Why not save yourself the time and heartache and get it right the first time. Write an article for your ideal audience, build your profile, enhance your credibility and create value for your brand and your readers – something they’ll be willing to share on their social networking sites and comment on or discuss.

This advice is all well and good. You realise that in order to build a better, more user friendly blog you need to cater for your audience. However, first of all you need to know who these people are. That part isn’t so easy. This is why I’ve put together this article to give you some sound tips on finding your ideal audience.

Know your ideal audience’s profile and demographics

You can get full audience demographics for free – for any site – at Alexa.com. There are lots of other paid sites that provide this information, but Alexa.com will show you quite a lot of information for nothing.

Go to Alexa.com and click on the heading, ‘site info’. You can then type in your site’s url to see some comprehensive metrics and important information about your blog. To get to the audience demographics, click on the ‘audience’ tab. You’ll see the age of your audience, their gender, if they have kids or not, their education and browsing location. There’s more information to access if you download the Alexa toolbar, but what I can see without the bar is good enough for me. The decision to download the bar or not is yours.

You can also consider your audience’s needs, wants, goals or troubles (based on their comments and your popular posts) to decide just what to give them – now you know who they are.

Use surveys to find your ideal audience

It’s a great idea to hold surveys on your blog to find out what your current audience wants to read or get from your blog. You can also find out what problems they have. One of the best ways to cater for your ideal audience is to fix their troubles. Millions of people search on the internet daily. They’re looking for ways to fix problems, answers to questions, and fulfilment of needs.

If you run a relationship blog and find that your ideal audience is looking for ways to find lasting love, then your articles should be geared to answering this question in several different ways. For example if your audience average age is 35-50, you’ll do well to address subjects like: ‘finding love after divorce’, ‘dating in your 40s’, ‘how to introduce your kids to your new date’ etc. You see, finding the right topic for your ideal audience engages them even more, adds value to your site and your brand, and encourages the people who read your articles to do all the hard work in sharing them for you.

Know what your ideal audience is doing on the web

In order to find out exactly what your ideal audience wants (and how to cater for that need) you have to know what they’re getting up to when they’re not on your blog. Research what’s been said about your niche on social networking sites.

• What’s been discussed in the big Facebook groups within your niche.
• What’s trending on Twitter within your niche.
• What questions are being asked on Quora within your niche.

Gain a strong and powerful place within your niche by researching how your potential (and current) ideal audiences are engaging with each other on these big sites. What are they writing about and more importantly, what do they want to know (what questions are they asking there). When you know this you can address it on your blog.

Engage with your ideal audience – potential and current

Don’t just stay on your blog. Go out to other blogs within your niche and read what they’re saying about the topics you have in common. If you find a question on a blog you can answer, do so carefully and completely. Provide interesting points-of-view and leave insightful comments. Remember that other bloggers who blog on topics within your niche are already interested in the things you have in common. You don’t have to win them over to your side, they’re already there. If they like what you’re saying on their site, they’ll visit yours. And if they visit yours, so will their audience – eventually.

This is not the only point I want to make on this element of engagement. You see, once you build up a rapport with other bloggers within your niche, you can ask them to allow you to write for them. Guest blogging, as you know, is one of the best ways to gain more ideal audiences – providing you’re writing for blogs in your specific niche.

Use your own past work to identify your ideal audience

A lot of the work has already been done for you – by you. You can easily check your most popular posts or your articles with most comments. These say two things respectively. 1. You hit the nail right on the head where addressing your audience’s needs is concerned. Your post was viewed – and most likely shared – because it answered a question or addressed a particular concern your ideal audience had. 2. People engaged with your post because it struck a chord, it dealt with a concern, it was published at the right time, the right people saw it etc.

Either way, these two types of articles will show you exactly what you need to concentrate on again. You may want to view the popular-posts topics from a different perspective, you may want to create a part 2, or you may want to craft a top ten list with posts that address that particular issue.

Your most-commented posts will definitely give you more material because invariably, there will be questions, concerns and comments (on those posts) which you can address to build several spanking new articles.

Use search terms to see how your ideal audience is finding you

This one is short and sweet. Use your Webmaster Tools to find out how people are finding you. What terms are they using to find articles on your site – or your site as a whole. Once you find this out, use these terms to build new articles to keep those ideal audiences coming back for more.

The above tips will definitely help you plan your articles strategically – no guess work involved. Each time you write an article you’ll be crafting something your audience is actually interested in and can surely benefit from. Your blog will be a powerful tool in helping them solve their problems and when they have a need, they’ll come to you looking for answers. You’ll foster their involvement and loyalty with your site.

Anne Lyken-Garner is a published author, blogger, editor and freelance writers. You can find her on her ‘How To Build Confidence’ Blog where she writes about confidence-building and finding your true self at http://getconfidence.net 

The post How to Find Your Ideal Audience appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Admit it: you’ve always been a scribbler. Always writing something down, maybe in a journal, or a notepad, or even on your own blog. Maybe you re-purpose others’ posts or articles, putting your own spin on them. And maybe, you feel the time is right for you to take your “scribbling” to another level. You want to step into freelance writing.

We all have to begin somewhere, and making the decision to become a freelancer is that first step, on what may seem to be a journey of a thousand miles. If you enjoy writing, can write well, and would like to work for yourself, then freelancing might be your dream career. But what should you do after making that decision? The obvious thing would be to spread the word.

Spreading The Word

Don’t feel shy about using friends, family, co-workers, etc to help with this. I know when I started writing it was hard for me to tell people, because I was afraid they’d ask what I had live, or what I had published, and I’d have to tell them, “well, nothing yet…” Don’t let this stop you! Word of mouth is one of the best ways to get a foothold.

Social media can also be a great way to do so, through use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc. But don’t take them all on at once! Start with maybe two or three, and leave adding more for later. Maybe even never.  “Having some social media presence is vital. Prospective clients who follow you on Twitter are likely to be well-disposed to hiring you. And if your current clients become “fans” of your business on Facebook, their friends might well check you out,” says Ali Luke of aliventures.com. She also recommends LinkedIn for it’s more professional focus, “to add credibility”. This is a good one, in my opinion.

I was invited to join by a friend of mine, and within a few days was networking with other young professionals in my area!

Create separate profiles for yourself as a freelancer, vs the one you keep personally. And always keep in mind what message you’re sending.

Your First Clients

Work might come in a little slowly at first, but don’t worry.

One of the things you can do while you’re working towards being really well-established is pro bono (free) work. Pro bono can be done for friends, for blogs and/or websites that allow guest posts (some with a byline), for charities or non-profit organizations who need the word put out about an event or other notice-worthy news. You can find information on these by searching the web, looking around your town, and keeping your ears open.

A blog or business website is definitely another good idea. This can increase the internet presence, but sets you a little apart from the mainstream social media. Things to include on a website would be:

• Live samples of your writing, whether it be from photos, screenshots, pro bono work, etc.
• A profile/home page where you can give prospective clients an overview of what you can do.
• Testimonials from clients. If you don’t have any testimonials, go to clients and ask them to write one!
• A contact page. This might seem a little “duh” but it is important to remember. Whether you choose to be contacted by phone, email, chat, or smoke signal, it’s important to remember to include that information.

