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Linchpin Book Review: The Pursuit of Indispensable

Charles — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:44:58 +0000

Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin, gets right to the heart of the matter with this question: Are You Indispensable?

The essence is this: Within each of us is a brilliant and generous artist, but fear and social conditioning stops us from realizing it. Linchpin challenges us to identify and overcome this resistance by pursuing the virtue of being indispensable.

Rather than serving as yet another guidebook on how-to-succeed-in-life-and-business, Linchpin constantly strives to empathize. Seth’s quirky, potent style serves as the catalyst that urges us to rethink our daily slouching and self-distractions.

I found myself relieved to know that I’m not the only one who’s deeply frustrated by:

so many people who settle for ‘mediocre obedience’: cheap, ordinary and easy to replicate
4-Hour Work Week business models that “scale fast, without regard for finding, nurturing and retaining linchpin talent”
products, programs and attitudes made merely for money, without consideration to human connectivity

And encouraged to hear:

that “the market for truly exceptional is better than ever”
“If the rules are the only thing between me and becoming indispensable, I don’t need the rules.”
that the easier something is to quantify, the less it’s worth.

Linchpin delivers some much-needed optimism in world of con games, factory mentality and turning cheetahs into house pets. It also serves an excellent treatise on art. Seth says the definition of art is a personal gift that changes the recipient.

Art isn’t just about paintings or museums. It’s anything that’s creative, passionate, personal and takes emotional labor. Art has no value unless it ships, which means at some point your art must collide with the outside world. Herein lies the challenge.

The reason we have so much trouble creating and shipping art is because we have something Seth calls the “lizard brain.” This lizard brain is essentially our survival mechanism, wanting nothing more than for us to be safe, average and predictable.

The problem we encounter when trying to connect with our inner artist is that we rely too much on being told what to do and how to do it. This self-defeating behavior describes why so many people feel stuck and miserable in their lives and work, constantly pursuing what appears to be the quick and easy answer to their problems, the magic formulas, the so-called roadmaps to success. (“There is no map,” notes Seth.)

Linchpins recognize the lizard and work tirelessly to bring about meaningful change through gifting their art to others. This line from the book sums it up:

It’s far more useful to be able to answer the kind of question for which using Google won’t help.

Linchpin is awesome and Seth Godin is an ally. Never before have I read a book that so brazenly yet gracefully articulates the artistic and intellectual shortcomings of our time while working earnestly to help us overcome them.

And it couldn’t have been published at a better time.

My advice to you: buy Linchpin now and read it immediately — under $20 and worth every penny (affiliate link). You should be able to pick it up and understand it at any stage of your personal evolution.

Linchpin Book Review: The Pursuit of Indispensable is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way

Charles — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:11 +0000

Scribe SEO is a paid Wordpress plugin with a catchy name that helps your content rank higher in search engine results.

With a click of a button, your content is analyzed and given a score based on its structure and keyword density. If your score is less than 100%, Scribe will tell you exactly what to do to make it higher.

The higher your score, the better chance you have of ranking. Think of it like having a personal SEO consultant look over your content every time you publish something.

It really works.

I’ll make a long story short: the day after I installed Scribe SEO and optimized this blog’s most popular post, I saw its ranking in Google go to #1 from #3.

Keep in mind that a number one ranking in Google is like the difference between an Olympic gold medal and a bronze…or no medal at all. It means you’re considered a top authority for a given search term, which could be a really big deal.

So even though the post was good enough to get to #3, it wasn’t perfectly optimized. Scribe SEO did all of that behind the scenes with a click of a button.

Scribe is for writers who don’t like SEO.

ScribeSEO is pretty forgiving on people who love to write but hate to optimize. It has a rather pleasant way of eliminating the fear, impatience, frustration, confusion or anger you may feel about SEO.

What I like about Scribe is its simplicity and ease of use. It merely suggests you place the right amount of keywords in the right places. Nothing tricky about that.

It also has a few other perks, such as keyword analysis (shows you which keywords you’re targeting), search engine results page (SERP) preview and my favorite — tags, which gives you a list of suggested tags to use on your post.

The happy ending with Scribe is that you never have to worry about compromising the integrity of your writing. For writers, this is everything.

