Review: Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars

Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars is the new guide from Dana Lynn Smith, also known as The Savvy Book Marketer.

As a fan of Dana's work (see the list of other products of hers I have reviewed at the end of this post) I was keen to see this one as well, and so she kindly sent me a review copy.

Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars is a bit different from Dana's other guides. Rather than a text-based manual, the product is based around a recording of a one-hour teleseminar. As that is what the product is all about, you certainly can't say that Dana doesn't practise what she preaches!

Buyers are first taken to an Order Confirmation page. From here they can click a link to watch a recording of the teleseminar (audio plus slides), and another to access a download page for the other resources sold with the product. These are as follows:

• Audio recording of the presentation (MP3)
• Slides from the presentation (PDF)
• Resource Guide, with links to dozens of useful resources (PDF)
• Guide to Choosing a Service Provider - this discusses what to look for when choosing a teleseminar/webinar service provider and gives a summary of five popular providers, with Dana's recommendations (PDF)

At the heart of this product is the teleseminar recording. I'd have to say I thought this was extremely well done. Considering this is a recording of a live presentation, I was amazed by how smoothly it ran. I didn't notice any fluffs, backtracks, or errors. This is either a testament to some very impressive editing, or an even more powerful testament to Dana's powers of organization and communication!

The actual advice is conveyed concisely, with the aid of slides that are informative and don't try to cram too much in. There are numerous bullet-pointed lists, the titles of some of which I've copied below. I'm not giving away anything I shouldn't here, as they are listed on the 'What You Will Learn' section of the sales page as well.

• 6 reasons why nonfiction authors should do teleseminars and webinars
• 4 ways to make money with paid teleseminars and webinars
• 5 ways to profit from free teleseminars and webinars
• 5 ways to earn revenue by repurposing content
• Techniques for doing educational presentations, interviews and online conferences
• How to add visuals to your presentation
• Tips for running your event smoothy
• Options for recording and replaying the presentation
• Free tools for editing audio and video files
• Insider tips for choosing a teleseminar/webinar service provider
• Pros and cons of various registration and payment methods
• How to promote your event for maximum attendance

The teleseminar provides a good overview of the various options available and how they work. I also found the discussion of the pros and cons of free versus paid-for events quite enlightening.

There is some excellent advice too about how to choose a suitable service provider. If you're new to this field there is plenty of scope for slip-ups here. Dana's advice should ensure that you are aware of all the key considerations, and choose the best provider for the type of event you have in mind.

The PDFs are also useful. I especially like the resource guide, which lists all the resources Dana has used personally and recommends (or in some cases doesn't). This includes everything from audio and video editing software to USB microphones, press release distribution companies to teleseminar announcement websites. For anyone planning their first webinar or teleseminar, this would more than justify the cost of the product in itself, I'd have thought.

If I had one nitpick, I would have liked a transcript of the whole teleseminar, as (being a writer, I suppose) I like to have all information in text form as well for easy reference. However, you do get a PDF containing all the slides used in the presentation, which is almost (though not quite) as good.

If you're thinking of getting into teleseminars and webinars - and they are not only great for raising your profile but (as the title implies) can be excellent money-makers in their own right - this reasonably priced guide would provide a great introduction and reference resource.

For more information about Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars (and to order a copy) just click through any of the links in this review. You can also read my reviews of other guides by Dana by clicking on the appropriate title in the list below:

How to Get Your Book Reviewed

Twitter Guide for Authors

Facebook Guide for Authors

Virtual Book Tour Magic

If you have any comments or questions for Dana (or me), as ever, please feel free to leave them below.

• My sponsors, WCCL, also publish an excellent, in-depth guide to creating your own podcasts called The Ultimate Podcasting Kit. If podcasting is something else that appeals to you, please click on the banner ad below for more information.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of Make Money with Teleseminars and Webinars by Dana Lynn Smith. In addition, the links in this review include my affiliate code, so if you click through and make a purchase, a proportion of the fee will go to me. This has not influenced my review, but you should of course complete your own due diligence and read the sales page (and this review) carefully to determine whether this product will be relevant to your needs.

Great Shortcut for Finding Words on a Page

Today I thought I'd share a quick tip I picked up a few months ago. If you know this already, my apologies!

If you're anything like me, you frequently search for specific words on a page. I do this all the time in Microsoft Word and also on web pages.

I generally think of myself as quite computer-savvy, but one thing I'd never really appreciated before is how useful the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F is (for those who may not know, this instruction means pressing the Control key and the F key at the same time).

This beauty of this command is that it brings up a text search box in a wide range of programs. It works just as well in Word or in Firefox or other browsers. Since I discovered this, I've been using it all the time. OK, it may only save a moment compared with clicking on Find or Search in the relevant menu, but those moments definitely add up!

I also discovered a Firefox add-on called FindList which adds to the usefulness of Ctrl+F. It adds a list of up to 50 of your previous searches, allowing you to access them again at any time from a drop-down menu. Here's how it looks in practice...

I hope you find this tip (and the FindList add-on if you use Firefox) helpful.

Dare I mention it, I also use Ctrl+C (Copy) and Ctrl+V (paste) a lot, and find them great time-savers as well!

Duotrope: A Brilliant Resource for Fiction and Poetry Writers

Today I thought I'd spotlight a brilliant (and free) market-info resource for fiction and poetry writers called Duotrope.

Duotrope currently lists over 4100 current fiction and poetry publications, including anthologies and contests.

If you have written a poem or a story and are looking for a suitable market to submit it to, you can use the search box on the Duotrope homepage (see screengrab below) to search by genre, length, payscale, and so on.

Figure 1 - Duotrope Search Box

Alternatively, you can browse all listings on Duotrope or search by title by visiting this page of the website.

Another great feature of the site is that you can get a weekly email sent to you listing new markets and any significant changes to existing ones. You can opt to receive fiction updates, or poetry updates, or both. You have to register on Duotrope to receive the email newsletters, but this is free and only takes a moment.

I've copied below an extract from the Duotrope fiction newsletter - a partial list of anthologies and themed issues with upcoming deadlines - so you can get some idea how useful this is. All titles in the email newsletter link to the relevant listing on Duotrope.

