Pratap Divyesh's Blog, page 43

Short description of the writing process: Beginner’s guide

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. – Anne Lamott

The above quote is quite true, the beginning is absolutely terrible. The first line is the hardest, because you’ll try to impress your readers with a monumental phrase, which – absolutely – must remain imprinted in the reader’s mind and soul, forever.

Nonsense! The first line will always be, if not catastrophic, “at least” lamentable. You will change it – for sure – at least twice. Trust me! Then you have to finish the first page. You finally managed that? Congratulations! You have taken the first step toward immortality: you are about to become a writer.

How satisfied you’ll be when you go on to the second page: “Wow! I wrote the first one!” You will feel like those guys who go to the gym and after two bicep curls with a heavy dumbbell, they look around for approving glances: “Huh? Am I strong, or what?” From now on, however, it’s easier. You know how it is: it’s hard to make your first million, the rest will come by itself (well, maybe… I do not know… but that’s how the story goes). From now on the gaps will begin to fill: the characters outline, the plot, the features, the emotions begin to form…

You will start to create images for the reader, images that will help you penetrate their mind, creating that “state of well-being” that they have been waiting for all day long.

You don’t need to write down simple phrases, but true “verbal paintings”. OK, let me explain for the uninitiated. Let us assume that, in chapter three, I would have used a “flat” description: “Robert came into the room and saw a bed, a cupboard and a table full of fruits”.

Would this description awaken any emotion in you? I’m sure it wouldn’t. It would have been a description like in a “crime scene report”. Instead, you will find the passage in the book describes things quite differently:

“As soon as he went in, Robert noticed with amazement the huge canopied bed which dominated the entire room. He then saw the wardrobe, the table and chairs, all drenched in the sunlight coming through a wide window.

Clean, fresh air, scented with jasmine and mint could be felt through the room, inviting him to rest. On the table there stood a bowl of fresh fruit which delighted the senses: red apples from the Kingdom of Clouds, big and juicy grapes hand-picked from the hills of Akros, oranges ripened by the warm sun in the Kingdom of Water and all sort of other kinds of fruit that Robert had never seen before.”

Something else, right? Have I transposed you into the room, next to Robert? Already drooling, thinking about the grapes from Akros? Images, images, images… use the details, create the feeling of being there, into the story, sitting at the table with the hero, fighting shoulder to shoulder, suffering with him, laughing together…

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon. – E.L. Doctorow

At one point, it might happen that an ethical issue arises: can I use elements from other books? I admit, I had the same problem, somewhere around page twenty. I found the answer in an article on Bloomsbury Publishing web page, “guilty” of publishing the Harry Potter series: “Renowned writers’ tips for novice writers.” A writer (I apologize, because I don’t remember her name) said that (I quote from memory) “it’s OK to use elements from other sources – books, movies – as long as you create your own story” because “after all the books written throughout history it is very difficult to conceive something new.” She was right. I thought that all the stories (ancient or modern) have dragons, elves, wizards, animals that can talk, heroes who can handle fire or water, magic realms or giants, just as in detective stories, you can find thieves, criminals, cops, detectives…

Having solved this problem, I found myself before another challenge: finding suitable names for places and characters. Whenever I thought of a fancy name I was checking the internet to see if someone else has used that name before. You’ll be amazed: every word YOU “invent” is already out there on the World Wide Web. Because another madman already thought of it, or because it means something in another language, or because they are actual places or persons, about whose existence you had no clue before. Believe me, after a while you will abandon the research and you’ll try to create strange names, without checking anymore, hoping that nobody has ever thought about them.

When – finally – you’ll get rid of all these anxieties, the story will start to flow and you will end up on page one hundred (how happy I was then!), then two hundred, three hundred… depends only on the imagination that you have and the talent to “split hairs in four”.

Finally you will lay out the last word of the book, as the artist puts his last stroke on the canvas. You will smile and you’ll feel a huge satisfaction. It’s that unique moment, when you reach the Everest of self-gratification and you find it worthwhile, because – isn’t it? – all good things have an end.

