Rob Bignell's Blog, page 227

How to keep your YouTube momentum going

After you���ve made several videos and see more sales and business because of it, you need to keep the momentum going. If you rest thinking you���ve achieved success, you���ll soon find yourself in a situation that will be like you had never posted at all. Remember, more than 300 hours of new videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute. If you put your efforts in park, your success soon will stall.

There are several steps you can take to ensure you don���t lose momentum.

Quality content
Don���t suffer from fatigue and just put out a video to simply have something new posted. If not of high quality, people won���t come back to it. You���ll actually lose momentum! Putting in the effort to ensure quality will be worth it.

Stay short
YouTube viewers tend to prefer shorter videos, which receive more views and comments then longer videos. Videos shorter than 10 minutes generally are considered short while those over that mark are long. Keep producing the optimal length video rather than: 1) putting out an even shorter one just for sake of posting a video; and 2) putting out a longer one because your creativity is brimming and you have more to say.

Post regularly on a schedule
If you have a new video coming out once a week, then make sure it is posted the same minute/hour and the same day of the week every time. Viewers who like your videos will look forward to that day/time and get used to checking out your latest post on schedule. If viewers keep coming back to your site to see if you���ve posted and don���t find anything new, they���ll quickly tire of doing so and find another website that is reliable.

Constantly try new keywords
Producing the best quality video with the most useful (or entertaining) content possible is only part of the equation in standing out among all those videos. You also need to ensure potential viewers can find you. Achieving that requires including the right keywords. Unfortunately, the keywords potential viewers use are wide ranging and can evolve over time. Your challenge is to make sure you���re using the most popular keywords at all times and to constantly incorporate them into your videos and their descriptions.

Remain original
Whatever you do, don���t copy exactly what others are doing simply because they���re more successful. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but copying also is unoriginal and usually not as well done. Instead, remain true to yourself, which is what attracted your current and growing base of followers.

Interact with your viewers
Always thank viewers. Do so as the video ends. Do so when they leave comments. Do so when they respond to your tweets, when they write you fan mail, when they see you in public. You will gain even more die-hard fans who will regularly tell others about you.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Generate business with an online class

One of the best ways for authors to put their book to work for them is to create an online class based on it. For example, if you���ve written a book about how to draw, you could offer an online class on the same topic. Or you might branch out a little; a financial consultant who���s written a book about saving for retirement might deliver an online course on saving for your child���s college education.

Online classes are a powerful revenue engine. You usually can charge $47-$197 based on the length of and demand for the course; if you get 10 people a month to take the course, that���s a gross income of $5640 to $23,640 of income a year. Online classes also can be a powerful lead generator. If you offer consulting services, for example, your course will appeal to those who are extremely interested in what you offer, and some of those who sign up likely will hire you for assistance.

Creating a course is not something you can slapdash together by just writing text to read and questions to answer. Most authors who���ve put together an online course spent about as much time on it as they did writing their book. In many ways, creating a course is writing a book. If your course is based on your nonfiction book, though, you probably won���t need as much creation time.

Design your course using the writing process ��� brainstorm for ideas, create an outline, write a first draft, revise the draft at least a couple of times, and then begin producing it by placing text on a website with photos and shooting video. Before outlining, be sure to review other online courses to see how they are commonly organized; jot down and use ideas you like (such as videos to break up the reading) and nix ideas you dislike (perhaps audio-only portions of the course).

Aim for courses that run at least 30 minutes to three hours; most people are unwilling to pay for a shorter course (Why should they when they probably can watch a free YouTube video on it?) and are unwilling to invest the time in a longer course (Three hours already is quite lengthy in our busy lives!).

While you want to keep your costs down to maximize profits, you also don���t want to sacrifice quality. So, if videos are part of your course but you���ve never put together one before, then you may want to hire someone who has that experience. You���ll also probably need to purchase an app for your website to able to offer an online course, so there also is a small technical learning curve for putting the class together.

Of course, once you create the class, you will need to promote it across several social media platforms, just as you do for your published book. If you don���t, the course largely will go unnoticed. Promote it, however, and if you done a great job putting together a class that interests people, you���ll soon be watching your revenue and book sales climb!

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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No wrong turn: Driver side vs. driver���s side

Sometimes there just isn���t a rule for a grammar dilemma. Such is the case with driver side vs. driver���s side.

Either form is quite common and acceptable in writing. Such is the case with other similar constructions, such as dog collar vs. dog���s collar and passenger side vs. passenger���s side.

No doubt the reason driver���s side and passenger���s side sound like they may be wrong is because the word following the apostrophe s begins with an s. To many people, that���s awkward to say aloud. Indeed, a Google search query for the two terms shows that people prefer driver side, which receives about 11 million more returns than driver���s side. Passengers side also is preferred over passenger���s side by 43 million more hits.

Given this, I recommend dropping the apostrophe s or using whatever the stylebook for your publication advises.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Five Writing Prompts for Science Fiction

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a ���reality��� in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as ���The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life��� or ���The government outlaws books.��� The author then asks ���What if?��� exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture ��� that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating ��� a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance ��� still doesn���t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial antibiotics
What is we engineered artificial microorganisms to serve as antibiotics? Would such microorganisms be better or worse than using nanites to fight disease?

Barnard���s Star colonization
What if Barnard���s Star, an old red dwarf that in 9000 years will be closer to the Sun than Alpha Centauri, had a habitable planet that humans can colonize? The planet would be tidally locked and orbit its star every 5-22 days. 

