Lisa Bloom, author of Think. And yes – she doubts herself sometimes!

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 for Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World:

“One of the best things about men is their confidence, their rightness, their ability to go with their gut and produce,” says Rochelle Schieck, founder of Qoya. “I rarely overhear men in cafes talking about how differently they could have or should have done something.”

Bloom is quoting Schieck, who also says: “One of the most paralyzing things for a woman is her doubt. Do I have the right job? Did I pick the right partner? Are these the right shoes? Did I pick the right place to go on vacation? Doubt is like an anchor that keeps women rooted in murky waters of disapproval.”

What do you doubt about yourself as a female writer? I doubt my Quips and Tips blogs every day. I have a vision for them – which I haven’t even fully admitted to myself – and yet I doubt I’ll succeed.

Here’s why you (WE!) need to deal with your doubts as a writer:

“Self-doubt brings fear, such as the fear of failure, of the dark, of being out of control, of not being good enough…Doubt brings mistrust, which appears real, even though it may have no real substance. It arises when the ego is threatened or undermined. Such doubt creates worry, nervous disorders, and even paranoia. It is the enemy of real happiness.” – from Why You Should Never Doubt Yourself.

How can you write articles, books, blog posts, or ebooks if you’re plagued with fear, darkness, and self-doubt?

You can’t.

3 Tips for Increasing Your Confidence as a Woman and as a Writer

Determine what you want to write

What are your writing goals? What would you do if you weren’t paralyzed by doubt? Do you want to get your book published, start a blog, make money as a writer, find a literary agent, write your first novel, pen your memoirs?

The first step to shaking off your “doubt paralysis” is to figure out what you really want to do as a writer.

I really want my Quips and Tips blogs to succeed! Which, to me, means I want to keep making money blogging. I earned almost $60,000 last year, and yet I doubt I can do it again in 2013.

I am a woman writer, and I am plagued with self-doubt. Which is why I wrote 13 Tips for Writing More Confidently – Starting With Stephen King when I first started blogging – to help me cope with my own doubts as a woman writer.

Stay connected to your Creator

To overcome my self-doubt and stop being paralyzed, I’m praying over my Quips and Tips blogs every morning. I will follow my heart and soul, and let God take these blogs where He will. I’m focusing less on making money blogging, and more on writing posts that bring light, hope, and love to the internet.

What’s your source of energy, peace, light, hope, love, and self-compassion? This is how to stop being paralyzed by doubt: spend time every day connecting to whatever it is that gives you strength and confidence. You don’t need to have confidence in yourself – God knows I don’t!

You need only have confidence in something Greater than you. Let that increase your self-confidence and help you cope with the doubts you have as a writer.

But don’t “just” pray or meditate your doubts away! Read 5 Ways to be a More Confident Writer, Blogger, or Freelancer.

Create a writing schedule – and sticking to it

The key is to find the balance between creating a plan that will move you towards your writing goals, and being open to changing your goals/plan/schedule if the situation (or your Source) warrants it.

A schedule or plan will take you past paralysis and doubt, and into action and goals. What’s your plan, man?

For example, I created my Quips and Tips blogs – as well as a weekly blogging schedule – but now I’m finding myself more drawn to the idea of writing about whatever my Creator brings forward.

Let yourself doubt yourself as a writer, but take it to your Creator. Let your fears and self-doubts be washed away. Let your confidence increase as you renew your mind and soul with hope, love, faith, and the confidence that your writing – your books, blog posts, magazine articles, memoir – will unfold exactly the way it’s meant to.

For more ways to cope with the paralysis doubt brings all writers – even published authors, and even men! – read How to Increase Writing Confidence – Grow the Skin of a Rhino.

What do you think – are women writers more likely to doubt themselves than male writers?

The post For Doubtful Women Writers – 3 Tips for Increasing Your Confidence appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald

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 solving problems.

Today, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald have commandeered my attention. I’m reading The Great Gatsby for not one but two book clubs, and the introduction contains a metaphorical ton of inspiration, hope, and courage for writers who are empty and dry. Or bored and tired. Or both.

An un-encouraging, de-motivating quip from Zelda

“By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future.” – Zelda Fitzgerald.

What does this mean to you? To me, it reeks of despair and helplessness! I hear Zelda saying that by the time we’re smart and old enough to figure out where we want to go in life, it’s too late.

I’d rather wrap myself in George Eliot’s quip: “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

But maybe Zelda was speaking her own truth about her own life.

Here’s what PBS says: “Perhaps if Zelda had focused on just one form of artistic expression, she would have found her own success and fame independent of her marriage to a famous author. Her accomplishments are still impressive, especially when one takes the context of her life into consideration. As an icon of the Jazz Age, she struggled against her traditional southern upbringing and its societal constraints to create a new, independent identity not just for herself, but for all American women.” – from PBS – Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Biographies.

