Writing and Publishing News from

Yesterday we talked about turning articles into blogs and blogs into articles. I hope that some of you will pursue this activity. Not only does it conserve your brainpower, energy and time, because you don’t have to go in search of new ideas, but this is good practice for any freelance writer or author.

Today I’d like to discuss article and blog ideas and how to expand on them, grow them and develop them into new blog posts and new articles.

The practice of recycling ideas isn’t difficult, but it can be a cumbersome concept for those who aren’t accustomed to thinking this way. When you earn your living through freelance article-writing or you are trying to supplement your income, it is important to develop a recycling mindset. What do I mean by recycling ideas? It’s something more than just selling reprints. It requires dissecting your original good article idea and coming up with lots of new articles or blog posts related to that theme. It means using old ideas in new ways and gleaning new ideas from them. Here are some examples from my own files:

1: My article on how to be an effective long-distance grandparent resulted in a book on the subject (Liguori Publications) as well as additional articles focusing on starting and maintaining family traditions from a distance, how to bond with grandchildren from a distance, traveling with grandchildren, successful visits with grandchildren, preparing for your grandchild to visit, how to choose gifts for long-distance grandchildren, how to stay in touch across the miles and establishing a good parent-grandparent relationship.

2: I once wrote a piece on teaching children the work ethic. This idea blossomed into articles featuring how to teach children responsibility (published in religious and parenting magazines), how to teach children responsibility through horse ownership (for a horse magazine) and how to teach children responsibility through cat ownership (for Cat Fancy), for example.

3: I expanded my article on how to successfully live alone into articles on the empty nest syndrome (how to prepare for it and also how to give it up when the kids come back), how to survive Christmas alone and living single in America.

4: My piece on family togetherness ideas developed into articles focusing on how to bring the family back to the dinner table, exercise activities that foster family togetherness, outdoor activities families can do together, tips for keeping your family healthy and fit while traveling and using chores to bring the family together.

It takes thought and imagination to find new ideas in old articles. With practice, however, recycling can become a habit. And, if you are an author who wants to sell articles in order to supplement your income as well as promote your book, it’s a habit worth developing.

Let’s say that your book focuses on the ultimate job search in a failing economy—how to find a job despite high unemployment figures. You could conceivably produce articles featuring job opportunities in a variety of fields, how to successfully compete for a job, using headhunters, how to choose the right job for the long term, creative job searches (look where nobody else is looking), maintaining harmony on the home front during difficult times, budgeting for hard times, how to enjoy life on a budget, determining needs versus wants, the emotions of money and so forth. You’ll want to write about breakthroughs and updates related to the economy and the job market, in particular, as they come to light.

And you can take some of these ideas and revamp them for different publications—for example, religious, family, parenting, general, retirement/senior, college, regional, business, various trade magazines and so forth.

I’m teaching my online article-writing course this month and students are working on the concept of expanding on their article ideas. Why don’t you follow along with this lesson? Write down your main topic of interest (possibly the topic of your book). Then begin listing viable article ideas. If you need help with your list, email me at PLFry620@yahoo.com. Maybe I’ll have some ideas for you. Here’s a hint: Start with your Table of Contents. Take a look at your headings.

I just opened my copy of the Self-Published Author’s Newsletter and found two of my articles there. One of them, I submitted. I guess they found the other one someplace and thought it worthy of reprinting. Read the newsletter here:
http://www.selfpublishedauthors.com/01Aug09

By the way, if you want to see examples of how I expand one idea into hundreds and hundreds of them, just review back posts here at my blog site. Look at the articles posted at my website:
http://www.matilijapress.com

Get one-on-one feedback and assistance with this and other aspects of writing articles for money. Sign up for my online, on-demand article-writing course today.
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

What do you do with your spent blog posts? After you post them, do you forget about them or do you recycle them?

Often, I will expand a good blog entry into an article and submit it to an appropriate magazine or ezine. Sometimes I will locate an article I wrote months or even years ago, revamp and update it and post it at my blogsite.

