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How Reading with Children Strengthens Families

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By African American Books Author Denise Turney

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Reading with children strengthens families in ways other bonding activities don’t. Even more, reading, writing and math are subjects that children use throughout their lives, in one form or another. In fact, reading and writing play a major role in one-on-one and group communication. School, work, finances and personal relationships are affected by each of the three subjects. Yet, of the three, reading books is too often limited to the classroom.

Lasting Benefits From Reading Books

You have to use math skills to balance your personal budget, operate a business and ensure you don’t get ripped off while engaging in money exchanges. And, even if you don’t use long hand, you have to use a form of writing (or typing) to communicate via a memo, email, card or letter. It’s hard to stop using writing and math skills.

But finding interesting books to read may be perceived as a “chore” or an activity that’s limited to school. This can happen despite the fact that reading books is a key to lifelong learning. And here’s another benefit of reading, especially parents and caretakers reading with children. Reading books with children can help strengthen families.

Think about the people who you felt a deep connection with as a child. Did any of those people read 2nd grade books or 3rd grade books to you when you were a child? If they did and they enjoyed reading to you, enthusiasm filling their voices, it wouldn’t be shocking to learn that it’s those people who you remember fondly when you look back on your childhood.

Fun Times Reading Books

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I can still see and hear my aunt reading books to my siblings and me. She put so much inflection in her voice, glancing up at us, her eyes expanding with excitement, as she read important parts of a children’s book. Soon, I was strengthening my passion for reading books. To this day, I know that my love of discovering good books to read is rooted in the way that my aunt read to me when I was a kid.

Years later, I passed that same habit of finding great books to read and sharing them with my son. We had so much fun reading stories like the Bernstein Bears series, classic 2nd grade books and standalone novels. Just thinking about those times brings a smile to my face.

Before long, my son was reading books to me. We were growing together. And, perhaps more importantly, we were strengthening our bond.

Reading with Children Strengthens Families – It’s A Great Investment

In fact, the bond between children and parents may strengthen because reading books, even short 2nd grade books and 3rd grade books, takes time. Even more, reading books is a time investment that demonstrates how much someone means to you.

Think about it. Would you sit down and read a book to or with someone you didn’t want to be around?

Furthermore, it takes time to find good books to read. Bring home a new good book to read to or with your child each week and, after awhile, your child may realize that you’re investing time in her or him. Top that off by choosing great, entertaining stories and your child could start looking forward to the times when you sit down together and explore good stories.

How to Encourage Kids to Read Books

If you’re struggling to find ways to get your child to want to read as a start, consider the following actions. Keep trying different techniques. It might surprise you how fast your child goes from having an unwillingness to read to having a passion for reading books.

  • Start reading books to your child early, definitely before your child starts school.
  • Choose fun 2nd grade books (earlier grades if you start reading to your kids before they start school).
  • Read with enthusiasm. Make reading books fun.
  • Ask your child what she thinks about the book’s characters. Also, ask your child what she thinks the story is about and what her favorite parts of the story are.
  • Select a day and time to read books to your child. After all, he’ll come to expect you to invest time to read entertaining stories to him.
  • Make seasoned popcorn before reading books to your child. Snack on the popcorn before or after you finish reading.
  • The following day, ask your child how he enjoyed the book that you recently read.
  • Also, ask your son for suggestions on interesting books to read.

More Way to Encourage Kids to Read Good Books

Another way to encourage your child to read books is to find great books to read when your child’s cousins or friends visit. Even more, take your child to the library and bookstore. To show your child how much you appreciate good books, pick out a few good books for yourself while you’re at the library and bookstore.

If you really want to have fun, wear a hat similar to a hat worn by a book character. That, or you could pull on a cool t-shirt that’s similar to a t-shirt worn by a major character in a popular children’s book. And, let your child dress up. Then, enjoy reading great books together.

Although reading with your children can strengthen your family bond, there are more benefits of reading books. For example, reading is a good way to get some brain exercise. Reading can also help you to relax. Try it.

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Keep Reading Great Books

Read a relaxing book an hour before you head to bed and see if you don’t sleep better. Now, this has to be a relaxing book, not a book that’s going to scare you or keep you up guessing what’s coming next in the story.

Another thing. The more books you read, the easier you may comprehend articles, research material and written policies and procedures. Improved comprehension could shorten the time it takes for you to grasp new skills.

For your child, improved comprehension could shorten the time it takes her to study for exams. Your son or daughter might even start to recognize which parts of a class textbook is most important, helping them to know which sections of a book to focus on.

But the lasting benefits of reading with your child have to do with your child and your relationship. It’s a fun and entertaining investment that says, “I love you.”

How to Launch New Books to Boost Book Sales

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By African American Books Author Denise Turney

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One of the easiest ways to boost book sales is to publish a new book. To yield good results, you need to launch new books successfully. Then, you need to work to sustain your efforts. If you want to keep sales coming, you have to keep marketing and promoting your titles. This applies whether you’re a self-publisher, hybrid publisher or publishing a new book through a small press or a traditional publishing company.

Prepping New Books to Launch

But first things first. After you write a book that hooks you, pass the manuscript to an editor. And don’t just focus on price when choosing an editor. Look for an editor who has deep experience editing the type of book you wrote. For instance, some editors work mainly with children’s books, while other editors focus on adult mystery novels.

If you’re seeking a way to save on editing costs, polish your book before you send it to an editor. As a tip, you could submit chapters of your manuscript to a professional writer’s critique group. Another way to tighten your manuscript before you send it to an editor is to ask beta readers to read the manuscript and offer you feedback.

Now, here comes the fun part. And, not just the fun part – but the time-consuming part as well. Are you grinning?

To boost book sales and launch new books successfully, you must consistently market and promote your books. It can’t be any book marketing effort. To succeed, you have to incorporate smart book marketing actions into your book sales plan.

Map Out Book Marketing Strategy to Boost Book Sales

The book industry is fiercely competitive. Yet, you can earn six-figures or more a year in the industry. Part of the work to boost book sales starts months before your book is published. So, map out how you are going to market you new book months before the book is published. To save time, you could create two spreadsheets in the same Excel workbook.

In one spreadsheet, list free book marketing tools you’ll use. Examples include social media platforms, free design tools like Canva and word-of-mouth. Before you start filling out the second spreadsheet, listing paid book marketing options, do some research. Find out which book marketing agencies and websites specialize in your book publishing genre.

