10 Recommended Books to Help You Become a Better Writer

The best way to become a better writer is to write consistently, but another effective way is to read. Thus, below are 10 recommended books you can read if you want to become a better writer.

1. Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin

2. The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

3. The Creative Tarot by Jessica Crispin

4. Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant

5. On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser

6. Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

7. Several Short Sentences about Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg

8. About Writing: Seven Essays, Four Letters, & Five Interviews by Samuel R. Delany

9. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner

10. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

After reading all of these books, you can always visit a public library and get more similar books to read.

Labeling the Chapters in a Work of Fiction

 

Labeling the chapters in a work of fiction deserves a lot of thought and creativity. However, it shouldn’t be something to fret about. If you have struggled in the past with finding the right title for each chapter in your novel, these easy-to-use tips will make the task of labeling your book chapters much easier.

Use thematic chapter titles for fiction

Just like there is a primary theme for your whole manuscript, there is also a subtheme for each chapter. The subthemes can be twisted into short words or replaced with words nearest in the description for the chapter. However, you should be careful not to spill out everything about the chapter in the label. To avoid spillage, use few words. It could be a word or two to three words.

For example, if a chapter in your book deals with a certain expedition, or even a search for something, whether abstract or not, using a label such as “The Quest” will do just fine.

Another example is if a chapter talks about how a character finds it difficult to forgive another character, then employing the name of the character receiving the action is OK. e.g. “Forgiving Brian”

Other examples include, “The carnival” “Birthright” and so on.

 Use chapter settings

Another way to get creative with your book chapter label is by using the settings. Don’t forget settings in literature deals with time and place. So labeling your chapters with titles such as: “After Dawn”,  “When the moon embraces the sun”, “Oji River” and so on will give more life to the chapter.

While the first example simply talks about sunrise, the second talks about the evening. The last example, however, is the name of a place.

Also Read: Five Types of Fiction That Get the Attention of Publishers

Use suspense-filled words

Your label is not just meant to sit above your chapter content; it can play an effect on your reader. Using labels that arouse the interest of your readers can make them read a whole chapter at once no matter how long it is, in search of answers.

Check Out these Four Common Writing Mistakes Authors Make

For example

Labels such as “Heaven can wait” will spur a reader’s interest to find out how and why, especially for readers who are so avid about religion.

Also, a chapter with a label like “A dance with the devil” can create some thrilling effect for readers.

Finally, you can combine numbers with words when labeling the chapters in a work of fiction. Whichever way you choose, be sure to do it the right way.

Chima Rachael J.

7 Email Marketing Tips For Marketers

 

Marketers should always use email marketing to stay connected with their target audience. Regardless of the different strategies open to marketers today, you’ll find email marketing to be integral to your marketing campaign. This is still the leading channel for getting the best ROI.

But email marketing is not a silver bullet. If your email marketing efforts aren’t effective this is because you aren’t doing the right things. You can’t just do anything and expect it to work. You have to think about your strategy and use customer behaviors to turn it around.

This is how to do it.

Stop Treating Your Customers Like Nameless Faces

What a lot of marketers fail to grasp is that customers don’t want to be seen as a nameless face. They want to be acknowledged as unique human beings. This is relatively easy to do because all you have to do is indulge in some personalization.

Rather than sending out the same emails to everyone, use the feedback you’re getting to segment your email list. That way you can make sure customers feel like you’re reading their minds.

Change The Sales Funnel Based On The Customer’s Journey

The customer journey is becoming more important within the field of marketing. Mapping out the customer journey is about charting the various touch points you’ll come up against. The way customers behave will tell you what content they are looking for.

Combine this with demographical information to customize the sales funnel based on the type of customer you have.

Optimize And Retest

You should always be optimizing and retesting your various email campaigns. A/B testing campaigns are easily run from your mailing list provider. You can harvest detailed stats and begin to refine your future campaigns.

Effective testing will help you to make sure your strategies remain as potent as they were before. It will stop you from allowing the email marketing world to leave you behind.

Give Your Customers Space

It’s true that your customers do want to hear from you. The fact you have a regular email marketing campaign is one of the magic elements boosting your ROI. But there’s such a thing as overkill. Once you come off a great campaign it’s tempting to run the same campaign again in an attempt to get the same results. The chances are you’re going to get diminishing returns.

Customers don’t want to be bombarded by promotional emails every day. Give them a break and don’t make them feel like you’re harassing them.

Define a schedule, based on the feedback you’re getting from customers, and stick to that schedule. If you promise your customers they’ll only receive a weekly email don’t send them more than one email per week. Your welcome email can also come with a form to help customers decide how often they want to be contacted.

Don’t Rely On Automation

Email automation is an essential ingredient of every great email campaign. But this doesn’t mean you should rely on it. You should be using it to eliminate the tedious processes that come with crafting an email marketing campaign. It shouldn’t be replacing you in general.

Solve The ‘Opt Out’ Problem With A Break

Did you know that 54% of the average person’s inbox is taken up by promotional emails?

It’s no surprise to see people opting out of mailing lists faster than ever before. They’re becoming more discerning because they’re tired of so many low-quality mailing lists. Marketers that have this same problem can alleviate it through implementing a break.

Opting down is a better option than giving people the chance to stay or go. For example, you can add a form that allows people to reduce how often they receive your emails. You can still retain your customers without bothering them. It’s the best compromise.

Get Ready For Mobile

What companies are learning, often the hard way, is some people access the Internet exclusively through mobile devices. All your emails should be optimized for mobile. No matter the device someone reads your email on it should automatically adjust itself to fit their screen.

Luckily, optimizing for mobile is easier than ever before. The majority of emailing list providers automatically provide you with optimized mailing campaigns.

Conclusion

Your customers do want to stay in contact with you. Marketers have to be able to do it in a way that provides them with something of value, though. Through following adopting these big corporate practices you can increase your subscribe rates and keep people subscribed for the long haul.

How will you improve your mailing campaign today?

Culled from Forbes

3 Signs You Should Rethink Your Branding Strategy

 

When business growth stagnates, talk inevitably turns to increasing advertising, website redesign, lowering fees, etc. to earn back former clients and entice new prospects. All of those tactics can be effective, but only if they send the right message to your audience. So, if your firm’s growth has slowed, referrals aren’t as strong as they once were, or you’re having trouble recruiting top talent, it may be time to consider a brand refresh.

Having to refine your branding strategy does not mean your brand has failed. On the contrary, the evolution of your brand can be the natural outcome of your growth and changes in the market. But research shows that brands that do not refresh every 5 to 10 years will be out of synch with the marketplace and struggle to remain relevant.

