As you might remember, I’m working on a novel outline, which I’m detailing at my book marketing blog. There’s a second novel outline planned after that, to compare two novel writing systems. On top of that, I’m sure I’ve mentioned my non-fiction book that I’ve been working on (dealing with marketing, PR, social media, and indie music). And then there’s the Web Writer’s Guide E-book
One of my biggest problems in any type of writing that I do is the fact that I have an endless supply of ideas that I want to pursue. Given that there are only so many hours in a day, writing books and e-books can feel like an impossible feat. So I’m going to kick off this blog by giving you a vague list of
Does the thought of having to travel across the country (or further) to deal with interviews and book signings make you cringe as an author? Would you rather be home working on your next book instead? The good news is that virtual publicity tours have been picking up steam for a while now in the book publicity world, meaning authors can do more to promote
I nearly always prefer bylined projects when it comes to writing content. At the same time, I do quite a bit of ghostwriting as a freelance writer. Today I want to talk a little bit about ghostwriting, why I sometimes avoid it, and why I occasionally love it. Problems with Ghostwriting The obvious drawback to ghostwriting is that you get no public credit. If you
We were recently talking about setting up your own blogs. I shared my favorite resources. I let you know where I find my WordPress themes. And then I let you know how to install WordPress, and how to install themes. I’m currently in the process of setting up two new blogs (eventually going up at AllBookWriting.com and JennSays.com), so today I’m going to share a
If you frequent freelance writing blogs, you may have come across ChrisBlogging.com. The blog is run by Chris Bibey, and it’s one of very few blogs I try to check in on regularly. While Chris shares good advice on everything from the day-to-day life of a freelance writer to specific types of writing work available, he’s probably best known for being the blogger who shares
A common marketing / networking tool for new freelance writers is the forum. You can join forums in just about any niche – sometimes they’re stand-alone sites and sometimes they’re an add-on community to another resource. But how can you use forums to get decent freelance writing gigs? Here are a few tips that I use regularly to get high-paying gigs from online forums: Join
You’ve probably come across the freelance writing debate of writing for the Web versus writing for print markets before. Some people still look down on Web writers, and think if we don’t write for print markets, we’re not “real” or “professional” writers. I think those views still exist solely out of ignorance. What do you think? I think one of the biggest problems the print-only
We all know that you have to promote your books if you want them to sell. We should also all know that book PR is a great component of that whole process – the part where you show your book is relevant to potential readers, bring it to their attention, and get some buzz generated. But when working on a book PR campaign, I think
I mentioned in a recent post that I’m a bit of a blog addict. I have my ups and downs – times where all or most of my blogs are updated regularly (like now) and times where they start to slip a bit. All of those “up” times have something in common though – the planning and organization I put into my blog postings. I
Before you can think about promoting your book, you have to identify your target market – the people most likely to buy your book. Why? Because if you don’t properly target your audience, you’ll waste time and money on ineffective marketing or promotional tactics. Planning is as important in marketing a book as it is in marketing a business. On top of needing to know
Not too long ago, I announced that I would be reviewing two books promising to teach you how to write a novel in 30 days and that I would then be pitting them against each other in actual tests. (Read the reviews or you can visit my book marketing blog to follow my progress with the two plans.) In the comments of that announcement, I
As a freelance writer, you have a free marketing tool at your disposal – your ability to write. When marketing your freelance writing services, how can you leverage your ability to write in order to attract more clients? Try these writing-related marketing tips to showcase your writing ability while bringing in more work: Start a Blog By setting up your own blog, you get to
Coming from a marketing / PR background, I understand the importance of marketing plans, and consider them vital for any kind of business or independent professional. Yet as a freelancer, I can also understand the reluctance in writing a marketing plan that’s too formal and detailed. Some writers simply don’t know where to start or how to plan their yearly marketing strategies. Others don’t know
So we talked about how to install WordPress on your own domain if you want to set up a new blog to showcase your writing. There Latoya asked a good question – how can you install a new theme / design to change the look (see my past post on how I choose WordPress themes and site templates)? The process is actually very easy, and
Yesterday someone asked me how they would set up a WordPress blog at their own domain. The simple answer is: Register a domain name. Set up a Web hosting account. Install WordPress (from WordPress.org or through your host). I won’t walk you through the process of setting up a hosting account or registering a domain name. Your host can help you with that, and the
If there’s one thing that successful freelance writers have in common, it’s confidence. It’s tough to succeed on your own in any line of work if you don’t. Here’s why: If you’re not confident in your abilities, you’ll struggle to “sell yourself” to clients. If you’re not confident in your work, it’s unlikely that you’ll charge what you’re worth, raise your rates when you want