Publishing Award – FAQ

Who Enters the EDGE Publish PASS Awards?

 All independent author/publishers of business books are eligible.

 Are Awards Programs Worth the Money and Effort?

It takes time and money to enter award programs but the potential financial and professional rewards can really make a difference in your books success as a personal professional tool.  Awards not only bring personal satisfaction and prestige to the author but they can ultimately influence buyers. The book can keep on selling and influencing decision makers, thanks in part to that gold seal on the cover.

 

What sets the EDGE Awards Apart?

Winner Honorable Mentions appear for an entire year at www.Publishpass.com, and are featured prominently in our monthly newsletter and on various other award announcement related websites.

 

How do I know you got my entry?

You ship the books to us. We highly recommend that you send a trackable package, or include a self-addressed stamped post card to help us confirm receipt of your entry. Please include the online entry receipt with the book.

 

Do the judges read every book from cover to cover?

 Awards judges are trained to assess a book’s quality, much as a buyer at a bookstore or library determines whether or not to purchase for their patrons. The further a book makes it through the judging process, the more likely it will be read completely.

 

Please send any other questions to:

Shannon Evans Awards Director and Publish PASS Editor at sevans@publishpass.com

Writing Contest – Edge Publishing Awards

The EDGE Awards are focused solely on independently published business books and ebooks. Winner, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions appear for an entire year at www.publishpass.com. Winners will also be featured and highlighted prominently in our monthly newsletter. Awards are a great tool for all those involved. Awards influence reviewers, buyers, decision makers and future clients. The gold seal prominently placed on the book cover often captures the buyer’s attention and leads to higher sales. Enter now at: http://www.publishpass.com Enter Professional Advancement Seminars and Services PASS book awards competition and earn credibility and publicity for your books!

Entry deadline August 15, 2009 $75 per title per category until March 15, 2008 $80 per category March 16 until May 15, 2009 $85 per category May 16 until August 15, 2009

·         2009 PASS BUSINESS BOOK EDGE AWARDS – “Printing Your Passion” -www.publishpass.com

·         In today’s financial chaos, business people need new, stimulating ideas that trigger their own entrepreneurial success. Enter and compete with the best independently published business books of the year.

·         Entry fees are based on a per-title, per-category basis. Take advantage of the early discounted entry fees:

$75 per title per category until March 15, 2008

$80 per category March 16 until May 15, 2009
$85 per category May 16 until August 15, 2009

 

Award Categories

1. General Business/ Economics
2. Career (job search, career advancement)
3. Sales (sales skills, negotiating, closing)
4. Leadership
5. Communication Skills/Networking
6. Business Ethics
7. Operations Management/Productivity/TQM
8. Human Resources/Employee Training
9. Entrepreneurship
10. Philanthropy/Charity/Nonprofit
11. International Business/Globalization
12. Personal Finance (estate planning, debt management)
13. Investing (stocks, bonds, hedge funds, options, futures)
14. Retirement Planning
15. Coaching/Mentoring
16. Success/Motivation
17. Advertising/Marketing/PR/Event Planning
18. Corporate History/Milestone
19. Real Estate (buying, investing, management)
20. Business Reference (legal, how-to, technology)
21. Memoir/Biography
22. Business Fable

 

 

Book Award for Entrepreneurial Publishers

Announcing the 2009 Excellence in Demonstrating Groundbreaking Entrepreneurship (EDGE) Award! 

Entry open to independents authors of books and ebooks worldwide who publish for the North American market with a 2008 copyright (or that were released in 2008).

Announcing the EDGE Awards sponsored by Professional Advancement Seminars and Services (PASS) Publishing Company recognize and promote independently published books and ebooks that change people’s lives and promote the professional. EDGE – Excellence in Demonstrating Ground-breaking Entrepreneurship. The EDGE Awards were conceived to recognize and reward extraordinary books by independent publishers.

 

The EDGE Awards are focused solely on independently published business books and ebooks. Winner, Finalists, and Honorable Mentions appear for an entire year at www.publishpass.com. Winners will also be featured and highlighted prominently in our monthly newsletter. Awards are a great tool for all those involved. Awards influence reviewers, buyers, decision makers and future clients. The gold seal prominently placed on the book cover often captures the buyer’s attention and leads to higher sales. Enter now at: 

http://www.publishpass.com

 

·         Any non-fiction book that promotes an industry accepted scope of practice in a professional area of expertise will be accepted.

·         A submission should set forth a theory that has justifiable merit and factual basis.

