Archive for January 2010

Most folks use Facebook for one or the other, not both. However, many freelance writers and I use Facebook for both personal and business. After all, when you hire us, you get our personalities and styles. I take care to watch what I post by remembering a future client, a former boss and family member could read it. Although I use Facebook’s settings to limit what some contacts can see, you never know what leaks from one realm to another.

If you’re not sold on Facebook for business, here are 50 writer uses for Facebook.

Ready to create an effective Facebook profile? Don’t worry about doing it in one sitting. Quality is more important than speed. Besides, I still tweak mine. It helps to do a review of all your bios at least once a year as you gain experience and new clients.

Facebook Profile Bio

1. Use your full name. This is especially the case for women writers. They might write under their maiden names or both maiden and married. Mine says “Meryl Kaplan Evans” because some knew me before I married and I used that name when I first started freelancing as a writer. If you have other names — past or present — include them in a logical spot such as your Info page under “Personal Information: About Me.” (See screen shot.)

2. Complete your profile as much as possible. The four sections in Facebook’s profile include Basic, Personal, Contact and Education and Work. Add publications, writing types (white papers, case studies, etc.) and other relevant information. Also ask yourself, “Do I want the client to know this?” so you don’t share too much.

3. Select an ideal profile photo. Remember you can share lots of photos on your Facebook photo page. For the profile photo, it’d be wise to use a professional one or a photo that shows you wearing clothes that fit your personality and style. BitRebels has great tips for looking good in photos.

4. Add your blog. You can import your blog entries into Facebook with several Applications like Networked Blogs, which I use. Not everyone is into reading blogs and Twitter, and you can find a new audience this way. What’s cool is getting comments from my local friends who didn’t read my blog until I fed it into Facebook.

5. Skip your Twitter feeds. At first, I sent all of my Twitter tweets to Facebook. However, after seeing others doing the same, I realized it would probably bother more people than not because even I was bothered by the frequent updates. If you don’t use Twitter much, then it might work for you. But status updates aren’t meant for frequent updates like Twitter. Besides, we all know that Facebook attracts people from all walks of life including those whose only social network is Facebook. Now I just send relevant tweets to Facebook through Selective Tweets by adding ”#fb” to a tweet for posting in Facebook.

6. Capture writing career information on profile home page. A paragraph appears beneath your photo on your profile home page. This is your chance to tell people the most important thing about what you do as a writer. Keep it simple and to one or two key things otherwise people won’t remember you for anything. Questions to ask: What do you want potential clients to know about you? What do they get from working with you? Other things to consider: industry, client type, writing type. (see “Facebook Profile Bio” screen shot.)

Privacy Settings for Profile Information

7. Review your profile information privacy settings. Click some of your friends’ friends links. After looking at a few, you’ll notice some have almost empty pages while others reveal more. This is the information people see when they search for someone not yet connected. Understandably, some set profile settings to very private that we only see a name when we search for them. However, they might not be the only one with that name and you can’t discern if you have the right person. I open my profile photos and “Education and Work” to everyone. This way they know if they have the right person and learning about what I do. (See “Privacy Settings” screen shot.)

8. Manage privacy settings. I assign “limited profile” to people I only know on a professional level or through another contact. This assignment allows them to see specific parts of my profile based on the assignments I set. You can do the same for every photo album: open one to all, open another to everyone except those on “limited profile” and another that exempts certain people.

If you need help with your Twitter bio, here are tips for creating a Twitter profile for writers. It’s unbelievable how many people use a shortcut service URL for their URL instead of the real thing.

How do you manage your Facebook profile for business?

First, Big Fish Games is offering 20% off all 19 of its customer favorite award winners.

