How to write a profitable book review

Books are great products to add a little passive income to your bottom line each month. The benefit is that there almost always a number of quality books written on the subject and depending on what books you decide to promote for affiliate profits, the prices can range anywhere from ten dollars on Amazon.com to a hundred for a digital e-book from a niche expert.

The trick, typically, is to promote a book in a manner in which it doesn’t seem like you’re making a sales pitch. Enter…the book review.

Reviews are wonderful little tools to pre-sell any range of topics. In future posts I’ll talk about how to write other types of reviews however since I have the tremendous pleasure of being a professional book reviewer for a national magazine (a job I pinch myself for the good fortune to have every day) I thought I’d start with how to write book reviews.

Book reviews typically come in two main sections, contrary to how most content is written. Most content has an introductory paragraph, the body content with at least three main points supporting the intro paragraph and then the conclusion. Book reviews on the other hand have a summary paragraph and then an opinion paragraph, or vice versa. It’s perfectly acceptable to reverse the two however most people reading online want to get to the details of the product before they hear your opinion of it.

A typical review for a print publication ranges from 250-350 words. Online you can add a bit more content particularly if you’ve had a personal experience with the book.

For example, you’re reviewing a book for marathon runners and Chapter Three on nutrition really helped you improve your performance. That personal experience is fine to add to a blog type review. However if you’re structuring your content as a non-biased third party review then personal stories are best left out. Your audience and industry will determine the formality of your writing style.

Sitting down to write. Summaries are often the most difficult part of a book review to write. I typically write a first draft without thinking too much about it. I’ll then ponder the review for a day or two and then re-write it a couple times until I’m satisfied. It’s important to give both a comprehensive picture of what the book is about while still covering the important points your audience wants to know. Practice. Read a few online reviews and give it a shot. There’s still plenty of profits to be made in affiliate marketing and plenty of books to sell.

Happy writing!

Quick Editing Checklist for Non Editors

Some of us are writers, some of us are editors and some of us are neither - very few are both. I have to admit to being a terrible editor, (fortunately I am married to a wonderful one).

If you don’t have the good fortune to know a great editor first hand, here’s a great little checklist.

Step One . Use your word processing software’s grammar and spell-check. I even use my email spell-check - I’m a good speller but not such a great typist. The grammar and spell-check function often catches incomplete sentences, confusing sentences, bad punctuation and of course misspelled words. It doesn’t however catch those pesky words which sound alike but are spelled differently.

Step Two. Use your "Find and Replace" feature and search for all of the Your and You’re words to make sure they’re correct. Search for the It’s and its to make sure they’re correct. Search for There, their, they’re and so on. The "Find and Replace" feature makes the job a quick and reliable one - you won’t miss a single word.

Step Three. Read it aloud. This process forces you to actually read your content rather than to skim it with your eyes. It forces you to be thorough. Quite often this is where you will catch the sentences which just don’t make sense and the other minor errors your word processing tools don’t catch. For example, I often repeat words in in a sentence. Spell-check won’t catch that but reading it aloud does.

Step Four. Macro Editing. Up to this point you’ve really been searching for the small stuff. Now it’s time to take one last glance at your content and make sure you have a beginning paragraph which introduces your topic, a body paragraph with at least three points to support your beginning paragraph statement and a summary or conclusion paragraph which wraps it all up. Kind of brings you back to your old Literature and writing classes doesn’t it?

Step Five. Double check formatting consistency. Make sure all your subheadings are formatted the same - if you’ve been bolding some and underlining others, make them consistent. Make sure all of your links work, all of your bullets or numbered lists have the same margins and so on. Polish the formatting so your content is easy to read and professional.

Take these five steps to keep your writing error free, polished, and professional. Happy writing!

Your Secret Successes

Today I have a quick exercise for you.  I developed it because I noticed many of my direct selling clients have a way of washing over many of their accomplishments.  They are too busy either 1) beating themselves up for missing a goal they set or 2) concentrating on “the next thing” to give themselves credit for their own successes.

