Seriously–did you know that every single website in the world that’s considered “good,” “great,” or “awesome and effective” cost someone $10,000 to implement?

Let’s break it down. But first, let’s understand why we’re even getting into this argument (you do disagree with me, right?) in the first place.

Why I’m being ridiculous

Maybe I’m being hard-nosed about this concept because I work at a marketing company. Maybe it’s because I’m angry at all of those “But I have a website people.”

Or maybe it’s because I really do care about making the online world a better place.

Anyway, I do believe that websites that are worthy of visits cost $10,000. Period.

Here’s where I’m getting my data:

• Your time is worth something. I’m going to assume it’s at least $100/hour, but for the sake of this argument, I’ll stay there.
• Your initial investment is anything from $0 to $10,000. If it’s any more than that, I’m sorry, you may have overpaid.
• That last statement is false. If you paid more than $10,000, you seriously overpaid.

Got it? Good.

Okay, here we go.

If your time is worth $100/hour, it would take you around 100 hours to build a website that falls in the “$10,000″ range. That’s a lot of hours, but it can be done in a few weeks, given an open schedule, not a lot of social life, and a lot of 5-hour energy drinks.

Maybe your time is worth more–in that case, go ahead and recalculate.

Step 1 – Calculate the time you actually spent on your site

Let’s say you’re a creator who spent 50 hours setting up your current website. It’s pretty cool–you have some neat social media plugins, a great (free) theme, and some nifty widgets on the sidebar that let people see how great you are with WordPress.

Let’s also assume you didn’t spend a dime on your initial setup–after all, it was you who set the thing up, and you who registered the domain name for a “imawesome.wordpress.com” website.

Great.

But you didn’t spend a dime, and now your site kind of sucks. Sorry, but it does (you know who you are). Sure, it’s got an About page, and you try to blog every other day, but overall it’s just not working for you. No one seems to care about you or your piddly little Blogspot blog.

You wonder why, and then you somehow found this post. Awesome! Keep reading.

The other side of the coin. 

Let’s say you actually did spend $10,000 USD on a website. It’s pretty kick-butt awesome, if you do say so yourself. And you do.

It has widgets galore, it’s completely customized to your personal preferences, and you have the designer’s cell phone number saved on a Dashboard sticky.

Great. 

But you didn’t spend any time actually getting in the thick of things–you just blindly trusted a (probably great) design firm to “build you a competitive and super-duper website.” It certainly is competitive–it looks better than anything you’ve ever seen, and you almost wish your own child looked more like it.

But it’s not doing anything. You’ve come to realize that having a website is one thing; having a website that generates attention and builds your platform is totally another thing (and it has many more words).

Awesome (but not really)! Keep reading.

Step 2 – Calculate the amount of money you actually spent on your site

Again, let’s assume you didn’t spend a dime–we already talked about that. That means that it was on you to design, concept, layout, write, implement, and set up your entire website, not to mention host, maintain, tweak, and set up emails.

If you’re of the latter group we mentioned who spend gads of dollars on your site, the opposite is true–you’ve spent hardly any time getting to know the ins and outs of your website, save for a tutorial or walkthrough of the CMS.

Step 3 – Realize the truth

Do the math, and I think you’ll see where I’m going with this:

• As I mentioned before, let’s assume your time is worth $100
• Let’s also assume you only spent $5,000 on your site out-of-pocket, but
• You maintain the site yourself, and you personally set up widgets, tweak the navigation, and add content

Is it fair to say you’ve spent around 50 hours or so on the site, or at least will have spent that much on it by the time you can call it “great?”

So if you split your time and your money down the middle (50/50), your awesome website still equals $10,000–half time, half money.

However you decide to split the time/money, the equation holds true.

Want a free website? Expect to spend 100 hours getting everything set up properly.

Want to have someone else do it all? Expect to spend $10,000 to have a whiz-kid do your work for you.

The point

Yes–I realize I’m taking a complex argument and oversimplifying it a bit. But the point is this: if you want the website of your dreams, someone has to do it. Go too far either way on the time/money spectrum and you’ll either go broke or let the world pass you by as you program the perfect widget for your sidebar.

When I design websites for clients, I don’t charge $5,000, or even $2,000 most of time, much less $10,000. And there’s a simple reason why:

More often than not, my client can spend X amount of money on a site and be satisfied with the look and feel of the site, but they still won’t have enough understanding of it to make it great. It’s important that they spend hours getting to know the interface, the CMS, and the backend system.

I expect them to love the design that I created, but I also want them to feel comfortable (and not need to call me every day) installing new plugins, templates, etc.–and that takes time.

So, for you, it’s time to look at what you’re using as a brand platform. Your first impression for many people will be your website–are you ready for them?

Is your website a $10,000 site, or is there something lacking on the time/money spectrum?

Leave a comment and let’s see where you stand!

Hmm.

Well I’ve never read it.

How’s it working out for you?

If you answered “not well,” “not sure,” or “not what I’d expected” to the above question, it might be time to rethink your blogging strategy. This post is for you.

If you answered “I don’t have one yet,” this post is also for you.

Why this post is for you

Well, for starters, I feel qualified to talk about this topic. For once, I’m running a blog that’s actually focused on a topic I’m passionate about, and one that’s actually able to help people as well.

I’m tired of seeing blogs that are well-written, have great content ideas, and even awesome headlines, but no readers. Every day I get an email or two from people who’ve stumbled across this blog, asking me “how do I figure out what to write about,” or “how did you get people to come and read your content?”

There are a few answers to these questions, but the best one (and most frustrating one) I can think of is:

I learned how to ask the right questions.

That’s right–I asked myself the right questions, and only after that was I able to uncover the answers to those questions. From there, relaunching this blog and creating content that people love was easy.

The right questions

So, if you’re struggling with these things, I might be able to help. Before we jump in, though, let’s be specific. I’m not going to be able to help you if:

• All you want to do is make money.
• You have no interest in your topic, and are just doing it because of money/work/God knows what.
• You have no interest in helping people.

Duh. Well, it needed to be said. Still with me?

Ok, here’s what I can help you with:

• You know you have a passion for X, but can’t seem to get people interested in listening to you talk about it.
• You love helping people figure out X, but can’t get anyone to pay attention.
• You have a great blog, and great content, and lots of readers, but you don’t know how to make it turn into an income stream.

If any of these are an example of the type of thing you’re struggling with, I can help. 

Why? Well, because, I’m doing it. No, I’m not making my full-time income from this blog (not even close). But I’m making more and more each month, and have doubled my subscriber count in less than one month.

But I’m not bragging–I’ve got a long way to go. I just want to be clear up front that I’ve been able to do all of this because I’ve been asking the right questions.

So, you ask, what are the right questions?

First, you need to ask the why questions:

• Why do you want to blog?
• Why do you want to write about your topic?
• Why do you need your blog to be successful?
• Why will people listen to you?
• Why will you be able to help them, and not someone else?

Second, ask the how questions:

• How are you going to maintain both your blog and your current lifestyle?
• How are you going to organize your time?
• How are you going to get people to listen to you?
• How are you going to monetize your blog?
• How long will it take to get “there?”

Finally, ask yourself these when questions:

• When will you find the time to blog?
• When will you post?
• When will you launch?
• When will you decide you’ve reached “success” or “failure?”
• When will you stop blogging?

Obviously, there are many more questions

But the point is, the answers aren’t right or wrong until you answer them. 

I can’t answer them for you–I can give you guidance, or help finding them, or point you toward resources, but I cannot answer them for you.

Other bloggers (who make money giving answers) might tell you they can give you the answers, but they can’t. They can only give you the answers to their version of your questions.

Does that make sense?

If you ask me how often you should blog, I’ll only be able to tell you what’s worked for others, and what’s worked for me (2-3 times a week, but only if I have something important to say). I can’t tell you what will work for you, because you might be able to write consistently awesome every single day, and therefore can get away with posting every day.

If you ask me what “success” means, you’ll get my version of “freedom” and “location independence,” but it would still differ from everyone else’s version.

So, the right answers are unique to your persona

In a nutshell, the right answers are the ones you’ve answered about questions you made up.

They’re the answers you know deep down, but second-guess.

The best advice you can get is the advice you actually use, so by creating these questions and actually answering them for yourself, you’ll be one step ahead.

How I can help

I mentioned before that I can help. Here’s how: over the next few weeks, I’m going to be launching some awesome stuff that people have been asking about. If you’ve emailed me, DM’d me on Twitter, or otherwise stopped me on the street asking, you might have heard me mention something about it.

First, I’m releasing a new book. It’s basically a “manifesto,” filled with 101 questions you should be asking yourself before you get too far into blogging.

It’s short, sweet, and very to-the-point, but it also features some great questions thrown in by these guys:

• Joanna Penn of TheCreativePenn.com
• Jeff Goins of GoinsWriter.com
• Dan Blank of WeGrowMedia.com
• Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com
• Sean Platt of TheDigitalWriter (previously of Ghostwriter Dad fame)
• James Chartrand of MenWithPens.ca
• And more…

As you can see, it’s a pretty sweet list of guys and gals who totally get blogging. Most are making their full-time incomes from writing online, and all are considered “successful” by most other bloggers in their fields.

So if you don’t want to listen to me, you’ll at least listen to them maybe?

Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to be the first to know about the book–it’s going to be cheap (like less than a cup of coffee), but it’s going to be awesome. I can feel it. 

Second, I’m thinking about starting some kind of consultation service. Many of you who have graciously shared with me your stories, struggles, and desires have had a lot of ideas for what you’d like in a service like this.

I don’t feel “expert” enough to provide solutions for the vast majority of these problems, but I do have some specific experience that I think will translate well and that we could measure and improve:

• Building a platform
• Setting up social networks
• Creating a website
• Writing content that people want to read
• Generating traffic
• Gaining attention
• Creating streams of income from your writing
• yada yada…

Anyway

I’ll be writing more about each of these things as the weeks roll on. I hope that throughout it all, you stay encouraged and motivated.

Further, if you have any specific ideas about what might help, send me an email directly (nick@nickthacker.com) or just leave a comment! I read and respond to each one!

When I was in 8th grade, I couldn’t wait to move on up to high school.

And, of course, in high school, I was quickly disenchanted with being told what to study, and I absolutely could not wait to go to college.

Guess what? 

That’s how I’ve been my entire life. One thing just wasn’t good enough, especially with the prospect of something bigger and/or better waiting for me just over the horizon.

Let me get into the nitty-gritty details, just to prove my point:

I wanted to be a child country-music superstar.

Yeah.

Go ahead, laugh. I had the dual-mic karaoke machine, the Country Top 10 Greatest Hits CD in my boom box (with detachable speakers!), and any friends who came over were no doubt subjected to endless hours of “concert rehearsals,” eventually leading to an all-night (until bedtime, of course) gala event featuring Yours Truly on lead vocals, Poor Unassuming Friend on background vocals and the occasional duet (lucky them), and Little Brother on front-of-house sound control.

Thankfully, I remember absolutely none of this.

More thankfully, I quickly (by age 14) grew out of this weird childhood fantasy and became an amateur magician.

Yeah again.

And I was still in a band until my senior year of high school.

Why I’m telling you this. 

One day, my Wikipedia page might disclaim all of these awesome personal anecdotes, but until then I want you to know two things:

1. I was (still am) a huge dork.
2. I was (still am) the kind of person who wants something more; the next great thing.

Basically, I’m a dork who doesn’t have patience for the status quo. I didn’t want to go to school, because half of the time I felt like I knew more than the teachers, and the other half of the time I didn’t care about the subject matter (aren’t you glad I wasn’t your student?!?).

