I’m sharing here just the very best of the best for writers concerned about building their careers — blogs and websites that I recommend that you visit on a regular basis.

THE CREATIVE PENN — productivity and more

Joanna Penn and I tread down similar pathways with our blogs.  The difference?  She does it so much better than i do!  Every time I come up with a new idea to introduce into my blogging life, I discover that Joanna’s already doing it.  E-books, podcasts, screencasts, Aweber mailing list management, harnessing of the social media and more.  And Joanna also writes blog posts on many of the topics that I cover.  Visit her site — and be sure to click on the Author 2.0 free download, a virtual road map to building your professional career.  Insider tip:  follow Joanna on Twitter.  She scours the internet for the best posts of the day and shares her findings via tweets, rather than in her blog.

SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER — building your platform

The brain-child of Michael Stelzner, whose blog White Papers has long been popular with copywriters, the Social Media Examiner promises to guide you through “the social media jungle.”  Stelzner has attracted a group of experts to share their knowledge on how best to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media.  While many blogs cover this area, none is as comprehensive or as helpful as this one.

THE BOOK DESIGNER — how your writing “looks” matters

Writers often don’t pay much attention to how their work “looks.”  Many just shove that responsibility off on a publisher or simply follow the easiest route to self-publication, which too many times takes the form of a drab Microsoft Office document turned into a PDF.  Blogger and graphic designer Joel Friedlander aims to help writers do better with his new blog The Book Designer. His subject matter, in fact, stretches way beyond just book design and is becoming indispensible for writers serious about their career.

SELF-PUBLISHING REVIEW — tips about the right way to self-publish

Self-Publishing Review is an online magazine which should be on every author’s frequent reading list.  But it is more than just a collection of news stories.  It is developing into an engaging community of writers and readers.  Here’s the way it describes itself:

“Self-Publishing Review is a central site devoted to self-publishing news and reviews. It is also a social network where writers, readers, and everyone can join and connect, so please register. The aim of the site is to improve the attitude toward self-publishing and help authors find readers.”

THE BOOK PROMOTION BLOG — how to sell yourself and your books

While there are a number of fine blogs and websites about promoting and selling one’s books, in my view John Kremer’s blog and his related sites are the very best.  One can subscribe to receive this blog via email. John will not inundate you with posts, but they will come frequently enough to remind writers to continually think about book promotion.  Be sure also to check out John website, which contains a lot of useful resource material.  John is also the main force behind The Bookmarketing Network, an invaluable forum for writers.

MEDIA BISTRO — joining the community

Writing is, of course, a solitary craft.  But writers should not spend all their time in the garret.  In fact, it’s important to feel like one is part of the bigger community of writers.  Media Bistro and its constellation of activities offers just that kind of community.  No matter where you live, Media Bistro will bring you into the fold.  It’s Daily Morning Briefing email newsletter is one of the first I read every day.  I’ve joined its affiliated membership group AvantGuild.  I’ve taken some of its online courses and have even arranged my travel schedule to attend a couple of its events.  Even though I live in far-off Manila, I still feel like I’m part of the thriving community of writers in the US.

READ WRITE WEB — my Sunday morning read

Read Write Web has grown beyond its original purpose of covering topics of interest to professionals who find themselves writing on the web.  It now covers the web more generally, with lots of articles about social media, new software applications, cloud computing and so forth.  I make it a habit to review the site every Sunday, when it publishes a list of its top stories of the week.  I, as a writer, almost always find something worth a full read.

A BONUS SITE:  LIFEHACKER — not just for writers

Lifehacker is the grand-daddy of the personal productivity websites.  It covers a broad sweep of topics — but they all boil down to how to get things done better, faster, cheaper.  The blog has many contributors and its audience is huge.

CONCLUSION

In our busy world, who can possibly keep up with 101 websites?  For me these seven will suffice.

But what about Becoming A Writer — Seriously,  you ask?  [You did ask, didn't you?]  Well, I view this site more like a reference book handy on one’s work table.  I try to catch important information for writers as soon as I can.  But all that gets shoved into one of the “chapters” listed on the right sidebar, where it’s always available for reference.  Three to four thousand unique visitors come to this blog from search engines each month, all searching out some particular piece of information.  I’m pleased to see that many stick on the site for awhile, digging around for other material.

