CWFI: Christian Writers Fellowship International (CWFI) Yahoo group was established by Sandy Brooks for subscribers to Cross & Quill. After the magazine ceased publication, the group was opened to non-subscribers. Weekly discussions are based on a Question of the Week, moderated by Donna Clark Goodrich. Overt promotion is discouraged on the group, but members are encouraged to report publishing successes.  Apply for membership in the group at the link above.

CWGI: You must fill out an application form for Christian Writers Group International (CWGI), also a Yahoo group. There is no fee, so this is a much larger group. The last time I checked there were about 800 members worldwide. Discussions are made more interesting by input from members in places like Australia and South Africa.

TWV1: the Writers’ View 1 is for “advanced and professional writers in the Christian market. Topics are advanced and explore the entire publishing process.” Owned by Mary DeMuth, this group requires a membership application and there are a number of panelists covering a wide variety of genres.

TWV2: The Writer’s View 2 is “for beginning/intermediate Christian writers serious about taking their writing to the next level.” Membership application required for this one, too. You must choose which TWV you want to participate in, because you are not allowed to participate in both. Mary also owns this group, but the list of panelists is different.

ACFW: The groups mentioned in this blog are ones that I have participated in or investigated for myself. If you are a fiction writer, check out American Christian Fiction Writers. Member benefits include forums that might be helpful to you.

These groups not only help you improve your writing, but they help you get to know people who can introduce you to others in the industry. I invite comments on this post from people who have participated in other writers’ groups.

In previous articles, I have described how writers can use this tool. See the article links at the end of this post. Rather than telling you how to use the Four P’s, today I will show you how I use it for Blog4writers. And, don’t forget, you take the customer’s point of view, not yours.

Product: Blog4writers is a free online collection of articles and resources for writers seeking to publish their work. Although it is targeted to Christian writers, those who write for secular markets will also find useful information here.

• Articles are less than 500 words and contain links to further information.
• Topics (categories) are marketing, websites and blogs, writers’ resources (online and print), “Get Organized,” and inspirational.
• In the marketing category, articles are marked with sub-categories Product, Place, Promotion, and Price.

Promotion: I use standard blog promotion methods, but word of mouth has worked best for me. The people who have met me, either online or in person, are most likely to subscribe. Here’s a list of my promotion methods.

• I post on Facebook and Twitter announcing new articles. I usually wait until after the subscription feed has been out a day or two. That way, I can tell whether traffic is coming from the feed or from the social networks.
• I belong to three online Christian writers’ groups. If someone on those groups asks a question, I check to see if I have an article on the blog that answers that question. I then post the link to the group.
• I ordered free business cards from Vistaprint promoting Blog4writers and  carry them with me so that I don’t miss an opportunity to promote!

Place: In manufacturing, the Place component applies to the distribution—how the customer accesses the product. Users access Blog4Writers via the Internet. Also, I “place” the URL in my other blogs and in my e-mail signature to remind people that it’s available.

Price: Well, for Blog4writers, that’s easy. It’s free to anyone who takes the time to check it out. Maybe not exactly free, though. You do have to spend a little effort to search for the information you need.

Four P’s analysis can be used for projects large and small, for your entire writing effort or just for one part of it. It makes you think about what you’re trying to do, and it jumpstarts your creative thought processes. Try it, and let me know how it works out.

My previous articles:

Market Better, Sell More

Golden Rule Marketing for Writers

Most successful bloggers will tell you that you can create interest in your blog by commenting on the blogs of others. I’m including a link to an article on that subject below. I was surprised to learn that some people don’t know how to comment on other blogs, so I’m providing directions for my blog here, along with links to other resources on the subject.

How to Comment on Blog4Writers:

• Go to this article on the blog site by clicking here. Find the comments link at the top of the article. It will show “No Comments” or the number of comments that have already been left.
• Click on the Comments link.
• Once the page has refreshed, scroll to the bottom to find the comment box.
• Fill out the form, and click Submit.
• Wait for your comment to be approved. If you have had one comment approved on my blog in the past, all subsequent comments will automatically be approved.

How to Comment on WordPress Blogs: Depending on the design of the theme, the comments feature on a WordPress blog will work like mine does. However, some of the designs place the comments link at the bottom of the article. Instead of “No Comments,” you might see “Leave a Comment.” It works the same way except that you might not have to scroll down to find the comment box.

