Last month, I completed a project I’ve been working on for quite a while, a book of advice for college students called Don’t Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College. The book grew out of some of the frustrations I’ve had as a university instructor over the last five years, and […]
Though blogs and RSS feeds are the hot thing right now, there are still lots of people who prefer good old-fashioned email newsletter. Newsletters have a number of qualities that make them preferable to blogging for some purposes, such as:
They’re “push” technology: Instead of waiting for a reader to visit your blog, or check their […]
Selling stuff is supposed to be easy on the Internet. Just put it “up there” and watch the orders roll in, right? If you stick with Amazon or eBay as your marketplace, it’s not all that hard — but they take a pretty sizable cut! Or you can set up your own shopping cart system and maintain […]
Every author should belong to Amazon’s affiliate program, Amazon Associates. With Amazon Associates, you can create a link which includes your unique tracking ID to a book (or any product) and get a percentage of the purchase from anyone who clicks through to Amazon from your link. You can create links to any product on […]
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could stand in the bookstore next to your books and recommend them directly to anyone who stopped to take a look? You could answer questions, talk about how you came to write it, mention the sequel you’re working on, and just generally connect with your readers. Wouldn’t it be […]
One of the reasons I recommend Wordpress as the backbone of your writing website is that it is very easy to extend what WP can do using plugins. Installing a Wordpress plugin is easy — for the most part, you just upload the folder to the wp-content/plugins folder on your server, go to the “Plugins” tab in […]
For most sites, especially when they’re getting started, Google and other search engines are the #1 source of traffic, especially for new visitors who might become regulars. It helps to know a little bit about how search engines work and how to make your site “search engine-friendly” so you an make sure your site is […]
One thing that can really “punch up” the sound of your podcast is a soundtrack. However, don’t start flipping through your CDs just yet! Commercial music can be very, VERY expensive to license for podcast use — if the labels will deal with you at all. Using music from your own collection without a license can get […]
If you’ve gotten this far, you’re probably ready to get started podcasting. But what should you talk about?
A lot of fiction authors read their own work, either a short story or poem per episode, or a chapter of a longer work. There’s even a website, PodioBooks, devoted solely to author readings of their novels in […]
Once you’ve recorded a show, you need to upload it somewhere on the Internet. You could upload it to your own site, but if your show is at all popular you’ll soon find yourself paying additional bandwidth charges — most personal and small business hosting packages charge after a gigabyte or two of traffic, and audio and […]
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