Award-winning author, freelance/ghostwriter with hundreds of published articles, and Founder of Writers On The Move.
WHAT LED YOU TO START WORKING IN DIGITAL/MEDIA PUBLISHING?
In 2008, I published my first book and knew I needed to create visibility. I attended an online writers conference and learned about virtual book tours. I then created the group Writers on the Move and asked other writers I knew to join in. We’ve become a cross-promotion marketing group creating visibility through content marketing, primarily blogging.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
I juggle family and work. I check my emails in the morning and respond to clients and potential clients, as well as my online platform students. Then I deal with any other communications I need to talk care of. Some time in the middle of the day I post to my social media accounts and try to share other users’ posts. It’s important to be active on social media.
After that, I work on my clients’ stories and respond to student questions and assignments. I’m a children’s ghostwriter and online author-writer platform instructor with WOW! Women on Writing. I can work as late as 10 p.m. With all this, I’m Editor-in-Chief of Writers on the Move and work to keep that website running smoothly.
I also squeeze time into the week to write articles for my website, guest posts, and submissions. In addition, I publish reprints of previously written articles to a number of sites I contribute to.
And, when I have the time, I work on my own writing projects and study writing and marketing to keep building my skills.
WHAT’S YOUR WORK SETUP LOOK LIKE?
My work setup is simple: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Laughingbird software to create my own images, and Powtoons to create my own animations. I also use WordPress management system to create and maintain my own websites and for those of a few website clients.
WHAT DO YOU DO OR GO TO GET INSPIRED?
As a writer, inspiration is all around me. As a marketer, I read a lot on marketing, specifically content marketing, and inbound marketing. And, I’ve taken a number of writing and marketing classes. I still take classes and listen to webinars on these topics.
This is especially important for online marketing. The strategies are always changing.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF WRITING OR QUOTE?
I have three favorite quotes:
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
“It’s not what you’ve done that matters, it’s what you haven’t done.” ~ Mark Twain
“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi
WHAT IS THE PASSIONATE PROBLEM YOU ARE TACKLING AT THE MOMENT?
My primary problem is always time. I’m always juggling work projects and students, and it’s never-ending work to keep your business visible and current online.
IS THERE A PRODUCT, SOLUTION, OR TOOL THAT YOU THINK IS A GOOD MATCH FOR YOUR DIGITAL PUBLISHING EFFORTS?
Probably an automated social media marketing tool would be helpful, but they can be time-consuming. I did use SocialOomph but found it took just as much time to schedule posts as it does to share manually.
I’d love a tool that’s super-easy to use that would take my posts, as they’re published on my website, and share them automatically to the FIVE social media accounts I use. But, I wouldn’t want it to have any other access or management ability to my accounts aside from posting my articles.
ANY ADVICE FOR AMBITIOUS DIGITAL PUBLISHING AND MEDIA PROFESSIONALS JUST STARTING OUT?
Going back to quotes, I’d say:
“The harder I work, the luckier I get” ~ Samuel Goldwyn
You’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to learn as you go along and always keep honing your skills – always keep learning.
If I had to narrow my advice down to three keywords, they’d be hard work, perseverance, and patience.
And, you should pay-it-forward. Help others learn the ropes when you can.