It’s not the kitchen sink, thank goodness.

I’ve explained before why SEO is a complex but necessary discipline. People build their entire careers around it.

A more robust SEO strategy relies on other things like inbound links, domain authority and site structure, and this is where Scribe falls short. It only covers the words on your page.

As a writer and editor who leans on the creative side, I don’t have the time, energy or resources to commit to anything but the words on my page. I mostly adhere to these 5 simple SEO rules.

Here’s the Link to Buy Scribe

Click here to buy Scribe SEO (affiliate link). There is also a free trial version available.

Scribe is priced as a monthly subscription service. It’s available in 3 different price levels based on how many content evaluations you’re given per month: Starter (30 evaluations @ $27), Publisher (120 @ $47) and Advanced (300 @ $97).

The Starter is perfect for one-person blogging operations. The Publisher and Advanced options are ideal if you have clients. There are no limits to how many websites you can install Scribe on.

Last thing: Scribe SEO works with Wordpress sites that run the Thesis Theme, Hybrid theme, Headway theme and the (free) All in One SEO plugin. Support for Microsoft Word, Joomla, Drupal and Moveable Type are due in the coming months.

Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers

Charles — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:30:54 +0000

For the sake of clarity, the term “creative writer” in this article refers to anyone who considers their writing a gift of art long before it serves a function of marketing.

Not everyone who blogs or writes online is trying to get a sales lead or talk about their business. And not everyone who reads online is looking for a product, service or idea to solve their problems.

Some writers just want to express themselves more creatively, hoping that—somewhere along the way—a community of impassioned readers take notice.

So it’s understandably frustrating when the web feels like one big marketing machine and the only way to get a respectable search engine ranking is to bend our writing to follow the rules of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). As Jack Johnson sings in Posters:

All caught up in the trends
Well the truth began to bend
And the next thing you know man
There just ain’t no truth left at all

If you’re a creative writer, you need not erase the truth nor corrupt your art to get found. Ranking well in Google and other search engines all starts with basic SEO awareness and a few fundamental on-page SEO techniques.

Here are 5 basic SEO tips to get you started. Keep in mind that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Always Keep Your Reader in Mind

Creative writers tend to struggle with this far more than copywriters, but keeping your reader in mind is the most important rule of SEO.

If you’re trying to attract an audience–which is why I assume you’re reading this—your content has to be either useful or relevant or both to your reader. There has to be something in it for them every time you publish.

The rule is: nobody cares about you until you care about them first. So if you feel like you’re writing solely for, to or about yourself, it’s time to inverse your approach.

Continue to Write Naturally

That’s right, keep being yourself. Artists can thrive using SEO.

Unlike what you may think, Google does not favor writing that sounds artificial — basically stuff that sounds like it’s written for a search engine. Remember — we’re writing for humans.

Keep your writing rich and unique. According to Rand Fishkin of SEOMoz, the quality of your writing is “always the number one most important factor in blog readership, return rate and longevity.”

Stick to One Idea per Post

Think sharp and singular: each piece of writing should cover no more than one main idea. Everything else goes towards supporting that idea.

This is basic and fundamental if you publish on a post-by-post basis, and where some discipline is useful.

Brain Clark of Copyblogger recommends writing the title first, then working off of that. I often like to write first, evolving the idea like sculptor would a sculpture, then distill the title from my finished work.

Calculate Your Keyword(s)

Sticking to one idea per post should leave you with one or two words or phrases to describe it. These words are called your keywords.

Most posts have primary and secondary keywords. You should know what yours are before you write.

Keeping the previous rules in mind, you should still be able to write naturally while focusing your post on your keywords. This is not hard to do once you get used to it.

For example, this primary keywords for this post is “SEO”, and the secondary is “creative writers”. “SEO” is too broad to rank for anything, but “SEO creative writers” narrows it down to something someone might actually search for.

Hopefully we’ll see a top result in Google soon!

Fill Out Your Title Tag and Meta Description

The title tag is one of the most important factors in on-page SEO. This makes perfect sense when you think about the searches you’ve done. The first thing you look at is the title, right?

