The Fabulist Flash

Issue 111

with Photography by Gregory A. Kompes

2007 Hoover Dam Reflection

In This Issue:

1. This Week
2. Becoming an Expert
3. Gain Expert Recognition
4. Judi Moreo takes the 18Q
5. About The Fabulist Flash

1. This Week

Networking can happen without even knowing it. About a year ago, I submitted a short piece to an anthology about an experience I shared with my first golden retriever. The story was accepted and published in Chopped Liver for the Gentle Spirit. Flash forward: I was VERY late for a lunch meeting a few months ago and I gave a copy of that book as an apology. My lunch companion loved my story and shared it with a friend who publishes a local dog magazine. The editor contacted me about running my dog story in her publication. I retain the rights, so said yes. She then asked if I'd be interested in writing an article for the same issue. Another yes. (I've never thought of myself as a dog expert even though I've had dogs my whole life. I think a little differently today!) The editor was so pleased that I now have several article assignments for upcoming issues.

This series of events illustrates several points. 1. Being published in anthologies doesn't usually pay well, if at all, but the marketing potential of these publications can be incredible. 2. We never know who will read what we write and publish, or who those readers know. 3. We're all experts at things, even if we don't realize it.

So, to get you thinking more about your own expert status, this week's issue includes Alyson Mead's Becoming an Expert and Hans Hasselfors 9 Ways to Gain Expert Recognition. Plus, Judi Moreo, a multifaceted expert and professional speaker and author takes the 18Q.

A reminder: mark your calendars and join me at the fifth annual Vegas Valley Book Festival celebrating the written, spoken and illustrated word November 3-4, 2006. Located in the heart of the downtown Las Vegas Arts District, this literary and arts event includes two full days of readings, book discussions, workshops, and spoken word performances. I'm speaking on two panels on Friday, November 3: Self-publishing vs. Traditional Publishing (10:30 AM) and The Importance of Good Editing (11:45 AM). I'll also be signing books in a booth with members of the Henderson Writers' Group on Boulder from 6:00-10:00 PM as part of a literary First Friday. Hope to see you there. (For locations and more information, visit http://www.vegasvalleybookfest.org/)

Until next week,

Gregory
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Gregory A. Kompes (www.kompes.com) is a writer, manuscript consultant and author of the bestseller 50 Fabulous Gay-Friendly Places to Live, The Endorsement Quest, The Everyday Gay Activist and Your Intensive Care Unit Stay.

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Preview 9 essential books for writers on The Writer's Bookshelf

2. Becoming an Expert

Becoming an Expert by Alyson Mead

One of the most coveted roles in our society is that of an expert. Experts are not just average people. They command respect, and get it. People hang on their every word, and make them their go-to source for information. Often, experts can create wonderful new income streams, because their information is that valuable.

Let's face it. If we want to solve a problem, we look for an expert. If we want advice, we seek out an expert. And if we want to stay on track during a particularly arduous process...yep, same person...the expert.

More than ever before, people want to be perceived as experts. They understand that there is a willing audience for their work, and all they have to do is package and sell that information to as wide a market as possible. But there's a lot more to being an expert than just calling yourself one.

The word expert derives from the Latin expertus, meaning, "to try." As this word passed from Old French to Middle English, it was often used as a noun, to mean "a person with great skill or knowledge of a certain subject," or an adjective, to mean "demonstrating great skill or knowledge of a certain subject." That's also how it survives in our present-day understanding of the word.

What's interesting about this mini-lesson in etymology is that, at our cores, we are all experts. We all "try" various fields, until we find the one that make us happiest, or the one for which we show the greatest aptitude. When we find something we're good at, we start to glow. Nothing seems outside our reach. The task seems to take shape all by itself. Athletes, performers and other creative people often describe their amazing feats as being done with very little conscious effort. The classical composer Beethoven even said, "I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor. What I have in my heart must come out; that is the reason why I compose."

Because of this, calling ourselves experts rarely works. We are free do this all we want, but only when others trust us enough to come to us for information that can help solve their most intimate problems has this really taken shape in the world. So becoming an expert starts with some serious internal work.

What are you good at? How do you assert your authority? What have you mastered? In which field do you show the greatest proficiency?

After all, we all may want to be muscle-studded athletes or gorgeous supermodels, but is that what we're really good at? Is our greatest proficiency throwing a football or striding confidently down a catwalk? Probably not.