Even if you don’t succeed publishing your work, my advice is not to give up writing, because:

You fail only if you stop writing. – Ray Bradbury

Contributed as Guest post by Author I.B. George.

The post Short description of the writing process: Beginner’s guide appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Why You Need a Marketing Plan Even With Traditional Publishing

Whether you are self-publishing or signing with a traditional publisher, having a marketing plan is vital for your book’s success. While the importance of an author-driven marketing plan seems obvious if you are self-publishing, it will also have a huge impact on sales if your book is traditionally published. Most traditional publishers will help you with marketing, but, unfortunately, this probably won’t be enough for you to just sit back, relax, and watch your book climb to the bestseller list.

Building an online platform, actively seeking out book signings, promoting your book on social media, and using your own connections to spread the word about your book can make the difference between a success and a flop. These are things that you, and only you, can do. If you have the budget, you might consider hiring a publicist to help you with this.

Ultimately, you are the best person to get out and market your book. And who could be better to promote a book than the author?

Here are 3 links about how to develop a marketing plan and why you should have one:

The Write Life: What’s Your Book Marketing Plan? 6 Crucial Steps to Include

The Creative Penn: Marketing Your Book

Jane Friedman: 3 Things Your Traditional Publisher Is Unlikely to Do

You can also find this post on my blog, Aspire: Begin Your Writing Journey, along with more blog posts and resources to help you on your writing journey.

The post Why You Need a Marketing Plan Even With Traditional Publishing appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

eBook covers, book trailers and content for social media

Independent authors can feel like they have been left to fend for themselves when it comes to promoting their work online. Instead of spending their precious time writing, they have to self promote, struggling to create content that fully realises the potential of their novel, short story or poem.

I’d like to offer my services as a content creator. eBook covers, book trailers and content for social media are my bread and butter. I’ll create your cover for an affordable price, and you can expect a matching trailer animated with music, also at little cost compared to the big promotion companies.

Using photo composition, we are able to create professional eBook covers. We use a variety of photo editing techniques to create dynamic, colourful and creative custom eBook covers.

We want your book’s cover to fit your imagination. To do this we ask you to supply the following:

Book Title
Author name
Any other text (awards, recommendations, quotes)
Main colour and accent colour (can be supplied as a name or specific colour code)
Current cover (if you have one)
Inspirational images/covers (help us understand what you want visually)

The more information you supply will mean the cover we send will better match the one in your mind’s eye.

If you’re interested, visit our site at www.klcarter.co.uk or send an email to info@klcarter.co.uk.

The post eBook covers, book trailers and content for social media appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

An Example On Where Stories Come From

My most recently published short story begins with someone getting punched in the face. At the time I felt like I was getting punched in the face by life— and maybe cracked over the back with a Louisville slugger for good measure. A little melodramatic? Maybe, but channeling that feeling worked for the story.

I had been working with a production company on a television pilot for eight months. The project was an original that I had pitched after they had read one one of my scripts. I had written several extra drafts of the pilot after what I would have considered to be a finished script just to make everyone happy, all while being reassured by everyone involved that the pages were great and that the process was closing in on pre-production. I turned in my last draft on Monday and waited for the phone call that was guaranteed to come on Friday, which then became next Monday, which became Friday again but it was absolutely going to be on Friday morning which was exciting because morning calls are the calls where good things happen. The call came on Friday afternoon with the news the project was being put on hold.

It’s a strange feeling being able to measure exactly how much of your time— especially such a large portion— was wasted only to see it hobble to such a milquetoast conclusion. You get punched, your breath wheezes out of you like a spent chew toy, and you crumble down to the mat and get lost in the ceiling lights. My immediate solution was to think of more series ideas; smaller ones that would be light on the budget and attention grabbers. I scrambled out more ideas and demanded another meeting. I reminded the company that we had a great working relationship and they should hear me out on some other concepts. That meeting was like the previous eight month experience, condensed into a half hour. I went home despondent and restless. The thing that I had based my day-to-day around— and my future— was gone. I looked over my pitches, never wanting to write another script ever again. There was one, however, that I hadn’t pitched. It was also my favorite idea of the new bunch but a part of me deep down knew that the second pitch meeting was a quixotic last grasp at something that was never going to happen. Pitching the last concept just wouldn’t have been worth it.