I’m willing to bet the second thing you look at is the little blurb below the title which describes the page you’re searching for. This blurb is called the meta description.

If you don’t fill out the meta description yourself, Google and the other search engines will do it for you by stitching parts of your post together into something quasi-coherent and sometimes amusing.

Leaving the meta description to Google is a hit and miss strategy. It’s always best to fill it out yourself so you have precise control over how you want to sell the page. Aim for a compact summary of your page, with a maximum of 200 characters (about 30 words) or less.

Some Wordpress themes such as Thesis have title and meta description fields built into the post page. If you don’t have Thesis, you can use the All in One SEO Pack.

***

Up next here on Wordful is a review of the Scribe SEO Wordpress plug-in that ties all this SEO stuff together in a nice clean, no-hassle interface.

Photo by Rita Willaert.

5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Why Creative Writers Need SEO

Charles — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:12:47 +0000

For the sake of clarity, the term “creative writer” in this article refers to anyone who considers their writing a gift of art long before it serves a function of marketing.

Do you ever wonder why the people who are good at getting found on the web are often the ones who can’t write very well?

It’s true, look around you. The web continues to serve up and reward bad writing.

Bad writing drives people like us—who care about the quality and integrity of our writing—to the brink of disgust, and, let’s face it—the fear of obscurity.

Doesn’t seem fair, does it?

The Problem Creative Writers Have with Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A lot of the time we like to imagine our content as being so awesome that people will find it no matter what.

So when it comes to the snarling beast of SEO, we encounter fear and excuses:

It makes no sense
It contaminates the purity of my writing
I can’t afford to hire someone to do it
I don’t like following rules
I don’t have time for it
I’m not a marketer
I do social media, so I don’t need it

SEO excuses aren’t totally unreasonable, but they will ensure you hopeless obscurity for a long and frustrating time. I speak from experience.

The truth is that good writers like you need SEO just as much if not more than bad writers, especially if you’re starting from scratch. Building a base of loyal readers requires visibility beyond the walls of your website and the surrounding villages of your social media.

Often, a good result on the search engine results page (SERP) is all it takes to hook a new loyal fan.

Social Media is Not Everything

As I mentioned in my review of the Thesis Wordpress theme, social media is only half of a writer’s self-promotion strategy — SEO is the other. Social media is fun and great for outreaching to readers, but it doesn’t account for how readers can outreach to you.

SEO is social media’s counterpart. It connects people with your content without them having to know who you are first. Readers don’t always have the patience or desire to socialize. A quick search can get them want they want in a matter of seconds.

As for Twitter search: the 140 character limit has obvious limitations, not to mention you’ll look uncool if all you talk about is yourself and your content.

SEO Can Be Easy

I won’t deny it — SEO is a complex and ever-shifting discipline.

I spent hundred of dollars on Aaron Wall’s SEOBook and SEOMoz Pro Membership, only to find out I have no taste for exhaustive keyword lists, backlink analysis tools and crawl tests. I’m a writer, dammit!

But the truth is you don’t need to buy into those programs to get search engine visibility. They’re expensive and overly comprehensive, designed for people who want to compete for attention in crowded niches.

SEO is much easier to deal with when you’ve got something entirely unique—something personal and artful—to contribute. Something cool and quirky and offbeat and long-tail.

Your content, I assume, goes something like that.

My next post in this 3-part SEO series covers some easy SEO tips for creative writers.

Photo by kennymatic.

Why Creative Writers Need SEO is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Thesis Wordpress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective

Charles — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:32:46 +0000

One of the 2 Wordpress products I’m proud to be an affiliate reseller of is the Thesis Wordpress Theme by DIY Themes (the other is Organic Themes — more on that in a future post).

For a non-code-loving writer and editor like me—and presumably you—the real selling point about Thesis is the no-hassle, back-end control panel that allows you to control its powerful features with deft and ease.

What this means is we never have to look at, let alone touch, steaming piles of PHP, CSS or HTML — just some well-labeled check boxes and the amusing ”Big Ass Save Button” to confirm my changes.

Well-Balanced Readability Design

Any writer, blogger, journalist, editor or publisher worth her salt knows that good readability design is not about flashy, bursting colors or excessive illustrations — it’s about simplicity, elegance, structure and type.

