It’s distressingly simple to spoil even the best digital catalog, even after putting all your effort into it, with a bad choice of digital catalog package. Once you’re determined to make an online magazine the most important decision is to select your software vendor. Setting the format for the content is simply a little part of what they do. Out of the potential features, being easy to use is the main one. If you can’t make the software work it doesn’t make a difference how good it is claimed to be… Ahead of you selecting a supplier for your electronic magazine, be sure to try different packages out. Because spamming and hacking are issues online, protection should be your second priority before you decide to produce a digital edition. Is there something in situ to secure the account? Will the content be protected? Is it possible for people to just copy-paste the catalog content or does the digital publishing software vendor have protection preventing such things? Is your content secure?

Once you’ve made a flash catalog that’s the point to make up a commercialization timetable. Whatever marketing plan you go for, you’ll should think about such matters — maybe not for every issue but for the business in its entirety. How will the business use modern media? What have you thought of as regards treating advertising? Marketing this e-brochure will likely require search engine optimized content. When creating an online catalog, you’ll need to deal with back issues. Is your interactive catalog going to be widely available? Direct hosting with the supplier is a sensible option with a widely available publication. Teasers are great as advertising for this ezine. Some workarounds need to be considered in advance prior to any emergency. In other words, tech support. Check out their online FAQ page. Also check any how-to guide they may have. Check for response times. Try calling their emergency phone number to test it out. This is definitely a case of last-not-least consideration.

When you’ve decided to make an online publication such as an electronic catalog, choosing the right vendor may determine your success. Choose thoughtfully, and you’ll be every bit rewarded.

A low standard online newsletter software can break any creative online publication. The most important decision to take when you’re producing an ebrochure is selecting your software provider. It’s not a case of just formatting your creation prettily - indeed this decision is essential because it may mean success or failure for your overall venture.

Out of the characteristics you should liik into in some depth, simple usability is the most important. Because of course, regardless of how marvelous the package may have been said to be, it’s still rubbish if you or your staff can’t use it… Before deciding on a supplier for the electronic magazine, make sure to try different packages out.

Further major considerations you need to make are safeguarding security. You should be concerned about spammers. What measures are in place securing your account? What protective measures have been taken by the digital publishing software package provider which keeps people from simply copying and pasting your subject?

You’ll need to allow for the selling plan as well to properly market your flash magazine. Disregarding which model you choose you should think about how you will deal with adverts. Having content useful to search engines is also essential when considering how to commercialize this ezine.

How about combining paid for and free content? Think whether you can offer a variety of subscription possibilities. Will you be commercializing the content ? Will you be using teasers to sell this ebrochure? What’s the accessibility of your newsletter? Will it be private then you should be able to investigate many hosting options or will it be public? In which case you should host directly. What’ll you be doing with back-isues? Tech support provided by the software host should be your final consideration. How do you contact them? Be assured by their response time! What is the trouble-shooting page like? Possibly this seems minor, however should there be an emergency, you’ll be happy you considered this beforehand.

Your magazine’s success, after its been published, is decided by the choice of e-publishing package vendor. Consider this decision if you want success.

To make digital publications needs a lot of creativity, so you wouldn’t want to destroy that by picking an inferior digital newsletter software package. When you’ve chosen to produce an online magazine the essential next call is to pick out your software vendor. And note that they don’t only aid you in formatting the content.

Amongst the potential features, simplicity of use is the most important. If you can’t use the software it doesn’t make a difference how good it is claimed to be… Take the time to try out different packages before you select a provider for your ezine. In creating an online publication you should also be aware of the problems posed by spammers and hackers. What measures are taken protecting your creation? Can the content be protected? Does the software vendor have something which stops individuals copy-pasting the content?

