I insist on sending you a check for the books for our church library. It's our gift to the chusch and I don't need you paying for it. Thanks.

Keep the excellent information coming. You're doing a terrific job.

Where's Allison. Is today our last chance day?

Wow, where did the month go? It's been great fun chatting with everyone and it is my prayer that this is just the beginning of many new friendships. Please don't think because my Forum month is over that you can't contact me. I welcome your emails at any time, okay? Feel free to stay in touch, I mean this. Don't be shy.

Thanks to those of you who signed up for my free e-zine. I have a lot of exciting things planned in 2007 for baby boomer women! I'll be launching a whole new web site and a new e-zine focus especially for baby boomer women and we'll be offering FREE downloadable MP3 files of motivational and inspirational messages from me, as well as lots of writing tools from someone who really knows his business. If you have not yet subscribed please visit my web site at www.godallowsuturns.com

Let’s start by answering Lynnie’s series of questions. Good questions, girlfriend!

Yes, my new target market is Baby Boomer Women. My target market is different for the God Allows U-Turns anthology books and the U-Turns overall outreach. My over arching BBW message is that it’s never too late to turn around and change direction, or to achieve a dream, or to chart a new course in life. I’ve developed a new mission statement, tag line, and lots of other defined strategies that will help me stay on track as I prepare to launch this new aspect of my writing business in 2007. I’ll be offering many of these strategic planning tools in a series of teleseminars with best selling author RANDY INGERMANSON in 2007. We have a great teleseminar in development that we’ll be offering in January specifically for writers who want to jump start their writing career for the new year. You can visit Randy’s web site here: www.randyingermanson.com you might want to consider signing up for his e-zine as well, and make sure to tell him I sent you, okay?

Lynnie’s next questions are in reference to the financial investment of writing and promoting. The old saying that you must “Spend money to make money” is very true when it comes to the business of writing. I’ve paid for a great deal of advertising over the years, mostly to solicit true short story submissions. My publisher pays for ads in the trade magazines to promote my books when they are first released. My agent gets 15% of everything I make, and he is well worth it. You can visit his web site here: www.stevelaube.com This past year I hired a professional P.R. firm to help promote my debut novel. My publisher has an in-house publicist who is very helpful, but many authors will incur the expense of hiring someone on their own to add a promotional punch to a new release. A huge expense every year has been the technical investment including hardware, software, web designers, ISP service, and a host of other tech needs. My business is set-up as an “LLC” (Limited Liability Corporation,) and this is something I encourage writers to discuss with a CPA. There are numerous ways to set-up your business and what’s good for the goose is not always good for the gander. I believe my publisher has set-up the “search inside” feature on Amazon.com…they handle all of the submissions to various online sites. Long story short, there are a lot of expenses for writers. God willing, we’ll sell enough books to stay in the black…or at least to get in the black at some point.

Okay ladies, I think that’s it…no other questions have been posted today. Wah! I’ll check back later tonight just in case anyone has any last minute thoughts they’d like to share. But I’d like to close in saying that it’s been an honor to spend time with y’all this past month. I will keep each of you in prayer as you pursue your dreams of writing and publishing. And believe me when I say that I welcome your emails at any time.

Have a blessed evening and I’ll be back in a few hours.

Allison Bottke
www.godallowsuturns.com

Allison, I posted this on the prvious page and you must have missed it. Your web site is wonderful. Will you share with us how it came into being - your thoughts that went into it and that of your web site designer. Thanks.

Allison, will you be at Mount Hermon next March?

Allsion, thanks so much for your month with us. You've been delightful and most informative. Please stop by and see us whenever you have a sec. I'll be in touch.

Oh, and I signed up for the newsletter by Randy. Thank you.

It’s time to say good-bye, ladies, but I hope to stay in touch. Thank you, Dotsie, for this great opportunity…and thank you for following your dream to make this web site a place where women from all walks of life from all over the world can meet. The Forum groups are as varied as the women who visit them, and I’m looking forward to popping into some of the other chat room Forums from time to time. Can anyone share some of their favorite Forums with me?

But before I sign off, Saundra asked about my web site and I neglected to respond to that post (please forgive me.) It’s funny you should ask that because I’ve been spending a lot of time the past couple months strategically assessing my current web site and working with a designer to launch another web site in January. In fact, I’ll be launching TWO new web sites in January.

My initial web site came into being as a gift from God. Truly. When I was first inspired to turn my personal memoir story into a collection of true short stories I knew I would have to communicate with a lot of people in order to get enough stories to develop an anthology series. It was the year 2000 and while the World Wide Web was certainly in existence, a personal web site wasn’t something that every author had. Designing web sites at that time wasn’t as easy as it is today, with so many template programs and user-friendly software.

After getting a few bids it was soon clear to me that I could never afford the kind of web site I would need, and I prayed hard for wisdom to know what to do. Within a few weeks (literally) an amazing woman contacted me and volunteered to design my first web site. Since then, I have had only four web designers developing my site into the form it is today. Many volunteered their time and talent. I’ve also paid consultants to revise, update and refresh the site. Every January I try to go fresh with a new look or a subtle change to the site.

Like it or not, ladies, the world of the internet is here to stay and it’s a method of communication we need to embrace…if not fully understand. I suggest taking classes, workshops and seminars on the basic rudimentaries of Internet technology and web site design, marketing, search engine optimization and the like. These will be subjects we’ll discuss in some of the Teleseminars I’ll be conducting in 2007 with Randy, so remember to stay in touch with me so you don’t miss these valuable writer teachings. I see where Dotsie mentioned that she signed up for Randy’s e-zine. This fellow is a wizard at writing fiction and at teaching others how to write fiction. He has the number one e-zine (no kidding) for teaching fiction writing for beginners to advanced writers. Plus, he has a course called Tiger Marketing to teach writers how to market their books before, during, and after publication. Here’s his web site: www.randyingermanson.com

Hope you don’t mind the commercial, Dotsie.

I pray I have not put a damper on anyone’s dream to write or publish by sharing this past month how much work goes into this business of writing. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it’s also rewarding and fun and energizing, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. Writing is all I’ve ever wanted to do and I thank God daily that He has opened the doors that have allowed me to succeed.

My agent is currently pitching a new fiction series I’d love to write, featuring some dynamic baby boomer women…and if a publisher picks it up you can bet your booties I’ll pop in and let y’all know!

Zig Ziglar says, “We can get what we want if we help enough other people get what they want.” I’ve always loved that concept. It’s the modern form of “doing unto others,” and “what goes around, comes around.” My prayer for each of you is that while you strive to achieve the dreams of your heart, that you help others along the way to do the same.

Have a blessed Christmas season and let’s stay in touch!

God’s Peace,
Allison Bottke
www.godallowsuturns.com