Your Brand—More than Just a Logo

Your brand is more than just your name and logo. At its core, it’s the essential message you send to the marketplace to communicate your story and promise. When done well, your brand will help you to accomplish important marketing objectives, including the following:

• Share your values and vision with the marketplace, which will help you attract both new clients and top talent.
• Increase brand awareness—your firm’s visibility—in your market.
• Encourage referrals by giving influencers a clear and consistent message they can share with others.
• Furnish employees with a compelling and consistent vision that will influence their work
• Encourage employees and clients to be advocates of your firm on social media and in networks.
• Attract top talent
• Command higher fees—The percentage varies by industry, but a recent study showed that top brands can earn up to 32% higher fees than lesser known competitors.

If your growth has slowed, you are entering into a new market or offering a new service, or the visuals associated with your brand looks dated or “tired” it is time to refresh your brand.

Growth rate has slowed

Flat growth or an inability to get to the next level are important indicators that your brand may no longer be relevant. Lack of a clear and compelling brand message makes it harder for prospects to quickly understand what you do and how you can help them.

Prospective clients and top talent commit themselves to strong brands with a compelling vision of the future.  If your message and brand are unclear, influencers can’t articulate your advantage to prospects.  And if your brand seems outdated or unclear to those outside your firm, it will also be perceived that way by your own staff and potential job candidates

Entering a New Market or Offering a New Service

Humans are interesting creatures. We are capable of great depth and complexity, but our internal filing systems are stubbornly simple. Perceptions are not easily changed. Once a business becomes known for a particular service, it’s very hard to change people’s perceptions of that business.

A significant change in your firm will also likely require a change in your brand and your messaging. Unveiling a new logo or tagline are very effective ways to introduce your changes to the marketplace and begin to change how prospects and clients perceive you.

Your visual brand looks tired

We know from our research that 80% of people who are referred to a firm check out that firm’s website before reaching out. If you are hesitant to send prospects to your website or feel sheepish when you present the outdated graphics in your firm’s PowerPoint deck, it’s time for a refresh.

The speed of today’s market drives graphic design trends and tastes. Websites and collateral need to be refreshed every few years to look relevant to the marketplace. A website that looks outdated—or does not address the problems the prospect is trying to solve—can quickly deter a prospect from further interest. And a competitor with a fresher, more on-point message is just a click or two away. Even small tweaks like updated images, font, and new colors can make a big difference.

Whether your goal is to bolster your firm’s growth, increase awareness in the industry, or simply to remain relevant in today’s dynamic marketplace, a brand refresh is something to consider before investing precious time and money in tactics (advertising, brochures, etc.) that will be sending an outdated or ineffective message.

Hinge Marketing

5 Ways to Combat Author Anxiety

 

It turns out Author Anxiety is a Thing. It’s not just me.

I discovered this on the eve of publication of my debut novel, DECEPTION ISLAND, when I was silly enough to Google my shiny new title. Up popped a Netgalley reviewer live-tweeting as she read it. Only she was hating it—pulling it apart chapter by chapter.

I’d had loads of great reviews—in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, RT Book Reviews, on dozens of blogs—but this one hobby reviewer withered my fragile confidence. It was the intimacy of it. I could see what she looked like, I could see what page she was reading, I could certainly see exactly what she thought of the story. And I couldn’t stop refreshing. Because I’m an idiot.

I’ve been a journalist for two decades and I’ve published a bunch of nonfiction books, so public criticism is nothing new. Why, then, did this rattle me?

I did what any 21st century dweller does when faced with a 21st century dilemma. I Googled. And I discovered I wasn’t alone. Not only is Author Anxiety a Thing, but it’s such a Thing that, yes, it deserves initial caps. I set out to find a remedy before this vile feeling paralyzed me from writing another fictional word. In the interests of author solidarity, I’m sharing five of my best cures.

1. Find perspective

Many years ago, to finance my journalism degree, I worked as a TV publicist. A fun job but intensely shallow. (Ask me anything about “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place.”) Even so, like all jobs, sometimes it got stressful. The most important lesson I learned from that two years was from a boss who was fond of saying, “It’s entertainment. It’s not f***ing brain surgery.” Same goes for my novel. It’s a romantic thriller. It’s not important. My bad day at work is when a reader isn’t entertained or moved and I lose that reader. I’m not a doctor who has lost a patient or an air-traffic controller who’s lost a plane. The worst-case scenario? This novel tanks, everyone forgets about it, and I write another one.

2. Embrace imperfection

Don’t tell my publisher this, but DECEPTION ISLAND isn’t perfect. There, I’ve said it. What a relief. I could have spent three decades rewriting it and it still wouldn’t be perfect. There’s no such thing as perfection in creative endeavor. At some point—usually when a deadline hits—you must step away from your manuscript and say, “There, it’s done. It’s the best I can do right now.” That book has become your past, not your future. It’s not even your present, anymore. The only thing that remains wholly in your control is your next book.

3. Get productive

If I read a bad review, suddenly I don’t feel like writing. But you know what? A good writing day blows away my doubt and fear. And studies into motivation have found that the muse kicks in after you begin a task, not before. Don’t feel like writing because someone just told the (virtual) world that you suck? Open your WIP and start somewhere, anywhere. Tinker with a paragraph you wrote a year ago, write a random exchange of dialogue, change the font. Just. Start. Your brain will light up, the motivation will come and the angst will evaporate.

4. Log out

Only one thing will make you a successful novelist: writing novels. Let the virtual world live without you—especially if it drags you down. Forget the rules that you must regularly post on social media and engage online. If bad reviews on Goodreads or Amazon discourage you, don’t read them. If you can’t help flicking onto them—because validation is addictive— but you hate yourself for it, get a productivity app and block those sites, and any others that routinely make your heart soar and sink. (If a review falls in a forest…) Ray Bradbury once said: “You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.” And if you just want the boost without the pain? Ask a friend to email you only the great reviews, in a monthly digest. It’s not a cop-out. It’s sensible.

5. Escape

If that sniping little head of yours is not a pleasant place to hang out, get out of it. Do something immersive: play a card game with your kid, see a movie, whack a tennis ball around a court. When you return, you should find your mind is a more agreeable—and productive—environment. Keep it that way by throwing a little love into the world to offset the negativity. Tweet an author about how much you enjoyed her book—because she may be feeling Author Anxiety today, too.

How do you deal with anxiety and fear? Share below.

