Wednesday, January 25, 2012

LitPow PORTAL PowerLaunch: Launching the Portal in Phases and Pricing

Announcing the LitPow Portal PowerLaunch. We are starting our registrations for the Portal tomorrow, Thursday Jan 26, 2012 with Forum Members, and will be open to the general public next Wednesday, February 1st, 2012.

On my last blog post I described the LitPow Portal as your go-to resource for all your literary needs, both now and in the future. And explained that we want to be the safe harbour where your craft can get refuelled, refreshed and prepared for wherever your writing takes you.* In other words, the only website that you'll ever need.

Such a huge endeavor would be a bit too much to launch all at once...to paraphrase Gary's comment to that introductory post, it would be like swallowing a very heavy meal. We all know that heavy meals can be uncomfortable and cause indigestion, and that is certainly not our goal. This is partly the reason why we are introducing the LitPow Portal in phases. Each phase will be a delicious meal of its own, or at least a healthy snack. Each one providing you with more tools to fuel you on your quest to becoming a best selling author.

We are Launching the first Phase of the LitPow Portal to Forum Members at special rates. This is our way of saying THANK YOU for participating in the forum!

This week we are also opening registration to the Literary Powerhouse Workshops. You do not have to be a Member of the Portal to sign up to the Workshops, but Members of the Portal receive discounts.

This initial phase of the Portal will include the Social Media PowerTool with all of the bells and whistles, chatting, groups, and sharing capabilities, etc.; the PowerOrganizer PowerTool (previously listed as Writer's Life); and the SupperBlogger PowerTool. See my earlier post for all PowerTool descriptions, and note that there will be EVEN MORE to follow.

By now you're probably wondering, "Just how much will this wonderful life changing tool cost me?"... Well, the answer is less than the membership to one of the sites that currently offers a part of only one of our PowerTools.

I know, that's a big tease, and you want to know more now. So here goes...

LITERARY MEMBERS will pay $20 per month. But get TWO FREE Months when they sign up for a full year. These members also get a 10% discount for all workshops, plus special offers.

However, we will have two Early Adopter specials, that hopefully you won't be able to resist! And honestly, you shouldn't! :)

First, as Early Adopters, for a limited time after our PowerLaunch, you will get the Literary Membership at $5.00 per month fixed for 6 MONTHS!! AND, if you are signed up to the LitPow FORUM before February 1st, 2012 you will also receive 1 FREE MONTH if you sign up for 6 months. Everyone gets an additional FREE MONTH with a yearly membership.

Second, every time you get TWO FRIENDS to sign up for a year, you will get yet one more MONTH FREE on top of whatever membership you signed up for!

Next we have an Upgraded Membership which we call POWER MEMBERSHIP. These PowerMembers get all of the benefits of the Literary Membership, plus access to exclusive PowerTools, %50 Discount on all workshops AND exclusive offers (free workshops, PowerMember's only workshops, etc.), 15% discount on Website building, AND 1 Hour of Literary Powerhouse Consulting services. This yearly membership is valued at over $2775, and we are offering it for just $800. However, for a limited time, you can become a PowerMember for Only $500 for your first year!

Now, I know that many of us have been affected in some way by difficult economic times. And I know that most writers don't make a lot of money, YET. This is why we have put together all the special discounts that I've mentioned.

The first and foremost reason why I started consulting is to help authors and make a difference in the industry. Putting this Portal together helps me accomplish that. For ME giving back on FaceBook and attending conferences isn't enough. The industry is changing quickly and there is a lack of available information and uniformity out there. Information is difficult or time consuming to find, scattered, and often inaccurate or based on biased opinion. I want to change that.

I want to make it easy for authors to gather all of the information that they need, so that they can focus on what they do best and what they love to do...writing!

These memberships will become more and more valuable as the network grows, and because of all the things that will be added almost on a weekly basis. I would urge everyone to take advantage of the Early Adopters' specials and unbeatable offers, and lock in at these great prices!

I would like you to think as joining the Portal as becoming a Member of an exclusive community with your same needs and goals, and your interest at heart. It is an investment not just in your career as an author, but in your life... because succeeding as an author will change your life.

Even if you are writing simply because you love it, and not for recognition or financial gain, I know that you'd want your work to be the best that it can be. Most of us thrive when our work is read and enjoyed. Through this Portal, and our consulting services, Literary Powerhouse can show you how to get your work ready for submission, for massive sales and readership... and we will help you get those sales!

Taking the first step to join the LitPow Portal will bring you a few steps closer to becoming that Best Selling Author. We hope you join us!

Here's to your success!
~Marisa

* A special thanks to Joan I. Kendall. for the fitting language ;)

Friday, January 20, 2012

Introducing the LitPow PORTAL: A first look at what the Portal will offer to the Publishing Industry

For purposes of introducing you to the Portal, and to let you know what our goals with it are, I've decided to briefly tell you about it here. Please note that the Portal is due to launch soon and that it will launch is phases because it is so huge that we need to iron out all the wrinkles. We feel that introducing too many tools at once may just prove to be too overwhelming... This means that on a weekly basis, we intend to add new tools, resources, features, bells and whistles. So be sure to sign up early to take advantage of the early bird (or Early Adopters) prices.

So what is this "Portal" that I keep talking about? The LitPow Portal is your doorway to wonderful "PowerTools" designed especially with Writers, Editors, Agents and other literary industry member’s goals in mind. The Portal is fundamentally a closed universe social media network that is accessible only to Members. Through this multifunctional social media platform you can connect and meet friends and contacts, create or join private groups, chat, post and share posts to other social networks, invite your friends from anywhere, e-mail, upload and share photos, videos and files… essentially, you can do all of the things that you love to do with a social network. However, this network is only open exclusively to people who are, or wish to be connected to the Publishing World.

