How were your holidays? Was Santa good to you? I got a Kindle and quality time with my family, so short of getting an agent and book contract, my Christmas couldn’t have been any better. As I mentioned last time, whether or not we’re disappointed often depends on what we’re expecting. After all, if I’d […]
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We’ve all been disappointed at some point during our lives. As a child, I once discovered my Christmas presents early, hidden in my parents’ closet (it was by accident, I swear!). My fingers ached to play with all those toys and I couldn’t wait for the big day. But when Christmas Day rolled around, I […]
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Today’s post is the unofficial “part three” of the results from my poll. I hadn’t planned this post, but the comments from last time inspired a new thought. In part one, we talked about how to help your blog readers find you. And in part two, we discussed the things that turn people off from […]
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My last post highlighted ways a blog can serve its readership. This post focuses on what not to do when designing a blog. Some of the answers might surprise you. Once again, I want to thank all of you who voted in the polls, commented, and tweeted me with feedback. And a big round of […]
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First of all, huge thanks to everyone who answered my poll questions last week about how you use blogs. Hopefully, the high participation rate means the results will be helpful to all of us. In fact, due to the abundant and informative feedback in comments and tweets, I’ll be dividing my analysis into two posts. […]
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Should authors blog? We’ve all seen this question in some form or another. Some wonder if agents expect it. (Not yet but close.) Others want to know if it will help build that elusive platform. (It can.) But I propose another reason to blog: training your muse. My regular readers are well aware that I […]
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Help! I need you. Don’t panic, I need only your answers on some polls. I think these questions could help all bloggers understand how their readers are accessing and using their content, and I’ll share the results once the poll is done. For those of you reading this via email or RSS, I ask (beg! […]
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To prevent being overwhelmed by Twitter, one suggestion you’ll hear over and over is to use a program like TweetDeck to manage all those tweets by creating lists. But did you know you can also use lists to become a Twitter Ninja? It’s true. But before we get into the details, let’s review lists and […]
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We all have to deal with rejection in our lives, and it hurts to not get the job we want, the relationship we want, or the agent we want. In fact, it sucks. But as trite as it sounds, it really is better to try and fail than to not try at all. This point […]
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Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for. Or in my case, have epiphanies. So there I was, trying to think about my manuscript’s last-minute revisions while taking my shower, when […]
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