Beth’s Blog

I began my illustrious freelance career with visions of tweed coats, elbow patches, cigars, and pensive photos. My mind’s eye saw a cluttered office, checks strewn across my desk, and waking to one illuminating thought after another. I believed I’d tap at the keyboard, mail queries, read my articles on glossy paper, and assignments would flow like water.

Small problem with that scenario. Tweed coats don’t look good on me. I don’t smoke, never have. And I usually wind up looking goofy in photos, no matter how hard I try to strike a pensive pose.

Ah, but my desk is cluttered. I do occasionally find a stray check in amongst the mounds of papers. But illuminating thoughts? Bah.

There’s a fundamental problem with my original scenario: my freelancing model missed a crucial element necessary for financial success.

For example, the cash I expected to earn from writing articles just didn’t add up to the numbers I hoped they would. Seriously. Spending weeks writing, rewriting, and finally submitting an article, only to reap a whopping 25 bucks just didn’t pay the bills.

Then I decided to write books. Unfortunately the small royalties barely covered my promo expenses. It’s exciting to sell books, but we needed some large volume sales to make this endeavor financially worthwhile.

How ‘bout publishing? Again, after wholesaler discounts, distributor expenses, author royalties, and postage, we’re talking some pretty slim profits. And again, we’re talking volume sales to lower expenses and prop profits.

But then something magical happened. I discovered the wacky world of copywriting.

In case you’re unfamiliar with copywriting, a copywriter is a master persuader. They write ads, direct mail, sales letters, and such.

And (little did I know) proficient copywriters earn a lot. World Class Copywriters earn astronomical fees.

Copywriting isn’t difficult. But there are definite tricks to the trade. And you can cut your learning curve by years if you receive proper training.

But here’s where things really get cool.

Turns out these new persuasive skills made it far easier to write awesome queries. Boom. Article sales jumped.

Next, I revised the sales copy for my books. Boom. Another jump in sales.

I applied “copywriting language” to everything I wrote and kaboom… even more sales, more exposure, new readers found me.

And I haven’t even gotten into copywriting as a business: writing for clients turned out to be quite lucrative as well.

Now, I love to write. It’s my passion. There’s nothing like receiving a complementary e-mail outlining how something I’ve written has made someone else’s life easier, gave them hope, helped guide them through this wacky profession.

On the other hand, I hate marketing. It sucks. One rejection and I’m down for the count. At least for a while.

But by combining my writing skills with copywriting psychology, my self-promo time is automatically sliced in at least half because I’ve learned stealth persuasion to draw clients my way.

So now, clients (and publishers and editors) are attracted to me rather than my gunning after their very fractured attention.

So… where does the “farming” come in?

Simple. Rather than concentrate on one aspect of your writing career, think like a farmer. Plant many seeds and watch them grow at different rates.

Instead of becoming an article writer extraordinaire, write articles when the spirit moves you. Submit them when they’re polished. Start writing the novel that’s burning your heart. Eventually publish it. Research a nonfiction title. Write ad copy.

You can even take this further. I speak to the local high school. Elementary schools, too. How ‘bout local organizations and the Chamber of Commerce? Once a businessperson sees you in action, they’ll be hooked.

Just keep planting seeds (remember, you’re a “farmer”) and before you know it, you’ve got more paying clients than you know what to do with.

But copywriting’s the linchpin that binds all these endeavors.

That’s because effective persuaders control their destiny… and their income.

So here’s to effective “farming” and inevitable success.

Click the pic to get ‘er bigger.

I just posted the newest issue of Writing Etc. outlining five top reasons editors reject your manuscript. Here’s the link: http://filbertpublishing.com/current.html.

Enjoy!

For the next 24 - 48 hours. This means no site and no e-mail service until we get ‘er back up again.

We’re “migrating” to a new server. A Linux server at that. Lotsa goodies to play with when the move’s complete.

Just an FYI in case you surf there or have the yen to send me an e-mail.

Have a great day!

Beth

Yeah. Proud aunt.

Looking at a face like that makes writing even more fun!

Click the pic to enlarge it. WAY worth it.

Beth

Yesterday, big day.

Printer croaked, got a new one. Scanner stopped cooperating, switched computers. Then my monitor died! Had to get a new one.

Some days just flow in a certain direction…

 Click the pic to see all the beauty.

Time and money. One is finite, the other infinite. One I squander as though there’s an unlimited supply, the other I carefully monitor.

Time… I work with many writers who say they don’t have time to write. Yet they spend (interesting term) time in forums, they read Internet gossip, they “unwind” watching their favorite television shows, they spend hours chatting on the phone with friends.

Yeah. Everyone should get time to unwind. But if you have a burning desire to write, how will sitting numbly in front of a television build your dream? How will hanging out on forums or chatting on the phone propel you towards your ultimate desired destination?