The series idea was about struggling female pro-wrestler on the independent circuit, working week to week out of high school gyms and wherever else they can put a ring together and get people to show up. The show was more about dreams— obscure dreams, why we pursue them, and the mentality behind chasing something that just seems to hurt you. I think that was something I understood pretty well at the time.

I wrote the first line just like how I would have started the show, only with permission to be myself and explore the happier part of writing in free expression. It wasn’t a show or even a novel, it was doing something different and deciding to look at the world a little differently. The whole process of the damn show was about getting knocked on my back, finding my story and the best way to tell it was getting up before the 10 count.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Simon Nagel

The post An Example On Where Stories Come From appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Make Your Story An Easy Read – Some simple suggestions

The storyline in anything you write—whether fiction or nonfiction—needs to be written in a language and style that enhances the reader’s experience. My own first drafts rival the work of a first grader—messy, scrawled notes in the margins, scratched-out words. Here are some simple suggestions to help you clean up that first draft:

—Choose every word carefully. Prefer strong verbs to weak nouns. Check for the correct conjugation and tense of verbs. Use a simpler word in place of one that’s extravagant, not instantly defined, and/or hard to pronounce.

—Always prefer brevity over verbosity or wordiness. Cut any adjectives and adverbs not needed, and eyeball as suspicious even those you’ve spared in your prose. And take care where you place every word, particularly active verbs. Placing them at the end of your sentence gives your prose a little punch, keeping that particular word fresh in the reader’s mind, and can also be an effective lead-in to your next sentence.

—Punctuation is important, too. If you start seeing too many commas, it may be time to shorten or completely rewrite that long-winded sentence. Go easy on the exclamation marks. Same thing for the em dash (not to be confused with the en dash or the hyphen)—as well as typing in caps for emphasis. Be creative AND sparing in your prose.

—The bottom line (clichés should be avoided as well) here is to not clog your reader’s mind with superfluous fluff. It will slow their pace at reading, delaying the story, and just outright annoy them, maybe even get the pages to your masterpiece shutdown. If a single word or punctuation mark can’t carry its full weight on the page, take out your editor’s knife and start carving. And no matter how much that extraneous part of your work screams at you to be left alive, don’t fall for it. Have no sympathy. Keep cutting without mercy–and snuff those little darlings.

—And finally, If you can say what you want to say in ten words or three, choose the three-word option. Remember, you want brevity, clarity, and in the end, an easy-to-read story for your reader. Your task as a writer is to create and communicate effectively, in short, to take the single, flat dimension of a page and turn it into a three-dimensional world that your reader wants to be held hostage to.

This post is contributed as Guest post by R.E. Vaughn

The post Make Your Story An Easy Read – Some simple suggestions appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Anonymity for Authors – Are Pseudonyms Necessary or Attainable?

Pseudonym’s may have become an accepted part of literature and the arts, from the likes of respected authors such as Mark Twain (real name Samuel Longhorn Clemens) and Stephen King (real name Richard Bachman) to modern day music moguls and actors such as Lady Gaga (real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) and Kirk Douglas (real name Issur Danielovitch Demsky) yet a lot of questions still linger around the seemingly strange decision to change your name.

When referred to as a ‘stage name’ it’s easy to assume that some names are created purely for commercial intentions, either because the artist’s birth name is difficult to pronounce or a new alliterative and carefully constructed name is easier to market and recall. I know that I never forget the names Whoopi Goldberg (real name Caryn Elaine Johnson)or Agatha Christie (real name Mary Westmacott) but what if an author wants more than just a memorable name of which to write under? What if an author wants to use a name for true anonymity? Is it really possible?

