dare to dream

Giveaway: John Hagel's The Power of Pull

Giveaway:  When you leave a comment (or tweet, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) you'll be entered to win an autographed copy of The Power of Pull by John Hagel, John Seely Brown, and Lang Davison. The giveaway will close on Thursday, March 21 at midnight (ET); I'll announce the winner on March 22.

Last year, I met John Hagel, the co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, at SXSW.  He warmly shared with me a signed copy of The Power of Pull, described by John Doerr of famed VC firm Kleiner, Perkins, as "a powerful new meme for navigating and networking in the 21st century.” Having now read Hagel's book, I want you to have a copy as well; John has kindly agreed to make one available.

Here are a few of the salient ideas (for me):

1.  We are shifting from a world of push, to a world of pull.  "Push operates on a key assumption that it is possible to forecast or anticipate demand.  We are pushed into educational systems designed to anticipate our needs over twelve or more years of schooling.  We consume media that is packaged, programmed and pushed to us based on our anticipated needs, etc."

"Pull is a very different approach.  Pull helps us find and access people and resources.  It helps us attract people and resources that are relevant when we need them, even if we weren't aware that we needed them.  Think serendipity rather than search.  And [pull] is the ability to draw from within ourselves the insight need to achieve our potential."

Here's how I'd apply what the "pull to me", rather than "push-me", idea:

In a "push" world when I want to prepare delicious meals, what I make is largely dependent on the cookbooks in my cupboard and the food I purchased at the grocery store yesterday. 

In a "pull" world, I can sift through a seemingly infinite number of recipes online, then I can search SuperCook for something to make based on the ingredients already in my pantry.  When I tap into my social networks, asking "Hey, I've got zucchini in my garden, and want to make something fabulous. Any suggestions?", it's entirely possible that someone in my network will steer me to 100 creative ways to prepare zucchini.  Or tell me about an online forum of people who love farmer's markets and exchange ideas on how to prepare fresh fruits and vegetables. Serendiptiy may kick in further when one of my contacts offers me a pass to a squash blossom festival.  If I have the ambition, within the space of a few short months, my culinary expertise can bound forward to an extent that was impossible in a "push" world.

2.  I now like World of Warcraft, a game my son really likes, more than I did.  "Whereas push programs treat all individuals like consumers, pull platforms treat individuals like creators, providing them with tools and resources to create new things in response to unanticipated demand."  According to Hagel et al, World of Warcraft is a pull platform or creation space.  The players are drawn to the game "with a series of progressively more difficult challenges with continual feedback regarding performance levels."  Hence this game that seems to be a mere distraction is actually preparing my son to participate in a knowledge economy, an economy in some ways presaged by Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.  Also, unbeknownst to me, the XXinTech space created by Rachel Sklar that I love is a pull platform.  My hope is Dare to Dream will become a creation space as well.

3.  Some aspects of Pull may come more easily to us than others.  It's important to disaggregate "pull" into its components:  access, attract and achieve, so that we can improve.  For example, I know people who deftly attract resources, but are less skilled at accessing.  I'm the reverse.  I can scour the globe for resources, but when serendipity walks in the door, I don't quite know what to do.  It's as if I'm scared, not sure how to accept the proffered gift.  "Whitney, I want to help you with your book", says Jane Perdue earlier this week.  Wonderful.  But then I don't follow-up.  Not because I don't want to, but because I feel awkward.  After reading this book, I'm realizing that to achieve our dreams, it's important to know how to find and be found.  And, of course, ya gotta wanna.

Where are you experiencing the power of pull in your life?

Do you participate in any creation spaces?  What are they like?

Are you a triple threat?  You can access, attract and achieve?  Or are you like me, working on one of them?

How can you harness the power of pull to achieve your dreams?

***

When you leave a comment here, or tweet this post, share/comment on Facebook or LinkedIn, you will be eligible to receive a signed copy of The Power of Pull.  The contest ends at midnight on March 21 (ET).

Here are some sample tweets:

Why World of Warcraft is preparing my children for the 21st-century workplace - inspired by @jhagel http://bit.ly/GzDMOO

"Just as you are seeking out people on your edge, others are looking for you." - @jhagel
http://bit.ly/GzDMOO

AAA:  access, attract, achieve -- are you a triple threat?  inspired by @jhagel http://bit.ly/GzDMOO

"Learn how to find, and to be found" says @jhagel http://bit.ly/GzDMOO

Mirror of possibilities

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

I like to fancy myself as Snow White. And sometimes I am. Unfortunately, I'm sometimes also the Evil Queen, looking into the mirror of "all about me," wondering when my dreams will come true.

