goal sisters

What Are the Latest Happenings, Sister?!
2nd Edition

Happy New Year!

Many people celebrate 2004 as the Year of the Monkey; we’d like you to join us in celebrating it as the Year of the Goal Sister! Yep, 2004 ushers in the upcoming publication of “Goal Sisters: Live the Life You Want With a Little Help From Your Friends.” We envision this book helping as many women as possible and soaring to the bestseller list this year! Please join us in holding that vision. While you’re doing that, read on for the latest “Goal Sisters” scoop.

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Did We Say We Were Done Writing the Book?

We thought we were and told you that in our first newsletter. Boy, were we wrong! In October, our copy editor, Carol Venolia, pointed out sections that were confusing or needed clarification, and suggested ways to make the book better. We had three weeks to respond to her queries and rewrite chunks of four chapters. A day before Thanksgiving, we emailed our new and improved manuscript to New World Library. Unfortunately, there was a transmission glitch and our development editor, Kristen Cashman, didn’t receive the manuscript until three days later.

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Calling All Marketers

In the midst of responding to Carol’s queries, we had a getting-to-know-you phone call with the New World Library marketing director, Munro Magruder, and our publicist, Monique Muhlenkamp. Talk about a fun call! We generated many ways to promote “Goal Sisters,” and had to curb our marketing enthusiasm so that we could continue focusing on the rewrites.

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Just When We Thought We Were Done the 2nd Time. . .

We had a few days to catch up on lost sleep before Kristen emailed us a new batch of queries. Although emotionally and creatively tapped, we answered the new queries and wrote new stories and chapter summaries. At the same time, we were invited to collaborate on the book’s interior design. Our lead editor, Georgia Hughes, sent us a first draft of what the actual chapter 8 would look like when it was published. That was definitely a “book moment” for us!! We electronically shared the chapter with Michelle’s sister, Laurie (who’s in the publishing biz), and together, we tossed around ways to make the pages look and flow better. True to form, Georgia listened to our feedback and incorporated most of it into the next draft of the chapter. The book began taking shape!! We finished writing the manuscript on December 7th and finalized the book’s interior design three days later. It was off to the typesetter!!

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Art Happens

Right about that time, Michelle began creating the book’s interior cover art, which was a mock-up of an April 2004 calendar page. [Aside: As part of the Goal Sister process, we decorate each other’s calendar pages to motivate one another. You’ll read more about it in the book.]. It so happened that Michelle Jones, our Kauai Goal Sister, was visiting Michelle Pillen. Michelle Jones filled the calendar pages with her schedule. Then, Michelle Pillen made the pages come alive with color, fun, and inspiring words. The folks at New World Library gave the pages a thumbs up!

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A Proofing We Did Go

Our next task was to proof the typeset manuscript. A week before Christmas, FedEx packages containing 268 typeset pages arrived on our doorsteps! “Oh, goody,” we cried, “We get to read the whole book one more time!” Okay, we didn’t say that, but we did tear up a little. We made corrections and suggestions, and submitted them to Kristen on January 2nd. A week later, the improved manuscript plus our dedication, acknowledgements, and “About the Authors” went back to the typesetter.

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Foreword March!

While we were proofing the manuscript, we were asked for input on finding someone to write the Foreword. We decided to aim high and chose Bette Midler. We were given a week to pursue Bette. Michelle did some online research and found that a woman who started the All Girls Production company with Bette lived on Oahu. Ann had the idea to email a fellow New World Library author who might know this woman. To make a long story short, we followed these leads but we didn’t land Bette. Then, Georgia contacted Tamara Traeder, who co-wrote the best-selling “Girlfriends” book, and she agreed to write our Foreword. Yippee!!

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The Original Sisters Prepare For Their Overnight Adventure!

The original Goal Sisters group has been busy working on their goals while we’ve been working on finishing the book. They are preparing to take an Overnight Adventure to Zeno’s Motel in Rolla, Missouri, next week. Motel owner Tracey Sheffer is thrilled to welcome the Sisters and sell the book. Zeno’s has been a favorite of ours for several years; we’ve worked on our goals, put together ideas for the book, and shopped at their great gift shop. A story about the gift shop is featured in the book! It’ll definitely be a book tour stop.

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Seeking All Available RVs!

Speaking of a book signing tour, it’s possible that New World Library will sponsor one for us and rent us an RV! So, we’re looking for an RV that can be transformed into Goal Sister Central for two weeks. If you know someone who might be interested in sponsoring our RV as a way to promote their business, please drop Ann a line. And if you’re agile at maneuvering an RV, please consider giving us a quick lesson in the art of driving one! We’re ready to hit the open road, meet oodles of new Sisters, and sell oodles of books!

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Now is the Time for All Our Friends and Family to Come to the Aid of the Authors!

When we last spoke, we asked you to notice the gift shops and book stores that you frequent in your community or visit at your favorite vacation spots. It’s now time record the addresses and phone numbers of those places for us! We want to include them in a mailing list for Monique, who will send out book announcement postcards and get a better idea of where to schedule book signings. Please set a New Year’s goal of emailing or calling us with this contact information by January 23rd. We appreciate your efforts!

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Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan!

The next steps on our publishing journey involve fine-tuning our marketing plan, designing our website, updating our contact database, and figuring out how to get onto the Oprah show. It’s an exciting time of planning, praying, and promoting! As always, thanks much for being a part of it!

Onward and Upward,
Ann and Michelle

Copyright © 2004 by Ann Leach and Michelle Beaulieu Pillen, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this Web site may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise.