What’s your process?
I’ve had the opportunity over the last few days to discuss my writing process at length – specifically my process of writing for other people. I talked to interviewers, friends, clients and writers-to-be…
One of those times, the conversation was with a brilliant photographer named Randi Baird. I was asking her about her process of documentation through pictures for a presentation she’s giving. I listened to her talk and wrote this from our exchange:
I marinate in the ideas before I photograph for an article; then, I illustrate the author’s words. Working with chefs, the ingredients become the colors, tools, shapes, textures within an image. Documenting a family, the ingredients are the personalities, the ages, the setting, the history. In each case, we all benefit from collaboration, communication, the strengths of our individual visions…and their fusion.
After she read it, she said, “You’re really good!” And I said, “No you are…you said it!!!” True, I wordsmithed it. But it was her energy, personality, intention, words and phrasing that served as the ingredients for writing the piece.
Here’s my process:
1. Meet with my client in person or on the phone for an hour or two and ask them tons of questions. Making it easy, natural, conversational.
2. Listen to them talk about themselves, their business, industry, goals, mission, philosophy.
3. Hear the words and phrasing that they use and the way that they talk – inflections, emphasis, accent, colloquialisms, industry-isms.
4. Marinate in all of this…especially their personality, energy, essence, je ne sais quoi…
5. Take notes, audio or video record – whatever it takes.
6. Find out what information needs to be relayed and to what audience. I like to do this oftentimes in the form of questions. And I ask the client directly for an answer – let them share their expertise.
7. I answer the questions, solve problems, inform and illustrate in the copy I create.
8. When writing as a ghostwriter / marketing writer, it’s like being an actor in a play – I become the character, channel their voice…and deliver.
What’s your process?
Image credit: Chotda
Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, Julie Roads, marketing writer, Writing, writing process, Writing Roads | Comments (4)To throw or not to throw yourself under the bus, that is the question.
Yesterday, I went for an epic rollerblade. Eight miles, bright blue skies, forest all around me. And, ‘they’ (don’t know who they are, just know that I love them) had just come through to clear the path of debris – something they do on a monthly basis. So, I was cruisin’…to the point that I kind of stopped paying attention.
Around mile 4 I glided up a small hill and passed a guy walking – who just so happened to be beautiful – and I was busy being grateful for his smile and friendly ‘good morning’ when suddenly I realized that I had reached the top of the hill…and that it was the hill. The one with a treacherous and steep downhill on the other side.
I know this terrain well. My usual M.O. on this slope is to approach it at a snail’s pace, criss-cross in a horizontal fashion and get to its pine needle and dirt ‘gutter’ as soon as possible, where I then proceed to walk down the hill like the chicken that I am gracefully. But, alas, I wasn’t paying attention and I was going really fast. Really, really fast.
I had two choices:
- Go for it. Engage my core, tuck down, watch the pavement for rocks and sticks…and fly down the hill.
- Throw myself on the ground to immediately stop the madness.
I chose #2. In my defense, I did panic a little first. And then, I basically did my most unglamorous rendition of sliding into second base. I got a nasty raspberry with a side of road rash on my leg and a bruise on my tuchus, I gave myself tennis elbow somehow and this morning I woke up and felt like all of my bones were off-kilter – like someone hung my skeleton the wrong way on the hanger.
Anyway, I peeled myself off the pavement and started back to my car – lest you forget, I still had about 4 miles to go. This, not surprisingly, gave me plenty of time to over-analyze the hell out of my decision.
- Is this how I live my life?
- Am I so cynical that I assumed I was going down no matter what?
- Would I rather cause my own pain than let the world do it to me?
- Do I throw myself under the bus?
- Am I cutting myself off from opportunity?
- Do other people do this too?
And, of course, like the answer to all of my questions, there isn’t one. I’ve charged down ‘the hill’ at top speed more times than I can count – hair flying behind me and screaming, ‘WOOHOO!’ all the way down. But, like we’ve just seen, I’ve also hopped off the trail or taken my own dive, consequently not putting myself at risk – not only of failure, but also of wild success.
