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Freelance Writing Tips for Begining Book and eBook Writers
01 month ago
Everyone has to begin somewhere. No one just leaps into the top spot in an industry. Or starts off knowing everything there is to know.
And that is especially true with freelancing. It doesn’t matter what type of freelancing. Computer work, software design, art, writing, bookkeeping. And it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been working in your field. Freelancing in a field is different than being an employee in that field.
Maybe you’ve written your first book or maybe your third eBook and you’ve gotten a taste for writing a book. So now you’ve decided you like it and you want to become a freelance writer. Good for you. But you’re going to find it’s a whole different world. So in this blog entry I’m going to share some tips to help beginners in freelance writing. To ease the transition as it were.
1. Freelancing is a business.
Being a freelancer might seem at first glance to be a form of employment. But it is a business and you need to think in terms of running a business. That means like any entrepreneur, you need to spend time working on your business. In fact that is your priority over working in your business. You are no longer a writer — you are an entrepreneur. So think and act like one.
2. Rainy days come sooner than you think.
One of the main pieces of advice that debt counselors give is to put away roughly six months of earnings. As a freelancer your goal is to put at least a year’s earnings away. And you need to start as soon as possible.
3. Time is a limited resource.
As a freelancer you’ll soon learn that you are being drawn in many different directions. If you let it you’ll soon find yourself spending too much time on one part of your business and not enough on another. You need to ensure that you are allocating time to each of the major elements of your business – marketing, finance, information, production. Each is important and each needs your respect and involvement.
4. Sometimes it pays to not do things.
Some people believe that no one can be an expert in everything an entrepreneur does. That’s just not true. In fact it’s easy to do. But what is true is that it isn’t wise to do so. In any job — especially running a business — there are jobs that you don’t do well. There are jobs you don’t enjoy doing. There are jobs that are worth less than other jobs. There are jobs that anyone can do. There are jobs that require specialized knowledge. And then there are jobs that you need to do yourself. And jobs that will earn you more by doing them. As a freelancer you need to identify which group those jobs belong to. And then hire someone else to do the less valuable, less enjoyable, less suitable jobs.
5. There is no such thing as downtime.
As an employee there will be the occasional period of unemployment. And vacation time. And holidays. And other than searching for a job most people take those times as relaxation time. As a freelancer, you will be out of work far more often. But that downtime isn’t. You need to spend the time wisely. Tip number 3 applies even during downtimes. Even if you allocate the time to vacation!
6. Showing is better than telling.
One of the key marketing tools you must develop from the first is a writer’s portfolio. As an employee your main tool is your resume. Not because it’s the best but because the person hiring uses the same rules for everyone. As a freelancer you’ll find you get hired by two disparate groups — those who know how to hire a writer and those who don’t. Your portfolio is what the people who know will want to see. So build it quickly and keep it up to date.
7. Keep your own counsel.
Complaining is an old privilege of employment. However, you’re not an employee. You need to appear professional. And professionals know how to keep their opinions to themselves. So don’t get involved in employee bitch sessions. While your customer isn’t always right, they are your customer. And their business is their own to run. Not yours.
Writing a Book – Why You Need To Get Motivated
01 month ago
Why is motivation so important? Why do you — the writer — need to get motivated?
Okay, let’s start at the back end. I’m a little backwards so it’s appropriate. The answer is simple. Writing for the sake of writing is eating the cone and leaving the ice cream. It just doesn’t quite cut it. If you write, you want to be read. And when you get right down to it, reading is a purchase decision. You are buying the information even if the only thing you pay with is your time. And like anything else, people buy because they have an overwhelming desire for the benefits. In other words, they buy because they are motivated. If you know the detailed reason for that, you can write a book that fulfills that desire. Do so and you will be guaranteed an audience.
Okay, so obviously it has an effect when writing your book. It needs to show up in your subject matter. But how does it affect you when you are actually writing?
Have you ever heard the complaint, “I can’t seem to find the time to write?”
I know I do. It’s one of the most frequent complaints I hear.
