How Photographs Can Jump Start Your Idea Mill

I suspect many of you collect newspaper and magazine clippings in a search for story ideas. I print out interesting stories I find on the Internet and add them to my clipping collection. But have you thought about collecting pictures and photos?

I can’t begin to tell you how many times a photograph or picture in a newspaper or magazine has drawn my attention. I ignore the story that goes with the picture and concentrate instead on the picture itself. If there are people there, I try to imagine what they might be doing or saying to one another. If it’s a scenic picture, I file it away as a possible backdrop to a story.

Recently I cut out a photo showing a dilapidated old cabin sitting alone on a prairie. I began to think about the people who built it and lived there, gradually shaping the story of a family living through the dust bowl years and the Great Depression. The characters are emerging and in my imagination, they are beginning to move through the house.
Even your own family photos can provide inspiration for a story. You don’t have to use the actual people in the photo in your story, but you certainly can. These old photos can help you create biographies about the interesting people in your life. They can remind you of some incident that is worth retelling.

The next time you see an interesting photograph, save it. It might just inspire the next Great American Novel.

Jeff Bullas’ Blog is One You Don’t Want to Miss

I’m not sure if there’s anything Jeff Bullas doesn’t know about blogging and marketing. But if you go to his site, you need to set aside a lot of time. He’s found resources to cover just about anything you want to do with your blog, and most of these sources are either free or inexpensive. The best part is that these are tools, programs and books that he’s used himself. He can tell you why they work and why you need them.

By the tie you’re finished with his page, you’ll know how to use Pinteest, LinkedIn and Facebook more effectively than you might have imagined possible. He’s gathered useful information on content marketing and books on how to make money, save time and energy. Some of this information seems pretty standard, but some is offbeat, unusual, and workable.
This site is not one that you’re just going to hit and whiz by. Plan to bookmark it and plan to return as often as you can. It’s like a marketing university in a box. I guarantee you’ll learn something helpful.

If you’re serious about blogging and marketing, Jeff’s blog is possibly the one place you don’t want to miss. Go here to start your trip

So What Have We Been Up To?

Sales at Amazon have virtually stopped in July, so we started thinking about ways to jump start book sales.
The obvious next step is to place the books in more bookstores. Barnes & Noble’s Nook store has been very good to us, so we placed Opportunities there. (If you’re a Nook owner interested in finding out more about this book, it’s here)

Over the next week, we’ll be uploading the books to Apple’s bookstore. From now on, each time we publish an ebook, we’ll be placing them in several bookstores at once. Previously, we published exclusively to Amazon to take advantage of their KDP program, but I don’t believe we’ve seen enough positive results to continue that strategy.

We’ve also been playing with the Bubblews program. I’ll be reporting results there in my next post.

Till next time, keep writing, reading, and enjoying your life.

Trying Out Bubblews

A good many Twitterers have been posting pointers to their articles on a site called Bubblews,com, so I decided to look it up to see what it offers. I ended up joining the site. I think it’s going to be an interesting experience.

Bubblews.com features 15 different categories which are broad enough to incorporate just about every topic you care to write about. The minimum word count for an article is 400 characters, which usually equates to about 100 words. I’ve seen a few articles there that just barely meet that minimum and are poorly written, but I’ve also seen some very substantial, well written articles. Many, however, are not well written.

Some of the topics I’ve looked at include personal stories from a writer’s daily experience, science articles, even recipes and articles about animals and interesting people. The only limitation is that a writer may only post ten articles a day.
According to the website, you get paid for views, comments, likes or dislikes, and social media shares for every post that you ever write on bubblews.

Somehow, bubblews still seems too good to be true. But I’ve read many testimonials both in articles and comments that indicate the site actually makes good on its payment promises so long as there are no violations of the rules. My advice is to read through the rules very carefully to avoid making costly mistakes.