In college, I was 50% excited about course material, and 50% excited about what I was going to do after I was told I had enough knowledge to go out on my own and start a huge company.

Let me rephrase that:

My entire life, I’ve been excited to do the things that other people do, after many more years of training, study, and practice than what I had. 

To put it another way, I was waiting for permission from someone else. I thought, deep down, that I might not need that permission, but for some reason I should still seek it.

A diploma, a degree, 5+ years of experience, management training, etc. This “permission” we’re told we need was something that caused me to do a double-take when I met people like Noah Kagan, Dan Blank, and Chris Guillebeau. Further, reading about people like Tim Ferriss, Ramit Sethi, and Danny Iny, I realized something:

These people didn’t (and don’t) wait for permission. They created what they wanted, and then figured out how to get others to pay them for it. 

Every single “status quo,” “tried-and-true methodology,” and “common practice” you’ve come across in your job, your schooling, and your life, has been created by someone else. These things are what I call “permissions”–if you do your due diligence; do your time, you can get permission to do what you want to do with your life.

Obviously, these “permissions” aren’t always arbitrary–most have been created on accident over the course of generations of people repeating the same habits–go to school, get an education, get a great job, retire, rinse and repeat.

But more and more of these “permissions” are being proved ineffective for a small handful of the world population–a population that’s growing more and more quickly as advances in technology, Internet prowess, and average business intelligence shift the barrier for entry lower.

The 10-year vision.

My “10-year vision” involves a world of choosers–people who aren’t satisfied taking their cues from others and receiving their “permissions” from a systematic culture. I envision a population that can go to college but isn’t expected to.

These people won’t make up the majority, but they’ll make up enough of the overall population that we’ll be hard-pressed to keep ignoring them.

The original “American dream” involved landownership and freedom; of self-sufficiency with a limited and decentralized government.

The new “American dream” (and I’d argue that that term should now be the “New world dream”) is owning a stake in the future of online communication; the ability to spread ideas and concepts and dreams through that directly correlate to personal fulfillment, wellness, and “the pursuit of happiness.”

Basically, I think we’re going to see more “outliers” become mainstream. More and more “online entrepreneurs” are going to pop up and make drastic changes in our current frame of mind. No longer are we going to think of these people as “living the dream”–they’ll be living normally. The rest of us–those of us who abide by a status quo, expect government handouts, wait for permission, etc.–are the ones who’ll be living in the past, waiting in vain for social fulfillment from somewhere else.

Enough of the idealistic ranting. 

Okay, great. You know where I’m coming from. You can see that I’m a fan of people creating the things they’re passionate about, getting paid to keep creating those things, and not having to worry about waiting for someone else to give them permission.

I’m a fan of the new world of communication, and what it can allow us all to accomplish.

But how do we get there?

How do we go from 9-5 job, working for someone else, to the beautiful, free life of working on our own terms; on our own dime?

Here are a few ideas. 

• Create art for art’s sake.
• Know that there already is a market for your art out there, you just need to find it.
• Understand that your art is your business, and your business is your art. Forget one of these key things and you become a starving artist or a passionless business drone.
• Start with the first ten, and work up from there.
• Always add value.

If you do these things, you can still fail (and you probably will). But that failure will be yours–and that’s a freedom every person on Earth should feel. Plus, after a few of these failures, you’ll realize something:

Pretty soon, you’ll know how not to fail, and then you won’t. 

And all of a sudden your dreams will start to come true.

You’ll be able to create art that people want, and they’ll pay you handsomely for it.

You’ll be able to do what you want, when you want, and not have to answer to anyone but your customers/fans/clients.

You’ll be able to feel more “free” than you’ve ever felt before.

That’s what that this blog is about, and that’s what I’ll be writing about for the next few weeks.

I’m not an expert, so I have absolutely preconceived notions about this business of “living the dream.” I’m just a guy who wants to figure out how to help people in a way that will allow me to work and live wherever I want, not penned down to a specific title, role, company, or job, and without having to worry about what tomorrow will bring.

Of course, I’ve done a lot of things that haven’t worked–and a few things that have. 

If you want to join me, I’d love to have you on board. You can expect on-target, helpful, and actionable advice each and every time you hear from me, or at least a set of ready-to-listen ears. Just sign up here, and let’s get going!

The cursor, blinking on and off, urged me to start. “Go on,” it beckoned, “just write.”

I thought of the WordPress admin panel and its helpful little prompt, “Just write.”

The cursor blinked again–one too many times. Frustrated, I slammed my MacBook Pro shut and joined my wife in the living room.

Writer’s block? Or just a lack of motivation?

Who cares–whatever I was feeling, the words didn’t get written last night. I used every possible excuse I could find to not write. Mailing packages, playing with the dogs, cooking dinner, etc.

Why, as “writers,” do we do this?

Before I ever used to call myself a “writer,” I could bang out 2,000 words in a sitting like nobody’s business. I would write blog posts, long articles, and entire chapters of my novel, all without thinking twice.

But now, close to finishing a book on blogging, a second fiction novel, and maintaining my guest-posting “tour,” I’m havaing a heck of a time “just writing.”

This post isn’t about writer’s block, because I’m not sure I believe in it. Also, this post isn’t necessarily about overcoming a lack of motivation either.

Instead, it’s somewhere in-between, when we don’t really know what the deal is; we just can’t seem to write.

At these times, I’ve been trying to analyze the things that have worked to get me over “the hump,” and the things have not. So, without vascillating any longer, here are some steps I’ve taken to get over myself and just write:

First, What doesn’t work:

1. Waiting for The Muse.

The muse is a mythical creature who likes to zap us with creative energy, intense focus, and magical powers that let us write entire epics in one sitting.

Oh wait–that’s right. The Muse doesn’t exist. What we writers traditionally mistake as The Muse is really just our unhindered left brain, allowed to roam free and create.

Still, though, personifying our creative streak as a little wizard called The Muse is fun, so I’ll stick with that:

“If you wait for The Muse, you’re allowing the world to pass you by.”

Rather than wait for the moment to strike, write something else–forget that blog post you just have to write for your adoring fans and readers who will no doubt abandon your blog forever if you don’t deliver a delectable morsel of bloggy goodness by 9 am.

Forget about that chapter that just has to be penned before bed. Your editor can wait, and so can your publisher.

Or forget about writing altogether. You’ve got a business to run–go do the mundane, mindless tasks that don’t take creative energy instead.

The reason it’s okay to just not write when you’re feeling this way is simple:

If you force yourself to write, you’re most likely going to need to rewrite it all anyway. Sometimes that’s a good thing (link to Lifehack.org post), but sometimes it’s lame.

2. Saying you’ll “catch up later.”

What I mean is that you shouldn’t waste the time you’ve allotted to writing (you have allotted work time, right?). Don’t say to yourself that you’re going to get up early and get the rest of your 1,000 words done.

Why?

Because you need to honor your schedule. Period.

If you write at night, but can’t seem to write anything–use that time for other business-related projects and tasks. Finished everything on your to-do list for the day?

Great. Tackle tomorrow’s tasks now and get ahead.

But I’ve found that abandoning my daily schedule can very quickly derail my habits. Some people are different, but it’s important to me to have a clearly-defined work schedule every evening, as much as possible.

3. Alcohol.

I’m going to expand this definition to cover drugs, medication, or any other mind- or state-altering chemicals that affect our thought-process.

I’ve never tried to drink just for the “benefits” that may or may not present themselves, but I have had a glass of wine or a Rum and Coke (mmm) and then tried to write.

Usually this isn’t a problem–at small dosages, alcoholic beverages don’t have any outward or inward effect on me.

However, one too many drinks and I can start to “feel” the alcohol’s effects. It’s certainly not “drunk,” but it’s not a completely sober-minded state, either (you know what I’m talking about!)

And I want to state one thing very clearly:

Alcohol has a negative effect on my writing ability.

I find I need to delete words and sentences much more often, rethink passages and phrases a few times, and generally just don’t write as quickly.

So, while I admit that everyone’s different, I will never condone the use of alcohol, drugs, and/or other products that fall into a similar category to boost my productivity.

What does work.

Okay, now that those things are cleared up, I was left with a problem: what the heck does actually work for helping hit my daily word count goals? Here are a few things:

1. Working on something else.

Like I mentioned above, a simple “redirect” in focus–channeling my energy toward another project–can often make me want to go back and work on the writing project that needs to be done.

This is basically saying I’m ADD, but with the positive benefit of at least getting something done…

I usually enjoy the writing projects I have–blog posts, fiction chapters, book projects, etc.–but when push comes to shove, I’ll do just about anything else to prevent myself from writing.

So I use a distraction–rather than doing something completely unrelated (outside the realm of what I deem “work”), I’ll work on a task that needs to get done but isn’t inspiring, creative, or fun.

Checking stats, sales, Analytics, responding to emails, etc. fall into this category, and they all fall under the “Work” umbrella, so they’re fair game.

Mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, watching TV–these do not fall under the “Work” umbrella, so they’re out.

Get it?

Focus on doing something else that still counts as work, and you’ll still be honoring your time-commitment you’ve made to your craft and your art.

And when I do this, I often have the urge to go back and finish the writing project that had me stuck in the first place!

2. Using the Pomodoro technique.

If you haven’t heard of the “Pomodoro technique,” it’s basically a method of using a kitchen timer to segment your work schedule.

You work for 20 minutes, take a 5-minute no work at all break, then repeat the process a few more times. After the fourth “Pomodoro,” you take an extended 15- or 20-minute break.

There’s more detail than that in the “actual” method, but mainly because it’s a product that needs a business model.

Honestly, you can make up your “chunks” however you want, but the method is sound. By splitting your work hour into these smaller chunks of work-break-work-etc., your mind naturally is hungry to keep going, and the break period just adds fuel to the fire.

I like Pomodoro technique for its simplicity and the “zen” of a ticking timer in my ears.

3. Plan your writing ahead of time.

A similar method to the Pomodoro technique is planning your entire writing day earlier.

If you write before bed, plan out what you’re going to be working on that night in the morning or at work during the day.

I keep a small Moleskine notebook (actually, I think it’s an offbrand copy…) and a Zebra 301 (I’m kind of becoming a pencil geek) with me at all times. During the day, I’ll bust out the notebook and write down some killer post headlines and ebook ideas, just to “get the juices flowing.”

As I go through my day, these ideas will fester and grow, giving me time to dissect and piece together the ideas, and giving me the motivation (“I have to write this!”) to get it written later that night.

Without fail, if I don’t work through the idea during my non-writing hours, I’ll have a much harder time writing about it during my scheduled writing time.

The Writer’s Dilemma

I like to think most of us are writers. If you’re creating “stuff”–content in the form of blog posts, articles, or newsletters, writing books, or producing videos or podcasts (or all of the above), I’d call you a writer.

And as a writer, you’re going to be struck with a period during which you just cannot get any work done. You’ll go through the phases of incomprehension (“I don’t understand this enough to write about this”), lack of confidence (“I’m not expert enough to write about this”), and then finally fatigue (“I’m too tired to write about this anyway”).

If you can recognize these elements of “writer’s block” or whatever you want to call it, you can start using triggers that fire an automated response to combat these things (a habit).

But you first need to recognize and acknowledge where these weaknesses lie–for me, a lack of sleep can have a serious effect on my productivity. Once you know what your weaknesses are, though, you can start to overcome them one at a time and push through from idea to done.

