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  • How a Writer Turned a Rejected Modern Love Pitch into 3 Published Articles

    How a Writer Turned a Rejected Modern Love Pitch into 3 Published Articles

    When you really, really want to write for a blog, magazine or newspaper, you put in serious effort to make your pitch stand out. You study the content, you align your writing with their style, and you polish your submission until it’s perfect.

    And yet sometimes, your submission still gets rejected. And it sucks.

    After receiving rejections, I’ve winced, cried, deleted entire pieces and fallen victim to writer’s block. And then one day, I received the kind yet firm “no” that pushed me over the edge.

    Rejection: A case study

    Long a reader of the New York Times’ Modern Love column, I dreamed of submitting my own story, but knew it needed something special to stand out. Then Hurricane Sandy happened.

    As my fireman husband saved our neighborhood, I hunkered down as first responder to our one-year-old, alternating between worrying for his safety and ours. What relationship story could compare? I knew this was it. This was my Modern Love piece. It wasn’t — but the editor was very nice about it.

    Rather than letting the rejection ruin my day, I decided to change my outlook and strategy to fire myself up. Here’s how I turn every rejection into my next accepted pitch.

    [bctt tweet=”.@dawnturzio turns every rejection into her next accepted pitch. You can, too.”]

    Let yourself be mad

    Acknowledge your emotions. It’s disappointing when the piece you poured your energy into doesn’t live up to an editor’s standards!

    You’re not likely to do your best work while you’re focused on your shortcomings. Take a break to go for a walk or squeeze a stress ball until it no longer takes on a round shape. Whatever activity helps you move forward, don’t start working again until you’re able to focus on your writing again without as much emotion.

    Find other potential outlets

    Once you’re able to look at your piece again, reread it and brainstorm a list of markets that publish similar content. You already know who doesn’t want it, so investigate other options — and look beyond your usual contacts. Usually stick to print? Add a few blogs to your list. If you’re all about online writing, why not aim for a newsstand glossy? If you normally stick to U.S. publications, try an international magazine.

    This list, your starting point for the reject’s rebirth, is also a great resource for future submissions.

    Figure out what makes your story stand out

    Take a fluorescent marker and highlight parts of your piece that make it unique. Ask yourself, “What makes my piece different? How is this a story only I could write?”

    Image: What makes your story stand out?

    If you are telling a traditional love story, for example, there needs to be a point of entry that sets your tale apart from the others. In my case, being the wife of a firefighter who is obligated to work during catastrophes was unique in comparison to other stories of Hurricane Sandy, which gave me a leg up when submitting.

    Know your audience

    As you revise your work, consider who will be reading it. Can you convey your story in such a way that it reaches more than one demographic?

    When I realized I wasn’t descriptive enough while explaining my husband’s role as a rescue fireman during Hurricane Sandy, I added that he also responded to the airplane crash in the Hudson River in New York City in 2009. While this addition increased the tension in the essay, it also broadened my audience from the targeted female readership to also include men and other first responders — making it more salable.

    When you tell a story that spans several demographics, you’re better able to sell a clip to multiple markets, so long as you retain copyright and are careful with giving exclusivity to publications interested in your work.

    Toss the rejected query

    Get rid of the query letter you sent with your original submission: the one that kindly asks the editor to consider your idea. In its place, create a new one that contains an action-packed paragraphor an innovative tip that simply cannot be ignored.

    Construct your query to read as clearly and concisely as the completed work you’ll be presenting, and you’ll start to see results. For example, that once-rejected essay of mine was later picked up by a popular relationship website, MSN Living, and a professional magazine for firefighters — and this last one even ran it as the cover story.

    When you inevitably find your piece in an editor’s rejection pile, don’t throw in the towel. Get back to work and turn that reject into your next published piece.

    How have you dealt with rejection as a writer?

  • Writing for Clients? 3 Simple Ways to Nail the Company’s Voice

    Writing for Clients? 3 Simple Ways to Nail the Company’s Voice

    Picture this: You’re a new-ish freelance writer. You offer a good mix of services for varying clients, audiences, and goals. You’ve got a solid writer website, a killer LinkedIn profile and you’ve been networking and marketing your business like crazy. And it’s working!

    Your inbox is loaded with emails from prospective clients with writing assignments they want you to tackle. You happily accept all, knowing you’ll pull some all-nighters if you have to just to hit your due dates. This is freelancing, after all, and with the unpredictable nature of work availability, you’re ready to capitalize on the full-plate opportunity.

    As you look through your assignments, though, it hits you: these are all so different. It would be one thing to crank out a bunch of pieces for one client, but you’re writing a blog post for a software company, website copy for a pool builder, an ebook for a travel agency, a press release for a beauty retailer… And you’re just one person! It was hard enough to find your own writing voice, and now you’ve got to identify and adopt several others.

    You know your clients are counting on you to properly represent each company’s personality, and you want them to feel like you captured their brand’s voice — so that the next time they need something written, they’ll immediately think of you. But with such a variety of assignments, how can you nail each client’s voice, every time? Here are some ideas:

    1. Interview the client

    Conducting an interview with your client gives you great material for developing the appropriate voice for their writing needs. This works particularly well for smaller businesses, where you probably have access to company leadership (and the brand’s personality likely closely reflects the owner’s).

