10 Perfect Creativelive Courses for Writers

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.  The time will pass away".  -  Earl Nightingale.

It's never too late to learn new things, especially if you're a writer.  As a writer we owe our readers the best of our knowledge, keeping up-to-date with the latest software, blogging techniques etc. 

Creativelive is a great way to learn courses to improve your writing, or look further a field at other points such as blogging and copywriting. 

Take a look at these 10 perfect Creativelive courses that cover a variety of areas for writers:

How to Break the Habit of Self-Doubt and Build Real Confidence

If you're plagued by impostor syndrome, thinking your accomplishments aren't real, and that you're secretly a fraud or failure.  Mel Robbins will give you actionable, concrete advice, and steps to practice, to help you stop being plagued by the constant worries that are crippling your daily life.

Starving to Successful: How to Become a Full-Time Writer

Many writers dream of making their hobby into a full-time job.  Under Jeff Goins guidance you'll discover that the days of the starving artist are gone, and writing is profitable, all you need to do is get over your mental blocks.

Overcome Writer's Block

You're not really a writer until you've suffered from writer's block. Unfortunately it's something that needs to be nipped in the bud pretty quickly.  You can't afford to wait until it passes you by.  Thankfully Dave Ursillo's course will get to the crux of writer's block and help you understand how to beat it.

How to Create Addictive Content

It can feel like an uphill struggle at times, coming up with content that's both fresh and innovative.  If you're looking to boost your content skills, look no further than Melissa Cassera's course.  She teaches you how to create content that is both engaging, and tells a story.

Time Management 101

A massive part of being a successful writer is being organised and productive, which requires time management.  24 hours in a day can seem like not long enough, being able to use those hours effectively will help you gain control over your priorities, and eliminate all distractions, helping you to crush your goals.

Copywriting for Crafters

Copywriting is the wordsmithing technique that will bring purchasers onto your website.  Lisa Jacobs, a dedicated creative consultant teaches you the words that will reach your customers or readers, and motivate them to buy your products and books.

Develop a creative Mindset and Write

Self-doubt and lack of discipline, fear of rejection, the list goes on, many of these things conspire to keep you from achieving your writing dream.  Take the class and learn how to crush the obstacles that stand in your way and prevent you from making writing a priority in your life.

Make More Money and Discover Your Worth

Knowing the real value of your work as a writer, means you often don't earn enough to pay the bills.  Sue Bryce and Tiffany Angeles show you how to value yourself and stop getting in your own way when it comes to making money.

Effective Email and Newsletter Marketing

Jeff Goins covers everything you need to know to integrate a thriving email marketing plan into your business or blog.  Teaching you ways to communicate with your clients.  Finding out exactly what you need, and how to use that information to effectively sell to your readers/customers.

How to Fufill Reader's Expectations

Learn how to decode your reader's hardwired expectations, which have nothing to do with the plot or words you've written.  So you can create a story that rivets them from the very first sentence.

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7 Reasons Why You Should Give Your eBook Away for Free

Every 90 days one of my eBooks is priced at $0 on Amazon, sounds crazy, here are my reasons for pricing my eBooks at zero: 

Reasons Why You Should Give Your eBook Away for Free

1. New authors need as many eyeballs as possible reading my their eBooks.

2. According to Amazon rankings there's no difference between a bought eBook or a free eBook. Either way the more people download it for free, the higher your book will be ranked.

3. New readers will recommend you to their friends and family.

4. More people reading your book, the more chance of a review.

5. A great way to promote your book, and inexpensive way to attract attention to your work.

6. Free isn't forever.

7. Think about what your future sales could be, just by giving an eBook away for free.

Why I Made My eBook Free

I'm still an unknown author on such a huge platform, it's in my best interest to get as many people as possible downloading or buying a copy of any of my books.

People love free stuff, don't hide away your writing, you need as many people as possible reading your work.  As crazy as it sounds, it's a great selling strategy. 

The Outlook is Promising

Over the coming years I have no idea how it will pan out, but I do know that people love free stuff, and finding a book worth reading for free is a must-have item.

Allowing people access to your eBooks for free can only help you as new author.  In these tough times you have to think outside the box to survive. 

This post contains affiliate links.  This means if you purchase through these links you are supporting 1976write and we thank you for that.