Finding clients might seem like the hardest part of getting started—it can be daunting as you picture the hours waiting for someone to stumble upon your blog, or notice your Facebook freelance profile. But rest assured, there are jobs out there!

Good ways of finding clients include job websites or boards; reading other blogs and webpages; and touching base with your current contacts, both business and personal.

There are many more things to learn as you go along – everything from dealing with clients to tracking your income for taxes. But you’ve made the decision, you have the start up advice, and you’re off! Your journey of a thousand steps just got shorter.

Please share ‘The Journey of Thousand Steps to Freelance Writing’ on your social networking sites if you enjoyed it.

Eric Pangburn is a blogger who enjoys helping others and sharing his passions of blogging tips, SEO copywriting, and entrepreneurship.

The post The Journey of Thousand Steps to Freelance Writing appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Hi there and welcome to the third and last part of my short series on getting a book deal. Just to refresh your memory, a while ago, I was contacted by a representative from PACKT Publishing who offered me a book deal. This has led to a number of interesting revelations including this short series where I’m sharing my thoughts and insights.

Just to recap, in the previous two parts of the series (here and here) I talked about things like:

• How does getting a book deal happen.
• Types of book deals.
• How to get noticed.
• How is the work process itself constructed.
• Focus on templates for everything.
• The schedule.
• Contracts.
• How do you make money on a book deal.
• Building your brand.

Since this is the last part, let me list all the things that I’m going to discuss so we can have a handy TOC for the whole series. So, the things you’ll find here:

• The editing process.
• Extra skills needed.
• How long does it take to have the book in your hand.
• Is it actually difficult to write for a publisher?

First up:

The editing process

Although my experience is only with one publisher so far, I can safely assume that the situation should be very similar with other firms as well. Mainly, as their author, you will be working with a handful of editors and not just a single person.

Here’s how the whole writing and editing process works:

First, you have to create a first draft for a given chapter. This should be a complete product, which means that you must include anything that is needed (e.g. images, screenshots and what not). For programming-related topics, the same thing goes with source codes. In short, everything should be compiled into a standalone product – a complete chapter. This chapter goes to your editor who will make sure that the document has been created in accordance with the style guide of the company.

Next, your work will be either handled by the same editor or sent to a completely different person for language editing. Finally, when the writing process approaches completion, a technical editor will take your work and start putting it together to form the final publication.

Now the best part… at any stage of this process, you can get an email with some feedback and requests to change something. And this can be anything from clarifying some specific parts of the chapter, updating the images, correcting the source code used, to improving the use of the editorial template, etc.

In the end, what this means is that you’ll go through a multiple editing process. On one side, it can take a lot of time before you can finally call it a chapter. But on the other side, it makes the final publication a really quality product.

Of course, you can always deliver a proper chapter in your first draft to avoid all the back and forth…

Extra skills needed

I know that this closely depends on the specific topic and type of book you’re working on. But for computer/IT/programming/internet -related topics, you do need a set of additional skills except writing itself.

For my particular book, no one’s ever asked me if I have any Photoshop or graphics software skills, they just assumed that I do. (Lucky me that the assumption is correct because as it turns out, various screenshots and graphically designed website elements are an integral part of this book.)

Not to mention, the required advanced proficiency with MS Word. And I do mean, advanced…these chapter templates can be quite complex and you have to follow them to the letter.

Furthermore, I’m sure that there’s a hell lot of other extra skills that you’d need when writing a book in different areas of expertise than mine. And this goes even for fiction writers. For instance, if you’re writing a novel about a serial killer in an 18th century setting in England then you better know what was the English language like back then.

To give you a more niche example, if your publication is “Learn to Play the Guitar Over the Weekend” then you’ll need a proper methodological approach at teaching people, which can only be learned through experience. The examples are endless, but I’m sure you get the point.

The draft-to-complete-book time span

So how long does it take to get your book into bookstores?

The answer is slightly a bummer. However, you’ve probably expected that the whole process would take a while.

Of course, this again depends on the type of writing you do. But in most cases, it’s about 8-9 months from when you send the first draft of the first chapter to seeing your book on the shelf in a local bookstore.

For novels and non-fiction, the long time span is not a problem. But for tech-related topics, it can be. What if, for example, you’re writing a book on Google Reader (just a basic guide for beginners on how to use it) and all of a sudden, Google announces that the tool will go down? Well, you simply lose the deal and there’s not much you can do about it.

Therefore, I have one very specific piece of advice for you. When working on your book, complete the final draft as quickly as possible (of course, without compromising the quality). Lengthening the process just for the heck of it can be outright dangerous.

The big question: Is it difficult?

So I’ve waited the whole three parts of this series to answer this question.

In short: Writing for a big publishing company is much easier than it might seem.

Firstly, you are obviously not the first writer the publisher has worked with. So by now, they have a whole range of methods, schedule models, and templates that are simply effective for both sides (them and you).

Moreover, the editors are always highly experienced people who have made their careers out of working with writers. They understand how the writing process happens and are among the first people willing to help you in case of any issue.

Basically, when you encounter any problem during your work, the first person you need to reach out to is your editor. Especially when it comes to moving deadlines a couple of days.

In the end, we have to remember that it’s the publisher’s job to make our work as straightforward as possible. The more comfortable the writer feels, the better the finished product will be.

Okay, let’s call it a series! That’s everything I had to share about my first book deal. I hope it’s going to be a handy resource when you’re working on your first book deal too.

P.S. Do you have any questions I could help you with? Feel free to ask them here.

Karol K. (@carlosinho) is a freelance blogger and writer. To get in touch, pay him a visit at newInternetOrder.com or his personal hub-site – karol.cc. Currently, he’s been rolling out a series of resource pages on various topics related to online business, like this one on the essentials of being an online entrepreneur.

The post Just Got a Book Deal … Now What?! [Part 3] appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Writer’s block is one of the biggest obstacles to increasing your productivity as a writer.

Many people think that it’s inevitable: the muses can’t always be smiling at you, can they?

However, the reality is that when you make a living writing, you can’t really afford to spend hours staring at a blank word document.

What can you do in order to overcome writer’s block and become a more productive writer?

Make sure that you stay healthy and full of energy

Mental performance is a function of your brain, which is a part of your body, which means that your overall health will heavily influence your ability (or lack thereof) to write well.

• Get enough sleep. The sad reality is that majority of adults in our society are chronically sleep deprived without even realizing it. Usually, healthy adults need 7-9 hours of sleep every night in order to function at their best (you might need more than that for a while to clear your sleep debt, though). It’s time to ditch the alarm clock!

• Eat healthy. I suggest you to start with eliminating crap from your diet and replacing it with healthier alternatives. Nutrition experts may have different takes on many issues, but everyone agrees that water is healthier than Coke, apples are healthier than Snickers bars, and salads are healthier than French fries. Focus on making the most obvious improvements first.