Sometimes flying down the hill gleans brilliant results, sometimes huge mistakes. Sometimes I can’t believe I dropped out and missed an opportunity, sometimes I praise my intuition and near escape.
There’s ’self-preservation’ and there’s ’self-sabotage’ – and there’s a marked difference and a place and time for each. One of the secrets of life is being able to tell the difference. Can you?
Image credit: The Rocketeer
Filed under How To | Tags: copywriting, ghostwriting, Julie Roads, life choices, marketing writer, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (5)Authentic trumps agreeable
I had the honor of facing Boston traffic in the rain yesterday with the one and only Leslie Fishlock, President/CEO of Genevate and Founder/Brilliantess of Geek Girls.
Because we are both huge geeks, we talked a lot of shop – and Leslie said a fantastic thing about blogging:
“I read so many blogs that I don’t agree with – but I’m always attracted to an authentic voice.”
If we all want blogs to continue to inform and educate, like the good ones do, then embracing Leslie’s sentiment is critical. After all, how can you learn new things or grow as a person if you only read items that you agree with?
Disagreement, differing options…they make the world go ’round. But there are two sides to this dialogue.
- The writer must be authentic, speaking from the heart. Their voice has to shine through and their reasons for their position must be clear.
- The reader must have an open mind, a natural curiosity and the desire to listen, digest, expand.
When respectful people read contrary views and have the blog-given ability to comment on them, the magic happens. Views are opened, discussions occur, common ground may be found. And people find less and less of a reason to fight, blame or -simply- stick to their side of the fence.
I’ll admit that my M.O. isn’t always to read posts I disagree with either completely or with an open-mind. But now I can see that I was the one missing out. I wasted an opportunity to learn, educate and communicate. This post is a shout out to readers and bloggers (many are one in the same) – write with passion, realness and respect. Read and respond with the same.
Turns out we don’t have to agree to get along, we just have to be real.
Image credit: photographer pandora
Dealing with hate online
What is going on? Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I’ve watched the Hate Meter rise. One of those times, it was disturbingly turned on me in reaction to a post I wrote, but the horror of it really supersedes the target. Hate is just nasty. There’s no way around it. And social media seems to breed its own brand, or maybe it’s the same old, same old – just wearing a new dress. A new dress getting soaked in a shit storm.
Why people hate
I’ve got to say it seems to boil down to these three things:
- Insecurity
- Fear
- Need for attention
Social media, for worse in this scenario, offers people a filter. They can and do behave in ways that they would probably never behave in real life. No one can see them, they don’t have to look into a person’s eyes and see their heart and soul. They can hide behind their computer screen armed with 26 letters and some exclamation marks.
How they hate
Social Media is so vast that it gives the haters quite the array of options:
- Social networking, such as Twitter. They can bring someone down swiftly by tweeting something nasty to their followers, pushing the retweet or carrying on in public (@reply) conversations.
- Video. This makes them seem bold, when really they’re hurling their hate at a camera, not an actual person.
- Blogs. Let me count the ways. They can write their own nasty post or leave horrid comments on someone else’s.
- Email. Start a hate campaign, make it juicy, add pictures and it will go viral.
- Forums. How fun to start a hate thread!
The Umbrella: What to do about it
In the face of social media hate, you have some choices to make:
- Fight back. Now this seems like a good idea at first, doesn’t it. ‘How dare s/he say that about me!’ Believe me, I understand that you’re raring to go. But, just like my older brothers who teased me relentlessly, this is what the hater wants. They’re baiting you. So…
- Silence is really an incredible option. Bite your tongue, dog’s chew toy, a towel. Walk away from your computer. Channel George Clooney and do not engage. (if you got that joke, you get a gold star)
- Block ‘em. You have the right to block people from your blog and your networks. You do not need to be harassed on your own ‘domain’ – so to speak. I’m not suggesting that you block or censor naysayers. Differing opinions are great and add a lot to the conversation. But hate and violence are not to be tolerated.
- Find an outlet. Friends, trusted colleagues, your mom. Rant to them. Let them love you and tell you it’s okay. Have them remind you of how wonderful you are and how batshit insane the hater is. If you can, invite them all to an email party – let the stream of love and fun ensue. The hater is left to hate alone in silence while you’re all having a lovefest.