Culled from Writers Digest

How to Stop Being Overwhelmed and Start Writing

Are you dreaming about writing a book but simply don’t know where to start?

Start with a plan! What message do you really want to pass across and what kind of people do you want to reach? Do you have in-depth knowledge of the subject that you want to address or do you need to carry out more research? These are questions you should ask yourself before you even start writing at all.

These bits of information will help you develop a framework that will help you plan your book. If you have ever wondered why many people never finish their books, one of the reasons is that they did not start with a plan. So they run out of ideas or simply don’t know how to proceed after the first few pages.

Now, as important as it is to have a plan, you also need to create systems and structures that will make your writing easier. First and foremost, you need to see your book not as an end in itself, but as part of a larger plan.No matter how successful your book is, it will not by itself provide the income and security you desire. Your plan should be to leverage off of a successful book, rather than retire on its earnings. Having created your plan, you need to devise an efficient way of executing the writing process.

Here are some tips on how to do that.

Approach your book like a jigsaw puzzle: Don’t try to write the book sequentially from the first to the last chapter. Many authors make this mistake of linear writing. Another mistake is trying to get away from everything and drop all activities so that you focus on writing your book. This is called marathon writing. Both methods are not usually effective for all practical purposes, and they usually come with lots of stress.

Instead of adopting linear writing or marathon writing, approach writing as you would approach a jigsaw puzzle. You will not always get the entire picture at once; it will usually come in bits and pieces; hence, you need to develop an effective strategy for harvesting your thoughts. It is also important that you develop a writing regime that will help you write consistently.

Have a writing calendar and follow it. Like Michael Hyatt would say, consistency is more important than frequency. It is better to write one hour every day than to write three hours today, two hours tomorrow and not write again for the next two weeks.

Develop a framework for each chapter: It is easier to write when all you have to do is fill in the elements in the framework rather than starting on a blank page. Don’t expect your first draft to be perfect; just get it done. After getting it done, you can rework and revise until you’re satisfied with the final output.

And mind you, you don’t really have to write. If writing is not your thing, simply speak your book and record it. Then get someone to transcribe it and hire an editor to finish it.

Editing will usually be your biggest expense and the stage you are most likely to skip. However, you must avoid the mistake of self-editing, poring over each word and worrying over finding the perfect words for each page. That’s the job of an editor.

Getting a good professional editor is worth the effort. Apart from giving you a better manuscript, you will learn new things yourself. See the cost of hiring an editor not only as an investment in writing your book but also as an investment in yourself as a writer.

How to Select the Perfect Keynote Speaker for Your Event

 

One of the most important entertainment elements to an event is selecting a great keynote speaker and other presenters for the agenda. When hiring an outside speaker to fill the role, event planners may either contract directly with a professional speaker or rely on the expertise of a speakers bureau. Whether it’s an internal executive, industry leader, or a professional speaker, a successful program will identify speakers early in the planning process.

 

Advice From an Expert

Diane Goodman, president of The Goodman Speakers Bureau, Inc. in Windsor, CT is a recognized industry leader in providing professional and nationally-recognized speakers and entertainers for corporate and organization events. She is the expert author of Survive The Search: How To Target & Choose The Best Professional Speaker, a 12-page primer for meeting and event planners.

Goodman structured the guide as a checklist of helpful tips and questions that beginning and experienced meeting planners should address internally before reaching out to hire or select a speaker.

 

What to Do Before Selecting a Keynote Speaker

First and foremost, as with any event, advance planning is always helpful, and at times critical, to landing the best speaker for your event. It’s much easier to secure the best speakers by planning at least six to 12 months prior to the event. The norm for booking a professional or well-known speaker used to be a year. Of course, this isn’t always reasonable or realistic, and today, bookings have been known to be made only a few months in advance. If you can help it, don't leave yourself in a panic during crunch time.

You'll thank yourself later.

So to be prepared enough to start the keynote speaker search, Goodman advises the following steps be in every event and meeting planner's initial internal checklist:

 

1. Determine meeting logistics/scheduling
2. Understand the audience
3. Capture the meeting objective
4. Define the expectations of the speaker
5. Benchmark success

 

Only once these tasks are thought through (and perhaps others specific to your event or meeting), should you begin the keynote speaker search. A keynote speaker can play several different roles in a conference or meeting. Does your meeting require a corporate speaker or would your audience be better served by an inspirational or motivational speaker? Going through this checklist will not only provide a better framework from which to conduct your speaker search, but it will save you time on the back end in getting internal approval on your first choice of speaker.

 

What to Do During the Search for a Keynote Speaker

Once you know the conceptual direction of the meeting, you will have a better experience finding an appropriate keynote speaker. Where most event planners get stuck is not in the search and selection process itself, but rather in the negotiation of keynote speaker fees.

Professional keynote speakers with a published book can run companies upwards of $10,000 to $20,000 not including travel costs for an event. A New York Times best-selling author, on the other hand, can collect as much as $40,000 per speaking engagement. While these numbers can feel extraordinarily high for event planners new to the keynote speaker space, you must approach the fees relatively. How does the speaker's fee compare to say the cost of the catered morning breakfast or the number of people expected at the meeting?

 

The Bottom Line

Since event planners serve as the internal and external face of the business meeting, this type of structured approach to speaker selection will help obtain the needed internal approvals for a budget as well as moving a program forward.

When planning a meeting, one of two scenarios tends to occur: the business meeting date is approved without content, or the business meeting date is not approved without confirmed content.

Goodman’s approach recommends that event planners should have a thorough understanding of the meeting, who will be attending, what messages are being communicated, what type of speaker is needed, and what has worked in the past.

These steps, combined with some scheduling flexibility and advance planning will result in a successful program.

Culled from Small Business

10 Tips to Manage Your Business Like a Pro on Instagram

 

Instagram is primarily a visual medium for sharing memories and moments in pictures and short videos with friends and followers.

However, these days it is currently regarded for doing more than just that. It is fast becoming a business and branding tool for as many who can get a hang of it.

The Facebook-acquired app now boasts over 300 million monthly active users, so it would be great to put it to good use for business just as much as for personal purposes.

Here are a number of tips to put into use:

Set up personal and business accounts

Let there be a distinction between your individual account and a business one. Using one and the same account may not work if you have personal photos you want to upload.

Your business as a brand must have a clear consistent voice with all posts. This also goes for comedians whose humorous persona have become their brands.

Regular posting time

It may be counter-productive to not have a regular time with which you produce content for your followers. Having a regular schedule for posting keeps you organized, and accountable to a large extent.