    Get the head honcho talking about the beginnings of the company, the business model, target customer profiles, company values, and overall mission. Hearing this information in the client’s own words is invaluable. What kind of vibe are you getting? How can you incorporate it into the piece?

    An alternative to the sometimes-tricky task of coordinating schedules for a live interview is using a questionnaire. Simply put your interview questions in an email, suggest a due date, and send it off to your client. While you won’t get the off-the-cuff — and likely more colorful — version of the info, you’ll give yourself and your client a chance to work through the questions at a time that works best for each of you individually.

    Real-life example: When I received a completed questionnaire from one of my recent clients, I immediately noticed a liberal use of smiley-face emoticons. As I read through their answers, I giggled to myself at the response to my question about what differentiated them from their competitors: “We’d tell you, but then we’d have to kill you.”

    I knew serious, straightforward business-speak was not going to work for this client, and that I needed to incorporate some playful, silly bits into their voice.

    2. Develop a character

    When you’re working with a larger company, it’s more likely that instead of capturing your client’s personal voice, you’ll need to write on behalf of a unique and independent brand. While asking the aforementioned interview-style questions of your contact person may still be a good idea, another powerful tactic is to develop a character for the writing voice. To do this, imagine the brand is a person (or cartoon, or animal, or whatever seems appropriate for the company’s personality; they may already have something you can work with).

    Now ask yourself: what is this character like? Is it a male or female? What age? What nationality? What are his/her likes and dislikes, traits and quirks, habits, and hobbies? Once you’ve got a good grasp on the details of this persona, you can ask yourself the most important question: how would this character speak?

    Then, write.

    Real-life example: I once wrote for a B2B brand that wanted its messaging to seem as if it were coming from a “feel your pain” perspective, as if the brand really “got” their customers and prospects, and was familiar with the challenges they faced.

    To accomplish this, I created a character who had held the same sort of professional role — senior-level marketing — as the people the brand was targeting but was now working for my client. When I wrote with this character’s voice, I was able to use examples and terminology that illustrated how the brand could truly empathize with the day-to-day life of its target market.

    3. Read existing material

    This is a very “duh” tip, but it’s worth addressing because it’s more effective than you might think. Ask your client if the material they’ve already got out there — on their website, blog, or social media channels — is in the tone and style they want to continue using.

    If so, read through as many pieces as necessary to pick up the voice with which you should write. You should read until you feel so comfortable with the language and pace that you’re confident you can easily mimic the voice. I like to do this right before I start working on an assignment, to pump myself up and get my “head in the game,” as dorky as that sounds.

    Real-life example: This isn’t from a client, but it’s a good illustration of the power of the approach nonetheless. When I first read Shakespeare in high school, the style was so foreign to me, I had a difficult time getting past the language to follow the story. The more I read, though, the more I got used to it, and I eventually became so engrossed in what was happening between Romeo and Juliet that I didn’t even blink an eye at the “weird” words anymore. Not only that, but I also realized after an hour or so of reading, I’d start thinking in Old English! I had totally adopted the voice.

    Bonus: Modify the voice for the medium

    Even the most unique and defined voice needs to flex with the norms, expectations, and audience of varying communication channels. In one day, the same business may tweet an informal comment on industry matters, publish a new compelling ad and release exciting company news. Each of these messages would necessarily read quite differently from the other.

    Stick to your client’s voice — but don’t forget to adjust it accordingly.

    How do you manage different voices for different clients?

  • 7 Easy Things You Can Do Right Now to Get More Blog Traffic

    7 Easy Things You Can Do Right Now to Get More Blog Traffic

    This article is excerpted from Chuck’s book, Create Your Writer Platform.

    GIVEAWAY: Chuck is giving away a copy of his book, Create Your Writer Platform, to a random commenter. Comment within two weeks to enter! (Must live in US or Canada to win.) (Update: Williesha won!)

    So you’ve been blogging for a while, you post on a regular schedule for a budding readership, and you’re sharing valuable content. Now what?

    Once you have an established blog with consistent posts, it’s time to examine how to get maximum impact from your site. Make the most of the eyeballs that land on your blog to draw attention to your work. After all, the goal of blogging is to showcase your writing abilities and other services, right?

    Here are seven easy ways to make sure each of your posts gets as much exposure as possible.

    1. Don’t let readers get away easily

    Have links at the end of each post for related reading. If someone is reading your latest post called “How to Price Your Watercolor Paintings,” they obviously have some interest in the subject matter, so guide them to related content on your site to collect more page views.

    At the end of each post, point out and link to past posts on similar subject matter. The goal is to have a visitor bounce from post to post, ping-ponging around your site. The longer they stay and look around, the more they get to your know you, your ideas, your thoughts and your brand.

    Remember that it’s very tough to attract new readers. When one stops by, entice them to stay as long as possible.

    [bctt tweet=”It’s tough to attract new readers. Entice them to stick around, says @ChuckSambuchino”]

    2. Go back and optimize old posts

    When you’re several months in and are starting to get the hang of what works for your blog, you’re going to notice how messy and poor your old posts are. When you have blogging downtime, look through past posts and improve them.