How to Comment on Blogger Blogs: See the tutorial at this link.

Make a New Year’s resolution to follow other writers’ blogs and to comment on them frequently. Make sure your comment is relevant to the post. Include a link to your blog in your comment to encourage readers to visit you.

Further Information:

“Leave Comments on Other Blogs” – Excerpt from 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook by Darren Rowse (ProBlogger).

First, you must decide on your blogging tool. There are plenty of options, but WordPress is my favorite. I started by first blog on Blogger, but after experimenting with both, I chose WordPress. Back in 2008, I shared my evaluation of the two. Both have offered many upgrades since then.

Both Blogger and WordPress are free. I recommend that you look at this “Pros and Cons” article on RemindBlog.com.  For those of you who don’t mind a little technical language, here’s an analysis comparing the two on Pulsed.com.

Whether you’re thinking of starting a blog or re-thinking an existing one, you need to ask yourself these questions.

Which is easier to use/learn? Well, that’s like asking how big your doghouse needs to be. It depends whether dog is a Chihuahua or a St. Bernard. If you are proficient with word processors and have some Web expertise, you should be OK with either. However, if you’re shaky on your skills, I think Blogger is easier to learn. There are number of tutorials onlne. Here’s a good one. However, if you are more confident with your Web skills, WordPress offers more design options and a few other features that give your blog a more professional look.

Do you want a unique design? I think many new bloggers get too concerned about the design. It’s the content that matters. Whatever design you choose, it should not be so busy or elaborate that it detracts from the purpose of the blog, which is—your writing. Blogger and WordPress both offer design variety and customization, although WordPress offers many more options than Blogger. To get a unique custom design, you will have to hire a designer on either platform.

Do you plan to upgrade to a self-hosted (paid) blog in the future? If you’re committed to blogging for the long term, I say, “Start with WordPress.” The same skills you learn for your free WordPress site on WordPress.com will transfer to the paid version that can be downloaded from WordPress.org. Transferring your content from WordPress.com to a self-hosted site is much easier. You can also keep your design if you want.

And finally, a confession: The main reason I chose to use WordPress and graduated to a self-hosted WordPress site was that I wanted to model my blog/site on that of Jim Watkins, one of my favorite Christian authors. I’ve learned and lot, but I still feel borderline incompetent sometimes. It’s a lot like walking a tightrope without a net.

Whatever you decide about your methods, concentrate on content. It’s easy to get engrossed design and structure, wasting time that could be spent writing.

Next week’s post will be “Blogging: Measuring Success.”

A gift to writers from Microsoft! We need an online presence, but we don’t want to spend a fortune for it. For the first website, most writers want something low-cost, or better yet—FREE. Recently, I discovered Microsoft’s free websites for small business. I’ve “test-drove” it, and I’m now recommending MS Office Live Small Business (hereafter referred to as OLSB).

My trial site: See my experimental site at http://emilyakin.web.officelive.com/default.aspx. Check out the description of the service here.

The Advantages:

• Easy to set up. All you need is a Microsoft Windows Live account. If you have a Hotmail account, you can probably use that. I set up emilyakin@live.com for mine. Once you have your e-mail address, go to http://www.officelive.com/ and click on Get Started.
• There’s plenty of help online. Whenever I was stuck, I just went to Google and searched my question. For example, I searched “how to add a picture in Office Live Small Business.” Here’s the result. I encountered no problem that I could not solve by searching on Google.
• It’s free. As with any free product, there are add-ons that seem very affordable. Details on that here.

The Disadvantages:

• The lengthy URL (see my sample above) will not be easy for customers to remember. It will clutter up your business card, too. You can purchase a domain name for $14.95 a year as an add-on or purchase it elsewhere.
• Although there are numerous generic design options, none of them are specifically for writers. You can add photos to the design header to customize your look, however.
• No blog feature. Some of the other free options for websites also include a blog page. But, you can always blog on Blogger or WordPress and link to your blog from your site.
• No phone or chat support. This is only a disadvantage if you lack confidence in your ability to use the help info you find online.

This is neither an advantage or disadvantage—just something you should know. You need to log in once in a while to keep your service active. If you don’t, you will get an e-mail saying that, since your site is dormant, it will be deleted. You need to update frequently anyway, so I don’t see where that’s a problem.

