Don’t Let Your Mood Stop You From Writing

Seven Tips for Getting Past Depression and Discouragement and

Back to Joyous and Passionate Writing

Today I’m depressed.  I’m dejected.  I’m discouraged.  I’ve had trouble getting the contributions I need for the book I’m compiling and which must be completed in a few weeks.  When my new book contract didn’t arrive after three months of waiting, I contacted the publisher.  After being told in her last correspondence to expect the contract “any day,” her response to my latest e-mail explained that she had “too many projects in the works” and, therefore, had tabled mine.  Yesterday I receive a rejection letter from agent who was excited and interested in one of my book projects when I met her at a conference but who wrote that she “just couldn’t get behind the marketing end of the idea.”  My friend, who is just starting her career as a writer, landed a $700-a-month, 1,200-word column for a magazine.  Her success serves as a reminder that I, with 34 year’s of writing experience and a degree in magazine journalism, am earning hardly enough to pay for my kids’ monthly extra-curricular activity fees from my freelance writing. I haven’t actually written a word in a month or sent out a query or a book proposal in at least three months, because all of my time has been spent on other projects, like the all-consuming book I’m compiling for which I only received a $1000 advance. That money I’ve long ago used to pay for phone bills and ink cartridges. I won’t see a royalty check for at least 12 months from the time the book is actually published – and that’s if the book really sells.

It’s no wonder that today I feel “blah.”  Despite that fact, I still need to get some work done.  An author whose book I’m editing sent me another chapter yesterday, but I can’t seem to drum up the energy to edit it today. Today, another writer has sent me a manuscript and proposal to “doctor,” but I feel too low to heal myself or my own books let alone someone else’s project. And then there are the people to contact for my other book projects.  Instead of working, I find other ways to occupy myself while sitting at my desk looking like I’m actually doing something.

So, how do I get myself out of my e-mail mailbox, where nothing new has arrived in the two hours I’ve stared at it, away from the social networking sites, where no one is connecting with me anyway, off the phone, where it is easy to talk about nothing with anyone who will listen, and out of the kitchen, the source of the food that keeps my hands too busy to type and my mouth too full to talk to anyone with whom I really need to talk?  How do I get myself out of my malaise and back to writing, editing, and submitting my work and my ideas?

Most writers face days like these occasionally, and some of us have bouts of blah that stop our fingers from even hitting the keyboard for days or weeks.  However, there are some ways to get out of the dumps, past the discouragement and depression and back into the joyous and passionate writing, editing and working mode.

Just Do It

First, you can take Nike’s attitude and “Just do it.”  This advice is easy to give, and sounds easy to do, but in reality can be quite hard to accomplish.  Truth be told, however, it is the best advice.  Just start writing something.  Just send out another query to that magazine for which you’ve always dreamed of writing.  Just put your proposal in the mail to another publisher or agent.  Just make that phone call to your interview subject. Just start writing that article or essay. Just do it…whatever “it” is that constitutes your writing work for the day. (That’s what I did today.  I began writing this article.)

Just Do It Joyfully

However, I’d add one thing to Nike’s slogan.  Don’t just do it; do it joyfully.  Again, this is advice that’s easy to give, sounds easy to do but which can actually be quite difficult to accomplish – especially when you’re depressed.   I know this from experience.  Yet, the energy we put behind our actions actually affects the success of those actions.  Proponents of positive thinking adamantly insist that negative thoughts harbored while sending out a query can elicit a negative result.  We’ve heard all about writing for the love of writing, for the joy of turning a phrase of the pleasure of getting information out to the public.  These positive emotions affect the success of the work we do as well.  So, trying to just do it when we are feeling frustrated or negative might not accomplish what we want.  That said, it might at least get the energy moving.  Once that happens, you can focus on doing it with joy.

If you still can’t get your body to listen to you mind, which is telling it to do something other than sit there feeling depressed, or if “just do it” or “do it with joy” makes you feel like you have to go exercise and like doing it as well, try taking the advice of the wise Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.  This mystical Chassidic rabbi (1772-1810) offered awesome lessons on how to get over being depressed and unhappy, and his teachings apply just as well to writers suffering from frustration and dejection as to people feeling negative emotions in general.  In fact, I’ve used the following four wise teachings to help me get over my writing slump on numerous occasions.  They remind me that today’s rejection letter or returned book proposal are not the end of my writing career.  Despite these negative experiences and the negative emotions they illicit within me, I can pick myself up, change how I feel and how I behave, and continue to do what I need to do to write and get published.  In the process, I begin to feel better about myself, my work and my writing projects.

Fake It ‘Till You Make It

“If you don’t feel happy, pretend to be.  Even if you are downright depressed, put on a smile.  Act happy.  Genuine joy will follow,” taught Rebbe Nachman.  His words echo a much more modern saying:  “Fake it ‘till you make it.”  In the case of writing, Nachman’s words encourage us not to dwell on our unhappiness and frustration, but to keep moving forward by pretending to be happy….pretending to be a writer, pretending to be published (ah…positive thinking again).  If your depression keeps you from the keyboard, act happy and simply sit down and begin to write. If that last rejection letter left you immobilized with feelings of unworthiness, start working on another query with a fresh attitude of worthiness.

Flip your feelings, go to the opposite extreme of whatever negative emotion you are experiencing in the moment, and fake it ‘till you make it.  As you behave as if you feel the way you want to feel, whatever you are wanting — confidence, worthiness, happiness — will begin to slowly flow forth from your inner self and affect your attitude and your work in positive ways.  Plus, as you begin to write and to send out your work, as you get your day’s work accomplished, you will begin to feel better about yourself.  You’ll begin once again to feel the passion that made you want to write, and the joy you feel when in the creative process will return.

Don’t Give Up Hope

“Never despair!  Never!  It is forbidden to give up hope,” said the rebbe.  That rejection letter that showed up today from a  magazine you queried or that form letter that accompanied the latest return of your book proposal from an agent may seem like the last one you can endure.  It might feel like a harbinger of truth:  Your or your work just aren’t good enough in some way.  You may think the time has come to throw that particular book or article idea into the circular file and go on to something new.  Nachman says, “Wait!  Don’t give up!”  If you really believe you have a good idea, have faith in it.  Keep sending it out, and eventually someone will see its worth.

Remember all the other writers – famous and successful writers – that had to suffer the same rejection and frustration and depression you feel now.  Many of them could have wallpapered their offices with rejection letters, but they didn’t give up.  They refused to let other people’s opinions affect their belief in their own work and their determination to get their work published.  They refused to get lost in despair and turned their despair into determination, which then turned into success.  That is what it takes to succeed as a writer – determination, hard skin, hopefulness, and faith in yourself and in your work.

At a writer’s conference I attend, I heard Jack Canfield talk about the 123 rejections he endured before Chicken Soup for the Soul found a publisher.  He reminded the audience of what Barbara Kingslover said about rejection:  “This manuscript of yours that has just come back from another editor is a precious package. Don’t consider it rejected. Consider that you’ve addressed it ‘to the editor who can appreciate my work’ and it has simply come back stamped ‘Not at this address.’ Just keep looking for the right address.”