And there’s nothing more motivating that seeing the words “The End” on your manuscript’s last page!

If you’re not published by a major publishing house, chances are you’re going to sell it to your parents, your kids, your neighbors, maybe coworkers, etc.

You won’t, however, be selling it to a massive segment of the U.S. adult population–unless you’ve been building a list.

The power of the list.

The “list,” as it’s come to be known in marketing and advertising circles, is hands-down the most powerful marketing asset to any organization–online or off. In fact, many marketing experts have publicly stated that if their business completely collapsed overnight leaving them with nothing but their list, they’d be back in business within a week.

Your list will be the first 1,000 true fans you have. They’ll be the people anxiously awaiting your book’s release; the ones emailing you asking for help and advice.

Ignore your list at your peril.

Great, but what does that mean for authors?

photo:

!!!! scogle

Have you noticed a lack of visits to your blog lately? Maybe a plateau in Google Analytics showing consistent visits, but an apathetic readership?

Maybe you’ve tried writing better headlines, more epic content, or releasing a new great ebook, promising riches.

Why aren’t they responding?

Why don’t your readers care about what you have to say?

Maybe they do–but your design sucks. 

Specifically, your design doesn’t do one of these things:

1. Capture attention
2. Ask for action
3. Engage
4. Pique interest
5. Promise something (that’s believably attainable)

…Or some combination of the above. Or worse, maybe your site design distracting, doesn’t offer enough professionalism to warrant action, or is just plain ugly.

These things, while certainly subjective to some extent are still key factors that go into driving–and keeping–traffic to and on your site. I’m no expert, but I’ve designed and/or started plenty of websites.

First, let’s look at some of the things that go into your site design that make people run for the hills:

No coherent brand/design scheme.

Not knowing where you’ll be in a few years is one thing; not knowing where you are now is entirely different. Your site design, whether you like it or not, is sending a message. Are you a business professional? Your design should be simple to understand, have comfortable, conservative colors, and elements of juxtaposition probably aren’t a good idea (Twitter logos that don’t match your Facebook logo, for example).

If you’re a designer, and the words edgy, quirky, and fresh are perfect words to describe your work, your site needs to say that strongly (notice I didn’t say “scream”).

And if you’re a classy, individualistic, deeply thoughtful writer, your site design should be reflective of your views without sending a cocky, better-than-you message.
Your brand is your message is your design.

Basically, don’t contradict your message. 

Stick with that, and you’ll be fine. Don’t know what any of that means? You might want to look into hiring a pro designer. At the very least, consider WooThemes.com (the theme I currently use is a WooTheme) and Thesis (my previous theme).* Both of these options are great for SEO, design, functionality, and are also fully scalable and pretty much ready to go out-of-the-box.

*Note: I wholeheartedly stand by WordPress as a website/blog host. It’s strong enough to be a standalone CMS-driven website, simple enough to use as just a blog, and secure and functional enough to be used as a business/enterprise POS-driven e-commerce site. I prefer standalone, or self-hosted, sites, since you have much more flexibility and you actually own your space, rather than sites hosted by the provider, like Blogger or WordPress.com sites. 

Not telling us what you’re about.

If I go to your homepage, will I immediately be able to get an idea for what I can expect to find on your site?

Are you going to tell me–either through banner images, a single bold sentence, or a “Start Here” page–what your website focuses on?

If not, you’re going to lose my attention fast. You’ll see, right there in my logo, “…on living and writing well.” This site, obviously, is focused on helping people live better, get more done, and write to the best of their ability. You’ll find articles ranging from writing better fiction to cooking the perfect steak recipe to tricks on learning things faster and more thoroughly than you ever thought possible.

You don’t need to have a drawn-out, lengthy description of what you’ll be talking about on your homepage (that’s what a “Start Here” or “About” page is for), but you should at least have a brief description box or headline (see Copyblogger’s homepage screenshot below).

And for all of you who are not trying to sell something, ask people for their email addresses, or don’t generally care about grabbing peoples’ attention–you still need to tell your readers what you’re all about. 

If you’re a memoir writer, nonfiction journalist, or a psychology professor, it doesn’t matter–tell us why you are writing online.

No (or weak) call to action.

Marketing 101: you must have a call to action on your site if you expect people to do something.

Even if you’re a site offering rants, personal anecdotes, and free informational noggin nuggets, ask people to take action.

Asking people to take action can look like many things, but these days it usually is via an email opt-in form or some other “sign up here”-style offer, in exchange for a free downloadable e-book, video, or course.

Here are a few awesome examples–note that the calls are all front-and-center, match the branding and messaging style of the site, and aren’t so in-your-face they’re obtrusive or distracting:

Copyblogger:

You’ll see that they have a great design: easy-to-navigate, a strong headline explaining what the overall brand is “about,” and an attention-grabbing opt-in form that just begs your eyes to wander to it (thanks to that cool arrow, strategically placed in true designer-ninja style on the right third of the page), and it’s all above the fold.

Um, awesome. Well done, Brian!

Also, as the Copyblogger site has grown over time, there’s been a need to expand their offerings. Rather than direct people through layers of hierarchical navigation, their four main categories (Design, Traffic, Conversion, and Hosting) are easily accessible right underneath their headline.

This is not a website that allows people to get lost easily.

ProBlogger

In continuing with the “blogging” category of websites, let’s look at one of my favorites, ProBlogger. Darren Rowse owns and maintains this huge repository of great “how to blog for profits” articles and resources.

You can see the opt-in form on the right, next to a 2/3-spaced “Featured” content box. Again, great layout and stylistic design, and a great idea for “flow” across the page. Use a design schematic like ProBlogger’s if your site is going to be content-heavy, rather than product-focused.

Pique my interest and give me something I want.

Part of a great design is the curiosity factor. What are people thinking when they get to your homepage? Do they want to read more, or do they subconsciously think to themselves, “yeah, okay, I get it–they don’t know what they’re doing”?

If they think that, you’ve lost–it doesn’t matter if you’re the world’s most foremost expert on dolphin behavior–if I see a couple dancing .gif dolphins surrounding your bright green Comic Sans header, you’re already going to have to play catch-up if you want my attention.

One great way to pique interest is to offer something free. This has been done and overdone, but a free ebook might be all you need to get people to sign up for your mailing list.

It can be a video, an .mp3 interview, or an entire 20-week free course. The key, of course, is to offer something that your readers would actually want.

When I first launched this site back in 2007, I had no idea who my readership was, much less what they wanted. I tried to get people to give me their email addresses by giving them a poorly-designed 10-page guide to blogging, when I clearly didn’t have a blog that anyone cared about.

Now, I have a totally free e-course that explains in great detail the things I struggled with and learned when I wrote my first novel. The results have been impressive, in my opinion, and the verdict’s still out.

The exceptions

As always, there are exceptions. But in my opinion, these are the exceptions that prove the rule. Just because a big-shot blogger and author uses a less-than-stellar blog design doesn’t make it okay for you to as well.

In fact, if there was a study done comparing the number of large, high-traffic sites that use great designs with those that reek of low-quality graphics and no concise theme, I would wager that most of the “best” would be well-designed.

I also understand that not everyone has the money to pay a professional designer to handle this. But everyone does have enough money to get a free WordPress site with a nice-looking theme, and install a great photo browser plugin for awesome images (hint: all of that’s completely free).

If you need help, or disagree, or want me to take a look at your site and ask for my opinion–leave a comment. I’m happy to check it out and let you know!

Do you love to learn?

Do you long to sit at your desk in your den, which smells of rich mahogany, reading from your many leather-bound books?

I do too. If I could spend every hour of every day writing, reading, traveling and learning, I would in a heartbeat.

The problem, of course, is that we can’t do that–we have life to do. Instead, we must relegate our learning and reading to self-allotted “free time.” Forced to remain at our 9-5 jobs, working for a living, we “get” to have an hour in the middle and maybe another at the end of every weekday.

Not anymore.

In this post, I’m going to talk about a learning process that you can implement immediately–as in right now–that will allow you to fast-track your ability to understand a concept.

Any concept. 

If knowledge is power, learning is like the road to riches. What would you do if you were able to take a difficult concept that had always escaped you–say, quantum mechanics or calculus or how a jet engine works–and be able to understand it thoroughly enough to teach a basic introductory course on it?

What if you could do it in ten minutes a day, and have it ready to present in a week?

This post will show you how. But first, a little backstory:

It might surprise you to learn that Ludwig von Beethoven, one of the most well-known composers Romantic-period classical music, scribbled and scratched out notes on his manuscript pages.

Albert Einstein, as well, was known as a prolific writer, keeping journals and taking notes on his everyday life. One story suggests that on a romantic boat outing with a significant other, Einstein was berated by his date for “scribbling notes in that journal.”

More than likely you’ve also heard of the magnificent journals of Leonardo Da Vinci, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, and inventor. Da Vinci’s notebooks were filled with cryptic-looking text that was only viewable by looking at the pages in a mirror.

The point of all this.

Obviously, these men didn’t need to write down their genius thoughts and ideas–their writing was simply a reflection of that genius.

Or was it?

In a book written by Win Wenger called The Einstein Factor: A Proven New Method for Increasing Your Intelligence, Wenger makes a point to call out these traits of known geniuses. The fact that Einstein and Da Vinci wrote their thoughts in these notebooks could be a sign of significant swarms of ideas in their heads, needing an outlet.

Or, he goes on to explain, it could be that because these people wrote down their thoughts they were able to develop profound and creative theses on life and their areas of study.

I’ll say that again, for emphasis:

These guys wrote stuff down, and that’s why they were geniuses. 

Obviously, writing a few bullet points in a journal before bed won’t earn you a Nobel Prize. But focusing a significant amount of time on solving problems you’re faced with, finding ideas, and developing thoughts on paper can lead to a serious increase in IQ and overall intelligence, Wenger claims.

I’ve tried most of the methods in the book to some extent, and while all have merit, most of them weren’t easily replicable for longer periods of time.

However, the one thing I took away from it that I strongly believe can lead to massive gains in intelligence, general comprehension, and conceptual understanding is this:

Writing things down makes us smarter, if we do it right. 

And that is the “secret” of learning faster and more efficiently.

In a method attributed to Richard Feynman, there’s a learning strategy that can give you amazing results in half the time, and it involves writing things down.

Specifically, it involves writing down everything that you know about a subject, to find the knowledge gaps, missing facts, and to get a bearing on overall conceptual understanding. Here’s the method, laid out in plain English:

• On a piece of paper, write down a concept you want to better understand.
• Start listing the things you know about this concept–dig deep, and try to “connect the dots.”
• Use pictures, drawings, scribbling–whatever–to explain the concept in more detail.
• When you finish, read back over it and write down on another sheet of paper the questions that jump out at you.

This process can take ten minutes, or it can take weeks. It depends on our understanding of a subject–if we’re on one of the extreme ends of the “understanding curve,” meaning we either don’t understand it at all or we know quite a lot about it, we’ll probably need no time at all to write down what we know, or we won’t be able to write it all on ten sheets of paper.

Can you become a genius?

Well, I’m not here to answer that. I’d certainly like to be one someday, as I’m sure you would as well. But I’ll let the age-old debate continue in your own mind, urged on by the arguments from our venerable Time Magazine and The Wall Street Journal, leaving us to wonder whether it really is about “nature or nurture.”

What we can do, however, is look at the lives of well-known historic geniuses to see if there is anything they have in common.

Since I mentioned before that many of the world’s best-known geniuses all had a peculiar habit of writing things down, wouldn’t it be a good idea to follow suit?