Figure 2 - Extract from Duotrope Fiction Newsletter

You can also opt to receive market updates in your RSS feed reader if you prefer. In this case you get updates as they occur rather than once a week.

Duotrope has a range of other features as well, including interviews with editors, a calendar of upcoming deadlines, and more. Registered members can also access some additional features, including RSS feeds of their favorite markets, markets where they have submissions pending, and so on. Note that some of these extra features are currently in Beta.

Duotrope is an invaluable resource for fiction writers, so if you write fiction or poetry, I highly recommend checking it out. Although it is free, they do still have running costs to defray, so donations are always welcomed.

If you have any comments or questions about Duotrope, please feel free to leave them below. Or if you know of any similar resources that writers should be aware of, please post them here as well.

Author 2.0 Blueprint - Great Resource for Indie Authors from Joanna Penn

Just wanted to let you know today about a free, 52-page e-book from prolific author and blogger Joanna Penn.

Joanna describes Author 2.0 Blueprint as 'Your Blueprint for Writing, Publishing and Marketing Your Book'. It's a beautifully written and produced introduction to self-publishing, covering both fiction and non-fiction.

The e-book is a fully updated, 2012 version of Joanna's original Author 2.0 report. It’s based on articles from her blog The Creative Penn, as well as information from other blogs. There are links to many sites and blogs Joanna says she has found useful herself. The book also recommends further resources, some free and some paid-for, for additional advice and assistance.

Author 2.0 Blueprint is published under a Creative Commons licence, so it can be freely shared as long as you don’t use it commercially and you cite TheCreativePenn.com as the source. I've therefore taken the opportunity to embed it below, or you can visit the announcement page on Joanna's blog and download it from there if you prefer...
Author 2.0 Blueprint: Writing, Publishing and Book Marketing using online tools (2012 version)

If you are receiving this post by email or RSS, you may need to visit my blog to see the embedded version of the e-book. Also, if you can't read the embedded version clearly - and I can't control how exactly it will display on different browsers - click on the 'View in Fullscreen' icon at the bottom. You can return to this blog post afterwards by using your browser's 'Back' button.

Thank you very much to Joanna for making this valuable resource available to the world-wide writing community.

Finally, while we're talking about freebies, you might also like to sign up for The Writer's Giveaway by my blog sponsors, The WCCL Network. This features a wide range of free, writing-related reports and software. All you have to do in exchange is sign up for their Smart Writers e-newsletter (to which you can, of course, unsubscribe at any time). Just click on the banner below for more information!

Review: All Natural High from WCCL

As you may know, this blog is sponsored by my publishers, The WCCL Network.

WCCL publish my writing courses such as Kindle Kash, but they also produce a growing range of self-development products - of which All Natural High is the latest.

They were kind enough to send me a review copy, so in this post I'll set out my thoughts and impressions.

I should start by explaining that All Natural High is an audio CD (accompanied by a PDF manual). As the name suggests, it is designed to generate a sense of euphoria in the listener without any illicit substances. It does this by 'entraining' the listener's brain to produce brain waves at certain target frequencies that are associated with, well, getting high...

According to the manual, All Natural High uses seven different methods of brainwave entrainment, not all of which I profess to understand. One, though, is binaural beats (also used in WCCL's Writer's Block CD). This method works by playing sounds of slightly different frequencies in each ear, which has been shown to create a resonance in the brain based on the difference between them. For example, if you play a tone of 320 Hz in one ear and 330 Hz in the other, it will create a resonance at 10 Hz, the difference between the two. A frequency of 10 Hz is in the alpha range, associated with a relaxed, mellow state.

All Natural High does aim to generate alpha waves in the listener, but it combines them with beta and gamma frequencies (14 Hz to 44 Hz), which - again according to the manual - occur when we are 'focused, engaged, and enthusiastic'. Overall, WCCL say, 'the aim is to recreate the mental state associated with euphoric stimulants, but unlike other stimulants it’s non-invasive and completely non-addictive.'

So that's the theory - what about the practice? The CD arrives in a standard jewel case, and you simply load it into your music center or PC and play it. There are two tracks, both about half an hour long. The first is the 'raw' version, which you can listen to on its own or with your own choice of music (I listened while playing my favorite prog rock tracks on Grooveshark, for example). The second track includes a musical backing to make it more listenable. It would certainly be a better choice for a party, although some of it is pretty weird - a cross between ambient and trip-hop, I'd say.

I listened to both tracks with and without headphones. WCCL say it's not necessary to use headphones to get the benefit from the CD, but I noticed a much stronger effect when I did. And, oddly enough, it really did remind me of the effect of smoking a joint (not something I've done for many years, you'll understand...). I found myself getting into a relaxed, buzzy state - in fact, somewhat floaty. The effect continued for an hour or two after I stopped listening. I also felt happier and more relaxed, despite the fact that I had recently heard some bad news and been quite depressed by it.

A couple more tips based on my experience using the CD. First, I'd advise turning up the bass quite high: some of the sounds are quite low-pitched, and it seems to me you get better results if you boost them. And second, close your eyes while you are listening. Although WCCL say this isn't necessary, from the occasion when, as a psychology major, I was wired up to an EEG machine, I know that the simple act of closing your eyes can greatly boost your alpha-wave output.

WCCL suggest various uses for All Natural High. They include getting yourself into a good frame of mind before going out for the evening, adding to the excitement of parties and other social occasions, or chilling out (alone or with your partner) at the end of a hectic day. Personally, I see myself using it primarily as a pick-me-up and mood enhancer, but I also find playing the CD a good prelude to a writing session. The alpha rhythms get your mind into a relaxed, creative state, while the higher frequencies ensure you are focused and ready to work, rather than falling asleep. It works for me, anyway!

One problem with any product of this nature is that listening can get a bit repetitive after a while. But I do find that playing the first track alongside your own choice of music helps provide variety. To be honest, I haven't had the CD long enough to get bored with it yet - and if I continue to enjoy the benefits, I guess I'll probably put up with that!