There are three main reasons that writers have problems finding the time to write:
1. Writing is too hard
2. You’ve filled your time with other stuff
3. You aren’t motivated.
Motivation is one of the core success factors in writing a book. Writing a book is not like writing an article or an essay for school. Those are just sprints. Writing a book is a marathon. And you need to write the way you run a marathon.
No matter how good your writing system is. No matter how simple it makes the process of writing a book, writing will never be a simple task. It’s hard. Welcome to reality. Writers write because they have to. Very few write because they love the act. As Dorothy Parker, the American poet/writer/critic , said “I hate writing, I love having written.”
We always try to avoid doing things that are difficult. We’ll do whatever we can to avoid starting. That’s just human nature. In order to overcome this resistance, you need to have a very strong reason to overcome this. We just happen to call this reason “your motivation”.
Not only do you want to avoid starting difficult tasks, but also you’ll want to stop in the middle. No one wants to continue to bang his or her head against a wall. It tends to make a mess of both your head and the wall. And it leaves you with a headache. If something is hard to do, you’ll want to put it aside.
Knowing what motivates you and then making certain you are aware of that goal, will help you to overcome the difficulties involved in writing a book.
(Unabashed commercial time here: I’ll be writing some more on this topic over the next little while. If you don’t want to wait check out our 2 DVD course “Finding the Time to Write: Time Management for Writers” )
Writing a Book – 5 Tips to Get Going
01 month ago
by Glen
in Write a "how to" book
Let’s face it, writng a book isn’t like writing an article. It’s a marathon compared to an article’s sprint. Writing isn’t the easiest at any time. But writing a book is a constant invitation to witer’s block and avoidance.
So how do you ensure that you actually finish?
In this video, you’ll discover five tips that will help you get started and keep yourself going on writing a book.
One of the worst things a witer faces is the empty page. It’s not the half-filled page that causes the sweaty palms and the heart palpitations. It’s the empty one. It’s that blank computer screen. Writer’s block seldom occurs in the middle of a paragraph.
And let’s face it. If you’re writing a book you’re going to be facing a whole bunch of empty pages. One a day to be precise.
So how do you get going when writing a book?
In this video, I’m going to share five tips that have served me well when I need to get going on writing a book.
Okay, I admit it. I’m getting a little silly with the titles for my tips. But they really do make sense. So work with me here.
1. Why is as important as what
No one really likes to write. Writers like to have written. It’s the finished piece that we love (or hate). And getting started — and worse continuing — is a matter of bulling on through. If you are going to be writing a book, you need to be motivated. Highly motivated. Why you are writing is even more important than what you are going to be writing. Because if you aren’t clear on why you are writing a book, you won’t be doing it at all.
2. Signs, signs everywhere a sign
Knowing why you are writing a book is a big part of getting over the hump and getting started. But when faced with the actual trial we have a tendency to forget why. To ensure that you remember your motivation — why you’re a writer in the first place — try putting a sign up. On the sign should be pictures, words and phrases that will remind you. Then put similar signs near your desk. In the kitchen. Near the television. Anywhere you might be tempted to waste time when you’re avoiding writing.
3. A place for everything and everything in its place
And in this case the place we’re talking about is your writing place. Writing doesn’t take a lot of equipment and tools but it does take some. And every writer has a particular environment, which helps them write. Or stops them from writing. By having a specific space where you do your writing, you’ll find you have less excuse to avoid the blank page.
4. Magic, rituals and writing
I know, it sounds silly. But if you need to bend down, touch your toes and then bark three times in order to cause the muses to support your efforts, then do it. What is really happening is that you are putting your brain in the right space to write. If you don’t have a ritual, create one. Even if it’s just grabbing a cup of coffee or tea and arranging it in the same place on your desk. You’ll find it’s a switch that helps your brain to get going.
5. Write what you know backwards
Writing a book is not like writing an article or an essay. With any short piece, you can write without having planned what you are writing beforehand. You probably shouldn’t but you can. With a book, you must have a detailed design of exactly what you are going to write down to the paragraph level. Otherwise, you’ll never finish. So always know what you are going to write, before you sit down.
