Category: The Business of Writing

Don’t Just Strike, Do Something to Stop SOPA!

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” and PIPA is an acronym for the “Protect IP Act.” (“IP” stands for “intellectual property.”) These bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web [...]

Wednesday January 18th, 2012 in Information Products, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

New Year’s Guide to Protecting Your Business’s Brand

On and off I’ve spoken about branding here on this blog. However, an important part of branding involves protecting your brand with a trademark. I’ve been very interested in this topic, but I felt I couldn’t afford to find out if I needed a trademark–or more than one.  Lawyers who specialize in trademarks can be [...]

Friday January 13th, 2012 in Author Coaching, Branding, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

What New Technology are You Tackling in 2012?

Technology. Sometimes I really hate it. I’ve spent days trying to figure out how to get a video to work on my computer from an expensive camera my husband purchased. In the end, I spent more hours discovering how to video myself using my computer’s camera–and then more time figuring out how to edit the [...]

Tuesday January 10th, 2012 in Author Coaching, Branding, Branding, Platform | No Comments »

New Year’s Guide to Incorporating Your Writing Business

More than once I’ve been told to incorporate my business. .”Nah,” I’ve thought. “I’m small. I’ll remain a sole proprietorship.” However, when I consider the risks, I know I need to make that change…and fast. While attending BlogWorld & New Media Expo in Los Angeles, CA this past November, I met Nellie Akalp, the CEO [...]

Monday January 9th, 2012 in The Business of Writing | No Comments »

How Blogging can Boost Your Career and Income

I’ve been harping on how blogging a book builds platform and, by so doing, helps you get noticed by publishers and agents and sell more books. However, there’s another great outcome that can be achieved by blogging a book—or by simply blogging: you can boost your career and make more money. How? By being perceived [...]

Friday September 9th, 2011 in Blogging, Blogging a Book, Branding, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

How to Use Content to Propel Your Book Sales

One of the thing writers do really well  is produce content. That’s a great thing in today’s online market, because the best way to promote and market their books comes down to producing great content and lots of it–and knowing where to place it on the Internet. By strategically using content in cyberspace, a writer [...]

Friday July 22nd, 2011 in Author Coaching, Book Marketing, Branding, Promotion and Publicity, Social Networking, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

Focusing Your Memoir…or Any Book

Yesterday I was working with a client on focusing her memoir. To me the beginning middle and end of her story seemed so clear. The symbolism was all there, even in her title, and it carried all the way through. She couldn’t see it. That’s why I ask my clients to take the time to [...]

Wednesday June 22nd, 2011 in Book Proposal Process, Memoir, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

What is the “Writing Life” and is it Worth Living?

Saturday I received a comment on my Redroom blog post–the same one as Friday’s post here at Write Nonfiction NOW! about writing for free. A reader said she thought we should worry less about getting paid and more about living “writers’ lives.” I queried back, “What is the ‘writer’s life’?” I wonder about this. Yes, [...]

Monday May 9th, 2011 in The Business of Writing, Writing Coaching | No Comments »

Don’t Forget the Essentials of Indie Success

I have read more articles and blog posts about why writers should become indie authors lately. I’ve written my share as well. (You can read them by looking in the self-publishing and e-book categories of this blog.) However, it strikes me that while these articles and posts, even the one I wrote yesterday that features [...]

Wednesday April 20th, 2011 in Author Coaching, Creating a Bestselling Book, E-Books, Platform, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing | No Comments »

Hocking signs 4-book deal so she can be a writer

After I published this post yesterday, today I saw this article announcing that Amanda Hocking had, indeed, signed a four-book deal with St. Martin’s Press in New York, reportedly for $2 million. As she said in her blog, she’s a writer: “I do not want to spend 40 hours a week handling emails, formatting covers, [...]

Friday March 25th, 2011 in E-Books, publishing, Publishing Industry, Self-Publishing, The Business of Writing | No Comments »