- Depend on your peeps. Watch with glee as your readers go to the mattresses for you – defending, talking back, throwing themselves in front of you like the iron clad shields that they are.
- Rise above. Go do something that puts you back on track. Write a killer post. Retweet good people. Make a donation. Hang with your family. Don’t forget that you are better than this hater and their hateful stink. Hate can be like quicksand, don’t get pulled down into it. Don’t believe it, don’t invite it in.
- Be careful. If this hater is really scaring you or making serious threats, do not hesitate to take it directly to the police. Don’t forget to document and save all correspondence. Not only emails, but screen shots of tweets, forum posts, etc.
Don’t forget that the ‘world’ is watching. Oftentimes the hater is just making a fool out of their own sorry self. If you keep your wits about you and do the right thing, your social media value and reputation will only go up – and so will your self-preservation. Now, go on with your bad self…and make love, not war.
Image credit: Kayepants
Filed under How To, Social Media | Tags: email, Julie Roads, social media, social media ettiquette, social media hate, social networking, Twitter, Writing Roads | Comments (11)Un-Selfishing your Presence
When I was about 7 years old, we got my dad the best Christmas presents ever…three new Atari games: Frogger, Pitfall and Space Invaders. The brilliance of our gift was that we looked like great kids, my older brothers and I, but we weren’t at all because my dad didn’t play with Atari - we did. So, in effect, we bought the games for ourselves.
They weren’t really the best presents ever, they were the most selfish presence ever.
Cheesey as it may be, this little fable teaches us an important business lesson – and it’s simple. Whether you’re a company or a freelancer or a whatever you are, you have to do some marketing, right?
When you (and your copywriter) create your outreach message – make sure that you:
- Listen to your audience first.
- Find out what they want.
- Answer their questions.
- Solve their problems.
- …as opposed to yours.
- Because this isn’t about you.
If we’d listened to my dad, for example, we would’ve found out that he really wanted cheesey music a Loggins & Messina record (literally vinyl), a toy for his mid-life crisis Mazda RX7, Cardinal’s baseball tickets or a cigar…not Frogger. Not even close.
The result for us was lousy allowance rates, fewer trips to get ice cream and some eye rolling…what’s yours?
Image courtesy of sokabs
Filed under Critical Copywriting, How To, Marketing | Tags: copywriter, copywriting, Julie Roads, Marketing, marketing message, marketing writer, Writing Roads | Comments (2)Can you take a look at this for me?
I believe it was Ben Stiller in the 90’s romcom Reality Bites who coined the phrase ‘non-practicing Jew’ – I’m one of those too, and right now, I’m a ‘non-practicing yoga teacher’ as well. But just like my Judaism, the yoga teaching is still running through my veins. I find myself thinking like a yoga teacher – wanting to lead, make hands-on adjustments, practicing alongside my students, clients, whatever they may be.
My beautiful wife, Patti, however, is a ‘practicing yoga teacher’ and while she does teach traditional classes, her focus is on teaching privates only. Someone asked me why anyone would want a private yoga class. “Wouldn’t that be so weird,” she asked, “to have the teacher just sitting right in front of you, staring at you?”
Yes, that might be weird…it might not. Traditionally the teacher/student relationship was one-on-one with the teacher paying single pointed focus to the student, guiding them along their way. And it usually didn’t look like our yoga classes. When you work with someone in this way, you’re able to look at their body in their postures, talk about injuries or unique physical and mental limitations, etc.
One of my favorite exercises that I used to to with my students, was this (you can totally do this with me right now…):
- Stand up (somewhere with enough space that you can swing your arms and legs without hitting anything).
- Close your eyes.
- Shake your arms and your legs out (like you were trying to get water off of them after the shower – really spiders is a more appropriate example but then you’ll be freaked out about spiders crawling on you and won’t be able to concentrate – so pretend you shake water off, post-shower, ‘kay? Thanks.)
- Keep your eyes closed.
