Freelance Writers Appreciation Week
February 10, 2009 by Lillie
Just like last year, Kristen King at Inkthinker brought Freelance Writers Appreciation Week to my attention. Visit her blog this week to read posts about what she appreciates about being a freelance writer.
I appreciate many things about being a freelancer, most of all, being able to work from home on my own schedule doing what I love.
Secretaries get flowers from their boss on Secretary’s Day. What do freelancer writers get during Freelance Writers Appreciation Week? Our clients don’t even know about the event, but I’m blessed to have clients who appreciate me even when it’s not a special occasion.
To all freelance writers, here’s a hug of appreciation. 
Guest Post: Building Your Writer Platform Online by Jennifer Mattern
February 9, 2009 by Lillie
Help me welcome freelance business writer and blogger Jennifer Mattern. I think you’ll find her guest post on building a writer platform helpful. At the end of the post, you will find a discount code to save $10 on her latest e-book.
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5 Ways to Build Your Writer Platform Online
Whether you’re an author with an upcoming book to promote or a freelance writer needing to attract a constant stream of clients, it’s in your best interest to start developing your writer platform as early as possible. The Web makes building a writing platform (sometimes called an author platform) easier than you might think.
What is a Writer Platform?
A writer platform is simply the existing demand for your book, articles, or other forms of writing, before they’re produced. Let’s look at an author for example:
If they had no writer platform, there would be no existing demand for their book—very few people would know anything about it to anticipate its launch. If that author had developed an author platform, however, that demand would exist. Potential buyers would already know the author’s name, know what they write, and they would have that anticipation to buy (in the case of freelancers and nonfiction authors, that platform also builds trust in the writer’s expertise).
In other words, building a writer platform is a matter of promoting yourself as a writer, so people know, trust, and like you enough to want to buy what you sell later on.
Here are five things you can do to start building your own writer platform on the Web.
How to Build a Writing Platform Online
- Start a Blog—A blog is an excellent way to build an audience with a direct interest in your niche. For example, a freelance copywriter might start a blog evaluating advertising from others (commercials, print ads, slogans, etc.). For a blog to have real value in your writer platform, it needs to have a relatively large following. Because of this, you should start your blog well in advance of when you hope to reap the promotional benefits. Don’t have the time? Consider blogging as a guest blogger or staff blogger for a large blog in your niche (one where you’ll have access to subscribers to mention your book launch, services, etc. for promotional purposes if at all possible).
- Get Interviewed—A big part of building a writer platform is being publicly treated as an expert in your niche by others. One of the best, and easiest, ways to do this online is to secure interviews. Get bloggers to interview you, or consider audio interviews by pitching yourself and story ideas to relevant podcasts or Internet radio shows (try services like BlogTalkRadio to find audio interview opportunities). Want something steadier? Consider hosting your own radio show or podcast.
- Start an Email Newsletter—Newsletters are a wonderful online addition to your writer platform. Why? Because you get to build a regular subscriber list—people who follow what you say and who are potential buyers for any future products or services you may release. A newsletter has value as a part of an author platform, though, only if the subscriber base is significant. Another option is to advertise in, or write for, another newsletter in the niche.
- Use the Web as a Teaching Tool—Teaching others is a good way to demonstrate your knowledge and build trust and interest in your work. You can do this online by setting up email courses (such as through a simple autoresponder), by offering online coaching sessions, or even running webinars in your area of expertise.
- Get Published Online—Whether you traditionally write online or not, you can use Web-based publishing credits to build more exposure for your own name, therefore increasing interest in future projects. This can be especially important for print writers who have no existing search engine presence. For example, if you earn your living ghostwriting finance articles, having bylined credits on large finance and business websites can be attractive to your potential clients. Another option is to publish e-books or reports distributed online to promote the later release of a traditional book in the niche.
Opportunities to build and grow your writer or author platform on the Web are practically endless. Online publishing, social media (microblogging, social networking, etc.), and the rise of audio-visual promotional tools make the Web an ideal place to reach out to members of your target market, no matter what kind of writer you are.
About the Author
Jennifer Mattern is a freelance business writer and blogger behind AllFreelanceWriting.com and AllBookMarketing.com. She is also the author of the Web Writer’s Guide e-book, designed to help freelance writers launch a successful Web writing career.
Save $10 on the Web Writer’s Guide e-book by entering discount code “lillie” (without the quotes) during the next 30 days!
