I love reading, I guess it’s one of the things that makes me want to write. I love to read anything from non-fiction books that teach me something I need to know or challenge my assumptions about this thing we call life to fiction works of many authors from Jostein Gaarder and his philosophical conundrums and questions, through various characters of the unique Alexander McCall Smith books and right up to the works of authors such as Joanna Trollope, Erica James, Rebecca Shaw and Judy Astley. (more…)
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NaNoWriMo – what’s that you ask?
14 NovIt’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) and the challenge is on to write a novel in a month. Have no fear, I’ve not hauled myself up for the challenge, it’s hard enough to trying to keep up with the odd blog post and Twitter without adding a further complication into my overly complicated life, but I do know someone who is doing the NaNoWriMo challenge and she can be found http://beanstalkwriter.wordpress.com/. I admire anyone who has this amount of self discipline because I know that this is something that eludes me and I find it difficult to concentrate on the job in hand. (more…)
How to make the ‘social’ in the social web work for your brand new book
15 AugI’ve been writing for a long time now; five non-fiction books written since 2005 and one short story (I’m also working on my first novel – but that’s a whole different kettle of fish it seems). All are self published and one is a top seller on Amazon in the UK and the US, it’s been a hard road to travel but it’s been worth it and I’ve discovered that I love writing, I think I was born to be an author. (more…)
What he did next
26 OctHe pulled the bedroom door gently closed behind him, not wishing to wake anyone at such an early hour.
He prided himself on his consideration for others, constantly checking and rechecking that he was not causing a problem or offence to anyone who came within his vicinity. This quietness was just another example of his thoughtfulness. He was the type who would dry himself in the shower or bath BEFORE stepping on to the bathmat, just so the next person would have a dry mat to themselves. (more…)
Writing for Email Newsletters
14 OctI send out quite few email newsletters and pretty much most of them are automated by the Autoresponder systems I use. However, despite this I did think long and hard about the sort of information that should be contained within such emails before writing them (automated or not). As well as writing them I also, naturally, receive quite a few too and I notice that there is usually a big difference in the content and their ability to encourage me to do something active as a result of them. As a result I thought that a brief post on what I believe a good email newsletter (automated or otherwise) should contain. (more…)
Adding value to your readers
6 AugDepending on your market sector, adding value to your online offering can reap huge rewards. This includes adding links to other sites and areas on the Internet that can help you customer achieve their own goals. When this is used correctly, and even when you link to competitors, you begin to gain credibility as a niche source of highly relevant information and become some where that your user community might come to first. This is useful for at least two major reasons: (more…)
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