Writers | C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

12/21/2010 • 3:07 PM 0

Old ideas about publishing, Twitter and your worldview

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Sometimes it feels like we’re fighting the tide.

The world as it was is the tide.

1. There’s the tide of institution, wherein the established people put down those who aren’t established because they aren’t established…or just because they’re different. I wear a black fedora and a long black coat with a red scarf. I look like a bad immortal from Highlander. Some people look at me funny. And what fearful mortals must they be.

2. There’s generational inertia, where old ideas get enshrined and people don’t want to change. I made the mistake of trying to have a conversation about theoretical physics with someone who thought the field of physics had stopped developing in 1964 (coincidentally the year of his graduation from university.)

3. There’s the know-it-alls who can give you lots of reasons why you’re wrong and shouldn’t attempt anything new. Just. Like. Them. Doing something creative and new and different takes are certain amount of unreasonableness. We’re nice. But we have crazy ideas that just might work. “Put away your market analysis and focus groups and look what I made!”

4. There are envious people who feel safe in their rut if you get down in that rut with them.

5. There are people who are afraid and don’t know the way out is to act brave, especially when you don’t feel brave.

6. There are people who have their opinions and those opinions were true a short time ago. Those outdated opinions were dead on, but things changed and now they are dead. I’m hearing people worry about the death of newspapers who haven’t ever given a single thought to the end of home milk delivery.

7. Some opinions were snarky and funny for a short time, like Twitter being all about what you had for lunch. This is usually from people who haven’t tried Twitter…yet. Are these people still going around saying, “You are the weakest link!” How about, “Where’s the beef?” Move on, please. And spring for dial-up, will you? You’re Internet connection is nearly unusable.

8. There are know-it-alls, but many more know-nothings. Don’t cast your pearls before swine.

9. Then there are people who have a vested interest in keeping things as they’ve been. (Publishers holding back on e-books to squeeze a little more out of trees and authors comes to mind. Outmoded contracts are bad. Trying to retrofit old contracts to new markets is criminal conspiracy.)

10. And sometimes we’re wrong to fight. Sometimes we’re on even ground and don’t know it.

Story time: When I graduated from the Banff Publishing Workshop, one of the faculty said, “Welcome to publishing. Come to create, not to destroy us.” It hit a rather defensive note. They had put us through the wringer, so maybe they had some reason to expect us to be a little pissed.

I stood up and said, “We aren’t coming to destroy…but we value our opinions just as much as you value your own and this is a subjective business. Nobody has to feel bad about that. No one knows what’s going to be a bestseller, so let’s not pretend we know. There is no secret to selecting the right book to publish. That’s the secret.”

And yet, we were expected to feel bad, even in areas we had experience if not expertise. I often felt too young to have an opinion, year after year. With every one of my birthdays, the establishment got a year older, too. Screw that. I’m old enough to see the pattern now. Or am I too old to have these opinions?

Below is a link to an interesting article about how Twitter is changing.

It starts a bit slow and the lead is buried, but once you get to the charts, you get the real chocolate flavour.

As Dennis Miller used to say—way back when he was good and relevant— “Of course, that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.”

How Twitter is Changing: A new study reveals Twitter’s new direction

The Power of Twitter in Information Discovery (cloudave.com)
English Courts Embrace Twitter, @judge Already Gone [Voices] (voices.allthingsd.com)
Conversations with Twitter’s Top Comedy Writers (splitsider.com)
There’s a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Ask for Newsletter Signups on Twitter (blogs.constantcontact.com)
The Essential Twitter Dictionary (socialtimes.com)

Filed under: publishing, Rant, Rejection, Unintentionally hilarious, Useful writing links, What about Chazz?, Writers, writing tips, authors, Dennis Miller, Highlander, Opinion, publishing, social media, Social network, Twitter, writers

12/17/2010 • 8:57 AM 5

Author Profile: Sue Kenney & My Camino

CW: Most authors I speak to know they want to be a writer in childhood. That wasn’t true in your case. Tell us about that.

SK: After being suddenly downsized from my corporate telecom career, I walked 780 kms on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain on a search to figure out what was important in life. When I came home I started telling stories about my journey. It was during this time that people asked me to write a book. I kept saying I wasn’t a writer. Over time with the encouragement of many people, mostly strangers, I felt it was something I was called to do.

CW: It sounds like your audience found you first and demanded you write about your journey.

