Jen's Writing Journey

I write.

I live.

I love.

I eat.

I drink.

But always, I write.

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Here are a few of the ed tech stories that caught my attention this week.

Google+ for Educators
Nice presentation to help you decide how to use Google+. Are you using yet? I’m there, but my usage is pretty minimal so far.

iThink Before You iPad
Are you using iPads for teaching, classroom management, or personal stuff? For my needs, a Netbook (an ancient pre-tablet one) works just fine. Most of the other things I would do with a tablet work just fine on my smartphone.

Back to School Boot camp: First Day Essentials
What are your kids doing on the first day back at school? If you aren’t quite sure yet, these activity ideas should get your creative juices flowing.

Not a Pretty Picture
The folks at Raising Arizona Kids magazine look at the Kids Count data and what it means for the kids in their area. What does the data look like for your state? How do you address the results of economic troubles with your kids?

Not a Pretty Picture
What do you think of the Missouri law? Do you think suit will affect things?

What hit your radar this week?

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I interviews Renegade Writer Linda Formichelli to get her tips on cutting your hours without cutting your income. Read it here.

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With the death of Borders, we freelancers have one less place to find a wide variety of magazines to do market research. Where else can we go to find magazines to browse before submitting?

• The library. My local library has a reasonably good selection of consumer magazines in a variety of niches. This is a good place to start (and maybe to check out a writing book or two while you’re at it).
• Local independent bookstores. Your local store usually carries a good magazine selection, and they might be able to order you a specific title they don’t carry. It is also a good idea to build a healthy relationship with your local bookstore personnel. If you release a book, you may want to have events there, and you will want to work with them to do autographed copies, special local placement, and other promotional ideas.
• Magazine websites. A lot of magazines have full digital editions on their sites. You can read them online or just scan the table of contents to see what types of articles they run, how long they are, where freelancers fit in, and what they have recently covered.
• The grocery store. You might be surprised at how many magazines they have in the magazine rack. Typically, I find the best selection at a one-stop shopping store, such as Fred Meyer, but even Safeway and Albertsons carry a variety of niches.

Where do you find copies of magazines to pitch to? Or do you go Renegade Writer style and pitch blindly?

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Earlier this year, I had an article on getting clips (also known as writing samples) published at Quips & Tips for Successful Writers. One of my suggestions was to write articles for trade magazines.

Trade magazines are targeted a people in a specific field, and they are a great way to get valuable writing experience. I worked on a trade magazine for 12 years and later edited a collection of articles from that magazine for the publisher.

Here are a few ideas to help you get published in these magazines.

Leverage Your Expertise

Start with a trade magazine in a field you know well or have built a solid reputation in. If you are working a day job in, say,  insurance while you grow your freelancing business, look for magazines that target insurance agents and pitch stories of your own career success or lessons learned.

Ask an Expert

If you are looking to build a platform in a new field, you may need to enlist some expert help. Try interviewing well-known people in that field and pitching the Q&As to magazines that would be interested. If you want to build expertise in organic living, for example, find a local organic farmer and interview him or her for a farm methods magazine.

Partner with a Business

Many businesses want to place articles in magazines, but they don’t always have the writing expertise on staff. Try working with the leaders in these firms to co-author articles for the magazines in their field. If you are all about educational technology, for instance, you might find a small educational software company and work with their founder to write an article for an education journal.

Trade magazines can provide great writing experience and samples, which can be the key to growing your writing passion into a successful career. Have you broken into the trades? If so, share your experience below. We’d love to hear how you did it and what you learned from the experience.

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I’m a big fan of writing classes to help me keep my skills sharp and learn new types of writing. But, it is important to choose a class that works for your needs so that your time and money are well spent.

Follow these steps to help you find the right fit.

1. Know your goals: What do you want to learn? What would you need to have completed by the end of the class to feel that it had been successful? If you want to learn more about fiction, you could start with your local writer’s organization to see if any of their members offer courses. My local organization, Willamette Writers, lists courses offered by members in their email newsletter. If you want to do a better job selling articles, you could try a national source, such as Media Bistro, to connect with teachers who have been successful doing what you are trying to learn.
2. Know yourself: How do you learn best? Do you need to be in a face-to-face course, surrounded by your peers? Or do you prefer to learn on your own, working on your schedule and in your home? For face-to-face courses, you could look into the offerings at our local community college. Online courses offer the individual experience you may be looking for if you don’t want a face-to-face course. You might look at Writer’s Digest’s course offerings.
3. Know the instructor: This might be the most important consideration—you want to make sure you are learning from the best so that you are spending your time and money wisely. You should research the instructor before you sign up, using Google, Amazon, and periodical databases to see their published works and background. (Your local library’s website will likely give you access to periodical databases that aren’t freely accessible on he web.) You might even go about it backwards, finding someone who leads in the field you wish to study and then seeing if they offer courses or if they have any recommendations for instructors they trust. For example, I am a big fan of Christina Katz’s message that even the busiest mom can still grow a writing career. Through my interest in her books, I found her courses. I’ve taken two so far, and I recommend Katz highly.

