Teresa Jade LeYung's BLOG

Posts Tagged ‘Writing Career Make-Over’

Coach Teresa here to tell you about how, once again, writers brighten my day.

I had redesigned one of my signature presentations for California Writers Club-Redwood Branch and created a new template for Writing Career Make-Over with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan.

I so wanted to help every writer in the audience see how simple building one’s platform could be.  To get familiar with my audience, I read every word of Redwood Writers’ January 2012 newsletter and looked at the names of the entire membership roster on the branch’s website.  The exciting programs created by the members are synonymous with Redwood Writers. I spent weeks preparing for my presentation.

But I goofed!   Even though my definition of platform was on the template, I didn’t say it!  And, because I didn’t say: “A platform is making your name stand for something—to attract targeted consumers who are likely to buy what you have to sell,”  my talk was missing  structure.

Whether you write fiction, narrative nonfiction or prescriptive nonfiction (how to books) or poetry or plays or anthologies. . . whether you want to land an agent or acquisition editor at a publishing house . . . whether you want to be your own publisher . . . you’re going to need a platform.

Let’s dissect the definition of a platform.  “Making your name stand for something—to attract targeted consumers who are likely to buy what you have to sell.” (page 1 of my workbook Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days)

The last part “what you have to sell” — what you’re selling is your literary works or services.

The middle part “to attract targeted consumers” — the targeted consumers are the folks who read and buy the kind of material you write about.

The first part “Making your name stand for something” — that was the heart of my presentation–to help each writer identify the themes/subject matters/issues that he/she writes about. For my template, I had found on Google Images the perfect hard hat  to illustrate my point that the hardest job in platform-building is asking yourself and answering these questions: What is it that I write about? What are my themes/subject matters/issues? What will readers gain from reading my work?

So, there I was, asking 7 delightful authors (Marcia Naomi Berger, Deborah Taylor-French, Amanda McTigue, Robbi Sommers Bryant, Paul Greenberg,  Ana Manwaring, Heidi Roth) to come up to the stage to speak their full names. I guided them on how to identify: her/his picture of success; the themes/subject matters/issues that he/she writes about;  his/her motivators & modus operandi; her/his fans and where to find them.

Making one’s name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues one writes about.

If I had prepared everyone with the “why” for doing the exercises, then more writers in the audience would have gained their “aha moments” too.

When I coach my clients  . . .prescriptive nonfiction (how to books) authors usually answer those questions with ease. It’s not so easy for fiction and narrative nonfiction authors. I’d say: “Instead of telling me the plotline or the character sketch, think about the issues and the themes.  What does your protagonist have to deal with?  What will your protagonist learn in story world?  What your main character learns, your readers will also learn!”  The answers will help you form your mission statement.

So, Coach Teresa, define a writer’s platform!  “Making your name stand for something—to attract targeted consumers who are likely to buy what you have to sell.”

Understanding what a platform is gives you a fresh look at your writing career.

And you’ll be ready to have more fun doing the exercises in my workbook. Day I exercises:  “Who am I?” and “What I Have in Common with Super Famous People” (take a sneak peek at Amazon’s “look inside” of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days

I wish to thank these folks again:

Linda C. McCabe for inviting me to present

The entire Redwood Writers Board

Everyone in the audience yesterday

Kate Farrell for helping me format my template on her MAC and being a loving friend

Everyone who gave me their comments on the evaluation sheet.

Everyone who told me about their themes before and after the presentation.

Everyone who bought Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days and will start Day I exercises:  “Who am I?” and “What I Have in Common with Super Famous People”

Everyone who bought Love Made of Heart (my novel to inspire adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their families)

Kate Farrell made my day by showing me Lindsay Pasdera Marquez’s email to Redwood Writers’ listserver.

Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 8:57 AM

Re: [RWmembers] glad to have found RWC

I joined RWC a few months back, and was able to attend my first meeting yesterday.  Wow!  I feel very fortunate to have access to such a vibrant community of passionate writers in my own backyard.

I appreciated Teresa LeYung-Ryan’s perspective and am thrilled to have a written mission statement (Dream) for my work. Mine is: to dramatically increase the percentage of Americans who are aware that humans have a rich history of cooperation, egalitarianism, and non-violence. Writing that statement helped me see the coherence between my two current writing projects: one, a historical fiction set in sixth century Scotland among a matrilineal tribal people, and two, my blog (www.ancientabundance.blogspot.com) on the true nature of pre-agricultural humanity.  I have chosen a pen name for both the novel and the blog.