    If there’s no image, add one. If there are no links at the end, include some. If you think a column could be even better with a simple sidebar, add it. There’s a good chance that your current posts have a newer, more visually pleasing format. Make sure to alter older posts to match this improved layout.

    3. While you’re at it, straight up recycle old posts

    It’s likely that some of your early blog writing is excellent, but virtually no eyes saw it because your site had little traffic. So feel free to recycle and reuse that content.

    One option is to repost the content at the top of your blog again. I’ve done this several times and called it a new series named “Blast From the Past.” You could also tweak an older column into a guest post for another site.

    [twl_reusable_block post_id=41455]

    4. Make your most popular posts easy to access

    If it’s possible and you have some impressive posts to share, think about listing your “greatest hits” down the side of your blog. That way, any new visitors can easily move through your best content and quickly see you’re an expert with great information.

    5. Invite quality guest content

    Why do you have to be the only one writing for your blog? Other writers who don’t have a blog of their own are looking for places to share their thoughts. Accept their quality posts with pleasure. It’s free content! You get to run it with hardly any work on your part, rather than composing another column of your own from scratch.

    Try to find a few recurring guest contributors who can consistently provide you with quality columns to run. The more content you have on the site, whether by you or others, the more you’ll turn up in Google search results and draw people to you.

    6. Speaking of Google, do yourself a huge favor and learn about SEO

    Go to Google right now and search for something — anything. Google will display the top 10 search results on the first page. But do you ever wonder why Google displays these 10 first rather than any of the thousands or millions of other results?

    The reason is called SEO: search engine optimization. Search engines such as Google are looking for different things when they report search results back to you. SEO is a vast topic, and plenty of it can get technical if you really want to dig deep, but here are three quick tips to getting more page views through search engines:

    a) Make sure you have a clear, straightforward headline rather than something generic or a pun. If your post is all about how to change a tire, simply call it “How to Change a Tire.” After all, isn’t that exactly what people will search for when they need help? If you title your post with a pun (“Tired Days Are Here Again!”), it’s no surprise that people won’t find it in a search. Consider which of these following two titles will get more hits: “Meet Mollie the Agent,” or “Literary Agent Interview: Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary.” Obviously the second one is a better choice because it contains more key terms people will use in their searches.

    b) Use keywords in your title, subheads and text. If people want to attend a writing event, imagine what they will search for when using Google: “writing conference,” “writing event,” “writing retreat,” “writer’s conference,” etc. The terms are all similar yet slightly different, so try to use as many as you can in your text. That way, Google will see you’re using a variety of relevant terms and process that your post is likely of value, moving it up in the results.

    c) Add images to your post. While they make a post look more pleasing to the eye, they also help with SEO.  For example, in a post on how to change a tire, titling the images How-to-Change-a-tire.jpg and Changing-a-tire-fast.jpg, adds more elements and words for Google to scan when it incorporates you into its results.

    7. Use numbers, subheads and bullet points

    Yes, you want your post to have great writing and provide value. But how you present said good material matters, too. People will have a greater impulsive desire to read your writing if you make it visually pleasing and present information in bite-sized, easy-to-process chunks.

    A quick, obvious tip is to use numbers. Everyone loves posts with numbers, such as “The 10 Best Quarterbacks of All Time” or “44 Crazy Facts About Disneyland.” If your post doesn’t have numbers, break up the text using subheads and bullet points to give people different places that they can jump to around the column. If your post is just one big block of text, then a reader who becomes disinterested will have no choice but to leave your site.

    Let us know in the comments: How do you help more readers see your blog posts?

    Don’t forget to comment to be in the running for Chuck’s book giveaway! You could win a free copy of his latest book, Create Your Writer Platform. (Update: Williesha won!)

    Other TWL Guest Posts by Chuck Sambuchino:

    1. How Successful Authors Use Social Media to Sell More Books
    2. The One Big Reason Some Blogs Succeed, While Others Crash and Burn
    3. When Can You Call Yourself A Writer?
  • Publishing Advice: 6 Things to Expect from Your Literary Agent

    Publishing Advice: 6 Things to Expect from Your Literary Agent

    The idea of working with a literary agent is always appealing to debut writers, but what exactly does an agent do?

    And if, after pitching and querying, you do manage to sign with one, what can you expect from this professional relationship?

    As a literary agent, I’d love to demystify this process for the authors out there. Here’s what you can expect from your literary agent.

    1. Honest industry feedback

    An agent’s job is to be the voice of the industry for a writer. We explain what the market looks like for a genre, what editors are looking for, what’s happening on the business side of things with acquisitions and mergers and what all of it means to you, the writer.

    We can’t always tell you what you want to hear, but we’ll tell you the truth, straight from the trenches.

    [bctt tweet=”Literary agents can’t always tell you what you want to hear.”]

    2. Timely responses

    Agents usually have a lot of clients on their rosters at any given time, but you should always expect a timely response. If your request isn’t urgent, they should get back to you within a week or so. If it is urgent, your agent should get back to you within 24-48 hours.

    Each agent has a different communication preference, whether it’s phone or email, so know what that is and work together to connect in a way that’s best for you both.

    3. Contract negotiation

    An established agent is considered a publishing contracts expert. It’s our job to know the ropes about contracts with each publishing house and be able to negotiate them well for the author.

