Setting Up a Cross Platform in Social Media

Social media isn’t just about Facebook. In fact, there are many social media networks, each catering to a specific group of people by age or special interest.  To be successful in social media as a writer, you have to post on several different platforms and then link them together in your own social media network. Doing so brings followers from one platform, like Facebook, to another.

The main social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube. The last one is mostly for posting videos, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use your smartphone to post a video of you in action once in a while.

So what exactly is a cross platform? To be successful in social media, you have to spread the word about yourself and your work to other networks. But it shouldn’t end there. Once you’ve begun regularly posting on the other networks, it’s time to link them together by sharing posts. Each time you share a post, another group of people see it. And so do their friends. If each person shares your post with just one other person and that person shares your post with one other person, your message will reach lots of people.

Facebook
So where do you begin? Once you’ve established yourself on Facebook—use it as your base of social media operations—you can venture forth to other social media networks. You might choose Twitter next. People on Twitter read their feeds almost as much as those on Facebook. Here, your posts will be shorter—even though Twitter recently increased the number of characters for each post from 140 to 280. Just because the network allows you to write longer posts doesn’t mean you should. Twitter readers are in the habit of reading short blasts, and they probably won’t change their habit for a while.

Twitter
Write a post on Twitter that’s related to the one you posted on Facebook. But don’t stop there. Be sure to add an image to your post. This can be hard if you’re posting about writing, but if you post about the subject you write about, it should be easier. You can also set it up so that you can automatically share your Facebook posts on Twitter. However, you cannot do the reverse.

Instagram
Now that you’re posting on the two primary networks, it’s time to check out some of the secondary ones. While users of Instagram will probably disagree, this network is a hard one to break into for writers because it definitely relies on image posts. In fact, you begin with an image and then add a caption to it. Also, you must have a smartphone to post on Instagram. While you can access Instagram on your computer, you cannot post from it.

Google+
Another secondary network is Google+. Its posts work much like Facebook, but its user base isn’t as large. In Google+ you can either post only text or text with an image. You used to be able to directly share your Google+ posts with Facebook, but now you have to physically post on Facebook, linking to your Google+ account. It’s a little more time consuming, but it works.  If you have images to share, you may want to set up a Google+ Collection. This is an image-based division of Google+ in which all your posts focus on one subject. Within it, you’ll find lots of photographers, antiques collectors, and such who post images related to their subject. Like Instagram, the image is the main thing, accompanied by perhaps a paragraph of text. You used to be able to share your Google+ posts directly to Facebook, but now you have to physically copy it and create a separate post on Facebook using the same text. Of course, you can still directly link to your Google+ account in your Facebook post.

Creating a Cross Platform
You should begin cross linking your posts as soon as you have one other social media network besides Facebook to which you’re posting. Try linking your Facebook posts to Twitter. Then slowly add another network, again linking the posts on it to Facebook and vice versa. As you add more networks, you can continue doing the same thing.

Let’s look at an example of how this works.  Let’s say you specialize in writing about antiques. You can do posts about the history of objects, their uses, historical anecdotes about them, their status with collectors, even the status of the current market. The list goes on and on. So you might begin by introducing the object on Facebook and mention how well it’s doing in the current market. Then you could do a post on Twitter that links back to your post on Facebook. If you’re on Instagram, you can post an image of the antique object and note a quirky anecdote about it in the caption. Finally, you could post an image of the object on Google+ and write a short paragraph about its history or how it originated. Naturally, you’ll want to repost a sentence on Twitter that includes a link to your Google+ post. You can then link your Twitter post to Facebook, putting you right back to your network base, but now with a different angle than your first post.

By building a cross platform, you’ll soon increase the number of your viewers across the board. But you must be patient. Social media doesn’t work overnight. It can take several months for your posts to get noticed. In the meantime, read, share, and comment on  other people’s posts in your social media accounts.

Learn more about me on my Web site, Writing at Its Best, and on my Facebook Page.

Let's Get Social

Social media is here, whether you like it or not. At the same time, more and more writers are pursuing online publishing, filling Amazon’s inventory with all sorts of ebooks. Many of these writers have turned to Facebook and other social media platforms to promote their books. Unfortunately, just as many find that even with diligent attention to social media, they’re promotions are going nowhere. Why is that?

The trick behind using social media outlets is to connect like-minded people. But the group most writers seem to attract is other writers. Other writers won’t necessarily buy your books or send other writing work your way. They’re too busy trying to sell their own books and writing services. So who do you connect? Readers.

Just saying “Buy my book” won’t get you additional readers. But getting your readers interested in your subject will. Some social media users even try connecting their followers to other followers.

There was a time when Facebook was for making friends. And though it still has that friendly environment, it has matured. If you don’t have an author page, if you write books, or a business page, if you do other types of writing, you should definitely set one up. This is your professional or “fan” page. It’s the page that will keep your fans, that is your readers, up to date on your what’s happening in your professional life. Readers “like” this page. They aren’t there as friends but as customers or buyers. 

Your professional page is where you offer readers some extra value—a behind-the-scenes look at your work, for example.

Use your page to promote your writing, but also use it to ask your fans why they like your work. Facebook is the type of social media platform that encourages readers to share their personal insights and lives much more, and you can capitalize on that through your page. Ask questions, run polls, offer contests. Interact with your readers in a way not related to your books or other writing, then use the feedback you get to become more personal to your fans.

Offer your readers some insights into your subject matter. For instance, why you chose a particular location for your novel or what makes you passionate about the non-fiction subject that you last wrote about.

And don’t forget to use images. Facebook users thrive on them. Have photos taken of you signing your books or have someone else take a few, even with their smartphone. Or you might take photos of the locations of your short stories or novels, if they’re based on real places. Text only posts on Facebook rarely get much attention. You need to pair your text with an image or a meme.

If you attend writers’ or book conferences, be sure to take photos and bring your readers with you. Post different ones every day. Too many writers are afraid that if they mention or show the work of other writers that they’ll move away from them. Why do you think so many businesses set up shop near other businesses of the same type? Competition is good for business.

Encourage your fans to share your posts with their friends on Facebook. Get them to talk up your books. After all, they like them or they wouldn’t be following you on Facebook. Ask them to help you find more fans—but not too often.

Be careful about encouraging likes from other writers who want you to like their page in return. That will get you a bunch of likes, but it won’t get you anywhere with your promotions. That’s the only reason they liked you to get a like back.

