Today’s post is an overview of what publishing looks like today for the Rebel Writer. It’s 2017 and the options for publishing today are as wide open as the ocean. If you’re a writer, especially a Rebel Writer, you’d better get busy because as you’ll see, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be publishing…and getting paid to write. [Read more…] about The Gatekeeper Is Dead
In the third musical number in Lin-Manual Miranda’s extraordinary musical, Hamilton, the lead character forcefully makes his case for his own ambition by repeatedly using these words. An immigrant to the American colonies from the British West Indies, Alexander Hamilton understood he had an uphill climb toward acceptance and realizing success. He had a talent for writing, but even more importantly, he had ambition and knew what he wanted to achieve.
Throughout the unbelievably stunning performance by the cast last night at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theater, I keep thinking about my own sense of ambition. My goals as a writer today are the same as they were when I first surrendered to that which I can’t-not-do: to write content that makes a difference in the world and in the lives of others. [Read more…] about 5 Ways to Not Throw Away Your … Shot
I was raised in the 60’s and 70’s by two post-world War II ration-conscious, supply-stocking parents. Their earliest years were in the midst of the Great Depression and the realities of a world at war. They knew the value of hard work and sacrifice.
Given my dad was the sole-provider, we didn’t have everything we with wanted, but we did have everything we needed. It was against this backdrop that the foundational concepts of opportunity were presented, essentially that I could:
As great as these overtures of opportunity were, they weren’t the whole truth. What was missing from the seemingly magic formula for success was the cost factors involved in having everything I desired, becoming anything I wanted, and achieving anything I set my mind to.
What my parents omitted from their encouraging reach for the stars rah-rah-rah type of parenting was the fact that in order to reach the stars, you needed a spaceship and spaceships cost a lot of money.
Which was sort of ironic considering my dad was an actual rocket scientist.
There is a cost for everything in life. Even a free lunch has a hidden cost. That BOGO deal on tortilla chips at the supermarket that you like so much? It’s actually paid for by raising the prices on other items.
Successfully achieving your dreams of being a writer, a business owner, anything really….involves cost. There are obvious costs for education, training, and equipment, but there’s also the one most people don’t ever mention…
Pick any person who has worked to become successful, and they’ll tell you that it hasn’t been without significant cost or sacrifice.
Do me a favor? Take an honest look at your life and identify what’s getting in the way of you doing the rock and achieving your dreams.
Then ask yourself, what part of my life can I do without in order to achieve my dream of becoming a ________?
For some, it’s giving up their addiction to their television or 24/7 media streaming. For others it might be the shadow career they’re pursuing in order to not turn pro.
If you feel so inclined, please tell me in the comments. Or just say hello and share this post using the social media button below -it’s really good karma-. Thanks!
You’re at a party or a gathering of some sort and you’re flexing your extrovert muscles. Small talk is the worst, but you know it’s necessary at times and can, on occasion, lead to some deeper conversation and perhaps a connection with a new friend.
Then, like a car careening around a corner at breakneck speed, it happens. The question that most writers and introverts dread more than dental work is thrust into the conversation and you’re faced with choosing one of a dozen practiced responses.
Even before you stumble through the best one you already know it’s going to sound lame.
I’m a writer?
You’ve just opened the subterranean gates of terror and released the Cracken of all opportunistic follow-up questions.
Really? What have you written?
Anything I’ve read?
Do you have a book deal?
Who’s your publisher?
Did you put on fresh underwear today?
Ok, maybe that last question is over the top personal but so are the others. Outing ourselves as writers invites all kinds of questions that we introverted creators would quite happily never choose to willingly address.
We write. We create. Leave us alone, but buy a book or something before you go. Thanks!
But there you are anyway. Fresh meat on the altar of interrogation with your conversational partner salivating as he awaits your response.
He sniffs the sweet aroma of the coming kill like a lioness hunting her prey. Soon, you both know, it will be over and you’ll feel worse about yourself than ever before…if you survive at all.
You don’t have to offer yourself as a sacrifice to the sadistic gods of small talk any longer. There are better ways to respond to this question of all questions that evokes considerably less agitation and reduces the intestinal rumbling that often accompanies just such a situation.
The problem for most writers is the term: writer
Saying you’re a writer is like saying you’re a human. There is so much more to being a writer -and a human for that matter- than simply labeling yourself as such.
You’re a male or female human with various roles. You’re a mother or father; You’re an introvert or you pretend not to be; You’re a compassionate person who is moved by the suffering of others.
See what I mean? You’ve created a framework around your humanity.