Readability design is where Thesis takes a holistic high-line. The Wordpress theme was built specifically to support the presentation of content, and it does a great job doing so.

Without any alterations, a fresh install of Thesis looks somewhat plain but not ugly. Thanks to some recent upgrades you can now change the colors, add columns, adjust column width, choose your type size, etc. — all through the easy-as-pie visual control panel.

Like, Totally SEO Friendly

Again, if you’re a content maven and have little penchant or patience for web marketing, Thesis has built-in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools.

This is a major feature, mind you, as SEO is the sister discipline to social media when it comes to attracting readers and building your platform (this isn’t always easy to accept, but you must).

Right under your post box are fields to populate a custom title tag, meta keywords and description, nofollow, etc. 2 quick rules of thumb:

Titles are ranked high in search algorithms so keep them concise, unique and specific. Lead the title tag with the most important idea of the post.
Always fill out the meta description. Use it to sell the page in the 1-2 seconds you have with someone scanning it. Keep it to a maximum of 200 characters or about 30 words.

It wasn’t until recently when this blog started ranking in Google for “how to name your blog” that I appreciate the value of SEO.

Customizable to the Hilt

People call Thesis a “framework,” which means if you have an inspired design in mind, chances are it can fit right into Thesis. This means you can use all the publisher-friendly goodies without cramping your style.

The best way to get your design into Thesis is to hire a professional web designer to produce a Photoshop layout of your site, then turn the file over to a Wordpress developer.

There are tons of Wordpress developers out there. Try to find one that works specifically with Thesis — they’re a very passionate bunch and can be found in the Thesis community/support forums (which of course is included with the purchase of your theme).

Take a look at this screen shot of a new Thesis installation and then compare it to this site, which I had customized. You can also check out the official Thesis gallery.

…And It’s Cool

Design and code don’t always mix well with writing content. Or should I say designers and coders don’t always mix well with content writers. We’re just different breeds.

So let me end with this: you know the people behind Thesis (Brian Clark and Chris Pearson) are pretty cool guys when the default 404 error message says this:

You 404’d it. Gnarly, dude. Surfin’ ain’t easy, and right now, you’re lost at sea. But don’t worry; simply pick an option from the list below, and you’ll be back out riding the waves of the Internet in no time.

Hit the “back” button on your browser. It’s perfect for situations like this!

Head on over to the home page.

Punt.

Click here to purchase the Thesis Wordpress Theme. $87 for a single, one-site license or $164 for a developer’s license.

Links in this post are affiliate.

Thesis Wordpress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Editorial Awareness: So You Think You Got It?

Charles — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:42:28 +0000

Editorial awareness is the act of effectively connecting with readers through clear, honest expression and knowledge on a given subject.

To find out if you have it, ask yourself these 3 questions:

Why are you publishing?

In a low-hassle, tech-enabled world, anyone can broadcast themselves far and wide. But that doesn’t mean they should. We need to keep in mind that zero-cost publishing is prime breeding grounds for modern day scammers and false prophets (example: Craigslist).

It’s wiser to assume the high road, where the power to publish is regarded as a gift, a chance to care, an opportunity to extend our voices far beyond our tiny reach.

So, again: Why are you publishing?

What are you publishing?

Does the content you publish scratch below the glossy layers of sales and marketing? Is it art, commerce, or both? These are not always easy questions to answer, but they must be answered.

If every freely available website, blog, landing page, search engine result—piece of content—were examined, we’d suddenly discover that 80% of it would be nothing more than superfluous babble (aka ‘the cesspool‘).

Possessing editorial awareness will inevitably help you attract the people who grow weary of the cesspool.

Who are your readers?

50% of any piece of art is its audience. This means that with every gift of content you publish, you must be empathetic of its recipients, whether they are readers, customers or both.

Here are a few quotes from content guru Gerry McGovern’s Killer Web Content (the link goes to my review of the book):

Genuinely putting the customer first is a winning formula on the web.

Your reader needs to stand beside you as you write.

Try to reach everybody and you will certainly reach nobody.

