Traditional publishing versus self-publishing is a big issue. I have experience with both. My first book was taken up by a mainstream publisher in 1983 and was swiftly followed by others. Within ten years I was "head-hunted" by Hodder and was commissioned to write several books. One of these, The Last Mountain, became a Sunday Times No. 4 bestseller. …
In October 2002, Jim Wier, CEO of the Snapper lawn mower company, paid a visit to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart had been selling Snapper lawn mowers for three years, so Wier's reason for making the trek to Big Box Mecca wasn't to put on the usual dog-and-pony show that so many manufacturers reduce themselves to in an attempt to get the world's largest retailer to carry their products. His purpose was the exact opposite: Although his contract with Wal-Mart was worth tens of millions of dollars, he wanted to tell a Wal-Mart vice-president in person that Snapper would no longer sell its product through Wal-Mart. …
Whenever a discussion about e-book formats comes up, it's a sure bet Amazon's Kindle will be mentioned. Because the Kindle is produced by the largest online book retailer, some seem particularly enthralled with it, and many have rushed to convert their manuscripts to Kindle format. But, being recognized does not mean being the biggest or necessarily the best, and since Amazon has refused to share sales statistics, consumers are left to speculate about its popularity, or lack thereof... …
I recently read an article that detailed how to make $30,000 annually by writing and maintaining a blog. Much of the article included abbreviations - like CPC and EPC, among others - that I still don't understand after two years of blogging on my own website. I'm not sure I want to understand what they mean. I got into blogging to write and market my work, not to be a corporate advertising portal. However, I do need to feed my family, and my chosen way to accomplish this necessary goal is to write for money. It turns out that you really can make money blogging. …
I don't imagine I would have ever thought to write for the disability/mental health market if I had not become mentally disabled myself. …
Talking about both time and money is difficult for many writers and other artists. The difficulty is not one that only newbies face. …
There are many differences between successful and unsuccessful freelance writers that have nothing to do with their relative abilities to write. One of the most important is how well they manage the critical business functions that are essential to surviving in the writing game. …
It's smart to stay nimble in the freelance writing business. When one revenue stream dries up, it helps to have another (and another!) to replace it. That's one reason I began writing corporate Web page copy. With strong demand, good pay and rapid turn-around, branching out into writing Web copy makes plenty of sense. …
If you decide to write for content mills, you may find yourself in a pickle if you are not careful. …
Twitters, Tweeters, Twits and Twitterers - whatever you choose to call them, the internet is abuzz with people using Twitter - the latest in social networking tools. Twitter functions like a micro-blog. You have 140 characters to write a post, or "tweet" and publish it on your twitter feed. You can follow other tweeter's feeds, and they can follow you. …
I was sucked into content mill writing early on in the game. As a fairly new writer, I was eager to get my feet wet and several content mills were willing to let me take a dip in their pool. Being offered compensation for my work made me feel beyond elated, regardless of how little the compensation may have been. …
Blogging has become standard operational management for local real estate agents. A recent Internet search engine request for "real estate+blogs" turned up more than a million listings. Firms now routinely maintain a blog as part of their website, attempting to attract the attention of people using search engines for information. The more often the blog is updated with fresh material, and the more frequently specific key words and phrases are used, the more readily that website and blog will turn up in results. A blog associated with a business serves as a kind of net to draw in viewers. As a side-effect, it also offers an opportunity for a freelance writer. …
Most of us think of a template as specific guides to where and how text will be laid out. It can also be anything that serves as a guide or pattern for any kind of materials. I went to dictionary.com to get this expanded definition. In this last experience it was strict adherence to a style sheet. …
There has been a great deal of commotion about Google's controversial and potentially anti-competitive plans to digitalize millions of books, or the pricing war going on between Walmart, Target, and Amazon. It is surprising that only little attention has been paid to an even greater threat to authors and publishers by Scribd.com, a web site allowing the distribution of copyrighted documents, including digitalized versions of popular works such as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. …
I am so tired of perusing freelance job boards and sites only to see listings that insult me and should insult every other professional writer out there. Just the other day I was on what is supposed to be a reputable site for freelance opportunities, only to see someone advertising that they're seeking a freelancer to write their monthly newsletter. This is an ongoing assignment and they'd like 3-4 articles per newsletter, with each article being 4-5 paragraphs. And of course, they want "an experienced writer with a proven track record for results." The pay? $7 per newsletter. No, that's not a typo. I didn't mean to say "per article," although that too would be insulting. And I didn't forget a number or two... …
You may hear the term "Web 2.0" and think "well that's fine for techies, but what does that have to do with me, an author?" It has everything to do with giving you and your book the best chance of success. …
What we are witnessing today is the most dramatic fragmentation of the publishing industry to occur within the last 500 years. And when established industries fall apart, something has to rise out of the ashes. Both nature and business abhor a vacuum. As traditional publishing falls apart, a vacuum is being created. People still want to know the news, and they still want to find out how to get hold of a squirrel-proof bird feeder. …
I've had a few author friends complain recently about their traditional publishers. It's important to know as much as possible about your new publisher and what they will offer you before signing the contract. When you get the contract offer, your excitement might cloud your judgment. If the contract isn't going to work for you, then you need to turn it down. I had to do this a couple of times. It wasn't easy because I was anxious to have a publisher for my last two books. A sick feeling might be in your gut when you have to say no but you have to make a commitment to yourself and your career path. …