I once took a class that had nothing to do with writing but which taught me one thing that I found really useful as a writer.  The teacher told us that everyone has a “rejection quota.”  In other words, you have to receive a certain number of rejections before you start getting acceptances, and this, she said, holds true when asking people out on a date or sending query letters to editors.  Now, I don’t really think that you can’t get a “yes” to the first query letter you send out, but when I get several rejections in a row, I remind myself that if I keep on sending the letters out, eventually I’ll meet my quota and get a “yes.”

Remember: Today Could Be the Day You Achieve Success

“Remember:  Things can go from the very worst to the very best…in just the blink of an eye.” If Nachman were talking to a group of writers today, he might have said, “Today you got a rejection letter from an editor despite the fact that you thought your query was perfect for that magazine. You couldn’t get an interview with the one source you feel will make your article successful, or your book proposal came back for the 50^th time.  It feels like the end of the world.  It feels like the worst thing that could happen or that will ever happen to you.”  He’d pause and then continue:  “But…you might check your E-mail and find that the other query you sent to an editor at another magazine has been accepted.  Tomorrow you might go to the mailbox and find that instead of a returned manuscript box you have an encouraging letter from an agent asking that you call him.  And maybe when you return from the mailbox, your phone is ringing and when you answer it, you find an editor from a publishing house telling you your proposal is exactly the kind of book she is looking for and asking if you would consider signing a contract with a $50,000 advance on royalties.”

Everything can change in a moment.  Always remember that.  This moment is only your reality for a moment and then it changes.  The reality that makes you feel discouraged or depressed in one moment could change in the next, or the next, or the next, into a reality that makes you feel encouraged and elated.

Forget the Past, Focus on the Future

“As soon as an event is over with, forget it completely and never think about it again.  Understand this well, for it is a very important concept,” Nachman said.  Dwelling on our failures – or rejections — only makes us continue feeling badly about ourselves and our work.  Doing so represents a sure fire mechanism for keeping us in the depths of depression and far away from writing a word of copy.

Nachman advises us to move on and to think about what we want to achieve, which is success.  I’m not saying not to think about the constructive criticism that came back from the editor or agent.  Definitely take it into consideration and act upon it, if you feel the suggestions are worthy.  Then file that rejection letter away.  Rewrite the query letter, and send it out again. Find another agent, and send off that proposal one more time.

Then, focus on success, whatever that might look like for you. Imagine what that success will feel like.  See yourself with contract and check in hand.  See your book on the shelves of a bookstore and yourself there signing copies for a long line of people each with your book in hand.  Visualize your article as the cover story of your favorite magazine.  Our thoughts and visions have a creative energy all their own  that is much like that attributed to positive thinking.  “You are where your thoughts are,” taught Nachman.  “So be careful what you think.”

Do What Makes You Happy and the Words Will Flow

And if none of these little pieces of wisdom helps you, Nachman would advise that you take some time off and do something, anything, that makes you feel happy.  Take a walk on the beach, pet your cat, sing, dance, be silly.  Eventually, you will feel happier, and then you can return to your keyboard and to your work.

(I must say, I feel much better now…)

[Note: I wrote this piece in 2005. I submitted it to Writer's Digest, and received - you guessed it - a rejection. Maybe they didn't like my Jewish slant. I know, it's a bit odd for an article on writing. I write a lot about Rebbe Nachman, though, and I'm sure he was on my mind. I'm sure I also was trying to promote my Rebbe Nachman writing projects (books). In any case, I came upon it today, reread it and still thought it was pretty darn good. So, now that we are in the blogging age, I can choose to publish it myself...and I have, because I think it offers some useful advice. I hope you enjoyed the piece and find the tools help you get through those bad-mood writing days.]

[By the way...follow me on Twitter and on FaceBook!]

Editing for Word Count Improves Your Writing

I tend to be a fairly verbose writer. My husband actually calls me “The Queen of Verbosity.” Yes, I can write a lot in a short amount of time. I admit it.

When I’m working on assignment, I often find that I have exceeded my 1, 500-word article requirement, for example, by at least double – if not triple the words. This may happen when I simply have researched so thoroughly that I have too much information for one article, or it may be that I’ve interviewed too many people. Or, I might just have a lot to say on the topic. No matter the reason, if the editor has told me to turn in 1,500 words, I cannot turn in 4,500 or even 3,000 words. I have to turn in something closer to 1,500 words.

You do have a little lead way typically; most editors won’t be upset if the receive an additional 100-200 words unless they have specifically told you that they only have space for 1,500 words. On the other hand, editors hate to receive too little copy. It’s much easier to cut a writer’s copy than it is to add to it.

Given my tendency to overwrite, I have become somewhat of an expert at cutting my own copy down to size. This, I believe, has not only made me a better editor but a better writer as well. To accomplish this feat—and sometimes it feel like a feat—I go through an article manuscript line by line, word by word, looking for ways to tighten sentences so I can meet a word count. At least once a month I shorten a 3,000-4,000-word article to 2,000 words by going over it many, many times looking for ways to cut, improve, strengthen, you name it. 

Write enough articles or essays, and you’ll either get very good at writing to a specific word count or at cutting until you meet it. If, like me, you continue to write long, you’ll want to start practicing cutting words and tightening sentences. If you like social networking, you can practice this every day on Twitter.com, where you are allowed only to type in 140 characters describing what you are doing at any given moment. Sometimes this takes some major editing and cutting and tightening.

Or just take any manuscript of yours, or even a paragraph you’ve written or a letter, and try to shorten it to half its current size. Work at it until you manage to accomplish this goal. The rules are simple: Retain all important elements. Lose all unnecessary words. Combine. Cut. Delete. Rewrite. Make sure the message remains but the ancillary bits and pieces go.

Or give yourself an assignment. Write about something—anything—within a certain word count range. For example, describe how you met your best friend or your spouse, but do it in 400-500 words.

This skill will come in very handy when you get an assignment like the one I recently completed for a dance magazine. I had to profile three dance companies and include a lead to the story, but I couldn’t exceed 1,000 words. That basically meant that I had 300 words to describe each company and 100 words to entice readers into the story itself. You’ll also find this useful when writing short biographies of yourself, book jacket copy and other short pieces. If you are just getting started as a nonfiction writer, writing “shorts” for magazines gets you a foot in the door. Often these stories are just 200 or 300 words long.

If you’d like to look at an example of my own work, you can examine the following lead to a story I wrote about learning to cycle up steep grades. By the time I had included two of the three interviews I had conducted, my story was already double the length it needed to be. So, despite the fact that I liked my lead, I knew I had to shorten it. I managed to take it from 176 words to 78. That may not seem like a lot, but if you can do that throughout an entire article, you will cut its word count by more than half and turn in a really strong, well-written, honed, highly-crafted piece of writing.

First Draft – 176 words

Highly-conditioned cyclists who train on flat terrain or who regularly cycle on hilly routes may think they easily can scale the steeper inclines found in California’s mountain  ranges.  However, they may be surprised to find themselves with quivering leg muscles and aching lungs as they struggle for the summit of the first big “hill.”  Indeed, riding on the mountain roads in our area requires more than average leg and lung strength as well as a unique mind set and skills set.

If you are thinking of taking up mountain cycling – not to be confused with mountain biking – or if you find yourself struggling up the hills on your current routes, you might want to posses a few conditioning strategies as you begin your grind up the first grade – and the next – and the next.  Possessing some knowledge of the best ways to get in shape for mountain riding and the best ways to cycle up hills will put you in good stead both as you begin your conditioning routine and as you continue tackling ever-larger hills.

