If You Give a Girl a Pen... » Networking

Social Networking for Writers

Marybeth — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:32:12 +0000

I recently decided to make the most insane decision ever.

I gave up Twitter and Facebook for Lent.

*taking a deep breath and wiping sweat from my brow*

When I told my husband he had an interesting reaction. He said, “Aren’t you just going to be hurting your platform by doing that instead of helping?”

To which I said, “I don’t think so. I’ll still be blogging.”

Bu then I sat back and thought about all the tweeting I do with agents and other authors and began to wonder, am I hurting myself more than helping?

Well regardless the choice has been made and I intend to stick with it.

Do you think taking a break from social networking would hinder your career as a writer? Would you be able to give it up for a full 40 days and 40 nights?

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Marybeth is an aspiring novelist currently working on her second novel. For more information visit her website www.marybethsmith.com. She also has a blog Desperately Searching for my Inner Mary Poppins where you can keep up on her moments as mother, wife and writer..

ALWAYS ON

Sarah — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:00:18 +0000

This post was written for small business owners and sales personnel, so why is it published on a writing website? Because that’s exactly what we need to be in order to sale ourselves to an agent, publisher, and ultimately to the public at large. Take what you can.

Thank you, Diane, for sharing your knowledge with us.

Always On

Written by Diane Helbig

Sales Advice

As a small business owner or salesperson you are always on. You are always presenting, marketing, selling and producing. Failure to acknowledge this will prevent you from being as successful as you could be. I dare say it can actually do harm to your business.

Let’s break it down and take a look at each area.

1. Presenting
No matter where you go or who you connect with, you are always a representation of your business. How you speak, what you say, and how you conduct yourself telegraphs volumes about your business to others.

Consider how you want others to view your business before you go out into the world. The walls really do have eyes and people really do pay attention. Don’t think for a minute that you can share dirty laundry or gossip with the people you interact with. Well, actually you can do it; it just isn’t a good idea. You’ll leave them wondering what you say about them when they aren’t around.

If you have a difficult client, fire them. Don’t complain about it to others. You are a professional. Handle it!

2. Marketing and Selling
These two go together and are sometimes hard to separate. Marketing and selling are information giving activities. However you share information about your product or service, you are marketing and selling. Keep that in mind as you go about your daily activities.

Let’s talk for a minute about business cards. They are a marvelous, inexpensive marketing tool when used properly.

Today I was meeting with a client at a local coffee shop. A man walked in who she knew and they started talking about work. As he talked about his shop my client mentioned how she refers people to those kinds of stores often and asked him for his business card.
He didn’t have any on him. My client commented that I would tell him he should always have his cards on him. SHE learns well! Anyway, his comment was that cards just end up in the circular file.

This man is operating under some common myths. Myths I’d like to dispel here.

The first myth:
The 10 to 15 cents you pay for the card is worth more than the potential business you are missing by not having them on hand. Business cards have value because they take you with the person you give it to. They are reminders. And if you’ve got them, use them. What good are they doing you in the box on your desk?

The second myth:
When you have business cards you are supposed to hand them out to everyone you meet or run into. Not so. You carry your cards with you so that when someone ASKS for it you can give it to them. This eliminates the possibility of the recipient throwing away the card. They want to have it!

Consider the story above. My client wanted the man’s card so she could refer him to other people. There’s nothing better in sales than a warm referral. She asked for them because she wanted to use them. She wasn’t being polite. She wasn’t going to throw them away.

The man in this story doesn’t see the real value of having business cards. He isn’t using them as the marketing tool they are meant to be. I can say the same thing for sale sheets, brochures, slicks. Any marketing material you have is only as good as how you use it.

The last marketing topic I’d like to touch on here is website usage. So many businesses either don’t have a website or don’t have their email attached to it. Your website is one of your most valuable marketing tools. It’s on 24-7-365. You can drive people to it. You can highlight any and every thing about your business. When your email address is attached to it people are reminded of your company every time they send you an email – or get one from you.

Too many small business owners have their email address at Yahoo!, gmail, hotmail, or aol. The message they are conveying is that they really aren’t serious business people. It’s unprofessional and can be damaging to your reputation and success.

3. Producing
The most interesting thing about producing is that it plays an integral role in marketing and selling. After all, how well you produce tells others whether they should buy what you’re selling. Producing is a sales tool.

No matter who your clients are, and no matter what they are paying you, you must produce to your utmost ability all the time.

If you decide to do some pro bono work, or discount your rates for a friend, it doesn’t mean you can discount the product or service that you deliver. When you make the choice to discount your rates, you are saying that you plan on producing at the same top level for less money. YOUR CHOICE!

Here’s an example:
A business consultant decides to offer his services to his friend at a discount. Unfortunately, he provides that friend, who is now a client, less than his usual level of consulting. He doesn’t follow up. He doesn’t set the same meetings he would set with a client paying full price.

