Archive for July, 2008
Sell Your Books Online Without a Blog or Website… for Free!
Ideally, you’ll want your own website/blog “working” for you and your book publishing promotions/sales. The expense isn’t a killer. Cheap, even (as I mentioned a number of times previously, I get my domains from GoDaddy and use Site5 budget Web hosting).
But, I got to thinking, what if you don’t really want to hassle with one?
Give Away Your Books to Sell Even More
Here’s a really interesting promotional idea worth trying online — something the author calls the Used Book Effect. And it’s not limited to romance novels, or even fiction (say, you’ve written and are selling a series of related instructional ebooks). This is a particularly good way for you to put an old title of yours that may already be out-of-print (or maybe just not selling that well anymore) back to work, helping generate even more sales of your current work.
Software publishers have been doing this sort of thing for the longest time (shareware, freeware, donorware, etc.). But I can see now how the model works far, far better for “serial” writers. Very, very interesting. — EES
Typesetting Books With Microsoft Word
I’m sure you don’t know that I used to design fonts as a hobby. Man, that was over a decade ago when I last futzed around with it, using a program called Fontographer. A cousin turned me on to it; she worked for Monotype then, part of the team that converted typefaces to “TrueType” for bundling with the launch of Windows 3.1. Now she’s a freelance type designer.
And that’s just the tip of my involvement in the graphic arts. Seriously, I think that’s what I should have gone to school for, instead of for the Info Systems degree I ended up with (was interested and good at that too, but already knew it and didn’t learn squat). Lucky me, “publishing” brought all my skills and interests together into a single field.
Impressive AdSense Earnings
Addendum to Is There Really Money in Blogging? I decided to go digging around to see if anyone did indeed have a list of “Top AdSense Earners.” Not much luck; at least I found nothing current. But a whole bunch of posts did pop up dated 2006 to early 2007 covering some of the impressive results a few online publishers have reported.
When Will Textbook Publishers Get a Clue?
This an opportunity if I ever smelled one. Thing is, it’s quite a difficult problem to solve. But boy, jackpot for anyone who does!
Christopher Dawson, a teacher and school IT administrator who writes for ZDNet Education, in his When will textbook publishers get a clue? post, is quite right pointing out that
“K-12 book prices are outlandish; college textbooks border on criminal and publishers are moving slower than molasses in January when it comes to moving towards any sort of electronic publishing model.”
John le Carré on What to Write
Let this quote sink in and take root, and you’ll probably never want for a good story — or even article — idea ever again!
“The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.” – JOHN le CARRÉ
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25 Ways to Write for Money. Open your eyes to a variety of ways to make money with your writing skills, many probably previously unknown to you!
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Freelance Writing Jobs – 3 Tips for the Freelance Writer
Trying something new beginning with this post: embedding my own notes/comments in pieces I decide to reprint here on Wordpreneur. This’ll be interesting. — EES
Article by Valencia Higuera
A freelance writing career is perfect for individuals with good writing skills, and for individuals who enjoy the idea of a flexible schedule and unlimited income. Before starting a career as a freelance writer, it is important to know the “ins and outs” of being a freelance writer. For starters, it can take weeks to find that perfect opportunity, and sometimes you’ll have to deal with non-paying clients. Even so, a freelance writing career is exciting and the benefits are enormous.Here are three great freelance writing tips.
Blog/Website Major Traffic Generation Simplified
There’s no shortage of articles and resources “out there” covering the relatively simple concept of generating traffic (and preferably, lots of it) to your blog and/or website. Maybe even way too much? Thing is, spend just a bit of time doing the research rounds online, and it won’t take very long at all for you to start getting the deja vus with each succeeding article you read, or even site you visit.
No wonder: There really isn’t very much in the way of focus area variety when it comes to the subject of generating major traffic to your blog or website. There are five. They are:
Is There Really Money in Blogging?
Uh, yeah, there is. The question is, “How much?”
Here’s a post on Income Diary you’ll want to check out:
Get Paid to Write Online – Extra Income From the Internet Can be Your Economic Parachute!
Came across this article that gives you a good brief overview of the online freelance writing market. I could have written it myself, but was just too lazy today. The piece is quite obviously an attempt to get you to click-through the links in the sig, but it does a decent job of covering the basics of this particular freelance writing market opp regardless. No, I’m not sold on the “writers group” thing, so tread very carefully if you’re inclined to dig deeper into that possibility (if they want you to pay to join, blecch!). — EES
Article by Jorge Chavez
The Internet moves by and communicates through the written word. Billions and billions of written words. Someone must generate every page of the unique content that gets websites ranked high with the search engines. All that text costs money to generate.