Have you a scheme for selling your flash magazine? Whatever your business plan may look like, you will need to consider these matters, possibly not for each individual publication but instead for the company as a whole. What use will you make of networking media? How are you treating advertisements? Advertising your interactive journal will likely require search engine friendly content. Will you mix free content and paid? What about the possibility of offering several possibilities for subscription? Will the content be commercialized at all or is this only a not-for-profit venture? Will you be using teasers and summaries to market this magazine? How accessible is the magazine? If it’ll be private you can look into many hosting possibilities or will it be public? You should host directly. What will you be doing about back-isues? Before it actually becomes necessary, ypu’ll need to consider some more things. Specifically, technical support. Is it only an FAQ page? Also check any sort of how-to guide they may have. If their response time isn’t published raise questions. How well staffed is their tech-support line or email address? This is definitely a case of last but not least consideration. You certainly don’t want to find out only after the event that they’re attempting to cut corners to your detriment in this regard.

Consider your choices carefully when picking out your publication’s e-publishing package supplier. Google the terms “create online publication” to find further useful pointers.

The sources of inspiration are all around us, in the headlines of the daily newspaper, in conversations, and listening to what questions people are asking. But how do you find those little inspirations that cause the flood gates of creativity to open wide?

I asked this same question to my favorite writer’s forum.
So, how does a writer decide what they are going to write about? I needed to know what inspired them to write, and how they chose the topic.

Were my sources of inspiration any different from another’s inspiration?

I discovered that the key is to be true to your heart and write about what interests you, discover your passion and you will you be able to write and succeed. Whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction those sources can vary, so let’s break it down and examine some common methods for finding inspiration.

Ideas for that fiction you want to write.

For some writers the inspiration for that story can come from stimulating the creative thought processes, stirring the creative juices in a number of different ways. Here are a couple of methods, I like to use the latter one; events and dreams from my life, but I have tried the first method as well.

Examine a picture or photo

This used to be an old exercise that we used in school. Look at a picture and form a story about the scene that you see. For example, let’s say the picture is of a log cabin in the woods surrounded by a thick forest. Immediately you begin to ask yourself questions, like, “who’s house is it?”, “why is it in the woods?”
Just a couple of questions and you are off and running, or typing rather.

Use events from your life, or dreams, in a story.

I use dreams, my own, as well as other people’s, and life moments and events, twists of fate that you could never imagine, are the best because they are original. You can go along and make plans in your life but it never turns out exactly the way you plan it; there are events that take place that change the course of your path ever so slightly, or quite dramatically. If you can’t think of any of your own twists, try reading a story in the newspaper or magazine, these are two great resources for tragedies and twists that you can use for your story.

In one of my own stories I used a case of synchronicity that actually happened, to add to the events in the story. There was the time when I needed a new desk for my office badly, and in addition I was thinking about moving out of my apartment when the lease expired; well, a month later when I was able to begin looking for a new home I came across the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood, and in the spare room there was an old wooden desk that was offered to me if I agreed to rent the house.

Seeking the Non-Fiction article Idea:

Read a headline; just read, read, and read.

Just the other day the newspaper was saying that there is going to be a jump in prices for coffee in the New Year. This news springs to mind many questions; How to fit the extra cost of coffee into my budget; Time to go cold-turkey?

Maybe they will come out with a “coffee-patch” to gently wean us from the stuff. Maybe I should switch to Coca Cola? See where I am going here? All these questions get the mind stirring, cranking out ideas. Let’s use the coffee idea again, how could this affect the coffee industry if consumers started cutting back on their favorite java? You decide that this is a great idea and are going to run with it. You contact some of the big coffee chains like Star Buck’s, Tim Horton’s, and Second Cup, and talk to the managers and buyers to see how the price increase is going to affect their business, how is it going to affect the consumer, etc. You Google and find out that there is actually a New York Coffee Exchange, and that there are two markets for coffee - the cash market, and the futures market, that statistics from 1999 in the United States show that coffee drinkers spend on average $164.71 per year on coffee, and that in 2000, 54% of the adult population of the United States drinks coffee daily, and in addition, another 24% of the population drinks coffee occasionally. You can probably write a very interesting article about something as “not so simple” as coffee. What average person knows this much about the cup of coffee that they have come to depend on every day? I certainly didn’t.

Listen to what other people are asking; perhaps the answer they are looking for can be the topic of your next article.

Here is where those on-line forums can help you out; if someone can’t find the answer to a question, perhaps finding the answer is the article that you are looking for? Or, turn it around; maybe you have a question that you can’t seem to find the answer to - research it and write an article so that it assists others who may be asking the same question.