What are your experiences with writing classes? Have you taken any online courses? How about community college courses or other in-person training? Are you looking for some classes to sharpen your skills during the summer months, which may be a little slower for writing jobs?

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The Business of Writing | Craft | Fiction | Freelancing | Platform | Money

The Business of Writing

• The Business Rusch: Royalty Statements: There seem to be a lot of people this week saying that traditional publishers are underreporting ebook sales. Now, authors have often claimed that royalty statements were inaccurate, so this is nothing new. Ebooks might just be hte new thing to complain about.
• Why Amazon’s Latest Move is Bad for Publishers: So Amazon is publishing romance novels. Does that send shivers into the hearts of the big guys? Or is it just another opportunity for people to mock romance readers?
• Going Public: One agent’s reaction to her author’s decision to self-publish.
• What Is an Entreprenauthor? An interesting look at what it takes to self-publish.
• Mystery Writers of America Opens Membership Door to Some eBook and POD Publishers: Some ebook and POD publishers will now be “accepted” by the MWA. Will other writer’s orgs follow suit?
• There Is Gold in Self-Publishing: Bob Mayer on his theory about the self-publishing special sauce.

Craft

• Selecting the “Right Size” Moments: Structure in Memoir, Essay, and Narrative Nonfiction: I love when Kim Falconer has a new post up, because it means we all have access to a great, concise bit of writing advice.
• Erin Kellison on Writing and Support: All of the talent and dedication won’t get you anywhere without a solid support system in place.
• What Do You Look for in a Writer? Dedication will get you far.
• What Do You Look for in a Writer? Dedication will get you far.
• 12 Blogs Every Writer Must Read: Add all of these to your Google Reader.

Fiction

• Are You Ready to Query? A nice reminder of the steps you need to take before you send your work out to an agent or editor.
• What if You Think You Might Be a Mediocre Fiction Writer? Dealing with discouragement.
• What’s the Story on Back Story? Great post on when back story works and how to do it right.

Freelancing

• Nonprofit Does Not Mean Non-Paying: A good exploration of when you want to take a non-paying gig for a nonprofit and when you need to ensure that you get paid.
• Discouragement: The Hidden Struggle Many Freelancers Ignore: This has just been one of those weeks, I guess. Here, a freelancer’s take on the issue of discouragement.
• The Print Industry: Realistic Expectations: Nice points!

Platform

• When Should You Stop Marketing Your Book? I guess never, if this post is correct. What do you think?
• 5 Small Steps Journalists Can Take to Build a Bigger, More Engaged Audience: Engagement is the key, isn’t it?
• Three Things All Linked In Users Should Do: Are you on Linked In? I am, but I haven’t even visited my profile in I don’t even know how long. I guess it is time.

Money

• Contract Red Flag: Net Profit Royalty Clauses: Writer Beware always has great info for writers, and this reminder to read your contract carefully is no exception.

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Now I’m not suggesting that you turn in half-edited work or that you shoot your queries off willy nilly, but could your writing career benefit from a little less perfection and a little more production?

I know that I get so excited about an idea that I will spend all of my available writing time thinking about it, deciding who to interview for it, looking at the possible markets to see which is the perfect fit, and basically every other ways to legitimately procrastinate the actual writing. Then, when I finally get the pitch ready to go (or the short story completed), I am so excited about its potential for publication that I continue stewing about it rather than working on my next piece.

My mid-year resolution is to limit the time I spend on each pitch so that I can send more pitches. I will quit striving for perfection so that I can increase my productivity.

There was a time when I thought the hardest part of being a writer would be coming up with ideas. Now I know that ideas are not the problem. Time to develop every worthwhile idea is my biggest obstacle, followed closely by knowing when to let go of each idea and send it out. I will use my newly gained time to help me develop more of my ideas.

What about you? Do you think you are pursuing perfection too much? If not, what other obstacles are you facing? How can you overcome them?

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I posted a little bit last month about different ways to spread your message and keep your name top of mind with potential clients.

This week, I’ll focus on a few more ways to market yourself in your local community.