So what do you say? Pick a concept that you want to understand more, and then pretend like you’re teaching it to an 8-year-old. Write it down as you go, and see what questions come up. Go through the notes and fill in any final tidbits of information, and then start researching the questions you had. Continue the entire process, strengthening and supporting your initial notes, fixing errors and filling in incomplete information, and answer the questions.

This isn’t a difficult concept to grasp, yet I’ve never been asked to do this in school. I was in Honors and Advanced Placement and Gifted and Talented and all that crap–and not once was I ever asked to “write down everything I know about blank.” 

Why?

If this method works–and for me, it does–why isn’t it something we can show to our kids and our coworkers and ourselves?

Let’s give it a shot: in the comments section below, pick an idea–it should be a conceptual idea, like “how a particle accelerator works” or “gravity” or “building an online platform.” This project won’t work as well for fact-based knowledge like “chemistry” or “the periodic table” or for creative/arts-based learning like “playing guitar” or “painting.”

I hope that makes sense. Again, leave a comment below with a concept you’ve always wanted to learn.

And then go learn it!

These projects, while fun, are often intense periods of writing broken up by pacing around the living room trying to figure out how to get my lead to find the McGuffin without making my readers laugh at me.

…Or something like that.

If you’ve written anything of considerable length then you, too, understand many of these unforeseen difficulties. In this post I’m going to talk about my method for writing–both fiction and non-fiction–using two popular software tools: Evernote and Scrivener.

Evernote, of course, is free (to a point). Scrivener is not, but it’s more than worth the asking price, and I’m going to show you why. This post is not a sponsored post (they didn’t approach me to write this), but I am an affiliate of Scrivener, so if you’re interested in trying it out, I might get paid if you do! Let’s jump in:

Basics

First, let’s clear the air: Scrivener is the writing tool, and Evernote is the planning tool. Sure, there’s overlap–both are outstanding programs intended for being used in whatever way you want, but you can’t beat the writing environment in Scrivener, nor the syncing abilities included in Evernote.

So, while we go forward with this tutorial, understand that you can choose to use the software in different ways–these are just the overall “buckets” I like to categorize them in.

Evernote is an application that’s available for Mac, Windows PC, tablets (iOS and Android), and phones, and it syncs perfectly between them. Known for things like keeping shared grocery lists up-to-date and being able to “read” hand-written notes, Evernote is a pretty powerful piece of software.

Scrivener, available for Mac and PC, grew up as a book-writing facilitator that allows users to work however they prefer. From storyboarding using a virtual cork board to exporting print-ready files, Scrivener really does hit the nail on the head for aspiring and pro writers.

Let’s get a little deeper into how I use each one in tandem.

Planning

First, writing any work of length is going to take massive amounts of planning. I prefer to use Evernote for most of my research-collection, but let’s look at some of the built-in awesomeness of Scrivener’s setup:

From their website:

No more switching between multiple applications to refer to research files: keep all of your background material—images, PDF files, movies, web pages, sound files—right inside Scrivener. And unlike other programs that only let you view one document at a time, in Scrivener you can split the editor to view research in one pane while composing your text right alongside it in another. Need to refer to multiple research documents? Call up additional material in floating QuickReference panes. Transcribe an interview or conversation, make notes on an image or article, or just refer back to another chapter, all without leaving the document you’re working on.

As you can see from the screenshot on the left, Scrivener is great for including all of your clippings, articles, and general research in one easy-to-access place.

On the other hand, I prefer to be somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to actually writing, and since I do all of the writing in Scrivener, I don’t want all of my research so close at hand. Instead, I keep these “vetted” research items within my Scrivener file:

• Character sketches: I don’t want to go scrambling around for little bits of information about each of my minor characters. I’m forgetful and lazy, so I want it all at arm’s- (or click’s-) length. I usually write the sketches right into Scrivener’s included “Character” templates, then just tweak them as I go.
• General plot layout: If you’ve signed up for my Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction, you know (or soon will know) that I’m a huge Dwight Swain fan. He likes to write using a “Scene-Sequel” method, and I hold true to this method in my own writing. Check out the screenshot of my WIP, The Depths for an example: you can see my “Hook,” followed by a few Scenes and their Sequels. While I do organize the different Acts inside subsequent folders, the real outline is in Evernote.
• Front matter: I don’t even worry about this until I’ve written the book, but Scrivener makes it a breeze to include Copyright, Acknowledgments, and Table of Contents pages. Since they won’t change from format to format, I don’t even need to update them when I’m ready to print off a 6″x9″ copy.

Other than that, I use Scrivener for capturing everything that’s going to go into the final printed product. The beginning stages of writing a novel is easy–just write. Once I’ve gotten the words and images (if any) in, I can start using Scrivener’s built-in formatting tools to export manuscripts.

For this, I usually prepare a “Master” file–Scrivener saves everything (content, research, files, folders, etc.) into one amazingly-compact .scriv file. This Master file will be my flat content. When I’m ready to export, say, a 6″ x 9″ (trade) paperback, I can do a “Save As…” to make sure my 6×9 file will include the “Page Layout” and “Page Setup” changes I’ve made.

Ditto for E-pub, Kindle (.mobi) and mass-market (5.5″ x 8.5″ ish) paperback setups.

*I may post again on the specific typographies, margins, and page setups that I’ve used for mine, as that was a huge headache for me the first time around. I’ll even include the templates I created! For now, though, let’s just keep going at this “bird’s-eye” overview.

Writing and Editing

When you write using Scrivener, it’s like writing on a Microsoft Word that’s been chopped of all the extraneous crap (Clippy, anyone?) and templates/layouts you’ll never use, then been injected with steroids and caffeine.

Basically, Scrivener is your best friend. It’s extremely fast (you won’t have to wait ages, or at all, for your file(s) to load), and it’s agile and sleek. Unlike Word or other software packages, you can organize your book in any way you want–and Scrivener’s totally cool with it:

• Like to storyboard? Use Scrivener’s corkboard outline layout to drag-and-drop your book into order.
• Like to see an organized, planned outline? Scrivener’s got one of those views, too.
• Like to just write in a minimal, simplistic environment? Do it–Scrivener has a beautiful full-screen writing mode, and once you’re done writing you can go back and organize however you’d like!

Oh, and by the way: these methods aren’t mutually exclusive. You can switch back and forth between the view modes with the click of a button!

When you’re ready to edit and rewrite, try using included labels (like “First Draft,” “Second Draft,” “To-Do,” etc.) or make your own. I like to highlight sections of content that are going to need more research, rewording, or something I don’t feel like doing right then and there (did I mention I’m a lazy writer?).

Finalizing and Printing

Finally, Scrivener is the hands-down best when it comes to exporting different formats. I’ve tried a few different writing options, including Storyist, but while I was checking it out, Scrivener released a massive update.

Now it rocks even more. I was missing the full-screen writing environment–not anymore! Here’s a screenshot: 

Simple, easy-to-use functionality makes Scrivener better (in my opinion) than other minimalistic text editors. When you move the mouse in full-screen mode, a small menu box appears at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to change the viewable font size, alignment, virtual paper width, and more.

And did I mention it has a word count feature?

In some corners of the writing world, agencies and publishing houses might measure your story or work in the amount of words of the finished project. Usually that means the industry-standard average of 250 words/page, but either way–it’s never been easy to get Microsoft Word to give you a good estimate of how long your book will actually be, especially if you keep chapters, acts, and sections in different Word files.

Not in Scrivener. Scrivener includes a “project tracker” tool that lets you input your “target” word count. I use 100,000 or 110,000 as a target, as that is the general word count of many of the thrillers I like to read.

Here’s a shot of my current project counter for my latest novel, The Depths (yes, I’m behind. Don’t judge me.):

I’ve set a first-draft completion date of May 15, 2012, and the target word count (100,000). Scrivener automagically tells me how many working days there are left (if you write on a schedule, you can choose which days of the week you’ll be writing, and Scrivener takes that into consideration!), and it spits out a daily word count goal.

For example, if I have any real hopes of finishing by May 15, you’ll see that I must write 4,254 words today and every other day that I’m writing until May 15.

So, in a way, Scrivener is the evil stepmother making sure we do our chores before we go out to the ball.

A few other notable features and tools

If you’re not already hooked on the idea, check out these cool features:

• Scrivener includes a built-in “name generator” with some worldly surname and first name libraries included.
• If you’re going to be using Scrivener for writing numerous books or long documents, you can create templates for anything you need (characters, settings, export formats, etc.).
• You can use a combination of the cork board layout, notes, highlights in any color, and custom labels to work in the way that you are comfortable with. No more “learning the ropes” or having “drinking from the fire hose” mentality as you try to struggle through the learning curve (Adobe, take note!).

And if you get stuck

Never before have I come across a piece of software (Windows or Mac) that’s had as beautifully-formatted, all-inclusive, and “down to earth” user manuals as Scrivener.

Seriously, if there’s one thing they did right, it was the user manual. I actually popped it open on my Mac and read it cover to cover, as it was concise enough to make sense but detailed enough to be captivating.

I can’t explain it, so you should just go buy it to see what I’m talking about.

All about Evernote

As I mentioned above, I like to use Evernote for my planning and outlining process. Mainly, the draw is that Evernote is free, syncs between all of my devices, and is equally easy to use. To get more into detail, though, let’s look at just how I go about planning and outlining my novel:

Research

The first step in writing a fiction novel for me is idea-generation and general research. Using Evernote for this is a breeze–there are a million ways to grab content and throw it into an Evernote notebook:

• If I’m online, I’ll use a Chrome extension that places a little green elephant in my browser bar. Any page I’m on that needs to be saved can be “clipped” by clicking the button.
• If I’m on my phone, I can open the Android app and save a note by typing or talking into it.
• If I’m offline completely, Evernote still works perfectly–I can create, edit, and delete notes that will sync up whenever I’m back online.

I keep a folder in Evernote for the name of the book, and inside I have three or four sub-notebooks:

• Current. “Current” is my current chapter, scene, or section. I sometimes want to write when I don’t have access to my beloved MacBook Pro and Scrivener, so I’ll usually copy/paste a segment of my WIP into the Current notebook.
• Research. This is my “swipe file” of research. I drop anything and everything in here, whether or not I actually use it in the novel. Having a random assortment of research articles, notes, and website clippings also acts as a sort of inspiration bucket as well.
• Outline. I do my outlining and scene/sequel organization in Evernote, and you can see a screenshot of what my first draft outline looks like for The Depths below. Also, if you want to know more about this Scene/Sequel stuff and see more about the outlining process, be sure to check out The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction. It’s a 20-week long FREE email course, and it’s been pretty well-received so far!
• Marketing. When I get to the end of a novel, I’ll start a “Marketing” notebook. This is an unorganized mess of notebooks and notes that serves as more of an “Oh yeah–I should do that!”-idea book than anything else. Still, though, it’s been cool to keep a list of checkboxes for my marketing “to-dos” like printing bookmarks, finishing the trailer video, and setting up a website.

This is what my basic, unaltered outline starts to look like in Evernote. As I begin filling in the Scenes and Sequels, and developing sub-plots, this outline will grow into a massive 10-plus page in-depth outline.

The result?

I’m able to keep my ADD in check and get to the end!

Evernote is great for this kind of stuff–it has a basic markdown-type editor that allows the essentials, without the clutter:

• Unordered (bulleted) lists
• Ordered (numbered) lists
• Check boxes (great for shopping lists!)
• Hyperlinks
• Audio/video inserts
• Clippings (you can include websites, articles, and other stuff right into the note).
• Files (great for attaching documents for on-the-go editing

There’s much more to it than that, of course, but you can read the ins and outs of all Evernote has to offer on their awesome Trunk and website.

