For pro writers, writing fiction, nonfiction and copywriting. Have fun, and become a better writer. Copyright (c) 2004 to 2022, Angela Booth. All rights reserved.
“If I miss one day’s practice, I notice it. If I miss two days’ practice, the critics notice it. If I miss three days’ practice, the public notices it.”
As you may know, I recently consolidated my writing-related blogs to this blog. At the same time, I took down my “angelabooth” name website.
Launched in the late 1990s, the “angelabooth” site went through many iterations over two decades. I couldn’t face the thought of revamping the old site yet again; I wanted to start bright and sparkling and NEW.
Then I had a thought… What if I took you with me as I branded a new “angelabooth” site, installed WordPress and plugins, and created a content plan for it? A behind-the-scenes glimpse into my ideas and thinking.
I could pull back the curtain on other activities too, in writing, marketing, and self-publishing. I hope that that will inspire you in your own writing business.
Trouble was, I didn’t want all my warts-and-all posts too public. Yes, I want to share all my oh no, good grief! and yippee! posts with you, but I don’t want them hanging around on the open web. So, I decided to create a newsletter on Substack.
If you’re already subscribed to my “blog posts you may have missed” newsletter, that will continue, because I’ll be posting here as well as on the new “angelabooth” site.
In this new program you'll discover how to build a new business as a fiction ghostwriter in just seven days. The program includes everything you need. Get started today.
Platform-building is vital for all writers. If you're a freelance writer, your platform will help you to get hired, and if you're writing books, you'll build your readership reader by reader.
To build your platform, you need to become visible online.
I'll bet you're thinking: Oh no -- I don't want to create a website.
Many writers worry about creating websites. They're intimidated by technology, and don't know how to get started. Blogging is even more of a challenge. Writers are worried that blogging takes too much time away from their primary writing.
Create an about.me page (free)
So today, we'll do something very simple to get you started building your platform. You'll just create an about.me page: an online calling card.
Above: my about.me page
This page gives potential clients somewhere to contact you, and if you're writing books, it tells your readers a little bit about you.
Once you develop your own website or blog, you can link to it from your about me page.
It should take you no longer than a few minutes to set up your very own about.me page.
Feeling a little more ambitious? If you are, go ahead and create a free website on wordpress.com. The site is hosted for you, so you don't have to concern yourself with nasty hacks.
Just sign up at wordpress.com, and your new blog will be created in minutes.
This past week was huge fun. Our Memories coaching workshop launched; I'll be sharing the process of "life writing" with more people. I love to see writers' writing and inspiration come alive.
I was asked what the difference is between Memories, and my "Write More" class. Write More gives you an essential writing process; it stops you procrastinating, because you no longer sit and stare at the computer screen. You've always got something to do. Memories on the other hand, use everything in your life, especially your childhood, to make your writing more powerful today.
"$500 a Day" series on the freelance writing blog
On the freelance writing blog, we ran a "$500 a Day" series, and won lots of messages and calls.
Since there was such a huge response, we'll be running more material to help you to increase your writing income, both on the blog, and in our writing tips ezine.
Fun on Tumblr
I love Tumblr as a platform because it's so easy to use. I've been recommending it to my clients, as well as to my writing students.
This week on the Angela Booth Tumblr blog, because it's the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, we covered a lot of "Jane" stuff, as you might imagine. We also had fun quotes, as well as some writing-related videos. Watch the video from Diana Gabaldon, it's excellent.
Onward, ever onward... I can't believe January is over, and we're in the second month of 2013. Time to get moving to make this year your best-ever writing year. :-)
This is our first "around the blogs" post for 2013, so happy 2013 to you and yours. I'm looking forward to a great 2013, and I hope you are too. There have never been as many opportunities for writers as there are today. Let's make the most of them... :-)
We’re in the first few hours of 2013 here, Happy New Year to you. I hope 2013 is a wonderful year for you. Don’t forget our Happy 2013 special offering.
Just a short note to let you know that Weebly’s upgrading. I adore Weebly. I’ve been using it myself to prototype sites for my copywriting and Web content clients for many years. I also recommend the site to SYWON (Sell Your Writing Online Now) students.
I created the above website in under 30 minutes, using the free website creation tool Weebly. Weebly’s a fun tool to use. I hadn’t used it in a while, so I timed myself. The 30 minutes included writing the content, and changing the Domain Name Servers (DNS) from Namecheap to Weebly. Weebly hosts all the sites you create on it, so you don’t need to worry about hosting. Indeed, you don’t even need to buy a domain — I wasn’t using the writepreneur.com domain for anything else, that’s the only reason I used my own domain.
