Has your e-book publishing produced enough results to make it worth the effort?

[MEMc] Well…what a question…ha! All of these things are so tied into one another that it’s hard to say what does and doesn’t make a profit. All of my teacher e-books are not exactly big sellers, but they were already created as physical books, so having them now as e-books should only generate income, but they took awhile to update and convert…so it’s hard to say. I am getting ready to have the Top Ten Productivity Tips as an e-book and I’m hopeful that this one generates an income… Lots of my other products that are available electronically are probably not yet in the black given how much time and energy I put into creating them.  Sometimes I have to remind myself to “STOP IT!” as Bob Newhart would say. 

But here is the thing….there are a jillion reasons to have electronic products, including ones that are free (as you know, I have TONS that are free). People come to my site, download something (they give me their contact info since I use http://theshoppincartmegginrecommends.com) and then I can contact them in the future and they may buy something later. I begin to build relationships with people through my various products. I have several speaking engagements this fall and next spring that are related to people who have gotten my free stuff for YEARS and they are finally getting around to hiring me to come to their university. It’s so interesting how that happens…but it’s not a speedy process, especially in terms of money showing up in your bank account.

SO, I think part of what you will have to decide is how much time and energy you have, how much $ you need to generate and how quickly, and what the options are for doing that. Having electronic products are one of the ways to get your name out there, but there are many others, too.

There are definitely reasons to have “e-books,” and making money is one of them.  It can’t be the first reason – but it can be a major reason – especially as you become more and more well known and as you have a better reach into your market.

If we tell the truth, procrastination and perfectionism are often related. I certainly cannot cure you of perfectionism, but I can tell you it is not your friend as far as writing is concerned. Here are three tips to help keep your writing going – and to halt (or at least postpone) your writing procrastination.

1. Perfection is not your friend.

There are no perfect books, perfect dissertations, perfect articles, perfect chapters. There are excellent books, dissertations, articles, chapters, poems, stories, and so forth. Go for excellence – and go for complete. If you’re going for perfection you will NEVER get there and you will fail as a writer. Sorry to be mean, but it’s true.

Stop yourself when you realize you are persevering on perfection. No one else can control this for you – even though they might want to.

2. Timers are your friends.  

Do you know what I mean?A shoulder devil is a plot device for dramatic — and humorous — effect in animation and comic strips. (Doubt me? Check out Homer Simpson!) The devil represents temptation and is usually accompanied by a shoulder angel representing conscience. For cartoon artists, these opposing personas are particularly useful for revealing the inner conflict facing any character.

Trouble is, my friend didn’t have an angel and a devil– she just had two devils! (For her, one was bleak and nasty while the other was humorous and nasty.) Talk about compulsive over-achieving in the devil department!

Then, it suddenly occurred to me that many writers have two devils on their shoulders — perhaps not all the time, but certainly while they’re writing. If this describes you, resolve to start looking for an angel immediately. Here’s what an angel should do for you:

1. An angel should see and remark on the good you do in everything– no matter how small. My angel forces me to write down the things I accomplish each day. Sometimes I feel a little bit silly while entering this list onto my hard-drive, but I do it anyway.

2. An angel wants you to achieve your goals. So if your goal is to write 250 words per day, the angel doesn’t care whether they are bedazzling, rave-worthy or pitch-perfect words. He or she just wants 250 words. Angels really care about goals.

3. An angel is more concerned about YOU than what you’re producing.The angel wants you to be happy. Yes, I know writing can sometimes feel like the LAST thing on earth you want to be doing and you may want to think the angel will give you a reprieve from it. Nope. See point 2, above. Your angel understands that to feel really good about yourself, you need to be able to achieve your goals.

4. An angel understands what it can and cannot do — and cleverly concerns itself only with the former. (The devil prefers to focus on the latter!) In terms of writing, angels know that they cannot score big publishing deals or create happy bosses/clients for you. They know their only job is to help you produce words. What happens to the words is beyond their control so they don’t worry about it.

5. An angel helps balance the voice of the devil. Isn’t it demoralizing to hear the constant negative talk of the devil? “Your writing is no good.” “You are boring your readers to tears.” “Your boss is going to fire you for this piece of garbage.” But remember: For every yin there is a yang. For every negative, a positive. Don’t let your devil get away with all of his/her negativity unchallenged.

OK, so now you want an angel. I realize a big question remains — where can you find one? Too bad there isn’t an angel-finding machine (kind of like a GPS).

