Category: Writing

6 Tools to Get You Writing

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

Resistance the AmygdalaAny time we try to create, we face Resistance. The memory of past failures, ridicule, pain, stored in our unconscious, rise up to protect us from being hurt again. If you’ve ever tried to will yourself to stop being hungry or tired, you know your conscious mind doesn’t hold a candle to the power of the unconscious.

Rather than a frontal assault, Resistance requires circumvention. Make the bully irrelevant.

Here are six tools my clients and friends have found effective in combating writer’s block, fear, Resistance, the lizard brain; whatever you like to call it.
… more … “6 Tools to Get You Writing”

Seth Godin’s Keynote Address to the Nonfiction Writer’s Conference

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

The keynote address for the 2017 Nonfiction Writer’s Conference was a special presentation by permission marketing guru Seth Godin.

1,000 New Books a Day

His first point: there are 1,000 new books published every day. Every day. Two quotes you may find surprising:

“Your problem is not piracy. Your problem is obscurity. If everyone on the planet read your book for free, then what would happen? Would that be a bad thing or a good thing?”

… more … “Seth Godin’s Keynote Address to the Nonfiction Writer’s Conference”

Cultivate Your Readership with Your Blog

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

cultivate your readership with your blogWherever you are in the process as an author (fiction or nonfiction), whether you have published your book or are just beginning to outline it, there are tremendous benefits to having a blog. They include:

  • Regular communication with your readers or prospective readers
  • Establishing a personal connection with readers
  • The opportunity to get feedback from your readers on your ideas, characters, what they want to read next
  • Exposure to media outlets such as online magazines, radio and TV shows, literary agents & publishers
  • Building a mailing list of people looking forward to your book – and your next book! Readers can subscribe to your blog and sign up for your mailing list and be the first to know when your book comes out.

Media outlets, literary agents, and publishers will expect you to have a solid online presence, including a blog. Other opportunities such as getting online interviews and podcast interviews are much more likely when you have an established online presence. That’s not just a blog. A solid social media presence is needed as well.

Your blog is your marketing foundation. From it all the social media stuff, Facebook, Twitter, etc., just comes from what you’ve posted at your blog.

Think of your blog like the trunk of a tree and your social media as the branches coming from that one trunk. The foliage is the result of all your hard work – sales of your book! And to get the best foliage, you must cultivate.

So what do you blog about? You could write about the details of the research you are doing for your book, your character development, any of those milestone moments when you’ve finished another chapter. Include short book excerpts to engage your readers into wanting the whole book.

It’s never too early to start marketing your book. Even if you’re just getting started, NOW is the time to start blogging and cultivating your readership.

If you’d like help with social media, we specialize in helping authors manage their social media presence. Contact Sue now for a consultation.

Writing Skills for Business

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

another set of eyesMany clients I’ve worked with want help with grammar, proofreading and editing. They ask me to pay attention to details. They are tired of working with virtual assistants who let correspondence and emails go out with spelling and grammar errors.

Make sure you proofread anything you do for clients for correct spelling and grammar. If writing is not your expertise, don’t market yourself as a writer. If at all possible, ask someone else to proofread for you. Another set of eyes never hurts.

 

Article Writing Made Easy

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Article writing is a great way to begin to establish your expertise. It can also be great for generating traffic to your website. But many hold back because they are not sure how to get started or what to write about.

If you can write a letter to a friend, you can write an article. Everyone has to start somewhere. The more you write, the more comfortable you will become and the better you will be at article writing.

Two easy was to get started writing articles are:

1. Write the ‘how-to’ article. Provide specific, detailed steps on how to do something that you already are an expert at doing. An example could be ‘5 Steps to Grooming Your Dog’. (That works best if you happen to be a dog groomer; but you get the idea).

2. Write a list of tips on a topic your target market is interested in. For example, ‘6 Tips to Easy Article Writing’. It doesn’t need to be complicated.

How do you know if your article writing efforts are paying off? Is anyone reading them? Do they visit your website after reading an article? There are ways to track how many times your article is visited and if people are visiting your website after reading an article. Most of the article directories have tools that you can use to track these things.

Another great way to track your articles and where else they may be posted is to set up Google Alerts for the title of your article. You may be surprised to find just where else your article is found.