How to Be a Successful Writer and Publisher: The Best of Wordful

A few days ago on October 1st, this blog turned 2 years old.

Looking back at my work here, I thought it would be nice to share with you some of the best ideas that have come to represent what Wordful is all about:

Being yourself

I constantly stress the importance of being a genuine person.

Being a poser may work in the short term, but trends don’t last forever. You have to discover the foundation of who you are before people can give you praise and money.

Being productive

A lot of people write about being productive because it’s hard to avoid writing about it. I’m definitely in that club.

My ideas of productivity include themes like low information diets, why you should get a real office instead of working from home and the importance of writing before reading.

Being a better writer

Writing is my original love, my life’s muse. Everything I strive to accomplish in business is rooted in writing. I have great empathy for others who share this calling.

• Why you don’t need to use “that” all the time
• Some quick-fire ways to inspire your writing
• What to do when your writing sucks, (which it inevitably will)
• How to beat writing anxiety once and for all

Being a better blogger

Blogging is still new and vast and largely undefined. Some bloggers have made millions and others haven’t. I personally think that getting rich from blogging is about as likely as winning the lottery. Luckily, there are some clever alternatives.

Beyond the hype, though, I’ve mined a few excellent tips on blogging, including:

• Some very important things to know before you start blogging
• How to avoid being a crappy blogger
• Which blogging theme you should strongly consider
• A brilliant way to boost your SEO using the WordPress ScribeSEO plugin (yes it really works!)

Being an editor

At Wordful, editors are highest up on the ladder. Why? Because they’re the filter between what gets written and what gets published.

Editors are choosers, and you should be one, too.

The publishing business

The future direction of Wordful tries to answer the question: How do you make money as independent, self-made publisher?

Some of my more recent posts touch on this: learning the art of nimble publishing, mining some opportinities in local publishing and coping with the price of free.

Looking onward and upward

Over the next year and beyond I will be most fiercely focused on what kind of marketing it takes to make a publishing business profitable.

I’ll be looking at everything from the more traditional and aggressive but effective internet marketing tactics to more passive ‘kumbaya’ strategies embraced by The Third Tribe.

So please, stick around. Things are going to get much less righteous and much more ruthless around here.

Photo by Photoumi.