When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007, a very good friend went looking for a book to teach her how to help me through the cancer ordeal. She inquired in bookstores, went to the Internet, asked relatives and friends, and tried every avenue available in her quest for information. She came up empty handed each time. After a year of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, I sat down and wrote the book she was looking for. I titled it Lessons from a Bald Chick: How to Help Yourself or Someone You Know Through Cancer. …
From the time I was a kid, all I wanted was to be a published author. I think I was strongly influenced by the Peanuts comic strip that had a recurring storyline where Snoopy was writing his "it was a dark and stormy night" book. I achieved my goal of becoming an author in 2001, but I didn't reach the level of success I had planned until I made one simple change in mindset a few years later. …
Most authors learn the hard way that when starting out, traditional bookstore signings can be discouraging. Very quickly we are forced to find or accept more creative, even unusual venues to sell our books. When my first novel was released, I was horribly inexperienced in the world of marketing. I focused almost primarily on bookstores or festivals, scheduling twenty or more events in and around the Midwest that first year. Out of those twenty plus gigs, only two drew sales worth writing home about. Two. …
Most writers are aware that using Twitter and Facebook, and advertising on their own web sites, are effective ways to get your name, message and materials to a great number of people. However, there are other avenues to work with... …
"My company is hoping to interest a new client, and we're looking for someone to work on a proposal. Do you want to write for us?" So I'm at a friend's party, and I'd rather socialize than talk shop, but hey, when you say "I'm a writer" to people, they tend to talk shop whether you want to or not. "Sure," I reply. "Why don't we meet up later this week to discuss fees and deadlines? I bill by the hour or by the word, depending on the project." Pause, then the knockout: "Sweetheart, are you expecting me to pay you? …
Are you looking for new places to give promotion information on your latest release? I have several that I found helpful for press releases, promotional materials (bookmarks, pens, brochures with book excerpts, and other items), and media kits. …
All budding writers dream of the day they can proudly announce to the world they are now an 'author.' Well, after 20 years, I can finally say it. However, I wish someone had told me just how much work I was letting myself in for. Phew, is all I can say. …
You've decided to write your memoir, anticipating the writing of mud pies, toilet papering the high school Principal's yard on Halloween, that first kiss, a wedding day, births of kids, and so on. You will write about dad's alcoholism, brother Billy dying in the war, or other sad memories. Then there are secrets; dark secrets which might have impacted our lives forever. Secrets that our loved ones might not know exist. You often hear after someone publishes their memoir that it was "so cathartic." There are others not so lucky. You need to consider how writing about dark times might affect you. …
If you're over the age of twenty-five, chances are you look back on your teen years with fondness. Ah, the days of football games, proms, and pep rallies. Do we really forget so soon the hours spent agonizing over wearing the right outfit, the tears spilled in the restroom over a hastily scrawled break-up note, or the searing pain of finding your name omitted from the list of players who made the team? Add to that college applications, drug use, and bomb threats; today's teens face serious issues every day. But there are many ways you can write about weighty issues without increasing their burdens. If you can jump back into those high school days while addressing the concerns of today's teen, the challenges they face can provide you with endless topics for articles, fiction, interviews, quizzes, and more. …
Have you, as an author, ever considered donating a copy of your book to your local library? Did you know libraries (and other institutions) typically require donors of such materials to sign a gift contract? Would you even bother to read the contract or would you simply assume it was entirely innocent (it's a library, for Pete's sake), and sign on the dotted line? …
It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon when I began scanning one of the several Internet law blogs that I read with some degree of regularity. The post happened to be a bit longer than normal and as I scrolled down I noticed a reference to two of my books published by BookLocker in the blog's right sidebar. Thinking that this might be a link to BookLocker's site on which these books are listed or, perhaps, a review by a reader, I clicked on the first title, The Discipline Book. Instead of a link to BookLocker, which publishes a number of my books, or a review, I was greeted by the book's title page. Hmmm, I thought as I scrolled down, perhaps the blogger has posted some examples from the text. Not so, I quickly learned. Instead of seeing a review, or a link to BookLocker, or an excerpt or two from the book, I was confounded to see the entire text of the book, all 564 pages of it, posted on the site. …
As a writer who enjoys learning about history, it seemed natural for me to begin writing historical pieces. I started with a piece for an international history magazine, which has led to several additional articles. Next, I sold a story about a little-known pro football team from the coal region of Pennsylvania to a Pennsylvania history magazine. The challenge for anyone who wants to write about history is to make a bunch of names and dates compelling to a reader who may not find this sort of information all that interesting. If you're looking to try your hand at writing about history, here are a few things to keep in mind... …
It was a sunny morning in Freelancetopia. The birds were singing and the flowers were blooming. It was so nice that Princess CeeGee declared it a good day to write. With the royal family away, all of her distractions were gone. Sitting down at her laptop she began unwrapping an enchanted chocolate bar, which contained magical properties that could make a writer very happy! In chocolately bliss, the princess surfed the web until she came across a nasty article titled: "Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay". The princess was no journalist at a newspaper, but she could not help but notice how little a writer's work was valued. She was seeing $2 writing jobs everywhere, even at her favorite jobboards. This made Princess CeeGee very sad, and broke. She was just starting out as a freelancer and couldn't understand why some editors weren't paying reasonable rates. If this kept up, she could not pay the mortgage on the royal palace or buy enchanted chocolate. …
The thought pops into your head. It's brief but it's funny. It makes you laugh out loud. It's a slogan that says it all. Why not see if a button company likes it enough to pay you for it? …
Front page headlines always seem like perfect fodder for true crime novels. All the elements are there, and yet, we know there's more to the story than what is printed in the newspaper. There's a story behind the news story splashed across the front page. So when the headlines touched home for my husband, Mike, he decided to try his hand at writing true crime. …
