Writing and Publishing News

How do you leave your writing behind when you’re traveling? There’s a lot going on in a writer’s office and a lot of loose ends to tie up when you leave for a few days. But how many of you leave your work behind when you travel—or do you take it with you?

I’ve been known to work on books and articles while traveling—even before the computer came into being. Still, pad and pen in hand, I will jot down impressions, thoughts and concrete article/blog ideas. I will write reminders to myself of things I need to do when I return. I will come up with ideas I’ll want to flesh out and discuss with colleagues, clients or the SPAWN board or that I want to write about.

I know writers who read books to review while traveling—my own books have gone on many an exotic and mundane trip while being studied or read for review.

Now, with the travel-size computer, it is easy to tame the email lion. I mean, who wants to face the enormous amount of email most of us get in a day after a week or even three days away? It would take a lot of time to sort it all and address the legitimate emails.

Many of my trips involve work, as I travel to speak a lot, which is what I’m doing this week. I’ll be speaking to a writers’ group near Sacramento Saturday on freelance writing. While traveling, I’ll also be working on presentations for the upcoming Ojai Writer’s Conference in June. I’m presenting a workshop on writing a book proposal and I’m the keynote speaker for the luncheon. The organizer wants me to talk about the ABC’s of self-publishing.

I am bringing a couple of books to read that don’t relate to writing. But I’m sure that I’ll manage to make them about writing. I’ll come across a sentence style that I’ll want to discuss in this blog, a phrase that will generate some ideas for a client’s project, a concept that could be expanded and related to something I’m working on, etc.

Certainly, I’ll bring home a lot of new perspectives from my interaction with the writers group. Sometimes these encounters result in new articles or complete books.

I’d say it is impossible for a writer to get away from her work altogether. An astute writer sees opportunities and ideas everywhere and an enterprising writer puts the promising ones into practice.

While I’m away, how about ordering my book, Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon and most other online and downtown bookstores. In fact, if you purchased your copy of Publish Your Book or Promote Your Book in a bookstore, I’d love to hear where it was. Leave a comment here or email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com

I’m preparing for a presentation Saturday outside of Sacramento. I’ll be speaking to a group of writers on freelance writing. One thing I’ll be sharing with them is how to come up with article and story ideas.

When I was making my living by writing articles for a variety of magazines, I was often asked, “How do you come up with all of those ideas?”

I thought you might be interested in what I recommend to other writers:
• Write about what you know. Bring into play your skills, insights, hobbies, talents, special interests.

• Write about things you want to know. Maybe you’d like to learn more about bee-keeping, you’re curious about raising llamas and alpacas or you would like to know something about hang gliding. A good way to learn about something is to write about it.

• Share your experiences. In article form, they may serve to entertain, help or teach others while making you a little spending money.

• Relate the experiences of others. Tap into the life adventures of people you know and hear about.

• Look everywhere for article ideas—the supermarket, the Little League ball field, the beauty salon, a field of flowers and birds, the local pier, etc.

• Stop, look and listen. In other words, eavesdrop.

• Keep up with the news. If you have the right mindset and are clever, you’ll get more ideas for stories than you’ll use in a lifetime.

• Use the Internet. When you stumble upon an interesting site, read an email with a particularly interesting insight, etc., consider working them into articles or stories.

• Write from the heart. What are you passionate about?

• Recycle your ideas. Once you write a good piece and make the sale, don’t stop there. Rewrite it from a different angle for a different magazine. Become skilled at recycling your article ideas and you’ll make more money with less effort.

For additional information on article writing for profit and for book promotion, order my booklet, A Writer’s Guide to Magazine Articles. It’s $6.50. http://www.matilijapress.com

Do you have your own publication log? Sure, you can find magazine databases all over the Internet, but you don’t write for all of those magazines, ezines and newsletters, do you? You pick and choose those that are appropriate for the articles/stories you write. That’s why I recommend that you keep your own publication log.

Whether you write articles or stories for money or your primary focus is promoting your book through article/story-writing, you’ve probably found specific magazines, ezines and websites that use the type of material you write—that have been relatively easy to work with, etc. Don’t lose contact with them. When you locate or write for a promising publication log the magazine title, editor’s name, contact info, type of articles/stories they publish and other pertinent information in your computer or handwritten log.

Spend a day or so seeking out appropriate publications and add them, as well. When you have submitted something, note in your log any particulars related to the transaction—“Long waits between responses.” “Prefers receiving material via snail mail.” “Uses 500-word pieces.”

Now look at the time you’ve saved yourself. When you next want to submit an article related to the theme of your book, in order to build on your credibility or simply to establish your platform as a freelance article/fiction writer, you can take a quick look in your log to locate the right publication.

I keep and maintain a log of writing-related publications. It’s a really effortless task now to locate the best outlet for a particular piece I’ve written. Sometimes I pick the publication and write the article for them. This log certainly makes life easier for me. And I recommend that you establish one pertinent to the types of articles/fiction you write.

