Janalyn Voigt's Blog, page 37

Notes to Self: How Many People Does it Take to Fly a Kite Anyway?

Janalyn Voigt

It only takes one person to fly a kite.

Or so it seems.

As you clutch the kite grip and watch the brightly-colored banner flutter and dip above you, it's easy to forget that time you couldn't get your kite in the air without help. Remember that time someone climbed into a tree to unstick your kite for you?

When the day is fine and the wind balmy, it's easy to forget those other times.  It's easy to overlook someone else struggling to get his kite in the air. I hope I never forget to remember what that feels like.

Note to Self: If I try to meet every need I'll exhaust myself, but there are times I can and should help.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Quick Notes: Using Colored Labels in Gmail

Janalyn Voigt

Looking for quick tips to help you make sense of a busy world? So am I! I'll do the legwork, and we can learn together.

Over the next weeks I'll explore some of the features that make gmail a handy tool to help you organize your email and simplify your life. Today we'll explore use of gmail's colored labels.

Take a look at this screenshot of the drop-down box that appears when you click just left of a label in the gmail sidebar. When you click a color in the drop-down box, a colored square will show up beside the label.

You can see how these labels look in the category I have open on the right. (Notice that you can assign more than one label to an email.) If you set up your emails to filter into categories, they'll already be labeled as you receive them. Sorting them into categories becomes quicker with colored labels, especially if you attach meaning to specific colors. As an example, I'll guide you through my own labeling system.

Green: I use this color for my writing groups. Since these groups both charge an annual fee and save me money overall, I use the color of money (green) for them.
Blue: It's commonly known that blue is a like-me color. I assign my social networking categories a blue label.
Orange: Since being organized makes me feel bright, I use orange for all categories pertaining to organizing.
Red: I consider promotion of my upcoming novel, DawnSinger, a top priority, therefore I've assigned red to categories dealing with promotion.
Purple: I use this color for a category that holds correspondence with my publisher.
Brown: If you've ever heard someone deep in thought described as being in a "brown study," you'll know why I assign brown labels to all educational and research categories.
Pale colors: I use pale-colored labels for categories pertaining to secondary functions. For instance, since I consider myself primarily a novelist, I place my blogging, technical and newsletter categories in pale colors.

My labeling system works well for me. You'll want to develop one that works for you. It may take a little trial-and-error, but use of colored labels in your gmail account does help make the daily onslaught of emails just a little easier to manage.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Newsy Notes: 10 Publishing Predictions: #4 More People Will Become Published Writers

Janalyn Voigt

Confused by rapid-fire changes in the publishing landscape? Here's a link to an article covering one of ten publishing predictions I'll cover on consecutive weeks on this blog. I give an analysis of the post and my own take on the prediction.

If the big six NY book publishers (the fat head) today publish 50% of what's sold, and the long tail of thousands of indie publishers comprise the rest, then 10 years from now the fat head will shrink to 10% and the long tail will get both taller and longer. There will be more published authors than ever before, and collectively they will earn record revenues, yet individually the average "published" author 10 years from now will earn less than the average "commercially published" author today. Advantage will go to those with best ability to reach their audience. ~ Jeff Rivera; Smashwords: Book Publishing 10 Years in the Future

Points of Interest to Writers:

The majority (given as 95%) of reading will take place on screens.
There will be fewer bookstores but more books.
The supply chain for books will separate into smaller entities and experience a shake-down.
Most authors will act as independent entities.
Publishing houses will focus less on per-unit sales and more on net profits.
The "head" (6 large NY-based publishers) will shrink and the tail (independent publishers) will get taller and longer.
Authors, publishers and booksellers will abound.
Authors will address a global market.

My take: Bearing in mind that these predictions are from Smashwords, which has a vested interest in self-publishing, I believe publishing is headed in the direction described. I don't believe the 95% figure for reading on a screen. Many people, young and old, won't give up their print books. Still,  a wise writer will keep in mind that the digital book market will grow in the future. At the onset of a disruptive technology such as the advent of e-books, early adopters will ride the wave to success while laggers will have a harder time surviving.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Quick Notes: Save Time and Reduce Clutter with Threaded Conversations in Gmail

I love the way gmail manages conversations. It does take a little getting used to at first, but once you do, you won't want to go back. Here's a brief video that gives a visual of how threads work in gmail.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Notes to Self: When Life Throws a Curveball

In this brief video, Holly Weiss tells how she had to change gears in the middle of her singing career.

Note to Self: Look to life's challenges for new opportunities.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Newsy Notes: 10 Publishing Predictions: #3 Large Publishers will Restructure Themselves

Confused by rapid-fire changes in the publishing landscape? Here's a link to an article covering one of ten publishing predictions I'll cover on consecutive Sundays on this blog. I give an analysis of the post and my own take on the prediction.

