At one time, I became preoccupied with my writing platform. This was a huge mistake. It nearly ruined my career and almost destroyed me as a writer. I lost the joy of writing and was ready to give up. It wasn’t until I stopped fixating on growing my platform that my passion to write returned. […]
It seems people are jumping on the podcasting bandwagon. They want to grow their audience and build their platform in order to sell their books (or whatever other product or service they have to offer). This makes sense. Look at the recent surge of interest in audiobooks, with people who “read” books by listening to […]
Just like their self-published counterparts, a traditionally published author has much to do besides writing In the last post, I pointed out that self-published authors need to be entrepreneurs and listed what that entailed. The reality is that a traditionally published author needs to adopt this same mindset, being entrepreneurial as well. A given requirement […]
Too many experts say writers must blog, but that may not be good advice As writers, we’re told that if we want to be successful at publishing our work, then we need an author platform. Yes, this is true. Publishers expect writers to have a platform. In fact, it seems, the platform may supersede writing […]
Google+ Shuts Down April 2, 2019 Google+ launched in June 2011, among much fanfare, to challenge other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Specifically, it was Google’s attempt to go head to head with Facebook. Over the years, Google+ has gone through some changes and endured much criticism, while gaining a few loyal users. […]
With no shortage of social media platforms to consider, several may warrant attention So far we’ve talked about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. But there are hundreds of other social media platforms to consider. While some platforms are obscure, others garner much more attention. Though some of these social media outposts are worthy of consideration, […]
The list of advice for writers is long, seemingly more than is humanly possible to accomplish Advice for writers is never is a short supply. Just when we regularly carve out time to write, another requirement piles on our plate and then a third and a fourth. Before long we grow overwhelmed and want to […]
What writers can learn from the life and career of Carrie Fisher On December 26, 2016, my wife and I went to see the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The next morning I learned that Carrie Fisher had died. Like most people, I knew her for her iconic performance as Princess Leia in […]
Video may be the next step in connecting and engaging with an audience With advances in technology, and the power residing on every smartphone, it has never been easier to record a video and start a vlog. A vlog is a video blog. I’m a huge proponent of blogging and in the past tried the […]
The more I focused on platform building, the less I enjoyed writing. I almost quit. A few years ago, when I was still looking for an agent, I received some unexpected feedback. The agent liked me and my writing. He thought my book had merit. But despite all that he chose not to represent me. […]