Yet some of my best dreams have transpired when I wasn't gazing at me, but rather in the mirror of possibilities for others.  My dream, for example, of working on Wall Street, was a consequence of attending to my husband's dream of getting his PhD at  Columbia.  Finding a way to love the piano again came as I accompanied Macy Robison when she performed Children Will Listen.  Meanwhile, my long-held dream of writing a book came about as I encouraged others to dream.   More importantly, when I hear the stories of people's dreams, I find myself whistling while I work. 

If you don't know what your dream is, take a look at what you love to do for those you love --  you just may find you inside your fairy tale.

***

Are there situations or circumstances when you are less likely to look in the "mirror of me" and more likely to look at the possibilities for others?

Which of your dreams have been activated as you attended to others?

Julianne Donaldson: Edenbrooke

Giveaway:  When you leave a comment here, tweet, share on Facebook, or repin on Pinerest, you'll be entered to win an an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Edenbrooke; the giveaway will close on Thursday, March 14 at midnight (ET); I'll announce the winner on March 15.

Julianne Donaldson grew up as the daughter of a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. She learned how to ski in the Italian Alps, visited East Berlin before the wall came down, and spent three years living next to a 500-year-old castle. After earning a degree in English, she turned her attention to writing about distant times and places.  Edenbrooke is her first novel; follow her on twitter, Facebook, and read more about her dreams here.

I began writing a novel because I was too depressed to do anything else. That may sound like a horrible beginning, but wait for the explanation. You see, my husband and I were college students when we got married. When we had our first baby he was still working on his bachelor’s degree. Six years later, we had persevered through his bachelor’s degree, his master’s degree, and were in the throes of law school.

But I felt I could persevere no more. We were poorer than poor. We were the family that gets anonymous Christmas presents left on the doorstep. We were the family that other family members give their hand-me-down clothes to. We were the one-car, mom-jeans, food-stamps, McDonalds-is-a-treat kind of family.

We didn’t have to be as poor as we were, I suppose. I had a college degree, but I was committed to being a stay-at-home mom for my kids. I was also committed to supporting my husband in his educational ambitions. And I was committed to the idea that I should be fulfilled with that, because I was sure that was the right thing to do.

The problem was, I wasn’t happy, and I believe it was because I had no dreams for myself beyond surviving the experience. Anti-depressants only took me so far, as did therapy. So I sat down one night, exhausted and beaten down by the day, and by our poverty, and by the stress of student life, and I dreamed of a world in which everyone was elegant and wealthy and there were no children. At all.

Thus Edenbrooke was born. I escaped to my dreams of Edenbrooke when I was doing the dishes at night and the kids were standing on the table throwing Goldfish crackers at each other and my husband was at school studying. I dreamed of Edenbrooke when I pushed my baby on the swings at the park and told my kids to stop making sand bombs out of their socks. I dreamed of Edenbrooke when I put the kids to bed and they threw water on the baby to wake her up “to play.”

And it saved me. (It probably saved my children, too.) Now, five years later, my dream has become a book that is a physical representation of how vital dreaming is. Even if I wasn’t dirt poor and kid rich, I would still be a writer, because it’s the avenue of my dreams. It’s where my soul and intellect meet to become fully alive and expressive. Edenbrooke is my paradise, and it fills me with joy. I hope my readers feel the same way.

Is there anything you began doing because you were too depressed to do anything else?

Do you have a talisman that reminds you of how vital dreaming is?

P.S. If you would like to be entered for a copy, leave a comment, Facebook, Tweet -- or post on PInterest, linking back to me so I can track.

Why I Admire Clayton Christensen

Last night, Clayton Christensen was the keynote for a scholarship fundraiser at the Celtics Training Facility; thank you Danny Ainge, also a BYU graduate, for making this possible, and Robin Baker, head of the scholarship comittee for pulling off a terrific event.  I was asked to introduce Clayton. Given that both he and his ideas have had such a tremendous influence on me over the last decade, it seemed appropriate to share my remarks here.