Examples:

Southeast Christian Writers (purchased domain through OLSB)

Kentucky ChristianWriters Conference (domain name with another service, pointed to OLSB)

Try it out. Set yourself up and experiment. Don’t worry about what others think of it. As long as you don’t publicize your URL, it’s unlikely that anyone would find it. If you decide to go with it, you can start sharing your URL when you’re sure it’s ready for public consumption. Here’s a great tutorial if you need it.

PS: In the past, I have recommended other free site services. I have set up sample sites on Viviti, Freewebs (Webs.com), and Blinkweb. Visit the URLs below. Blinkweb is the only one that is free of ads as well as free of charge. Except for the blog feature, I think MS Office Live Small Business is the better choice for a writer.

http://emilyakin.viviti.com/

http://www.freewebs.com/emilyakin/

http://emilyakin.blinkweb.com/

Also, see my previous posts about free websites here.

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Note: I’m switching to “website” for this blog as opposed to “Web site,” because Associated Press has recently changed their rule to make “website” the correct spelling. See AP Stylebook site here.

Photos from Morguefile.com

How old is the photo on your Web site or business card? If it’s more than two years old, it’s probably time to get another one. If you’ve changed your hair color or style, that’s another reason to have a new photo taken. If now’s the time, stop and think about what you want you want your photo to say about you.

Do you want to appear cool and professional?

If you’re promoting a book to a major publishing company, you probably need to have a professional photographer do your photos. Be sure that he or she can provide digital versions so that you can use your new pics on your Web site or blog.

But—make sure your photo isn’t so touched-up that people won’t recognize you. At a writers’ conference, I sat with a professional psychologist who wanted to write for the Christian market. She gave me her business card. The design was super, but her photo didn’t even look like her. She had sandy blonde hair and a healthy tan with freckles peeking out from under her makeup. Her photographer had air-brushed out all the “imperfections.” She had no wrinkles to show that she had been around for a while (with the experience to show for it). The freckles, one of her most alluring features, were nowhere to be found.

If you spend the money for a photographer, don’t let someone else, even the photographer, talk you into too many touch-ups. Also, don’t settle for photos that you don’t really like. It would be better to have amateur photos that really look like you than to present an inaccurate impression.

Do you want to appear friendly and approachable?

Photos: Morguefile.com

If you’re a freelance editor looking to find critiquing or editing clients, you want your photo to present you as professional but approachable. You can still use a professional photographer, but I’ve seen numerous Web sites and business cards with photos that were taken by a writer’s friend or spouse. Just the fact that the photos are more casual makes the site or card more inviting. Avoid being too casual, though. For example, don’t have your photo taken with your pet(s). The focus should be on you.

Take your photos indoors or out, but try to avoid clutter in the background. I made new photos recently, but I didn’t realize that the tree behind me was so close. See my home page photo. I tried to edit the tree bark effect out of the background, but it just wouldn’t work. We’re planning for a do-over soon.

Sample writer/editor sites photos (you be the judge):

Mary Yerkes

Virginia Smith

Kathy Ide

Donna Clark Goodrich

Instead of having friends as on Facebook, Twitter users have followers. I’ve used Twitter for several months now, following people mainly in the Christian publishing industry. Some of the same people are friends on Facebook. As of today, I am following 49 people, and 56 people are following me. Some say that you should follow everyone who follows you, but I don’t follow people unless it appears that their content will be of interest to me.

What I Like About Twitter

• Posts (tweet) are short and often provide links that I can access if I want to know more. It doesn’t take me long to scan the list and read the things I’m interested in.
• I can post announcements about new blog posts to help build my readership.
• I can follow people I want to know more about and ignore the ones that are following me in order to sell me something.
• The new Lists feature allows me to separate my preferred follows from the ones I’m just following as a courtesy.

What I Don’t Like About Twitter

• Some people resort to text message language in order to get a longer message in the 140 character limit. Besides having trouble interpreting some of it, I see this as cheating!
• Some people must just tweet all day long. There’s a limit to how much I want to hear from any one person, no matter how much they know about writing and publishing. If you have that much to say, use a blog.
• I’m following publishing professionals for information about writing and publishing, not about where they’re going, what they’re having for dinner (breakfast, lunch, snack), or what the weather is like where they live.

