Writers are readers

I've heard it said writers are readers.

I absolutely agree with that. We need to study our craft and understand the tone, pace and structure of writing to improve as writers.

But there are so many hours in a day.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't just burn my candle at both ends, I lay it on its side and burn it long ways. [Okay, that image worked better in my mind than on paper.]

So I've become a person obsessed with how to fit more in my day without sacrificing quality.

So here is your assignment for this next seven days. Keep track of what you're doing.

Keep tally marks of the number of emails read and emails sent.
Keep tally marks of the number of hours spent watching TV [yes, even news]
Use tally marks to figure the number of hours you're commuting.
Use tally marks to figure the number of hourse you're doing housework.
Use tally marks to figure out the number of things you're doing with those important to you.
And use tally marks to figure the number of hours your sleeping

Bottom line is keep track of everything. By using a check list [to do] and tally marks [what I did] you will begin to see a clear picture of where you're spending your time and what results you're getting from it.


What does this have to do with marketing? We will discuss this next Friday. So write your to do list for the week, review it every night before bed and adjust as necessary, and keep a sheet of paper to use tally marks for all activities.

And we'll see what we learn about ourselves and our potential.

Are you brave enough to try? See you next week.

Your coach for the journey, Tiffany Colter

There's a face behind that number

Who are your customers and where are they?

That is the focus of most marketing plans. When you find the people you build that platform and try to keep it growing.

The key to doing that is remember there are faces behind those numbers.

When you're tempted to do a poor job on your blog or hold back information...trade places with your 'customer'.

When you're trying to decide how to market an idea, consider what you would like. What would be valuable and useful to YOU?

It is tempting sometimes to see customers as walking dollar signs who have no greater desire than to follow you around and hang on your every word. While there are certain stars who might be able to garner that response-the rest of us need to put both feet directly on the ground and think.

Every day as I sit down to blog I ask myself a question "If I were to stop at this blog, would I feel my time had been well spent?" There have been times that I completely changed the entire focus of my blog because I decided I wasn't helping all of you enough. If I would feel cheated by reading my blog, I don't post it for all of you.

So think about it, are you putting all you have in to what you're doing? Are you cranking out words to meet an article deadline or are you trying to truly inform others? Are you throwing something together just to get a recent blog posting? Are you trying to attract people only to try to separate them from their money?

I hope that when a person finds this blog that they feel they've located something valuable. I hope they feel enriched for having read it.

Do you have the same level of respect for the people you're trying to reach?

I'll see you next time. Your coach for the journey, Tiffany Colter

Keeping things in balance

I've been reflecting over this last week on how people become successful.

I believe passion is the first ingredient in success. Passion can overcome so many other LACKS. If a person has a dream, the passion to see that dream come true will push them forward.

I think the next thing you need is a plan. You need to know where you're going and how you're going to get there. You also need to know how to measure success along the path to your goals.

Then you need the vision to see beyond your goals to the next step. This is where many people miss it. They are so focused on accomplishing this first thing that they don't see how each step fits in to the overall picture.

Living a life of vision can be hard. It keeps us hungry. Once a goal is reached we are already in the process of reaching the next one. If you feel the need to control it can become very frustrating. But by recognizing the long term rewards, and keeping passion, it is also the most rewarding way to go.

But today I want to talk a bit about balance.

After spending the last 9 weeks working longer hours and harder hours than I have since college [and I may have even been working harder now than I did in college] I stepped back this week to look at where I was.

In my mentorship: I am working with some great people and look forward to their emails and questions. I am happy with my role as a mentor.

In my fiction: This area I want to improve in. I love writing fiction but since it is SLOW money [as I've described in previous blogs] it is easy to be pushed down the priority list. I am thrilled to have 2 novels that I'm currently writing as well as 2 in outline form and one that I'm actively editing. I look forward to a time in the next few months where I am able to get back to that on a more "full time" basis [that will likely be when I'm done homeschooling for the year in May]

In my teaching: I'm really thrilled here. Not only am I teaching a large class of editors but my part time job teaching high schoolers is going VERY well. I've been specifically requested by name twice in 2008. This is extremely flattering.