For more information about All Natural High, please click through any of the links in this review, or on the banner ad below. Or if you have any comments or questions about All Natural High, please feel free to post them below and I'll do my best to answer them.

myWritersCircle is now on Twitter!

I know quite a few readers of this blog are also members of my (free) writing forum at www.mywriterscircle.com.

So I thought you might like to know that myWritersCircle now has its own Twitter account. You can find and follow us at http://twitter.com/myWritersCircle.

The new account will be used to pass on news and information about the forum from me, the MWC moderators, and our admin team. There may also be the occasional commercial announcement from our sponsors, the electronic publishing house WCCL. Most messages will, however, be purely for information purposes, to help members get the most from MWC and keep up to date with what's going on there.

I don't expect there will be large amounts of traffic on the new account - maybe two or three updates a day, typically. Most updates will consist of information about the forum that we think you'll find interesting and/or useful - new contests, deadlines, market information, and so on.

The MWC Twitter account will be used primarily as a broadcast medium and it will not be closely monitored for replies or direct messages. If you have any comments or queries, it will therefore be better to raise them via the forum, or contact me or another moderator directly by PM (forum personal messaging).

You can also, if you wish, follow me on my own Twitter account at http://twitter.com/nickdaws, which I do of course monitor regularly.

I hope you will find the new MWC Twitter service useful, and that it will enhance your experience of using myWritersCircle (although you can of course follow us on Twitter without being a member of the forum if you wish).

If you have any queries or comments, as ever, please feel free to post them below.

How to Use Incentives to Get Extra Sales

Today's guest post is by Jimmy D. Brown of the website iBusiness Owner.

Jimmy is talking about a subject that I'm sure will resonate with many self-publishers, and especially with buyers of my 10-Day E-Book course (which discusses writing and publishing a money-making e-book on ClickBank).

Take it away, Jimmy...

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The vast majority of your prospects aren’t all that passionate about your offer.

Truth is, they’re kind of lukewarm. They’re interested, but they’re not taking their credit card out. Instead of making a buying decision, they decide to “think about it.”

Of course you know what happens: They forget about your offer. They don’t return to your store or sales page. Some of them may even make the conscious decision to NOT buy your product.

So what can you do to get your prospects to get excited and take action NOW?

Simple: Offer them an incentive if they order now. Do it right, and you’re virtually guaranteed to make more sales!

Generally, an incentive can take two forms:

1. You offer a discount. One idea is the straightforward discount, such as offering a percent-off. Another ideas is to offer a discount on the overall package, such as by offering free shipping.

Tip: You can even make it a limited-time discount so that your prospects feel a sense of urgency.

1. You offer one or more bonus products. Again, you can even make the bonus offer limited to increase the sense of urgency.

Offering a discount is a pretty straightforward incentive. So let’s talk about how to offer a bonus as a buying incentive.

Here then are the seven keys to offering bonuses that generate extra sales:

• Make sure the bonus is desirable. Point is, if your prospects don’t care about the bonus product, then it won’t help you generate any sales. So make sure it’s something that your prospects already want. Something that gets them excited!

• Create a valuable bonus. Just because you’re giving the product away for free with a purchase doesn’t mean this bonus should be worth little to no money. Quite the contrary – it should have a high perceived value in the prospect’s mind.

• Choose bonuses that are easy to deliver. This is particularly true if you’re selling downloadable products online, such as software or information. Point is, you want to be able to deliver the bonus instantly – right alongside the main product – without you having to manually deliver the bonus.

• Supply an exclusive bonus, whenever possible. If the prospect can get the bonus somewhere else, he might just do that. So try to offer exclusive bonuses to help make the buying decision easy.

• Offer a bonus that compliments the main product. For example, let’s say you’re selling a book about retirement planning. Offering retirement-planning worksheets and software as a bonus would be a great incentive.

• Sell the bonus. If you’re selling via a sales page, don’t just list the bonus. Instead, sell it just the way you’re selling the main product, meaning you should list the benefits of this bonus product or service.

• Remember that you can offer products OR services. Let’s say you’re selling exterior landscaping supplies and information. As a bonus you can offer a free consultation where you provide specific landscaping ideas for buyers. Or if you’re selling a copywriting product, you can offer a sales letter critique.

Conclusion

Offering an incentive is a simple, yet highly effective way to generate more sales and grow your business. To discover still more ways to grow your business, visit http://tinyurl.com/6rtt8sl – you may just learn strategies you never even knew existed!

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Thank you to Jimmy for an interesting article.

I do agree that offering extra bonuses is a powerful selling technique. My publishers, WCCL, always include a few extra bonuses with the products and courses they offer. In addition - as with my Kindle Kash course - I quite often add a few extra bonuses myself when people order from me personally!

If you have any comments or questions about this post, as ever, feel free to leave them below.

Photo Credit: Scared Candy by Enokson on Flickr. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Review: CreateSpace for Profit

CreateSpace for Profit is a report currently on sale via the Internet Marketing Warrior Forum as a Warrior Special Offer (WSO). It's written by Alan Petersen and Peggy Baron.

CreateSpace is, of course, the popular print self-publishing service operated by Amazon.com (see screengrab above). As this is an area of publishing I haven't particularly explored, I decided to shell out the modest fee of $4.97 to see what it was all about.

So I can reveal that what you get is a concise, well-written 28-page PDF that sets out five different methods for writing books for CreateSpace without totally starting from scratch. All are interesting, and I was impressed to see that the authors include links to examples of CreateSpace books they have written and self-published using the methods described.

The methods involve a combination of using and adapting PLR (private label rights), public domain material, and material bought or commissioned from other authors. It wouldn't be fair to give away all the details here, but I was pleased to see that none involves simply copying and pasting low-cost (and low-quality) PLR/public domain books. The authors point out that Amazon has been cracking down hard recently on low-quality, duplicate-content books. Interestingly, their examples show that by removing the spammy books and e-books, Amazon has actually done genuine authors a big favour.

CreateSpace for Profit doesn't include much information on how to publish to CreateSpace - it's essentially about quickly devising and creating non-fiction titles with good sales potential. The methods could just as well be used to create Kindle e-books, and in fact the authors do recommend publishing to this and other formats as well. If you want in-depth advice on the actual CreateSpace publishing process, though, you will need to look elsewhere (the actual CreateSpace site would be a very good starting point, of course).

