NAIWE NewsWire

NAIWE Publishing Expert Jerry D. Simmons will be on The Freelance Life online radio show this coming Wednesday. His topic will be:

“The Seven Things Every Author MUST Understand About Publishing”

Recording of Part 1 of this interview:

They include:

(1)              It’s a business,

(2)              Two distinct parts to becoming a successful author,

(3)              Become a student of the marketplace,

(4)              Good story trumps great writing,

[6/2/2010 Note: We didn't get through all the questions, but we'll finish on Wednesday, August 4, at 3:30 p.m. EDT.]

(5)              It’s easy to get published, difficult to sell books,

(6)              Perception is critical, every author has choices, and

(7)              There are no guarantees, ever.

Here’s the recording of Part 2 of this interview:

There will be an opportunity for questions and answers at the end of the program. We hope you can join us!

• The Freelance Life
• Wednesday, August 4, 2010
• 3:30 p.m. EDT
• Phone Number: (724) 444-7444
• Call ID: 38165

Join our NAIWE News & Events page on Facebook!

NAIWE members all receive a member website as part of their benefits. Each member site looks likes this NewsWire site, and is based on the reliable and easy-to-use WordPress platform. WordPress comes with a robust array of editing tools, but many users never find them. Here’s how you can view your entire toolbar:

Look at the toolbar at the top of your editing window:

You’ll see all the familiar icons for bolding, italicizing, creating ordered and unordered lists, and so forth. At the very end (far right), there is an icon with a symbol that looks like little rows of boxes. Click that icon, and a whole new row of editing icons will show up, as you see below.

This second row of icons offers a selection of type styles, including headers and addresses, plus options for colored text, pasting as plain text, custom characters, and more. No matter what your formatting needs, your member website can probably handle it.

If you’ve never tried adding a photo, it’s easy. Just click on the symbol beside the words “Add media” just over the editing toolbar, then choose the photo file you want to add, decide on alignment and size, then click on the “Insert into post” button. If you want to edit the image, click on it, then click on the icon of a photo that pops up. You’ll be able to adjust the image from the options displayed.

If you want to have your non-fiction book published, you need to know how to effectively construct a book proposal. You can learn bits and pieces from many sources, but the very best place to learn is from someone who has successfully crafted a wide variety of non-fiction and fiction proposals.

NAIWE Expert Mary DeMuth is the author of several novels, three books on parenting, a recently published memoir, and countless articles. She mentors budding writers through The Writing Spa, and has written two tutorials, Nonfiction Book Proposals that Grab an Editor or Agent by the Throat (in a good way!) and Write a Powerful Fiction Proposal. These two resources are full of practical advice and annotated samples of proposals that worked.

Nonfiction Book Proposals that Grab an Editor or Agent by the Throat (in a good way!)

Wednesday, May 19, at 3:30 p.m. EST

In this teleclass, you’ll learn:

1. How to identify and articulate your passion before you write the book
2. What belongs in The Introduction and About the Book sections
3. Where to find information for About the Market
4. What to put in the Comparative Analysis section
5. How to construct a realistic Marketing Plan
6. What to say in the About the Author section
7. How to shape a convincing Conclusion
8. What to include in Chapter Outlines
9. What you need to know about the first three chapters that most publishers request

Mary’s latest book is Life in Defiance, the final book in the Defiance, Texas trilogy. You can read more about it at Mary’s online bookstore, where you can purchase the proposal tutorials and signed copies of her books. You’ll also find her books (but not the tutorials) at Amazon.com and other bookstores.

Members will receive call-in information for the class via a member mailing. Be sure that you’ve whitelisted *@naiwe.com and *@naiwemail.com (an asterisk, followed by @naiwe.com and @naiwemail.com) in your e-mail program so that you receive the message.

If you’re not a member and you’d like to join in time for this teleclass, you may click on this “Join NAIWE” link to do so.

If you would like to register for this single teleclass only, you may do so for $27 by visiting the Teleclass page.

Staying “Well-Fed” in a Changing Writing World:

Short and Long-Term Strategies for Boosting Your Writing Income

Wednesday, 17 March 2010, at 3:30 p.m. EST

It’s a tougher writing world out there today, and the writers who thrive in the coming years are those who can successfully adapt to the changing realities. In this one-hour info-packed session, join NAIWE Expert Peter Bowerman, veteran commercial freelancer and self-published author of the award-winning “Well-Fed” titles (www.wellfedwriter.com), as you explore…

* Strategies for standing out in crowded writing marketplace
* How to “un-commoditize” your writing and raise your market value
* How to diversity into the lucrative field of “commercial” freelance writing
* How to turn your expertise into multiple money-making products and services
* Why self-publishing could be your best publishing option
* How self-publishing a book can boost your industry reputation, your short-term profitability and your long-term financial security

And much more… Don’t miss it!