So, unless one CEO arises who, I'm appalled to see myself write, lays off about 50% of the workforce and utterly reconstitutes the company (as IBM did 1990-1995) all the aforementioned leads to one significant prediction — that all the giant publishers will be pygmies in ten years, publishing perhaps 100 books a year, all blockbusters or would-be blockbusters, and continually under threat of going out of business.~ Richard Eoin Nash in Publishing Perspectives; 2020 Vision: Publishing Predictions for the Next Decade

Of interest to writers:

Despite the popular notion that smaller independent publishers are unversed in marketing tactics, we fail to realize that larger publishers also lack finesse in this area.
Publishing corporations will downsize and structure themselves more like their smaller, more independent counterparts and produce about 100 books a year, on average.
A lack of entrepreneurial capitalism rather than profit-seeking has been destroying publishing for decades.
Brick and Mortar Bookstore Chains will vanish.
Writers will find ways to be paid despite the passing of big advances.
New technology will displace the e-book. Wise writers will take advantage of new multimodal forms.

My take: I don't entirely agree that all large publishers will downsize to this point, although restructuring to create divisions similar to a smaller publishing model would probably help large publishers survive. I also believe the large bookstore chains will vanish as brick-and-mortar establishments. I suspect they will go online and compete with Amazon, although that may turn out badly for them. Brick and mortar bookstores will still exist but will give way to a different kind of independent bookstore that will offer new technologies as well as traditional books.

Writers, as creative people, will move into new technologies and find new ways to turn a dime.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Viral Notes: Facebook Marketing That Won't Make You Look Like a Jerk

This is a great video with lots of tips for marketing through Facebook without becoming a spammer.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Notes to Self: Lost in a Crowd?

My mother served a healthy portion of Southern manners alongside helpings of black-eyed peas, hominy and cornbread. I learned to put others before myself, to give up the best, to step aside and go last. Factored into this training was the fact that shyness plagued me. You might not guess it now, but as a child I was embarrassed even to breathe.

Given my upbringing, it's not surprising I had no defense tactics for commuting in a crowd to and from my desk job in a Seattle skyscraper. Each morning I donned business clothes and tennis shoes, left my house around 5 am, parked my car and boarded a bus to the ferry terminal. I then joined the herd of commuters riding across Puget Sound to Seattle. At first I tried to find a bit of quiet, but privacy was in scarce supply on the commuter ferry runs. After I disembarked on the Seattle side of the water, I often walked the uphill mile to work rather than press into a crowded bus amongst even more strangers.

Obviously, this experience forced me to confront my shyness. People were everywhere and my survival required I interact with them. But I learned a deeper lesson as the other commuters jostled and stepped in front of me in their rush to leave the ferry. If I let everyone else go first, I'd be the last one off and late to work. Shoving in front of others wasn't my style, but I would take my position in the crowd and hold my ground, sometimes in the face of rudeness. I learned when to go first and when to hold back. I learned where I fit in the crowd.

Note to Self:  There's a place in the crowded publishing landscape for me. While there are times to let others go first, other times I need to hold my ground.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Quick Notes: Why Gmail is Awesome

I'm still learning all the capabilities of my gmail account. In future posts I'll cover some of its best features in detail. Here's an overview:

Emails organized into threads help you better follow a conversation.
Filters that can pre-label, automatically trash, and send specific incoming emails to another email address.
Gmail+ method helps you or others pre-label emails. An example: lets say you have "Education" as a label and want to email an interesting post from a website to yourself. In the "To:" field of the website form, you would type YOUREMAILADDRESS+Education@gmail.com, and the email will show up in the Education folder as well as your Inbox.
Archive without deleting emails. Once archived, emails are out of your inbox but available in a search.
The multi-labeling ability means you can find an email in more than one folder.
Nesting labels helps you manage them.
Color-coordinated labels makes them easier to group.
Canned response capability saves time when you find yourself sending the same information over and over again.
Gadgets let you customize your gmail account.
The Tasks application helps you stay organized and will even import emails directly.
Google Calendar access tab. I find this calendar system an awesome help. I feed multiple calendars to my website to help others find me online.
Google Reader access tab.  A feed reader accessable in one click from my email account is a tremendous benefit.
Google Documents access tab. I use this feature to get files off my local computer. It's possible to share files through Google Documents.
The Pictures tab accesses my Picasa Web Albums.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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Newsy Notes: 10 Publishing Predictions: #2 Motion Comics will Evolve Into a New Form of Entertainment

Motion graphic novels will continue to evolve with the likes of new mobile devices such as the iPad and iPod Touch. They will become a new form of entertainment and something of great value to new and avid comic book fans. ~ Nick Defina; Are Motion Comis on the Rise?

Of interest to writers: Comic books have started branching off in new ways. Publishers have begun using comic book trailers to launch their books. The advent of new technology has made use of motion comics a viable way to tell a story. This will give rise to a new form of entertainment.

My take: I think this prediction is on the nose. Authors, as creative people, will find new ways to promote themselves and their books using motion comics.

© 2010 Janalyn Voigt

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