If you have any other topics you’d like me to cover please add them to the comments below.
My Usual St Padraig’s day complaint …
02 months ago
by Glen
in Announcements
I missed St. David’s day again!!!!!! Me gran would be turning over in her graveI
I know … this seems to be a recurring theme with me. But lately, I’ve been so busy that I’d be forgetting me head if it wasnna attached.
Anywho … tomorrow is St. Patricks day … I’m going to burn the blasted wagon and finish off the last of my Bushmills in the form of Irish Coffee. And if I’m lucky, it’s going to be Cornbeef and Cabbage on the plate.
So I’m going to be wishing you a Happy St. Patrick’s day … have fun, be green and if you drink, don’t drive.
Oh, and for those stick in the muds amongst you … I’m back to work on Monday! With a video article and two more articles for the rest of the week! In the meantime — I’m going to go listen to my new Chieftains CD. Maireann croí éadrom i bhfad. (for a translation check out CompassRose.org )
Writing a Book — A Few Good Tips for Newbie Writers
22 months ago
by Glen
in Write a "how to" book
There are a lot of great reasons you might want for writing a book. Maybe you are an expert who needs to prove your capabilities. Or maybe you want to make a few extra bucks. On the other hand, maybe you’re looking to find clients through a giveaway. Maybe you just need to share your insights. Or maybe you’re dreaming of the millions that people pay authors.
All of these are good reasons for writing a book. Well, maybe not the last one. Unfortunatelyl, it isn’t very likely that your first book will make much money. At least not directly.
As for being a new writer — a newbie — don’t worry. We all had to start somewhere. However, there are certain things that can help you get started. Here are 15 tips for newbies:
- Use a system
One of the big advantages that expert writers have is that they have a system for writing. Rather than try to write a book in one step (which is impossible), they have a system that breaks the process into a series of distinct steps. Not only does this mean that important steps are not missed but it also means that efficiencies can be built into the process. So writing a book takes less time. - Find a writing hole
A writing hole is a dedicated place where you can hide and write. Having a dedicated place to write means you won’t waste time getting ready. Psychologically it also links the place with the activity. This helps to overcome writer’s block. - Set a time
Unless you schedule a time for writing your book you’ll never do it. So set a time and consider it booked. - Close the door
Interruptions are the bane of all writers. Eliminate them by any means necessary. You are working. - Eliminate distractions
Others are the only source of interruptions. Writing is hard work. You’re going to try to avoid it Make it hard to find other things to do when you should be writing. - Know your topic
Researching from the ground up is a task for professionals. (Okay, I’m exaggerating here.) Keep it simple for your first book. Write what you already know about. Save research for the little facts. - Know the market
This is the second piece. Knowing your topic isn’t enough. You need to know who else is writing about your topic and you need to know how many books are sold for that topic. After all, if no one wants to read books on your topic, then you certainly aren’t going to sell many! - Know your reader
The third piece of the “Will someone read my book?” question has to do with your specific reader. You need to create a target reader — an avatar or example reader. Their characteristics will help you create a book that is targeted directly to their needs. - What does your reader want to learn?
This is part of why you need to know your reader. Convincing a reader they want to learn something is an exercise in futility. You need to determine what (and why) they already want to learn. Then write about that. - Solve problems don’t sell solutions
We’re talking about motivation here. You’re writing a book about something you know. That means you will have a tendency to teach the solution. However, what motivates your reader is the desire to solve a problem. They don’t need or want to hear about solutions. They want to hear, “Here’s your problem. Here’s how you fix it.” - What does your reader need to learn?
Once you know how to solve their problem, you have a topic to write about. However, to solve their problem they will need to know a part of your solution. You need to identify what they need to know and what they don’t. - A book is not an article
If you’ve written articles and short pieces before you may think you know how to write a book. But an article is a sprint. Writing a book is a marathon. It requires different techniques and tools. And you need to pace yourself differently. - Know what you want from your book
The term book covers a multitude of sins. From a 25-page eBook, that’s really a white paper to a 1000 page multi-volume tome. - Don’t mix design, writing and editing
There are three key task sets in writing — designing your book, writing a book and editing a book. These require entirely different mental processes. Don’t mix them up. Your system should help you separate them but you’ll need to apply the discipline to keep them separate. - Write for your friends not your teachers
You are no longer in school. And this is not 1890. The reader of today is radically different from either of those groups. Your style needs to be suitable to today’s reader not your teachers. And not to literary critics.