As the editor of your site, you need a deep understanding of what your readers really care about and want to read about. You must interact with them on a regular basis, listen for what they say and also for what they don’t say.

***

How did your answers turn out? Please share in the comments below.

Editorial Awareness: So You Think You Got It? is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

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3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing

Charles — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:53:56 +0000

As I’ve mentioned before, now is a good time to start a commercial publishing operation. Startup costs are low, marketing is free and of course — great content is always in demand.

The question that has everyone stumped, however, is how to make publishing profitable. Print as we now know it is a slippery slope. Slapped-up Adsense and banner ads aren’t cutting it, either. And those magic, get-rich blogging formulas — so tragically 2008.

Here are 3 models that work. Of course, success with any one of these rely heavily on editorial integrity and what David Meerman Scott calls The New Rules of Viral Marketing.

Ebook

Summary: one-time download designed to solve a specific problem
Editorial: solution-based self-help booklet targeted to a specific audience
Marketing: customer research, heavy SEO, flexible branding, attention more on solution than author
Revenue model: direct and affiliate sales of ebook product
Benefits: low overhead, affiliates help boost sales, low community value, passive income
Challenges: low community value, often perceived as gimmicky, involved formatting process
Example: howtosellyourebook.com (an ebook on how to sell ebooks)

For people low on resources, the ebook model offers a lower-risk entry into publishing. Some cheap market research and SEO can help you can craft and target an ebook that solves a specific problem to a specific group of people.

Single Author Blog

Summary: solo blogger strikes a chord with readers, organically builds community
Editorial: single voice with distinct persona, artful blended with commercial
Marketing: self-branding on social media platforms
Revenue model: blog-to-book deal
Benefits: ultra-low overhead, high creative latitude, perfect for one person, catching on with big publishers
Challenges: time consuming, often lacks editorial strategy, tough to monetize
Example: savvyauntie.com

The single author blog model is by far the quickest: you can have a free blog and social media platforms set up in minutes. Of course the real challenge is writing content interesting enough to excite readers over the long haul.

The other side to the single author blog model is to scout for up and coming authors (bloggers) and approach them with a blog-to-book deal. Many of the bigger companies are following this trend, so you’d need at least a basic education on how the book industry works and how to negotiate contracts with authors.

On that note, one Harper Collins editor says they’re experimenting with a 50/50 split model, where all revenues and costs go into a big pot and the profit is split at the end. The publishers front the costs but all decisions are made jointly with the author.

Online Magazine

Summary: commercialized niche topic with multiple authors and intense community herding
Editorial: journalistic, with focus on special interest and newsy articles
Marketing: strong branding, equal parts SEO and social media
Revenue model: banner and contextual ads, premium memberships, mailing list, affiliate sales
Benefits: can dominate market, multiple voices/variety, dispersed workload, high profit potential
Challenges: rigid content strategy, rigid editorial strategy, requires high overhead and management
Example: treehugger.com

The online magazine is more involved and riskier, but has the greatest revenue potential. If you can pinpoint the right niche, manage multiple authors, invest in content strategy, then strap yourself in for an exciting ride.

***
This is about as intro as it gets on new models of publishing, but hopefully you’ll find it useful. The devil is in the details.

Whatever path you choose, remember that each project is an opportunity to establish your brand as a new generation commercial publisher. So don’t settle for anything less than ordinary!

Photo by Katie@!

3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

7 Bold Strategies for the Aspiring Indie Publisher

Charles — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:12:04 +0000

Wow! I just spent the past week immersed in the deep and murky waters of the publishing industry, and the sense is this: the publishing revolution is shaking up the market of the written word, and this is great news for independent publishers.

The once steady but now outdated operations of the business are giving way to new opportunities to innovate. The catch is to be quick, clever and downright daring. But this is no easy task given the complex and steady drama of the publishing industry.

With that said — as you ponder your future in publishing — take a moment to consider these insightful, off-the-cuff tips for starting your own publishing company:

Stay ahead of the curve, and DO something

Make sure you:

Read blogs that matter and even blogs that don’t matter. Join the growing bonfire of conversation. Participate in forums, webcasts, conferences, Kindle readings (if there is such a thing), Twitter lists, etc. See how others are stepping up to the plate.