Sue Kenney

SK: People told me they wanted to read more about what I was thinking about and how my perceptions changed as I walked. The book is the true story of how I confronted my deepest fear. I start talking about the events that led to my decision to walk the Camino and why I went alone in the winter. Then, I tell stories about the people I met, the experiences I had, what I was thinking and how it impacted my perspective on life.

CW: How did you begin?

SK: I researched the Camino’s rich history extensively, the pilgrims (modern and pilgrims of old), miracles and the folklore. I took a course at Ryerson University in creative writing before I wrote my first book. My process was to sit down and write 1000 words a day for 2 months to complete a first draft manuscript of at least 50k words. I was disciplined about keeping to my goal and I met it.

CW: How long did it take you to find a publisher?

SK: I went to Toronto’s Word on the Street and found three publishers who were interested in my idea. I was asked for a writing sample by one of the publishers but I hadn’t written anything. Fortunately, I had a storytelling CD called Stone by Stone I recorded. I transcribed those stories. Then I picked the longest story and gave it a chapter number and title. I sent it as my writing sample along with a strong marketing plan. White Knight Books agreed to publish My Camino the following year. The whole process took about six months because I was insistent on having the book published quickly and I delivered what was requested by the publisher on time.

CW: What surprised you the most about the writing process?

SK: If I surrendered to writing the truth then I was guided in the process. When I tried to control the process, I had more struggles. Early on, I decided to surrender to the creative process and I was completely surprised that I never experienced writer’s block.

CW: What was your biggest challenge you experienced through this book?

SK: Editing the book was a big challenge and an inspiration. Initially, I wasn’t impressed with the way the publisher edited the book because I felt as though my voice was being changed. He agreed to let me look for another editor. I found Bruce Pirrie. He hadn’t edited a book before, but he was a professional screen/stage/television writer who worked on The Red Green Show. He had also directed several Second City comedy shows. I took a chance on him and it proved to be the right decision. Bruce would give me notes, I’d make the revisions and then he would read it to me out loud.

When I asked him why he wanted to do that he said, “How do you know what it will sound like?” The inspiring part of this story is that I believe as a result of reading the book out loud, it is more visual. This was important when we pitched a screenplay adaptation to Pierre Even, (C.R.A.Z.Y.) a producer in Montreal. The book is now in development as a feature film. Bruce and I co-wrote the screenplay. In five years I went from being an Account Executive in the telecom industry to writing two books, a stage play, a screenplay and recording a storytelling CD.

CW: What was the hardest part of the publishing process for you and what did you most enjoy?

SK: The hardest part was getting the bookstores to keep copies of the books on the shelves. The big box stores want to sell volumes of books and being a first-time author, I didn’t have a well known name.

The part I most enjoyed was doing the book signings and readings. Often authors loathe doing this but I love it. In the first year, I did 54 author events. I gave free stones to people walking by and this always stirred up interesting conversations. When people find out I walked 780 kilometers across the north of Spain alone in the winter they’re intrigued. It took me over two years to become a Canadian bestseller but I never gave up. I believe my life purpose is to tell stories to inspire people on their life journeys. At book events I get to live my life purpose. It doesn’t get better than that!

CW: Any advice would you give unpublished writers?

SK: If people ask you to write your story, do it. Set a goal and write every day until it’s done. NaNoWriMo is a great event to help develop discipline. Don’t worry about getting a publisher or how you are going to sell books. Just get the story down on paper.

CW: Have changes in the book industry altered how you market your work?

SK: It’s easier to market now. I can blog, Facebook, tweet and send out my newsletter with updates. When I wrote a second book about the Camino called Confessions of a Pilgrim, I decided to use a self-publishing house because it gave me everything I needed to get a book on the market quickly and efficiently.

CW: What’s your next project?

SK: I’m narrating an audiobook version of My Camino this month. This allows me to use my “voice” to share stories, something I’ve wanted to do since the book was published. In January, I’ll be offering a download version of the book on my website www.suekenney.ca initially for FREE co-incident with the launch of my new website. The CD audio book version will be launched on International Woman’s Day on March 8, 2011. I’ve penned the first draft of a novel about a woman who travels to India in search of pure love. I believe there is a correlation to walking and creativity so I walk every day.