Overall, I found this an eye-opening report with some clever ideas I am certainly going to consider applying myself in future, even if I choose not to go down the CreateSpace route. For $4.97 (around 3.50 UK pounds), I have no problem recommending it.

CreateSpace for Profit would also be a good purchase for anyone interested in publishing e-books for the Amazon Kindle, including buyers of my own Kindle Kash course. Bear in mind that the report is currently on offer as a WSO, so I don't know how long it will remain available at the current low price (or at all).

Any comments or questions, as ever, please leave them below!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate for this WSO, so if you buy it via one of the links above a proportion of the (modest) fees will go to me. This has not affected my review in any way.

Five Literary Devices to Make You a Better Writer

I'm pleased to welcome to my blog today writer and blogger Chris Campbell.

Chris believes that writers in all genres, fiction and non-fiction, can improve their work through the judicious use of literary devices...

* * *

While the fiction writer often uses literary devices to move his story along, these writer's tricks are not limited to fiction. A non-fiction writer working on a blog or a feature article can utilize them as well to infuse a story with life and action.

Metaphor

Very often the best way to help people understand something or someone is to use metaphor. Metaphor involves the pairing and comparison of two things that are unrelated, but give the reader deep insight into the person or thing being described. For example, in "The Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, the metaphor "In exterior he resembled a butcher in a poor neighborhood" reveals that the manager's uncle is a rough character. He's used to living a hard life on the streets without directly saying as much. While a writer can literally tell the reader that he has these qualities, metaphor offers a richer and more visceral glimpse of the person.

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism relies on the principles of metaphor, but in a specific way. The definition used to pertain to giving human-like qualities to a deity or god, but now is largely used for any inanimate object. An author trying to explain conditions leading up to a hurricane might use a sentence like this to set the scene, "The unrelenting storm battered the travelers back with vicious sheets of rain as they prayed for the vengeful skies to clear." This tool provides a dimension of character to an otherwise mindless force or object.

Foreshadowing

The prophesies of the three witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" provide a good example of how a writer can use foreshadowing. Macbeth consults with the three several times throughout the play. However, their latter prophesies are ignored, because they don't seem to make sense. The quote "The power of man, for none of woman born/ Shall harm Macbeth" foreshadows MacDuff who was taken c-section, so he was technically not born of a woman. Using foreshadowing sets the story up for the readers, giving them an invisible framework for understanding not only the story, but more specifically where things are headed for a particular character.

Doppelganger

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde represent one of the most famous examples of the doppelganger in literary history. This device allows a writer to explore the two sides to a person's character and often has a supernatural element to it. Additionally, a doppelganger can also foretell of a tragedy that will befall a person; the doppelganger that appears to the dying person can be that person's future spirit self foretelling of the character's demise.

Archetypes

Archetypes represent universal character types, offering the writer the ability to quickly develop a character. For example, Romeo and Juliet not only symbolize tragic, eternal love. A feature writer who refers to Shakespeare's famous couple tells the reading audience that the people in the writer's own story are doomed lovers as well.

Conclusion

A writer - regardless of the genre - can create mood and characters more quickly and realistically if she uses a few literary devices. This is especially valuable to the writer who's limited by the constraints of a short piece of writing.

About the author: Chris Campbell is a blogger for GradeSaver, who really enjoys writing posts about reading, literature, and learning.

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Thank you to Chris for an interesting article. I agree that the careful use of literary devices such as those mentioned can lift a piece of writing from the ordinary to the memorable.

My one extra tip would be to strive to ensure that any such devices you use are original (one definition of a cliche is an over-used figure of speech) and apt. Forced metaphors that don't really work are a particular embarrassment!

If you have any comments or questions for Chris or myself, as always, please feel free to leave them below.

Photo Credit: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble by Jeff Hitchcock on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic Licence.

Interviewed by Ruth Barringham, my co-author on The Wealthy Writer

A little while back I was interviewed by Ruth Barringham of the websites Writeaholics and Cheriton House Publishing.

I'm pleased to say that the audio is now available as a podcast via Ruth's site, and you can play it from here or download it.

As you'll discover, our discussion was quite wide-ranging, covering everything from my working methods and how I market myself, to my attitude toward housework and cats in the office!

The whole interview is a shade over an hour, so if you want to sit and listen to it all the way through, I recommend getting a cup of tea and a slice of cake first :-)

As indicated in the post title, Ruth and I collaborated on The Wealthy Writer, a guide for writers on making money writing for online markets. The Wealthy Writer is published by my regular publishers (and blog sponsors) The WCCL Network. More information about the course can be found on this page of my website.

During our discussion we mentioned a number of other websites as well, so for convenience I've listed all the ones I could think of below. If there are any I've missed out, please let me know and I'll add them as well...

The Authors Licensing and Copyright Society (ALCS)

The UK PLR Office

Nick Daws' Homepage

The Nick Daws Daily

MyWritersCircle forum

Write Any Book in Under 28 Days

Kindle Kash

Think Yourself Lucky (audio course)

I do hope you enjoy listening to the interview - here's the link to it again. I certainly enjoyed talking to Ruth, and was pleased that she wanted to discuss so many aspects of my work.

If you have any comments or questions, as always, please feel free to leave them below.

Photo: My office desk, on one of my tidier days. Photo by yours truly.

My Top 12 Blog Posts of 2011 for Writers

As is becoming traditional in the blogosphere, I thought I'd start 2012 by looking back at the most popular posts on my blog last year.

If you missed any of these first time round - perhaps you've only discovered my blog recently - I hope you'll enjoy reading them now.

And if you've been following me for a while, I hope there are some posts here you'll enjoy revisiting. They are listed in no particular order...

My Top Ten Twitter Follows for Writers - More and more writers are joining the micro-blogging service Twitter, and a question I hear repeatedly from newcomers is, "What other Twitter users should I follow?" So in this post I shared ten of my top Twitter recommendations for writers. These are people whose tweets I especially look out for, as they regularly share useful, interesting and/or entertaining info and links. You might also like to check out Ten More Top Twitter Follows for Writers, which I posted later in the year.

