Hurricane Brownies

Those who know me know that I am absolutely not a procrastinator but boy, oh, boy, I have been procrastinating finishing the Author Outline pages that the Dolphin had asked me to complete. Don’t know what pushed me off the edge, but I finally finished and submitted them today. All questions answered including where I think my book should be displayed in a bookstore. I wanted to say right inside the front door, duh. But I was respectful and realistic and didn’t! I did say that I could see it in every airport terminal bookstore in the whole wide world though! I also answered who my audience was going to be and what I wanted people to take away from my book and more and more.

I’ve also now read the Tate Marketing guidelines. Now, that was exciting! All these directions on book-signings and paraphernalia like bookmarks and post cards and posters and t-shirts. On and on! They suggest that I have my first book signing in the town that I live in and have a minimum of 30 of my own guests in attendance. I am going to have to bribe everyone with Hurricane Brownies!

I still have the message from the keynote speaker from Tyler’s graduation running around in my head. One of his points was to do more than average people do. He talked about how average people just survive not necessarily succeeding. In order to succeed in life one must exceed expectation. I promise that I am going to do more than average with this book. I am going to exceed expectation by doing everything that I need to do going above and beyond with each task that Tate gives me. No more procrastination!

News From The Dolphin!

The email begins…’Just to prepare you now, the book business is not known for its ‘quickness’. My lesson in patience has officially begun!
While I was at Tate, Rachel, the formatting goddess, let me know that I would be hearing from Dave Dolphin on Friday regarding my production schedule. As anticipated, I heard from the Dolphin on Friday. How I love how these people follow-up! They have done everything they have committed to doing. They do business the way I do business. An ideal match.
I feel like I have just opened the door to a learning curve like no-other I have experienced before. From the day I allowed myself to be managed when I visited Tate to the Dolphin email warning me that the publishing industry is not known for its ‘quickness’. I have always been the one to make things happen and to make them happen NOW. Now, I am going to sit back, do what I am told and let the process unfold before me. The Dolphin even says, “Many authors have commented that God used this time in their lives to teach them patience. But remember good things some to those who wait and this can be a very exciting time in your life.” Understatement!
I feel pregnant! The book is there and I need to just let it incubate. I am just going to have faith that it IS going to come out! Production will officially begin in July and apparently at this time I will be assigned a team consisting of many players including an editor, cover designer and layout artist. Apparently the first month will be copyediting and I already feel sorry for whoever will be assigned this task! They will be dealing with technical/grammatical issues and obviously, spending quite a bit of time deciding which of my exclamation points to save and which to discard.
Of course, the Dolphin gave me homework. I need to complete two Author Outline pages. Lots of questions such as, ‘What is the goal of your book’ and ‘Who do you see as your target audience’ and ‘where does your book fit in a bookstore’. I look forward to stopping and taking the time to answer these questions. The more time I spend on them in answering, the better idea they will have of placing me with the best conceptual editor match. This editor, I cannot wait to meet! They will be the person who will take my words and make them real!
I was lucky enough to be in Nashville last weekend for my Florida Nephew’s college graduation. It was a fabulous weekend with the actual graduation being one of the highlights. The commencement speaker was talking straight to me like my pastor at home normally does. He talked about his Seven Steps to Success with the first being to Dream Big. (Yes, I took notes!) I have been dreaming big about how I am going to help so many small business owners all over the whole wide world to be successful in spite of themselves! Teaching them from my experiences how to manage themselves within their businesses. With my news from the Dolphin, I really think I can begin my lesson in patience and realize that my dreaming big is paying off!
(On an off note, my personal goal is to have 500 followers to this blog by the time I am in print. Have you clicked follow? Who do you know would like to be following…)

All About the Sign!

As you know, I am a very visual person. You can tell me anything and I get it. Show me, however and I am all over it. This being said, yes, I am thrilled about the opportunity to sign a contract with Tate Publishing. Tate who now had in their hands my new baby, The Book. I decided that I couldn't move forward unless I saw Tate in person. I needed to meet the people who were going to work with me to birth my dream.

Off to Oklahoma I go. I used to live in Tulsa and I loved it there. It was a very happy time in my life and I clearly remember the stunning seasons. I used to travel from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to do some freelance work way back when and loved it. You will love this: The last time I was in Oklahoma City was when I traveled up on a whim to audition for Martha Stewart Apprentice. Martha's spin off from Donald Trumps Apprentice series. Yes, there is a story there!

I was going to be in Dallas and made arrangements with Tate to travel to Mustang, OK to visit, have a tour and meet everyone and anyone who would take the time to talk to me. Excited. I was excited!

My best friend, my GPS, took me straight to the front door and the sign. 'Welcome Author-Annmarie McArthur' They spelled my name right! They put out a sign! Just for ME! I know they have a million authors and I am sure they have many that visit all the time. But frankly, I don't care. They put out a sign, just for me with my name on it and they spelled it right!

I didn't start out Annmarie. I'll tell you now that I started out Ann Marie. There are a zillion Ann's in the world and my parents always called me Ann-Marie. While you meet many Ann's in a lifetime, you sure don't meet many if any, Ann-Maries. Because I am totally a one of a kind and I get that I am a one of a kind and got it a long time ago that I am a one of a kind, many, many years ago, I went to court and became Annmarie! One of the best decisions I ever made. I love my name!