Be focused

It’s cool to have a specific area that you will become to be known for. Trying to be a jack of all trades will not earn you a loyal following. If you are going to combine topics, then they should most probably be under the same category of interests like football and basketball. If you have a wide range of interests, you might want to create multiple accounts for them.

Hashtag Hashtag Hashtag

Hashtags are not only fun to use, they also serve a purpose, which is to let searchers interested in your type of content easily find it when they key in the hashtag with the search term or keyword. Using too many hashtags, however, is a huge turn-off to many.

A rule of thumb has suggested seven hashtags as the maximum number one should use. That’s left for debate. Just let your instincts guide you with the number of hashtags.

You could also build a brand around a particular hashtag and let people know you for it. Just make sure it fits into your brand objectives.

It goes down in the DM

Well, not that kind of going down. But, heck, whatever works for you.

Do not take for granted the engagement you get from your audience. When you can, deliberately read their comments and respond accordingly to them.

This makes you more human and puts a face to the brand, which creates a loyal following, and potential customers of your business. With DMs you get to build one-on-one relationships with your most engaging followers. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Make your Instagram bio catchy and friendly

As simple and personable as possible is what should describe your bio. You could also draw in more people with a human display picture as against a business logo, not to undermine the importance of a brand logo.

Use tracking codes on your links

When you have a link you want to share that would lead back to your website, create a URL builder and generate a tracking code to help measure the number of clicks that link gets, which would help inform your decision better.

If you are going to use a URL shortener, be sure to let your followers know the content of where you are directing them to because the shortened link doesn’t give a clue sometimes.

Have a dedicated landing page for Instagram

Asides creating landing pages that direct to your website, you could also optimize a dedicated landing page for your social media account like Instagram. Sponsored ads from a Facebook or right on Instagram can do the trick. The key is to make sure the potential visitors are going to meet what they expect on the page.

Move up with video

With video, you usually can’t go wrong. A mix of humour, a friendly presentation and of course armed knowledge of your topic will score you many views, leads and eventual customers. Video gives your brand a relatable dimension and allows the audience to get a more personal experience of behind-the-scenes moments of your business.

Analytics

Instagram analytics helps you have an overall insight into how your audience is interacting with your content. This helps you of course to make well-thought-out decisions going forward. Try out Iconosquare.

Bonus tips: Be AUTHENTIC, NEVER EVER buy followers or verifications; Take advantage of Instagram Live and Instagram Stories as much as you can.

Credit: Pulse

What Are the Major Advantages of Online Book Publishing?

 

Traditional book publishing methods have long been a lengthy and difficult process. Getting your book printed and published can be challenging, not to mention expensive. Have you got a great book but you don’t want to spend the time and money on finding a publisher to print it? Instead, you should consider online book publishing.

The number of ebooks purchased reached its peak last year as there were over 266 million units sold. Now is the best time to start publishing online.

Why Should You Consider Online Book Publishing?

Online book publishing could be the best and cheapest way for you to get your book out there. You won’t have to pay any ridiculous fees, and you get to keep the sales profits!

So, what are the advantages? Here are some reasons you should consider online publishing for your book.

1. It’s Much Easier

The biggest reason why people choose online book publishing is that it’s so much easier. You could either self publish it or go to an ebook publisher.

To do self online book publishing, all you need to do is have the finished book ready to convert into a PDF. Then, all you need to do is make it available on your website. We also recommend you copyright it, which you can do online too.

With an ebook publisher, you’ll need an ISBN for your book and to format it to the publisher's guidelines. After you submit it, it will be available on their website immediately.

Ebook publishers are great for getting your book to a wider audience. They can make your book available in popular online bookstores like Amazon.

2. Get Your Book Seen

If you wait for your book to be printed via traditional methods, you could be waiting for a very long time. It could take many years for publishers to even see your book, never mind publishing it.

But online publishing means your book is available for people all around the world in an instant. It makes it so much easier for people to see and read what you’ve written.

Traditional publishing is ‘the old-fashioned way’ for a reason – it’s outdated. Up to 40% of book sales revenue is down to e-book sales. Online publishing will ensure your book is available to everyone, everywhere.

3. It’s a Great Marketing Tool

Ebooks aren’t only a great way to get your book out there, but they’re awesome marketing tools. An ebook is a great way to express your expertise in your niche. It can help establish your brand as a reliable one.

It’s also a great way to expand your reach. If you have company magazines that are available in print, turn them into digital. Digital magazines mean you can reach a wider audience and boost your readership.

Ebooks can also contain links, so they can boost click-through rates and SEO rankings!

4. You Can Make Edits After Publishing

The problem with traditional print media is that once it’s published, you can’t go and change it. If you want to amend a statistic or add new information, you can’t..

With online publishing, you can make changes whenever you’d like. You can revise your writings as much or as little as you’d like online, that’s the beauty of it.

If you want to add links or amend sentences you don’t like anymore, it’s easy to go in and make those changes.

5. Reach a New Audience

The best thing about the Internet is that it has the ability to reach everyone. With print media, you may have a tough time breaking through to a wider audience or new demographic.

Online publishing lets you push your ebook to a much wider audience. You can promote your book via social media and on your website. If you have an ebook publisher, they can make your book available on popular platforms.

You can also check analytics to see how many people have followed the link to your ebook and who is reading it. You can use this information to further define your demographic and adapt to it.

6. Make More Money

If you publish your book via traditional methods, the chances are you won’t see most of the royalties. If your book does well, you can expect to see only 10-15% of the price of each book sold.

If you choose to publish online, you’ll be able to net most of the profits made. If you go through a company like Amazon you’ll keep up to 70% of the listed price of each book.

7. Longer Shelf Life

When you publish via traditional methods, your book may only be available in stores for a few months. This means there’s not a lot of time for an audience to grow and you could lose out.

But if you opt for online publishing, your book will stay available forever. What goes on the Internet stays there, and this is a great thing for your book. It gives it the chance to build an audience and for people to find it years down the line.

Your book will be available to read at the click of a button. You can write as many as you’d like and people can still find your earlier works with ease.

8. Keep the Rights to Your Book

If you go with a traditional publisher and your book does very well, it can be great! But, it sometimes means you’ve signed away a lot of rights to your book.

When a traditional publisher takes on your book, they will partly own it. If your book does well and has the possibility of becoming a TV show or movie, they will profit off it too. It also means you won’t have full creative control.

With a self-published online book, you keep all the rights. You can do whatever you want with the book at any time. If you do get opportunities like these, you’ll keep your rights to the book.