Second Draft – 126 words

Cyclists who typically ride on flat terrain or hilly routes may think they are fit enough to easily scale the steeper inclines found in California’s mountain ranges.  However, when they attempt a mountain ride, they may find themselves struggling for the summit of the first big “hill” with quivering leg muscles and aching lungs.  Indeed, riding mountain roads requires special conditioning.

If you are thinking of taking up mountain road cycling, or if you find yourself struggling up the hills on your current routes, you might want to use a few training strategies before you ascend the first steep grade.  Specifically conditioning yourself for mountain riding will put you in good stead both as you begin your conditioning routine and as you continue tackling ever-larger hills.

Third Draft – 78 words

Cyclists who typically ride on flat or rolling terrain may think they are fit enough to easily scale the steeper inclines found in California’s mountain ranges.  However, when they attempt a mountain ride, they may find themselves struggling for the summit of the first big “hill” with quivering leg muscles and aching lungs.  Conditioning specifically for mountain road cycling helps avoid this scenario by increasing cyclists’ ability to reach the top of steep grades more easily and quickly.

[By the way...follow me on Twitter and on FaceBook!]

Polish Your Writing in May

Anyone want to polish their writing in May?  Join me for 4-week teleseminar sponsored by The Institute for Radical Forgiveness. You can find all the details here.

Also, if you are interested in increasing your platform via joint-venture publishing, consider this course and/or submitting a chapter to one of Colin Tipping’s upcoming joint-venture publishing projects. He’s sold over 115,000 copies of Radical Forgiveness, a book I edited for him, and just signed a two-book contract with Sounds True. This is a great opportunity to become a published author and affiliate yourself with an already successful author, thus building your platform.

Tips for Inducing Labor When Your Words Don’t Want to Be Born

For a writer, sometimes getting started represents the hardest part of the writing process. Getting that first word or sentence out onto the paper or screen can feel like trying to give birth to a breach baby.

For me, it’s the lead to an article or the first paragraph or two of an essay or of a chapter that feels the most difficult. Once I’ve got that part written, the rest of the piece simply flows naturally out of that beginning. It’s as if the head of the baby has made it into the world after a long labor and much pushing, and the body follows with just a little bit more effort.

Some writers have the luxury of waiting for their words, like parents waiting for a child to reach full term and be born or for a baby that decides not to come into the world until several weeks past its due date. Others, like journalists or authors under contract, have deadlines to meet and must be sure the words are brought into the world on schedule and by their due date. They need to induce labor so their manuscripts are completed and turned in on time.

So, how does a writer start writing when they have writers block or feel stumped and stuck? Here are a few tips and exercises to help you over a rough beginning.

Try Timed Writings

This exercise provides a great jump start for your writing. It involves setting a timer for a designated writing period, say 10 or 30 minutes. When you turn the timer on, you start writing. No if, ands or buts. You just begin putting words on paper or screen even if at first they don’t make sense. Imagine this like a race. The time keeper says, “Ready, set, go,” and the gun goes off. At the same time, your fingers (or your pen) get moving.

And no editing is allowed. Leave your inner critic locked in the closet while you let your muse run wild. The idea is to write as fast as you can until the timer rings. Then you can go back and see if you produced anything worth using. If not, try the exercise again. Or maybe by that point you’ll be able to simply write the beginning to your piece without the timer.

Use a Writing Prompt

This exercise entails giving you yourself a subject about which to write or a scene to describe or an experience to recall. In other words, you use a prompt to start your writing. You can choose something totally related to the actual subject you need or want to cover in your essay, article or book chapter, or you can pick something totally unrelated just to get your creative writing juices flowing. You might make the exercise really challenging and start with an unrelated writing prompt—this often makes a writer feel less pressured—and see if after a paragraph you can gently turn your writing towards the subject about which you actually need to write.

Again, do this exercise quickly if you can. Try writing at first “off the top of your head,” without a lot of thought. You can combine using a writing prompt with a timed writing. The threat of a deadline often gets us over the hurdle of beginning to write.

Designate a Writing Time

Pick a certain period of the day that you designate as your writing time. This should have a start and an end time. This way, you know that you have only this amount of time in which to write. Or, looked at another way, you know you have all of this time to write. This is your writing time.

Again, this forces a deadline upon you. Sit down at your computer each day at your designated time and write. Write anything. But write, even if you only write, “I don’t know what to write.”  Then add the next tip.

Give Yourself a Word or Page Quota

Decide upon a certain number of words or pages you want to complete each day or week. Then make sure you stick to this commitment. This means sitting at the computer until you complete your quota. No excuses. To borrow Nike’s slogan, “Just do it.” If you have only 30 minutes left on Friday in your designated time slot and you’ve spent the whole week piddling away your time “researching” your subject on the Internet rather than writing, then you better get writing fast…and extend your time. Don’t let yourself out of the chair until you have produced some writing. Be your own worst boss. Don’t let yourself go “home” until you’ve done your job. And your job is to start writing. (You will often find me at my computer writing until 1 or 2 a.m. for this reason…I’m forcing myself to do what I said I would do before I can call it a day.)

Don’t Miss the Moment When the Urge to Write Hits

When you suddenly have an idea or an urge to write, but it’s just not a convenient time to sit down and write, write anyway. Again, “just do it!” So what if you just lay down in bed, and you’re tired; if your mind is composing those first two sentences you tried for two hours this afternoon to write, get up and go write them down. I can assure you that you won’t remember them come morning. (I know this from experience.) Maybe you just sat down to dinner at your favorite restaurant with some friends when suddenly you know exactly how to start that chapter or article you couldn’t get started during your designated writing time. Don’t wait until you get home. Excuse yourself…with some napkins…and go into the bathroom and write it down. Then, as soon as you can, get to a computer and type in those words, and keep on writing.

Never let the muse go unattended. She likes to be noticed. And she never waits around until you have the time to pay attention to her. That’s why it’s good practice to have a small pad and pen or a tape recorder with you at all times so you can catch your words when they decide to make their way into the world.

I will acknowledge that sometimes our words have to gestate within us. Yet, we can’t always wait for them to be born on their own time. Sometimes they send us into labor too late. The deadline or the opportunity then is missed. Thus, we must induce them to come out, to be born onto the pages of our manuscripts, in a timely manner—or at least at will.

Tips for Authors Doing Radio Interviews

In early March I traveled to Connecticut to do two talks related to two of my book projects. As part of that trip, I managed to land two radio interviews. Although I do a monthly podcast on Conversations with Mrs. Claus, I don’t have much experience with radio interviews. Really, I’m a writer more than a speaker, which I think is the case for many authors. So, I got a little panicky.

Interestingly, just around that time I came across an email from former publicist Arielle Ford, who made a name for herself by working with many bestselling authors including Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Now retired from doing book publicity for others, Arielle has recently written her own book, The Soulmate Secret: Manifest the Love of your Life with the Law of Attraction, and to promote it she’s out doing a lot of radio interviews. In her email, she offered three tips for doing well on the radio. Here they are:

1. Get media trained by a professional so that you have your most important tips on note cards in front of you at all times.
2. Stand up during your phone interviews — and SMILE — you’ll project more energy and authority that way.
3. Give it all away — every idea, tip, statistic, every bit of useful info that can help someone — share it.