·         The book can cover any professional topic but must give a solution or benefit for issues of that professional practice. 

·         The entry must meet the standards of the professional practice from which it is related.

·         Each entry must list the profession to which it is related.

 Awards: Winning titles will be exhibited in a 2009 Publish PASS EDGE Book Awards Showcase web page. An overall Grand Prize winner, an honorable mention will be awarded. 5 finalists will be named, for each profession submitted a special award will be given to the top book and the top ebook.

Each entry will be judged on and receives an individual evaluation with the judges’ commentary based on the following criteria:

 

·        Appropriateness of subject matter.

·        Depth of research

·        Is the entry “well-sourced”? Are sources credible and accurate?

·        Presentation

·        Impact of entry on the problem or issue covered

·         How well the book has achieved its goal

·         What possibilities are suggested by the book

·         What the book has left out

·         What specific points are not convincing

·         Eye catching cover

·         Market appeal

·         Client generation ability

Promoting Yourself on Facebook – Using Groups

Facebook is an incredibly powerful social networking service. Its interface and framework allow a single person to spread news virally through their social bookmarking service. Communities of friends in the Facebook Group apps are growing in popularity.  

As an author you should create Facebook Groups to further promote “brand” presence, promote news/events, share links,  and conduct discussions all in one spot to generate more excitement and build your audience. More than a fan site, Facebook Groups allows you to interact with your audience on a level that is comfortable and easy to maintain.

Unlike a blog, Groups is easier to maintain and keep fresh. You can assign mulitple administrators to help facilitate content growth. Now go out there and select a title, category and description that is relevant to your brand and start directing your existing friends to join your group. Then kick it into high gear, hang on tight, start adding content that stimulates interaction, and watch your group grow!

Raise Your SEO Presence with Google Local Search

Have you ever wondered how a local business got to be first in Google Local Search when you click on maps? Is it by address? Nope! Or maybe it is alphabetical? Nope!  It is based on keywords! 

Let’s say you are a dog groomer and your business is  Pretty Paws. No keywords in your business name…so how will people find you if they don’t know your business’ name? What if they were looking for a groomer on the net, would your name show up first? Top three? Probably not!  Google map search ranks sites based on keywords. It takes less than five minutes to do and is worth the effort to get your business listed based on YOUR keywords on their maps! 

Go to local search and take those five minutes to enter your business using your key words. If you were Pretty Paws your keywords might be: groomer, dog groomers, dogs, dog grooming, etc.  Follow these keywords with your town’s name…Dog groomer + Puppytown + WA

After you spend your five minutes, Google sends you an automated email with a pin number. They then call you, you enter your pin number and that is that for confirmation.  Within 24 hours your listing appears. Then you check to see if you selected the best keywords based on how you rank on the maps search. 

Isn’t that easy? Let me know about your experience!  Matter of fact, perhaps you should google yourself on maps using your keywords BEFORE you try this and then AFTER and see how it changes your rank on the Maps page for your community!

Publishing as a Marketing Tool

Good marketing begins with collaborative efforts and strong organization. What is more organized then a good book? Research shows that when there are solid connections between the customer and the goods and services they desire profits increase. The amazing growth of business information on the net is another market driver.

According to Osterman Research, email volume alone is growing between 35 and 40 % annually. How do you get in front of your niche in a way that demonstrates your creative new and useful ideas that solve the challenges that people face every day?

Creativity is only useful if it is channeled and directed. According to Warren Bennis, “Today’s successful companies live and die according to the quality of their ideas.” Creativity is critical for survival in any career. It is the life blood for constructing a competitive edge.

In order to succeed in the current market requires that entrepreneurs must drop their limiting assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors. They must critically analyze the connection between resources, needs and values. Entrepreneurs must harness their creativity and learn the techniques and behaviors that generate ideas.

Successful entrepreneurs tap into their creativity to throw off existing paradigms. They don’t allow themselves to be rule driven and they avoid preconceived ideas of what the world is or is not. Creativity and innovation are an integral part of entrepreneurship.

Presentation Skills

Talking Head presentation style is reminiscent of the college professor who began droning psychobabble in your survey course PSY 101 course and never stopped until the end of term. 300 students dutifully trooped in and out of the theatre style room TTH for a class in boredom. Many took the opportunity to do other homework, right letters home to mom and dad, to nap, or to zone out and doodle aimlessly. The point is that no useful knowledge was gained unless it was a promise to never take another course from that professor!