Online Book Publishing Is the Way to Go

If you’ve been considering whether to publish your book online, now’s the time to do it. Ebooks are a great way to get your book out there without having to rely on anyone else. You can reach a greater audience and keep full control of your book.

Culled from Mag Loft

Seven Books to Help You Build Your Vocabulary

 

If you live and work or study in an English-speaking country, chances are that you’ll find vocabulary building necessary at some point. Whether you’re in the sciences or engineering, whether you’re in sales or only deal with numbers, communication is a phenomenon that transcends all domains. Vocabulary is a key part of communication, and often shows a person’s level of experience and competence in your chosen language.

Just imagine having a big presentation where you have to pitch your idea to potential investors, or you are to speak to a group of people in school or at work. You have the confidence, but then you find it difficult to speak effectively because you can’t find the right words!

A rich vocabulary gives a person room to flow freely while communicating, whether to their peers, colleagues, business partners, employers or acquaintances. It gives you the confidence to put yourself out there and explore new opportunities or optimise new ones!

So, now that we’ve established the advantages of building your vocabulary, an organic way to improve your vocabulary is through reading good books. Therefore, let’s take a look at seven books that can help you in this. 

The Dictionary

This one should be pretty obvious, shouldn’t it? I mean, if we’re trying to build up our vocabulary, we should probably start with the book that contains entries for literally all words in English, right?

The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, is perhaps the world’s oldest and most authoritative English dictionary. It includes numerous varieties of words such as formal, slang, British, American, South American, South African, Nigerian, etc., with real-life sample sentences selected to help you understand the context in which each word is commonly used.

In case you’re thinking it’d be boring and tedious to browse the dictionary, think again. The Oxford Dictionary takes a riveting approach, supplying meanings of words as well as many fascinating ‘usage’ boxes that enlighten the reader on several areas such as frequency in real life usage, appropriateness relative to other words, collocation, native expressions, dos and don’ts, grammatical patterns, etc. It is very engaging and exciting to browse through.

In case you have a thing against Oxford, or it just doesn’t cut it for you, there are a lot of other dictionaries that pack the same kind of engaging content. You could weigh them up and find out which one is the best choice for you.

For better utilisation, you could get a note to record fascinating words, their pronunciations, meanings and usage.

The Harry Potter series

The Harry Potter books are a British series with over half a billion copies sold worldwide. But it’s not the fame or popularity that has caught our eye. It’s the fact that they can help you build your vocabulary by letting you immerse yourself into a world that is just as educating as it is fun. Now those half a billion copies weren’t sold simply because people loved Rowling’s glittering eyes, were they?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill a Mockingbird is read as a literature text in many American high schools. The book adopts such a rich use of language that is guaranteed to improve your mental word bank by the time you’re done turning those 284 pages.

Ulysses by James Joyce

In this book, the writer makes use of at least 30,000 unique words. The rich usage of so many different words will ensure that you benefit so much just from reading one book. Plus, Ulysses packs so much pun, parody and humour into an exciting storyline, so that the last thing on your mind will be dropping the book before you’re done!

Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka

It is Soyinka, and he knows his words. Need we say more? But Ake is slightly different from other works from arguably Africa’s foremost wordsmith. The story is an interesting narrative told from the perspective of a child (a pre-adolescent Soyinka), complete with child-like innocence. Hence, apart from being fresh and exciting, it uses a, shall we say, ‘medium’ diction – in comparison to some of Soyinka’s famed challenging works – making Ake: The Years of Childhood a perfect choice for anyone seeking to improve their vocabulary.

Shakespeare’s Plays

Yes, you heard that right – Shakespeare. Now before you turn away, hear us out. Shakespeare’s plays contain a prodigious amount of words; and furthermore, many English phrases which are still in use today. “Lend me your ears”, “the evil that men do”, “wear your heart on your sleeve”, “foregone conclusion”, “method to my madness” and many other phrases all originated from Shakespeare.

So get a play of Shakespeare’s, give it a read, and go forth to show off what you’ve acquired! For optimum enjoyment and understanding, get a version with meanings of difficult words and phrases.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Surely you must have read this one. But even if you haven’t, surely you must have heard the famous expression, “Oliver Twist asked for more”. Well, apart from being a classic, this book is a solution if you are looking to enrich your vocabulary. So while you build up your word bank, you also catch up on the famous story of the famous boy who asked for more.

 

20 Writing Tips from Fiction Authors

 

Writing success boils down to hard work, imagination and passion—and then some more hard work. Fire up your creative spirit with 20 writing tips from 12 bestselling fiction authors.

Use these tips as an inspirational guide—or better yet, print a copy to put on your desk, home office, refrigerator door, or somewhere else noticeable so you can be constantly reminded not to let your story ideas wither away by putting off your writing.

Tip1: "My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt." — Michael Moorcock

Tip 2: "Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you." — Zadie Smith

Tip 3: "Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution." — Michael Moorcock

Tip 4: "In the planning stage of a book, don't plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it." — Rose Tremain

Tip 5: "Always carry a note-book. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever." — Will Self

Tip 6: "It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction." — Jonathan Franzen

"Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet." — Zadie Smith

Tip 7: "Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting." — Jonathan Franzen

Tip 8: "Read it aloud to yourself because that's the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out—they can be got right only by ear)." — Diana Athill

Tip 9: "Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." – Anton Chekhov

Tip 10: "Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted 'first readers.'" — Rose Tremain

Tip 11: "Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money." — Jonathan Franzen

Tip 12: "Don't panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends' embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end. Leaving the desk for a while can help. Talking the problem through can help me recall what I was trying to achieve before I got stuck. Going for a long walk almost always gets me thinking about my manuscript in a slightly new way. And if all else fails, there's prayer. St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers, has often helped me out in a crisis. If you want to spread your net more widely, you could try appealing to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, too." — Sarah Waters

Tip 13: "The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement – if you can't deal with this you needn't apply." — Will Self

Tip 14: "Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!" — Joyce Carol Oates

Tip 15: "The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator." — Jonathan Franzen

Tip 16: "Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful." — Elmore Leonard

Tip 17: "Remember: when people tell you something's wrong or doesn't work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong." — Neil Gaiman

Tip 18: "You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished." — Will Self

Tip 19: "The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." — Neil Gaiman

Tip 20: "The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it on the wall in front of my desk saying ‘Faire et se taire’ (Flaubert), which I translate for myself as ‘Shut up and get on with it.’" — Helen Simpson

Even famous authors sometimes have a tough time with writing; they also go through periods of self-doubt. Despite this, they always manage to come up with the goods. So take a lesson from them and stop putting off your writing plans and get started on your publishing journey today.