Let’s look at how to create this framework using the writer’s framework below:
Lead with your title. It establishes a broad heading under which you will list the other aspects of what being a writer means in your case.
Mention your genre and your specialty. Your genre is one of the typical one we all know, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. Then drill down and call out your specialty. Your specialty could be historical or how-to non-fiction, biographical or mystery novels, romantic or modern poetry, etc.
Now specify where you publish. Almost everyone publishes on Amazon, Apple iBooks, or on their own website. Call it out and plant your flag.
Mention a relevant role that naturally accompanies your writing. You might offer coaching, consulting, or mentoring; If so, mention it.
I was at a brunch on Sunday with some new friends. Specifically, they are the family of my girlfriend’s brother. It was my first time I was being introduced to them and in talking with a nice fellow, Tom, the question invariably came up.
Here’s how I responded, more or less:
I’m a writer. (pause for reaction). I write mainly non-fiction books and publish them on Amazon or sell them directly via my website, BarryMorris.net. I offer coaching and I teach a subscription course for writers who want to make more money from their writing.”
Boom! Done!
In those few sentences, I hit all four elements in the writer’s framework and in so doing, answered questions before Tom formulated them in his head. In my book, Becoming Irresistible, I talk about ‘sacrificing objections on the altar of the sale.’ By this, I mean that if you can bring up the objections a reader might have to your offer -and fully answer them- before they think of them, the sale goes forward.
In conversing with Tom, I answered all the objections/follow-up questions he most like would’ve asked. The writer’s framework allowed me to hit all these points and eliminate a situation where I might’ve flubbed up my response and appeared uncertain or confused, neither of which appealed to me.
Work through the writer’s framework and see how succinctly and naturally you can answer the question. Try out a few versions and if you’d like, drop it into a comment below. I’d love to hear from you and hear how the framework works for you!
Before the pitchforks and torches get here, let me clarify something… I consider teachers, especially elementary and middle school teachers, to be the greatest heroes our children are exposed to on a daily basis. In fact, my sweetheart is a teacher and she’s the very definition of the word.
I’ve taught at the university level, have facilitated discussion groups, and moderated meetings of business professionals. In each of these roles, I was teaching. Maybe not in the traditional standing at the front of the room style of teaching, but I was teaching nonetheless.
You can throw out the window all those thoughts about not being trained as a teacher and getting nervous in front of a crowd. That’s because, in 90 percent of the cases, teaching online is done in the privacy of your own home either in writing (via email) or talking into a camera (as in a video).
Chances are pretty good that you’ve 1) written an email or two, and 2) talked into a video camera or a cell phone cam in your lifetime.
Nevertheless, here’s my take on what online teaching is like most of the time:
It’s kind of exciting and boring at the same time.
It’s exciting because when I start talking about something about which I’m particularly excited, I get kind of animated and..well, excited!
At the same time, it can be a bit boring because most of the time there isn’t anyone present when I’m making the videos that I include in some of my subscription programs.
Regardless of my experience, it’s hard not to get excited about a topic that we feel close to. And in that regard, online teaching can be very much like having a great conversation with someone who’s eager to listen.
Consider for a moment that teaching is conveying information in an organized and often entertaining manner. It’s kind of like setting up a good joke at the dinner table and then spinning the punchline at just the right time.
We’ve all done that. I’ll bet you’ve done that a hundred times in your life. When you think about it, you were in front of others, taking your time to deliver some information (a joke), and when you go the most important part (the punchline), you delivered it with care in just the right way for maximum effect (laughter and thundering applause).
Am I right? I know I am. Congratulations…you’re an online teacher! 😎
I’m pretty sure that you, like most people, have the necessary skills, -i.e., talking, sharing an experience, sharing something they care about- to deliver information for a subscription program. It isn’t rocket science…unless you’re a rocket scientist like my late father 8-O, but like I said before…if you can talk and chew gum at the same time, you can write an email course or speak to a camera and record a video.
Even those of us who have a face for radio can manage to do all right. The truth is that you don’t have to have a whiteboard, animated slide presentations, and all the fancy bells and whistles that you see online. In fact, in most cases, the best online subscription programs are those delivered via email alone using nothing more than a word processor like MS Word or its equivalent.
I’m not sure where I heard this but there is a saying that goes something like…
‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.’
In a rather crude way, this saying means that you don’t have to be too far ahead of someone in terms of skill or experience to be informative. You only need to be a few steps ahead of the person you’re sharing information with to be considered an expert.
In this way, you already have what it takes to teach something you already know.