- Now come back to standing in stillness. If you practice yoga, come into the Mountain Pose. If you don’t practice yoga, bring your feet hip width apart, make them parallel to each other, arms down by your sides.
- Now, open your eyes.
Look down at your feet…most people, with their eyes closed, think their feet are parallel and hips distance apart – but the reality that many of you might find is that one or both of your feet is turned out or in (either a little or dramatically) and that your hips distance apart more like a foot or two apart.
And trust me, this is only the part that you can see. Chances are one shoulder is higher than the other, your head is pitched way forward and your right ear is curiously close to your right shoulder. In my case, and Patti always finds this hysterical, my body is rotated a good 15 degrees to the left from my waist up. But I, and you, think we are standing perfect straight, totally symetrical.
It’s fascinating, jarring really. And a fantastic lesson. When I have someone standing with me, they can guide my body into alignment – as often as needed, in whatever post I’m in – until my body releases the habitual holding patterns and learns the alligned way.
So my question is, why wouldn‘t you ask someone to look at all of your stuff? Business plans, new boyfriend, marketing strategies, new suit, tagline, dinner party menu, web copy, first home, logo…
A new set of eyes is likely to find the flaws. You know, when you’ve looked at something so many times, they just seem natural and right to you. I don’t know about you, but I love to be straightened out.
Image courtesy of northstander
Filed under How To, Myth or Reality, The Business | Tags: copyediting, copywriting, editing, Julie Roads, Marketing, marketing writing, web copy, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (8)The Big Flipowski
A week or so ago, on the Diane Rehm show, Barbara Bradley Hagerty talked about her new book, Fingerprints of God. It was a fascinating interview, but one point stuck out for me – and it wasn’t the focus of her book or the interview. They began talking about prayer and its power and the fact that many people believe so hardily and heartily in the power of prayer that if they go to church and pray their hearts out – and then get sick (as in terminally or chronically very sick) – they are left with a feeling that they didn’t pray hard enough. Because there understanding is that if they were doing it right, they would be okay. They take it on as their own fault.
How often do events happen that we, humans, take responsibility for, bear the burden for – when in fact it might not be ours at all?
There is a sweet philosophy floating around these days. It says that if you think positively and reach for good thoughts, Good will come to you. There’s a dangerous promise there, though, because we are left with the responsibility of thinking good enough thoughts. So, what happens when we think ‘good’ and get ’shit’? Did we do it wrong? I mean, who else could possibly be to blame? What if we just can’t think purely positively? We didn’t do it right, we didn’t do it enough. It’s our fault that we didn’t get what we wanted.
This used to be me. In fact, I started writing this post – from the sentence above this and up – last week and I was living every word of it. I was struggling and blaming myself about a lot of things…particularly the writing of my book which wasn’t going so well, compounded by the fact that the big-time, big-house editor had a chunk of it and was remaining silent.
And then I had this epiphany. A real one, if you can believe it. I was talking to this incredible woman (whole other long story) and I told her that I thought I was addicted to pain and suffering. I believed that I was gifted (no kidding) with the tortured artist’s gene of despair and angst.
She said, “I’ve never met anyone who’s addicted to pain and suffering. You aren’t really.”
“Oh,” but I said, “I really am. Even when things are going really well, I freak myself out and get all upset…” and then it started to hit me “…and I tell the people close to me…” holy crap, really? “…so that they’ll make me feel better…” wah huh? “…Oh my god. I. Want. To. Feel. Good. I like it. It’s been my M.O. all along.”
Life as I thought I knew it has ended. Officially. Armed with this knowledge, I’m incapable of making myself miserable.
I have proof:
Two days ago, I got an email from said big-time, big-house, Editor…she doesn’t like or want my book.
I cried, I was sad. I’m still human, after all…I think. I shared the news with some key friends & colleagues who were stunning in their responses. But I never even went near the pit of despair that would’ve typically beckoned me inside: I worried too much, I wasn’t inspired enough, I let negativity creep in…and that’s why this tragedy happened. I did it wrong. I deserve the shit, every splatter.