Research Book Marketing Options to Boost Book Sales

Also, find out which book marketing companies showcase new books. Here are more points to consider during your research:

  • Does the firm market new books to read in print, audio and e-book format
  • How many followers does the firm have if book promotions are only on social media? (Check their social media platforms to see how engaged their followers are. As an example, look for comments, shares and how many of their posts get re-posted.)
  • Are the firm’s newsletter subscribers mainly other authors who have subscribed to their newsletter, people who may never buy another author’s books? Another stat to check has to do with newsletter subscriber engagement. To boost books sales, find out the open and click rates the newsletters have.
  • Is there a limit on the number of books a book marketing website spotlights in a daily or weekly newsletter? After all, if there are too many books in a newsletter and your book is listed midway or further down the newsletter, few people may read far enough down the newsletter to see your book.
  • What’s the cost to run a daily, weekly or monthly website literary ad? And how many impressions does a typical ad at the firm receive?

Also, find out the number of people in your book’s target audience the marketing firm reaches. This is important. Remember, book marketers can promise you the moon, stating that working with them could land your new book on a best seller list. Yet, a promise and an actual result aren’t always the same. So, do your research.

Schedule Book Marketing Initiatives

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After you finish researching free and paid book marketing options, create a schedule. Within this schedule, include the date you will start and end free and paid ads. For deeper impact, consider running ads on your backlist books too. In addition to running ads (free and/or paid), here are more ways to boost book sales after you launch a new book:

  • Take pre-orders for your new books
  • Work with an experienced website designer and build an official author website. Then, add a blog to the website. As a tip, update your blog with a new article at least once a week. And use relevant keywords in your blog articles to attract readers. Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that you can use to find keywords. To highlight your books, add your book covers to the top or side of your blog.
  • Take advantage of Amazon’s free marketing tools if you publish e-books and print on demand books through Amazon. For example, you could do a Kindle countdown deal or you could offer a KDP e-book for free for a week. If you do use Amazon book publishing tools, apply to have your new book become part of their marketing newsletters.
  • Create your own literary newsletter. Add feature interviews, book coupons, links to your new book releases, etc. to the newsletter.

More on Book Marketing Initiatives

  • Schedule online and offline radio interviews. Also, interview on podcasts that spotlight authors. To get more traction, consider interviewing on podcasts and radio stations that are looking for guests who cover topics that your book focuses on. For instance, if you wrote a novel about a character who has ADHD, you could interview on shows that focus on mental health, learning or brain function.
  • Attend virtual and in-person book conferences, cultural festivals and writer’s conferences. These are good places to meet new readers and boost book sales. Even more, these are good places to showcase your books. As a tip, if you do attend conferences and festivals, consider bringing free book excerpts. For example, you could bring 100 copies of a two-page excerpt and hand them out to people who stop by your booth. But don’t just hand out excerpts. Ask people who stop by your booth to sign up for your literary newsletter. In fact, you could bring a printed sign-up sheet so readers can add their name and email address to subscribe to your literary newsletter. (Keep a copy of the sign-up sheet in case someone says they never subscribed to your newsletter.)
  • Use tools like Canva and Book Brush to design book marketing flyers and social media posts to share at your website, on postcards and on social media platforms.

Manage Book Marketing Budgets While You Boost Book Sales

Keep an eye on your budget throughout the book marketing process. After all, you don’t want to spend so much money on book marketing that, even if you sell 1,000 books a month, you find yourself in a financial hole.

And, going forward, always do your research before you pay for book marketing. Also, follow-up to ensure that marketing actions you paid for actually occurred. One good way to achieve this is to ask marketers and promoters you run ads thru to email you links to the places where they ran your ad. Get ad stats too, stats that show how many people clicked on your ads and/or bought your books.

Looking for more book marketing support? Check out the below book.

Secrets to Getting Deep Refreshing Nighttime Sleep

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By Freelance Writer and Novelist Denise Turney

african american couple smiling on bed at home near sleeping dog
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What would you trade for deep refreshing nighttime sleep? We’re talking the type of sleep that finds you feeling a sort of rebirth come morning. When you wake up, there’s no headache, no stiff joints and not a hint of dissatisfaction. You might even recall the sweetest dreams. And, rested – do you ever feel energized.

Reasons to Use Natural Sleep Aids

Believe it or not, there may be millions of people who’d be willing to make a lifestyle trade to get refreshing nighttime sleep. In fact, the Sleep Association reports that 50-70 million adults in the United States are dealing with a sleep disorder. Additionally, symptoms of those sleep disorders include falling asleep during the day and snoring.

Also, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that not getting enough refreshing nighttime sleep may be linked to chronic disease. Among the chronic diseases linked to insufficient sleep are diabetes, depression, obesity and cardiovascular disease. Even more, sleep affects weight because sleep impacts the hypothalamus. This is the part of the brain that regulates energy and appetite.

How to Mute Snoring and Gain Refreshing Nighttime Sleep

Snoring is top of the list when it comes to reasons why people struggle to get and stay asleep. If you’re the one who’s snoring, to mute snoring, you could lose weight. Other ways to mute snoring include sleeping on your side, avoiding caffeine and relaxing 30 to 60 minutes before heading to bed. Furthermore, to mute snoring, you could try nasal strips and relieving nasal congestion, according to the Mayo Clinic.

On the other hand, if you’re not the one who’s snoring, wearing sleepbuds may be a good choice. Another thing that you could try is listening to a deep meditation tape while you sleep. However, if snoring isn’t what’s keeping you from enjoying refreshing nighttime sleep, there may be better options.

Natural Sleep Remedies

For instance, you could journal about a work project that’s concerning you. You could also journal about intrusive stress related thoughts. As odd as it may sound, writing down what’s troubling you can be an effective way to eliminate worry. And isn’t that what often keeps you awake at night?

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That’s why the best sleep aid may be to sit down and chill for an hour before you go to bed. Fortunately, it’s not as hard as it may seem, even if you’re a workaholic. Simply schedule relaxation into your evening similar to how you schedule a conference call.

It really is that simple. While you’re relaxing, consider reading a book. The key is to read a book that helps you to relax. Or you could listen to smooth jazz or another relaxing music genre that you love. Avoid drinking coffee, alcohol or soda. Remember, you’re trying to relax.