So do keep us in mind.  Still, bookmark the sites above for a weekly visit — those are the ones that can make a real difference to you and your career.

QUESTION:  WHAT SITES WOULD YOU ADD TO THIS LIST?

Do you have a website or blog that you yourself consider indispensable to you as a writer?  Share it with us — and explain why it is so important to you.

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Would any of you like to guest blog about BEA this May?  If so, leave a comment below, or email me at tomcolvin at gmail.

Norwalk, CT, April 1, 2010: BookExpo America (BEA) organizers have revealed plans to launch the BEA DIY (Do It Yourself) Authors Conference & Marketplace which will take place in conjunction with BEA at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.  DIY will occur on Monday, May 24, 2010 immediately before the official opening of BEA the following day.  Convention organizers have seen a large base of aspiring writers and DIY service providers participating in BEA and saw an opportunity to better serve their interests with a dedicated day of business.  It is appropriate and productive given the rapid growth and change in the self-publishing world.

The new venture is being launched in association with Gotham Writers’ Workshop and The Writer magazine, both of which will be providing considerable support and working closely with the BEA marketing team to coordinate a powerful marketing campaign.  Gotham Writers’ Workshop is the leading creative writing school offering comprehensive classes on the Internet and in New York City and The Writer magazine is the country’s oldest and most respected magazine for writers, providing advice and inspiration to writers at all skill levels since 1887.

“This is the perfect conference at the perfect time,” notes Steve Rosato, Show Manager for BookExpo America.  “Aspiring writers are empowered by technology in a manner that they never have been in the past.  Authors may now forge their own way in the world of publishing and this means they will need to make lots of critical decisions.  Our goal in creating DIY is to make this process simpler by providing them with information and solutions.  BEA is all about creating environments of mutual self-interest where customers and service providers may interact beneficially.  DIY represents a significant step in achieving that goal.”

DIY will introduce aspiring writers to some of the industry’s most respected companies including: Amazon, Author Solutions, Blurb.com, FastPencil, Filedby, and SharedBook, among others.  The DIY Marketplace will be complemented by the DIY Conference, including the following panels and sessions:  Like Never Before; Getting Your Manuscript Fit: DIY with Help; Authors’ Online Resource: DIY Publicity, Promotion and Events; Do’s & Don’ts – Authors & DIY Services’ Deals; DIY Innovation & Success Within the Bookselling Milieu; and Minor League Moves that Garners Major League Attention Using Online Collaboration to Complete Your Book.  Leading industry experts and professionals who will be presenting include: Peter Clifton, CEO & Co-founder, FiledBy; Michael Ashley, Co-Founder and CTO of FastPencil; Jon Fine, Dir., Author & Publisher Relations, Amazon.com; Robin Goldberg, SVP Global Channels and Partnerships, Blurb.com; Caroline Vanderlip, CEO, SharedBook; Noah Lukeman, President, Lukeman Literary Management Ltd; Leigh Haber, former book editor who’s edited such books as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth; P.J. Campbell, Dir. of Events, John Wiley & Sons, author, Authors Online Resource:  DIY, Publicity, Marketing and Events; Claire McKinney, former Dir. of Publicity, Henry Holt; Jeff Reich, Editor, The Writer magazine.

Registration for DIY Authors Conference & Marketplace is $199 which includes a Boxed Lunch (this does NOT include admission to BEA).   Please go to BEA website for more information and registration.

For more information about BEA please visit www.bookexpoamerica.com.

BookExpo America (BEA) is North America’s largest gathering of book trade professionals attracting an international audience. It is organized with the support of association partners including the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the American Booksellers Association (ABA).  BEA is recognized for the media attention it brings to upcoming books as well as for the notable authors it attracts to the convention itself.

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organizer. In 2007 Reed brought together over six million industry professionals from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held in 38 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, and organized by 39 fully staffed offices.  Reed’s portfolio of over 500 events serves 47 industry sectors.

*****

MORE FROM TOM:

On Tuesday, the 25th of May, one can attend the DigitalBook 2010 conference.  Registration also includes admission to the regular 3-day BookExpo America conference and exhibition, the largest annual book event in the US.  Seating is limisted — and the conference has been sold out in each of the past six years.