Words do not write themselves, inspiration waits only for the person who has the courage to jump into its cold waters without thought of safety, reputation, or compensation.

Time is a finite resource, once a moment has passed, you’ll never experience it again. Combine that with the fact that our time in this plane of existence is limited and… well… get writing.

Money… it comes and goes.

Luckily, writing is a fairly inexpensive profession. All you need is a pencil, paper, and (eek) a thought.

Some writers seem to think they need extensive libraries. If you don’t have the money to build that writing library, visit the local library, take copious notes and build your knowledge base that way.

If you don’t have the money to write full time (if that’s your dream), then write in your spare time. And make sure you have spare time.

Most people find the resources they need for the activities they truly want to perform. Even in the teeth of a “great recession” you’ll find big screen TVs flowing out of your local Walmart at a record pace. These people found money for a multi-thousand dollar entertainment machine, I’m sure you can find any funds you need to perfect your craft.

In other words, if you truly want to write, you’ll find the money (and time) to do so.

But now we come to other’s opinions.

Writers aren’t necessarily the most popular people at parties. We tend to be an over-observant bunch and that can cause a bit of angst for others.

Sometimes we write things that others disagree with. Sometimes the most innocuous phrase will offend someone and you’ll receive angry correspondence. Worse yet, you’ll most certainly anger, offend, and hurt family members, despite your concerted efforts not to do so.

It’s not a matter of “if” you’ll offend someone, it’s a matter of “when.”

How do you handle this?

The only thing you can do is to hold your ultimate writing dream up front and center in all you do, whether you’re writing, promoting, or dealing with reader response.

Understand some people will love you, others won’t. It’s a fact of life. You can’t please everyone all the time. If you try to do this, you’ll not only turn yourself into a supremely ineffective writer, but your message will become an impotent pile of socially correct drivel that won’t touch anybody’s heart.

True, effective writing cuts deep and resonates long after the page has left the reader’s hand. This is honest writing, often embarrassing, that has nothing to do with subjects, predicates, well structured sentences, and dangling participles.

It has everything to do with raw communication, sensation eclipsing your words, making them invisible. It’s about word painting images in your reader’s mind until they’re carried away, breathless, on a stream of emotion to a place they want to linger.

It’s pricking your reader’s soft spot until they awaken long enough to really hear your message.

How do you do this?

For starters, you can dump the mindless activities. Get engaged in life, watching, living… awake.

The great John Carlton (he’s a famous copywriter, look him up) says something to the effect that most humans walk around in a self inflicted haze, blindly gimping from one activity to the next. We live a life of patterns, one after another, rarely deviating from our routine.

Don’t believe me? Try dressing differently tomorrow. Put the other shoe on first. Wear something totally different from the norm. Apply your makeup before you brush your teeth. You’ll quickly discover what a creature of habit you are.

Well, these patterns combine to create a life-long trance where we’re told in a million subtle and not so subtle ways how to dress, what to eat, what to think, and how to act. Deviate from this mass-controlled trance and you’ll experience freedom unlike anything you’ve ever experienced . By the way, you’ll also likely experience the phenomenon of social stigma.

Another wise person said it best when he said, “People laugh at sheep, at how compliant they are. But humans have out sheeped the sheep. When a sheep gets out of line, the shepherd gets them back in place. When a human falls “out of line,” his fellow humans will ostracize him, mock him, shun him, make his life miserable until he steps back into the social norm.”

Most writers write because it’s a compulsion, not a choice. There’s a message to be released and if you don’t do it, you’ll live a miserable existence.

Finally releasing that message often entails this “waking up” process I just mentioned. Pursuing a dream is most definitely something that can shake up a few social norms and the dreamer often experiences tremendous social stigma when they’re foolish enough to do something so crazy.

But like it or not, we’re the scribes of the day. It’s our job to document what we see, experience, and feel in an honest fashion.

We’re the supposed thinkers of our age. May our writings prompt others to break out of their patterns just long enough engage in a few cerebral gymnastics as well.

Words contain power. May each of us use that power in a responsible fashion.

Writing isn’t for the faint of heart, but the rewards for a message accurately transmitted are phenomenal. I urge you to truly wake up and give it a whirl. The results will surprise you.

As a writer, you need to acquire a readership, whether you write articles, advertising, fiction, and/or nonfiction. You’ve probably heard that you need a website to help promote your writing and start building that readership.

It’s true. The Web is a fabulous means to build a writing biz. You can connect with like minded individuals, you can present opinions, you can experiment with your writing (beyond what our predecessors could ever imagine), you can interact with your readers… you can have fun.

The thing nobody tells you about this process is that once you’ve got the website up, you have to generate traffic to start this incredible web adventure.

That can be an interesting task.

In fact, lately this “web traffic” situation seems to be on more minds than mine. I get e-mails (nearly) daily promising me that (for a hefty price) some company or another will get one of my sites “to the top of the major search engines.”