Things To Help You Enjoy Refreshing Nighttime Sleep

Here are more ways to sleep better. Some of these actions may work like a natural sleep aid for you:

  • Sleep on two pillows to raise your head.
  • Attend support group meetings if you’re dealing with grief, trauma or stress. Doing so could help you to relax during the day and at night.
  • Avoid eating spicy food. Nothing like heartburn to wake and keep you up at night.
  • Soak in a scented bubble bath.
  • Use a full spectrum lamp during the day if you’re dealing with seasonal affective disorder.
  • Drink a warm cup of caffeine-free tea with your dinner.
  • Eat a light dinner.
  • Perform yoga or stretching exercises before bed.
  • Meditate before you head to bed. You also might find it helpful to sit on the side of the bed and breathe deeply for 5 to 10 minutes before you climb beneath the covers.
  • Adjust the heating and cooling in your home, as needed.
  • Finish work during the day to avoid thinking about a long list of tomorrow “must dos”.
  • Exercise outdoors for 45 to 60 minutes a day. If you can’t exercise outdoors, do indoor exercises.
  • Eat cherries or drink cherry juice (cherries have natural melatonin)
  • Make smart money decisions to steer clear of money worries.
  • Wash your bed linen regularly. It feels good to sleep on clean, scented bed linen.

Best Sleep Aid

The best sleep aid may be a natural sleep aid. As previously mentioned, relaxation and worry elimination may be the best paths to refreshing nighttime sleep. But, if you’re juggling a busy schedule, this may not be a cakewalk. If natural solutions don’t prove effective, consider working with a professional who has experience working with sleep disorders.

For example, an experienced professional could test you for sleep apnea, depression, restless leg syndrome or a urinary tract disorder. A professional could also run tests to see if you are experiencing low vitamin D, melatonin or another vitamin or mineral deficiency.

The good news is that you can get melatonin for sleep over the counter. Yet, if stress and anxiety is in play, melatonin for sleep may only work for a week or more. But don’t give up. It may take weeks before you realize lasting results. Keep trying different natural techniques until you start sleeping more deeply more frequently.

Refreshing Nighttime Sleep Benefits

It’s well worth it, because lack of sleep can cause more than daytime drowsiness. Lack of sleep can affect memory, concentration, mood and alertness. The Sleep Association shares that driving while drowsy causes more than 40,000 auto injuries.

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Depending on your job, refreshing nighttime sleep could prevent surgical mistakes. If you’re an airline pilot, getting enough sleep could prevent accidents. The same applies if you operate heavy equipment or work with dangerous chemicals.

Also, refreshing nighttime sleep gives you more energy. It’s this energy that could extend your patience. And it’s increased patience that can improve your communications and relationships. In fact, sleep impacts energy, patience, communications, relationships, physical health, weight and mood. Sleep impacts so much, it’s worth it to keep trying natural sleep aid solutions until you find a solution that works for you.

Stay Open

As another tip, after you find a natural sleep aid that works for you, stay open to making changes. For instance, you might find that you sleep better during summer and winter, when you have the air conditioner or heater humming. Or you might find that you sleep better during autumn or spring, when outdoor temperatures are milder.

In this same vein, you may find that hanging dark curtains in your bedroom makes it easy to keep sunlight from disturbing your sleep. Just make sure that you don’t start over sleeping. As tempting as it might be, sleeping too much can make enjoying refreshing nighttime sleep harder.  Fortunately, there are several natural sleep aid options. Here’s to a good night of sleep.

Types of Content Marketing That Increases Book Sales

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By African American Books Author Denise Turney

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As an author, finding the right content marketing that increases book sales is a shortcut to literary success. By itself, this type of content keeps your name and your book titles in front of book buyers. This may sound easy enough as a writer. After all, writing is your bread and butter. But it’s not a slam dunk. On top of that, content marketing isn’t a one-time deal. It’s not like writing a bestselling book.

Scheduling Content Marketing That Increases Book Sales

In fact, to gain enough traction with content marketing that increases book sales, you need to publish new content weekly. You might get greater results if you publish content daily. Think about newspapers and how they keep fresh content in front of readers.

So, before considering the types of content marketing that can increase book sales, get clear about how often you’ll push out fresh material. Make it easy on yourself. Create a content marketing schedule. Items to include on the scheduler are:

  • Dates that you’ll publish book marketing content
  • Topic or content focus (book marketing tools, image metadata, simple video marketing techniques, etc.)
  • Key phrases built into the content
  • Links to relevant content at your website
  • Social media platforms that the content will be marketed on

Types of Content Marketing That Increases Book Sales

Building out your content marketing schedule helps to keep you on track. As you develop the schedule, you may realize that you need to bring on a freelance content marketer to create the content. In fact, this choice frees you up to write more books. But more about that later.

For now, let’s look at types of content marketing that increases book sales. The effectiveness of each type varies. Yet, each of these types of book marketing content could introduce you to new readers. To begin:

  • Blog content is a type of book marketing you can control. If you add a blog to your author website, you can increase your overall website traffic. Just be prepared to add new blog content each week, at the minimum.
  • Newsy book marketing content may be a good fit for marketing platforms like Outbrain, Newscred and Contentful. With these platforms, you can push book marketing content out to media and digital websites. Exercise financial discipline to avoid overspending.
  • Social media book marketing content is an effective way to connect with readers. And, you have options. There’s organic and paid social media marketing. As a tip, before launching into paid social media marketing, take free training courses offered by the social media platforms that you want to work with.

More Types of Book Marketing Content

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  • Email marketing still works. For example, you can introduce book buyers to your titles via digital postcards, coupons and direct email.
  • Simple video marketing is a winner. As an author, you could use simple video marketing to read excerpts from your books. Other options include sharing book marketing tips, your list of top 10 books and details on upcoming book festivals you’re attending.
  • Text messages are another option. As with other book marketing options, make sure you gain approval to send book buyers text messages before pursuing this option.
  • Digital newsletters work too. Not only can you launch your own literary newsletter, but you can also cross promote books in other author newsletters.
  • Offline book marketing content includes direct mail, print book catalogs, print postcards and flyers.

Link content marketing that increases book sales to your official author website. After all, this makes it easy for book buyers to keep up with what you’re doing. And it helps to build reader trust, not to mention grow your online and offline presence.