Historically books have been written anonymously or under assumed identities when controversial, put simply, for the authors safety, but in recent times when freedom of speech and expression are so valued, do authors still need the protection? Unless you’re writing about your evil plans to end humanity, even then you’d probably just be considered insane and dismissed in the minds of most rational thinking people, unless massively offensive you probably don’t need to be covert to such an extent. Proven in the fact that many authors although use a pen name are more than happy to print a picture of themselves on their work; but what about those who do want to remain anonymous?

The media has brought with it a culture of celebrity and a sense of public possession over the identities and lives of acclaimed authors and stars alike and so I can’t help but wonder if name-less-ness is nothing more than a dream. Add defamation lawsuits into the mix and it’s no surprise that many authors decide to change names and places in their works too, but then are we rewriting history if we’re changing all names, descriptions and accounts of events? Where do we draw the line between sensitivity for privacy and the moral implications of changing details in so-called ‘non-fiction’?

As an author myself I enjoy the freedom that comes with not using my real name, knowing that you can’t type the name I use daily into google and find my most personal thoughts and secrets allows my work to be more honest and that can only be a good thing-right? I’m not famous by a very long stretch and while I don’t necessarily think I ever will be, there’s always the ‘what if’ fantasy that comes to mind when I consider the possibility. If I did become well known, would the simple change of name that internet submissions permit be enough? I feel safe now in the knowledge that I can be an author online and still have my own life outside of that but could it really last if people actually looked a little deeper?

When asked what people want to achieve in their lifetimes, I think many of us would like to leave a legacy behind as an ‘X was here’ stamp on the world, people would like to be remembered and missed. The question then posed is if we decide to remain anonymous, are we really remembered; is our work being remembered enough? I think of writers such as J.K Rowling, famous for using multiple pseudonyms, who will always be synonymous with the Harry Potter books and what an amazing honour that must be but then remember that her personal life will always be public domain, and it doesn’t seem as glamorous. I wonder if she’d remained anonymous, would her mark on the world have been as satisfying for her? We all enjoy a pat on the back for a job well done and as a writer this should be enough, I wonder if leaving the mark ‘Harry Potter Author was here’ would have been enough.

Some of us write so personally that we couldn’t stand the thought of our faces becoming recognisable to the world, those authors are which are biographical but want to keep our lives liveable day to day. For some it goes further than a change of name and for them anonymity is desired. Look at musician Sia, she wears huge wigs and gasses to conceal her identity because she wants her work to stand alone, she wants her life to be liveable, but if you did some basic searches online, you’d find hundreds if not thousands of images and details of the real her. Granted she probably doesn’t go to the length she probably could do to conceal her identity, she occasionally goes to smaller awards ceremonies a herself, but even if she didn’t, public desire to unveil the mystery of someone that people feel a possession over drives the media to hunt her down and get those photo’s and details that are oh-so-profitable.

As children we played dress-up, pretended to be others and assumed different identities for fun but when did an innocent game of dress-up turn into an MI5 cover-up operation? When do we have to make the decision between having a successful writing career or maintaining a life that’s just ours but being unfulfilled? For some, they simply cannot choose hence the need for; pen names, stage names, pseudonyms and pictures of others on the sleeves of their books, then though you must wonder if choosing this middle alternative is really a good substitute for a fulfilling writing career. Is it even possible?

There’s no short or easy answer but it boils down to two choices;

First choice: shoot for the stars, knowing that if you do reach them the whole world will likely have all eyes on you both when you reach them and when you return to earth.

Second choice: remain small scale, accept that your mark on the world may be lessened as the price for privacy but still gaze up at the night sky every so often in your own peaceful back garden in suburbia.

For me personally, I have a thing for star gazing on a calm night, but for others, the pull of the bright twinkling lights proves too strong and while some will embark on the most amazing adventure of their lives, too many will be burnt by what is in reality a hazardous mass of flames.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Renee Bailey

The post Anonymity for Authors – Are Pseudonyms Necessary or Attainable? appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Am I doing this right?

There is a hidden enemy for the independent author, a stumbling block, based on a misconception. There seems to be a feeling of, “I have to do everything right if I want to be a famous writer!”

Oy.