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One of the joys of blogging is the unexpected email and blog comments that come my way, leading me to enriching new discoveries.  The other day I became acquainted with Gabrielle David and a provocative array of initiatives flowing from the Intercultural Alliance of Artists and Scholars [IAAS].  Looking through the various activities associated with IAAS, I was reminded about the role and power of literature in our communities, something I fear we often forget in the tumult of modern-day life.

While based in New York, Gabrielle and the IAAS initiatives reach far beyond the city.  There’s a website called phati’tude [just relaunched], literary magazine, TV programming, book reviews, lots of poetry and more.  All of it with a strong community and multi-cultural thrust.  Here’s how this group descibes itself:

“While phati’tude has mutated into a myriad of initiatives, our goal remains the same: to reach the broadest audience possible by collaborating with artists, scholars and community organizations to advance the art of writing as essential to a good education and to promote literary talent and achievement through all media, old and new.”

I think that’s a rather inspiring statement.  And, from my trip around the website and its links, it is backed up by substance.  In fact, it may be a model for other communities to emulate.

At the website’s relaunching on 27 January, the site led off with a re-intoduction of itself, giving us the history of the site and its related activities.  It all started in 1997 with the launch of a new literary magazine:

“…phati’tude, a literary magazine that challenged a canon based on a European white male model that excluded works by women, gays and lesbians, Native American, and of African, Hispanic/Latino and Asian descent. Expansion continued on the internet and with other TV programs – VISIONARY VOICES and phati’tude Language & Literary Arts Curriculum, among others.”

Gabrielle, in her email to me, pointed directly to the magazine, which is also being relaunched and is currently searching for submissions.  Deadline for submissions is 1 March.  You can check the submission guidelines to see if you have material appropriate for the journal.

This whole enterprise seems richly vibrant.  It’s certainly worth looking into.

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A demo video, even though a bit dated, covers the software basics and clarifies its organizing concepts.  WATCH the video at the developer’s website.

Developer Peter Molyneux continues to actively add features. I’m buying this updated version on Friday for these new features. You will also find that Peter is very responsive to users who have questions and suggestions.

If you search back through this blog’s archives, you’ll find several discussions about the importance of versioning.   I chuckle when I recall my exchanges a couple years ago with fellow blogger Dustin Wax, as we commiserated about the difficulties of the task.   Peter has now made it simple as pie.  And affordable too!

REMINDER:  Today is DISCOUNT DAY for the screenwriting software Movie Outline 3.  See my announcement from last week.

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New rumors about the unveiling of Apple’s new tablet reader/computer spring up everyday.  The geek press is going nuts trying to learn just what Steve Jobs has cooked up this time.  It seems very likely that it will be named iSlate, a conclusion by one researcher who’s found that Apple registered that name all over the world a couple of years ago.  But will it have a 10-inch screen?  Or 7-inch?  Will it have full computer capability?  Or will it simply an enlarged version of the iPod?  Or will it be a dedicated e-book reader only?  No one yet really knows.  Apple has, it seems, booked a meeting room in San Francisco for January 26, and everyone assumes that is when the device will finally be unveiled.  However, today’s rumor is that the tablet will not be unveiled until summer 2010 and that it will be called the iPad.

In the meantime, there’s a most intriguing video online that speculates about what the ideal tablet reader might look like and how it might function.  Writers, take a look and be inspired.  I’m already saving my money for a device like this one.

Mag+ from Bonnier on Vimeo.

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Take a glance at the teaser video over in our sidebar VIDEO FOR WRITERS, with interviews from attendees at the recent Summit preview party.  From this video, I learned for the first time about ElectricLiterature.  Here’s its stated mission:

Electric Literature’s mission is to use new media and innovative distribution to return the short story to a place of prominence in popular culture.

WOW!  And one of its projects is to develop musical animations of a single-sentence from one of its authors works, like the one in our video sidebar.

This is just one group that will be represented at the Summit.  There will certainly be others with equally innovative projects to discuss.

NOTE:  If any of our readers plan to attend, please let me know.  Maybe we can arrange for you to do a live blog from the event!

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Yet there’s another side to this story that I myself find even more interesting.  The journalists who wrote the piece talked to several writers who consciously write for the e-book market.  This bears more investigation — I’ll see what I can come up with.

