Use Your Writing Skills to Make Money

What Are Your New Years Resolutions?

New-Years

 

Is your New Years resolution to become a professional writer, meaning to write at least four to six hours a day? Turning the phone to silent, unplug from the world for a couple of hours and just write? Not thinking about writing or talk about writing, but actually writing? Resolutions aren’t what makes a New Year new. You need to take on new habits, which is way more powerful!
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Yes, new authors will likely find it necessary to work harder than ever before. This isn’t the industry for people who expect a quick profit, or who think their single novel is going to make them rich or they can make a living from the first book on.
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Never Give Up!
Bestseller authors need years and years to build up their audience, so it is surprising, that authors dream of their first book as a potential bestseller. To make a full-time living as a writer, it takes at least five books and ten-thousand hours!
It takes a long time and hard work to get an audience, one reader at a time – especially if you don’t have a large network of potential readers and following at Social Media, in forums or in real-life before you start to publish. Don’t think about sales numbers and earnings from your first book, write more books instead!

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Lots of Competition
To compete with millions of other writers means to create more books, short stories, blogs and magazine articles and to market them professionally. If not trained in book marketing – and I am not talking about just having a presence on Facebook or Twitter – get professional help long BEFORE the book launch (even better before you write it) in order to have a smooth and successful publishing experience and to establish a great author platform.
Many authors have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the time required for effective book promotion and to make meaningful connections with readers. Don’t expect wonders from a single sales campaign.

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Author-Publishing is Like a Completely New Profession
Professions need to be learned! It takes years to become an excellent writer and it also takes years to become an excellent publisher. It involves lots of skills and knowledge business-wise, marketing skills, not to mention, learning constantly new internet techniques and get to know the latest changes in publishing. And for the writing part: there are hundreds of websites with writing tips, critique groups and even more writing teachers and classes out there. Even from editors one can learn a lot.
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Take Advantage of their Knowledge
A book marketing professional has to learn years and years. Why, as an author, not take advantage of their knowledge to keep your head free for writing and interacting with your readers? No one would start an accounting business without learning the ropes, and knowing how to create a revenue / expenses sheet or fill out income tax forms. Writing a book does not make for a publisher, no matter how clever businesses want you to imagine. Take the time to build your author platform and establish a brand, it will eventually give you an advantage in the publishing market.

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By setting a goal and committing to it, you start to prioritize the goal in your daily writing schedule and make it a habit.  Write a list of actions it needs to take to complete your goal, and applaud yourself as you get closer.  Don’t forget:  what are you writing now can be published and leveraged for decades to come!  Be confident that you will succeed.

Have a Very Happy New Year!

 

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer for three months all this and more for only $179 – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,150 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? There is also the “SHARE” button for easy sharing at Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

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Secret of Social Selling Your Book

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It’s all about CONTENT MARKETING

Authors can do either of the following:

  • Spend ten thousands, even hundred thousands of dollars to buy their way into bestseller lists
  • Create their platform – do your own marketing, write articles or short stories – or hire publicists

REMEMBER:  Even Celebrity Authors are required to have a platform and a web presence!
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Social Media has become part of our culture, and helps to connect with your readers. However when scrawling through tweets and other posts on Social Media sites one gets the impression that 90% of all posts by writers are “buy my book, buy my book, buy my book…”.  Instead of posting links to useful or entertaining articles, reader only land at sales pages.  Few links are pointing to interesting, entertaining or helpful content – despite the fact that there are so many talented writers out there, who could write great articles or show snippets of their books online. This would make their Social Media presence more valuable and would connect readers with their writing craft.
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Social Selling

by mohitlakhmani.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.
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QUESTION: No matter what you purchase: Whom Would you Believe More:

  • a) advertisements
  • b) newspaper / magazine articles
  • c) writing samples

I am not telling you a secret here:  b) and c) are free … and sometimes authors can even make more money with writing newspaper and magazine articles.  So, why not doing what you like best:  WRITING – and at the same time market your books with writing?
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Content Writing Resolutions:

  •         Split chapters of your book into several blog articles
  •         Use your research notes to create web content or guest blogs
  •         Write 2 blogs / week for 2-3 months
  •         Write 1 email newsletter / month for your customers
  •         Write 2 guest blogs / month
  •         Write 2 articles for e-Zines / month
  •         Write 2 posts for Google+ community sites
  •         Upload blogs to Sharing Sites after each post (Google+, Twitter FB, Pinterest, StumpleUpon, Tumblr etc.)