Using them together

Obviously, as I mentioned before, there is definitely some overlap between the two pieces of software, but that’s to be expected with two awesome, in-depth packages like Evernote and Scrivener.

Give them a shot–you won’t be disappointed, and I think that even if you don’t use them exactly like I have, you’ll still be able to find a great use for one or the other in your own writing!

Finally, I created a video showcasing how I go about using Evernote to plan and organize my first novel, The Golden Crystal:

Using Scrivener and Evernote to Write Your Novel from Nick Thacker on Vimeo.

Let me know what you think–I’m interested to hear about what the rest of you are doing as well! Have you used Evernote or Scrivener before, or do you write using another piece of software altogether?

Leave a comment and let’s discuss!

So I thought I’d take this Friday morning to say a resounding, gracious “thanks.”

A word of thanks

Specifically, thanks to the early adopters who’ve already signed up for the new course, The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction (and if you haven’t, check it out!). It’s completely free, and I’m really excited to get know you all!

Second, thanks to all the awesome sites that have had me as their guest. Here’s a brief list of the notable blogs. Make sure to check them out, leave a comment, and subscribe to their feeds!

• BigGirlBranding.com - Marketing Systems: Creating Space for Yourself
• Lifehack.org – A few posts; check them all out!
• LifeofaSteward.com – How Writing Can Improve Your Productivity
• Wordplay Blog (K.M. Weiland) – How to Write a Novel in Two Sentences
• JaneFriedman.com – Why It’s OK to Be Naive
• Rachel-Abbott.com – The Only Thing You Need to Know About Marketing Online

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of the awesome blog owners, readers, and those of you who left a comment or three!

My goal with guest posting is three-fold: For one, I’ve learned much from the other bloggers and writers in these niche markets, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything they’ve got to offer.

Second, it’s amazing how many awesome relationships I’ve started building just from the small amount of interactions I’ve had.

And finally, I love being able to build something.

Building with Cranes

My blogging strategy has always been to try to provide actionable, useful content–the kind I would like to read.

As I’ve learned from others, I hope to share in a way that’s easily understood and digestible by others.

In building a blog, I’ve also adhered to the “crane” strategy: to build a skyscraper without a crane, you start by building a crane.

My small reach and few guest posts are my first “crane:” it will allow me to build a small platform, on which I can build the next crane–a slightly larger version of the first.

By repeating this crane-platform-crane strategy, by guest-posting and writing increasing amounts of content and courses, I can hopefully build a skyscraper.

And I hope you’ll continue to be a part of it!

Let me know how I can help

This site has always focused on one simple question: “What can I do to help?”

I don’t usually have the perfect answer, or even a halfway answer, but I want to provide support and maybe help point people in the right direction.

You’ll realize this if you sign up for the newsletter, after which you’ll get an email asking this, and throughout our discussions in the comments, I’ll continue to ask.

So let me ask you now–based on what you’ve read here and some of the other places I’ve been writing–how can I help?

Leave a comment, and let me know!

Basically, I wanted to write the course that I wanted to go through before my first novel’s first word was penned.

If you have any interest whatsoever in writing a book–whether it’s a thriller, horror, or literary fiction–you need to check out this course. It’s called The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction, and I really do think it’s good stuff.

The course itself is a 20-week-long email course, split up into four main parts:

1. Ideas
2. Structure
3. Writing/Editing
4. Productivity

Many writing courses go through one of these in great detail, which is perfect if you know exactly where you need help.

But what if you’re not sure what to do next? What to first? What if you’ve got a great idea, but you can’t seem to stay focused on writing every day?

All of that is covered here. 

I’ve included tips, tricks, advice, and resources that guided me from concept to creation, and I’ve written it all down in these 20 lessons.

What books helped me get through the writing process? Which blogs and blog posts are helpful, and which ones are just fluff? What are the best ways of coming up with ideas?

It’s all here. 

Again, it’s completely, 100% free–just sign up and the first lesson will be delivered directly to your inbox.

If you’re starting a novel for the first time, or you’re in the middle of one, or even if you’ve written 30 books–it can’t hurt to check out The Fiction Writer’s Guide to Writing Fiction. 

I really do believe there’s something here for everyone.

Sign up now, for free, over on this page!

Most of the time, these posts were written better and researched more, so I was a little afraid to give it a shot.

Then I realized that reading advice wasn’t what really reached me–it was hearing stories about how others have learned.

This isn’t advice

So, since I don’t believe I’m the right person to be offering anyone advice, I thought I’d write this post on what I’ve implemented in my own life to increase the speed and comprehension of how I read, and what habits helped me get there. Take it or leave it–this is what I’ve found. I’ll link to some helpful articles and books (affiliate links) as well, but I’ll try to include the real meat-and-potatoes of it here.

Note: This post is long, and after reading through this post, I’ve realized that it’s very heavy in the beginning in regards to “types” of reading and reading multiple books more quickly. To get to the part about reading a single book as quickly as possible, and increasing your personal reading speed, scroll down. 

1,000 books a year

One day, I want to look back on December 31 and say, “wow–I read 1,000 books this year!” That year won’t be this year, unless I seriously pick up the pace.

But I don’t think it’s necessarily impossible, either. If I had more time to just sit and read, I might actually be able to get 3-4 books read every day.

Right now, I’m on track to read, digest, and understand 100 books in 2012–nothing miraculous, but definitely a noteworthy amount for me. In years past, if I had to estimate, I’d say I got about 30-40 books read in a year (which is, incidentally, quite a few more than the average American adult).

I’ve definitely spent more time actually reading, but I’ve also improved my reading speed as well.

What I’ve tried

• Speed-reading seminars. In college, I watched a DVD “speed-reading” course (lecture) given to a group of university students. The lecturer was knowledgeable, and the tips useful, but it was too much of a general overview to be of any real use. Another popular book/course is this one.
• Paul Scheele’s PhotoReading course. Paul’s a nice guy, and he really does  a good job with his course. The problem, though, is that there were too many “froufrou”-y things filling out his course materials for my liking. I went through the DVDs, book, and course materials and came away with the notion that this was all just a glorified “speed-reading” course.
• Collecting tips and tricks. This method, unscientifically called “figuring out what works” has actually been the most useful. I’ve spent hours scouring the web for the best tips, methods, and advice of other people who claim to be able to read very quickly. Some of it’s been crap, and some of it’s pretty good.

The method

This is, by no means, an actual “method” to which I lay claim–rather, it’s an amalgamation of some stuff I’ve done that’s really worked. I can read through a non-fiction book in a few days, and have a thorough and in-depth understanding of its principles. Here’s what to do:

1. Be Selective – Only Read Good Stuff

If you’ve been a reader for some time, you already have a pretty good idea of what you like to read. You have a favorite author or two in the fiction realm, and a few categories of nonfiction that never disappoint. Books outside of these realms can be read, of course, but you usually stick to your guns.

The first step in reading more is actually reading less–to stay motivated and “hungry” for books, I’ve found it helpful to put a book down very quickly if I’m not engaged.

Don’t waste time wading through countless pages of description if you’re an action buff–or at least skip to the action, if it won’t cause you to get lost.

Don’t spend hours reading the case studies given at the ends of chapters, or the footnotes in business books–unless you’re going to really need to scrutinize the material for your job.

Instead, read through a few pages, and if you like it–keep reading. If not–move on. There are tons of books out there!

2. Embrace the Audiobook

It took me awhile to get behind the idea of “listening” to a book rather than reading it. But on the way to and from work and church, I’ve been listening through a number of books. In the past two weeks alone, here’s a list of the books that I’ve finished or almost finished:

• Bossypants – Tina Fey
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming – Christopher Horner
• Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
• The Power of Self-Discipline – Brian Tracy
• The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
• Steve Jobs – Walter Isaacson

Audiobooks are a great way to leverage the time during a commute, downtime at the office, or during a workout. It’s a little harder to improve retention and comprehension with audiobooks, at least for me, though–I like to be able to see the structure of the chapters, and the words on the page.

But I’d much rather “read” an audiobook in the car than a paperback!

3. Mix It Up

I don’t read one book at a time–I’ve tried doing it, but I get temporarily sidetracked, or interested in something else, or just plain forget to finish. Now, I read two or three books simultaneously, and I’ve found that it’s helped me stay motivated to finish. When I get bored with one, I can jump to another right away. If I get bored with the same one again, I stop reading it.

You might find it best to read fiction and nonfiction simultaneously, or at least multiple nonfiction books. Reading two or more fiction books (at least for me) is challenging, as it’s easy to get confused or twist around the story lines.

Mixing it up like this lets me stay “in-the-game” of reading. I have a drive to finish a book, especially if I find it intriguing and well-written. By jumping around, it makes me want to finish the current chapter or section so I can go right into another book I’m currently reading.

4. Love the TOC

For nonfiction especially, you’re usually reading for a purpose: to gain an insight, solve a problem or answer a question, or learn something new. Know at the outset what you want to get out of reading this particular book, and what you hope to learn.

Read the Table of Contents first, and even try to skim the chapter’s main subheadings. Doing this allows you to more thoroughly understand the structural outline the author intends to use, and it helps you skip back and forth through the book if need be.

Sometimes, like when a book isn’t written well or very well-structured, I might just read the Table of Contents and a few select sections and be done with it. Books are products, and unfortunately there are those authors who have a short, simple point they’d like to get across in 100,000 words instead of 100.

I don’t want to waste my time with those types of books, and neither do you.

5. Understand Cognitive Reading

This section is where I’ll give some specific, actionable ways to double your reading speed in as little as half an hour (no joke!). But first, understand a few things:

1. Your mind and eyes read faster than your mouth. As a kid, you were probably taught to “subvocalize,” which is a fancy way of saying you said the words aloud, but only in your head. Sometimes you can see people subvocalizing when they’re reading–their mouths and lips will move as if they’re talking, but they’re not making any noise.
2. Your eyes naturally “dart” around the page. When you read a line of text, your eyes are actually moving very rapidly, shifting their focus in minute ways every few milliseconds.
3. The average person can read about 300-400 WPM. If you do what I’m about to show you, you can double this–easily. You probably already have a quicker-than-average reading speed (you made it to the bottom of this post!), but it’s not improbably to increase that speed to 700, 800, or even 1,000+ WPM with little effort.

Ready? Here’s what you need to do:

• Stop subvocalizing. This step is easier said than done, but it’s possible. First start focusing on every other word in a sentence. Don’t let your eyes wander, and try to “bounce” over a few words at a time–you’ll still feel like you’re reading each individual word, but you’re really only reading the “important” words, letting your brain “fill in the blanks.”
• Use a pointer. Certain speed-reading methods rely on and teach using bookmarks, pencils, or other objects, but I like to use my finger. The idea is to drag your pointer along a line, just below the text, as you read (bounce) over the words. Keep a steady tempo, and make it quicker than what you’re comfortable with–as your brain gets used to reading this way, you’ll start reading sentences and lines as “chunks” of text, rather than word-by-word.
• Create “focal points.” When you get used to not subvocalizing and using a pointer or finger, try to create focal points–two or three per line, depending on the size of the page–for your eyes. Instead of dragging your finger along the line, tap once about an inch from the first word of the line, and again about an inch from the last word. You’re now “speed reading” in a way that allows you to maintain a steady–albeit quick–reading pace.