BIO:

Peter Bowerman, veteran “commercial” freelancer and popular business coach, is the self-publishing author of the award-winning Well-Fed Writer titles on lucrative commercial freelancing (www.wellfedwriter.com). He chronicled his self-publishing success (60,000 copies of his books in print and a full-time living for eight-plus years) in the award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living.

Members will receive call-in information for the class via a member mailing. Be sure that you’ve whitelisted *@naiwe.com (an asterisk, followed by @naiwe.com) in your e-mail program so that you receive the message.

If you’re not a member and you’d like to join in time for this teleclass, you may click on this “Join NAIWE” link to do so.

If you would like to register for this single teleclass only, you may do so for $27 by visiting the Teleclass page.

In honor of Words Matter Week, March 1-7, 2010, we’ll be hosting editor and NAIWE Expert Barbara McNichol for a free teleclass on The Freelance Life. Barbara is the author of Word Trippers: The Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters. She’s edited 240+ books in the past 15 years, and we’re delighted that she’ll be sharing her expertise during this special week.

Class Date and Time: Wednesday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m. EST at The Freelance Life. You may listen online or on the phone.

Description: In Whack Wordiness, editor Barbara McNichol will share techniques that editors use to perfect your writing, brought to life with lots of examples. You’ll receive an optional assignment for practice – and we’ll make it lots of fun.

In this class you will:

• gain fresh insight into how to tighten your writing
• learn warning signals for excess wordiness
• gain greater confidence in your ability to revise your own work

Instructor: Barbara McNichol

NAIWE Member Teleclass

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

3:30 pm Eastern

Paulette Ensign, Tips Booklet Expert

After writing that 200-page book, having an entire information-product line that comes from just a few thousand words sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it? This is one of those times it really is true. This session shows you how to make it happen.

• Choose a great topic for you
• Why start with tips booklet
• Learn a simple writing formula, word count, organization
• The power of three that easily becomes six, one at a time
• Why do different formats
• Inventory or not
• Examples all around you
• Sell parts of the whole – to whom and for how much

Paulette Ensign is the founder, Chief Visionary, and Booklet Queen at Tips Products International, www.tipsbooklets.com. Paulette’s sense of humor and can-do attitude are the backdrop for teaching you to transform your knowledge into tips booklets and other information products for marketing, motivating, and making money. Paulette has personally sold well over a million copies (so far!) of her one tips booklet, “110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life,” in four languages and various formats without ever spending a penny on advertising.  You will leave this series with ideas to breathe new life into your business.

Members will receive call-in information for the class via a member mailing. Be sure that you’ve whitelisted *@naiwe.com (an asterisk, followed by @naiwe.com) in your e-mail program so that you receive the message.

If you’re not a member and you’d like to join in time for this teleclass, you may click on this “Join NAIWE” link to do so. If you would like to register for the teleclass only, you may do so for $27 by visiting the Teleclass page.

We’ve updated the NAIWE member site engine to the latest version of WordPress to make posting even quicker and easier. You can go to your NAIWE site (http://yourname.naiwe.com) and reach the log-in screen directly from the right sidebar. You’ll find a spiffy new interface that makes posting more fun. Scroll to the bottom of this post to see screenshots of the new Wordpress dashboard. I think you’ll like it!

If you already have a website or domain name, what can you use your NAIWE site for?

Drive traffic to your primary website: Whenever you post on your primary site, copy the first few lines to your NAIWE blog, and finish with a “Read more…” tag, linked to the post on your primary blog. This will be a quality incoming link that will help your site show up higher in search engine results.

If you already have a domain name you’ve been planning to use for a primary website: Forward it to your NAIWE site, and use the NAIWE site as your primary spot for posting. This will eliminate reasons for procrastination, and get your web presence started in the quickest and easiest way possible.

Remember that building quality incoming links to whichever site you choose to use for your primary site is an important part of search engine optimization. Each link provides another way for readers to find you, and the more links you have coming in, the higher your ranking will be in Google and other search engines.

In addition to linking to your NAIWE site from any other sites you own, we recommend that you link to NAIWE and your member site from social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s also helpful to place a link to your member site in your e-mail signature (you do use one, don’t you?). An e-mail signature is a quick, easy and unintrusive way to share your website, book titles, upcoming classes, an invitation to subscribe to your newsletter, or anything else you can fit into a few discreet lines.

Your NAIWE member website is one of the most valuable benefits we offer, and we encourage you to make the most of it. Post on it, then tweet your post title and a link so that others can read what you’ve shared. It’s an ideal way to connect with readers or potential clients, because people who are looking for writers or editors come to NAIWE to search the database. Your NAIWE-linked site is a lot easier to find than an isolated single site with few connections. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Screenshots

1- How to reach the log-in page:

*Go to your member site and click on "Log in" in the right sidebar.

