that inspired the book. He simply called it, The Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite.

A little over 12 hours later, when civilized people were awake, my friend Kevin Miller (son of Dan Miller who killed the original title) added the word “Conquer”. There it was for the first time: Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite.

We debated using “Conquering” for a while, but I ended up liking the impact and brevity of “Conquer” better.

Bonus Title Trivia:

• There were already two brief Superman references in the book before the title emerged, but they were not part of a theme.
• The title inspired a new theme throughout the book. It was carried by a brief statement or paragraph on the chapter title pages. I wrote those in about 10-15 minutes…they just flowed from my mind to the page!
• The title also inspired my friend and amazing graphic artist, George Amequito, to design the lightning bolt design I used in the book (which is now a personal logo). He captured the superhero concept perfectly, and it fit the content of the book as well. In my mind, the circle represents the completed plan which is struck by lightning, representing action and pouring out the contents of the plan. The roughness of the image show both the lack of perfection and the struggle required to make something meaningful happen.
• The release date of the book was June 14th, 2013, the same day that the movie Man of Steel was released in theaters in the US. My goal had been July 1st, but I didn’t have an exact date set until the movie and the book themes overlapped.
• The subtitle (Simple Strategic Planning for You and Your Business) is another story all together, but I don’t think we had quite as many debates over it! If I had to do it over, I’d probably add “9 Steps to” at the beginning of the subtitle, just because it has a bit more hook to it.

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!

This is the fifth post in a series dedicated to the anniversary of the publishing of my first book, Conquer the Entrepreneur’s Kryptonite. The purpose of this series is to share what I’ve learned to help inspire you to do the same if there’s a book in your heart waiting to get out.

After more than two and a half years of crafting my masterpiece, the end was in sight. I had no idea how much work the last six months before publication would entail, but I knew I wouldn’t do my best work if I did it alone.

It was about February of 2013 when I put out the invitation to join my Book Team. I created a private Facebook group where I could post content or questions, and they were a huge help. I thanked the 39 of them by name in the back of the book, but I want to share here the value they provided in those last few months leading up to the big launch.

1) Feedback

Whether it was posting cover ideas or polling them for their thoughts on potential book titles, they never failed to validate or challenge what I was thinking…sometimes both at once! This group of friends and fans provided the perfect sounding board.

2) Accountability

By inviting them into the creative process, I created expectations that I needed to deliver on time and on target. They encouraged me when the sea of doubts overwhelmed me. They pushed me finish, and because of them, I was still standing at the finish line instead of crawling on bloody knees.

3) Idea Generation

It wasn’t like I grabbed 40 random people to be a part of a focus group. This was a group of avid supporters who knew me and knew my project. They engaged in more than just support…they provided new and exciting ideas. Some were great (this is how the book got “Kryptonite” in the title) and some were not so good (like trying to put “zombie” in the title). Though the not so good ones were still fun.

4) Marketing and Promotion

In addition to being supporters and encouragers, the people on my team were promoters. They helped spread the word prior to the book’s release, including the Indiegogo pre-sale campaign. It is impossible to know how many books were sold thanks to their efforts, but it was enough to triple my crowdsourcing goal.

5) A Bigger World

If I had tackled the finalization and publication of the book on my own, it would have been a very lonely process. There were a lot of late nights and early mornings. The effort was very intense and stressful. But with 39 people on my team, how could I feel alone? I didn’t, thanks to them.

Stay tuned as I write about the writing process, the finishing process, formatting, creating the trifecta (book, e-book, and audiobook), crowdsourcing, my support team, and so much more. I don’t know how long the series will last and I haven’t written the next post yet, but I’m going to share all of the ups and downs I can remember!

If you have specific topics you want me to cover, leave a comment or send me a note!