5 Qualities of a Good Webinar or Teleseminar (or Book for that matter)
02 months ago
One of the characteristics that distinguishes a professional learning content seller from the hacks that infest much of the internet is the quality of their learning products. Their webinars, teleseminars, live course and books are worth investing the time in. And frankly they just look better.
Now I’m not saying they’re perfect. They aren’t. There are a number of reasons that a quality producer may have less than stellar product. What I am saying is that there is a line … and you can tell that the quality producer has at least tried to keep over the line.
But what is quality?
What is it that will keep your audience returning?
After all, you can’t build quality into your products if you don’t know what it is. So in this webinar on our youtube channel we discuss the 5 qualities of a good webinar or teleseminar. It applies equally to a book or live event.
Please enjoy!
Creating any learning product is an exercise in egotism. Not that bad egotism that is displayed as a form of bragging. But the good egotism where the quality of the product is a direct reflection of the importance of the subject and the pride the creator takes in his or her creation.
Creating a good learning content product is something that every content creator wants!
But how?
Webinars and teleseminars are no different from any other learning content product in this. Your ego as creator is directly connected to the quality. After all, you’re putting a little bit of yourself into the creation.
But how do you define a good webinar or teleseminar?
In this video, I’m going to describe five of the qualities that define a good webinar or teleseminar.
1. The content is relevant to the audience. In many ways this is the most important characteristic of quality. Without this quality your webinar won’t be watched or teleseminar listened to. And without that the quality doesn’t really matter. In order to motivate your audience to pay attention you need to focus on one of their motivators. And then your content needs to either solve the problem, show them how to avoid a pain, or show them how to achieve a desired goal. We call this relevance. And without it you have nothing.
2. The content is honest and sincere. Your audience doesn’t necessarily think of your content as honest and sincere. Those are two words you wouldn’t necessarily use about the material you are teaching. However, it is what your audience will say about you. You need to present material that is as correct and believable as you can make it. You need to present information that you believe is correct. And you need to present it from the real desire to help your audience. If you don’t, your audience will know and will react accordingly.
3. The webinar or teleseminar is well-organized. Nothing is more frustrating to your audience than a webinar or teleseminar that goes off into the ether, exploring the outer reaches of irrelevancy. Your webinar or teleseminar must provide organization to the material. After all, that’s what the audience is paying you for — with time if not money. They are expecting you to organize the material so that they understand it.
4. The webinar or teleseminar is designed for the media. Have you ever been to a live PowerPoint seminar where the overheads have 20 tightly packed, far too small points per slide? Bored weren’t you? Did you even bother to stay? Each of the media has its strengths and weaknesses. Each affects the cognitive limits differently. You need to design your webinar or teleseminar to work within the limits imposed by that media. Having too many points on a slide or worse in your teleseminar is a certain way to lose your audience.
5. The webinar or teleseminar is professionally presented. At first glance this might seem like an onerous quality to impose. After all, being a professional presenter is something that you need to learn over time. But being professional and being perfect aren’t the same thing. There are two elements involved in being professional with your presentation. First, you need to pay attention to the details. How the webinar slides look is important. You don’t want them to be overloaded or under-designed. Second, you need to avoid dumb mistakes. In the case of a webinar, spelling mistakes are an absolute no-no. You need to practice your webinar or teleseminar several times. You can’t afford to show that you are nervous when presenting. And only practice can help you build that level of confidence.
While you’re here please feel free to suggest other topics and let us know what you think of the video.
U.S. Justice Dept. After eBook Publishers
12 months ago
When I first entered the eBook business, you HAD to publish your own books. (Unless you wanted to go the Clickbank route. ) Prices were high (compared to print books) and learning content providers were known to misrepresent their reports as eBooks. And the major publishers toyed with eBooks but basically considered them as irrelevant.
