Hey, Writers: What's Your Online Strategy? What Are You Waiting For?
I recently received this letter from Jane Bretl, an attendee at our Writer's Digest December Editor Intensive event:
I attended the Writer's Digest Editor's Intensive in December. I wasthe
very quiet woman in the back who was soaking up information like a
sponge, all the while trying to put together a cohesive,
intelligent-sounding question in my head. I never did come up with a
satisfactory question to ask; only one nervous joke about twitter, and
an overwhelming feeling that every else in the room had a much better
handle on what was being discussed. I did not know how much I did not
know about the world of publishing until I attended your event. I'm new.It
took me about a month to digest (no pun intended) all the information
from that day, but by mid-January I was ready to give it a try. I
joined facebook, started a blog and was on my way. Soon, I took your
advice and secured the URL of my name and was posting daily. The more I
wrote, the more I felt the decades-old writing barriers push away --
the ones that had always held me back from a daily writing habit. I
don't want to sound too dramatic, this is just a blog for goodness
sake, but I can say that my writing life is dramatically different
since the day you inspired me to try something new. I don't know where
it will lead me next, but it feels good.As you have the next Editor's Intensive coming up soon, I wanted say something that may already be obvious, or not -- that everyone who attends, even the quiet lady in the back with the confused look on her face, will walk away with information she can use.
Click here to visit Jane's new site!
I
can't tell you what a relief and a delight it was to receive this note,
because when I do discuss online tools with writers, sometimes I wonder
if I'm suggesting the impossible: to dramatically change your thinking
about how you write and interact with readers, agents, editors.
Some writers think they can't make the leap — and therein lies the only problem.
You
can make the leap (just as Jane did), and it can have a dramatic
improvement in your writing life, whether you're new to the business,
or an old pro who simply hasn't yet taken advantage of all the new
tools available.
It simply requires an openness.
Looking for some help on the how to part? You can attend one of our intensive events
(there are four scheduled this year), or rather than travel to our
offices in Cincinnati, you can take our interactive online course on
March 31 that teaches you, step-by-step, how to get started with your
online writing life (see here for more info). And/or you can keep reading this blog; I'm like a broken record when it comes to authors learning to be savvy online.