Credit: iUniverse

Job Hunting? How to Write a Supporting Statement

 

When applying for certain jobs, you may be required to include a supporting statement. This is a part of a resume that allows you to expand on your qualifications, experiences, and skills. It allows you to sell yourself to potential employers, so it’s important to know how to write a supporting statement that’s polished. Follow these five steps to help you craft a solid supporting statement to include with your resume.

Review the Job Description

Start by reviewing the job description. It might help to print out a copy that you can write on. Then, highlight keywords related to the role and skills required to perform the job.

Consider Personal Examples

With the keywords from the job description, start brainstorming personal examples that demonstrate those skills. Try to get specific, but consider a wide range of examples that cover several skills you possess. The examples should also show your personal actions and the results you achieved.

Introduce Yourself

As you plan how to write a supporting statement, start by introducing yourself. Let the hiring manager know who you are and why you are the top candidate for the job. Remember that this introduction is going to create the company’s first impression of you. You want a positive impression right from the start. Start your supporting statement in a way that will catch their attention while introducing yourself as an employee.

Draft Your Statement

Now you’re ready to work on the rest of your supporting statement. Although some companies may specify how long to make the statement, it’s a good idea to keep it under two pages. You should aim to keep your ideas brief and succinct. Also, use headings, bullet points, and other formatting techniques to make your statement easy to scan.

Revise Your Work

Before submitting your supporting statement, be sure to proofread your work. Look for spelling, punctuation, grammar, and formatting errors. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Have several people read through your supporting statement to check for any errors. You could also ask these people to critique your writing, ensuring that your examples do a good job demonstrating why you’re the best candidate for the job.

After following these steps and completing several rounds of revisions, you’re ready to submit your supporting statement with your application documents. Knowing how to write a supporting statement, along with the best practices of applying for a job, can increase your odds of getting an interview and hopefully landing the job you want. Best of luck!

Culled from Magoosh

Learn to Use Social Media to Sell your Books

 

As an author, do you struggle with using social media to sell books and connect with readers?

Not sure how much time you should be spending on social media and what you should be doing during that time?

Can you really find more readers using social media?

How do you promote my book properly on social media?

If you are wondering about any of these questions, then you are not alone. Many authors struggle with the same sorts of questions.

So, let’s a look at a few of those questions and get tips on how to command the social media ‘beast’ and tame it.

How Long Does It Take for An Author to Build a Presence Online?

This is a popular question for any business, especially authors. They have spent months and months (sometimes even years) writing their books, and they want to find an audience for their books right away, it often doesn’t happen like that!

“It doesn’t take any time at all to BUY an audience. There are easy ways to… there are a lot of marketing strategies that allow you to amass huge followings. I want to be very careful to encourage authors, especially, to BUILD their audience. Slow and steady definitely wins the race!”

Many authors think that they need to find an audience for their book after they already wrote the book. This is the wrong way to look at it!

“As you’re writing your book, I want to encourage people to build that audience in tandem with that. Don’t expect to just write your book and say ‘Okay, I’m going to start shooting it out to an audience!’ I want to really encourage people to build your audience while you’re writing your book.”

Now, if your book is already done, you’re not able to start building that audience while writing so definitely start building an audience now, but if you’re planning on writing another book, start building that audience now!

The best part about building an audience while you are writing, is that you can share bits and pieces about your book as you write it. You can share the covers, you can share samples, you can give teasers. This allows your audience to become invested in your book. If they have spent months becoming invested in the book as you’re writing it, they are much more likely to buy the book when it’s released!

What do I talk about on social media? Do I just talk about my book?

Many authors struggle with what to write about on social media so they end up defaulting to some variation of “Buy my book!”. As many authors notice, that doesn’t get you more sales. People aren’t invested in you, they don’t have a connection with you, so they aren’t going to buy your book!

“You want to be approachable to your readers… I break the mould. Whatever is on my mind, whenever it is on my mind, I post it… I allow my readers to know me, all of me. I am not just going to feed them this part of me.”

Being an author is like running a business. You’re marketing a product: your book.

“Writing a book, that process, it IS a business. How do we manage good social media? How do we manage a business? How do we brand? All of these concepts are going to play into the marketing of your book.”

Which social media platform is best? Should I be on Facebook? Should I be on Twitter? Is Google+ the best for me?

“Is your reader on Facebook? If he is, great, then build out a social media strategy for Facebook! If you find tips for Pinterest, but your reader isn’t on Pinterest, then you shouldn’t invest in trying to get your reader onto Pinterest!”

First you have to define who your audience is, and once you have done that you can take the next step.

“You scroll through bios, and you literally do research. It’s no different than going to the library to do research.”

You have to determine where to find your readers and devote as much attention to that platform as you would engaging individual readers one-on-one.

We’re glad you dropped by. If you have questions or want to be a part of our upcoming training for writers, leave a comment or send a mail to mail@soipublishing.net

 

5 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing a CV

 

When applying for a job, the employer meets your curriculum vitae before meeting you; as a result, the CV is usually the first stage of screening. In order to get your dream job or at least make it through the first stage of screening, here are some mistakes you should avoid in your CV:

1. Making Grammatical Errors and Typos

Your CV shows your writing skills and your level of intelligence, so making grammatical errors in your writing can be discouraging. When writing, ensure you have proofread your resume before sending it to your recruiter.

2. Irrelevant Experiences

Experiences that have nothing to do with the position you are applying for should be avoided. Thus, every statement on your resume should be relevant to the current position you are applying for and lead the employer to the conclusion that you have the right qualification for the job.

3. Submitting Incorrect Information

Avoid incorrect information, such as wrong telephone numbers, or even data that are incorrect. You might think the recruiter might overlook such information and may not research it but the person might actually do and find out that you have provided the wrong information.

4. Exaggeration

Don't exaggerate your skills and achievements. At times, you might give some information and it will be clear that it is an exaggeration. The recruiter may be discouraged by this act and simply ignore your CV.

5. Personal Information

Personal information like age, weight, religion or even personal background should be avoided. Information like that is not needed for recruitment and an attempt to give such information might send the wrong signal.

In conclusion, critically scrutinise your CV to avoid grammatical errors and other type of technical errors so you can have a fair chance of being invited for an interview.

5 Social Media Tips for Promoting Your Online Course

 

An online course can cement your status as an industry authority.

The global market for online learning is estimated at $241 billion, thanks to a wide internet reach and increased demand for less-expensive, easily accessible classes.