Zelda pursued ballet, writing, and painting. She was very artistic and creative – but she didn’t pursue one thing single-mindedly. She was incredibly talented, though, and hugely influential in Scott Fitzgerald’s writing. In the introduction to Gatsby,  Scott said he had a bad habit of “referring everything to Zelda.” She provided much of the material for his novels and short stories throughout their relationship; he “frequently quoted her and her letters directly, using her words as the voice for several of his female characters” (quote from PBS).

What writing tips, inspiration, and courage can you pull from the late great Zelda? Think. Write your thoughts below.

Sometimes it’s too much work to do the work! If you want more clarity and direction from published writers, read Writing Quips and Tips From Famous Authors.

Writing tips from F. Scott Fitzgerald

Did you know Fitzgerald was disappointed by The Great Gatsby’s book sales? His novel sold less than half of what he hope (he had expressed a hope for 75,000 sales, and had sold far less than that when he died). He blamed the failure of his book on a bad title and no important female characters in the book.

Scott Fitzgerald said his bad habits included laziness, word consciousness, and self-doubt. Sound familiar? That’s me and you, fellow scribes. We struggle with the same things, don’t we? If you’re lazy, read my tips for lazy writers. Scott would approve.

This photo of the Fitzgeralds’ grave reminds me that life is short, and NOW is all we have.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing that your die has been cast, your future set, and you’ll never achieve your writing goals! Stay focused and single minded, accept that discouragement and rejection are part of every writer’s life.

If you tend to get distracted from your goals, read How to Stay Focused on What Matters.

If you have no writing goals, read Examples of SMART Goals for Writers.

Then turn off your wireless connection and write whatever you’ve been called to write! Trust your heart, soul, and fingers to steer you the right way.

The post Writing Tips and Quips From the Great Fitzgeralds appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

How do you attract readers to your blog? (image by GRwitters, via flickr)

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, you’re pretty much putting all your faith in the outside world connecting to your words by telepathy. Sorry doll, it’s just not going to happen. You need to get promoting your product (which is you!).”

For me, marketing my Quips and Tips blogs is the most difficult part of blogging. I love writing and tweaking the face of my blogs, but using social media to attract readers is definitely my downfall.

What about you – how much time do you spend marketing your blog on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or LinkedIn? Have you experimented with these platforms – do you know what works best for your blog?

4 Most Popular Ways to Attract Readers to Your Blog

~ Guest Post ~ Honor Clement-Hayes

Getting published isn’t the be-all, end-all of writing, but sometimes it’s really hard to believe that. You struggle to put pen to paper around working 9 to 5, and then you struggle to get anyone to read it.

Waiting around for I-D magazine to call isn’t really a viable option, so you need to be making some moves on your own. Yeah, it’s a tough life, but there are things you can do to make committing to being a writer an easier life choice.

I’ve got a few tips on getting your work out there, to at least be seen and hopefully start attracting some valuable feedback. No one else is going to promote you if you don’t promote yourself first! Think about it, if you’d just invented a life-changing product, would you leave it in your spare bedroom to be rambled about at the pub after too many glasses of Pimm’s?

If you truly believe in your writing, you do believe it could change lives. Therefore you owe it to yourself and THE WORLD to get it out there. The following platforms are the perfect way to start doing just that…

WordPress

WordPress is not only easy to use (ready-made templates, good forums, simple analytics) it also has a huge community around it. By using ‘tags’ cleverly to describe what your post is about, you can attract followers with similar interests.

For instance, when I write about blogging or online marketing, I usually tag ‘writing, young writer, online marketing, blogging’ or similar. Think about what your ideal reader would be looking for – would they be happy to find your blog from searching these tags?

Twitter

It’s a bone of contention, sure. Lots of writers and bloggers may scorn this completely, but it’s a fact that Twitter is an excellent platform for promotion and networking. Each time you post a blog you can share it on Twitter and ‘hashtag’ it so other writers can find it, or even direct it at a person or company that you think might want to look at it.

I’ve found lots of great contacts through Twitter, including a guy I consider to be my copywriting mentor. I’ve also met a fashion journalist who regularly Tweets insider tips on internship opportunities and events that I would otherwise miss. Now, tell me that isn’t priceless.

Pinterest

If you’re publishing blogs or even getting your work featured elsewhere online, you need to keep a tidy and attractive portfolio. I’ve found that Pinterest is the best way to do this for a writer because it’s a graphic layout rather than a boring list. Everything you ‘Pin’ has the potential to circle the globe in seconds. This makes it a good way to attract readers to your blog.

