A Dozen of My Favorite Web 2.0 Websites

Use these sites to create powerful (and authority) backlinks to your own site or blog:

Squidoo

Tumblr

Pinterest

Weebly

LiveJournal

Wikispaces

Xanga

Friendster

YouTube

HubPages

Docstoc

StumbleUpon

Researching, curating and sharing the best online articles for writers in all genres

Apple’s War on Amazon Starts Thursday
Cult of Mac

Google Search Adds Google+
Social Examiner

How to Create a Story
Kindle Author

Why Your Copy Isn’t Converting
CopyBlogger

Indie Authors in the Spotlight
Ken Hoss

Work Over Your Head
Ken Pressfield

One Way Novelists Have it Easy
Mystery Writing is Murder

Turning Up the Volume on Author Podcasts
Publishers Weekly

Good God!   If you’re going to write time travel do your research!

I downloaded a Kindle time travel novel last night and 30 minutes into it I was so disgusted with the jarring lack of accuracy that I deleted it from my iPad. No matter that the story had a fascinating premise or that the characters were fairly well fleshed-out.  The historical inaccuracies were so distracting I just couldn’t stay with the story.

Dear Author (who shall remain nameless) – - PLEASE, if you write another Civil War-era novel, research the language, the terrain, and the dialogue.

Here’s the deal.  If you’ve written a time travel novel about a specific historic period, the people who are likely to buy your book are ones who already know and like the period.  That means they’ve read enough about a particular place or time to easily catch glaring mistakes. No matter how good your story may be, the mistakes make it hard to:

1.  Enjoy the book

2.  Take the author seriously

3.  Buy another book from you

SIMPLE WAYS TO CAPTURE HISTORIC DETAILS

1.  Read period diaries

2.  Read period letters

3.  Read county histories

4.  Read period newspaper articles

5.  Read novels written in the time period you’re writing about – what better place to learn dialogue!

6.  Research historical photos.  You’ll learn a lot about clothes, hair styles, etc.

7.  Buy reference books, like

The Writers Guide to Everyday Life in the 1800s

Daily Life in the Early American Republic

Everyday Life Among the American Indians 1800-1900

The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West 1840-1900

The Gardens of Williamsburg

You get the drift.

Yes, researching historical novels (whether time travel or not) is incredibly time-consuming.  But so well worth it to know you’ve knocked this one out of the park.

I attended a writing seminar many years ago and the speaker – - who was pontificating from  his “I am great” platform – - told the gathering that the use of a semicolon would guarantee a rejection slip. As a long-time semicolon user (and lover), his proclamation scared the bejeezus out of me. Fortunately, the fright was temporary.

For the grammar heathens among us,  according to Wikipedia:

Ben Jonson was the first notable English writer to use it systematically. The modern uses of the semicolon relate either to the listing of items or to the linking of related clauses. [I choose the latter usage]

According to the British writer on grammar, Lynne Truss, many non writers avoid the colon and semicolon for various reasons: “They are old-fashioned“, “They are middle-class“, “They are optional“, “They are mysteriously connected to pausing“, “They are dangerously addictive (vide Virginia Woolf)”, and “The difference between them is too negligible to be grasped by the brain of man“.

In my world, a semicolon is a wondrously useful way of connecting two thoughts about a related subject. An example of the semicolon: Everyone knows he is guilty of committing the crime; of course, it will never be proven.

I so often have two (or more) thoughts running about inside my head  that the semicolon is as natural as taking a brief pause when speaking. I haven’t moved on to another point or another topic; I’m simply giving my breath a chance to catch up. Thus, the semicolon.

Dear Reader, please cast your vote; yeah or nay for the semicolon.

Did you catch my review of iA Writer the other day?  It’s my app of choice for writing on the iPad.

Version 1.4 was just released – a free upgrade if you’re running the app. The two big changes are the support for Dropbox folders and iCloud support.  Now, you can add a new Dropbox folder from directly inside iA Writer.  Now you don’t have to save all your doc to the /Writer folder.

I personally don’t use the iCloud feature – honestly, it feels superfluous to me.  Plus, I don’t use a MAC as my desktop, so giving someone like me this feature is a waste. However, I do sync back and forth with Dropbox all the time – so this feature is hugely appreciated.

[click image to enlarge]

Do you use iA Writer? Leave a comment and let me know what you think of it. To date, it’s my favorite app for writers.

If you write or read Fantasy and Sci-Fi, you may want to check out this free offer over at Amazon.

It’s a free subscription to Fantasy and Sci-Fi Digest. Amazon notes that most subscriptions have a free 14-day trial period, but this “this exclusive digest edition of “Fantasy & Science Fiction” magazine is always free for Kindle customers.”

In reading the blurb, it appears that this free subscription is available on all of the Kindles, the Android, iPhone and iPad.  The one app I found missing was the one that you could download to your PC.  If I missed reading this somewhere please let me know.

For my readers who write fantasy or sci-fi (a booming genre) I’d love to know what you think of this freebie.  Please leave a comment below.

Mashable reported that BestBuy says the Kindle Fire is their best selling tablet, overtaking the iPad in sales.

Don’t know if you saw the article last week, but apparently Amazon has priced the Fire so low it’s actually taking a tiny loss on each tablet sold. But, if you add up the ebook sales on the plus side, I’m sure the buck or two that Amazon is eating is well-compensated for on  the book sales side.

Read the entire Mashable article here.

Been thinking of selling on Kindle or Nook but haven’t gotten around to it? Now’s the time.

As of this morning, Kindle has more than one million Kindle titles, and now Juniper Research released a new report on mobile eBook sales, which it forecasts to reach close to $10 billion ($9.7b) by 2016, up from $3.2 billion this year. And with Kindle Fire selling like there’s no tomorrow, 2012 looks even brighter for self-publishing and indie authors.

If this doesn’t convince you to convert your articles and books to Kindle (and Nook), nothing will!

I’ve been self-publishing on Kindle for two years and my sales have gone nowhere but up. Month after month, I see an upward trend – and now that the holidays are approaching I anticipate seeing an even bigger jump than normal.

I have an upcoming article on selling Kindle articles (not books), so stay tuned for learning how to make even more from your writing.

iA Writer (available for MAC and iPad) is one of many text editors I’ve tried for my iPad and the one I’ve decided is THE keeper.

As a fulltime freelance writer I know how important it is to eliminate distractions and just do it. And iA Writer allows me to do just that.

BTW – by distractions I’m not just talking about e-mail, phone, TV, the fridge (!) – even an app’s interface can be distracting because I, for one, am  notorious for getting caught up in formatting, colors, fonts – all of which keep me from sitting down and just writing.

With iA Writer, there ARE no distracting formatting icons or fancy fonts to keep me from concentrating on my work. Instead, there’s a white screen with an icon to switch to Focus Mode (see below), integrate with Dropbox or e-mail,  and that’s just about it. (see the screenshot below).

Cool Features of iA Writer: Focus Mode & Keyboard Extensions

“No auto-correction, spelling errors, toolbars, scrolling, editing, cut/copy/paste to distract you moving forward in your text. Focus mode blurs out everything except the current three lines of text you are working on.”  Until I switched to Focus Mode I had no idea how often I moved up and down through a document.  I think Focus Mode is going to be my soup de jour.

Next, let’s talk keyboard extensions.  I curse the design of the onboard keyboard because I’m constantly popping back and forth between the regular keyboard and the punctuation marks I use all of the time.  Thankfully, iA Writer got this one perfect. Above the keyboard is a new row of standard punctuation marks – making it so much easier to write quickly without the distraction of clicking over to a new keyboard.  Kudos on that one!

Not to forget one more cool feature – undo and do can be done via a two-fingered swipe.

Love the uncluttered look of the iA Writer interface

I think one of the earliest ghostwriters on the Planet was Cyrano de Bergerac, the poet whose love letters written for   Christian, a young cadet, won the heart of Cyrano’s own love,  the beautiful Roxane.

Edmond Rostand’s play, written in 1897, has been played out time and again, from the 1950 Jose Ferrer film to the 1987 Steve Martin comedy starring Daryl Hannah in the title role, Roxanne.

Rostrand’s play, while ending in tragedy for all involved, does provide a look into the world of ghostwriting.  

Why Hire a Ghostwriter?

Ghosting can take many forms, with contracts varying from no author credit and a paycheck, to payment with full credit for the work.  Today you’ll most often see ghostwritten projects as biographies for sports figures or celebs. However, that particular market is only a small portion of the ghostwriting world.

Ghosting projects can range across the board from crafting  a personal memoir to writing a book for a  businessman who has the savvy but not the words.  You won’t always know you’re reading a ghostwritten book unless the “author” adds a small tagline on the cover that looks something like this: “with Joe Blow”.

For most ghostwriters, myself included, getting that front cover credit isn’t that important.  What is, though, is writing the book in the author’s voice and capturing his thoughts, beliefs and philosophy in a way that actually sounds like him.

Got a Big Nose . . . err . . . . Ego?

If you have a giant ego and need to see your name on everything you write, ghostwriting may not be a good gig for you. A good ghostwriter is a team player whose priority is crafting an excellent book – - whether it’s for a CEO or an aging senior who wants to chronicle his life for future generations.  Like Cyrano, the love of the project (Roxane) outweighs the love of the credit.

Of course, I want your project (and mine) to have a far happier ending than Christian’s (who died in battle), Roxane (who went to the convent) and Cyrano (who died in Roxane’s arms).

Like Cyrano, we will keep our panache intact and our word-crafting poetic.

Want to be a freelance writer?

Then find a few ways to shield yourself from rejection letters, critical readers, or just plain being ignored.

When I first started freelancing I sent out dozens of  gawdawful queries; no surprise that I collected enough rejection letters to paper at least part of a room.  (This was back in the day when editors still sent out paper form letters).

I have to admit it felt like crap to keep hearing no one wanted my work.  But I knew I wanted to be a writer and had to find a way to shield myself from taking the rejection personally – - but all the while working hard to be a better writer (and query writer).

I stumbled on a few things that worked for me, and I hope they work for you.

My Top Three Strategies

1.  I started keeping a file of rejection letters titled “Those Who Lost Out”.  This was your basic “screw them” stance. Kind of a fake-it-til-you-make-it thingie.

2.  I went to a writer’s conference in Phoenix.  There, the editor of Arizona Highways (a gorgeous mag with lots of photos) told all of us wannabes that if he gave out three “yes” assignments, he knew that one of them would never follow through, one of them would be inaccurate, and one of them would be usable.  His advice to getting published:  ”you don’t have to be the great American writer, but you do need to be on time and be accurate.”

I’ve never forgotten that advice.  And, I figured that since I could be accurate and on time, I would definitely succeed.

3.  This one is a little more subtle. I don’t know a writer who doesn’t question their ability.  One day I happened upon a quote by a well-known author.  I don’t remember the exact wording, but to paraphrase  - – “no one sees the world through your eyes.”

What does that mean?  You have a unique perspective that no one else in the world has.  So, what you have to say (write) has value.  Stop worrying about it.

Even though – at this point in time – I’ve had six books published and written countless magazine and blog articles, I still remember the advice from that editor and the fact that I have a unique voice.   And, it keeps me shielded when someone writes a nasty un-fan letter to me, or ignores a query.

Bottom line:  You’re a writer . . . . so keep writing. And if  they keep saying “no”, don’t take it personally , but just keep improving your skills.

Shields up.

Darren Rowse of Problogger fame today released his new e-book, Problogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging.

Darren says this book is like his 31 Days to a Better Blog (click to read a review) except it concentrates only on the first seven days of starting a new blog.  The new e-book is broken down into 7 chapters/days and has 32 tasks/exercises for bloggers to do.

It mainly focuses upon content production and finding new readers so Your First Week of Blogging is  ideal for anyone who has set up a blog but doesn’t know what to do next (or even someone whose blog has died and they want to start again).

I’ve purchased all of Darren’s e-books and they are all fluff-free.  The information is solid, and built upon his massive experience as one of the most successful bloggers on the Internet.

From now until May 17, the Problogger’s Guide to Your First Week of Blogging is being sold at half-price ($9.99).  A steal, truly.

I received an e-mail from Darren Rowse (of Problogger fame) letting me know the cost for his 31 Days to a Better Blog Workbook was going up in price on May 10.

I purchased the workbook when it was first released and it’s excellent.  I wrote a review of 31 Days to a Better Blog at the time and since then have used Darren’s workbook in developing my own blogs.

Per Darren’s e-mail, the cost on May 10 will go up from $19.95 to $29.99 – a $10 increase.  If you have an interest in improving your blog, I highly recommend the workbook.

I attended Rob Schultz’ Article Challenge a couple of years ago – and as noted in an earlier post, I still refer to the 3-ring binders of information.  Rob is launching his new and revised version of the Challenge in May.

As Rob will tell you, sometimes the easiest way to build a business is the one right in front of our face.  (contrary to the all the guru-talk out there).  And for writers, that easy solution can be article writing.  As he so aptly puts it, “ Your own ideas and brilliance, captured in an article and posted online, is the method many have used to build thriving businesses.”

If you have even the slightest interest in using articles to drive traffic to your website, your book or your service, I can personally recommend the free 60-minute webinar coming up on Tues, May 3.  The webinar is titled The Article Profit Formula: How to Avoid Disastrous Time-Sucking Mistakes And Multiply Your List and Profits with Easy to Create Articles (quite a mouthful Rob!)

The topics he will cover include

• 3 blockbuster pathways to an endless supply of article topics (I need this one)
• 4 critical call-to-action keys
• 3 foolproof methods to making writing “insanely” easy
• how to find topics your readers are searching for

The call is a sales call for the Article Challenge, but Rob promises that it will be very meaty and that listeners will be able to put at least one of his suggestions into action immediately after the webinar.

I’m going to be on the call as a listener myself – Rob always has something new for me to learn.

And because I believe in transparency, I want you to know that I am one of Rob’s affiliates but because I’ve already gone through the course I can recommend it without hesitation.  In fact, he’s added so much new information on creating social media centers for articles, I’m seriously considering taking it again.  That’s how good his stuff is.

I’ll post a follow-up about the call – can’t wait to see what take-aways Rob has for us And if you’re on the call, I’d really like to know what you think about the new program.

Should you try to negotiate your book contract, or just go with what the publisher considers a “standard” contract?

Since I just completed a negotiation, my vote is to negotiate.  In reality, though, the results of a negotiation depend upon

• the publisher’s flexibility
• your relationship with the publisher
• reasonableness (on both sides)
• how much they want your book
• how much you want the contract

Standard Book Publishing Contracts

First, I’m not an attorney, so don’t take any of this as legal advice.

Second – most contracts I’ve signed have standard sections, including:

• rights
• delivery (time frame)
• corrections
• statements (royalty)
• advance
• advance time frame
• author copies
• termination of contract
• competing works

You might also run into clauses about foreign rights, translations, a royalty sliding scale with percentage dependent on number of copies sold, and digital rights.

Where to negotiate?  For me, I won’t quibble about items that aren’t important to me.  In other words, I don’t want to go to the mat on clauses that feel fair.

On this contract, an issue was a non-compete clause.  Because I write quite a bit on the topic of this new book, I felt that signing a non-compete clause could hamper my own self-publishing projects.   This clause really did impact my current and future income so it became a point of negotiation.  For you, digital rights, number of author copies, or the delivery date may be points to discuss.

Again, this isn’t legal advice – just a brief note about thoroughly going through a contract and talking to the publisher about the areas you’re not comfortable with.

Two years ago I took Rob Schultz’ Article Challenge.

If you use articles to promote your books, your services, or your products, Rob’s course is THE article course of choice (at least MY choice!).  To this day I still use Rob’s materials as a reference when I want to write articles with a different format than my usual approach.  During the course I filled up two three-ring binders with information and resources.

Honestly, the class was devoid of fluff – it’s all pure “how-to” info.

I’m mentioning this because Rob’s new course is launching towards the end of May. He’s added even more materials, including a cool “social circle” approach of creating a network of sites to submit and cross-promote your articles.

Stay tuned.  More information coming soon.

Nancy

p.s. Rob hasn’t totally made up his mind – but right now he’s thinking of setting up a live feed webcam about a week before the course starts.  The live feed will run for 24 hours with the goal of Rob writing 50 articles in that time. Just think about it – if you could write 50 articles in 24 hours you’d have close to one blog post per week for an entire year!

I received an e-mail from my colleague Derek Franklin, letting me know his Action Machine 3 is now available.  Yippee!

I’ve owned The Action Machine since the first version was first released  way back when, and have followed Derek for far longer than that.  In case you don’t know him, his books on technology (published by Adobe Press) sold over 250,000 copies. In addition, Derek’s a true guru when it comes to getting things done.  Thus,  his creation of The Action Machine.

In brief, The Action Machine is a piece of desktop software that helps you get more things done in less time.  Derek – through his own tests and the feedback of The Action Machine owners like me – has learned that creating finite tasks and setting time limits to them really does get our brains into gear and our bodies into action.

But instead of me going on and on, here’s a video that shows you The Action Machine in . . . well, in action!  It’s a 9-minute video – and will give you a great overview of just how powerful it is – and how much you can get done by using it.

I just upgraded from v2 to v3 and am setting up tomorrow’s action items. Since I just signed a contract to write a new book, believe me – - I have plenty to get done!

If you want to order The Action Machine, just click the link and it’ll take you over to Derek’s page. (Hey, he has some cool bonuses too).

*Be sure to read the PDF getting started guide and watch Derek’s videos to take full advantage of The Action Machine’s power.

Nancy

p.s. – Check out my Coaching Packages.  If you sign up for the Diamond Coaching Program you’ll  receive The Action Machine free-of-charge.

High Rankings Advisor’s newsletter (which always has great info) published an article by Karen Thackston about how poor ROI can be related to navigation and site flow rather than poor copy.

She gave the example of a site selling custom handbags. The copy was excellent and the photos “gorgeous”. But when a buyer got to the “get a quote” form there were several questions that required the potential buyer to write out in detail such as what they liked in fabrics, handles, and any accessories desired. Instead of giving the buyer sample ideas of what could be crafted, the site relied on the buyer’s ability to write detailed descriptions.

