Oh yes, The Story Reading Ape’s “Monday Funnies” with Aunty Acid. As usually, not on a Monday… However, thanks for the giggles, Chris! š
Day: May 9, 2019
9 Pieces of Bad Publishing Advice New Writers Should Ignore ā Written By Anne R Allen
Anne R. Allen provides us with bad publishing advice new writers should ignore. Thanks so much for your advice, Anne. We appreciate it very much.
Social Media is both a boon and a curse to new writers. Online writing groups and forums are an excellent source of insider information on the publishing industryāstuff we once could only find at expensive classes and writersā conferences.
But social media is also a major source of misinformation and dangerously bad advice.
I belong to a lot of Facebook writersā groups where I see newbies ask questions that get a bunch of conflicting responses. Sometimes when I see misinformation, I jump in to correct it, but often I can tell that resistance is futile. Thereās such a wealth of bad advice that I donāt know where to begin.
I know some people can only learn that fire is hot by getting burned. Nothing a more experienced person says will change their minds.
But if you donāt feel the need to jump in the fire, hereās some popular bad advice you can ignore.
Continue reading HERE
Look After Yourself: Self Care For Writers ā Written By Ellen Bard On The Creative Penn
Creatives can suffer from burn-out just as easily as those in any other line of work. Psychologist and author Ellen Bard shares her ideas about what self-care is, why it matters for writers, and how to deal with the obstacles we often face when we think about taking care of ourselves.
__________
How often are you your ābest selfā?
How often are you relaxed, buzzing with creativity, in flow, words of brilliance pouring out of you?
How often are you enthusiastic, energized, and ready to take on the world?
The world moves at a much faster pace than the environment for which humans evolved, and the amount of information and stimuli in our day-to-day keeps on increasing.
In order to juggle the kind of life most indie writers have to ā where being creative needs to be balanced with marketing, social media, family, friends, hobbies and perhaps even a full-time or part-time job ā we need to invest in regular self-care.
Continue reading HERE
Hashtags for Writers ā Written By Dave Chesson
Dave Chesson informs us about hashtags for authors on the ‘Kindlepreneur’ blog. Thank you for your support, Dave.
Hashtags seem to be #inescapable. Like them or loathe them, they are a feature of modern life and are here to stay. But are they useful for you as an author? Can hashtags for writers boost your writing efforts on social media?
I recently explored social media for authors in-depth. However, hashtags for writers is a subject deserving closer treatment because choosing the right hashtag can make your tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram go further.
Youāll know that Iām no believer in āmagic bullet marketingā. If youāre expecting hashtags to do the legwork of marketing your book or writing alone, youāre bound to be disappointed. However, I do feel they can play a valuable, supplemental role in your book marketing.
So what do you need to know about hashtags for writers?
Continue reading HERE
What the New Facebook and Instagram Changes Mean for You – Written By Ari Meghlen
I found an interesting blog post about the new Facebook and Instagram changes on Ari Meghlen’s blog. Thanks so much for the information, Ari!
Facebook has once again made some changes that are rolling out in 2019 with the main change being they want to focus heavily on building relationships and interactions.
This means if you want your Facebook Pageās posts to be viewed by more people you need to really build those connections and avoid some pitfalls. Receiving a few ālikesā wonāt be enough to keep you in front of your readers.
Are you in the loop?
So there have been and will be changes happening on Facebook (and Instagram, since they are owned by Facebook) in 2019. These changes seem to be for Pages, not Profiles.
So if you have an Author Page on Facebook or a Business account on Instagram, you may want to be aware of these changes.
From what Iāve read, the main changes appear to be that there is significantly reduced organic reach for your Posts and Stories.
Also, they are prioritising content based on what they think users actually want to see. We saw a similar change a few years ago with Instagram when they stopped showing updates in chronological order.
Facebook is also tightening up on content especially content that sends people offsite via external links.
Continue reading here
Monday chuckles
I’m posting Bluebird’s “Monday Chuckles” on a Thursday and I think we’re still laughing about them. Thanks for the giggles, Bluebird!
5 Newbie Mistakes that Will KILL a Perfectly Good Story – Written By Kristen Lamb
Kristen Lamb provides us with 5 newbie mistakes that will kill a perfectly good story. I, once again, want to thank Kristen for all the knowledge and experience she constantly shares with us. We appreciate it so much, Kristen!
We all make mistakes, especially when learning anything new. Writing is not immune to process. Contrary to popular belief, writing great stories is HARD.
It takes time, devotion, training, mentorship, blood, sacrifice and the willingness to make a ton of mistakes. This means countless hours and probably years of practice (which also means writing a ton of crappy books/stories).
As I mentioned in the last post, George R.R. Martin didnāt become a legend because of his marketing abilities and mad HootSuite skills.
No, heās a master because heās practiced and honed raw talent until he could create a series thatās become a global phenomenon.
Same with J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, and all the other āgreats.ā They didnāt begin as legends. It took time, practice, and a fair share of ugly drafts and stories.
With practice, we learn what works, what doesnāt, what sizzles and what fizzles. We find, develop and mature our writing voice.
Read the entire blog post here
May & June 2019 Writing Submissions [Writing Contests] – Written By Rachel Poli
Rachel Poli provides us with the May/June 2019 writing contests. Thank you very much for all your efforts to keep us updated, Rachel.
Here is the updated list for May & June 2019 writing submissions. I try to find submissions and contests with no fee (or on the cheaper side at least), which is surprisingly hard. As always, if you know any places that run contests and accept general submissions that are not on my list, please let me know and Iāll check it out to add it.
May 2019
Genre: Fiction, Poetry (list of categories are on website)
Website: Writerās Digest
Deadline: May 6, 2019 (early-bird deadline)
Entry Fee: $20 for Poetry, $30 for manuscript
Prize: Grand ā $5,000
Genre: Nonfiction
Theme: Forgiveness
Website: Chicken Soup
Deadline: May 30, 2019
Entry Fee: N/A
Prize: $200
June 2019
Genre: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Website: Writerās Digest
Deadline: June 3, 2019
Entry Fee: $25 for Poetry, $35 for Manuscript
Prize: Grand ā $5,000
Read the entire blog post here
Six Reasons Nobody Reads Your Blog and How to Fix It – Written By Jenn Hanson-DePaula
On ‘Mixtus Media’ I found an excellent post about blogging mistakes. The article was written by Jenn Hanson-DePaula and I’m sure, I’m not the only one who learns a lot from her advice. Thank you, Jenn.
It doesn’t matter if you write a blog, have a podcast, or produce a video blog – creating quality content for your audience is one of the most important elements of your book marketing.
Providing content is – hands down – the best way to drive readers to your website and give them a chance to learn more about you, your books, and create a deeper connection.
But I hear lots of complaining when it comes to writing a blog or creating content. So many times I hear, “But no one reads it!” “I don’t’ get any comments!” “This is a waste of time!”
I get it – it can be frustrating when you put time into writing a blog post and no one responds. But more often than not, when I look at some of these blogs, they are making one of the following mistakes. And the good news is, these mistakes can be easily fixed.
So letās dig in and fix your problems!
The Wrong Content
When you write a blog post as an author trying to promote a book or to draw attention to their writing, readers will automatically see it as marketing. Itās easy to fall into that habit because, well, we want to promote our book, right?
Continue reading here
