I was reading an interview in the paper last weekend with best-selling author James Patterson. To date he’s sold more than 350 million books – but he was rejected by 31 publishers before his first novel ‘The Thomas Berryman Number’ was published in 1976. So, if you’ve had your fair share of rejections, don’t despair!

When asked what advice he’d give to others he was quoted as saying, “Writers always ask me how they should market their books. My advice is, don’t worry about that. Just start your next book. Just write.”

Sounds good, but I suspect it only really works if you already have a publisher, are earning lots of money for them and you are famous. For us mere mortals, in an age where getting an agent, let alone a publisher, seems nigh on impossible, I don’t really think it works. Publishers are having their promotional budgets cut all the time and the onus to generate self-publicity is falling more and more upon the author. And if you choose to self-publish, you’ve no alternative but to use every means at your disposal to reach the reading public. The thought of sitting at home beavering away at book after book may sound comforting but it’s not going to get a novice writer noticed. Read the rest of this entry »

So, you fancy writing articles and you know that they are one of the quickest ways to get published, but where do you start? Well, if you Google writing articles, you are no doubt going to be presented with a list of what are commonly known as content mills, which are places where you can, generally, find low paying jobs. Here’s an article with some of the best content mills around – 5 Best Content Mills for Making Money Online. Read the rest of this entry »

First, thanks to Anne for last week’s blog. As she says, blogging has become virtually a pre-requisite if you want to promote yourself and bring the world to your website. But don’t just look upon it as a tool – take her other advice and get the enjoyment that comes with not having to write to others’ requirements!

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