This method is sort of like skimming, but it allows you the major benefit of increased comprehension. Whereas skimming might teach you to jump from subheading to subheading or paragraph to paragraph, this method of speed reading has you jumping from line to line–”reading” every word subconsciously along the way.

I personally read this way, especially when it comes to nonfiction. Use these methods and see what you think–I read about 30 books a year last year, and I’m well on my way to 100+ this year. Give it a shot!

Bonus

Since I’m rather wordy at times, I didn’t feel like leaving you hanging without mentioning these extremely helpful tips:

• Practice. Reading is a skill, and it takes conscious practice and effort. It’s adamant to practice by reading books you actually enjoy–dry textbooks aren’t going to be very beneficial to you, as you won’t want to sit down and put in the time.
• Find your reading spot. I read in bed, in the restroom, in the car (when it’s parked, duh), and anywhere else I can get away with it, but I’m a reading junkie. It helps to find a “Fortress of Solitude” for reading, like a study, den, or your favorite armchair. Find a quiet, comfortable place that you won’t be disturbed often, and set a time of day to get your reading done.
• Keep a “to-read” list. I use Goodreads for my list, as well as Amazon Wish Lists, and I have a few stacks of thrillers by my bed. Having a list of books to read keeps your eyes on the prize–but don’t let it get too long, or you might get discouraged!

Helpful Links

If the above post didn’t scare you away, here a few other resources you might find helpful:

• http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/7/3/20479/62238
• http://www.livehacked.com/productivity/how-to-make-reading-a-habit/
• http://www.thefeelgoodlifestyle.com/the-speed-reading-challenge-finishing-a-full-book-in-4-hours.html
• http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/07/30/speed-reading-and-accelerated-learning/
• http://thinksimplenow.com/productivity/7-keys-to-reading-faster/

Your turn

Have you used these methods before? Have you done something else that worked well? Let us know in the comments section–this site’s about learning new things and helping others, so don’t be a hog–share your awesome secrets!

As always, don’t forget to add your name to the newsletter signup form!

Here’s the parable:

Enter Doug.

Doug, a 45-year-old caseworker for the State of Delaware, had been trying to lose weight for most of his adult life.

He’d tried just about everything under the sun–diets, workouts, even therapy. At almost 300 pounds, he certainly wasn’t in immediate danger of heart failure or morbid obesity, but those were certainly stops along his current path.

He knew he needed to change, but nothing worked. Everything he tried seemed to go against his natural-born instincts, and he would ultimately fail.

Enter psychology. 

One day, Doug visited an institute that was starting a new research study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. He promptly signed up (“what do I have to lose?”) and after signing a large stack of disclaimers and waivers, was given one single task:

One day a week, the entire day, write down everything you eat.

Nothing more, nothing less.

At first dumbstruck, Doug decided to give it a shot. It was hard at first–and weird–to keep track of everything. He’d never been one to keep a journal, so he tried to list off all of the day’s food items just before bed.

Pretty soon, he got the hang of it. He carried around a small spiral notebook and wrote down every soda he drank (he long ago had started drinking only diet–whatever good that did), every trip to the snack machine, and every “quick bite” he’d grab for his three on-the-road daily meals.

After a few weeks, it was almost easy. He’d even plan out the meals he was going to eat at the beginning of the workday, writing down “McDonalds” or “Chipotle” before he’d clock out for lunch.

But he didn’t lose weight.

Even though he’d been told to keep the journal for at least two months, he knew after a month tracking his meals that he wasn’t actually losing any weight–the experiment, like all the others in a long line of trials, was a failure.

He did, however, notice that he could now predict when he’d be craving a certain food item each day. To be sure, he started tracking both Monday and Wednesday, then at least four days out of the week. A sample result for a normal Thursday might look like this:

• 7:30 – McDonalds Egg McMuffin w/ coffee (on the way to work)
• 8:15 – Candy bar or chips from the vending machine (before heading into the morning meeting)
• 11:40 – Ordered Chinese takeout (for the afternoon department update meeting)
• 3:15 – Another snack (Snickers and Twix bars; afternoon “pick-me-up”)
• 5:45 – Piece of leftover cake when I got home
• 7:30 – Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green-bean casserole (dinner w/ family)

Sure, the items he was eating weren’t the best in the world–but he had already tried to replace the high-fat meals with Lean Cuisines and the candy bars with fruits. Nothing worked.

Monthly check-in.

Doug was surprised when he went in for his check-in at the research center. The doctor asked him how things had been going, and he said, basically, it was a failure–he’d actually gained four pounds.

The doctor wrote down something on a clipboard and asked, “Well, Doug, I’m sorry to hear that. Talk to me about the journal though–when you write something down, do you notice any recurring themes, like what time of the day you’re snacking?”

Doug knew the answer to this–he’d seen it firsthand in his little notebook. “Sure. I have basically the same routine every day, at least during the week. I grab a quick breakfast in the car, then a snack before my first meeting. Lunch is usually out of the office, and then I snack throughout the afternoon.”

The doctor said little more, but asked Doug to continue journaling his food log, this time trying to do it every day.

Cue the habit loop.

Tracking his diet every day was a cinch–he was already doing four days a week. But when this, too, became routine for him, he noticed something peculiar:

He was finding habits in his daily routine he didn’t know existed.

Rather than just grabbing a snack before going into his morning meeting, he noticed that he was actually grabbing a snack almost every time he went to the restroom.

Since the restroom was right next to the vending machines, he’d pass it and the subconscious cravings for sugary snacks would set in.

His meals on-the-go were fast food because he usually woke up after his wife. She would eat a bagel while getting the kids ready for school, he would shower, and they would leave. He didn’t like to eat alone at home–he could be getting work done if he was in the office anyway.

He started to recognize these habitual eating rituals in almost everything–for every food item he ate, he could now see what had “cued” this response.

And then he started losing weight.

Doug kept tracking his food items–outwardly, he didn’t try to “diet.” Instead, he tried to replace the middle section of his habits–the eating part with something different. The cues (triggers) and rewards stayed the same:

• Cue/trigger: going to the restroom, and walking by the vending machine.
• Routine: instead of grabbing a snack, he kept a bag of animal crackers in his pocket and ate one or two when he walked by the vending machine.
• Reward: surprisingly, the reward–feeling satisfied; satiated–was still there.

By focusing on replacing the central, routine segment of his daily habits–leaving the cues and rewards intact–he was able to change his overall diet for the better.

He hated the idea of eating at home after his family left for the day, so he just woke up and took a shower first–giving him time to eat breakfast with his kids and wife.

After two weeks of habitually tracking, every day, his food intake, he had lost almost fifteen pounds. Within another month, thirty.

By focusing on setting a “keystone habit”–a habit Duhigg describes as “a habit that has the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as it moves through an organization.“

My fictitious character, Doug, set a keystone habit–writing down and tracking, every day, his food intake. The results were that he was able to clearly see other cues, routines, and rewards–habits–in his daily life, as they pertained to food.

What’s the point?

Obviously, using a fake example of a man struggling with his weight has much less impact than if I were say that by focusing on habits and reconstructing their routines, I was able to lose over fifteen pounds in 30 days–without working out.

Since it does have more impact, though, I’ll say it again:

I lost 15.5 pounds in 30 days–without lifting a weight, running, or any other strenuous exercise.

And I did it by focusing on habits. 

Now, let me be clear: I participated in a 30-day fast from most food items. It was difficult, challenging, and very rewarding. You can read more about my experience in these posts:

• Jinx: You Owe Me a Water – Part 1
• Jinx: You Owe Me a Water – Part 2
• Jinx: You Owe Me a Water – Part 3
• Jinx: You Owe Me a Water – Part 4

Suffice it to say–changing habits works. I’ve experienced it first hand, when I first started studying music, when I first started working out, and when I began blogging.

If you want to really change your life (and change the world in the process), start looking at your habits, deconstructing them, and building new ones.

Here’s how to do it.

I’m all about actionable, usable advice, so I’ll include here a few key steps you’ll need to focus on in order to get the most out of setting habits.

Focus on “keystone” habits. Your daily rituals can be shifted, changed, and altered, but the best way to focus on one particular habit you’d like to change is to build a keystone habit by measuring it.

Let’s say you bite your nails. A great way to get out of the habit of biting your nails isn’t to rub hot sauce on your fingertips, use bandages to cover the area, or other methods. Instead, try keeping an index card with you throughout the day, and placing a single checkmark on it every time you bite your nails.

This routine will quickly become a habit. And notice, too, that the cue-routine-reward loop hasn’t changed–the “routine” has just been replaced instead:

• Cue: The desire to bite your nails (caused by stress, wanting something to do, whatever)
• Routine: Instead of biting your nails and carrying on about your day, you now must tally it up on the card.
• Reward: The reward of biting your nails (less stress, anxiety, whatever) is still there.

After this becomes a habit, add one more step: start adding dashes (“–”) whenever you think about biting your nails, but don’t. Now, the cue-routine-reward loop looks like this:

• Cue: Desire to bite your nails ensues.
• Routine: Instead of biting your nails, you actively remember your task and mark a dash on the index card.
• Reward: You’ve given yourself the small satisfaction that biting your nails once provided–without needing to bite them.

See how this works?

Once you understand how the cue-routine-reward loop works, you can substitute any habit, good or bad, and break it down into its key components.

Start with a list.

Like my fictitious friend Doug, setting habits often starts with writing a list (there are numerous studies out there already about why you really should write out the list, rather than try to keep it in your head or even on a computer, but I’ll let you discover those).

I like lists. They’re simple to keep, simple to manage, and simple to understand. I can see at-a-glance where I’ve succeeded, failed, or not done anything at all, and therein lies their power.

Lists let you focus on keystone habit-creation:

Getting to a point where keeping track becomes routine.

Use the keystone habit of list-writing to track your miles jogged, words written, blog posts commented on, or anything else that might be helpful in creating more habits down the road.

Like I mentioned earlier, I used habits to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time. Sure, there are better, more effective methods, but I did this for reasons other than just trying to look awesome. Specifically, I created keystone habits around my eating schedule and the items I usually ate:

• First, I set a list of the only items I would eat (there were seven items on it, based on this book’s premise).
• Second, I figured out what times of day I was vulnerable to cravings (lunchtime and just before bed).
• Third, I set up little helpers throughout the day. Apples were on my list, so I made sure apples were close at hand during “snack” times at work.

Altogether, these things helped me figure out my real eating habits. Only once I discovered my natural inclinations toward eating could I really change the cue-routine-reward loop.

And it worked. After a few weeks’ time and visiting every stop along the spectrum of human emotions, I made eating my seven food items a habit–and the pounds fell off.

Since it was a fast, I was also able to make my personal, one-on-one dealings with God more a part of my daily ritual.

Other examples.

There’s a good chance that if you’re reading this page, you’re a writer in some way. Maybe you run a blog, are writing a book, or have to churn out reports for a job. Either way, you can certainly put this habit loop research into practice.

Let’s say you need to hit a certain amount of words each day. You could try using motivational tactics, productivity boosters, or other schemes to “trick” your mind into wanting to write each and every day.

Or, you could build a habit loop around writing.

Or about getting a certain amount of required reading done.

Or about checking in with your emails–only twice a day.

The sky’s the limit.

Seriously, take it from someone who’s built habits the easy way–by using the cue-routine-reward loop–and the hard way. You can “reprogram” your brain in amazing ways, and it’s all possible through the use of habits.

Leave a comment below, and let me know what kinds of habits you’re working to build, or have built in the past. Try to break them down into the respective cue-routine-reward loops if you can.