There is a time to talk and present information and concepts but it has to be skillfully interspersed with stories and opportunities for interaction with material and each other. Adults really prefer to learn when they can apply a presented concept to their business practices. They want to know how they can specifically take XYZ technique and use it.

Apply the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Silly) when presenting information to a group.

• Never have more than three to four points to make about your topic. 
• New knowledge must be built on old knowledge. 
• It takes time to make those links and build the connections. 

You only have a limited amount of time to get your audience’s attention and keep them engaged with the topic. Don’t waste it on talk that does not engage and motivate your audience.

Bad Presentation Techniques and How to Avoid Talking Heads and Techie Tedium Pt 1

Do you want to create a presentation to strut your stuff your next event? Are you terrified by the thought? Do you fear getting the dreadful moniker under your photo of a “bad presenter”? Hosting an event is a great way to hone your presentation skills to a willing and able audience. Here’s a news flash: There are no truly bad presenters…but there are bad presentation techniques!

Have you ever been to an event where the presenter was unprepared, bumbled around aimlessly, read to you, was a talking head or was so enamored by the technology they brought. We have all had the ‘pleasure’ of sitting through one of these at least once in our lives. You become so embarrassed for the presenter you actually want to jump in and help them out or jump out the nearest window and escape!

What are some of the characteristics of a bad presentation and what can we do to avoid them? How can we as presenters motivate our audience and encourage them to participate? What must we as presenters do to make the environment physically and psychologically comfortable in order to avoid irritating and alienating our participants?

One of the most common presentation mistakes made by new facilitators and old parochial school teachers is the Talking Head. Adults want to dig in, participate, interact, and apply concepts. To be a good presenter you need to engage the audience: Don’t read to them.

• Don’t preach to them. 
• Excite them. 
• Make them do something that gives them an opportunity to put into practice what they just learned. 

Good presentation techniques are learned through trial and error and peer feedback. Go to some networking events and see what works and what doesn’t. We are all good presenters when we have the right presentation skills in our toolbox!

Integrated Marketing Strategies Pt 3 – Building and Maintaining Brand Awareness

Public relations is a marketing and management tool that attempts to promote a company’s image, product or service and to counteract negative publicity on occasion. To do this public relations use news releases, feature stories, newsletters, to reach different media and audiences. Public relations is do is targeted at establishing goodwill and warm fuzzies. It is a valuable tool for reaching a broad audience cheaply with your message.

Successful public relations campaigns:

• Set realistic goals
• Provide valuable pertinent information from an expert source

Brand marketing done effectively implements a clear, consistent message. People often purchase an item based on the perception that the product or service will be the same each time. A simple effective message that comes through loud and clear through its delivery is incredibly effective. Think of Nike’s latest branding message of “Just do it!” Short but effective, we know exactly what they mean.

So how do you plan to integrate your brand image into a message that conveys itself both on line and in print? Once internet brand marketing was nothing more than a website that you hope through random luck someone visited. In today’s internet world there are a variety of marketing methods you can use to market your business and develop your brand on online.

Integrated Marketing Strategies Pt 2 – Building and Maintaining Brand Awareness

I have a son who at a young age wanted to start a business painting 911 curb addresses in the neighborhood. We lived in an area where the snow plows regularly scraped the numbers off. His startup wasn’t a bad idea. He just wasn’t sure of how to close the sale. He had stencils; he had the pre-requisite black and white cans of spray paint. He beta tested his process on our curb and on the neighbors’. He had practiced all his techniques but his “elevator speech.” His father pressed him to try and “sell” him a painted curb. My son inhaled and began with a stammer, followed by a stutter, and then a long string of “ahhhs and uhhhs.” His dad asked him, “Do you know what you want to tell me?” Long pause followed by a deep inhale and a sob. His dad asked him, “What are you selling? Why do people need to buy what you are selling? Why are you the one to hire for this service?” My son paused for a minute and then said through the curtain of frustrated tears, “Dad, I don’t know why they should hire me. I guess ’cause I do a good job.” Shrugging his shoulders he turned to walk away. His dad stopped him, “Boy! Are you a man or a mouse?” My son without missing a beat said, “I don’t know dad, but I sure like cheese!” He had no clue what his message was or how to get it out effectively…he just knew he liked money.

Integrated marketing is about building and maintaining brand awareness and identity. Good integrated marketing sends a coordinated series of different but related messages through different kinds of media thus increasing the chance or reaching and persuading the target audience. Perhaps the most critical part of an integrated marketing campaign is to maintain a consistent theme in your message.