According to the Financial Times, Dr. Clayton M. Christensen, the Kim B. Clark professor at the Harvard Business School, is the world’s leading thinker on innovation.  His seminal book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, which first outlined the disruptive innovation frameworks, received the Global Business Book Award for the Best Business Book of the Year in 1997, was a New York Times bestseller, has been translated into over 10 languages, and is sold in over 25 countries.  He is also a four-time recipient of the McKinsey Award for the Harvard Business Review’s best article and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010.

Impressive as his credentials are, Professor Christensen would tell you -- These are not the performance attributes that matter most.

Forty years ago, 18 year-old Clayton arrived at BYU Provo determined, as he tells it, “to get the best education he could.”  It turns out, Dr. Charles Tate wanted this young man to BE his best.  As Clayton recounted in a 2003 BYU Forum address, he went into Dr. Tate’s English 316 class thinking he wrote pretty well.  He’d been the Student Body President, a star basketball player, accepted to Harvard and Yale.

But when he turned in his first assignment, Dr. Tate gave him a C-.  Incensed, but determined to prove himself, Clayton spent 4 hours on the next assignment.  He got a C.  The next assignment: 6 hours.  A C+.  The final assignment of the semester, he spent all night, and finally, he got a B+.  Mercifully, he says, Dr. Tate gave him an A.  When Clayton asked why, Dr. Tate’s response was, “I thought you could become a good writer, so I pushed you.” 

According to Professor Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation, a body of work about which I have personally seen captains of industry and heads of state beat a path to his door—a silly, crummy, David-like, start-up can eventually topple a Goliath-like incumbent.  For the Goliath, the decision to be made is die, or die sooner.      

One place in society where the incumbent doesn’t typically face this dilemma is in academia.   The student begins the scholarly journey knowing far less than the professor.  If the student puts her nose to the grindstone, and the teacher does likewise, the student’s trajectory will eventually intersect with the demands of the market.  Perhaps even the student can meet those demands better than the professor.   Rather than ruing this day, a master teacher rejoices.  This is what Dr. Tate did for young Clayton, and what Professor Christensen has since done for thousands upon thousands of students. 

He’s been dubbed one of the world’s best business school professors, a masterful, and spellbinding teacher, and Professor of the Year at Harvard Business School in 2010.  In accepting this honor, he delivered his speech “How Will you Measure your Life?” which, as a book, I predict will sell even more copies than “The Innovator’s Dilemma.”   All because he says to his students and proteges, I think you can become a good writer, investor, human being.  So he pushes us.

In late 2008, after publishing “Disrupting Class”, Professor Christensen received the following letter:

Dear Clayton,

Congratulations on writing another book that challenges the business-as-usual pattern of American society.   I am very proud of you; keep up the great thinking and writing.  Just remember, the best thing you have ever done was to marry Christine—All else pales to that.

Most sincerely yours,

Dr. Charles D. Tate, Jr.
Emeritus Professor of English, Brigham Young University

Ladies and Gentlemen, one of the people I most deeply admire in the world, professor Clayton M. Christensen.

***

Who has influenced you?
Whose ideas have shaped your dreams?

HBR Blog: Procrastination is Essential to Innovation

Yep, you heard me right.

Just don't tell your children...

Here's my latest post from HBR.

Do you find that procrastination leads to anxiety which becomes the combustible that drives you to innovate?  What does that look like?  Or, if it isn't the case, under what circumstances do you find yourself coming up with new ideas or ways of doing things?

***

And yes, my book is just 60+ days away. I am going to start sending out updates in the next 1-2 weeks.  Many of you are on my list, but if you definitely want to be updated, will you let me know either by leaving a comment, or face-booking, or tweeting?  Or telling me IRL -- which would be even better.

Here's another blurb sneak peek from Liz Strauss who I admire greatly!

This book belongs in every success toolkit. Business leader and master storyteller, Whitney Johnson shows how remarkable things happen when we dare to claim our strengths, own our dreams, and do what we're meant to do.  A fabulous guide for business and for life. -- Liz Strauss, international business strategist and author of Successful-Blog.com 

Anonymous: Once, Someone Asked Who You Really Are

Once, a twenty-something-girl graduated college with a degree in Computer Science and a job offer at a hot tech startup in Silicon Valley. She was smart and ambitious and proud. She was apprehensive and self-critical and an impostor. She kept the fragments of her stories on her blog and on Twitter @once_a_girl.

