A frequent productivity complaint of writers is that social media can become a big distraction from their writing. That hasn’t been an issue for me recently. But something else has: email. Today is my first day back to work after about a week off. It wasn’t planned time off. I simply decided to take some personal time, after clearing up client projects early. Normally when
I’ve been ranting for the last week or two about atrocious examples of marketing from companies like Upwork, Freshbooks, and Canva. So it feels like a good time to change gears and get back to the things writers should focus on rather than avoid. This week’s quick tip for writers is a bit of a lead-in to Friday’s podcast episode. There, we’ll explore ways indie authors
Do you ever get blogger’s block – feeling like you’ve already blogged about everything in your niche and you can’t come up with new blog post ideas? I do. I’d bet most bloggers do from time to time. No matter how much you’ve written, you probably haven’t really tapped your niche, even if it’s a narrow one. So when these dry spells happen, how can
When you promote a new book release, chances are good you’ll send out at least one press release. And one of the biggest book launch press release mistakes I see authors make is sending a release with nothing newsworthy to say. That fact that you’re releasing a new book is very rarely newsworthy on its own, unless you’re a well-known author. Instead, you can increase
Earlier this week, I went off on Elance / Upwork for their BS blogger outreach efforts that targeted me and several other colleagues (I’ve heard from at least six others now who were a part of this supposed “handful” of targeted blogs). In that post, I shared a simple infographic highlighting the three big mistakes Upwork made, in the hopes that other businesses would see
The latest episode of the All Freelance Writing Podcast is now live. As promised in my last post’s comments, it includes an extension of the Elance / Upwork fiasco with their lame blogger relations attempt. Then I move on to offer a few tips to bloggers who are tired of finding themselves on these lists. Also in this episode: Is there really a difference
It’s days like these I wish I hadn’t retired Naked PR. If you don’t already know, I used to own a small PR firm, where I was an early specialist in online public relations and social media consulting (before everyone under the sun started thinking they were qualified to call themselves that). Naked PR was my blog where I had a tendency to say things
Planning a virtual book tour on a series of blogs can be time consuming, both for you and your hosts. One way you can make the most of your time is to diversify the types of posts included in your blog tour. Let’s look at some of the most common types of virtual blog tour stops for authors. Some will save you time directly. And
Did you miss any of last month’s Writers Worth Month posts over on Lori Widmer’s Words on the Page blog? No worries. You can find links to all posts in the series below. Check out Lori’s site in general. She offers great advice to newer writers all year long. I’m a particular fan of her “This Job, Not That Job” series where she highlights lousy