If you’re like me, you may not know what you want until you see some examples of what can be done. In this case, states Thackston, this isn’t a case of poor copy, but rather poor sales process flow.

Food for thought, eh?

Review: The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing

If you want to get out of the “wannabe-writer-rut” and start making a living doing something you love, pop over to Ali Luke’s site and grab a copy of The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing. I’ve been around the block enough times to know glitter from gold – and Ali’s e-book is definitely the latter.

To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Ali until a few days ago, but apparently she’s been consistently making a living writing for the blogosphere for the last couple of years. And if you can support yourself as a writer, you’re doing something really, really right.

Nuts and Bolts of The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing

Here’s the deal.  This e-book is a downloadable PDF of 108 pages, 26 chapters and a hefty appendix with links to excellent resources. It sells for $29, and yes, I paid the full amount to get a copy.

The book begins with Ali’s own story of going from blog-zero to blog-hero, then guides readers step-by-step through achieving success using her process.  “If you can write, you can find paying work as a staff [freelance] blogger,” she writes.

Ali’s done a fine job of covering all of the bases – and newbie questions – , including:

• How to find and get great jobs
• How to price your work
• The best blogging job sites
• How to use social media to promote your work
• How to use your website to promote your blogging
• Coming up with great blog ideas
• Guest posting
• Networking for jobs
• Producing quality content
• Formatting blog posts
• Getting paid!
• Keeping organized

Each chapter is well-organized and fluff-free.  The author has even included blogging templates for writers new to blogging, or those who are a little iffy about exactly how to craft a post. You’ll even get a worksheet on creating those great headlines that instantly grab a reader’s attention.  I have to admit that even after all these years as a fulltime writer, the art of the headline is still  a challenge.

What did I like best?  This is totally a personal preference, but I really appreciated her examples of real-life blogging jobs and the successful responses that landed them. No matter how long you’ve worked in this field, I think it’s  helpful (and inspirational) to read how other freelancers handle situations similar to your own.

I also liked Ali’s suggestions for the “Hire Me” page of your blog or website. Again, no fluff – just straightforward advice from someone who’s doing it right.

I don’t know if you read Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Building a Better Blog [link to my review] or his Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers [link to purchase], but I’d rank Ali’s Guide for Bloggers in the same category when it comes to solid information presented in an easy-to-follow manner.  If you want to make a living (even part-time) as a blogger, I can’t recommend this e-book highly enough.

The Blogger’s Guide to Freelancing
by Ali Luke
$29
Available as a PDF Download

1. Bureau of Land Management
2. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
3. Department of Defense
4. Images of American Political History
5. National Park Service Archives
   
6. National Park Service Historic Photo Collection
7. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
8. Department of the Navy
9. Ansel Adams Manzanar Photos (I used one of these for my Kindle article on writing memoirs)
10. Stock.xchng (some free, some paid)

How many books can you read about attracting what you want into your life?  A limitless number, it seems.

That’s why I was lukewarm about reading Manifesting Change, by Mike Dooley (author of Infinite Possibilities).   But because a friend recommended it, I ordered a copy from Amazon ($14.58) and ended up reading it in a single sitting.

It’s  not that the information is new (it’s not), but for some reason the penny dropped in a way it hadn’t before.  The idea:  Work from the big goal backwards.

Let me explain.

Goal Setting from the End to the Beginning

As freelance writers, we’re incredibly goal-oriented:

• what magazine should I target this month?
• what client should I go back to (following the 80/20 principle)?
• what’s my financial goal this week?
• how can I re-purpose that article that took me three months to research?

So, to accomplish these goals, we make lists, we make plans, we strategize.  Dooley suggests were actually tackling this backwards.  The easier (and more effective) method, he says is to work with the big goal clearly in mind, take steps to “move in the general direction of your dreams”, and let the Universe deal with the “cursed hows”.

For me, that was a light bulb moment.

I get so hung up in the “cursed hows” that I focus most of my attention on them  instead of on the goal itself.  Now don’t get me wrong.  This doesn’t mean you set a goal and then sit on your duff, waiting for the Universe to deliver.

What he’s saying is that you HAVE to take action – to move in the direction of your dreams, but then don’t get caught up in so much “mind fuzzling” [my word] that you get in your own way.

What if you’re not 100% sure what direction that is?  Doesn’t matter.   Just do it.

Does This Method of Manifesting Change Work?

I know I’m condensing a 200-page book into just a few paragraphs – but I feel so strongly about the core message that I wanted to convey it to other freelance writers.

Giving up focusing on the “cursed hows” has already made a difference to me.  It’s relieved me of the  stressful burden of always trying to figure out every teensy, weensy detail and lets me focus on my big goal and forward movement.

Does it work?  For me, within 7 days of reading the book, focusing on the big goal and giving up those “cursed hows”, I received e-mails from three new clients – - all wanting me to write for their websites, and all (without exception) readily agreeing to my quoted fees and availability.

Will it work for you?  That’s for you to tell me.

I would estimate 99% of all copy written is dull. Boring. Most of it is unsuccessful. And instead of being a delight, an incredible chore to read.

The biggest reason for this lack of success is, in my view, because it is “left brain” copy.

Left brain copy may be logical. The copy may make sense. But there is just one problem. No one really wants to read it.

And clearly if prospects don’t read the copy, of course there is no way they will respond to it.

Successful responsive copy must be exciting. Emotional. Passionate. Interesting. Unique. It must be created in the right brain.

Unless you find a way to make it so, you are just kidding yourself if you expect to succeed with any offer.

That’s why today I’m presenting to you what has never been offered before by me or anyone else. A formula that will help you create:

“Killer” right brain copy!

Imagine this. You’ll get a blueprint. A template for creating what the world is crying out for and desperately needs more of. Powerful right brain copy.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I can do to help improve the copy of all those I influence.

The key is activating the right brain. Killer copy is all about the right brain. Once activated and combined with a big central idea, this is the real secret behind great copy.

Yet no one addresses it. Or discusses it. Therefore I can’t help but wonder how many people are actually aware of the miracles the right brain can achieve.

A small handful of great copywriters seem to be able to turn on their right brain almost at will.

But, the good news is this. Right brain copywriting is a learnable skill. The human brain can actually be switched into right brain mode.

How?

With a series of specific actions that trigger the right side of your brain. These actions can help you program your incredibly powerful right brain.

I’ve broken down into steps what I see as the key brain triggers to writing successful sales copy.

The first step is to do what you probably are already doing. Using your left brain.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean to disparage left brain functions in any way. These can also be very useful in copywriting. I’ll explain how in a moment.

So first activate the left brain.

How?

To start the process, simply study and isolate every single feature and benefit of your product.

Write out these benefits. Use a 3 x 5 card for each one. Answer the “so what” question in each benefit.

Here is a quick review of the left brain action you must take.

Left Brain Actions

* Isolate benefits
* Write bullet points
* Answer the “so what” question
* Put your 3 x 5 cards aside for now

Now you are ready to take steps that will help you access the powerful and more creative right side of your brain.

The very first thing you should do is prepare a powerful right brain headline.

I call this technique the “hidden benefit” headline.

The hidden benefit headline does not have to be directly involved with any of your previously prepared left brain benefits.

Nor does it need to be directly related to your product or service.

Many of my most successful headlines in space ads, e-mails, post cards and sales letters are hidden benefit driven.

To create your hidden benefit headline answer this question:

“If I had unlimited God-like powers and could grant my product or service the biggest benefit I can imagine,
what would that be?”

Read that key question at least three times before answering.

Remember, 73% of the buying decision is made at the headline. So it’s really important. In fact, you don’t have a chance to succeed without it.

Once you’ve got your headline “nailed,” follow it with a series of action steps.

Here is a step-by-step summary of exactly how to do the whole process:
Activate Right Brain

Discover hidden benefits using the above Ted Nicholas formula. To turn this headline into a huge promise, you must be able to prove and support. Remember, you need a big idea to drive the whole process.

• Envision your buyer as a bright 21-year-old who you love and care for very much, but who needs a crystal-clear explanation of your offer. Keep it simple.

• Begin roughing out copy. Just discuss the emotions of your prospect only. Do not even talk about the product at this point

• What keeps your prospect awake at night? What are his/her aspirations? Goals? Wants?

• Briefly explain what hooked you emotionally enough to want to market this product in the first place. Describe why it is fun for you to sell it? Make yourself as real as possible.

• Don’t hesitate to briefly include key factors about your lifestyle and personal life. Include those close to you such as your wife, husband, significant other, children and even friends.

• Find your unique voice and stay consistent with it. Write informally just as you talk. Avoid sounding like you’re teaching a course in English literature. Instead communicate as though you are having a drink or coffee with your prospect.

• Use testimonials from passionate, happy customers. Make sure their comments support your hidden benefit promise.

• Offer a guarantee that is beyond your comfort zone. The longer the better. If you have in mind a 30-day money-back guarantee, make it 90 days. If 90 days, make it six months. Even better, use a full-year guarantee. Offer to give a prompt and courteous refund. Even on the 364th day

• Always sell dollars for pennies. To offer dollars for pennies, the actual value of the product including the value of all the free gifts must be several times the purchase price.

• Make sure you offer at least 3 to 6 free bonus gifts if the prospect orders now or “within 7 days.”

• “Blend in” some or even all of the left brain benefits into your final draft.

• Offer financial terms that are simply unbeatable.

• Offer a dramatic payment plan that increases the appeal of the offer as well as its risk-free nature. Make it easy to buy.

For example, offer a choice of three payments over three months instead of one large payment. Perhaps offer free shipping and handling

You can also include this in your offer. “Your credit card will not be charged for a month. Nor will your check be cashed for at least 30 days from shipment. In that way you can decide whether you want to keep the product or return it. In such a case it will not cost you a single penny. And in such a case we will return your un-cashed check!”

Once you complete the above steps you will be at, or very close to, a huge direct marketing winner online and/or offline. Of that you can be sure.

I’d love to hear about your big right-brain inspired winners!

Article by Ted Nicholas

This article appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) The Golden Thread, a free newsletter that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on the best wealth careers, lifestyle careers and work-at-home careers available. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/.

New course for freelance writers: Social Networking: The 21st Century Way to Find New Clients

On the laptop I use for all my writing work, I have a label stuck beneath the screen that says, “Money Favors Speed.”

You probably know at least one person who is always planning something big that they’re going to do. Whether it’s a backpacking trip around Europe, cleaning out their basement, or starting their freelance business — but they never really get started.

And as long as they’re not getting started, how successful do you think they can be at accomplishing their goal?

Not successful at all? Exactly!

Yet, if they were to take action — every day — on one little part of the goal … Not worrying if they had it 100% right … Focusing instead on making sure they do something to move closer to their goal … Then, in a matter of time — and probably very quickly — their goal would be accomplished.

This is especially so in business. A friend of mine was helping out a business owner with his sales letter. This business owner wanted to write the perfect sales letter that would be as profitable as possible. And he kept coming back to my friend, time and time again, for feedback on the letter — on little tweaks, here and there. This went on for months. Two years, actually. When finally, my friend was so fed up, he stopped helping out this business owner.

Because my friend understood “Money Favors Speed.”

He knew that if that business owner had just put one of those sales letters into the mail after a few weeks of work, they could have known how well it worked — and started making money off of it. Then, if they’d quickly rolled those initial returns into tests of variations on the sales letter, they could have seen if other approaches worked better. And, in two years of testing, they could have developed a fantastic sales letter — and been making money all along.

How This Applies To Your Freelance Business

I hear many aspiring freelancers who don’t quite get “Money Favors Speed” — heck, when I was an aspiring freelancer, I didn’t quite get it either.

What it took me a long time to understand was this … As long as you’re sitting around, hoping and wishing to start a freelance business, it’ll never happen.

What you have to do instead is take action and move yourself toward the goal of having an operating, sustainable, and eventually growing and fantastically successful freelance business. And do it quick — “Money Favors Speed.”

It’s not until you take these important actions that you will actually fulfill your dream of running a freelance business. It’s not until you take action that you will experience the success you’ve been hoping for. It’s not until you do something that amazing things start to happen. Here Are 5 Things To Do To Start Your Freelance Business

I’m going to give you five things to do today to start your freelance business.

And, I ask you to do them fast. Start immediately and make sure they all happen in a short period of time. Because “Money Favors Speed” — and if you want to be maximally successful at this freelance thing, you have to be willing to push yourself to work quickly. Even when that means sacrificing some perfectionism. (Which has been SO PAINFUL for me — but ultimately very fruitful!)

Here’s your list of the five things to do to start your freelance business:

1. Set a date — This was a biggie for me. It wasn’t until New Year’s of this year that I finally decided becoming a full-time freelance copywriter wouldn’t happen unless I set a date it needed to happen by. And when I set that date, I set it uncomfortably soon — within two months. But then, something amazing happened — in just six weeks, I quit my job and started working exclusively as a freelance copywriter.

2. Get your first client — Michael Masterson’s Ready, Fire, Aim makes this point well. You’re not in business until money changes hands. So, go ahead and sell your services. Get a client. They don’t have to be a perfect client. But, make sure they’re a paying client. You’re doing this as much to get it over with, as for any other reason. Of course, you’ll want to make sure you perform, and your client is happy. But, what’s really important is that you get a client.

3. Define your niche — You’d think this would come before getting a client. But remember, that first client was about getting a client — not even about your niche or what you’ll do for the rest of your freelance career. But now it’s time to figure out where the brunt of your clients will be. And then, look to personal and professional experience to define why you’re uniquely qualified to work with clients in that niche.

4. Establish your business — There are tax reasons and credibility reasons for establishing your business as a legal entity. If you’re like me, this is the most painful part of business — dealing with forms and regulations and bureaucracy. But it’s smart to do — so work with your CPA, attorney, and whoever else it takes to make your business a business.

5. Build your website — The first thing many potential clients will do when you approach them is plug your name in to Google, and see what comes up. It better be your website. You have to have a website, and it has to look professional, put together, and complete. You could pay a designer upwards of $2,000 for a basic website (plus $50+ per hour for any changes you want later) or you can learn how to use the relatively simple tools available to set up your own website, and edit it as needed. (You can have your new website up and running for less than $50, once you know how.)

Is this everything it takes to start a freelance business? No. But if you do these five things, you’ll be well on your way. Do them fast — “Money Favors Speed” — and you’ll have the momentum you need to keep achieving. You’ll be able to build your own successful freelance business, faster than you may have thought possible.

This article was written by Roy Furr and appears courtesy of American Writers & Artists Inc.’s (AWAI) The Golden Thread, a free newsletter that delivers original, no-nonsense advice on the best wealth careers, lifestyle careers and work-at-home careers available. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.awaionline.com/signup/.

Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth
Special Edition, by Jack Vincent
Helpful Info Publishing Company
September 2010, $12.95

We all want more money.  But do our poor daily choices bleed us dry?  This question and more are answered in the small but powerful book, Benjamin Franklin’s The Way to Wealth.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t open my morning e-mails  without a handful of rip-off schemes – like the famous Nigerian scam – - or some guru offering to show me how to make $10,000 in three days.  That’s why it was such a pleasure to read a review copy of Benjamin Franklin’s 1758 Way to Wealth, rewritten by Jack Vincent.

Vincent, a father of four, has spent a lifetime applying Franklin’s wisdom and business principles to his own successful businesses.  In my mind, this gives him the right to stand up and tell us how we can do it better.

If you’ve been reading the news or talking to your neighbors, you’ll have noticed that many of us are downsizing. Not necessarily because we don’t have the money to sustain our lifestyles, but because we’ve realized that less is more. And the pleasures of a well-lived simple life are their own reward.  (A reason, I believe, for the immense popularity of blogs like Zen Habits and Good Life Zen).

This is a quick read – shouldn’t take you more than an hour – but don’t be fooled by the ease of the read. As they say, good things come in small packages and this is no exception.

Got a high school or college age kid?  Stick a copy of this in his backpack and then talk about it over dinner.

Great video from TED about achieving your goals by NOT talking about them.  (@3 minute watch)

An online quipster poised the question: “How do you measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing?”  He then answered his own question with “You don’t.”

Fortunately, that’s not exactly true.

As  businesses scramble to set up Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages, analysts are scrambling to discover how impactful their company’s SMM has been. For some, the answer is “we can’t measure this,” but others believe there are statistics that reflect their SMM’s effect.

As Aaron Uhrmacher, the guru of social media, recently said in an article on Mashable,   “Social media measurement is one of those topics about which everyone has an opinion, but nobody agrees on the solution.”  His suggestion – - as a beginning point – - is to simply decide on what to measure.

What’s Your Social Media Marketing Goal?

If your goal is to increase your reputation–get potential clients talking about you in a positive manner – -  then get out onto the social media sites and monitor what’s being said about you.

In a brief run-through searching Twitter, I found some very mean-spirited comments about a specific entrepreneur’s e-mail campaign. At another site, a customer was complaining that it took days for a company’s customer service department to contact her . . . leading her to wonder if  she was dealing with a real company or a scammer.

In both instances, a social media point of contact–shall we call it a czar?! -  could have reached out to customers via direct message or e-mail and turned a damaging situation into a win-win. After all,  social media is about “social” – - building relationships.

If your goal with your SMM is to measure traffic, then setting up a solid analytics program that tracks incoming links will tell you if your visitors are coming from Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Although Google Analyltics are excellent (and free), we also suggest Xinu, a free site that tells how your website is doing in terms of search engines, search engine optimization, social bookmarking, RSS, and other social indicators.

Measuring ROI on social media marketing isn’t a precise science; but what we know for sure is that businesses and entrepreneurs need to have a success metric in mind before jumping into the game.

It’s fun, it’s easy and it’s free

I’m a photo-geekess; love shooting people, places and things.  So of course was thrilled to discover Shape Collage, a free desktop software program that creates . . . .  well, a collage

Here’s one I did this morning  of some of my favorite travels. 

Shape Collage is really easy to use.  Here’s a screenshot of the software interface with some of my scribbles showing you how to change a couple of defaults, and how to add images.  (Click to enlarge)

Photo ideas to share with your customers or clients?

