No, the master networker is not me. However, I spent yesterday morning with a client-turned-friend of mine, VK, who is. Many, many (many) years ago I was her assistant when she was a fabulist. At that time she had just had her first book of fables published by Berkley-Putnam and needed help executing her marketing plan. A mutual acquaintance of ours introduced us and I spent several years watching and learning as she networked her way to ever-increasing sales and speaking opportunities. She has since moved on to developing another artistic venue that she has built into a highly respected and recognized entity in the healing arts—nearly every step of success came from her ability to network.

Seeing her this weekend, reminiscing about “then” and examining “now” reminded me of the great power of networking. Of the many things I learned, I’d like to share with you the top three networking tips that have helped me over the years: Read the rest of this entry

What’s your New Year’s resolution? Lose weight? Stop smoking? Be more benevolent to others or understanding of your family’s annoying quirks?

It’s easy to make a resolution. What’s difficult is keeping it.

The only way to see a difference between this day and this day next year is to not only make a resolution but to answer the question, “how will I keep it?” How are you going to transform your resolution from a wish to a reality?

I’ll leave you to figure out if you will achieve your personal goals. But I want to encourage you to seriously make a writing resolution and put a plan in place to achieve it. Do you want to make more money? How about finding new clients? Perhaps you want to work for a company instead of on your own. Would you like to become a published author? Maybe you want to add a complementary service to offer clients you already have. Whatever your writing resolution is, here’s a quick five-step process to improve on the results: Read the rest of this entry

As a freelance writer, you are asked—and expected—to be able to write a variety of materials, ranging from buzz-word laden sales sheets, to customer-attracting direct mail, to problem-solution case studies, to white papers, multi-faceted media kits and on and on ad infinitum.  Perhaps the most misunderstood yet heavily relied on publicity tool is the unobtrusive press release. But did you know that some writers make a living SPECIALIZING in writing press releases?

How?

They learned how to capitalize on the “new rules” for writing them. Here’s a quick overview of how you can turn the press releases you write into powerful promotional tools for you and your clients: Read the rest of this entry

Lately, I have had a surge of requests to write book proposals. While self-publishing continues to be a growing trend, there remains a strong market to write proposals for people who do not want to be in the book publishing business. They want to avoid dealing with the business end of producing a book or paying the layer upon layer of costs associated with self publishing like book design, page layout, establishing a publishing identity and securing ISBNs, printers and distribution outlets. It’s true that it is difficult to get an agent or publisher’s attention, but there is a protocol to writing a book proposal that, once you know it, significantly increases your chances of finding a traditional publisher.

Whether you write a proposal for a client or for a book of your own, knowing exactly what to include and how to approach agents and publishers will dramatically increase the chances of your book idea being taken seriously—and getting published. Here a few secrets to writing a winning book proposal: Read the rest of this entry

If you are a freelance copywriter who can also weave an interesting storyline, you may be missing a lucrative writing opportunity that not only puts more money in your bank account, it increases your clients’ ROI in their marketing efforts.  This kind of win-win-win—for you, your client, and your client’s client, has some savvy writers turning it into a full-time specialty that corporate clients are clamoring to tap into. What is it? Read the rest of this entry