I look forward to taking advantage of all the wonderful growth opportunities that RWC has to offer and to getting to know each of you over time.

Happy New Year!

Lindsay Pasdera Marquez

Here’s my response:

Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 8:57 AM

Good Day Fabulous Redwood Writers!

Thank you for your participation yesterday for my “Writing Career Make-Over with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan” presentation.
Thank you for your comments on the evaluation sheets.

Lindsay, I am jumping for joy seeing your mission statement; it speaks with clarity. Be sure to add your mission statement to your signature block in emails (even emails to personal friends). Why? You want all your fans to see what you are passionate about. Fans talk about passionate people.

I will write a follow-up to yesterday’s session and submit it to Robin Moore and/or Lynn Millar for those who could not make it yesterday.

“Reach out, not stress out, when building your writer’s platform!”
Sincerely,
Coach Teresa 

http://writingcoachteresa.com

Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW (in print edition and E-book)

More rewards:

I’m going to submit my 10-minute play to 2012 Redwood Writers 2nd Playwriting Contest. Thank you, Linda Loveland Reid, for creating the contest!

Today, after Kate Farrell fed me breakfast and got me to Golden Gate Transit Mall in plenty of time (Thank you, Kate!), I met up with another dear friend–author Lynn Scott. I told Lynn about my goof-up yesterday; she laughed at me, lovingly. Thank you, Lynn! “Focus on the positive,” reminded Lynn.  Once again, writers brighten my day. I am a happy and thankful coach/author/friend.

To participate in this blog post (article), submit a comment by: clicking on the blue title bar of this post, scrolling down to get the boxes, filling in the boxes and click on “submit comment” button — so that thousands of my fans will see your name, URL (your website/blog address if you have one), and what themes/subject matters/issues you write about.

I’m cheering for you!

January 2012 Events for Writers, Authors, Business Owners

Happy New Year to You!

January 5, 2012 6:00-7:30pm Women’s National Book Association SF Chapter members and prospective members welcomed to “Authors Exchange Solutions” discussions with Birgit Soyka, Teresa LeYung-Ryan and Mary E. Knippel at San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Room A – free event

January 8, 2012 “Writing Career Make-Over with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan” at California Writers Club Redwood Branch in Santa Rosa, CA  $5 for CWC member; $8 non-member

January 12, 2012 roundtable discussion “Building Your Writer’s Platform with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan“  free Internet event. Sign up at National Assn. of Memoir Writers

January 29, 2012 10:00am–5:00pm Half Moon Bay, CA  “Create Your Success Story from the Inside Out” with Mary E. Knippel, founder of Your Writing Mentor, sponsored by Women’s National Book Assn-San Francisco Chapter $35 for WNBA member; $55 non-member

February 2, 2012 6:00-7:30pm Women’s National Book Association SF Chapter members and prospective members welcomed to “Authors Exchange Solutions” discussions with Birgit Soyka, Teresa LeYung-Ryan and Mary E. Knippel at San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Room A — free event

Arts in the Valley is hosted by Kim McMillon on 1480 KYOS in Merced, CA. Merced County has a vibrant arts community that Arts in the Valley showcases along with local and national authors. Arts in the Valley often has theme shows where topics of health, healing, women’s issues, and topics of interest to our listeners are discussed.  http://artsinthevalley.wordpress.com/

California Writers Club CWC http://calwriters.org/ 10 branches in northern California and 9 branches in southern California. CWC shall foster professionalism in writing, promote networking of writers with the writing community, mentor new writers, and provide literary support for writers and the writing community as is appropriate through education and leadership.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

http://writingcoachTeresa.com

Teresa is author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW (in print edition and E-book)

Katherine Ellison–December 11,  2011   and Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan–January 8, 2012

at California Writers Club, Santa Rosa, California

Katherine Ellison--from investigative reporting to memoir

December 11, 2011 will be Katherine Ellison:
“From the global to the personal: one writer’s journey from investigative reporting to memoir.”

Journalist Katherine Ellison will talk about her career as an investigative journalist covering international events as Central American wars and figures such as Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos to shifting gears and writing nonfiction books including a memoir about her son’s ADHD.