Next Week: Setting up a Cross Platform

Learn more about me on my Web site, Writing at Its Best, and on my Facebook Page.

A World Without Readers

What would writers do without readers? As the old saying goes, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it fall, did it really fall?” “If words appear on a page and no one reads them do they really exist?

Well, yes. Unlike the trees in the forest, books in libraries all over the world contain the words of thousands of writers. But if no one reads them, what good are they?

Words are a writer’s stock in trade, but many beginning writers seem to think that just the act of writing is enough. To complete the communication process, all writing needs to be read.

It used to be that writers were limited to the printed page. If you wanted more than one person to read your work, you had to get it published. Competition in the publication arena is tough, so beginning writers had to spend much of their time pitching story ideas to editors. And while this is still a big part of the market, there are lots of other possibilities. And as the slogan for Mastercard says, “Master the Possibilities.”

Besides print publishing there are lots of other venues where readers can read your work. However, it’s important to understand what type of reader you’ll find in each. Don’t go looking to readers to provide criticism, constructive or otherwise. You should leave that to other writers—people who know writing.

The average reader reads for enjoyment or information. They don’t read to give feedback to the writer. In fact, most people don’t read in detail. Writers, on the other hand, should know how to read like a writer.

So it’s important to know your readers. Let’s say you post something you wrote on Facebook. People generally use Facebook as a quick way to catch up on what’s happening with their friends, as well as people they don’t know—Facebook calls these people “friends,” also. If you post an article or a very short story in the Notes Section of your Facebook page, chances are that very few people will read it. You could post it directly, but even if you do, most people will just skip over it.

Posting a piece of your writing on a writing Web site or creating a site of your own will guarantee that you get the most readers. Blogs are a good example of this. But readers won’t flock to your site or blog just because you wrote it. You have to promote it. Now this is where Facebook can help. By creating a post that includes a link to your article or short story, readers, many of them accessing Facebook from their smartphones will probably take the time to go there and read—or at least skim over—what you wrote. Blogging programs, like Google’s free Blogger, allow readers to post comments.

By devoting a little time to promoting yourself and your writing on social media—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.—you’ll be surprised how many readers you can attract from all over the world.

A publisher printed 5,000 copies of a writer’s book, of which only 3,500 sold. That doesn’t necessarily mean that 3,500 readers read the entire book. Some people stop reading after the first chapter. That same writer created a Web site on which he posts articles in his field of interest and now the site gets over 17,000 readers a month. It’s as simple as doing the math. In fact, more people read writing of all kinds online than all the books put together.

So remember, a writer without readers is like a musician without listeners, a teacher without students, a garbage collector without trash. Knowing that someone will be reading what you write will motivate you to write more. Too many beginning writers keep journals in which they're both the writer and reader--the only reader. To be successful as a writer, it's important to write for the reader, not for yourself. And the more readers, the better.

To read more of my articles and book excerpts, please visit my Web site. And to read more articles on freelance writing, grammar, and marketing, go to Writer's Corner.

The Key to Unlocking the Door to Success

Communication is the key to unlocking the door to success. Believe it or not, you already have it in you. But you’d be surprised how many writers—in fact, how many people—cannot communicate effectively.

Writing is one of many forms of communication. Like listening, it requires a reader to digest the ideas provided by the words. Remember that old saying: "If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if no one is there to hear it?" That could be changed to read: "If a writer writes down his or her ideas, do they exist if no one reads and interprets them?"

There are three parts to the communication process—the sender, who sends the message, the message, itself, and the receiver or the reader. If the receiver cannot understand part of the message, even one word, than there’s mis-communication.

This concept should be the basis for your writing. Using it is the difference between being a writer and a person who writes. Everyone learns to write in school. But most people don’t communicate well. Instead, they rely on the reader to interpret what they have to say.

This happens everyday on Facebook. Most Facebook users assume that they’re writing only to their close friends. Actually, most of them are really sending their posts out to all their Facebook “friends,’ many of whom they don’t personally know. Normally, they shorthand their posts, assuming their personal friends know what they mean. But those Facebook “friends” who don’t know don’t understand what they’re trying to say, thus mis-communication occurs.

As a professional, published writer, you must make sure that everyone who read’s your work understands it.

If you write articles for magazines, for instance, you already have a target audience—a defined group of readers based on the subject matter of the magazine. Most magazines today specialize in a particular subject, so you must slant your article to meet their needs.

However, if you write books, your readership is often undefined. Sure, some may argue that if you write a romance novel that only women of a certain age will read it. But in reality, what’s to prevent any reader from purchasing the book at a bookstore, a book sale, or even on Amazon. Chances are men won’t read it, but you never know.

So knowing who your reader will be is an important part of the communication equation. To be successful and get your work published, you need to write for a specific group of readers who will understand not only what you’re writing about but the words you use to do so.

Too many beginning writers write for themselves without considering who will read their work. Because of this, they fail to get published. Naturally, there are other reasons why they may have trouble getting their work published, but lack of communication is Number One.

Have you written pieces that have yet to be published? Get them out and read them again. Did you write them for a specific group of readers or just yourself? Changing the angle or focusing these piece better may still help you get them published.

What to Do When?

In today’s hectic world, it seems there’s never enough time. But maybe that’s because you’re doing some things at the wrong times.  What if you could pack more into each day by doing everything at the optimal time?

Multi-tasking has caused old-fashioned time management to become obsolete. Research suggests that paying attention to your body clock—and its effects on energy and alertness—can help pinpoint the different times of day when you perform your best at specific tasks, from resolving conflicts to thinking creatively.

Most people organize their time around everything but their body's natural rhythms. Do the demands of freelance writing, kids’ schedules, and social events frequently dominate your day? Inevitably there will be a clash with your body's circadian rhythms of waking and sleeping.

As difficult as it may be to align your schedule with your body clock, it may be worth it to try, because of possible health benefits. Disruption of circadian rhythms has been linked to such problems as diabetes, depression, dementia and obesity. When your body's master clock can synchronize functioning of all its metabolic, cardiovascular and behavioral rhythms in response to light and other natural stimuli, it gives you an edge.

When it comes to doing projects that require intense thought, most adults perform best in the late morning. As your body temperature starts to rise just before you awake and continues to increase through midday, your working memory, alertness and concentration gradually improve. Taking a warm morning shower can jump-start this process.