My best advice is to create your own angel.For a while, this will seem phony and fake — you may even feel as though you are putting words in the made-up angel’s mouth. THIS IS OKAY. The technique of “acting as if” or “faking it until you make it” actually works. (For example, the act of smiling will make you feel happier, even if you don’t feel happy in the first place.)

So the next time your shoulder devil appears and starts criticizing your work, summon an angel to say only positive things about what you’re doing. You might even find it life-changing.

By the way, I just received an email from my friend with the two devils. Yesterday, an angel suddenly arrived on her shoulder, countering all the negative remarks from her devils. “Thanks for the suggestion,” she wrote. “I’m not sure how it arrived, other than just thinking of it.”

Maybe you need to think of it, too.

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Shared with permission.  ©2011 by Daphne Gray-Grant

Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.

Starting and stopping writing… not starting and stopping procrastination, although I guess if we are starting writing, we are stopping procrastination. Hadn’t thought of it that way, but it works. Once again, writing helps us know what we know.

So, what are some tips that you can use to start writing and stop procrastinating? Here are three:

1. Isolate editing and composing.

Editing is one part of writing. If you are intermingling editing with composing, you are cruisin’ for a bruisin’ in terms of your productivity. Editing and composing use different parts of your brain; when your editor is turned on and is judging, changing, questioning, fixing, and all the other jobs in which it is involved, then your composing part – which needs to generate, flow, put together, and create – is in conflict and your energy is expended trying to separate these two battling brains. Have days where you edit and days where you compose. Isolate the two practices – both of which are important – so that you can maximize your writing productivity.

2. Note when you finish where you’ll be starting next. Since the most difficult part of writing for many people is getting started (and this is also the crazy reason that many of us think that we have to have large blocks of time for writing, i.e., because it takes SOOO LONG to get started), using this one suggestion will make a major impact on your ability to bypass procrastination. Each day when you are a few moments from completing your writing time, make a notation about what you were going to do next.

• Were you getting ready to check a reference?
• Were you about to create a mind-map to give you insight into the next section of your article?
• Were you just about to write a list of definition of terms that you are using?
• Were you getting ready to recap the list of main points you have made in your manuscript.

What was the next step – the next action – you were about to take in your writing? Once you have that in mind, either type it in large bold letters in your manuscript – maybe even highlighted with an easy-to-spot color, write it on a Post-it note that you attach to a printed document, or in some other way, make sure you don’t “lose your place.”

3. Integrate writing into how you define yourself. Do you talk about yourself as a writer? Do you think about yourself as a writer? Do you define yourself as a writer?

It is more difficult (and more ridiculous) to procrastinate something that is really part of who you are. It’s hard for me to procrastinate being a sister. I am a sister. If you’re a parent, it’s hard to procrastinate being a parent. You are a parent. If you consider yourself to be and define yourself as a writer (among other attributes), then you are better able to focus on what you need to do to continue in that role.

Notes from 30 Articles call-in May 24, 2011

Discussion points ranged far and wide – excellent information and success stories from all.

It was pointed out that academic writing can be dull and hard to read (and hard to write) with the rigid, formulaic expectations.  Understandable on one hand but too bad that more of us cannot enjoy the benefits of research and learning.
Sometimes difficult to get ideas to coalesce.

November was National Novel Writing month but now it has been expanded. Go to www.nanowrimo.org for information

We have several novelists in our group and they several great points to share:

• Write every day
• Write from the heart
• A mindmap or outline helps some; others just let it flow
• Let the characters do the writing – they take on their own life and if the writer forces and guides, great things may be missed
• Stories within a novel often intertwine. So as one characters does this and another does that and the third something else, the writer has freedom to pick and choose who to write about/with each day
• Share your writing with a friend or writing group – someone you trust to help and support, not destroy and destruct
• Really think about the characters, their perceptions, life view; put on the view finder and study
• Maintain the author’s voice while giving characters voice as well
• Create self-sustaining characters by letting them do what they want to do
• A kernel starts the work; the details work themselves out
• Do not dictate – let it happen
• Let images (visual or in words) talk
• Don’t tighten up!
• Let the writing take you where it wants you to go.
• See it
• Let the teenager part of you come out on paper; this is great for creating dialogue

Grant proposals are challenging like academic work – getting the words right.

Great project is the School Garden where students grow and eat healthy foods and learn about nutrition. Trouble getting parent volunteers – although they do offer food at all meetings – natural food from the garden!

A little trouble sticking to deadlines, especially when they are nebulous. Advice for deadlines and procrastination, etc.

