Earlier today, I wrote about normal business hours and how it is my opinion that it isn’t necessarily better for every freelancer to work during the day. I work at night and, in fact, I’m writing this post well in advance and scheduling it to appear on Bizzia. As you’re reading this, I’m probably still sleeping.
Just because it isn’t perfect for every writer to keep traditional business hours doesn’t mean, however, that you shouldn’t keep business hours at all. Let me tell you a short story:
A few years ago, I was dating someone with a schedule that was against every …read more

I rarely endorse writing classes, but if I wanted to learn copywriting or become a copywriter I’d sign up for Copywriting Success Summit 2008. Here’s why:

I know it’s possible, even quite possible to earn a ton of money copywriting – I’ve seen people do it. I ghostwrite which is another area of writing altogether.
I know or recognize most of the instructors. I mean how can you go wrong with Brian Clark, known in the blogasphere as Copyblogger, Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers fame, or Peter Bowerman who knows how to keep writers and self-publishers well-fed. Of course, Robert Bly, …read more

Books are not only hard to write, the manuscripts tend to get long and messy. I’m going through the draft of my book about writing books and my headings are all messed up. I also changed typeface for the body somewhere in the middle. Plus, I started drafting in double space and then, as I got closer to completion, switched to single, except there are three or four sections that didn’t get switched.
As I’m editing and realized it was past time to set up a style sheet for the book. A style sheet simply defines the style, like typeface, type …read more

I’ve heard writing teachers say it, and I’ve heard magazine editors say it: “Throw out the first three paragraphs!”
What in the world are they talking about?
The truth is, even for professionals, the first couple of paragraphs, if you’re writing an article, or even the first chapter if you’re writing a book, is likely to be dreck. I’m not sure why. It’s almost as if the mind has to warm up somehow, maybe by writing some semi-coherent sentences, or even a full paragraph or three or four before the good writing kicks in. I know it often works this way …read more

A friend, one who loves me enough to tell me the whole truth, asked me if I might be a workaholic.
I don’t know… or maybe I do. According to the Workaholics Anonymous website, the only requirement for membership is the desire to stop working compulsively. That doesn’t help a whole lot at the moment, but the site also has WA’s version of the 20 questions which I’ve quoted here:
How Do I Know if I’m a Workaholic?
1. Do you get more excited about your work than about family or anything else?
2. Are there times when …read more

As freelancers, we are also business people, striving to get the greatest return on our efforts. And I think most of us are familiar with the 80-20 rule. It’s another name for the Pareto Principle, which says 20 percent of our efforts result in 80 percent of the benefit received. It can be applied in all sorts of ways (20 percent of our clients provide 80 percent of our income, 20 percent of our marketing leads to 80 percent of our business), and it suggests that greater success can be achieved if we identify the 20 percent and put most …read more

I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. Joe Wikert who has the blog Publishing 2020 Blog, also authors a blog about Amazon’s new ebook reader the Kindle.
Called Kindleville, there info both interesting and not so interesting about this ebook reader. Because it’s Amazon and because it uses epaper I think it may be the precursor to the really great ebook reader I’m waiting for.
By the way, today Amazon is still sold out of Kindles, or is it sold out again… I’m not sure. It is available at ebay, mostly for a premium… no clue what it all means.
Write well …read more

On March 31, Amazon posted a letter to “all interested parties” on its website to explain why they were changing their rules re Print On Demand.
As I read this, I think Amazon is saying “yes, we’re requiring in-house printing of POD because it will allow us to give faster service to our customers.” They then go on to say publishers and authors can still use the system of shipping a couple of dozen books to Amazon in advance.
Frankly, this statement seems weak to me and like so many I suspect it’s really a misguided effort to control more profits.
What do …read more

Like everyone else who wants to get a book written, in addition to expressing myself, I also want to know, or at least guess, about how many books I’ll be able to sell. You’d think it would be simple, and it would be easier if publishers were willing to let the public know how many copies a specific book sells in a year. They don’t, so we’re left with best seller lists, Amazon ranking and reading oracles.
It’s even worse in self-publishing. PODdy Mouth – Daily Dirt on POD and Self-Publishing, a great blog if you’re even wondering about self-publishing, put …read more

Do you know how to book end?
It’s a simple technique and one I find tremendously helpful, particularly when I’m stuck and would rather do almost anything than write. It works like this:

You decide on a task… complete a chapter or a blog entry, or…
You decide how much time you’re going to spend on a chapter, etc.
You call a friend, preferably someone who knows about writing and book ending, but it can be anyone who you know is on your side.
You tell them what you plan – “I’m going to spend the next 2 hours on chapter 6.” or “I’m …read more