I didn’t have the time (or the money) to take the advice in number one, so to ease my nerves I decided to ask some other experts and authors for advice on how best to prepare and to handle myself during the interviews. Their advice was invaluable, so I thought I’d pass it along this month in my blog. I know it has little to do with writing per se, but since all nonfiction writers need to be promoting themselves, and radio interviews are a great way to build platform and sell books, I feel this subject fits this blog well.

First, I asked Vic Osteen, author of 60 Ways to Manage, Market and Staff Your Speaking Business.  He told me, “I believe you need to do as much as you can to guide the interview. Most radio people only talk and do not listen to what you have to say.”

Additionally, he added, “Go for sound bites and phase you already have. Drive home only about three points. Write down the questions you want asked, and answer them whether they are asked or not.”

Last, he added, “Have so much fun and laugh big.”

Then I asked author Lisa Alcalay Klug, whose book Cool Jew: The Ultimate Guide for Every Member of the Tribe!, was released this year, for advice. I’ve heard her speak on a radio show (and saw a video of her doing a show) and I was impressed with how very articulate and cool she was during her interview. Here’s her advice: “Practice with the questions and answers you think they may ask. That’s the best way to be prepared! Come up with the message you want to deliver and focus on that.”

Last, but not least, I asked publicist Susan Harrow, CEO of www.prsecrets.com and a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul, whose clients have appeared on Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in numerous publications. She said authors should maximize their time on the air by “telling stories that intrigue and leave enough out so your audience wants more.” She then offered a variety of tips – too many to include in one blog post, that I’ve honed down to the ones I was able to use immediately:

1. Use a specific bio. Don’t leave this first sound bite — your introduction – up to the radio host. Control the public’s perception of you, she suggested.
2. Don’t squander time. “You have a precious few minutes to convey your essential messages to people who have nano attention spans,” she said. So, create an essential message tailored to your particular audience.
3. Back opinions or ideas with facts. “One of the most validating ways to be taken seriously is to research statistics that support your views and quote them accurately,” said Harrow.

Here’s what I was able to put to use on very short notice:

• I didn’t stand up both times, but I sat up tall, and I did smile. For the 30 minute interview, I relaxed after a while and started to feel like I was having a conversation with a friend. That helped, except that I had to really stay on my toes.
• I gave away as much information as I could in the allotted time and within the given format. It helped me to know that it was okay to share as much as possible rather than to feel I had to guard some information for some reason.
• I tried as much as possible to guide the interview by leading the show host in the direction I wanted to go. If the host got off track, I tried to get back on track to the subject matter I wanted to cover. However, on particular show host had her own agenda, and this made it a bit more difficult. I found I had to really roll with the punches.
• I made sure to have sound bites written out, as well as my questions and answers, and to have both in front of me. (My sheet of paper contained my “message” and the questions I wanted them to ask me with scripted answers; I did practice my message, sound bites, and questions and answers as much as possible before hand, although I did not have them memorized.) I used that script whenever possible to get my sound bites and information on the air. It helped me to know that I had a written script if I needed it. It was like a security blanket, but I could see where having it all memorized would be much better.
• I tried to truly enjoy the conversation and to laugh whenever possible. The hosts actually like to have fun, so I tried to join in.
• I sent both show hosts a bio tailored to my subject matter and to the event where I’d be speaking. One used the bio verbatim, one did not. One asked me to offer information on where I was speaking. This taught me to always have all information handy.
• I tried not to squander time, but I found the show hosts often did this for me. On one show I spoke too quickly, trying to get all my information into a very short period that was left.
• I did back my opinions with facts, finding some statistics I could use during my interviews. I found these very effective, and they made great talking points during the interview and even in my talks. The radio hosts loved using them as a way to get into conversation, and they were impactful as well.

 

All in all, I was pleased with my radio interviews, and I had a lot of fun doing them. I no longer feel panicky about doing another. That said, I’m sure having media training would serve me well, and I hope to be able to do that in the future. I hope to put some of the other tips I learned to use…and to have some of the professionals I spoke with share them with you come November. Until then, happy writing…and speaking!

Creating a Winning Pitch:The Writer’s Elevator Speech

Imagine yourself riding in the elevator at a hotel where you are attending a writer’s conference. The door opens and in steps the one agent you really, really think would serve as the perfect literary representative for you and your book. You open your mouth, introduce yourself and begin to speak.

What do you say? Do you tell the agent what your book is about in 25 word or less? Do you spit out the plot or the main idea in 30 seconds, or before the elevator doors open again and someone else steps in and begins their pitch? Do you offer your pitch in an interesting, dynamic way that makes the agent say, “Tell me more” or do you offer a long-winded, pointless speech that quickly loses the agents attention and your chance at representation – not to mention publication of your book?

Ah, the art of the book pitch.

Finding yourself in that elevator represents every writer’s dream…and nightmare…depending upon whether or not they have prepared a fabulous pitch or not.

What’s a pitch? It’s what people in other areas of business call an “elevator speech,” a short speech you have ready for that opportune moment – or less than a moment – when you can market yourself or your product to someone that might buy it. That speech, however, has to include all the pertinent information and be interesting, clever, thought provoking, or in some way leading so the person becomes inclined to ask you for more details.

I don’t know that I’m so great at composing pitches for my own nonfiction books. However, at the San Francisco Writer’s Conference two years ago, I won the pitch contest for a novel I had written. (I normally write only nonfiction.)  For that reason, this year I was asked to sit on a panel of much-more-distinguished judges-than-myself  at the conference’s yearly pitch contest.  I listened with interest to the pitches, as well as to the feedback from the other judges. I noticed that no one really had mastered the “art” of pitching, and many people were confused about how to pitch in person as opposed to how to pitch in a query letter. While my fellow judge, Katharine Sands, who wrote Making the Perfect Pitch, How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye, didn’t agree that a difference existed between these two pitching methods, Mike Larsen, another judge and the author of How to Get a Literary Agent, agreed with me.

In my experience, anyway, when you find yourself seated next to an agent or an acquisitions editor at a conference, or you find yourself in the elevator with them or getting a drink at the bar just as they are doing the same, you aren’t suddenly going to start painting a long, pretty picture that describes your book before you actually say, “Hi, my name is Nina Amir, and my book, Blah Blah, is about blah blah blah blah.”  More than likely, you are going to introduce yourself and say, “I’d love to tell you about my book, Blah Blah. It  about blah blah blah…” or “it teaches people how to blah blah blah.”

During the San Francisco Writers Conference, many writers participate in “Speed Dating for Agents.” This event gives them just three minutes with an agent. In that time, they must pitch their book and then, hopefully, get the agent to say, “Tell me more,” so they end up in a conversation that ends with a request to see a proposal. Again, I doubt they will feel comfortable – and I know they don’t have the time - to sit down and do a long pitch. If they do, they will not allow the agent time to ask questions. They want to leave time for feedback and for a discussion and, finally, for the agent to say, “Send me a proposal.”

So, how does a writer come up with a decent pitch? (You would think it would be easy; its just crafting words into a short, pithy sentence.)  As I said, despite my one “win,” I don’t find it so easy myself – at least with my own work. It’s easier to help other people with their ideas. And I do this by applying some of the things I learned that helped me win that contest.