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. January 10th: 65% off on Iron Roses

Mon. January 11th: 45% off on Valerie Porter and the Scarlet Scandal [Review]

Tue. January 12th: 65% off on Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie

Wed. January 13th: 60% off on Tourist Trap

Thu. January 14th: 65% off on Nat Geo Games: Mystery of Cleopatra

Fri. January 15th: 50% off on TextTwist 2

Sat. January 16th: 65% off on Princess Isabella: A Witch’s Curse [Review]

My maternal grandfather died on this date in 1987. My favorite memory of him was siting in his living room and listening to him tell a story about his life in Poland before he came to the U.S. in 1925 at age 18.

A little administration. You may know I have game reviews and news happening in this blog, yet separate. If you’re a subscriber, you have different options for subscribing to the content here. Here are the subscriptions:

• meryl.net: Includes both meryl’s notes blog (this one) and The Game Zen blog entries.
• meryl’s notes blog: Entries from this one only; no games.
• The Game Zen: Entries from the games blog.
• Bionic Ear Blog: Entries from the deaf blog.

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing.

Brain food…

• 25 Brainstorming Techniques: Not your usual suggestions [Link: Steve Borgman].
• The Writer’s Creed: Short, sensible and simple advice [Link: BubbleCow].
• How to Write a Great Query Letter: An Example That Worked
• Ten Things Every Journalist Should Know in 2010
• Is Freelance Writing More Stable than a 9 to 5: I know I’m lucky because I’m married. Hubs has the corporate job with the benefits while I enjoy the benefits of freelancedom [Link: Lori Widmer].

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Map of the U.S.A.: Texas rocks… but then Hugh MacLeod contradicts himself with Marfa, TX. So if it’s all true… USA sucks?
• Why It’s Better to Pretend You Don’t Know Anything about Computers
• Helping J: We have a wonderful discussion about some of our favorite movies — many not smash hits that you may have missed.
• Say No More: The Banned Words of 2010: Disagree with “teachable moment,” but ready to rid of the rest.
• Recipes from a Web Worker Kitchen: Can’t deal with brain food until you fuel up first.
• 25 Cringeworthy Sites We Love to Hate [Link: Andy Hayes]
• Letterheady: Shaun Usher collects real letterheads. I enjoy browsing the collection. He’s also behind Letters of Note.

This is the third Farm Frenzy 3. I appreciate the developer for keeping the numbering at three because it shows there’s not much difference in terms of game play. The main difference is the setting, so there’s no misleading anyone claiming it’s a whole new game with enhancements. The series has many fans who are happy to keep playing the same game with new challenges.

Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie: Manage five different farms around the world and try your hand at penguin breeding and jewelry making in Farm Frenzy 3! Enjoy outrageously fun levels, wacky animals and more upgrades than there are ears in a field of corn! Grow crops, feed animals, collect produce and manufacture goods, while you enjoy zany animation! Help Scarlett become the president of the Farmers` Union by earning the votes of the people she helps.

Farm Frenzy 3: Ice Age: Join Scarlett as she leaves sunshine and warm temperatures behind and travels to the North Pole to check out a farm she purchased through a newspaper ad. When she arrives, she not only finds the property in a state of disrepair, she also meets two brothers who could use her help making ice cream. While whipping up chilly treats in 90 levels of frosty fun, you’ll breed and care for penguins and other arctic animals, manufacture new products and enjoy a parade of visual gags. You’ll also meet a surprise guest who will show his appreciation for your hard work in a special way! Who is it?

Here’s the list of all the Farm Frenzys.

• Farm Frenzy
• Farm Frenzy 2
• Farm Frenzy Pizza Party
• Farm Frenzy 3
• Farm Frenzy 3: American Pie
• Farm Frenzy 3: Ice Age

Farm Mania 2 is also out. Anna of Farm Mania is back again! This time she is even more enthusiastic, active and full of great ideas! Wanna have your own farm? No problems! Fruits and vegetables, animals and fishes, dairy plant and bakery – you can have it all with in Farm Mania 2! By the way, Anna got married to a strong and charming farmer Bob and now all their dreams are coming true! You can help them!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Meryl Evans

Streamlining has emerged as a theme with a few writers. Christina Katz said good-bye to several newsletters and her fun Back-to-School Giveaway that I participated in for all three years. Kristine Meldrum Denholm, Mary Jo Campbell and Pamela Wilson also write about streamlining and finding your direction and clarity. Freelance Switch shows how to start of your new year with an ideal project profile that can send you on your way.

