10Feb 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Why you should blog about anything but writing

Writing
Starting a blog is a great way to build an author platform and a great way to show potential publishers and clients how serious you are about writing, but your blog shouldn't actually be about writing. I'd even go so far as to say your blog should focus on anything you're passionate about except writing. As serious writers dedicated to building a career from our craft, we spent a lot of time thinking about writing. I follow half a dozen blogs about writing and I've read some great books on the subject. I've participated in Nanowrimo and other writing challenges numerous times. Writing is at the center of my life, so it seemed natural to blog about writing. You probably feel the same way. If you sit and think about…
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21Apr 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Planning your newsletter & subscriber freebie

Marketing, Writing
Remember when I mentioned newsletters and subscriber freebies while you were building your content plan? I wanted you to write down any ideas you had for this content and when to release it. Now that you've gotten the other aspects of your author platform nailed down, it's time to plan these out in more detail. Don't skimp on this process. Your subscriber base will become the heart of your platform--email subscribers who feel they've developed a relationship, however insubstantial, with you and your work are the people most likely to purchase your products. Your blog should already have an RSS feed set up, but to maximize efficiency with email marketing you need to sign up for a newsletter service like Mail Chimp or AWeber. These platforms allow you to create…
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16Apr 2014 by Dianna L. Gunn

Getting your first guest post published

Blog Stuff, Writing
If you've never gotten a guest post published before, this week's article about a guest post strategy might have felt a little overwhelming. Once you've gotten the hang of it you'll find it's actually pretty easy to get yourself published on other people's blogs, as long as you have something valuable to say. In fact, the first three guest articles I pitched were all accepted by the first blogs I pitched them to, and that wasn't by chance. It's about getting the process right. Grab the list of blog post ideas you created on Monday. If you didn't, you should probably go do that. Like right now. Done? All right. Now pick a blog and a pitch idea and follow me. Prepare a query Most blogs want you to submit…
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