The best way to find out how to use Pinterest is to just use it. You can view my Pinterest portfolio here – I use it as a visual extension of my CV so that potential employers have a database of links to my work. Imagine being able to hand over that instead of pieces of paper or clumsy hyperlinks all over the place!

LinkedIn

If you’re interested in writing non-fiction or opinion posts, LinkedIn is a serious platform where you can set up a profile as a professional writer. If I get a white paper (informative piece) published, I usually share it on LinkedIn so that my business contacts can see it. This also adds to your online CV so that potential employers can see your writing style.

The world of online marketing is your opportunity to show people all the stuff you might not usually be able to. How often have you met someone potentially useful but not had enough time to pitch, or kicked yourself for forgetting an important point afterwards?

With an excellent online profile you can give the best of yourself at all times, leaving you to the important work: writing!

If this is overwhelming, read How to Hire a Social Media Marketer.

Quick Tips

• Twitter – Use hashtags to make your content searchable and @ people who might find it interesting
• Pinterest – Pin your article or blog’s image into a Pinterest portfolio and use keywords to caption it
• LinkedIn – Publish white papers on LinkedIn so that a different audience sees them
• Facebook – Share your published work or blogs on a business page and on your own personal page

What are your tips on attracting blog readers? There are so many sites where you can submit or showcase your work, so let’s get sharing!

Honor Clement-Hayes is a copywriter specialising in digital marketing. She also writes for the GKBC writing academy, edits a culture magazine called HOWL and is starting to get involved in PR.

She also wrote 10 Most Common Grammatical Errors – and How to Fix Them, here on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

The post 4 Most Popular Ways to Attract Readers to Your Blog appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

Who will be your social media warrior? (This is an Inca warrior – I don’t think he knew much about social media).

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 creating the array of Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Linkedin pages. Plus, of course, my own website and WordPress blog. I’m finding I just don’t have the time to do this. This could be a full time job…I could literally spend 10 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, doing all this stuff, trying to make connections, updating the sites, writing blogs, etc. But I have to actually CREATE new material, and EDIT that material, which in itself I barely have time to do. I need to get help. I want to hire someone to promote my books and writing. The goal is that people would buy my book (via Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or my own website) and I would get my name and writing promoted in my niche. My goal isn’t to sell the most books, but to get my art into the hands of the most people. Where can I of get a list of reputable people or groups who will publicize and promote for me, so I can get back to writing?”

Hey – that’s where I’m at, too! I want to write for my Quips and Tips blogs (and continue making money – I earned over $60,000 from blogging in 2012!). It’s taking me a long time to realizing the importance of social media to market my blogs.

Just yesterday I created a Quips and Tips Facebook page…but I cringe at the thought of promoting my posts and ebooks. Plus, there’s the time and energy it takes! I’d rather write.

You’re in the same boat, right? Else you wouldn’t be here. Or you have tips for hiring a social media marketer for writers – and if you do, please share them in the comments section below. Leave your website link and a brief bio along with your tip.

Here are a few tips for hiring someone to do social media stuff for you…

The bad news: you have to stay connected to your social media sites

Here’s a tip I was disheartened to find:

“Although Alexandra Samuel (Vice-President of Social Media at Vision Critical) runs a firm that helps people manage their social media strategies, she doesn’t recommend outsourcing social media management. Even though hiring an outside firm to develop a strategy can work well, it’s almost always better to have someone inside the company run the actual social media feeds.” – from How to hire the right social media manager in The Globe and Mail, by Omar El Akkad.

The more I think about it, though, the more I understand it. Your internal employees have their fingers on the pulse, and often know what and what not to spread around. External social media marketers don’t have the insider knowledge that you do – and they don’t love your business the way you do!

You need to stay connected to your social media sites and profiles. You need to carve time out of your day to connect with your readers.

The good news: the social media experts abound!

The best way to hire anyone to do anything is by word-of-mouth. If you’re a writer, connect with authors who have social media marketers. Who do they recommend?

I’m not sure what professional accreditation there is to “be” a social media expert. This is bad news, I think, because anyone can call him or herself an expert. I don’t know where to get a list of reputable people or groups who will publicize and promote your books and other types of writing.

The bad news: some social media marketers are really bad at their job

Like with any profession, there are some “bad” apples in the bunch. I’ve never hired a social media marketer, but I know I’d be one of those bad apples because I’m not detail oriented. I’m not interested in finding creative ways to market my blogs or ebooks, and I just don’t like to market myself or anyone else.

Before you hire someone to promote your books and writing, read 10 Questions You Must Ask When Hiring a Social Media Consultant by Kim Lachance Shandrow, over at Entrepreneur.com.