What I Learned from Love
February 7, 2009 by Lillie
photo credit: karen horton
The theme of the February What I Learned From … group writing project at Middle Zone Musings is love.
My first experience with love was the love shown to me and my siblings by our parents. They never had much money, but they always showed their love in countless ways. My father was a gentle man who seldom raised his voice or lost his temper. Yet I remember one occasion when he yelled at my mother in anger because she bought him a couple of pairs of blue jeans for Christmas. It didn’t matter that he didn’t own a decent pair of jeans, which were what he wore all the time except for church. Daddy was upset because Mama spent money on him when he wanted every penny they could spend on Christmas to go for gifts for the kids. My parents were strict disciplinarians and expected good grades and good behavior from all six of their children. But the kids always came first in their hearts and in their actions.
Then I fell in love with Jack. We’ve been married more than 41 years, and he’s always treated me like a queen. He has cared for me through a stroke, a dog attack, seizures, a fall, and several other situations. He does the laundry and the grocery shopping—and often brings home flowers along with the groceries. We’ve shared good times and bad, but we’ve always shared lots of love and lots of laughter.
As much as I appreciate the love of my family and the love of my husband, I know it wouldn’t exist unless there was first the love of God.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. … God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ~ 1 John 4;10, 16
In February, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, Cupid, and romantic love. May we always remember and be thankful for the origin of love.
The Two Stone Tablets of the Testimony
February 4, 2009 by Lillie
Aundrea Hernandez, designed the header for my blog as well as covers for Dream or Destiny and for several clients’ books.
Last fall, she asked if she could refer a client who needed a Web site. Although I generally create Web sites for my author clients, the only other sites I have created have been for my church and for my brother, a commercial real estate agent.
I hesitated at first but agreed to meet with A.E. Tracy Potts. He came into my office carrying the Two Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments and talking about his mission. He believes he has been called by God to take the Name of God out into the world on stone tablets of granite like those on which God wrote the Ten Commandments with His own hand. My immediate reaction was to jump at the chance to be part of this project; however, I didn’t agree right away because I wanted time to pray about my decision.
After praying, I felt sure I wanted to be involved, and I have been working with Tracy on the Web site for HaShem Artworks since then. Tracy and his dedicated team had already been working for many months. Tracy researched the language that was in use at the time the Ten Commandments were written and created a Phoenician Paleo-Hebrew font. He studied the kind of granite that was on Mount Sinai and what rough-hewn granite tablets would have looked like. Under divine inspiration, he designed a special table with rotating disks and acrylic holders to display the Tablets. He found the stonecrafter and the woodcraftsman and an illustrator to create several pieces of artwork.
This Sunday, February 8th, the results of all that work will be revealed to the world in the first public display of the Two Stone Tablets at the Norris Conference Center in San Antonio, Texas from 5 PM to 7 PM. The details of the event can be found in the PRWeb news release on the first public showing of the Two Stone Tablets.
The video below depicts the creation of the Two Stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments in the Mind of God. Listen for the blessing that God promises wherever He causes His name to be remembered.
500 Posts … Now What?
February 2, 2009 by Lillie
Welcome to Post #500 here at A Writer’s Words, An Editor’s Eye. Since I started blogging in June 2006, my goal has been to post three times a week. However, my actual schedule isn’t quite so structured. A glance through the archives shows that I’ve written as few as six and as many as twenty-seven posts in a month.
My goal continues to be three posts a week. I’ll post less when I’ve swamped with work and more when timely events dictate.
I don’t really know how many comments I’ve had. When I moved my blog, I lost all nested comments, which were typically my responses. The number shown in Liz’s Comment Count Badge is what is here now; hundreds of comments just disappeared into cyberspace.
When I saw Brad Shorr and Luke Gedeon reach 100 comments on a single post, I wondered if I would ever reach that milestone. In looking back in the archives, I discovered a post with 111 comments, ironically on the post that announced my blog was back from the move.
In my first post, I said I would be writing about projects I’m working on, giving writing and editing advice, and sharing information about electronic and small press publishing. Those are still important topics, but I’ve added others. I’ve written far more about my own life and my own faith than I expected to when I started.
Recently, I’ve started hosting authors, and I’m looking forward to having an author visit about once a month. I’ve written a number of series and aim for a series every month or so.
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