His friend/client is left feeling underserved. That same friend has been referring this person because they are friends and she believes in him. So he HAS been gaining more than payment from his friend. He isn’t, however, providing a high level of service to his friend. The result is that his friend, who isn’t receiving what she expected from the consultant, is unhappy. She’s feeling that she is spending money without receiving the service. And she’s feeling that her friend is taking advantage of her. Well, in reality, he is.

You see it was the consultant’s decision to discount his prices. If he had planned on providing lesser services he should have told his friend so she could have made an informed decision.

The lesson here is this: Always provide outstanding service. Under-promise and over-deliver. Don’t discount your prices if you aren’t prepared to provide outstanding service.

Remember, you are always on. People are always drawing conclusions about your product or service based on your behavior. So, make the decision that you are in business to stay; to succeed. Make the decision that you are going to present yourself and your business in the best possible light. Don’t let YOUR behavior negatively impact your business.

Diane earned a BS in Social Science from Michigan State University and received her coaching certification from The Coach Training Alliance.

As a certified, professional coach and president of Seize This Day Coaching, Diane works with people starting their own business, salespeople who need and want to improve their skills, and business owners who want to master challenges and realize greater success. She is also co-founder of Seize True Success, a coaching practice dedicated to helping franchisees grow and prosper.

Diane helps businesses and organizations operate more constructively and profitably. She evaluates, encourages, and guides her clients. Working with as few as one person to as many as 100+, Diane creates an environment that is cooperative and interactive.

Coupled with her business acumen are strong intuitive skills and a genuine desire to help other people realize their potential.

Diane is a COSE Mindspring editor and writer for www.examiner.com. She is also a member of the Top Sales Experts panel at www.topsalesexperts.com. Diane is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms.
To learn more about her coaching practices please visit www.seizethisdaycoaching.com or www.seizetruesuccess.com

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Sarah is writer looking for an agent. She is currently working on novel # 4, editing novels 2 and 3, and querying novel # 1. For more insight to her work, visit: http://legendoftheprotectors.wordpress.com/ or http://legendoftheprotectors.blogspot.com/

My 10 Commandments to Writing Success

Sarah — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:27:07 +0000

My 10 Commandments to Writing Success: A No-Fail Approach/Part 2

By Michael P. Geffner

1) Don’t forget that networking is just as important as your talent and computer. It’s a must-have tool in your writing existence. You need to seek out contacts, preferably the power brokers at the top of the masthead or high-level editors, and cultivate them as “allies.” If you ignore this aspect of the business, believe me, you’ll suffer the consequences. I hear all the time from writers, “But I don’t like to mingle. I’m too shy. I’m not a good talker.” My response is matter-of-fact: “This is the way the game is played. If you don’t want to play, don’t expect to win.” Which means: Don’t expect editors to come to you. They won’t. Like Mohammed, you need to go to the mountain. I don’t care how much talent you think you have. It’s not enough to “make your career” all by itself. And remember: If you’re not cultivating contacts, some other writer out there is.

2) Force yourself to work under deadline pressure. Deadlines are what separate the professional from the hobbyist. Pros can’t wait for inspiration, or an act from God, to propel their creativity. They write because they have to, because someone on the other end is waiting for their work. They write whether rain, sleet, or snow, and all hours of the day and night. I’ve tortured myself to hit deadlines over the years, from five-minute ones to monthlies. That’s the nature of the beast. It’s where the tough gets tougher. So, either get assigned to something with a due date or create an artificial one. If nothing else, it’s good practice to see how well you function in such a situation. You may actually find that you’re not cut out to write professionally, that in reality you’re merely a dabbler. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just good to know where you stand.

3) Build a portfolio before you start hitting the major newspapers/magazines/

publishers. Mind you, I’m not even remotely suggesting that you work for free. I’m really not. In fact, I insist on writers ALWAYS getting paid at least something for their hard work. What I am saying is this: You can’t expect to be published in the New York Times or sell a book for a $400,000 advance or get a major assignment from Sports Illustrated or People Magazine with little or no experience. You must pay your dues, like any other profession. You won’t go from singing in the shower to headlining in Vegas. That’s not realistic and you’ll be hitting your head against a brick wall if you try. Instead, moving up the publishing ladder a step at a time, for more and more money, you should get at least 5-8 clips together, sizeable ones that show off your writing ability, before considering the “big boys.” Begin with local papers or small magazines or trade publications. Make your “bones” there, where the competition isn’t too stiff and where you’ll have the freedom—and opportunities—to develop your own voice. And consider each story you write an audition for something better and higher paying. In other words, write the heck out of it. Make it brilliant!