• travels
• products
• events
• clients
• projects

Shape Collage – another easy tool for the women who want to slay the technology dragon.

Social Media Marketing

Strategies for Engaging in Facebook, Twitter & Other Social Media
Liana “Li” Evans
Que; 1 Original edition (June 28, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0789742845
ISBN-13: 978-0789742841
360 pages
$16.49 (on Amazon)

Author Li Evans has been active in social media and search marketing for more than 10 years; who better to write a book that guides companies through social media solutions that actually work.

Divided into five sections (see below), Social Media Marketing is all about being social in the marketplace; from Twitter and Facebook to LinkedIn, YouTube and Flickr. Evans shows readers how to make the most of social media, including

• • customizing your social media strategies
  • understanding the quirks of your social media audience
  • managing and executing your strategies (don’t let an intern be in charge of the program!)
  • building trust among strangers

What You’ll Learn About Social Media

Section I:  The Basics of Social Media
This is the section that sets up the rest of your strategies; know your goals, know your audience and understanding what social media can and cannot do.  Great section here on ROC (Return on Conversation) not ROI (Return on Investment).

Section II: It’s About Conversation
If you think social media is about selling, you’re forgetting the “social” part.  People don’t go on Facebook or Twitter to buy something, they go to have conversations.  Fortunately Evans saves social media newbies from making the big “let’s go sell something” mistake when they first get involved in the networks.

Section III: Social Media from the Inside Out
Here, Evans helps readers convey the value of social media to the company. It’s all about ethics, interns, consistency, transparency, trust, and defining social media policy for employees.

Section IV: It’s Not About You
Evans writes astutely about keeping your customer’s needs in front of you at all times.  I suspect she’s seen a lot of crash and burns from the “my ego is more important than your needs” crowd.  As she so wisely states “for it to work, you have to be social.”

Section V: How Social Media Fits into the Online Marketing Picture
Don’t fall so in love with social media that you forget it’s just one slice in the marketing pie.  Here, you’ll learn how to create a social media-friendly pressroom, align your offline efforts with your online, and why you really need to be on YouTube (seriously).

Summary Points

1.  If you work for a company that’s just getting started in social media, this is a must-have book.

2.  If you’ve done a little with social media, but more of a shotgun than a laser, this is a must-read book.

3. If your peeps think social media is all about sales, this is a must-read book for them.

4.  If for no other reason, buy the book to read the section on conversations.  If you don’t, you’ll be sorry.  (I’m just sayin’)

I use Google alerts all the time to keep track of topics of interest; right now I have alerts set to deliver the latest news on Amazon’s Kindle, best practices for website design, and copywriting (of course).

If you run an online business, Google alert is the best (free) notification service around.  Using it, you can track topics in The other day I discovered a Google-alert type service for those of us who Tweet (you DO tweet, don’t you?) using Twitter.

The service is TweetBeep and here’s how it works. First, set up a free account by picking a username and password. Then, choose the keyword alerts you want to track, i.e. your name, company name, topic of interest. Unlike Google alerts, don’t use quote marks for exact phrase matches.  You can exact phrase match by ticking the box on your alert. Pick how often you want to receive alerts, and that’s it.

Oh yes – you can also set up your TweetBeep to only receive alerts from specific Twitter accounts – a convenience I like when I’m tracking conversations from a specific individual.

According to a 7,000-person 2010 U.S. Small Business Attitudinal Survey from the email marketing provider, ConstantContact

• 93.6% of business owners need help in finding the best way to get new customers
• 92.1% want help encouraging existing customers to refer more business
• 92% want help to identify the best online marketing tools

When asked what specific area of their business they need the most help in, 66.5% ranked either “Marketing,” “Sales/new business,” or “Growth planning/business growth” as their single biggest area of need.

Interestingly, this is a far larger percentage than those who need help with technology, legal, manufacturing, and other operational aspects of their business.

Wringing every  drop of effectiveness from your website is paramount, especially for entrepreneurs who rely on their websites to generate at least 50% of their revenue.

If you want more business or referrals from existing customers, we recommend surveying your existing customers. As the old saying goes, there’s nothing quite like getting it directly from the horse’s mouth!

Since August of 2008 I have been experimenting with one of the most professionally-crafted, lowest cost Internet marketing tools ever – - Market Samurai.

First, I’m not the type to oooh and ahhhh over much of anything – - but this software is the real deal – - I use it almost daily in my own business, both for myself and my clients. Once you download a free trial, you’ll see why major Internet marketers like Ed Dale recommend Market Samurai without hesitation.

If you’re in a hurry, scroll down to watch a quick video of Market Samurai find high traffic keywords

Using Market Samurai I actually got one of my clients on the first page of Google in three days using keywords the software told me were low competition.  Frankly, it blew my socks off.

Click to download a free trial

In the two  years that I’ve been using it, Market Samurai has evolved into the Swiss Army knife of Internet marketing software.

New modules are added with NO additional cost to software owners – - pay just once and you get updates that will blow your mind! Plus these guys are constantly adding new training videos – so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to use or profit from the software.

As an author, think of how you can use this tool.  Not only can it help your own site achieve a higher ranking in the search engines, it will also help you track down keywords to use in your articles or web copy.

Your copy of Market Samurai contains the information necessary to get your site in the top rankings of Google – if you follow directions and seek out the keywords with little competition.  Features  include:

• keyword research
• SEO competition research
• content publishing
• monetization
• affiliate product finder
• backlinks locator
• page rank tracker

There’s virtually nothing Market Samurai can’t do. But don’t take my word for it – - download your free trial by clicking this link, and see for yourself.

Ten Ways You Can Benefit from Market Samurai

1. Research niche markets to discover the most profitable
2. Discover niches with very few competing sites
3. Analyze the SEO effectiveness of your competitors (and how to end run them onto Google’s first page)
4. Where to easily find content for your niche site.
5. Discover the best paying affiliate products in your niche
6. Learn to write compelling PPC ads for affiliate products
7. Publish your original content to article syndication sites
8. Easily find high quality backlink opportunities
9. Laser-target high-traffic low-competition niches
10. Discover niches with buyers, not just lookers.

Watch Market Samurai Find High Traffic Keywords

I strongly encourage you to take 15 minutes and watch this intro video to using Market Samurai for keyword research. Again, download a free trial – - if you’re not getting the traffic you want, or can’t find that perfect niche, use the software for the trial period and get your business out in front of the competition.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpTazrWCQA

A popular post from last year

Would you buy your own products?

I heard something yesterday that really got me thinking about this.

Someone called into A Way With Words–the National Public Radio show that discusses language, as in regional dialects, slang, word origins, grammar, and weird expressions–and asked about the use of “dog food” as a verb.

Apparently the term had its birth in the software/tech industry, and was used as a way of saying that software developers should actually use the products they were developing. Dog food (the verb) has evolved to mean “to use a product or service that was created by you.”

That made me think about all of us who are out here on the Internet, creating services and products for the consumer market – - and it forced me to ask the question of myself:  Do I dog food my own products and services? If I wasn’t writing my blog, or my books, or creating my videos, would I read me?

I don’t know why such a simple question has thrown me into such soul-searching because I work hard to create quality work. But it did . . . and I’m still pondering the question.

What do you think? Do you dog food your own products?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Shorts (not the boxer variety!) are 500-700 word articles that are generally found in the front part of a magazine or published as a blog post. If you’re new to a publication or blog site, the editor will probably assign you a short rather than a full-length feature. Once you’ve proven yourself, you’ll get the longer and better paying 3000-5000 word assignments or blog jobs.

Some people love writing shorts, and I’m one of them.

My natural style tends towards shorter pieces, so the more shorts the better. True, some authors feel that shorts or blog posts aren’t worth the money, but in my experience I can research and write a short piece quickly enough to keep my “pay per hour” rate high.

In his book for freelancers (that includes information on marketing strategies), Michael Sedge relates the story of a fellow-writer who wrote nothing but shorts, without decreasing his annual income.

Sedge’s friend said “ I’d say that 80 percent of today’s magazines use short news, humor, and human-interest items. For a lot of editors—including those at top-paying publications—this is an area in which they are desperate for material. . . I can put out one or two short items a day, in most cases with little research. The best part is I normally make $1 a word.”

When writing the blog post, keep in mind that every word counts. This is the time to use your editing skills and chop every unnecessary word you find. Shorts require the skill of pulling out the most important points of the story—there is no room for flab.

Once you hone your “shorts” skills, you may be surprised at the broad subjects that can be written as a short. Some of mine include the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Wild and Wacky Collectibles, Keeping Fit With Your PDA, and Collecting Elvis.

Structuring the Short

You can easily write a short (500-700 word) piece by following a simple structure.

Allow yourself approximately 100 words for a dynamite lead, and 100 words for a wrap-up.

What’s the most fascinating fact about your short? Find it, and then pop it up to the lead sentence.

Next, figure out how many points you want your article to cover.

For example, if you’re writing about a new handheld computer and you know you want to include information about its capabilities, software, and price structure, then you need to cover three points.

Give each of those points 100 words, and you’ve got a 500-word article. Or, give two of the points 125 words, and 50 to the third. Just divide wordage depending on the importance of a particular point.

A short doesn’t give you the luxury of four paragraphs to get into the body of the article. You’ve got room for a few sentences at best, so make them count.

Need to book a writing gig fast? Discover how to earn a living writing and you’ll be set, even in a down economy.

Want to learn more about freelance writing. Check out the video below.

If you’re selling a service or product and not self-publishing on Amazon’s Kindle platform, you’re not leveraging one of the Internet’s traffic giants.

With more than 54 million hits a month, Amazon is the ultimate traffic-driver; even if you never own a Kindle why n ot get your e-books, special reports, or killer articles into Amazon’s Kindle store.  Not only will it make you a few bucks, it will position you as an authority in your field.

Let’s face it – if we see someone’s name on a book, or for sale on Amazon, we take it for granted that the person who wrote it is an expert!

I’m not going to run on about the current economy or feed you a line about making millions. But I am going to tell you I think Kindle, when used as a marketing tool, will be one of the biggest buzzes in 2009.  No bull.   Here’s the deal:

* very few people are even aware of this technique
* you’ll be one of the few smart ones who jumped on the bandwagon as an early adopter
* if anyone is going to learn how to do this right, better you than your competitor

Here’s Why It’s Imperative You Publish on Kindle

When your Kindle marketing materials (i.e. e-books or reports) are sold through the Kindle store, they will appear in Amazon’s search results, just like a “real book.”

Stop a second and think about what that means! If you write an article (not a book) and sell it in Kindle format, you have as much a shot at Amazon’s 54.2 million monthly visitors as the guy who wrote a “real book” on the same topic.

Will everyone who sees your “book” buy it?  No, of course not – because right now less than one million people own Kindles (by latest estimates).  BUT, the cover you design and your book’s description will include your website URL – you WILL get traffic ported over from Amazon.

Are you getting how important this is?

Yes – it’s fantastic to sell your article to Kindle readers, but the real hidden gem (and I mean HIDDEN!) is that you can write an article, upload it in Kindle format, and it will have the same “apparent value” as a print book. Why? Because as soon as your Kindle “book” is published, you’ll get your friends to get over to Amazon and leave glowing reviews.

Within five days of publishing my article on Kindle, it ranked #15 in the Kindle store self-help/creativity category and #30 in ALL Amazon books on blogging! How fantastic is that!

Plug Into a Whole New Demographic

Kindle owners are a whole new demographic for your business – - and getting your marketing message in front of them is

1. Easy
2. Cheap
3. Effective

Successful Internet marketers publish on Kindle to get their business in front of Amazon’s 54.2 million visitors – - even if “only” less than a million people own a Kindle.

Here’s how to get your piece of the Amazon Traffic Pie

The 3 Steps to Successful Kindle Marketing

1. Write a killer article that revolves around your business. No PLR, no fluff, no off-the-cuff crap. I mean an article crammed with “you are never going to find this valuable information anywhere else on Earth” brilliance.

2. Somewhere in the article (front page, middle, back page) tell the reader about you and your business.  Be sure to add your contact info, Website URL, etc. But don’t scream SALES SALES SALES! or you’ll be really, really sorry! Think of this as an opportunity to build your expert status.

3. Get yourself a Kindle account (they’re free), a book cover design, and then convert and upload the article to your account. Your new marketing materials have just launched.

“Is it really that easy?”  Absolutely.

Converting Your Article to Kindle Format

To upload to Kindle, you’ll need to format your article so Kindle can properly read them.  You can absolutely do this for free and by yourself. When you open a Kindle account, there’s a free FAQ on formatting. I won’t B.S. you – their FAQs are pretty awful – but if techie stuff doesn’t bother you, you’ll be fine.

*To set up an Amazon account, you must have a US bank account and a US SSN, EIN or TIN. If you are not in the U.S., don’t despair! I can publish your materials under my own account.  Let’s talk!

The last two days have seen extraordinary opportunities opening up for publishers (authors) on the Amazon Kindle platform.

Yesterday, Amazon announced it would increase payment to publishers (via an option) a 70% royalty fee on titles that met the following criteria:

• The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99
• This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book
• The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights
• The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech. This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store.
• Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price.

Delivery costs will be based on the size of the Kindle file.  As an example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option, and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option.

In my mind, this is a no-brainer.  But bad news  for all those smarty pants who are madly converting out-of-copyright books to Kindle format – those don’t quality for the new option.

I love selling my stuff on Kindle, so this is manna from heaven for me.  And you, too, I hope.

(Two little suggestions:  Amazon, PLEASE get better at answering questions in your Kindle forums.  And PLEASE refine your conversion process.)

Now today, Amazon delivered the second of its one-two punches and announced it’s opening up its platform for application developers (think iPhone apps!).  Now, software developers can add interactive content to the Kindle.  Read the press release.  “Travel books that suggest activities based on real-time weather and current events, cookbooks that recommend menus based on size of party and allergies, and word games and puzzles–just some of the possibilities with the new Kindle Development Kit.”

What next, King of the Jungle? ?

Amazon announced yesterday that publisher royalties for Kindle books will pop from 35 to 70-percent starting later this year.

“Amazon Announces New 70 Percent Royalty Option for Kindle Digital Text Platform, Enabling Authors and Publishers to Earn More Royalties from Every Kindle Books SoldSEATTLE, Jan 20, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced details of a new program that will enable authors and publishers who use the Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) to earn a larger share of revenue from each Kindle book they sell. For each Kindle book sold, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of list price, net of delivery costs. This new option will be in addition to and will not replace the existing DTP standard royalty option. This new 70 percent royalty option will become available on June 30, 2010.

Delivery costs will be based on file size and pricing will be $0.15/MB. At today’s median DTP file size of 368KB, delivery costs would be less than $0.06 per unit sold. This new program can thus enable authors and publishers to make more money on every sale. For example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option, and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option.”

Read remainder of press release

For self-published authors who wanted to get their work in front of Amazon’s massive traffic, putting their work on the Kindle platform seemed like a no-brainer.

At the beginning of 2009, almost anyone with a U.S. bank account and an article or book in digital format could publish to Kindle—including the bad, the good, and the ugly.   The Kindle was like a lawless frontier boomtown  – - anything goes.

All through the spring months of 2009, I encouraged entrepreneurs and small business owners to write a great article or book and get it on Kindle; after all, having your work on Amazon IS a credibility builder in any business. Sadly, some of those people did publish, but the quality of their work was  . . . . shall I say . . . . crap.

In the end, Amazon brought a sheriff to town and the wide open field of “publish anything” came to an end.

Today, if you want to publish on Kindle, you still can, but before your work is actually accepted into the Amazon fold, it now goes through a quality-monitoring process.  When you push the PUBLISH button, a message pops up telling you that in order to give customers a quality experience, your work is now being reviewed, and Amazon will let you know within 48-72 hours if it will really be published.  Now, I’m guessing  all the unedited, poorly written & grammatically incorrect junk  goes into the tank.  Busted!

I’ve seen comments from other authors that this monitoring process is taking weeks (guess Amazon’s sheriff is up to his tin star in documents), but I’ve been fortunate to see my articles published in about three days.

In retrospect, I kinda hate to see the lawlesss town shut down – there’s something exciting about the wild frontier.  But,  my assumption is Amazon was getting so many returns on Kindle articles and books that they had to get some laws in place.

So, was 2009 a boom or a bust for self-published Kindle authors?  For me, I’ll say boom because I published 16 articles (mostly on history-related topics) and most are selling well.

But for the James Gang “writers” I’d say it was a bust; guess they’ll have to look for an easier bank to knock over.

*Note: This post is part of a group writing project sponsored by Daily Blog Tips

My all-time favorite used bookstore online is having a Holiday Sale of signed books.  I notice there’s a copy of Diana Gabaldon’s latest in the Claire-Jamie series – An Echo in the Bone.  Gotta have it!

At 12:00:01 GMT Thursday, November 26 (4:00:01 Pacific, November 25), the Scott Polar Research Institute will begin releasing the last journals of Captain Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition.  The journal will be released day-by-day, starting today – 99 years from the date of the original entry.

Beginning with the entry for November 26, 1910, which will be published right now, the blog will then follow the expedition day-by-day until Scott’s famous final entry, probably written on March 29, 1912.

Scott’s journal covers the period from November 1910 when the expedition left New Zealand, through the scientific missions of 1911 and the journey to the South Pole, ending with the death of the polar party in 1912, just 11 miles from the next depot of food and fuel.

The Scott’s Last Expedition blog will include links to images from Herbert Ponting’s photographic archive, also held at the Institute.  The entries are also linked to an RSS Feed and a Twitter account that will update automatically when any new blog posts are made.

Understanding the Past Through Technology
The staff of the Institute’s Museum, Library and Archive are keen to see if modern communication methods can provide a better understanding of the past. Reading the journals over a few days is a very different experience from following the daily events of the expedition as they happened.

It is hoped that the blog will enable readers to gain a deeper appreciation of the challenges faced by the expedition and the sacrifices made by Scott and his men.

Librarian and Keeper of Collections, Heather Lane, said: “This is our first attempt to bring the diaries of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration to a worldwide audience by electronic means. As the centenary of Scott’s last expedition approaches, we intend to put other journals from our archive online, to build up a detailed picture of each day’s events.”

