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Career Planning for Writers

Branding and goal planning. Sample topics: deciding on your goals and priorities, branding issues, entrepreneurship, platform building and ownership, series vs. stand-alone stories, etc.

Branding 101: What Is Your Brand?

Crowd picture with focus on one man with text: How Do You Show Who You Are?

Yeah, yeah, I can hear it now. “Ugh. Not more branding stuff. What if I don’t want to be a brand?” I hate to break it to you, but you already have a brand. So does your kid’s soccer coach, your next-door neighbor, and possibly your pet. *smile* How is […]

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September 24, 2013

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Google’s Fickleness: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Google Logo with text: Adapting to Changes...

If one thing is constant with Google, it’s that they always change. Over the past couple of years, they phased out most of Google Friend Connect and stopped supporting Feedburner. However, I realized recently that I hadn’t talked about their latest changes. Some of their recent changes have been good (Google Authorship), […]

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August 15, 2013

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When Should We Start Building Our Platform?

Red flag with text: Don't Have a Platform? Red Flag!

In my post about book pirates and plagiarism, I mentioned that book bloggers and reviewers are now more wary of debut authors, especially those who are self-published. I don’t blame them. Some people out there are willing to do an insane amount of work to fake legitimacy. A book blogger […]

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August 6, 2013

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Need to Decide on a Path? Know Your Goals

Separating railroad tracks with text: Our Goals Dictate Our Path

I’ve written several posts about how we have to figure out our goals. Do we want to be famous? How can we prioritize fast, cheap, and good? How important are bookstores to us? I touch on the subject a lot because we can’t figure out the right publishing path for us until […]

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June 13, 2013

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Do You Want to Be a Famous Author?

Spotlight with text: Do You Want to Be Famous?

Every once in a while, I come across an article about figuring out our goals as an author. Heck, I’ve written posts along those lines. As we learn more about the industry and grow as authors, our goals might change, so it’s smart to revisit the question occasionally. But there’s a Step Two […]

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May 7, 2013

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Why Do You Enter Writing Contests?

View from diving platform high over lake with text: Are Our Expectations Too High?

A couple of weeks ago, someone (I won’t name who because I don’t want to embarrass her) asked me what score I’d received in a writing contest. I didn’t want to answer at first. I worried about making her feel bad or seeming like I was bragging. Yet I could […]

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April 25, 2013

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How Should We Deal with Conflicting Advice?

Chess knights facing off with text: Whose Advice Should We Take?

Did you hear? History was made this past weekend. And no, I’m not speaking in hyperbole. *smile* Imagine a writers’ conference with high-quality speakers, matching those found at national conferences. Imagine being able to attend for a fraction of the cost of other national writers’ conferences and with no travel […]

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February 26, 2013

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Branding 101: Who Do You Want to Be?

Student in hallway with text: High School Part Two? Branding 101: Who Do You Want to Be?

In the comments of my last post about watching our online behavior, some people worried about the bigger picture. Can we still be true to ourselves? Should we not express opinions at all? Would it be safer to stay offline? Let’s work through those questions in reverse order. Locking ourselves […]

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January 29, 2013

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Behave…The Internet Never Forgets

Couple whispering secrets with text: Behave...The Internet Never Forgets

When we interact with people in real life, we’re often advised not to talk about politics or religion. Bringing up those emotionally charged topics is a good way to start arguments with strangers and friends alike. Yet I’ve seen countless authors, aspiring and published, break this rule online. If they’re […]

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January 24, 2013

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Protect Your Wrists: Exercises for Writers

Exercise dumbbell with text: Wrist Exercises for Writers

Back in August, the keyboard I’d used for forever (about ten years) died. I tried using several other keyboards of various ergonomic configurations, but they all made my wrists hurt by the end of the day. After weeks of these inferior (to me) keyboards, my right wrist got so bad […]

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December 18, 2012

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