Working With a Freelance Content Marketer

As previously mentioned, you may find it beneficial to let a freelance content marketer write your book marketing content. Should you take this approach, research content marketing prices. For example, you might pay a freelancer 15 cents a word. Or you might pay a freelance content marketer by the article. Also, decide if you’ll include editing in the overall price that you’re willing to pay.

Another option that you could use is a web content agency. Take this path, and you could leave book marketing content scheduling, key phrase research and writing to the agency. As a tip, work with a book marketing agency that gives you access to a personal dashboard.

This way, you can log into your marketing account and review analytics. For instance, you could review how many clicks key phrases generate. You could also review the number of visitors each book marketing article gets. Also, pay attention to social media accounts that certain articles get better results on. For example, do your images perform better on Pinterest or on Twitter? Or do shorter articles about your books’ topics perform better on Facebook while longer articles perform better on LinkedIn?

Working with a Digital Content Agency

Some digital content agencies let you indicate if you want their platform to automatically post your content when it’s likely to gain the most views. You could do a split test and ask that some articles be published at specific days and times. For other articles, you could indicate that you want to take advantage of the platform’s automated posting dates and times.

See which works best. And don’t worry. Even while marketing bestselling books, it’s good to be flexible. After all, the types of content that help with marketing books today may not prove effective tomorrow. Furthermore, the best days and times to publish book marketing content may shift.

This brings up another point. Even if book marketing content works, helping you to gain more book sales, you’ll likely need to make changes. So, be flexible and resilient.

Stay Free of Magical Thinking with Content Marketing That Increases Book Sales

Accept what data shows you. Definitely avoid magical thinking. In other words, steer clear of thinking that just because you wrote a book or because the story is a winner that a book is going to become a bestseller. Also, staying away from magical thinking can help you to spot changes in your book marketing results.

Even more, not only can it allow you to spot book marketing changes, but it can also equip you with the courage to adjust to those changes. For instance, you might notice that the digital content agency that you’ve been using for two years is no longer generating book sales for you.

If you’re in the habit of treating everyone with respect, it should be easy to sit down and discuss these changes with the digital content agency. Who knows? They may have received similar feedback from other authors and are rolling out updates within days.

Flexibility and Persistence Can Really Pay Off

In addition to being flexible and staying free of magical thinking, be resilient and persistent. Soon, you’ll see that persistence is at the core of content marketing that increases book sales. You have to do what you say. Simply put, you have to be dependable.

Book buyers need to know they can read fresh book marketing content from you at certain times. Although you might not realize it, there could be hundreds or thousands of people reading your content. Some of these people may be hopeful book authors. Others may be avid book readers, people who just need to know a little more about you and your books before deciding to buy your titles.

So, be persistent. Keep trying new content marketing types. Every day, do something to grow your readership. There may be thousands of readers who will love reading your books, if only they knew about those stories.

How New Authors Gain Book Sales

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By Book Author Denise Turney

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Yes. New York Times bestselling books are often written by household name authors. Readers know what to expect from these authors. To readers, there may be less monetary and time risks involved with these titles. But that doesn’t mean that new authors can’t gain book sales. In fact, following are techniques that help new authors gain book sales.

Launching New Books

That’s good news. Unfortunately, simply writing a book, even a beautifully crafted story, isn’t always enough to gain book sales. Furthermore, publishing a book on a major platform like Amazon, Kobo or Barnes and Noble also is no guarantee that new authors will gain book sales, let alone enter the ranks of bestselling books.

Despite the genre, new authors could gain book sales if they publish books in January. To get more sales, the book genre is another factor to consider. For example, romance and self-help books may perform better when they launch in January. Children’s books and cookbooks may do well when published in December, and science fiction does well when published May thru August.

Getting to Top Selling Books

Yet, here’s the thing. During the end-of-year holiday season, authors of bestselling books are marketing and promoting their titles. That puts new authors in competition with household name authors which is why January launches yield results. In addition to launching new books at the start of the year, to move books for sale, new authors can:

  • Design catchy book covers using tools like Canva, Book Brush, Pic Monkey, 99Designs. Consider posting two to three book cover options on social media and asking people to vote on their favorite book cover. Another option is to share three book covers with family and friends and ask them to tell you which image they like best.
  • Also, write an attention-grabbing book description. It’s this overview that may determine whether readers simply flip a book over and put it back down or pick a book up and buy it.
  • In today’s digital book world, it’s important to add the right keywords to book overviews. Why? Keywords are what will help attract readers to new, classic and older books. In fact, keywords will impact search engines, Apple Books, Google Books, audio books and Amazon bestselling books.
  • And here’s another tip. If new authors aren’t gaining book sales, they can update their book description, trying different keywords within the description.

More Ways for New Authors to Achieve Top Selling Books Status

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Here are more ways for new authors to gain book sales. The first choice sounds easy. Yet, there are still authors who don’t have an official website.

  • Therefore, it’s important that new authors have an official website. When developing a website, consider using the author name as part of the website URL. It may not be a good idea to use a book title as part of a website URL if a new author plans to write more books.
  • To polish the story, let an experienced book editor look at the book. New authors and established authors are so close to their stories, it can be hard to spot mistakes in the writing. Even more, authors may overlook parts of a story that should be carved out. Another thing authors can miss that can hurt sales is an area of a story that could be stronger with dialogue or scene change.
  • Back to the official author website. Don’t just create a book author website. To get traction, add a blog to the author website. Add a new blog article that has relevant key phrases at least once a week. Here’s another tip. Website content management systems like WordPress allow authors to add a link to their book’s Amazon sales page.
  • Depending on the budget, new authors should consider trying paid ads. But watch the budget to avoid getting dreamy and overspending with minimal results.

Even More Ways for New Authors to Gain Book Sales

Places to test books for sale ads include Book Bub, Bargain Booksy, Cush City, AALBC, Facebook and Amazon sponsored ads. Here’s another tip as it regards ads. Run two ads to test which images and ad copy pull in more book sales.

  • Also, review book marketing analytics. This could keep new authors from entering states of magical thinking. After all, magical thinking can cause new authors to think that their new title will soon be among the Amazon bestselling books and New York Times bestselling books just because they wrote the book.
  • Create, publish and market book trailers.
  • New authors can also create their own Vimeo or YouTube Channel, offering writing and marketing tips.
  • Notwithstanding, the fact is selling enough books to see a title among the top selling books takes work. Which is why book marketing analytics aren’t always fun to review. But they offer insight into the types of book marketing techniques that are working and the techniques and strategies that need to be changed or stopped.