First, there are plenty of other sites out there all able to help with that.

Second, most of you reading this aren’t interested in building massive blogs that generate loads of income, passively.

I get that, but I don’t care.

Here’s why you should be interested in this post: every writer; every creator, needs to be building their platform online. 

If you’re not, you’re missing out on the low-hanging fruit: people searching for what you have to say; what you have to teach.

You should be building an asset for the future–through building a blog or website.

And there’s one way I’ve found that beats all others. 

Before I give it all away, though, I’ll give you a few “selling points” that help solidify this strategy’s place in my heart:

1. It’s free.This strategy takes no money. You won’t be paying for ads or anything shady.
2. It’s pretty easy to do. Once you get set up, you’ll be churning out great content that people want to read. If you want to make money from it, you can. If you just want to use this strategy to get more sales for your latest novel, you can. It’s up to you!
3. It really works. Seriously–if you don’t believe me, I’ll give you a list of articles that back this up. Read them, peruse the sites, and see for yourself how well it’s worked for the site owners.

Okay, okay. There are downsides, too. If you really want to know, here are a few possibly detrimental things this “magical strategy” brings:

1. It takes time. Like most money/time tradeoffs, this is no different. You’ll spend many hours getting it right.
2. It’s not automated. I’ll help you get it as automated as possible, but this is not a “set it and forget it” strategy.
3. It’s not timeless. While your results will pay benefits long down the road, you’ll need to continuously be adding value and building your asset base throughout it all.

What’s the big secret strategy?

As you’ve probably guessed, it’s not really a secret. The strategy, generally speaking, is called guest posting, but I will be adding two other MAJORLY IMPORTANT aspects of guest posting to round-out the overall strategy I use, so stick around.

Guest posting is the strategy of writing blog posts with the intent of having them published throughout the web, in specific niche markets you’re trying to target, and on certain sites where your message will be received well.

Many, many bloggers have tried it and written about it, so you should be able to easily find other sources of great information on the topic. I’ll go over the basics here, and then add some specific, actionable advice you can really put to good use.

First, let’s talk about the basic strategy.

Guest posting doesn’t need to be hard–for most bloggers, the difficulty is in getting started. I’m here to help. Here’s the basic strategy, outlined in an approachable, usable way:

1. Set up your site for success. Bloggers often forget this integral step (I did, when I had my first guest post published a few years ago). Make sure your theme is great and easily navigable, that you have great content that people want to read, and that you’re “capturing” visitors onto your signup forms, or sending them through a sales/conversion funnel of some sort. Basically, make sure that when they get to your site, they don’t bounce away.
2. Plan your guest-posting campaign. This includes finding opportunities, seeking out blog owners, and landing scheduled posts. Do a search for your topic followed by “guest post” to see sites that might host your article. Then, keep track of the possible opportunities. I use a spreadsheet with the Site Name, Post Title, Anchor Text, Link, and Post Date, among a few other key metrics I want to track. Finally, I have a column for “Yes/No/Sent/IP (In Progress)” that lets me see and organize with the click of a button where in the process I am with my posts.
3. Write, Rinse, Repeat. Once you have a great list of possibilities, start pitching (I’ll cover this in more detail later). Write the posts that are accepted, or write the posts to have a few on standby, and keep churning through your list. My spreadsheet is an ongoing work-in-progress that I add to as I come across more blogs that accept guest posts.

Hi [blogger]!

First, thanks for everything you do! I’ve been reading your site for [amount of time that's not embarrassingly short], and I love it. Thanks for the great stuff, and keep it up.

I noticed you didn’t have any guest posting guidelines* on your site, but I have a post that I think might be a great fit for your audience. I’ve attached it in Word format, but I can send whatever works best for you! It’s called [name of post]–let me know if you’d like me to make any changes to it!

Thanks again,

[your name]

Second, content is king.

To “guest post” well, you need to focus 110% on one thing: content. If you aren’t writing great content, two things will happen:

• Your posts won’t be good enough to be accepted.
• If your post is accepted, your blog won’t have anything of value to offer people if they do visit.

So combat that problem now. Focus on creating actionable, usable, and value-adding content. Read these posts for more information:

• Pillar Content: The Secret to Building a Blog People Love
• The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Writers
• Write Epic Shit
• How to Really Build Backlinks and Dominate Google

Practice writing every day. You don’t need to blog every day (and I might recommend not blogging every day, especially at first), but you really should get in the habit of writing every day.

I’ve found that the best posts, both for my own site and for guest posts, are:

1. Long. Some sites will give you an explicit word count, but you can get a general feel for the standard post length by reading through a few posts on the site. I write posts anywhere from 700 to 2,000 words, sometimes more. Don’t believe the advice that shorter posts are better–shorter posts are generally better for sites churning out four to five articles a day, every day.
2. Well-researched. This should go without saying, but unfortunately it needs to be said. Take the time to research your post, adding in helpful anecdotes, quotes, stats, and testimonials–really work on selling your ideas. If you don’t, it might still get published, but no one will care about your writing enough to visit your site.
3. Linkable. This is the most “unscientific” of the three, but it’s still important. Why do videos, infographics, and super-in-depth posts get thousands of inbound links? Because they’re linkable. Duh. Make sure you’re including unbelievable amounts of value, and the links will roll in. Spin the same crap everyone else has been saying, without making it sound fresh and original? Fail.

Third, be sure to “stick around” and follow up. 

What you’re really doing here isn’t just adding value to your site’s and your host’s site’s readers–you’re building trust and relationships with people who can help you.

When your post goes live, be sure to bookmark it and visit it religiously over the next few days. Follow up with any commenters, and be sure to help promote it on social media sites. You want to solidify the fact that your site isn’t a fly-by-night blog, bent on getting free traffic from others.

Super-Advanced Guest-Posting Bonus Strategies

So, I promised some advanced techniques that make this particular strategy a winner. Without wasting your time, those particular strategies are outlined and described below.

1. Write compelling headlines. Be okay with the fact that your draft post’s final headline will be up the host. Still, I’ve actually found that it makes a difference in your initial pitch when you craft an amazing headline that perfectly encapsulates what the blogger wants for their site. Think about it:

Which would you rather read about here, even if it’s the exact same content:

• Methods for Using Social Media
• The Ultimate Social Media Guide for Writers

The second is more compelling, more specific, and great at capturing attention. I can’t really get into what makes a great headline here (for that, you should watch more Mad Men…), but I can point you in the direction of a friend who’s pretty much nailed it.

2. Write more. When you think you’ve reached the point of wrapping up, read through the post one last time and see if there’s anything else that’s actionable, specific, and immediately helpful you can add. Even better–replace something vague, off-topic, or unhelpful (look in your parenthetical phrases!) with something that’s more in-depth.

Again, it seems like the longer (and more inclusive) the post, the better chance of success it has. This isn’t rocket science, it’s blogging. Add more value, get more result. Don’t worry about spending time writing, either–it’s worth it.

3. Stick with it. I first landed a guest post on a huge blogging site and thought I’d “made it.” I promptly sat back and waited for the traffic–and cash–to pile up.

I was sorely mistaken.

After a couple thousand unique visits, the initial fifteen minutes of fame ended. I hadn’t properly set up my site for “capturing” visitors, but my main problem was that I didn’t focus on continuing down the same path of Write, Rinse, Repeat.

For your guest-posting campaign, know that it takes time–not just to write great content and find post opportunities, but also to keep churning out content and having it posted anywhere and everywhere.

Well, what are you going to do? 

Guest posting is a great way to add one-way backlinks, increase your brand recognition, and the get your name out there–but only if you stick with it.

Take it from these guys–all of whom I’ve had the pleasure of “meeting” online. I’ve got posts scheduled to go live at each of them, and I hope we’ll see the growth that I know can come from it!

• SmartPassiveIncome
• ThinkTraffic
• Firepole Marketing
• Problogger
• Copyblogger

You can take this advice, file it away, and hope to remember it upon the launch of your next blog (you won’t). Or, you can be smart about it and leave a comment, starting the chain of accountability, and let the world know what you’re planning to do! Better yet, you can subscribe to the newsletter here.

“Be the change you want to see in the world” –Mother Teresa

The people who shake up this world and leave legacies aren’t smarter than the rest of us. They don’t have a larger creative intuition than us, nor do they operate according to a secret list of rules.

Yet these people are the ones we recognize as founders of powerful companies, leaders of nations, inventors of amazing things, and creators of live-changing daily routines. We credit their intelligence, perseverance, and willpower to work hard and make something happen.

And we look on at their accomplishments in awe, wondering how or why they have been given such a gift.

Except in rare instances, these people are just that–normal people.

I posted last week about Ben Franklin, a well-known early American figure. I’m going to be continuing that series, hopefully sharing some little-known facts about accomplished men and women from history.

But the point of it all isn’t to lift them onto a pedestal. It’s not to say, “look–look what this person’s done!”

No, the point of it is to share their secret. 

I believe we’re all creative beings. God gave each and every one of us the ability, intelligence, and gift to be creative, in at least one area of our lives.

But the true secret of creativity and reaching new heights of accomplishment comes in the form of shaping our lives. 

I’ve been reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (aff link), and it’s been fascinating so far.

Duhigg has analyzed data from early advertising strategies that made toothpaste a regular, daily habit to why a man who’s had a massive head injury can’t tell you where he lives, yet habitually walks around his neighborhood and back home every day.

The reasons we do the things we do, without even realizing why we’re doing them, can be discovered through careful observation of habits.

Habits change us, and they can change the world. 

Habits shape our lives, whether we realize it or not. By forming habits that benefit our lives, rather than detract from them, we can put into motion the processes that will allow us to achieve more than we ever thought possible.

By forming habits, albeit unknowingly, I wrote a book.

By forming habits to practice consistently, I learned to play the guitar, trombone, and piano.

And by forming habits, I stuck to a 30-day fast from most food items I couldn’t have lived without in the past.

Each of these habits were eventually automatic, involuntary processes. They weren’t “fail proof,” nor were they perfect.

But because I formed them, I was able to improve myself in some small way.

I haven’t quite “changed the world” yet, but I’ve changed myself.

Change yourself, change the world. 

So here’s the goal: I’m going to chronicle the habits that I’m trying to form. I’ll start small, or sometimes big, but I’ll start nonetheless. Hopefully one habit will snowball into another, and eventually I’ll be able to do something amazing.

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, you’ll find that one of the most prevalent, obvious, and outward characteristics of Steve Jobs was that he was intense. Most would argue that he changed the world, at least in some way, and so we must assume that his habit for intensity–in work, life, and everything he did–had a role to play.

I would bet that he worked on that habit–he had a natural proclivity to be an intense person, but I believe that his life and experiences had a hand in shaping his habit of being intense as well.

What’s your habit?

If you read this blog regularly (or even if you don’t!), do  me a favor: leave a comment with the habit or goal that you’re going to work on. Don’t worry about how to make it a habit–don’t even worry if you can’t figure out how to make it sound like a habit. If your goal is to write a book, put that in your comment.

I’m going to keep an ongoing page of goals, dreams, and habits I want to achieve or build, and I’ll add to it as you leave comments.

Christ will be risen in two days, but today it is finished. 

I had no idea at the outset of my 30-day fast that I’d end it not only on my birthday, but also on Good Friday.

For last three weeks, I’ve been doing a 30-day fast. It’s part of an idea I read about in Jen Hatmaker’s new book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. The book is about releasing certain aspects of your life, and “giving them up to God.”