Emotion sharing
What if while viewing a photo, through direct brain stimulation, you also could experience the emotion that the photo-taker intended? How does society balance the bonding and creative potential of such sharing with the potential for mind control and manipulation by politicians and marketers?

Problem-solving games
What if video games become collaborative efforts to solve problems ��� breaking genomes of new pathogens, locating natural resources, dancing on a pad to generate energy ��� rather than competitive in nature (that is, human vs. human)? When world problems become ���fun,��� how does this change the dynamic of human and cultural relationships?

Senses upgrade
What if humans could receive implants that allows their brains to safely detect electromagnetic radiation outside of their senses, such as radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays? What laws would have to be passed to prevent people from committing crimes against people with upgraded senses?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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9 Ways to Improve Your Writing Style

��� How to establish your own writer's voice 
��� Utilize parallel structure for crisper writing 
��� Avoid committing runaround error in story 
��� Improve writing with ���What do I mean when I say��� 
��� Don't confuse readers with misplaced modifiers 
��� Spunk up your writing with active, strong verbs 
��� Avoid microwaving the souffl�� in your story 
��� Use concrete details to make writing more vivid
��� Be a better writer by empowering your reader
��� BONUS: ���No tale is so good...but can be spoilt in the telling.��� ��� Terence

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Five Great Quotations about Reading

���It���s hard for me to believe that people who read very little - or not at all in some cases - should presume to write and expect people to like what they have written. Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don���t have time to read, you don���t have the time - or the tools - to write.��� - Stephen King

���A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.��� - David Mitchell

���We read to know we are not alone.��� - C.S. Lewis

���Read great paragraphs until their rhythms get stuck in your head.��� - Lily Rothman

���I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us.��� - Franz Kafka

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Writing Problem SOLVED: People keep interrupting me while I���m trying to write

Every time you sit down to write, inevitably you end up saying, ���If only no one were around!���

Distractions from emails to ���Can I have a cookie?��� and from phone calls to ���Honey, could you help me with this?��� always seems to keep you from spending your writing time actually writing.

Well, no more. If you ever plan to get better as a writer let alone finish that novel, you���ll need to make your writing time inviolable.

Fortunately, there are a lot of steps you can take to avoid writing time interruptions.

Set your boundaries
Politely make clear to those who interrupt you that you need to focus on your writing for x minutes each day and that you would appreciate their support. To emphasize your boundary, you may want to close the door if possible and even hang a ���DO NOT DISTURB��� sign if necessary.

Politely enforce your boundaries
Inevitably, some people will test your ���no interruption��� rule. Politely but assertively remind them that this is your writing time and that you will take care of what they need when the session is over. With young children, you may need to offer positive reinforcement, such as gold stars or stickers for each time you are not interrupted.

Get rid of the distractors
Sometimes the problem isn���t others but our own self-discipline. We allow ourselves to be distracted. To avoid that problem, turn off the Internet, turn off the cell phone, turn off the television, even turn off the radio. The only thing you should focus on is your notepad or computer screen as you write.

Soundproof yourself
Noise from outside ��� the kids playing in the backyard as they honor your boundary, the neighbor mowing lawn, the tomcat yowling from the alley, the traffic on the highway in the distance ��� all can drive you nuts when you���re trying to focus on being creative. The solution is simple: wear headphones...with no music coming through them, by the way.

Work away from home
Lastly, if you���re constantly interrupted at home by the teen kids and pesky (but well-intentioned) spouse, find a new place to write. A library is quiet, a coffee shop has great atmosphere, a bench at a city park offers great views. Just ensure your drive there doesn���t cut into your writing time.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Use keywords on your YouTube video page

Creating a great video takes a lot of time and effort. If no one sees it, though, all that work has gone to waste. To ensure that doesn���t happen, you need to include the right keywords on the YouTube page where the video is posted.

Keywords are specific words or phrases that describe the content of your page. People looking for information on a search engine type in keywords, hoping to find what they���re looking for. If their search query matches the keywords you���ve placed on your website, you���ll greatly improve the chances that people will find and watch your video.

On your YouTube pages, keywords can appear in multiple locations on the page hosting your video. Among them are the video���s title/name, its description, and tags.

You want to use keywords with high search volumes that are relevant to your video. To determine which keywords are best, begin by using a keyword tool. Several of them exist, including AdWords Keyword Planner, SEO-book.com, and Wordtracker. You only should use recommended keywords that receive more than 300 searches a month, unless you have a really obscure, niche topic. In addition to keyword tools, see what the competition uses. Do that by looking for words frequently used in their channel descriptions and for the commonly used tags. If the competition is receiving a lot of hits, then you also want to use their keywords and tags.

To maximize the number of keywords you can get on your landing page, write a 250-500 words description. Remember that you don���t want your keywords to be obvious but instead should weave them into an accurate and interesting blurb for your video.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Learn More About Self-Publishing: Whether writing a novel or nonfiction, whether planning to print a paperback or an ebook, 7 Minutes a Day to a Self-Published Book guides you through the self-publishing process, from the title page to the index, from designing a cover to formatting your text.

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A positive answer: Adverse vs. averse

Adverse and averse often are confused because both imply something negative while sounding very similar. But as with the way these words are spelled, so there also is a subtle difference in their meanings.

Adverse means unfavorable or harmful, as in Mary suffered an adverse reaction to the medication.

Averse means strongly dislikes or opposes, as in A lifelong Republican, Sam had an averse response to the Democratic speaker.

Now that you know the difference between these two words, editors no longer should have an adverse response to your writing simply because they are averse to poor grammar.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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