Imagine a bunch of friends and acquaintances all in the same room wandering around yelling out random short remarks (maybe where they plan to go out to dinner or that they love their spouse) while others are screaming. Add other people waving a handful of pamphlets in the air, yelling “read this” or screaming “buy my book” or some other attempt to sell something. Occasionally another person will shout out a response to one of those questions. Sometimes people will grab half of those pamphlets and run to an adjoining room to try passing them out there or to repeat one of those remarks or questions for the people in the other room.
To be fair, most of the people above are polite; everyone takes their turn and doesn’t talk over the other guy. But even so, keeping track of all the things being said and the multiple conversations that interest you is tricky. It’s heaven (or maybe hell) for someone suffering from ADHD. I’m not so sure it doesn’t cause it in others.
This, in a nutshell, is Twitter. Continue reading “How to Use Twitter for the Complete Newbie”
We all have our favorite holiday stories. And, of course, the holidays usually center around families and food. That means in those favorite stories, the characters are probably, at some point, seated around a festive meal at a dining room table.
Occasionally I’ll get an email or message from a newbie writer who’s read a bit about my journey and is looking for direction. The gist of the message is almost always: “I’ve written a book and I’d like to publish it, but I don’t know what to do next.” This, coupled with the fact that I recently facilitated a sold-out workshop on how to self-publish, made me realize that there are a lot of people in this same situation. It’s not surprising. There’s a ton of information out there on the web — some good, some bad — and it takes time to sift through it all and figure out the best way to proceed. Looking back, I know my own journey evolved over years, but now, with almost twenty self-published books under my belt, the process is a snap. If I could do a Vulcan mind-meld and parcel my experience out to others, I would, but failing that, maybe at least I can help some to the onramp without their having to reinvent the wheel.
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