Pathway to Book Sales Online and Offline

Even more, podcast interviews, offline radio interviews and television interviews are effective ways for new authors to gain book sales. Other ways for new authors to gain book sales are to design and mail post cards using tools like Canva or VistaPrint. Thanks to the Internet, these postcards can be in print or digital.

Other options to announce books for sale include posting flyers on college and university bulletin boards. As a safeguard, authors should ensure they get approval from school administrators to post the flyers. And creating book newsletters is another way for new authors to gain book sales.

Definitely encourage family and friends to spread the word about the new books. This is not the time for authors to be shy. This raises another point. If new authors are assertive, there are a myriad of actions they can take to promote and market their books.

Keep the Momentum Going

For example, new authors can attend book festivals and cultural events that attract their book’s audience. Teaching college writing courses is another way to pull in more book sales. Additionally, there are book tours, book reviews and book swag to share with attendees at major events.

In closing, as the Internet and the world continue to change, new authors can develop innovative book marketing strategies. They can also take advantage of marketing apps and social media book marketing tools. To continue growing book sales, authors have to keep releasing new books. And, they have to keep introducing their new books and their backlist to book buyers and book readers.

7 Tips to Help Kids Love Reading Books

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By Books Author Denise Turney

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Despite what you might think, many kids love reading books. As long as I can remember, I have loved to read books. Even more, I’m from the school of book readers who loves holding a paperback in my hands. Could be the scent wafting off the pages. Or it could be the way that it feels to hold a good book against my stomach while I flip the pages.

Benefits of Reading Books

Like a train, boat or airplane, books took me to different places. In fact, it’s how I got to Paris, Kenya, Spain and Australia while I was growing up in housing projects. And, all the journey cost me was an active imagination, concentration and a library card. Oh, and the help of talented authors who knew how to use a pen to carve out worlds of wonder.

Back then, I read 35 to 50 books a month. Every Single Month. On top of that, I ran track, kept up my school work and wrote poems and short stories. Honestly, there are times when I think that books may have saved me from experiencing the full sting of trauma.

Reasons Kids Turn Away From Reading Books

Yet, benefits aside, it’s not always easy to help kids love books. In fact, some kids don’t like reading books because they think that they’d have to invest too much time into a book, even really good books. Other reasons why kids might turn away from reading books include:

  • Reading books feels too much like being back in school
  • Ebook reader stories are a turnoff due to having to stare at a screen
  • Story topics aren’t exciting to kids
  • Other events, choices vie for their attention
  • Parents, other adults and older siblings telling them reading books is boring
  • Benefits of finding good books to read is hidden from kids

Advantages to Kids from Finding Good Books to Read

Fortunately, there are a myriad of benefits that can be gained from reading books. Chance to explore other parts of the world is just one benefit. More benefits gained from digging into the best books to read include:

  • Increased empathy – While exploring books to read, kids can learn about different cultures. They can also learn how people experiencing challenges similar to their own feel. Even more, when kids love books, they can see how these same people overcome challenges. This alone can be inspiring, motivating and empowering.
  • Brain strength – Reading exercises the brain. According to Reading Horizons, the brain’s occipital lobe and the parietal lobe are stimulated while reading books. This stimulation helps kids process visual information. It also helps kids process letters into words.
  • Reading comprehension – The more kids love books, the stronger their reading comprehension can become.  Whether kids are reading children’s books in print or via an ebook reader, the more they read, the easier it may become for them to understand what’s shared in a story. As it regards school, kids may shorten the time it takes to study for tests. Additionally, they might recognize what to focus on in a book, including non-fiction textbooks.

More Advantages of Kids Finding Good Books to Read

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This happened for me. Granted, it took several years of avid book reading. But after reading kids’ books, I could spot areas teachers were likely to focus on in tests. Soon, I could read textbooks and know just what to highlight and zone in on.

More reasons for kids to find good books to read are to exercise their imagination and to open themselves to new ideas. Also, characters in some children’s books may keep kids from feeling alone. For example, a child who’s being bullied in school might feel less alone while reading a kids books series about a girl who’s also dealing with bullying.

Reaping Rewards When Kids Love Books

Building a broader vocabulary is another advantage for kids finding good books to read. Also, if kids read more advanced books as they age, it can help them maintain healthy cognitive abilities. Other advantages include:

  • Supports healthy sleeping
  • Improves concentration
  • Lowers stress (a plus in a busy digital world)
  • Aids healthy self-esteem (Of course, this depends on the books that kids read. Good books to read can support healthy self-esteem.)

Tips to Help Kids Love Books

Yet, with all the advantages and benefits of reading kids books, it can be hard to get kids to read. So, how can you encourage kids to read more books?

Check out these tips. For starters, let your kids see you reading books. This next tip is closely connected to the first. When your children are young, read good books to them. Other actions that you can take to help kids love books are:

  • Turn your kids’ favorite books into a play that the entire family can participate in
  • Let your children pick the books they want to read
  • Ask your children questions about books they read
  • Buy your kids books for their birthday and on holidays. They make great additions to other gift options.
  • Make a trip to your local bookstore fun. For example, you can go to brunch, then to the bookstore and later to a movie.
  • Take crayons and draw cartoons based on book characters and plots to help kids love reading books
  • Get your kids a library card. Also, let your kids participate in fun library events.

Fans of Good Books

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Even more, you may find it beneficial to let your kids read good books with you. For instance, you can read parts of a book and let your kids read other parts. As you see the benefits of your kids reading books, you might encourage reading more.

Who knows? Along the way, you might find good books to read and become a book lover yourself. And, kids who become fans of good books might grow up and pass book reading on to their children. In today’s world, you have more options.

Thanks to the digital world, you can find good books for your kids to enjoy on an ebook reader. Furthermore, your kids can read free or discounted books online. If their school has a book club, they can even share their thoughts and feelings about books they read with their classmates and peers.

What You Do Matters – Achieve Success with Integrity

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By African American Books Writer Denise Turney

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Achieve success with integrity and enjoy a good night’s sleep. Living with integrity also keeps you in high regard. Yet, operating with integrity won’t always gain you a fast track to success. Why? It’s easier to take shortcuts, especially when you feel like you’re in a tight spot.