    When you buy a car, you have to know what the deal points are and where you can negotiate, right? Same with books! Agents know exactly what all those deal points are and where we can maximize our clients’ potential for revenue.

    4. Attempt to sell subsidiary rights

    I love talking about subsidiary rights. Sub rights cover audiobooks, translations, adaptations to film and TV, dramatic stage performances, and merchandising like toys. Writers don’t have do much more work to benefit from these other channels of income.

    Agents licence sub rights for our clients as often as we sell domestic print rights. Once a print deal is in place, agents start to reach out to all our sub rights contacts and build excitement in other areas. We aren’t able to get all sub rights for all clients, but we always try.

    5. Royalty vetting

    When royalty statements come in, usually twice a year from traditional publishers, agents read them all very carefully — with a calculator handy — to make sure our clients are getting all the money they are entitled to.

    6. Prompt payments

    It takes seven to 10 days for most checks to clear, and money in the foreign market takes forever to be sent, but as a general rule, once your agent gets the check for your work they should disburse it within 30 days.

    Now that you know what to expect from your agent, stay tuned for the flip side: 6 Things You Shouldn’t Expect From Your Literary Agent.

    Have you worked with an agent before? What else do you expect from your partnership?

  • Cliches to Avoid: 4 Story Endings Your Readers Will Hate

    Cliches to Avoid: 4 Story Endings Your Readers Will Hate

    Writing a book is difficult, but crafting an ending that is both impactful and wraps the plot up beautifully is even more so.

    You worked hard to create a beginning that grabbed your readers, so make sure to write an ending that lives up to the rest of your story. Relying on clichés will only leave your readers feeling disappointed and dissatisfied.

    Stay away from these four cliché endings:

    1. The happily ever after

    What it is: All of the characters in your book live happily ever, with no hardships to bear. The hero defeats his foes and all of the plot twists are nicely tied up – perhaps a little unrealistically.

    Why to avoid it: Life doesn’t necessarily end happily ever after, which makes this type of ending feel disingenuous. You want your readers to feel enthralled with your book so that they’ll want to share it with friends, read more of your work or even re-read your story. Real life isn’t perfect, so make sure that your book stays in the realm of realism.

    2. The drawn-out dream

    What it is: The drawn-out dream ending involves the main character waking up safe and sound in their bed, realizing that the entire plot has just been a dream.

    Why to avoid it: This type of ending typically annoys readers, who feel that the author has copped out. A book should be emotional to everyone involved, and an author who uses this ending seems to betray readers’ trust and cheapen the emotions they’ve felt throughout the book.

    3. The guilty hero’s monologue

    What it is: When the hero finally defeats the bad guy or force, the reader is privy to her internal thoughts of regret or remorse. The monologue is supposed to show the character’s guilt at what she’s had to do and how it’s eating away at her. Even though the ending is happy, our hero must now live with the blood on her hands.

    Why to avoid it: In general, writers should strive to show, not tell, readers what is happening in the book. By strongarming readers into feeling specific, manufactured emotions, you are taking away their freedom to experience the story in a way that is reflective of their background and experiences. Readers may feel they are being led to specific conclusions, and few enjoy the feeling of an author holding their hand throughout a book — especially the ending.

    4. The lover’s life

    What it is: This is a special twist on the happily ever after ending, in which the main character falls in love, sometimes for an unexplained or random reason. It shows that true love makes the world go ‘round and that all that happened in the course of the story was worth it.

    Why to avoid it: Unrealistic endings tend to annoy readers. If a love interest is too sudden, it isn’t all that real. If it is unexplained, it leaves your characters lacking depth. The truth is that not everyone falls in love and lives happily ever after. The best endings are unique, somewhat realistic, and really make your readers think.

    Set the text aside, brainstorm some unique possibilities, and pick up your manuscript again when you have a more interesting picture of what could be.

    If you want to learn how to finish a story the right way, check out our guide here.

    What other cliché endings did we miss? What frustrates you at the end of a great story?    

  • How Too Much Knowledge Can Hurt Your Writing Career

    How Too Much Knowledge Can Hurt Your Writing Career

    “The curse of knowledge” may sound like something out of a cheesy movie, but it’s as real as it gets — and if you’re not able to avoid it in your writing, it could hurt your business.

    The curse of knowledge is the inability to see yourself in a novice’s shoes.

    No matter how brilliant your writing is, it won’t matter if you don’t give your audience a chance to understand it. Your expertise allows you to speak with authority, but using jargon and advanced language will alienate readers with less experience.

    Right about now, you may think this problem doesn’t concern you, that you know your stuff, that you’re great at explaining your subject. So did I — before I realized how my knowledge affected my writing career.

    The curse of knowledge: A case study

    Most of my writing career revolves around WordPress. I have a number of WordPress-related articles on the web, and I published a book called WordPress 3.7 Complete. I know WordPress.

    Most of the time, this helps me because I don’t have to look too deeply to find an idea or an angle when writing a new article. But other times it stabs me right in the back.

    Eventually, I realized that because of my experience with WordPress, I was often failing to address those readers who don’t have the same experience — which alienates them from my writing.