Why do you sign your blog posts and e-mails with this oh-so-generic girl moniker? Why do you blog about being a successful Silicon Valley female without revealing who you really are? Who knows if you’re actually successful, or in Silicon Valley, or even female for that matter? This anonymity certainly can’t be helping your publicity. After all, nothing you write is ever going to spread through the various social networks if you have no following. In this day and age, authenticity counts for a lot. Gone are the online days of yore, when monkeyblue255 and his ilk would proactively a/s/l you just because you showed up to chat.

The anonymous denizens these days tend to be the trolls, the dregs of Internet society who use their nameless and faceless identities to launch brutal attacks on others. More and more, anonymity is seen as a form of weakness, a cowardice of sorts, like maybe you’ve got something to hide.

To be perfectly honest, maybe there’s something to that cowardice statement. It’s not like you haven’t tried blogging publicly before. You have tried--earnestly tried--to put keyboard strokes to screen, to record the bits and pieces of your life and share those experiences with others. You’ve always been a diligent dear diary girl, and writing for you is a form of therapy. It gives shape and clarity to the messy edges of your life, and provides an outlet with which to examine yourself, your job, and your sense of self.

Source: istockphoto

But the public part of blogging--that has and still is the hurdle. Because as soon as you considered that you were writing for an audience, everything changed. You wanted to post things that made you sound smart and interesting. You wanted your words to add to your personal brand. Hey guys, look at me! I’m a shining example of a girl who has everything under control! Come and be impressed by my veritable nuggets of wisdom!

The thought of neatly laying out your insecurities and hopes and confessions for your friends and coworkers to see--yes, you were afraid. You didn’t want them to think any less of you. The anonymity provided a security blanket, a liberating freedom to say exactly what was on your mind without worrying about how it slanted you in the eyes of others.

Would you have written about that male coworker who makes life difficult for you, or how you’ve struggled to speak up in large meetings if those posts were attached to your name? What about the fact that you’re secretly and simultaneously both cocky and insecure, but all you’ve ever wanted was to be accepted by the boys as a first-rate engineer? Would you have been so honest if you knew that your coworkers might read that and know those things about you?

In the long run, you hope that the answer is yes. You want to be true to yourself, the kind of girl who doesn’t care what other people think of her. The kind of girl who’s confident enough in her own fears and hopes that she can proudly wear them on her sleeve. Deep down, you know you’re not alone in your insecurities. The challenges of being a girl in a male-dominated industry are not unique. Maybe your stories will help others. Perhaps you’ll connect with other girls who feel the same. That’s why we write and talk and share, isn’t it? Because it helps to know that you aren’t the only one.

You aren’t the strong, bold, authentic girl of your ambitions yet. Yet. But as you continue the process of becoming her, your little anonymous blog in the corner of the Internet is the first baby step.

Have you ever considered writing anonymously?

What would be different?  Positive? Negative?

P.S. I made the image unusually big to remind me (I hope you) that there's a true, living person, behind these words.

Sick enough to get well

When I need to slow down, my body has always given me a nudge; this is a boon; I hadn't allowed myself to stop.

Permission now granted.

I rest.
I relax.
I say no.
I relax.

I rest.

Come Monday morning, I'll likely have bounced back.

Rest.

Giveaway: Frank Sonnenberg's Managing with a Conscience

Giveaway:  When you leave a comment here, (or tweet, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) you'll be entered to win one of three autographed copies of Managing with a Conscience (2nd ed.) by @fsonnenberg. The giveaway will close on Thursday, February 23 at midnight (ET); I'll announce the winner on February 24.

A few weeks ago, Lolly Daskal, Founder of Lead from Within, asked if I would read Managing with a Conscience (2nd ed) by Frank Sonnenberg, saying, "His is one of my top books of the year, and I have read many books."  In Managing.., Sonnenberg, formerly the national director of marketing for Ernst & Young Management Consulting, examines nine critical success factors for competing in the 21st century.  As he notes, "You won't find these attributes in the annual report because they are intangible and difficult to quantify. But that doesn't make them any less important..."

There was so much to like about Frank's book.  In addition to my thinking he'd make a great guest on Real Recognition Radio, and that several of the checklist were the kernels of a great HBR post, here are just few ideas that stood out. 

1)  Watch for language that stifles creativity.  In the chapter, "It's a good idea, but...", Sonnenberg talks about how we quash innovation via verbal roadblocks.  Here are just a few: "What you came up with is ok, but let's do it differently." "I know there's no reason to have it tomorrow, but I want it then." Or, "Sorry I didn't review your idea yet.  I've seen 50 others like yours this week." If you're like me, I say these at work... I say them even more at home.