Online course subjects range from programming and web design to carpentry and baking. If you have exceptional knowledge or skill in a particular area, you can enhance your online reputation by designing your own online course.

Content that delivers real value to your target audience can go viral. Unfortunately, many course creators mistakenly assume that online courses will attract an audience without promotion.

Here’s how to promote your first online course via social media:

1. Start with your own account.

Use social media to generate initial interest for your course. Many of your connections have similar interests or challenges, making them an ideal focus group.

In an interview with Kajabi, Chris Becker, founder of Ketology, says his teachings on healthy weight loss began on Facebook, recalling, “I asked my friends, ‘Hey if you need help, I’m going to do this little challenge.’… my friends started losing weight and then I just thought, let me actually build this into a real thing.”

Becker’s initial success afforded him insights to develop future courses while building a strong word-of-mouth foundation within his niche.

2. Get Facebook group participation.

Facebook pages have experienced notorious declines in organic reach, but that doesn’t mean the platform is no longer viable for reaching your target audience.

Facebook groups help like-minded users to connect on a variety of topics—and they are a great way to get the word out. Keep in mind, however, that you should never join a group purely to promote your course.

You must become an active participant, asking questions and offering advice. Only then can you position yourself as an expert and promote your course—without getting kicked out of the group.

As you share your knowledge, those who benefit from your insights will be drawn to your social media accounts.

3. Offer referral rewards.

Referral programs can help build word-of-mouth for your brand. Potential followers are more likely to respond to posts by family or friends. Your students are more likely to share their experiences on social media if you offer incentives.

These can range from a discount for signing up through a specific link to a free video chat session offering additional tips and personalized insights. Provide extra value, and students will do your social media marketing for you.

4. Use paid ads wisely.

Paid ads can attract new audiences, but that doesn’t mean that you should have them running 24/7 or expect immediate results from a Facebook campaign. Social media advertising requires patience and research.

Make sure you fully understand your target demographic and their interests, and target your ads based on what you learn.

Ensure that your images and text deliver your marketing message. Do A/B testing to gauge which options deliver the highest click-through rate.

As you use these principles to fine-tune your social media marketing, you’ll drive more traffic to your accounts and online courses.

5. Share mini tips.

Only about 10 percent of your content should be promotional. Rather than continually spamming followers to sign up, deliver short tips related to your course content through Instagram posts, live video and more.

For example, Melyssa Griffin of Blog to Biz Training provided short informational posts on her Instagram account about monetizing blogs and increasing productivity, expanding her following and generating traffic for her course.

PR Daily

8 Brainstorming Strategies for Generating New Writing Ideas

 

Writers sometimes experience a shortage of writing ideas, chaotic floods of ideas or no ideas at all, which stalls writing projects. If you are experiencing this writers' peeve, try these proven brainstorming strategies to generate or organize new topic ideas, approaches and revive your stalled projects.

 

1. Freewriting

Freewriting involves letting your thoughts flow freely on paper or your computer screen. Set aside a time frame like 15 minutes for writing or determine to write and fill a certain number of pages and get down to it. Write whatever comes to your mind. Don’t worry about typos, spelling or any other surface-level issues of grammar and style. Just write until your time is up or your page goal is attained.

When you are done, read through what you have written. You will no doubt find a lot of filler in your text, but there will also be golden nuggets of insights, discoveries and other little gems in there that you can pick out and develop for your projects. Even if you don’t discover any new idea nuggets, you will stir up your creative mind and unearth tit bits of raw concepts buried deep in your mind you can develop.

 

2. Looping

Looping takes freewriting a step further with the aim of zeroing in on raw ideas and insights buried deep in your subconscious mind. Move in loops between one free writing exercise of between five and 10 minutes and another until you have a sequence of several freewriting pieces. Make sure you adhere to the rules of freewriting in this exercise so that each result is more specific than the other.

Read through what you have produced in all the freewriting looping cycles and analyse all interesting sentences, ideas or phrases. You will likely discover a recurrent topic idea or theme you are unconsciously thinking about has taken precedence. You can develop this topic idea or theme and use it in your next writing project.

 

3. Listing

If you want to write about a specific topic or communicate a certain idea, jot down a list of single words and phrases that relate to the general topic you are thinking about off the top of your mind. For example, if you are thinking about producing a work of fiction, make separate lists of elements, characters or scenes you want to convey. If you are writing nonfiction, list facts, arguments, question or any other related ideas you want to cover.

Don’t outline or edit at this point. Let the activity be uninhibited. When you are finished listing, group the items on your lists in a logical manner and provide a label for each group. Write a sentence about each group and you will have several topic or theme sentences you can develop. Build on the topic sentences and define associations of the groups to get broader topics or themes with possible points to write on.

 

4. Clustering

Clustering, also known as idea mapping, is a strategy used to explore relationships and associations between ideas. If you have run out of ideas on a subject or topic, write down the subject in the center of a page. Highlight the subject either by underlining or circling it. Think of an idea that relates to the subject and jot it down on your page. Link the idea to the central subject.

Think of another idea that relates to the new idea you just created. Link this new idea with the previous idea. Repeat the process until you have a web of ideas on the page that are all derived from the main subject. Now you can visually see ideas that relate to your main subject. Identify clusters of ideas that interest you and use the key terms you attached to them as the departure points for your writing project.

 

5. Nut-shelling

Nut-shelling entails discovering and laying out in a few sentences the gist of topic ideas in your head. It helps you distinguish major and minor ideas in your thoughts and identify how the ideas relate to each other. This way you are able to test how different ideas can affect what you want to write about.

Pretend you are being interviewed by someone and they want to know what you want to write about. Start your explanation with a phrase like “I want to write about...” or “I want to show….” Put down your answer concisely in writing. Make your answer no more than two or three sentences maximum to capture the essence of your topic and you will have just developed your topic statement or premise for what you are thinking about writing.

 

6. Cubing

Cubing is a critical thinking process that involves examining a writing project from six distinct angles to generate ideas for your stalled projects. Describe your project: What is it? What is it like or unlike? What makes up its constituents? How can it be used? Finally, what are its pros or cons or how can you oppose or support it? At the end of the exercise you should have an angle or outline on how to approach your writing topic or project.

 

7. Journalistic 5W’s and 1H

When researching a story and the angle to take when covering the story, journalists ask the 5W’s and 1H questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? Use the same technique to generate topic ideas, possible angles to take on the topic and the most pertinent information to include when addressing the topic.