NOTE:  Check our VIDEO FOR WRITERS sidebar for demos of several new e-readers enterting the Christmas market.  [After a week, you will find these videos at our VIDEO FOR WRITERS website.”

At the discounted price, InfoHesiveEP offers great value to writers.  I’ve just taken the software for a quick spin, and I like it a lot — all except for the strange name, that is.

The software essentially performs TWO tasks.  First, it will take in pre-existing documents in RTF, TXT, HTML and a few other formats and convert them into any one of a number of e-book formats that together cover all of the main e-book platforms in use today, such as PDF, ePub, and Mobi.  So if you have a completed manuscript, it’s simple to get it into an e-book format that you can upload to various online stores.

Second, the software is also essentially a stripped down word processor that allows for writing an e-book right within the software.  As a processor, it has a number of very appealing features.  In the left sidebar, one creates a hierarchical outline of the e-book.  Each outline topic becomes a separate section of the book.  I discovered that it’s also easy to play around with various page sizes, and one can choose between portrait and landscape orientation.  Within minutes, I created an outline for an e-book about playing the harmonica which I’ve had in mind for months, and I have also arrived at a perfect format for online reading, a medium page size in landscape format which shows the entire page on a computer screen.  I’ve just written the introduction within the software, setting up the default font and style for this emerging book.  Next, I’ll import a few RTF documents I’ve already written, containing about a third of the eventual book’s content.

As a final step, I will eventually choose to output this e-book in PDF format, more appropriate for online reading with its many links to YouTube instructional videos.  I also plan to add a page-turning facility to give it more pizazz.

As I work on this e-book, I will also have the comfort knowing that the software automatically keeps backups, with as many past versions as I wish, in case I need to roll back.  That alone is a very valuable feature.

There are some short-comings.  For example, don’t expect to turn out an e-book with fancy graphics.  Text does not wrap around photos or graphics, nor does the software support columns.  With effort, one can work around these shortcomings by manipulating tables — not a convenient or elegant solution, but at least one cam spruce up the layout a little bit.

There are other more powerful authoring software packages out there with substantially more control over a book’s graphic design.  But they are much more expensive.  Writers can also turn to online services such as Smashwords, which will convert your word processing documents into various e-book formats — but one loses a little bit of control over the e-book along the way.

Bottomline, InfoHesiveEP is another useful and affordable tool for writers seeking to publish their work.  At the discounted price, I think it’s definitely worth a look.  Go to Bits du Jour for more information about the discount and the software.  You can download the software in advance, but the discount itself is only available if the software in purchased on Tuesday, November 3.

I’ve already had an online chat exchange with Mike de Sousa,  a member of the development team, and he had this to say:

I think there’s an eBook in all of us – we’ve all got experiences, expertise, or creative work to share. My hope with InfoHesiveEP is that people take those nuggets of gold that too often lay hidden, and turn them into publications that enrich others. Even at the full price the program is more affordable than the overly-complex, developer based authorship tools out there.”

The software company behind the product, 2BrightSparks , is a well-established one with a high reputation.  At the company’s website, you will find a very informative article by Mike titled Publish to the Kindle, well worth a read.  You can read it online, or download it in e-book format of course, and it’s free.  Among the company’s other products is the very popular SyncBack package, which I once used frequently.

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*****

GENERAL:

TOM: Not being a poet, I do not have any understanding at all about how a poet approaches writing.  The romantic view is that poets just listen for the muse to speak to them.  Sudden inspiration drives the pen.  No thinking, organizing or even very conscious discipline during the writing process is necessary.  Is that romantic view of poetry accurate?

KAREN: It’s both romantic and accurate.  The initial impulse of the poem is much as you describe.  Suddenly, something hits.  Some metaphor suggests itself in an otherwise ordinary day.  Then the scribbling begins to see where it might lead.  Richard Hugo in “The Triggering Town” refers to the initiating subject.  So perhaps it’s the view of laundry hanging on a clothesline that begins to scroll backward in time and suggest a connection to some emotion or experience.  Of course, I’m speaking of my own process here.  Other poets may work in a completely different way. I just let the writing come—without censor or judgment—not even thinking about how anything is connected.  It always is.  That’s the integrity of mind.  Once I have everything I can think of to say—no matter how digressive, silly, or weird written down.  I give it a rest.  Later I come back and take this raw material and see how it makes itself into a poem.

