Signing Contracts

After working with my agent for several months to iron out a series proposal, I finished three proposals. (Actually, when you write a book series proposal you write a separate proposal for each book in the series.) Two of the proposals were accepted, and I received the contracts this morning.

While ironing out the aforementioned proposals, I was writing the first book of the Quick and Easy series, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs. It's finished and the cover art work has been chosen. Go ahead and treat yourself to a copy when it comes out hot off the press. Any day now you'll be able to see the Buddhist-themed cover on Amazon. I can't wait; it's dynamite, luring you to gaze at it for a long period of time. I believe it's comparable to the image of the South Asian girl of National Geographic fame.

Check Out My New Book!

Speaking of making money with photography, I have a new book, "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco."

The first question everyone asks is how long does it take to write a book like this. It took me about 6 months to put together the photography (I took every shot in the book) and write the text.

So what are the best photo ops in San Francisco? Read the book to find out not only that, but also how to shoot at each spot.

The best part of the book is the sample photos. When you're out in the field photographing, you won't have to worry about framing your image, the book already does it for you!

Get the book HERE!

Job Opportunity Tuesday

CRUISE SHIP LECTURER JOBS

Last summer I worked on the Norwegian Jewel as a digital photography lecturer. I traveled the Baltic and not only had the opportunity to teach cruise ship passengers, but I also got to take pictures for my new book 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs.

I spoke 4 times on the 12-day cruise. The speaking days were the days we were at sea. The lectures included such topics as Your Camera--Making the Connection. The topics had to be catchy because they were listed in the cruise ship daily bulletin.

There were some 100 passengers who attended my seminars. I worked with the assistant cruise director to set up the room for my equipment so I could show PowerPoint slide shows. The classes required a tremendous amount of planning, but who can complain as I worked making PowerPoint slide shows on the deck with peaceful ocean views.

For info about how to become a cruise ship lecturer go here.

Book Promotion for Beginners

If your an average Web user and you want to promote your new book so you can make some money with it; you'll appreciate the efforts I'm making (and writing about) to promote my photography books.

Here's an update on my book promotion efforts:

Amazon--Well, I sent out my letter to a couple of Amazon reviewers (see yesterday's post) to review my book "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco." I heard back from one of them so I was glad. I immediately emailed the marketing person at Cengage Learning (my publisher) to send a book out to this person.

GoDaddy.com--In a constant search for a hosting company I looked over Godaddy.com and I'm considering going with them to get a domain name and to use their Web page building utilities. I liked their sample Web pages.

Google Site Builder--I know for sure that I'm not going to make a Google page, because I don't like their samples and the URLs that they give you are tedious. Google Site Builder is here.

Wordpress--I'm finding much happiness, though, in my new Wordpress blog, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets. I got 5 comments on my latest post--all spam--and Wordpress took them out automatically and put them in a spam folder. Plus, their graphics and text are dynamite! Wordpress is here.

Promote Your Book for Free!

For me today is promotion day. I've got Steve Weber's Plug Your Book in hand and am ready for my first blitz. I've gone through the book and circled some of the things I can do to promote my photography books easily on the Internet.

Here's what I've come up with thus far. All of the following is free:

1. Get more Amazon reviews for my San Francisco book. To do this I'll contact people who have written reviews for similar books and offer them a complimentary copy of my book for a review. I'll use Amazon friends to send a message.

2. I'll contact old media outlets such as Library Journal asking them to write a review of my book.

3. I'll build a blog for my new upcoming series 101 Quick and Easy Secrets.

4. I'll create a Web site for 101 Quick and Easy Secrets on Google sites.

Job Opportunity Tuesday

Every Tuesday on this blog, I'll be looking at one job that's recently been listed on the Internet.

This Tuesday's job is selling photography at SportsTop25.com. This job was posted on March 3 over at getphotographyjobs.com

To get the job, your photographs have to be approved by SportsTop25.com. Once approved you get 80 percent of the profits when your photographs sell. You can apply online here.

New Book Published

After I sorted through thousands of pictures from all over the world that I've taken over the past 10 years, I managed to get a book published with over 100 of them in it.

The book, "101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs," hits the shelves in April. Not only does it take readers on a journey around the world, but it also gives photo tips on the way. The book is partially based on my Digital Traveler blog.

After that come two more books due out later this year.