If you decide to do this, remember that blog posts are not always articles and articles are not always appropriate as blog posts. Most can be groomed, altered, adapted or transformed to fit the secondary purpose, however. How?

To create an article from a blog post:
• Choose a blog post that has a useful subject and/or unique flavor and that is conducive to expansion and readability.

• Remove any blatant self-promotion. You’ll notice that I often encourage you to purchase my book or sign up for one of my courses in my blog posts. This is not appropriate for an article. Of course, you can add your 2 or 3-line bio at the end of the article for promotional purposes.

• Add to your blog post in order to meet the word-count requirements for the publication. Avoid simply padding the post for the sake of expanding it. Take each point, category or bullet and develop it appropriately.

• Enhance your original blog post through additional research. Add new resources, for example, expert quotes or important facts.

• Edit carefully to make sure you’ve maintained a good flow for your piece.

To create a blog post from an article:
• Choose articles that relate to your specific blog audience.

• Shear away any excess material—tighten and condense.

• Rewrite so that your article still makes sense. It might include more bullets and headings, but it should still flow nicely.

• Insert some personal comments, if you wish, and go ahead and promote yourself or your work. The blog is your perpetual, revolving business card. You can present yourself and your products or services any way that you want. No one is going to reject your blog entry. You are the editor in charge. You decide what to post.

Now that you’ve walked through the article-to-blog and blog-to-article experience, consider recycling some of your topics. This is easy and fun for some freelance writers and authors and painfully difficult for others.

Stay tuned to this weekend’s blog post. I’ll give my tips for recycling some of your best topics and ideas.

Here’s the Commercial
In the meantime, if you like what I continually offer for FREE through this blog, the hundreds (maybe thousands) of articles posted all over the web and beyond, the FREE articles and tons of resources available at my website, you’ll love the value that I offer for sale. I have books—several on writing/publishing-related topics. I provide editing/consulting services for authors as well as freelance writers. I teach on-demand, online courses for authors and freelance writers. And I’m available to speak at your club or conference.

Spend some time at my website:
http://www.matilijapress.com

I guess I’ve lived long enough to learn a few lessons. One of them has come to light this week—that when one thing changes many things change.

As you know, we are in the midst of a big transition here at SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). We are getting a new website and new officers all at the same time. And you might be surprised at the things that are changing as a result. Nothing seems to fit where it was before. Practically every detail of policy and process is changing before our eyes.

If you’ve recently started pursuing a writing career or you have decided to write a book, you are probably experiencing something quite similar. You’re making lifestyle changes. You may be hanging out with different people (your former friends don’t understand a writer’s passion and challenges). Your paycheck may have diminished—hopefully temporarily.

You’re on a different plane. You find yourself living inside your characters part of the time or you see the whole world through a researcher’s eyes. Some might consider you to be obsessed with the subject or time-period of your book, or simply the process of writing.

Your schedule has changed, your thought processes have changed and so have your sleeping and eating habits. You’re losing your tan and developing repetitive stress syndrome. You’re discovering that writing can be all encompassing. And, if you’re like most writers, you are loving it!

I’m off to conduct a workshop on publishing today. So that’s where my head is. I’ll report my experience in tomorrow’s blog post.

I just sent the first lecture and assignment for my Article-Writing Course to the students who have signed up for this session. It’s not too late for you. There’s still time to join in. Sign up at http://www.matilijapress.com/course_magarticles.htm

Make the $125 investment in your career and this time next year you could be writing for a variety of magazines and earning in the thousands of dollars. Of course, it won’t happen if you don’t put in the time and effort. Success as a freelance article writer won’t come to you just because you sign up and read the lectures. As with anything that’s important, you must show up and participate.

Have you ever won or succeeded without trying? I don’t think so. Those of you who are enjoying any measure of success with your freelance writing or your book sales, have paid your dues. And you continue to pay for as long as you want to sell articles or books. Anyone who is no longer experiencing a measure of success is not making sacrifices, is not participating and has stopped showing up. Am I right about your situation?

