You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Here are some recent blog posts and articles that might help.

This week I’m pointing you to pieces on landing book endorsements, finding your writing voice, how Jeff Goins writes, and blogging tips from fourteen bloggers.

From Dana Lynn Smith: 8-Step Plan for Landing Book Promotion Endorsements
“Endorsements are recommendations from authors, experts or celebrities, in other words people whose opinion can influence sales of your book. These are the quotes you typically see printed on the covers and inside of books and they are sometimes referred to as /blurbs.’”

From Jeff Bullas: 7 Tips to Finding “Your” Writing Voice
“I don’t have a process or a magic potion to finding a writing voice or an expression formula but let’s have a look at what happens when you start to create, write and express yourself in an online world.”

From Kelton Reid: Here’s How Jeff Goins Writes
“Thankfully there are trailblazers — allies that arrive in times of uncertainty — our fellow writers and teachers who offer their wisdom, courage, and assistance. Jeff Goins is one of those guides, an author, award-winning blogger, and coach, who stopped by The Writer Files to share some of his battle-tested stories from his own journey as a writer.”

From ProBlogger: Do You Know These Time Saving Blogging Tips?
“When I asked these 14 bloggers about their routines I also asked if they had any tips for other busy bloggers. I’m glad I did because collectively they give some great insight below.”

Sources I Check Regularly

I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writer’s Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.

The CopyBlogger Blog

Problogger

Digital Book World

Tools of Change for Publishing

jeffbullas.com

Becky Robinson’s Weaving Influence

When we grow up, most of the people who do what I do would like to be William Zinsser. For me he is not only the ultimate writing coach, but the ultimate writer about the craft of writing. The New York Times recently ran a marvelous article, ”A Writing Coach Becomes a Listener,” which included the following bit of advice.

“People read with their ears, whether they know it or not.”

There’s much more in the article as well as in Zinsser’s classic book, On Writing Well. My favorite of his books, is Writing to Learn, which inspires me every time I open it.

Want more? Check out the complete list of Advice from the Masters posts.

“First the Earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came, but they got too big and fat, so they all died and they turned into oil.”

Do your blog posts start out like that line from Airplane II?

You’ve only got a few seconds to grab your reader’s attention before he or she clicks off to something else. Don’t waste that time.

Lead with a quote that gets them thinking.

Lure them in with a question.

Make them laugh.

Make a provocative statement they may want to dispute.

Just don’t bore them. Get to your message quickly and powerfully.

Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on research, writing advice from John le Carre, and this week’s selection of posts and articles to give you “The Writing Edge.”

The Research Treasure Hunt
The research you do for your book should be one of the most exciting parts of the process. It involves following the research trails from one learning discovery to the next.

Advice from the Masters: John le Carre
You may not ever write a spy thriller, but John le Carre has some good advice for you.

4/26/13: The Writing Edge for Business Writers
You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Here are some recent blog posts and articles that might help. This week I’m pointing you to pieces on Kindle Singles, the marketing snowball, great headlines, and waiting to post.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for two clients. I’m helping working on a book about what Professor Clay Christensen says could be “more important than disruption.” I’m writing a training manual for a client and coaching two authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Here are some recent blog posts and articles that might help.

This week I’m pointing you to pieces on Kindle Singles, the marketing snowball, great headlines, and waiting to post.

From the NY Times: Amazon Broadens Its Terrain
“Amazon Kindle Singles is a hybrid. First, it is a store within the megastore of Amazon.com, offering a showcase of carefully selected original works of 5,000 to 30,000 words that come from an array of outside publishers as well as from in-house. Most sell for less than $2, and Mr. Blum is the final arbiter of what goes up for sale. ”

From The Savvy Book Marketer: The Book Marketing Snowball
“In today’s guest post, book marketing expert Terry Cordingley shares his wisdom on the process of book marketing. In developing your marketing plan, remember that everything you do builds your platform and momentum and moves you to the next level.”

From Michael Hyatt: Headlines That Grab Readers by the Eyeballs and Suck Them into Your Message
“This is a guest post by Ray Edwards. He is is a marketing strategist, copywriter, speaker, and author.”

From ProBlogger: Stop. Don’t post that post! 7 questions to ask before you hit publish
“This is a guest contribution by Kate Toon, an award-winning SEO and advertising copywriter.”

Sources I Check Regularly

I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writer’s Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.

The CopyBlogger Blog

Problogger

Digital Book World

Tools of Change for Publishing

jeffbullas.com

Becky Robinson’s Weaving Influence

John le Carre is the pen name of David Cornwell, a former intelligence officer who writes espionage fiction. Since his first novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, fifty years ago, he has written some of the best fiction there is, regardless of genre.

Neither of us will likely ever write as well as he does. You’ll probably never write a novel, either. But those of us who write business books can take some advice from one of the great espionage thriller writers.

“My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.”

“Demystify” is the key word. Our challenge in a business book is to make the complex understandable and expose the tricks of the business “magicians” as something the rest of us can do.