Are you an introvert? I am – and maybe that’s why I don’t like promoting my blogs. If you’re an introvert too, you might like Networking Tips for Introverted People on Quips and Tips for Life’s Ups and Downs.

What do you think, fellow scribes? Got any tips for hiring a social media expert for us? 

The post How to Hire a Social Media Marketer appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

How do you get your book published? By finding your life purpose.

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 wouldn’t brood,” said Isaac Asimov. “I’d type a little faster.”

Passion + Talent = Purpose.

Is getting your book published the purpose of your life? Maybe that’s too superficial a purpose, like making money. Your life purpose needs to be deep and meaningful, such as telling your story or helping others overcome obstacles and reach their goals.

If you establish your life purpose, you’re more likely to get your book published because all your energy will be focused and true.

One way to get your book published is to read as much as you can! Books like The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully can change how you see the publishing world, and increase your chances of success.

How Do You Get Your Book Published?

This is a transcript from a “Question and Answer” session with writers, literary agents, and editors at the Surrey International Writers Conference. The questions are from the audience of writers; the answers are from various people on the panel.

How do writers get editorial feedback after receiving a form rejection?

You’re not likely to get specific feedback because agents and editors don’t have time. You’re more likely to get feedback at a writer’s conference, where you can talk to a real agent or editor.

Don’t let rejection get you down: it happens a lot that a manuscript simply doesn’t speak to a particular agent or editor.

How important is for writers to have blogs?

Some publishing houses encourage established writers to have blogs, but it’s less necessary as a new writer. Blogs can come in later. They’re very valuable for nonfiction authors, and increasingly valuable for Young Adult authors.

However, my experience has shown me that building a writer’s platform is crucial for getting your book published — and a blog is part of a writer’s platform.

What are the major mistakes that writers do when trying to get their book published?

Half of the submissions are submitted too soon – the writing isn’t up to par, the writer isn’t thinking professionally, the manuscript reads like a first draft, or the writer doesn’t submit manuscripts the way publishers prefer.

Don’t sent unsolicited email mass queries, because they’ll be deleted immediately. That’s not how to get your book published!

What will take writers out of the game permanently?

If you’re a writer who publicly disrespects publishing houses, agents, editors, fellow writers, or readers, then your writing career will be cut short. If you’re impossible to work with, you won’t get far in the writing and publishing business.

Do writers need to hire a professional editor to get their book published?

Eventually, you’ll have to recognize whether your book is ready on your own. You need to build skills to write your own novels and increase your confidence in your writing – and the only way to do that is to edit yourself! It’s not worth a writer’s money to hire a professional editor. If you do hire an editor, make sure they’re good.

Are query services effective for writers?

No! Never hire a service to write your queries.

Should writers compare their book to others in a query letter?

Knowing the similar books on the market gives publishing houses an idea of whether it sold in the past (this can indicate how well it’ll do in the future). Knowing what’s out there also shows what you know about the market, and how much research you’ve done.

However, the Simon & Shuster editor did say she doesn’t want to hear about similar books on the market or your marketing plans. She has a strong handle on what’s already out there.

Do writers need literary agents?

Writers don’t need agents to get published, but agents can walk writers through problems, review contracts, and ease the business end of things. Agents are a great buffer. Writers without agents do make a publisher or agent’s job harder.

If you’re not sure if you should try to find an agent, read Do Writers Need Literary Agents? Tips From a Bestselling Author.

What can published authors do to help market their books?

Marketing your book online is important, such as to social networks or bloggers. Contact other authors of successful books to write blurbs for your book. Marketing your own books is especially important for non-fiction book writers, such as through teaching community education courses, blogging, attending conferences, conducting workshops, etc.

After your book is published, it’s very important to communicate your marketing efforts to your publisher and editor so they don’t double up on the efforts. Publishers have exact schedules, and writers need to adhere to them.

Also, use your email signature line to promote your book or blog. People have to see your info seven times before they buy your book or products!

What do you think, fellow scribes? Will these tips help you get your book published?

Are you struggling with motivation to write? Read The #1 Reason You Haven’t Written Your Book.

The post How to Get Your Book Published – Advice From Publishing Pros appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

if your blog doesn’t make money, you’re not alone. But don’t steal other people’s blog posts!!! (image via Shareheads.com – thank you!)

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 look like. And, how bold you are as a blogger.

“If you decide to generate income from your blog, then don’t be shy about it,” says Steve Pavlina, self-help guru and blogger. “If you’re going to put up ads, then really put up ads. Don’t just stick a puny little ad square in a remote corner somewhere.”