• Exercise regularly. When you start working as a freelance writer, it’s almost inevitable that your lifestyle becomes more sedentary, especially if you are working from home. That’s why it’s important to put in an extra effort to make sure that you get your daily dose of exercise. Even walking for an hour everyday will do if you can’t stand the thought of going to the gym.

Sleep, nutrition, and exercise have a tremendous impact on your energy levels, physical and mental performance, mood, and overall well-being. You can often massively improve your productivity simply by taking care of these three things. Remember, you can’t expect to be at your best when your health is compromised, therefore make sure that you stay as healthy as possible!

Eliminate unnecessary stress from your life

It’s very unlikely that you will be able to write well when you are under a significant amount of stress: your brain tends to prioritize dealing with the sources of stress over writing. The problem is that many adults are under a constant pressure due to the demands of their everyday lives. Minimizing the amount of stress in your life will free up a lot of energy that you can then direct to writing.

• Make sure that your finances are in order. Financial obligations can quickly become a massive source of stress if you don’t handle your money properly. Try to pay off your debts, build an emergency fund, get a good health insurance, and set up sources of passive income. Peace of mind that comes with financial stability is well worth the effort that it takes achieve it.

• Surround yourself with the right people. It’s wise to surround yourself with people who support you and respect you. Those who don’t meet this criteria shouldn’t be a regular part of your life.

• Get organized and stay organized. It’s amazing how much stress we can eliminate from our lives simply by becoming more organized. Do your best to not be late, meet deadlines, clean your house regularly, handle your taxes on time, etc. Don’t allow little things like that to add more stress to your life.

Remember why you started writing in the first place.

You probably enjoyed writing long before you became a professional writer, right?

Most of us started writing in our childhood or adolescence because we were full of emotions we wanted to express and stories we wanted to tell. Writing was fun! However, it’s often the case that once people become professional writers, they lose that passion for writing they once had. It’s understandable, though: dealing with deadlines, revisions, editors, clients, and financial obligations is a bit different from writing short stories as a teenager, isn’t it? It’s very easy to burn out without even realizing it.

• Take time to think about your long-term writing goals. It’s probably safe to say that almost everyone starts out their writing careers full of ambition. However, once people settle in the less-than-glamorous reality of meeting deadlines,chasing clients, and paying bills, all the pressures of everyday life make them lose the sight of their initial dreams. It’s time to remember those forgotten dreams: what do you want to achieve as a writer?

• Schedule time for working on your personal projects. Once you have decided what your long-term writing goals are, commit to working on the projects that will help you get there, even if that means doing a bit less client work. This will help you get unstuck in your writing career and move towards the life that you really want, as well as approach client work with new energy.

• Recreate writing rituals and environment that you enjoyed when you were younger. When people write as a hobby, they often have some sort of rituals and environment that they associate with writing, which they tend to forget when they start writing for a living. For example, when I was a teenager, I used to write short stories at night, with a cup of tea and some blues music on, which helped me to relax after a long day at school and martial arts classes. I occasionally do the same thing today: it helps me to remember why I enjoyed writing long before I was getting paid for it.

Increase the quantity, expand the range, and add variety to your reading

Your ability to generate good ideas largely depends on your exposure to the ideas of other people.

Here are three ways to become more creative in a relatively short period of time:

• Increase the quantity of information you consume. One book a week equals to four books a month and fifty two books a year. Everyone can find time to do that. No excuses!

• Expand the range of information that you consume. Most people limit their reading to a few topics that they are interested in. This limits the amount of information and ideas that they are exposed to. Why not embrace your curiosity and allow yourself to become more eclectic in your reading choices? Start reading books about all kinds of random things that catch your attention, from biographies of chess masters to genetics to Native American shamanism, or whatever else you find at least remotely interesting. You’ll be surprised how much easier it will be to come up with great ideas on a regular basis.

• Expand the range of styles and formats in which you consume the information. The same way martial artists learn a lot of different techniques that they can then apply in different situations, writers should familiarize themselves with different styles and formats of writing, so they could then use this arsenal to express different ideas. Read fiction books, non-fiction books, articles, blogposts, interviews, textbooks, research papers, short stories, and everything else that you can get your hands on.

Keep an idea journal with you at all times and capture the ideas when they strike you

Once you increase the quantity, the range, and the variety of the information you consume, you will start coming up with interesting ideas all the time. However, if you don’t capture them, they will most likely be forgotten the next day. What a waste of creative potential!

Many writers have a rather bizarre attitude towards ideas. They come up with interesting ideas all the time (while in the shower, while making breakfast, while jogging, etc.), yet they don’t bother to capture them. Then, once it’s time to write, they mind just goes blank, and they spend hours staring at a blank screen trying to think of something that they could write about. Do you see the irony here?

Keeping an idea journal can help you to avoid spending time in this annoying “blank mind” state. All you have to do is get a small notebook and a pen, carry them with you at all times, and make an effort to write down each interesting idea immediately after it strikes you. This way, when you sit down to write, all you have to do is open your idea journal, pick an idea, and start typing.

Establish a regular writing schedule and stick to it

Most professional writers who are serious about their craft have established regular writing schedules for themselves. You see, the whole “writing when inspired” thing doesn’t really work when you make a living as a writer and have bills to pay. You need a schedule if you want to keep getting things done day after day, month after month, and year after year.

• Make an effort to figure out at what time of the day your creative output is the highest. It seems that most professional writers write either very early in the morning or very late at night (somewhere between 2AM and 8AM seems to be THE writing window for many professionals). That might be different for you, though, therefore it’s best to test different times.

• Schedule a regular time slot for writing at the time when your creative output is the highest. Keep in mind that writing is a mentally demanding activity, though: you will probably only manage to write for 3-6 hours a day. That’s okay, assuming that those hours are focused creative work, not editing or replying to e-mails.

•  Schedule all your other tasks around that time slot that you have dedicated for writing. For example, if you write early in the morning, move editing to the afternoons, and e-mails to the end of your work-day. Never compromise your writing time!

• Don’t write at other times throughout the day. People often feel uncomfortable with the idea of only writing for few hours a day, which leads them to mess up their schedule and write at random times. Please resist this impulse if you want to stay productive in the long run.

Eliminate as many distractions as possible

We are living at a time when there are more distractions than ever before. It might be the case that your writer’s block simply means that you are too distracted to write (what else can you expect when you have Facebook, Twitter, Youtube,and Skype all open at the same time?). How can you free yourself from as many distractions as possible?

• Don’t have Internet connection at home. Okay, I know this is a rather controversial advice, but since our biggest distractions are on the Internet, cutting it off is the most straightforward way to become more focused. You don’t really need a 24/7 access to the Internet: there are plenty of places that have free wi-fi that you can use when you need to.

• Avoid social media as much as possible. Yes, I’m out to kill sacred cows today, and this is another one that’s going down. The most addictive websites are the ones that provide you with a false sense of connection: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Youtube, etc. Either avoid social media altogether or pay close attention to how much time you spend on those websites and what you get out of it.