Chicken Money: Ultra-Safe Places for Stashing Your Cash
In case you haven’t noticed: The economy sucks. Even if you don’t look at the numbers, as writers I’d like to think you all at least notice people. Surely you haven’t missed the high state of nervousness among the populace. And that — surprise! — will make the economy suck, if it isn’t doing so already. Funny how things work, huh?
Infopreneuring Content Secrets: 4 Methods
Here’s a decent vintage Wordpreneur piece on developing content for publishing projects and products. If you’re a freelance writer, you may want to show technique #3 to prospective ghostwriting clients. — EES
Article by Stu McLaren
If you don’t have good fresh content to use for new products, your momentum comes to a crashing halt and so does your business.
So the question begs itself, how do you consistently create new content?
Here are your four basic options:
Do Your Book One Hill at a Time
When faced with the goal of writing a book, or any sizeable writing project for that matter, the task ahead looks daunting. Discouraging. Even to experienced writers! Hardly a surprise. We’re talking about chapter after chapter after chapter… thousands upon thousands of words. Holy cannoli… I don’t care who you are, it’s exhausting just to think about!
Maybe the following true story may help.
Top 20 US Websites for June 2008
Just thought you’d find this information interesting, useful, or at the very least, curious.
HitWise is a company that monitors and measures Internet activity anonymously through ISPs. Good way to estimate market share. For its measurements, it takes a sample of users (in this case, 10 million Internet users) and then counts how many of them visit its database of over 1 milliion unique websites (including subdomains). For June 2008, here’s what Hitwise reports:
eBook Writing Formats: How to Make the Words Flow
Can someone suggest a better term than “Writing Formats” please? Nothing comes to me at the moment, at least nothing that isn’t just as generically meaningless when read out of context. And it’s a simple concept too — you immediately “get” what this vintage Wordpreneur article is all about as you quickly scan through it. You’ll also “get” that these tips are useful for lots more than just ebooks. Good stuff! — EES
Article by Dina Giolitto
Nervous about writing your first ebook? Never fear. ebooks are written in a conversational, informative style that’s easy for the reader to understand, and easy for you to imitate as you write them. Whether it’s 10 pages about Smart Finances, 50 pages on “How to Care for Your Cat” or 250 pages covering “Secrets of the World’s Best Yoga Masters,” there are several ebook formats you can write to that are thought-provoking enough to get your words flowing, and flexible enough to make them as long or short as you like. Each of these formats is extremely appealing to the readers for its breezy, informative style.
High-Paying Work-From-Home Jobs: Top 10 List
Last month, CareerBuilder published its list of top 10 High-Paying Work-From-Home Jobs. “Freelance Writer, Technical” made the list at #6, with an annual take of $42,520. FYI,
No mention, however, of non-technical freelance writing. But I don’t remember that ever making these lists anyway. Probably because it’s too much fun.
Have you considered a career in Medical Claims Processing? Nah.
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How to Prevent Your Laptop’s Battery from Dying Young
Nope, this post has nothing really to do with writing or publishing or “wordpreneuring” (now there’s an interesting verb!), save for the fact that a good number of us rely on our laptops to make a living. So, I figure, this post fits…
What happened: My laptop’s battery went kablooey last week. Took me a while to figure out it was the battery that was having fits, actually — my laptop’s barely a week or two past its first birthday (young in my book), and really has been used more like a desktop and only occasionally as a portable. Not roughly bounced around much, in other words.
But, I’ve come to learn, having it set up and working like a desktop seems to be what killed that battery!
Book Titles That Make Big Bucks
Another vintage Wordpreneur article I dug up from the archives, full of timeless tips. — EES
By Teddi McDonald
Do you know how readers decide to buy a book?
- They get a referral from a friend.
- They see an interesting book title on the best-seller list.
- They look up a topic (generally non-fiction) and look for a book closest to their interest (generally based on titles).
- They browse in the bookstore looking for an interesting title — then they read the book jacket copy.
- They look on an Internet bookseller’s website to find out what other people bought under that title or subject, then they look at book reviews.
- Finally, generally based on title and book jacket copy or book reviews, they buy your book.
Flannery O’Connor on Writing the Way You Want To
“There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” — FLANNERY O’CONNOR