Um, yeah. Of course, you did it wrong, you doofus. But not the wanting it or positivity or ‘prayer’ – it just wasn’t right. The book will be better if I do this (more on that later too) – it’ll be more me. And maybe she isn’t my Editor. And…and…and…. Alas, this is a growth process, this writing thing, and it’s meant to be savored and explored. It’s delightful.
I woke up yesterday excited, inspired…I read the Editor’s email again and opportunity was all I could se for miles and miles. I owned my part, made decisions, felt good.
Today? Even better…woke up at 4am…had to start writing.
Why am I telling you this? At least one of you will find it inspirational to know that change – magnificent, profound change - is possible. And that it isn’t our fault when things don’t go as we’d hoped. We really do the best that we can. Sometimes, we feel good, sometimes we feel bad…sometimes it doesn’t matter.
I’m not down and I’m not out. It’s a flipping miracle.
Image courtesy of Jon Hanson
Filed under How To, Writing | Tags: inspiration, Julie Roads, reality, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (9)What’s on your list?
This morning, on my walk with the dogs, I looked up from my thoughts and saw green. No money, wasn’t falling from the sky – though how cool would that have been? – it was foliage. Leaves, trees, bursting huckleberry bushes – all green. See:
Apparently summer is upon us. (And apparently I’ve already had one too many margaritas – the trees are not growing on a slant here – I’m just a terrible, horrible photographer…but you get the point, right?)
Last summer, I never looked up and I never took a break. I virtually (pun intended) ignored the fact that I live on one of the most sought after U.S. summer destinations around.
I’m determined to make this year different. I’m even considering working from 6am-2pm, or maybe 8am-12pm + 6pm-10pm, every Wednesday and heading to the beach in those off hours. Can you imagine?
And there will be reading. Lots of it. I’m taking recommendations below for superb summer reading. And I’m offering my own list for you. You won’t find these in the ‘new releases’ section…these books were written and published years ago – and I still love them dearly. If you missed them…here’s your second chance:
- A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle. The writing in this book is so clear and warm and easy. The stories are hilarious. The food – OH! the food. It’s the best kind of memoir, it makes you feel like you were there too. After I read this book, I devoured every single thing that Mayle wrote. Get it here.
- The River Midnight, by Lilian Nattel. Old world, yiddish, mysticism, incredible character build-up. This book is magical, I encourage you to get lost in it.
- Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells. This book is NOT a ‘chick-flick’ – this book is hands down the most powerful Woman book I’ve ever read. If by some god-awful chance you missed it, run to the bookstore.
- The Patron Saint of Liars, by Ann Patchett. Everything Ann Patchett writes is phenomenal, but Patron Saint is my favorite. Unwed mothers (old-school style) with some harbinger twists. So good, sooo good.
- A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson. I hate to repeat myself, but here I go: Everything by Bill Bryson is phenomenal, but this one is my favorite. You will howl with laughter and never, ever want to go hiking again – but in a good way.
- Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. You’d be surprised by how many people haven’t read this book. I read it when I was 13 years old on a sailing trip. 45 foot boat with some of my best camp friends, island hopping on Lake Superior. The book was so thick that the binding broke, and as I finished pages they flew off into the lake. So don’t borrow mine, get your own.
Okay, your turn…what should we read this summer?
Filed under How To | Tags: best books, Julie Roads, reading, summer reading list, time management, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (10)What comes first, the blog or the book? An interview with Alisa Bowman.
I need to start by telling you that this post is seething with information. Really. Truly. I wouldn’t lie. It’s a bit long…but so worth it.
Do you know Alisa Bowman? (pronounced aleesa) If you do, you’re lucky. If you don’t, you’re about to get lucky – pun fairly intended.
Alisa is a writer extraordinaire. Her story and topic are bold (marriage and sex) – but her honesty and undeniable sweetness and realness make it all work. When I read her words, I feel like it’s just her and me doing some serious girl talk, pool side, with good drinks in hand. Besides the fact that she’s ghostwritten 6 bestsellers, Alisa is hardcore working her own gig right now – Project Happily Ever After - the blog and the book that several publishers are vying for at this very moment – she’s got it going on. But don’t listen to me…let’s listen to her.