What are your interests? Cats, dogs, fish? Maybe you are passionate for muffins but you are sensitive to wheat, or you know someone who is sensitive to wheat. What are the alternatives to wheat? Who supplies these products?

Maybe your cat has a problem with hairballs and you have tried all the remedies on the store shelf, but she is still coughing up hairballs all over your new carpet, and then you try a home remedy that works - ta da! A new article! Maybe two new articles if you can find a great new carpet cleaner that removes those pet stains in your new carpet!

My mom keeps asking me how long tropical fish live. She has a Gourami that has lived for at least 2 years now and she is curious about the life span of her favorite fish but can’t seem to find the answer in any book she has purchased. Is someone asking you for an answer that they can’t find anywhere?

Ideas for articles and stories are everywhere! Life is full of problems and adventures, suspense and romance, it is all around us. Probably the most important advice that I give you is to just be AWARE; be alert to what is going on around you and in you, and write from the heart.

Cindy DeJager is a free-lance writer, she lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. For more articles email her at dejagerc@telus.net

Been reading up on SEO? If so, you know that there are one of two major strategies for bumping up your website on the search engines. One is onpage optimization, which involves plumping up your website’s headlines, subheads, alt image tags and content with popular keywords. The other is offpage optimization, which, although not talked about nearly as much, will drastically improve your rank if done the right way.

Offpage SEO works like this:

To improve your SEO rank and increase traffic to your site, you need to get more popular websites to link to you. This is called inbound linking.

Websites are ranked 1 to 10 for Page Rank; one being the least popular and 10 being the most popular. If you’re just starting out, you’re probably a 1 or a 2, but you want to be at least a 6 and who knows… maybe one day a “perfect 10!”

Just like real-life office hobnobbers, your little website is going to have to do some shmoozing with those big league websites to get noticed. How can you give your site some help? Just as you feared: you must first research whose site is ranking higher than you are for your selected keywords. Then you must email them and ask if they’ll place your website link on their site.

Now when you ask people with highly visible websites if they can add your URL to their list, what do you think they typically say? “Sure, for a small fee…” (But more likely a not-so-small fee). So now we’re talking about money, and nobody wants to lay out cash, especially if they’re just starting out.

For this reason, you may be interested to learn: there’s a new wave in offpage optimization that does not involve researching other people’s websites OR emailing people OR negotiating link placement fees.

It’s Article Marketing.

Simply stated, Article Marketing is distributing keyword-rich articles that include your name, professional author bio and URL link to other websites that display the articles as content. Then, publishers come by and pick up that content to place on THEIR websites.

Now, let that sink in for a moment and then remember the goal of offpage optimization: to get better ranking sites to link back to your URL. Article marketing covers this easily. How so?

As an article marketer, you can distribute hundreds of keyword-loaded articles to top ranking article content sites like EzineArticles.com. EACH TIME you post an article on a site like this, your article gets indexed in their content BY KEYWORD and your URL is listed along with it. That’s with EVERY article you write.

It’s also worth noting, that when you choose to showcase your work on a highly reputable, top ranking site like EzineArticles.com, you get the added advantage of their expertly designed and fully search engine optimized website template to help push you higher on the search engines.

A third point: EzineArticles.com is the number one choice for real live internet marketers to post their articles, pick up other authors’ articles to use in their emailed ezines, and generally affilate with for all things article marketing. So if you wanted to start getting your name out there and known by all the right people, posting your expert articles on EzineArticles.com might be a pretty good way to do it.

Still not convinced that article marketing with a top ranking site is an incredible offpage optimization tool for your site? Submit four articles and then do a Google search on your name. Tell me what comes up. Then… when you’re ready to take full advantage of this incredible opportunity: create a full-scale article marketing campaign that includes keywords and highly targeted copy… submit to the highest ranking article distribution sites… and watch your website rocket up the ranks!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is the author of ARTICLE POWER: Create Dynamite Web Articles and Watch Your Sales Explode… a 49-page manual covering every aspect of article marketing on the web. Learn about article marketing, copywriting and more at http://www.wordfeeder.com

Do ya’ll ever notice that the older you get, the more attention you pay to the obituaries section in the newspaper?

