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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I’m in New York City today for the Writers Digest Conference. Next month I’ll be at San Francisco Writers Conference, and this spring I’ll be at several more such events. Most of these events have some sort of agent or acquisitions editor pitching event, so I thought today it would be appropriate to write a post about how to pitch…
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