Christopher Hughes, who has worked with the Institute to develop the blog, said: “I am excited by the possibility of revisiting a classic work, like Scott’s Journals, with fresh eyes. Technological change means that we are all reading in new ways, and the content is reaching us in many new forms.

“Presenting this great work in a format that people use in their everyday lives should mean that the text comes alive to new readers, and in a short format that blog readers already understand and enjoy. Matching the dates of the text with the historical events also means that those familiar with the story will get a new sense and appreciation of the endurance of the explorers, their true goals, and a deeper understanding of their self-sacrifice. It is a great privilege to be associated with the Scott Polar Research Institute in this project.”

A year ago I wrote about Typealyzer, a service that would analyze the personality of your blog based on your posts.

At that time, my blog had only been running a couple of months, and its personality was assessed as ISTJ (introverted-sensing-thinking-judging) called The Duty Fulfiller. Sure, I like doing a good job, but I thought Typealyzer didn’t have enough data to be as accurate as possible.

*Link to the analyzer (along with a request from me) is at the bottom of the post.

So, last night, I ran my blog through the system again.  This time the analysis was more like it!  My blog is an ESTP (extroverted, sensing, thinking, perceiving), called The Doer.  (These personality types are based on Myers-Briggs personality types) According to Typealyzer:

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Amen, brother.

I tracked down another page on the Internet that showed the careers suitable for ESTP and wouldn’t you know it – the careers are things  I already do (except the scientist – although two of my books were on astronomy).  Pretty dang amazing.

• Marketing specialist
• Scientist/biologist/physicist/chemist
• Project manager
• Consultant
• Business Analyst

Want to assess the personality of your blog? Typealyzer will be happy to analyze you!  All you have to do is enter the URL of your blog.  Once you ‘ve completed the assessment, leave a comment with your blog’s type and a link to your blog – and let me know if you think it’s accurate.

This morning I poured a cup of New Mexico Pinon java, put on the headphones and watched the newest  how-to video produced in Noble Samurai’s Dojo – - how to gauge the commerciality of your niche.

Before talking business, I have to tell you, this Pinon coffee is a staple in my house.  Blend high-altitude coffee beans with wild pinon nuts, slow roast them in small batches, and you’ll think you were transported to the Buckhorn Saloon & Opera House in Pinos Altos, just up the mountain from Silver City.   (Is that a colorado burrito I smell cooking?)

Hang on a sec, and let me put my coffee down so I can type a little faster . . . . and give you a tiny history of how I became a Samurai zealot (or should that be warrioress?)

Brent and the guys over at Noble Samurai (read my original Market Samurai review) released Market Samurai about the time Aussie Ed Dale and Brit Dan Raine ran their free 2008 30-Day-Challenge.  Back then, like now, you can download a free copy of this keyword & marketing software and take it for a trial spin.

In case you haven’t used Market Samurai before, it’s comprised of several modules, including modules for keyword research, competition analysis, rank tracking, promotion, and monetization.  Everytime I assume nothing better can be added, the guys surprise me with a new or improved module.

A month or so ago, Brent went another step in his great customer service and opened the Dojo—a free training area where you can watch excellent (and professionally-produced) videos on wringing every last ounce of competition-busting know-how out of the software.  Most recently, a video on assessing the commerciality of a keyword or keyword phrase (click the link to watch the video) was uploaded – and it’s the one I watched this morning.   New too, are downloadable PDF training manuals for the modules.

Whether you download the trial version or pop for the full version, I think you’ll see why this is becoming THE marketing tool in the arsenal of the big Internet marketing gurus.  Good news though – - it’s easy for the rest of us to use, and to own.

Promoting your book is your responsibility, whether you’re lucky enough to get a publisher, or doing print-on-demand (POD). Boo-hoo. But, true.

As the author of five non-fiction books (publisher-published) and two Nancy-published, here are my five favorite ways to market your work:

1. Create your website.

As “duh” as this sounds, you’d be surprised how many authors still don’t have sites, OR use free (and amateur-hour) looking sites.  Your site doesn’t have to be expensive or Flash-y, but it does need to look professional, based on your genre. (Mystery writers, knock yourself out with a gun here and there!)

2. Send advance readers’ copies (ARCs).

After finishing, but before publishing, send bound galleys to book review but not yet published, send bound copies of galley proofs to book reviewers at print and electronic media. Be sure to stamp them “Reader’s Copy” or “Galley Proof.” You want to time the reviews to coincide with the publication and availability of your book. Reviewers want to read it before it hits the shelves. Timing is everything.

2. Brainstorm ideas.

Gather a group of your most creative friends to generate as many ideas as you can (It’s a good idea to feed them). Break your reading audience into subgroups, and list all the places to find them. Where do they hang out? What organizations do they belong to? Where do they shop? What are their passions, hobbies, and vocations? The spreadsheet you create is the beginning of your promotional plan.

4. Submit articles.

Your book is a goldmine of article ideas. Every major point is an article ready to be excerpted or paraphrased. Once you know what your target audience is reading, you have a list of potential publications, print and electronic. Write a 25- and 50-word author’s blurb to be printed at the end of every article. When you submit to an online article Website, indicate that the article may be reprinted at no charge, as long as it includes the author’s blurb. 5. Take part in book fairs.

Share a table or booth with other writers or with members of an association of which you are a member, if it is relevant to your topic. Book fairs can mean long hours on your feet if you go it alone; but, when you share the workload, the experience can be fun and rewarding. You’ll meet new people, reach readers directly, and become personally involved in selling your book.

6. Share what you know.

Offer to give free presentations at bookstores and other venues that carry your book. This is a great way to build your reputation as an expert in your field, provide value to the bookseller and the book buyer, and connect directly with your readers. It’s good for your ego to be asked to sign your own book. One caveat: if you don’t feel comfortable speaking in front of a group, join Toastmasters or hire a speaking coach. Don’t muddle through your presentation.

7. Assemble a sales package.

Put together a press kit to send to local radio and TV stations. Include a news release with pertinent information about the book and future scheduled appearances, an author’s bio, talking points to use in an on-air interview, a sample book cover, background information, and favorable reviews and testimonials. A press kit is like a resume; it gets you in the door. Once you get there, the rest is up to you.

Promoting your book is an ongoing project. It isn’t something you do once and then move on. As long as your book is available and there are potential readers who could enjoy it and benefit from reading it, you have a job to do. This is, after all, why you wrote it.

For Part I Selling Your Book on Kindle

Okay, you have a Kindle account and are ready to sell.  What next?

Before you can do anything, you need to prepare your book for Kindle formatting.  Unlike e-books that can be spruced up with beautiful graphics and color pictures, Kindle books are best suited for non-graphical books.

Kindles can only display four shades of gray – - so if your book depends on a lot of pretty pictures, it probably isn’t suitable for Kindle conversion.  Think of what a basic paperbook book looks like (black print on off-white paper) and you’ll have a good idea of how your book will look when displayed on the Kindle screen.

As someone who enjoys creating a beautiful document, I was disappointed that I couldn’t use all those colorful images in my Kindle book, but . . . . I compensated by creating gorgeous covers! (see below for how to create a Kindle cover).

In brief, there are four steps to get your books/articles uploaded and converted

1.  Prepare your content for Kindle conversion.
2.  Upload your prepared content to Amazon.
3.  Amazon converts your document to Kindle format.
4.  You may preview and edit, or publish immediately withour further editing.

You may upload several formats to Amazon, including HTML, unencrypted .mobi e-book files, Microsoft Word (.doc), plain text (.txt) and Adobe PDF).  Amazon’s preferred format for uploading content is as a single HTML file. If you are using Microsoft Word, the recommendation is to ‘Save As HTML’ (in a filtered or simplified format, if available).

While plain text (.txt) files are supported, you need to use as little formatting as possible in your text files. Use as few hard line breaks (ends of lines terminated by hitting ‘Enter’) as possible. Ideally, every paragraph of your text will be one long line that is automatically wrapped in Notepad (or similar editors) at the edge of the editor screen, and re-flows the text when you resize that window.

Adobe PDF files are supported, but the quality of conversion is difficult to guarantee.

Steps for Simple Kindle Document Preparation Using Microsoft Word (no table of contents)

First, pick up a paperback book and look at the formatting.  Most books are single-spaced with a double space between paragraphs.  You’ll want your Kindle document in basically that same format.  Here’s the easiest way to prepare your document:

1.  Tab in the first line of paragraphs (Not all Kindle books have tabbed paragraphs, but visually it’s easier to read on the Kindle if tabs are used on the first line of a paragraph)

2.  Single space your document

3.  Double space between chapters or sections

4.  Use Microsoft Word’s Heading styles on each chapter title (or section title).  To do this, highlight the name of the chapter, then click on the Heading 1 style button.  *If you do NOT want a Table of Contents, you can skip this step.

5.  Spell check! (I have a note taped to my monitor reminding me of this step).

6.  Save As: Web Page, Filtered (if you’re using Word 2007, this setting is under Save As: Other Formats)

If you own a Kindle,  send your document as an e-mail attachment  to your Kindle account e-mail, i.e.  janedoe@kindle.com   Amazon will automatically convert your document to Kindle format and send it back to your Kindle wirelessly.

This step isn’t required, but I always do it so I can view the document on my own Kindle to make sure all formatting is correct.   Once I’m satisfied with the results, I’ll upload the document to Amazon.

For more information, video, audio on Kindle, see below.

Fellow authors – in addition to my career as a non-fiction author, I’ve spent close to 10 years doing website analysis for corporate, higher education, and personal websites.  Increasing your conversion rate (the number of people who purchase your book or service, rather than just looking) is a must for authors, whether self or traditionally published.

Below you’ll find the five steps I typically take to increase website conversion.  Try it – and let me know how this works for you.

1. Best Practices
Wikipedia states that best practices are the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task, based on procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people. In medicine, if you go into the Emergency Room with chest pain, best practices dictate you’ll receive an electrocardiogram (EKG).

On the web, best practices include adding meta data to your web pages, chunking your information into easy-to-read bites, and adding ALT tags to your images. Are you using unique meta data on each page or are you using the same title on every page throughout the site? Time to go back and start honing that meta data.

2. Clear Value Proposition
Why should I buy from you instead of the guy on the next website? What do you have that compels me to choose you from all others? A clearly-stated value proposition.

Your value proposition differentiates you from your competition, and clearly states how your offering is better than anyone else in the world. You offer three books and a 15 minute consultation. Your competitor offers two books and a 30 minute consultation. It’s up to you to clearly tell me why I should pick you.

3. What’s In It For Me?
The WIIFM chant never changes. Your website isn’t about you (unless you’re Barack Obama or Michael Phelps!) – - it’s about how the customer will benefit from buying your product or hiring your services.

For example, if you’re selling a new computer system with the fastest processor ever made, what’s in it for me is the ability to run multiple applications at the same time, or play computer games at a faster speed. Does your site focus on client benefits, or you?

4. Call to Action
I analyzed an author’s website to try and improve the non-existent book sales. Guess what? There wasn’t any BUY button on the site. Even if you wanted to buy the book, you couldn’t!

Don’t be shy about asking your site visitor to do what you want by having a clear call to action. Ask them to call you now, e-mail you within the next 24 hours, click to buy, or purchase at today’s discount. Use action verbs, and even if the call to action is obvious to YOU, make sure it’s obvious to your site visitor.

5. Usability
One of the best books written on usability is titled “Don’t Make Me Think“. That says it all. If your website visitor has to click through five levels of navigation before finding important information, you’ve got usability issues.

Keep your most important items no more than two clicks down in navigation, and remember – it’s more important to have clear and easy navigation than almost any other factor – - a site visitor who can’t find what they’re looking for because your navigation is fuzzy will never return.

What Next, Marketing Author?
View your site through new eyes. If you were a visitor to your website, could YOU easily find what you want? Do you know what to do? Would YOU choose YOU?

Internet Market Strategy For Serious Online Marketers

Whether you have a yen for yard sales or a passion for pets, there’s an audience hungry for your articles. I found mine during a trip to Roswell, New Mexico back in the mid-90s.

Since the “Roswell incident” of 1947, alien autopsies and government cover-ups have become cultural icons and hot collectibles-thanks in part to the unexpected popularity of WB’s Roswell. Who knew TV’s sexy aliens and their glow-in-the-dark hickeys would heat up the auction circuit as well as the small screen?

When I visited the alien-friendly city, I bought up t-shirts and commemorative pens, just like every other tourist. However, once home, I shifted into my “writer” mode and slugged out queries on the “story that wouldn’t die”. Within weeks, I’d sold a piece on collecting aliens and UFOs to eBay Magazine and another to Collectors.com. I even got e-mails from readers who wanted to buy my commemorative pins at any price!

Those Roswell pieces were the first of over 400 niche-or specialized-articles I’ve written. Tightly focused and packed with know-how, niche articles are some of the easiest for new writers to sell.

What does it take to succeed?

· Write about your passion. If you’re a yard sale junkie, turn your vintage finds into a killer piece about starting a home-based business, or how to tell the difference between treasures and trash. Then pitch your articles to collecting magazines and Web sites. Do a Google.com search on “collectibles” to find hundreds of potential clients.

· Actually read the magazine or newspaper you’re trying to pitch. Writer’s Digest past-editor Melanie Rigney says her magazine hasn’t published poetry for two years, and yet she sent out a dozen poetry rejections in just one month.

· Got a hot tip on saving money? Find a way to twist it into a niche story, like how to pinch penny’s when buying top brand dog food (pet focus). Or, how women can avoid getting ripped off on car repairs (women’s magazine).

· Learn your way around the Internet. If you need to interview an expert on raising independent kids, do you know where to look? (Profnet.com) Or, can you construct an advanced search on AltaVista.com to track down statistics on child care?

· Find mailing lists on your specialty topic, then join in the discussion. This is where you’ll find those great anecdotes
other writers are using. Check out Yahoo http://groups.yahoo.com/

· Persevere. Editors want to buy from you. But sometimes they have a backlog, or they’ve already made a similar assignment.If you get rejected, immediately go back and suggest other topics. I pitched one publication for five months before they gave me a chance. Today they’re one of my bread and butter clients.

How Do You Find Clients?

Get on the Internet and use your favorite search engine to track down potential clients. For example, go to Google.com and type in “alien and collectors”. Then, go to the Web sites you think are appropriate and write the Webmaster or site owner about your background in the subject.

Then, tell them that you specialize in writing about “alien collectibles” and would they be interested in hiring you to write a few trial articles for their site?

Be sure to pick sites which are viable–but that I mean, don’t pick sites that are clearly hobby sites or sites which haven’t been updated since 1999. Look for sites that are selling alien collectibles and stress that your articles would add relevant Web content, which is useful for drawing visitors, and for getting higher search engine rankings.

If the site doesn’t offer a free newsletter to site visitors, suggest one–and suggest that you be hired as the writer. Remember, much of being a successful (paid) writer is about selling your ideas.

You can also find clients by subscribing to WritersMarket.com or by visiting your local bookstore and just scanning the racks for magazines you think would be open to your specialty.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!!

If you write about cats, don’t pitch just cat or pet magazines. How many ways can you find to sell a cat article?

I challenge you to go to the bookstore and find at least 15 magazines you can pitch a cat story too.

Hint: As an example, how about a parent’s magazine and an article like “how the family cat can help teach your child about responsibility.” Get the idea?

Or–if you love music, how about pitching a piece on the growing trend to buy musicians’ autographs or instruments at auctions.

What if you love outer space? Would you think about pitching a piece on kid’s space books of the 1950s? I did. In addition, I also wrote an article for Astronomy magazine on collecting “space stuff.”

Do you see where this is going? Take a topic and find how many ways you can spin it.

For the past many years, authors like me have supplemented their book and article-writing income by selling e-books. Promoting and selling e-books was a quick and easy way to re-purpose short stories, magazine articles, and books (fiction and non-fiction) with virtually no overhead.

The good news: profits were high; the bad news – - sales were dependent on the author’s ability to drive traffic to a website.

Thanks to Amazon’s Kindle Electronic Reading Device, all that has changed.

Now you can sell your creative works (fiction or non-fiction), set your own price, and have a potential audience of the tens of thousands of Kindle owners.

Because the bulk of my writing career has been in the magazine article writing field, I owned a huge backlog of articles and their electronic rights. When the Kindle was released, I realized I could convert all of those articles to Kindle format, create an attractive cover, and sell them through Amazon’s Digital Text Platform.

A Little Background on Kindle Publishing

I started by converting one non-fiction article I had written a few years ago for a history magazine. The topic was post-Civil War carpetbaggers. Okay, not a sexy subject, huh? That’s why I was shocked to look at my account a few weeks later and realize I’d actually sold three copies.

Since then I’ve posted several more articles and am converting four of my e-books to Kindle format. Hopefully as you read this, those books and even more of my articles will be online in the Kindle store.Before you can start selling your digital documents in the Kindle Store, you’ll need to set up an account with Amazon.

If you’ve been buying books from Amazon, you already have an account. However, you’ll have to take the extra step and give Amazon the business and financial information necessary to pay you.

Setting Up Your Kindle Publisher Account

First, go to Amazon’s Digital Text Platform page and sign in with your normal Amazon account username and password. If you don’t have an Amazon account, click the “Sign Up” button.

Once your account is open, log in and click the “My Account” tab. Here, you’ll configure your account details, including your full name or company name, the type of business you have (corporation, individual, etc), and your bank account information. (You DO want to get paid, yes?)

Tomorrow, let’s prepare your book or articles for uploading to the Kindle Store.

Jeff [Question]

Nancy, thanks for giving up some time to share your knowledge with our readers today. Can you give us an overview of your writing experience and what types of writing you have done to earn a living?

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

Jeff, I’ve written five books and over one-thousand shorts, features and Web pieces. My clients include Discovery.com, Family Tree Magazine, eBay Magazine (when it was still in print), Men’s Fitness, Personal Journaling, Writer’s Digest, The Writer, Image-Acquire.com, History Magazine, LAPTOP and Personal Computing. As you can see, I write for a large variety of companies and interests.