Source:  Shelli Dorfe, Etsy

2)  The importance of stories:  "Stories are nonthreatening; they expand perception, highlight possibilities, challenge the imagination, and make difficult concepts engaging.  Stories help us deal with complex feelings, open us to new relationships, and call us to action.  To be effective, stories must include goals reached, aspirations achieved, and dreams fulfilled."

When I first left Wall Street, I wrote a story, titled "Daughter of the Wind."  Even if I never publish this book, the story will have helped me deal with complex feelings, to make meaning of my life, and to mark a dream fulfilled.

3)   Listening:  According to Sonnenberg, "Though we spend 45% of our time listening, if report cards were given out, few us would receive a passing grade.  Barriers to listening include:  assuming a subject is uninteresting and tuning out, focusing on how something is said rather than on what is being said, reacting too quickly before the message is completed, picking up on emotional words and not hearing the rest of the message, listening only for facts, rather than trying to absorb the ideas, allowing yourself to be distracted, and avoiding listening to subjects you don't understand."

Prior to reading this, perhaps you, like me, thought yourself a good listener.  I'm especially guilty of avoiding listening to subjects I don't understand.  Well, actually, I could do all of these better, including listening for facts, not just ideas.

I could go on, but rather than listening to me, I'd rather you listen to Frank. To be eligible for one of three autographed copies of Managing with a Conscience, leave a comment here, or you can post something to social media w/ a link back.  Here are some suggestions:

"A minute can be a lifetime" http://bit.ly/AppHX1 -- @fsonnenberg v @johnsonwhitney
"Learn to treat time as personal capital.  Invest it wisely." - @fsonnenberg v @johnsonwhitney
"If grades were given out for listening, would yours be passing?" http://bit.ly/AppHX1 - @fsonnenberg v @johnsonwhitney
"Trying to do everything yourself is not good management, it is an addiction." http://bit.ly/AppHX1 - @fsonnenberg v @johnsonwhitney
"Character in the long run is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike." http://bit.ly/AppHX1 - Theodore Roosevelt via @fsonnenberg

Ten Buck Talk: w/ Lisa Gates and Chrysula Winegar

On Wednesday, February 22 (my 1/2 birthday!) at 7pm ET/4pm PT, I will be joining The Daily Thrive's Lisa Gates and Chrysula Winegar for their first ever Ten Buck Talk teleconversation.

I'm quite excited. 

Not only because Chrysula and Lisa are two terrifically smart, articulate women, but because some of the pre-call questions they've posed have stirred my imagination. Combine their ideas with the topics you raise, and I suspect we'll be in for an hour of interesting-ness. As a bonus, $3 out every $10 will go to Rachel Cook's documentary The Microlending Project. 

You can register here, and I hope you will!

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For more from Lisa Gates, read her Dare to Dream post The Terribly Beautiful Trouble with Asking, and the ForbesWoman piece about me titled Breaks the Glass Ceiling with a Brass Ring. 

You may also enjoy Chrysula Winegar's piece Oh My Goodness, I Left My Voice on the Bus which happily is featured in Dare, Dream, Do.

For more on the fabulous She Negotiates course, click here.

***

If you were going to ask a question during this hour-long conversation, what would you ask?

Annie Bourne: Before You Publish, Do These 5 - no, 6 Things!

Dear Whitney,

You are about to publish your book. What an accomplishment! I can’t wait to read Dare Dream Do, and hope to catch a glimpse of the galleys before your publication date on May 8.  I'm also delighted to share with you what I learned in publishing my first book. These tips are by no means comprehensive, or even the best, but they are gems I discovered and will carry them with me into marketing The Second Secret of Edwin Hoff. My only major recommendation has to do with timing:  Please do these things BEFORE YOUR PUB DATE. Once your book comes out, you will be tumbling forward, responding to readers and inquiries and book clubs -- with little time to spare, or think. 

1.   Build a bank of 30 blogs. You already write and tweet very helpful content for your followers. Consistent blogging - one a week - is one of the best ways to sell books. I learned this post-launch and from others’ successes. Apparently, a blog will impact book sales for 3 days while a tweet apparently shows impact for a few minutes. I wish that, pre-launch, I had built a bank of well-written, short pieces that I could post, once or twice a week, to build consistency. Whenever a current idea moves you, you can of course blog about it. But while you are busy with other post-publication demands, it would be fabulous to have a bank of blogs on hand to establish consistency and maintain it. A “Blog Bank” should be mandatory on every pre-pub checklist.