Remember:  Blog/web content or articles does not have to be always written text:  Graphics, images, curated text, re-blogs, videos, guest blogs or info graphics for example are fine too!  And if you have not already, read this story how an author cleverly used places in his book to write a magazine article and show off his latest novel.  What about you?  Are you using the content you have already researched or the books you have written to show your writing skills and get more exposure as an author?

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $179 for three months – or less than $2 per day! Learn more about this customized Online Seminar / Consulting for writers: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 1,050 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: content marketing, freelance writing jobs, FundsforWriters, Use Your Writing Skills to Make Money, web content writing, writing markets

A “NEW” Way of Book Marketing

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Even Ernest Hemingway,  Margaret Atwood, Tom ChiarellaGloria SteinemBrian Mockenhaupt and Stephen King did it:  Writing occasionally short stories and magazine articles – before blogs became fashionable. In several former posts we explained in detail how easy it is for writers to create content, such as blog articles and sell them to magazines and newspapers or write guest blogs. Read more here and here about brilliant book marketing and content writing.
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Don't-Limit-Yourself
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Use Your Writing Skills to Earn Money
Writing for magazines, newspapers or online articles will get you paid much faster than you ever will be for your book – and they will pay you more!
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Get your Name Out There
Establish your brand as a writer, get links back to your website or book sales page (there are often two links allowed in guest blogs).  As more articles or blogs you publish, as more visibility on the Internet is guaranteed – and as more readers learn about your books.
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Use Content Marketing to Promote Your Books
It’s about attracting the customer to you, the author, rather than paying for expensive advertisements. Entertain and educate first and sell second. Barely talk about your book. The old school thinking struggles with these new concepts.

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Literary Magazines
Literary magazines offer the perfect opportunity for you to get your name and work available to the public.  However, before you offer articles to Literary Magazines: submit short pieces of work to build a portfolio of writing credits and therefore excellent connections.
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Where is Your Audience?
It is common knowledge for marketing professionals:  1% of any audience creates new ideas, 9% talk about the ideas, and the remaining 90% follows the conversation. By reaching the 1%, you can reach the 99%. It’s called “influencer” marketing.
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SEO and Content Marketing:
The rise of Web 2.0 and Social Media gave people the ability to find and share information with their friends. If you create convincing article / blog content, it will be distributed on its own, and when adding to your Google+ timeline, it will be ranked high by Google’s Search Engines.
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Stop acting like an Advertiser:

  • Content Marketing guaranties you more readers’ trust
  • Become a part of your readers lives without selling
  • At least half of your marketing effort should be Content Marketing
  • Content marketing creates a following “around” your (author) brand.
  • You can even make money with your content:
  • You can sell some of your images and your video
  • You can charge to read your blog or online magazine
  • Publishing content can be in a variety of media or formats, such as apps, print, web radio, social networks, video and even web TV

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Become a publisher and not just an advertiser! 
Jeff Bullas wrote in his valuable marketing blogs: “Thanks to Google, the role of content becomes more and more important. The reward is higher rankings and more visibility on the Internet for sites that offer unique content and a quality user experience. Use content marketing, writing articles that you might be able to sell and customers will come to you!”
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Writing content will not transform your book into an overnight success, but it is a wonderful option for a long-term strategy, to build an authors platform and it gives your readers a valuable sample of your writing.

In our online seminars – and also in weekend seminars (this spring in Eastern Canada and in the New England States) we help you to get ideas how to use your books’ content to write, promote and even how you can make more money with your art.

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If you would like to get more support in all things publishing, have your book intensively promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites – or to learn how you can make yourself a name as an author through content writing: We offer all this and more for only $159 for three months! Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/Seminars

Or visit http://www.e-book-pr.com/book-promo/ to advertise your new book, specials, your KDP Select Free Days or the new Kindle Countdown Deals.

Please check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 970 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.
Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://www.111publishing.com

http://www.e-Book-PR.com/

http://www.international-ebooks.com/

http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Tagged: content marketing, freelance writing jobs, FundsforWriters, Use Your Writing Skills to Make Money, web content writing, writing markets