Photo Credit: David Castillo Dominici / freedigitalphotos.net

Laughter is the best stress reliever.

But how can someone initiate laughter? And how can you keep the stem of this laughter from turning into procrastination?

I often think that I am doing myself a favor by simply watching a sitcom and laughing.

After all, laughing releases endorphins to make you feel better, it acts as an exercise to strengthen your core muscles and reduces stress.

The problem with me watching sitcoms?

They are 30 minutes long, the first one tends to lead to another and I just sit in a chair by myself the entire time.

It does take some effort or activity to laugh at something, so what are some other things that can make you laugh?

• A funny joke from a friend
• A funny situation at work, school or wherever you are
• A comedy club, stand-up comedian or funny movie

All of these are great, but once again they take effort, time and some even cost money.

So why not laugh at things that already happened? I’ll take it a step further. Why not laugh at things that already happened to YOU? Difficult, miserable, even destructive things that happened to you.

Laughing at your own sorrows doesn’t make them disappear, but it puts them on your team.

Your trials and tribulations are suddenly something that no one else can laugh at you or criticize you for. Why? Because you beat them to it. You no longer let it affect you and therefore nobody can let it affect you.

Think of your deepest regrets or failures. Maybe you let down a friend or family member, submitted your book 50 times with all rejections or received a denial letter from your dream job or school.

Now laugh about it.

Still can’t?

Think about this: Your failure or regret is far better than what most people are going through on a day-to-day-basis. In our world people are suffering through terrible situations.

Now, open up a file of one of the first things you worked on, whether it be a short story, website, film, class paper or what not. View it and examine the horror. It’s probably terrible, I know my first’s in anything usually are.

Your failures are simply comical attempts at success.

Everyone sucks when they try something new, and it’s hilarious. Failure is funny because you tried something new, you did it the worst you can possibly do it and it felt like your life was being wasted.

However, laughter also stems from the fact that you can literally see your improvement. Call it “joy laughter”, but you are able to see the transition you have made into a person who can legitimately call them self a writer, poet, filmmaker, cook, gardener, comedian or whatever.

So just remember that when you failed before or did something you regret, there is probably some great laughs to be had, and most importantly: You’re overreacting.

Riding a bike is fun, but falling off a few times to learn is where the great stories come from.

Besides, how can you not laugh when people with more difficult situations do it everyday?

Tell me about a failure or misfortune that you can now laugh at in the comments.

Photo Credit: samurai / freedigitalphotos.net

It does for me.

I wouldn’t say I’m pudgy, but I used to be a pretty good athlete with very little fat on my body.

Since I graduated from college, started my marketing career, then moved onto writing, I noticed one big change:

I don’t push myself physically anymore.

Sure, it wouldn’t be a day without riding my bike or walking around for a little bit, but I don’t seek out those areas of discomfort that make me REALLY healthy.

I indulge in pizza or junk food on most weekends, I take my time on my bike and the pull-up bar I bought for my bedroom door is quite dormant.

I gained about 20 pounds since I graduated college and last month I decided to change that upward trend.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being comfortable. I enjoy the leisurely (at least physically) craft of writing . So I wanted to see if I could add a small level of discomfort while still receiving quality results. I didn’t want to get “ripped”, but I wanted to look and feel healthier, and in turn help energize myself to write more.

So I’m proud to say that over the last 30 days (prior to my vacation, so I guess more like 40 days) I lost 10 pounds, while writing and writing and writing some more.

Here’s how I did it and hopefully you can try your own rendition:

Healthy snacks and meals

In high school I had a personal trainer for football and he always told me that most people who work out don’t actually see quality results because they don’t have the right diet. He said that 85% of losing weight or gaining muscle is diet and the remaining 15% is exercise.

I love pizza and beer on the weekends. I also eat chips or chew on salty sunflower seeds while I write. Ok, so I didn’t cut the beer out of my diet, but all my meals consisted of things like turkey sandwiches, oranges, carrots, cottage cheese, celery and other healthy stuff. For snacks, I stuck to unsalted almonds or other nuts.

The best thing about this? All of these foods are delicious. I always loved them before and for whatever reason they just slipped away from my regular diet.

Write away from home

This is an area that might differ for every person based on personal preference and location. However, I would suggest choosing a location to write outside of your home and then walking, running or biking there everyday. I chose to bike to the Chicago Public Library which is about 16 miles there and back.

Yes I know that sounds long, so you could obviously adjust accordingly. However, I would encourage you to get a bike and try it out. I hate running, but when you’re on a bike time flies by and it’s more enjoyable than taxing. Not to mention, if you are going to write every time, you have a set destination with a determined goal which helps pass the time and make you excited to arrive.

Get up to go get things

I typically use Amazon to deliver all my groceries and toiletries directly to my doorstep. However, this past month I stopped doing that and I would only purchase groceries that would last me for about two to three days. That way, in order to eat I was frequently required to get up, walk or ride my bike to the grocery store.

Writing bursts + exercise bursts = reward

Before I ate or watched TV or did anything that would provide me any comfort I would write for one hour straight, then I would do three sets of 10 pullups or as many pushups as I could handle. After that I would reward myself with some sort of comfort. This helped my writing and my health.