Jeff [Question]

You have a fabulous book – “Secrets of a Successful Freelancer”. When did you come up with the idea to write this book and where did the idea come from?

Nancy Hendrickson[Answer]

I met writer after writer who really didn’t know how to get started in the magazine industry. The book evolved from a series of e-mails I developed to answer the qestions I received about the in’s and out’s of getting published–or advancing a writing career.

As you know, for someone without clips (samples of published work), it seems almost impossible to get someone in the industry to notice you. However, if you go about it the right away–and are willing to do some jobs for free or low pay–you WILL get published. And, once you’ve been in print once, it’s easy to move up from there.

Jeff [Question]

Many of our readers REALLY wonder if you can make a good living selling your own writing – without being a top author or expert writer. What would say to them?

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

Well, I’m living proof that you can make a living as a freelance writer–and clearly, my name isn’t Tom Clancy!

Jeff, it’s all a matter of building a business from the ground up. It takes time and perserverance, and an unwillingness to give up. I have a very thick file of rejection letters I received when I first started writing–but instead of making me want to give up, they just spurred me to try harder.

Also, I believe all writers MUST be willing to branch out into several directions (i.e. also writing for the Web or writing e-books), and learn about promotion and marketing. Let’s face it – - as writers, we’re selling ourselves, and we need to know how to do that most effectively. In fact, your readers might also be interested in a new e-book I’m writing now that covers the nuts and bolts of e-publishing for writers. It’s called “Make Money e-Publishing” E-books are a fantastic way for writers to make an ongoing passive income–which I’m all for!

Jeff [Question]

One of the questions I get asked the most from people looking to earn a living writing is “How do I find topics to write about that people will buy?” Whether it be articles, books, ebooks, special reports – what methods do you use to find subjects and titles that people want to buy?

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

If your readers concentrate on developing interesting topics that they, themselves, enjoy reading about, they’ll have a wealth of topics to draw from. For example, I’m one of those people called an “early adopter”. That means when a new tech gadget hits the market, I’m one of the first to buy it. In my case, that holds particularly true to digital cameras and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

How I use that to my advantage is to find spins to those general topics that I know other people will be interested in too. For example, I’ve written at least a half-dozen articles on how to use your Palm-based handheld for genealogy. I’ve also written about using handhelds for health, keeping track of your kids’ soccer schedules, keeping track of your wine tastings, and travel. I’ll probably keep writing about this general topic for years–but putting a different spin, depending on my target audience.

If there’s one “secret” I’d like to pass on to your readers, it’s this: Find ONE topic you really love and write down at least 25 different ways to spin the topic for different audiences. Once you do this, you’ll find how easy it is to come up with salable story ideas. In fact, in my book, I did a list of 25 ways to sell stories about San Diego (where I currently live). It was an interesting exercise for me–and valuable as it helped me sell several articles.

Jeff [Question]

Excellent stuff!

Nancy, you are obviously very accomplished – do you recommend that people specialize on a certain market niche or that they go broad with their writing?

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

I discovered an interesting fact awhile back about that question. It’s not really important if YOU consider yourself a specialized writer—what’s important is that EDITORS think you are. As an example, I write about several fields, but each of my editors in those fields consider me an expert in THEIR field. So, my technology editor thinks I’m just a whiz at tech articles, while my genealogy editor thinks I specialize only in genealogy.

Yes, you HAVE to market yourself to editors as being expert (or knowing where to get expert interviews) in their field. However, you can still write for more than one field–and in fact, you really need to. So, although I’m really a generalist, I’m also a specialist.

Jeff [Question]

Where do you see the leading opportunities in the field of writing – examples: articles, corporate, travel, books, ebooks, self-published versus published, etc…

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

Jeff, in terms of the magazine market, I think you’ll see more and more articles on health and business. As boomers age, their health is a MAJOR concern–they want to live longer and be healthier than their parents.

If your readers have an interest in this field, I’d suggest signing up to take a class on health writing–or read all you can about it.

Also, I write more about business now than I ever did. In tihs global economy, competition among businesses is so intense, businesses need solid stories on their industries to help bring them more clients.

In the world of e-books, my advice is a little different. Write about what you love and know–trust me, there will ALWAYS be other people with the same interests–and they’re your target audience. Reaching these markets is one of the major subjects of my new e-book.

Jeff [Question]

Nancy – I want to thank you for your time, sharing your valuable experience with our readers. Before you go, can you offer our readers your advice on the 3 most important things to know about freelance writing?

Nancy Hendrickson [Answer]

1. Never give up–I don’t care how many other writers there are in this world–none of them brings YOUR eyes to the business. What you have to say is valuable.

2. Treat your writing business like a business. If you want to succeed, your focus has to be on building a business, not indulging in a hobby.

3. Learn to become a master marketer–whether you’re writing a query or selling an e-book, you must learn to sell yourself and your products or ideas. Once you’ve mastered this skill, it’ll be hard for an editor, or a potential customer, to say no.

Jeff [Final Remarks]

Thanks again Nancy – your information and book really help us understand what separates the starving writers from those who use the written word to write their own ticket to a terrific income.

I sat in on an interesting webinar thrown by the 60-second marketer.  The presenter gave these anologies for our favorite social media marketing sites.

Facebook is like a pub, an informal place where people get together, hoist a beer and shoot the breeze.

LinkedIn is like a Tradeshow – very business-like, watch your language, dress up a little.

Twitter is the famous cocktail party, with lots going on and very high energy

YouTube is like Times Square on New Years Eve – anything goes!

MySpace is like Woodstock - populated by the young and the crazy!

It’s almost on us again: National Novel Writing Month – - do you have what it takes to join NaNoWriMo, the fun “seat-of-your-pants” approach to novel writing?  Here’s the deal, per the NaNoWriMo site:

Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. . . ”

Join the fun (and thousands of wannabe novelists around the world) and crank out 50,000 words in November.  That’s a little less than 1,700 words a day.

For all the details, and to get signed up, hop over to the NaNoWriMo site, sharpen your pen (or keyboard), and get ready, get set . . . . .

Join me @ the Publishing Business Virtual Conference & Expo
Digital Content Day @ Your Desk

Here are a few details:
When: Thursday, October 29, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Where: Your Computer – It’s Virtual & It’s Free

Register now to get in on the goodies:

Digital Content Day @ Your Desk is a free, virtual event (you’ll be able to access all sessions from your computer) that will explore how book publishers must adapt to succeed in today’s multimedia publishing world.

Topics of discussion will include:

* E-book Pricing Strategies (this is one I won’t miss)
* Shifting Role of Publishers in a Digital World
* The Piracy Threat and DRM Strategies That Work
* Social Media Strategies That Sell Books (I’ll be here too)
* How to Evolve to Remain Relevant and Profitable
… and more!

In addition to the dynamic conference agenda, you can take advantage of this fully interactive event featuring live chats, social networking opportunities, downloadable resources and giveaways. Best of all, we can accomplish all of this and more for free … and from the comfort of our own offices.

The event also includes an exhibit hall fully staffed with world-class suppliers, including Worldcolor, Zmags and Book Business magazine, to name a few. Sponsors include Oce and Lightning Source.

Register now, again – it’s a free event:

Hope you can join me on Thursday, October 29th.  If you attend, e-mail me and let’s compare notes afterwards.

Nancy

Per Barnes and Noble, “Get bestsellers and new releases, your favorite newspapers, and magazines all delivered via fast and free 3G wireless. Great ebooks are just seconds away as you tap into the vast Barnes and Noble eBookstore. Sample any eBook for free.”  It’s all about buying the Nook.

This new entry into the e-reader arena can store as many as 1,500 eBooks, newspapers, and magazines on your nook, so you’ll never be without your favorites. And with an added memory card you can keep up to 17,500. eBooks download in seconds. Many bestsellers and new releases are just $9.99, and thousands of titles are free, so you can enjoy more for less.

Plus . . . color touch screen.

More as I learn more.

MSNBC had an interesting article on the use of less-than-perfect grammar for Web copywriting.  The trick, the article says is "balancing proper grammar with a conversational tone." Since consumers need to relate to your message, write in the same conversational tone you’d use if you were hanging out at Starbucks with your ideal customer. What grammar rules can you break?

• Contractions.  When’s the last time you said "I had" instead of "I’d"?  1957?
• Dangling prepositions. "You’re going to feel like a pro when you put this on."
• Slang words (if appropriate to your audience). Sheesh, what would my English prof say?
• Sentence fragments. "Got milk?" *Don’t forget, web readers SKIM.  Short sentences are good.
• One-sentence paragraphs.  "See above"

I’m participating (along with thousands of other bloggers) in the 09 Blog Action Day – - the once a year event when we all blog about a specific topic.  By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue.

This year’s issue is Climate Change.

I decided to write about the issues of food production and greenhouse gases. I know the food choices we make directly impact climate change – - in fact I just read that overall agriculture around the world is responsible for nearly as much total greenhouse gas emissions as all forms of transportation put together.  In addition, with climate change comes decreased yield in food staples around the world such as corn.

What I want to write about is an idea I read about a year or so ago – that of building climate-controlled high-rise farms that take up a small physical footprint (think a skyscraper with each floor growing a different crop), with the ability to grow diverse crops, keep much of the "rain" from evaporating because it "rains" in a controlled environment, and keeps pests at bay because they cannot get into the skyscraper’s closed environment. Also, think solar renewable energy sources.

As I traveled through Kansas, it was evident that a huge amount of land is devoted to corn, wheat, soy and other staple crops.  What if each of those vast fields was converted to an elevated farm (I’m imagining something like silos)? I believe they would require less water, no pesticides, and certain return more of the land to a natural (unfarmed) state.

Is this pie in the sky? I hope not, as we will be forced in the next few decades, to face the very real problems of an increasingly hostile climate and the challenges of producing food for a world population.

 Photo attribution:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/bree7/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Click the horizontal buttons to learn more about social media marketing.

My good friend, and fellow online entrepreneur, Lou Bortone (the OnlineVideoGuy) told me about a new service that is launching today at 11:00 am Pacific (1 Central, 2 Eastern).  The service, Prfessor, allows non-techie people to set up their own "university", and teach the things they know – - and of course generate passive income while doing so. Think about that – getting paid from here til the end of time to share your knowledge with other people.

There’s an excellent video on the Prfessor site right now that shows you the basics, with launch scheduled as noted above.

I don’t know about you, but there are MANY things I can teach and I can’t wait to sign up for my own account.  At this point, I don’t know what the charge will be, but I’m betting it’s going to be a monthly subscription. Lou told me he thought it was under $50, and if that’s the case, I’ll be first in line.

My "what I can teach" list right now includes:

1. Internet genealogy
2. Non-fiction book proposal writing
3. Non-fiction book writing
4. How to become a freelance writer
5. How to promote your book online
6. Basics of social media marketing

How about you?

This is the most excited I’ve been about a product launch in eons.  Prfessor is THE system for anyone who wants to teach, earn extra income or at-home income, and doesn’t want to mess around with all the technical stuff. 

Amazon plans to start selling its Kindle reader in over 100 countries and territories on Oct. 19.

Amazon is selling the Kindle with U.S. & International Wireless to customers in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, for US$279 for a reader with a 6-inch display and the ability to wirelessly download books and other content globally, the company said on Wednesday.

The Kindle will not be sold in China because Amazon is unable to ship the Kindle and offer Kindle content to Chinese customers, the company said.

Bestseller books will cost $11.99 or more for international customers, with about 100,000 other titles available for less than $5.99, Amazon said. These prices are higher than in the U.S. where most bestsellers sell for $9.99.

An online quipster poised the question: "How do you measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media marketing (SMM)?"  He then answered his own question with "You don’t."

Fortunately, that’s not exactly true.

Where to Start Measuring?

As  authors, businesses, solopreneurs, and entrepreneurs scramble to set up Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages, analysts are scrambling to discover how impactful their company’s SMM has been. For some, the answer is "we can’t measure this," but others believe there are statistics that reflect their SMM’s effect.

As Aaron Uhrmacher, the guru of SMM, recently said in an article on Mashable,   "Social media measurement is one of those topics about which everyone has an opinion, but nobody agrees on the solution."  His suggestion – - as a beginning point – - is to simply decide on what to measure.

What’s Your Social Media Marketing Goal?

If your goal is to increase your reputation-get potential readers or clients talking about you in a positive manner – -  then get out onto the social media sites and monitor what’s being said about you. In a brief run-through searching Twitter, I found some very mean-spirited comments about a specific author’s e-mail campaign.

What to do? The author could have reached out  via direct message or e-mail and turned a damaging situation into a win-win. After all,  social media is about "social" – - building relationships.

If your goal with your SMM is to measure traffic, then setting up a solid analytics program that tracks incoming links will tell you if your visitors are coming from Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Although Google Analytics are excellent (and free), we also suggest Xinu, a free site that tells how your website is doing in terms of search engines, search engine optimization, social bookmarking, RSS, and other social indicators. Measuring ROI on social media marketing isn’t a precise science; but what I know for sure is that authors and entrepreneurs need to have a success metric in mind before jumping into the game.

Authors – do you need help with your book project? Contact me for information about my coaching programs. Get started today and get that book out into the marketplace.

Tina Nocera, founder of the Parental Wisdom blog, and the author of Because Kids Don’t Come With Manuals: Contemporary Advice for Parents, recently shared her experience of using her blog to promote her book.  

NH: Why did you start blogging?

TN: Interestingly, the book is a conversation on parenting; something I mention in the introduction. A blog seemed like a natural progression to continue that conversation and have a more interactive discussion with parents on current issues.

To listen to what people have to say. Example, in a post from yesterday – - very interesting situation. I have something in my book called a "Stupid Ticket" and a mom received one and was rather upset. I used the blog as a way to explain it from her point of view and also soften and explain the message. I would not have had any other opportunity to reach others if not for the blog.

NH: How did you build your readership?

TN: I connected it to my website and I also host a parents daily inspirational phone message where I often mention that they can visit the blog and write a comment as the blog and daily message are often the same.

 I periodically offer free information which requires readers to sign up to my site. Once on my site, I offer a weekly email message – always with a very catchy title so it gets opened (running at nearly 50% opening the message). Shortly I plan to offer very unique content (I have 2 U.S. Patents on Child Development for my website and database) and will run EzineArticles on that as well.

NH: Have you submitted your blog to blog directories?

TN: I haven’t but it is something I should do. Like everything else – this is a constant learning process.

NH: Do you post on other blogs?

TN: Yes, I would recommend it, but haven’t done very much of it. It’s great exposure.

NH:  Is there something about blogging to promote your book that you’d like to share with other authors?

TN: I suppose it’s the David vs. Goliath theory. You know the story about David and Goliath, right. Everyone said the little boy couldn’t possibly beat the giant. They told David, "Look at him and look at you, you can’t possibly win." David said, "Yeah, look at me and look at him. I can’t possibly miss!" I see blogging as evening up the odds for attention.

Authors – do you need help with your book project, blogging strategies, or social media marketing? Contact me for information about my coaching programs. Get started today and get that book out into the marketplace.

Scenes from my fiction novel

Locales: New York City, Bismarck, North Dakota, Montana Territory
Dates: 1932 and 1876
Genre: Historical fiction/time travel
Premise: Elizabeth Custer is given the opportunity to time-travel from 1933 to 1876, to see her husband one final time before his final battle on the Little Bighorn

Scene: After the birthday party, April 1932

Draft: She sank into the wooden rocker, grateful for the silence.  It was only five in the afternoon, but she was already exhausted, as she was on days when the house bustled with company. 

Birthdays. 

As if a 90-year-old needed another marker of time.  They meant well, she knew, but they could never understand the only thing a birthday meant to her was another year without him.

She settled back in her rocker, relaxing into the peaceful rhythm of its motion.  Outside, an early spring drizzle pattered onto the sidewalk.  If the temperature dropped low enough, the city would march backwards into the last throes of winter.   But she would be warm, wrapped in the soft blue and gold throw, a gift from great-niece Caroline.  Blue and gold.  Cavalry colors.  His colors.

What little light was left snaked across the window sill, barely illuminating the hand-painted scene on her Viennese clock.  Not that she needed it to track the time.  It ticked away as relentless as her heart pumped out the moments of her life.  But what a life.  What a life.  

Would he even know her now, her face grooved with the remnants of smiles and frowns, her skin turned to parchment? 

Reaching up, her bird-like fingers caressed the silver and gold ivy-shaped pin he had given her on her 21st birthday.  Tarnished from years of her constant touch the metal was worn thin.  Just like me, she thought.
   
Earlier, the interviewer had asked “Do you miss him?”

She smiled that girlish smile she had never lost, leaving his question unanswered. But now, in the dark and the silence, there was no denying the question.

As a single tear slipped down her cheek she chided herself for an old lady’s sentimentality. But even now, fifty-six years after his death, she missed the feel of his hand on her face, and the passion his deep blue eyes that made her gasp for air. But those days were gone . . . long gone . . . and she wondered if she would have married "that Custer boy" if she had known the future.  A silly question, but one she couldn’t help but consider.

At the party, they had asked her, when she blew out the candles, to reveal her birthday wish.  She declined, blaming superstition for her silence.  The truth was, her wish was ridiculous and without hope, but wished for nonetheless.

All she wanted, before she died, was one last day with him. 

*This work-in-progress is copyrighted 2009 Nancy Hendrickson. Reproduction is prohibited.

**Note to readers: Be kind, gentle reader . . . . and I do appreciate your comments.

LinkedIn isn’t the world’s most intuitive network, but you can do some pretty cool stuff – if you know where to look. For example, you can promote your LinkedIn profile by adding View My Profile buttons (like mine here), just by following these simple steps:

1.  Click ‘Edit My Profile’ found in the left navigation area

2.  Click ‘Edit Public Profile Settings’ in the upper right-hand corner of your profile page

3.  Click on the ‘customized buttons’ link found in your Public Profile box.

4.  Choose a logo button and copy the HTML code.

5.  Paste the code on to your blog, message board or website. When site visitors click on the button, it will take them to your profile on LinkedIn.

The Times-Standard of Eureka, California posted a very nice piece about my latest book, Historic Photos of Old California.

