Don’t Let the Day-to-Day Pressures of Running Your TAS Push Aside What Matters More By Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD Running a telephone answering service is a challenging proposition. It seems there’s always too much to do and not enough time to do it. Therefore, it’s understandable when the day ends before you complete your to-do-list. […]
Incorporate Best Practices into Your Customer Survey Process By Peter Lyle DeHaan, Ph.D. Do you survey your customers or clients? Should you do a customer survey? And if you already have a survey process in place, do the results meet your needs? Or should it be overhauled or even retired? Regardless of where you are […]
Participating in writing contests can offer 6 key benefits I used to enter writing contests, but I haven’t done so lately. Writing contests are fun when you win, and I had a few wins early on. Interestingly, as I’ve improved as a writer, my success rate has dropped to zero. Hence I’m now less motivated. […]
One thing that has most helped me improve as a writer is receiving feedback from others. It is critical. This feedback has mostly come from critique groups but also from beta readers and paid professionals. This last category is costly but invaluable. Regardless of the source, the key is figuring out which feedback to apply, […]
Write short stories to master the art of fiction writing May is short story month. I share this news in advance so you can consider how you want to celebrate. You might want to spend the month reading short stories or perhaps focus on writing a few. But regardless, give short stories some consideration in […]
Avoid using “it was,” “that was,” and “this was”—among other things I hired a developmental editor to give me big-picture feedback on my novel. Though her comments overall encouraged me, I have several things to work on and fix. One was that I used the innocuous phrase “it was” too often. How often? It popped […]
Writers need to balance the considerations of self-publishing and traditional publishing There is much debate in the writing community about going with a traditional publisher versus self-publishing. Neither is a panacea. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Considerations include career objectives, time investments, speed to publishing, potential revenue, and personal goals. Though I am pursuing […]
Too many novice writers don’t invest in the craft and expect seasoned authors to give them an easy button to publication I post on this blog, send out a writing newsletter, and speak at conferences because I want to give back to the writing community, to share with others what I have learned over the […]
While a college degree in writing has value, it is not a requirement for a rewarding career Last week I talked about the appropriateness of hiring others to help us with our writing journeys. This has been a reoccurring theme in my career as a writer and my vocation as a publisher. When it comes […]
When you want to advance as an author, the cost-effective solution is to hire outside help Tip #7 in my post “10 Tips to Improve as a Writer” is to not be afraid to pay for help. As a financially frugal person, this was a hard lesson for me to learn. When I entered the […]