Meet Amy Hall, Book Indexer

This entry is part [part not set] of 11 in the series Book Industry Experts

Amy and I connected on LinkedIn and after a brief chat to learn more about her services, I asked her to participate in my industry interview series.Amy Hall, Book Indexer

Tell us a little bit about your business.

I write back-of-the-book indexes.  When you’re trying to find out if a particular topic is included in a book, the index is where you look.  I index all kinds of trade books.  Just to show you the range of some of the topics I work with, the book I’m working on this week is about how to be a good parent, my next project is about women’s health over the past few centuries, after that, a book about media bias.  A series of business books is due to begin in a couple of months.  My favorite books to index are cookbooks.  A good index is so important for a cookbook.

While I have incorporated my business (Amethyst Harbor, Inc.), I’m the only one doing the indexing (I don’t use subcontractors).  When I started my business in the early 2000s, I assumed that potential clients would look for me by my business name, but indexers’ reputations are more often tied to their personal names.

How would you describe your ideal client?

I’d say that about two-thirds of my clients are Production Editors for Big Five publishers.  The rest of my clients are independent publishers or authors.  Working with a Production Editor means starting a long-term relationship with that person—it’s not a one-time experience like working with an author on a specific project, and that can be valuable for both parties because you come to understand how each other works and what their needs are.

My ideal client is communicative.  If there’s a delay, that’s usually something I can handle, but not if you go silent for weeks.  Publishing a book takes a team (it’s often comprised of freelancers who don’t normally work together), and there are a lot of moving parts to coordinate.  It’s understandable when there’s a delay.  Just let me know what’s going on so that I can adjust my schedule accordingly.

How did things change for you in 2020 and how did you manage to weather through the year during the pandemic?

In 2020 I had a really unique opportunity to present a three-part webinar on behalf of the American Society for Indexing.  I was asked to present a course on culinary indexing (my favorite indexing topic!) shortly before the pandemic.  Ironically, it was always intended to be an online course, due to the large number of international participants.  Preparing for that course took months, and I was invigorated by all the work that needed to be done.

Practically speaking, the pandemic didn’t affect my business very much.  I work independently, and client communication is almost exclusively through email or LinkedIn.  Indexers are used to a solitary work environment!

Throughout the years I’ve noticed certain seasonal patterns in publishing.  There are highs and lows (sometimes to a feast-or-famine extreme) over the course of the calendar year.  While everyone wants to publish their book in time for holiday gift-giving, it’s just not possible, and often not in the best interest of the author anyhow.  When I do have quiet days or weeks, I try and tackle household organization projects that otherwise tend to get ignored.

What is your favorite tip for using social media?

Keep it professional.  Your vendors, clients, and potential clients may be turned off by polarizing or political posts.  I think it’s best when there’s a separation between your personal life and your business presence.

What are your goals for 2021?

I’d like to take more courses this year.  Learning something new is one of my favorite hobbies.  I love the interactions with others when you take an online course.

It would be nice to travel at some point this year!  My family has been wanting to take a road trip up to Quebec for a while now.

Where can authors find you?

I am a frequent commenter on LinkedIn.  I may not post much myself, but I truly enjoy the back-and-forth with everyone.  You can find me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bookindexing/

My website is http://www.AmethystHarbor.com/

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

My advice to those writing a book right now or in the near future is to think “Big Picture.”  Trying to save a few dollars and do everything yourself or as cheaply as possible will show in your final product.  You’ve worked so hard on the content—don’t skimp on the book’s appearance.  Hire a professional editor, a professional book cover designer, a professional typesetter, and a professional indexer.

Bio

Amy Hall is a book indexer with specialties in the areas of cookbooks, culinary arts, sports, communications, advertising, L&D, social psychology, criminal justice, and health issues. She was recently the featured presenter for the three-part American Society for Indexing online learning webinar “Culinary Indexing–Food for Thought.”

Amy was the indexer for an Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal winner (2020), National Book Award for Nonfiction 1st place winner (2017), IACP cookbook award 1st place winner (2016), and James Beard Award finalist (2016).

Amy has a BS in Advertising from San Jose State University, a certificate in Basic Indexing from the Graduate School of the USDA, a certificate in Perinatal Issues, and she regularly take classes just for fun in all kinds of subjects.  She has been a member of the American Society for Indexing since 2006.  Amy lives with her family in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Meet George Troy, author of The Five Laws of Retail

This entry is part 2 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

George and I worked together for a few years on building his social media presence before and up through the launch of his book.