THINKING:

TOM: Do you “think” about your poetry writing in any organized way?  Like mulling over objectives for yourself as a poet?  Tapping your inner resources for ideas for future poems — or even poetry book collections?  I guess what I’m asking is, do poets “think” about their work before actually sitting down to do it?

KAREN: I would hate to think of my thinking process as organized.  And I never have an a priori idea about what a poem is about in the sense of aboutness that, for instance, an essay has.  I find the aboutness somewhere about midway through the rewriting process when it announces itself and I say, “Oh, that’s what’s underneath this idea.  That’s the connection between these two things.  The unconscious is often much more literal than we imagine it is.  Much craftier too.  One thing I know for sure: I have to go slowly with this process or I may lose the point completely.  What do the images suggest?  How do they pile up toward a particular meaning?  A long time ago there was a poetry textbook I love the name of because it says so much about poetry:  How does a poem mean.  I like that because poetry is much more about how a poem means than what it means.

I do often get ideas from reading other people’s poems in much the same way musicians hear and understand what each other might be doing and then add their own spin to it.  When I teach poetry, I often have students read a book or two and find a line that speaks to them and then write toward or away from that line—agreeing or enhancing or arguing with or complaining about the line.  It’s a great exercise.

I don’t actually think about anything before I write.  But I definitely have a very specific feeling that makes me know I am about to engage in poetry.  It’s quite different than other types of writing I’ve done: fiction, essays, plays.

I save scraps of things that I think might eventually work their way into a poem.  I keep a “button box” with little provocative items, words, images, snatches of overheard conversation, metaphors.  When I feel stuck, I mine that box.  Often, the thing I select is just the thing I’ve been groping for.

TOM: Can you describe any thinking routines that you follow?

KAREN: I like to think about the way a poem suggests itself rather like a frayed bit of yarn that I can tug and follow as it unravels itself.  The most important piece for me is to separate writing—that spacious, non-judgmental, attentiveness–with rewriting and editing.  The second two should not take place simultaneous with the first.  Do them much later.  Let the raw materials of the poem breathe and coalesce for a while before rushing in to tidy it up.  And especially be careful with revising that you don’t eviscerate the poem.  I think it best to wait a week or two in stage one—going back to reread and add if anything new occurs, but do not get rid of anything or even put much effort into the order of things for a long while.  As you can tell, poetry is not fast food.  In fact, there are poems in my new book, Hard Bargain, that I have been writing for twenty-five years.

ORGANIZING:

TOM: Do poets organize things?  If so, how and why?

KAREN: When I do get down to editing, I depend very much on my ear to tell me the order of things.  Poetry, whether free verse or formal verse, is, above all, a kind of music.  You have to allow the order of the poem and the music of the poem to interact.  In the new book, there are a number of formal poems: pantoums and villanelles mostly.  These require a different kind of organizing because of the repetition and rhyme scheme. The editing process is fraught with pitfalls.  Go slowly with change.  Sit with it for a while.  Revisit and rewrite.

TOM: Do you have any organizational tricks that helped you create your poetry book?

KAREN: I find organizing a book of poems among the most challenging tasks a writer can undertake.  There are so many things to consider in the movement through a book.  It’s, I think, rather like writing a symphony—pushing toward a flow with has both variety and cohesiveness.  Some poems are difficult to place.  I’ve had poems for years that I have not been able to figure out how to use in any of my books.  They are good poems, but for one reason or another they don’t work in the sequence.

WRITING:

TOM: Do you as a poet simply use Microsoft Word as your word processor of choice?  Or do use some other program for your writing?

KAREN: I use Word.  I use a pen and tablet.  I use paper napkins.  For years, I used a fabulous old IBM Selectic.  Now I use my laptop.

TOM: If you could create a writing software to suit your own needs, what would you include?

KAREN: A simple way to keep track of and compare various versions.  It’s amazing that a fourteen-line poem can often go through fifty revisions.

TOM: What other resources did you keep at hand while you were writing your book?  Dictionaries?  Synonym dictionaries, or rhyming dictionaries?  If so, what specifically do you yourself turn to, either in print, online resources, or software?