Julie Roads: What came first, the idea for the book or the blog?
Alisa Bowman: They sort of evolved at the same time. As I was working on my marriage, I was sending very long and somewhat humorous emails to a friend, the very friend who convinced me to work on my marriage. One of these emails, for instance, was about my first bikini wax ever. The wax was called The Martini, and I got it because I am a Type A perfectionist who was about to have sex with her husband again after a 6 month long dry spell. I planned our second first time down to the very last detail–including the shape and size of my pubic region.
I sent her emails about all sorts of things: how we’d tried this thing called the “relaxed hug” and how it hadn’t exactly worked for us. I gave her all of the details about the Second First Time, even down to the fact that I finally figured out how to give my husband a good blow job. Seriously. I left nothing out. It was the first time in my life that I’d ever been so candid with anyone, but I felt so open with her. She was one of the only people who knew about my marital problems, and she was right there with me through every step of our marital improvement project. But she lives in Va. and I live in Pa., so we mostly communicated by email.
Anyway, she kept emailing back telling me that she laughed until she cried. She encouraged me to send my emails–as is–to Slate and Salon. I didn’t have the courage to do that just yet, so I started taking classes online. I first took a fiction class and dropped out about half way through when I realized I was basically writing erotica and I didn’t need the teacher’s help (not to mention the fact that she honestly did not know what to do with me). Then I took an essay writing class. The teacher was so encouraging that it gave me the courage to dream big.
So one day I was walking my dog and I started thinking about how I had my husband’s funeral completely planned out. I knew what brand of beer I would serve the mourners. I knew that waiters would be walking around with lamb on a stick. I wondered, “Do other people do this? Am I a freak?” And just like that, this line came to me, “I knew something was wrong with my marriage when I planned my husband’s funeral.” You never saw a woman walk back to her house so fast. I just sat at my computer and started typing. That turned out to be the first line of my book, and before I stood back up, I had an entire first chapter.
Then I entered this manic state where I knew it was good. I don’t know how to explain that. But I knew I had something, something that could help others. I knew I had a strong voice. I knew I had a story to tell. At the same time, as much as I knew it, I completely doubted myself. “You’re just a ghost writer. You can’t write a memoir. Your life is so completely boring. It is no Glass Castle.” Seriously. That was the sort of thing I told myself.
But I was having this rebirth where I was continually inspired to write all sorts of things, some of it related to my marriage and some of it not. I didn’t know what to do with it all. I finally got the courage to send the first chapter to my agent. I also sent him a bunch of other crap that I’d been writing (I kept the erotica to myself, but I did mention that I had it if he knew of a market for it). He read it all while on vacation. I still have the email he sent to me, from his vacation. One line was, “I really, really like P:HEA [Project Happily Ever After]. Great title, great concept. By far the most commercial of what you sent.” And so, I just kept writing.
Other writers had been telling me to start a blog for a while, but I’d resisted because I didn’t know what I would blog about. Most freelancers write about writing, and I didn’t want to do that. I also didn’t think I could write about ghost writing without ending my career. Then one day I had one of those “Duh you silly person” moments and realized my blog should be about marriage. And then I realized that the blog and the book could work together. And then I realized that I needed a platform, etc etc etc. That’s when things got serious.
Julie: How has the blog impacted the book…and vice versa?
Alisa: I don’t think the actual content of the blog influenced the book all that much. They are really separate entities. The book is the story of my marriage: falling in love, falling out of love, falling back in love. It spans 2004-2008. The blog is based on that backstory, but it’s a lot more advice oriented than the blog and all of the real life stories take place 2008 and beyond. That said, I blog 5 days a week, and blogging has allowed me to strengthen my voice and become a much better writer. I’m much more in touch with my audience now that I blog. So the act of blogging has allowed me to craft a better book. I started writing the book in late 2007 but I didn’t finish it until early 2009. (Well, I’m still tinkering and will probably do so until someone forces me to stop). So blogging allowed me to go back and edit the book and make it A LOT better. I would have never developed my voice this quickly if it were not for blogging.
