This isn’t a tech review. What got my attention is the reviewer tried out the Kindle in different ways to see how she might actually use it.
Filed under: ebooks, web reviews, ebooks, Kindle, Kindle review
07/19/2010 • 12:46 AM 0
What you need: Lifehacker and Linchpin
Writers need shortcuts in their lives. Shortcuts save time and make time for you to write. Seth Godin’s Linchpin turned me on to this awesome site: lifehacker.com. (Love the site. Love Godin’s book. Read the book and make yourself an indispensable artist.)
Use lifehacker to increase your productivity. Dig through. Opportunities abound. Make it happen.
Filed under: Media, web reviews, Writers, writing tips, lifehacker, seth godin, website recommendation
07/02/2010 • 9:09 AM 0
Three Tips on How Writers Build Platforms
You need a platform, preferably a big one. You need a website that’s all about the magic that is you and what you have to sell. (Hint: that’s the same thing. You sell yourself first and all your products are secondary. If they don’t like you, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling.)
1. Be nice. (And if you can’t be that, go work on that. It is possible to succeed without being a decent human being, but I’m not going to be the prick that encourages that sort of nonsense.)
2. Your Facebook page is not the center of your empire. Social Media is a moving landscape. Facebook might not be there five years from now. You scoff, but people who poured their hearts in their Friendster and MySpace pages are scowling about it now. Your website is the center of your empire-to-be.
3. Have Oprah owe you her life, be a world-famous expert on the next hot thing, be a reformed-junkie celebrity or be born to famous abusive parents. If you can’t manage these things, you’ll have to grow your following the old-fashioned way: provide value and help people with their problems.
There’s plenty more to say on this subject. Read it in Christina Katz’s Get Known Before the Book Deal and read How to Become a Famous Author Before You’re Dead by Ariel Gore.
Filed under: Books, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, web reviews, Writers, Books for Writers, How Writers Build Platforms, Writers and marketing, Writers and promotion
06/15/2010 • 10:48 PM 0
Misinterpretations
Writers are misunderstood all the time. Horror authors are often asked, for instance, why they identify with the evil monster. (Nobody asks them if they identify with the hero, for some reason.) misinterpretation is rampant, especially in song lyrics. For a long time, I thought the lyric was “I believe in marigolds!” (not miracles.)
You must see this site about the Top Ten Most Misinterpreted Song Meanings. Great reading! And yes, I believed the Phil Collins myth about In the Air Tonight. Fantastic read!
Filed under: Unintentionally hilarious, web reviews, top ten most misinterpreted songs
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