    How did I find out? I took a look at the comments readers were leaving. In complex posts, readers left fewer comments and only referred to the simplest elements of the article. The easier to grasp the language, the more in-depth and detailed the comments were. In other words, people understood and enjoyed the simple approach more than the complex one. It’s similar to Derek Halpern’s analysis of the research showing that using longer, complex words actually makes people think you’re less intelligent.

    If I’m not careful, my knowledge of WordPress could actually prevent me from effectively conveying my ideas. And as a person building my reputation based on my skill in the WordPress niche, this could be a serious obstacle in my career path.

    Does your writing pass the grandma test?

    Not sure if you’re suffering from the curse of knowledge or not? Here’s a simple way to find out.

    Call your grandma and give her a piece of your writing. After she reads it, ask her to share her understanding of the core message. How close are her impressions to the message you wanted to share? [bctt tweet=”Does your grandma understand your writing? If not, you need to revise.”]

    This simple test gives you a quick indication of whether you need to elaborate on a concept or give a little more background explanation.

    Introducing new concepts without drowning in jargon

    Ok, so your grandma should be able to grasp the basic message you’re trying to convey. But what if you need to explain industry jargon?

    Using a bit of jargon in your writing is okay, even necessary, to fully introduce someone to a new topic. But if you use too much of it, you’ll lose your message — and your audience’s interest — in the process.

    Here’s a prime example of the curse of knowledge. Both of these videos attempt to explain gravity to the layperson; which one is more successful?

    This video features slick footage and well-known scientists, but it’s 44 minutes long and addresses additional concepts related to gravity. It’s interesting, but isn’t going to hold most people’s attention for very long.

     

    Contrast that video with this high school teacher’s workshop, in which he manages to explain the complicated idea of gravity in less than 10 minutes. He’s not using any difficult or technical language. He’s illustrating the concept instead of blasting the audience with scientific jargon, which makes his demonstration engaging and interesting.

    Aim for your writing to be like the second video. Here are two simple steps to help you avoid the curse of knowledge.

    Step 1: Be aware

    You can’t cure yourself of a bad habit if you don’t know you have one, right?

    Being aware is half the battle.

    Now that you know the curse of knowledge exists, keep an eye out for it as you edit your work. Whenever you finish writing a piece, read through it and try to identify the parts that could potentially be hard to understand for the average reader. If you’re not sure, have a less-experienced friend or colleague take a look — or give your grandma a call.

    Step 2: Better yourself

    A famous saying often attributed to Albert Einstein goes, “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

    This is a bit confusing, since by definition, the curse of knowledge affects people with knowledge. So a lack of thereof shouldn’t be among the causes, right?

    The explanation is in our usual learning patterns. Regardless of the topic you want to master, you’ll go through the same phases:

    1. You start by acknowledging that you know nothing about the topic

    2. You devour all the information you can find, and after a short period of time you think that you know everything there is to know on the topic

    3. You realize how many gaps there are in your understanding and experience a letdown

    4. You begin growing your knowledge, conscious of all there is left to discover

    The curse of knowledge is something that tends to appear between the know-it-all phase and the letdown phase. This usually the time you can’t convey your ideas — not because you are too advanced, but because you aren’t knowledgeable enough yet.

    Admitting that we don’t fully know our subject matter can be tough. However, it’s something that affects us all, and once we make peace with it, we can find solutions. Learning more about your niche frees you from sitting in front of a blank piece of paper for hours trying to figure out how to explain an idea that you don’t fully grasp, and allows you to connect with a larger, more diverse audience.

    So, what does your grandma have to say about your writing?

  • The One Big Reason Some Blogs Succeed, While Others Crash and Burn

    The One Big Reason Some Blogs Succeed, While Others Crash and Burn

    This article is excerpted from Chuck’s book, Create Your Writer Platform.

    Most writers’ blogs forever linger in obscurity. These sites never receive a number of page views that would be considered noteworthy (1,000 a day, for instance) or help them sell thousands of books over time.

    If you’re just blogging for fun and don’t care about how many hits you get, that’s one thing. But if you’re using a blog as a means to build your writing network and platform, you’re probably curious about what you can do to attract a bigger readership — and I can tell you how to do just that.

    So what separates the small percentage of larger, successful blogs from the rest of the herd? This is a question I’ve studied for many years, both while building my own Guide to Literary Agents Blog, as well as when I’ve reviewed other writers’ sites.

    The answer is surprisingly simple: the one core element that virtually every successful blog provides. (Note that this key trait is not just relative to blogs; popular social media accounts provide this one thing, too.)

    What trait sets successful blogs apart from the rest?

    Stop for a moment and identify the first websites you visit upon waking in the morning. I’m willing to bet “My email account” and “Facebook” are the top overall responses.

    But why do you visit these websites day in and day out? Why do you spend so much time on them? The answer is so obvious that you might have never put your finger on it. These sites provide immense value to you.

    Email allows you to connect with anyone around the world instantaneously and for free. Stop for a moment and remember how mind-blowing that is. Facebook lets you share news, articles and images with all your friends and relatives around the world — again, for free. You’ve likely been using these sites for so long that you’ve forgotten just how amazing they are — and how tremendous the value is for either.