Facing Integrity Temptations

In fact, if you’ve ever cheated on a test, you’ve experienced how easy it can be to operate on the other side of integrity. Also, some ways you may have sidestepped integrity include speeding through a red light or lying about not making a mistake on a work project. Your heart and intentions may have been good. But risks associated with operating with integrity in these instances may have seemed too high.

And, that’s the rub. There are times when you may find yourself facing hard choices. During these instances, it may seem easier and more advantageous to forego integrity. Doing so could yield short term benefits. However, over the long term, not operating with integrity could cost you.

For example, if you don’t operate with integrity in business, you could face lawsuits and employee turnover. Of course, your brand reputation could also be permanently damaged. Yet, the same voice inside your head that tempted you to take the shortcuts, may also convince you that you won’t pay for your poor choices.

Achieve Success with Integrity in the Arts

In fact, that voice may exclaim that you won’t get caught. You’ll never be found out. Television shows like American Greed and Luther have pulled in good ratings as viewers watch one person after another who thought he’d never be found out – get caught.

And, as it regards television, the arts is a prime area where the temptation to sidestep operating with integrity can be a problem. Years ago, an aspiring actress might unwillingly shortcut her way onto a major film through a powerful studio executive. Fortunately, that may be changing.

Examples Missing Integrity

But there are hidden ways to sidestep integrity and ethics in the arts and business. And these hidden actions could derail your career. Among examples of not operating with integrity and ethics in the arts and business, there’s:

  • Asserting that you graduated from a college or university you only attended for one semester
  • Paying for book reviews to be posted at books sites when you know the people posting the reviews haven’t read your books
  • Posting negative comments and negative reviews on competitor products, websites and social media accounts in the hopes of boosting your product rankings
  • Stating that you love a product that you haven’t used once

Writing headlines that confuse readers about the topic of an article in order to drive website traffic is another way to sidestep integrity. It’s almost as if you’re competing in a sport and are willing to do anything to win. Yet, if you’ve ever been on the short end of the lack of integrity, you know how painful the experience can be.

Get Clear About What You Want

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Also, if you’ve signed a bad contract, you know what it feels like to get burned by someone who sidestepped integrity. So, how can you achieve success with integrity in a world where taking unethical shortcuts is, at times, praised?

To begin, get clear about what you truly want. For example, as your primary goal, do you want to write a compelling novel with engaging characters that share universal truths? Or, do you want to sell 100,000 copies of a book in a record number of days?

Operating with Integrity

Your primary goal may impact whether or not you achieve success with integrity. So, get clear about what you most want. Other ways to achieve success with integrity are to:

  • Set clear boundaries for how you will operate in business and in the arts. Companies do this by developing policies.
  • Stick with telling the truth. In fact, setting a boundary of truth can prevent you from engaging in behavior that you’ll later be tempted to lie about to avoid penalty.
  • Talk through grey areas with trustworthy partners, family or friends.
  • Accept reality. Avoid stepping into the world of illusion and convincing yourself that doing wrong will, somehow, pay off.
  • Put yourself on the other end of the deal. For example, how would you feel or think if someone undercut you on a film, book or business contract?

Also, think long term. Consider what would happen should something you say or do not only be discovered, but gain local, regional or national exposure. After all, you’re building a reputation. Whether you want to or not, you are building your personal brand which is strengthened when you achieve success with integrity.

Achieve Success with Integrity – How Do You Want to be Perceived

Do you want to be known as someone’s who transparent and honest? Or do you want to spend long hours and years building a remarkable career only to watch that same career disintegrate because choices you made years ago caught up to you?

This raises another point. To achieve success with integrity, put your best effort into your work. In other words, respect your audience. Respect your customers. Approach them as the intelligent people that they are. For example, if you’re a novelist, avoid writing “down” to book readers.

As you get in the habit of operating with integrity, honest business decisions may become habit. You also might reduce the number of times you rationalize poor choices. Instead, you may simply accept that you made a mistake and focus on avoiding making the same mistake again.

Living with Integrity Takes Courage

This is why to achieve success with integrity you must have courage. It takes courage to stick with integrity and stay on a path that, although rewarding, may increase the time it takes you to hit success goals, like sales and revenue targets. And it takes courage to pass up an entertainment or business deal that would require you to lie, break a law or be unethical.

Over the long term, operating with integrity gifts you with a clear conscience. You can sleep good at night. And, you won’t have to live in fear that unethical deals you made will be exposed. In fact, you might enjoy a rewarding career absent regret.

Ways to Tap into More Creativity as an Artist and Employee

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By Books Writer Denise Turney

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Tap into more creativity and enjoy success. Creativity isn’t just for painters, novelists, architects, dancers, songwriters and musicians. In fact, to excel at work, relationships and in the arts, you need to be creative. After all, it’s creativity that’s the spark of innovation. If you’re starting a business, creativity will advantage you while you’re developing creative logo designs. It will also aid you while you’re looking for new ways to connect with new hires, dissatisfied customers and loyal supporters.

Make Time For Creativity

Advantages aside, it doesn’t always seem easy to tap into more creativity. Tight deadlines, family demands and social responsibilities can do more than chew up time. These tasks prove exhausting, threats to stillness and mindfulness. And, it’s stillness and mindfulness that can let creativity flow. Hence, a first step to tapping into more creativity is to watch how you map out your day.

If you’re serious about allowing creativity to flow, leave time open to simply sit and relax. That, or you can try walking in nature, floating in a swimming pool or meditating. Relaxing and practicing mindfulness help whether you want to tap into more creativity to create beautiful paintings, a business plan, music, a riveting novel or another tool to place in your art box.

Easy Ways To Become More Creative

Another effective way to tap into creativity is to engage in a hobby. For example, crafting a stage play may assist you with mastering workplace writing. Adding delicious color to an adult coloring book could open space in your mind for innovative ideas related to a work project to surface. Here are more ways to tap into greater creativity:

  • Write in a journal in the morning or before going to bed at night
  • Take an advanced English writing course if you’re seeking ways to sharpen your business or artistic writing
  • Enroll in an online music or arts class. For example, you could learn to play the guitar. Or you could take an online cooking class.
  • Sing a song while you shower or enjoy a bubble bath.
  • Meditate using a lava lamp or while using an online slow moving visual. For instance, you could meditate while looking at a circular online abstract painting that moves.
  • Pursue creative ideas when they surface, especially if the ideas don’t require a significant time or financial investment. Should creative ideas require a significant investment, consider researching the ideas before you act on them.
  • Enter a creative arts contest. Doing so could get you exposure. It could also increase your confidence in your creative abilities.