Despite being a personal development guru who motivates millions of people every year, Pavlina isn’t all optimism and positivity! He says 99% of people who try to generate serious income from their blogs will fail.

This may be because there are no barriers to blogging – anyone can start a blog within a few minutes. The lowest, least respectable bloggers steal other bloggers’ content. Actually earning money from your blog requires time, perseverance, consistency, and a healthy dose of “web savvy.”

Here’s a tip from the Google gurus:

“Do the ads draw your attention, without being garish? If you were a reader, would you notice and read them, or do your eyes glide right past them? Try to find a balance between ads that overwhelm your content and ads that your users won’t even see.” ~ from the Google Adsense blog.

If you’re not sure about your ads, ask your friends and family to give you their opinion. Encourage them to be as honest as possible – and don’t get mad when they are!

6 Reasons Your Blog Doesn’t Make Money

The design of your blog doesn’t match your monetization strategy

How have you decided to monetize your blog? If you’re like me, you have multiple sources of income (eg, Google Adsense, Amazon links, affiliate programs, private ad sales) – but you may also have a main source of income.

Make sure your blog theme and design supports your main source of income or monetization strategy.

If, for instance, you want to earn money from reader donations, put your donation button front and center. If you want to earn money by creating a huge email list, then put that email submission form right under readers’ noses. If you want to earn money by highlighting Amazon or eBay products, then work the most effective ads into your blog posts and sidebars. Again, look at how successful bloggers monetize their sites – and what type of themes they have – and apply those strategies to your blog.

Your post titles aren’t optimized properly

If your post titles and content are too clever and original, you won’t attract search engine traffic. This isn’t just about SEO – it’s about attracting the right readers to your articles.

“You may need to balance the needs of yourself, your visitors, search engines, those who link to you, social bookmarking sites, advertisers, affiliate programs, and others,” says Pavlina. “Seemingly minor decisions like what to title a web page are significant.  In coming up with the title of this article, I have to take all of these potential viewers into consideration. I want a title that is attractive to human visitors, drives reasonable search engine traffic, yields relevant contextual ads, fits the theme of the site, and encourages linking and social bookmarking. And most importantly I want each article to provide genuine value to my visitors.”

If you struggle with titles, read How to Write Effective Titles for Magazine Articles and Blog Posts.

You haven’t found the right SEO balance

Attracting organic search engine optimization (SEO) traffic that results in clicky clicky is one of the best ways to make money blogging. SEO traffic doesn’t rely on your Tweets or community interaction – so if you take a vacation, your blog should keep chugging along (though it eventually needs maintenance or it will run out of gas).

If you want to build long-term income from your blog, don’t rely on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Digg, etc. Give your blog legs by posting strong content that people find and spread around.

You’re not internet savvy

The more tricks and tips you learn about web writing and the online trade, the more money you’ll make.

Here’s a list of the basic, most foundational bloggy things you need to know about:

• blog publishing software
• HTML/CSS
• blog comments (and comment spam)
• RSS/syndication
• full versus partial feeds
• feed aggregators
• pings and trackbacks
• blog carnivals
• search engines
• search engine optimization (SEO)
• page rank
• social bookmarking
• tagging (and how and why it doesn’t matter to SEO)
• contextual advertising
• affiliate programs
• traffic statistics
• email marketing

It takes months (years!) to learn all of this…and some it won’t make much difference to making money blogging.

One of the most important blogging tips I know is to stay in touch with Google’s blog, videos, and webmaster program. When I first started making money, I read tons of tips from other bloggers…and ignored Google. But, Google shares a goldmine of good, solid information! Stay connected with Google, my friends.

Your advertising doesn’t match your posts (a main reason blogs don’t make money)

If your ads don’t match your content, you won’t make money. For example, when I put mortgage and debt freedom ads on my articles about saving marriages, I get no clicky clicky. Make sure your article and advertisements are as closely related as possible.

This is easier for niche blogs. A wedding blog, for instance, is the perfect place to advertise the gazillion wedding products and services that merchants sell! If your blog is general and thus difficult to monetize (like my Quips and Tips for Achieving Your Goals), remember how effective cross-marketing can be. For example, if you have a “cooking with garlic” blog, you can advertise breath fresheners and body deodorants in addition to garlic presses, garlic books, and garlic bulbs. Cross-marketing.

By the way, that’s the beauty of contextual advertising, such as Google Adsense: it automatically matches the ads to your content and your readers’ search terms (though admittedly, the ads aren’t always perfectly matched with content, as you may have noticed!).

You picked the wrong type of blog or the wrong type of reader

There are certain blogs – such as entertainment, celebrity, recipes, and news – that just don’t make money.

