Hey Writer, Scribe, Influencer!

Have you ever seen that squiggly line, the one describing success? Yeah, the path from Point A to Point B looks like a tangled ball of thread.

That describes my last couple weeks. 🙂

My plans? I was going to announce a fun new project we’d taken on. But, it fell through. That doesn’t happen often. And now, I’m typing this, a little sad, but also realizing sometimes things work out for the best.

That’s because 2020’s the year we enter the 21 century (ha) and are going to release our first audiobook!

I’ll provide details soon, but I will say I LOVE our narrator and can’t wait to hunker down and review every chapter. Once that’s complete, we’ll get a release date.

Freelancing is a never-ending adventure and I’m looking forward to this new chapter.

Write on!

Beth 🙂

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The Alchemy of Manifesting

Jumping into the fray of humanity can get messy. But it’s an important aspect of persuasion, writing, freelancing, making a living as a writer.

It sounds trite to say “know your reader” when it’s difficult to understand yourself. But striving to do just that will ignite the Alchemy of Manifesting in ways you can only imagine.

This is the braid we unravel this month…

If you’re looking for a long career… buy me a mocha and I’ll spill the beans.

Get the details here.

Or head straight to the current issue and subscribe here.

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The Winds of Change
Beth Ann Erickson

As I write this, the garbage man just rolled past my driveway. It’s amazing to watch. The huge truck ambles towards me, it pauses, a metal arm emerges, and BOOM… the bin’s in the air, garbage tumbles into the truck, and with a few shakes, my little green garbage can descends back to the icy driveway. Long gone are the days when three hurly-burly men perched on the back of the truck and deposited our weekly refuse into the gaping back end of a dripping, stinking vehicle.

It’s kinda like the current state of publishing. (Nah… I just didn’t compare freelancing to garbage, did I? Hang in there. It’ll make sense in a sec.) 😛

In days of yore, you could pen a novel, pop it on Amazon, and without nary a thought to algorithms, keywords, or marketing, you became a fairly successful author. Oh, those were the glory days.

Back then I wiled away the hours dreaming, writing, and pondering my next project.

Today, my hours are far different. Due to changes in the industry since ‘01, I’ve had to sharpen my focus on tighter niches. I spend my mornings writing, dreaming, and scheming. But my afternoons are grounded in activities like researching keywords, hunting down marketing opportunities, updating my marketing knowledge, reader interactions, social media… all activities once fairly minor, or nonexistent, are now major parts of my day.

When did everything change? Everything changes. As Heraclitus wisely said, “Change is the only constant in life.”

Here’s what we’re dealing with today: If you write books, roughly 365k new print books were published in ‘16. As far as ebooks go, we’re looking a 1.1 million new releases.*

If you’re an author, even if you’ve written a stellar manuscript, rising above the tsunami of new releases will be a huge challenge. Luckily, if you have even a few marketing skills, you can increase your chances of success.

Copywriters face a similar fate. With “training gurus” popping up left and right, what was once a fairly wide-open field is now filled with quite a few new copywriters touting their brilliance. Add to that the sheer number of downsized newspaper journalists, savvy news writers from shuttered dailies, and boom… more writers online.

But again, if you’ve mastered just a few marketing techniques, you increase your chances of success by a fair amount. Plus, if you make sure you’re aware of new tools to make your job easier, you’ve just created an even better edge.

Hence, the need to stay sharp. Rearrange your career to better suit your long range goals.

And if you need help in that regard, it’s time to crack open a few books. Engage in some training. Hook up with a nice professional support system.

And of course, keep your eyes glued here. I’m always sharing up-to-date marketing tips for all us tired, grizzled freelance writers (and creative entrepreneurs!). We’re planning on including occasional book reviews as part of your Writing Etc. subscription.

If my garbage man can roll with the times, so can the rest of us, eh?

(Hey! Buy me a mocha and I’ll spill tons of nitty gritty details on all the above. I may throw in some gossip, too. :P)

Source: https://www.quora.com/How-many-eBooks-are-published-every-year-Are-they-exceeding-print-books-thanks-to-self-publishing-tools

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You can use any of these articles free of charge on your own website or zine. Just don’t make any changes and be sure to include this byline:

This article is courtesy of Filbert Publishing. Make your writing sparkle, market smart, repeat. Subscribe to Writing Etc., the free e-mag for freelancers and receive the e-book “Power Queries.” http://filbertpublishing.com

Enjoy!