Why It's Good to Take a Breather from Writing

If you're like me and you love to write and want to write well, the thought of taking a break or time out, can seem pretty scary.  Especially if you're working on a big project.

Every time you sit down to write your thoughts need to be fresh.  When you start to feel lethargic or fed up then its time to take stock of your situation.

Check out these 3 reasons why taking a break from your writing is so important:

1. Resist Burnout

Going straight from one writing task to the next will sicken you and eventually wear you down.  That feeling of  elation when you see how many projects you've completed, will soon start to bore you.  The enjoyment you have for writing will slowly start to disappear.  That's why you need to take take time out, to clear your mind.

2. A New Point of View

A eureka moment, or moment of inspiration that comes over you suddenly,  is your brain engaging in passive thinking.  To put it simply, your brain keeps you chomping on a problem in a whole new way, while you're trying to stop it.

3.  Reinvigorated Mind

When you rest your body, your brain replenishes and restores you back to full power again.  So have a lazy day every once in a while, you'll discover how much more dynamic your writing will become.

Feel Transformed, Take a Break

You don't need to work your fingers to the bone to be a great writer.  Give yourself a day or two to chill out, then come back refreshed and ready for your next set of challenges. 

What are your thoughts about taking a break away from your writing? Let me know in the comments below.

This post contains affiliate links.  This means if you purchase through these links you are supporting 1976write and we thank you for that.

How to Select the Right Price for Your Book

When you self-publish a book you have no printing costs, publishing fees, postage or packaging costs to worry about, this is all taken care of when you decide to publish your book through a platform such as Amazon.

So bearing all that in mind the list below will help to decide on how you want to price your book.
Here are some of the most important elements to think about when pricing your book:

 1. What is Your Objective as an Author?

A lot of writers see themselves as authorpreneurs than just authors, and expect a large return on their investment.  Their end game is to price their book like any other earnings based business.

Fiction authors want you to love their books and tend to sell their books at a lower price, not minding the low rewards.

The third kind of author falls inbetween both of the above categories, who loves writing but wants their books to make money and be loved by all. 

2. Using Psychological Pricing

Commonly known as charm pricing, this strategy hangs on the theory that certain prices hold a psychological impact on the buyer.

That's why you see a lot of authors, particularly fiction writers who sell their eBooks at $0.99. 

3. Book Production Cost

If you've paid someone else to write, proofread or create an book cover design you need to factor that into your pricing.

4. Pricing Numerous Books

If you've written two books of a similar length and genre, pricing them the same might seem like a good option right?

You could make one $15.99 and the other $10.99, making the latter of the two look more appealing to buyers.  A lot of people will go for the cheaper of the two, but some people will think the more expensive book is a better option. 

5. Amazon Pricing

You have two royalty options when you sell your eBook through Amazon, 35% royalty or 70%, meaing your eBook can be priced between $2.99 - $9.99. 

6. Value and Uniqueness of Content

Does Your Book Stand-Out From the Crowd?

If your book is solving a problem, this is seen as something of value, particularly if it offers a unique perspective, along with your own knowledge and insight on a particular subject, all adding to the value of your book. 

7. Experiment with Pricing

With a platform such as Amazon you have flexibility when it comes to pricing.  For instance, when you first start selling your book you may want it at a lower price, but later on whebn sales really start picking up, you can move up your price on both your eBooks and paperbacks.

8. Is It Your First Book?

If you're a new author and your thinking of pricing your eBook low, think about the time and effort you've gone to to research your book.  Or the imagination that has gone into your novel.  I think $2.99 is a good place to start with a first eBook, even for a newbie.

My eBooks are all priced at $2.99, and paperbacks differently priced depending upon genre and amount of information in each.

Quick Summary

• Recognise your production cost
• Are you pricing the same or similar books already published?
• Does your books uniqueness warrant a higher price?
• Is it your first book?

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How to Keep Your Blog Fresh, and Handle Old Content

Managing your blog is a job in its self, its like cleaning out your closets.  It's always there for you to do, but something else always pops up that requires more attention.  Often leaving you with dry stagnant blog posts that require attentio.  You can read more about blogging in Blogger: Build Your Blogger Website in Five Steps from Start to Finish.

