I know a lot of people (me included) who will be thrilled with this news. Neil Gaiman‘s Sandman Comic is being adapted into a TV series. Gaiman has had a tremendous following, and he’s one of those authors who can successfully write in several different genres. ABC News says a movie version has been in the works since the 90s, which, as we all know, happens sometimes. I have heard from so many different authors that say their books get optioned and they either wait years to have them made or they don’t get made at all.

Sandman has a devoted following, so they are going to have to make sure the TV version is given the best possible treatment if they want to get Gaiman’s fans to watch.

What do you think of this news? Will you watch the show?

You know, authors are always looking for ways to make themselves stand out, but inspiration is really and truly everywhere, from writing on through to promotion. Here’s a perfect example. Jennifer Belle, who wrote The Seven Year Bitch, Going Down, High Maintenance, and other books, had a blurb in Galley Cat the other day about how she had hired actresses throughout the city to read parts of her book. Think about how brilliant that was! It’s different and fun, and if you’re an author like me (read: on the shy side) it can also help you get through an appearance.

Gallet Cat reports that the people Belle used were actresses “between the ages of 25 to 75-years-old and worked for an hourly salary of $8. Belle’s publicity strategy garnered the attention of The New York Times, The NY Post, and Judith Regan’s Sirius radio show.” A clever and fun promo that got the media’s attention.

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Guest post by James Adams

The best cure for writer’s block is relaxation. Let your brain work on the problem of finding a subject for your article or a plot for your story on its own time while you are doing something else. Here are some short ways that you can escape to refill your well of creativity.

1. Play a video game – Video games often get a bad reputation because they waste time and are not productive. While this may be true for the gamer who sits for hours in front of a monitor, the video game can be quite beneficial in small doses. Casual games where you are matching the stones or finding the objects are perfect because the plots are not engrossing and you can mindlessly move your hands for several minutes.

2. Exercise – Walk around the room, do some push ups, do some jumping jacks, run down the stairs. Physical exertion is essential for your body’s well being. When your body is moving, your brain is allowed to stew and eventually answer important questions like, ‘what will I write about?’ On a longer scale, the exercise will also make your body more efficient in pumping oxygen to your brain.

3. Change of scenery – You have the freedom to do your work in any location. Head down to the local library or set up your computer in a coffee shop. You are not limited to the desktop with the same old walls around you. You can get some great ideas by going to a buffet and watching the people. You are also getting some cheap food, killing two birds with one stone.

4. Listen – This is especially effective in public places. Listen to the conversations that are being held. Think about the departures and arrivals at the airport. Watch the people who surround you and envision their problems. Call a friend and talk about their interests, which may give you a spark to fulfill your own needs.

5. Listen to Music – Music can call us to action or put us to sleep. The worlds which are created to music are often impressive and grandiose. Listen to a different genre, listen to music which unnerves you, soothes you, makes you bounce in your seat. Let your mind travel with the notes, and it will often bring back ideas.

6. Look at magazine covers – For those article writers out there, look at the articles that your colleagues have written. Examine the magazine covers for inspiration and ideas. See how the professionals do it, see how they entice you. If you have traveled to a bookstore, you have a variety of resources at your fingertips.

7. Read – Reading is essential. When you are not writing, you should be reading other people’s work and honing your craft. When you are stuck for inspiration, read something from your favorite author or pick up the advertising copy on your favorite cereal. Read some fiction if you don’t want something heavy. Read a technical manual if it suits you.

Your inspiration is always there, but sometimes it wants to hide away from the world. Let it rest and it will soon come out to join the world once more. Don’t let writer’s block get you down.

Currently working as a full time writer, James Adams contributes posts about art and design on the Creative Cloud, a blog run by an online ink cartridges store where he also reviews products such as the HP 350XL.

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Remember the musical group ABBA? Even if you’re too young to remember the group, you’ve probably heard of the Broadway show and movie Mamma Mia!, which is based on their music. I caught a biography about ABBA on TV the other day, and it got me thinking about the way to market a creative product. ABBA’s creative product was music, but I started to see several points that could be taken from the unique way they marketed themselves which could also apply to books.

ABBA wanted to be the biggest group in the world, so each time they entered a new country’s music scene, they employed the best producers in that country. This was very different from what bands were doing at that time, which was to sign with a label and then use that same company’s team in other countries. ABBA wanted to work with the best in each country.

Another unique marketing strategy they employed was the use of the music video. Today, music videos are done all the time, but back in the 70s this was an entirely new thing. They did this because they wanted to focus on creating new music in the studio rather than going out on tour. Again, a completely different method to market a music group, especially in the United States. Even today, video is important to ABBA, so much so that they even have their own YouTube channel to announce album releases and news items.

ABBA marketed itself more like a corporation than a music group. While ABBA broke up in the early 80s, they still sell millions of records a year. That figure is absolutely astounding, especially for a band that has not been together in a quarter century.

All of this has me thinking about books, and more specifically, authors. The members of ABBA had a definite goal for their group, which helped to define every decision they made. They were in the creative field of making music, but they looked at themselves as a brand. This is exactly the strategy that authors need to promote their work.

First, authors need to understand what their specific goals are, so that they can choose if traditional or self-publishing is right for them. Next, authors need to make decisions on the types of people they will work with to get the word out about their books. Will they ask for a marketing budget from their publishing company? Hire an agent? A publicist?