Looking back I believe the key to my success was that I created destinations – places I need to be, whether it was to write, eat or congregate with friends and simply substituted a car or public transportation with walking or riding my bike (try rollerblading or skateboarding or uni-cycling – whatever floats your boat).

This, combined with eating a little healthier allowed me to achieve my goals of integrating my writing life into a healthy life. It pays off too. You feel better, want to write more and have a higher appreciation for life.

Let me know in the comments how you promote your own healthiness. Maybe you use your writing to stimulate exercise?

The traveling writer faces many obstacles.

Yes.

Does it suck?

Yes.

After two weeks of traveling (for about a week to Indiana and an unexpected one week escapade of moving to a new home in Chicago) I have concluded one thing:

Writing while traveling takes an extreme amount of self-control.

It’s interesting, because most sites and books that talk about taking control of your life and working from where ever you want are missing a little something.

Although sitting on the beach or whipping out your computer wherever you want sounds romantic and exciting, it is actually more difficult than waking up and sitting at a desk with a set routine.

I recently traveled to Bloomington, Indiana (where Indiana University is) and every year they have a bike race called the Little 500. Little 500 is a huge event, so popular that they made an Academy Award winning film called Breaking Away to show the dedication and raw work ethic that these bikers put into their preparation, while following a group of “townies” who break barriers to become the first non-student team to join and win the race.

After that, I planned to move from my apartment in Lincoln Park to Wrigleyville, to join some old grade-school friends in experiencing a true tradition of Chicago: Wrigleyville.

My plan was to write throughout the entire trip. Unfortunately, this was the first time since I tried writing while travleing, and needless to say it was difficult.

Why?

• Friends create distractions
• Internet access is limited
• Your mind is in a different place

When I arrived in Bloomington, my friends wanted to go to the bar. No writing. When I woke up they wanted to go out for breakfast or lunch or dinner. They would turn on a game or sit in my bedroom (their living room) and laugh and talk about what game was on TV.

During my move I told myself it would be a quick transaction and then I would get straight to writing. Unfortunately, that was almost impossible, since moving is the worst thing in the world and it will consume at least 24 hours minimum. It ended up taking about 5 days of my writing time.

Why?

• Day 1: Packing and talking to my old roommate about what things each of us would take, while cleaning up our apartment
• Day 2: Moving
• Day 3: Spending time with the people who helped me move
• Day 4: Organizing my things and setting up necessities such as cable and internet (Comcast customer support for about three hours)
• Day 5: Ok, I finally wrote on this day, but it wasn’t very productive (I’ll call this my recovery day)

Overall, it was a mess. I understand that people do this everyday, but for those who haven’t written while traveling or have encountered problems while doing so here are some things I learned:

Prepare for minimal internet

Yes, writing can be done offline, but when it comes to freelancing and posting on a blog you need to eventually send your work via email or publish a blog post. In this case you need to prepare for a lack of internet. Finding a coffee shop is often a viable option, however I have trouble concentrating with all the people walking around.

Also, when traveling, you are often in a car or not near a Starbucks. In this case, purchase a wireless internet card or application on your phone to maintain constant connection. I purchased an application called FoxFi that helped me send out some emails on the tail end of my trip. You can use a certain bandwidth for free and then you must purchase the full app for around $7. It works great and allows a writer to at least connect for sending emails.

Tell your friends or family you need to work

This was difficult for me because I wanted to take advantage of every moment I was spending with my friends down in Bloomington. Not to mention, they pushed me to come with them whenever I said no. The only time I had a chance to write some freelance blog posts was when I told them that I needed to work to make money. I think my exact words were, “When YOU take a vacation your company still pays you. When I take a vacation I don’t make anything.”

It’s an inconvenient truth, but freelance writers need to work even when they are on vacation. After I said this, they went to play a round of golf and left me alone for about five hours.

Lose sleep

Writers might be the only professionals who need to lose sleep on vacation. During my second day of moving I squeezed out a couple hours of writing late at night. Yes I was tired. Yes my body was sore from moving unnaturally large objects, but I wish I had done that every other day of my trip.

The next day I woke up a little sore and tired, but I also felt great about myself. I had completed the work that I love and did it while facing adversity.

Writing is about facing adversity, and this adversity often comes disguised as comfort.

How have you managed to write while traveling? Let me know in the comments.

Photo Credit: Michal Marcol

Writing often requires you to build separate platforms. This can cause increased anxiety, since you suddenly become the manager of multiple different brands.

There is rarely any reason for this.

As a writer, building a platform is essential, and hiding separate work from readers is doing you a great disservice.

If you are a writer, there is no reason your name shouldn’t be your brand. You may create a separate blog title, domain or product name, but your name needs to be somehow integrated.

For example, once you choose a niche for a website, let’s say “Science Fiction Adventures”, place your name in the title or at least create an “about” widget on the side of your site so people know it’s you.

“Science Fiction Adventures with Joe Warnimont” will do two things for me:

• Grab people who know me – If someone stumbles upon my site and they already know how awesome I am, they are more prone to stick around.

• Entice people who don’t know me – If someone who doesn’t know me stumbles upon my site, the “with Joe Warnimont” area indicates that I might be an expert in that particular niche. This builds perceived credibility and may push those people to search my name online and view my other work. It causes them to ask the question, “Who is Joe Warnimont?”

