My Follow Friday - Authors Promoting Authors

As writers we're aware of how difficult it is to get your foot on the first rung of the literary ladder. This impossible 'feat' never happens for most potential writers. For the few who've made that first step, it wasn't without the help of colleagues and well-wishers who helped to promote them and their craft.
I follow Authors Promoting Authors because this is a blog set up to specifically support and promote other writers.

In our small slice of the world, most of us have turned to the Internet as a way of building our fan-base and writing platform. Sites like these are exactly what writers need to cast their promotional shadow on new audiences. I suggest clicking the link to the blog to read their FAQs if you have a book you'd like promoted, or a suitable guest blog idea.

Writing Opportunities Feature Update

This week while my laptop was down, I did a considerable amount of research to bring you some fine sites which accept unsolicited work from new and established writers.

Take a look at the writing opportunities page on this blog and find something that’s suitable for you. It's one of the labels in my link-bar above.

You don’t have to be an author to find this new feature useful. I’ve found some fun sites accepting and paying for poetry and verses in greeting cards. If you’ve ever read a card and thought, ‘I can do better than that!’ Here is your big opportunity.

If you’re a poet or have an opinion piece, there’s paid work out there for you. If you can knit or crochet and suggest original ideas or patterns, I found some magazines willing to pay you for them.

Don’t miss out. This ‘opportunities’ page is updated every 6-8 weeks or so. Hopefully, I can find something made for you. If nothing strikes your fancy, maybe my link to paid tips, how-tos, and hints will be of interest to you.

My Follow Friday - ViperChill

I follow ViperChill for the thrill it injects into my blogging experience. There’s a two-fold aspect to this site: it uniquely targets the marketing and promoting needs of both bloggers and writers. I’ve come across a sea of Internet marketing blogs so filled with jargon, only a small amount of niche followers could decode the seemingly secret messages.

Viperchill is different, as it caters for a terribly wide spectrum of readership.


I look forward with pleasure to each new post on this blog. Viperchill is not so much about the technicalities of writing, but rather what you do with your writing once you're done. It’s run by young entrepreneur, Glen Allsopp, and gives free, detailed information about how to make money from your blog.


Glen's last e-Book made him a staggering $4,000 on its launch day. This is testimony that e-Books can perform well if targeted and marketed properly.
For writers like us, this is good news. For bloggers and others seeking to make money from the Internet or on Cloud Living (as he calls it), this is the blog you’ve been waiting to subscribe to.

How to Resize Facebook NetworkedBlogs widget

Have you just embedded your Facebook Networked Blogs widget on your site? If you’re just starting out with this widget, unless you’re Internet famous, you may only have a handful of followers showing up so far.  You're probably looking for a way to change or resize your facebook networked blogs widget so that you don't have so much empty space in it. 

Does it look a bit sparse? Do you feel stressed to fill up all the space they’ve given you with random faces of followers? Well, there is an easy solution! You can make the widget smaller so it looks full even with just 4 followers. I made some screenshots of the 'before and after' NetworkedBlogs widget on one of my other blogs.

My Follow Friday - A Book Inside, How To Write And Publish A Book

I’m back to normal (ish) so I’ve resumed my ‘Follow Friday’ feature – blog style – for the new year.


I follow ‘A Book Inside - How To Write And Publish A Book' because it’s crammed full of tips and expert advice for writers. There are tutorials on writing fiction and non-fiction; finding a publisher; or marketing your book in a way that’s right for you.


The author of 'A Book Inside' also conducts regular interviews with experienced people in 'the know.' It’s a how-to blog which is witty, sharp and knowledgeable about the processes of the publishing and writing industries. It’s a great place to be if you’ve got questions about promoting, outlining, researching for, or setting the price for your book. There is a wealth of knowledge for e-publishers too. Get it right the first time by reading up on some vital hints and tips on this blog.

Apart from listing a definitive collection of other writing blogs, this site assists the writer all the way from querying the publisher to marketing your book.

Writing Opportunities

I've scoured the web and hard copy editions in the UK and elsewhere to find writing prospects so you don't have to do any of the hard work. Check out these writing opportunities I've found for you. Subscribe to this blog to keep updated with this page. I'll be adding new writing/publishing opportunities every 2 months or so. 


Keep in mind that most of these prospects may be tiny, one-off writing jobs, but each small break is a chance to get your foot on the ladder. Each piece accepted is another chance to add 'published' work on your CV.

The writing opportunities below are grouped by countries, but you can email submissions to any of them regardless of where you live.

My All-Time Best BookMarked Articles For Writers and Bloggers

I have placed all these essential and helpful articles in one blog post. I have personally found these pieces entirely useful in my blogging/writing career. They’re simple and easy-to-follow without many of the jargon-filled tutorials out there. Here’s hoping you find one to help you do just the thing you’ve been meaning to get done for a while.