I recently came across a quote from Agatha Christie which describes the writers’ life: “I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don’t want to, don’t much like what you are writing and aren’t writing particularly well.”
Blogging is amazing. It’s instant publishing. It can even become a successful business. Considering that most businesses require many thousands of dollars of startup funding, it’s wonderful that you can start a blog without any investment at all.
Want to start a freelance writing business? There’s never been a better time. There’s a LOT of content being published. Forbes for example, says: “When you add it all up, we’re publishing 400 to 500 posts a day.”
I love WordPress. Seriously, I do. I have many, many WordPress blogs. However, if you’re new to blogging, or if you just want to set up an experimental blog to try something out, don’t use self-hosted WordPress.
I’ve had some questions from writing students about guest blogging. Apparently the word in the online marketing community is that guest blogging is “no longer effective”.
Want to start your own copywriting business? You can. You need to remember however, that although it’s a creative endeavor, it’s also a business. Do that, and your new venture will be successful.
Want to get writing jobs? Of course you do. However, you also want to get the right jobs — the jobs from clients who respect your skills, and pay you well — and on time.
In December, copywriter Angela Booth is launching a new multimedia magazine, Copywriting Monthly. The magazine will help copywriters, both new and established, to make money in the new world of marketing.
Want to write a book? If you haven’t started, something’s stopping you. And if you have started, I’m sure you’ve met the writing demons which plague all writers.
Bad way: open your book with your character waking up. We all do this every day, and it’s been done in books so many times, that you’ll need some pretty fancy writing to make it interesting. And if you give in to the urge to over-write, it will look as if you’re trying too hard.
Here’s a fascinating article; it’s an interview with Sylvia Day, the author who’s managed to displace EL James from the #1 spot in bestselling trade fiction.
But the thing is, the people who love the Fifty Shades trilogy aren’t in it for spectacular writing. They’re not even in it for salacious bondage scenes.
My guess is—because, of course, every reader is different—most of them love it because it entertains them and gives them a positive emotional rush and with a touch of naughty of excitement.
Here's the best writing tip you'll ever get: do more research.
These days, writers have to write a lot, and research time can seem like wasted time.
Yes, researching can be mere procrastination. However, you need to do enough research so that you can write with authority.
As you research, be on the lookout for the "click".
The "click" is the tiny nugget of information, or the idea, or the insight, which will make your writing irresistible to the reader.
If you don't research, you'll never find the click. The click always takes a piece of writing to the next level. You won't always find it, but when you do, it makes the time you spent worthwhile.
You’ve written a novel or nonfiction ebook and published it on the Kindle platform. Kudos to you, that’s a huge accomplishment. So, how do you get reviews?
Just two years ago, you could run a content marketing campaign, and you were golden. Visibility was yours. You could pat yourself on the back. “Content marketing works”, you said, thinking about all those poor fools who were paying for traffic.
Are you achieving what you want to achieve as a writer? If you aren’t, the reason is procrastination.
Here’s the thing about procrastination. It’s hard to identify. It’s sneaky. I’m sure that you have many excellent reasons you can’t achieve a full-time writing career, or achieve whatever it is you want to achieve.
OK, everyone look busy, here comes Google with yet another update: Penguin… and with further updates to Panda.
If you’re feeling like a galley slave of old as you try to maintain your search engine visibility, I sympathize. From what I’ve heard, lots of others are feeling bruised and mistreated too.
I’ve been thinking about creativity this past week, and I’ll be discussing it in this week’s issue of the ezine. As freelancers, we tend to pay lip service to creativity, rather than doing it.
Publishing can be a lonely business. Self-publishing even more so. If you’re writing for the Kindle platform, going it alone is stressful. How do you promote your ebooks so that they’re found?
Many writers write and sell ebooks. Here’s why: with billions of people online, those people want information, and they’re willing to pay for it. Discover how to sell your ebooks BEFORE you write them.
Peter Mayle, the author of A Year in Provence, says “The best advice on writing I’ve ever received is from Henry Miller’s On Writing: You have to write a million words before you find your voice as a writer.”
In that post, I commented on why writing a lot scares new writers. As I said, it shouldn’t. You write because you love it, yes?
How much are you writing?
Set a daily word count goal.
If you’re writing a book, you set a word count goal for that project, as well as an overall word count goal. Yes, you can count the words you write in emails, as well as Facebook and forums.
If you take care of the quantity you write, sooner or later the quality will show up. If you don’t write a lot, you’ll never get quality writing.
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