As many of my readers know, I've been working hard these last few months getting everything ready for the Official Publication of my new book, Choose To Believe, which is scheduled for July 5th.

We started taking advance orders for my new book on March 31st.  500 copies sold in the first 4 and a half days (we offered a special ebook edition for the first 500 customers), and over the next few weeks we sold an additional 100 copies.

While waiting for the books to arrive, I set up a system to handle the large quanitiy of packages.  Signed up with Encidia.com to print labels and postage for USPS packages, bought a special label printer and USB scale, and ordered 700 bubble envelopes.  (In total, this cost over $900!)

This past Monday, I announced to my mailing list that I am now taking pre-orders for the new book, Choose To Believe.  To help with printing costs, I put together a Pre-Publication Special for anyone ordering before April 30th.

Description Page at PowerKeys Publishing

On Monday, March 24th, I uploaded the final PDF to the printer.  According to them, I will see a proof copy this coming Monday, March 31st.  Once I approve the proof copy, they will proceed with printing, and I'll receive 3000 paperbacks within a few weeks.

I'm so excited!!

Today, I just sent off a few Advance Review Copies to the important reviewers in the book trade -- Publisher's Weekly, The New York Times, Library Journal, Booklist, and ForeWord Magazine.  Kirkus Reviews would have been another one, but they won't review self-help titles.

Charles Burke, author of "Command More Luck", really knows how to turn a disadvantage into an advantage!

About a month ago, he and his wife moved from Japan to Thailand, and just as they were beginning the transition, someone hacked one of his websites!  Lots of strange characters -- no description of the product being sold from that site.

Having his focus on the process of moving, Charles didn't realize that his site had been hacked until recently.  Whereas most folks would cry, complain, or get angry, Charles yelled "Whoopie!".

Hang on a minute -- I've got to catch my breath.

This last month has been INTENSE!  I recruited the aid of a professional editor, Lauree White, in January, and received her suggestions for "Choose To Believe" in early February.  Needless to say, she found a LOT more opportunities for improvement than my friend, Toni, had.

For those who have been anxiously waiting for the new book to come out, I can report that I've gotten the manuscript back from my primary editor (Toni Edson) and have implemented a large portion of the suggestions she's made.

How has your new year been going so far?  Did you make any "New Year's Resolutions" this year?  If so, are you sticking to them?

I made one resolution this year.  To separate my work time and my personal time.  Over the last few years, I had lapsed into a pattern of working every day, with frequent interruptions for personal tasks around the house and favors for friends.

As I complete the new book "Choose To Believe", I have been looking around to see if there are any tools to help a reader to change what they believe easily and quickly.  This is partly to verify if I've missed anything in the book itself, and also to offer the reader a "next step" to follow after reading the book.

Now that the book (Choose To Believe) is almost done, I've taken some time to think about what's next.  Where should my business go from here?

As some of my close friends know, I've been studying material from Fred Gleeck over the past year, and learned some very valuable things, like how to create a line of valuable products in a short period of time.  In his system, you start with a very detailed outline of your material, create a short ebook to see how that material is received by the market, and once accepted, start cranking out the products.