Then came the Kindle from Amazon and other similar products.
Last year, Amazon tried to force the major publishers to sell their eBooks at much reduced prices. Ultimately, Amazon had to back down. However, they did succeed by introducing the 70% royalty for books under $9.95. Self-publishers and the market did what force, threats and banning couldn’t do.
Unfortunately, other sales outlets aren’t as open-minded as Amazon. Getting Apple, Kobo or Barnes & Noble (the Nook) to carry self-published eBooks is an exercise in frustration — especially if you are from outside the U.S.A. (like TrainingNOW). Simply put, most of the booksellers haven’t gotten the new business model yet.
In any case, the U.S. Justice department has announced that it will investigate the “Cartel” practices of Apple and the big publishers. You can read more about this on ZDNet (part of CBS Interactive) Justice Dept. to sue Apple, other publishers over e-book ‘cartel’ . The European (antitrust) Commission began a similar investigation about three months ago.
It will be interesting to see what the fallout will be.
To Outline or Not to Outline: Why Writing an Outline Is An Important Step
12 months ago
by Glen
in Write a "how to" book
Why would I write a blog post saying that writing an outline is an important step given that I’m not a big supporter of outlining? After all, I sell a system that is based around a tool that replaces outlining.
It’s simple. Outlining is probably the second most important step there is in writing a book that your reader will want to read. Choosing the topic is the most important. However, outlining is the second.
Hold it. Do we have a disconnect between what I’m saying and what I’m selling? If I’m sellng a system that replaces outlining shouldn’t I be saying that outlining is a waste of time and effort?
No. To understand you need to realize that the issue I have is not in the task but in how the task is done. And in terminology. You see, I call outlining, “designing your book”. This is what you are really trying to do with outlining. Unfortunately, the traditional tool is the outline. In other words, a simple list of the topics that you will be covering in the order that you will be covering them. It’s this tool that is inefficient and ineffective. It works fine for the next stage but it can be a real problem to generate the outline. It doesn’t work with the mind, after all. The task itself — by whatever name you call it — is a key to your success as a writer.
There are three basic measuring sticks used by your reader to determine how good your book is. Personally, I like to use the acronym C.O.D. for them. If only because it’s a good source of cheap jokes about an area of Canada that I love (and wished I lived in).
The C stands for content. There are two elements within the concept of content. The first is what your book is about. It is this, which actually draws your reader into reading your book. After all, if you don’t write what will interest them then they’ll never pick up your book in the first place.
The D stands for delivery. This is the quality of your writing. There are a number of elements that go into the definition of quality writing. However, to pick just a few — if your style, spelling, word choice and grammar are not up to snuff, then your reader will soon discount your information and stop reading.
The O stands for organization. And it is this, and the second element within content that are squarely in the design stage (or outlining) of writing your book.
The second element of content is related to which pieces of information you will be including in your book. Not the overall concept but the details of what is included. And what isn’t included.
Organization on the other hand relates to the order these details are presented. And to how the details are combined in order to enhance understanding.
Organization is what the reader uses to determine that you really know what you are talking about. After all, as Einstein said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
The design or outlining step is how we organize our thoughts. It’s the stage or process in which we list our facts in the order we wish to present them and the depth at which we wish to cover them. It’s the stage at which we determine the connections and combinations we need to present our thoughts simply. In short, it’s where we organize our books.
Oh the joys of Internet Marketing Part 2
12 months ago
Aka
What do You Think of Our New Look?
Welcome to our new website. What do you think?
As I mentioned in my last update (a month ago?!?!??!!! oh, my word!) WordPress once again messed me/us up. An upgrade to WordPress combined with a theme that was no longer maintained basically shut down this site (and many of the rest). The other sites were fairly easy to recover. This one wasn’t.
So I revised the site.
And voila! (If a month’s worth of work can be said to be a case of “Voila”).