Instead, we all have skills we're aware of, or which may be lying dormant inside us. The trick is to tease out your inherent expertise, without crushing your creativity in the process. Because becoming an expert demands that we unleash the creative side of our brains.

This may seem counter-intuitive to some, because most of us are taught that creativity is analogous to finger-painting--all over the page, without rhyme or reason. Business and making money are the purview of the left brain, which strives to create order amidst chaos.

But if you're a true entrepreneur, using guerilla marketing tactics, you're probably a little of both. You have a drive to create something that caters to your unique set of skills, and betters the overall quality of life. But you also have the desire, along with the methodology, to generate some serious income.

By establishing yourself as an expert in a particular area, you get to serve both needs. Your creative, or right brain, side is fed by constructing books, workshops and products that solve common societal problems. Your rational, or left brain, side gets to see your finances improve as your books, workshops and products help others to live richer and more rewarding lives.

Of course, the first step to becoming an expert is to give yourself permission to be an expert, not just call yourself one. We may feel that we know a particular subject matter fairly well, or that we've had a certain amount of experience with it. But how do we know when we've become experts? Is there a line we suddenly cross? Does a bolt of lightning descend from the sky?

Not by a long shot. We know we have achieved expert status when we can honestly say that we have more familiarity with a particular subject matter than most people. There will always be someone that knows more than we do. There will always be someone smarter. But there is only one you, with your ideas and your unique and creative ability to help others.

The psychologist Erich Fromm said, "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." This is definitely true for entrepreneurs and guerilla marketers. We do not know how a particular book, workshop or product will turn out, or if it will be widely accepted by our intended audience. What we do know is that we have a burning desire to exercise our creativity, and that that need, to let go of our certainties and take the leap, is more important, and more life-affirming, than anything else.

Experts know this feeling intimately, and that's why we instinctively trust them—because they have gone, quite willingly, where few would dare to tread.

About the Author
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Alyson Mead is an 18-year veteran of the publishing industry as a ghostwriter and editor, and the author of the online coaching program How to Write a Book, Build a Platform & Become an Expert, available at http://www.CoachMyBook.com.

3. Gain Expert Recognition

9 Ways to Gain Expert Recognition by Hans Hasselfors

No matter what business you are in it always helps to be seen as an expert. If you were calling someone to fix a drain or sell your house you would approach the person you saw as most credible and reputable in that area of expertise.

To become an expert takes hard work and experience. It can involve study or the honing of practical skills. It demands high standards of work. But after all this effort will you be perceived as an expert? If you feel you've earned the mantle of expert but are not recognized as one, here are nine ways to start establishing your reputation.

Publish a book or series of reports

The internet has made this much easier. You can now create an ebook that can be downloaded without having to involve a publisher. A well-written book or series of reports will establish your reputation as an expert in your field.

Publish a newsletter

Set one up on the internet and distribute it to your customers. This is an excellent way to regularly keep your name in front of your prospects as an authority on your subject.

Write press releases

Used correctly these can gain you a lot of positive publicity. Make sure the press release looks like newsworthy information and not like an advertisement.

Write Articles

By publishing information packed articles, you'll soon enjoy the status of being seen as an authority on your topic. This can lead to joint ventures and many other exciting opportunities that you would have never enjoyed otherwise!

Create a website

Set up a user-friendly website that will appeal to customers and you have expanded the reach of your reputation. Keep it timely and informative, and people will continue to return to your site. If you don't know how to set up a website there are plenty of web designers who do. Alternatively enquire at a college teaching web design. Some students might want to build a portfolio.

Join associations

If you are a member of an association it will enhance your credibility. But don't just be a member. Be an active member. This will build your reputation among your peers and lead to useful introductions. Membership can have many benefits, and it will certainly keep you up to date in your field.

Networking

You can boost your reputation and influence by speaking to the right people. Keep your name in front of your prospects. Organize mutually beneficial ventures. You cannot predict what may come from a contact so make as many as you can.

Public Speaking

Even speaking to a local group of people can establish you as an expert and get you referrals that may lead to a wider audience. If you are not sure you can speak in public, preparation and rehearsal are the keys to success. Make sure your presentation is aimed at the right level, follows a sensible sequence and will not sound like a dry textbook-like monologue. Write your main points on small cards so you are not relying solely on your memory and start in front of a small audience.