    And it’s this element — value — that separates the few big sites from the many others.

    Remember that at any given time, dozens (if not hundreds) of things and to-do’s and websites are competing for our attention. That means your blog must provide a darn good incentive to read it. This could mean pulling together hard-to-gather information, or making readers laugh, or informing us, or sharing advice that makes our lives better or easier. Any of these elements translates to value in a blog.

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    Am I providing value?

    Let’s say I spend a Saturday with my daughter at a local Cincinnati park. I take great pictures of her on a beautiful sunny day as she swings and slides. Then I think this would make for a great blog column, and post the best pictures online with some silly jokes and comments about how cute she is. Now here comes the money question:

    Do you really give a damn?

    Do you really care about what I did last Saturday?

    In all likelihood, no, you don’t give a damn. You don’t care enough to pull your attention away from countless other (much better) things and glance at my new post. And that is perfectly understandable — because the column provided no true worth for you. In fact, the value was for me; I had a great opportunity to document a fun day with my girl.

    People have a hard time wrapping their head around the very simple fact that much of the blog content they create isn’t really helpful for others, but rather for themselves in some way or another.

    How to create value

    If I truly want to vie for others’ attention, I need to turn the spotlight off myself. The best way to do that is to create something that is of importance not to me, but to people I’ve never met. Note that once I decide to do this, my task immediately becomes more complicated (but that’s a good sign I’m on the right track).

    So while you wouldn’t read that picture-filled post I just created, would you read a different post I wrote called “5 Great Family-Friendly Parks in Cincinnati You Probably Didn’t Know Existed”? I’m guessing you would, because this post has instant and undeniable worth for you. It will make your life easier and better.

    A simple litmus test you can do when considering if a post has enough value to draw people in is to ask this question: Was the post easy to compose or not easy to compose? [bctt tweet=”The more value something provides, typically the more difficult it is to create.”]

    And that’s why most blogs linger in obscurity: because writers don’t spend the amount of time necessary to compose worthwhile content that will demand attention.

    Think about it. How long would it take me to create that original blog post with pictures of my daughter? Probably 20 minutes. But how much time would it take me to compose the second post? A lot longer.

    I’d have to visit the parks or talk to people who had. I’d need to collect images of the parks, and show you screenshots of where they are via Google Maps. And I’d have to write up the perks and boons of each. My guess is it would take me four to eight hours in total. It’s a lot more work, but the end result is much more worthwhile to readers.

    So the next time you go on a vacation to the Maine coast, don’t return and assume strangers will want to hear about how your trip went. Remember what Freakonomics taught us: Incentives make the world go round, so give readers a reason to take notice. If you write about the trip and call it “Our Crazy Vacation on the Coast,” I’m going to ignore it. But if you compose a post called “7 Fun Places to Visit in Portland, Maine,” then you just might catch my attention.

    We’d love to hear from you: How do you create true value in your blog posts?

    [twl_reusable_block post_id=41455]

    The giveaway for Chuck’s book Create Your Writer Platform is now over. Thanks for all your comments. Congrats to Nikki!

    Other TWL Guest Posts by Chuck Sambuchino:

    1. How Successful Authors Use Social Media to Sell More Books

    2. Tips for Pitching a Literary Agent at a Writers’ Conference

    3. When Can You Call Yourself A Writer?
  • 6 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes You Simply Don’t Want to Make

    6 Embarrassing Grammar Mistakes You Simply Don’t Want to Make

    Nothing stops a reader in his tracks as quickly as a poorly worded headline, sentence or paragraph. Think about it: if the title or first few lines of a post are awkward or incorrect, do you continue reading or move on to another option?

    Quality writing demonstrates that you take your work seriously and want to be perceived as credible and professional. Even the most valuable content will be dismissed if it’s riddled with errors.

    Brush up on these six common grammar mistakes so you can avoid them and keep your readers’ attention where it belongs: on the information you have to share.

    1. Too many pronouns

    Including an overabundance of pronouns in a single sentence may confuse your readers: Who is doing the action? Who said that? For clarity, begin a paragraph or a sentence with the name of the character you are writing about, then use pronouns to refer back to that person.

    Example: Here’s a sentence that uses too many pronouns, making the meaning unclear: “He went there to do that, but she didn’t know where he was.”

    2. Misused apostrophes

    Generally, an apostrophe is used to indicate possession — not plural — and to mark missing letters in contractions (for example: you are = you’re). Many writers use apostrophes incorrectly when denoting plurals. Take some time to get familiar with the correct use of apostrophes so you don’t fall into this trap.

    Example: A sign at the office should read, “Only managers should use copiers,” not “Only manager’s should use copiers.”

    3. Comma confusion

    Writers often misuse commas. They’re meant to let the reader know to take a pause before moving on. Some writers use too many commas, and some don’t use enough, so do your best to be consistent with your usage.

    As you’re writing, scan your sentences to see if you have two sentences strung together with a comma. Can the sentences stand alone? If so, split them up or use a semi-colon.

    Example: This situation is known as a comma splice: “I went to bed late last night, I couldn’t stop watching a movie on TV.” This could be better said in any of the following ways:

    • “I went to bed late last night. I couldn’t stop watching a movie on TV.”