Prior to winning, I attended a session at the very same conference led by Teresa LeYung Ryan, author of Love Made of Heart, and Elisa Southard, author of Break Through the Noise. They were teaching people how to pitch both fiction and nonfiction. The one thing I took away from that session was to make sure my pitch told the listener what my book would offer a reader. In other words, what was the benefit they would get out of reading my book? Would they gain something, lose something, learn something, improve something…You get the idea.

With nonfiction, this can be pretty easy. Take a book like Wayne Dyer’s book, Manifest Your Destiny. His subtitle is a great pitch. His book teaches you “nine spiritual principles for getting everything you want.”

Fiction can be a bit harder (which is why I was so surprised to win the contest for fiction). Here’s my pitch: Turtle’s Nest is about a woman who accidentally poisons her son and learns she doesn’t have to be a perfect parent to be a good mother.  A little more subtle, but it still tells you what you’ll learn by reading it – the same thing the main character learns.

Also, the pitch contest at the San Francisco Writers Conference requires that pitches be 25 words or less. While Mike Larsen says that is a “mindset,” the year I won it was an actual requirement. I suggest you stick close to that word count.

I remember someone once telling me that if I couldn’t say what my book was about in 10 words or less, I didn’t know what it was about. Someone else once said I had to be able to write what my book was about on the back of a business card.

In other words, don’t be wordy. If you have 30 seconds with an agent or three minutes, you don’t want to do all the talking. You want to get your message across and then hear what they have to say.

While working with writers at the conference, together we dug pitches out of their long descriptions of their manuscripts. As they talked and talked, we weeded out the best parts of what they said and then crafted those into the most perfect descriptive phrase possible. We had to work hard and long. And sometimes we went back to those pitches the next day and changed them again. We had to be stringent editors keeping to work count restrictions and creative writers turning a phrase and finding the perfect words to depict story, character, purpose, and meaning. And sometimes the writers asked other people for assistance; and sometimes that helped and sometimes it didn’t.

Once each writer had that pitch, they had to practice it. For a pitch to be really effective, it has to flow off your tongue as easily as words off a pen and onto your paper or off a keyboard onto your computer screen.  Have it memorized. Know it by rote, but deliver it with passion and conviction. And be prepared to offer at least three talking points when, indeed, you are asked for more information.

Writing pitches isn’t easy. Although sometimes they just come to you, like those magical words that arrive on your manuscript pages, and you wonder how they arrived. But the perfect pitch is miraculous in its own right. While it might not sell your book or land you that agent, it will at least get an agent or an acquisitions editor to listen long enough and become interested enough to say, “Tell me more.” And that’s your opening to offer your three more points…and then three more…And you never know where that might lead.

Start the New Year by Writing Your Media Bio

Okay, Write Nonfiction in November readers, I’m going to ask you this month to stop working on whatever nonfiction projects you have and make time to do something a bit different. Here’s why: If you don’t do it now, you’re likely not to do it at all. Plus, according to PR expert Annie Jennings, who was my guest blogger twice in November during the challenge, I’d be remiss not to advise you to take on this project.

She said I must encourage you to create a bio that tells the media what they need to know about you – author – in a nutshell. Whether you are building your platform by trying to land radio, TV or print interviews or trying to do the same to publicize your book, you need a media bio that does its job well.  (If you don’t know what a platform is, look under the category by this name for posts on this topic.)

If you don’t remember Annie, let me refresh your memory: Annie serves as a national publicist through her company Annie Jennings PR, and she is known as “America’s leading publicity intelligence expert.” Annie’s vision and insight has revolutionized the publicity industry as many of the publicity techniques, tools and strategies in widespread use throughout the industry today have been developed by Annie Jennings PR.  Today, Annie will teach us all how to create a media bio that can help us get a media placement.

How to Create an Outstanding Media Bio

By Annie Jennings

National Publicist

 

The purpose of a professional bio for use in the media is to give them a snapshot of your expertise and your platform so they can determine if you qualify as the expert for the segment or article they have in mind. Follow these simple steps to creating a powerful media bio designed to get you booked on the media of your dreams.

1. Your bio should always begin with your credentials, academic achievements, professional and academic affiliations.
2. If you are the author of books, papers, and/or studies, note those next along with the names of the papers and studies and where they appeared, etc., so the media can document them.
3. List your areas of expertise.
4. List the years you have been active in these areas and your fields.
5. List any involvement in any association, achievements or awards you have received in your field.
6. List media appearances – TV or radio and quotes in magazines or in newspapers.
7. Information has to be absolutely accurate, up to date, and easily verifiable as the media has resources to check out your information.
8. Be sure the bio on your website is exactly the same and consistent with the bio that you are presenting to the media. You can always offer an expanded version on your website. However, you should not be inconsistent with your bio. You can certainly have other info on your website, but the bio must remain consistent with the one you present to the media.

Do not include the following items in your media bio:

Your personal family history, personal triumphs or tragedies unless they are tied into your area of expertise, or your birth place. You can include the location where you currently reside or practice, as this can be important if the media would like to book you for a radio or TV segment.

Other things to have ready for the media:

In addition to the bio, have a professional .jpg (photo) of yourself in your professional capacity and .jpg of your book cover ready to email to the media upon request.

Demo tapes are requested by the media. Have professional quality tapes ready to be sent to the media and, of course, better yet, include a video link on your site so the media can check you out without waiting for your demo to be sent overnight. As you send your demo out to the media, be sure to restock. The media moves fast and needs the information immediately and cannot wait for copies to be made or compiled, etc.

Create a media website packed with your publicity information:

You are encouraged to develop a separate website for the media (see yesterday’s Write Nonfiction in November post). This website should have contact info, your bio, your picture, your book (but not presented in a sales way), articles you have written, developed segment ideas that include talking points and a list of questions you would like to be asked along with an introduction the media can use. 

About Annie Jennings and Annie Jennings PR

The National PR firm Annie Jennings PR specializes in promoting authors and experts to the media and boasts of having over 35,000 author experts as clients. Annie Jennings has been an invited guest lecturer for NYU’s Publishing Program and for the American Society Of Journalists & Authors. Annie Jennings PR has provided over 500 smash hit publicity teleseminars for consistent standing room audiences, reaching hundreds of thousands of author and experts. Annie is the premier publicity expert in the country with her knowledge sought out by professionals and organizations everywhere. Annie created the concepts of media websites and online press kits, defined how to create a powerful platform, and developed the most advanced branding concepts known to the industry, created the HOT 35! & HOT 50! Radio campaigns where you are only booked on top shows in major big city markets and on regional and nationally syndicated shows and crafted the revolutionary Pay For Placement Publicity Program that has helped thousands of authors and experts build powerful platforms and land six-figure book advances. Annie has made it her practice to freely share her publicity strategies with authors and experts so everyone can have access to PR strategies, both the basics and advanced PR thought, so they can share their messages with millions for the betterment of all.

For more information, contact Annie at:

Annie Jennings PR

http://www.anniejenningspr.com/

908-281-6201

Annie@AnnieJenningsPR.com

 

Write About What You Know and About What You Don’t Know

When I was in college studying to become a magazine journalist, I was taught to write what I know. No matter whose class I took or the type of class, the professor always told the students the same thing: Write what you know. The caveat to this rule lay in its reverse: If you can’t write about what you know, know about what you write. In other words, become the expert on the topic.