CW: Thanks for doing this, Sue.For more on Sue Kenney, go here:

www.suekenney.ca

mycaminobook@gmail.com

Facebook: My Camino

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, authors, Books, publishing, Writers, writing tips, Author, author interview, author platform, author profiles, Confessions of a Pilgrim, My Camino, publishing, Sue Kenney, writer

12/15/2010 • 8:01 AM 1

Writers: What is your genre? What do you read?

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Most of you are writers.

Please let me know the genre in which you write.

Also, what do you read?

Some writers avoid reading fiction from their own genre because they worry it will influence their own writing. I think there’s a difference between a good influence, a bad influence and plagiarism, so I read a lot within my genre (literary fiction and horror.) I also read widely outside my genre.

I usually have ten or so books going at one time. I either have an undiagnosed case of Attention Deficit Disorder or I’m easily bored. Oh, or maybe those two things are de facto the same thing. (I know I’ve hit a really good book when I don’t switch it out with another book. and slow down to savour it.)

I also have an extensive collection of reference books and how-to books on writing, social media and most aspects of publishing. Do you have a favourite book on writing or perhaps you reject the premise? What writing books do you love? Which could you (and the universe) do without?

I’d like to hear from you.

Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Why You Should Write Using a Pseudonym (writinghood.com)
Sounding Too Adult (pubrants.blogspot.com)
Writer Reality Check (warriorwriters.wordpress.com)

Filed under: book reviews, Writers, book reviews, Book Writing, books, FAQs Help and Tutorials, fiction, how-to, questions for writers, readers, reading, reviews, Writers Resources, writing

12/14/2010 • 4:40 PM 2

Here’s a good one on editors, authors & the dance we do

This article is a long read but definitely worth the time. This gives quite an insight into the long process we must all endure (whether you’re self-published or traditionally published.) It’s especially useful to see how editors and authors relate. Check it out:

Five Writers Talk About Their Book Editors | The Awl

Racing off to help someone in need at the moment.

Alfred! My cape! My cowl!

See you back here tomorrow morning, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

The Awl Is Seeking A Managing Editor (theawl.com)
A Self-Publishing Adventure Wraps Up (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
Favourite Posts :Defining the Role of an Editor (writeanything.wordpress.com)
Bernard Starr: Self-Publishing Offers No Hassle and Big Potential Profits. Is It For You? (huffingtonpost.com)
Yes, You Can Make a Living as a Fiction Author (webupon.com)

Filed under: authors, Editing, Editors, publishing, self-publishing, Writers, writing tips, authors, editors, writers

12/13/2010 • 1:48 PM 5

Writers Top Ten: Why blogging about publishing is important

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My father does not understand me.

This was a given when I was a teenager.

Time passed.

Nothing changed.

When the subject of my online work came up, my father said, in a tone that could only be termed condescending, “Why would you bother with that?” He means well, which is never soothing though for some reason it’s supposed to ease the pain of casual negation. Think of that. Have you ever not taken offense when anyone starts out with, “No offence, but…”

But to the question, why do I bother with Chazz Writes? Well, lots of reasons (beyond the simple enjoyment of bagging on my 84-year-old father.)

1. I write because I can do naught else. He really should get that by now.

2. I write to learn what I think about things. Don’t you find your thoughts are better articulated and organized when they go through your keyboard first?

3. I write to educate and, in so doing, I become better educated about writing and the publishing industry. I research a hippo’links before I shoot them your way. Curation is a large part of what I do on the blog.

4. I write for recognition. As detailed in my previous post (immediately below), I’ve decided it’s important to become a fame whore and not just the regular sort we all are (i.e. for money.)

5. I write so clients can find me. That happy pic up there? It takes you to my business site where there’s a free trial for editing manuscripts. I also edit websites for a flat rate. I write and I edit and this, all of this, is an ad. And yet, I am unashamed.

6. I write to build a following. When I kick my fiction out into the world, I want an audience to be ready. Eager even!

7. I write for myself. It’s not just for business. Without the business side, I’d do it anyway. (I wrote a couple of blogs before this one.) In short, it’s fun.

8. I write as a distraction from my “real” writing. When one of my book chapters fails to get written or edited as quickly as I’d like, my blog post can succeed where other ambitions may (temporarily) fall short.

9. I write the blog for the energy and feedback my readers give me through their comments, their attention and the chakra vortex I have hooked up which funnels your etheric power through your tilde key, through the interwebs and into my root chakra. So, thanks readers!