KAREN: Occasionally, I consult a rhyming dictionary—as a last result and almost always with poor results.  Otherwise, I do consult dictionary.com to see if I am using a word correctly.  Mostly for poetry, I rely on my own vocabulary, as that sounds most natural to me as the language of my own thoughts.  I believe, as my guru poet William Stafford said, that poetry is the music of ordinary speech.  I try to avoid arcane words or tortured syntax.  Instead, I like a kind of democratic, energetic language.

PROMOTING:

TOM: Do you have a literary agent?  If so, how did you find one?  If not, how do you go about representing yourself to potential publishers?

KAREN: 99% of poets do not have an agent.  There is simply not enough money in poetry for agents to be interested.  I have had various agents for my fiction.  I am not particularly good at getting my work out. Every once in a while, I’ll notice that I have a bunch of new poems lying around and I’ll send then out to literary magazines.  I’m just terrible at the bookkeeping end of these things.  I wish this were not the case.  Maybe somebody could (or already has) invent a good software program for keeping track of submissions.  I would love to know about it.  I just do it rather haphazardly.

TOM: Was your poetry book published by an established publisher?  Or did you self-publish?  How did you choose between the two options, and why?

KAREN: My first two books were published by Nightshade Press which also published my second and third chapbook.  When the Nightshade owners retired, I didn’t have a press for a while. Then FootHills Publishing approached me.  I have admired their product.  A book of poetry is a little jewel and I like the production quality of the book to mirror the content.  I am extremely happy with my book and the work of Mike Czarnecki and FootHills Publishing.  Check out the website.  He publishes some of the best poets of our time.  And his handmade books are beautiful.

TOM: Do you do anything yourself to promote your book?  If so, what?  What promotional help does your publisher provide?

KAREN: FootHills Publishing has a great website and Mike provides some leads for readings.  I offer workshops and readings and network through those contacts.  Check out my website www.karenblomain.com to see where I am appearing in the next few months.  I also belong to two writers groups.  Occasionally, I do classroom visits in schools.  Both the publisher and I used the net to promote the book.

CONCLUSION:

TOM: What advice can you provide to aspiring poets regarding the productivity and business side of writing?  Any other parting advice?

KAREN: My advice to all writers is the same: don’t rush the process.  Don’t be in such a hurry to publish that you short-change the process of revision and editing.  Join a writers group.  Network with other writers.  Know your markets and your audience.  Don’t make it into such a business that you forget it is an art.  You are never going to make a million dollars writing poems, but the writer’s life is priceless.

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TWITTER TIPS FROM NEW YORK TIMES

On May 6, the global online edition of the New York Times carried an article providing new users of Twitter with insight into some of the more advanced capabilities of the applications and some of its various spinoffs.  Even I learned a few new tricks, even after using Twitter for several months now.  As Twitter’s reach expands, this facility will become increasingly useful to writers, whether you are only in the research phase for a new book or or the pomotional stages of winning readers to your work.

USB KEYS

Have you ever lost a USB flash drive?  I have — and it’s made me very conscious how easy it is to do.  LaCie, a hardware storage company, has come up with an ingenious solution.  It offers a 4-gig and 8-git USB drive in the shape of a door key, perfect for lincluding right on your key chain.  Well, I’ve lost keys too — but only once in my lifetime, so I’d feel more secure with this USB key.  Someday I’ll get around to writing a series about setting up a special USB key for writers — and then you will truly understand why a design like LaCie’s can be so valuable.

NYTIMES FEATURE ON PIRACY OF BOOKS

The New York Times [and IHT for international readers ] today carried an interesting piece about the increasing problem of current printed books being digitized and uploaded to various document sharing sites.  Now with the Kindle and Sony Reader stoking interest in digital books, such piracy is growing.  This will, I think, lead to anguish among writers similar to that experienced by musicians and film-makers, who got very steamed up about piracy before finally discovering that people are willing to pay for online product, if it is reasonably priced.  The article concluded with a reference to writer Cory Doctorow, who normally releases free digital versions of his books on the same day that his prnt books come out.  Doctorow observes:  “I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy.  It’s obscurity.”  Sage advice, in my view.

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