Different platforms

I received a thoughtful question from Susan Call Hutchinson on whether or not she should have two different brands for her two websites, or just one. This is one area that correlates perfectly with an identity problem in the publishing industry. Author Nathan Bransford wrote a blog post on how publishers are squandering their own selling power through the use of imprints.

He’s absolutely right. The publishing industry is making a huge mistake by selling books through unknown imprints instead of their high-powered publisher name. Some readers obviously don’t choose books based on publisher, but many will actually pick up a book with the HarperCollins name on it simply because there is a better chance it will be worth their money.

The same goes for writers.

If you run two or three or four websites that have varying topics, there is no reason you shouldn’t brand them under the same name.

Be everywhere

Danny Iny is referred to as the Freddy Krueger of Blogging.

Why?

Because he is everywhere on the internet. He constantly preaches the importance of guest blogging, email marketing and various other marketing techniques to get your name out there.

In order to be everywhere as a writer you can’t keep changing your name or creating new sites or literature that can’t be traced back to you.

Declare your name as your company.

The quicker you embrace your own face and name as the rock of your platform, the easier you will be able to spread the word about your offerings. Also, if your name is on one product, blog or service, people will be pushed to checkout your other work as well. Minimize your multitasking from brand to brand by focusing on one powerful platform.

Leverage your tent pole

Most movies that studios pump out every year don’t turn a profit. However, they counter these losses by always delivering one or two “tent-poles” that cover all the costs of their other movies, while pushing viewers to the smaller ones. Think about it, you have one giant pole in the middle to support all the other poles on the outside of the tent. Without this pole, the tent would fall down.

Find your tent-pole and use it to push people to your other work.

This will help increase feedback from readers and spread ALL your ideas more efficiently.

Pen names

Pen names are an interesting branding topic because they are typically not used properly. There are three reasons why you should use a pen name. Otherwise there is a good chance you are hurting your own brand and diminishing your selling power by not making yourself recognizable.

You are just starting out

Some writers like to assign a pen name because it seems fun, or their name is difficult to pronounce. In this case, it should only be done if you are just starting to build a blog or other platform. There is no reason to completely change your name once you already have readers.

The one argument I have against creating a pen name for fun is that it can cause billing or tax issues in the future. There are many stories about freelance writers or authors working under a pen name who cannot deposit a check or report their earnings because the publisher or client confuses the pen name for the person’s actual name. Although a pen name can seem glamorous or fun, it might create problems in the future.

Your content is inappropriate for your other audience

If you are writing a family-based blog and you decide to venture into erotic fiction, I doubt your family blog readers would find your new venture helpful. In fact, it would probably turn them off. In this case you would want to completely separate these platforms.

Don’t confuse “inappropriate” with “different”. Using an example from Susan Call Hutchinson, she has a freelancing platform, an editing service, an inspirational writing platform and a site that explores reading aloud with your family. These are different, but do not pose any threat to offending viewers on the other platform. So she should use her name for all of these in order to push people to the other sites and build brand recognition.

Not only will this show readers that she is well-versed in various areas of expertise, but it will also make it easier to manage a single brand.

You’re bored

If you are famous or you found success in a particular niche and want to challenge yourself to become successful without utilizing your current platform, then you might use a pen name. Honestly, this would typically only occur if you are rich, famous and bored.

Let me know in the comments how you have successfully branded yourself or if you have any questions about the process.

Photo Credit: thanunkorn / freedigitalphotos.net

What type of blog you would like to offer, what type of books you would like to write and even what types of freelance clients you would like to work with.

I’ve heard many people say that they want to start big. I myself have dabbled in various websites and writing areas that were far too large to handle.

“I want to start a blog and write an eBook on finance.” Ok, that’s all fine and dandy, but how do you plan on competing with the wide-array of huge finance blogs that currently exist.

If you want to be a freelance writer and don’t have a focus, it will be difficult to build a client base and will also be hard to juggle the different projects, making it more confusing as you go.

I for example focus on blog posts and website copy for restaurants and printing companies. Yes I occasionally stray away from my niche, and I have been able to expand to other markets, but sticking to a specific area helps me stay focused and dominate that one market.

When choosing a niche, there are three areas that require different thought processes:

• Non-fiction writers
• Fiction writers or poets
• Freelance writers

Some people may fall into several of these categories, but the most important thing to remember is that you must choose a niche for each one. For example, all of these categories need a blog. However, don’t immediately think that you need to build a blog relating to the area of writing you would like to get into.

For example, I manage a blog that provides motivational and technical advice to writers, however most of the jobs I get for freelance writing come from clients who say they really liked my blog. My blog typically has nothing to do with the industry they would like me to write for, but it portrays that I can connect with an audience and help a company build an audience as well.

Choosing A Niche

Focusing on one area is essential to narrowing down your scope and dominating one area, instead of trying to take on the world and being overwhelmed with the amount of content that needs to be created. Not to mention there is more competition and less demand for what you have to offer if you don’t narrow down your writing.

Choosing A Niche: Non-fiction Writers

For non-fiction writers you can connect your blog to your other non-fiction writings. For example, if you write non-fiction articles or books about gardening, you can then make a gardening blog as well. However, with non-fiction narrowing down your niche by three levels can help you take hold of a single area.