David Risley, creator of Confessions of a Six Figure Blogger, says, “Entertainment blogs are tricky to monetize because the audience is just there for fun. As a collective audience, they have no common problems, goals or frustrations. Plus, people expect online entertainment to be free.”

If you’re not helping your reader solve problems, achieve goals, or avoid pain, then you might have trouble making money blogging. Your blog niche is important – and so is finding the balance between a topic you love and a topic that attracts readers.

Also, if your niche is soaked with bloggers (like, for instance, the “writers sharing their journey” niche), you might have a lot of competition. This competition can make it more difficult to float to the top – but not impossible, so don’t let fear or doubt slay you.

For more tips on making money blogging, read Will My Blog Be Popular and Can I Make Money With It?

Are you making as much money blogging as you thought you would? Don’t be surprised if you’re not.

The post 6 Reasons Your Blog Doesn’t Make Money appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

To get paid for your writing, you have to have dogged perseverance, doggone it!

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 on a price, researching the articles, doing the work and sending it over to them, the editor then informed me she was leaving and to follow up with the new editor. I have now been chasing up this work for several months, with no results. I am thinking my next step is to just invoice the company. It is criminal that they can commission me this work which took me time, effort and money then just disappear. What would you say the best course of action is? Create my own invoice and send it to them? I’m not a professional writer, I was a blogger who accepted these writing commissions after being contacted by the editor.”

The first thing to remember is that publishing companies are businesses. And, editors are not managers, accountants, or sometimes even the decision makers in their own department.

Here are a few more tips for getting paid for a commissioned article after the editor leaves the building…

Remember that this is normal in the publishing world

When editors move from job to job, they often bring their own stable of writers with them. They know the freelancers they’ve worked with in the past, and almost nobody likes change. Especially when their reputations are at stake.

Further, remember what it’s like in a new job! You’re learning the ropes, discovering boundaries, learning people’s names, figuring out what you can get away with. When you’re new, you generally don’t try to get away with much. I suspect this new editor is really busy in the new position, and his or her lack of response is due to being overwhelmed.

Contact the company on social media

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, use those tools to contact the editor or the marketing department of the company. Publicly tweet or post on their Facebook timeline, asking what your next steps should be.

In my experience, companies and institutions are VERY agreeable when it comes to public tweets and Facebook messages. They tend to respond quickly and positively.

Dig up your emails from the original editor

Where’s the proof that the editor hired you to write the articles? That’s probably the most important piece. Find the emails that state your agreement, fee, article topics, date due, and word length.

If you haven’t kept or can’t find that original email, don’t worry! It’ll be easier to get paid if you have it, but you might be able to slide through without it.

Also, keep your emails to this current editor.

Create an invoice

It’s super duper easy to make an invoice! Use the standard form on Word or even from the internet. Make sure you include my “must haves” on a freelance writer’s invoice.

On your invoice, include the info that you and the original editor agreed on when he or she commissioned you to write the article. You don’t have to send the original email to the company (yet).

Send the invoice to the accounting department

Since this new editor hasn’t responded, I’d send the invoice directly to the accounting department. I’d also cc the new editor. Give them 60 days to pay you. I know it seems like forever, but it takes big companies forever to move!

You may want to follow up with a phone call or email a week or two after you email your invoice. Confirm that they received it. Always be polite, right? Don’t make them mad at you – but be firm and assertive.

Consider pitching your articles to a different magazine

When you get paid for your articles, confirm in writing if the magazine will publish them. If not, tell them you want to retain copyright. Then, pitch your articles to other magazines, publishers, e-zines, websites, or blogs! Why not reuse your work? There’s nothing wrong with getting paid twice.

If you don’t get paid for these articles, then you’re free to pitch away.

If you try to re-sell your articles, make sure you tell the editor of the magazine that didn’t pay you. It doesn’t matter if he or she responds: just send an email saying that if you don’t hear back from him or her in 30 days, you will retain copyright of your articles and pitch them elsewhere.

What do you think, fellow scribes? Any tips for a blogger who hasn’t gotten paid for an article after the editor leaves the magazine?

If negotiating or asking for money makes you squeamish, read How to Ask for More Money – Tips for Freelance Writers.

The post How Do You Get Paid for an Article After the Editor Leaves? appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

The best way to improve your writing skills is to write…and EDIT! (image by sahlgoode, found via flickr by GKBC)

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 don’t have the time to do this – I was one lucky writer! Though it was painful at times, I have to admit.

Anyway — in this article, you’ll learn several ways to improve your writing skills. It’s written by David Eagle, on behalf of the GKBC Writing Academy.

Here’s the one very important thing I’d add to his tips: EDIT your writing. Don’t just write stuff and file it away. Find someone who writes better than you – better yet, find an editor – and get him or her to tear apart your writing.