The Best Writing Apps for Writers - This guest post by social media and smartphone specialist David Sumner listed some of the best smartphone apps for writers, which aim to ensure that lack of access to a computer need never present any obstacle to your creativity.

How Non-US Authors on Smashwords and Amazon Can Reclaim US Tax - This guest post by self-publishing author Ali Cooper was among the most popular posts of 2011, and still attracts a lot of traffic today. It's about an issue that concerns many non-US authors publishing their own work on Amazon and Smashwords (the popular e-book self-publishing platform). The issue is that these US companies automatically deduct tax at 30% from any income earned by non-US residents before forwarding it. This applies even though there are tax treaties with the US that are supposed to prevent this happening, as it means an author could potentially be taxed twice on the same income. In her in-depth article, Ali sets out the exact steps she has taken to recover tax deducted by Amazon and Smashwords on the sales of her literary mystery novel, The Girl on the Swing and other books. Don't forget to read the interesting comments that have been made too.

The WCCL Affiliate Program - Ten Reasons You Should Join Today - As you may know, The WCCL Network publish my writing courses, including The 10-Day E-Book and Write Any Book in Under 28 Days. They also sponsor my blog and the myWritersCircle forum. What you may not be aware of is that they also run a highly professional affiliate program. If you have a blog, a website or a newsletter, you can join the WCCL affiliate program and receive generous commissions for every sale generated via your links. In this post I set out ten reasons why I believe joining the WCCL affiliate program is a no-brainer for any writer with a presence on the web.

An Interview With Mike Essex, Author of Free Stuff Everyday - In this in-depth interview, UK author Mike Essex talked about how he came to write his first e-book 'Free Stuff Everyday' and how he published it on the Amazon Kindle. He also revealed how he earned his reputation as 'Freebieman' - and how he receives a steady stream of freebies from companies desperate for the feedback and publicity he can offer them. You can also click through to read my subsequent review of the print version of Free Stuff Everyday (which I edited on behalf of the publisher).

Just Retweet: A Great, Free Resource for Bloggers and Twitter-Users - JustRetweet is a new service I found out about this year and have adopted enthusiastically. If you're a blogger and/or a Twitter user, I strongly recommend you check it out. As the name indicates, JustRetweet aims to provide a simple method for members to get additional "retweets" of selected Twitter updates, thus helping them reach a much wider audience. You can also use it to get more Twitter followers, visitors to your blog, and so on.

Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers? - This was one of a number of excellent guest posts on my blog this year from author and self-publisher David Robinson. In this one, he addressed the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers, and spilled the beans on how he creates his own professional-looking covers. I also recommend his guest post How to Create a Video Book Trailer Using Windows Moviemaker, which reveals how David brings his low-cost DIY approach to the creation of attractive video trailers for his novels.

When It Pays to Ignore Copyright Theft - I deliberately courted controversy in this post, in which I suggested that occasionally it can pay authors to take a more relaxed approach to having their work plagiarized, quoting the example of a children's book which aroused the interest of publishers partly because it was being plagiarized so much! Check out the comments the post generated as well.

Novelrank: A Brilliant Resource for Tracking Your Amazon Sales - If you have any books or e-books for sale at Amazon, you should check out the excellent NovelRank website. It provides an easy method for keeping track of your title's sales rank and actual sales, almost in real time (the stats are updated hourly). NovelRank is an independent site set up in a public-spirited way by author and programmer Mario Lurig. Respect is due!

Do check out these posts, and feel free to add your own additional comments if you like. And watch out for more great posts from me (and my guest bloggers) on all aspects of writing in 2012.

Photo Credit: Corfu sunset, by the author.

Happy New Year 2012!

Just wanted to wish every reader of my blog a happy, creative and prosperous 2012!

I hope this is the year when you fulfill, or at least start to fulfill, all your writing ambitions.

I'm looking forward to sharing my writing tips, advice, resources, market information and more with you in the year ahead. So if you haven't already done so, be sure to subscribe via email or RSS to ensure that you never miss a post!

I'm also very happy to consider guest post proposals for 2012 - click here for guidelines.

Don't forget, too, to follow me on Twitter. I regularly use this to share details of useful websites and resources that I don't always have time to post about here.

And if you really want to stay connected, you can also sign up to follow me on my official Facebook Page and Google Plus.

2011 was, of course, the year e-readers made the leap to the mass market, with the Amazon Kindle leading the way. Many thousands more people received Kindles this Christmas and - together with existing Kindle owners such as myself - they are all now looking for good e-books to read on them.

This development has created a massive opportunity for writers, so I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that I have a course called Kindle Kash that will take you step by step through writing and publishing your own Kindle e-book. Check out this web page for my unique special offer for anyone buying Kindle Kash via my link.

Coming soon in 2012 is my next WCCL writers' guide, Blogging for Writers. This will reveal all the secrets to capitalizing on this hugely writer-friendly medium.

And for something a little bit different, don't forget to check out WCCL's new Think Yourself Lucky audio course, for which I wrote the script. Follow the advice in this to ensure that 2012 is your luckiest year ever!

Once again, a very happy new year to you, and I look forward to hearing about your writing successes in the months ahead.

Photo Credit: "Happy New Year to You" by Beachcomer on the Bay - long way behind on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Generic Licence.

Happy New Year 2012!

Just wanted to wish every reader of my blog a happy, creative and prosperous 2012!

I hope this is the year when you fulfill, or at least start to fulfill, all your writing ambitions.

I'm looking forward to sharing my writing tips, advice, resources, market information and more with you in the year ahead. So if you haven't already done so, be sure to subscribe via email or RSS to ensure that you never miss a post!

I'm also very happy to consider guest post proposals for 2012 - click here for guidelines.

Don't forget, too, to follow me on Twitter. I regularly use this to share details of useful websites and resources that I don't always have time to post about here.

And if you really want to stay connected, you can also sign up to follow me on my official Facebook Page and Google Plus.