Self-publishing is the new wild west. The only hard and fast rule I have come across is, “There are no hard and fast rules.”

Why? Because the fabulous access to the information superhighway has given everyone keys to the publishing kingdom. Those keys used to be guarded by a handful of publishing companies. Now that direct publishing companies are ubiquitous, anyone can publish anything. Trotting a product out is now, relatively, easy.

I have shifted my focus from giving publishers something they want to see to putting out a damn good book. When the dust settles, the person who used the correct em dash, en dash, or hyphen will not be nearly as important as who wrote a really great book.

To be fair, I do know people who are over-officious and will put down a book if someone italicized something that should have been underlined.  I was asked by someone recently if I used em dashes or en dashes. My reply? “Cool people don’t think about things like that.”

I’m not saying we should throw grammar to the four winds. Punctuation and spelling are there for clarity. Really well structured reading (including grammar and punctuation) serves one main purpose- it makes life easier for the reader. You want the reader to “get it”. Sloppy editing can make things jarring for an unsuspecting reader.

I use an editing service (because my mechanical skills are a little pathetic) to make sure my books are coherent. The difference between, “Let’s eat, Grandma.” and “Let’s eat Grandma.” Is important…especially to Grandma. I also use beta readers.

Beta readers are the unsung heroes of my publishing journey. I use Facebook to get my readers. I send out a blanket inquiry to my friends. “Hey, does anyone want to read my new book and give me some feedback?” People reply that are interested. Then I privately message them and ask them if they will pay particular attention to one aspect of the book that coincides with their natural inclinations. My friend Kim is my go to for continuity. She always catches that one time I mean Sally but I write Sarah. My friend Lars is great for pointing out archaic or awkward language. The cool thing about beta readers is, they point stuff out but you are under no obligation to take their advice. There is no risk and vast reward.

My books have done quite well. I published my first novella 2 years ago. I have published 3 novellas and 3 novels in those two years. If not for my beta readers, it would have been disastrous. I have not written these books “right”. I have crafted entertaining books that people are reading. Most importantly, I am proud of my books and I didn’t have to stress out to get them in the hands of readers.

Indie publishing is going to continue to change. I think people that are not malleable enough in their approach are going to be swept away in the oncoming cyber-tsunami. If you roll with the changes, you’ll have a better chance of surviving…you might also be in a position to enjoy the process.

This post is contributed as Guest post by Andrew (Drew) Sutherland

The post Am I doing this right? appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Should heroes be role-models?

What do you expect?

Some people expect a lot from fictional heroes.  Of course, some people expect a lot from their real-life heroes too. They are usually disappointed.  Real people, even the ones who are rightly admired, all have their faults.  I am often amazed when I hear of people being shocked to discover that Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Richard the Lionheart and even Mother Theresa had their unpleasant attributes.  They all made mistakes too.  Does any of that prevent us remembering them with admiration or affection? I say it does not.  It means they were real.  They remain heroes.

What of fictional heroes?

Some authors do create heroes who appear to be morally faultless.  They also create them with amazing abilities in almost every respect.  Strong, clever, athletic, tough, resilient, quickthinking and good at just about everything they are called upon to do.  I have noticed that TV and film adaptations are often to blame for ‘improving’ heroes.  James Bond seems more human in the books.  So does Richard Sharpe.

What about the Bible?

Jesus is the ultimate role-model for Christians.  Apart from him, all the characters in the Bible are shown as people with shortcomings, in some cases serious ones.  Even the best of them.  We should read warnings in the stories as well as seeing things to copy.

What of my characters?

I try to make all my characters as credible as possible, which means they are not perfect, but I hope you will find them likeable.  Apart from the villains.  But even they need to have some good qualities if they are to be realistic.  Besides, if the villain was all-bad, you would be able to tell right from the start.  Not much mystery or suspense there.

Billy and Bethan are hardly role-models.  Robbing coaches is not a thing I commend as a career.  They both fall short of the ideal when it comes to their sexual morality too.  I hope, however, that you will be able to identify with them, at least to some extent, and see the good in them, while hoping they will find a way out of the lifestyle they have fallen into.  Whether they do, you will have to read the book to see but some things will not be resolved until the sequel.  Real life is often like that.

