Nick Thacker's Blog, page 21

Build the Perfect Author Blog – Part 1: Hosting

We need to talk.

Let me ask you a question:

Does your blog’s domain end in .blogspot.com, .wordpress.com, or .typepad.com (or something else along those lines)?

If it does, this post is for you.

Now, I’m not one to yell and rant and rave, but seriously –why?

I’m sure your writing is fantastic.

I’m sure your blog posts are coherent, thoughtful, and put together well.

I’m sure your readership enjoys what you have to say.

But if you’re operating with a free blog, you’re missing out on a goldmine of an o...

Episode 8: Offline Marketing

Marketing a book is a lot like marketing anything else — there’s a certain tradeoff between money invested and time spent. It’s usually a spectrum: on one side, you’ve got paid marketing (like ads, commercials, etc.), and on the other side you’ve got (essentially) free stuff (like word-of-mouth and in-store appearances).

For example, you can run a great marketing campaign by buying loads of TV ads, billboards, and magazine spreads. Or, you can focus on “grassroots” or “guerrilla” marketing tac...

How to Write Your First Novel with Scrivener

Oh, how naive we are when we first start to write a book.

It all seems so simple until you begin to consider the enormous task that stands before you. I was naive and I bet you were too. One of the silly assumptions I made was that I could open up a Word Document and start my masterpiece.

Six years later I have a fully finished novel (Beyond Parallel), but I wouldn’t be here without a piece of software that literally saved my life. That software isScrivener, and it’s something I know Nick treas...

The LiveHacked.com Power 100 – The 100 Best Blogs for the Modern Writer

This is the post I’ve wanting to talk about for the past six months. It’s taken me at least that long to compile it, organize it, rank, and prepare it, not to mention the hours of personally emailing each blog owner to thank them for their writing, time, and effort.

In a word, this post is a doozy. I hope you’ll agree.

What is the “Power 100?”

So far, the “Power 100″ is an ongoing collection of blogs that I’ve used, recommended, read, and shared since I started my writing journey years ago. You’...

A Silly Robot’s Guide to Writing Sci-Fi: Part 2 – Planning

Note from Nick: This is a guest post from areallygood friend (like, “stood-in-my-wedding-and-I-in-his” sort of friend). So there. He’s a great writer, an awesome storyteller, and he makes a mean Southern-style cornbread (the only kind).

I’ll admit it:

I am most definitely a ‘pantster’.

However, that doesn’t always work to my advantage. More often than not, I find myself stuck at some critical juncture in the story. That’s the point where I think, “…hmm…should have planned a little more…”

When I d...

Why Marketing to the Masses is Stupid

My best friend in high school, Josh, and I used to dream up business ideas and creative endeavors. It was a young man’s game, but it was fun and kept us engaged in all-night debates and arguments.

When we left for college and went our separate ways, we’d hang out a few times over breaks and summers, and the usual all-nighters would commence.

Once such night, Josh proposed an idea to me:

A movie studio.

Not just any movie studio, mind you. Josh’s idea was ground-breaking: his movie studio would pr...

Episode 7: Use “Drip” Marketing

At my previous full-time job, marketing jargon was thrown around like candy at Halloween.

“Synergistic outreach programs.”

“Customer-centric metrics.”

“Well-SEOd content.”

Most of these terms weren’t “real,” they were just the most descriptive (albeit abstract) ways of explaining something we were about to start doing. My role in all of it was usually on the SEO or content-creation side of things, but when we pow-wowed about “how to reach our mailing list in the most effective way,” my input was...

The Top 10 LiveHacked.com Goals for 2013

Okay, this is it — the “resolution” post. I figured there’s no better way to end the Top 10 Top 10 series than with one that ties in perfectly with the new year.

So that’s what this post will be: the “New Years’ Resolution” list for LiveHacked.com. We’re moving onto new servers, building new income streams, and even rolling out a few products and services, and I’ve tried to include them on this list. Also note that the goal is for allof 2013, so we have until December 31, 2013 to “win.”

#10. Th...

The Top 10 Non-LH.com Blog Posts

To finish off this list of “Top 10s,” I wanted to include the top 10 posts of 2012 as they inspired, guided, and educated me.

While most will be useful to many of you, understand that they’re from my RSS feeds and therefore might be relevant to me. That said, they’re from a few different categories that directly pertain to this blog’s audience — writing, self-publishing, productivity, and learning.

There were manygreat posts to choose from, and it was pretty close to impossible to narrow it dow...

The Top 10 LiveHacked.com Posts of 2012

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to celebrate the last 10 days of 2012 with a special 10-day series. I’m calling it Top 10 Top 10, as it will be 10 “top 10″ lists in a row.

These lists will comprise the “best of,” “worst of,” and “notable” things, books, blogs, blog posts, and other random stuff that makes up what 2012 was for LiveHacked.com.

Since we got our “official” start this year, it’s been a whirlwind of activity and growth. With it, naturally, came headaches, problems, and related “growth issue...