2011 was, of course, the year e-readers made the leap to the mass market, with the Amazon Kindle leading the way. Many thousands more people received Kindles this Christmas and - together with existing Kindle owners such as myself - they are all now looking for good e-books to read on them.

This development has created a massive opportunity for writers, so I wanted to take this opportunity to remind you that I have a course called Kindle Kash that will take you step by step through writing and publishing your own Kindle e-book. Check out this web page for my unique special offer for anyone buying Kindle Kash via my link.

Coming soon in 2012 is my next WCCL writers' guide, Blogging for Writers. This will reveal all the secrets to capitalizing on this hugely writer-friendly medium.

And for something a little bit different, don't forget to check out WCCL's new Think Yourself Lucky audio course, for which I wrote the script. Follow the advice in this to ensure that 2012 is your luckiest year ever!

Once again, a very happy new year to you, and I look forward to hearing about your writing successes in the months ahead.

Photo Credit: "Happy New Year to You" by Beachcomer on the Bay - long way behind on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Generic Licence.

JustRetweet: A Great, Free Traffic-Building Resource for Bloggers and Twitter Users

JustRetweet is a new service I found out about recently and have adopted enthusiastically. If you're a blogger and/or a Twitter user, I strongly recommend you check it out.

As the name indicates, JustRetweet aims to provide a simple method for members to get additional "retweets" of selected Twitter updates, thus helping them reach a much wider audience.

The way it does this is ingenious. You get a certain number of "credits" for joining up, and can get more by retweeting other people's updates. You can also buy credits if you want, although there is certainly no need (or obligation) to do so.

You can then get your own updates retweeted by listing them on the website, along with the number of credits you are willing to provide for each retweet. You can also set the minimum number of followers a member must have to qualify for your offer. In addition, you can offer credits for people to visit your blog or website, and/or to follow you on Twitter.

You can also in theory enter your blog's RSS feed, so all your blog posts are automatically listed for retweeting. I say "in theory" because this didn't work for me, as for some reason JustRetweet won't validate this blog's RSS feed. However, it seems to me you may be better off listing posts you want retweeted individually anyway, as you can then pick how many credits you want to allocate to each one.

JustRetweet is the creation of blogger Valentine Belonwu, and it is supported by a number of high-profile bloggers, including Gail Gardner, Ana Hoffman, Ms Ileane and Sharon Hurley Hall. Ms Ileane (who runs the excellent Basic Blog Tips website), has also produced a useful introductory video showing how JustRetweet works. I've embedded this below...

As ever, if you're receiving this blog post by email or RSS, you may need to visit my blog to watch the video.

JustRetweet is a hugely promising service and deserves support, so please do take a look at the site at least. And if you have any comments or questions, as ever, please feel free to post them below.

Disclosure: If you join JustRetweet via my one of my links in this post, I will get an extra 25 credits. That's not exactly a fortune - it might be enough to get one of my blog posts retweeted once - but it does demonstrate yet another way you can earn credits on the site.

JustRetweet: A Great, Free Traffic-Building Resource for Bloggers and Twitter Users

JustRetweet is a new service I found out about recently and have adopted enthusiastically. If you're a blogger and/or a Twitter user, I strongly recommend you check it out.

As the name indicates, JustRetweet aims to provide a simple method for members to get additional "retweets" of selected Twitter updates, thus helping them reach a much wider audience.

The way it does this is ingenious. You get a certain number of "credits" for joining up, and can get more by retweeting other people's updates. You can also buy credits if you want, although there is certainly no need (or obligation) to do so.

You can then get your own updates retweeted by listing them on the website, along with the number of credits you are willing to provide for each retweet. You can also set the minimum number of followers a member must have to qualify for your offer. In addition, you can offer credits for people to visit your blog or website, and/or to follow you on Twitter.

You can also in theory enter your blog's RSS feed, so all your blog posts are automatically listed for retweeting. I say "in theory" because this didn't work for me, as for some reason JustRetweet won't validate this blog's RSS feed. However, it seems to me you may be better off listing posts you want retweeted individually anyway, as you can then pick how many credits you want to allocate to each one.

JustRetweet is the creation of blogger Valentine Belonwu, and it is supported by a number of high-profile bloggers, including Gail Gardner, Ana Hoffman, Ms Ileane and Sharon Hurley Hall. Ms Ileane (who runs the excellent Basic Blog Tips website), has also produced a useful introductory video showing how JustRetweet works. I've embedded this below...

As ever, if you're receiving this blog post by email or RSS, you may need to visit my blog to watch the video.

JustRetweet is a hugely promising service and deserves support, so please do take a look at the site at least. And if you have any comments or questions, as ever, please feel free to post them below.

Disclosure: If you join JustRetweet via my one of my links in this post, I will get an extra 25 credits. That's not exactly a fortune - it might be enough to get one of my blog posts retweeted once - but it does demonstrate yet another way you can earn credits on the site.

A Very Happy Christmas to all my Readers!

I'm getting ready for my seasonal break today, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Very Happy Christmas!

Even if you don't celebrate the religious festival, I hope you enjoy the festive period. Thank you for reading at least some of my blog posts this year, and contributing to some very interesting discussions.

As indicated above, I shan't be around much over the next week or so. If you have any time on your hands during the holiday period, though, my forum at www.mywriterscircle.com is always open for discussions about writing, or any subject you choose in The Coffee Shop.

And if Santa has brought you (or left you with) a little spare cash, don't forget that my blog sponsors, WCCL, offer a wide range of high-quality writing resources that can help you get the new year off to the best possible start. Visit their Write Street portal for a selection, or see this blog post in which I listed all of the WCCL writers' resources. Many of these are available as instant downloads, so you can get started immediately.

Once again, I do hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and a happy and creative new year. Thank you for being a valued reader of My Writing Blog.

Photo Credit: Christmas Decorations by Adrian Clark on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Licence.

A Very Happy Christmas to all my Readers!

I'm getting ready for my seasonal break today, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Very Happy Christmas!

Even if you don't celebrate the religious festival, I hope you enjoy the festive period. Thank you for reading at least some of my blog posts this year, and contributing to some very interesting discussions.