Tell us a little bit about your book and business.

My book, The Five Laws of Retail: How the Most Successful Businesses Have Mastered Them and How You Should Too, explain the fundamental principals that will enable a business to succeed.

Why did you write your book?George Troy, Retail Consultant

I wanted to help people and also to share some great stories from the retail world.

How did you publish your book?

I traditionally published with Post Hill Press.

How did things change for you as an author in 2020 and how did you manage to weather through the year during the pandemic?

To be honest, not much changed. Writing is a mostly solitary activity that one can do almost anywhere.

What is your favorite book marketing tip?

Great social media support! An author has to speak with a strong and consistent voice across all channels.

What are your goals for 2021?

I am currently working on fiction for a regional periodical.

Where can readers find your book? The Five Laws of Retail

All sellers of on-line books including Barnes & Noble and Amazon. I also write a blog at my website.
I can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

There is a lot of work to do even after a writing project is complete but you don’t have to do it all alone. Get great support from people who will really care about your message.

Bio

George Troy is widely read blogger, author, and consultant focused on retail business communities, including online and brick-and-mortar stores. He has enjoyed decades of real-life experience as a senior executive for some of the best-known and most successful retail companies in the US and globally. A specialist in apparel, footwear, sporting goods, cookware, and home furnishings, Troy has led the retail divisions of Deckers Outdoor (UGG Boots) and outlet divisions of Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn.

When he joined UGG Australia to create the brand’s retail channel, Troy directed all aspects of the business(merchandising, marketing, operations, real estate, store construction, and management), taking retail sales from $0 to $400 million in the US, Europe, and Asia in just eight years. Similarly, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn brought Troy in to create and build the outlet channels for those brands. Here, too, he directed all aspects of store operations, including HR, marketing, real estate and construction, and merchandising.

Troy is currently a consultant with The Grayson Company based in New York, which offers a full range of consulting services to retail, e-commerce, wholesale, and omnichannel businesses as well as investment firms focused on the consumer sector. The Grayson Company’s CEO Kevin Mullaney says of Troy, “He has extraordinary expertise in field management, site selection, and lease negotiation, and equal capabilities in merchandising, particularly product development and assortment planning.”

Troy serves on the boards of directors of two nonprofit organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area. When not writing about the retail world, Troy spends his time in garden-to-table cooking and also tends a small Pinot Noir vineyard. An avid hiker, he recently summited Mount Kilimanjaro with his family. He and his dog Farley are currently enrolled in the Canine Circus School of Emeryville learning to perform amazing dog tricks.

Troy earned a BA with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in Anthropology. He also holds a California State Teaching Credential.

 

Meet Marcia Turner Layton, Ghostwriter

This entry is part 2 of 11 in the series Book Industry Experts

Ghostwriter Marcia and I connected a few years ago and I’m very pleased she’s able to share information about her ghostwriting business.Marcia Layton Turner

  • Tell us a little bit about your business.

I’m a business book ghostwriter who got her start in ghostwriting thanks to an agent. I wrote my first book in the 1990s, for my dad, who was a fine artist and who didn’t do much of any marketing or promotion. So I wrote Successful Fine Art Marketing to offer some guidance in marketing planning for artists. Having proven that I could write a book-length work, I then landed work with the Complete Idiot’s Guide series, and wrote some startup and marketing guides for Wiley, followed by some corporate histories and real estate guides. I had earned a reputation as a fast writer, so when my agent heard about a business book project that was way behind schedule and needed a ghostwriter to step in and produce it, she introduced me to the editor and the rest is history.

Although I continue to create content for major brands and publishing clients, ghostwriting business books accounts for around 80% of my business at the moment.

I’m also the founder and executive director of the Association of Ghostwriters, which aims to bring together professional ghostwriters for networking, business-building, and idea sharing.

  • How would you describe your ideal client?

As a ghostwriter, my ideal client is an entrepreneur, business owner, or CEO who is articulate, friendly, kind, intelligent, and decisive. They want to write a business book that contains stories and case studies and is practical in nature, helping the reader to learn a new skill or apply a new strategy or tactic. They know what they want to say and, typically due to an already full schedule, want to hand off the responsibility for writing and editing their book to a writer like me.