Want more? Check out the complete list of Advice from the Masters posts.

In school, doing research was usually a slog. Your teacher picked the topic. Almost all your research involved reading. And a lot of that reading was mind-numbing. It was like breaking rocks on a chain gang.

The research that adds value to your book is more like a treasure hunt where you run from one great discovery to another. It’s exciting and energizing. Here are some tips for doing it well.

Start with your very own personal brain. Try to wring out everything you know and want to know about your topic. Make lists of questions, key points, information sources, ideas, and people.

The research that will add value to your book will be the research that brings information or insight that’s not common knowledge yet. You get that from talking to people and from making connections between bits of information.

Use one source to point you to others. Use published information to point you to people and other published information. Use people to point you to published information and to other people. Here’s an example.

Do a search on Amazon for your topic. You’ll get a list of books, of course, but you’re on the trail to much more. Those books have authors and the authors know more about the topic than what’s in their books. Interview them.

When you talk to someone about your topic, always ask two questions. What should I read to learn more? Who else should I talk to?

Your book research is different from most of the research you did in school. It’s about something you’re interested in and the process is like a treasure hunt.

Here’s my writing about writing for this week. There were posts on why you should edit out some of your best writing, how to build an information empire, and this week’s selection of posts and articles to give you “The Writing Edge.”

I can’t take that out!
Every writer produces great writing that needs to be cut out.

Content wants to be profitable
David Carr’s excellent piece on the late Roger Ebert is a reminder that content wants to be profitable.

4/19/13: The Writing Edge for Business Writers
You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Here are some recent blog posts and articles that might help. This week I’m pointing you to pieces on pricing e-books, writing better blog posts, and unleashing the power of content.

You’ll find my writing about leadership and talent development on my Three Star Leadership Blog.

Current Client Projects

I’m writing blog posts for two clients. I’m helping working on a book about what Professor Clay Christensen says could be “more important than disruption.” I’m writing a training manual for a client and coaching two authors through the process of writing and publishing their first book.

If you’re interested in writing a book, hiring someone to write for you, or just improving your own writing, you should read my Zero Draft blog about the writing that makes a business or career grow.

If you want to get a book done or improve your writing, let’s talk about options. My coaching calendar currently has space open.

Information Products

If you’re a boss, you should check out my Working Supervisor’s Support Kit.

You’re a businessperson. You may not think of yourself as a writer, but you know that writing well can boost your results and your career. Naturally, you want to do better. Here are some recent blog posts and articles that might help. This week I’m pointing you to pieces on pricing e-books, writing better blog posts, and unleashing the power of content.

From Tools of Change for Publishing: 7 Must-Consider Strategies for Ebook Pricing
“Which strategy will work best for your title? Publishers and independent ebook authors should consider them all before pricing the book they worked so hard to create.”

From Darren Rowse: 5 Keys to Writing Excellent Blog Posts
“Today in a radio interview I was asked to give 4-5 quick tips on how to write great blog posts. Quick isn’t my forte when giving tips (I have a lot to say) and I can think of many more than 5 tips for writing great blog posts – but here’s a brief overview of the things I mentioned:”

From Jeff Bullas: How to Unleash the Power of Content
“The Web landscape has provided the means for everyone to become a publisher. So your competition is everyone with a smart phone, a blog and a website.”

Sources I Check Regularly

I find the posts and articles that I share with you on The Writer’s Edge in many places. But there are a few that provide insightful pieces again and again. Here they are.

The CopyBlogger Blog

Problogger

Digital Book World

Tools of Change for Publishing

jeffbullas.com

Becky Robinson’s Weaving Influence

When Roger Ebert died he was praised in dozens of articles and posts. I thought that the most interesting one came from David Carr, the media columnist for the New York Times. The title was “Roger Ebert as a Builder of an Empire.” Here’s the money quote.

“Long before the media world became cluttered with search optimization consultants, social media experts and brand-management gurus, Mr. Ebert used all available technologies and platforms to advance both his love of film and his own professional interests.”

That “Information Empire” concept isn’t new. Gordon Burgett was promoting it three decades ago. He even wrote a book about it, Empire Building by Writing and Speaking. Long before “the self-publishing revolution” and long before almost anyone else, Gordon was reminding us that content can make the cash register ring.

If you’ve got something to say and you can say it well, this is your age. David Carr, the author of the piece on Roger Ebert has said that the only thing that has remained true as the digital revolution has ground on is the phrase that “Content is king.”

Don’t stop with the book you’re writing. Plan to create information products around it. It’s not that hard. Just think about Roger Ebert’s example

How can you use all available technologies and platforms to advance the things you care about and your own professional interests?

Personal Note

This blog piece was fun to write, in part, because it’s homage to two men who’ve shaped my thinking. Gordon Burgett opened my mind to the possibilities of an information empire and David Carr is my go-to source for what’s happening in the world of publishing and information entrepreneurship right now. Thanks, guys.

© 2013 Wally Bock's Zero Draft Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

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