Sister Snog

Stand out from the crowd
Wouldn't you just love the press to fall in love with you. Course you would. The obvious call. Send out a press release. Picture it landing on a journalist's desk. Lost amongst a pile of other press releases. Now imagine the same press release with a book accompanying it. Different story.

Start with your heart. End with your head.
It's tough to get all the way to the end of a book  if you're striving for perfection first time round. Forget the minutiae. Word count. Grammar. Chapter lengths. These can wait. Just give yourself permission to write. No holding back. See where the incredible journey takes you. Then when it comes to your second draft, tackle it head on. Some paragraphs will stay. Others go. A perfectly natural part of the process of what can be a rather cathartic experience.  

Find the magic number
Books don't write themselves. If you're serious about writing a book it has to be a daily commitment rather than a commitment for a whole day. Top tip. Get a timer. Set it for 45 minutes. Write. No delicious distractions allowed. Everyone has a magic number. After a couple of sessions you'll find yours. Even 10 minutes a day can lead to a best seller.

The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43
Singer Harriet Goodwin cut back on touring because she had small children. Then she stumbled on her second career. As a children's writer. She woke up one morning, convinced a dream she'd had was the plot for a novel. She began writing for 10 minutes a day when her children were napping or at school. Religiously.

Something in the woodshed
In 2009 The Boy Who Fell Down Exit 43 became book of the month in Borders and was shortlisted for last year's Blue Peter award. Ms Goodwin is now working on a second book in a shed at the bottom of her garden. She hasn't given up her day job and still gives concerts but finds writing complements her singing. Proof there can be harmony between two careers.

So what are you waiting for? Time to release the book inside.

Jacqueline Burns
Publishing Consultant
publishabestseller.com
@writersclub
 

Mags and rags
PR is traditionally associated with paper print such as magazines and newspapers. But there's also an incredibily accessible arena ready, willing and eager to hear about you, your business, your expertise, thoughts, observations and opinions. PR is the perfect passport to fame, fans and followers in the digital world.

Forget-me-not
Think about what happens when someone reads about you or your company in a mag or rag. Unless you're a household brand such as Heinz, Max Factor or Dove or an A-Lister such as Cheryl, Madge or Kylie then chances are they'll struggle to remember your name. Let alone your website.

Right click. Left click
How many time has a business or brand grabbed your attention while you're getting your locks coiffed or your pearlies cleaned and you're having a Gracia fix. Then when you get back to the office you've promptly forgotten all about them. Well that could be you. However if someone happens to stumble upon you online, they're just a click away to becoming a follower or fan, client or customer. Tantilising eh?

Hop on the Merry Go Round
Online PR is a virtual circle. To create a digital footprint all you have to do is get tip-tapping on the keyboard. Write a blog. Or an article. It'll start a chain reaction. A mention here. A tweet there. Write more. Get more mentions. More tweets and re-tweets. The result. A flow of visitors to your site. Increased site traffic leads to higher ranking on search engines when surfers search under your key words and phrases. Google-icious. Bing! Bong! Print is 'ere-today, 'istory-tomorrow. A digital footprint sticks around. Now how cool is that!

Cheap as chips
Online PR and marketing is a gift. Beautifully wrapped with a big bow. The cost. Your time. Forget paying for all-singing-all-dancing brochures, which are quickly out of date. Postage. No charge. All you need. A well conceived email accompanied by the relevant documents. A press release. Photographs. Articles. Followed up with a phone call. Small investment. Big return.

Trackability
Hitting the headlines in the mags and rags and tracking site visitors back to a specific article or offer is not an exact science. Tracking online PR and marketing on the other hand is rather more straightforward. By accessing web statistics you can see the addresses of the sites where your visitors are coming from. Then you can make more than an educated guess on how the stats correspond to your efforts and activity. And, on that note...

Buyability
...if you're getting a flock of clicks from a particular site, but no one's buying, you can make more than an educated guess why that might be. Perhaps they're clicking through on a message that doesn't really convey what you're selling, that might need a tweak. Equally, gateway sites that drive traffic should be treated with love, care and attention.

Fame costs!
Indeed. But before you think about sending out another press release via snail mail, stop.  Take a good, long look at email and give some serious thought on how you could become the one to watch in the digital sphere.

Paula Gardner
Do Your Own PR
Twitter : @doyourownpr