Jen's Writing Journey

It has been a week filled with lots of bad news about layoffs and downsizing at many media outlets and publishing houses.

In the spirit of “This, too, shall pass,” though, I’m not linking to the bad news and sensationalism. Instead, I’m looking to the future. The growth of electronic books will mean changes for novel and nonfiction book writers. The increased acceptance of online media will mean changes for article writers. So we look at the predictions and the information we have now and make our decisions about how we will progress with our writing careers.

Google & the Future of Books
A research librarian’s take on Google’s digitization of the global library. Robert Darnton discusses whether Google library is a fulfillment of the Enlightenment’s promise of information freedom.

Day One: New FOIA Rules
The Columbia Journalism Review presents a discussion of President Obama’s call for greater transparency in government and more responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act document requests.

Tasty Tomes: Writers’ Favorite Recipes
WTF, you might be thinking. This is an interesting article about a less-than-interesting topic, celebrity cookbooks. But, the writers who have submitted their favorite recipes are engaging in some great platform-building. (Come back Friday for more about platform, as I review Get Known Before the Book Deal.) Inclusion in a cookbook or some other sort of anthology could bring you new readers; some might even end up being your strongest brand champions.

Evil Editor
This blog pulls no punches in critiquing writing. It’s fun and a little frightening, and it contains some good hints if you can internalize the criticism and see how it applies to your own work.

When You’re Writing a Book…
The comments are actually the gold mine here, as commenters discuss the premise that you should be thinking about marketing while you are writing. I have envisioned the iTunes playlist I will post when my vampire novel is published (yes, I have to finish it first–more on that Wednesday). What marketing ideas have you come up with while you write?

• A Room of One's Own I spent my weekend cleaning out my garage and storage room (and then recovering from the insane amount of physical labor that involved for my sedentary writer's body). The storage room is two steps away from being my office. As I took a shower, I planned how I was going......
• Guest Post by Christina Katz: Platform Resolutions for Writers Thanks to Christina Katz for sharing her platform-building wisdom. I hope you get some good action steps from this guest post. Platform Resolutions for Writers 2010 Before writers establish an author platform, they typically establish a writer platform. Over the past decade, thousands of writers have parlayed established influence into......
• Writing Roundup, July 31 Ah, another month draws to a close. We are nearing the end of a stretch of record warm weather in the Portland area, and the heat really sapped my energy. I did not do as well this month as I had hoped. What keeps you from meeting your goals? I've......
• Writing Roundup, August 21 We've got a lot of interesting news posts this week in addition to the regular blog suspects. The Business of Writing The Limits of Control This article from the American Journalism Review provides a good synopsis of the ethics policies and guidelines major newspapers are asking their reporters to follow......
• Writing Roundup, Oct. 16 Here is a handy table of contents that will help you quickly reach the topic of your choice. Let me know if you like it this way. The Business of Writing Craft Fiction Freelancing Platform The Business of Writing Book Trade Can Avoid Music Labels Digital Mistakes Publishers are scared.......

• Practical Article Marketing Tips - Front Load Your Article Title With Keywords For More Traffic To get the traffic you want from Article Marketing, you need to craft a powerful eye catching and search engine catching title.One of the best...
• What is the Difference Between Blogging and Content Writing? Sometimes it seems like articles and blogs are so similar to one another in content that it can be difficult to tell what the difference...
• Book Review: SuperFreakonomics If you were around back when I published my review of Freakonomics, you probably know that I'm a huge fanboy of these authors. Not only...
• Make Money Blogging It amazes me still, especially in today's economic times, that some individuals are in disbelief that you can make money online. Seriously, what's it going...
• Preparation's To Do Before Starting Online Business Very good, now we have the basic understanding of the online business, you know what really involves in online business and the classification or types...