But your ability to focus and concentrate typically starts to slide soon after Noon. Most people are more easily distracted from Noon to 4 P.M. Also, your alertness tends to slump after eating a meal—the more food you eat, the deeper the slump. Do you find yourself getting sleepy around 2 P.M.? You might want to consider taking a short nap.

Studies have shown that fatigue may actually boost your creative abilities. You may find that tackling problems that require open-ended thinking works best in the evening when you’re tired. Perhaps that’s why many writers get flashes of insight before going to bed.

Of course, everyone's body clock isn't the same, making it even harder to synchronize natural rhythms with daily plans. Research shows that some people operate on either of two distinctive timetables. Morning people tend to wake up and go to sleep earlier and to be most productive early in the day. Evening people tend to wake up later, start more slowly and peak in the evening.

When choosing a time of day to exercise, paying attention to your body clock can help you improve results. Physical performance is usually best, and the risk of injury least, from about 3 P.M. to 6 P.M. Muscle strength tends to peak between 2 P.M. and 6 P.M. at levels as much as 6 percent above the day's lows, improving your physical ability. And joints and muscles are as much as 20 percent more flexible in the evening, lowering the risk of injury. These body rhythms hold true regardless of how much you've slept or how recently you've eaten.

Communicating with friends and colleagues online has its own optimal cycles. Sending emails early in the day helps beat the inbox rush. Messages posted early in the day are most likely to be read. For many people, checking their Email is has replaced reading the newspaper at the beginning of the day.

To start your day out on a positive note, check Twitter between 8 and 9 A.M.. That's when users are most likely to tweet upbeat, enthusiastic messages, and least likely to send downbeat tweets steeped in fear, distress, anger or guilt. Sleep will refresh you and will leave you alert and enthusiastic.

You should do other social networking later in the day. If you want your tweets to be re-tweeted, post them between 3 and 6 P.M., when many people lack energy to share their own tweets and turn to relaying others' instead. Posts to Facebook at about 8 P.M. tend to get the most "likes," after people get home from work or finish dinner.

While Facebook is probably the most widely known social network on the Web, it’s not the only one of use to writers. Facebook takes in everybody, not just one group. Sure you can create a professional page, but it’s main purpose is to connect people. As a writer, you may want to socialize on a more professional level, targeting those who can help advance your career. For this, you need to join LinkedIn, a social network of business professionals.

LinkedIn
Unlike Facebook, the people that use this network come from all sorts of professional careers. You’re more likely to find editors, publishers, and public relations consultants here. But it takes time to build a useful network of contacts, so be patient.

Look at LinkedIn as a tool in your marketing arsenal, not as a fast way to get to an editor or agent.

As with other social networking sites, you have a profile page and a network of connections. You can also join groups, pose questions to your network/groups, post events and add widgets, such as your blog feed, to your profile.

LinkedIn creates visibility for what you do and offer. Your profile will appear in search engines and can be accessed by the public if you allow it to. The site also allows people to publicly recommend your professional work. Used wisely, it’s an effective and dynamic way to network and spur new ideas for promoting your writing.

As with Facebook, you’ll be able to create a profile on LinkedIn. But instead of posting your resume, show what you’ve achieved—examples of your work and excerpts from your books.

LinkedIn has a feature that other social networks don’t have. It allows its members to recommend other members to confirm the type and quality of their work. In getting work as a freelance writer, recommendations from editors, publishers, and publicists are important.

Like Facebook, you can post helpful articles, tips, and share links to sites that you think your followers may be interested in. And don’t forget to periodically link to your own Web sites and blogs and other places online where your work can be found.

TWITTER
Twitter is a mini-blogging network that is probably the least useful for you as a writer. First, you’re limited to 140 characters, plus a photo, which doesn’t give you much space to leave a detailed message like Facebook or LinkedIn. v

If you choose to use Twitter, follow people or companies that can offer you entertainment, information, promotion advice, inspiration, or news. Agents, editors, publishers, other authors, publicists are tweeting.

When you follow someone on Twitter, they generally respond in kind. This is true whether you’re following your cousin or the Washington Post. In order to send a message to a fellow tweeter, you must be following him or her.

With Twitter, it’s important for you to know why you’re tweeting. Are you doing it for fun,  to engage potential readership, to drive people to your website, or to spread the word about a giveaway or an upcoming book?

Use Tinyurl.com to add links to your tweets. This site turns unwieldy URLs into more manageable ones, helping you fit links into Twitter’s 140-character limit.

Above all, figure out how posting to Twitter will fit into your overall promotional strategy. You’ll find you won’t have the time to post to a group of social media sites, so choose which ones you use wisely.

Making the Most of Social Media Part 1

Are you taking advantage of today’s social media networks? If you’ve only been tuning in to popular networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, then you’re missing a golden opportunity to promote yourself and your work.

Today, it pays to be a joiner. Normally you’d want to stand out from the crowd, but in today’s social media world, it’s just the opposite. “Who you know” has always been as important in the writing business as “what you know.” But unless you traveled a lot and met key people face to face, it was difficult to network contacts.

There have never been more people participating in social networks. While there’s a personal dimension to nearly all such networks. But just joining isn’t enough. You must also use them.

Social networking demands a consistent investment of time. If you approach these sites simply as places to sell your book or service and never give back to the communities, you’ll find yourself losing “friends” faster than you add them. As with all types of marketing, what you do on social networks depends on what your audience will respond to and what your goals are. One of the leading social networks is Facebook.

Facebook
Facebook can be as simple or complex as you like. You can simply tell your friends what you’re up to using text and photos or you can develop a following that will greatly enhance your marketing efforts.

Above all, Facebook is a network that can help you find other people interested in the same subjects as you. You can join groups of users specializing in different types of writing or in different subjects that you write about.  You can also create your own group around your blog. Once you establish a group, you can send messages to its members. With such a targeted audience, you can post content with real value.

Facebook also allows you to announce events, such as book releases and readings, bookstore appearances and such, and invite people to it.

The key to keeping your Facebook page active is keeping your profile current. Even if you don’t reveal too much about your personal life, your friends on Facebook will feel they know you better.  Status updates are just that—posts that keep your Facebook followers informed as to what’s happening in your life or your work.

As part of your profile, you’ll also be able to post an image. As a professional writer, you need to use good photos of yourself. Try to make these more than a snapshot. Don’t use bizarre images in place of your personal one. Remember, your Facebook followers will judge you by that image as well as your profile.