So instead of creating a blog on gardening you would write a blog on gardening for females, choosing a distinct demographic. After that you can narrow your focus down even more by creating a blog on gardening for female professionals or gardening for females who live in a city.

There is a good chance few people are dominating this market. It is much easier to make yourself an expert in the area, and then once you do so, people will think of you whenever they have a question on that niche.

The cool thing about this thinking is that it narrows down your readership to a select group of people who are far more likely to stick around and become loyal followers.

Choosing A Niche: Fiction Writers and Poets

This is the trickiest of the three groups, because it is difficult to narrow down to a niche market that isn’t already saturated.

Fiction writers and poets fall into a group of writers where it is difficult to make a “value added” blog. There are so many blogs out there showcasing fictional works and poetry that it is nearly impossible to gain exposure. After all, as a reader, seeing a blog on some random guy or girl’s recent poetry posts isn’t something to write home about.

This is why building a platform and making connections is more important than anything for these types of writers. However establishing a niche to start off is the first step in building those connections.

First choose a niche. Sci-Fi, fantasy, children’s literature or whatever. Writing an erotic fiction story one day and a political thriller the next will not do you any favors in establishing a brand.

Stick to one thing, perfect it, and then you can expand.

Make something better

After that, don’t think about creating something completely new. It rarely works. The greatest stories and inventions are a result of someone taking something that already existed and putting a new spin on it or making it better. Chances are you can’t create something completely new, and if you do it probably isn’t marketable.

Your blog

This is by far the most difficult part of choosing a niche as a fiction writer or poet. Like I stated before, a series of fiction posts or poems is difficult to market. Why? Simply because it’s difficult to find an audience. You are just another person sharing their stories online.

Focus on something that provides immediate value. I say immediate value because it’s unfair to assume that everyone who writes fiction or poetry on their website doesn’t provide value. However, it typically doesn’t offer immediate value. There are plenty of amazing short stories, poems and ideas I have read on other blogs.

Unfortunately, I typically stumbled upon them accidentally or discovered them after the writer connected with me. In essence, a short story or poem doesn’t scream for the average person to click and read it. People are busy, and it’s easier to look towards well-known authors for the next good read.

The solution?

Like I said before, a platform and connections. However, you might be doomed from the start if you don’t create a niche blog that provides immediate value.

In order to provide immediate value, think of what people search for online. Creating a separate page for your own personal writings is great, but think about creating a blog that focuses on a niche that indirectly markets your writing.

If you write science fiction, create a blog that reviews science fiction books for college kids. If you write poetry, create a blog that offers motivational or structural tips for writing poetry.

With these indirect topics, you can then build a substantial following and push people to read your own work.

Choosing A Niche: Freelance Writers

Freelance writers have a little leeway when it comes to building a blog. There are so many things that a freelance writer can work on, that simply portraying the ability to build a following and connect with other people can find jobs. Like I stated before, I consider my blog my finest selling point when seeking freelance jobs (even if it doesn’t relate to the topic).

However, freelance writers should choose a niche when deciding on what jobs they would like to work on. Creating an expertise in finance or sports or movies makes you more marketable and organized in that particular area. I started writing website verbiage for restaurants in my area and every time I pitch a new restaurant I am able to show them my portfolio of similar jobs.

Putting it all together

Most writers, including myself, want more. They want to create a blog, write various genres of books, become a freelance writer, write poems and cover a non-fiction topic. Starting small and dominating a certain area will provide the ease and credibility that is often impossible by trying to cover everything.

However, all of these components will work as building blocks to creating more exposure for yourself. Using a niche blog to share advice and experiences will help your freelance career, while making a more manageable approach for your fiction or poetry career.

I will leave you with one piece of advice: Pick an area and stick to it. Jumping around from niche to niche is inefficient. Choose an area, work your butt off and dominate that one area.

What experience do you have with choosing a niche? What advice do you have for other writers when choosing an area to focus on? Let me know in the comments!

Photo Credit: katybate / Creative Commons

I’m a nerd.

Not your stereotypical short-sleeve, plaid shirt with a pocket protector and thick brimmed glasses nerd. A nerd for science fiction books and movies that take me to far reaches of the universe, or alternative worlds with high tech weaponry and strange looking creatures.

Our friends at Merriam-Webster Dictionary define nerd as an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits.

If we head over to Dictionary.com they describe a nerd with words such as stupid, irritating, intellectual, unattractive, boring or unpopular, and being obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit.

How rude.

I would like to reformulate some of these words to concoct my own definition for the modern-day meaning of nerd. A nerd is someone who full-heartedly commits him or herself to a passion, enduring whatever criticism or adversity that stands in the way of that passion.

And that’s exactly what a nerd is, someone who is ridiculed for liking something too much, for being different and not following the status quo.

People may ostracize nerds for the way they look or act or dress, but I realized that the primary reason for this criticism is actually a combination of concern, irritation, jealousy or thinking a person is crazy for taking risks on a passion that generally yields poor financial results.

After all, most people follow the safe route by going to school, getting a 9 to 5 and making good money. Family members and friends might see a loved one struggle to bring in a steady paycheck, while some critics don’t like the fact that a nerd might actually succeed and overshadow them.