Additional Easy Ways to Become More Creative

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Check out these additional ways to tap into more creativity. Each of these actions is fairly easy to implement:

  • Join a creative discussion group. Participating in a creative group is an effective way to stay on track. It’s also a good way to generate more creative ideas. Successful businesses use this method to surface ideas for new business designs, products and services.
  • Exercise, especially outdoors in nature. Moving in nature has a remarkable way of generating creative ideas. Make sure you explore the outdoors in safe areas.
  • Drink plenty of fresh water and treat your body to a healthy diet of green, leafy vegetables and fruit. The healthier you are, the better you may feel. This alone can find you tapping into more creativity.
  • Do something creative every day. This could include doing something as simple as writing a relative or a friend a letter.
  • Revisit creative artwork or creative business designs you have already produced. It could prove to be the fuel needed to spur more creativity.
  • Enjoy other creative works, artwork produced by other people. See if it doesn’t inspire you.

Tap Into The Right Creative Ideas

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As with any goal, setting the right priorities is important. Because stress can block creativity, leaving time for mindfulness is key when it comes to creative artwork like developing an abstract painting and even creative logo design ideas for business. So, you’re going to have to map out your day so you have time to relax.

Then, when creative ideas surface, write the ideas down. That, or you can start developing the creative ideas straightaway. After a while, you may learn to quickly distinguish quality creative ideas from ideas that you may never develop. It’s this mental sharpness that can prevent you from spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on ideas that never work.

Respect Your Bank Account

This raises another key point. Just as lack of time can block the flow of creativity, so too can financial debt. And here’s an interesting pattern. You gain an artwork or creative business idea. Then, you start seeking out partners, creative artists and creative agencies to help bring your idea to life. Sounds simple. But, depending on the deals you cut with these people, you could dig a hole for yourself.

Creative agencies may promise excellent results at cost. Should these professionals deliver, your next move may be to share the creative work. This is when you might start working with marketing agencies. As good as it feels to imagine future success, marketing agencies aren’t cheap.

Should it take months, perhaps years, for your creative artwork, beautiful paintings or workplace creative designs to yield strong results, you could be thousands of dollars in the hole before your idea generates a growing income. So, while developing creative ideas, be smart. Respect your bank account.

Be Smart With Creative Ideas

As tempting as it may feel, don’t over spend to develop or market creative ideas. Also, read through creative contracts. Thoroughly review these contracts. After all, you don’t want to sell away your work or sign a contract that marries you to an agency for years. If you’re an employee, also be smart about turning creative ideas over to your employer.

Being smart adds so much to your creative ideas. Getting your novels copyrighted, filing for new product patents and trade marking creative logo designs are ways to be smart with your creativity. Another way is to maintain full control of your artwork and creative business designs. This way, you can reuse the designs in various formats without needing to ask permission.

Faith for Overcoming Tough Times

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By Books Author Denise Turney

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If navigating this world was only easy. What a wonder it would be if life in this world was always smooth, never bumpy, not once requiring unshakable faith. Actually, when you’re a kid, life can feel like a cool ride if your parents are loving, responsible and have strong child development skills. Then, years pass, and you get what you’ve been begging for. You get to grow up and become an adult. That’s when you need faith for overcoming tough times.

Set Yourself Up for a Good Life

Brace yourself, my friend. You may have just entered the space where you’ll have the types of experiences that grow into the case for faith. As you prepare to navigate these experiences, make smart decisions. A doctor once told me that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. For example, give yourself a solid chance to live in peace by choosing zero to low student loan debt. Also, get a wealth of experiences beneath your feet before you decide to marry or become a parent.

Travel. Explore. Live carefree and unhinged.

And pursue what calls your heart. For instance, if you’re passionate about painting, busy yourself working with a myriad of colors, inks and canvases. Love writing? Start penning your best novel. Don’t worry. You may have lots of time to get better as a writer, sharing remarkable stories with the world.

Overcoming Tough Times

My prayer is that you never have a hiccup along the way. But the world being what it is, that may be unlikely. In fact, if yours was a challenging or abusive childhood, you’ve already hit bumps, maybe even faced your share of mountains. One more setback, and you could consider tossing in the towel. Or you might ponder simply surviving, just getting from one day to the next.

Yet, if there’s a bit of kick in you, this choice could turn into regret. That’s why you’re encouraged to exercise faith. After all, overcoming tough times calls for fearless faith. To stir up your faith while overcoming tough times, remember why you started on your life’s path. Remember why you started painting. Or remember why you went into ministry, sales, medicine, science or education.

As hard as it may seem, see yourself doing what you love. Also, see yourself enjoying, actually enjoying, being successful while you’re doing what you love. Keep at it. You’ll see that ongoing life success really is the case for faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 shares that, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (New International Version)

About Loving Life

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You may have also seen this shared as, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (New King James Version). Beyond Bible study on faith, there are the words and experiences of motivational speakers and instructors.

Motivational speakers and instructors teach that inner vision produces what we see out in the world. When experiences that you want keep showing up in your outer world, this is easy to digest. In fact, you might celebrate these seemingly “easy” successes.

During these times, blessed faith doesn’t seem necessary. But, this is when seeming ease could make a future challenge that much harder. If you don’t practice daily awareness, you could start to believe that your successes are magical events. You could miss the link between your thoughts, beliefs and faith and what you see in your outer world.

Faith Building Tips

Then, when hard times show up, you may feel incapable of facing them. Therefore, to strengthen your thoughts into fearless faith while overcoming tough times:

  • See yourself living a rewarding life, enjoying your passions. Do this every day.
  • Practice awareness. Pay attention to your thought world and notice the link between your inner thoughts and the images your thoughts show you in the seemingly “outer” world.
  • Surround yourself with people who are living the life that you’re passionate about. Watching others achieve their goals, especially goals similar to yours, can pump up your unshakable faith.
  • Watch programs that support your passions, programs that strengthen fearless faith in you.
  • Listen to deep meditation tapes that inspire, motivate and encourage faith love hope.
  • Recognize inner guidance when it surfaces. And follow guidance from your Higher Self.