Unlike other social networks, Facebook offers you three ways to promote yourself. The first is the personal page. Through this page, you’ll assemble a group of “friends.” Some may actually be friends of yours, but most will be strangers who come to your page because of the posts you make.

The second sort of page you can create on Facebook is the professional page. This page is focuses on your business, putting you in the same category as the Coca-Cola Corporation. Instead of assembling “friends,” you must get people to “like’ your page. This becomes a select group of Facebook followers, known as “fans,” to whom you can send targeted information about your work.

The third kind of page you can create on Facebook is the author page, which you assemble for a particular book or series of books you have written. This is also a “fan” page, but differs from the professional page in that its posts go only to fans of your books—in essence, your readers.

Facebook most likely offers the most flexibility of all the social networks, but there are others that can be of help in different ways.

NEXT WEEK: Part 2 of Making the Most of Social Media

You’ve Got a Site—Now What?

Okay, so you’ve designed your writer’s Web site or had it done for you, now what? Many people think if they design and launch a Web site that visitors will come. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, it usually takes at least three and sometimes six months for visitors to find your site. Why is that and what can you do about it?

The answer to the first question is simple. In order for people to find your site, they have to see it in search listings, but getting into search listings is no easy task. The extraordinarily long time it takes for your site to appear in search engine results is because it takes time for search engines robots to crawl your site. The next time you view your new site, imagine little things moving all over your pages. They’re recording keywords in the content and what the content is about. Then they send that information back to the mother ship, let’s say Google, so the search engine can create a listing that appears in visitors’ searches.

But once search engines have found your site, things will change and visitors will start going to it. However, by promoting your site through Email and social media, you can get visitors to go to it even before search engines list it. It’s imperative to promote your site from the very first minute it appears online. And don’t stop—ever.

In this era of social media, it’s important to let readers know where else you’re active online. After you get your Web site up and running, be sure to create a professional Facebook Page. This isn’t the personal page that most people use, but one that shows you as a writing professional. It’s the type of page people “like.” You’ll have to work to get people to like your new Facebook Page, and this could take some time. But once you’ve created your Facebook Page, you’ll be able to download the code for widgets to put on your site, so that visitors can go to it.

Unlike your Web site, your Facebook Page is more to show fans what’s happening currently in your professional career. Don’t, as so many book authors do, create a Facebook Page for your book. Rather create a page for your writing business on which you can showcase your writing, no matter what kind you do.

If you have notable media coverage, good reviews, positive testimonials, or a significant following on a social media site, such as Instagram or Twitter, tell your site visitors about it. In fact, you may want to create a media page on which you post press releases and links to articles and reviews about you and your work. Doing so will show visitors that spending time on your site is worth it.

Give your visitors a reason to come back. Just telling them you’re a writer isn’t enough. Just promoting your book isn’t enough. You must offer them something. Don’t just post articles or stories you’ve written. Instead, choose them for subject matter that may be interesting to your readers, so they’re then actively reading your work. Inform and entertain them.

If visitors reach the bottom of a page on your site, that means they’re very engaged and will likely go to other pages on your site. Use this as an opportunity to add a call to action, such as an email newsletter sign-up or the sale of your book. If you don’t engage them first, you won’t sell anything.

To maximize the effectiveness of your website, install a site analytics tool. Google Analytics is a free and popular tool available to anyone with a Google account. Once you install it, you can  immediately collect data on your Web site traffic and visitors. It will also tell you which pages of your site are the most popular. This will help you plan for future additions to your site. And most importantly, your site statistics will tell you how people get to and use your site.

About 20–30 percent of your site traffic will come from mobile or tablet devices. Is your site optimized for those visits? While it’s important to keep cell phone users in mind, don’t design your site specifically for them, or for that matter, for any particular Web browser. Design your site for the majority of users. Owners of too many sites today are redesigning their sites just for cell phone use which takes away from how they look on a wide computer screen.

Remember, you don’t have to launch and perfect everything on your site at once. In fact, doing so is against the grain of the digital era. Start small but smart, and build your skills and presence over time. Customize and add more complex functionality as you get more comfortable with the technology, and as you develop specific skills and career goals that require the investment.

Putting Off What You Can Do Today Until Tomorrow—or Never

How many times have you stared at your computer screen or perhaps looked out over it through the window to the outside? There you are, staring into space instead of writing. Why can’t you focus? Oh well, you decide to go for a walk instead—or perhaps clean out your clothes closet or rake the yard or check your news feed on Facebook for the third time today. I think you get the idea. Procrastination, that ugly habit of putting off what should be done today until tomorrow. All writers experience it. So why should you be any different?

Why does procrastination take such a stranglehold on writers? It happens to other people, too, but with writers it seems especially prevalent. Maybe it’s because writing is a mental thing. It takes more effort to get your mind going than your body. Thinking is hard work. And some days you just don’t want to think.

You have ideas—lots of ideas. Which one should you choose to write? That can be a challenge and that in itself can lead to you to procrastinate. This problem is particularly severe when writing a book. If you write non-fiction, you have the facts of a story to fall back on, but if you write fiction, all you have is your imagination, and perhaps some research. That’s not much to go on.

If you’re planning on spending the next year or two writing a book, it better be a good idea. What if you spent all that time, and it turned out to be a bomb? So you decide to take your time. But this can lead to a draw. As your ideas compete with each other for your attention, it draws you away from the one that is most likely the best.

Let’s face it, ideas are always better in your mind than on paper. It never fails. Once you start developing an idea, it seems to lose its punch. Again, if you write non-fiction, you can always dig up more facts. But adding extraneous material to your fiction can often water down a good idea. This can lead you to hesitate getting started for fear that once you start writing, your great idea will fizzle. That just may be because you didn’t thoroughly think out that great idea in the first place.

For a few writers, telling others about what they’re planning to write helps them think out the idea. But for the majority of others, telling friends and family about an idea can often take the motivation out of writing about it.

Feedback is important, but if you get feedback on your idea too soon, it can stymie your need to write it. Plus, the feedback you get from friends and family may not be the type you need. To make sure your great idea gets rolling, only you know what should go into it. Any of this premature feedback is only opinion. And those opinions may be wrong.

One way to avoid procrastination is to plan out a project. While you don’t need to jot down every detail, you do need to block it out so that you have a good overall idea of how it will take shape. Without some sort of a plan—even a loose one written on a scrap of paper— you’ll most likely stall before you make any headway.