Teach workshops or seminars

If you have knowledge that people would like to tap into you can pass on your expertise. If your presentation is well planned you will be seen as an authority in your subject. You will also meet people who are likely to recommend you to others. If you are teaching a hot topic you will also be gaining a useful income stream.

Any of these methods will start building your reputation as an expert. Use them all correctly and you will gain the sort of reputation that will have potential clients approaching you without having to seek them out.

About the Author
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Hans Hasselfors is a successful business entrepreneur and internet marketing consultant. Get the net working for you. Join a community of like-minded authors and publishers and make your living online. Become a member of our article directory. http://www.SubmitYourNewArticle.com.

4. Judi Moreo takes the 18Q

Judi Moreo

Biography:
Her high-energy, entertaining style infects her audiences as she trains and inspires with practical, real-life information. Judi draws from personal experience as a successful business woman. Named “Nevada Business Person of the Year 2003” by the US Business Advisory Council, she knows what makes businesses grow and prosper. Judi doesn’t talk theory. She cuts to the real issues, giving real answers, teaching real skills that real people can use to secure the bottom line. Judi Moreo is truly a speaker of Substance and Style.

Bibliography:
Conquer the Brain Drain: 52 Creative Ways to Pump Up Productivity
Delivering Exceptional Customer Service: A Handbook for the Customer Service Person Working at the Front Line
Ignite the Spark: 52 Creative Ways to Boost Productivity
Ordinary Women...Extraordinary Success: Everything You Need to Excel, From America's Top Women Motivators

Website:
www.judimoreo.com

1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you?
I'm not sure. It seems to be a bit of both. I've been a story teller all my life. I wanted to be a journalist. Then I was speaking at a conference and a publisher asked me to write a book on the subject. So I did.

2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.)
Reporter, editor, journalist, model, TV commercials, modeling school/agency owner, columnist, feature writer, speaker, author

3. When did you 'know' you were a writer?
I attended a writer's conference and realized I had more published articles and books than most of the faculty.

4. How would you describe your style of writing?
Conversational

5. What is your writing process?
Mind map ideas, chapter outlines, write the ending so I know where I'm going, write the opening, figure out the middle

6. What was your path to publication?
Reporter for a local newspaper, then my own column, contributions to magazines, South African publisher asked me to do a book, self published two books, wrote a book for a seminar company for back of the room sales, wrote training programs and manuals, collaborated on a women's book for an American publisher, sold another book to a South African publisher, sold Korean rights on American published book. Attended a writers conference, met a publisher and sold my idea to her. I'm now writing that book for publication in the spring.

7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea?
Pre-sell quantities of books to be given out as gifts to the audience at speaking engagements.

8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer?
1). That it was so easy to get published.

2). That the author has to do most of the promotion.

9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity?
I pray! In addition, I associate with other writers and positive people, read lots of books, listen to motivational cd's.

10. What is your proudest writer moment?
When the newspaper I was a reporter for when I was in high school did a front page story on me the week of my 40th high school reunion.

11. What's the best advice you were given about writing?
You gave it to me, Greg. You said to break my chapters down into articles and it would be easier to write.

12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment?
I can't recall an embarrassing writer moment. I did have an embarrassing speaker moment recently when I was so busy telling my story that I wasn't watching where I was walking and I fell off the front of the stage.

13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer?
My biggest challenge is organization. It seems my papers make baby papers when I'm not looking. In addition, I find that it takes so much time to do the promotion that it often takes away from my writing time, and everyone keeps asking, "What are you writing next?" when I don't yet have a great income from the last one.

14. What is your writer life philosophy?
Write something every day. Write from my heart, my life experience, my knowledge. Read something every day that was written by an author/person I admire or about a subject that intensely interests me.

15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun?
Ballroom dance lessons.

16. Who do you like to read?
Og Mandino, Dr. Robert Anthony, Bryce Courtney, Nora Roberts

17. What's your advice for new writers?
Write! Write! Write!

Promote! Promote! Promote!

18. What are you currently working on?
You Are More Than Enough - Every Woman's Guide To Purpose Passion and Power: An inspirational self-help book for women to aid them in discovering their purpose and passions and live their lives owning their own power. To be published by Stephens Press, Spring 2007

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Are you a published writer? Take the 18Q today!

To read all the 18Q responses or take the 18Q visit EighteenQuestions.com

5. About The Fabulist Flash

ISSN: 1554-0804

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