In brief, they wrote: Author Nancy Hendrickson has written a new book that features a bevy of old California photographs.

”Historic Photos of Old California” (Turner Publishing Co., $39.95) includes 199 images from throughout the state, with text and captions penned by Hendrickson. The pictures are separated into four chapters: “Exploration and Exultation!” (1850-1869), “Civilization Comes West” (1870-1889), “A Kinder, Gentler California” (1890- 1899) and “From Disaster to Rebirth (1900-1920).

”California’s early days are documented in thousands of historic photographs that reside in archives, both locally and nationally. This book began with the observation that, while those photographs are of great interest to many, they are not easily accessible,” writes Todd Bottorff, publisher, in the book’s preface.

Click this Times-Standard link to read the entire article.

I’m a book geek, and among my favorite reads are the following Internet-business books

1. Facebook Marketing
    
2. Content Rich
    
3. Get Content, Get Customers
    
4. Twitter Revolution
    
5. Facebook Me!
    
6. Waiting for your Cat to Bark?
    
7. Don’t Make Me Think
    
8. Letting Go of the Words
    
9. Killer Web Content
    
10. Tribes

In the  years that I’ve coached authors and entrepreneurs, I’ve discovered that the majority of people think marketing their books is an expensive proposition – - particularly when it comes to selling on the Internet.

Truth is, it can cost a lot if you have the bad luck of working with an unscrupulous “publicist”, or spend thousands on an ineffective pay-per-click campaign.

There are good publicists out there, but even the best publicists in the business will tell you (or they SHOULD tell you) that their efforts will get you noticed, but that notice does not necessarily translate to sales. Additionally, you may get people to your website via pay-per-click, but traffic doesn’t always equal sales–particularly if you don’t write compelling sales copy.

In my experience–with my own coaching clients and with my own books–the best way to market your book is through grassroots or relationship marketing (building relationships with site visitors). When people KNOW you, they are much more willing to do business with you. Think of your own life experience re: buying from people you know and trust, and I think you’ll agree.

I invite you to “pick my brain”, and use these three no-cost ways of getting yourself noticed on the Internet – - all without squandering your kid’s college fund!

1. Blog

2. Publish on Amazon’s Kindle

3. Social networking

Blogging

For authors, blogging can be as second nature as breathing. After all, we ARE writers! But what benefits does blogging have, particularly when you’re just getting started?

First, search engines love blogs–particularly those that are updated at least a few times a week, and are filled with solid, no-B.S. content. Search engines swoop through blogs like bed bugs in the Bates Hotel–spidering content on a daily (or even more frequent) basis.

Don’t believe me? After doing keyword research for a client, I installed a blog for them on Tuesday and by Thursday they were already showing up on page #1 of Google for three of their keywords.

Savvy authors use blogs to build a solid fan base - – many have hundreds or thousands of fans even before they get a book contract. Think how much more effective your book proposal would be if you could say that you already have 1,000 avid fans who read your blog every day. Book proposal committees love a built-in audience.

Cost: Zero, if you use a free blog service like blogger.com

Amazon Kindle Publishing

Regardless of Sony and iPhone’s chest-beating about beating the Amazon Kindle in the digital reader wars, Amazon has one thing no one else has – access to more than 350,000 books and articles delivered wirelessly (immediately) to the Kindle.

Unfortunately, Amazon did NOT make it easy for people to convert their own books and articles to Kindle format, but it is doable. If you’re willing to do tech-stuff, you can do it yourself. I started converting my own work several months ago, and there is a learning curve.

The good news is, by converting your work to Kindle format, you can get your books, articles, and reports in front of Amazon’s 54.2 million monthly visitors for free. (If you need a referral to a trustworthy Kindle conversion guy, e-mail me)

Cost: Zero, if you convert the work yourself. About $100 if you use a service.

Social Networking

Millions of people have jumped on the social networking bandwagon over the past few years. In fact, one person I know brags that he’s on 34 different social networks. Don’t know about you, but I’d rather be writing than spending all day on 34 social networks.  Don’t get me wrong – social networking is a fabulous way to get noticed. However, you’ll have far more success if you concentrate on the social network where YOUR target demographic lives.

How can you tell where to find your audience? Take an afternoon and cruise through MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Twitter,  et al, and search for your target keywords. You’ll quickly discover which services house your audience; once discovered, devote your social networking time to that service only. Quality over quantity matters.

What next?

Regardless of your experience, background, or genre, chances are you’re already taking one of these crucial steps. The good news is, follow all three and you’ll soon have a marketing plan that costs you zero to under $100 bucks.

Yaro Starak wrote an interesting blog post the other day about passive income opportunities online.

In brief, he detailed how (if you filter out the spam), you can easily find opportunities, although most people fail to actually work those opportunities. We’ve all seen it – the website that is thrown up in hopes of generating leads or affiliate dollars – and never touched once the initial posts are published.

What struck me most, though, was his conversation with two business friends who have all the skills needed to succeed (Internet savvy, tech savvy, creativity, good work ethic), but have gotten caught in what Yaro sees as the time-consuming one-on-one trap of always chasing the next client.

In addition, because the two don’t really specialize, they end up competing on a price point with all the other jack-of-all-trades.

Sound familiar?

Thoughts on Internet Passive Income Opportunities

Like many, I run a service-oriented business. Occasionally, I find a great product I’d like to promote, or have created products of my own. But, as Yaro points out, the jack-of-all-trades consultant or coach is left in a position of keeping one eye on current clients while the other is constantly roaming the landscape in search of new clients. In my mind, this is a waste of both time and creative energy.

IMHO, a better use of time would be the creation of products and programs that keep current clients in the flow of my business, leaving one-on-one work for clients willing to pay higher dollars for your precious time.  This is clearly NOT a new or complex concept – but one worth re-visiting.

Thanks for the read – and would appreciate your comments (below).

<strong>Interview by Brian Konradt of Book Author Services</strong>
Since becoming a freelancer, NANCY HENDRICKSON has published more than one thousand features, shorts and newsletter columns in national and regional magazines and on the Web. Nancy is a full-time freelancer, living in San Diego. She specializes in computer, genealogy and history writing.

[ BK ]: What kind of job/s (or career) did you do before you became a full-time writer? Did any of these jobs contribute to your success as a freelance writer?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: I’ve worked at a variety of jobs, including supervising in a tree nursery, driving a school bus, working in retail and medical insurance. However, for the last several years before I went full-time as a freelancer, I transcribed medical reports. The jobs, themselves, didn’t contribute directly to my freelance success, however they helped me realize what a diversity of interests I have–and how much I’d enjoy writing about many, many topics. Also, because I was self-employed during my medical-job related years, it taught me to discipline myself, to set a work structure and work goals–it also helped me develop a solid business background, which is invaluable as a freelancer.

[ BK ]: Many aspiring writers dream about freelancing full-time. You’re living this dream. What are some myths and truths about freelancing full-time? Is it as glorious and rewarding as it may seem?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: Yes, absolutely! I get up in the morning and (unless I have an early interview scheduled), I walk to one of my neighborhood coffee houses for an unhurried morning brew. I then work solidly til about noon, and then take a couple of hours off for lunch, then work til later in the afternoon.

Recently, I packed up my laptop (with wireless modem) and drove from San Diego to Port Townsend, Washington–up on the Olympic Peninsula, working all the way.

The greatest thing about being a freelancer, for me, is to set my own schedule and to be free to travel anywhere, as long as I can get an Internet connection. These days, even if I’m in an area where my wireless modem doesn’t work, I can always find an Internet cafe and work there, or a local library.

Then downside, of course, is that you are always hustling to get assignments. However even that has gotten better, because editors now call me with jobs.

I wouldn’t trade this life for anything!

[ BK ]: Your e-book advises writers to become a niche writer — specializing in an area. Why is this so beneficial in today’s economy? How has specializing helped you?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: As I wrote in the book, you can write about many, many topics (which I do), however I market myself as a specialist because editors want to know that you’re really savvy in their area.

For example, I’ve been writing for a computer magazine and they don’t care one bit that I’m also a genealogy specialist–they just want to make sure I know how to research, interview analysts and write good tech stories.

As the world expands, I’ve found publications actually becoming more narrowly focused. Most of us have fairly specialized interests, and we want a magazine that focuses on that. As a reader, for example, I want to read about PDAs (personal digital assistants) which run on the Palm OS. I’m not so interested in Pocket PCs. My obvious reading choice is the magazine which really focuses on the Palm OS devices.

Of course, I have to confess, as a writer, that I still buy the Pocket PC magazines, just to keep up on the industry.

[ BK ]: How do you market yourself to garner assignments? For the beginning freelance writer, what marketing would work best to land first and repeat work?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: I think a beginner has the best chance by finding a market that covers a subject they know inside and out. Then, when querying, play up their expertise. Although they can certainly find experts to interview (and editors love this), it makes the editor more comfortable knowing the writer has that solid background in their field.

As far as getting future assignments–I *never* turn in an assignment without including a list of query topics. The best time to get that additional work is when you turn in a completed assignment. It works a huge percentage of the time.

[ BK ]: As you made the transition from a part-time writer to a full-time freelance writer, what fears did you have? Did you think about failure or worrying where your next paycheck would come from? How did you overcome your fears?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: You know, this was an area that didn’t bother me. I had been working as a part-time freelancer for quite awhile, so I had a good sense of how much income I could generate.

I also devised a spreadsheet (which I didn’t mention in the book, and need to put in as an additional suggestion). The spreadsheet listed all of my clients at the time. In another cell, I wrote the approximate amount of money I would get from a single assignment. I then did this for each client.

Next, I guessed at how many jobs I could do for each client in a year. Then, I let the spreadsheet calculate what my year’s income would be. If it wasn’t enough, I went back to see who I needed to write more for, or how many new clients I needed to add.

[ BK ]: In your e-book you advise writers to join Internet mailing list/s as a way to connect with prospects. Can you explain how this works, and how this can lead to getting work?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: I actually wrote an article for The Writer about this topic. Joining mailing lists (in your subject field) can help in a few ways:

1. You can find wonderful sources to quote or interview.

2. You can position yourself as an expert in the field–and believe it or not, editors do cruise through mailing lists in their genre.

3. You can use them to begin establishing your reputation. For instance, what if someone on the mailing list published a short newsletter – - offer to give them a free short article for it. Not only will that help build your clips, if you’re just starting, it will start getting your name out in the field.

[ BK ]: Besides writing for magazines, do you do any other types of writing to supplement your income?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: I sell my Secrets of a Successful Freelancer book, I just finished an Internet genealogy book for a traditional publisher, and it will be out in the spring.

I also sell some great e-books on the topic of writing e-books through a site at http://www.thehowtopublisher.com Additionally, I have a local corporate client who hires me to write their newsletter, Web content, ads, etc. This is a new area for me and I really love it.

I love the business side of writing, so spreading out to these other fields is a natural for me.

[ BK ]: You have your own web site that provides prospective clients with information about yourself, your skills, and samples of your work. How has your web site helped your writing business? Do you recommend writers have their own web sites as well?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: My site has definitely helped me get new clients. When I query an editor who doesn’t know my work, it’s just so easy to refer them to my site–they can see which publications I’ve written for, and my writing style.

If you want to be a successful freelancer, I think you really have to have a Web site. And, one that is easy to navigate and not filled with annoying graphics. Editors just want to get in, see who you are and get out.

I also *strongly* recommend that you get your own domain name and pay for a hosting company. It looks so much more professional.

[ BK ]: With more than 1,500 shorts and feature articles to your portfolio, you’re a very prolific writer. How do you keep yourself going from day to day and avoid laziness and boredom over the long term?

NANCY HENDRICKSON: Good question. I write about a variety of subjects, so that keeps my brain occupied and interested. Even when I write for the same market, there are many, many topics to research, and I like that very much. For example, in my work for my current computer clients, I may write a hands-on review of 10 software programs and then the next week do a roundup, and the next week a piece on how to get the most from a specific program.

Had a lot of fun at the Neiman Marcus Fashion Night Out, signing my newest book, Historic Photos of Old California.  If you’re in San Diego on October 10, head down to Old Town (Captain Fitch’s Mercantile) – - I’ll be doing another signing from 2-4 pm.  See you there!

BTW – the Neiman event was a blast – free food and wine (or cocktails) on all three floors of the store – a great DJ, an artist – - lots going on to celebrate the world of fashion.

I just completed setting up a Twitter account with custom background for one of my clients, and in preparing his Twitter to-do list, I realized I’d never blogged about Twitter #hashtags – an often overlooked Twitter function.

What Are Twitter #Hashtags?

To quote our friends over at Mashable, "Hashtags are essentially a simple way to catalog and connect tweets about a specific topic. They make it easier for users to find additional tweets on a particular subject, while filtering out the incidental tweets that may just coincidentally contain the same keyword." (click the thumbnail for real-time results of the hashtag search #patrickswayze)

Because Twitter users search hashtags for content from people they don’t follow, using hashtags gives you another way to reach out to more people, as well as communicating your message to your current followers. Just be sure, though, that your hashtags are relevant t your topic, your site, or your business. Some spammers use popular hashtags (think: #MichaelJackson) just to get to the top of search results.  Don’t do it.

Hashtags are an excellent (and effective) way to tracking conversations in topics of interest. For example, if you’re doing a survey of popular questions or posts about your industry, use Twitter Search to monitor topics and conversations.

An Effective Use of Your Own Hashtag

Create a hashtag for your business or your personal brand. This allows you to search for your hashtag to see what’s being said about you AND gives you the opportunity to spread your brand.  For example, if you sell DVDs, you could tweet something like t

his:

"What artist is most overrated? Tweet using #jacksdvds for a chance at winning your choice of a free DVD."

Twitter Desktop Client for Tracking Hashtags

I personally use TweetDeck – - a desktop software that allows me to run several columns, including columns that I’ve set up to track certain hashtags. I strongly recommend TweetDeck. (By the way, it’s free)

Market Samurai is the Only Internet Marketing Tool You’ll Ever Need (IMHO)

I had no idea, back in August of 2008, that I would discover one of the most professionally-crafted, lowest cost Internet marketing tools ever.  Mind you, I’m not the type to oooh and ahhhh over much of anything  – - but this software is the real deal – - I use it almost daily in my own business, both for myself and my clients.  Once you download a free trial, you’ll see why major Internet marketers like Ed Dale recommend Market Samurai without hesitation.

(If you’re in a hurry, scroll down to watch a quick video of Market Samurai find high traffic keywords)

Click to download a free trial

In the year that I’ve been using it, Market Samurai has evolved into the Swiss Army knife of Internet marketing software.

New modules are added with NO additional cost to software owners – - pay just once and you get updates that will blow your mind!

Your copy of Market Samurai contains competition-crushing capabilities that include:

• keyword research
• SEO competition research
• content publishing
• monetization
• affiliate product finder
• backlinks locator
• page rank tracker

There’s virtually nothing Market Samurai can’t do. But don’t take my word for it  – - download your free  trial by clicking this link, and see for yourself.

Ten Ways You Can Benefit from Market Samurai

1. Research niche markets to discover the most profitable
2. Discover niches with very few competing sites
3. Analyze the SEO effectiveness of your competitors (and how to end run them onto Google’s first page)
4. Where to easily find content for your niche site.
5. Discover the best paying affiliate products in your niche
6. Learn to write compelling PPC ads for affiliate products
7. Publish your original content to article syndication sites
8. Easily find high quality backlink opportunities
9. Laser-target high-traffic low-competition niches
10. Discover niches with buyers, not just lookers.

Watch Market Samurai Find High Traffic Keywords

I strongly encourage you to take 15 minutes and watch this intro video to using Market Samurai for keyword research. Again, download a free trial – - if you’re not getting the traffic you want, or can’t find that perfect niche, use the software for the trial period and get your business out in front of the competition.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpTazrWCQA

Steal.

Okay, I don’t mean go out and steal someone else’s title.  What I mean is to emulate the format used by some of the smartest sales minds in the world – - people who design magazine covers.

(read to the end of this post for my own technique to laser focus titles for a target audience)

Click the Yoga cover to enlarge it, and you’ll see that everything on that cover is action-oriented: *10 poses to do at home; *build arm and core strength; *come into your power, etc.

Get off the computer and hit your local Barnes and Noble or Borders and spend an hour jotting down titles on magazine covers; these guys really know how to sell a magazine by the cover blurbs . . . so learn from the masters

Check out Men’s Health

One of my guy-pals told me to check out covers of Men’s Health; according to Terry there was rarely an issue that didn’t have a cover blurb about improving your abs or your sex life. Sure enough – I just popped over to their website and what do you think two of the cover blurbs were:

1. Lose your gut
2. 30 Red Hot Sex Secrets

If you’re a 20 or 30-something guy, would these titles pull you into the magazine?

How About Wired?

1. Lo-Fi Tech (when good enough is pretty great)
2. How to Disappear Without a Trace
3. Folding the Perfect Paper Airplane

Think about it.  Why would these titles appeal to Wired readers?

AARP?

1. 13 Cool Ways You Can Make a Difference
2. Best Places to Live
3. How to Boost Your Social Security Check

It’s a no-brainer to see how these titles fit the AARP demographic, yes?

And what do you think about the blurbs over at Wild West?

1. Ten Myths of the Little Bighorn
2. 100 Greatest Western Movies
3. How Railroads Took the “Wild” Out of the West

and the beat goes on.

My Stealth Technique for Blog Post Titles that Reel in Readers

So what’s my Stealth Technique – and the one I help my clients develop for their businesses – simple (as long as you know your demographic)

Get to the bookstore and pull out the magazines that YOUR demographic reads:

• If they’re history nuts, check out the Civil War Times, American History, or Wild West
• If they’re into hard-core business, pull out Forbes and other expensive lifestyle issues, like high-end travel or cigar mags.
• What about the wanna be entrepreneurs:  Entrepreneur, Home Business, Work at Home Moms (online)
• Health seekers? Women’s Health, Prevention, Shape, Weight Watchers, Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, etc, etc!

Don’t know what your demographic reads?  If this is a field you’re passionate about – what do YOU read? Your reading tastes should closely mirror what your target audience is reading.