Write each of the question words on a sheet of paper and leave spaces to provide answers for the questions. Answer all the questions relating to your topic in brief and then review the answers. Do you have more to say about one or more of the questions, such as more on the "where" and "why" than the "what" or are your answers evenly balanced?

You will discover that you know more or little about particular question words relating to your topic. Leverage that awareness to generate new writing ideas. Research your topic further to improve on areas you are least knowledgeable in, build on areas you are most knowledgeable in or the best way to organize what you already know to balance your topic more.

 

8. Researching

Visit the library or go to a writing center near you and browse dictionaries, thesauruses, guide books and any other reference texts that you find. You will be surprised at how much background information, little-known facts and golden topic ideas relevant to your writing projects reference books can give.

Write down past or current events relating to your writing subject, historical or contemporary issues surrounding your topic and any other relevant information you gather in your library research for use in your projects. Also, browse online versions of the dictionaries and reference books to add to the ideas you have already collected.

If one of these strategies doesn’t work, move on and try another until something clicks. Oftentimes, it is a combination of these brainstorming strategies that yields the best results.

 

David K. William is a web writer, publisher and designer. He writes and publishes articles, reports and fiction for web and print media. David is also founding editor of WebWriterSpotlight.com.

Top 10 Tips for Being a Successful Poet

 

Sir Andrew Motion is an English poet and novelist who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.

He has been awarded several poetry awards, including the Arvon Prize, the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. He was knighted for his services to literature in 2009.

Here are his top 10 tips for being a successful poet.

1. Let your subject find you

My parents were not writers and they didn’t really read very much either. My Dad once told me he had only read half a book in his life. I had a wonderful English teacher called Peter Way. He walked straight into my head, turned all the lights on and he gave me my life really.

When I was 17, quite soon after I started tinkering around with poems, my mother had a very bad accident, which eventually killed her. So I found myself wanting to express my feelings about that in ways that were relieving to me.

It sounds a slightly self-aggrandising thing to say, but I’ve always thought that death was my subject. You don’t find your subject, it finds you. Writing poems for me is not simply a matter of grieving, though very often it is that, it’s wanting to resurrect or preserve or do things that pull against the fact of our mortality.

2. Tap into your own feelings

I never quite believe it when poets say that they’re not writing out of their own feelings, and when that is the case, I tend not to be terribly interested in what they’re doing.

I don’t mean to say that they are writing bad poems, but those aren’t the poems that I like most. The poems I most like are where the engine is a very emotional one, where the warmth of strong feeling is very powerfully present in the thing that is being given to us. I think poetry is a rather emotional form and when it isn’t that, I’m not very interested in it.

3. Write about subjects that matter to you

I didn’t always cope with being commissioned very happily as Poet Laureate to tell the truth. The best poems get written, not by going in the front door of the subject, but round the back or down the chimney or through the window.

‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant,’ said Emily Dickinson and that’s always been a very important remark for me. It can be quite difficult to do that if you’re standing in a very public place.

People who live in public, as I very suddenly found myself doing, can get very bruised in the process if they’re not used to it. I found all that public stuff extremely difficult to deal with. I never wanted to cut myself off, but wish I had devised better ways of protecting myself.

4. Celebrate the ordinary and be choosy

Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary. What we very badly need to remember is that the things right under our noses are extraordinary, fascinating, irreplaceable, profound and just kind of marvellous.

Look at the things in the foreground and relish stuff that can lose its glow by being familiar. In fact, re-estranging ourselves to familiar things seems to be a very important part of what poetry can do.

If you can, be choosy about what you do, so that the things you do write are the things that you do best.

5. Use everything in your toolbox

I haven’t written a rhyming poem now for many years, I seem to have lost my appetite for it but I haven’t lost my pleasure in reading them. I think anybody that insists on the presence of rhyme is really not thinking hard enough about what poetry is or can be.

Having said that, it is important to bear in mind that as poets we have a kind of toolbox, in which there are all kinds of different pieces of equipment, not available to any other kind of writer and rhyme is very importantly one of those.

So never to use rhyme in your poetry would be a bit like buying a car and never getting out of second gear. Use everything in your toolbox.

6. If you get stuck, go for a walk or wash your hair

Wordsworth once said that the act of walking was closely related to the creative process. I do love walking and if I get stuck I go for a walk or if I don’t have much time, I wash my hair – it seems to wake my brain up!

Even when I’m on a hair washing day, rather than a walking day, I walk up and down my study, just to get myself going.

Poems are so crucially to do with the movement of words through a line or a series of lines, and that is just as important as their shape and the way that we understand them I think.

7. Let your work be open to interpretation

People will interpret your poetry in different ways, but provided the interpretation that is brought to the poem isn’t plainly bonkers, I actually enjoy that, I rather hope for it.

Your poem can be a world in which your readers can go and live themselves and seek out things which resonate for them. And it would be completely bonkers of me to try to restrict their reaction.

In Auden’s beautiful eulogy for Yeats, he said, ‘He became his admirers,’ and I think that’s kind of what he had in mind actually. You give your work over to your readers and provided they’re not crazy, it’s absolutely open to them what they find in it.

8. Read your poetry out loud

Reading your poetry out loud is crucial and absolutely indispensable because wherever we reckon the meaning of a poem might lie, we want to admit that it’s got as much to do with the noise it makes when we hear it aloud, as it has to do with what the words mean when we see them written down on the page.

In a really fundamental way, I think poetry is an acoustic form and we’ve slightly forgotten that in the last thousand years. Since the invention of the book, the aliveness of poetry has been perhaps slightly pushed to the edge of things.

9. Find the right time to write

Find your own writing time. Everybody will have a slightly different time of day, I have yet to meet the person who thinks the early afternoon is good, but I expect there is someone out there who thinks that that’s a good idea.

For me it’s very early in the morning, partly because the house is quiet and partly because I feel I’m stealing a march on things and that makes me feel good.

I think there might be some kind of hook up between what happens in our minds when we’re asleep and writing imaginative material. I think good poems get written, as no doubt good paintings get painted, as a result of these two things coming together in an appropriate way.

10..Read a lot, revise and persevere

Read lots, write lots of course too, but assume that your first thoughts are not your best thoughts, so revise, revise, revise and don’t expect every poem to work, because it won’t.

Don’t go live in an ivory tower. Read the newspapers and involve yourself in the world – where do you think subjects come from if not the world?

Persevere. I think right at the beginning of your writing life you really have to accept that within a few years, or possibly even a few months, you are going to be able to wallpaper quite a large room with rejection slips. But don’t let that put you off – if you’ve got it, you’ve got it!

Culled from BBC