However, in today’s day-and-age I tend to hear comments such as: “Why are you trying to write, there’s no money in that.” Who can blame them I guess, when we are constantly bombarded with articles on the highest paying jobs for every known demographic or field.

I relate this to nerds, because nerds are the ones that get ridiculed, the ones that aren’t cool and never pursue ideas that others deem normal. However, for this same reason, nerds are the ones that find ways to affect the world.

With commitment, nerds excel in life, regardless of their level of “nerd-dom”. Heck, you’ve never heard a story of a successful, touching or inspirational person who just followed the crowd and did what was popular at the time.

Nerds build communities together for the love of one common passion that strengthens relationships and builds ties that can never be broken.

We all have a little bit of nerd in us, and we can’t make a difference without fighting for our passion. Besides, the most influential people in the world, past and present have always been nerds in their own respect:

• Mark Zuckerberg – Began the idea for Facebook by starting a website for guys to rate the attractiveness of one Harvard female over another. This certainly did not make him too popular (all those who have seen the Social Network know this), not to mention just about all computer programmers can be teased for their passion of computers.
• Emily Dickinson – Shut herself out from the world. After her death she touched millions of people when over 800 poems were discovered that she never showed anyone.
• Tommy Hilfiger - Went bankrupt selling apparel out of the back trunk of his car.
• Chris Abani – Imprisoned 3 times on suspicion of trying to overthrow the Nigerian government. He was a threat because of his devotion to often controversial political and religious literature.
• Colonel Sanders – Slept in his car while knocking on doors and wearing his famous white suit to try and sell his chicken.
• Quentin Tarantino – Never went to film school, but discussed and watched films all day while working at a video store.
• Charles Schultz – Every one of his cartoons submitted to his high school paper were rejected.
• Frank Lloyd Wright – In the United States his work was often ridiculed as being too obscure and outlandish.
• Ludwig Boltzmann – Maybe not a name you recognize, but he was shunned back in the early 1900′s for a theory that small atoms exist in all objects.
• Maya Angelou – It’s impossible to sum up the adversity Maya Angelou went through in order to pursue her passions of singing, dancing, acting and writing, so I would recommend reading more about her here. Racism, rape, violence, romantic ridicule and criticism for controversial literature are just a handful of things that she endured to pursue her dreams.
• Charles Darwin – His father and peers called him lazy and a daydreamer.
• Lucille Ball – Was regarded as a low, B-level actress before I Love Lucy. Most instructors and family members suggested she try another job.

As history shows, it’s cool to not fit in sometimes. So just remember that whenever you’re feeling like life isn’t going your way, maybe your popularity level isn’t all that wonderful right now, your friends aren’t supporting you or something you love doesn’t make you out to be the “coolest” or most financially successful person in the world.

Your uniqueness is something to wear proudly on your sleeve. In my opinion, everyone has a little nerd in them, and the earlier you show the world, the quicker you can find happiness, and the world will recognize you for it.

It’s tough because writers are charged with these side effects due to the nature of the craft: being locked up in a room, not talking to family or friends for extended periods of time, reading a book, making little money, or in my case, not socializing because I’m nose deep in Hugh Howey’s Wool Omnibus at the moment (not being very social) or being ridiculed in high school because I was a football player who wanted to join the musical. It will always be worth it in the end, because nerds are creative, they innovate with ideas they learn from their passion and reinvent our world the way no one else can.

In my eyes, being a nerd is committing yourself so fully to your passion that you will endure whatever adversity tries to prevent you from performing that passion.

Let us know in the comments section what makes you a nerd!

See ya next time…

Social media? Blog posts? Emails?

Photo Credit: adamr / freedigitalphotos.net

Building an email list is the most direct way to market a book or other product.

Having thousands of Twitter followers and Facebook likes is wonderful, but it doesn’t have the direct marketing strength that email marketing provides.

With emails, you connect directly to readers and provide sales content in a form that people actually desire.

93% of people online prefer brand interaction through email (60 Second Marketer) not social media. Yup, most people would rather be sold something through email than Facebook or Twitter. It makes sense too, considering most people typically share fun stuff like photos, quotes and articles via social media.

Wonderful. But how do you turn that email list from zero subscribers to hundreds or thousands?

An email is personal information, so you cannot expect people to fork over that information without providing something of value. What is the easiest way to acquire an email from someone? By offering FREE, exclusive content in exchange for their email.

There are several pieces of content that work great for writers looking to accumulate more emails, and in turn, create loyal followers who might buy something from you in the future.

A short manifesto

I provide this to my subscribers. Since I decided to give out this manifesto, my email list has increased by over 1000 subscribers in just under three months.

Choose a topic you are passionate about and share your opinion on it. Regardless of whether people agree with you or not, it will spark conversation. There are two really cool things about a manifesto – it shouldn’t take long to write and it provides value to readers, while remaining artistic.

A video

I also share my video series on email marketing for writers when people sign up for my list. Another great example of a free video series can be found at socialmediaexaminer.com, where they offer a social marketing video tutorial. As a writer, think about doing an interview, creating a tutorial on something you are knowledgeable in or even an exclusive book trailer. One author once asked me how she could create a video if she wrote children’s arts and crafts books.