I hate to admit it, but it’s true. When I was a young man, I never even bothered looking at the obituaries. The concept of death seemed so far removed that it really didn’t have much impact on me as to who might be dying out there. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t wish death on them or anything, but the truth is I didn’t know them, had no ties to them, and for me death, dying, and obits were concepts eons away from my day-to-day realities. Consequently, I totally ignored reading them.

You can get by with that for awhile, but a funny thing eventually happens to all of us - we get older. And, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that I’ve begun looking at the obits much more closely now because I know more people who have passed away. First it’s one person, then another, and yet another. Pretty soon, you find that you’re reading the obits each day, hoping that you don’t find someone you know or like in there, and most of all being glad that you’re not among those listed.

From that, you begin realizing that these obits are what a lot of people are going to remember you by. Think about it - most of the time when someone dies that we know or care about, we cut out their obits and store them someplace. Typically they go into a family scrapbook. Then, over the years, the obit is occasionally dusted off and looked at by relatives, and a conversation typically ensues about the departed family member. And that’s what really scares me, because one day I’ll die and my own potential obit will be out there for any and all to see.

I imagine some of ya’ll might be thinking, “Geez, Ed, why would that bother you?” Well, I’ll go right ahead and tell you. You see, a few weeks ago I was scanning the obits, and I noticed this gentleman down in south Georgia who had just died. The obit discussed his funeral arrangements, and then pointed out that he’d written a book about the history of his county. In fact, they noted it right out there in italics, like this,

“…and Mr. Berryhill was the author of “The History of Blah-Blah County,” first published in 1986.”

Right then it hit me - one day my own obit is gonna go in the paper. And somewhere in it, right after they tell all the necessary stuff, they’re gonna say,

“…and Mr. Williams was the author of the books, “Sex, Dead Dogs, and Me,” “Rough As A Cob,” and others.”

Frankly, that makes me wince more than a picture of Amy Carter in a bikini. I can visualize a great grandchild of mine pulling out the family scrapbook and noticing a yellowed old newspaper article. Out of curiosity, he/she begins reading it. And, as they read it, they’re gonna find it’s about their great granddad, so they’ll keep reading it as they might want to know a little about me. Finally, they’ll come to the part about my books, read their titles, and say, “Ewwwwwwwwwww! Why did great granddad choose these titles for his books? Was he weird?”

Brrrrrrrrr - now ya’ll can understand why all this bothers me. I really think these book titles are gonna follow me on out into the great beyond, so I’ve got to start thinking up a strategy now. A strategy that’ll make me look as good as possible to my future great grandkids. I think my best hope is the chance that some of my current relatives might be horse thieves, gamblers, or even worse yet, vegetarians. If they are, and they die before I do, I can cut out their obit and make sure that it makes its way into our family scrapbook. Then, I’ll make my son Will swear to me that when I die he’ll make sure that my obit gets put right next to the vegetarian’s. That way, at least a little of the heat will be taken off whenever my future great grandchild sits down and reads my obit. In comparison to the vegetarian I might not come off too bad - at least I can hope for that.

Well, I’d write more, but I’ve got to run, as I have a whole lot of work to do. I need to start doing some research on my relatives, and then determine what kind of health a few of them are in….

About The Author

Ed’s latest book, “Rough As A Cob,” can be ordered by calling River City Publishing toll-free at: 877-408-7078. He’s also a popular after dinner speaker, and his column runs in a number of Southeastern publications. You can contact him via email at: ed3@ed-williams.com, or through his web site address at: www.ed-williams.com.

Many web entrepreneurs are unfamiliar with business writing. In
truth, concise writing will build your business because you will
better connect with customers and prospects. In this five-part
series, the author will teach you how to make your web
communications, and all business correspondence, clearer,
understandable, and more direct.

Business Writing Skills I: What Do You Want to Say? By Linda
Elizabeth Alexander

Whether you hate writing or love it, it always helps to plan
what you want to say. One method that has always helped me is
the rhetorical square — a mnemonic device designed to help you
figure out what to say before you say it. I’ve seen other words
used, but the one I remember best is “P.A.W.S.”