    • “I went to bed late last night; I couldn’t stop watching a movie on TV.”

    • “I went to bed late last night because I couldn’t stop watching a movie on TV.”

    As you read books and well-edited blogs, take note of comma use. You can learn a lot from reading professional work.

    4. Incorrect capitalization

    Many writers take it upon themselves to capitalize anything they want, and other writers may not capitalize anything at all. This rule is one of the more flexible ones on this list, since capitalization is often used for emphasis. However, according to grammar rules, only capitalize proper nouns such as the name of a person, place or business.

    Example: A business writer creating a sales page might want to write “The Writing Handbook Will Launch on Saturday,” but this is not grammatically correct. Instead, they he should write, “The Writing Handbook will launch on Saturday.”

    5. Fragments

    A fragment is an incomplete sentence, and many writers are unaware they include these sentence fragments in their writing. If you’re writing informally on a personal blog, you may consciously choose to use fragments. However, in more formal writing or on assignment, make sure to replace them with full sentences.

    Example: “Or take it home.” This is not a complete sentence and should be rewritten as, “Keep it here or take it home.”

    6. Wordiness

    Have you ever written an article, then checked the word count and found you’ve fallen short? Perhaps you have to add 200 words in order to meet your goal, so you throw in some fluff.

    Wordiness means including extra words or phrases simply for the sake of word count — or that you’re just long-winded. While not strictly a grammar infraction, wordiness affects the structure and composition of your writing, taking away from its quality. Do your best to keep your writing succinct for clear communication.

    Example: “Due to the fact that access to internet resources are actually at the present time very easy to access in many places, the vast majority of users seek to have those kinds of devices that are most easy to carry around with them wherever they go.” (46 words)

    Here’s how Professor G. Kim Blank suggests making this sentence more concise: “Because the Internet is available most places, users often prefer portable devices.” (12 words)

    What grammar mistakes do you see your fellow writers making?

    Photo by Jason Rosenberg on Flickr under Creative Commons

  • Make a Living as a Writer: A Simple Strategy That Works

    Make a Living as a Writer: A Simple Strategy That Works

    There is no one way to be a writer, you know. And there is no wrong way that will handicap you forever.

    Writers are usually thrilled at the beginning, eager to dive in and earn a living from their writing skills. Two weeks later, a niggling worry creeps in: how does someone earn a living doing this?

    How to earn money as a writer

    My career began with visions of a novel, a mystery I spent two years writing at night after work. When I could not land an agent, I tossed it on the shelf. However, the writing bug had bit me hard. I set out to write, come hell or high water, using whatever talents I had, for whoever would hire me.

    This mentality helped me develop a formula I use to organize and prioritize my writing work, making sure I maximize my earnings and challenge myself to connect with new markets and clients. Here’s how to put this formula to work for you.

    The 25/50/25 rule

    To make a decent living from your writing and make the most of your time, look at your clients and projects from a new angle. Break your work up into these categories: 25, 50 and another 25 percent blocks of your writing time. (Like this idea? Click to tweet it.)Here’s what that looks like:

    The first 25

    What can you write easily and earn a few dollars doing? The first 25 percent of the formula comprises these projects: the small magazine that loves local writers, the paid blog post, the filler piece, even the writing mill stuff.

    This sort of material isn’t great, but hey, it brings in a check, income you can bank on, as tiny as it may be. It validates you — you are indeed earning a living writing. We all like to succeed, and this is where you feel safe.

    However, you don’t want to get stuck in this rut. Limit this kind of work to 25 percent of your writing time to encourage yourself to stretch further.

    The 50

    These markets challenge your skills and experience. Whether you’re writing newsletters for area businesses, magazine articles, resumes, grants, white papers, or a company’s blog, you’ll figure out your sweet spot after a few months.

    Spend half your writing time seeking and performing for these markets, and expect to land about half the clients you pitch. These venues keep you on your writing game, they pay and many of them become returning clients and markets.

    The second 25

    These markets fall into the “almost impossible” category. You dream of breaking into these babies. You drool over those dollar per word pieces in glossy magazines. You’d love to be a regular blog contributor for a national site or the go-to person for a local business’ copywriting work. These markets scare you to pieces, and you feel you’ll never reach that bar.

    Keep seeking them: the more you study these opportunities, and the more you pitch them, the more you understand them. If you stick around long enough in this business, you’ll reach one. Then two.

    How to put the formula to work for you

    Make sure not to distort these percentages by second-guessing your abilities. There’s a reason for the 25/50/25 rule. It requires you to continually reach up, and as a result, your writing matures.

    Soon your markets in the 50 category are paying more than when you started. Your lower 25 consists of a higher-caliber stable of gigs. And that upper 25, your dream jobs, assumes an even higher status because what you used to put in that category is now in your 50.

    Apply the 25/50/25 rule to more than your markets. Use it for your advertising. Use it for time spent on social media. Use it for your speaking engagements, as I did, growing from online chats, to coffeehouse book clubs to conference keynotes.

    Or let your upper 25 consist of time on your novel, your highest level income dream. After four years of freelancing, I pulled my book off the shelf and dedicated my upper 25 to its future since I’d grown my lower 25 and my 50 to support myself. Lowcountry Bribe was ultimately published, the first in the Carolina Slade Mystery Series.

