Published on March 14, 2012
After a frustrating dry spell in terms of getting new corporate clients I changed my marketing strategy. Actually, this new strategy is the old strategy I used when I first became a full-time freelancer. Specifically, I returned to a focus on medium and large-size companies ($500 million to more than $1 billion in annual sales) located in my city (Houston). I had drifted into doing long-distance marketing by e-mail with interviews by telephone. I got some very good short-term gigs over the years. However, overall I had a low response rate to the letters of introduction I e-mailed to corporate contacts. In addition, in most cases these clients had no loyalty when their work assignments were intermittent (1 to 4 assignments per year).
Published on March 14, 2012
legal
I hope that you’re doing well. I read and printed the article about self therapy and I’m interested in writing personal experience stories. However, do I need to worry about lawsuits?
Published on March 14, 2012
My first publishing success came about thanks to a normal workday in my former marketing job. I was working for a human resources company as a marketing coordinator. My position was to research possible avenues for advertising the organization’s many conferences and workshops. That fateful day, I was in charge of advertising a new workshop being held in Toronto, Canada for new immigrants who wanted to pursue a career in human resources.
A Google search on “immigrant publications Toronto” revealed a monthly publication called “Canadian Immigrant”…
Published on March 7, 2012
I’m not a big fan of amusement parks (especially The Magic Kingdom) but I am excited about visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We’re meeting Richard’s sister and her family there later this week and Frank (age 19) is bringing his new girlfriend so we’ll get to know her better. She’ll be here all day on Wednesday with us while Frank is at school so I’m thinkin’ that’ll be a good time to pull out all the old photo albums. Heh…
Published on March 7, 2012
self-publishing
It’s no secret that that there are just a handful of major players in the Print on Demand (POD) industry (with a few thousand smaller ones) and that there are numerous complaints about the largest ones online. Oddly, under those complaints you rarely see the company in question defending itself. Why?
Published on March 7, 2012
Letters will return next week.
Published on March 7, 2012
writing scams
It sometimes looks as if writers are the most vulnerable set of talented workers in this world. If only employers knew what writers go through to complete their projects!
Published on March 7, 2012
book marketing
I’ve been reading your book, 90 DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book’s Daily Marketing Plan.
It is very handy to have all the info. in one place.
I especially like the idea of an ezine (Days 4-7 in the book), and think I could write one about my ideas on writing fiction. I need to find something to offer free to attract new subscribers and I have an idea I’d like to run past you.
I have an unpublished non-fiction manuscript. Even though I now write novels, does it make sense to offer chapters of my non-fiction book as the free item to attract people to subscribe to the Ezine?
Published on March 7, 2012
It was the early 90’s an,d after freelancing for a year or two, I had gotten some top-notch assignments; e.g. Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and Weight Watchers. Still, pay was often less than stellar.
Periodically, something came up that sounded like it might have potential – but the pay stank. Despite various misgivings, at that stage of my career I rarely refused – and kept getting burned.
Published on February 29, 2012
Last Friday, we decided to play hookie in the afternoon, and take Max and Mason to the beach. It was 70-something degrees, breezy, and partly cloudy and it was the perfect day to go on a shark tooth hunt. We grabbed some towels, spoons (for digging), and bottled water and jumped in the truck. When we were just a few feet out of the driveway, a warning light came on, something beeped, and the transmission started jerking. Oh no……
