25 things I wish I’d known before I started blogging

Blogging can be more challenging than you realise - especially if you haven’t set yourself up right first. Mr Romance at The Copy Collective, Jim Butcher, dishes out some useful tips, tricks and trade secrets to guide you through the early stages of running a blog.

Scrolling through glamorous photos of laptops and macarons on Instagram you could think that blogging was easy. What you don’t see in those perfectly styled images is the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

Blogging can be a lonely profession too as you’re working on your own the majority of the time. Once you reach out and find your tribe online you really start to reap the rewards of blogging. Not only does blogging develop your writing skills, it can be cathartic, a creative outlet and bring new friendships and community. 

source: litreactor.com

With that in mind, here are the top 25 things I wish I’d known before I started blogging:

1. Don’t wait for ‘the perfect moment’ to start blogging. Just write.
2. Get to know other bloggers online - or in person if you can. Look for local meet-ups.
3. Write from personal experience, not from press releases or regurgitated news items.
4. You don’t have to write 1,000 word essays. Short is sweet in ‘the bloggersphere’!
5. Try to keep paragraphs to three sentences max. The way people read online is different to hard copy.
6. Start an editorial calendar so you can plan out your content.
7. Write offline then upload into your blog. Internet connections can fail so keep a backup.
8. Carry a notepad. You never know when blogging ideas will strike.
9. Write your ‘about’ page first. Make it interesting and include a photo.
10. Don’t over-complicate the design of your site. Don’t use too much colour, don’t centre-align your text and images, and don’t use light text on dark background.
11. Use at least two images per post. 
12. Create your own images as much as possible.
13. Format your images so they’re all the same width – match the image size to the width of your paragraphs. I use 600pxl across.
14. Watermark your images, but keep the watermark small, in a corner and transparent.
15. If you’re using other people’s photos, always check copyright restrictions and credit them.
16. Picmonkey and Polyvore are your best friends for image editing. Picmonkey is a free online ‘photoshop’ suite, Polyvore lets you create flatlay collages of images.
17. Embed Instagram videos into your site (go to Instagram, click on the three dots next to your video and select ‘Embed’. Copy and paste the code into your blog!)
    
    
18. If you’re not sure which social media platform to focus on, go where your audience is.
19. Don’t try and use all social media platforms – there are too many. Choose two or three, and focus on getting your voice out on them. I focus on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. Though Twitter and Google+ are also becoming quite useful.
20. Treat each social media platform like a mini blog that’s part of your main blog.
21. Own your own domain: buy the .com of your blog name.





Common blog platforms. Source: www.allprosncons.com

22. There are lots of blogging platforms but Wordpress offers the most flexibility - especially if you think (or hope) that your site will grow.
    


23. Comment on other people’s blogs. They’re likely to comment back, and that starts a relationship.
24. Go to blogging conferences and talks. The community is one of the best bits of blogging.
25. Don’t expect oodles of traffic coming to your site on the first day. Or even the second! Just keep going – write it and they will come!

The most important thing to remember is to have fun! Blogging can be incredibly enjoyable, so don’t sweat the small stuff. You’re bound to make mistakes; just treat them as a learning curve and you’ll get so much more out of it.

Good luck and happy blogging!

By Jim Butcher
 

If you're looking for copywriting that is smart, creative, effective and more than a little bit amazing, contact The Copy Collective today.

Let’s Get Technical: Preparing your digital file (Part 7)

Maureen Shelley turns technical in Part 7 of Blog series "10 Simple Steps to becoming a successful published author", on preparing your digital file.

The good news about digital files is that the ebook format takes care of all the extra formatting that are required in a print-ready manuscript. The bad news is that you have to take it all out: all those extra section breaks, foot notes etc you put in for your print book - they all have to come out. This is where you will thank yourself for using the inbuilt formatting available in word processors. 

Less is more:

 

Remove all section and page breaks, all foot notes and end notes, remove all underlining.

✎ If you want to emphasise a point use italics, not underlining. 

Remove the table of contents and page numbers. 

✎ Leave in your chapter headings. 

Remove any hidden commands. 

✎ The long dash in Word is an example: some digital programs don't deal well with these so use short dashes or change your punctuation. 
✎ Apostrophes are another punctuation mark that can cause issues. You may have seen a question mark in some digital files; it is usually in the place where an apostrophe would be.

Remove all blank pages. Remove all notes pages.

