Have you noticed the little button just to the right toward the end of each of my blog entries? It says “Subscribe To My Feed.” How many of you have subscribed? Do you even know what this means? Well, RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. And when you subscribe at my blog site, updated information from this blog is automatically downloaded to your computer.
As most of you who visit my blog know, I post a new entry almost every day. If you haven’t established a habit of visiting my publishing blog daily—as part of your morning email ritual, for example—this may be the solution. Your subscription to my Feed will bring you the updates rather than you having to remember to go to my blog site to get them.
I’d like to know if any of you are using this Feed and how it is working out for you.
I’d also like to dialog with you about the economy and how this downturn is affecting you as a writer, author or hopeful writer/author. Is it affecting your writing or book promotion? In what way? And here’s the big question, what are you doing about it? What changes are you making in the way that you work, in your expectations, in your short-term goals? Have you gone back to a paying job? Have you lost your paying job and are turning to writing? Are you having difficulty finding your niche in the world of freelance writing? Are having trouble collecting for the work you have done? Have you found a new way to make a few bucks within the writing realm?
What is your demeanor? Your mindset? Are you frightened out of your wits? Or are you secure in your abilities to always come out on top?
Anyone who has been in this business for any length of time has experienced difficult periods because of the economy or maybe other circumstances. If you become ill or otherwise become distracted and stop promoting your services or pitching your articles, for example, your income will suffer. You’ve probably learned this lesson a time or two during your career. And here it is facing you again. But the situation is even more dire.
There’s more competition for the work that you do, people are not as readily spending on services, they are putting off educational opportunities, magazines are not getting the advertising dollars and are either folding or they’re faltering when it comes to paying their contributors, publishers are receiving more projects and investing in fewer. It’s tough. It really is.
So what is your answer? How are you managing during this difficult period? I’d like to hear from you. PLFry620@yahoo.com.
In the meantime, if you need help jumpstarting your writing career, making the right moves that will entice a publisher, coming up with ideas for promoting your book, for example, check out my wide array of books for writers and authors at http://www.matilijapress.com
And if you want to escape for a moment from the reality of life and living and enter into a world of fur and whiskers, order Catscapades, Tales of Ordinary and Extraordinary Cats. It’s a sweet read. (Click on the picture of the cat, top row of books, far right.)
I have been subscribed to your feed for quite a while now. I enjoy reading your posts and have found a lot of valuable information through your blog. I plan on incorporating some of your posts into my weekly link roundups, just to give you a heads up! Thanks for the good work.