Over the years, working as a professional journalist I’ve written many stories by learning about a variety of topics. I’ve written about everything from ascension to life insurance tax law and from retail store images to laser surgery.  However, over the last few years, I’ve gone back to writing about what I k now. By this I mean writing about my life, and I’ve had quiet a bit of success writing personal essays for a variety of publications.

However, I’ve discovered that the key to writing a really good essay comes in writing not only about what I know but about what I don’t know. (Yes, I know I’ve contradicted my professors…) To do this, I think of myself as an Everywoman, someone just like everyone else with the same problems, questions, struggles, and goals. I consider myself not as unique and see most people as like me to some extent. I write from this assumption. Then, I submit these essays to publications whose readers are, well, pretty similar to me or who are interested in the topic at hand.

For example, I write a lot of personal essays on the topic of spirituality, Judaism and parenting. I then submit these to publications whose readers are struggling with issues related to spirituality, Judaism or parenting.  I take an issue with which I’m struggling in my own life and choose this as the topic of an essay. I may not have the solution to my problem, at least not when I begin writing. I pose my issue, describing how I’m struggling with it, how it arose, why it’s important to me, how it’s affecting my life, or anything else about it that concerns me. I turn the issue over and over, and then I take a new approach. Rather than seeing it as a problem or obstacle, I see it as an opportunity – for personal growth, for relationship development, for communicating with someone, for moving through fear, for seeing someone or something in a different light, or whatever. In this way, I not only offer a solution to the issue to myself, but I offer it to others as well. And I do so from my own wisdom. In the process, I inspire and uplift my readers, who also realize that they, too, can find solutions to the problems in their life. If they are struggling with this particular problem, they now have some new ways to think about that issue or to deal with it.

My essay, When the One We Love Doesn’t Walk the Same Spiritual Path, which I wrote specifically for Interfaithfamily.com, provides good example of such an issue. It also shows you how you can take a subject and direct it to a certain market by specifically looking for a solution that appeals to those readers. If you want to read more of my essays, go to http://www.copywrightcommunications.com/Samples.html.

If I can’t come up with a solution or a new way of looking at the issue on my own, then I turn to someone who can. I find an expert and ask a few questions and I somehow weave this into my essay. I admit I didn’t have the answers and that I sought them out. I then might also write about how those answers or solutions panned out.

I often approach reported articles in this same fashion. I query editors as an Everywoman with an issue telling them that their readers must also be struggling with this same problem and, like me, must want some solutions. I can provide those solutions by interviewing two or three experts and providing the editor with a fabulous piece that provides the information I don’t personally have to offer. Editors tend to love this approach, and I land a lot of assignments this way. I wrote for Bay Area Parent Magazine, called The Competition Dilemma, that gives you a great example of this type of an approach to a reported article.

So, if you like writing personal essays or reported articles, try the Everyman/Everywoman approach and write not only about what you know but about what you don’t know as well. You’ll be surprised at the success you’ll have.

 

Note:I hope you enjoyed this post. Even though Write Nonfiction in November, the actual challenge, has ended for 2008, I committed to keeping the energy alive until next year with one post per month! This is Post #1…10 more to go until next year’s challenge begins again!

Also, be sure to check the calendar at www.copywrightcommunications.com in January.  New writing and promotion classes will be starting after the New Year and will be posted by January 1!

How to Keep the Energy Going After Write Nonfiction in November Ends

As participants’ fingers slow to a halt over keyboards and then hit the save and print buttons indicating the completion of their projects, the second year of the Write Nonfiction in November challenge and blog comes to an end. For those not ready to say “I’m done” quite yet,  you’ve got until 11:59 p.m. to actually complete that project you began 30 days ago. At the stroke of midnight, however, Write Nonfiction in November officially comes to a close.

Wow! We’ve covered a huge amount of ground again this year. With the help of my guest bloggers, this blog has offered what one of my Red Room readers said was enough information for a college course! I’m not sure about that, but I do know that’s I’ve offered you plenty of suggestions about things you should be working on to improve your writing, promote your books, build your platform, create a media brand for yourself and your writing, develop a website and blog and Internet presence…and more. So, despite the fact that the blog has ended, the 30 posts from this month should provide you with amplefodder for the rest of the year. If you take the advice offered here this month and apply it for the next 11 months, you’ll not only stay busy until next November but come out ahead of the game in so many ways a year from now. And that’s what I suggest: Use these 30 posts as your “workbook” for the rest of the year. And then really do the work that my guest bloggers and I have outlined for you.

Given the increased readership and support the Write Nonfiction in November blog received this year, especially from Red Room, where the blog was featured in the “Best Blog Series for 10 days and gained a good number of fans, I plan to keep the blog – if not the challenge – going all year long. (Last year, the blog lay dormant most of the year, with the exception of a few times I felt I had something “newsworthy” to report upon.) This year, I’ll keep on posting “informative” blogs, especially since I know people visit Write Nonfiction in November all year long and read the posts. However, don’t expect a post every day. I intend to post only once a month (probably between the middle and end of the month), and I hope to include some guest bloggers during the year as well.

Without the challenge aspect, you will be missing the energy of Write Nonfiction in November the rest of the year, but no one should work at such a frenetic pace all the time (although some of us regrettably do). The challenge was meant to prove to you that you could, indeed, work quickly and get a lot done in a short amount of time if you set your mind to it. Without the Write Nonfiction in November challenge, you’ll have to find ways to generate your own desire and will power to start and finish nonfiction projects without knowing others are doing so along with you and without the deadline of a formal challenge or contest. That said, I know the lack of an outside deadline or accountability can pose the largest hurdle for a writer.

That’s why in this this last post of Write Nonfiction in November I’d like to focus upon how to “stick to it” – meaning your writing. A writing friend of mine and I were discussing how we manage to do a lot of things related to our writing, including helping other people get their books written, but we don’t actually write our own. This seems to be the complaint of many a writer. We are too busy building platform, trying to get paid assignments, networking to bring in new clients, promoting the last book, editing or writing our proposals, getting over the last rejection letter, or simply taking care of the details of our lives to actually write that article, book or essay. We have a great idea. We even get started writing, but we don’t finish. Or maybe we actually finish, but we don’t write the proposal or query letter. Or if we complete that phase, and then we don’t send the letter or proposal out to an editor or agent. Thus, our work stays forever in our own clutches rather than in that of some eager agent or editor at a publishing house or magazine – which means the only one reading our writing is…us.

Is that why we write? I don’t think so.

How do we actually stick to the whole process from start to finish and get our writing out into the world so it can be read? We all know this takes great will, courage, passion, determination, persistence, and drive – things we don’t always possess. We can do some things to help us develop these characteristics and follow through on the things necessary to get our writing out in to the world. I can offer 10 tips to help you stick to it and continue moving forward until next year when the Write Nonfiction in November challenge begins again.

In some cases the tips I’m going to offer represent a case of me “teaching what I most need to learn,” since I’m at fault of doing all those things mentioned above and not sticking to it myself. In other cases, my tips are tried and true provenpractices that have worked for me or that I’ve seen work for my clients. I encourage you to try one or two or try them all, but find at least one and commit to using it. I’ve heard best-selling author Wayne Dyer say, “Don’t die withyoursong still in you.” In this case, I’ll turn the statement around and say, “Don’t die – or show up next year – with your nonfiction project still in you.” Get it out! Use one or more of these tips to help you do so.