Paws stands for “purpose, audience, writer, subject.” P.A.W.S.
is most helpful when establishing the goals of the piece you are
writing and can be as formal and lengthy or informal and brief
as you like. Ask yourself these questions the next time you sit
down to write.

Purpose. What do you want to accomplish through your writing?
Every composition has its purpose, even it it’s just to finish
an assignment. For example, you may write a letter to convey
information, to sell something, or to say hi to an old friend.
You might write a brochure to inform customers of a new product,
explain your company’s mission to them, or to serve as an
advertisement for your services.

Audience. The most important thing you need to know in order to
communicate clearly through writing is whom you are writing for.
Who will read your writing? Your mother? Your client base? Your
boss? Every audience has a different level of experience and
education. For example, when writing a report to your boss, you
may share company jargon that the average Joe doesn’t understand
- because the average Joe won’t be reading the report.
Similarly, you will communicate differently to your employees
and your customers.

Writer. Third, take into consideration the persona you will
assume when writing the piece. Think about the tone you want to
use and the image you want to present to your audience. From
what perspective are you writing? What impression do you want to
give your readers? For example, if you get a new job, you will
want to announce it to your friends, your clients - and your
current supervisor. You wouldn’t think of using the same tone in
all three letters, would you? You might sound enthusiastic and
informal with your friends and enthusiastic and polite with your
clients. Depending on your relationship with your current
supervisor, you will probably be official and reticent with her
or him.

Subject (or message). How should you say it? The length or
purpose of the piece lends itself to your subject. It’s very
hard to fit a full-length board report on a post card; at the
same time, you wouldn’t want to write a memo about your travels
in the jungle during your summer vacation. Note that this the
same as your purpose: your subject or message is the content
itself; ask yourself what the piece is about and decide what is
the most appropriate format for it to take.

Good writers routinely analyze the four elements of PAWS. Using
it to prepare your writing, whether it’s a personal email,
formal business report, or your best selling novel, will improve
your writing and get your argument across clearly.

About the Author

Linda Elizabeth Alexander is a business writer and marketing
consultant based in Longmont, Colorado, USA. Improve your
writing skills at work! Subscribe to her FREE ezine. Write to
the Point at lalexander@write2thepointcom.com or visit
http://www.write2thepointcom.com/articles.html.

If you are like me and you write articles for a living, then you know that you must get paid for all of your hard work. Payment can come through customers who have hired you to write, through pay per click advertising, or through banner or text ads you place on your site next to your articles. Regardless of your approach, a consistent and methodical plan is necessary to have in place in order to make a living for all of your hard work. Please continue reading for some helpful tips to help you survive in this highly competitive business.

Submit Freely. Much of the work posted online bearing my name is freely shared. I do not get paid for what I write. I look at article marketing as a joint partnership between me and the article directory. They get my articles for redistribution and I get healthy back links to my site. In addition, the article directory can make money off of ads that show up next to my articles such as Google AdSense or Yahoo! Publishing Network type ads. Furthermore, I get my name out there and can point potential customers to the article directories to show them how prolific a writer that I am.

Submit Jointly. Some of the articles I have posted online are for clients. They have my name on them as my name is more visible than their name. I write as a “contributing writer” but I am a freelancer, not an employer. I get paid for my work and they get some decent links.

Do Ghostwriting. The overwhelming number of articles I write are ghostwritten. In 2005, I submitted 450 articles to article directories, but another 1200 or so went directly to my clients. When I submit articles jointly, I retain the rights to having my name on the articles. When I ghost write, my customers get what I write and retain full rights to the articles. Guess who pays me more? Bring ‘em on!

Bill Immediately. You can write like crazy for paying customers but still end up broke. How? By not billing customers immediately. Whether you use direct billing, Paypal, or an “agent” such as Guru, you are penniless until the first invoice is paid. Come up with a plan to get your money as soon as possible too. You don’t want to have to wait for weeks unless you like being in the credit business!

Keep Marketing. I have busy times I have slow times. During the slow times, I catch up on my paperwork and I write. During slow times I submit many articles to the article directories to keep my name out there. Regular submissions keep me “front and center” and help build up SEO for my site. Yes, I have my own site at www.thearticlewriter.com where most of my best work is featured. Not every article, but those articles where I have full rights to them and ones I want my customers to look at when they review my portfolio.

