Latest NEWS from The Book Shepherd this week / discover how to create Crystal Clear Characters

Practical Publishing Advice and Guidance for Authors

Create. Strategize. Develop. Publish. Achieve.

In this Issue

1. Author Tools … Discover Free Press Release Resource

2. Meet Author Help … Meet Booklife

3. Author Talk … Hall of Famer Dr/Commander Mary Kelly

4. March Author U Program … Create Crystal Clear Characters

5. Two Unpluggeds … FEB Sizzling Press Releases & MAR Speaking

6. AuthorU Program … ASK Judith on 3rd Friday Forward
7. Hot podcasts for February … Add to your calendar and listen

8. Author Salons … April and May posted

9. Question of the week … How many book reviews do I need?

10. Smile time … Mastery with old wood

Burrrrrrrrrr … it’s Colorado and COLD outside. This morning when I got up, the temp was MINUS 3 … so ugh. Yet, it’s toasty inside and I’m excited … I finally did it … I’ve turned some of the recipes you could grab on the JudithBrilesBooks.com website into a real book with lots more recipes and now available on Amazon! Cooking with Judith – Comfort Foods Create WOW Eating.

Do you love comfort food? Come cook with me. I’ve got 50 plus of my recipes for you. Here’s the Amazon link: https://amzn.to/40Yp0NZ ... available in Print, eBook, Audio.

Today, it was #36 in paper and #68 in eBook form … woot, in the Top 100 for cookbooks!

It’s the second Wednesday of the month, meaning that one of the amazing Authors Hall of Fame Inductees will spend an hour talking about the journey what’s happening, insights to become a super successful author and selling zillions of books. Today, Dr./Commander Mary Kelly joins in. All on Zoom starting at 5 pm MT … Info below.

Bookstore happenings coming up … Come AuthorU authors at Barnes & Noble Colorado Blvd on March 15 or in the new Superior bookstore on March 16. In April, I’ll be in Lakewood on April 5 and Southlands on April 6.

Publishing at Sea is in countdown time … 20 more days and then no snow in my midst for seven days. Just sun, water, and surrounded by 26 authors. Perfect.

The AuthorYOU Salons are posted for April and May. March is a pass due to being at the Publishing at Sea gathering. It’s schmoozing and learning with other authors and coming aways with tips galore. Get registered here—remember this is an AuthorU.org benefit. https://www.meetup.com/authoryousalons/

Smart Thoughts ... This week, Jules Marie joins me on the AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing podcast. It’s all about Book Award Contests through a judge’s eyes. Listen in only or watch and listen on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/@DrJudithBrilesTheBookShepherd/podcasts

1. February 5, 12, 19, 26 - Amazon Best Seller workshops

2. February 12 Author Talk with Mary Kelly

3. February 13 Podcast - Book Designer Trends

4. February 20 Podcast - Pitching and Working with Bookstores

5. February 21 ASK Judith Zoom time—Publishing and Book Marketing

6. February 21 Create Sizzling Press Releases Unplugged – In-Person

7. February 22 Create Sizzling Press Releases Unplugged – online

8. February 27 – Podcast - Writing the Ultimate Press Release

9. March 1 What Color Is Your Writing?

10. March 2-9 Publishing at Sea

11. March 6 Podcast – Writing --What's Working and What's Not

12. March 12 Author Talk with Helen Thorpe

13. March 13 Podcast – What Color Is Your Writing?

14. March 15 - Barnes & Noble book signings Colorado Blvd.

15. March 16 - Barnes & Noble Book Signing Superior Colorado

16. March 20 Podcast – Digital Marketing

17. March 21 ASK Judith Zoom time—Publishing and Book Marketing

18. March 21 Speaking Unplugged – In-Person

19. March 22 Speaking Unplugged – online

20. March 27 Podcast - Avoiding the Most Common Author Mistakes

Authors are creating press releases … here’s another free source.
PR Urgent News is kind to authors—it’s offers a tutorial/how-to write a press release. It’s a full service website where you distribute your news at no cost to places like Google, Bing, and MSN. Press releases are simple to create, and approval is done within 24 hours—it also has an express service for $9.95. Stuck for time … PR Urgent News will find a writer to get your words out if you don’t have time. https://www.prurgent.com/

A BookLife Review is a respectful, knowledgeable, detailed review of your book that includes a variety of marketing insights and critical assessments, all crafted by a professional Publishers Weekly reviewer who’s an expert in your genre or field. The mission of BookLife Reviews is to support indie authors through one of the most challenging parts of self-publishing: marketing the finished book. An honest and detailed 300-word review from BookLife Reviews highlights your book’s strengths and analyzes its potential for reaching an audience while giving you a valuable assessment of ways that future editions or future books can be made even better.

And it’s a way to get your foot in the Publishers Weekly door.

Marketing insights help you target promotional efforts to the readers who are most likely to enjoy your book, and the review is designed to provide accurate, positive quotes and a pithy one-sentence takeaway aimed directly at the book’s best audience.

For just $399, you’re guaranteed to receive a review within six weeks (four weeks for an additional expediting fee). Marketing can be complicated and daunting; a BookLife Review will help to guide you through. AuthorYOU members save 10%.

https://booklife.com/

Mary Kelly (US Navy (retired), shares her experiences in leadership globally. It has led to 20 books, including the award-winning bestselling Master Your World, 15 Ways to Grow Your Business in any Economy, Money Smart; 360 Degrees of Leadership, Stop the Barking, and In Case of Emergency Break Glass.

Join bestselling Colorado Authors Hall of Fame Inductee Mary Kelly as she takes center stage and reveals her journey to becoming an author and trendsetter for business, self-help, and leadership books ... oh the places she has been ... and will go.