1. Find an accountability partner.  Find someone – another writer is best, but it can be anyone (preferablynota spouse or romantic partner) – to whom you can make an accounting each week, every two weeks or once a month. This is a person to whom you will make commitments, such as: “I will write and finish my query letter this week;” “I will have my proposal done by our next phone call;” “I will have sent out five proposals by our next meeting;” or “I will write five pages a day every day this month.” You can also offer them dates: “I will post six blogs by December 10th.” If you have a writing group, you can use the members of this group as your accountability partners.
2. Get a freelance editor of book coach. When you are paying an editor, you are more likely to work hard at your writing and to try and finish your project in a timely manner. Plus, your editor may give you deadlines. Additionally, working with someone on your book or project keeps you motivated and focused. Often people hire a book coach to help them do just that and to give them monthly deadlines and make them accountable for a certain amount of work each month. If you really can’t stick to it alone, a book coach can help you stick to it all the way until the very end – a published project.
3. Make writing and submitting work your #1 priority.  Yes, we all need to build platform, promote ourselves and our books, make money, handle life’s demands, and answer email, but commit to making these things lower on your priority list. Make writing and submitting your work priority #1 by simply taking this task on first every day. Yes, first. Don’t look in your email box first. (This is a trap I fall into a lot, and I stay trapped there for several hours.) Don’t make those phone calls first. Don’t see who wrote on your Facebook “wall” and find a few more “friends.” Write first. Submit your writing first. Otherwise, if you make these tasks even priority #3 or #4, many days you won’t get around to accomplishing them. (Plus, many of these things – checking email and Facebook accounts – are simply great ways to procrastinate.)
4. Use a reward system.  This works for adults as well as for children. If need be, bribe yourself withareward for getting your writing and submitting done. Maybe your reward is a walk with a friend or a trip to Starbucks. Maybe it’s 30 minutes on Facebook or reading a book. Maybe it’s a pile of Hershey’s Kisses. It matters not what reward you receive as long as it’s something you appreciate and that will motivate you to do what you need to do to stick to your nonfiction writing and to the getting-published process.
5. Try timed writings. If you feel like you just don’t normally have a lot of time to devote to any aspect of your nonfiction writing, take on the tasks in short bursts. Work on your essay for 15 minutes.  Do one interview a day or a week for your article or book. Write one page of your proposal a day. Work on your news release for an article directory10 minutes every morning before the kids wake up. Research agents and publishers while you are waiting for a doctor’s appointment. Make time for what’s really important to you. By the way, timed writings are a great way to move through writer’s block.
6. Blog your book or your essays.Many an author has been discovered via his or her blog. Plus, it’s a great way to write a book in short increments. Plus, bloggingseemsless intimidating than sitting down to write a whole book. Simply commit to writing three or four paragraphs of a post – or one screen – each day on the subject of your book and see where it goes. Have an outline of your book in front of you and stick to it as much as possible, but allow yourself to go with the flow of blogging. You’ll find writing much easier, and you’ll be publishing as you go!  Or write on different topics that interest you, and when you write something particularly poignant or meaningful, edit that into an essay you can send to an editor at a print publication or an ezine. (Blogging also can serve as a great way to move through writer’s block; write fast and as if you are talking to a friend. That moves your through your block.)
7. Keep you goal in mind. Remember why you chose to write this particular project and what you want to get out of writing, completing and publishing it. Who will it serve? How will it help? Why is it important to say what you have to say? Or simply remember the fact that your goal is to become a published writer. You can’t accomplish that goal if you don’t continually write and submit your work – and overcome the rejection of your work not being accepted by simply submitting yet again. You might want to create a “vision board” to remind yourself of this goal. A vision board consists of a poster board (or something smaller if you prefer) covered in pictures and sayings that represent your goal. It’s a visual reminder of what you desire to accomplish. Hang it in your office so you can see it whenever you look up from your computer.
8. Acknoweldge and remember the greater purpose to your writing. Some writers feel the reason they write comes from a deep place within them…from their soul. It’s their soul’s purpose to write. If you feel this way, each time you sit down to “work,” remind yourself that you are not simply working, you are fulfilling your purpose here in the world. This may ring especially true for you if you are writing self-help, inspirational or human potential books.
9. Move through your fear. Why do most writers not stick to their writing or to the submission process? They are afraid…afraid of failure, afraid of rejection, afraid of being seen, afraid of speaking their truth, afraid their families will disapprove of what they’ve written, afraid of being out in front of lots of people, even afraid of success. Here I get to be a life coach (if I haven’t been already) and say, you must simply move through your fear. Fear never helped anyone become successful. It only stopped them from achieving that which they most desired. My advice for moving through fear is simple: Each time you feel afraid, sit down at your computer and write or put together a submission packet. Susan Jeffers’ book title says it best, “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.”
10. Plan your work, and work you plan. My son received this bit of advice the day before Thanksgiving in a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant. When I told him I was trying to decide what tip to offer as my last, he suggest this one. I agreed it could be more appropriate. Come up with a daily and weekly plan for your writing and for submitting what you write and then work that plan. Don’t deviate from your plan (unless it isn’t working). Decide when you will write and for how long. Then, do it. Give yourselves deadlines, and stick to them. Choose publications, editors, agents, and publishing houses that look promising, and then make a plan for when you will submit to them. Then, mail those submissions by those dates. Be your own worst boss…the one you are afraid of telling that you missed the deadline. And re-evaluate your work and your plan regularly – each day, each week, each month. Plan your work, and work your plan.

Thank you all for participating in Write Nonfiction in November 2008 – both participants, readers and guest bloggers. Please feel free to leave me comments about how your projects this month have panned out or to email me at cpywrtcom@aol.com. I’m happy to simply hear from you or to answer questions. Also, if you have topics you’d like to suggest for future blog posts during the year of during next November, please send them along.

If you’d like more information on me or my services, please check out my website at www.copywrightcommunications.com.

I’ve enjoyed writing this blog and learning from my guest bloggers. If you did, too, please don’t forget to cast a vote for Write Nonfiction in November as one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers by going to writersdig@fwpubs.com. Write “101 Best Websites” in the subject line. Then, place the link to this blog – www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com - in the body of the email. If you want to add why you like the blog and the challenge, that’s helpful. If not, just send the link.

And come back next year for the 2009 challenge and next month for a little taste of what we experienced here during the past 30 days. Thanks again for joining me.

Happy and productive nonfiction writing!

Building Platform and Promoting Books on the Internet

On this, the second to last day of Write Nonfiction in November, I’d like to devote a blog posting to how to build your platform and promote books on the Internet. The Internet offers a vast resource of free promotional tools, if we, as writers, only know how to use them – and actually use them.

I was speaking with a POD publisher the other day who told me that she can’t get her authors to do enough promotion for their books. Not only will they not build platform before their books come out, they won’t do it afterward either. I have discovered that a lot of authors are interested in hearing about platform building, but they just don’t want to do the work.  Here’s the deal, folks: As nonfiction writers, if you want to publish a book, the only way to get it sold (either to a publishing house or to actual readers) is to promote yourself and build a platform. Period. Platform and promotion = books sold. There’ s no way around this fact.