So, that’s it. Five simple tips to help you make a living from article marketing. If you are good at it, you will make a decent living writing for others. I doubt you will get rich unless article marketing ends up being a stepping stone to something else — such as, writing your own Harry Potter style series of books!

Copyright 2006 - For additional information regarding Matt Keegan, The Article Writer, please visit his blog for wit, quips, and freelance writing tips.

Self-publishing is not for the faint of heart. The publication process is lengthy, involves a considerable number of detailed, administrative tasks and can be expensive. This is the easy part; the real challenge involves “S & M” - sales and marketing.

For an author to become a successful self-publisher, he or she must make a paradigm shift in consciousness from author to entrepreneur, and view their book in the same way that Madison Avenue gurus view the newest shampoo. An author has to be able to do a dispassionate analysis of the market the book was meant to reach. Is its greatest appeal to young people? Senior citizens? Men? Women? Members of a minority group? The definition of a market - or markets - will help to determine and focus the ensuing marketing campaign.

Next, the author must develop a marketing plan. How can I reach my market most effectively? Freelance authors are already aware of the plethora of niche publications on the market. Now, instead of contacting these publications for submission guidelines, the self-publisher needs to contact the advertising department for rate and data information. Information such as 1) per-issue circulation, 2) average response rates for classified and / or display advertisements, 3) advertising rates and specs for display advertising will allow a self-publisher to determine the cost per contact. If a book involves specialized information, the self-publisher can afford to advertise in low-circulation, niche periodicals, as the audience of those periodicals may well be the exact type of individual most likely to benefit from the book.

Books which were written to appeal to a wide, general audience will have to be marketed with a larger media blanket. Diet, self-help and money management books do better with radio or television publicity. These media have higher costs, but over the long run, the per-contact cost is smaller, due to the greater number of people reached.

The question of cost brings us to the next challenge: a marketing and advertising budget. How much are you willing to spend, and for how many years? Launching any new business venture generally requires five years to begin turning a profit, and the first two years concentrate on developing an identity and “brand awareness.” In other words, it may take an author two years for anyone to become aware of his / her existence, let alone want to purchase their book! Too many self-publishers give up on marketing after the first year, and wind up selling their book at garage sales.

Finally, marketing efforts need to begin before the book is published. If an author builds interest and excitement while their book is still in the “proofing” stage, the outcome could easily be immediate demand upon release of the book. One of my clients did this, and sold 100 copies of his book before he received his first shipment.

Along with publications written to help authors improve their writing skills, the self-publisher should reference books or audiotapes relevant to promoting and marketing small or home-based businesses, such as Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerilla Marketing. Promoting your work doesn’t have to be torture or outrageously expensive. Well-planned, consistently executed promotion will get your book on bookshelves, as long as you are willing to invest patience and persistence in your marketing efforts.

Jean Fritz is the owner and chief editor for JMT Publications (http://jmtpubs.tripod.com), a company which specializes in helping self-publishing authors get into print.

This article is not copyrighted

jeantype@excite.com

One obvious question that can get overlooked in the process of seeking publication is, Why do you want to publish this book, article, story or poem? Most likely, the answer involves some combination of artistic or spiritual vision, desire for recognition, need to communicate an idea or body of knowledge, feeling a compelling urge to shift consciousness around a particular topic, seeing a knowledge gap in the general society and feeling called to fill it, and of course receiving a little or a lot of financial compensation for one’s efforts.

As writers, as creative people, it can be difficult to join the artistic and spiritual sides of what drives us with the practical and business concerns. However, the union needn’t be a shotgun marriage, and it needn’t be done alone. Let’s look at some examples.

Cassie, 23, is a recent college graduate with an English major. She is working as an editorial assistant in an academic publishing house. For the last several years, she has been keeping a journal of poetry and prose. In the last six months, she has been reading at open-mike nights throughout the Bay area, and has begun to receive excellent feedback and recognition for her work. Thinking she might be ready to publish a book, Cassie showed her work to one of her colleagues at Scholarly Books, Inc., who told her her work was not commercially viable. What should be Cassie’s next step?