Knowing where you’re going in an article, story, or book enables you to begin, stop or switch to something else, and then come back to pick up where you left off. If you think writing is all about sitting in front of a computer screen and waiting for the words to pour out, you’ll be sitting there waiting until tomorrow—or maybe never.

Time is of the Essence

Time is an elusive thing. It can get away from you if you’re not careful. Before you know it, days disappear into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. And what have you accomplished? For many, the answer is not much. Well, it’s time to put your foot down and get something done—at least as far as your writing is concerned.

So how do you find time to write? Finding time to write in today’s busy world can be a real challenge. Ever since computers appeared on the scene, life hasn’t been quite the same. Now Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and God knows what other social media happenings fill the hours between sunrise and sunset. And don’t forget about Email. Sending and especially answering electronic mail can take up a big chunk of your day.

And then there’s work, school, or whatever other endeavor you’re pursuing, plus the time necessary for basic necessities like eating and sleeping—oh, and don’t forget exercising. So where does writing fit in?

Everyone has the same amount of time every day. How you choose to use that time makes you successful at what you do. However, if you aren’t willing to devote some serious time to writing, then perhaps you should take some time to think about how you use your time.

Focusing is the key. You must focus your time so that you accomplish what you set out to do in writing, as well as some but not all of the other stuff. You need to decide what you want to do and what you can do without, so that you can write more—or forget it.

The choice isn’t between writing and doing something else that you don’t want to do. The choice is among a nearly overwhelming array of things that you enjoy doing, such as checking in with your friends on Facebook, reading for pleasure, or having people over for dinner. Then there’s going to the movies, watching T.V., and traveling. You may rather do the dishes, walk the dog, or do laundry than write. So faced with so many options, most beginning writers tend to choose too many and feel like they’re short of time.

While some people can fit little bits of writing or editing in between other chores, that’s just not being realistic. To get any major writing project done, you have to dedicate time to it. To get published requires a considerable effort, so little bits of time writing here and there just won’t cut it.

Writing productivity demands dedication. To get anything done and done right, you have to just do it. And that means intense concentration for the time you’ve chosen to allot for writing. Wanting to write—a dream a lot of people have—and actually writing are two different things. Writing every day produces not only more writing but also more ideas for future writing. But writing posts on Facebook or answering Emails doesn’t count. The type of writing you should be doing is the kind necessary to advance your writing career and improve your writing skills such as articles, short stories, and plays.

Writing, like exercising, is its own reward. When you don’t do it, you feel as if you’re cheating yourself. Successful writers don’t just sit around waiting for inspiration, they sit down and begin to write. At some point, inspiration usually strikes. This is much like runners who exercise in all types of weather, no matter how busy their schedule may be. Like physical exercise, writing is often not enjoyable while you’re doing it. And like exercise, it’s just a matter of discipline. If you aren’t a disciplined person, you can certainly become one.

Distractions are the bane of serious writing. They kill the flow. So turn off the Email reminder and your cell phone and let voice mail answer for you. Stay in flow. Focus on what you’re writing. This is especially important for big projects like books. Find a convenient spot to stop for the day or stop after your daily quota if you’re writing fiction. Don’t write until you get tired. You’ll only have to redo it.

To stay focused on your writing while fulfilling your daily responsibilities, including answering Email and catching up with Facebook, set aside an hour or so every day to write. Or at least set aside an hour three days a week, or even one day a week. The key is making this time a regular slot in your schedule. Don’t let anything deter you from it. And while you’re at it, write at the same time every day. And lastly, write no matter how you feel----even if you feel like you don’t feel like writing. If you want to be a writer, you must write.

Time is of the Essence

One thing you have on your side as a freelance writer is time. It can work for you or against you. Essentially, it’s all about how you play your cards—what you do with your time.  Play them right and you win. Play them wrong and you lose. But there’s always that constant of time.

You have plenty of time available. But does it seems to fly by more quickly than you’d like? That may be because you probably squander your precious working time. Realistically, you can’t write for hours and hours. The quality of your work will suffer, and your body will rebel.   

During an average workday, a writer’s work load consists of various important as well as less important items. Much of your time involves sending and receiving information. During the long hours you work, you’ll be doing a lot of fragmented things. Does this sound like your typical work day?

You need to be realistic when it comes to using your time wisely. Don’t take on too much, or you’ll set yourself up to fail. Only you know how much you’re capable of handling. Overestimating the number of projects you can handle at any one time will surely lead to disappointment. And if you keep that up, it will be more difficult to become more productive.

One of today’s biggest problems for writers is Email and varied other electronic distractions. If you receive lots of mail, you may find yourself taking care of it instead of your writing. It’s easy to procrastinate. And then there’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, to name a few of the social media distractions facing all of us daily. They’re addictive. And as with your Email, you may find yourself spending more time on them than on your writing. Set aside down time to take care of these tasks.

You may want to check your mail the first thing in the morning, then at a couple of specific other times during the day. But limit the time you spend with it. Before you know it, you could easily spend most of your morning doing basically insignificant tasks. And turn off any message or sound telling you that you have mail. That will surely draw you away from your work.

Avoid other distractions, too. Let your voice mail or answering machine take messages for you. You can call whoever called you back later. And don’t forget to turn off your cell phone. If you’re constantly checking your cell, you won’t get any work done, either.

You may also want to keep a piece of scrap paper handy on which to jot down thoughts about other projects that may pop into your head as you’re working. If you don’t, you won’t remember them later. And if you stop to pay attention to them while you’re in the midst of writing, you may find that they’ll knock you off your writing track.

Make writing a priority. But it’s also important not to write for long periods at a stretch. Take breaks every so often. Get up and walk around. Go for a walk, Do laundry. But don’t take your break at your computer. Surfing online isn’t really taking a break, and you’re body needs to get up and move around.

Schedule other duties around your writing. Write when you feel mentally sharp. That can vary from person to person. You may feel sharper earlier in the morning, so get up earlier to write. Or you may feel sharper later in the afternoon. Figure out when your mental peak occurs and work with it. Do menial tasks like cleaning or taking out the trash during your mental down time.

To help you get the most out of your time, create a daily or weekly To-Do List. (See my post “Smart To-Do Lists Get Things Done” from Sept.6, 2013). Use the A-B-C priority system. Once you have made your To Do List, place an “A” next to items of top importance, a “B” next to those less important but that still need to be done, and a “C” next to those with the least importance.  You may find that the ones with a “C” next to them may complete themselves automatically or may not need doing at all.