  • How did things change for you in 2020 and how did you manage to weather through the year during the pandemic?

I suspect that because I was already working with clients virtually, using the phone and Zoom, the pandemic didn’t change the way I worked. It did free up time for some clients to step forward and decide to start working on their books sooner rather than later, however. And I did find myself closing my office door more regularly, due to having other family members in the house during the day; I work best in silence.

  • What is your favorite tip for using social media?

I’m not sure I’m qualified to give advice regarding social media, since I’m very much a student myself, but I will say that one thing I’ve done this past year that has really helped me is to invest time in expanding my LinkedIn network. I spend time there weekly searching for people I’d like to be connected with, whether because of their company, their title, their expertise, or something else, and then ask to be connected on LinkedIn. As a result, I’ve more than doubled the size of my network and I’ve seen the number of inquiries rise, too.

  • What are your goals for 2021?

In 2021, I’d like to continue ghostwriting interesting business books for smart clients and decide on a dissertation topic for my doctorate, which will likely be related to writers and wealth-building.

I’d also like to blog more frequently for the Association of Ghostwriters, which I run. I’m aiming to post on a biweekly basis throughout 2021. I’m always in need of blog topics, too, if anyone wants to send me a request (marcia@associationofghostwriters.org).

  • Where can authors find you?

You can find me at www.marcialaytonturner.com or www.associationofghostwriters.org, and at https://www.facebook.com/marcialaytonturner/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcialaytonturner/.

Bio

Bestselling, award-winning writer Marcia Layton Turner has authored, co-authored, or ghostwritten more than 60 nonfiction books. Many of her titles and those of her clients have been published by major publishers, including John Wiley & Sons, McGraw-Hill, Penguin, and Macmillan. Hybrid and independent presses are becoming a popular choice, however, and Marcia has worked with several, including Jenkins Group and Authority Publishing.

One of her most recent ghosted books was expected to sell 2 million copies internationally when released, and her Unofficial Guide to Starting a Small Business was named a “Best Business Book” the year it was published, by Library Journal. A book she recently edited was a New York Times bestseller for several weeks.

She has ghostwritten books about leadership, marketing, Gen Z, business development, personal finance, and many other business topics.

When not ghostwriting books, Marcia writes articles and blog posts for outlets like Businessweek, Entrepreneur, Forbes Online, US News & World Report.com, CNN Money, and AmEx OPEN Forum.

She earned her MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, a BA with honors from Wellesley College, and is currently at work on her doctorate in business administration (DBA) at Temple University.

Meet Jeanne Rodriguez, author of Ready Set Work! and Ready Set Supervise!

This entry is part 7 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

Jeanne and I connected on LinkedIn a few years ago and I did a social media audit for her. We have stayed in touch and I’ve been pleased to see her apply some of the suggestions from that audit.Jeane Rodriguez headshot

What are your books about?

Ready Set Work! and Ready Set Supervise! are books about how to navigate successfully in today’s work environment. Specifically, Ready Set Work! is a guide for new workers for conquering job jitters and becoming the employee everyone wants to keep. It provides guidance on how to handle hundreds of the most common and most sensitive work situations effectively and confidently.  It gives new workers a centralized source of information with a common sense approach that quickly deals with the issues and gets them back on track comfortably.  It helps take the fear out of working so people can just concentrate on doing a good job and keep that job in today’s economy.

Ready Set Supervise! lays out the most common problems that supervisors run into at work, explains them in a way that makes sense, and enables supervisors to work more confidently all while projecting an air of maturity and dependability. It helps readers become the supervisor everyone wants to work for. Ready, Set, Supervise! goes a long way towards taking the fear out of supervising.  Sane people are afraid of supervision.  It can be scary stuff given the number of legal and policy issues supervisors have to deal with.  And, once you throw in the need for gigantic heaps of common sense, enormous physical and mental stamina, and the fact that supervision means being responsible for the actions of other people, it’s a wonder anybody ever wants the job.

Quite honestly, I wrote the books because I was constantly hearing from employees and employers about a wide variety of issues that they were dealing with at work and there was nothing else out there that covered these same topics.  I spent over thirty years working as a line-worker, a supervisor, a manager, or an executive, and these were the topics where I most often saw people having difficulty.  My target populations include, but are not limited to, Millennials and Gen Ys and target markets include trade schools, tech schools, local work programs, government entities, immigrant service centers, and business colleges.