First of all, Cassie should get other opinions about the viability of her work, and from people with more relevant backgrounds. An editor at an academic press does not necessarily know the market for poetry and literary fiction, and even if she does, any author would do well to learn a bit more. Right now, Cassie is making enough money to live on, and has time left over to pursue her writing.

Though most writers of poetry and literary fiction do not earn the bulk of their livings through publishing their work, Cassie’s main goal is self-expression and elevating her level of participation in her literary community of choice. This would give her increased recognition and acknowledgment, which a few years down the road, could in turn translate into a cash advance for her next book. Even without a published book, Cassie could possibly attract enough students to offer a successful creative writing workshop through a local venue.

Cassie might also want to consider some of the many alternatives to mainstream publishing such as zines, e-books, subsidy publishing or self-publishing. A knowledgeable and qualified publishing consultant will be able to help her make the best choice at the optimal point in her writing career.

Here’s another, very different, path:

Bryan, 47, is a nurse-practitioner who spent time before and after nursing school working in nursing homes. Now he works in a clinic for the elderly with doctors and social workers. He is known in the office as the “New Age Guru,” and often refers his clients to homeopaths, osteopaths, and other practitioners of alternative medicine. He was even instrumental in starting an ongoing yoga class for the elderly at the local “Y.”

Bryan has kept up with gerontological and alternative medicine health issues by reading both trade journals and consumer magazines, for years. He is familiar with some of the psychological challenges some elderly people face when considering alternative care. For example, having relied on western medicine exclusively for so many years, many elderly patients are understandable skeptical about undertaking something unfamiliar, and in their eyes, marginal. Bryan wants to write a book that would serve as a guide to holistic health care for the elderly and their families, but isn’t sure how to begin.

Having never published before, Bryan might well choose to write an article to begin with (as opposed to launching into a full-on book), for several reasons. One, it will be a good exercise in writing itself. Two, he will see whether he feels satisfied with the amount of writing in an article, or feels he has a great deal more to say. Three, he will introduce himself to potential readers as an expert on his topic, perhaps even creating a website to include as part of his byline.

Let’s say Bryan decides to go ahead with his article, entitled “Holistic Health Care for the Elderly.” Now Bryan needs to decide what audience he wishes to reach: Health care providers? Elderly patients? Families of elderly patients? Aging Baby-Boomers? His publishing consultant sends him on a mission to the library and through the Internet to find a small handful of publications in which he would love to see his work appear. To his surprise, Bryan finds that the topic has been fairly well-covered already, however, no one has adequately addressed the issue of coordinating multiple health care providers for the elderly patient, something Bryan has much to say about. Bryan decides on two gerontology trade journals and three consumer magazines geared toward baby-boomers, who are likely caring for an aging parent. He crafts one query letter for the trade journals, and another for the consumer magazines, which his writing consultant helps him polish. Should both a trade journal and consumer magazine accept his query, he’ll be able to recycle some of the same material for different audiences, provided both editors approve. Once published, Bryan will be much better situated to decide whether and how to go about writing his book, if he still feels called to do so.

While their situations differ, both Cassie and Bryan, like other writers, needed to consider the question of audience: Who will be interested in reading this work? They also need to consider their vehicle: What is the best way to reach this audience? Are there multiple routes to various audiences? Should an author put all his energies into one route, or explore several avenues simultaneously? What are the advantages and disadvantages to each of these choices? Finally, both Cassie and Bryan had to do some work to establish credibility in their field: Readers want words that come from experience, knowledge and recognized talent. Both Cassie and Bryan are well on their way to moving their writing careers to the next step. Their weekly meetings with their writing consultant help them clarify their options each step of the way, make the choices that are best for them, and groom the query letters and proposals that help launch them into print.

The above are fictional composite characters extrapolated from typical client situations.

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Author Jill Nagle is founder and principal of GetPublished,
http://www.GetPublished.com, which provides coaching, consulting, ghostwriting, classes and do-it-yourself products to emerging and published authors. Her most recent book is How to Find An Agent Who Can Sell Your Book for Top Dollar http://www.FindTheRightAgent.com.