Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig

Elizabeth writes the Memphis Barbeque series (as Riley Adams) and the Southern Quilting mysteries for Penguin and writes the Myrtle Clover series for Midnight Ink and independently. She also has a blog, which was named by Writer’s Digest as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers. There she posts on the writing craft, finding inspiration in everyday life, and fitting writing into a busy schedule.

Resolutions of a Self-Publisher

Motivation and the Writing Life

Digital tablet and Apple Computer on a Desk.

by David Wogahn, @wogahn

Self-publishing is a humbling experience. When I started, I was in fear of my work being ripped off, good friends didn’t review my book, blog readers and subscribers didn’t flock to my website, I was (still am!) frazzled by all the social media and marketing options. On top of that, Amazon takes a huge slice of my sales.

Who among us have not had these thoughts? Heck, I admit to still having them. It’s not productive.

To begin this New Year, I’ve written down 5 resolutions to help me stay on track. At least one is easier than the others—in fact I have little choice. But keeping them all in mind will make for a healthier, and more productive mindset for 2017. I hope they help you too.

*  *  *  *  *

Think: Reciprocity.

How often have I uttered the phrase, “I write blog posts but no one reads them. Why should I bother?”Continue reading

Focusing for Better Productivity

Motivation and the Writing Life, Uncategorized

Close up of a woman's face with a brown eye.

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Just a year or two ago, I had so much that I was trying to multi-task that I got easily overwhelmed.

What’s more, I felt really scattered.  There were so many different things to work on that I’d work a bit on one thing (maybe adding my books to a publishing platform) and then start working a few minutes later on something else that seemed equally important and pressing (maybe the book that I needed to finish).

The biggest problem was the very fact that everything seemed equally pressing.  This feeling that I needed to really scurry to get things done spurred the multitasking.  I felt as if everything were an emergency.   I considered all of my tasks equally important…personal and professional.  And if I thought of something that needed to be done (buy a birthday present for a friend whose birthday was in a week), then I felt as if I immediately wanted to check the task off my list.

A couple of things got me to reevaluate how I was handling my priorizing of tasks.Continue reading

Twitterific Writing Links

Twitterific

Bluebird with beak open

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Happy New Year!  Today I’ve got the top tweets from last year at the top of the post and then the rest of the tweets since my last Twitterific afterward. Oddly, some of the top tweets didn’t want to hyperlink…they were most uncooperative.  :(   If  you’re interested in those links, you could copy-paste them into your browser, and they’ll pull up. Sorry about the hassle. Hope you all have a great 2017!

Top Tweets 2016

Turn Off the Static So You Can Hear the Tiny Whisper:  http://ow.ly/wcj3306CD2b  @virginiafranken #TopTweets2016

6 Keys to Write a YA Novel That Connects With Teen Readers:  http://ow.ly/Xo80306y0ZK  by Eleanna Sbokou @write_practice #TopTweets2016

Is It Really Possible To Do It All?  http://ow.ly/drrJ306K4cJ  @KaraIsaac #TopTweets2016

Once Taboo, Gay Characters Are Taking Over YA Fiction:  http://ow.ly/rbTw306ONaA   @broadly  @mitchsunderland #TopTweets2016

Why Most Amazon Reader Reviews are Worthless:  http://ow.ly/VEnY306OMMs  @PeterRivaAuthor #TopTweets2016         Continue reading

Twitterific Writing Links

Twitterific, Uncategorized

Bluebird with beak open

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Happy Holidays! I will be taking a blog break until I return two weeks from today for an especially long Twitterific that will include my top shared links for 2016.  :)

Conferences and Events / NaNoWriMo

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

Continue reading

What I’ve Learned in 2016

Promo Tips

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by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

2016 felt like a very busy year for me, although my production slowed down slightly. I wrote and published two books and am sitting on a finished third until after the holidays.  Usually I’d be halfway through a 4th book by now.

I think the reason it felt so busy was because of all the promo-related and distribution-related things that I learned and all the various platforms I tweaked.  I sat down and tried to compile all the different things that I’d read about, studied, and implemented and came up with a list to show myself that I’d been even busier than I’d thought.

Here’s a roundup of some of the things I learned in 2016:

I  learned how to find more newsletter subscribers. I participated in more group-related promo for my genre and was part of several massive giveaways with fellow cozy mystery authors. Readers entered by signing up for newsletter lists. My newsletter list grew very quickly in 2016 because of this (from a free to a paid list) and my open rate remained nearly the same.

I found that I can keep my income relatively stable, even though individual book sales are down, by producing more books, in more formats, available at more retailers.Continue reading

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