Schedule five minutes of review time into your day. Look at what happened yesterday, what will happen today, and what you need to do tomorrow. The more you plan out your day, the more you’ll accomplish.

If time is getting between you and your writing, start doing something about it before it’s too late.

How Good a Promotional Tool is Facebook?

Social media is all the rage today. It seems everyone—or almost everyone—is on Facebook, the leading social media platform. There’s a lot of buzz about how social media, especially Facebook, is a prime promotional medium for small businesses. But as a writer, is Facebook for you? And if so, how?

First, it may be good to begin by dividing writers into two groups—those who write books, either fiction or non-fiction, and those who write shorter pieces like short stories and articles. You may ask what’s the difference. There definitely is one.

If you’re a book writer, commonly referred to as an author although a writer nonetheless, you produce a product that you can sell directly to readers. With the ever-increasing proliferation of ebooks available from such online distributors as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, among others, you can write, publish, and sell your books directly. But that also means you have to do your own promotion. And that’s where social media networks like Facebook come in.

Create an Author Page
By creating a Facebook author page, you can promote your books and stay in touch with your growing list of reader fans. Through your author page, you can alert fans to book signings, new or upcoming books, reprints of older editions, updates of non-fiction books, and special book sales. Author pages also allow you to offer teasers for upcoming books in order to build reader anticipation.

Unfortunately, the range of options isn’t as great on Facebook if you write short stories or articles. This is mainly because you normally don’t sell directly to readers but instead sell your work to magazine editors. Editors are busy people and don’t have time to actively seek out writers on Facebook, so unless you know an editor personally, chances are they won’t be following you on Facebook. Of course, you could sell your short stories and articles either individually or in collections as ebooks for Kindle or Nook. This is especially good for pieces that are too long for magazines.

In the above case, a Facebook author page probably isn’t the best option. Instead, consider setting up a business or professional page on Facebook. It works much the same way as an author page but allows you to also promote other writing projects, courses, and other communication services. For this you might want to create an umbrella title, such as “Your Name Communications,” substituting your name in the title. That’s broad enough to encompass a variety of projects and services. Check out my page for Bob Brooke Communications.

Remember, both author pages and professional pages have “likes” not “friends.” The people who follow them are essentially fans of your work and want to know more about you and what you write about.

Facebook’s Downside
Unfortunately, there’s a downside to Facebook. Many users, perhaps yourself included, have become frustrated that no one “likes” or comments or shares their posts. With the shear volume of messages on Facebook each day, that’s only natural. At best, it’s an indirect communication medium. Most of the time only those Facebook users who are actual real-life family members, friends, and acquaintances take the time to “like” or comment on a post. So you can see that could seriously interfere with promoting yourself as a writer or promoting your writing products.

However, if you have either an author or professional page, you have control of the content you post there. You decide just what you want your fans to know. And because they like you as a writer, they’ll interact to what you tell them. And it’s only on author or professional pages that you can see how many people have seen your posts. Personal Facebook pages don’t offer that. In this way, you can see which posts receive more attention and can then post accordingly. Think of your author or professional page as being the online headquarters of your fan club.

Getting the Most Out of Facebook
So how can you get the most promotional mileage out of Facebook? First, Facebook isn’t the place to post your writing for feedback or criticism. Facebook users generally don’t read more than they have to. Everyone is too busy to linger over long messages. If you want your fans to read your work, create a Web site or post to someone else’s site and then post a link on Facebook back to either.

Another way to get people on Facebook to read and share what you have to say is to write a blog, then link your blog to your Facebook page, either directly or through Networked Blogs. While you may not notice too many Facebook users accessing your blog on Facebook, itself, they may do so through any number of other outlets through Networked Blogs. You can even set up a special Blog App tab on your Facebook Page that enables fans to go directly to all your past blog posts right on your Facebook page.

Remember, the main purpose of your Facebook page is to keep your fans in the loop. Keep them informed as to what’s going on in your professional life. Don’t just hawk your books or other writing. They’re bombarded with sales pitches all day long on the Internet. Try to be a bit more subtle. Take them behind the scenes when creating a book or perhaps give them actual information on where your books are set. Offer contests, trivia about your book’s subjects, reviews, writing tips, whatever. Facebook users love to look at photos, cartoons, and infographics (photos with text overlay). Post these regularly on your favorite subjects on your Facebook page and you’ll definitely see results.

For some good examples, check out the author page for mystery writer Elena Santangelo. And the professional page for Bowers Watch and Clock Repair, even though this isn’t a writing page. Both have been extremely successful in their Facebook efforts. 

And one more thing: You need to have patience, lots of it. A successful Facebook Page doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of effort and a bit of time to maintain it. If you don’t have enough of either of those, don’t bother.

Share Your Gift

Christmas is a time for sharing and gift giving.  As a writer, you have a gift—a gift to share. And this is the time of year to do it.

Some people write letters to along with their holiday greeting cards. While these may be interesting to family and friends, they’re usually of little interest to acquaintances or business associates. As a freelance writer, you can use this opportunity to do something special.

If you write non-fiction, you can write a short article on a subject that interests you or that you specialize in. Remember it needs to be short—no more than one page single spaced. You’re probably used to writing much more, so writing something this short will be a challenge. But as a professional, you should be able to make this short piece as interesting and focused as a regular article for a magazine. The secret to be extremely focused. Take one small topic and elaborate on it. For instance, why not something on gingerbread. This could be as a piece focusing on a Christmas tradition, or a food decoration piece about making gingerbread houses, or something on the origins of gingerbread.

If you write fiction, you could write a very short story. Perhaps you’re used to writing short stories that are 10-20 pages long. You won’t have that luxury, so you’ll need to write a story that’s extremely short, but still has conflict and a climax. This will force you to have perhaps just one or two characters and action that takes place in a short span of time and at a single location. Let’s take the topic of gingerbread and see what sort of story you can write—perhaps a story about a gingerbread house that comes to life or a special gingerbread cookies or the story of a little girl who made special gingerbread cookies for a homeless person.

Whatever you write, your friends, family, and colleagues will appreciate it. But writing the story is only the beginning. Today, you have a number of ways of sharing your work with others.