So, take out a piece of paper.  Number 1-5.  As fast as you can write down 5 things you’ve done well or accomplished in the past six months.  Do not worry about whether they are “big enough” to write down or “worthy” enough to write down.  Just write down 5 successes or accomplishments.

Now, look over your list.  First I want to be the first to say “Well done!”.  I’d like you to say “Well done” to yourself, too.  And then I want you to take it one step further. 

Call a trusted friend and say “I want to celebrate somethings I’ve done.  I’m not looking for feedback other than a rousing “good for you”.

Now - your successes aren’t such a secret:) 

The celebration you’ve staged on your own behalf will buoy you to achieve “the next thing” or re-double your efforts to achieve that goal you missed. 

Give it a try - I’d love to hear your experience:)

Love & Success!
Sarah

Heading For Summer, Sun And Fun In Your Service Business

Summer time is a brighter time not only because of the sunshine, but also because of the new outlooks we have after a long cold winter.   Smiles seem to be much more readily on our faces, and our energy level and vitamin D absorption into our bodies seems to be at our maximum level after a long hard winter, and a tight recession.

I am optimistic that this summer should be a time when we can create and restructure new ideas for our businesses.  Why not offer special coupon discounts, and fun give away door prizes and also incentives for people to want to use our services.  The public always like a fresh new concept and definitely an immediate savings after a long stretch of tightening their belts. 

I recommend that you invite clients into your business and give them a fun experience in addition to a service.  I would like to challenge you on your creative ideas on how you can make your service industry business a little more savvy, and  a lot more exciting.  Your ideas will be greatly appreciated not only by your clients but also by others who are in business and are at a standstill.  I also encourage you to write in and share your ideas with other women who are a part of our internet based moms family.

Also summer time is a time when we should take time out to day dream and visualize about where we want our businesses to go.  Visualization is just as critical as any other aspects of our businesses.  If we don’t visually see the plan in our minds, it is very difficult to proceed ahead with fresh and exciting concepts. 

I recommend that you take time out of each day and incorportate you visualization with some type of physical activity.  For example, try walking for about 30 minutes in a beautiful area that will spur on creative thinking.  If you are not able to take 30 minutes out of each day, I absolutely recommend that you take at least 30 minutes three times a week.  This is critical to the growth and planning and sucess of your business,  not to mention, how healthy it is for your body and soul.  And without your body and soul in a healthy postion, it is very difficult to maintain a positive focus on the  growth  and  maintenance of your entreprenuerial venture.

I am looking forward to an incredible summer of family, fun and fulfillment in restructure the fun aspects of your business.  And remember, this is an assignment that should begin at home with your family and friends and others who can be involved with the process of adding a little splash to your already sucessful business.

A Simple Challenge for Your Direct Sales Business

Hey there!

Lately I’ve become very interested in simplicity.  I ask myself “What is the simplest way to get from point A to point B?”  Now is a good time to remind everyone, including myself, that simple and easy are NOT the same word:)

I find the question especially helpful when I am feeling that the task in front of me is too big, or too hard or really really scary.

If I can break it down to ridiculously small steps, suddenly the task becomes a bit simpler and I feel better because I am actually in forward motion rather than frozen like a deer in the headlights.

So, here is my challenge to you:

1) Think of the one thing that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt would change to face of your business for the better.  You know, that thing you keep putting off doing because you…I don’t know….need to floss the dogs teeth or something:)

2) Write down 3 very small steps you could take toward accomplishing that thing.  I mean super small - so small that you look at it and say “There is no way I could not NOT do that.”  If you feel any resistance at all, the step is too big and you need to start over.

3) Write down these three small steps and proceed to do them.  Right now. If you can’t do at least one right now, your steps are too big.

4) After you accomplish your three small steps, congratulate yourself and celebrate with a treat  (I love treats!).

5) After your celebration, think of three more small steps you can take - tomorrow  - toward your destination!

Enjoy the feeling of forward motion and accomplishment!

Love & Success!
Sarah

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