I MUST SELL, SELL, SELL!

When Melissa and I started writing books, I was told that the writing was only 10% of the work.  Selling the book was the other 90%.  I didn’t believe it at the time.  Guess what?  I believe it now!  Maybe not 90/10, but marketing a book is  REALLY. HARD. WORK!  Especially a book like ours, where you basically have to convince somebody that they need it, because they’ve never seen anything like it before.

So here we are, having just come out with our second eBook, The Caregiver Organizer For MY Aging Parent.  Soon, we’ll be announcing the roll-out of our third eBook, The Caregiver Organizer For MY Special Needs Child.  Cool, huh?  Yep!  And all we have to do is figure out how to sell them!

Any ideas?  Ha ha, just kidding! (Not really, if you have any ideas, let me know!)  The name of the game is EXPOSURE!!!  So we’ll be on as many blogs and catalog websites as will take us.  If you write one of these blogs or own a website, contact us and we’ll talk.  We can offer a giveaway, a discount, whatever you want. 

If you think our eBooks are a great idea, but don’t have a need for one now, tell your friends and family.  Somebody you know is taking care of an aging parent or other loved one and could use a way to organize his or her information.  And don’t forget about our first eBook, For MY Child.  Have young children at home?  Organize their information for your sitters or nanny.

Think of our eBooks as eOrganizers.  We provide the template, and you fill in the information about your child, parent, or whomever.  That way, it’s all there, in a clear and concise format, for you, for your caregiver, for anyone who needs that information at a moment’s notice.

Okay, today you heard from Salesperson Karen!  (Can you tell that I’m the sales-y one of our partnership?)

Don’t forget, as part of our roll-out sale for our Parents eBook, use “Parent” at checkout for $3.00 off.

I’m off to sell some more!

Karen

SUMMER ORGANIZING!!!

Yes, I typically like to be more original when writing a blog post, but this article, by HousekeepingChannel.com is so awesome, I had to share it with you. So click on the picture below and read these 10 great summer organizing tips!

So now, get organized!!!

Karen

THE RESOLUTIONS I REALLY WANT TO MAKE … AND KEEP!

We’ve all heard, and I’ve even written, about making New Year’s Resolutions that are small changes, so we don’t give up after a week or a month. But what are the ones that we REALLY wish we could make? And KEEP? That will somehow, magically work? Here are mine:

1. Lose my remaining 18 pounds by the end of the month. And still eat everything I want to eat. In abundance.
   
2. Become the perfect mom, never yelling at my kids, which will turn the boys into the perfect children, always doing what I say the first time, so I don’t have to yell, and so on, and so on, and so on.
   
3. I haven’t printed out any pictures since the first day of kindergarten, and the boys are now in 3rd grade. I’d like to get all those done by the end of this week.
   
4. Have our new website up by tomorrow.
   
5. Have my entire house cleaned and organized by the day after tomorrow.
   
6. Keep it that way all year.
   
7. Learn to salsa dance next weekend.
   
8. Enter the 2010 Olympics as a figure skater. (Does it matter that I can’t stand up on ice skates?)
   
9. Have Karmel Publishing make our first million by April. (After all, we’ll have our new website up by tomorrow, right?)
   
10. Never lose my temper, ever, all year long. (BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!)
    

So, what do you think? Can I do it?

Karen

MY DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

I have a confession: I am absolutely, without a doubt, one of the MOST disorganized people ever. This is my dirty little secret, which hopefully my cub scout pack will never figure out, or they may wonder why I volunteered to be the pack treasurer. (Okay, I use the term “volunteer” VERY loosely since nobody else was volunteering and everyone was staring at me. I mean, really? What was I to do?)

But even worse than that, Melissa and I are writing a series of books to help folks organize different areas of their lives. How bizarre is that? I know what you’re wondering… Did Melissa know this little secret of mine before we went into business together? Well, not exactly. Okay, NO, not at all. But I don’t think it took her too long to figure it out!

Our first book is By The Book: How To Take Care of MY Kids. It’s a workbook for parents to complete with information about THEIR kids for their caregivers. It is chock full of forms to fill out, information to document, schedules to update, etc. It is the BEST way to keep all this stuff organized for your babysitter, whomever that might be. (Yes, of COURSE I use it for my own personal use. Well, okay, I use it sometimes. Um, every so often? Sigh!)

So you see my dilemma. In the business world, I give the appearance of an organized, confident business owner. But in real life, I’m really a disorganized business owner and a very confused mom!

Shhhhh, don’t tell anyone, okay?

Karen

Tuesday Tidbit- Junk Drawer Conquered

So I did it. I cleaned out the junk drawer. I was surprised. It only took me about 45 minutes.  I started with just opening the drawer. I tried to sort as I took things out, and that wasn't working so well. So I dumped it all out on the table. It was just plain ugly. I couldn't believe the mess of things in there. Plenty of twos- two needle nose pliers, two regular pliers- then we grew in number to 6 funky wrench pieces that you use to put furniture together to a gazillion nails, screws, receipts, wrappers, rubberbands, pencils, hair barrettes and other assorted whatnot. Weather Stripping. Water Balloons. A tiny St. Christopher- AND I'M NOT CATHOLIC. So. . . here's the breakdown, in case you are wanting to do yours too:

1. Empty the drawer and do a fifteen minute sort. This is where we put things into the big piles.

2. Next, start sorting through your piles and determine a.) what to put in it's rightful place b.) what to group together in the junk drawer and c.) what to throw away.

3.) Vacuum the drawer. I used to think wiping it out would do the trick, but the vacuum is much more effective.

4.)Put everything neatly back in. You might even try some small bins (3/$1 at Walmart!).

Once I was finished (see photos) even my family noticed. My little angelbaby Z2 took one look at it and said,"Wow. Niiiice bins. Guess that means we have to put it all back where we got it, huh."

That's right. Yes you do, if you ever want to use my junk drawer ever again. And now, on to all the other drawers. Sigh. going to be a long season of organizing!

Yours, Still feeling good that the drawer looks like the pic a week later,

M