Leave a comment if you’re stumped and would like some suggestions . . . it doesn’t take much to get me to the bookstore

Blatant commercial pitch: Need an hour’s brainstorming to kick your business into high gear? E-mail me and let’s talk about how I can help.  I do as little as one (1) coaching session – - sometimes that’s all it takes.

Spotlight on Nancy Hendrickson by Writers Village University

T-Zero: Have you always been a writer? Do you have any particular background or creative writing courses that you draw from?

NH: Even before I went to kindergarten, I remember running around with little pieces of paper I’d scribbled on. So yes, I think I’ve always been a writer. When I was in high school and college, I loved researching and writing term papers, which is probably why I enjoy writing non-fiction articles today.

Although I didn’t take many creative writing courses in college, my degree is in English–which means I did a tremendous amount of reading. For me, being a writer means being a reader. Reading good writing–whether fiction or non-fiction–always inspires me to improve my own work.

As you know, many non-fiction writers dream about writing fiction and I’m no exception. I’ve taken several fiction courses through Writer’s Village, and find they also help my article writing as well. My favorites are the series on Mythic Structure.

T-Zero: Tell us exactly what a Niche Market is.

NH: A niche market is a specialized market. As a non-fiction writer, I’m interested in a wide variety of subjects, which makes me a generalist. However, I learned long ago that editors are more comfortable working with you if they feel you are highly skilled and informed in their particular niche.

It occurred to me that although I am a generalist, I can specialize in several different niches. I picked the areas I know the most about, and went about presenting myself as a specialist in those areas. For example, I wanted to write about genealogy, so I started a genealogy newsletter and built a genealogy-related Web site. Both positioned me as an expert, and helped in getting some of my first genealogy assignments.

T-Zero: You’ve developed several of your own niches; genealogy, collecting and computers. Did this develop from a special interest you had in each or did the interest develop once you found the market?

NH: Those particular niches were based on my own personal likes. However, I learned to develop my own “niche within a niche” in each of those fields. For instance, although I’ve been interested in genealogy since childhood, I positioned myself as an expert on Internet genealogy. Because I’ve been online since 1986 (my first subscription with CompuServe), it was easy to call myself an online expert.

I’ve had computers for years, but it wasn’t until I bought a Handspring Visor–they’re like Palm Pilots–that I really got interested in writing about computers. My first articles were on using Palms for various hobbies. I sold pieces on Palms for astronomy, Palms for health and Palms for genealogy. Once I had my foot in that particular door, it was fairly easy to get other computer-related assignments.

I’m a great believer in writing about things you really enjoy. Why go after assignments that you’re going to hate writing?

T-Zero: You’ve written for several magazines with different interests, do you have a favorite subject?

NH: I love writing about people or events that transcend ordinary life and touch us in a place buried deep in our souls. For me, this usually happens when I’m writing about history. I don’t get to do this often, but when I do, it’s Nirvana.

T-Zero: We at T-Zero and WVU are learning the craft of writing and honing our skills. Writing for niche markets takes research, can you lead us through a typical beginning, middle and end of preparing your article?

NH: You’re absolutely correct about needing to hone research skills as a niche writer. When I get an assignment, the first thing I do is decide how I’m going to approach the article (my tone, style, structure), whether I need to do interviews, and what type of research will be necessary.

For example, I’m doing a piece right now for The Writer magazine on “Holiday Gifts for Writers.” I needed to come up with 20-25 items a writer would like to get as a gift, then write a paragraph about each, including the price and where to buy it.

This piece was fairly straightforward–I added things to the list that I’d like to have, and then incorporated things my editor wanted on the list. After that, all I had to do was search the Web for each item, and write my descriptions.

A more typical piece for me, though, is one I just finished for a genealogy magazine on “finding your frontier ancestors.” After deciding on the components I wanted the article to contain, I got on the Web and started looking for experts to interview. I eventually interviewed two authors who specialized in the frontier, an expert on military history, and archivists at four different state historical societies.

Next, I took all my notes and started fashioning the article. Once I did that, I could see where my research was a little thin, so I went back on the Web, as well as through my own books to fill in the gaps. Once that structure was complete, I began writing the piece. By that point, I had enough information to write a fairly well-honed article. Of course I went back a couple of times to polish it, which means not only catching my errors and improving the way I said something, but also moving paragraphs around until the piece flowed the way I wanted it to.

One last thing–and this is just my personal quirk–once I know how I want to structure the article, I frequently write my lead paragraph before I do anything else. Having a solid lead keeps me focused.

T-Zero: What or who influenced you to get into article writing?

NH: I truly love helping people understand a subject better, and writing articles gives me the chance to do this.

For example, I like writing an article that helps you get the most from your Palm Pilot, or one that helps you find your ancestors, or one that gives you a piece of medical information that alleviates your worries. Writing these articles gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction.

T-Zero: What type of books do you like to read when you find the time?

NH: Unfortunately, most of my reading time is spent on keeping up with computers and Internet technology. It doesn’t leave much time for reading for the pure joy of it. In fact, I jokingly call myself an illiterate because I spend so little time reading great literature.

However, a friend of mine recently inspired me to start reading novels again. Of those, my two favorites are The Archivist, and Girl with a Pearl Earring. My criteria for a good read is that it makes me think, it touches my heart, and that it’s beautifully told.

T-Zero: What advice would you give first-time writers who are interested in developing a market for their work?

NH: It’s such a cliche, but a true one: Write what you like.

If you love kids, for example, write about them. This may mean starting out writing for a kids’ magazine and then expanding into parenting magazines; or, it may mean writing about crafts for kids for a family magazine.

Also, I think a big mistake a first-time writer makes is in seeing their niche in too narrow a focus. By this, I mean there are far more markets for every niche than you might imagine. For instance: although there are genealogy-specific magazines, that doesn’t mean they are the only market for my work. I can sell pieces on genealogy to computer-related publications, retirement, travel (genealogy research on the road), collecting (I found Great-Grandma’s diary), history, ethnic, and general interest magazines.

If you want to develop a market for your work, spend some time in the bookstore looking through the magazines. Then, do a little thinking outside the box, and expand how you see your particular market.

T-Zero: Your book, Making Money Writing for Niche Markets, is quite comprehensive and covers everything you need to write articles. If there was one key element to selling articles, what in your opinion, would that be?

NH: Learn to write a killer query. Of all of my skills, my query writing one is my strongest. I have learned to sell myself and my ideas in a way that makes it difficult for editors to say no.

Grab editors by their collars from the first sentence and don’t let go. Let your passion show through. Tell them why you’re dying to do the piece and why they should be dying to pay for it. Yes, editors are business people, but they are people. They want to be excited, they want to find that query that promises to thrill them. Make it be yours.

T-Zero: I always like to end an interview using some of James Lipton’s questions which gives us an insight in the author we spotlight and it’s fun. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule.

T-Zero: What is your favorite word?
NH: Hubris. I love the image it creates in my head.

T-Zero: What is your least favorite word?
NH: Interface. God, spare me.

T-Zero: What turns you on?
NH: Music that makes me feel every emotion, from the inside out.

T-Zero: What turns you off?
NH: Whining.

T-Zero: What sound or noise do you love?
NH: The crackle of a wood fire.

T-Zero: What sound or noise do you hate?
NH: Car alarms.

T-Zero: What profession would you be in if not this?
NH: I would compose music.

T-Zero: What profession would you hate to be in?
NH: Anything that traps me in an office or forces me to do the same thing day after day.

T-Zero: If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive?
NH: “You did good, kid.”

Excerpt from interview by Jenna Glatzer of AbsoluteWrite

What’s a “niche” writer?

A niche writer is one who specializes in writing for one or more markets. Although the majority of writers work in many markets, a niche writer has build a name in a specific market.

For example, I frequently write for one genealogy magazine. Recently I did a Spotlight piece for Writer’s Digest on the genealogy market. The editors I interviewed recognized my name, even though they hadn’t worked with me before. Once you write a lot in a particular field, most of the editors in that field know your name.

You say that you originally fought against specializing, but later embraced the idea. Why?

I’m interested in just about everything, so to me specializing meant missing out–even though I saw the benefits. However, it finally dawned on me that I could specialize in more than one field. So, I picked the areas I like the most, and set out to build a name for myself in each of them. Today, I write almost exclusively about genealogy, history, computers and collecting.

Let’s say I have a passion for pets, but I’m certainly no expert on the topic. Can I reasonably expect to become a pet writer? How?

Absolutely. You know, most editors don’t expect writers to be experts, but they do expect writers to know how to find and interview experts. In fact, many new writers are surprised at how easy it is to find experts–and how willing they are to be interviewed.

But back to your pet example. Let’s say you want to specialize in writing about horses. One of the things you can do is join horse-related mailing lists. When you need expert advice, post a request to the list. People are generally very helpful. If they can’t help you, they often will refer you to someone who can. You can also use those lists to collect those great anecdotes that we all like to include in our articles.

As long as you can locate and interview experts in a field (and this is easy to do), you can reasonably expect to succeed in as a specialist in that field. My book covers how to best use mailing lists, and the other sources for finding experts.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQZCAY0SSIA

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9TM6IEflyE

I’ve spent many years coaching and consulting with clients who want to _________ [fill in the blank]. In almost all cases, the client has innately known what they wanted, but through coaching gained the clarity needed to take appropriate action.

It’s ironic, then, that I’ve struggled with "naming myself" because I can do such a wide variety of things: writing, ghostwriting, blog coaching, wordpress consulting, marketing consulting, book promotions, social media integration . . . . and the list goes on.

But recently I had one of those ah-ha moments; those delightful seconds when illumination is reached through introspection, and the world of possibilities becomes known.

What happened? I realized that all of my coaching and consulting (blogging, article marketing, site building, et al) was really about Coaching to Zen . . . . helping my clients reach a state of illumination (at times bliss!) through coaching them to their own clarity. My own ah-ha moment has caused me to rethink how I define my own services . . . with the result being . . . (ta-da!) . . .

Coaching to Zen.

I’m not a Buddhist, nor do I have in-depth knowledge of "zen".  What I do know is that MY definition of it  is about opening up to your own inner knowing . . . . and calling it Coaching to Zen simply felt right.

Of course, that means a restructuring of my site, a re-do of my social media profiles, new business cards, new e-mail sig files – - kind of like all that stuff you have to do when you lose your wallet!  But in a good way.

To celebrate my own Coaching to Zen, I invite you to take advantage of a free 15-minute coaching session . . . let’s explore what paths lead to your bliss. Click that Contact button up above, or the hot pink button to the right . . . and let’s see what evolves.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pig4wZBH-5c

When a large, heavy box arrived at my door yesterday, I couldn’t imagine what it was – - until I saw it was from Turner Publishing – then I knew it was copies of my latest book, Historic Photos of Old California.  Woo-hoo!

I have to tell you – I was thrilled at the quality job Turner did producing this book. It’s a hard cover with dust jacket, the paper is heavy gloss, and the images are beautifully reproduced. As an author (and amateur historian) I have to tell you – seeing a finished product like this really makes me happy

The book has 200 images of Old California, dating from approximately 1850 to 1920, divided into four historic periods. I wrote each of the chapters as well as all of the captions. Chapters are

• Exploration and Exultation! (1850-1869)
• Civilization Comes West (1870-1889)
• A Kinder, Gentler California (1890-1899)
• From Disaster to Rebirth (1900-1920)

If you’re a Californian, I hope you pick up a copy of Historic Photos of California! And let me know what you think.

In the time that I’ve worked with authors and entrepreneurs, it’s clear that many of them think promoting their services or products online is too expensive. Fact is, it can be.  Bad news is, spending big bucks on pay-per-click or advertising doesn’t always translate to online sales – at least not for the "ordinary Joe".

If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll know that I’m keen on relationship marketing – building conversations with blog readers and site visitors, being your authentic self, and establishing yourself as a trusted expert.

Three quick and easy techniques I’ve used time and again are: 

1. Blogging

2. Publishing on Amazon’s Kindle

3. Social networking

Here’s my quick take on each:

Blogging

For authors, blogging can be as second nature as breathing. For non-writers, blogging may be torture (that’s why you hire someone like me to write your posts!)

It’s well-known – search engines love blogs-particularly those that are updated at least a few times a week, and are filled with solid, no-B.S. content. Search engines swoop through blogs like bed bugs in the Bates Hotel–spidering content on a daily (or even more frequent) basis.

Entrepreneurs use blogs to build a solid readership, add to their e-mail lists, and get comments so meaningful it gives them plenty of ideas about which to write. 

If you’re an author, build your blog readership BEFORE submitting a proposal.  Book proposal committees love a built-in audience.

Cost: Zero, if you use a free blog service like Blogger.com or WordPress.com

Publish on the Amazon Kindle Platform

Regardless of Sony and iPhone’s chest-beating about beating the Amazon Kindle in the digital reader wars, Amazon has one thing no one else has – access to more than 300,000 books and articles delivered wirelessly (immediately) to the Kindle.

Publish your articles or special reports to Kindle, and you will achieve INSTANT expert status.  Remember – we ALL love to do business with the best!

Truthfully, Amazon did NOT make it easy for people to convert their own books and articles to Kindle format, but it’s doable. If you’re willing to do tech-stuff, you can do it yourself. I started converting my own work several months ago, and there is a learning curve.

The good news is, by converting your work to Kindle format, you can get your books, articles, and reports in front of Amazon’s 54.2 million monthly visitors. If the conversion process makes you want to shoot yourself, contact my amigo Steve (the Kindle Guy) and tell him Nancy sent you.

Cost: Zero, if you convert the work yourself.

Social Networking

Millions have jumped on the social networking bandwagon over the past few years. In fact, one person I know brags that he’s on 34 different social networks. Don’t know about you, but I’d rather be on the RIGHT three networks, than the 34 where my audience does NOT hang out!

How can you tell where to find your audience? Take an afternoon and cruise through MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Twitter, Tumblr, et al, and search for your target keywords. You’ll quickly discover which services house your audience; once discovered, devote your social networking time to that service only. Quality over quantity matters.

Seek out questions in your field and answer them.  Remember, it’s about letting the world know that you’re the expert.

Cost: Zero

For the last several months I’ve realized that my LinkedIn strategy has been less than brilliant. 

Translation: It totally sucks, lacks imagination and consistency, and serves my marketing efforts about as well as a bipolar Congress does the health care crisis.

Solution: Get over to Amazon and buy How to Really Use LinkedIn, by Jan Vermeiren, with the assumption that the author (a networking expert) really knows what he’s talking about . . . AND, the book is new enough to still be meaningful.  Mission accomplished. 

But, what did I learn?

Leverage the Power of LinkedIn
Although you can learn the basics of LinkedIn, the real power of Vermeiren’s book is using LinkedIn’s existing tools to leverage the power of the network.  I think many of us solopreneurs sit out here in cyberspace, forgetting that every person we contact or who contacts us becomes part of our network.  Imagine the most intricate spider web you ever saw out back in the garden.

Filled with advanced techniques as well as the fundamentals of effective networking – - this book preaches what I have long believed to be true – - building relationships begins with you, not the other guy.  Reach out and help, and you’ll get more people reaching back to you than you thought possible.

I’m particularly fond of the charts on pages 31-33, that show at a glance which part of LinkedIn to use to accomplish specific goals.  For example, if you want an introduction, use the introductions tool; if you want to maintain existing relationships use personal messages or share ideas in Discussions and Answers.

There are plenty of advanced strategies, with a separate section devoted to:

• finding new customers
• finding a new employee
• finding a new job or internship
• finding a new supplier or partnership
• finding expertise

I also liked the section on free tools to use when working on LinkedIn, particularly browser toolbar and widgets.

I’ve already highlighted and side-noted my way through How to Really Use LinkedIn, and am calendar-ing how to best implement both basic and advanced strategies. Because I’m just starting out, I can’t speak to how effective the strategies will be, but I do feel for the first time that I’ve been able to wrap my head around more of LinkedIn than ever in the past.

Anyone else read this one? Would like to know what LinkedIn strategies you feel really helped. 

Over the years of pro blogging, I’ve tested hundreds of WordPress Themes, many free and others fee-based. Although I’ve seen lots of posts about the best free themes, I rarely read any about premium themes. 

Based on use for my own or client sites, these are my picks for the 5 best premium WordPress themes: 

1. Education (click here to see a modification for a prototype client site) $59.95
    
2. Thesis (the ultimate in WP theme flexibility) $87 for single use, $164 for unlimited (I picked this as I use Thesis on many client sites)
    
3. FastBlogger by RichWP  $59.90
    
4. Black Canvas by StudioPress (excellent for photo blogs – I’ve just started developing this client site) $59.95
    
5. Life Series by iThemes (particularly suited to a showcase site)  $79.95

Of these, Thesis offers (hands down) the most flexibility; move columns, resize columns, choose which pages and categories to display, plus you have an amazing ability to add images to the sidebars globally, or page-by-page.

I like FastBlogger for the graphical nature; we all love pictures, and the first thing you see on a site using the FastBlogger theme is a lot of colorful images. This one really grabs your attention.

The Education theme was incredibly easy to work with (as are all of Brian Gardner’s themes); it’s more convervative looking, but perfect for colleges or business clients.

I’ve been looking for a great photo gallery theme for a long time, and Black Canvas is the best of the breed. It’s easy to use, I love the black background – I feel it shows off images far better than white – and again, Brian Gardner simply designs some of the best, easy-to-use, professional themes.

Life Series (I especially like Grunge) has a clean look, great for minimal text, with a highly professional appearance. If your site doesn’t require a lot of words, I highly recommend all in this series.

Do you have a favorite premium theme? Let’s add to the list and get these great themes out into the hands of pro bloggers.

I was sitting in a nail spa in Tallahassee, getting ready for my Department of Defense Worldwide Conference in Atlanta, and while getting "million dollar red" on my tootsie nails, I was half-watching a swimming meet in Rome. 

One of the U.S. women won an event (smashing a world record); when an interviewer asked what she had done to improve so much, she said she had worked on the "little things" like her turns. Just concentrating on small pieces of the bigger whole had helped her improve so much she obliterated the current record.