10. I write for the pure enjoyment of gentle vengeance upon family members who don’t get what I do. That’s right. I said it. Vengeance. Chazz does not take condescension well! Condescension makes Chazz write of himself in the third person! It’s that serious.

Here’s a spot-on and more serious link about why you should familiarize yourself

with what’s going on in the publishing industry:

Ten Reasons to Get to Know and Get Involved in the Publishing Industry

from Pens with Cojones.

(I love that name, don’t you? Just don’t think through to the disturbing visual… D’oh!)

Why the iPad Will Not Save the Publishing Industry (woorkup.com)
Why book publishing needs the Silicon Valley way (macworld.com)
Avoid the Many Pitfalls of Book Publishing (terrywhalin.blogspot.com)
Publishing Industry and Music Industry | all these birds with teeth: this is not about science. (birdswithteeth.wordpress.com)
The ings before publishing part three: convening (sararyan.com)
How to promote your book (the-write-spot.com)
So, You Want to Publish Your Own Book? (dailyfinance.com)
Writer Reality Check (warriorwriters.wordpress.com)
The Local Lit Scene Gets Busy Online (chicagoist.com)
When is the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts? [Infographic] (hubspot.com)
How to publish a Kindle ebook (teleread.com)
Publishers leery of doing business with Apple (tuaw.com)

Filed under: links, My fiction, publishing, Rant, Top Ten, Useful writing links, What about Chazz?, Writers, Author, blogging, book, book business, I write because, Publish, publishing, publishing advice, publishing industry knowledge, publishing links, Reasons for writing, self-publishing, writer, writing

12/10/2010 • 2:33 PM 1

Writer Links: Stephen King, evil editors and plugging plot holes

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You’ve already worked hard today, right? Take a break.

Here are some useful links for your Friday afternoon:

Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer

Editors are evil, and other fairy stories‏

AOS: How to avoid inconsistencies and plot holes

The Must-Have Writing Routine‏

Video Interview: Stephen King (gointothestory.com)
Writers on Writing: On Writing by Stephen King (tor.com)
Three Tips on Writing From Stephen King and Anne Lamott (gauravonomics.com)
Chat with Stephen King During Full Dark No Stars UStream Event (dreadcentral.com)
Inspiration: Stephen King Style (l3montree.wordpress.com)
First Official Trailer for Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars; Website Launches (dreadcentral.com)
Full Dark, No Stars, By Stephen King (independent.co.uk)

Filed under: authors, Editing, Editors, Friday Publishing Advice Links, Useful writing links, Writers, writing tips, editing, editors, Full Dark No Stars, plot holes, plots, Stephen King, Writers Resources, writing, writing advice, writing routine

12/09/2010 • 2:39 PM 6

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

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It’s a question I ask as part of the regular author profile feature (appearing in this space Thursdays.)

It’s one of those questions that I find endlessly fascinating, like:

1. How did you and your love first meet?

2. What do the voices in your head tell you?

3. Would you rather be right or happy?

Almost every writer, it seems, can remember the moment they felt the pull.

Maybe it happened when they read a great book. (Which book was it for you?) Or they like the lifestyle because they are unsuited for anything else (read: you are otherwise unemployable.) Maybe they had an amazing experience they had to share or teach. (What was yours?) Even a lousy book spurs some people to say, “I could do better than this crap!” (If that’s you, which book was it?)

For me, it began with reading, I’m sure, though there wasn’t a particular book that got me thinking writing was for me. I first announced my writerly intentions to strangers. I was maybe eight, though it’s hard to say. I ascribe any vague memory from childhood to that year and, in truth, it can’t possibly have been that eventful. That would leave all the other years empty of anything. But that is how it feels.

The strangers to whom I made my announcement were the printers at a local shop. I wandered in (ignorance is a strange propellant) and asked for paper. “For a book” I added, because I thought I needed to get it from them, for some reason now unfathomable.

I remember the inky and oily smell of the place and the noise of the machines. I loved that smell. I still love stationery stores. All those empty pages call to me. Due to this compulsion, which stops just short of a sexual fetish, I own many more journals than I’ll ever fill and many more pens than I could ever use. The smell in that shop (and the look and smell of sunlight on turquoise water colour paint) are the only solid sense memories I carry from early childhood.

The printers smiled, indulged me, and I walked out with some brownish scrap paper. I walked taller and with real purpose, probably for the first time. I should have been holed up in a library at that stage, though I did that, too. I always preferred books to people. Childhood was rough.