2. Write the outline of your next book. In the course of submitting The First Secret of Edwin Hoff to publishers, my agent also sent it to a book-to-film agent in Hollywood. We were delighted that he saw in the main character potential for a series, and asked to see The Second Secret. So, in the lull between submission and publishing, I wrote the outline for my next book. We sent it off; he said he’d like to see the manuscript; and then the outline went into a manilla folder to wait while we were consumed with the launch of “Edwin 1”. This was lucky timing for two reasons:

First, I had learned things to apply to “Edwin 2”. These lessons came out of another manilla folder full of rejection letters and emails from agents and publishers. I scoured them for consistency. There was some, particularly around the concept of “traditional plot structure.” What’s plot structure? Exactly. So I googled, and studied, and learned. My personal goal for Edwin 2 is a tight, driving, traditional thriller plot structure that still surprises. On pub day for Edwin 1, my best efforts for Edwin 2 were outlined and in the folder.

This was a good thing, because readers’ responses really affected me. If they had been bad, it could have made me stall. But they were surprisingly positive. And this cut the gas line completely. How would I live up to their expectations? How did I even write the first book in the first place? Edwin 1 evolved through so many revisions, where on earth did I start? How could I create another book I loved that much again? See? Dead halt. So I didn’t start writing, and didn’t start writing, until one day, three weeks ago, it was time to follow my one writing rule: Apply Ass to Chair.

Then I reached into my drawer and found something wonderful: the outline. Yes, much will end up under the red pen. Much will be sent to clipboard purgatory, cut and never to be pasted again. But I have a place to start - it’s a running start - and a goal built on lessons learned at my most advanced point as a writer. And for that, I am ever grateful. Because it is hard, and not fun, to create under the burden of expectation. So build yourself a runway for your next effort when you have space to think, analyze, learn and improve, and before the expectations from the first - for good or ill - can befall you. Edwin 2 is coming along faster than I’d hoped, and is a lot of fun to write.

3. Tech Up. Before you start needing to use twitter and facebook and your web campaigns effectively, learn the tools at your disposal for doing so efficiently and for monitoring them. Set up your analytics. Learn how to save time and be more influential. I’ve retweeted this article.  Have I read it? Yes. Absorbed it? No. Followed its advice? Nope. This remains on my “to do” list. This too should be on the mandatory pre-pub checklist. Please, geniuses on the web, create a service that does all of this for us poor scribes. Free us up to write. (Actually, someone is....stay tuned, writing friends, for something good soon comes our way....)

4.  Make a Strategic Business Development Plan. Think like a deal junky. Who, beyond your friends and relations and business partners - and their friends and relations and business partners - are likely to enjoy your book. Build a plan to reach out to them. Maybe get in touch with them early; tell them what’s coming. Offer to speak or skype with them. Again, I must slot this in the “lessons learned” category, but you have time to do it now. As the publishing/marketing wave crashes overhead, it will be helpful to have tethered yourself to a strategy that lengthens the long tail of your book.

5. Make Author/Book Business Cards. Spend money on business cards. Put your book jacket cover on the front left third of the card, and your author name and contact info, including twitter handle, facebook pages, and author website on the right hand side. On the back, put quotes, Amazon rankings, logos of outlets where the book can be purchased. People look at, hold and collect business cards. But postcards are expensive, become clutter and get tossed. Anecdotally, I’ve found nearly a 50% sales effect per business card distributed. (I’m sure that number is overly high.) But today, for example, I gave out two cards. Shortly, Amazon notified me, at the request of one of the recipients, that she had bought the book. How fabulous! Which reminds me...

There’s an all important 6th...do this before pub date, and every day after....

6. THANK EVERY READER. Books are sold one at a time. They certainly are read that way. I am deeply grateful for each person who devotes their valuable time - part of their life - to read my pages. I really am. So, thank you, Whitney.  I hope you enjoy meeting Edwin.

Good luck with Dare Dream Do, Whitney. The book will be a smash!

Your friend,
Annie
writing as A.B. Bourne, author of The First Secret of Edwin Hoff, c. 2011 Watch Hill Books

P.S. I loved Annie's book which I do hope will become a movie.  You can visit her blog at www.abbourne.com and follow her on twitter @anniebourne. Or follow Edwin by clicking “like” on her Facebook author page.