Your file should be continuous (no separate pages; the text should flow on) with your title page, frontispiece, the introduction and your body copy.

 
It may be tempting to save your file as a text file to get rid of all the formatting. This is a temptation you should resist, as it will only create additional issues, such as having to replace all the chapter headings' format.  

If only it were this easy. Source: http://donnielight.files.wordpress.com/

Ebooks aren't necessarily great places for tables and graphs. You may need to convert these to JPEG files. Then you will need to embed your images or convert them to outline files remembering to save them in the correct format if they are in colour. Your ebook platform will have specific instructions on each of these steps.

Hyperlinks need to be formatted differently for ebook versions, so if you include them read up on how to do it. There are plenty of digital publishing blog sites, so search and you shall find.

There are about 40 digital formats 

Source: newepublishing.com

and epub is the most widely used. However, as a self published author you will want to get onto Amazon and the Kindle uses proprietary software. Also, Apple's iBook store uses a modified epub (it has different cascading style sheets or CSS), so you may need at least three versions of your ebook.

Storyist is great publishing software that lets you create manuscripts (and screenplays) and convert them to popular digital formats. I recommend you investigate your options. When you upload your manuscript you will need two PDFs: one for the cover and one for the body copy.

There are dozens of ebook publishing sites and platforms. They will convert the file for you and publish to thousands of outlets. However, they will also manage your sales (which could be a good thing) and you will get the proceeds. Expect to receive between 30 and 50% of the RRP or recommended retail price.

Another way to publish is simply to use a PDF file, thereby avoiding formatting challenges. Scribd will publish PDFs and Scribd has a very large readership, or you could chose to have a downloadable file from your own website; that way you don't share your sales with anyone.

You will need to decide whether it is better to have all the money and fewer sales or less money on more sales. If you have good traffic to your website - say 2 to 3 million visitors a month - then by all means publish only on your own site.

You will need a separate ISBN (International Standard Book Number) for your digital manuscript and a separate National Library entry for the digital format. You will not need a barcode. If you publish on Amazon, you will be given their equivalent of an ISBN.

 

A last word on digital files: use the strengths of the format. 

Source: http://www.thebookdesigner.com/

You can add social media buttons and links, links to your GoodReads review page or Amazon listings for your other books - all from within your manuscript. It makes sense that if someone has just read your book, they may want more or they may tweet about it. Don't stand in the way of your readers doing your marketing for you. Read up on the HTML codes to insert these buttons into your manuscript. It could be well worth it!

We will publish a list of sites for self-published authors at the end of this series or you could just Google it if you don't want to wait.

Red Raven Books is the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective. Find out how we can help you today.

 

Let's Get Technical: Preparing Your Book’s Print File (Part 6)

Maureen Shelley turns technical in Part 6 of Blog series "10 Simple Steps to becoming a successful published author", on preparing your book’s print file.

 

The least pleasant part of writing a book is preparing the file for the printer or digital publication. I recommend you save yourself a whole lot of pain and angst and send the file to a professional typesetter to do the job for you. 

Pic source: FaceGFX

If you have budgeted for nothing else, budget for a typesetter. 

Google typesetters in your area and send off your file and get back a nice PDF that has everything done for you. 

Most authors don't try to design their covers, yet many believe that they can do the work of a typesetter. 

What you need to provide if you're going to attempt it yourself:

• You will need to provide two files to your printer - one PDF for the cover and one PDF for the manuscript itself. 
• If you don't understand any of the points below, please consult Google as there are a myriad of resources available to the self-publishing author and most are available for free.

The Cover file for the printer:

• Send the checklist of the printer's requirements to the graphic artist who designed your cover. 
• They will follow the instructions and send you back your cover with embedded fonts or with the fonts outlined. 
• They will also supply the PDF in the correct format for printing, particularly if you have a full-colour cover. The details below are for the body copy file only.