As indicated above, I shan't be around much over the next week or so. If you have any time on your hands during the holiday period, though, my forum at www.mywriterscircle.com is always open for discussions about writing, or any subject you choose in The Coffee Shop.

And if Santa has brought you (or left you with) a little spare cash, don't forget that my blog sponsors, WCCL, offer a wide range of high-quality writing resources that can help you get the new year off to the best possible start. Visit their Write Street portal for a selection, or see this blog post in which I listed all of the WCCL writers' resources. Many of these are available as instant downloads, so you can get started immediately.

Once again, I do hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and a happy and creative new year. Thank you for being a valued reader of My Writing Blog.

Photo Credit: Christmas Decorations by Adrian Clark on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Licence.

Cover Story: Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers?

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post by MWB regular David Robinson.

David is a successful self-publishing author. In this post he addresses the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers.

* * *

Never judge a book by its cover. How old is that advice? How valid is it? The first point of contact we all have with many books is the cover, and getting it right can be a struggle.

As usual there is plenty of advice out there, and it usually runs like this:

• Ensure your cover reflects a scene from the book.
• Have your cover professionally prepared.
• Don't use cheap and tacky images manipulated on Photoshop.

I checked the Kindle bestsellers. With a few exceptions, the covers do NOT reflect a scene from the book. They may reflect the THEME, even the TITLE, but they do not indicate a single scene. In many instances, the covers are abstract.

This problem is perhaps less critical when it comes to selling non-fiction. Nick's book Start Your Own Home-based Business has a large question mark in the centre of the cover which, on closer inspection, looks like the interior of a house. It's attractive without being specific, and for me, that's what a cover should aim for. My own non-fiction title, E-book Formatting & Publishing on the Kindle, shows a screen shot of a Word document.

Can you apply this kind of abstract simplicity to novels? You can, and most authors/publishers do.

The cover of the first title in my Sanford Third Age Club (STAC) Investigates series, A Death at the Seaside, shows a seaside scene. It suggests a traditional British seaside summer holiday. The title does the rest. It does not relate to any particular scene from the novel, and it doesn't even relate to murder.

This image (along with all my covers) also broke the first two "rules". It was not professionally prepared, and it was done on Photoshop.

The background image from A Death at the Seaside was taken from a rooftop cafeteria in Bridlington using a Sony a200 DSLR camera and a 200mm lens. The original was manipulated on Photoshop to enrich the colours, and the shadow edges were added as a trademark of the Sanford Third Age Club Investigates series. Does it work? A Death at the Seaside is my bestseller.

Here's another example, from a series of sci-fi novels I'm planning for next year.

This, too, was prepared on Photoshop and it spells out exactly what the novel is: a sci-fi adventure. But how was it put together?

The background is a starfield which I downloaded from the web. I installed a lens flare on it, which I then altered to appear as the distant, yellow sun. The planet is an image of Uranus which I also downloaded from the web, and then manipulated to turn it emerald green and darken most of the disc. The asteroid landscape, which doesn't show up too well in such this small example, is a photograph I took when visiting the Mt Teide National Park, on Tenerife in the Canary Islands (below). The area is known for its almost lunar appearance.

I clipped this landscape from this picture, eliminating the sky, pasted it into place, and adjusted the lighting.

Even without titles, a potential reader looking at this thinks "sci-fi", and acts accordingly. Sci-fi lovers will look closer, sci-fi non-lovers will move on.

Cover artists will shout, "I could have done better," and they're probably right, but as an independent writer/publisher, I have economic considerations to take into account.

I checked out a number of artists, and their prices ranged from $100 to $1000. I'm not criticising those figures. Artists place a value on their time and skill and I would not question them, but I make, on average, $1 per title sold (as little 30ȼ on the cheaper titles, as much as $2 on the more expensive ones). Even at the lower end of the price list I would have to sell 100 copies just to break even. And that doesn't take account of editing costs, which I'm already paying out.

Realistically, to break even, I'd need to sell 200-300 copies if I used a bottom-end artist. At the top end, I'll have to sell 2000+ copies, simply to break even.

I sell books. My titles do fairly well, but nothing mega. Would I sell more with a professionally designed cover? Perhaps, but I don't see that increase catapulting me into the major league, and it just does not make economic sense.

Apologies to all you advisors. I believe you have a point, but for now I'll stick with my own imagination and Photoshop.

This will be my last guest appearance on this blog for 2011, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish Nick and all his readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.

Byline: David Robinson is an independent freelance writer and novelist with 15 titles available through the Kindle and Smashwords. Visit his website at http://www.dwrob.com.

* * *

Thank you to David for another excellent and inspiring guest post.

So have you created your own e-book cover, or do you think it's better to hire a professional? Please leave any comments or questions for David (or me) below.

Cover Story: Should Writers Create Their Own E-Book Covers?

Today I'm pleased to bring you another guest post by MWB regular David Robinson.

David is a successful self-publishing author. In this post he addresses the question of whether writers can - or should - create their own e-book covers.

* * *

Never judge a book by its cover. How old is that advice? How valid is it? The first point of contact we all have with many books is the cover, and getting it right can be a struggle.

As usual there is plenty of advice out there, and it usually runs like this:

• Ensure your cover reflects a scene from the book.
• Have your cover professionally prepared.
• Don't use cheap and tacky images manipulated on Photoshop.

I checked the Kindle bestsellers. With a few exceptions, the covers do NOT reflect a scene from the book. They may reflect the THEME, even the TITLE, but they do not indicate a single scene. In many instances, the covers are abstract.

This problem is perhaps less critical when it comes to selling non-fiction. Nick's book Start Your Own Home-based Business has a large question mark in the centre of the cover which, on closer inspection, looks like the interior of a house. It's attractive without being specific, and for me, that's what a cover should aim for. My own non-fiction title, E-book Formatting & Publishing on the Kindle, shows a screen shot of a Word document.

Can you apply this kind of abstract simplicity to novels? You can, and most authors/publishers do.

The cover of the first title in my Sanford Third Age Club (STAC) Investigates series, A Death at the Seaside, shows a seaside scene. It suggests a traditional British seaside summer holiday. The title does the rest. It does not relate to any particular scene from the novel, and it doesn't even relate to murder.