I told her to pick one of her favorite crafts and film a step-by-step tutorial. If you are a fiction writer, film an inspirational talk on how you went through your publishing journey or an interview on how you came to write your book. However, the strongest videos always help out the reader. It may not relate directly to your book, but provide a video that highlights some techniques you used to become more successful. Think about your reader first, not just marketing your writing all the time.

A preview

I would typically recommend this as a additional piece, included with another giveaway for beginner authors who don’t currently have a following. Provide a preview of something you plan on selling in the future. If you have a compilation of short stories, poems, a novel or novelette, give people a taste of your writing prowess with a few free chapters.

An email course

One of my favorite email courses for writers can be found for free at Make A Living Writing. Carol has an autoresponder setup through Mailchimp, where once someone signs up for her email list, it will then send out 20 email lessons on weekly intervals.

With writers, there are a wide range of options for setting up an email course, such as a fiction series that sends out every week (similar to a TV sitcom) or a course on your own niche that people might find valuable. The best thing about an autoresponder is that you set it up once and the emails send on their own.

Email updates

The fourth and final giveaway that should always be passed on to subscribers is valuable emails. Newsletters with fun facts, freebies, giveaways and advice are always helpful. You can also send out blog updates whenever you publish something new to your site.

So how do you send out an automated email that sends your subscribers a free giveaway?

Disclaimer: There are several options that you can use to set up a sign-up form and email list. I recommend Mailchimp and do all my tutorials with Mailchimp for several reasons. You can checkout those reasons here, but in short, Mailchimp offers superior customization and it is free until you reach 2000 subscribers, which is nice for writers just getting started.

In order to setup your Mailchimp account, create a form for your blog and manage your list you can view my free video series on email marketing for writers. Once you have that all setup you can move on to the following steps to automate a free giveaway that sends out whenever someone subscribes.

Create something of value

Spend a few days making something that you can give out to other people. Like I covered earlier think about your reader and put together an informational eBook, a preview to your novel or an autoresponder email course. To start out, let’s say you want to include a link to a video, PDF preview, full eBook or manifesto.

Upload your content

Navigate to the backend of your website. For WordPress users this is going to look like this: myexamplewebsite.com/wp-admin. When you get logged into your dashboard, click on the media tab on the left. If you still need to setup your own WordPress blog, checkout how to do so in 10 minutes.

At the top, click “Add New”

You can then click “Select Files” in order to find the file you have already created on your computer.

Navigate to your file and double-click to upload it onto your website.

Once the file is uploaded you can click on “Edit”

On this detailed file page you should highlight the “File URL” and then copy the URL. This URL is where your file is now located. In order to share your file with everyone it must be hosted somewhere online, so people can redirect to it. In short, people cannot see something that is just sitting on your desktop.

Create your automated email

After that, we are done working in WordPress. You can now navigate to Mailchimp and login to your account.

Click “Lists” on the top of your Mailchimp dashboard.

On the left-hand side, click on the “Design Signup Forms” button and select the list you would like to give something to.

On the left side of the page there is a “Forms & Response Emails” drop down field.

Select the “Confirmation Thank You Page” option.

In order to design all these emails you can checkout my email design video here, but right now we just want to get a link in the email that leads your subscribers to the free content.

The “Confirmation Thank You Page” email is the second to last email that your subscriber will receive. It confirms that they are successfully enrolled and thanks them for enrolling. However, we can change this default text to include a link to your eBook or other giveaway.

Scroll over the body text area in the email and click on the “Edit” button in the upper right hand corner.

You can then type in whatever welcome text you want to provide. (Feel free to use my text above as a starter.)

In order to link your giveaway. Type in your desired text. For example, I have “Click Here To Get Your Free Copy Of The Landlocked Traveling Writer”.

Highlight whatever text you want people to click on.

Click on the “Link” button at the top of your email editor.

Then paste in the link that we copied from your WordPress dashboard before. You might have to go back and copy it again if it was overridden.

Click Insert and now you will be able to see a link that will leads to your giveaway. After this, click “Save Now” and “Save and Exit” on the upper right hand side of your Mailchimp screen. Now whoever subscribes to your email list will receive your free giveaway!

Some extra tips

• You might have noticed that I also include a free video series in my welcome email. Feel free to link as much content as you want. I would try not to go overboard, but if you have an extra video, eBook or old blog post that you want to get more exposure, link them up!
• If you have a video on Youtube, Vimeo or some other video website, it is already hosted online somewhere, so you can skip over the “Upload your content” section and put a link to the YouTube or Vimeo page.
• Autoresponders for email courses or a series of automated emails require a paid Mailchimp account and require a little more customization not covered in this tutorial.

Do you have any experience giving out freebies to your subscribers? If not, do you have any questions on why giving out your content can be helpful for selling your work in the future?

Photo Credit: JordanAnthony / Creative Commons

My sister asks me to babysit my niece, my mom guilt trips me into tearing out cabinets for lake house renovations and my girlfriend sighs when I say I can’t go to a movie because I’m writing at 8:00pm.

What I need is separation.

Separation from the tediousness of everyday stresses. Separation from the normalcy that leads to indifference.

The irony is that I actually dread that separation. I loath when distance is placed between us, because of one simple truth: I love them.