Yeah. Right.

There are effective ways to get your website listed in the major search engines. There are also some not effective ways as well.

This article outlines one ineffective way to get web traffic.

I’ve coached a few writers, so-called professional communicators, this past month who were discouraged because although their websites were rising through the Google ranks and were receiving a good amount of organic traffic, they weren’t making any book sales.

I had a hunch I knew what was going on.

When a well-written book doesn’t sell, it’s usually for a number of reasons, the most probable being that there isn’t a large enough market for the topic, the price point is too high (or too low), or the web page doesn’t properly sell the title.

One look at the site confirmed my suspicions. In all the instances brought to my attention, the problem was with the website. Every single writer was more concerned about web site optimization rather than properly describing and selling their book.

It’s one thing to make your website favorable to search engines, in fact Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an important part of building a website, but it’s quite another to engage in clumsy tactics to make your site climb up the ranks.

Disclaimer: I’m not, nor do I pretend to be an SEO expert. The following is pure opinion based on my web adventures.

What each of these people did was, as they built their website text, they inserted copious numbers of “keywords” to the point that they were literally “keyword packing.”

Keyword Packing occurs when you take a particular keyword and pack that keyword into a keyword sentence as many times as possible so that when the search engines spider your site they’ll see your keyword and assume that keyword accurately represents your “keyword” website and will appear when someone inserts that keyword into the engine. (Note: this sentence is packed with a keyword. Betcha you’ll never guess which one it is.)

As you can see, keyword packing makes for some very awkward writing. Combine keyword packing with keyword placement on menus, subheads, and titles and you’ve got one, big keyword, mess.

Here’s the problem. When you receive good search engine rankings, you will receive traffic. Problem is when you do receive that traffic, you’ll quickly discover it evaporates once your visitors experience your awkward writing style.

It takes a writer with the skill of a master to elegantly weave keywords into a website while maintaining flow and sales effectiveness.

Very difficult.

So, suppose you’re not an SEO expert (like me). What can you do to get website traffic without sacrificing content?

There are multiple ways to generate some website traffic including writing articles, article distribution sites, creating videos, visiting forums, blogs, zines, Google Adwords, and much more. I’ll discuss these more in upcoming issues of Writing Etc.

You’ve got options, many of them not costing one red cent, to generate web traffic. Approach SEO carefully, never sacrificing content for keywords.

Remember, a site receiving a few relevant, smart, interesting, and engaged visitors is far more powerful than a bunch of people who visit and leave thinking you’ve got an awkward, repetitive, unnatural writing style.

My two (very opinionated and probably antiquated) cents.

It began on a lazy Thursday afternoon. Spring was in full force. Dogs were restless. I was on deadline but exhausted. I kept turning in my writing chair to gaze outside.

The breeze looked cool. The sun appeared warm. Not a cloud in the sky.

Go for a walk.

“Nah. Too much work.”

Now, I often have these inner conversations. Dunno if it’s a writing thing or just plain odd. But that tiny inner voice has gotten me through more successful deadlines, more uncomfortable situations, and more writing blocks than I can count. So, I usually listen to it. But not today. Too much work to get done. Big deadline.

Go outside. You’re just spinning your wheels anyway.

“No. Gotta write.”

Just a fast walk. Day’s burning away. Tomorrow may be cold. Just head out.

‘Yeah… you’re probably right.”

I left the office, snapped a leash on each pup, and headed outside. At the end of the driveway…

I was just about to turn right when I had an uncontrollable urge to go left.

I never go left. That’s the boring route. But I paused, then decided left would yield an acceptable walk.

I proceeded straight to the end of the street and was just about to turn right when my intuition urged me forward, through the park, and veer towards the railroad tracks.

Now, I never walk the tracks alone. We’ve got wild animals out here. I dislike walking the path parallel to the tracks because when a train zooms past, it’s loud, scary, and exceedingly uncomfortable standing a car-width away from that massive mass of steel, strength, and sound.

But the sensation urged me on.

“Perhaps I’ll veer right and walk the tracks to the end of town and then head onto 7^th street.”

Nope. I hit the tracks an an uncontrollable urge to turn left overtook me.

I turned left and abandoned Kandiyohi. The dogs pranced on each side of me, seemingly unable to believe their good fortune. Good walks (according to them) always start by the tracks.

The general route for this excursion is to follow the trail until we get to the semaphore. Then we turn around and head back.

It’s only a couple mile trek, but the view’s awesome with lot of wetlands, groves, and multiple critters if you look carefully.

I’m enjoying the day, trudging along when reality hits. I need to get back to work. Deadlines don’t get away from the computer. I’m just about to turn around when my thoughts ring Just a little farther. Go the whole walk.

“Nah. I really have to get back to it.”