10 Ways to Improve Your Writing

Guest Post ~ David Eagle

I work as a freelance writer, creating content for various clients. I also have a blog on my website that I’ve been writing since 2009, which allows me to experiment and develop as a writer in a more unstructured environment.

Like any skill, the more you practise at writing the better you become. I’m going to share with you ten tips that you can use to improve and challenge your writing. These are free, simple and fun things that you can start doing right away…

1. Pick a Word

Open a dictionary at random, take the first word you see and write about it. What feelings and emotions does it evoke in you? This is a great way of inspiring new and original ideas, and adding new words to your vocabulary.

2. Play a Wikipedia Game

Wikipedia has a “random article” feature in the left column of its homepage. Hit the link and let it decide your fate! Try writing about whatever subject it randomly selects. This is another a great way of stepping out of your comfort zone, writing about things you probably know very little about which also helps develop your research skills.

3. Look Around You

Observe and write about what’s going on around you. I get so many ideas just from conversations I’ve overheard in restaurants, on buses or on trains. If you are looking to write fiction then observing situations and characters around you is an excellent exercise. Just don’t get caught staring intensely at people as you write derogatory things about them in your notepad! I am not taking responsibility if you end up in hospital.

4. Record Your Ideas

Make a note of any writing ideas you have, no matter how big or small. Make sure you’ve got something to write or record with at all times: a notepad, voice recorder or mobile phone. Get into the habit of being open to receiving ideas and when they come, record them as soon as you can.

5. Go From Fact to Fiction

Take a news story and then create a fictional story from it. Try and imagine how the situation might affect the lives of a specific character or characters. The characters might be real people or fictional ones. For instance, you might consider the horsemeat scandal from the perspective of a manager of a food company. What’s their story? You decide; invent it.

6. Rewrite Articles

Read a newspaper or magazine article and then write the same article but from a different perspective or in a different style. If the article is in a broad sheet, try and rewrite the article for the tabloid market, or tailor the article for a certain type of audience. This will help give you a broader outlook on stories and get you to think about tailoring your style to suit different clients and audiences.

(Note From Laurie: before you tackle this tip for improving your writing skills, read A Reader’s Digest Editor’s 10 Writing Tips).

7. Write Collaboratively

Writing with other people helps spark ideas, lends different perspectives on style and content, and provides you with valuable experience of working with others. It can also be great fun! Writing forums can be a good place to meet and work with other writers – there is a collaborative writing website called Protagonize where you can do this.

8. Write Reviews

Write about restaurant meals, holidays, shopping experiences or films. Whatever you do and where ever you go, write a review about it. You can keep your thoughts to yourself or post them on a blog, which over time builds up a respectable portfolio of work and online presence!

9. Write a Diary

Writing a diary is considered by psychologists and mental health experts to be very good for your emotional wellbeing. It’s also something straight forward that you can do to practise your writing. Plus, if you become a famous author one day, you’ll be able to sell your diaries and make loads of money!

10. Get Writing Work Experience

Finally, if your aim is to become a professional writer, then having a good portfolio of work is very useful. The GKBC writing academy  gives writers the opportunity to volunteer their writing skills and get some writing experience in return. You are assigned articles which will then be reviewed by an editor who gives you feedback, and get published on various online blogs. It’s a great scheme for new writers.

(Note from Laurie: this is not an endorsement for GKBC – it’s just a possible way to improve your writing skills! It’s an advertorial, I suppose. Why do I feel like I’m selling out?)

Hopefully these tips will help inspire, challenge and improve your writing. Have you got any writing tips or thoughts on the above ideas? Let us know in the comments below.

For more ways to improve your writing, read 6 Best Writing Tips – Besides “Read Lots” and “Show Don’t Tell”.

David Eagle is a freelance writer and blogger. He has written a number of adverts and promotional items for radio.

The post 10 Creative Ways to Challenge and Improve Your Writing appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

The road to building your author bio is this-away…

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 that your author bio shines a spotlight on your lack of experience. It’s like your resume – or at least a snippet of your resume.

Here’s the dilemma:

“What if someone has no credentials, hasn’t written anything impressive, missed out on an education? What if this person has just an obsessive desire, learning as much as he can, and practice with every comment he leaves?” – Craig.

“I’ve been wondering what I can charge once I have proven myself with my “gratis” article that I have been asked to write for a new magazine. Freelance writing sounds like the perfect career to me and I love that you make it out to be so doable. Like Craig, I was wondering what I can put in my bio as I don’t have any published experience as yet. I have a blog but it isn’t quite ready for release to the public yet! Thanks for your help!”- Trish.