• Check your e-mail only once or twice a day. E-mail is another massive distraction that prevents people from focusing and getting things done. Important thing to understand here that a compulsive need to check your e-mail every five seconds does not mean that there’s any rational reason for doing so. Schedule a specific time slot for dealing with e-mail. Don’t even open your inbox at any other time throughout the day.

• Create and consume on different devices. In case you can’t implement the previous advice for some reason, you can always get an old laptop or even an old desktop , and only use it for writing and nothing else. No Internet connection or games allowed!

Make sure that you have done your homework before you sit down to write

It’s very hard to write something worthwhile without proper research and planning. You might be able to write fiction this way, but when it comes to non-fiction, preparation is essential. Don’t skip it.

• Take time to do your research. Many people understand “doing research” as googling random things while watching funny cats videos on Youtube, chatting with their best friend on Skype, and eating a sandwich. Well, that’s one way to go about it, but if you want to do it more efficiently, it’s better to set aside an hour for research, and only focus on that.

• Make an outline of whatever it is that you are going to write. Once you have done your research, you probably have a pretty good understanding of what you want to say, and your task now is to create a rough outline that will help you to express these things in a coherent manner. Again, it’s best to set aside some time specifically for that, and do nothing but work on the outline until it’s done.

• Organize all the material that you will need when writing. You won’t be able to focus on writing if you have to shuffle through a million of open windows in order to find the information that you want to use. It’s better to print out and organize all the material that you will need beforehand. This way, once you sit down to write, you will have everything at your fingertips.

Don’t mix writing and editing

Many writers get stuck because they try to write and edit at the same time. It’s important to understand that you can do either one or the other: when you mix them, you end up doing a crappy job at both. That’s why it’s very important to learn to write first and edit later.

• Set a timer. People often get so carried away with editing when they are supposed to be writing that it takes them hours and hours to get the first draft done. An easy way to speed up the process is to set a timer for a short period of time and try to write the first draft before the timer goes off.

• Don’t stop typing. The idea behind this popular “keep your hand moving” writing advice is very simple: you have to start writing and keep writing either for a set period of time or until you hit a certain number of words (no deleting words, changing words, arranging paragraphs, or any other editing, and no stopping). This is a good way to add some speed to writing your first draft in case you manage to go back and edit stuff even with a timer on.

• Consider doing writing exercises. Some people find it extremely hard to silence their inner critic and allow themselves to write atrocious first drafts. Writing exercises can help in these cases: the idea is to pick a completely random topic, set a timer, and write a poem/short story/article on that topic before the timer goes off. This will help you to learn to get that first draft out very fast.

• Schedule a specific time slot for editing. When you are a writer, you can’t really avoid editing, therefore you should schedule a specific time slot for it. It’s much easier to avoid the temptation to edit as you write when you know that you will have time to make corrections later. Plus, having a specific time for it will increase the quality of your work, since you editing skills will improve quickly.

The idea is to get the first draft out as quickly as possible, then edit it, until it becomes something publishable.

Remember, it’s much easier to take a mediocre draft and turn it into a decent piece, than to write a Pulitzer prize-winning article on your first try!

Consider that maybe you should take a break from writing altogether

There are times when it seems that you can’t force yourself to write no matter what you do. You know, those occasions when you almost feel physically sick when you try to write something? This usually means that you have burnt yourself out. When that’s the case, pushing harder won’t help: it will simply make you feel even more burnt out. The wisest thing to do at moments like that is to take a break from writing altogether: take a day, few days, or even a week off. This will allow you to restore your energy, regain a sense of balance, and approach your writing projects with a fresh perspective.

Remember, nothing changes, unless you take action!

Here’s my challenge to you guys: pick ONE idea from this article that you are going to implement in your life over the next four weeks.

I don’t care if it’s something small like replacing your Coke with water or something large like blocking out four hours every morning for exclusively for writing.

What’s important to me is that you TAKE ACTION.

Remember, making one small positive change is better than not making any change at all, so no excuses!

What is the ONE idea from this article that you are going to implement in your life over the next four weeks in order to be more productive as a writer?

Let me know in the comments!

Agota Bialobzeskyte is a location independent writer and entrepreneur. She’s currently building an audio course “Relaxed Productivity” that will help self-employed people get more done in less time with less stress. Working from home? Get a FREE excerpt + an early bird discount!

The post How To Overcome Writer’s Block appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Social networks are often an untapped resource for many freelance writers. With literally millions of potential customers and interested readers constantly active in the social sphere, you can be sure that there is much to be gained by increasing the awareness of your written works and skills across social networks.

The good news is, that with a little bit of clever marketing, freelance writers can easily get their work out there in front of the right types of audiences, greatly boosting the visibility of their work and the chances of growing their client base. By actively and regularly engaging with potential clientele on social networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, freelance writers can quickly reach new and targeted audiences, guaranteed to increase their market reach, and improve their portfolio of works.

Before you head to the social networks, make sure you have an online portfolio of work first

Social network marketing is all about driving visitors to a destination, or showcasing something of interest. If you’re a freelance writer, the best way to do this is to provide a collection of your best work in an online portfolio.

The most successful portfolios of work are generally portfolios, which have their own domain name, are well optimized for search engines, and are easy to navigate, visually attractive and make it really easy to contact the portfolio owner. In addition, you should also ensure that your online portfolio has a clear link with the social networks you participate in and the ability to share content via social network sharing buttons. By doing so you’re going to increase the number of people who see you on social networks, and follow you for new and exciting updates.

Utilize LinkedIn Groups

If you’re not familiar with LinkedIn Groups, the concept is quite simple. Users of LinkedIn with a special interest in a particular topic (such as blogging), join groups where they can receive topical updates via regular emails or by visiting the Groups area of LinkedIn. This is an amazing opportunity for freelance writers to reach a targeted audience. Because writers often write about a diverse range of topics, there is literally a LinkedIn group for just about anything. Although each of the groups are moderated, as long as you post quality content which is of interest to group members, you’ll be able to reach thousands of targeted users with your content. Writers who use LinkedIn Groups are often members of numerous groups, so I recommend growing your group membership base as your portfolio grows. However be sure to manage your incoming email frequency, as you can end up with a lot of mail filling your inbox if you’re not careful.

The art of using Twitter hashtags

Twitter hashtags allow users of Twitter to implement extra keyword targeting into their tweets. By researching which hashtags you can either append to the end of a tweet, or include within a tweet as long as it does not affect readability in any way, you can reach an amazingly broad and active range of targeted users on Twitter. The key to successfully marketing on Twitter using hashtags, is to do your research and go niche. Tools such as hashtag.org allow you to gain data on how popular a particular hashtag is, whilst sites such as hashtagify.me can generate some amazing visual representations of related hashtags to core topics so you can really dig down to hashtags which allow you to reacha highly qualified audience. For further assistance with using hashtags, we recently wrote an extensive guide to using hashtags on Twitter via Job Stock.

You shouldn’t forget Facebook either!

