Important new research on e-book sales!

Want to know MUCH MORE about pricing and sales of e-books?

Why not ask Mark Coker, the founder of SmashWords!

Stepping into entrepreneurship at age 50

Want to learn more about how others have found new meaning by changing careers after age 50?  Check out my latest post over at Midlife Crisis Queen!

You are what you read (and write!)

I happened to see an interesting interview with Frank A. Bennack, Jr., the CEO of the Hearst Corporation this morning.  He just turned 80 recently, and so can offer us a long-term perspective on media changes in the U.S.

He observed that overall, TV has had a greater impact than digital (so far) on our lives.  He believes that the print medium, in whatever format, is not dead, just changing every single day.  He asked the important question: “Who are you trying to reach with your words?”  

Frank feels that the print medium is still how you will reach the most educated, intelligent and wealthy Americans, those who know how much misinformation is circulated every moment through social media.

A great example of this is the past week’s media chaos following the Boston explosions.  Misinformation circulates too quickly and easily, and can turn into a good old-fashioned witch hunt instantaneously!  When you have the most photographed crime scene in the history of the world, thousands of amateur sleuths can and do run amuck!

Please don’t get your news from TWITTER and FACEBOOK, or this country and world will turn into a place where ignorance is bliss, except for those falsely accused online.  Don’t turn into a Twit-idiot!

To learn more about mastering difficult life transitions you might enjoy my books: Midlife Magic: Becoming The Person You Are Inside! and my new one: Find Your Reason to be Here: The Search for Meaning in Midlife. 

To find a new faith in love try: How to Believe In Love Again.

The latest review of my new book!

“In 100 pages, with an intriguing bibliography, this is a quick but comprehensive overview of our generation at this moment in the 21st century.  Carter’s telling is at once realistic and optimistic—and her own story is living proof. 

‘Why did I write this book?’ she asks in the prologue of this new book, and then answers with a quote from Joan Baez, a troubadour for our generation:

‘Action is the greatest antidote to despair.’ 

Carter never looks at our generation through rosy glasses.  Her even-handed reporting and clear and compassionate writing help me understand the challenges and opportunities we all face.  Thank you.”              – Carrie Tuhy

Find Your Reason to Be Here: The Search For Meaning in Midlife is where I share what I have learned from years of research into the psychological legacy of boomers, where the idea of ‘midlife’ came from, and how boomers can make the most of this unique new stage of emotional development.

Two important articles about the future of writing

The New York Times ran two important articles yesterday which ALL writers need to read:

The Slow Death of the American Author by Scott Turow,

and, on the future of writing for the Internet:

Sponsors Now Pay for Online Articles, Not Just Ads, by Tanzina Vega.

These are essential to anyone who hopes to keep up with major changes in the world of authors, writers and the Internet.  The fine line between editorial content and advertisements just became even finer!

How to know when your blog becomes a business

After over five years as a blogger, I am finally starting to think like a business person instead of someone who enjoys writing for free.  I just noticed recently how my thinking has changed.

First of all, everybody and their brother thinks they have what it takes to make money on the Internet.  To that I say, NO.  After five years I can assure you that setting up a website is not your road to riches!  It takes a lot more than a creative website to create a business that actually makes enough money to live on.  I see it as rather like writing a book.  Only about one percent of all authors make any real money, while 99% work hard and receive very little for their efforts.

What it really takes is ALL OF YOUR TIME FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, and even then you probably won’t make enough to live on.  Especially if you don’t start thinking strategically.  What does that mean?  It means thinking about how the offer of links from your successful site to other sites benefits YOU.

For example, yesterday a more popular health site offered me a free post where they would link back to their site.  Think about this for a minute.  They offered me a free post, which I don’t really need, to get my readers to go check out their site.  I responded by saying that I generally charge over $100 for posts with links to commercial sites.  The only alternative I could offer was that they post one of my articles with links back to my site.  No response.

They are only a business and they get how this works.  I am now thinking strategically and see no profit in bringing them more customers, while I get nothing that I need out of this business transaction.  I can write as many articles as I need.  I don’t need them writing them for me.

This may all seem obvious to you, but I am finally clearly understanding how this works, and in that process I am making some real money on sponsored posts on my sites.

Granted, the payment I now get for sponsored posts isn’t anywhere near what I would need to pay myself for five years of writing, but it has been a great ride!

How bloggers can change the world!

So pleased to learn today of how the blogger Alexandria Goddard called much needed attention to a crime in Steubbenville, Ohio, making certain that proper charges were brought against the young men guilty of raping a 16 young old unconscious girl.

According to various sources, this case was originally swept under the rug because the guilty parties were popular football players.  It was left up to one vigilant blogger to make certain important evidence was not destroyed and justice was served!