The post Should heroes be role-models? appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

How to write a (fantasy) novel

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.  (Anne Lamott)

The above quote is quite true, the beginning is absolutely terrible. First line is the hardest, because you’ll try to impress your readers with a monumental phrase, which – absolutely – must remain imprinted in reader’s mind and soul, forever.

Nonsense! First line will always be, if not catastrophic, “at least” lamentable. You will change it – for sure – at least twice. Trust me! Then you’ll have to finish the first page. You managed it in the end? Congratulations! You have taken the first step toward immortality: you are about to become a writer.

What satisfaction you’ll have when you’ll go on the second page: “Wow! I wrote the first one!” You will feel like those guys who go to the gym and draw a heavy dumbbell twice, then looked around for approving glances: “Huh? Am I strong, or what?” From now on, however, it’s easier. You know how it is: it’s hard to do your first million, the rest will come by itself (well, maybe … I do not know … but I heard from others that that’s so it works). From now on the gaps will begin to fill: the characters outlines, the plot, the features, the emotions…

You will start to create images for the reader, images that will help you penetrate his mind, creating that “state of well” that he/she has been waiting all day long.

You don’t need to write down simple phrases, but true “verbal paintings”. OK, let me explain for the uninitiated. Let us assume that, in chapter three, I would have used a “flat” description: Robert came into the room and saw a bed, a cupboard and a table full of fruit.

This description will awaken any emotion in you? I’m sure not. It would have been a description like in a “crime scene report”. Instead, you will find the passage in the book describe things quite differently:

As soon as he went in, Robert noticed with amazement the huge canopied bed which dominated the entire room. He then saw the wardrobe, the table and chairs, all drenched in the sunlight that flew into the room through a wide window.

Clean, fresh air, scented with jasmine and mint could be felt through the room, inviting him to rest. On the table there stood a bowl of fresh fruit which delighted the senses: red apples from the Kingdom of Clouds, big and juicy grapes hand-picked from the hills of Akros, oranges ripened by the warm sun in the Kingdom of Water and all sort of other kinds of fruit that Robert had never seen before.

Something else, right? Have I transposed you into the room, next to Robert? Already salivating, thinking about the grapes from Akros? Images, images, images … use the details, creating to the readers the feeling of being there, into the story, sitting at the table with the hero, fighting shoulder to shoulder, suffering with him, laughing together…

Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.  (E.L. Doctorow)

At one point It will happen to have an ethical issue: can I use elements from other books? I admit, I had the same problem, somewhere around page twenty. I found the answer in an article on Bloomsbury Publishing web page, “guilty” of publishing the Harry Potter series: “Renowned writers’ tips for novice writers.” A writer (I apologize, because I don’t remember her name) said that (I quote from memory) it’s OK to use elements from other sources – books, movies – as long as you create your own story because after all the books written throughout history it is very difficult to conceive something new. She was right. I thought that all the stories (ancient or modern) have dragons, elves, wizards, animals that can talk, heroes who can handle fire or water, magic realms or giants, as in detective stories, you can find thieves, criminals, cops, detectives…

Having solved this problem, I found myself before another challenge: finding suitable names for places and characters. Whenever I thought of a fancy name I was looking on the internet to check if someone else has used that name. You’ll be amazed: every word you invent, you will find it on the internet. Because another madman already thought to it, or because it means something in another language, or because they are actual places or persons, about whose existence you had no clue. Believe me, after a while you will abandon the research and you’ll try to create strange names, without check them anymore, hoping that nobody had ever thought about them.

When – finally – you’ll get rid from all these anxieties, the story will start to flow and you will end up on page one hundred (how happy I was then), then two hundred, three hundred… depends only on the imagination that you have and the talent to “split hairs in four”.

Finally you will lay out the last word of the book, as the artist puts his last stroke on the canvas. You will smile and you’ll feel a huge satisfaction. Is that unique moment, when you’ll reach the Everest of self-gratification and you’ll find it worthwhile, because – isn’t it? – all good things have an end.

