Overcoming writer’s block.
 
Having gone through what writer’s block is and what its possible causes are, let me now take you through ways in which you can overcome this condition. At the end of this writing, I will give you my recommendation.
A number of ways and practices can be adopted to overcome writer’s block. Let me list down briefly just a few of these strategies:

1. Taking notes.
2. Clustering and Brainstorming.
3. Having discussions on the topic in question.
4. Having enough inspiration and encouragement.
5. Asking for suggestions on the topic in question.

 Most of these strategies will work for different writers. However, I am for the idea that the best way to conquer the writer’s block is by getting a little of a helping hand from a professional who have been there and still made it. This is why I would recommend a tool by Mathew Kaboomis Loomis- The Blog Post Ideas Generator tool. This tool will help you generate blog post ideas in the quest of building your blog and help you reach your dreams. This tool will help you overcome writer’s block in your writing career. Have a look at the link.

Streams, Tribes, Bonfires, Campaigns -- Triberr has a language of its own and understanding that language means this blog sharing resource will become easy to navigate.

First I'd like to tell you what Triberr is. Triberr is a blog sharing resource where you can import your RSS feed into Triberr, join groups of other bloggers and then share your content through those other bloggers through facebook, twitter and Linkedin. This system is reciprocal. Meaning, you must share to be shared.

When I signed up, the whole process was easy yet confusing. What was I doing? What were tribes? Who makes Bonfires? What do you mean share content and how?

Thank goodness I understood what an RSS feed was and knew how to copy/paste my RSS feed to my stream. Triberr does make it easy, it's just a different way of connecting. Now, what are streams?

Streams are the same as your Facebook stream. Everybody who has a blog post they want you to share is up on that stream. Yours should be there as well!

Tribes are groups of people who share a common theme. I belong to a few. Some are erotic authors, others are "how to" authors. I can seperate what each shares in the settings so my "how to" authors don't have to share my smut. You must apply and be accepted into Tribes. You simply cruise Bonfires or you search Triberr for your people.

Bonfires are topics that people create. I'll be honest...if anyone can fill in a little more about Bonfires, I would be grateful! I get that they are topics of discussion and people do connect there.

Campaigns are what are great about Triberr. Last year the creators of Triberr said to themselves..."we are innovators, drivers of traffic and influences! We need to get paid dammit!" and so campaigns are a way for bloggers to get paid for blogging.

Since Triberr is very intricate I've created a Google Hangout that might help explain it better!! Please bear with me--I have an explanation on what triberr is at the 40 second mark--after that skip to 4 minutes (4:15 to be exact) while we get our shit together.

I do apologize, I have not done many Goggle hangouts. It took installation of certain applications. I recommend them highly!! They are a wonderful thing :) Hopefully, I will perfect the art of the Google hangout!

I wanted to call this Essentials on hiring a VA, but I find "How to..." more effective for SEO--evil marketer that I am. But I've determined after hiring a few, there are some key elements you might want to think about before hand.

First, do you need a VA?

Silly question because if you're looking for a VA, you've determined you need a VA. However, review your motives for hiring. You'll be able to ask better questions that way and it's possible you can just go to fiverr or mechanical turk for projects.

Next, evaluate yourself. Again, sounds silly, but people don't always express what they are looking for in a VA. If you're a type A personality, you may, or may not, work well with other type A personalities. That needs to be acknowledged and expressed. Type A is difficult to get along with and needs a certain finesse. Here are some things to ask yourself:

1. Do you feel you could do a better job than anyone else?
2. How much time are you willing to train this person?
3. How much time do you want from this person?
4. What is the best personality type that you can work with?
5. What kind, or how much, communication do you need from this person?
6. What work style do you prefer? Structured? Spur of the moment? You don't care as long as the work gets done?
7. What is your budget?

Reflect on those answers. Ask your own questions. Manage your expectations and communicate those expectations to your VA.

Next are the questions you should ask the VA to determine if they might fit you well. Based on the answers you give above, ponder on what type of person you want. Here is where that "who is your reader" exercise in writing applies to "who is your VA".