Also, take action that leads you closer to your goals. If you get into the habit of taking wise daily action, you can gain a momentum that could propel you through unimaginably tough times. This has happened to me at least twice. And, when I say unimaginably tough times, I’m talking gut wrenching struggles.

Strengthened Faith for Overcoming Tough Times

Here are more ways to strengthen fearless faith while overcoming tough times. Remember, it’s this type of faith that may become blessed faith, a belief in good that doesn’t call for years of struggle and suffering:

  • Each day, engage in at least three activities that you enjoy. For example, you could take a scented bubble bath every night, sip on your favorite herbal tea in the morning and take a relaxing midday walk.
  • Love reading books? Curl up with your favorite books two to three nights a week. Not only will you be entertained, but books that you read may offer insight into your current struggles. Additionally, books that you read, including fiction, might hold an answer to a question you’ve been pondering.
  • Dance in the morning, if only for 30 to 60 seconds. Do this even if you’re struggling to find a reason to get out of bed.
  • Spend time with loving family and friends. For instance, you could commit to visiting and calling family and friends once a week. Keep this commitment to avoid isolating yourself and feeling like it’s you against the entire world.
  • Continue to build good, loving relationships. Little beats good, trustworthy, loving friends when it comes to overcoming tough times.
  • Be patient with yourself. Even if you’ve lived with fearless faith before, it can take weeks, months or years to reach a blessed faith state. Once in a blessed faith state, trusting the Creator to help you see while in the light may become natural.

Getting to a Good Life

In other words, take care of yourself. Be kind to yourself. It may not be what you want to hear. But, you may have lots of chances to practice fearless faith. That’s another reason why it’s wise to start paying attention to the link between your inner thoughts (inner images) and the external thoughts (outer images that you see in the world). Also, take full responsibility for your life. This can help you to feel empowered, even if you’re facing hard experiences.

One last tip. Read stories of people who faced and overcame seemingly impossible challenges. Stay motivated, encouraged and inspired. See yourself enjoying what you want to experience. In fact, see and feel it as if it’s happening right now. Despite how hard things may appear, see yourself enjoying a good life. Practice fearless faith until you achieve a blessed faith state.

Psychology of Success: Staying Motivated Thru Failures

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By Books Author Denise Turney

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Psychology of success aligns personality, experience, core beliefs, critical thinking and self-awareness. If you want to experience quantum success, you’ll also need to commit to self-honesty. No more playing games, no more lying to yourself. You also have to take full responsibility for your decisions. Yes. It means you take full responsibility for your conscious and unconscious decisions.

Psychology of Success Honesty

To achieve and sustain success, you have to really get to know yourself. Another thing you have to do is face your fears. For example, you may feel fear when you think about aging, living alone, public speaking, being criticized on making a mistake in public.

In fact, Napoleon Hill, author of The Law of Success, Think and Grow Rich, How to Own Your Own Mind, The Magic Ladder of Success and The Science of Success, shared that our leading enemies (or fears) are fear of poverty, sickness, death, aging, criticism and loss of love.

To avoid getting blocked, work through fears early, before fears go deep into the subconscious. Tips to work through fear include journaling, writing a letter to someone whose opinion you’ve inflated and walking in nature and allowing submerged thoughts to surface. Other ways to face and move beyond fears are to talk with a trusted friend about the fear and joining a safe support group to hear how others deal with fear.

Train Your Brain for Success

Additionally, you could limit the time you let yourself think about something you fear to 2 minutes a day, and no more than once a month. This single step reduces time you spend worrying. As you do this work, you might discover that you invented a goal to avoid facing a fear. For example, you might have a goal to be the top sales rep at your company because, deep down, you fear your father doesn’t think you measure up.

Accept what you discover, what surfaces as you get to know yourself. This acceptance is better than spending decades chasing a dream that never really was yours. Signs that a success goal is truly yours include feeling peace while taking actions related to your goal, living with increased energy and clear focus. Also, you might feel more curious about life in general, living with a sense of wonder.

After you get clear about what you want, start to train your brain for success. To train your brain for success, listen to deep meditation tapes and repeat positive affirmations, statements that stir deep emotion in you. Making a visual success map, hanging inspirational quotes in your home and writing letters to your future self (the self who has achieved the goal) are other ways to train your brain for success.

Stay Open

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Each night, see yourself, actually see and feel yourself, enjoying the experiences that you want. See yourself speaking with clients and prospects. And see yourself signing hundreds of books at cultural festivals and large book conferences. Visualize that you’re living in the house you want. To continue to advance, stay open. In fact, Psychology Today shares that being open to new experiences is another key in the psychology of success.

Self-discipline, sound money management and the right actions are other psychology of success keys. Track the results of your actions in a weekly or monthly spreadsheet. Seeing the results of your efforts could fuel you as you work to achieve success.

Navigating the Road of Success

Also, stay motivated, because despite how hard you work, there may be times when you fail. Reading inspirational quotes helps keep you going. If reading inspirational quotes doesn’t work, consider:

  • Revisit why you started pursuing your goals
  • Take a break – simply take a break for one to two weeks
  • Ask your Higher Self for guidance
  • Read an empowering book
  • Accept and acknowledge successes you have already achieved
  • Continue to train your brain for success
  • Appreciate your blessings – focus on the good in and around you
  • Visit family and friends – connect with people who make you feel loved, people who make you feel good

Love for Your Success Journey

Somewhere on your success journey, you’re going to have to empower yourself. After all, no one stays on top forever. In fact, if you pursue success long enough, you’ll see that success is never owned. That’s why it’s important to appreciate your blessings and connect with people who make you feel loved.

In fact, it’s these people who make success sweet. Little may be more rewarding than sharing success, especially hard-earned success, with those you love.

If you let these opportunities slip, by the time you realize success is never owned, what could have been your sweetest relationships may have been ruined because you were too busy or didn’t take the time to see that success without a circle of love isn’t really success, which brings up another point.

Stay Motivated

Your family and friends and the people your work helps may be your life’s real quantum success. Fill your life with loving relationships, achieve goals that align with your highest values, and, for you, quantum success may naturally unfold.

So, stay motivated. Train your brain for success. And make the psychology of success part of your life. Also, remember that success is never owned. Keep advancing. Count your blessings and appreciate the good that’s in your life right now. Even more, continue to nurture loving relationships. After all, love and appreciation are a huge part of any success.