Leslie Truex - Digital Writer Success: How to Make a Living Blogging, Freelance Writing, & Publishing Online

To everyone who has something to say
and the desire to write it down.

Praise for

DIGITAL WRITER SUCCESS

Digital Writer Success nails it as a practical tool to get started writing for income! Way more than fluff, it hands you page after page of hands-on, how-to information that empowers the writer hoping to earn a living. So much grounded common sense in this book, the kind you dont see in most writing guides. Ill be suggesting this book when I speak to groups. Well done.

C. Hope Clark, editor FundsforWriters.com and mystery author, www.chopeclark.com

In todays fast-paced world, sometimes its difficult to navigate the information highway. Especially for writers, our world has evolved from the sharpened pencil meets yellow notepad to the strokes on a keyboard being transmitted into the vast land of the Internet. Leslie Truex has deftly mapped out this new frontier with her latest book, Digital Writer Success. This is an absolute must-have for everyone who is not only trying to keep up with our ever-changing technology, but also wants to succeed in areas such as blogging, freelancing, and epublishing.

Kimberly Dalferes, author, Magic Fishing Panties, humor columnist Dock Tale Hour, & blogger at The Middle-Aged Cheap Seats

Blogs. Social Media. Demystified. Leslie Truex takes on blogging and using social media to create or further your writing career. She discusses digital tools, explains why each is important and has a place in your writing strategy, and tells you how to embrace the technology to achieve your goals. This guide is for writers who want to improve their e-presence in the digital world whether or not they want to earn money from blogging, Dont procrastinate any longer. Take notes. Then put your pen away and apply her suggestions. Highly recommended for writers at all levels of their careers.

Betsy Ashton, President of Virginia Writers Club

What can I say but, Where was this book when I was starting my digital writing business? Digital Writer Success is packed full of practical step-by-step information to set up a successful digital writing business, whether you want to blog, freelance, author booksor all three! What I most appreciate about this book is its no-nonsense view. Leslie doesnt try to blow smoke by telling us it will be easy or by making false promises; what she does offer is the information we need to know if we want to set up our digital writing business correctly, right from the start! Chocked full of tools, resources and action checklists, you will want this book sitting on your desk as a reference every day. Not sure where to start? Unsure about which tool is best for the job? Have writers draught or analysis paralysis? Just reach for Digital Writers Success. It will guide you so that you can move from thinking about writing to living the lifestyle you wantas a writer!

Jacqueline Myers, college professor, freelance writer and editor, and owner/writing expert at NittyGrittyEnglish.com and ProfessorsPen.com

Digital Writer Success

by Leslie Truex

Copyright 2015 Leslie Truex

ISBN 978-1-63393-214-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the author.

Published by

210 60th Street

Virginia Beach, VA 23451

212-574-7939

www.koehlerbooks.com

TABLE of CONTENTS

IF YOU TOLD ME in high school that Id grow up to be a writer, Id have cried. Writing terrified me. I wasnt any good at it. So, its a great surprise to me that I make money writing.

I didnt set out to be a writer. It happened by accident. In my quest to be a work-at-home mom, I started working online. I built a website, WorkAtHomeSuccess.com, where I wrote about telecommuting and home business. That led to authoring The Work-At-Home Success Bible (Adams Media 2009) and freelance writing for other websites. Today, I continue to blog and freelance write online, as well as publish fiction and nonfiction books. Not only does it not terrify me, I actually love it.

As you read this book, youll discover that Im no Hemingway or Maya Angelou. I make mistakes, Im not eloquent, and Ive yet to master the comma. Fortunately, when it comes to writing in the digital age, my style of writing, which is concise and concrete, is perfect. Editors fix the rest. That doesnt mean you can get away with unorganized, poorly written text. What it does mean is that you dont need a degree in English or journalism to make a living writing in the digital age.

While print publishing struggles to make its way in the digital world, opportunities to write online continue to grow. In Digital Writer Success, youll learn how to take advantage of these opportunities and make money through blogging, freelance writing, and publishing e-books. Youll learn the pros and cons of each, how they differ from their off-line counterparts, and how you can integrate all three methods for a well-rounded writing career.

Youll start off learning how to make money blogging, which is the fastest and easiest way to get started writing online. Not only will you learn how to choose a topic and set up your blog, but youll discover a host of monetization methods so you can start making money quickly.

Next, youll learn how to write freelance articles for other online bloggers and publishers. Content is king online, which means businesses need quality articles to lure visitors to their websites and blogs. As a result, more and more businesses are outsourcing their article needs to freelance writers.

Finally, youll learn how to e-publish a book either through an e-publisher or on your own through Kindle, Nook, and other e-reading services. Whether your interest is in fiction or nonfiction, youll learn how to build a platform, format your book, publish it, and have it sell.

If youre interested in learning only one method of writing online, you can skip to that section of the book. However, each method leads nicely into the next. Blogging gives you exposure and practice at writing and marketing. Freelance writing expands that exposure and builds your credibility. Finally, you can take all your written work and put it in a book, which sets you up as an expert that leads to more readers on your blog and more freelance jobs.

Digital Writer Success includes worksheets, checklists, and to-dos to help you organize and plan your digital writing career. But theyll only help you if you use them. If you dont like to write in your book, you can download handouts by visiting DigitalWriterSuccess.com.

If youre ready to make money writing, lets get started.

PART I:
GETTING STARTED

CHAPTER ONE
Establishing Your Digital Writing Career

ON A TYPICAL DAY, I write three or four articles, work on a book or two, participate in social media, and answer email. At least once a week, I do a podcast and pitch an article idea to an online magazine. Every few months or so, I submit a book proposal or synopsis to a publisher and/or self-publish a book. In essence, I write a lot for many different markets. Sometimes it feels like plate spinning, trying to keep all my blogs, clients, submissions, and projects straight. But I didnt start out like that. Like eating the proverbial elephant, you need to start one bite at a time.