How to Change The Font On Your Blog
From: The Cutest Blog on the Block


The Easy Way To Put 'Top Comments' Widget On Your Blog
From: Reach Beyond Limits


How To Insert A Custom Signature In 'Blogger' Posts 
From: Isabella Snow


How To Add A Retweet Button On Your Blog 
From: Rose DesRochers – World Outside my Window


Essential HTML Skills For Article Authors  
From: Christopher Knight – Ezine Articles


Collection Of Essential Articles For Bloggers/Writers
From: Social @ Blogging Tracker

How To Display Your Content On A Blog's Front Page
From: Web Designer Depot


8 Simple Ways To Make Google Love Your Site
From: Daily SEO Blog


How To Place Photos Side By Side In 'Blogger'
From: Isabella Snow - Hub pages


What Does Blogger 'NavBar' Do? 
From: The Relationship Supermarket.com


How To Find Your Blog's RSS Feed URL 
From: Athlyn Green’s Hub pages


Vital Start-Up Tutorials For New Writers Of Online Content  
From: A Blogger's Books

10 Blogging Attitudes You Could Learn From American Idols  
From: Social @ Blogging Tracker


101 Ways To Promote A New Blog  
From: DailyBlogTips


How To Establish A Writing Platform  
From: Sunday’s Child Lives At Annie’s House


The Most Important Blogging Analysis Ever 
From: ViperChill


The Practical Way To Improve Your Ranking
From Search Optimization


How To Find A Literary Agent 
From: Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent


How To Create Your Own Handwritten Signature
From Wandering Thought


10 Commandments For Aspiring Writers
From: The Man Who Painted Agnieszka's Shoes


How To Write A Successful e-Book
From ViperChill


5 Ways To Gain Agents' Attention
From Jody Hedlund


10 Photoshop Video Tutorials
From Tech Milieu.com


How To Embed YouTube Videos Into Blogger
From Blogger Tricks


How To Make A Publisher Say 'Yes' 
From: Help I need a Publisher!


How To Really Build Backlinks And Dominate Google
From ViperChill


How To Get A Feedburner Account For Your Blog
From Wandering Thought


Market Your Smashwords e-Book: The Definitive Guide
From Mark Coker


5 Ways To Get Your Blog Indexed By Google in 24 Hours
From ProBlogger


A Simple Way To Clear Your StumbleUpon New Shares
From Tech Milieu.com


Blogging Attitudes You Could Learn From American Idols
From Social @ Blogging Tracker


Put a Facebook 'Like' Button On Your Blog


In Defense Of Print
From: A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing

Earn Money Writing For Hard-Copy Publications

Writing is the only profession in which you’re expected to work (sometimes 12 hours a day) without any pay at all for months on end. I’ve told you about this before, how a certain publisher kept my manuscript for 11 ½ months (that’s almost a year) before saying they weren’t interested.


While creating our books we need to find other writing-related ways to make some money. However, even if we are earning from writing, most of us have other jobs because the money we make simply isn’t enough to live on. This is why I’ve decided to include some potential earning links here on A Blogger's Books.

The first set consist of sites which invite you to submit work to them for a chance to be published, sites running writing competitions with winning and runner-up prizes, and sites which list articles and material to help you get your work accepted and bought by magazines and other publications. Remember these are mainly related to hard copy works because the online versions are easy to find.

TweetBrand

Twitter is one of the main social networking sites used by bloggers and site owners to share their work for web traffic. Usually, when you post your updates to Twitter, no matter which of the popular applications you use, the links you share are always giving traffic to someone else - giving back-links to their website.

Unless you’re always posting your own links – in which case, you’re a spammer – you don’t get anything out of the free advertisements you give away to other people.


While it’s great to make friends, maintain your relationship to your online colleagues, and have genuine internet connections with other people in cyberspace, it’s also fantastic to be able to leave some of your own identification with each of the thousands of twitter updates you make every month.


Recently, there’s been the introduction of something called, TweetBrand  In a matter of five minutes you could start branding your tweets with your name, and insert a link back to your own website with every post you make. Isn’t that fabulous? But the best thing is, there's an easy, step-by-step, free guide.

image source for above picture

Top Websites for Writers and Bloggers

This page of Top websites for writers and bloggers gives you the information you need as a writer, all in one place. Even though I have this information listed elsewhere on A Blogger's Books, I’ve been planning to share it as a blog post for a very long time. According to my Live Traffic Feed (Feedjit), many of my readers leave via these sites after reading my posts, and I just wanted to give them an additional boost.

Maybe some of these will turn up some great writing tips for you. I’ve added the individual by-lines (if they have one) of sites to help you target your search. Here are the ones most visited by hundreds of readers on A Blogger’s Books in 2009.