But also DO this:

Write a business plan. Pioneer a new revenue model. Start networking with writers. Publish your first ebook or mini-ebook. Start a blog and market yourself.

In other words, know when to retreat from the conversation stream so you can develop a real business that publishes real content.

As Seth Godin would say, don’t be an asymptote! (Linchpin affiliate link)

Don’t let technology define your business.

Given the glorious rise of iPhones, Kindles, iPads, Nooks and other smart e-reader gadgets, this tip may sound counter-intuitive. But it’s not.

Remember that the essence of our livelihood depends on procuring marvelous content for a receptive, intelligent market. Consider this an act of art, one that requires the creative integrity of human editors. No machine can shoe-in for that.

So while it’s imperative to embrace digital formats and their nifty platforms, don’t let it lead you astray. Content and readers come first, always.

Pay attention to bloggers.

The blogosphere is a sprawling metropolis of words and writers. And like any sprawling metropolis, you have an underbelly, an uptown and everything in between.

The residents of the underbelly are easy to spot and easy to ignore: sleazy marketers, so-called wealth coaches and gurus galore.

It’s the rest of the residents you should keep an eye on. There are some great writers out there, grooming their talent on blogs, steadily-amassing tribes of readers eager for brilliant content.

Sadly, throngs of these bloggers will go undiscovered to the mass market — likely befuddled by the tricky business side of publishing. But for the enterprising indie publisher, this is nothing short of a golden opportunity.

Specialize, specialize, specialize.

If you’re a visionary, specialization isn’t always easy. But it’s necessary. Trying to be the end all of publishing drastically cuts your survival rate. So why not pick a niche and stick with it?

For example, look at O’Reilly Books, which specializes in computer technology education. Harlequin is the cornerstone of romance. New Riders—an imprint of Peachpit Press—has the upper hand on the creative media community.

As Marian Schembari of Digital Book World notes in her latest article:

Not only is focusing on a specific niche beneficial in terms of selling books, it ultimately helps a publisher grow by establishing authority within their niche.

Focusing on a specific market also forces you build your brand while and engage more intimately with your niche audience, which leads to my next tip.

Electrify your social marketing

Traditionally, publishers don’t engage directly with their audience — that’s usually up to the booksellers.

The social web is turning this model upside down — no surprise. Customers expect frontline interaction with their favorite brands through the now-established channels of Twitter and Facebook.

I’ve observed that many struggling publishing companies—hulking and entrenched in legacy—are still hung on the old model of retailer marketing. They are slow and reluctant to adapt social media, and this is where you may have an advantage here as an indie publisher.

To further expand on this point, you absolutely must check out Engaging Readers in the Digital Age by Shiv Singh of Razorfish. It’s drop dead awesome.

Take experimental liberties

Now is the time to try anything and do anything. There is no model. The old ways aren’t working. Unleash your ultimate creative monster. Laugh at getting laughed at. Be very audacious. And so on…

Stay right where you are…for now.

This tip is for all people not in New York: don’t bother moving to New York if you’re not already there. At least for now.

I can’t tell you how many times I feel like I’m missing the boat because I’m not in the world’s epicenter of the publishing industry. Is it me or is everything Publishing in New York?

But—big but–I’m grateful (to be in Hawaii, for one thing) to be positioned a healthy distance from the snarkiness and entropy of it all. Except for the occasional in-person conference, the internet offers everything you need to plan a 21st century publishing company.

I spend most days alone at my desk, unencumbered by what other people think I should be doing, or how I should be doing it.

I’d like to think that sometimes it pays to be an outlier.

Photo by moriza.

7 Bold Strategies for the Aspiring Indie Publisher is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

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Why Bloggers Matter to the Publishing Industry

Charles — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:18:03 +0000

What makes a blogger?

A penchant for the rant? A crowd hustler with sticky offers? A spirited journalist, an observer of life, a thought leader?

And what about the rest of us, scratching hard to make (not even a) living? Is it all for nothing or is there a future for us?

The answer is absolutely. The titanic publishing industry is mobilizing, and we need to upgrade our strategy.

