5 Undisputable Writing Truths

Build a platform

Everything I was told is true. Do it. It will make your life easier. Don’t know how to begin?  

a) Start with reading Get Known before the Book Deal by Christina Katz 

b) Go to conferences and attend sessions about promoting

c) Seek advice from professional such as My Write Platform  

Don’t whine

This sounds really easy, but I see it often on social media. If you’re a writer, don’t complain about the dark, dirty side of writing, like editing. It doesn’t matter how many times you make a pass through a book, your reader’s don’t need to hear you gripe. 

Network — Online or In-Person

You’re an introvert? Suck it up. Get your adrenaline pumping, then get out there. You never know what opportunity is waiting for you to fall into, which you can’t do if you’re stuck in your writing cave.

Read

This seems like a no-brainer, but after I published my first book, I limited my fiction reading due to time, instead I focused on books/blogs/websites about craft and promoting. And after a while, I was burned out. There’s no better way to gain inspiration than to read a book you love. One of the ways I make sure I keep up with my reading is to judge contests annually—it’s part of my way to give back. One contest is critiquing manuscripts from unpublished writers—I hope to be a cheerleader for all that’s wonderful in their story, and maybe impart some of what I learned—and the other contest is to judge published novels.  

Set Goals

They’re critical for success. Specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, timely, and don’t forget the REWARDS. Find ways to enjoy the little successes along the way. Rewards don’t have to cost anything: an afternoon at a museum or a botanical garden, a long soak in the tub, a nap, an extra glass of wine. 

Remember, no one understands a writer’s journey better than another writer. Get connected. Give back. Now, get going!

Linda Joyce is an award-winning author writing about assertive females and the men who can’t resist them. Her Fleur de Lis series is set in the south, mostly. Her Sunflower Series features Kansas. She penned her first manuscript while living in Japan, the country where her mother was born and raised. Now she lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and four-legged boys. www.linda-joyce.com

ReBlog: What Good Sales People Know About Personal Branding That Everyone Should

The words "brand" or "branding" bring images grocery store shelves or maybe memories of a trip to the mall pop to mind first,  not writing, not your work. But writers have to be sales people to sell their work and themselves to clients and readers.  A strong personal brand helps to grab people's attention and keep it all on you. 

Joanne Tombrakos is an author and expert on building one's digital profile and personal branding. She recently published these tips for personal branding on the Huffington Post's "The Blog."

"Personal Branding is not a new concept.

"We used to call it building a good reputation and being clear on the direction you wanted your career to go. Then the age of digital dawned, and personal branding was taken to a whole new level. It's no longer just about the real life version of you. It's also about the digital version of you.

"Good salespeople have always been masters at this.

"The best ones have adapted their strategies to these new tools. Unfortunately there are not that many really good salespeople out there. I see too many using the new tools to automate instead of personalize and applying pushy tactics -- the kind that have always given sales a bad rap -- to technology that if used properly can enhance their image."

Read the remainder of Joanne's article.

Subscribe to The Purple Pros Blog (see above) to receive helpful and informative articles directly in your mailbox.  SWA does not share email addresses with third parties.

ReBlog - Guide to Literary Agents (July 10, 2015): 3 Common Author Platform Mistakes — Plus How to Fix Them

Chuck Sambuchino, a WD Books editor, author and 2-time SWA instructor, writes a tremendously informative blog on agents and publishing for WriterDigest.com: "Guide to Literary Agents." His July 10 blog features literary agent Maria Ribas of Stonesong discussing the importance of platforms and how to do them right.

"When you hear the word “platform,” do you feel dread or excitement? Do you see social media and blogs as forced self-promotion or as an opportunity for conversation with readers? It’s an important question these days.

"More and more, the theory of an author platform—the idea that an author should communicate directly with readers both before a book and between books—is seeping into all genres of publishing. Ten years ago, an author platform wasn’t even a thing. Five years ago, it was important for practical nonfiction authors. Five years from now? Well, my guess is that it will begin to matter more and more for fiction, too. Bestselling authors like John Green, Jennifer Weiner, and Maureen Johnson are showing what can be done when the wall between author and reader is torn down."

Read the remainder of Maria's article.

Subscribe to The Purple Pros Blog (see above) to receive helpful and informative articles directly in your mailbox.  SWA does not share email addresses with third parties.