• Cherish them as guide points
• Set an arbitrary one if there is not a firm deadline – then stick to it!
• Make deadlines motivating
• Focus writing to get the job done
• While a little mind wandering may help with creativity, it can be disastrous with getting things done; focus
• Share progress with others
• Visualize the end product – begin with the end in mind: “IF I DO THIS, THEN THIS WILL HAPPEN SO THAT THIS CAN HAPPEN…
• Set goals for each day
• Write about emotions
• Focus – zoom in on what really needs to be stated
• One small concrete piece per day is a step in helping you reach your writing goal.
• Write when it works – early morning, after lunch when obligations die down, at night, even if you fall asleep. One caller told us that there are hallucinations that begin when you first fall asleep – these may be terrific for your writing.
• Mark your steps
• Follow a sequence when possible
• Be flexible

Project comes from project by Alice Walters – the Edible Schoolyard – I love this!

Kids are learning about economy, environment, health eating, getting exercise, interacting, learning.

Also has a writing component with a story teller to teach Mom’s how to read to their children.

About 100 students are involved in the classes at each school in this rewarding summer program. Was federal grant but now is at the state level.

In addition to novels, one of our members is creating a pictureless book that will include her own art work. I looked at the plan and WOW! Great for every child and the adult reader as well. Sometimes a pictures is worth more than 10,000 words, especially with kids who are hurt and struggling.

Encouraging young kids to write , especially those with learning difficulties, – emphasis on volume, not perfection; then come back to 1 piece for revising and editing.

Another member had her writing noticed in her newsletter and she has now become “Syndicated Columnist” Super! Worries a little about deadlines and having fresh ideas but knowing her and her vast knowledge and wide travels, getting ideas will not be difficult.

She is also working on Tips for the year. We brainstormed some topics:

→ Retreats
→ Coaching
→ Taking care of self
→ Nurturing self
→ Self-care
→ Well-being
→ Important things to do to self improve

What can you add to this list?

Advice included asking friends, brainstorming with colleagues, and referring back to the many topics of the 30 Articles class.

Writing Memoirs is a popular hobby right now. Get yours rolling – for family and friends but also for the self-discovery magic. Make it personal and unique, like adding tips, recipes, pictures, wise sayings…

Mindmapping is helping several of our writers as they plan and organize. It was suggested that a collage can extend the mindmap as an extension , a graphic visualization.

Go to EzineArticles and search their blog on “article template” – here’s what I found:  http://blog.ezinearticles.com/?s=%22article+template%22

If you keep scrolling down (page after page), you’ll find a bunch of their suggestions and there are going to be several that really work for you…

See if that helps.

Meggin

http://vue.tufts.edu/index.cfm

All kinds of resources and places to view and share your own mindmaps and other graphic representations.

 http://www.agentquery.com/downloads/101BestWebsites2010.pdf

• You might like to have some paper copies of your articles to distribute at a presentation you are doing.
• You might want to have some paper copies of your articles to include in a writing portfolio.
• You might like to have some paper copies of your articles to display or offer at a booth advertising your products and services.
• You might want to have paper copies of what you have written to send to someone through the mail, e.g., based on a question you’ve been asked or because you know this client, customer, or friend would find the information helpful at a particular time.
• And the list could go on and on here.

Whatever your reasons, it is worth having a paper copy handy. So, how should you get these ready to use?

Here’s a page you could put in your Operations Manual so that someone else could do this for you (or here are easy-to-follow steps just for you).

Title of Operations Manual Page: Printing and Saving Articles from an article directory

Expected Time Expenditure: About 5″/article.

Frequency: As often as new articles are submitted.

Steps:

1. Go to the article directory.
2. Log in with your username and password.
3. In the upper left hand part of the Navigation Bar, you will see something like “Article Manager.” Go into Article Manager and then click on Live Articles.
4. Go to the oldest one that has not previously been printed (Note: You should be keeping a record of this).
5. Click on View over on the right of that row.
6. It will come up in the the directory’s format that they display on their website. In the upper right hand corner it shows “Print This Article.” Click on that. 
7. Once it is displayed in the nice directory’s format, do a Ctrl – A to select all. Then Ctrl – C to copy.
8. Open a Word document and do a Ctrl – V to paste it in. Delete the little symbols at the top and then save it as a Word document, using the title of the article as the title of the document.
9. Print out a copy and put it in the notebook.
10. Send me the Word Document that you saved as an attachment so I have it on my computer, too.
11. Then go on to the next one.

This is a simple enough process if you follow these steps. You will start finding uses for your articles and will be glad that you have both the paper copy and the saved Word document.