Who Is Mary Kelly?

· Mary is the author of 20 leadership and productivity books.

· Winner of the Gold Nonfiction Book Award and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for Who Comes Next?

· She has trained more than 40,000 military and civilian personnel.

· She spent 25 years of active duty in the Navy.

· She was a military professor at the Naval Academy and a civilian professor at the Air Force Academy.

She was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of fame in 2023.
Author Happy Talk is live the second Wednesday of each month and features one of the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame Inductees.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email. On Wednesday morning, you will get a reminder and the Zoom link.

Are willing to invest one Saturday morning to create a strategy and write a press release with my guidance in just 4 hours? A press release that will be ready to send out to the media the next Monday? And a press release that I will personally release to my media contacts for the extra boost to support you?

The Create Sizzling Press Releases Unplugged will create the structure, help you write your customized press release, and a template for you going forward. The reason that it is limited to five participants is that I’m coaching and rewriting with you. The goal is that you will walk away with a “done” task. And it will be fun.

If you want to be seriously successful in your media outreach, you need to be here.

Online Saturday, February 22

Get ready to roll up your sleeves and learn how to create, implement, and execute press releases. When you sign up … I will send you a short list of “to do” items before our session.

Your Requirements:

1. 4 hours of your time online via Zoom or In-Person with Judith Briles on a Saturday morning. This is not a webinar, it’s live, coaching to get it done.

2. An “I can do this attitude” and commitment to do the work during our workshop.

3. and post-work each work. Your laptop computer. Do not use an iPad or your Mobile. Register HERE: https://bit.ly/PRUnplugged

Early bird ends on February 10th

In- Person Friday, February 21 - Cost: $297

Online Saturday, February 22 - Cost: $297

Speaking Unplugged

March 22 ONLINE

March 21 - In-Person
8:30 A.M - 2:30 P.M.

If you want to sell books ... as it LOTS of THEM? Speaking on them, and your expertise, is the #1 way to do it. Do you have my book, How to Create a Million Dollar Speech? This full day workshop is an intense and FUN interactive and woven with live individual coaching.

· Zoom is the Online meeting spot.

Space is limited to a max of 10 participants. Starts at 9 am to 4.00 pm each day. Get registered before Tuesday. Alumni participants of other Unplugged events are always discounted.

https://bit.ly/JBSpeakingUnplugged

Get my book, How to Create a Million Dollar Speech HERE: https://bit.ly/CreateSpeech

The Book Shepherd, Judith Briles is YOURS for 60 minutes on Friday, January 10th to ask any question you have about book publishing, book marketing, writing a book ... or just getting a "little juice" to start your engines after the Holiday rush from the past few weeks.

Post your questions as soon as you come on ... Judith will come to you LIVE and bring you on the mic to respond to YOU and possibly ask additional questions.

It's 60 minutes to seed your2025 success... and why not? Grab your favorite beverage; just listen in ... or ASK, ASK, ASK! It's time to re-juice and rekindle your author energy!

Join Zoom Meeting – click on it or copy/paste
https://zoom.us/j/95000476418?pwd=3ZRTEhb1TDrTvzcjps9ov0r3Tpihbg.1

Passcode: will be sent

Add to Your Calendar: Friday, February 21 at 3 MT (2 PT, 5 CT, 5 ET)

March 1, 2025 Saturday … starting at 8 am PT, 9 MT, 10 CT, 11 ET
It’s on ZOOM with Mara Purl

Get ready for a full two program …

Your first hour will focus on distinctions, delineations, and dimensions using the power of color in your writing. Your second hour will incorporate the strategies of using the Myers Briggs Personality Profiles as you create characters in your fiction and the use of stories in setting the stage of a nonfiction concept.

· Your Book Characters’ Color Personality will be revealed within the “live” personality test you will complete within the workshop.

· Next, you will use the tools within the Myers Briggs Personality Type Test to expand your descriptions of what your characters think and do.

· The workshop will be recorded and sent out to registered participants.

Information and registration here: https://www.authoru.org/events

Free to AuthorU VIP members. All others pay $25

Answer: As many as you can get. You’ve got to ask, re-ask, and ask again. I know it’s a pain in the tush, but this is part of the author game. When you are out and presenting on your book—and there are buyers, get their names, emails, and I f you can, mobile number. Send a thank you and a request to post a review with a link to where you want it to go. The smart author uses a shortener such as Bit.ly or TinyURL to customize it. And then remind them again. Carry a SignIN sheet with you so that you can add names and emails—you never know what group you are may be with and someone(s) ask to buy your book directly from you. Be prepared.

This is how each call starts: I share a few strategies, tips, and tools that attendees can immediately start to use. All share … and ask plenty of questions. They get answers. Definitely an excellent way to start a Friday. Those of you who aren’t participating, you are making a mistake. I love the variety of books and authors who have chosen to participate. What’s also fun, is the energy that can be felt with what everyone is working on. Love it!

Here’s the link to take advantage of it and subscribe: https://thebookshepherd.com/author-friendly-fridays/

About Judith Briles, The Book Shepherd ™

Book Publishing expert Judith Briles, aka The Book Shepherd, has shepherded more than 1,000 authors and created 500 best-sellers and award-winning books. She knows publishing inside and out from both the traditional and independent sides. Judith is an advocate for authors within her blogs, podcasts and speaking engagements. What’s her pet peeve? Two words: publishing predators.

She hosts the podcast AuthorU-Your Guide to Book Publishing which generates over 250,000 downloads a month. Her website is www.TheBookShepherd, email: JudithBriles.com and phone: 303-885-2207.