Facebook Communities are another great way to interact with other freelance writers and connect with topic area specialists. Communities such as Freelance Writing Jobs have a large following and are constantly posting updates and interesting news which many freelance writers will find relevant. Communities such as this are often very willing to help freelance writers out with advice and guidance, and are happy to engage in open discussion. Although you may think of Facebook as something you generally only use for personal reasons or business marketing via Facebook pages, Facebook Communities really opens up the dialogue between niche professionals who can collectively help each other out with their craft.

Build your social following

Just because you may not be a celebrity, does not mean you can’t build a really engaged social following on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The key is to build your following over time, with targeted followers, and not to worry about the size of your follower base too much. Focus on providing engaging, regular updates and connecting with relevant subject matter experts of influence in your niche. This can be done by simply following the updates of others in your industry, guest blogging to reach a new audience and including your social credentials in your author profile, or by undertaking a marketing campaign to grow your social following. But remember, always include your social credentials wherever you showcase your works or business profile, and you’ll soon find that you’ll gather some speed and the right kind of audience will be both following and highly engaged with your social updates.

Conclusion

Taking advantage of the many benefits that social networking has to offer is something freelance writers can easily do to benefit their budding writing enterprise. With a little bit of research, some solid branding and regular targeted updates via their core social channels, finding freelance work and boosting the awareness of your work is very easy to do if you become a social authority in your space.

By ensuring you market to both the broader writers social scene and niche topic audiences across social networks, you’ll be able to reach the kind of audiences you’re looking to engage with in real time, and you can interact with those who choose to comment on your social updates as an added bonus. However remember to keep your updates social. Make sure you check your tone, and ensure that you’re not simply “pushing the hard-sell”, and you’ll receive some fantastic support via social media channels.

Paul Dunstone is the founder and CEO of the Job Stock freelance marketplace which offers freelance job opportunities to workers from across the globe. Paul is also the editor of the Job Stock blog which provides various freelancing and small business tips and discussion.

The post How Freelance Writers can Take Advantage of Social Media appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Are you ready? I will show you 5 creative ways to recycle a used headline.

I’ll demonstrate by using one of the most read articles on my blog. After dropping my iPhone down the toilet, I wanted to share the panic that followed. So I wrote ‘Can You Restore a Water Damaged iPhone?’ The article has been read over 12,739 times.

#1. Choose one keyword from a used headline to create a new headline

From my iPhone article I chose water for the keyword. I discovered that ‘water’ is a widely searched term. The phrase ‘About Water’ is searched 101,000,000 times. So creating a unique headline using those keywords would rank high in Google.

Before you write your article, research your keyword. Google Keyword is a great tool for finding out what people are searching for.

Type in your keyword, tick the ‘only show ideas closely related to my search terms’ box. Copy the characters and press ‘search’.

Over to you: Select a keyword from one of your chosen headlines. Create a new article  after following the steps above.

#2. Choose a word or phrase from your used headline to produce a guest post

I could use the word iPhone to write an article for a technology blog. I would then produce a list article on 7 reasons why people are addicted to their iPhones.

Over to you: Read the blog’s guest posting guidelines carefully before you start writing. Research the categories to make sure your article hasn’t already been published. Make the article interesting and useful to their readers.

There are many benefits of guest blogging. The main two are to generate traffic and get more subscribers for your blog. Also, guest posting will give you a lot of publicity.

#3. Create an eBook

It’s obvious that my article is reaching a large audience. The main search term is ‘I dropped my iPhone in water, what should I do?’ I know my readers’ problems, so offering them a solution can come in the form of an eBook. It would contain step-by-step instructions on how to restore a water-damaged iPhone.

Over to you: After deciding on the topic for your eBook, spend some time planning it. Write an introduction. Use the information in your blog article for the main content. And finally, design a unique cover for it.

Some of the benefits of writing an eBook for your blog are:

• It will increase traffic and entice new subscribers to sign up to your blog. It’s nice to show your appreciation by giving something for free. However, I’ve yet to action this advice I’m giving you. My next project is to write a free eBook to offer on my blogs.
• Your readers can easily download, print and share the eBook with family and friends. It’s also a great way to get readers to talk about your blog.
• Write a few sentences about who you are on the back page. Include a photo, your blog’s URL and contact details. Embed your social media buttons as well. It’s another cool way to encourage people to share.
• Get more exposure to your blog by tweeting your free eBook. Make sure you link it back to your blog.

#4. Join forums to discuss the main keywords used in your headline

I typed ‘forums on water-damaged iPhone’ in Google and searched. There are lots of discussions taking place on that subject.

Over to you: Use your focus keywords to find the right forums. But to get the full benefits you’ll probably have to register as a member. Most forums will allow you to add a link to your blog. If other members find your information useful, they’ll visit your blog.

It’s also a handy way of interacting with others and getting your blog noticed.

#5. Find fresh, new headlines within your used headline

The trick is to study the headline carefully. Use some of the words in it to create new ones. I can make two headlines from ‘Can You Restore a Water Damaged iPhone?’ The first one is ‘How Water Can Restore Your Health’. The second is ‘Is There Life After an iPhone?’

Over to you: Use the same strategy above. Write down one of your headlines on paper. Can you make at least two from it?

With a bit of creative thinking, it’s easy to recycle a used headline. Next time you find it difficult to come up with ideas, use one of the tips I shared. When you think outside the box, you’ll discover lots of other ideas.

Can you add to this list? Have you recycled a blog article headline? How did you do it? If you found this article useful please share it with others.

June Whittle is a WritersinCharge.com team member, a freelance copywriter and blogger. She maintains and writes for her two blogs. To find out how she can write a copy for you that gets results check out DivineCopywriter.com for more information. Thanks for reading.

The post 5 Creative Ways to Recycle A Used Headline appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

The world is a funny place. The more you think about it, the more you realize how nature has given each one of us an equal opportunity to succeed in life. I know this is a controversial statement. But this is what I’ve come to conclude from seeing highly under privileged and less talented individuals succeeding purely on the basis of determination and will power, while the more gifted and talented keep complaining.

Each one of us has been gifted with a unique set of abilities, talents and circumstances. It is up to us to use the resources at our disposal to achieve whatever we believe worthwhile in life. The circumstances might be unique, but the opportunity to succeed is equal.

This is, however, what many talented writers fail to understand. Talent only means you have the potential to do something naturally. But you have to bring that talent into disciplined action if you want to achieve sustainable results. If you, despite being a naturally gifted writer, are not achieving the sort of success that some of the seemingly, less talented writers are getting then you must be doing something wrong. Here are 5 most common reasons why potential writing superstars never make it big. Make sure you’re not one of them!

1. Lack of Discipline

This is an almost universal reason for failure in any field of life. But for talented writers, this manifests itself a little differently. Freelancing is all about self-discipline. There’s no boss or manager around to make you work hard and meet deadlines. There’s no one to force you into taking initiatives and bringing innovation. You’re all alone and it’s entirely up to your personal discipline and motivation to get sustainable success. For some, this is a highly empowering scenario. While for many, this is exactly what they do not need.