Our old site was a mix of WordPress, phpBB, PHP and good old fashioned HTML. Which are a lot of acronyms meaning that maintenance was a bit of a horror.
Our new site is now mostly WordPress. Mostly because I haven’t replaced all of the site — yet. However, now that I’ve got the majority replaced, I can replace the remainder at my convenience.
Unfortunately, with any replacement of this magnitude, there are ummm “growing pains” — also known as “oops”. So if you run into one, please accept my apologies in advance and please let me know where. Thanks mightly.
Also please feel free (please, pretty please) let me know what you think of our new site.
Thanks muchly
Glen & Paul
& the LearningCreators team
P.S.
Do you like the pattern at the top? It actually has meaning. Over the next week, I’ll explain what the two diagrams mean.
Oh the joys of Internet Marketing
14 months ago
by Glen
in Building an eBiz
I’m ticked …
Notice my site … changed a bit hasn’t it.
Used to look consistent. Now … not so much. Used to be a mix-mash of traditional html, WordPress blog and forum. But at least it looked consistent.
Now not so much.
That’s not the least of it. I use WordPress to drive a number of sites that are part of the TrainingNOW family and a number of other companies (e.g. VProz) that I’m either involved in or otherwise have a relationship with (i.e. maintain). The problem is that WordPress broke all my sites in the last update.
Yes, I said broke my sites.
As a “former” techie, this ticks me off. But then again, I come from a platform that doesn’t EVER have legacy code in the way PCs do. Upgrade? Cool. But it had better not break what went before or it’s back to the drawing board. Which means there’s always new stuff to learn without unlearning the old. But that’s a heck of a lot easier than rewriting a million dollars in application code. (For the techies in the group, any html in pages was lost, workarounds around the menu stopped working around, and plugin options suddenly stopped the plugin from working. And oh yes, the theme I was using is no longer maintained so I couldn’t even keep the look consistent.)
But, since we’re all internet marketers here, I’m going to ignore the details and focus on the business effects.
Yesterday, was supposed to be a day of writing a new course. This week is turning into a write-off as appointments get in the way of producing. What was supposed to be a day of squeezing production between the appointments ended up being a day of fixing webpages. Including one that allowed my customers to download a product they had paid for. (At least it didn’t affect LearningCreators!). What really hurt was that this download was actually hit three times by the “changes”. No sooner did I fix one problem but another further down the stream appeared.
So what can we learn from this?
- Being able to download product is critical. (That means test it in full and fix it immediately).
- Don’t upgrade WordPress (or its plugins and theme’s) unless you have time to verify it hasn’t broken anything.
- If the pages need to appear consistent, then use WordPress for the whole site (not just the blog). Replacing a theme is easy. Replacing a theme and customizing it to look like your brand is not that hard. Replacing a theme and then customizing it to look identical to the html version is a major pain. (Technically, you can use a common CSS. But since WordPress has added improved Page handling, it isn’t necessary).
- Identify your critical processes (such as product delivery). Always have a backup ready to go at a moment’s notice. The backup should appear as transparent to the user as possible.
- Be flexible with release dates for product. Build in lots of time between completion and release. Then hope and work toward not needing that time.
- Watch the upgrade sequence. All themes and plugins should be upgraded shortly after a major WordPress release. If not, you need to check that they aren’t obsolete. If they are then you need to start the process of replacing them.
- Be flexible. Stuff happens. And always at the worst possible time.
- Don’t overcommit. You’re running a business (and have a life). That means you need to make appointments. But don’t let the number of appointments overload your ability to work on the business.
- Balance is needed in your business. Too much production and not enough marketing and you won’t sell. Too much marketing and not enough production and you won’t have enough product to sell. Too much production and/or marketing, at the expense of not enough administration and you could find yourself not being able to deliver what you sell. Or know what has sold and what you should produce. (Okay, I’m cheating here. This is actually something I’ve learned over the last six months. I just had it reinforced.)
- Project management rules are really business rules. The good habits that I’ve learned as a project manager are the same habits I need to remember as a business manager and entrepreneur. (Or vice versa)
Good luck with your business!