I’ve written about Kaizen many times – and while I logically understand the truisms about small steps, my emotional self wants results NOW! I’m wondering how other people make small strides, without abandoning them after a week in favor of going for the gold in big (un-Kaizen-ish) ways.

If you’ve solved this problem, leave a comment.  I would really like to find a way to rein in this "must do it all now" monster.

E-mail them and start a conversation.

This happened to me just yesterday (and it isn’t the first time).  As I was reading back through comments left by readers of the NancyHendrickson.com blog, one comment stood out because of its "aggressive tone".  I actually thought the reader had a good point, so I e-mailed him and started a conversation about his concerns. My initiating contact wasn’t some BS marketing strategy (if that’s what you’re thinking) – - it was just me wanting to understand why my reader was upset, and what I could do to fix the issue.

In the end, the issue was fixed, I learned something new, and hopefully a friendly relationship began.

Interacting with blog readers or Twitter followers, or Facebook fans is really nothing more complex than what we all do out here in real life. If I step on someone’s toes, either metaphorically or physically, I’m going to apologize and do my best to make it right. And sure, mabe it’s impossible to defuse all confrontational moments.

Insead of just blowing off someone’s concerns, why not see if the enmity can be switched off, and a little relationship building turned on.

Thanks for reading another of Nancy’s musings . . .

If you’ve read my blog or articles, you’ll have discovered my passion for American history – particularly the post-Civil War era on the frontier.  In fact, my sister and I have built a Frontier Traveler blog about places we’ve been – and I’m sorry to admit that we struggle to find time to keep it up-to-date.  Between us we have thousands of images that we want to use in blog posts – and we’ve promised each other that this Fall we’re going to set aside one night a week to keep the blog updated with fresh content.  (In the meantime, check out our FrontierTraveler Photostream at Flickr)

I spent last weekend with two of my nieces in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, and was struck with how close America came to losing the War for Independence. With the might of the British Army and Navy thrown against Washington’s farmers and villagers, who would have bet on the boys in blue?

I’ll post more about this on the Traveler site, but for now just wanted to share my morning at Fort Mifflin on the Delaware. 

If you’ve flown into Philadelphia and are sitting on the left side of the plan, you can see the fort just as you’re touching down. Mifflin is called “the fort that saved America” because in the winter of 1777, when the British occupied Philadelphia and Washington’s men were up against the wall, the men at Mifflin stopped British General Howe’s ships from sailing up the Delaware and delivering supplies to the occupying forces. For six weeks 240 British guns blasted away at the fort in what is called the greatest bombardment in North America.

Although the Fort was taken by the British, it held off long enough for Washington to get his army to Valley Forge and safety. For the colonists, that reprieve meant everything.

Doesn’t it amaze you how one little action (a small garrison holding off a fleet) can change the course of history? Kaizen theory in action.

You may be tired of my talking about the Obama campaign and social media – - but having followed the SMB (social media blitz) for several months, I knew these guys were the top guns for using various social media channels to get out the word about the candidate and get out the vote.

Now, as companies FINALLY get the idea that being on social media sites is critical, we’ve suffered through the good (the companies like the Boston burrito company who uses Twitter to give away discount coupons), and the ugly (you know who I mean – those people/companies that hammer you every blankety-blank day with nothing but links to stuff they’re selling.

Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah! – - I read a great post over at Twitip this morning on the importance of being you.  Lots of companies (and very busy entrepreneurs) hire people to tweet or facebook for them (I’ve done some of that ghost-posting myself) – - but what they don’t seem to realize is no matter how good a writer I am (and my fifth book is coming out in August!), I do not have your heart, soul, or passion – - and while  I will sound authentic in terms of my knowledge, tips, or discount offers, I believe a little "je ne sais quoi" magic is lost in the ghosting.

Is this post simply a self-serving push for my own social media marketing planner services? Not really.  It’s just my voicing a fervent belief (for about the millionth time) that doing business – whether on Twitter or selling books out of the trunk of your car – is all about being your genuine self – - AND sincerely liking the guy who comes over and wants to talk to you about your product or service.

Start building relationships by being the real YOU – - I know it’s scary to be so self-revealing online (unless you’re an Ed Dale kind of guy) – - but  in this Social Media Era (SME), it’s time to dump the mask and let us all know the real you.  I’ll like you more for it – and you know we ALL want to do business with people we know and trust.

What do you think?

I cracked up when I learned that a Twitter-newbie referred to me as a Stalker – - all because HE followed me, then weirded out when he read I was in his town! We had a laugh over this at dinner (Settimo Cielo — if you care to Google!), and decided that my role was far more a "chronicler"  – - which my team tells me must be a euphemism for Stalker!

BTW- – at Settimo Cielo (7th Heaven), the food was some of the best Italian I’ve ever had (including eateries in San Diego’s Little Italy). One of the specials was a pasta/sausage/eggplant/garlic/onion, etc special – - everything sounded great but the sausage, and when I asked if they’d make me a vegetarian version, the waiter said "no problem". It was truly heavenly.

Wine: Heartily recommend the red Clo du Bois (a Sonoma, CA winery). We split a bottle between four of us – and it was a perfect pairing with our meal.

Just landed in Philadelphia, on way to pick up rental car to drive to Trenton for a 7 pm meeting.

Am pretty sure when we landed that the old buildings close to the end of the runway are Fort Mifflin. Gotta grab a couple of hours and get over there.

Want to know what the Royals are up to? (think garden parties, charity events, church services) Pop over to their British Monarchy page on Twitter. Already pulling in more than 2,7000 followers, the Royals follow no one (what a surprise) – - but do keep the rest of the world up-to-date on day-to-day life with the Prince, the Duke, the Queen, et al.

Don’t expect any re-tweets or trending topics from Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Charles. A palace spokeswoman says the account won’t be used to air personal opinions.

Darn.

My client is a college that markets to military students. Because of the new GI Bill that went into effect August 1, 2009, there was a huge push in this industry to reach out to veterans who might be interested in getting a – - basically free – - education. My goal was to build the site around the keywords most applicable to the a) topic; and b) demographic.

On Monday,  I purchased the domain name.

On Tuesday, I installed a WordPress Blog and plugins and set up my Feedburner feed.

Components used were:

• Education Theme by StudioPress
• Akismet
• Add to Facebook
• Feedburner
• Google Analytics for WordPress
• Google XML Sitemap
• Khanh’s Quick Feeds (this allowed me to pull in a related RSS feed from Dept of Veterans Affairs)
• Mobile Press (for viewing on mobile phone)
• WP-Polls (which I may remove)
• StatPress

The rest of Tuesday I started building out categories and content

On Wednesday,  I added more content.  By late Wednesday Google had indexed the site.

On Thursday, I added more content, and by Thursday afternoon the site was on page #1 of Google for 3 of my main keywords and on page #2 for the other 2 keywords.

By Friday, analytics showed that I was already getting search-engine based traffic.

What’s the Magic?

There is none.  Are you disappointed? Don’t be, because if there is no magic, my success is duplicatable.

My thoughts about the quick success:

1. The site used WordPress, which we know gets indexed quickly by Google
2. The site has a laser focus
3. My target demographic was well-defined (meaning I knew exactly what information they were seeking)
4. My content was totally relevant to my focus and demographic

I believe the key to quick indexing was using the WordPress platform

and the keys to getting on page #1 for my keywords are:

• a laser-focused site
• knowing your demographic so well that you know exactly what information they need

Let me know what you think.

Darren Rowse over at Problogger is selling his 31 Days to a Better Blog Workbook at a 25-percent discount for the next 12 hours or so. Instead of $19.95, it’s $14.95.

Don’t know about Darren’s 31 days program? Click to read my review of 31 Days to a Better Blog Workbook (and the program).

I received an e-mail yesterday that one of my Yahoo! answers was picked as "the best" answer to a question about posting book excerpts on a blog (asked by a non-published author).

You probably already know this, but answering Yahoo! questions is one of the easiest ways to 1) get your name out there; and 2) get a backlink to your site from Yahoo!

I’ve received several "your answer was the best" kudos over the past few months–not because I’m a super smarty pants, but because I take the time to actually answer the question, friend-to-friend, as though there was no business involved at all.

I don’t like to spend a lot of my marketing time answering Yahoo! questions, but if I find I have a spare 15 minutes, I’ll surf through and see if there are questions I can answer.

If you want to add Yahoo! answers to your marketing bag-of-tricks, make sure you use the "advanced search" and check the radio button next to: Open Questions – Best answer has not been chosen. 

Let me know if you already make Yahoo! answers part of your marketing routine – - I’m interested in your experience.

Just one question.

How would you explain Twitter to an 87-year-old who has never used a computer? (Comments welcome!)

I saw a blog post today over at iReaderReview.com, asking if authors could make a decent living by Kindle publishing. The blog post author, switch11, said that “J. A. Konrath put up a post talking about how he’s making $1,250 a month off of his book’s sales – these are unpublished books that he’s giving away for free on his website and selling for $1.85 on the Kindle Store.”

One of the factors cited in how more Kindle authors can become “rich” is the (relatively) small number of Kindles currently on the market.  Although Amazon won’t release sales figures, it’s estimated there are about a half-million Kindles currently in use.

I totally disagree that the number of Kindles sold will impact the possibility for author success.   Why?  Because when Amazon made a Kindle app for the iPhone, they opened up the Kindle store to more than 20 million new readers.

It’s not the number of Kindles on the market, it’s how well you’re marketing to people who have access to the Kindle store.

What do you think?

I launched my 2009 by signing a contract to write the chapters and captions for a soon-to-be-released title, Historic Photos of Old California. Today, I received an author questionnaire from the publisher’s Marketing Dept, getting more info for the press release and asking if I had a preference for a book launch site.

As the book covers the history of California from 1850 to 1920, I wanted one of San Diego’s many historic sites to host the book launch, and suggested one of the buildings in San Diego’s Old Town State Historic Park (possibly the haunted Whaley House), the historic sailing ship Star of India, or Balboa Park’s Museum of Man.

No word yet on where the festivities will occur . . . but if you’re in San Diego and want to attend be sure to let me know and I’ll put you on my special invite list.

Although this is the fifth book I’ve authored, it’s my first true launch party (isn’t that a crying shame!) – - so I’m jazzed to have a publisher (Turner) who rolls out the red carpet, and knows how to have a little fun!

Stay tuned . . .

If you were browsing in a bookstore and the person next to you – - let’s call him Leo – -  picked up a book you had written, you’d probably tell him you were the author, and before long a full-blown conversation would be in the works.

Leo would ask you about writing the book, you’d ask Leo about his interests . . . and a connection between the two of you would be established.  This doesn’t guarantee Leo will buy your book, but it does guarantee he’ll remember you.

Answering potential client e-mails works the same way. While autoresponders are effective tools, I don’t believe they can replace a personalized e-mail when a “Leo” is inquiring about your services. I would rather cut and paste the “canned” info into a personalized e-mail rather than having everyone who asks about my services get an autoresponder response.

Getting personal is part of relationship marketing.

Relationship Marketing in Action

I got an e-mail a couple of days ago asking about my book-to-Kindle conversion and marketing services. Although my response contained the basic “canned” information about my services and fees, I looked for a way (as I always do) to make a more personal connection.

In this case, I noticed from his area code that he lived in a city I had recently visited. In the e-mail I told him that I had just been there, a few of the things I had seen, and how much I’d enjoyed the trip. Can you guess what his response was?

Yes, he signed up for my service . . . . but just as importantly he told me how much he appreciated my “friendly” e-mail. When he needs more Kindle or book marketing services, do you think he’ll come back to me?  I’d bet on it.

One Last Thought: Being Genuine

My “friendly”  response to potential clients is genuine; yes, I believe it’s good marketing, but I also think if you try to cram B.S. “warm and fuzzies” into these types of e-mails, the client will know it’s bogus. I’m pretty good at spotting an insincere salesman, aren’t you?

How do you handle those incoming letters of inquiry? Autoresponder or personal response.  Do you believe you can build rapport with an autoresponder?  Love to hear your thoughts.

Although getting your book on Amazon may seem like the Holy Grail of authordom, it’s really just the end of the writing stage and the first step of the marketing phase—an arena most authors shun with great dislike and/or disdain.

One of my recent clients (an entrepreneur selling a well-written how-to manual via the  Kindle Store), asked me for a few marketing ideas he could do on his own.  The easiest task, I told him (and one of the most effective) was getting several positive reviews for his Amazon Kindle book.  My suggestion was to send e-copies to colleagues and friends, asking them to give the book a run-through and then post a review.

Do your friends actually have to read the book to give it a review? Well, no.  But the plus of giving them a copy is:

1. They may catch some doofus mistake you made, saving you the embarrassment of a book buyer who revels in pointing out the dumb stuff they find in a review that will NEVER GO AWAY.
2. With a copy in hand, they can write a much more detailed review because they have all of the info at hand – not just the bits you tell them about
3. If your book is on a topic of interest to your friends, they’ll probably write a far more enthusiastic review because it’s something they actually care about.

Positive reviews – in my opinion – have accounted for dozens of my own book and article sales.  Think about it – if you’re unsure about buying a particular book, don’t YOU read the reviews?  I know I do.

Getting positive Amazon reviews is the least of your book marketing efforts – what else can you do? Stay tuned . . . and if you feel like commenting, I’d love to hear your Amazon book review technique suggestions.

When Darren Rowse of Problogger ran his (I hope annual) 31 Days to a Better Blog Challenge, I immediately jumped into the fun. Because Darren is one of the most financially successful bloggers on the ‘net, I knew his advice was 1) valuable; and 2) valuable! I stayed with the challenge through the whole 31 days, even though there were days I had to play catch-up, and days I had to miss altogether. And even though I’ve been blogging for a long time, Darren had brilliant ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of–at least not in the near now. Because Darren received so many requests, he put the entire 31 Days to a Better Blog into a PDF workbook form, and is currently selling it for $19.95.  I bought a copy today, ran through the entire 94 pages, with these thoughts. (and if you’re asking why I would buy a workbook when I already have all the information, here’s why: I’m printing the workbook, then popping it into a three-ring binder with tabs for each of the 31 days – that way I can go through the workbook daily, checking off daily tasks, and at the end of each month, wash, rinse, repeat.

Review: 31 Days to a Better Blog Workbook

I like that Darren began by telling readers the purpose of the workbook (sold in PDF format): "The idea is simple. By the end of this challenge you’ll have learned 31 aspects of blogging and put them into practice. It is designed not only to fill your head with knowledge ABOUT blogging but also give you some concrete things to do to actually DO something with the knowledge." Each day consists of a blogging technique, examples, and a task. Some days the tasks will take you a couple of hours, other days only a few minutes. I like that Darren gives solid, concrete examples for each lesson.  For example, on day one (write an elevator pitch), he tells you the exact

short and long versions of his own elevator pitches. If, at the end of the 31 days, you want to continue the challenge with more advanced techniques, Darren has a link to a newsletter that has occasional updates on the most important developments in terms of tools and resources to help you improve your blogging. In addition to the lesson, samples and tasks, Darren also includes a Notes section; this section typically includes more tips, other examples – - generally a place for more detailed information about the day’s lesson. Would I recommend the 31 Days to a Better Blog Workbook? I found the daily lessons to be valuable resources for building my own blogs, improving my blog techniques, and crystalizing my brand. The Workbook closely followed the lessons, but in putting the Workbook together, Darren cleaned up the lessons, added new material (and bonus material) – - even adding 6,000 new words of content. I think the Workbook is well-worth the $19.95; if you have a blog and want more traffic, exposure, or readership, I believe the Workbook is invaluable. Darren is one of the most respected bloggers around, and when he tells you how to improve your traffic and readership, you know his advice is based on real-life experience, not theory. So, if driving traffic to your blog is your goal, pop over and pick up the Workbook today. I suggest printing it out, getting it bound, or putting it in a 3-ring binder.  But don’t stop there – - actually DO the tasks daily – - and I bet if you check your analytics on day 1 and your analytics on day 31 you’ll see an increase.  I’m tracking my own traffic through the month of June – and will post a report in 30 days.

Will E-Books Rule Them All?

Do you remember in Lord of the Rings how the Age of the Elves was ending as the Age of Man began? I think we’re seeing the same colossal change as the Publishing Empires of Old fade (so sorry, Elron), and the Era of Digital Media blossoms.

E-books have long been the step-child of the publishing world; tolerated to a degree, but looked down upon by those who wrote and published “real books”.  With the launch of Amazon’s Kindle 1, 2, and now DX (and of course, Sony and Plastic Logic), not only are “real books” available in digital format, but anyone who wants to write an e-book can knock one off in an afternoon, publish on Lulu, Kindle, or their own site and (in effect) toss a virtual rock through Barnes and Noble’s front window, along with a note declaring “just try to keep me out!”

So how can an author or entrepreneur benefit?

There has never been a time in the history of man (or elves) with such an information-hungry audience.  As infopreneur Eben Pagan notes in one of his vids, we have left the culture of manual labor behind and have moved into the era of “mind-work”.  And with that era comes the need for information—and lots of it.

For you authors reading this, that means more and more eyes on your work (and hopefully bucks in your pocket).

For entrepreneurs, the outlets for digital media provide you a) a legitimacy that comes with having your name on a published work; b) cash; and (perhaps the most important) c) being seen as an authority in your field. Why? Look at the “authority” figures in your own industry – - you listen to what they say, you read their blogs and newsletters, and buy their products, hoping to emulate their success.

Plus (and this is a bonus) – - when media folks search Google for an expert in a field and your name keeps coming up, who do you think they’re gonna call?

[note: Because I'm known in a particular little niche (Internet genealogy), I've been interviewed by the New York Times, Kiplinger's, Better Homes and Gardens, plus numerous websites).  Trust me . . . it PAYS to be seen as the industry expert.]

Action Steps

I loathe going to meetings and coming out without any action steps, so:

1.  Dust off the articles, special reports, or books launguishing on your computer

2.  Polish, edit, update

3.  Sell on your site, format for Kindle, and pop them up on Lulu.

4. Let everyone you know that you have valuable information for sale.

5.  Once your stuff is on Kindle, gets your pals to leave you a glowing review on your Amazon page.

6.  Wash, rinse, repeat