As a woman writer, do you struggle with self-doubt? If you do, you’re in good company. Female writers are almost always paralyzed by self-doubt, self-criticism, and fear – even the most successful published, most well-read authors. I don’t think male writers struggle with the same self-doubts. Here’s what Lisa Bloom writes in Think: Straight Talk [...]
Need inspiration and courage to keep writing? Heed the great authors of the days of yore. These writing tips and quips are from Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (he wrote the classic The Great Gatsby). This month on Quips and Tips, I’m featuring quips from mothers who weren’t well-behaved and (as always) practical tips for [...]
You don’t need 20 or even 10 ways to use social media to attract blog readers – you just need a few “best practices.” Here, Honor Clement-Hayes describes how to get people to read what you’ve written. “How are you expecting people to find you?” she asks. “If you don’t have at least a blog, [...]
Your hands are full doing what you love (writing, creating products, running your business) – you have no time to market your books and brand online! It’s time to hire a social media marketer. Here’s what an author says: “I’ve read a million ‘how to’s’ about social media, and have spent a ton of time [...]
These tips for getting published are from a panel of writers, literary agents, and editors who answered questions from a roomful of eager writers at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference (phew – how’s that for a run-on sentence!). Before the tips, a quip: “If the doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I [...]
The main reason your blog isn’t making money is probably because your traffic isn’t high enough – you don’t have enough readers clicking away on advertisements. But, traffic isn’t everything! You can make big bucks even if you only have a few hundred readers a day, depending on where your ads are and what they [...]
You write an article for an editor – after agreeing on a fee – and the editor leaves the magazine. How do you get paid for that article? Here’s what one blogger says: “I was commissioned to write two articles by a publishing company for their new magazine, which is launching this month. After agreeing [...]
My writing skills improved dramatically when I freelanced for Reader’s Digest, because the editor would go over every sentence with me. She’d call me up and we’d analyze my articles – and I’d learn what Reader’s Digest readers were looking for, what editors want from writers, and even how to pitch future articles. Most editors [...]
It’s a conundrum: you can’t sell your articles because you haven’t been published, and you can’t get published because you haven’t sold anything yet! It’s similar to getting a job in many fields: you can’t get hired without experience, and you can’t get experience without working. What’s a writer to do? The worst part is [...]
A reader recently asked if she should write for free for a website, and give up copyright of the article. Here’s her dilemma: “I volunteered to write an article for a website for free, assuming that I would at least get to retain rights to the article and pitch it to other websites. Come to [...]