I'm going to show you why its so important to keep your blog content up-to-date.

1. Old Content Should Be Managed

A poorly managed blog might end up costing you a lot more than you think, especially with outdated information.  Check out the reasons below:

Blog Image

You only get one change to make a good impression, if your readers stumble upon archaic information they're more likely to view your website as a outdated, and unreliable.

Accountability

By interpretation a blog is a collection of public statements about your business.  Any outdated information may hold you accountable financially and legally.

Disastrous for SEO

Irrelevant and outdated content is bad for SEO, taking up space and offering no value.  Search engines such as Google look for good quality content to increase rankings.

Fall in Revenue

Old content may still be getting some traffic, and could still be a money maker.  So don't delete in haste. These posts should be recycled, and turned into revenue makers again.  Check out my blog post The Definitive Guide to Writing a Blog Post for tips on maximising your blog content.

Don't Delete in Haste!

Don't go crazy and start deleting all of your old blog posts, you need to go through each one and see if there is any potential left, and use what you have.  Here are some tips on repurposing your old content:

Update to gain more traffic

If your blog post has useful links simply refresh and update them.

Reaffirm their relevance

See what other bloggers are doing in your field and make your blog posts relevant again.

Save time and money by updating content

Your time is taken up by writing new posts, so why not refresh the old stuff you've already written and keep your blog content evergreen.

2. Tune Up Your Blog

Give your blog a tune up by recycling or updating old blog posts.  You can do this by:

Revitalizing Good Content

Make it relevant again by:

• Checking over important information such as people, titles etc.
• Checking references to obsolete technology and old business information.
• Referencing current trends.
• Amending time based references and making them relative to the post date.
• Amending tenses and make them relevant again.
• Making sure your reader knows that you've updated a blog post, by letting them know with a simple note above each.

Restore SEO to Updated Blog Posts

• Update your blog post with a new image, to make it more visually appealing.
• Turn your new updated blog posts into an eBook.
• Make a video, and create a second format. 

3. Promote Your Repurposed Content

You've given your old blog posts a face lift, now its time to promote them again.

Make the most of social media, especially Twitter and Pinterest, as soon as you publish them post them!  Link your refreshed blog posts with your current content.

4. Give Your Blog a Long Shelf Life

Work on producing evergreen content, with subjects that have elements that don't change over time.
Stay clear of the latest trend in your blogging arena, these never last.

Make your references strong, for example, say June of 2017 instead of June of last year.

5. Establish a Regular Blog Post Review/Refresh Process

• Review your blog posts regularly
• Go through your Google Analytics for low page performers.
• Check incoming links for relevancy.
• Do search testing for your blog.
• Delete only blog posts that are no longer relevant to your brand, outdated or damaging.

In a Nutshell

Keep your blog up-to-date, and don't be afraid to clean out your closets every now and again.

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How to Design a Book Cover on Fotor

It's a simple fact these days that image is everything, especially when it comes to book covers.  In the early days of self-publishing authors didn't have many options when it came to creating their book cover.

But with the recent improvements in both graphics and design, you don't need to be book cover designer to produce a best selling book cover with Fotor.

How to Create Your Book Cover on Fotor

1. Select book cover option on Fotor's landing page.  Click on Book Cover button, and you'll be directed to the numerous templates available.  Gain access to all templates with Fotor Pro.

 

When you're going through all of the templates on offer, think about which category your book is in.  You'll discover templates for both fiction and non-fiction alike.

2. Choose Your Template

If you're still unsure about which template to choose here's an example of the template I used for the recent cover of my Amazing and Interesting Facts book on Amazon.

 

If you don't like the templates provided their are plenty of backgrounds and stickers available to create your own.

Backgrounds

 


Stickers

You also have the option to use a different template and resize it, I used this Pinterest post design on another book I published recently, The Writers Guide to Writing Well .

Template

My Book Cover as seen on Amazon

3. Choosing Your Font

If you've already chosen a template, you probably won't need to change your font, but you can always experiment with other fonts, to customise your template.

As you can see from my book cover above I decided to go with a larger font than the one chosen on Fotor.

After you've created your design and signed in to Fotor, you can go Pro and have the full choice of  templates on offered.  This is gives you freedom and choice, like my book covers above, and many many more templates.