As for a timeline, I started writing the book toward the end of my official marriage project, so around Sept 2007. I had a pretty solid first draft by summer 2008. I’ve been editing and tinkering with it ever since. I started the blog Oct 2008.
Julie: My readers and I are brilliant, so we understand the importance of ‘giving it away for free’ as a way to create buzz and gather an audience. What has been your approach in that respect?
Alisa: I agree that you are brilliant! And I’m one of your readers, so that means I must be brilliant, too!!
Anyway…
Before I started blogging, I didn’t understand why any writer would give her words away for free when she could get paid for them. It went against everything I’d ever been taught about valuing ones work, not to mention copyright. But, honestly, there are not many paying markets for what I do. I have a very strong voice, and while my readers love that about me, magazines don’t.
And the blogging makes me happy. I seriously don’t care whether or not I get paid for it at this point. The process is what matters.
From a business sense, though, I’ve completely changed my views about the value of blogging. Free or not, it offers many, many values including and not limited to:
* It’s how I prove myself as a writer. After I started my blog, another website discovered me through my blog and offered me a regular job as a relationships editor for $1000 a month. It only lasted 4 months because the website lost its funding, but it was fun while it lasted. I also was able to place a first person piece in American Baby, mostly because the editor liked what she saw on my blog. Your blog is your virtual resume. Almost no one looks at the paper version anymore.
* I can monetize it eventually. I now have 75,000+ monthly visitors, so I’m definitely looking into ways to monetize. I’m looking into launching a store on the site that sells branded items. We’ll see.
* As I said, it makes me a better writer. I’m also a better marketer, which helps me land more ghosting work because my authors all know that my knowledge of social media and digital marketing is valuable.
* It’s one of the only ways a non-connected not-remotely-rich person can gain a fan base. If you were not born rich or are not an actress or a model, then a blog is your best shot at building a following. A following is what you need to make ANY business successful. Your blog is free advertising. You could pay to put up billboards all over the country or you could blog for free. Blogging is a lot more fun and a lot more effective.
Julie: You’re currently in negotiations to have the book published, I think we can safely assume that the blog has helped make your case with the publishers – can you tell us how exactly?
Alisa: This is one of those things that confuses a lot of people. They think they can just start a blog and get a book deal, but it’s more complex than that. You don’t just need a blog to get a book deal. You need a successful one, one with a big following. Zen Habits had 1 million unique visitors before he got a book deal. Same with dooce.com. I believe Hungry Girl had 250,000.
You can get a deal with fewer visitors (I am about to), but you need to: 1) have an amazing product (book) that showcases a story with a complete arc and strong voice 2) show that you are gaining momentum quickly. Essentially you need to know that you are gaining site visitors, that you are a hot commodity. You need to prove that you are about to hit your virtual tipping point.
And the content on your blog really needs to be different than the content you want to put in your book. Otherwise editors will continually ask you, “Why would someone pay $24.99 for this when they can get it for free on your blog?” That’s a valid question. You need to be able to answer it with, “Well they can’t get it for free on my blog because my book is completely new and different.”
The blog definitely helped me, though, especially because my traffic numbers are moving in the right direction. That helps to prove a number of variables: people like my voice, people like what I have to say, my writing can attract a following, etc. That I can tell 75,000 or more people about the book just by writing a post about it also doesn’t hurt.
But what’s more important are my relationships. I’m a former newspaper reporter and former magazine editor. Between my previous jobs and blogging, I’ve gotten to know many different writers, from reporters at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette to bloggers at MSNBC and tlc.com (not to mention YOU) to one of the anchors at the FOX news network. I’m connected to hundreds of freelancers through Twitter, Facebook and a couple professional organizations.
As a result, I know what stories various freelancers are working on at any given time, and I know when they are desperately trying to find that rare person who is willing to talk about her sex life and allow her complete name to appear in the story. I really am a rare woman in that regard. Most people are not comfortable talking about the things I am willing to tell the world. So between my connections and my openness, I’ve had a fairly easy time lining up media for myself. Just in the past year, I’ve been quoted in Redbook, First, and Pregnancy magazines, as well as iparenting.com and cnn.com. I’ve been a guest on several blog talk radio shows and my essays and articles have appeared in a number of different consumer magazines.