I realized the same goes for writing. While away, I worry about my blinking cursor and the unfinished work I have yet to complete. I stress that more and more personal tasks will further separate me from my passion.

However, this separation is not without good results. This distance provides a series of needs and nurturing attributes that enforce creativity and strengthen the bond between me and my writing – just like personal relationships.

Why?

There is a raw human need for change, while the romanticism of a return sparks creativity and the possibility of no return ignites a passion impossible to match.

The human need for change

Prying yourself from the monotonous staple that is your writing chamber to explore a change of writing scenery is a small taste of the change that we crave. It is human. It sparks creativity when you stand up and walk around, when you write while lying horizontal, when you shift your desk to the other side of the room.

Change means new experiences, and writing is about the embrace and communication of those new endeavors. Writing about your everyday “peel out of bed” routine screams boring.

Separation from your personal life is the same way. You need it to remain clear, to remain toned and to remain sane. While separation from your writing sparks a similar response. It takes you away from a world you are too familiar with – a cozy world where nothing can hurt you and everything is just perfect.

This cozy world destroys creativity.

You need space to breath and take the imperfections of your personal life to reveal the imperfections in your own writing.

“We need to experience the mediocre and the outright rotten; such experience helps us to recognize those things when they begin to creep into our own work, and to steer clear of them.” – Stephen King

The romanticism of return

Distancing yourself from a love that you often dread, brings you closer to another love that you sometimes dread as well.

I love my family, but sometimes I can’t stand them. I also love writing, but the thought of plucking out my keyboard keys and flicking them into a fire often comes to mind as well.

Distance diminishes the duress caused by other loves and strengthens the bonds through the desire of reunion. The thought of seeing your passion or your love one more time in the near future propels us to think of how we will do things differently, how we will make things better and how we will be more creative.

The possibility of no return

Fear is an emotion that binds you to something you love. Fear of death, fear of financial loss and fear of ridicule are all things that push us towards perfection. We desire to see those we love one more time, and one more time after that. What if the love is lost unexpectedly? Life is short, so we want to make sure that every moment is taken in as if it were our last.

The same goes for writing. Separation from writing means the potential to never see it again. Maybe financial woes will cause the distance, or the wide array of family and social responsibilities The possibility of no return sparks a fear – no a love. A love so fierce that emotions and words are required to spill onto the page in the slight chance that it will be the last opportunity to do so.

Separation is a dreadful thought, but it is a harsh reality that actually ignites a flame of inspiration. It opens a world of question that is impossible to address…forcing the mind to run wild with thoughts of pure passion and love.

In what ways has separation ignited your flame of creativity?

Photo Credit: Roberto Verzo / Creative Commons

Are you using an RSS feed for your website?

If not, you are no Spiderman.

Creating an RSS feed is crucial for the success of your blog for one simple reason:

It adds to your web of connection options on the internet.

Some people consume information online via email, some prefer social media, but there is a strong niche of people who only take in their blog content via an RSS reader. And without an RSS feed on your blog, they will write you off as a villain, and never come back to your blog.

Essentially, an RSS reader allows people to view a compilation of blog posts from places that they specify. The benefits of an RSS aggregator are that you get all your blog content in one place, and you are able to categorize all your choices into organized folders.

In order to assure your blog content reaches its maximum potential, you must realize that all readers enjoy consuming information differently. Some people like emails or RSS feeds, while some like reading and some prefer video or podcasts.

You must cater to all of these people, so your blog posts get viewed.

Some examples of RSS aggregators include Feedly, Taptu, Reeder and News Blur. Google Reader was always the most popular, however Google recently announced that it will be discontinued in July of 2013. So if you would like to try out an RSS aggregator for your own purposes, I would recommend Feedly, as it has a clean interface and pulls all your feeds from Google Reader, if you had that before.

So how can you setup an RSS feed for your readers to enroll in?

Get bit by the bug

To start off you will have to sign up for a free service from Google called Feedburner. This will allow you to setup a feed, while tracking the amount of RSS subscribers.

If you already have a Gmail account you can sign into the Feedburner service. If not, simply create a Gmail account. (I understand that some people don’t have Gmail. The reason I recommend doing this, is because setting up an RSS feed is much more complicated without one. You don’t have to use your Gmail account if you don’t want to, but it’s free, and it’s the easiest way to setup a feed.)

Creating a feed is quite simple. You can scroll down to the field that says “Burn a feed right this instant.” Then type or copy and paste you blog’s domain here.

Click next. It will then ask you to identify your feed. Choose the option that looks like this: www.mydomain.com/feed. Then click next.

Feedburner will then ask you to name your feed and specify the name of your feed URL. You can name it whatever you want, but you can see what I chose below:

Click next and this will give you the URL of your new feed! It should look something like this:

The next step will simply tell you what statistics are being tracked through your feed. For example you will be able to see how many people are subscribed and what feed reader they are using. You can also include some other statistical options if you would like more in depth statistics such as click through rates.

Spin your web

After that, you will want to put a button on your site that looks like this:

If you click “next” in Feedburner it will give you several options to incorporate your feed on your blog, depending on your blogging platform.