Are they a stay at home mom? Do they work when you're online? Do you want them to report in everyday? Everybody wants a worker who "Pays attention to detail", is "available" at your whim, but lets face reality...unless you pay them a fantastic wage of $50,000 - $150,000/year they have to manage their time with you and other clients. Which means time sensitive projects should be handled by you. Daily work is awesome for VA's. Here are some things to ask your potential VA:

1. How many hours do you have available to work per day/week/month?
2. What is your process for...(here is where you can ask a few questions specific to authors like: finding reviews? scheduling interviews? preparing a virtual blog tour? or anything you need)
3. What time of day would you be able to devote to my spur of the moment requests?/or conversly, How much time can I expect a project completed?
4. How do you organize your time?
5. Are there any specific days you do not work?
6. Do you prefer structured direction? (Meaning, do you need to give them a step-by-step instruction on how you do things by email, google-chat or skype? Do they need daily list of tasks?)
7. Are you willing to do projects or do you want an hourly rate?

ACTION ITEM: If you're looking for a VA--prepare your questions ahead of time!

Words I never want to hear: "Authors don't sell to other authors. We don't read each others books."

Silent, pregnant pause.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Granted I don't read often as I'd like, but I still read authors in the genre I write. I read out of the genre I write. I read genres I'm not really interested in until a real storyteller jumps out at me and grabs my attention. Then I have to read it because a storyteller doesn't have a genre. Storytellers have your rapt focus because they are so good at their craft their writing goes beyond genre boundaries. Think Neil Gaiman. 

But when authors say this--I don't know what to say. I can't tell you how many authors have read my stories. However, more important is how many authors that have promoted me.

Even if writers don't read your books, there is still the collaboration and sense of belonging when you find a good writing group. These people are your fans. Fans of you. They promote you through word of mouth. They are the ones that understand your triumphs your crazy notions or when you get excited because you figured out what the next plot twist would be. For most, your family doesn't understand--even if they are supportive. If they aren't writers, they will never understand and shouldn't be expected to. *pat, pat, pat* Yes dear, that's nice dear. I'm so glad you managed to get Bob the talking head into your story dear. The type of attention you want like, squeals and round eyes of admiration is not the type of understanding you'd get from anyone other than an author.

Here are some things authors do and why you should collaborate with other authors. Group Blogs, Blog Hops, Virtual book tours, cross promotions, and story ideas are the ones I can fire out right away. But the real truth of the matter is camaraderie. There is nothing like having a group to fall back on, to complain to, to have your back and give you a boost when you need one.

The fact is...authors do read other authors books. They also don't just buy them, they become fans and promote your work. It's what I call author coalescence. Two promoting your book is better than one. Five promoting your book is better than two. A thousand promoting your book is the road to success. Few get there alone.

ACTION ITEM: Before you say "Authors don't sell to other authors..." try buying another book that hasn't been written by an author or a group of authors. Hard--isn't it? Not many books out there written by machines, huh? Only those without a book shelf have the ignorance to deny the special bond writers can have with each other. The main action item here is--don't tell me authors don't read or promote other authors. I see it happen every day.

To Blog or not to Blog: Really? Think about what you just said. You’re basically saying, I don’t know what to write.

Writers spend a lot of time writing stories. Some say, I don’t have time to blog. I don’t know what to blog. Blogging is just so overwhelming.

Let’s take a close look at each of these excuses and determine if they are valid.

1.      I don’t have time to blog.

Either you don’t see the value, you don’t know how to write short, sweet and fast or you have the issues of thinking what you have to say isn’t worth reading. Let’s look at subject A:

a)      I don’t see the value in blogging.

*Sigh* You might have heard about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO is one way readers find you. Remember, you write for a variety of reasons, but you PUBLISH for only 3 reasons. Those are:

- To inspire

- To entertain

- To solve a problem

Yes, you PUBLISH for one of those 3 reasons. Guess why I’m writing this post. If you said all 3, you’d be right! Back to "I don't see the value in blogging". The value of blogging is to reach readers. They don’t always search Amazon for your key words or specific title. They may type in “Free stories” or “Free money” or “Free sex” – whatever. If you had a title like that, I wonder how much SEO you’d get. The more eyes on your writing, the better. Sometimes you get people who want your books because you write well.

b)      I don’t know how to write short, sweet and fast.

That’s okay. You know the recommended amount of posts are 2 – 3 a month. That’s because you can promote the post everywhere. Sure I do once a day but they are mostly short 300 – 500 word articles. You don’t have to write fast. You don’t even have to make the posts long.

c)      What I have to say isn’t worth reading.

Okay. I’ll come out and say, if that’s how you feel, then don’t publish. Stop the bullshit “I’m a horrible writer” crap excuse to prevent from blogging. If your ego is so low that you’re constantly asking for an ego boost by way of compliment, you don’t have thick enough skin yet to publish. If this is the excuse you use for not blogging, don’t publish yet. Get your boot straps laced and pull your pants on first—then blog.