Even if you’ll not succeed to publish, my advice is to not give up writing, because You fail only if you stop writing. (Ray Bradbury)

Good luck!

This post is contributed as Guest post by I.B. George.

If you want to chat more about this or something else visit: Authors Goodreads

The post How to write a (fantasy) novel appeared first on Being Author - Authors & Book Writers BLOG to Simplify Publishing.

Living in a fast and furious Digital Marketing World

Since the inception of  digital marketing, the landscape has changed the way we socialize advertise. Facebook/Amazon/google/twitter/ to name a few burst onto the scene  taking  up a lion’s share of income revenue stream from giant conglomerates.

We live in a world where our business survival depends on information and implementation of the  knowledge attained.It’s either embrace cyberspace or suffer financial consequences .

Based on a survey written by knoxweb.com the web is responsible for 2.2 trillion dollars in sales  accounting for 64% of all in-store sales. If that figure isn’t enough to  get your juices flowing check this statistic out .

There 2.7 million blog post published every day (Knoxweb.com) , more than 2.9 billion people use google search daily (knoxweb.com)

By the year 2017 sources say there will be more traffic on the internet than in all other years combined (source Knox web)

As you can see There is enough Low-hanging fruit and liquid going around to wet your appetite but you have to incorporate a few techniques and formulas in order to surf the wave  .

Below are a list of assets that you need now:

Communication

Learn how to convey your message effectively. Throughout  our day to day movements, we are involved in conversations about various things. I know it sounds common but it is a tool that we as business owners/affiliates/marketers  under-use.

Allow  me to draw an analogy,there are 3.26 billion human beings using the internet,facebook has 1.55 billion.Time to Remove the mist from our eyes and start using these platforms to engage with our demographic audience.

Skillsets

At times you will be gungho on your quest  to accomplish  money making goals, Yes I said it “money making” because it is tossed around the web  as if it can be accomplished with the snap of a finger with very little thought.It is not hard but more so an art.Before I drill down  a little deeper take into consideration that 70 % of marketers lack a consistent or integrated content strategy Altimiter.

The greatest asset to have  is the ability to resolve. Whilst I have seen,heard my fellow affiliates dialogue,they seem to place more  emphasis on curation and endurance when in fact there should be a balanced mix of intent /creation/dedication.Intent Is When oneAnalyzes issues based off of quantifiable data , personal feedback and responds accordingly.

Tools are essential to help achieve our goals in the world of commerce tooFor instance,I am guilty of  not having  a lead  capture page  ,the very instrument I need to capture my prospects email/phone number.

What will happen if you show up to change a car tire without levers /wrenches /tire plugs ,Your job will be much harder.Fortunately ,the tools   needed for our Ecommerce needs are  downloadable no  lifting required , an investment of time and money.

Take a look at what specific mindset and utensils are needed to help you cope in an era of  social media  supremacy.

Auto- Responder:

An auto responder hosts your email list and gives you the affordability to craft emails to your audience on auto pilot depending on your preference while you attend to the daily routine of your life.

Focus:

Distractions ,spam,scams are a part of the package so we have got to navigate by having a detailed plan in place as to what we want to achieve and how best can we go about doing it.

Before I drill a little deeper take into consideration that 70 % of marketers lack a consistent or integrated content strategy Altimeter.

Focus and strategy Compliment Each-other .

Personally, I need to boost my strategy too so there is no need to feel as if your the only person that needs to buck up.

Consistency:

Monday you are kicking ass online Tuesday your kind of sluggish nothing seems to blend. This is a problem that all marketers face as we are imperfect . Fortunately, we can remedy the issue,As we tons of information floating around to cure the problems.

The focal point is solution orientated. Yes, it takes the time to measure/read data/research but doing so enables you build authority and become a trusted source.

How do you feel about digital marketing ? Feel free to comment share your thoughts.

This Post is contributed as Guest Post by Jamel Hassell

 

 

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