Novels take commitment. A book you can read in three hours can take anywhere from three months to three years to write.

Here’s a cute idea for you if you can’t get started writing: use Twitter.

How to Start a Twitter Novel suggest a plan to write a “Twitter novel”:

“1. Throw Out The Manuscript

Twitter is instantaneous. Serializing a manuscript may be easy, but trying to contract and make logical sense of it in 140 character bursts is not. By doing this, you limit the flexibility that Twitter grants in presenting your fiction. Start fresh.”

Now, of itself, a Twitter novel may be close to useless. However, it can provide you with inspiration to write if you outline your “real” novel 140 characters a time in Twitter.

Responses from your followers will help.

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

“Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I’m quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2007! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I’ve got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…”

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you’re writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

Are you thinking of making the switch from writing articles to writing books? Your writing skills are established, so changing the form in which you write is easy. Discover how in this article.

Writing books (traditional books and ebooks) is easier than writing articles. This is simply because you need fewer ideas. A book is constructed around one central idea; with articles, you need to come up with a fresh idea and slant for each article.

So let’s look at how you can make the switch from writing articles to writing books.

1. Writing Made Easy With a Word and Chapter Count

Start by deciding on a word count for the completed book. If you’re a new novelist, for example, aim for a word count of around 80,000 words. Many publishers give you a word count to aim for in their guidelines. Be aware that this publisher’s word count is not a suggestion: it’s a rule, so stick to it.

If you’re writing an ebook, a good word count to aim for is around 30,000 words. In article terms, this equals around 60 500-word articles.

Thinking in terms of article word counts when you’re developing a book project makes the project seem less intimidating.

2. What’s the Destination? Write a Blurb

Next, write a blurb for your book. This is your book’s description. Keep it under 50 words. It’s vital that you create a blurb. Books tend to morph as you write them. A blurb gives you a destination; without it, you’ll get lost.

Visit a bookstore and read the blurbs on the back covers of books to see how a blurb is written, then write your own.

3. Planning With Index Cards: Create Article Titles

I plan most of my books with index cards. The cards are portable; I can toss a bundle of cards into my bag and take them with me. Then, when I get an idea for the book, I just fill out the cards.

Use your cards initially to create article titles. These “articles” will actually be your chapters.

4. Start Writing to Prime the Pump

Just like eating an elephant, you write a book a bite at a time. I always leave the file of my current book project open; I write 50 or 100 words here or there, and manage to complete the book while working with my writing students or copywriting clients.

You can do this too. Just fit writing your book into your day as best you can. Your index cards will come in useful here. I know one writer who wrote an entire book on index cards on the train to and from work; he transcribed his cards in the evenings at home.

So there you have four ideas to help you to make the switch from writing articles to writing books.

Get a mentor: create an ebook within a month, even if you’ve never written an ebook before

Jump into your own successful information-product business, under the guidance of an expert.

Create and sell your own ebooks with Angela Booth’s “Create and Sell Ebooks and Courses FAST with a Mentor”.

Want to develop a six-figure writing income?

The September 2007 issue of The Writer had a great story: “Secrets Of The Six-Figure Freelancers”. The story’s wonderful because it shows you the potential of a freelance writing career; with the development of the Web and its unlimited markets, if you can write, you can make a great income as a freelance writer.

I chuckled when I read the story because many writers think a “six figure income” is hype. Either that, or they think that a great income is reserved for copywriters, or genre novelists, or other specialist writers.

The fact is that YOU can develop a six-figure writing career: you just need to know that it’s possible to earn $250,000 a year and more as a freelance writer, and then make that your goal.

And of course, you need know-how. That’s what my writing ebook manuals give you. In 30 years as a freelance writer, I’ve learned the tricks of the writing trade, and I’d love to share those tricks with you, so many of my ebooks offer free coaching. Whatever your level of experience as a freelance writer, you can develop a fantastic career, when you know how.

Develop your writing skills today.

Fascinating news: Google is becoming, in essence, a digital bookshop.

Google Signs a Deal to e-Publish Out-of-Print Books – NYTimes.com reports:

“Last week, American authors and publishers reached an agreement with Google to settle lawsuits over Google’s Book Search program, which scans millions of books and makes their contents available on the Internet. The deal lets Google sell electronic versions of copyrighted works that have gone out of print.”

It will be interesting to see where this initiative is a decade from today. Perhaps books will never go out of print; they’ll always be available.

Angela Booth’s writing guides have been created to help you to make money from your writing every day. Join the thousands of writers who are making great money with their writing skills.

Want to write a book? Such a long project can seem intimidating. However, with the right planning, you’ll find it easy and enjoyable — it will make money for you as well.

You’ll find four tips to help you to write your book below.

Before we get started, here’s something you should know: writing a book is easier than writing articles for the same word count. A book is essentially a single idea, deliberately slanted, which you develop.

If you remember that your book is ONE idea, you’ll write a book which sells because it’s focused; you give your readers exactly what you promised.

Here are your tips.

1. Start a Blog — Readers Mean Potential

When you’re starting a book, start a blog. Whether you opt for traditional publishing, self-publishing or an ebook, you need readers. A blog lets you develop anticipation for your book, and a following. This following will help you to sell your book.

2. Writing Is a Journey: What’s Your Destination?

As I said earlier, a book is ONE idea, not dozens of them. Write a blurb (a brief description of 30 words or less) about your book. How will it benefit readers? Why would they read it? What does it provide?

Your blurb is your destination, and with your destination firmly in mind you won’t go wondering off the track.

Angela Booth’s writing guides have been created to help you to make money from your writing every day. Join the thousands of writers who are making great money with their writing skills.

3. Sell Your Book As You Write It

New writers think sequentially: write a book, sell the book, market the book… Professional writers do it all simultaneously. Ideally, you’ll sell your book before you finish writing it, and your marketing should go hand in hand with your writing.

4. Blog for Validation and Respect

Not only does your book’s blog ensure that you have readers, it also gives you validation and respect.

You need validation, especially if you’re a new writer and are filled with self doubt. Respect will help you to take yourself seriously as a writer and to start thinking like a writer.

These tips will help you to not only write a successful book, but also enjoy the process too. Will you make money? Although no one can guarantee this, you’ll be as sure as it’s possible to be.

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

“Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I’m quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2007! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I’ve got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…”

“Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you’re writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

Sadly, Michael Crichton is no longer with us. He’ll be missed. I’ve never yet been disappointed when reading one of his novels, and I’ve some of his books several times.

My favorite is Timeline, a book which takes you back to the Middle Ages and is, in my opinion, the best time travel novel ever.

An Appraisal – Michael Crichton – Builder of Windup Realms That Thrillingly Run Amok – NYTimes.com says:

“Michael Crichton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 66, was like a character in a Michael Crichton novel. He was unusually tall (6 feet 7 inches), strikingly handsome and encyclopedically well informed about everything from dinosaurs to medieval banquet halls to nanotechnology.”