    Creating a writing business that supports you full time and earns a decent income will not happen overnight. It might take several years.

    But between the 25/50/25 rule and keeping 13 pitches in play at all times, you’ll find yourself earning a living at this craft. Be diligent, and you’re on your way to realizing your writing dreams.

    How do you divide your writing time? 

  • 4 Mistakes Even the Best Writers Make on Twitter

    4 Mistakes Even the Best Writers Make on Twitter

    Want to use Twitter to make connections for your writing career? Check out our founder Alexis Grant’s course: Become a Twitter Power User.

    It’s not easy, convincing writers on the value of Twitter. But once the social network begins to make sense to you and you start seeing wins on a regular basis — a publisher links to your blog post, a literary agent responds to your tweet, or maybe you even land a freelance gig through a Twitter connection — you’ll never go back.

    Once you get over that initial hump, it’s time to take it a step further, so you see even more return on your investment. And that’s when you want to make sure to follow the advice below. Will these mistakes doom you forever? No. But they will keep you from turning your own Twitter world into a place where you meet clients, form friendships and cultivate your writing career.

    Here are four mistakes I see writers make on Twitter and why you should be sure to avoid them:

    1. Neglecting to include @mentions

    Adding @mentions is one of the smartest things you can do to grow your Twitter presence, the best way to get a big bang for your buck on this social media channel. For every single tweet you send, look for ways to incorporate an @mention, maybe even two.

    Mention a blogger? Look up that person’s handle and include it in your tweet. Sharing a link from a publication? Add that @mention to your update. Notice someone is simply mentioned in the article you’re sharing? Find a way to work their handle into your tweet, too.

    The @mention is your way of getting the attention of other people, of saying, “Hello! I exist, and I’m tweeting about YOU!” If you fail to include the @mention, that person or publication or organization you’re tweeting about will probably never see what you have to say… and in that case, is your time spent on social media even worth it?

    2. Overlooking the power of Twitter lists

    After the @mention, lists are one of the best ways to get the most out of Twitter — and yet so many people don’t use them. Lists help you filter through all the noise on this platform and hear only the things you want to hear — so you can create connections that matter. (Here’s a great how-to-use-lists guide from Mashable.)

    One of my favorite ways to use Twitter lists is by creating what I call a Notice-Me List. This is a private list that includes lots of people I’m hoping to form a relationship with on Twitter: bloggers, publishers, writers, social media strategists, etc. Anytime I come across someone who I want to know me, I add them to this list, which means the list is always changing.

    But it’s what you do with that list that counts. Once you’ve created it, take a few minutes each day or week to scroll through that list and look for ways to interact with people on it. That could mean @replying to their tweets or RTing their tweets with a short comment, or even clicking through one of the links they share to their blog and leaving a comment on the latest post.

    [bctt tweet=”Creating Twitter lists is great, but what you DO with those lists is what really counts.”]

    By interacting with these people, you’re opening the door to a relationship. If you respond in a smart way, they’ll hopefully write back. And even if they don’t respond, they might notice you and your work — which means they’re far more likely to respond to an email you send down the line.

    3. Procrastinating the move to Hootsuite

    If you’re not using a Twitter application like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Buffer, you should be.

    I don’t recommend them for complete Twitter newbies, because it takes a while to understand how to use the platform, and these applications are an added complication. But as soon as you get the hang of how to make connections on Twitter — that includes using @mentions and lists to get the most of the platform — make the switch to an app. It will make your life easier in the long run!

    Of these three tools, I prefer Hootsuite. But all three have loyal users, so you really can’t go wrong choosing one. If you do go with Hootsuite, watch this tutorial from Marian Schembari as a primer.

    4. Thinking that scheduling tweets is a big no-no

    You don’t have to be in front of your computer all day to benefit from Twitter. In fact, the best Twitter users actually schedule their tweets — that is, they create a bunch of tweets whenever they have time and schedule them to go live throughout the day or week. This is how you provide massive value — and become a tweep people want to follow — without spending all day online.

    Now, there are two caveats here. The first: Just because you schedule tweets doesn’t mean you should never hop onto the platform and interact. Some of the best connections I’ve formed have grown out of spontaneous conversation, interacting with other people on the platform. That’s essential — so don’t leave interacting out of the equation.

    Second, scheduling tweets is different than automating them.

    Automation is when you publish a blog post and a Twitter app is set up to automatically tweet that post. Scheduling is when you create a tweet by hand, but schedule it to go live at a later date. (Click to tweet this idea.)

    The main reason automation isn’t a good idea is because it’s not optimized. The tweet that goes out automatically is probably simply a headline and a link — and guess what? That violates our cardinal rule: include an @mention.

    If you want to add @mentions, you have to craft tweets by hand. That also allows you to make other tweaks that will encourage followers to click on the link, like asking questions or adding a #hashtag or putting some tease into your update (aka “This story about two writers earning millions blew us away!”).

    So there you have it — four tips that will help you get more out of Twitter. If you want to put the @mention rule into practice, give us a shout at @TheWriteLife. We’re always happy to make new writing friends!

    Alexis Grant is founder and editor of The Write Life. Check out her course: Become a Twitter Power User.