Business Writers

If you’re looking to land local businesses in need of your writing expertise, you need to get yourself in front of them. (I know this is not the most appealing task for many of us reclusive freelance writers.) Face-to-face relationships are key for many business owners and managers, so you need to meet them on their turf to make a good impression.

Many communities have local business fairs and trade shows with reasonable rates for booth rental. If you can swing the time and expense, these can be valuable marketing opportunities for you.

You’ll need a display to draw people to your booth, professional marketing collateral pieces, and a fun giveaway.

For your display, you can go with a low-cost vinyl banner, which you can hang in your booth area, or a more expensive free-standing trade show display. There is a middle-ground free-standing option that you can order in different sizes, an X-frame banner stand.

Fiction Writers

Yeah, yeah, you say. Another post on marketing that only applies to non-fiction writers. But, fiction writers could use displays, too.

Imagine you are doing a book reading. You’re up on stage with a free-standing X-frame display behind you featuring your name and your book cover. And you have a matching smaller table-top display up front next to your stack of books to sell.

Or imagine that you are planning a reading at your local library. They are kind enough to let you place a vinyl banner outside announcing the event. You’ll likely find that more people attend your event, and those who don’t at least check out your book on Amazon or in the bookstore.

Have these ideas gotten you thinking about how you can use displays to market your writing products and services? Do you have ideas of other resources you could use to market yourself? Look at what the local businesses around you are doing and see if you could apply any of their techniques to your writing business. And check back Wednesday for part 2.

Related Posts:

• More about Marketing, Part 2
• Avoid Marketing Missteps
• A Library Request Chain
• Marketing That Book

The Business of Writing | Craft | Fiction | Freelancing | Platform | Money

The Business of Writing

• Erotic Romance Writer Outed: Did you hear about Judy Mays? She is a high school teacher, and some parents found out her pseudonym and decided she wasn’t fit to teach their kids. Most disagreed, and she is still doing her thing.
• 5 Tips to Be Interview Ready: The essential information you should know before you are interviewed for your book, blog, website, etc.
• From Blog to Book Via Twitter: Kerri Sackville’s success story.
• How to Format a Query Sent By Email: Don’t just copy and paste a printed letter into email. Design for the medium.

Craft

• Advice from Johnathan Franzen: Franzen looks at writer’s block. Is your block trying to tell you something?
• Exploring Place: Finding Yourself and Your Story: Remember, you don’t always have to travel physically to a place. You might be able to find enough photos or videos to immerse yourself to some extent.
• 10 Best Books for Aspiring Writers: There were a few I hadn’t heard of here, and it is missing my fave, On Writing by Stephen King.
• Writers and Others: Stop Preparing! I agree wholeheartedly. I know that I can get caught in the preparation/reading/research cycle without ever getting into the all-important writing cycle.

Fiction

• How Sci Fi Makes Us More Open to Strange Forms of Sex and Sexuality: I think this is an interesting look at the differences between sci fi and fantasy and how the two genres deal with sexuality and the other. That was something I always liked about Star Trek–it blazed trails that led to more racial integration (or at least more acceptance of interracial relationships) in the media.
• Better Than Renting Out a Windowless Room: The Blessed Distraction of Technology: Is your novel still languishing unfinished? What can you do to be more disciplined and get it done?
• Meet Aimee Carter: Aimee Carter shares the back story of her new book, The Goddess Test.

Freelancing

• What You Need to Know to Survive in a Rapidly Changing Freelance Marketplace: Is freelancing like orienteering? A little.
• Using Quora to Boost a Freelance Writing Career: I will admit that I don’t always jump on the new social media tools–I’ve seen too many come and go–but it sounds as if I’m missing out with Quora.
• The Print Industry: Realistic Expectations: Nice points!

Platform

• Paid versus Free Book Marketing Activities: This post helps you decide whether to commit financial resources to marketing by laying out the options you have and comparing them with those that cost you only time. Do make sure you adequately value your time, too!
• How to Create a Free Author Website on WordPress: Good, easy step-by-step process. The process will be similar if you choose Blogger, you’ll just start at blogger.com.
• To Blog or Not to Blog: Before you follow the steps in the previous post here, make sure you know what oyu want to accomplish and share by blogging.

Money

• Is Couponing Worth the Trouble? I sure hope so, because I’m working on an article on the topic!
• Why You Are Worth More than a Penny a Word A reminder that writing is a professional skill, and you are a professional.

Related Posts:

• Writing Roundup, July 22
• Writing Roundup, June 24
• Writing Roundup, April 18
• Writing Roundup, April 4
• Writing Roundup, June 10