So if you are struggling to make much progress despite being a talented writer, ask yourself the following questions

• How much focused time do I actually spend working?
• Do I have any short term or long term targets?
• Am I following a routine?
• Am I actually working or is it all in my mind?
• Do I even have a vague plan of action?

Sincerely answering these questions would certainly help you get a much better hold of your time and the results you should be achieving.

Action Items:

• Make a schedule and stick to it
• Define your target niche and focus on it
• Define short & medium term goals and control them through periodic tracking.

2. Not Ready to Learn

A diamond is only a piece of stone unless it is carved out by an expert. Talent will never take you all the way if you are not willing to get it polished by learning from seasoned experts of your industry. Like any industry, freelance writing also has certain benchmarks and standards. Invest your time in learning from the best in the business and polish your natural talents by following the advice of the experts. Find mentors and take their advice on improving the standard of your writing to make it more appealing to your potential customers.

Action Items:

• Find the top 10 blogs in your niche and subscribe to their updates.
• Contact at least 5 top writers in your niche and establish regular contact with them (Hint: Social Media, Contact Page)
• Read the best in the business and learn from their writing practices.
• Study the job requirements for writers in your niche and tailor your profile accordingly (Hint: Problogger Jobs Board)

3. Not Making Things Happen

You’re a great writer and you know it, but unfortunately the world doesn’t. Don’t wait for customers to come to you because they won’t. Go out there and make your presence felt. Being a writer is not enough. You need to be an aggressive marketer as well.

Ever wondered why household brands such as Coca Cola and Pepsi market so aggressively? It’s not that people don’t know them. However, research shows that public memory is short and unless you’re in their face all the time, you’ll be forgotten.

The reason why many average writers get more customers than many talented ones out there is because they market more aggressively. The customer doesn’t have a choice. He doesn’t know you’re out there. He only sees this average guy with big claims.

Don’t wait for things to happen, make them happen.

Action Items:

• Start a blog NOW!
• Take out 2 hours every day to comment on leading blogs. Make sure you add value through your comments
• Google your potential customers and shoot them emails. Tell them about yourself and how you can add value. This is still a very effective way of getting customers.
• Guest Blog!
• Promote your Hire Me page aggressively.

4. Looking for Short cuts

Bad news! There are no short cuts. Freelance writing is not a get-rich-quick formula. Success is the resultant of a process. You can’t have it unless you go through the process. This obviously does not mean that the process cannot be accelerated. However, no success comes without putting the hard yards together.

As a talented writer, if you’re not ready to work hard for success, then you’ll have a pretty frustrating time. There are people who have been able to run into awesome customers at the very initial stages of their careers. But they are exceptions. And you don’t make business plans based on exceptions.

What you need is a plan of action that has the highest probability of success. Pick your niche carefully and be the best in it. Offer unique content and make it a point to be different than others. Standing out is the only option if you want to achieve sustainable success.

Action Items

• Make sure all your professional profiles are up to date.
• Take an hour daily to apply on leading job boards.
• Write regularly on your blog.
• Follow points 1, 2 and 3!

5. Failure to Build Your Brand

Writers who fail to follow this point still usually manage to make decent money. However, they never make it to the top and almost always run after clients for work, not the other way around. Like any business, brands sell for higher rates. Even if they’re not as good as they appear to be.

The difference between writers who earn $10, $100 and $1000 per article is not as much in the quality of their writing as in the way their brand is perceived by their customers. They are established experts – people who know what they’re talking about. But you can’t do that overnight.

One of the biggest advantages of an online business is that you can create perceptions about yourself in the eyes of your target market without actually being the real deal. Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that you should lie to people. You need to be honest, no question about it. But you can be a little smart, can’t you.

Everyone has their weaknesses and self-doubts but you don’t need to whine about them everywhere. When you write, write confidently. Write as someone who knows what he’s talking about and believes in each and every word he’s saying. People will only believe you if you believe in yourself. Self-belief can do wonders to your image and ultimately dictate how much you charge for your services.

Action Items:

• Every time you write, ask yourself, “Will I read this myself?”
• Socialize with the best writers in your niche.
• Get your content endorsed by the leaders in your niche.
• Make a lot of high value comments on leading blogs.
• Focus on being the go-to man in your niche.

Jawad Khan is an e-business Project Manager, a passionate marketer and a freelance content writer who specializes in developing different strategies to generate tangible results for businesses through quality content and writes regularly on the areas of Entrepreneurship, Blogging and WordPress on his blog WritingMyDestiny

The post You’re a Talented Writer, 5 Reasons You Might Still Fail! appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

When a client comes to you through your blog, you’re the expert. This saves time on having to prove that you deserve to be hired or having to prove that you’re capable of doing what the client wants. The client already knows that, so all you have to do is agree on your rates and close the deal.

However, if I’m being really honest, 99% of those who attempt to get clients through their blogs won’t make it. The majority won’t get a single client request, and those who do get client requests will only be contacted by people willing to pay peanuts for their work.

If this is the case, why am I still advocating blogging as a way to generate clients? It’s quite simple:

• If 99% of people are missing out, it only means the 1% are reaping huge benefits.
• The purpose of this blog is to help writers become truly in charge; to be clear, we’re not targeting the 99%. Instead, we’re targeting the 1% who not only want results but deserve results.
• While a lot more people will fail when it comes to blogging for clients, it doesn’t mean it is impossible. You just have to be strategic about it. As long as you know – and do – what works, results will be guaranteed.
• The best paying clients are those who come to you – and blogging is the most reliable free way to get them to come (it’s not the only way). You could experiment with paid ads or some other method but most writers simply don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to spend advertising their services. Blogging is reliable and it’s free.

With that said, the 99% of people who will fail to get real clients from their blogging efforts won’t not fail because they’re bad writers or because they’re incapable in some way. No, they’ll fail because they’re approaching blogging for clients in the wrong way.

More often than not, these 99% are making one – or all – of the mistakes below. There are probably other mistakes but based on my interaction with writers who want to generate clients from their blogs and aren’t getting the desired results, these are the most common mistakes:

1. Starting another “Writer Blog”

It’s very simple. Writers aren’t looking for other writers to write for them, they’re looking for clients to hire them.

By starting a writing blog, you’re targeting an audience that is not interested in what you have to offer and as a result won’t go very far. Unless you can build an extremely popular blog – and most writers won’t – then starting a blog for writers is a mistake.

If you really want your blog to generate clients, the first question you should ask yourself is, “Who are my clients?”

Once you know the answer to this question, start a blog that caters to your potential clients. Your blog can talk about anything; it could be about the benefits of content for their business or any other subject they can relate to.

You only have one aim with your blog: GET POTENTIAL CLIENTS TO READ YOUR CONTENT!

Once potential clients start to read your blog and content, getting them to hire you becomes extremely easy.

2. There is No Indication on Your Blog that You’re a Freelance Writer

I’ve received several emails from readers that go like this:

“Hey Bamidele, I really enjoy your blog post/email and I’d also love to get clients from my blog. I started it a year ago and haven’t gotten any clients from it. What am I doing wrong?”