Katherine Ellison is a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist, former foreign correspondent, writing consultant, author of four books, and mother of two sons.

http://redwoodwriters.org/

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan helps fiction & nonfiction authors "Writing-Career MakeOver"--photo by MKWL

January 8, 2012 “Writing Career Make Over with Coach Teresa LeYung Ryan”

Learn how to:

• reveal  your  “picture-of-success” to create your model
• understand your unique motivators & modus operandi
• blend the “who, what, when, where”  your way, fun way

Coach Teresa will choose 3 writers from the audience—representing the 3 umbrella genres (fiction, narrative non-fiction, and prescriptive non-fiction a.k.a. how-to books)—and guide them in this interactive session. Everyone will receive Coach Teresa’s “Writing-Career-Make-Over” template.  Q&A to please all.

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan wears 3 hats and has helped over 1,000 writers take steps to further their careers.  http://writingcoachTeresa.com

• She’s the author of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW (a workbook for anyone who has anything to promote—available in print edition and as E-book).

• Coach Teresa edits manuscripts for authors who want to attract agents  & publishers  OR  want to be their own publishers.

• Her using her novel Love Made of Heart (to inspire adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their families) demonstrates the power of making one’s name synonymous with the themes/subject matters/issues one writes about.

http://redwoodwriters.org/meetings/

How to submit a question/comment to this post or any post in my blog:

• Click on the blue header (title bar) of the post
• Scroll down until you see boxes and fill in the boxes (you do need an email address to submit questions/comments; if you have a website/blog, do promote it  by keying in the address)
• After you fill in the boxes, you might want to keep a copy of your question/comment before clicking the  “submit comment” button.

Coach Teresa here to announce that I have changed the cover price of the print edition of Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days: Attract Agents, Editors, Publishers, Readers, and Media Attention NOW from $22 to $12.96

Why? When the workbook was $22, folks had to pay for Amazon.com’s shipping or buy another item to reach $25 for free shipping.  If you already have my workbook (Thank you! And please tell me how you’re building your platform by submitting a comment to this post!). . . . maybe as holiday gifts for yourself and a friend . . .  get another book on writing (like The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master or Blockbuster Plots: Pure & Simple — both books by Martha Alderson or any of the books I recommend click here to see or a movie to study dialogue as I discussed in my post of Nov. 12, 2011) for yourself and Build Your Writer’s Platform & Fanbase In 22 Days for a friend who needs to reach out, not stress out, to build platform/fanbase/client-base.

If your friend prefers Ebook edition it is $9.81

A note to folks who shop only at brick-and-mortar bookstores . . .  I support independent bookstores and encourage writers to do the same. Independent booksellers order books through their distributors and if their distributors do not list the book you want, then your independent bookseller can’t order the book for you. BookShop West Portal in San Francisco carries my workbook and my novel Love Made of Heart.

Example:  If you go to http://www.laurelbookstore.com/ (one of my favorite booksellers) and key in my name [ Teresa LeYung Ryan ] in the search box, you’ll see both my workbook and my novel in their database because Laurel Book Store’s distributor lists the titles.

A note to writers:  If there are bookstores near you, do visit them.  Study new releases (front cover, back cover, jacket copy, table of contents, read the first page) whether you are considering self-publishing or not; let booksellers know you support them; attend readings, meet other folks who are interested in what you’re interested about. The feature-author at a reading could turn into a mentor/advisor; everyone you meet could turn into your fans.

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan helps fiction and nonfiction writers build their platforms and fanbases before and after publication--photo by MKWL

Please tell your friends who live in the San Francisco Greater Bay Area that I will be at these forums (click here for full schedule and details):

Dec. 1, 2011 San Francisco Public Library-Main Branch

Jan. 8, 2012 California Writers Club-Redwood Branch in Santa Rosa  “Writing-Career-Make-Over with Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan”

Jan. 12, 2012 teleseminar for National Association of Memoir Writers

February 2012 San Francisco Writers Conference

March 24, 2012 Women’s National Book Association presents “Meet the Agents/Speed Dating with Agents”  Teresa LeYung-Ryan will coach registrants on how to pitch.

Sincerely,

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

Please visit my website http://writingcoachteresa.com

If you wish to email me, I’m writingcoachTeresa at gmail.com

Reach out, not stress out, when pursuing your dreams!