Blue Pencil Consulting

TThis vintage photo is one of my favorite reminders that the written word has been my passion from a very early age. That’s me, somewhere before age two, sharing my books and magazines with a collection of stuffed friends. Yes, I managed to place the reading materials all right side up, and my mom was so taken with what she still refers to as my “school” that she snapped this picture. 

Aside from being happy that I've got a different hairstyle now, I’ve been thinking about my long-time involvement with words -- and helping others choose and polish theirs -- as I get ready to attend Grub Street’s fabulous annual “Muse and the Marketplace” conference this weekend. I love this event because it’s a chance to spend time with other people who write and read with abandon, and it’s a chance to hear new perspectives on  the shifts and opportunities in the publishing business. It’s also going to be a chance to step back from my current work on book development projects and fast-tracked book proposals, and zoom out to a big-picture view of publishing.

 What are the advantages and disadvantages of each publishing path? How do you craft a logline to sell your book in one sentence? Why choose an independent press as your publisher? These are just some of the questions to be explored at the sessions I’ll be attending, and I’ll be blogging about these post-conference.

 If you’re attending, please connect with me, say hello, share comments here, on the Blue Pencil Consulting Facebook page or on Twitter. See you at the Muse!

“Work is love made visible.” -- Kahlil Gibran

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I’d like to send a heartfelt “thank you” to all my clients, past and present, for the honor and pleasure of working with you to help you tell your stories. In his book The Prophet, poet Kahlil Gibran asked:

“And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.”

I shared this excerpt from Gibran’s poem with a networking group a few weeks ago, when I was asked to talk about why I do the work that I do. It struck me that it seems relevant on this day when we celebrate love. When I collaborate with clients on book projects, the work is indeed love made visible. The photo with this post is a selection of client books (arranged more or less in the shape of a heart). Each of those books is the result of the author’s passionate desire to share their expertise and ideas with the world, and it’s my delight to help them make that happen.

When I work with clients on their blogs, journal articles, and email newsletters, that too is work in which love is made visible (albeit in digital rather than physical form). Again, there is the client’s desire to communicate in a polished, effective way with a particular audience, and I love putting my editing, writing, and content development skills to work in the service of that goal.

So a special Valentine’s Day thank you to my clients, collaborators, and friends of Blue Pencil Consulting. Maybe your story is the one I’ll have the privilege of working on next...

Interested in learning more about how more than 50 New England authors have gotten published? Come to the New England Authors Expo and Holiday Book Sale on Sunday, November 11, from 1 PM to 7 PM at the Danversport Yacht Club (Route 62, Danvers, MA). Meet authors, buy holiday gifts for all the book lovers on your list, and chat with a number of small publishers and publishing services firms. Admission is free.

Blue Pencil Consulting is one of the exhibitors -- I’ll be there, ready to chat with people interested in the process of taking a idea and turning it into a published book. I’ll be sharing a table with Lisa McKenna of Curious Marie LLC; Lisa is a talented graphic designer who worked with me on one client’s new book, and who is also developing iOS apps.

At our table, I’ll have copies of some client books available for sale.

For the entrepreneur on your gift list, pick up a copy of Beth Goldstein’s Lucky By Design: Navigating Your Path to Success.

If there’s a harried mom on your gift list, here’s a terrific choice: Julie McGrath’s brand-new book, Joy-Worthy: A Mother’s Guide to More Joy, Less Stress and No Guilt.  

(If you can’t attend the Expo, both books are available via Amazon.)

For more information on the Expo, click here. Hope to see you there!

Interested in learning more about how more than 50 New England authors have gotten published? Come to the New England Authors Expo and Holiday Book Sale on Sunday, November 11, from 1 PM to 7 PM at the Danversport Yacht Club (Route 62, Danvers, MA). Meet authors, buy holiday gifts for all the book lovers on your list, and chat with a number of small publishers and publishing services firms. Admission is free.

Blue Pencil Consulting is one of the exhibitors -- I’ll be there, ready to chat with people interested in the process of taking a idea and turning it into a published book. I’ll be sharing a table with Lisa McKenna of Curious Marie LLC; Lisa is a talented graphic designer who worked with me on one client’s new book, and who is also developing iOS apps.

 At our table, I’ll have copies of some client books available for sale.

For the entrepreneur on your gift list, pick up a copy of Beth Goldstein’s Lucky By Design: Navigating Your Path to Success (http://www.m-edge.com/books/).

If there’s a harried mom on your gift list, here’s a terrific choice: Julie McGrath’s brand-new book, Joy-Worthy: A Mother’s Guide to More Joy, Less Stress and No Guilt (http://thejoysource.com/)  

(If you can’t attend the Expo, both books are available via Amazon.)

For more information on the Expo, visit http://peartreepublishing.net/events/authorsexpoHBS.php. Hope to see you there!

If you are a busy business owner using one or more social media platforms to build community and attract potential clients, you may struggle to come up with relevant content on a consistent basis. Adding dynamic, valuable content to platforms like your blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube or Pinterest is what keeps people coming back and helps turn them into clients.

One tool that’s incredibly useful for keeping yourself on track is a social media content calendar, much like the editorial calendars used by magazines and newspapers. Create a list or a spreadsheet with the dates you plan to add content to your social media platforms and generate a list of the topics you’ll address on each of those dates. You can certainly change the topics as you need to -- to react to a news development in your industry, for example -- but by generating a topic list ahead of time, you’ll never be at a loss for a topic to write about.

To learn more about how to generate ideas for terrific content that helps your business stand out from the competition, come to my 3-hour workshop “Content is King: Stand Out Using Social Media” on Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

This social media workshop takes place from 6:30 to 9:30 PM at the Danvers Campus of North Shore Community College. Register online now at North Shore Community College (www.northshore.edu) for course CSA103 (Continuing Education division).