Both writers left their comments on How to Write an Author Bio to Accompany Your Byline.

Here’s what I think…

Highlight your non-writing, non-published strengths

What type of freelance writer do you want to be – what’s your speciality? This is a good thing to think about when you’re starting a writing career. Frances Bula is a Vancouver-famous writer and blogger who gave a talk about niche writing; I share her tips in Should You be a Niche Writer? 5 Reasons to Specialize as a Freelancer.

If you’re planning to specialize and write about, say, yoga or women’s fitness, then your short author bio may read “Susan Powter is a yoga junkie (yogi!) whose goal is to hold the firefly pose for four minutes straight.”

Also, remember that you don’t need an author bio to get published. Hundreds of people write magazine articles, newspaper articles, and blog posts – and they’ve never been published before. Their author bio might simply read, “Georgie Kienlen lives in Vancouver, BC.”

Write guest posts for blogs

Yahoo Shine accepts free guest posts – and so do thousands of websites and blogs! Write for some of the more popular ones. I think Yahoo Shine would be a good start, because “Yahoo” is a brand name. You don’t have to mention that you wrote for free!

Here’s an example of an author bio that includes guest posts:

“Honor Ability has written for several online websites and blogs, including Yahoo Shine, Quips and Tips for Successful Writers, and Problogger.”

Writing one or two guest posts or free articles isn’t enough. You need to amass more clips than that! Which leads me to my next tip…

Get writing experience – forget the author bio for now

Writing this made me wonder if creating an author bio should be your focus. I don’t think it should, actually! Getting solid writing experience should be your focus; when you do that, then your author bio will fall into place.

So, instead of fretting about writing a bio when you’ve never been published, focus instead on writing solid pitches, selling or giving away your articles, and compiling a list of 10 websites or blogs that you’re proud to have written for.

Here’s a great article on getting published as a new freelancer, by Jennifer Roland: Need Writing Experience? How to Get Clips and Get Published.

Also — I can’t overstate the importance of reading as much as you can about freelance writing! When I first started out, I read as many books as I could about freelancing. Here’s a good start: Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer by Moira Anderson Allen.

What do you think, fellow scribes? What am I missing?

The post How to Write an Author Bio When You’ve Never Been Published appeared first on Quips and Tips for Successful Writers.

Me in Peru, not contemplating whether writers should write for free.

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 find out that this isn’t the case, they want the rights. So, what would you do in this situation? I think this would be good for experience and portfolio-building, but I don’t like the idea of giving away my articles for free and not being able to retain rights.” – on Best Ways for New Freelance Writers to Start Selling Articles.

My answer depends on how much experience she has, how long it’ll take to write the article, and what type of byline she’ll get. Since she has no experience writing, I think she should write for free and relinquish copyright of the article.

That said, however, if it takes more than three hours to write the article and it involves interviews, research, and/or photos, then I’d negotiate the rights with the publisher or editor. I’d say something like, “I welcome the opportunity to write for you! However, since this article is 1,000 words and involves at least an hour of research, I’d like to retain copyright. Would this work for you?”

Don’t be afraid to negotiate, fellow scribes. The worst they can do is say no.

About your byline: do you get a short bio and link back to your blog or website? This is huge! That’s another thing to negotiate in lieu of pay. If you’ve never written a bio, read How to Write an Author Bio to Accompany Your Byline.

Finally, remember that many websites want fresh content. They don’t want to publish an article that has already been published online. So, even if you retained copyright of your article, you may not be able to get your article published elsewhere. I’ve found it’s more efficient and productive to pitch and write new articles, instead of trying to re-sell old articles (though it depends on the content and age of those old articles – and who I’m trying to sell them to).

5 Reasons to Write for Free

1. You need clips for your portfolio.
2. You need as much writing experience as possible.
3. You will make connections with other readers, writers, and even editors. For instance, Honor wrote 10 Most Common Grammatical Errors – and How to Fix Them for free, and it’s been one of my most popular articles since I published it! Look how many comments she has. That’s the type of experience you need.
4. The website is popular, and your writing will be seen by hundreds of readers (or even thousands!). If the site is a dud, then don’t write for free. And, don’t give up copyright of your article.
5. Most worthwhile careers involve some sort of apprenticeship or internship. For instance, I’m working towards my MSW at UBC. My practicum involves 450 hours of work experience…all for free. I’m trading my time for on-the-job experience, which is invaluable.

I know there are other reasons to write for free – and even to relinquish copyright of your article – but I have a one-hour massage scheduled for 45 minutes from now. I must go.

Anyone have anything to add?

For more info on starting out as a freelancer, read 5 Tips for Making a Living as a Writer.

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