I digress. My visit to Tate was very interesting. I was managed. Managed like I am not used to being managed. Tate managed me. They told me what I needed to be told. Introduced me to the people that I needed to meet. Showed me what I needed to see. Glently walked me along when I was staying too long in one spot and talking too much. They MANAGED me and I loved every moment. Everyone there was young. Organized. Focused. Obviously talented. Wow! I am now part of their family!

Before I knew it I was walked out the door and to my car; With a Tate mug and a Tate pen. I loved Tate and I am going to love Tate and I am going to work with Tate. I understand that a book like mine is a first for them. They haven't taken on a project geared towards empowering small business owners before! I am the first. One of a kind!

My next communication from them will be my production schedule. I can't wait to hear! They got my name right and they put it on the sign. I have no doubt that they will do everything else right also. We are going to help alot of people manage themselves to success!

I Am Not Rachel Ray

Now I totally understand when artists and actors talk about being an overnight success, after being in their line of work for a life time already! I know that very few of you really know that I have been working on a book, actually two books, for a very long time. Now that my book is going to be published, everyone is assuming that it is a cook book. It's not! Consequently, I am starting this blog to talk about the book and to share my publishing experience.

For many, many years I have wanted to write a cookbook. Primarily because while I was in business, everyone wanted me to write a cook book. They wanted the Fudge Brownie recipe and the Sour Cream Chicken Enchilada recipe and the Amazing Chocolate Chunk Cake with the Fudgy Chocolate Frosting recipe. Turns out though, that the universe had no intention of me ever producing a cook book. Besides, there are plenty of cook book authors out there. We don't need another one and especially not one from me!

When I went through the crash of my business in 2004 the world was very bleak. As you know, I gutted it up and resurrected my business and ultimately sold it. During this time, I learned an amazing amount from the mistakes I made. I learned enough lessons that I ultimately developed a 'process' by which to manage my business to success. Not only that, my process and the way I managed myself and the way I ran my business enabled me to start and run another highly successful business. I turned this process into an 8 week 'course' with my goal being to realize my passion of nurturing and empowering other people with knowledge.

Everyone has a passion and most small business owners start their companies because they are passionate about producing a certain product-tangible or non-tangible. Unfortunately, allot of small business owners spend allot of time producing their product and not a lot of time managing the business side of their business. They don't really know how to manage their time, what their filing system should look like and what kind of business relationships they really need to have to support their business. I developed a way to show small business owners everywhere what they need to do, why and how they need to do it so that they may also enjoy success!

When I sold my first company I was still playing with the idea of writing a cook book. I tried my hardest to convert recipes from massive amounts into smaller in home amounts. I tried to measure and document portions and ideas. Then I started writing stories to attach to the individual recipes. As you can imagine, after being in the catering world for almost 20 years, there were plenty of stories. Not only stories about the business, but great stories from the roller-coaster that was my single Mom life.

Then, during a frustrating time cooking, the light bulb went off. I was not meant to write the cook book! The way I was going to feed my passion to empower people, was to attach my stories to my 8 weeks course! Consequently, we now have Recipes From A Life: Crisis Prevention for YOUR Small Business!, the working title.

A few years later the book is complete. Publishing a book is not an easy task as you can imagine. I was persistent with my dream though and made the decision to visualize a finished product. Little purple notes have littered my house for years. All just saying: The Book! I entertained the idea of self-publishing only to find that all self published books really do look the same and there is no marketing or PR support. When you self publish you have minimal choices. Cover A or B. Format A, B or C. Layout design A, B, C or D. That's it. I just knew that my book just could not look like any other book!

As you can imagine, I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Internet exploring the publishing world. In February of this year, I happened on a publishing company just outside of Oklahoma City called Tate Publishing. They are one of the largest in the country and the only large publisher that commits to reading and/or reviewing unsolicited manuscripts. On a whim and a prayer, I sent Tate my manuscript the first week in March. They commit to following up with all authors with in 6-9 weeks.

I tried to forget about Tate and my book sitting in their care. That line of thought worked for about 4 weeks. Last year Tate only accepted 2.8% of the manuscripts subbmitted to them. I knew that if there was hope for them to accept me, that I needed to put the word out to the Universe. So I did. In my prayers and in my mind and most importantly, in my heart. I put it out there that I have the ability to ensure success for small business owners EVERYWHERE!

On a Tuesday morning early in the middle of week 8, I opened my email inbox to a message from Tate asking me to respond with answers to a few simple questions including the kicker: Why did I think my book could be successful and what would I do to support it's success. I responded immediately with as much energy as I could and attached my author bio and headshot.

I was out of town that day and the next. I returned home that Thursday night late, exhausted and hungry to be welcomed to my dark little apartment by a FedEx envelope. As you know now, the letter read: Welcome to the Tate Publishing Family!

No, to the cook book! Yes, to ensuring success for small business owners everywhere!

Thank you for reading. Next post, my visit to Mustang, Oklahoma!