I'm also teaching more than a dozen editors at the Christian Pen and have public teaching I'll be doing in March.

Tiff the person: [wife and mom] This is the area that has gone through the most growth this week. This last weekend I was working on Saturday and realized how much I really have missed my kids these last 2 months. I'm with them all the time but I'm either teaching, cooking, cleaning, coming or going. I have only had 2 or 3 days since Christmas when I've been able to sit down for a full hour with one of my kids and do something FUN. That had to change. Last night I couldn't post my blog [despite Tuesdays being my highest traffic days] because I sat down with my 4 daughters and played a board game for almost 2 hours. And I have no regrets.

So look over your business plan, then look over your life. Are you keeping things in balance? All of us have seasons where there is a great deal of work that needs to be done. Don't feel guilt over it. Recognize it as a great season of opportunity and take advantage of it. But when that season is over, bring things back in to alignment. Spend time with those who matter most.

Remember, by keeping things in balance you will not only be more productive but you'll be happier.

I'll see all of you tomorrow!

Tweaking your business plan

I've encouraged you over the last few months to have a way to see how successful you are in your goal to market your writing.

I've told you to use google analytics to track the amount of traffic on websites and blogs. That way you can see trends as well as learn how people are finding you.

I've also told you to use search engines to see where you are appearing and if you're being picked up by other blogs.

Today I want to talk a little bit about what to do if you're not getting the results you'd like to get. What then?

That is a sign you need to tweak your plan.

I would never advocate jumping from one thing to the other constantly however I would suggest that you not sit with a failing idea too long. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks if you're doing something on the internet to determine if something is working or not.

I've had to make a number of adjustments throughout my time. At one point I decided each morning I'd spend two hours reading blogs and posting comments as appropriate. That way I was interacting with others and learning in the process. What I learned is that when I try to spend two hours on something like that...I won't get many blogs read. I followed links and meandered around so much that I never hit all the blogs I wanted to in a week. Therefore, I began subscribing to the blogs that interested me. Then I'm able to visit those that I don't want to miss.

I also had to stop bidding new jobs for content editing. I was extremely excited to see my reputation was starting to take off and I ran the risk of over committing myself. Then you end up breaking promises to people which is not good for you or them. As you become more successful you cannot always make every person's project your "Top Priority". Then you get nothing done [except feeling guilty].

You also need to recognize when it's time to have others work parts of your business or switch around who is helping with your business. Always be sure you have the right person helping you with the right part of the project. It may seem expensive to have someone build your website for $40+per hour but if you spend 100 hours doing it yourself [during which time you lost 15 hours of work at $15/hour] having a web designer do it for you may be MUCH smarter.

The danger in being a do-it-yourself type [like I am] is we get so obsessed with doing things ourself that we do 2nd rate work that takes 4x the time to get done.

So what part of your writing business could be passed on to someone else right now? What part of your marketing plan is outdated? Is your business being run as efficiently as it could be?

Ask yourself these questions...and tweak accordingly.

That CRAZY blog post

For those of you who are regular readers yesterday's blog posting was a bit...uh...confusing! I'd like to apologize for the abrupt end to the blog. As I ways typing it my youngest child [who'd been fighting a high fever all day] stumbled down the steps [read, fell]. I left my computer and when I felt the fever was back with a vengeance I said "we'll talk about that tomorrow" and went to tend to my daughter.

SO...

Here is the balance of the blog. I will restate my blog from yesterday and then continue the thought.

I was asked to answer some questions for Susan Lohrer's blog yesterday. I went to the blog and looked around a bit. I was TRULY impressed. The site is clean and professional with a good mix of content and postings. If you're a writer or editor her blog if full of useful information.

Next, I went over to the blog of a friend Nora St. Laurent. Knowing Nora like I do, this blog captured her perfectly. If you are a reader her blog provides great photos of her book club ministry in addition to other information.