When I get emails like this and I take a look at the blog of the person emailing me, the problem instantly becomes very clear; there’s no single indication that the person writing the blog is a freelance writer. No single mention of the word “freelance writer” or related terms. In fact, there’s no hint at the fact that the person writing the blog is a professional writer.

Blogging for clients can be very effective but there’s no magic to it. No client will hire you without knowing first that you’re available for hire.

Make sure you create your hire me page and ensure it is featured in a prominent place on your blog. If everyone who visits your blog doesn’t know that you’re available for hire, you’re making a huge mistake.

3. It is Impossible to Get in Touch with You

Sometimes, there are potential clients who want to hire you but cannot find how to get in touch with you. It’s your job to make it easy for them to get in touch.

Have a contact form on your hire me page and also include an email address for those who can’t fill the form. Include as many contact options as you can.

Also, ensure you regularly talk about your services in your blog posts and that there’s a link to hire you in your blog posts.

No matter how much they want to, people can’t hire you if they can’t contact you.

4. Your Blog Isn’t Professional

This point is a very controversial one but I think it has to be said nonetheless.

I know I have a lot of readers who have .blogspot.com and .wordpress.com blogs but if I’m being honest, this is one of the reasons why most people can’t seem to get clients.

If you want people to take you seriously, you have to start taking yourself seriously first. Get your own domain name – yourblogname.com – that you actually own and have control of and, most importantly, that you’re paying for.

There are several disadvantages to using .blogspot.com and .wordpress.com blogs:

• They are not easy to remember; when someone recommends your blog to a potential client and the client types yourdomain.com when what you’re really using is yourdomain.blogspot.com or yourdomain.wordpress.com, two things will happen; your client either lands on the wrong website or she lands on an inactive blog. In either case, you look unprofessional and lose the client as a result.
• They don’t look professional; as much as we try not to, it’s the reality of this world that people judge “books” by their covers. If you have your own domain name and a self-hosted version of WordPress, it’s easier to customize your blog using premium themes. However, this isn’t possible with WordPress or Blogger. As a result, you have the same bland look that millions of similar blogs have. This can prevent potential clients from taking you seriously.
• They don’t really belong to you; Both blogspot.com and WordPress.com have terms of services that ensure the blog really belongs to Blogger and WordPress – not you. In other words, your blog can be deleted at any time without you being notified. Also, WordPress.com has a term of service that prevents you from making money from a WordPress.com blog.
• They are FREE: Free is probably the most misleading word in the dictionary because there’s nothing that is really free. There’s always a price to pay; the price for having a free blog is often, that you don’t really care about it. Since you’re not paying for it, it’s not really a part of your business, why give it your best to ensure you get results?

5. It’s Not Really a Blog

Unless you’re already a well-fed freelance writer, as long as your aim is to get clients from your blog, then you have no excuse for not updating it regularly.

Some freelance writers start “blogs” that are left without updates for weeks and months and then they wonder why clients aren’t coming.

Your blog is probably competing with millions of other blogs in your niche so you have to keep potential clients constantly engaged with your content. As an authority, you need to always have something of substance to say. This proves that you know what you’re doing, you have a lot to say and that you’re capable of handling content for people’s businesses.

I recommend that my coaching students update their blog at least 2 times a week; if possible 3 times a week. The more content you have on your blog, the more opportunity people have to find your blog and the more likely they are to be aware of your services.

Make sure you publish at least 2 articles on your blog weekly; only break this rule when you have more clients than you can handle.

6. You’re Not Marketing in Any Way

“Build it and they will come.”

“Your duty is to write; you’re made to create, not market…”

“Marketing is dirty/sleazy/bad so you don’t have to do it.”

You’ll hear these over and over again but I can assure you that they’re bad advice for you if you really want to generate clients from your blog. Don’t listen to them!

Of course, some writers will get lucky enough to succeed without having to market themselves but the chance of this happening is one in a million.

If you hate marketing, start liking it! If it makes you feel better, you don’t have to market in a way you don’t like; by leveraging guest blogging and other tactics that are writing-based, you don’t have to worry about going out of your comfort zone. You can still market yourself by doing nothing other than writing, so you have no excuses.

Also, if you can get marketing right then you can still get clients even if you make some of the mistakes in this article.

Don’t joke with your marketing!

7. You’re Not Repelling at least 90% of Your “Potential Clients”

You don’t need them all, you only need those that matter.

Automatically repelling some of your potential clients not only ensures that you prevent the wrong people from getting in touch with you, but it also ensures that the clients that matter really respect you.

When potential clients see that you’re not interested in working with just anyone, they also realize that you’re willing to give the few people you work with your best.

For example, when I first set up my hire me page I was suddenly getting 5 – 10 client requests in a week but most of these requests were from fellow Nigerians and fans from India who love my work but can only pay $3 – $5 per article. To combat this, I included a note on my hire me page that says I don’t just work with anybody and that I’ll only work with people who not only want results but also have big budgets.

The result? I started getting fewer client requests but the quality of the requests improved significantly. Soon after, I got a client with whom I made almost mid-five figures in under 1 year.

So, make it very clear on your blog that you don’t want to work with just anyone; you only want to work with those who are right for you.

Which of these Mistakes are You Making?

Do you have a blog? If yes, which of these mistakes are you making? Let us know in the comments!

The post 7 Mistakes Thwarting Your Attempts to Get Clients from Your Blog appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

A while back, I was happy to announce that I got a book deal and am now a part of a well-recognized publishing company. The first post (linked to above) explains how getting a book deal usually happens, how to get noticed, how the work process itself is laid out, what’s with the presence of templates (for everything) and why scheduling is crucial.

This second part is about the legal/official stuff and about the thing everyone wants to know – how do you make money on a book deal.

Contracts

My experience is still a bit narrow when it comes to dealing with contracts like this. I mean, I am happy to be a part of a publishing company but I still don’t have any previous experience. So, the only things I can say about contracts are based on the way this one publishing house is dealing with them. In other words, your mileage can vary.

First of all, you obviously need a contract. Scratch that. The publisher needs a contract. No one will work with you unless they have some paper to hold you accountable with in case anything goes wrong (works the other way around too).

This is quite different from being a freelance writer. Depending on the scale of your freelance work, you might even be working without any contracts with some of your clients. This is not even remotely possible in the publishing world.

Now, about the contract itself. Just as I mentioned in the previous part, publishers have templates for everything including contracts. If you’re the average author (whereby average I mean that you are one of many that the publisher employs in one way or the other), you’ll get a standard template contract.

If you’re a more recognized person in the community, you can negotiate and get a custom contract, but it’s not really possible for first time writers especially in niche topics (like in my case – for a book about WordPress).

Though there was a very interesting post on what you could call the “big league” publishing on Tim Ferriss’ blog, where a guest author – Roman – described how he got a 7-figure book deal. This, I actually encourage you to read to get a more complete spectrum of the publishing world.