Imagination, stories and the waiting world were my escape.

They still are.

When did you first know?

Hot young agent’s old school methods (alanrinzler.com)
snippets from books (hopeseguin2010.wordpress.com)
Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club for Men (beatrice.com)
The Fundamentals of Operating a Successful Used Bookstore (bookshopblog.com)
David Niall Wilson Talks Crossroad Press and More (dreadcentral.com)
Empty Shelves for Gifted Readers (write4kids.com)
Shakespeare & Company: The bookshop that thinks it’s a hotel (independent.co.uk)
World Book Night: what book should you recommend to the nation? (telegraph.co.uk)
Reality about writing, part two (davidhewson.com)
Writers on Writing: Booklife by Jeff Vandemeer (tor.com)
A Writer’s Beginnings (l3montree.wordpress.com)
Am I better off living a different dream? (tobiasbuckell.com)
The Six Gifts of the Writer’s Workshop Weekend (planejaner.wordpress.com)

Filed under: Author profiles, author Q&A, Books, publishing, What about Chazz?, Writers, beginning writing, books, love of books, reading, writers, writing

12/08/2010 • 12:36 AM 0

Snowstorms & Setbacks: Dealing with them (somewhat)

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My apologies for no post today. (I’m on a borrowed computer for this post.) Two interesting things have happened. I was the victim of a cyber attack and a state of emergency has been declared in London, Ontario due to unprecedented snowfall which has shut the city down. We’re trapped, but it could be worse.

I’ve taken some measures to deal with the cyber attack. My computer has been damaged and some more will have to be done on that score. When things you don’t budget for happen at inopportune times (i.e. right before Christmas in the middle of a blizzard) it can really drag you down and sap your energy. And by “you” of course I mean “me.” You’re probably more resilient. I get headaches and need to lie very still.

I could have used to today to get some writing done and get productive. Instead I alternated between fiddling with the computer and shovelling to try to keep up with the snowfall. And, of course, there was the laying down, headachy part. When the computer is down and I can’t see clients, I’m not making money. Worries and the headaches grow in that fertile soil.

It really is an amazing storm, especially if you are looking at it from inside. The thing that I think is my van is now a pile of snow, now elegantly sculptured by the wind and almost as high as the house. I’ve knocked snow off my satellite dish five times now and each time there is just as much snow. As we shovel, the sirens keep wailing in the background. (House fires, people who ignore the warnings to stay off the roads, people who have to get to a hospital and will go by ladder truck, fat guys with heavy shovels and thick hearts etc.,…)

After the massive black out a few years ago, I started preparing for this. That black out happened during the summer and all I could think then was, what if the power outage that took out half of North America had happened during the winter?

We started scraping together emergency supplies. We have a cord of wood and a good wood stove. We’ve stocked up on batteries and the flashlights are ready. We have packaged food set aside. The kids won’t like it, but no one will starve. At some point the power will probably go out and then the challenge will be keeping the kids occupied and the fire stoked through the night, snuggling close and calling it the Adventure They Will Remember. We’re ready. Not Walking Dead ready, but reasonably prepared. We don’t have anywhere to go and we’ve cancelled everything that required face-to-face contact. Lie jail, even if you have nowhere to go, knowing you can’t go is the claustrophobia of it.

Which leaves my disappointment over the cyber attack. I worry about malware and wonder how expensive this will be for me, just so someone with no life could take over my Facebook page address. (And I’m hoping that was all they were after.) If you have the power to annoy someone with your technological expertise, why wouldn’t you go after one of those Goldman Sachs fraudsters or a North Korean dictator or Sarah Palin? Why, hacker? Why victimize a writer? (With kids? Before Christmas? In the library? With a candlestick? Up the…you get the idea.)

So tomorrow I’ll begin again. I’ll have a coffee and make some phone calls to get my computer to recognize the modem that sits beside it. Currently the machine is blind to the existence of the little machine that sits so near, no matter how many times I say, “Look! It’s right effin’ there!” And I’ll hope the power doesn’t go just as I’m finding the solution from Bangalore.

And some day, I’ll use this feeling. The particular circumstance won’t make it into my writing, but the feelings I endured will wind their way into a story. This is not to say that bad things happening does a writer a favour. We have great imaginations for that, thank you very much. But we do use what we have, whatever it is. The heart makes it to the page, all bloody and awful, to deepen our connection with our readers and their problems.

