Every creature seems to be in competition\u2014even the hummingbirds in my yard.<\/p>\n
Truly, I\u2019ve never seen such a phenomenon. Usually, we have a few hummingbirds around the feeder outside my office window. There\u2019s Bully Bird and a couple of other hummers who spend every waking hour trying to outsmart the bully. In all of the dozen or so years that I\u2019ve had hummingbird feeders, I\u2019ve rarely seen two birds sit on it at once. If a second bird comes near when Bully is eating, he chases the intruder off.<\/p>\n
This year is different. We have an infestation of hummingbirds\u2014and I mean this in the most positive way. Our feeder has maybe a 15-bird capacity, if they were all to sit shoulder to shoulder. Instead of feeding holes, our feeder has a trough. And, during the last several weeks, we have seen as many as 9 hummers sitting and eating calmly at one time. I\u2019m filling the four-cup feeder every three\u2014sometimes, two days. Bully Bird is still around, but he is not effective when the masses arrive and he is learning to relax, share and get what he can out of the situation.<\/p>\n
My cats are in competition. Eleven-year-old Max enjoys curling up in my lap each morning for fifteen or twenty minutes. Lily, 4 \u00bd months old, is the new kid on the block and she loves a spot on my lap after breakfast, too. So each morning the two of them use all sorts of cunning maneuvers to get their special time in my lap. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot of competing going on in the job market\u2014with more and more people being laid off. <\/p>\n
And the competition for writers and authors is greater now than ever before. There are more healthy retirees writing the books of their lifelong dreams. There are more businessmen and women writing calling card books. And there are more unemployed folks trying to earn some extra cash writing for magazines, corporations, etc. So what does this mean for you?<\/p>\n
If you are an author pitching a book to publishers or considering self-publishing, it means taking extra responsibility to create the best product that you can. It means making sure that you have a book that is well-written and needed\u2014a viable product.<\/p>\n
If you are an author who is promoting a book, you will need to be more proactive and creative than ever before. Do more of what you\u2019ve been doing if it\u2019s working. Try some new promotional tactics. Expand your horizons by participating in a webinar or teleseminar on book promotion, for example. Study good books on the topic. Sign up for my Book Promotion Workshop. http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/course_bookpromotion.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n If you are a freelance magazine article writer, continue submitting your work to familiar publications, but also reach out to new paying magazines, newsletters and websites. Revisit those publications that rejected you in the past. Some of them may have new editors who will love your style.<\/p>\n If you work for corporations, organizations and agencies, approach them with new ideas for promo material, brochures, etc. Ask your contacts to recommend you to other companies. Spend time researching other businesses that might need the services of a freelance writer.<\/p>\n Join SPAWN and meet authors who need help with their manuscripts or promotional brochures for their books.<\/p>\n