Posts Tagged ‘Blogging’
Posted on March 3, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guest SFWA Blog Post on Website Usability and Design
Hop on over to the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website to read my latest guest post entitled, Authors! 8 Tips For Your Website’s Usability and Design.
Here’s a quote from the article:
In today’s article, I’d like to share with you some tips to consider when you’re reviewing your current website or when you’re [...]
Posted on February 18, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guest Post: Gender Portrayals and Genres at Apex Book Company
This month, I talk about Gender Portrayals and Genres over at Apex Book Company.
In early science fiction and even horror, gender roles were often idealized according to the culture and the author’s views and experiences at the time the work was written. A good example of that are the few female characters in H.P. [...]
Posted on October 6, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
FTC Ruling for Endorsements and Testimonials
Hi folks,
There’s been a lot of chatter the past few days about the FTC’s “new” ruling regarding a website’s or blog’s disclosure about endorsements and testimonials. Unfortunately, there has also been a lot of misinformation circulating as well. I’d like to point out that as of October 5, 2009, the FTC hasn’t published the Guides [...]
Posted on September 28, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
New on the SFWA Blog: Online Reputation vs. Writer’s Platform
Recently, I got the chance to write about a topic that I feel is essential for every professional writer to think about. On the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Blog, I wrote an article entitled, “Thinking About Your Writer’s Platform? Consider Your Online Reputation First.” In the article, I discuss my opinions [...]
Posted on August 3, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
AP’s New Pay-Per-Quote and the Power of Asking “Permission”
If you work in the business world, you might have heard the phrase: “Ask forgiveness, don’t ask permission.” This phrase is supposed to reflect how you, as an employee, might take calculated risks in your day job to “get ahead” in your career.
As a writer, the reverse is often true, especially if you’re writing [...]
Posted on April 4, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
How to Make Your Voice Heard in a Sea of Content
Earlier I talked about the concept of content saturation, which spelled out the sheer volume of content added every month and how it’s affecting your writing. Do you have any ideas as to how you can navigate through this sea of content?
First, the cold hard truth is that no amount of yelling, screaming or crying is going to get your content read. Think about the amount of content added every day as an actual “ocean” of words and your potential visitors are akin to “fish” that you want to catch. If you’re on a boat, screaming your head off, are you going to catch a fish? If you tell your potential visitors that “This is the best article I’ve read in a long time. By the way, I wrote it!” will they come to your site? Probably not.
Instead, ask yourself why you are writing your content to figure out what kinds of fish you want to catch.
Posted on January 26, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
How Much Should You Get Paid to Blog?
Are you new to blogging? Do you know how much writers typically get paid per blog post? Back before blogging existed, most writers would get paid by the word. The higher the word count, the better pay a writer might receive, the more prestigious the publication. For example, publications with national distribution models might offer [...]
Posted on January 15, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
What Social Media Means to Me and My Writing
The term “social media” is something that has been used to capture social interaction on MySpace, Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, etc.
Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives. Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. These sites typically use [...]
Posted on January 8, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
The Death of Copyright by Guest Blogger Chris Clark
Today my readers I’d like to feature a guest post by a hobby games veteran. Chris Clark from Inner City Games Designs gives us his thoughts on copyright. His thoughts were spawned by a very intense discussion regarding the Google class action settlement with the Author’s Guild. If you’re not aware of the lawsuit and [...]
Posted on December 24, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
Web Analytics Stats: Fact or Fiction?
2008 has been the year of web analytics. In the world of “Web 2.0,” we’ve read a literal flood of stats, analytics and reports. Articles written about everything from statistics in social media to website traffic and usage projections for 2009 and beyond. Stats, numbers and more stats everywhere. What do they mean? Should we [...]
Posted on October 27, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
Putting Yourself Out There but No Comments? Here’s why.
The line used to be “everyone’s a critic.” Now it’s more like “everyone’s gotta blog.” In my opinion, whether you update frequently or not, it’s essential to having a blog or personal website for your own name. (Sidenote: you’d be surprised how many people who reached celebrity status, don’t.) Well, when you get a blog, [...]
Posted on September 17, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
Update on Network Neutrality – ISPs Rolling Out Caps for Internet Usage
One of the issues that I’ve been following fairly closely, is the concept of network neutrality. What is it? Wikipedia defines it as:
Network neutrality (equivalently net neutrality, Internet neutrality or simply NN) is a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. A neutral broadband network is one that is [...]
Posted on September 12, 2008 - by Monica Valentinelli
New Help Support Available for Google Analytics and Urchin Code Migration
In June, I had attended the training for Google Analytics through my previous employer. This two day training, hosted by ROI Revolution featured everything from how to set up Google Analytics to track pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to funnels and eCommerce data. I’ve been a big fan of watching the trends of web analytics for a [...]
My Recent Releases
The Queen of Crows
Download THE QUEEN OF CROWS e-book at DriveThruHorror.com
Family Games: The 100 Best
Pre-Order at Amazon.comBuried Tales of Pinebox, TX
Available at Amazon.com
Available at DriveThruHorror.comCurrent Project
