Here is a well thought out article from the March issue of Scientific American called, “Opting Out of Overoptimism” on that exact topic.

Just spent an hour with a client yesterday, helping her visualize the blog she hopes to create.   To me this is the essence of creativity!

First consider why you even want your own blog.  I know I got into this field over four years ago out of pure curiosity.  I had no idea it would take over my life in this way!

After just a few years of struggle with the extreme limitations of freelance writing, blogging represented a marvelous opportunity to partake in FREEDOM OF THE PRESS for me!

If you are certain you want to venture into what has become quite the addiction for me, start considering the naming process.  Spend some serious time naming your future creation.  This is YOU online, and how others will see you in the future.  It is important to get this right!

Your URL may be shorter than the actual name of your blog, but make it funny or somehow catchy so when others arrive there, it brings a smile to their face.   Make it something others can relate to on a visceral  level.

Here’s an example of a website I found immediately FUN!   Great header!   Can you tell Heidi Lee has a background in marketing?  But don’t let that intimidate you!

Get out there and have some fun with it!!!

Do not miss Michael’s quote about how personal reading can seem at times:

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”   – The History Boys

Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes about reading:

“We read to know we are not alone.”   -  C.S. Lewis

Through the Internet and blogs I can now WRITE to know I am not alone too!

Learn how to do these things before you waste lots of time and money!

If not, rush on over there and see their new post on e-book pricing!

DO NOT miss this excellent article on the:  REGRETS OF THE DYING.

These regrets DEFINE midlife for me.  They are exactly what I started focusing on when my life fell apart eight years ago.

There is a part of me who hates the very idea of messing up my beautiful blog with ugly commercialism, except of course MY lovely books.    This is not the reason why I began this blog over four years ago!

On the other hand, my reality is that I need to make a living as a writer.  This is who I am and what I love to do.   It is what I do, or at least think about almost every moment of every day.   This is where my heart is now.

I have gradually come to see my blogs as my magazines where I draw a certain type of clientele to my personality, ideas, advice and writing style.  I created these blogs and I am very proud of them.  I now own four online magazines, so I get to make the ultimate decisions about which brands I wish to promote through these blogs.  It’s a tiny bit of a power trip, actually!

And if all of us who put so much of ourselves into writing and maintaining our blogs don’t decide to “monetize” them, than we will never be able to make a living doing what we love.   Let’s face it.  This is the future of professional writing!

What I don’t understand is why anyone would publish with Amazon when they could acquire their own editing, cover, etc. and then print with Lightning Source like I do.

This article says Amazon only pays their authors 45-50% of the selling price.  I make 50% on every book I sell through Amazon and 75% when I sell my own books directly, and Lightning Source takes care of all the distribution issues to lots of different sellers like Barnes & Noble, Ingram, etc.

BOOMBOX NETWORK is a business which connects national brands with social media “Influencers” like me.  The time has come for bloggers, who provide high quality, relevant content to stop writing for free, especially when working with for-profit companies.

It’s time for these companies to expect that bloggers are trained professional who need to make a living (like everybody else!) and so bloggers with a strong following will now be demanding adequate compensation to write promotional content for companies.

As I said at the end of my article:

“The sooner bloggers start to value the services they provide to their clientele and set their own standards for what their products are worth, the sooner we will all begin to be paid a living wage for the valuable advertising we provide to national brands.“

What do you think?