Some of the best articles I’ve written came out of the issues I faced in my life. Not only that, they solved those problems for me and for other people who faced them as well. Thus, your life issues may be the best article idea file you can find. In other words, look to your life for article and essay…
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More blogs become books every day. Why? Publishers see them as successfully test marketed book ideas. If the blog has enough unique readers, they assume it will also attract book buyers. Not everyone agrees with the premise behind blogging a book—writing a book and building author platform at the same time (and maybe even hoping or trying to get discovered…
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I’m not a football fan—at all—but I spent the afternoon and evening yesterday keeping my husband company as he watched the Super Bowl. I watched the commercials and the halftime show and kept a running commentary on them on Twitter as I pigged out on junk food. With the exception of the dip and chips, I found the time actually…
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Recently I reminded myself of how I began my career. I wanted to be a writer. I did not want to be an editor. In fact, I wanted to write fiction. (Imagine that.) Some of you may have heard me tell the story of how my mother said, “Only really good writers can make a living as novelists.” I took…
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I believe many writers don’t publish their work out of fear. Fear of failure, and fear of success. Thus, when I read Julien Smith’s latest book, The Flinch, which he published as a free ebook with Seth Godin’s Domino Project, I was quite taken by both the topic and by the writer. I would describe The Flinchas a book about…
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I recently saw this basic question asked in a LinkedIn discussion: What do all my social media stats—blog readers and social networking followers—mean to an agent or a publisher? My response: “They mean a lot.” They mean you have platform. And platform equates to you being someone with whom an agent or a publisher wants to go into business. More…
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More aspiring authors than I can mention in desperate need of a platform refuse to use social networking. They see it as a waste of time and a time sink. Published authors needing to promote their books also won’t go near Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google Plus. Somehow, it is beneath them, an activity not befitting a real writer. Yet,…
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Did you ever wonder how some writers make it to the top of the bestseller lists? Or how they manage to sell more than the average 300 books per year? Of course, you have. It isn’t just with a good idea and good writing. Not any more—not for nonfiction. It takes great promotion and a good business plan. Jonathan Fields…
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As a follow up to my Writer’s Digest Conference session on “How to Blog a Book” and as a precursor to my upcoming session on “How to Blog Your Way to a Book Deal,” which I’ll be offering next month at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference, today I’m writing about how aspiring and published authors can use a blog to…
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