Workshop Sneak Peek: Debra Brown, Social Media Trainer

Debra Brown will be leading three sessions about Social Media for Writers during the Southeastern Writers Workshop week, June 13-17, 2014.  Debra is SWA's Social Media Coordinator, a past-president of SWA and a marketing professional with over 30 years experience in such fields as banking, business and education as well as her award-winning writer career. Her list of published credits include the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, Chocolate for a Woman's Soul series, Guideposts, Woman's World, Total Business Lifestyles, and others.

Debra's Social Media sessions are designed "to give the basics to new users but also to offer tips that I've learned in the process that advanced users can use" and to "to show options for writers/authors to use for branding and sales so that they can find one to focus on in the beginning ... and to have fun using ... social media ... to engage with peers, readers."  She will focus on three types of Social Media but will be available to meet with attendees individually to answer other questions.  Her classes are:

• Mastering the @BCs of Twitter for Writers
• Putting the "Book" in Facebook: Branding & Sales
• Pinning with Purpose: Pinterest for Writers

Register Today!

Free Manuscript Evaluations!

Contests with Cash Prizes!

Social Media: The Great Time Suck, or is it?

Social Media. The more sites you’re on the more you get noticed. Period. This is the experts’ argument for building your author’s platform with various networking sites.

I’ve built my platform. I have a Facebook account (that I rarely use). I have more than one twitter account (that I rarely read). I have more than one email account (each containing far too many unread messages for this overwhelmed ADD, OCD, Type A personality to handle). And just last year I even tried my hand at creating my own website (on which I’ve not posted anything beyond a simple hello). Joining the thousands of grown ups out there who first cut their 21st century social media teeth on Facebook, I now also have a LinkedIn account (that I don’t even know how to navigate properly if I’m honest). Still I’ve not published even one manuscript. Why not? Still I’m not a household name. Why is that?

While I may have all the right tools in place for building my platform, I’m not using them properly. 

To make it in writing today one needs to be out there, in the thick of social media. Build your platform the experts say. Get people wanting to buy your book even before it’s published. Create a Facebook page, separate from your personal one (no prospective publisher really wants to see a post from your Great-Aunt Matilda complaining about the sagging boards on her outhouse). Create a Twitter and even a LinkedIn account. Start a blog. If you are feeling particularly froggy, go build your own website as well. All great and very worthwhile advice, but keep this one thing in mind. Time. 

How much time do you really have to devote to all of these social media networks? Come on now, be honest.

Maintaining a positive social media presence requires a good deal of time. You have to read and respond to all the posts, especially the ones directed to you. You have to create new posts for others to read and become spell bound enough to hang on your every word. But, if you have your finger in too many pots it will eventually become burnt. And that was my hard learned lesson.

You need to pace yourself.

Find the proper balance so you can make your social media platform pervasive and meaningful, but above all memorable. Remember it is more the quality of product that your audience has come to expect that garners you the most recognition, not churning out a tweet every minute of every day. You want people calling you to write an article or guest post for them because you are good not just because they’ve seen your name every single day.

What is the right balance? 

An expert once said to spend no more than 20% of your writing time on social media. But how is that possible unless you are some kind of Speedy Gonzalez reader and poster. The key is to utilize your resources effectively. Some social media outlets have cross posting features available so that if someone follows you on twitter but not your blog you can set up the system to post on twitter and Facebook (even LinkedIn I’m told) when you publish on your blog. Take advantage of these types of features to maximize the time available to spend on your product. 

There are some programs or apps out there that can even help you schedule your tweets, and other such posts. So when you find those two seconds to rub together you can put your all into a post and then schedule it to go out to the masses at a later time. Perhaps even multiple times. 

Social media networking can open plenty of doors of opportunity for you, but like a wild beast it must be tamed. You must not let it get away from you. Make it work in the time span you have to devote to it. Otherwise, rather than building a strong author’s platform you may find the base rotting from underneath you and the structure you had built now tumbling to the ground.

~~Dawn Burr

Dawn Burr is a teacher by profession but a writer by passion. Her sarcastic wit, innocent charm, and insightful reflections will have you bowled over with laughter as she ponders with you the little things in life that make you go hhhmmmm. www.makergoddess.wordpress.com