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. …
Standard strategies for breaking into a magazine of your dreams may not be adequate. …
Media kits or press kits are an easy, free tool no author should be without. …
During the past fifteen years or so I've been fortunate enough to write for a variety of different publications, primarily magazines and newspapers that are either local or regional. I've written for lifestyle magazines, home and garden magazines, and general interest magazines, but the majority of my work has been with parenting and family magazines. …
The ad seems legitimate enough. It claims to be posted by an "Internet start-up" company, specializing in "niche content", looking for "well-versed" writers who are comfortable writing "high quality content" about a variety of subjects. The company claims to pay "very competitive" rates for articles that are at least 400 words each, then lists the specific subjects you would be required to write about. The ad closes with a request: please send your resume and at least two original writing samples. Sound familiar? …
Oops is what many of us have said when learning the ropes during our experiences in the World of Writing, (WOW). Being new in the field of freelance writing is kind of like being a medical intern. You've read about the ins and outs and now you actually have to go out in the field and perform. …
Ordinarily, you read WritersWeekly for tips about how to make money. This is a cautionary tale that may help you keep more of your earnings. Last year, I discovered that I need a business license to write at home. …
When it comes to submitting a query, article, manuscript or poem, I've broken every rule. My problem stems from my elementary school days. I was told by teachers and friends that I could write. I made my best friend, Josephine, weep over my love stories. My first grade teacher marched our whole class into the third and fourth grade classroom to read my story about the birthday party. (True, it was only a small international school with combined classes.) …
Until recently I have always been a staunch proponent of free enterprise, laissez-faire capitalism and Atlas Shrugged. But that's coming to an end. …
Recently, I heard an amazing story of how God used my novel, Blind Sight, to turn someone's life around. After hearing this story, even if I never sell another book, I'll feel fulfilled as a writer. …
Recently when my son moved into his new house, he demolished the ninety year old farm house that stood in his yard. He works for a large construction equipment company so he used a Hydraulic Excavator to demolish it. A friend hauled it away to a huge pit they had dug with the Excavator. He'd asked me to photograph all the steps of the demolition. What does this story have to do with writing? If you have read articles I've written I often say turn your lemons into lemonade. As I photographed the process I kept wondering where I could sell the photographs I was taking. I queried a farm paper about an article on recording the history of your farm for generations of grandchildren to come. In Canada we are losing a thousand farmers a year as farms grow in size and, in our farm community, farm homes are disappearing every year. …
"Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." If you guessed the above quote to be from Will Rogers you'd be correct. Our friend Will was extremely popular with the American people back in the 1930's. And isn't it uncanny that we can relate to his witty observation today? Good humor is like that - timeless. And it will always sell because people, whatever their circumstance, love to laugh. As writers it's in our very best interest to be mindful of that, and we should attempt to infuse our material with a tickle or two whenever we can. …
Waking up early, putting on the required business attire, commuting to work, and having someone tell you what to do. Or getting up when you want to, staying in your pajamas, and working from home as your own boss. Which one sounds more fun to you? …
Are you an author whose book has been picked up by a small, independent press? Or was it picked up by a large press, but you're not the "flavor of the month" attracting all the imprint's marketing dollars? Perhaps your book is self-published? In any of these cases, as most published authors will tell you, getting your book into print is akin to elementary school, when compared to the high-school hard knocks of trying to market and sell your book. Your book, if you're fortunate enough to get it in the bookstores at all, is competing with hundreds of thousands of others. …
As many of us know, there are times when a writing opportunity comes along that seems too good to be true. Generally, we're the ones (or at least I am) knocking on editors' doors, pitching ideas or letting them know why we're the best for a particular assignment. A couple of weeks ago I thought my luck had turned and I'd been given the opportunity of a lifetime, and the best part about it is that I really didn't even have to look for it - it came my way. …
Trying to get a book deal? Trying to sell copies of your book? It's not easy. Most publishing houses, even before the economic crisis, began minimizing their publicity departments. While in-house publicists still play a vital role in generating initial attention for the product, they can no longer set the wheels in motion for big marketing campaigns on a budget that typically consists largely of whatever they can pull from under the cushions of the office couch. In essence, unless you're quite famous, you will need to go out and do your own promotion if you want a successful book. And promotion today begins with the latest buzzwords in publishing, "a platform." Yes, you need an area in which you excel and in which people want to read what you have to say - and hear about it. …
When people are desperate for money they're more likely than ever to "try anything"...to "take a chance." That's when they become ripe prey for con or scam artists. …