Before I even begin telling you what to do, I’m going to broach the topic that always comes up at the end: How much time will all of this take you? A lot. I know you’d rather be writing. I would, too. But, in fact, I spend about 80 percent of each week on promotion and platform building activities I’m going to tell you about…and there are so many more I could be doing as well (such as going out and speaking before live audiences). You have to do it, though. So, stop fussing. Stop procrastinating. Stop saying, “I just want to write.” The days when writers could just write have passed.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here are my top five tips for promoting yourself and your book and building platform on the Internet.

Tip #1: Write articles for ezines and distribute them in ezine directories.  Plenty of ezines exist for each subject niche. You can easily find these by doing a Google search. Most don’t pay writers, but a few will offer payment, and if they don’t know you are being paid with the fact that the online publication will include your author’s bio and links to your website or locations where readers can buy your book on line. This will increase traffic to your website, where hopefully you have ways to capture their email addresses (like with a newsletter sign up), or result in book sales.

Beyond individual ezines specifically related to your subject matter, I suggest you sign up for specific ezine directory services. These tend to be services for which you pay on a monthly basis or each time you post an article. (I have listed several ezine directory services I recommend in my ebook, Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time -scroll down the home page to find it at a reduced price through the month of December.) The benefit to using these services comes in the fact that rather than submitting your article to 20 ezines individually, these directories submit them for you to many more than that. Plus, your articles remain in the directory and are available for ezines to find at any time in the future. My articles and essays have been picked up and used by an assortment of publications all over the world. This gives me enormous exposure. Each time someone publishes one of my articles, my bio (including the links to my website) is published along with it. This sends more traffic to my website.

Tip #2: Comment on Other People’s Blogs and Articles: By leaving comments here and there on the Internet, you let people know who you are and what you do, while also letting them know where to find you fi they want more information. If, for instance, you are a medical expert writing a book on medicine, you would want to comment on other blogs about medicine – in particular the type of medicine about which you write. Each time you leave a comment, anyone who clicks on your name gets sent to your website. There they discover more about you…maybe they read your blog and subscribe; maybe they see that you have a book for sale; maybe they notice you’ll be speaking in their hometown and decide to come hear you and purchase a book there. 

You can take advantage of the chance to leave comments by finding articles that relate to your writing projectsand that have been published and are available on line. A friend of mine has gotten a lot of traffic to her blogs and website in this way.

Tip #3: Use Google Alerts to help you find out when you need to leave a comment.The best way to discover when you should be leaving a comment somewhere online is to set up Google alerts to notify you each day of articles and blogs that relate to the subjects about which you write. Then you can look at these alerts and decide which ones are worth your time and energy. You can also set up an alert for you name.

Tip #4: Take time for social networking:  Sign up for Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace and use them. I was a member of LinkedIn for a long time and didnt’ get much out of it until I joined a few groups and participated in the discussions going on there. Then suddenly I started seeing these people going to my website and commenting on my blogs or offering to link with me in other ways. I recently joined Facebook, and I’m thrilled at the result. I have been able to form groups of friends in many circles related to my book projects. I already called on several people to help me promote something for a friend, and it worked great. I’ll be sure to do the same when it comes time to promote my books. Plus, you always have a presence on Facebook if you are using it. And that’s really important.

Tip #5: Review competing or competitive books on Amazon.com.  Okay, there’s a whole art to this, but let me just say that by reviewing books that are similar to the book you are about to publish or have published or are writing, you let readers know you and your book exists.  Again, you can send them to your website and hopefully capture their email address or at least make them a unique visitor.

More and more books are being published on the topic of promoting your self and your books on the Internet. Find a book that speaks to you. Read up. Then, take the time to do what you can on line. It’s cheap. You can’t get better than free. All you are spending is your time, but it will be worth it. Then use the paid services, like a PR pro, when you really need them.

I can tell you this: Using these tips, in about two years I built my website traffic from almost zero to between 3,500 and 5,000 visitors (2,000-2,700 unique visitors) per month.  (I attribute a small amount of this growth also to my monthly appearances over the last 11 months on Conversations with Mrs. Claus.) I see the difference in how many visitors I get by how many of these tips I employ each month. That’s how I know they work.

Since the Internet offers so many opportunities to promote yourself and build your platform, I asked Linda Lee to add a five more tips to my list. After all, she taught me a lot of what I know! If you recall, Linda offers website and blog coaching and consulting services as well as custom website development. The following information is just a bit of what you’ll find in the book she’s writing, You have a Website, Now What?

Tip #6: Find online “communities” that share your passion or interests. This can be a forum or a blog network, like the Moms Club, or Blogher or Red Room. There are thousands of choices out there. This is where you find readers. Whether your passion is writing, gardening, health, fishing, animals, politics, spirituality, there is an online community for those topics. Participate in those arenas. People will get to know you and want to hear from you. This will translate to readers for your site.

Tip #7: Network. As you are reading other peoples site, you can start to network with them. Leave comments and build a relationship. Ask them if they would want to “guest” blog on your blog. On your blogroll, link to other blogs you enjoy and recommend. Search engines love back links. Focus on the smaller bloggers rather then fighting for attention with the A list.

Tip #8: Participate in some of the newer social media sites. Right now the new kid on the block is YahooBuzz. I highly recommend you join and start using it. Then there is Digg, Stumbleupon, Friendfeed, and many others.

Tip #9: Use your a newsletter. Use your newsletter mailing list to promote a website article or blog post you have written. Only do this with your most relevant articles and posts. Encourage your readers to forward your email to a friend by inserting a button that will easily allow them to forward your email. Also be sure to invite them to leave you a comment on your blog.

Tip #9: Include email signatures. In addition to your website address, add a little line about your latest article or post and make it clickable so people can just click through to read your latest work. To see how to add a signature file to your email go here.

Linda concludes with the following advice: “All this can feel overwhelming at times. You may feel stupid or inept. You aren’t. Trust me, the Internet is huge and most people have the same feelings at one time or another. What I have found over the years is that you must stay focused. Don’t let yourself get sidetracked on other sites when you are working on your items. You can bookmark things and come back to them later.

“You are just as able and competent to promote yourself and participate in this online world as the next guy. Believe in yourself. Good luck and have fun!”

About Linda Lee

Linda Lee is a writer, speaker, educator, and website designer. Available for consulting and coaching, she helps people launch blogs and websites and trains then in how to get traffic to their sites and to maximize their website presence with the use of blogging and search engine optimization of their websites. Linda is passionate about empowering people to take charge of their computer, showing clients with laughter and enthusiasm that they can make it work for them. This explains Linda’s slogan: “Don’t Let Your Computer Outsmart You.” Linda is co-president of the Women’s National Book Association’s San Francisco Chapter and a speaker and volunteer coordinator for the San Francisco Writers Conference.

http://www.askmepc-webdesign.com

http://www.smartwomenstupidcomputers.com

 

 

For information on my teleseminars, Why Every Author Needs a Platform and How to Build one on the Internet or How to Build a Platform One Article at a Time, please check out my teleseminar schedule here. Also, for information on my ebook, Using the Internet to Build Your Platform One Article at a Time you can check out the page on this blog, click on the link above, or go to www.copywrightcommunications.com. I’m also available to give talks on these and other topics related to nonfiction writing and platform building.

Don’t forget, if you like this blog, please vote Write Nonfiction in November one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers by going to writersdig@fwpubs.com. Write “101 Best Websites” in the subject line. Then, place the link to this blog – www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com - in the body of the email. If you want to add why you like the blog and the challenge, that’s helpful. If not, just send the link.