2- How to log in to post on your member site:

*Use your NAIWE username and password to log in.

3- The back-end or “dashboard” for your member site:

*Your navigation links are in the left sidebar. Click on "Posts" to create a new post or edit an existing post. Add or edit pages through the "Pages" link; comments and links through their respective links. It's pretty easy!

The main thing to remember is to never ever copy and paste something directly from Microsoft Word into any post or page. Convert it first to plain text, then paste it and format it using the tools at the top of the Post or Pages box. Word leaves a bunch of gunky coding that results in odd formatting and symbols that show up in all the wrong places.

Enjoy working with your site!

Tina Games, Journaling Expert

NAIWE Member Teleclass

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 at 1:00 p.m. EST

We’re excited to host Tina Games, the NAIWE expert on the art of journaling. She has focused her writing and coaching career on working with women through the power of focused journaling, and she’ll be sharing some very specific techniques writers can use to power up creativity and defuse stress.

In this one-hour teleclass, Tina will discuss:

• - How journaling is helpful to a writer
• - Setting the stage for journal writing
• - What types of journals are best for writers?
• - What are some journaling techniques for capturing the best ideas?
• - How can journaling help with writers block?
• - How to use journal writing to map out a story, article or book

Members will receive call-in information for the class via a member mailing. Be sure that you’ve whitelisted *@naiwe.com (an asterisk, followed by @naiwe.com) in your e-mail program so that you receive the message.

If you’re not a member and you’d like to join in time for Tina’s teleclass, you may click on this “Join NAIWE” link to do so. If you would like to register for the teleclass only, you may do so for $27 by visiting the Teleclass page.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

A no-whiners-allowed guest article by freelance writer, Carol Tice.

Join NAIWE’s Tips Booklet Expert, Paulette Ensign, as she calls in to teach us how to strategically and creatively use Twitter to create a product and market your business. Expect to learn a lot!

Wednesday, October 21, 200912:30 noon PT / 1:30pm MT / 2:30pm CT / 3:30pm ET

Watch your inbox for the call-in information (be sure you’re signed up for e-zine mailing list to the right so that you don’t miss any teleclasses or events!)

Create a Product and Market Your Business a Minute at a Time Starting on Twitter

What if you could create a product and market your business all at the same time for literally minutes a day, at no cost?  Oh, and have fun doing it, too? Well, you can.

Paulette Ensign, of tips booklets fame for almost two decades, crossed over her own barrier into the world of online social networking through the free mini-blogging service, Twitter. While many people are creating applications and guidance for effectively using Twitter to promote their business, Paulette realized it’s the ideal vehicle to write tips of about 22 words each. It’s a way for you to give useful information and create a presence for your business simultaneously, in less than a minute per tip. It’s multi-tasking at its finest.

Once you post the tips online, there are so many more things you can do with that content. Sharing useful tips through tips booklets has been and still is one of the easiest and quickest ways to become a published author, build credibility, and market yourself all at once. As fast as it is to write a booklet compared to a whole book, you can start a new product or distribute one you’ve already got as bite-sized pieces to a much broader audience. Plus there’s no design, production, or delivery costs online. You can then decide if you want to develop or extend a whole product line from that information.Discover:

* A simple formula for writing effective tips in 22 words or less.

* Ways to leverage tips into 7 other products and formats for sale and to give away

* Ideas for making money with this information, online and offline

* Licensing the content for huge profits

This session is just the thing if you are:

o A Reluctant Marketer

o The Introvert of the Century

o Transitioning into Info Products

o Older Than a Teenager

o Skeptical About the Value of Social Networking

Bio:

Paulette Ensign has personally sold well over a million copies of her own tips booklet, ‘110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life,’ without spending a penny on advertising. She did this with no business training, and enough guts and natural irreverence to figure it all out as she went.  Her first career was more than a decade of happily teaching string instruments in public elementary schools, before becoming a professional organizer from 1983 until the mid 1990’s after she wrote her booklet. Paulette has unwittingly become The Booklet Queen since writing her booklet in 1991.With a sense of humor and a ‘can-do’ attitude, Paulette shares her experiences with clients and audiences worldwide, through her consulting, speaking, and teleseminar services and products.

Paulette made a cross-country move from New York to San Diego, California in 1996  without missing a beat in her business because of the role that booklets play. When asked why she moved, her answer has consistently been “It doesn’t snow in San Diego.”

This event is for NAIWE Members, but non-members may listen live.

If you’re already on the NAIWE e-zine mailing list, you’ll receive the teleclass phone number and access code in your inbox on the day of the call. If you’re not, you can sign up on the teleclass page.

Can’t make the live call? Don’t worry! All calls are recorded and will be available to NAIWE members in the private members-only area of the NAIWE website. Join today and you can listen to this call, plus all of our past teleclasses on great topics such as ghostwriting, smart self-publishing, and more.