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.

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.

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.

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.

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

One of the trends I’ve noticed is people who blog for a few days and then stop. The reason? “No one ever visits my blog.”

Guess what, you’re right.

No one IS reading your blog. At least not today . . . . and maybe not even next month.

In fact, it’s unlikely anyone even knows about your blog.

Building a reading audience requires some patience on your part, and a time commitment as well. Building a reading audience with a blog like taking the time to meet the neighbors – - it’s all about relationship marketing.

The first month I blogged, I had one visitor. The second month I had 10, the third month I had 71, and by month six I had 212 visitors. A year after start-up, I had 1,000 visitors, and then 3,500. What if I had stopped at month one or month two?

Scary thought, huh?

I’ve interviewed many blogging authors who have created such a passionate fan base that their readers can’t wait to buy the author’s new book. And I’m not talking about the reading audience for the NY Times bestselling authors of the world – I’m talking about authors you’ve probably never heard of. These authors blog almost daily, they build relationships with readers, and they have created a dedicated book buying audience.

No reason you can’t do the same in your industry.

What next? Keep blogging . . . even if no one is reading (today).