The PowerTools are tools that will enable you to find the right Publisher, Agent, Publicist, Printer, Editor, Contest, Conference, Job, Reviewer, Designer, Coach, etc. for your specific project; to track your submissions; to report and see publishing deals; to have your book critiqued; and so much more. The tools are programs that are loaded with a massive amount of resources and data that will put information, that typically takes hours if not months of research to gather, at your fingertips. Our goal is to provide you with all of the tools you need for all of your literary projects, from words to dollars.

The PowerTools are the following:

LitPow Portal: The LitPow Social Network is our platform for introducing and providing access to the rest of the PowerTools. It is a Portal to the world of publishing.

PowerForum: Information and knowledge are power, so we offer you this interactive chat board where you can ask questions and post answers or comments on all related topics. We have publishers and agents on these boards chatting with authors on a daily basis. Get all of the information you need here!

LitPow Univeristy: Get your Literary Powerhouse Degree (LPHD) when you complete 10 PowerShops. These are workshops taught by our well qualified, incredibly talented, and skilled faculty. When you sign up and complete ten workshops classified as PowerShops, you will receive an LPHD Certificate signed by our founders.

Writer’s Life: This PowerTool is a project manager specifically designed to help you organize your projects. You pick the project that you wish to work on, post your goals, your tasks, your milestones, etc., and the program helps you keep track of your progress, and basically keep all of your ducks in a row. This tool allows you to invite other members to the project and assign them designated tasks that you can both keep track of and tackle jointly. This is great for joint writing and other projects, organizing events, critique groups, etc. There are a dozen special features here that will change your life!

SuperStar Agent: This PowerTool allows you to look up an agent’s profile and to find their location, contact info, website, find out if that agent is taking queries, how to submit to that agent, look up the agent’s track record and latest sales, etc… Here agents will have the option to edit their own profiles and keep them up to date all the time. Authors will have many features to enjoy, including the opportunity to tell us when they submit to the agent and how long it took to get a response. The information submitted here will be used to compile statistics to let you know what to expect from each agent.

RainMakers: This PowerTool allows you to report a publishing sale, or see which publishers and agents are making the deals. This tool is connected to our Publisher and Agent databases, so you can look up deals or report deals by genre and they will automatically show up when you click on the publisher’s or agent’s name on our site to see what deals they have made.

PowerCritiques: This PowerTool is a huge platform in itself. It allows authors to upload their work to receive constructive critisism and peer review. These reviews will create book rankings. It also serves as a place where books can begin to gain a following and possibly be discovered. You will have the ability to also create private critique groups. More details will be posted when the tool is launched.

PowerReviews: This PowerTool is a place to have your book reviewed by the experts. Every week we will feature a book that has achieved the highest ranking in the PowerCritiques PowerTool, and will occasionally feature independent reviews by professional reviewers.

SuperBlogger: This PowerTool is a blog building tool that will allow you to set up and promote a gorgeous and super functional blog through our site, that will be connected to our blogs network and streamed and shared anywhere. Special features will be added to allow Power Members to do blog tours. This will allow you to indicate when you are available to do a blog tour or if you are willing to take blog posts on your blog. The blog of course, will be accessible to anyone on the internet. We offer special packages for professional Author Websites.

PowerJobs: This PowerTool is a literary industry Job Board. Freelance, ghost, editing, publishing, agenting jobs, etc. are posted and streamed here for members only.

BestSeller: This PowerTool is an interactive to do list and timeline offered in conjunction with Coaching and to "Power Members" to guide authors on the road to becoming a Bestseller.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A New Literary Agency...

By Marisa A. Corvisiero

After over two years with the L. Perkins agency, I'm very exited to announce that as of March 1, 2012 I will be opening the proverbial doors to the Corvisiero Literary Agency, LLC. My last few years have been an amazing learning and growing experience. I am grateful to Lori Perkins for the opportunity to work and learn from her and her team (Louise Fury and Saritza Hernandez). What started off as helping author friends submit their work, evolved into something I could have never imagined. I love being an agent, and I feel that these last years have really prepared me in way of skills, contacts, and knowledge of the industry to head my own agency. I'm happy to say that my Jr. Agents Jordy Albert and Brittany Booker will be joining me in this new endeavor.

We are all eager to make this the most successful and accessible agency! We will be working closely with Literary Powerhouse Consulting, my other baby, in order to also provide authors with services beyond agenting and beyond literary services to help them improve their skills, their work, and their careers!

As we get closer to March, I will be posting the new website address and submission guidelines. We are implementing a new electronic submission system that will help authors submit their queries online, and also see status updates simply by logging on! It's going to be an excellent tool for efficiency for the agency and it will help authors always know where they are in queue. There will be no more wondering if the query made it in, if it was declined, or when it is being read! Stay tuned for posts with more information.

For now, I will tell you that I will continue to represent most of the same work that I have been representing. I'm primarily looking for well drafted stories with a unique voice and well developed characters. The heat level of a romance, the action of a thriller, the explicitness of all may vary, but it has to fit an awesome plot. I love unique stories, especially in mixed genres. I will consider Romance, Thrillers, Adventure, Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and the same for Young Adults and Middle Grade readers. In non-fiction I enjoy out of box and high concept spiritual, self improvement, parenting, science, and pop-culture.

My Jr. Agents are currently in training and helping me with the submissions that are sent to me. When their status changes, I'll be sure to let you know. In the mean time, please don't submit anything until we make the announcement with the proper guidelines.

Thanks for reading. We hope to hear from you!

~Marisa