It makes a world of difference designing a book cover with the right tools.  Go to Fotor (Best free online photo editor, collage maker and designer!) and start your book cover design today!

This post contains affiliate links.  This means if you purchase through these links you are supporting 1976write and we thank you for that.

6 Great Reasons to Self-Publish a Book

A lot of writers still prefer the traditional publishing route, but in today's world you don't need to write query letters to agents or send manuscripts into publishing houses.

Here are 6 great reasons why you should self-publish:

1. You can follow your own program

Sending in letters to agents and discovering you're not what they're looking for, can be really disheartening.  But this is only the beginning of the process, it can be as long two or three years before your manuscript may ever be accepted.  This isn't even a guarantee to any kind of a book deal.

It took J.K. Rowling 12 tries before she got taken seriously by a publisher.  With KDP and other self-publishing platforms, you get published straight away, and you can see your work in print within a matter of days.

2. You Have Complete Control of Your Work

Being signed up to a publishing house means signing away the rights to your book.  Along with many changes you don't want made to your manuscript.  When you take on the job of editing the book yourself, or passing it to a professional editor you have full control as to how your book will turn out.

You have the choice to choose your own book cover, title and price, and where its distributed.

3. Higher Paid Royalties

If you're with a publishing house, 85% of your royalties are taken, then your agent gets a cut of 15%, and that's before you get your share.

Even if you sold a million copies of your book, you'd still only receive about $40,000, not that much when you could be getting a cool 60% of the royalties.

4. The Tme to Self-Publish is Now

Did you know that one in every three books sold on Amazon is self-published?  With such a huge platform as Amazon your books and eBooks have a better chance of making you some real money. 

If you've written a really good book, there's no reason why it won't take off. 

5. Marketing is in Your Own Hands

You don't need a publishing house to market your eBook.  In the age of social media, you have a lot more options of marketing your book for free.

6. All You Need is a Little Self-Belief

If you're short on confidence, you can check out my book Explore the Confidence in You.  If you're really serious about becoming an author just do it.

The Meat and Potatoes of it All

At the end of the day you need to sit down and think about how you're going to write, edit and market your book.  Sounds a bit daunting, but with the right help, it can be done.

If you're really passionate about writing but don't know where to start check out my blog post Quick Guide: How to Write, Publish and Sell a Book .

This post contains affiliate links.  This means if you purchase through these links you are supporting 1976write and we thank you for that.

4 Tips to Convert Blog Traffic into Affiliate Sales

What You Need to Know About Affiliate Marketing

Every affiliate marketer wants enough traffic to sell their own products. However, the truth is having lots of traffic doesn't always translate to lots of affiliate sales.

What you need are customers interested in buying the products you sell, there's something wrong somewhere if you have traffic, but no sales.

Find below four important tips to help you get the most conversions from your current affiliate links:

1. Find the Right Kind of Customer

Interested visitor's and visitor's just passing through are two very different kinds of traffic, you need to target the people that want your products and other affiliate links your promoting.

Taking care in the way you target your blog posts and articles, and choosing specific keywords to draw in your audience.

2. You Need to Connect With Your Audience and Sell Your Ideas

This is the hard part, being able to communicate and get your message across to your audience in such a way that they'll click on your links and buy your products. If you're not attracting the right kind of visitor, you need to reevaluate your content and discover where you're going wrong.

Maybe you need to be more personable, and not so serious, include stories about you're life a bit more, in your blog posts.  By communicating more effectively you can connect with the audience on a more personal level, and earn their trust, and in time they'll start buying your products.

3. Make Your Website User Friendly

Create an easy-to-use experience for users, making it easier to help them find what they're looking for.

Try out some of these useful tips:

• Introduce a sense of urgency (encouraging visitor's to buy instantly)
• Include elements of trust,  to build credibility
• Make your call-to-action easily seen
• Simple strategy to follow - AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
• Create easy navigation
• Give your pages a focal point with the products you're selling
• Limit distractions

4. Record Results

Use your analytics to accurately measure your website traffic and clicks.  If you know where your website traffic is coming from it will help you to maximise on your sales conversions.

This post contains affiliate links.  This means if you purchase through these links you are supporting 1976write and we thank you for that.