Just a little farther.

I pause moment then figure, “I’m soon there.” So I keep walking.

Further down the trail, amazed at how that semaphore didn’t seem to be getting any closer. I’m also noticing my breath quicken. I slow down. “I should turn back,” I ponder, “this is a waste of time.”

You’re almost there. Keep going.

I groan and kept my feet pointed towards my destination. My mind tightened at the thought that I willingly chose two high-energy dogs who need regular walks. My mood isn’t anywhere near happy as I kept moving forward, my intellectual self silently cursing the long route.

Yet that tiny, still voice urged me forward.

I finally got to the semaphore and paused. It felt good. My heart pounded in my ears. The wind brushed my cheeks. Dogs collapsed, panting contentedly, laying in the cool gravel.

I sat on the semaphore ledge and pondered my bad attitude.

It’s funny how this business can drive me batty. When I get in the thick of marketing, it’s easy to forget why I began writing in the first place. When I’ve got a million (or so it feels) e-mails to answer, blogs to update, writing deadlines, I tend to hole myself up in the office and plow through rather than drop the unessential tasks and live life.

If writing is a dream, why do we treat it like a cut-throat business? Dreams are supposed to be nurtured, treasured, prized, not exploited, twisted, and over-monetized.

I pondered how easy it is to take something as beautiful as a dream… a skill you take years to develop… and manipulate it to fit industry expectations until it’s barely recognizable from what you started with.

I reflected on those thoughts, realizing I was approaching my latest project totally wrong. It dawned on me that I sometimes select my projects following entirely wrong criteria.

Rather than follow a path of joy, I often take the road of security. Rather than trust my intuition, I trust logic, thenfind myself in an uncomfortable circumstance of my own making.

Instead of being who I am, I twist myself to conform to other’s expectations.

“Hmmm,” I thought, “this walk may not be a waste of time all…”

With much to ponder, I turned to leave when I saw it, nestled in the grass like a tiny baby. I gasped as my mouth dropped.

It was something completely unexpected, totally delightful, unimaginable.

Laying, glistening white in the sun laid a most perfectly preserved deer skull.

Oh. My. Gosh.

With twelve even teeth, nasal cartilage intact, sinuses unbroken, I stepped towards the incredible display of beauty.

Brittle bones surrounded the doe skull, but nothing else. No soft tissue. No fur. No flies.

Just dry, sun-bleached bones.

I stood and stared at the skull for a while before I touched it lightly with my finger.

Now, I come from a family of non-hunters so this skull-situation felt completely foreign, yet strangely exciting. As a keeper of natural objects, my office is strewn with rocks, semi-precious stones, feathers… each with a unique story to tell. I knew I needed to provide a home for this treasure.

I poked it a few more times (by now the dogs were quite interested with this turn of events so I didn’t have time to dilly dally), to make sure there wasn’t anything “gross” or “moist” attached to it.

There wasn’t.

So, before Jake and Rudie could nab this perfectly preserved mass of bone, I gingerly raised it from the grass with two fingers and started walking.

As we made our way home, I wondered how long the bones laid there. I also wondered why nobody had damaged the skull as they (apparently) ate the rest of her body.

I wondered how long the skull had laid in that spot and wondered what would have happened to it if I hadn’t found it.

I pondered intuition and its role not only in my life as a writer, but in everyday tasks.

If I hadn’t listened to intuition, I would have stayed in my office, chopping away at that chunk of marble I called a “project.”

Listening to that quiet nudge transformed my day from drudgery to pure magic.

I carried that skull the full mile home with two fingers, swearing to “disinfect my hand” the minute I got home.

I crossed the railroad tracks back into Kandiyohi, and jogged home, still pinching it tight with my thumb and pointer.

As the four of us (by then the doe had acquired a name) scampered up the driveway I dropped the leashes and studied the beautiful skull one last time in the full sun.

I couldn’t believe my good fortune.

Whenever you see this, remember to trust your intuition.

I felt humbled. It was true. If I only trusted my intuition more, I’d keep myself out of so much trouble.

Every time we’ve signed a difficult author to a contract, I’ve known this person wouldn’t mesh with me when I read the initial manuscript.

Every ornery client has revealed himself long before they’ve signed on the dotted line.

Every irritating experience has been foreshadowed by a niggling feeling and/or a still small voice saying, Bad idea.

Logic often trumps intuition… just like it almost did on my little walk… but intuition will always yield far more satisfying results, although the road may seem longer.

Your assignment? Let intuition rule one day this month. If you don’t have a day, give it an evening.

Ask yourself, “What should I do now?”

Let your gut answer. Then see what happens. Notice your mood. Take note of your creativity level.

It’s a fun experiment. And let me know how it goes.

Whew! I didn’t expect to tell this story. In fact, I planned on keeping it private. But something tells me that you have a “skull” of your own to find.