In determining their brand, authors also need to decide what types of books they will write. This doesn’t mean that an author pigeonholes themselves into one kind of genre, however. Authors can write across different genre’s and still maintain a fan following if their books represent something similar. For example, a Christian author can pen children’s books and novels, and still work with a similar fan base. A vampire novelist can write a screenplay or YA book based on the subject.

What ABBA does is give us an example of a group that knew what they wanted, and figured out how to make the system work for them. They didn’t just do what every group did, instead they found ways to make their name know. At the same time, they continued to focus on the creative part, which was making music.

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Guest post by Alex Toll

People who’ve chosen freelancing as a career, or as a source of additional income, will admit that they often experience psychological pressure; sometimes unbearable.

Freelance writing is particularly challenging, and is distinct from other freelancing jobs, with its own idiosyncrasies, and concomitant strategies for coping with the stress. Why is this?

Well, from personal experience, I know that freelance writers, unlike freelance programmers/coders, seldom have a clear idea, ahead of time, of the scope and extent of an assignment. Apart from the requisite word count, the writer is often also faced with preliminary research.

This is both challenging and uncertain – A paper of 500 words might require hours of reading, or, worse still, obtaining a print resource. Unless the writer literally lives in a library, this can consume, at a minimum, a day or more to locate, never mind the time required to read and excavate it for quotes (if the book is even available at your local library at all!). Such a nightmarish assignment, for any writer unconnected to a research library, can end in disaster.
Eventually, many writers in such a situation realize that there is not enough time to deal with the demands of the order, and that they are doomed to failure and fines. This is deeply frustrating, and can cause the sort of unfocused anger which can affect attention, productivity, and family relationships. What can a writer do to avert this?

There are many ways to deal with work overload (assuming you can’t avoid that monster order in the first place). Remember that mind and body are inextricably linked. Your psychological health and your physical well-being cannot be disconnected from one another. This is why you need to ensure that both body and mind get adequate rest. This does not always mean sleeping.

Stress has long been recognized as affecting the entire organism: heartbeat speeds up, blood pressure rises (and falls) swiftly, glucose floods the bloodstream, calcium is liberated from bone tissue, and a host of other changes occur. A lot of freelance writers I know turn to their pantry to deal with those problems – and brew some green tea. It certainly sounds counter-intuitive, since all tea contains caffeine, a blood pressure raiser, but there is indeed evidence that green tea blocks salt uptake, and thus can actually lower blood pressure.

So, for many people drinking green tea may offer an undiscovered option for combating some of the physical tolls of overwork and stress. It can also be a relaxing drink, and if you are not sensitive to the caffeine, it might help you get to sleep. It is certainly worth looking into online, and checking with your health care practitioner as well, of course. In any case, it is a brisk and tasty way to make water more interesting!

Another effective tool to alleviate stress and work overload is your hobby or favorite pastime. When your brain is engaged in one activity for too long, without variety, especially when the activity is repetitive (such as typing) and intellectually challenging (such as researching), productivity can plummet. That is why your brain needs a distraction. It needn’t be time consuming: watching TV for 20 minutes, doing gentle, low-impact aerobics, jogging or walking vigorously around the block, listening to the news on the radio, or any other time-limited diversion is a good option. (Use a simple kitchen timer to prevent this brief break from stretching out into hours.)

If you go to a gym, then you will understand this concept immediately: after exercising one set of muscles to exhaustion, the ideal workout will involve challenging another muscle group. Otherwise, you get tired too fast, risk injury, have unbalanced muscular development, and stop enjoying exercising entirely. A mixture of moves allows for longer and more effective workouts. You can substitute “productive writing” for “effective workouts”, and see the parallel.

Another important issue which freelance writers face is the deadline. Even the word “deadline” itself evokes a negative image and sensation. For freelance writers, the deadline is ever-present, pressing from behind, looming up ahead, and creating constant pressure. A stressful situation, indeed!

How can you deal with the psychological pressure of the deadline? Easy! The logic here can be simple: it is often the case that writers who feel extraordinary pressure from deadlines are also dealing with time management issues throughout their personal and professional lives.

I’m not referring to extraordinary circumstances, the sort of personal issues which force you to leave your work. No, I’m talking about times when you imagine that you can accomplish it all, just by glancing at the topic. You allow yourself to be drawn into other tasks or diversions, and end up actually starting to accomplish the work way too close to the deadline. For writers who find themselves in this situation repeatedly, I advise planning your work as carefully as if you were an executive in a corner office with a secretary. Set up a schedule, use post-it notes everywhere to remind yourself and your household when you are supposed to set aside time for writing, and record this in your calendar. Ask your household to help you keep on track with your schedule, as well.

Furthermore, make it a habit to start on a job as soon as you can after being assigned. This way, you have a fighting chance of completing it and relaxing after a day of hard work, rather than facing an all-nighter of research and typing horror.

A final thought to keep in mind is that the deadline, and the pressure it exerts, should never interfere with quality. So do whatever it takes to relax, whether this means sipping a mug of green tea, or putting on the headphones to listen to your favorite music. Do what you need to in order to be able to concentrate fully on the information needed to complete your assignment in style =)

Wishing you all the best in all your future endeavors! Be healthy!

Alex Toll
Editor
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Favorite Quote: “Knowledge is of no value, unless you put it into practice” – Anton Chekhov