Then I heard from someone a week ago who said they really couldn't think what to blog about. [In fact, I've heard that a few times in these last few weeks].

I have a couple of comments. First, here are two people who are taking action in reaching their dreams. They are taking the skills they have to build an effective platform to grow their business.

For people who are not taking to blogging I have this advice...don't do it. Life is too short and there are too many different ways to grow your business and platform without blogging. Begin to research them and we'll talk tomorrow.

For those of you who do not enjoy blogging, or don't have time to do it, there are still options. Websites offer an opportunity to create a web presence. Offer an E-zine with this website. You can solicit interviews from individuals in the blogosphere who talk about topics of interest to your target market. Also offer relevant content that you write.

This will help you create a platform without the need to post daily on a blog. I subscribe to a few differnt E-zines and I learn a great deal from them. There are also blog carnivals. If you'd like to be a clearinghouse for information but don't want to be responsible for content yourself, look in to this option.

The purpose of all these methods is to provide meaningful content to your target audience which will help you gain credibility. This credibility will, in turn, build your platform.

So to summarize, here are a few options for those who don't enjoy blogging:
1. E-zines in conjunction with a website
2. A website
3. Hosting a blog carnival

I'll continue to seek out other options to help you build your writing platform to increase sales of your fiction and non-fiction.

I'd love to hear some of your ideas as well. Your coach for the journey, Tiffany Colter

A couple are doing it

I was asked to answer some questions for Susan Lohrer's blog yesterday. I went to the blog and looked around a bit. I was TRULY impressed. The site is clean and professional with a good mix of content and postings. If you're a writer or editor her blog if full of useful information.

Next, I went over to the blog of a friend Nora St. Laurent. Knowing Nora like I do, this blog captured her perfectly. If you are a reader her blog provides great photos of her book club ministry in addition to other information.

Then I heard from someone a week ago who said they really couldn't think what to blog about. [In fact, I've heard that a few times in these last few weeks].

I have a couple of comments. First, here are two people who are taking action in reaching their dreams. They are taking the skills they have to build an effective platform to grow their business.

For people who are not taking to blogging I have this advice...don't do it. Life is too short and there are too many different ways to grow your business and platform without blogging. Begin to research them and we'll talk tomorrow.

Are you credible?

In the blogosphere there are thousands of experts that share their opinions of even more topics. In this Ocean of insight how can you distinguish yourself?

Credibility

You must take the time to build a reputation as a credible source of information if you're ever going to get the traffic you need to build your blog.

Consistency

You also need to be consistent. There are days [like this past Friday] when I was SO overwhelmed with responsibilities that it was impossible for me to get the blog done. But I've established a reputation of consistency which helps me maintain a strong hit count despite that deviation.

Co-operation

I wanted to emphasize the co- there. Co means with. You need to operate with others in a spirit of cooperation, not competition. I realize we are all competing. As much as I love other writers people have a limited amount of time to read blogs [but if you'd like to listen to them to save time REMEMBER you can listen to my blog every day at www.pimpmyblog.com]. If they read another person's blog that means mine might get skipped. That is why I need to be sure I am consistent and credible.

I also cooperate with other bloggers. When Susan Lohrer emailed me this morning with a few questions I was available. She posted a great Q and A blog today with the answers to my questions. I'd urge you to check it out.

Look at your blogging, writing, and professional life. Are you someone that people see as a clearinghouse for USEFUL information that they can use to build their business? Are you updating on a regular basis? Are you making deadline on articles? Are you producing quality work?

These are skills you need to develop as a writer. You also need to be consistently learning new marketing trends and changes in publishing. Go read through some of the archives from Jan 1, 2008 forward. Go download my free e-zine on article writing to build your writing business at www.WritingCoachAnswers.com and start to build your platform.

And come back and tell me about your successes big and small. Post a comment if you made a sale, started a blog, got a requets MS, sold an article or any other mini success as a writer. Let's celebrate together and learn together. That is cooperation.

There is enough competition out there to eat us alive. Come here and learn with a group of writers who are excited for each success.