My overall goal was to produce books full of information that would help people be comfortable in their work environment and succeed in their careers.  I wanted them to be a fun, light-hearted approach to real-life topics, easy to read and understand.

How did you publish your book?

My books were published through Pennico Press.

… more … “Meet Jeanne Rodriguez, author of Ready Set Work! and Ready Set Supervise!”

Meet Anne Janzer, author of Get the Word Out: Write a Book That Makes a Difference

This entry is part 8 of 11 in the series Meet the Author

Anne and I have known each other for several years and she always has great tips about writing. She’s even written a guest post for me about BookBub Ads. I am sure you will find helpful information in her interview.Anne Janzer headshot

Tell us a little bit about your book and business.

I’m a nonfiction author and unabashed writing geek, on a mission to help people communicate more effectively through writing. I’ve written four books about writing itself, including The Writer’s Process and Writing to Be Understood. My most recent book is Get the Word Out: Write a Book That Makes a Difference.

When I’m not writing books or blog posts about writing, I can be found coaching business writers, doing developmental edits of nonfiction manuscripts, or helping business authors through the messy middle of their works.

Why did you write your books?

I write all of my writing-related books for the same general reason—to help people communicate and connect more effectively through writing. I keep coming at that challenge from different angles, and for slightly different audiences.

How did you publish your book? Traditional publisher, hybrid publisher, self-published?

I’m an indie author or author/publisher. By that, I mean that I self-publish, but hire professional designers and editors, and approach the work like a publisher as much as a writer. My books should be indistinguishable from those produced by traditional publishers. It’s been a learning adventure.

How did things change in 2020 and how did you weather the year through the pandemic?

As an indie author, I was able to adjust more easily to the restrictions of the pandemic than many traditionally published authors. I don’t rely on retail bookstores for my sales, and don’t plan for big, in-person events. I could adjust the prices and run discounts to reach people when times were tough. The flexibility and control helped.

The pandemic also opened a few doors, such as speaking at a couple “overseas” events that I otherwise would not have done because of the travel.

Oddly enough, the pandemic also created clarity around the messaging of my latest book, Get the Word Out. I had been working with chapters and ideas for months, but when the world shut down, I realized that the theme of the book was really about making a difference. And I was able to snag interviews with all sorts of interesting people because their travel schedules were shut down.

So I weathered the year by connecting with other authors and immersing myself in writing a book. Not a bad strategy, and a great distraction.

What is your favorite book marketing tip?

My book marketing mantra is this: be generous and strategic. If you are only generous, you will burn out. If you are only strategic, people will burn out on you. Find that balance—help those people who are your readers, or who otherwise speak to your readers. Build relationships. You can do this by writing book reviews, contributing guest blog posts, doing podcast interviews … the possibilities are nearly endless.

What are your goals for 2021?

I hope to keep encouraging and supporting authors who want to step up to writing meaningful books. We’ll see what that looks like in 2021: more coaching or editing, perhaps a few small-group online courses, more podcasts and blog posts. And much more reading!

Where can readers find your book?

The best place to find out more is on my website: annejanzer.com. From there you can sign up for my every-other-week emails about writing practices.

All of my books are available on Amazon (here’s my author page) and Bookshop:

You can also find them on my Bookshop page (supporting indie bookstores).

Connect on social media: @AnneJanzer on Twitter, Anne H Janzer on Facebook, Anne Janzer on LinkedIn.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

For all of those authors who worry about, dread, or resent book marketing, consider reframing the way you think about it. Your book is like a beacon for the people you serve. Marketing is how you light that beacon and fulfil the purpose of your book.

Bio

Anne Janzer is an award-winning author, armchair cognitive science geek, nonfiction author coach, marketing practitioner, and blogger. She’s on a mission to help people spread important ideas through writing.

As a professional writer, she has worked with more than one hundred technology companies, writing in the voice of countless brands and corporate executives. She is author of the books Writing to Be Understood,  The Writer’s Process, The Workplace Writer’s Process, and Subscription Marketing.

Her books have won numerous awards, including the Independent Book Publishers IPPY award, the Foreword Indies Book of the Year, Reader’s Favorite Gold Medal, and the IndieReader Discovery Award. They have been translated into Japanese, Korean, and Russian language editions.

Anne also regularly speaks or hosts online webinars for writing conferences, writer’s groups, and corporate marketing teams and writing groups.