Here’s how I feel, now that I’m done:

• Lighter
• More broken
• Healed
• Skinny
• Tired of chicken
• Tired of couscous
• Tired of spinach
• Tired of apples
• Not tired of wine
• Ready to eat
• Hungry for God
• Hungry for real food

My wife knows me well, so hopefully I’ll get to indulge in greasy, terrible, french-fry-y goodness somewhere, followed by greasy, terribly, lard-y goodness at Taco C.

And as I said last week:

I’m glad it’s over. 

It’s been fun, but a minimalist lifestyle of subsisting on couscous-flavored couscous and baked chicken isn’t for me.

That’s not to say I haven’t enjoyed some parts of the process:

• Now, I have a habit of talking with God throughout my day. Not every moment of every day, but at least some parts of my day.
• I feel closer to God.
• I lost around 15 pounds. This alone is cause for celebration, and I might even roll out a “30-day fast cookbook for dudes” or something. Actually, that sounds pretty awesome.

I learned a lot about myself, God, my life, and setting goals and creating habits, and I’m ready to jump head first into the next stage of being a better person.

Here’s to learning new things, feeling great, and personal growth. It’s been fun, seven food items at a time, but I need a break.

Cheers!

I started by creating some fancy desktops for my beloved MacBook Pro, and I then created this cool “motivational poster” of sorts. It’s the brainchild spawned by some random creative energy and freewriting, wrapped up in a nice downloadable package.

The premise behind it is simple, and I borrowed an idea from Seth Godin’s The Dip, a concept I harp about quite a bit over here.

Basically, in order to succeed, it seems that the exact same steps can often be taken. When the “point of no return” is upon us, however, those who succeed “push through” and keep on keepin’ on. Those who fail, well, give up.

Check out the full-size poster over on the Freebies page, but here’s a mouth-watering preview:

The “How to Fail” section reads: “How to fail: Draft a plan. Prepare a strategy. Outline tactics and tasks. Launch & connect. Explore, conquer & grow. Engage, pull, create. Enter The Dip. Give up.” The “How to Succeed” part says: ”How to succeed: Draft a plan. Prepare a strategy. Outline tactics and tasks. Launch & connect. Explore, conquer & grow. Engage, pull, create. Enter The Dip. Push Through.”

Again, everything on the Freebies page is completely free to download, use, and share. Like stuff in the Creative Commons license, I’ll ask that you don’t alter or change the images in any way, and when your heart compels, do feel free to link over here!

Also, I tend to shoot this stuff out to the newsletter subscribers before anyone, so if you haven’t yet, sign up for the LiveHacked.com mailing list!

We’ll see how it goes…

Anyway, I want to stay true to my word and offer the best of what I’ve been reading lately, as it pertains to writing. Also, if you have some content worth sharing, I’d love for you to leave a comment on this post!

Section 1: General Writing Stuff

• A Call for Something Different: Freshen Up Your Writing to Stand Out A great post over at NovelPublicity.com, this one’s about being more “unconventional” with your writing.
• 10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy written about one of the original “Mad Men,” David Ogilvy, taken from an internal memo to the group at Ogilvy and Mather.

Section 2: Still More Stuff About Writing

When I began looking through my lists of Twitter people I like to hear from, I noticed something peculiar:

I was following some dudes who have really awesome profile pictures.

Rather than the traditional corporate logo or simple smiley mugshot, these guys have brought it to another level: their profile pictures alone make me want to follow their Tweets.

Sure, their content is awesome. But I really wanted to point out what true “FOLLOW ME OR ELSE!” looks like in the form of profile pics. Without further ado:
Brandon Marker (@BrandonMarker_). Seriously, with a profile pic that’s got “I want you… to follow me!” written all over it, I couldn’t help following this guy.

Actually, I’ve known him since college, where we made it rain in our business organization. Tweets about business, venture funding, startups, and more.

Tim Mancuso (@TimMancuso).Tim writes about relationship marketing, startups,and social business. And with a profile pic like his, you just know you’re going to learn something from him!

Also, he’s a published author and motivational speaker.

Roanen Barron (@RoanenBarron). Really? Roanen? Coolest name ever? Probably. And a profile pic that perfectly matches that awesome name, you SERIOUSLY need to pay attention to what Mr. Barron’s saying.

Or else.

And I’m naming my first kid (who will definitely be a boy) Roanen.

Eric Stoffle (@EricStoffle). Eric’s an author of fiction novels, and is an all-around nice guy. Very cool, very savvy, very “followable.” Check out his work, and his books.

And, of course, he will terminate you if you don’t follow him. Check it out.

J.A. Konrath (@JAKonrath). I’ve mentioned before that if you say his Twitter handle out loud, quickly, it kind of sounds like “bacon wrath,” which is almost as awesome as his Twitter pic.

Konrath is one of those guys who can write about a plastic bag and you’ll be engaged. A great writer, an even better ranter, and a fantastic beard-grower, you won’t be disappointed if you follow him.

But he might be disappointed if you don’t, so I’d just go ahead and follow him if I were you…

Jeremy Robinson (@JRobinsonAuthor). Quickly becoming one of my favorite thriller authors, he’s long been one of my favorite Twitter-profile-picture-posters. An exceptionally great author, Twitterer, and writer, you should follow him to find out what he’s looking at in that picture.

So, that’s the list, at least for now.

If you’re someone I follow on Twitter, I probably love your Tweets, blog posts, and general awesomeness.

But if you truly want to bring it to the next level, you should consider for your next profile pic:

• Growing a righteous beard all over your head.
• Wearing sunglasses.
• Looking at something only you can see, and then being all smug about it.

These guys are definitely worth your time–they consistently add value, make connections, and help others. You can tell through their writing, and you can tell through their public conversations on the Twitter machine. So take a cue from these awesome dudes: add value, build trust, and be generous.

Do you know of any Twitter people who have a profile pic worthy of mention? Call them out in the comments!

How to truly get the most out of Twitter.

You’ve most likely got a Twitter account already; if not, get one. It’s single-handedly been the best network to help me develop the most connections online, save for my own blog and website.

It’s worth your time to cultivate a value-adding group of like-minded followers in your niche–it takes time, but it will absolutely help you promote and sell your work down the road.

But I do get asked often, “How do I really get the most out of Twitter?” The question is a good one: people really seem to think of Twitter as a giant networking event, full of spammy, non-helpful and sometimes downright “leechy” individuals.

With all the clutter and mess, it’s no wonder they’re frustrated.

So what can you do to really get the Twitterverse to work for you?

Here are five things I’ve seen people doing (or that I’ve done myself!) that really won’t work out. As well, I’ll talk about what you should be doing instead:

1. You’re using it only to promote your own stuff.

This is the most obvious, yet most flagrant of the “bad” things I’ve seen. If you’re not adding value 4-5 times more than promoting your own stuff, people will tune you out very quickly. Specifically, I recommend promoting other peoples’ work at least 80% of the time. Retweet their Tweets, promote their blog posts, and genuinely care the vast majority of the time you’re online.

2. Your self-promotion Tweets aren’t really adding value.

Sure, maybe you have written the Ultimate Guide to Using Social Media for Writers, but if you’re simply shooting out the title and a link each time, people will phase it out like it’s invisible. Instead, try extracting a short blurb from the post or article, and Tweeting that (plus a link) instead:

For MY guide, that would look like:

“Twitter is NOT a networking event! [link]“

or:

“Why you’re using social media incorrectly: [link]“

Appeal to the desires and curiosity of your network–don’t just link out to your latest post.

3. You’re not using lists.

Lists are a fantastic way to cultivate and organize your network, and apps like Tweetdeck make lists even easier to see.

I have a general “policy” of “follow anyone and everyone, then move them to different lists.”

This means that I will pretty much follow anyone that sounds interesting, and after I’ve seen what types of posts they add or how helpful and value-adding they are, I’ll move them into different “buckets” (lists). I have a list for people who I think would like the kind of fiction I write (@Readers), a list for people who like to write novels or other books (@Writers), and a list for people who I really want to connect with (@InList), to name a few.

Use lists to manage your followers and cut through the clutter.

4. You’re not automating some of your posts.

I’m going to get some serious flak for this, I realize. But, I stand by the fact that if had to continuously add and schedule my tweets, I would never get anything done.

I use a service called BufferApp to keep a going list of tweets that go out on a pre-determined schedule, and I have a system set up to add to my Buffer account automatically when I post something on my blog or mark something as “read” on my ReadItLater account.

Because of this, I don’t need to constantly have Twitter open in my browser, and I end up spending way more time actually writing.

That said, I make sure to spend real time on Twitter every day or every other day–finding good Tweets from people on my lists, and preparing the next “batch” of RTs and links to add to my Buffer. It ends up still being “genuine” and “real,” it’s just on a more spread-out schedule–a fact I believe my followers would prefer (rather than getting a huge “chunk” of updates every day at the same time!

5. Not sticking with it.

If there’s anything I’ve learned over the three or so years I’ve been on Twitter, it’s that we need to consistently and purposefully cultivate our network. It’s like farming: spend the time and effort sowing the seed, then reap the reward!

Don’t throw in the towel and claim Twitter “doesn’t work for your business” just because you haven’t had any sales or mentions after a few months.

Unless you’re a celebrity, it takes time for your brand and your message to cut through the clutter!

As with anything of worth achieving, building a solid reputation of adding value for other people takes time, effort, and active management. Don’t pay for followers or enlist the help of “tricks” to gain massive RTs, mentions, or links–just be persistent and stick with it!

Thanks for reading–I hope it helps shed light on some things for you. What other ways have you used Twitter to achieve “success?” I read and respond to every comment, so feel free to drop a line!

In addition, I’d love to have you on my mailing list!

For last three weeks, I’ve been doing a 30-day fast. It’s part of an idea I read about in Jen Hatmaker’s new book, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. The book is about releasing certain aspects of your life, and “giving them up to God.”

And as I mentioned a second ago, I cheated.

Really, though, I should get a pass–it was my mom’s birthday, and she wanted Carino’s.

I know, right?!?

Well, I looked at everything on the menu. They don’t sell “chicken,” unless it’s laced with lavish assortments of noodles, topped with an unbelievable blob of really, REALLY tasty-looking sauce. And, to my credit, I even asked the waitress if they sold couscous.

They don’t.

So I ordered the Chicken Bowtie Festival (at least it had chicken, right?)

Well, this week’s been a bit different than the last two, and if I had to sum it up in five words or less:

I’m glad it’s over. 

And in more than five words, here are the specific focal points for the week, and how I’ve felt for each of them:

To grow closer to God.

The whole point of this shindig was to “grow closer to Christ” through taking away something that means a lot to me. The last three weeks have generally been very eye-opening for me, in a good way, with the exception of this week.

I haven’t been distant, necessarily, but I certainly haven’t felt as drawn to Him as I had been. I’m hoping things start to look up this coming week.

To lose weight.

12 pounds.

Yup–that’s how much I’ve lost, and contrary to all you well-wishing-yet-kind-of-annoying friends, it’s not just water weight. Believe me, it’s not. And if you say otherwise, I’ll probably throw an apple at your head.

At least I’ve got something to look forward to this week, besides… next week.

To improve my outlook on life.

Eh. I feel okay I guess. I haven’t had as much sleep, since I’ve been getting 500-1,000 words in two hours earlier every morning. But I don’t feel terrible, either.

Here’s to next week. At least it’s Friday. 

It’s been awfully quiet over here lately–anyone who’s reading, leave a comment and let’s start a discussion!