But don’t get too comfortable with your log. Always be on the lookout for new and obscure markets for your work. Continually add new ones. And don’t forget to update the old ones from time to time. Things change in editorial offices and you want to be the first to know so you are always addressing the right editor, suggesting the most pertinent topics, etc.

Do you take the opportunity to network with other writers when you can? Are you aware of the benefits of networking for writers?

I spend a lot of time with writers who are at all stages of their craft or their profession and I never walk away from an encounter without having learned something I can use in my own writing/publishing business.

This week, I’m organizing a networking opportunity for SPAWN members. I’ve invited members of SPAWN who live locally to be SPAWN’s guests at a Book Tea to be held in conjunction with the 2nd annual Ojai Writers Conference June 23 in Ojai, CA. So far, we have one table for 6 filled. I’m hoping we can fill another one with SPAWN members who are eager to meet other authors, editors, publishers, freelance writers and artists.

What an opportunity to learn more about SPAWN and the leaders in this organization, to learn about innovative book marketing ideas, to meet someone you could collaborate with, to enjoy being with others who understand your passion for writing and your challenges as a writer.

SPAWN, by the way, is Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network. http://www.spawn.org

Do you accept the invitations for networking that your local writers groups provides or that your neighborhood library or community college sets up? Do you sign up for or offer to volunteer at writers conferences or book festivals? Do you attend book signings for local authors or those who are signing or speaking at venues during your travels? Do you join writers groups and/or organizations and then participate?

If so, then you know the benefits of hanging out with other writers. You’ve, most likely connected with those who could further your career, help you make a few sales or introduce you to someone who could. And, perhaps, you have helped others in return by warning them about a company whose ethics are below standard, or recommending an editor you like a lot, or telling them about a blog site that you find valuable, or sharing your list of book review sites, etc.

The next time you are presented with the opportunity to network with other freelance writers, authors or small publishers, etc., I suggest you seriously consider attending. And then use your best networking skills in order to get the most out of the experience.

Learn more about networking as well as writing, publishing and promoting your own book by reading my latest book: Publish Your Book, Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author. It’s at Amazon.com and other online and downtown bookstores. You can also order it here: http://www.matilijapress.com

I would love to hear some of your best networking-with-other-writers stories. I know one prolific writer, for example, who finally began following her passion after talking to writers at a local book festival.

Often, after reading a few chapters of a young adult fantasy, an adventure novel or a self-help book, for example, I will ask the writer this question, “Do you read what you write?” I’m rather stunned when I hear them say, “No.”

Sometimes they say, “Yes,” but I can tell that, if they do, they aren’t learning much from the experience.

Their writing shows that they don’t have a handle on the nonfiction how-to book, memoir or children’s book they are attempting to write. Along with a few editorial suggestions, I will often recommend that they go to their local library and bring home several books designed for their particular audience and start studying them.

I ask them to study the way dialog is handled, to pay attention to vocabulary (especially for children’s books), and to notice sentence structure, transitions, tone, flow and organization.

I didn’t think much about the importance of this activity at the time, but before I started my writing career, I read the magazines I wanted to write for—many issues. I was rather fascinated by the article—the various ways you could organize the material, the different types of articles you could write on the same topic, etc. I read a lot of articles and paid attention to what made an article work and what didn’t, what type of articles different magazines used and how to change one article to fit within another magazine’s requirements.

It seemed to pay off for me. The first article I wrote, I sold. And, when I approached the local newspaper publisher about writing a weekly column, he hired me based on the sample columns I presented to him.

Some people still think that writing is inspired. Sure, it can be. But if you are writing for publication, you also have to take your audience into consideration.

You’ve heard me say this before. You are probably tired of “reading” me harp on this topic. You notice that it comes out in a variety of blog posts focusing on a variety of different aspects of writing for publication. I say it, maybe, too often—identify and then write for your target audience.

And one excellent way to know you are writing what your audience wants in an enjoyable and/or organized, easy-to-follow way, is to study what they read.

Now here’s your assignment for the weekend: Go to your home library and pick out three books like the one you are writing. Spend at least an hour with each of the books. If you happen to pick up one of the many books that are being published today that is poorly written and full of errors, put it back. I want you to study well-written, well-received books in your genre or topic. Write down the similarities you notice between the books. Check out the differences between these books and the one you are writing. Does your manuscript have the qualities you notice in the books you are reviewing? Is there something lacking?

Maybe there is a technique that you haven’t mastered yet—how to put more emotion and interest into your story through showing as opposed to telling, for example. Read books and articles on this topic. Sign up for an online class or a workshop at an upcoming conference in order to get up to speed in this area.

After you’ve done this task in earnest, report back to me via the comments link at this blogsite. I’d enjoy hearing what you learned in this process. And I think you will be ecstatic when you return to your manuscript and see how masterfully you have improved it.