If you’ve been slacking, maybe this is a good time to jumpstart your career by making a new commitment to it. If you want to start earning money through article-writing:

• Sign up for my article-writing course.
• Join SPAWN and read the SPAWN Market Update faithfully each month.
• Purchase the 2010 edition of the Writer’s Market (available now).
• Schedule time every day to study the markets and send queries.

If you want to sell more books:
• Set up a few speaking engagements to promote your book.
• Get some book reviews in appropriate publications.
• Reserve a booth at a few book fairs.
• Take my Book Promotion Workshop
http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookpromotion.htm

I’d like to hear about the steps you decided to take on behalf of your writing project or career.
PLFry620@yahoo.com.

Me? I just this minute ordered the 2010 Writer’s Market. I’ll be selling books and speaking tomorrow (Saturday, July 25, 2009) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ventura, CA. I agreed to speak at a meeting of the California Writers Club in Canoga Park August 15. I have had several articles accepted by writing/publishing-related magazines this month. And I am writing a new book for authors. (More about that later.)

Most of us set limits for ourselves related to the things we will and won’t do. You may want to make some money writing and selling articles to magazines, but you can’t imagine setting yourself up for all of that rejection. You might want to have your book published, but you can’t stand the idea of pitching it over and over again to publishers. You may dream of earning a living through your writing, but you don’t have the discipline and you don’t want to change.

Anyone I’ve ever met who didn’t achieve his or her writing dream, failed because of one thing: they refused to step outside their comfort zone.

I’ve certainly had my share of losses and disappointments in life for the same reason. There are things that I HATE to do. And here’s a peek into my warped belief system. “The older I get, the more entitled I am to avoid doing the things I dislike.” And I proudly adhere to this self-proclaimed (self-defeating) policy at times. But this week, I was forced out of my comfy, safe box and I aptly handled something I would typically avoid, if I could.

One of the things I HATE to do is make phone calls—I love email! AND I dislike having to discuss business issues that I don’t really understand well—like insurance, investments and so forth. As the new Executive Director of SPAWN, I’ve been attempting to arrange for a credit card for the organization to use for web hosting fees and other online expenses. I believe it is time that we keep the organization business separate from our personal business in all manner. And what better time to make those arrangements than during our transition and before the new website is ready to go up.

As it turns out—long story short—I was required to track down some information and, in order to do so, I needed to talk to someone at the IRS and at the Secretary of State’s office. I really didn’t want to do it. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t understand their responses to my questions—I wasn’t even sure what questions to ask. But guess what? I spoke with some very helpful people on the phone and they made the instructions quite clear. It wasn’t a scary experience at all. It turned out to be easy and successful. Yay!!!

I feel good to have hopped a hurdle. I find myself more comfortable a step or two outside of my original comfort zone. Now that I’ve broken the ice, I think I can even talk to the bankers with more confidence.

What have you been yearning for, but you’ve lacked the courage to go for it? Are you afraid to send a query letter to Entrepreneur Magazine or Cat Fancy? Are you intimidated even by the task of writing the query letter? Maybe you haven’t been working on your book because you suddenly feel it’s not good enough. Or you have no confidence when it comes to approaching publishers with your manuscript. Why don’t you follow my lead and do a little stretching this week.

If you need help, consider signing up for one of my on-demand, online courses where you will receive one-on-one attention for 6 or 8 weeks and ultimately learn how to establish a career as a freelance article writer, how to write a successful book proposal, how to promote your book or how to establish your own publishing company.
http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm

Yes, I know that the economy is poor. But there is quite a bit of value in my online courses that could compute into one or all of the following:

• Greater earnings for you.
• A better chance at finding a good publisher.
• More book sales.
• A lucrative business experience.

What I’m offering through my online courses amounts to anywhere from a $500 to $1,200 value when you consider the time and expertise you’ll receive during the 6 or 8 week course of your choice. This concept makes the $125 (for the article-writing course) and $200 (for the book promotion and book proposal workshops) seem like a real bargain. And it is—I did some research this morning and found similar courses for $395 and up.

I still have a few spaces left in the article-writing course that’s starting tomorrow.
Questions? PLFry620@yahoo.com