Blogging has also taught me a lot about social media and digital marketing. My following on Twitter and established presence on Facebook certainly helped me gain interest from publishers.
Publishers like authors who can market and sell their own books. Their budgets are shrinking, and their publicity teams are continually forced to work on more books with fewer people. So an author who can serve as her own publicist–by launching a blog tour, doing guest posting, smoozing with freelancers, doing public speaking, etc–is very attractive.
I might not be Suzanne Somers, but I can get my message out. My relationships with other bloggers and journalists really helped to make me attractive to publishers.
Julie: Has the blog hurt the publishing process at all?
Alisa: I don’t think it hurt. Publishers really are not as out of touch as many people think. They are pretty on top of the trends in all things digital. But they are still operating in two formats: paper and digital. That’s pretty tough and it takes a near genius to find ways to straddle both formats well.
I did have one publisher ask about my ebook, which I’m giving away for free, but the content in the ebook is different than the content in the paper book that I’m shopping around. If I was repurposing, then the blog would probably hurt. It would also hurt if I had no site visitors. But that’s not the case.
Julie: You write about your life, your relationship, sex – all very personal. How do you approach the issue of transparency?
Alisa: Many years ago, I used to be a very secretive person. I was also very, very depressed. I’ve since learned that I’m much happier when I keep no secrets. I have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be embarrassed about. I’d rather people know the real me. If they know everything about me and still like me? Then I know they are true friends. If I hide parts of myself from people, how will I ever truly know what they think of me?
Blogging has really helped me become more comfortable with sharing the intimate details of my life, though. I continually get comments and emails from people who thank me for helping them. Those comments mean the world to me and they make any moment of bashfulness so worth it.
I used to worry about the effects my blogging and writing in general would have on my daughter. She’s only 4 now, so I’m not sure what the future holds. But I do think I’m a better parent that I can talk and write about these issues openly. I’m sure she’ll hate that I write about my sex life when she’s 13. But if she didn’t have that, she’d find something else to hate about me during that stage of her life.
My general rule about the transparency is that it has to have a point. I don’t write about my sex life just to be graphic. I always make sure I have a point or that I’m trying to be helpful. That’s my rule and that’s what allows me to sleep at night!
Where to find Alisa…
Project Happily Ever After Website
Project Happily Ever After Blog
Free Ebook: Relationship Rules
Filed under Blogging, How To, Myth or Reality, News, Writing | Tags: alisa bowman, best seller, blog, Blogging, getting published, ghostwriting, Julie Roads, marriage, marriage advice, project happily ever after, sex, Writing, Writing Roads | Comments (7)Chewing for discovery, part 2
It occurred to me this weekend, while I was getting gas for my car – if you must know – that there is a second part to the post I wrote last week about chewing your food (or completing your tasks) before moving on to the next bite.
The book, The Power Eating Program, maintains that if you take on the practice of chewing your food to liquid, you’ll find yourself actually choosing healthier food. Because when you eat food made from chemicals (processed, with ingredients you can’t pronounce, fast food, etc.), after the first few chews – when you actually dive down into the ‘food’ – you start to taste the chemicals or you taste nothing at all. Yet, if you chew a carrot, homemade lasagna, a piece of 70% organic dark chocolate, and chew it well, you’ll see that the flavors expand, transform and multiply right there in your mouth.
In effect, good and real food is the gift that keeps on giving and it just gets better. While bad and fake food is revealed and exposed to be, well, gross.
When we complete many tasks at once, we might lose the vision to see that some tasks are really fruitless, wasters of our precious time or simply not enjoyable because they’re just lumped in with everything else. But when we do one task at a time, we can really explore each task – and have the luxury to discover if it’s rich, complex and effective…or timeless, tasteless fluff.
Hmmm…food. for. thought.
Image courtesy of girlguyed
Filed under How To, The Business | Tags: being effective, copywriting, freelance, Julie Roads, task management, time management, Writing, Writing Roads | Comment (1)