The body copy file for the printer must have:

• Embedded fonts - all fonts are to be embedded, this is why I recommend Times New Roman and the use of one font only
• Mirror margins
• If the book is more than 150 pages, the right margin wider than the left (gutters)
• Manuscript margins (these are wider than standard)
• The correct leading and spacing that is consistent throughout
• The number of pages in the manuscript is exactly divisible by 16
• If the pages aren't divisible by 16 you have added  blank pages at the end
• If you have blank pages, there are fewer than 10 blank pages
• If there are more than 10 blank pages, you have typed 'notes' at the top of each
• The last page blank,
• The introduction and the first chapter start on right-hand pages
• The dimensions of the 'pages' are equal to a standard paperback form such as Trade B, B+ or C
• All options of the 'printing' of the file to PDF are changed so the page size remains the same at Trade B or C or what size you have chosen
• Section breaks, so you can change the page numbers before the Introduction to Roman numerals
• Page numbers after the introduction or Chapter 1 starting with Arabic numbers
• The file is 'printed' to PDF not 'saved as' a PDF from  Word
• Each page set so when the file is 'printed' to PDF the words don't move to the next page - resulting in changes in format and more pages than originally desired
• Standard headings used by your word processing program
• A table of contents created by your word processing program
• No extra spaces or paragraph marks - not one! Extra spaces and par marks can create havoc when files are converted to PDF and fonts are embedded
• Word processing commands for paragraphs (Ctrl (or Ctrl) in Word on a PC) - not the 'enter' key hit twice
• Uniform paragraph spacing - not the 'enter' key hit twice creating greater leading after 14pt letters as compared to 11pt letters
• Consistent spelling - chose Australian English as the review language and apply it to the whole document; unless your market is the US and then apply US spelling to the whole document
• Numbered chapter headings
• Spell checked - one last time
• A frontispiece - this sets out the requirements under
  
  the Copyright Act (1968), provides details of the author, printer, publisher (if any), the ISBN, whether the book has been catalogued at the National Library of Australia, a statement that the author is asserting their moral rights, a copyright symbol next to the author's name and details of the edition (1st, 2nd, Australian etc). Look at recent books in your genre to see how these are laid out.

Red Raven Books is the publishing and imprint arm of The Copy Collective. Find out how we can help you today.

Attitude Foundation launches with Graeme Innes as chair

Today marks the launch of Attitude Foundation Limited a pioneering storytelling initiative, which will change attitudes towards the 4 million + Australians with disability

 

“Disability is viewed by many in Australia in a limiting and negative way. What this foundation seeks to do is change this attitude. Changing attitudes will change lives.”
Graeme Innes, chair, Attitude Foundation Limited

Attitude Foundation logo

 “I think documentaries are the greatest way to educate an entire generation.”
Steven Spielberg, filmmaker

Sydney, Australia: As its first step in changing attitudes, Attitude Foundation is partnering with award-winning production company Attitude Pictures to deliver powerful documentaries about people with disability for ABC television.

“As a person with a disability and having been the Disability Discrimination Commissioner for eight and a half years, I know the power of telling compelling stories about disability,” Mr Innes said.

Attitude is calling on the corporate sector, disability organisations and supporters from within the Australian community to join with us to remove the barriers around disability.

Attitude will raise $200,000 by September to fund the first of these television productions. The documentaries are compelling stories told with insight and understanding.

“When the Human Rights Commission produced the video series 20 Years 20 Stories it was very apparent that they had a profound impact on people’s lives – we heard that all around the country.

Graeme Innes

“One young woman with an intellectual disability turned to her mother after having attended the launch in the ACT and said: ‘I’m moving out’. Nothing conveys a message like video, and I can’t wait to see these Attitude-sponsored films screened on ABC TV,” Mr Innes said.

These stories show the benefits gained by full inclusion of people with disabilities into every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life.

"We will not portray people with disabilities as victims or heroes but as agents of our own destiny," Mr Innes said.

Attitude Pictures CEO Robyn Scott-Vincent said: “I am so proud to be part of this wonderful organisation. Attitude Foundation is launching in Australia for all the right reasons and has an amazingly talented board.

Members of Attitude Foundation Limited board are:

• Graeme Innes AM, chair, Attitude Foundation Limited
• Dominique Antarakis, CEO, The Copy Collective
• Cain Beckett, Director, PwC
• Lesley Branagan, Film maker and digital producer
• Jane Seeber, Chartered accountant
•  Robyn Scott-Vincent, CEO Attitude Group NZ
• Tanya Black, Producer, Attitude Pictures NZ

Please contact Graeme Innes on +61 412 369 963 for more information and interview opportunities.

Pictures and biographies of the board members can be sourced from dantarakis@thecopycollective.com

Attitude Foundation Limited is proudly sponsored by Gilbert + Tobin, Attitude Group Ltd New Zealand, Graeme Innes AM and The Copy Collective.