With fewer people sending Christmas cards by regular, you may choose to send your story out by Email. Or perhaps you’ll choose to post it to your Web site. And with so many social media outlets available, you may want to post it as a note on your Facebook Page or perhaps post it on other social networking sites.

Whatever you decide to do, you’ll find it’s a great way to send greetings to those you love and also a great way to promote your work to those you’ve worked with throughout the year or those you hope to work with in the coming year.

Happy Holidays.

Gallant Giveaways

As a freelance writer, promotion can come in variety of forms. Sometimes traditional advertising works, depending on what sort of writing you’re doing. But often, you’ll need to think creatively about promoting yourself and your work.

First, think about your specific qualities as a writer. What would best project your image in some silent, ever-present reminder to your readers or clients? The obvious answer is some form of writing—a visual example of your work, but with a twist.

Make a list of places where you can place an example of your work—Web sites, blogs, newsletters, etc. Do a search for Web sites that deal with the type of subject matter you write about. Check them out individually and see if they accept articles on their sites. Pick a half dozen and either prepare short, 500-words-or-less articles on topics that would appeal to them or customize and update pieces you’ve written previously. Send your sample articles off to the webmasters of the sites you’ve chosen. Do this for each separate subject area you write about. You may not see instant results, but eventually you’ll notice Email messages from people looking to know more about you and your subject. You may be asked to write for other sites or give permission to use one of the pieces you’ve already posted.

In today’s world of social media, you should have no problem getting some attention from your sample promotional pieces. People will tweet about them on Twitter, post links to them on Facebook, and in general talk about them. But most of all, you’ll have gotten the word out about you and your work. Remember to include a short bio with your pieces with links to your Web site and Facebook fan page. This is how you get people to notice you.

A second easy way to promote yourself and your writing is by writing something special to include with your holiday greeting. While many people have stopped sending Christmas cards as such, there are lots of other ways to get a greeting out there. For instance, you can prepare an ecard. Write a holiday article or story and find or create an illustration for it. Put the illustration and the story in the body of an Email or lay it out in your word processing program and save it as a PDF file. Just about everyone can open a PDF file. And those with ebook readers can read your story on them. If your story or article is memorable, you’ll be surprised how many people will send an Email to let you know that they’ve shared it with their family and friends. You can send the same story or an even more professional version to your editors for both periodicals and books. You’ll be amazed what a little viral marketing can do.

Along the same lines, check out blogs that may invite you to be a guest blogger. Like Facebook, not only will all your followers read it, but so will all the followers of the person for whom you’re guest blogging. To begin, check with fellow writers and see if you can exchange blogs with any of them. Not matter how you do it, the results will benefit you.

Of course, if you do more corporate writing, you may want to consider small gifts from time to time, but especially during the holidays. What would you like to be representative of your work through the year—a desk calendar, a bookmark, a pen with your name on it? You can have your contact information imprinted on a variety of objects, from pens to penlights. It pays to be creative here. Choose an object that stands out from the crowd. One writer/photographer saw an ad in a national coin magazine—a reproduction of a Viking ship on an old coin. He had some of these inexpensive but handsome items attached to a paperweight with his name and phone number on it and sent them to his favorite editors.

A travel writer knew a craftsman who could inexpensively reproduce various items from her world travels into almost anything. From time to time she commissions felt bookmarks, picture frames, desk boxes, etc., and sees that the editors and publishers she knows get a unique reminder of her work each year. If you’re going to go this route, make sure your gifts are well made and not tacky. A shoddy gift will hurt you more than help you. Try to give gifts that are useful as well as tasteful, so the person receiving it will see your name frequently.

Just as there are ideas all around for articles and books, there are obviously all manner of ideas for publicity about your freelancing business. Watch for them everywhere. Allocate some of your time to develop them in your special way. Make notes on possible angles, amusing tactics, or catchy jingles and slogans. You can interpret many of these ideas, so they won't require expensive chunks of your budget.

A Star is Born

In Hollywood’s golden days, stars could be discovered working in malt shops and diners. Even today, would-be actors work in eating establishments around Hollywood, hoping that an agent or casting director will see them and give them an audition. Oh, were it that easy for writers.

Unfortunately, you, as a writer, won’t be given a break on your good looks. Most beginning writers think it’s only their writing that counts. What they don’t know is that they need to promote themselves as writers and creative thinkers.

As a one-person business operation, you need to keep yourself out front in all public endeavors which can further the cause of your business. You must consider all presentations of yourself as exploratory—the beginnings of friendships and working relationships that you plan to extend. Networking is the key to good promotion, but it’s only one part. Precede interchanges with new contacts by promoting your basic qualities as a writer. With every promotional effort you send out, try to imprint those qualities, strikingly and memorably, in the minds of the people you deal with.

In order to successfully promote yourself as a writer, you have to be constantly alert to new opportunities which may appear at the most unusual moments. If possible, notice how professional writers promote themselves—what do they do, what to they say—and try to emulate them. Notice how they’ve acquired a forceful, effective, yet graceful way of putting their message across. What you may discover is that promoting yourself may require you to be more aggressive, forceful, and, yes, even somewhat daring.

You must project those three qualities in an attractive manner to insure success. Professional promotion isn't bullying. It’s effective persuasion. If an editor likes you as well as the work you do, he or she is far more likely to use you a second time. It's as simple as that.

Someone once said, "Doing business without advertising is like winking at someone in the dark. You know what you're doing, but nobody else does." As a freelancer, it's all too easy to spend your time winking in the dark. But whether you live and work in a city apartment or in a suburban house, the time will come when you need to toot your own horn. When it does, you need to be prepared.

To begin, start saving clippings of your work from the beginning. As your work improves, so will your clippings. Replace those first ones with better ones from better publications. Along with them, compose a resume listing all the places where you’ve been published. Update this periodically, replacing lower market publications with higher market ones. If you’ve done other types of writing for other clients, list the positions you've held, the kind of work you've done them, the dates, and any other pertinent information that describes your writing abilities.

Along with your resume, you’ll need to prepare a biographical sketch. This can be as short as a few sentences or as long as several paragraphs describing who you are and your accomplishments.. The shorter one you’ll need to send along with any articles, stories, or books you sell. The longer one can be used for your social networking pages on Facebook, Linkedin, etc. Create a folder in your computer titled “Promotion” in which you can save files of your resume, bio, and such. Occasionally, you’ll need to create different versions, perhaps for different subjects you write about. Save these with appropriate names so that you can easily find them when needed. To make updating your promotional material easier, create a file in which you list information on your jobs as you do them—titles of writing pieces with publication name and date, place, date and title of lectures or workshops you’ve presented, etc. When it comes time to update your bio, you’ll have everything you need at your fingertips.