The Myth of Make Money Online

For the obscure blogger aspiring to the privy rank of ‘problogger,’ chances for commercial success are razor slim if they follow most of the “blogging for bloggers” advice and training programs out there. Here’s why:

Before the ‘pro’ in problogger existed, early bloggers stumbled upon their fortune by accident when they realized their posts were attracting attention, and that attention could be monetized with Adsense and affiliate offers.

A few of these enterprising bloggers saw this opportunity and hatched a business model easy money blogging formula that would be packaged and heavily marketed to people willing to invest throw away their money for a chance to strike it rich.

The success of this goldrush strategy relied on one’s unsubstantiated claim of “how to make money online” expertise. (As MMO pioneer John Chow ingeniously quips, ”I make money online by telling people how much money I make online.”)

Cash crazy blogs and outrageous personalities soon filled the web, quickly trampling any hope of handcrafted publishing and editorial stewardship.

The Second Coming of Publishing

Any day, any week, any month now—the industry now in trouble and mocked will stand back on its feet and launch its shock and awe campaign on Web 2.0. Publishing 2.0 will not operate in the same trickster marketing vacuum as opportunistic blogging.

There will be ample budgets, partnerships with e-reader platforms and revenue models that offer more fair and appealing incentives for authors and bloggers who make the cut.

Plus, these companies will be backed by decades of experience, wisdom and industry connections.

And, oh yeah—as for social marketing—well, everyone knows how to do that now.

How You Can Make the Quantum Leap

If you look at any given blogging success story, you’ll see the bonds that tie: passion, creativity and editorial integrity. These bloggers treat their blogs less like slot machines and more like prize stallions.

You too can possess this vitality. Here are a few suggestions to keep you going:

Stay as focused as a hungry hawk on the quality of your content. Writing, video, podcast—whatever form it is. Nothing new here, right?
Integrate editorial strategy into your blog. This includes a style guide and an editorial calendar. I will cover this more in detail in a later post.
Promote yourself on social media to people in the publishing industry. I will cover this as well in a later post.

Despite the doom and gloom, there’s exciting stuff happening in the publishing industry. They will be looking for bloggers who stand out from the crowd. Brainstorm some ideas of how you might angle yourself to these companies.

As one Harper Collins insider said to me the other day, “I think it’s the heyday for the indie entrepreneur.”

Photo by Editor B.

Why Bloggers Matter to the Publishing Industry is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

Do SWAG Blogs Bother You?

Charles — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:29:35 +0000

They sure bother me.

You what SWAG is, right? It’s Stuff We All Get. All the cheap branded junk from the job fairs and marketing conventions of the world: fluorescent pens, calendar magnets, carabiner keychains. Baseball caps with corporate logos you’d never wear but keep anyway.

A SWAG blog is a blog that churns out tons of content but provides little value over a long time. So maybe at first you’re sucked into its helpful advice or vernacular charm, but after awhile you realize you’re reading the same stuff, different day.

How to Spot a SWAG Blog

Most SWAG blogs are ones that insist they know how to make you the next internet marketing superstar.

They suck you in with their too-good-to-be-true headlines, then proceed to assimilate your creativity with all the great marketing advice you could ever need, and then some.

Before you know it, all that’s left is your craving for SWAG blog “magnetic content” and the daily offerings of praise and worship you leave in their comments.

In other words: No cool blog for you, no book deal, no speaking gigs. Not even a non-spam comment.

Don’t Forget to Graduate

The funny thing is that many SWAG blogs are actually very popular and, believe it or not, pretty darn helpful.

But the way I see it, reading them all the time just because they’re highly regarded is like going to Harvard for 20 years—how much education do you really need to go out and conquer the world?

Here’s what you should do: when you’ve learned your 7 Ways to Engage Your Audience with Video and memorized your 10 Golden Rules of Customer-Centric Copy, cut the line. Graduate yourself and get a job—working on your own blog, of course.

SWAG blogs are a nuisance. I say thanks, but no thanks. I’d rather be talking to you right now than learning how to talk to you never.

Photo copyrighted by Rick Pascale. Racing greyhound prints are available, call 602-918-8383.

Do SWAG Blogs Bother You? is written by Charles Bohannan for Wordful.com, a blog about digital publishing.

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