Category: newsletter writing

Four ways to get magazine or newspaper interviews

Over the past 30-years, in my “Writing Travel Articles That Sell” seminar, I’d talk for about 20 minutes about interviewing. The entire process has almost completely changed during that time. First, though, why bother to interview at all? Who really cares? The editors who will hopefully buy your article (even book) care a lot. It’s [...]

Friday August 24th, 2012 in article selling, article writing, articles, e-publishing, editing, newsletter writing, niche marketing, publishing, writing | No Comments »

What do you do first to deduct your travel-writing trips?

Two premises: (1) you want to write and sell something about a coming trip, and (2) you want to be able to keep all of the money you earn, or at least increase your IRS tax deduction as much as you can. Good thinking—and totally legal. You are supposed to take every deduction allowed. More [...]

Monday August 20th, 2012 in article selling, article writing, articles, editing, newsletter writing, publishing, travel writing, writing | No Comments »

Resell your article again and again? Here’s the needed tool.

If you’ve had a good article in print, why not sell it again and again? To do that you need a cover letter to send to the second editor. These are full-page letters sent to editors who buy reprints (same as second rights)—usually editors who pay on publication. If you sold first rights to the [...]

Tuesday August 7th, 2012 in article selling, article writing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, newsletter writing, publishing, travel writing, writing | 1 Comment »

How do you set up a magazine (or newspaper) interview?

Most of the articles you write should include at least one and often three interviews, plus of course facts, perhaps some anecdotal material, and probably some artwork (usually photos). In fact, the most persuasive items selling the article are the interviews or quotes you promise the editor in your query letter. Like a piece about [...]

Monday July 30th, 2012 in article selling, article writing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, newsletter writing, niche publishing, open publishing, publishing, writing | No Comments »

Inside info about publishing and distribution

Simon Warwick is just the kind of “inside” guy that every small publisher needs to hear. He’s a 25-year veteran and book agent. He knows what a book needs to get selling traction. So his 75-minute talk, “Getting Your Book into Distribution (or Should I Look for a Literary Agent?)” at the BAIPA (Bay Area [...]

Thursday July 19th, 2012 in ancillary publishing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, fiction, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, novel writing, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, writing | No Comments »

Start Your NF Book with a Title and Table of Contents

Of my 42 books in print, 41 are nonfiction. (The novel is pretty awful.) I began #43 yesterday afternoon. All of the books started the same way. I have no idea if I’m following a divine path or if, for others, it would even apply to the book(s) they are writing. But it works for [...]

Tuesday July 10th, 2012 in ancillary publishing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, open publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, webmarketing, writing | No Comments »

Niche Speaking: Cash in with fewer (but more devoted) listeners

The following excerpt beginning my chapter “Niche Speaking: Cash in with Fewer (but More Devoted) Listeners” first appeared in print on July 1, 2012 in a new book called Speak More! Marketing Strategies to Get More Speaking Business. I thought you might enjoy it’s message as a blog post: When I was new to public [...]

Monday July 2nd, 2012 in ancillary publishing, article selling, article writing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, open publishing, public speaking, publishing, speaking, writing | No Comments »

Why (and how) I just used BookBaby for digital publishing

A couple of blogs back I shared the key points of a very informative presentation I had just heard by Brian Felsen, honcho of BookBaby, where he discussed the virtues of letting others (like BookBaby) do the grunt work when you are sending your book to Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, and others. So I tried it [...]

Thursday June 28th, 2012 in ancillary publishing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, newsletter writing, niche publishing, open publishing, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, webmarketing, writing | 2 Comments »

A lifetime formula for selling 75% of the nonfiction you write

If you want to sell almost everything nonfiction that you submit, including 75% of what you send to editors, here’s the not-so-secret formula: • Before submitting any copy, first send a super query letter to the editor asking if she/he would be interested in your preparing and sending an article about ____. (If you’re unfamiliar [...]

Tuesday June 26th, 2012 in ancillary publishing, article selling, article writing, articles, e-publishing, editing, newsletter writing, niche marketing, publishing, webmarketing, writing | No Comments »

See how an excellent website is critical in empire building

How can one double and triple their income quickly from writing, photography, speaking, consulting, teaching, or other related means? The process is called empire building, and I focus on it in my free monthly newsletter. Atypically, I’m going to prematurely share the key article in this month’s newsletter as this blog post because I so [...]

Saturday June 9th, 2012 in ancillary publishing, article selling, article writing, articles, digital publishing, e-publishing, editing, empire building, newsletter writing, niche marketing, niche publishing, open publishing, product development, publishing, self-publishing, small publishers, travel writing, webmarketing, writing | No Comments »