I’ve shared my struggle to plan for the new year, but these posts help me realize something. Part of the struggle could be a result from my *staying* streamlined. I’ve always known that I am not a high energy person even though I played lots of sports as a kid and continue to make exercise a regular part of my lifestyle.

What can you streamline? Originally, I began to answer that here. Only to find out this post fit a client’s blog, and client comes first. So here’s the streamlining work post. Here are the bullet points from the post along with how they apply to a writing business:

• Changing direction. This can be changing your topic, industry, type of writing (articles, white papers, case studies, greeting cards, etc.) and client types (ad agency, publisher, web site, etc.).
• Replacing one for one. You can drop a publication because it no longer interests you and replace it with one that does. You take on a web content project and drop one that’s focused on doing articles for a publication.
• Dropping energy draining clients and projects. Maybe you’re tired of your beat with one publication. If you aren’t comfortable with dropping the beat without lining up another, wait until you find a new beat that energizes you.
• Social networking. How you spend your time on social networking depends on how you use it. For me, it’s my major marketing tool.
• Unpaid activities. Social networking and writing blog posts in your own blog are unpaid activities (unless you have blog sponsors). Review these unpaid activities and determine how much time you should devote to them.
• Organizations. Being active in a professional writers’ organization can be beneficial in a lot of ways and time consuming. You can change up how to stay involved. Instead of being a board member, be a volunteer on an as-needed basis.

Christina Katz left a great comment. “If you could do anything you wanted to do all day without having to worry about money or anything else at all, how would you spend your day?” I’ve been thinking about that since she left the comment, and I haven’t arrived at an answer yet. What about you? What’s your answer?

While I haven’t answered that question, I can honestly say I’m happy with all of my current clients and projects. (I weaned out the not so enjoyable work a while ago.) So I will continue that route with the occasional acceptance of new projects or applying for them. I’m lucky that my work is diverse. Maybe that’s why I can’t answer Christina’s question.

How are you streamlining your writing business so you can focus on what you love to do?

Celebrities. Blogging. It’s a dream come true for some who would love to write about famous people and their lives. Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets is your chance to get a taste of that. As Gaby, you start working as a blogger and doing whatever you can to break the news so you can drive up your blog traffic. In this hidden object game, you search for people instead of things — a nice twist that unfortunately feels monotonous after a little play despite 40 scenes and 1200 characters.

When you first meet Gaby, she’s in a job that she hates (familiar to many). She begins receiving text messages letting her know where celebrities will appear. A chapter consists of following a celebrity and getting the story. Events include a wedding, a birth, awards and others. Every scene also has bonus objects, which includes finding Gaby, five stars and another person or thing. The game gets harder as you advance by adding more people and creating more crowded scenes. You can also challenge yourself to reach the expert level by finding everyone before time runs out.

The game tells you who you need to find by giving clues. Sometimes you see the person’s image, sometimes you receive a clue like “wearing a t-shirt with a heart on it” and sometimes you see a silhouette. After playing a couple of chapters, you’ll notice the people start repeating and before long, you know exactly what you need to find. Though the scenes grow more crowded, the cues will help you see through them.

One of the things going for the game is its vibrant colors and cartoon-style graphics. Although it offers a creative twist in the hidden object genre, Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets just doesn’t grip you long enough to want to play the whole game. The free hour of play is more than enough to give you an idea of the whole game. If you play to see how it ends, this one’s ending doesn’t satisfy. It’s a shame because this offers an original story and game play that could’ve gone further with the right treatment.

Download Gotcha: Celebrity Secrets.