You are more than welcome to walk through the steps of integrating the button on your own platform. However, I would recommend creating a button, similar to the one above, so people can simply click on that button and subscribe via their own feed reader. So, for the easiest and most universal method, follow the steps below:

Click Publicize.

Click the “friendly graphic link.

Select the first option, “Subscribe in a Reader”

Then scroll to the very bottom of the page to copy the code provided.

You can then paste this code in any area of your website you would like it to show up. I would recommend putting the button in the upper right hand corner of your sidebar, so people can see it, regardless of the page they are on.

If you have a WordPress page you can move a Text widget to your sidebar and then paste the code in there.

After that your button should show up on your website and people will be able to click on it and automatically be redirected to their feed reader.

Congratulations! Your web of connections has now grown. Keep in mind that people who use RSS reader absolutely love them, so it is a great place to get in front of the eyes of seasoned readers. Not to mention you will be able to see how many people click on this link as well!

Let me know in the comments if you have had success with an RSS feed. If you are new to this, do you have any questions?

Look for short-term and long-term windows to share your posts.

After you have found an idea for an intriguing blog post, concocted a beautifully written article, proofread and formatted, all that is left to do is hit the dreaded “Publish” button. I’ll be honest, I hesitate every time I push that little blue button, because I fear that it won’t reach it’s desired audience and therefore all the work I put in would be a huge waste of time.

There is no reason for this fear. Every post you create has a purpose, even if it is far down the road.

Writing a blog post, no matter how short or random, is a building block in constructing your writing goals.

In the movie business they call these “windows”. Where a movie has multiple windows for reaching an audience and making money throughout its lifetime. First you have the box office, then pay-per-view, then rentals, then DVD sales, then TV.

With your posts, the options for distribution are endless in the short and long-term. Let’s take a look at what you should be doing with your blog post as time progresses.

Heat up your title

This step should be addressed right before your blog post is published, but it allows for your words to be potentially read from more people. After you complete your post, go to the Google Adwords keyword tool and type in a few words that occur frequently in your blog post. Then see what keywords are being searched for on search engines.

Use these words to make your title more powerful. For example, before I wrote this article my tentative title was “What you must do right after you hit the publish button”. I typed in the words “blogging”, “after blog post” and “publish” in the keyword tool and saw that there are high searches on the keywords “create a blog” and “blog post”. Therefore I changed my title around to make it more search engine relevant.

Trim your URLs

When sharing your links on Twitter, having a short URL will allow people to easily reply or re-tweet with mentions to your post, creating conversation and sending more people to your post and Twitter page. Not only that, but you can track where these shortened links are coming from. So in order to track the effectiveness of your Facebook or Google+ posts, it is wise to shorten your links on those pages as well.

Social sharing

This is the first wave of distribution, besides actually publishing your blog post for regular readers. Share your shortened link on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and through an RSS feed. An RSS feed needs to be setup before posting your article, however this is a powerful means of distribution since many people consume their news and blog posts through these content aggregation tools. If you don’t have an RSS feed, go to my tutorial on setting up an RSS feed for your blog.

With social media sites, don’t simply post your link and expect people to reply with comments. I try to use the system of question + knowledge + link = feedback. For example: Are you doing everything you can to share you blog posts? RSS feeds, emails and eBooks are all in play – place link to article here.

A question generates a thought in people’s minds and causes them to question their own tactics. Providing a solution or information makes them think that you might know something they don’t. This question also helps push people to voice if they are, or are not complying with the article. Obviously every type of post would merit different questions or propositions, but try to get people thinking before just posting a link.

If you want to cut down on the time it takes to post on social media sites checkout Hootsuite. This allows you to schedule your social media posts in advance, so you dont have to worry about them later.

Comment on other blogs

Pick 10 or 20 blogs that you enjoy and comment on some of their posts immediately after you release your social links. This will prompt other people to come back to your site and checkout your recent posts, and hopefully comment. This not only creates relationships between you and other bloggers, but it makes others, who come to your blog later, see these comments. Comments indicate social power. They provide credibility and are like testimonials, showing that others have already found value in your post. It’s a great way to spread your ideas through community.

Send out an email with your blog update

Include a link in all communications. You should notify your email list that you have created a new blog post, link recent blog posts in your email signature and create a list of recent blog posts in all future email blasts that you send out.

Save it for later

Eventually your blog post will end up in your archives, and chances are no one will see it again. This should never happen. You still have several “windows” that you can take advantage of. First of all, put a “popular” or “recommended” posts widget in your side bar to gain readers for your older posts. There are plenty of plugins for this capability when using a self-hosted WordPress site.

The most beneficial thing to do with these old posts is to create an eBook.

Accumulate all your older posts and put them into an eBook to sell or giveaway for free. Organize the posts so they flow well and have a useful theme. It might simply be a collection of short stories! Many people forget that they already have the content for a marketable book inside their blog. You could even send this to a publisher or use it for enforcing a pitch to write a freelance article. You can also revisit an old blog post and add to the content with a new blog post (create a series out of it!), or take a new angle on the exact same topic.

Thinking about the distribution of your blog post in terms of “windows” will remind you that a blog post is never dead. Utilize the power of the internet to share your posts effectively in the short-term, and create new ways to share you content in the long-term. Who knows what you can construct out of the content you have already created?