Twitter Marketing Effectiveness

Although there are things I don’t like about Twitter (and other social media, for that matter), I have to admit that they can be effective. I do see an increase in the traffic on my blogs for a day or so after I tweet about a post.

Recently, a family in Vermont needed funding for medical treatment for their special needs baby. The mother let friends know about the problem via Twitter. Someone set up a page on her Web site where people could make donations through Paypal. The message went out on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. See the details in this article, “How Social Media Saved Jaeli.”

Other Articles About Twitter

Seven Twitter People Every Author Should Follow

Nine Ways to Promote Your Book Using Social Media

See my previous posts on Facebook here and on social media in general here.

Read my post on Twitter, Facebook, and Tweetdeck.

My Facebook friends include long-time friends, family, and writers/editors/publishers. I joined because a writer’s conference I planned to attend had set up a Facebook group. At first, I thought I would limit Facebook friends to writers, editors, and publishers. However, I soon found out that I had many long-lost friends on Facebook, so I decided to include them. Since I joined Facebook to promote my writing, it stands to reason that I want everyone who knows me to know about my blogs. So, why leave anyone out just because they’re not involved in the publishing industry?

Promote your blog: I have several blogs, and I often post an announcement that there’s a new post on a blog. This nets me higher traffic on the blog for a day or so after I post. I’m not getting many e-mail subscribers for my blogs from Facebook as I had hoped. It’s possible that I may be getting subscribers by RSS feed, which I cannot track. But, the increase in traffic, even if temporary, is worth the effort.

Promote your published work: Many published authors use Facebook to keep readers informed by setting up a group. Check out Rita Gerlach’s group for her recent novel, Surrender the Wind. I’m not sure whether you’ll get to see comments of fans unless you log in, but try the link anyway. For fiction writers, building a fan base like this is a must. You want your fans to be ready and willing to buy your next book when it comes out.

Non-fiction writers can post announcements about articles published in print or provide links to work published online. In addition, a non-fiction write can use a topic-based or cause-based group to build contacts. As group owner, you can post updates on your topic or cause, thereby keeping your expertise in that topic in front of your readers. See United Methodist Committee on Relief and Power of Prayer.

Priming the pump: In commenting on other people’s posts, I’ve had interesting Facebook conversations on topics that I’d never have a chance to discuss in person. Just yesterday, a friend posted a comment about an experience she had. I commented on it and received updates throughout the day. By the end of the day, I had an idea for a new article based on the topic that was discussed.

I welcome comments about your experiences marketing yourself and your work on Facebook. Next post: Twitter

Social media are a great way to build your contact list. Although there are several options, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn seem to be the most popular with writers. The first two can be used to network with publishing industry folks as well as friends and family. LinkedIn is more for networking with other professionals. There’s a great article on the Writers’ Digest site entitled “A Writer’s Guide to Social Networking” that covers these three social media. Take a look at this article this week, and I’ll write about my own experiences with them in my next post.

Meanwhile, for those of you who have not tried social media, follow the links below to how-to information on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin:

Ehow/Facebook or Butterscotch.com/Facebook

Butterscotch.com/Twitter

Butterscotch.com/LinkedIn

First, I went to Vistaprint, found a new design that I liked and ordered 250 cards using the promotion code that I had received. Ordinarily, you get 250 cards free and just pay shipping. The free cards have Vistaprint’s ad on the back. The special promotion offered the premium cards (no ad on back) for free plus shipping. I managed to make it all the way to checkout without adding any features or buying anything else, although I was tempted by the alternate design that they recommended for the back of my card. I paid $5.79 for the cheapest shipping. I ordered on September 8th. The cards were shipped on September 15th, and I received them on the 17th.  I would have like them better if I had paid a little extra for the glossy finish, but they are fine for what I paid.

For the second set, I went to 123Print.com. After searching their designs, I found one that I really loved. On September 8th, I ordered 200 cards, the minimum number, and paid for shipping. The cards shipped on September 10th, and I received them on the 12th. Fast! They are beautiful cards with a glossy finish, great graphics, and a really quality feel. I paid about $15.00 for them, and that’s pretty high, when you consider it was only 200 cards. See my design here.

No matter what your budget, you can afford a professional-looking business card. Notice that I did not have my photo on either card, although I have always used a photo in the past. It would have cost me extra to upload a photo to Vistaprint, and I did not inquire about photos with 123Print.

I was happy with both transactions, because I felt that I got what I paid for.