FTC warning: Game received from publisher.

Chris Brogan tweeted a great quote that hit me, “Want to improve in 2010? Stop comparing and criticizing and focus on the change YOU can affect.” I’m a competitive person. Part of it comes with playing sports for all of my childhood — it was my “thing.” Part of it comes with being born deaf and eager to prove I’m just as good as everyone else, if not better.

This attitude may be responsible for why I felt passionless for the past few weeks as I tried to explore new ideas and plan for 2010. I saw what many talented writers have planned for 2010, and beat myself up (mentally, of course) for not coming through with some new to do this year. In all honesty, I have a successful business and make a nice full-time living doing what I enjoy.

I talked to my husband about this. He said that it’s OK to keep doing what I’m doing because it works; especially in my case where I don’t have a niche, and I like it that way.

Besides, you don’t know what path someone else took she get where she is today. You can’t copy someone else. Why? No one can be you the best way possible — only you can. There will never be another Oprah even after her show ends. That’s because she’s Oprah. Look at Ellen DeGeneres. She has a successful talk show, but it’s not compared to Oprah because Ellen is being herself rather than trying to imitate Oprah.

My problem is coming up with something remarkable. No one stands in my way, a problem for some folks as Seth Godin explains. I’ve read some of his books that talk about people who did something remarkable. I just haven’t found my way… yet.

All I can do is share what I learn and hope that it helps you in some small way. That I will keep on doing.

However, I do want to target working fewer hours for the same amount of earnings, if not more. Though I love what I do, I’d like more time to do other things such as volunteer work.

What can you change? What will you change?

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the first ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. January 3rd: 60% off on Jojo’s Fashion Show World Tour

Mon. January 4th: 60% off on Fantastic Farm

Tue. January 5th: 50% off on Sunset Studio: Love on the High Seas

Wed. January 6th: 65% off on Virtual City

Thu. January 7th: 65% off on Tory’s Shop ‘N Rush

Fri. January 8th: 65% off on Murder, She Wrote

Sat. January 9th: 65% off on Sushi To Go Express

Image credit: ilker

Wow. Think about it. Ten years ago, we were all panicky about the Y2K business. Now that’s barely a blip in our memories. It was also ten years ago when I posted my first blog entry on June 1, 2000. I didn’t blog a whole lot in the first few years, but it picked up in the latter half of the decade.

I thank special people in this message… so it’ll be a long one, folks!

Please vote for your top 25 books on writing. Let’s get a strong list together to help writers everywhere!

Brain food…

• The Twitter Controversy over Thanking for RTs: As nice as thanking always is, thanking for RTs only matters to the people you thank. It creates noise for the rest. So I do it in private or return the favor with a RT if there’s a good one.
• 10 Ways to Start Your Business Year with a Bang: C’mon! Let’s re-energize! Want more? My 10 Things to Do Before the New Year over at Web Worker Daily may have more ideas for you.
• The Simple, Ridiculously Useful Guide to Earning a Living from Your Passion: Don’t know your passion? Read this one first to find your passion.
• Do It Yourself E-Book Conversions [Link: BubbleCow]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• 50 Funny People in Twitter
• Worst Gifts Ever: Christmas Presents to Forget: Need to get rid of a bad gift? Try Bad Gift Emporium.
• Foodzie: Etsy for foodies [Link: Andy Hayes]
• How to make instant ice: I wouldn’t try it, but still very cool to watch and discover.
• Ricochet, the Amazing Surfing Dog: “From service dog to SURFice dog.” Facebook page [Link: Joan Stewart]
• Six Word Stories: “Headline wrong. Lives destroyed. Retraction buried.”

Special Thanks

I’ve met many wonderful people in 2009 who have challenged my thinking and taught me many new things.  I was nervous about doing this in fear of unintentionally overlooking someone. But I decided it’s worth it as I must express my gratitude to these folks who took the time to share meaningful thoughts here or guest blog. Thank you. (more…)