If you’ve considered blogging for buzz, then decided that it’s not for novelists, think again. You can and should be blogging to build a platform while you’re writing.

This article gives you some great ideas, 13 Blog Post Ideas for Novelists | Michael Hyatt. Consider blogging:

“Excerpts from Your Novel. This is probably the easiest. It has the added advantage of allowing us, your potential readers, to “sample the brew.” Just write a paragraph to set up the excerpt. Oh, and be sure to link to your book, so we can buy it (duh).”

This is a great idea. Remember to blog regularly. It will inspire your writing. You always write more when you know that you have readers.

Nervous about self-publishing? Many writers aren’t and that’s ideal. Kindle publishing is laughably simple.

That said, many writers would rather do their own dentistry than format and upload their self-published books. If you feel this way, respected publisher Penguin can help.

Publishers Lunch (subscription required), Book Country Launches Self-Publishing Platform reports:

“Book Country is offering three publishing packages to authors who wish to self-publish within the genres of romance, mystery/thriller, and science fiction & fantasy: a digital book with user-formatting based on a Microsoft Word file for $99…”

I’m not familiar with Book Country at all, but it looks like a great community. I’ll be joining myself.

You’ll need to decide whether their packages work for you. Be aware that you’re giving up some control, and money, too. Before you sign up with any packager, make sure you read and understand the fine print.

Kindle Publishing Is Hot: Want to generate cash from your kitchen table and quit your day job?

Others are making money from Kindle publishing. The lucky few are making millions. Some are making great money — and that money increases each month.

What about you?

Imagine generating cash from your kitchen table. You can let Amazon do all the heavy lifting. Amazon’s got a proven publishing system, after all — discover Fast and Easy Kindle Publisher: Turn Free Stuff Into Kindle Cash, and discover four different ways to turn free stuff into Kindle cash.

You’re writing ebooks, but you have an agenda. You don’t just want to sell copies, you also want to build your platform. Your hope is that a major publisher will see your sales, and will take you on board.

The major publishers, the “Big Six”, are all about the numbers and whether they can make money publishing you. This makes the price of the ebooks you’re selling all-important.

Therefore, you may want to forget offering your ebooks for free, or charging 99 cants. You’re going to have to charge more.

If you’ve been keeping your eye on ebook prices at the Kindle store, for example, you’ll see that Big Six ebooks are often between $8 and $10, sometimes much more. Publishers are experimenting with prices, and I’ve seen backlist titles set at an eye-watering $17 and over.

You have to wonder what these people are smoking. I won’t say who the publisher was, but one test ran the $17 price point for at least a four weeks that I’m aware of, before the price of the ebooks (we’re talking books first published in the 1980s), dropped to $7.50 on average.

To reiterate, big publishing is all about the numbers, so a 99 price, even if you’re selling lots of copies, is too low.

This article, How Low is Too Low? | AARdvark, reports:

“Anecdotally, I’ve heard that $3.99 is the breaking point; that if a book can sell a solid number of copies or become a bestseller while priced at $3.99 or higher, mainstream publishers become interested.  Below that point, they don’t care too much. ”

So there’s your challenge, if you want big-publisher attention, your price point needs to be tasty enough to interest them, and of course, you need to have the numbers.

Kindle Publishing Is Hot: Want to generate cash from your kitchen table and quit your day job?

Others are making money from Kindle publishing. The lucky few are making millions. Some are making great money — and that money increases each month.

What about you?

Imagine generating cash from your kitchen table. You can let Amazon do all the heavy lifting. Amazon’s got a proven publishing system, after all — discover Fast and Easy Kindle Publisher: Turn Free Stuff Into Kindle Cash, and discover four different ways to turn free stuff into Kindle cash.

This post, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: Guest Post by David Gaughran, makes the valid point (emphasis mine):

“Of the many memes being parroted by writers, one of the most destructive is “Most self-pubbed ebooks don’t sell.”

When you are arguing a point involving a new technology, such as ebooks, it is essential to make sure your argument also encompasses the older technology. The fact is, most legacy-pubbed books don’t sell.“

Too true.

Read the entire post. David Gaughran says, “I can’t afford to take a publishing deal.”

Again, too true.

That’s the case for many — I’d say MOST authors.

