I'm a Gatejumper-Rethinking the Publishing Industry

Change your mind; change your life.

                        Dr. Ernest Holmes

It’s been 8 months since I attended the Writer’s DigestConference in New York. I was there to learn how to build my marketing platform to take my writing career to the next level. I left the conference full of enthusiasm and high expectation for my writing career, because I had changed my consciousness to join the ranks of the gatejumpers. I was no longer bound to the rules of the old traditional publishing model of finding a literary agent and getting accepted by one of six major publishing companies, and then adhering to their rules.  I wasn’t a stranger to the traditional publishing. My first two books, Life is Never as It Seems and It’s Not Over Yet, were published by Genesis-Press, a medium sized publishing house. Opting out of another contract with them, I was free to soar and take the road less traveled.

I remember when I first decided to become a gatejumper. During the course of the conference, I had a three minute interview with an expert on literary agents. He was going to review my query letter to point out its strengths and weaknesses to help me find the perfect literary agent.

As I sat there listening to him giving me some great and some not so great points about the letter, I had an epiphany. Why was I even at this meeting? I had decided hours ago that I was going to follow in the path of Scott Sigler, Seth Harwood, and Chris Brogan and become a gatejumper. I thank him for his time and left within one minute of the interview.

I don’t regret my decision. Within these 8 months, the revolution within the publishing industry between the gatekeepers and gatejumpers continue at a rapid pace. Gatejumpers are using innovated technology to publish their books such as the eBooks, iphone apps, Publishing on Demand (POD) and there are now many small independent self-publishing companies. The rules of the gatejumpers—you make your own. The more creative you can be to provide the reader with the reading material they want, the better. The New Yorker magazine recently published an article, Publish or Perish: Can iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business? by Ken Auletta. Mr. Auletta gives an excellent history of the changes that have caused the publishing revolution. Go to http:// newyourker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_aulet. 

As my new release, Secret Unraveled, comes out this month, I am so excited about all the innovated things I can do to reach my readers, giving them so many wonderful and affordable ways to purchase a copy. If you want to hold the book in your hands, then purchase the trade paperback through any on and off line bookstores. But, you want it on Kindle, ipad, or Nook than you can do that too.

Do you want to write a book and have it published? Now it the time. The gatekeepers can’t keep you out of the publishing game. Spread the word about being a gatejumper.

Join me at:
www.jjmichael.com
www.jjmichaelblog.blogspot.com
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How Your Mind Can Heal You

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As I sit here writing this article on how your mind can heal you, I have to laugh. I’m coming down with a cold or sinus infection, and I’m blogging about healing.  Truth be told, this blog is my reminder that we are constantly bombarded with negative energy, and we need reminders to get us back on the right path. So, stay with me as I look at the first step of how your mind can heal you.

Step one: Any dis-harmony or imbalance in the physical, emotional, and mental bodies comes from a thought form. Ernest Holmes in his book, Science of Mind, describes diseases as “…an impersonal thought force operating through people, which does not belong to them at all. While in every case disease is an effect and must first have a subjective cause, nine times out of ten it is not conscious in the thought of the person who has it. Man is fundamentally perfect.”  

       

What have I been thinking that is bringing me to the brink of a cold? Or what thoughts have I accepted consciously or unconsciously into my consciousness. I asked myself, “What was going on in my life that I now need to stop, rest, relax or just get in touch with my intuition?”

The holidays were a happy time, but they were also stressful. I had a number of house repairs that needed immediate attention. I saw several news programs about the H1N1 flu shot and the bombardment of T.V. commercials pushing cold and flu medications. When I greeted my father on his 85^th birthday, he told me not to get to close to him because he had a cold. I immediately agreed with him and kept my distance.  I even increased the number of times I washed my hands while visiting him.    

Looking back, I realize how important it is to retrace my actions to find the underlying mental state.  I pulled out Louise Hays’ book, Heal Your Body and looked for the mental causation for colds. She states: 

Too much going on at once. Mental confusion, disorder. Small hurts. “I get three colds every winter,” type of belief.

I definitely had a lot of mental confusion going on, and I recognized that I was identifying with a belief that I could catch a cold from someone else. We have been programmed to believe in dis-harmony and imbalance in the physical body since childhood. I’m not picking on my father, but he’s such a perfect example of believing that something outside of himself is responsible for his health. He’s a good man but believes strongly in what doctors tell him.  He constantly tells me as you get older you’re going to get an age related illness, or if I have it, you'll most likely get it.  As a child, I would accept his beliefs, but now as an adult, I shout out lovingly, “Stop! I don’t accept that belief.”  That leads me to step two: On how to change your beliefs and let the process of healing start. Read more in the next blog.     

P.s. I’m feeling better already now that I have identify the thought; going to clean the house and then cook some chicken noodle soup for my body and soul.