By Jessica Albon
It’s every writer’s dream: to write an article that’s so well received by readers that it prompts a rush of emails. When it happens to you, after that first flush of the thrill of genuinely connecting and communicating comes the challenge of responding. And then, as you answer the last reader email, your fingers crooked and cramped from all the typing… You slowly realize you have to write next week’s article.
And the question becomes how do you follow that success?
Fortunately, there’s an actual surefire formula and I’m going to share it with you.
Step One: Watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk. Know that this is super common and can strike on any scale. Perhaps you have a smaller list and were blown away by hearing from six or seven subscribers. Or maybe you have a larger list and are recovering from answering a hundred or so. Or maybe …
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By Jessica Albon
The biggest theme in the emails I received about embracing strangers over dinner was how ready so many of you felt to give up blocks to your creativity, how eager you are to genuinely step up and step into what you are here to create. And that was awesome!
To me, there are few words more powerful than those written when we’re 100% ready to bring our message, our meaning, our purpose out into the light of day after keeping it hidden for so long, and I appreciated being entrusted with every single one of your emails. Thank you!
I just finished watching an inspiring video over on Marie Forleo’s blog (thank you, Marie!) and it really speaks to the conversation we had last week. It’s all about how we view creativity and art and how, perhaps, it’s time to stop pairing up artist and art in quite the way …
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By Jessica Albon
When’s the last time you invited 50 strangers over for dinner? Unless you’re Jim Haynes, I’d imagine it’s not a regular occurrence in your life.
But maybe it should be.
Each week, 50-70 people (more when the weather’s nice) RSVP and let Jim know they’ll be coming for dinner Sunday night. And, each week, according to the articles, he’s there to make guests feel welcome and to enjoy the community he’s created. I wonder what that’s like for him. I wonder how throwing open the doors to your home once a week for thirty years makes you a different sort of person.
More than that, though, I wonder how it might make me a different sort of person. Would it help me be more at ease with myself under all circumstances? Would it make me a better storyteller? Might it, just maybe, make me a better cook 
?…
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By Jessica Albon
Screenshot of web traffic from …
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By Jessica Albon
Image by Leviticus6
I’ve just spent the last thirty minutes trying to find contact information on someone whose site has been hacked. I’ve never met this woman before, but she’d left a comment on Clayton Makepeace’s blog and her site url looked interesting so I clicked over, discovered that the site had been hacked and seriously considered just letting it go because she’s got to know about the problem, right?
But then I thought, well, it won’t take much time to type the url into Google, look at the cached version, and find an email address or phone number there with which to contact her just in case she’s unaware…
Famous last words.
As far as I can tell, there’s no contact information anywhere on her site. (How people get in touch when they want to hire her is anyone’s guess.) When I Google her name, I get a couple …
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By Jessica Albon
Image by bizior
All too often, an expert slaves over the writing of a book only to deliver it to the publisher and… promptly forget about promoting it ever again. Today, let’s take a look at 25 ways you should be promoting the heck out of your book, whether it’s self-published, or traditionally published. (Haven’t written that book yet? Read this list so you’ll know what to do, and then send me an email so I can connect you with a fabulous resource for packaging your knowledge into a book your readers will love!)
- Update your biography. Make sure your bio is updated immediately to reflect your new book. Check website About pages, media room bios, and any organizations you’re a member of that make your biography public.
-
Use your home page. Emblazon it with the words, “Author of the newly released: Title!” along with a copy of
…
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By Jessica Albon
Photo by sebadanon
So, I just got finished doing something I always swear I’ll never do again: giving my 85-lb dog a bath. Since there’s snow on the ground, we had to use the indoor bathtub. Even though Izzy’s a Lab and he loves dirty water, he apparently has a phobia to clean water and generally refuses to get into the tub without an excessive amount of persuasion and assistance (obviously, there’s not a lot one can force an 85-lb dog to do ).
In other words, I’ve just spent the last hour having a heck of a lot of fun trying to coax him into the bath tub, convince him not to jump out of the bath tub, somehow manage to get his water repellent coat soaked thoroughly, lather the shampoo and then rinse him off–all while telling him what a good boy he is as he looks …
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By Jessica Albon
Over the weekend, we added a gigantic RSS feed button (and, also, a gigantic Follow me on Twitter button). I’m curious to hear your opinion.
Do you like gigantic RSS buttons? Do you even notice them? Do you click them to subscribe? Do you ignore them?
Me, I subscribe to RSS feeds right in Firefox, clicking the RSS icon in the address bar, so I never click an RSS image on a page whether it’s big or little. But, I’ve read that bigger RSS buttons are *always* better, so after giving it some thought, decided to go extra-extra large as an experiment. I’m a very obedient designer . (I’ve discovered it’s pretty sensible to try things the “right” way first and then make it my own to see what happens.)
So if you have thoughts on the great RSS button debate, be sure to share them!
…
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By Jessica Albon
Image by fishmonk
I’m very, very close to releasing the details on a brand new, *free*
teleclass I’ll be offering… We’ll be talking about what’s actually
working right *now* and how you can make it work for you, with a
special focus on ezines. (But, if you blog, or in any way keep in
touch with your audience… you’re going to want to join us–this is
good stuff and you’ll learn plenty that you can use.)
Why am I being such a tease? I want to make sure you’re actually interested
in the topic before I schedule it. So, here’s what you’ll learn:
- How to create a knock-their-socks-off Knock Knock welcome package
that your readers are going to go gaga over.
- Why readers care about your cat but not your kids and what they
care about even more than a cute kitty.
- The stop-’em-in-their-tracks mistake you’re making right now
…
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By Jessica Albon
I am ridiculously excited about tonight’s episode of Chuck. I watch a grand total of two TV shows (Burn Notice is the other one), because I love them both–the silly, escapist tones, the lines that make me giggle, the way they manage to feel consistently fresh… The reason I’m excited about tonight’s episode, though, is that it’s done in 3D which is apparently a pretty darn big deal for a TV show.
And, that, of course, is the point. When’s the last time your customers were excited about what you offer? More importantly, when’s the last time *you* were excited about what you offer? If business is slow, it’s been awhile.
If you’ve gotten complacent about what you offer, if you’ve tucked in your head, and squared your shoulders to “tough it out” and “hunker down,” you’re missing the point of running a business. And you’re missing out …
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