Mining for Gold

Unless you can afford to fill a huge house with files containing research for your books, articles and the like, you’ll have to tame the paper tiger before it eats you alive. So mine other sources for research information, resources like libraries that may contain what you need and have it on hand when you need it.

Begin with your local public library. Ask for a list of its periodical holdings. Keep in your personal library only those magazines the library doesn't subscribe to. Many writers subscribe to a number of periodicals, clip and file the material they want, then discard the magazines. Before you discard yours, though, take the time to remove the tables of contents, which you can easily store in a three-ring binder. And while at the library, make copies of the tables of contents of magazines they have that you may want to use in the future. Then, before you head to your library to research a project, you can look through your binder for the precise publication and date you need. The only downside to using some smaller libraries is their lack of space for expansion. Many sell off books and magazines that have poor circulation to make room for newer ones.

Also, find out where secondhand sources for periodicals and books are in your area. Make a note of the above library book sales and plan to spend some time there perusing the items that you may want to add to your personal library. Secondhand book shops, thrift shops, and flea markets are other good sources, especially if you have a specialty. And remember to ask at your doctor's and dentist’s offices and barber’s shop or hairdresser’s salon for periodicals they no longer want. Most will be happy to give them to you.

Digital recorders are great for noting ideas you get on the go or to record information and ideas you may get from listening to your car radio. This holds true during library research, a visit to a museum, or whatever. You can then transfer your audio notes to your computer or transcribe them into your word processing program.

All writers have books in their personal libraries—lots of them. But few take the time to catalog their own library. The more books you acquire, the more difficult it is to retrieve the information they contain. With a catalog of your personal library, you have immediate access to this information in capsule form, saving you lots of time rummaging through your own bookshelves.  Your personal book catalog also shows what you have for insurance and tax purposes. You’ll find free book cataloging programs on such sites as CNET.com or just do a search on Google for them.

So much for the printed material. But don’t forget that you can build a network of fellow writers and other specialists easily using today’s social media. With such a reliable network you become more valuable to your clients and more efficient at finding information for all of your writing. A freelancer in another city, for instance, may be willing, for a reasonable fee or exchange of services, to do local telephone research for you, thus saving you the cost of travel. Also, don’t forget to ask public relations(PR) representatives if they know of any sources of information or experts for quotes in their field of expertise.

One of the best social networks for useful professional contacts is LinkedIn. While it’s geared mostly to professionals seeking to upgrade their positions or seek new jobs. It’s also good for making contacts with PR people and experts in specialized fields.  Remember, a social network is only as good as the people in it. Besides building regulars contacts, LinkedIn also offers discussion groups of professionals in specialized fields. Join those appropriate to your work and chime in on the discussions. You may be able to develop some great working relationships this way.

The other social media network that may be useful to building a network of contacts is Facebook. While its personal pages are more for friends connecting with friends, it’s professional pages—fan, author, and book pages—are aimed at helping writers showcase their businesses or promote themselves or their books. Work at building a good “fan” page—the equivalent of a corporate page for writers. This is an umbrella page that showcases your business. Too many writers create only author or book pages. These last two limit the type of contacts you can make.

Once you've consciously built your network of research helpers—fellow journalists, librarians, magazine editors and writers, novelists, and public relations executives—keep them informed of your needs and offer to reciprocate whenever possible.

Promote Thyself

“Promote thyself” should be every writer’s motto. But getting out there and telling other people about your work is directly opposite to the writing lifestyle. Writing is a solitary profession, and except for interaction with your editors and perhaps people you interview, you write in more or less total isolation.

However, in today’s world of networking, it’s important to make you and your work known.

Sure, book writers—you’ll notice I didn’t use the term “author”—can present book signings here and there. While this may sell a few more books regionally, it doesn’t do much to get a book known for the average writer. Perhaps your book becomes a bestseller and Oprah invites you on her show. It becomes an instant success. But what about all the rest of us who don’t get that golden opportunity.

Whether you write books, articles, or short stories, you need to create a plan for promoting them. You’ll discover that it’s inherently easier to promote non-fiction than fiction. First, you can easily produce articles on the same topics as your books or articles in which you can promote yourself as a writer in other topic areas. Publishing these in print or online will definitely help get you noticed.

And what about creating your own Web site? People in businesses of all kinds have Web sites today. It shouldn’t be any different for a writer. You have two ways to go there—developing a professional Web site through which you can engage editors or a more personal site to engage readers.(I’ll discuss creating your own site more in a future blog.)

Even if you don’t have a Web site, you can offer your work to Webmasters of other sites—either ones that deal with your chosen topic or ones that focus on writing, itself. Don’t do this haphazardly, however. Instead, target good sites with higher visitor counts or rankings in search engines like Google.

And finally don’t discount social networking sites like Facebook. While all the”friends” you emass on Facebook may visit your fan page regularly, are they doing much else to further your career, like buying your books or reading the magazines in which your articles and short stories appear. Only you can decide if the time and energy you’ll need to put into a social networking page will be worth it in the long run.

Turn Awards Into Cash

Awards to a writer are like gold. And while some may even be made of gold which you can cash in at any one of those “Cash-for-Gold” shops, most are far more valuable.

While writing awards come in all varieties, the ones that hold the most value are those given with minimal input from you, the writer, and usually from a group of other writers. After winning such an award, especially one given by a group of writers or editors, your credibility soars–at least for a while.

Soon after you’re presented with an award, everyone rushes to congratulate you. But not unlike when a loved one dies and the sympathies fade away after a few weeks, so it is with an award. How soon they forget!

So it’s up to you to make sure they don’t. Whatever type of award you win, you need to milk it for all the promotion it’s worth. Prominently display it on the Home Page of your Web site. Post it on your Facebook Page, tweet all those Web birdies out there. But most of all, let your editors and publishers know about it.
First and foremost, use your award to get more work. Make sure you update your resume, especially on your Web site. Don’t be shy. And mention it in your query letters. The more prestigious the award, the longer its residual effects will last.

And be sure to display your award(s) where you can see them every day, so that they’ll inspire you to write more. Remember, the fact that you received an award in the first place means someone thought you were better than the rest. The award just proves what you knew all along.