I’ve been the traditional publishing route many times. I’ve had two New York agents. New authors tend to think that having an agent and a publishing contract from a publisher solves problems.

Here’s the truth — it increases your problems, because more people are involved, and you have little control over what they do.

Your agent has other clients. Your editor has other books. Neither your agent nor your editor cares about you and your career as much as you do. They’ll give you advice, and taking bad advice can stymie you for years. Only you know what’s best for you.

If you’re a new author, you’ll think that everyone knows more than you. A trip down the traditional publishing path will soon disabuse you of that idea, I promise you. To repeat, only you know what’s best for you.

I’ve been writing for over 30 years. There’s never been a better time to write your own books and sell them — there have never been more opportunities.

If you want to go the traditional publishing route, and think that this is the short path to bestsellerdom, remember: as Joe Konrath says “most legacy-pubbed books don’t sell”.

There are many reasons for that. Mostly, they’re out of authors’ control.

Self-publishing gives YOU control. Write a good book, whack it up on Amazon. Or, go the trad publishing route… and give up control. Your choice.

Content Is King Online: Develop a Six-Figure Income from Your Content

Creating better content faster is your secret to online riches. There’s a huge demand for content online. You can develop a six-figure income not only by getting writing jobs, but also by creating content for websites, blogs and ebooks.

60-Second Content Power: Create Better Content Faster shows you how to create content FAST.

One writer said: “Working from home was just a dream for me. I thought writers starved. Angela shared the 60-second process in her coaching class a year ago. Last week, I signed a contract to create eight Kindle ebooks for a client in the next six months. It’s a BIG contract. Made my partner smile, and kids create shopping lists. I’ll always be an Angela Booth fan.”

Today, writers are in a powerful position. Content is king online. Take advantage of the unlimited opportunities, with 60-Second Content Power.

Many people want to write a book. Indeed, a survey found that ten per cent of the population want to do it. Few people accomplish it, but you can.

I wrote my first book at the age of eight. From memory, it had 270 pages and the story involved ghosts, intrepid kids, and horses. Everything I wrote up to the age of 14 involved horses.

Sadly, none of my early stories survive; I wish I’d kept them. But here’s what they taught me: they taught me to get started, and to keep going until I finished.

Most importantly of all, those early stories taught me that writing a book is easy when you have the attitude that you CAN do it. Somehow I knew that writing was simple: you sat down, and you wrote whatever came to mind.

Here are three tips which will help you to start writing your book today. It really is easier than you think.

1. Sit Down and Write

This is key. Write anything at all; don’t stop to think. Keep going. If you try to impose logic on this process, you won’t write much, and writing will be difficult for you.

Think of your writing self as someone else. Let that other self write. You can sort out the mess later (all writing is messy.)

2. (Nonfiction or Fiction) Create an Outline Before or After You Write

Some writers swear by outlines. Other writers swear at outlines.

It doesn’t matter which kind of writer you are. I use outlines for nonfiction; I don’t start the book until the outline is done.

For novels, I outline after I’ve written anywhere from 20 to 100 pages. The “outline” is just a collection of scene notes, each scene written on an index card.

When I’ve completed the first draft of a novel, I outline the whole thing, just to see what I’ve got. It makes it easier to cut scenes, and create needed scenes before I write the second draft.

3. Realize That You Can Write Any Scene or Chapter in Any Order You Like

Let’s say you’re writing a mystery. A promiscuous heiress has been murdered. Her husband and her lover are both suspects. Your protagonist, an ambitious, over-worked, and under-appreciated female detective, who has a lover of her own, and a suspicious, violent spouse, is emotionally involved in the case.

Just get started. Write the scene where the gardener, one of the heiress’s former lovers, finds the body. Or write the scene where the detective interviews the husband, and gets nowhere.

On the other hand, perhaps all you know is that you want to write a novel. You have no clue what kind of novel, nor do you have a single glimmer of a plot.

Again, just get started. Write something, anything. Describe your favorite coffee shop or bar in four sentences. The door opens. Your protagonist enters. Her white silk blouse is torn, she’s lost a shoe, and has skinned knees and ripped stockings.

Just start writing and keep writing. Describe the images in your mind.

So there you have it — three tips to help you to write a book. Sit down, right now, and write a sentence. Then another one… See? It’s easier than you think.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.