Social Media Writing, Week #3 We are now in our third week of April during social media experiments month. This week, we are discussing experiments that have to do with writing. We are also kicking off an exciting 2-week raffle right here on Write Nonfiction in November! (See below for details.) Perhaps the single-most popular social media experiment in writing…
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Social Media Site Evaluations, Week #2 We have already discussed social media giants Facebook and Twitter. Third on the list of important social media sites is LinkedIn. Whether you are looking for a career change or wanting to discuss career issues with professionals, I invite you to join LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a totally different animal than Facebook or Twitter. It…
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Blogging for Authors—Lesson #1 Many writers are interested in learning about blogging. On the other hand, a sizable number still resist adding this new activity to their full lives and work schedules, and some jump for joy when a publishing expert tells them to focus on craft over promotion. As far as I’m concerned, though, almost all writers who want…
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Social Media Site Evaluations, Week #2 On Monday, we discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the most important social media site, Facebook. The second in line of importance is Twitter. In my opinion, Twitter is the most misunderstood of the social media sites and for that reason, the most criticized and debated. Let’s try to fix any misconceptions of Twitter…
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This post is a blogged draft excerpt from The Author Training Manual (Writer’s Digest Books, March 2014). Read the previous blogged excerpt, here. To create a successful book—one that sells to many readers, you must conceive your idea with the “WIIFM Factor” in mind. The WIIFM factor represents the value you will add to your reader’s lives. In his book…
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Social Media Site Evaluations, Week #2 Last week, we discussed basic definitions of social media experiments. This week, we are going to jump right into social media sites. The Internet offers us many choices of social media sites with which to experiment. The top three, however, consistently rank as follows: 1st Facebook, 2nd, Twitter, 3rd LinkedIn. Today, we will discuss…
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Social Media Basics, Week #1 In doing my research for the topic of social media experiments, I’ve learned an important fact – – almost no one classifies their activities or participation in social media as an experiment! That is a fact worth noting because if I can’t seem to find research on how people performed their social media experiments, I…
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Recently the discussion about when and if writers should focus on building author platform heated up again. I say “again,” because it’s not a new discussion. This time it was fueled by a post published on Jane Friedman’s blog by L.L. Barkat in which she said writers should stop blogging and focus on writing. This was closely followed by a…
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Social Media Basics, Week #1 Perhaps the most exciting part of social media, next to learning, is the aspect of experimenting. Diving in, connecting with people across multiple websites, creating user profiles, and sharing interesting data are all examples of simple social media experiments. There are also examples involving more concentrated efforts by individuals and organizations. Your job is to…
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