4) Read something every day. Magazines, newspapers, books. But try to be choosy. Read things written by great writers. And don’t be a passive reader, be an active one: analyze what the writer is doing, what the writer does to achieve a certain effect, what the writer does with plot, characters, dialogue, action, exposition, etc. Read, read, and read. The theory: Whatever goes into your brain is likely, in time, to find its way out. It’s called “filling your cup.” By mere osmosis, you’ll absorb the craft without even knowing it. Great writing will be in you, dying to get back out.

5) Write something every day. No matter what. Forget that you’re tired or don’t feel like it. You’re supposedly a writer. So write. Don’t be a pretender. And don’t even think about that dreaded of all things creative: writer’s block. If you’re convinced you have writer’s block, just write about it. Write about why you think you’re blocked. Trust me, this’ll snap you out of it in a hurry. Remember, all writers, from Tolstoy to Hemingway to Stephen King, have written badly before they wrote well.

6) Make friends with other artists, especially with happy, positive, and successful ones. It’ll inspire you to be around other wonderfully creative people and to be able to share ideas back and forth. Afterwards, your energy will fly off the chart.

7) Make sure you spell correctly and are grammatical in your dealings with editors. I can’t tell you how many letters/notes/e-mails I get from “writers” with grossly ungrammatical sentences and a slew of misspellings. I cringe. It turns me off immediately—as I’m sure it will with editors. These are the tools of your craft. Learn how to use them—or else. Buy a grammar/spelling book, for God’s sake. Get a good “spell/grammar check” program. There’s no excuse for sloppy English. One misstep will likely sink you with an editor you’re trying to sell a story to.

Know as much as you can about the editor and the publication/publishing house before firing off a proposal. The more you know, the more you can “target” your approach. It’ll likely also give you a step up on the competition, since most writers don’t do this extra homework (at least, they didn’t until they read it here). A great example of someone going that extra yard for success is the great golfer Jack Nicklaus. Before playing in tournaments, The Golden Bear would arrive in town a few days early just to scout out the course. Taking a golf cart, he’d ride around jotting down in a small notebook observations and ideas on how to play certain holes. No wonder he won more major tournaments than anyone else did. One time, playing in the Masters, another golfer noticed that Nicklaus look decidedly perplexed. “What’s wrong, Jack?” To which Nicklaus responded, “There’s supposed to be a telephone pole there.” The pole had been removed a day earlier. Jack knew it was there!

9) Find a mentor. Someone who’s a successful writer who can teach you the ropes and keep you from making the same mistakes he/she did. A tour guide, in a way, who can lead you down this dark, mysterious tunnel called the writing business. It’ll not only save you a ton of time reaching your goals as a writer but will also keep you from climbing the wall with frustration. A mentor can be your answer man (or woman) on all problems.

10) Stay on the case. Don’t be a lazy slug even for a moment. Be relentless in your writing and your search for work. Do everything to improve yourself as a writer and never stop sending letters and making phone calls to editors. Aggressiveness, without being annoyingly so, is the key. That is, don’t stalk your editors. You’ll force them to run for the hills and never look back! Just show editors that you want it. They’ll likely be swept up in your passion, and may ultimately even admire you. Bottomline, fight for your writing dreams with everything you have and never let go!

You can find Michael at http://mikeswritingworkshop.blogspot.com/

You may also follow him on Twitter http://twitter.com/MikeGeffner

Michael Geffner

New York, United States Writer/Journalist/Columnist. Awarded for outstanding column and feature writing by APSE (Associated Press Sports Editors) 2005, 2006; won New York Publishers Association’s contest for Distinguished Sports Writing, 2007; included seven times in annual Best American Sports Writing anthology; voted Best Sportswriter in New York City by New York Press, 1990; won first place for profile writing by the Society of Professional Journalists (NJ), 2000; interviewed former President Nixon (twice, about baseball), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (at his home atop a hill in Beverly Hills), Dennis Hopper (during a round of golf in Simi Valley), Forest Whitaker (via cell phones while he was driving around Los Angeles), Derek Jeter (by his Yankee locker); written for USA Today, The Associated Press, Details, The Sporting News, Cigar Aficionado, Texas Monthly, Page Six Magazine, FHM, The Writer, and The Village Voice.

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Writing and Networking…

Jamie — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:00:00 +0000

So, I thought for a long time about what my niche in this little blog should be, and I think I have decided. I am the queen of all this social media stuff, and I think I will start with a series on how to get your name out there. It’s one thing to write a book, but it’s another to find someone to read it, and the bigger audience you start with, the better off you are!

Over the next few weeks, I will teach you how to start a blog, work a facebook account, set up a linked in account, twitter, and much more. I hope that I can help you find your audience! I promise together we will untangle this crazy web!

For now your assignment is is actually more to help me than you! I need to know what you WANT to know how to use! Are you scared of facebook? Do you think myspace is just for hooking up? Do you think twittering is something that should be done in the privacy of your own home?

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