Through writing and reading, we recognize each other. “I get it,” we say. And by getting it, we mean we’ve made the human connection through our web of shared experiences, the large and small pains spread amongst the roses.

Environment Canada admits to underforecasting snow by 1,000 per cent (theglobeandmail.com)
Southern Ontario snowfall continues into third day (ctv.ca)
Near emergency-level snowfall in London, Ont. (ctv.ca)

Filed under: What about Chazz?, Writers, London Ontario, Snow, Winter storm

11/30/2010 • 4:10 PM 1

#Funny VIDEO: Wannabe author meets published author

Filed under: agents, Books, Intentionally Hilarious, publishing, Rant, Rejection, Writers, publishing fantasies, rejection, wannabe authors, writers and rejection

11/30/2010 • 11:12 AM 0

#Book Marketing: The old divisions don’t apply

Over the weekend, inspired by the social media conference I attended, I got signed up for Linked In. I had signed up a long time ago, but frankly, I really hadn’t done anything much with it. Stuff you don’t engage with doesn’t count, so Linked In didn’t count. However, the more I explored the site and played with it, the more I understood that there were some great conversations I was missing out on. So I got engaged again.

One of the great things about Linked In is that it suggests groups and associations and companies that dovetail with your interests. One of the groups—I guess I won’t name them because I don’t know if I’ve been accepted yet—sent me a list of rules as a preliminary how-to and how-do. The group moderator’s membership criteria was that I wasn’t going to join in on their forums just to get all spammy. In some detail, the moderator warned me that I shouldn’t post on their site just to introduce myself and say hello. (I’ve been a member on other forums wherein that’s their first request of noobs.) None of this was personal. The forum had a large membership and I undertand they want to keep it clean if not pure.

Basically, I was to contribute on-topic value at all times, never straying into self-promotion and blog blaring.

Well, okay. But…

Look, I don’t want to be spammy. At the conference, one social media guru referred to that as “Shout Marketing.” That’s basically being obnoxious with outdated marketing approaches where the information goes in one direction and the message is “Buy! Buy! Buy! Hire the magic that is ME, for the love of god!” and so forth.

What makes social media “social” is that it’s a conversation. Information goes back and forth. You interact with customers who (gasp) give you feedback, leave comments, contribute their own thoughts and opinions and (worse!) let you know how you’re doing.

So the forum admin had a point about avoiding the old style of marketing. However, the implication that we can all totally divorce our marketing roles from the life of the mind is also outdated. If you’re an artist of any sort, you need to market yourself. Writers comment on blogs and engage in conversations because it’s fun and interesting. They are also trying to sell their books. There’s no shame in that as long as you use the new style of marketing (engaging in conversation) and not getting all spammy over their screens.

I’ve noticed some people on Twitter get a tad irked when too many tweets from one person are too advertorial. I’ve felt this way, too. For instance, I love Chuck Pahlaniuk’s fiction, but his Twitter account seemed to be managed for him by one of Skynet‘s spambots. As vast as his cult is, Chuck doesn’t appear to be engaging with his audience as a person. As a result, I reluctantly unfollowed the author. No hard feelings. Still love most of the books and Fight Club is an all-time favorite.

So what I’m saying is, you can sell effectively without being obnoxious. By all means, let us know about your next book signing so we can show up and engage you there, too. But:

1. Be authentic.

2. Be yourself instead of your intern.

3. Have conversations. Have opinions.

4. If it’s all spam, you will be unfollowed and your blog shall go unvisited and unlamented.

Me? I retweet links that interest me. I sometimes go off on tangents that aren’t about writing and publishing. I hope you’ll like me and visit the blog often. (Updated here, Monday to Friday! Same Bat-time, same bat-channel!) When I have a service to sell (like my editing services) or when I have an e-book or tree book to sell, I hope you’ll like me enough to consider laying out some moolah for my work.

I say unto thee, I am open, honest and unashamed. I am marketing myself because that’s what creators must do now. As long as you don’t feel that’s all I do, you’ll probably stick around. I don’t need millions of followers who don’t give a shit about me. A core constituency that does care (and forgive my occasional missteps) will do fine.

The take-away truisms are:

1. First you sell yourself.

2. Then you sell your product.

3. You do so by doing what we’re all here to do. We serve each other.