Going back to the template contracts, such documents feature some pretty standard provisions that can be found in all kinds of other paperwork. But as it turns out, your main responsibility is to deliver on time. This is eventually the only thing you have to worry about when it comes to the mundane stuff.

In my case, the signing of the contract was an interesting experience. Because PACKT Publishing is a UK-based company doing business internationally, they don’t send their contracts via traditional mail. Instead, they use a custom online service that allowed me to sign the contract via my browser. (I’m not sure if I can give you the name or the address of the service so I better don’t.) In the end, the whole thing takes minutes instead of weeks.

Of course, if you’re like Roman and you’ve just scored a 7-figure deal then you’ll most likely have to sign it in person. In which case, congrats!

How do you make money?

Finally, we’ve arrived at the big question.

If you want to make money from your book directly, there’s only one way. Your book must sell and must sell well.

Just like recording artists, writers make money on royalties. In other words, whenever a copy of your book sells somewhere, you get a cut from the profits.

This “cut” can be anything between 5% and 20% (for e-books it may be more). This doesn’t seem like much, but when you look at it, it’s the publisher who takes the most risk. If the book doesn’t sell, you still get your advance, but your publisher gets nothing or more accurately, they lose money.

Now, about the advance. In general, every publisher agrees to pay an advance against future profits. If you’re Bill Clinton then you can ask for an advance of $15,000,000 (did happen). But if you’re just so and so then your possibilities are limited. In most cases, your publisher will give you an offer and you can either take it or leave it.

The whole point of an advance is that you will get paid as soon as you get started. But then, before you see any royalties-money checks, you need to earn out the advance. For example, if you’ve got an advance of $1,000 (just to make the math easier) and you get $10 for every book sold then you need to sell 100 books before you see your first check (for the 101st book).

The main win = branding

For bigger publishing deals, the ones where you earn high 5 figures on the advance, the main win is money itself. But for smaller deals, it’s branding – the sole fact of being a published author.

Once you are one, you can use this fact in many MANY places, starting from your LinkedIn profile, to your blog, to your freelancing offers, to your other businesses … virtually anywhere.

And it should work even better in niche topics. For example, my book on WordPress will let me take my WordPress-credibility to the next level. If I ever need to prove to anyone that I know WordPress, all I have to do is point them to the nearest book store. I believe that a similar thing can be taken advantage of in every other niche.

There maybe is one more specific question on your mind right now, should you still take the deal if the advance is not that impressive? In other words, will the project be worth your effort despite the low upfront payment?

To give you my personal take on this, I believe that the answer is yes. If you’re dealing with a big publishing company then being one of their writers as well as the aforementioned fact of being a published author can still do a lot for your future career. The immediate gratification may just be a tip of the iceberg.

… still to come in part 3

There’s still one more part waiting to be published – the final episode #3. In it, I will focus on the in-the-trenches everyday work, the additional skills required, and also, how much time it takes from start to finish to get a book published.

In the meantime, is there anything in particular you’d like me to explain in the final part of the series? Feel free to shoot me a comment.

Karol K. (@carlosinho) is a freelance blogger and writer. You can also find him at newInternetOrder where you can tune in to get various articles on how to launch and run an online business. For instance, check this new hub page on the complete process of building and launching a new site for your business.

The post Just Got a Book Deal … Now What?! [Part 2] appeared first on Helping Writers be in Charge.

Why should your article be persuasive

People come to your blog to get tips and solutions to their problems. They come to be inspired, to get valuable information and be motivated. If you’re not able to grab your reader with that one article you may lose him/her so you want to strike while the iron is hot.

If your article isn’t persuasive you leave the reader unsatisfied or worse, never wanting to visit your blog again. Convince them just once and you will have gained a reader or someone who thinks your work is worth sharing on their social media sites.

5 points on how to write a persuasive post

Be accurate to persuade your reader

No one wants to read an article littered with spelling, punctuation or factual mistakes. If your reader has to subconsciously correct your grammar or spelling mistakes while reading he/she will be put off by your work.

Edit your article rigorously. Use an active voice to get your points over and avoid over writing and verbiage. People read magazines and books for beautiful writing. They read your blog for information and help.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t write beautifully, but verbiage and flowery language will put off readers if there’s no substance – no fact, no action to what you’re saying.  Be specific and direct. Use powerful descriptions and get to the point.

Research the point, get to the point, make the point, express it well and move on!

Be honest to persuade your reader

Don’t make claims in your heading and introduction that you can’t fulfil in your article. This dishonesty is irritating and for the most part – stupid.

You have to agree that almost anything we write about today has already been covered on the web. Your job in writing your persuasive article is to make yours stand out as trustworthy. If you promise the 5 best ways to make money writing online in your heading and intro, then deliver this. Explain your points and actually give your readers something beneficial, something they can actually learn from and recreate.

Back up your claims and your tutorial with facts. Use other works on your own site, but also link to other authority sites which make your point clearer to your readers.

If you’re honest, your article will be persuasive. If you’ve gained your reader’s trust (they know what you’re saying is true) then they’ll be more willing to buy what you’re selling at the end, or click the ‘subscribe to this blog’ button you have floating around that the end of your post.

Be original to write a persuasive article

The last thing current and potential readers/subscribers want to see on your blog is regurgitated material you’ve gathered or copied from other websites in your niche. They’ve read it there and have come to you for something of value.

If yours is the blog giving the fresh information, you’ll have the edge over the other sites in your niche. Do your research and make sure you edit properly. Provide value and be the leading expert.

Even though no topic is completely original on the Internet, there’s always an edge – a different perspective you can explore. Use your imagination and approach your subject from various angles not already tackled on your competitors’ sites.

• Approach your subject from the opposite point of view others are taking
• Get expert interviews and present their points of view in a blog post
• Do a slide share presentation rather than a blog post
• Capture video clips to make your point
• Present your article from a humorous perspective. Everyone loves a laugh.

Add your personal touch to be persuasive

We’ve already said that most topics we cover on our blogs have already been covered in detail. If you can come up with a completely new idea to blog about, please let me know. I’d like to get in on a piece of that action! The element that makes your article more readable and original is the fact that you’ve put a little bit about yourself in it.

No matter how clever your competitors are, they can’t share the story you can – because it’s your own, taken from your personal life.

You don’t have to reveal too much of yourself, but starting the post with something pertinent in your own life grabs the reader’s attention. They get to know you more and are willing to get involved with your post and read on.

In addition, personal stories open up you and your life to your readers. They like you, so they come to your blog to read what you’ve said rather than what another blogger has said about the topic. Let them see some more of you. Let them into your life a little bit more. Do this while teaching and your work will be persuasive.

If you’d like to share some more ways on ‘how to write a persuasive post’, please do so in the comment section below. I’d love to hear your views on this, and of course, to learn from approaches which have worked for you and your blog.

Anne Lyken-Garner is a published author and blogger. Her inspiring book, Sunday’s Child is available to buy and you can find her blogging about self-confidence on her blog, How To Build Confidence.

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