This image (along with all my covers) also broke the first two "rules". It was not professionally prepared, and it was done on Photoshop.

The background image from A Death at the Seaside was taken from a rooftop cafeteria in Bridlington using a Sony a200 DSLR camera and a 200mm lens. The original was manipulated on Photoshop to enrich the colours, and the shadow edges were added as a trademark of the Sanford Third Age Club Investigates series. Does it work? A Death at the Seaside is my bestseller.

Here's another example, from a series of sci-fi novels I'm planning for next year.

This, too, was prepared on Photoshop and it spells out exactly what the novel is: a sci-fi adventure. But how was it put together?

The background is a starfield which I downloaded from the web. I installed a lens flare on it, which I then altered to appear as the distant, yellow sun. The planet is an image of Uranus which I also downloaded from the web, and then manipulated to turn it emerald green and darken most of the disc. The asteroid landscape, which doesn't show up too well in such this small example, is a photograph I took when visiting the Mt Teide National Park, on Tenerife in the Canary Islands (below). The area is known for its almost lunar appearance.

I clipped this landscape from this picture, eliminating the sky, pasted it into place, and adjusted the lighting.

Even without titles, a potential reader looking at this thinks "sci-fi", and acts accordingly. Sci-fi lovers will look closer, sci-fi non-lovers will move on.

Cover artists will shout, "I could have done better," and they're probably right, but as an independent writer/publisher, I have economic considerations to take into account.

I checked out a number of artists, and their prices ranged from $100 to $1000. I'm not criticising those figures. Artists place a value on their time and skill and I would not question them, but I make, on average, $1 per title sold (as little 30ȼ on the cheaper titles, as much as $2 on the more expensive ones). Even at the lower end of the price list I would have to sell 100 copies just to break even. And that doesn't take account of editing costs, which I'm already paying out.

Realistically, to break even, I'd need to sell 200-300 copies if I used a bottom-end artist. At the top end, I'll have to sell 2000+ copies, simply to break even.

I sell books. My titles do fairly well, but nothing mega. Would I sell more with a professionally designed cover? Perhaps, but I don't see that increase catapulting me into the major league, and it just does not make economic sense.

Apologies to all you advisors. I believe you have a point, but for now I'll stick with my own imagination and Photoshop.

This will be my last guest appearance on this blog for 2011, so I would like to take this opportunity to wish Nick and all his readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.

Byline: David Robinson is an independent freelance writer and novelist with 15 titles available through the Kindle and Smashwords. Visit his website at http://www.dwrob.com.

* * *

Thank you to David for another excellent and inspiring guest post.

So have you created your own e-book cover, or do you think it's better to hire a professional? Please leave any comments or questions for David (or me) below.

How to Write an Easy-to-deliver Speech

Today I'm pleased to bring you a guest post on a subject I haven't covered on My Writing Blog before: speechwriting.

The article is by professional speechwriter and consultant David Meadvin, president of Washington, DC-based Inkwell Strategies.

* * *

We often hear from people who say that they always considered themselves to be good writers until they sat down to write a speech.

It's not that speechwriting is a dark or mysterious art; rather, writing words to be spoken rather than read is a skill that most people rarely have a chance to practice.

The fact is - words that sound great on paper often fall flat when delivered. As professional speechwriters, we're trained to write for the spoken word. Fortunately, though, many of the same tricks of the trade that we use every day can help you write a clear, effective speech - whether it's for a Fortune 500 CEO or a local PTA meeting.

This cheat sheet should help get you started...

Keep your words, sentences and paragraphs short

Read a professionally-written speech. Then read a newspaper article. The biggest difference you'll see is that the speech contains shorter words and simpler sentence structures. This doesn't mean a speech is dumbed-down; the challenge to a good speech is expressing big ideas with small words.

The same goes for paragraphs. Writers are often hesitant to break up a paragraph in the middle of a thought. That's why paragraphs in books and essays sometimes go on for half a page or even more. Try reading a half-page of solid text - it doesn't flow naturally. Build your speech's pacing and cadence into the text by breaking up your paragraphs. This will slow down the speaker and help the audience follow along. Paragraph breaks also give the speaker a chance to pause and make eye contact.

Ignore Grammar

Sticking to strict grammar rules can result in a speech that sounds overly stilted and formal. If starting an occasional sentence with a conjunction or using slang here or there allows the speaker to sound more natural, go with it. Write what sounds right and understandable to you - even if Microsoft Word underlines your words in green squiggly lines. However, avoid informal language and sentence structure just for the sake of folksiness. Ultimately, the language you use has to work for the individual speaker.

Don't be Afraid to Get Messy

Most professional speakers will start with a pristine printed draft, and then mark it up beyond recognition. Since the printed version of the speech will never be a public document, don't hesitate to add in your own notes on emphasis and pausing. Any given set of words can be read an infinite number of ways - it's up to you to make sure yours are delivered the best way possible. Just make sure the notes are legible at the podium - nothing is worse than a speaker struggling to understand his or her own text!

Write foe-NET-ick-lee

When a speaker has a difficult-to-pronounce name or term coming up in the speech, if you look closely, you can often see them tense up in anticipation. Just as nobody will ever see your scribbles in the margins, no-one will be the wiser if you spell these words out in your text.

Unlike most other forms of writing, speechwriting has very few formal rules. As long as the speaker sounds good, the speechwriter has done his or her job.

Here's the bottom line: KISS (Keep It Simple, Speechwriter).

Byline: Inkwell Strategies is a professional speechwriting, executive communications and message development firm based in Washington, DC. David Meadvin (pictured, right) is former chief speechwriter for the U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

* * *

Thank you to David for an interesting and eye-opening article. Although I don't write speeches myself (unless someone wants to hire me, of course!) I do sometimes write audio scripts (e.g. for Think Yourself Lucky) and the same general principles apply here, I think.

If you have any comments or questions for David, as always, please feel free to leave them below.

Main photo by Joshua Davis Photography on Flickr. Reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution-ShareAlike Licence. Photo of David Meadvin provided by the author himself.