There’s a theme here—there is only one good reason not to blog. If someone tells me they don’t want to—that’s a good reason. They think it’s a waste of time, blogging is dead. Well, I say, it depends. Thirteen year olds aren’t allowed to go on social media yet and therefore, they interact with blogs because it’s the only social thing they can do. Maybe your audience isn’t thirteen year olds. Maybe your audience are people that can’t discuss the kind of things on social media platforms because it’s a hot button. Those adults will find your stuff if you present it on your blog. Politics for instance—for some they don’t want to discuss it with friends on Facebook, but they would on another forum if they felt safe enough to.

Through out this, the point that’s most important is the 3 reasons why you publish. When you don’t know what to write, think about why your write. It’s 1 of the 3, or maybe all of them. So blog about your writing inspiration, blog to entertain people, blog to help other people. But don’t think you have nothing to blog for.

ACTION ITEM: Find your reason to blog: to inspire, to entertain or to solve a problem. Remember that helping a reader find your book is under the "solving a problem" and the "to entertain" category because being bored and not finding the right kind of entertainment is a problem. :)

I have stressed the importance of author landing pages, but I can't help you understand the importance of one if you don't know what an author landing page is, so I'm here to explain.

In the marketing world there is a term called a "Landing Page". I will explain what a landing page is by this:

Have you ever seen a facebook ad that caught your eye--admit it, you clicked on the cute bark box ad--and were routed to another screen that popped up? You laughed at the antics of cuddly puppy picture and then you clicked on the ad. That ad brought you to a landing page! While you were on the landing page you scrolled down a bit and saw a BIG arrow or flashing lights telling you to...subscribe!! Go ahead, click the button--see the landing page...

You laughed so hard or were entertained so much that you said, "Sure!! I'll join! What other funny stuff do you have?"

You just gave that site your well earned, cold hard-email. As a marketer I understand that you're email is worth about $1 of my marketing budget.

Marketers cherish your email, they pet it and name it George, and then--they send you stuff!  You may like it, you may not like it and unsubscribe and that's okay!! Because they'd rather spend their money on true fans. True fans will buy everything they have to offer...

You get this part, you understand it because you've been the one giving your email. Now it's time to be on the email-getting side.

That page that had the "Freebie" here or "Sign-up for more laughs" was not the only page on their website. That's right you clicked on the ad and...landed on their landing page. The page that does 3 things:

1. Sets expectations. Meaning it tells you what you get (now and in the future) for signing up.
2. Gives you purpose as to why you should sign up.
3. Has a signup form. Or in other terms...gives you a place to enter in your email (if not your name too).

When someone fills out the form on my site, the name and email goes straight to mailchimp--no fuss for me and you get your free book immediately!! No waiting for the time-pressed author/publisher to get you your PDF. You also get emails from me letting you know about the things going on!!

Some may disagree, but building an email list is part of building fans. Fans want to know what you're up to. They want to read about their authors. Most my authors understand about having an email list. They think, but I put a form on my blog...I put a form on my home page, I put a form on my...

Yes, but do you have a page on your website dedicated to the WHY and WHAT a reader gets for signing up? They will see your form, but they may not realize what they get for giving their dollar to you. Imaging your fan thinking, if I give this man a dollar will he then follow me around--like Google?

So, if you're still scratching your head about what an author landing page is...it is a way to knock out all the distractions and say, this is what I want, this is what you get. Look at Gail Mencini's landing page HERE. It's a good one! Clean, fresh, explains what the book is about, what you get and what you have to do to get the six chapter sample. You're landing page is the new business card. If you want to do business, set out your business card on your online business and let people take your business card with them.

You're trying to get fans, and readers want to know they'll like you before they buy. (Yes, they are buying you--not your book).

If you attach the ad to a book on amazon...it doesn't mean that person is going to buy the book. In fact, no one is going to buy your book if you think your landing page is your amazon link.

Just because they clicked your link on the witty twitter message or facebook ad doesn't mean they are going to invest any money or even time to read your book. It means you hooked them and you better damn well let them know what the hell is going on. An explanation like "Hi! Thank you for coming, I'm going to knock you're socks off for reading this book that I'm going to give you for FREE!"

ACTION ITEM: Create a landing page so that when you put a link on your tweet or Facebook post you're not just sending them to buy your book. Send them to your website so they can decide for themselves if they want to take the time to read you!  

So basically you have a choice between a 3 ring binder and notepads. Onenote is the notebook with different sections. Evernote is the 3 ring binder style. Below he explains more about the features:

ACTION ITEM: What's better for you? Evernote or Onenote?