You Know You Are A "Real Writer" When....

How To Tell If You Are Cut Out To Be A Professional Writer 

By Robert Bacal

People write for all kinds of reasons. Some do so because they feel it’s a good business strategy to create blog posts. Others write because the have a passion about a particular subject. There’s one element that will help you sustain your writing efforts over time, even over a career or writing, and if you are lucky enough to be possessed by one particular motivation, you might just be a real writer with a future as a professional. It’s simple.

Do You Feel Wrong If You Don’t Write?

There’s a difference between writing to achieve some end — making money, establishing oneself, or just because, and writing because it’s so fundamental to you as a person that you HAVE to write or you feel out of sorts, or that you aren’t doing the “right” thing for you. On one level it’s a kind of obsessiveness which can drive you a bit nuts, but on another level, it’s the motivation that drives you to your keyboard almost every day. And if you are afflicted by this writing virus, you can’t really stop writing. Ask yourself the questions:

1. If I don’t write, do I feel like I should be writing?
2. If I don’t write, do I feel less comfortable, and wish I WAS writing?
3. Do ideas for articles keep running through my head, even if I’m not actually sitting at my keyboard?
4. When I read the writing of others, does their work cause me to think about what I should be writing?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions you may be on the path to writing as a vocation — because, you HAVE to write because it’s part of you as a person, rather than writing as a task or job.

And If You Don’t HAVE To Write?

Not to worry. You don’t have to HAVE to write to be a top notch writer. Where it helps is in your motivation and “stick to it-ness”. Being compelled to write is valuable for a number of reasons, but it’s not essential. Consider: If you want to eventually write a book, rather than something shorter that can be completed in a short time, you NEED that obsessiveness to be able to complete the project. Writing a book is hard. It means consistent work over a relatively long period of time, and your obsessiveness — you NEED to write will bring you back to the keyboard even on the days when you’d rather be doing anything else but write. It can drive you through the tough times. A lot of people start books, or claim they want to eventually write a book, but few actually complete one, or even begin, because they lack the motivation to stick to it. If you HAVE to write, you will go back. If you are a blogger, or online writer, or someone who writes much shorter material, then the issue is a bit different. If you want a following,  you need to write material in a consistent way, producing material regularly, and once again, you need to get through the times when you simply don’t feel like writing. You get tired of it. If you HAVE to write, because it’s a part of you as a person, you WILL go back sooner rather than later. And that gives you a sustainable advantage as a writer.

Conclusion

Being obsessed, or having to write is obviously a double edged sword, because the desire to write can intrude on the rest of your life. It is both a blessing and a curse, but if you have this obsession, you may be cut out for a career in writing, or in a job that requires a lot of writing done on a regular basis. And if you don’t have the obsession, you’ll have to find other ways to motivate yourself through the times when the thought of putting words on paper or into the electron stream is just about as attractive as a root canal job.

Writing Tips: How To Become A Consistent, Prolific Writer

Note: This article originally appeared on Linkedin, and for LinkedIn contributors, but all of the suggestions and tips apply to any kind of writing.

One of the challenges for many writers is how to write regularly while maintaining the quality of the writing, and that applies to both article writing, and writing a book.

Most of us on LinkedIn don't write for a living. We are professionals who do other things and have many other responsibilities, yet there's a strong desire for many to write on Linkedin and for other platforms. To share that hard won expertise.

It's important, whether you are writing an article a week, or month, or want to write more prolifically, to manage your tactics, ideas and routines, because consistent posting is an important and necessary part of being read.

In this #Behindthescenes look I'll share what I do and have done to maintain consistent writing output. Over the years I've produced about 500 articles available online, mostly on my websites, but also for other platforms and organizations. When you add in the frequently asked questions sections of my websites, the number grows to easily over a thousand articles. That's in addition to the twenty or so books I have published for both major publishers like McGraw-Hill, and those my company publishes independently.

Bacal's Briefs: The MOST Boring (and popular) Topic On Social Media

Imagine a world where the only thing we talked about on the telephone was....well, telephones. Or how about if everyone travelling together in automobiles only talked about cars?

Ugly, boring. In fact I'd rather poke a stick in my eye than read one more article on LinkedIn telling me how to use LinkedIn. Or one more tweet about Twitter.

It's old. And it's stiflingly boring.

Does all this talk about social media ON social media push us (or at least some), to forget that social media is a TOOL, and that without stepping outside it, and looking to real life, and action in one's life space (rather than talking about action on social media), it's all a waste of time?

That's it. Briefly yours.

Bacal's Briefs: Posting Articles On LinkedIn, Other Platforms Like Planting Flowers In A Stranger's Garden

When was the last time you spent several hundred dollars on flowers, and then planted them in a complete stranger's garden? No, not recently? Most likely never.

It doesn't make sense to do so, except as a kindness, because the flowers would be under the control of the stranger, who has no obligation, legal or otherwise, to tend them, keep them, and not trample them underfoot.

Yet, with the opening up of LinkedIn's long form posting, more and more people are posting articles there, presumably for the exposure, and for other business reasons. It's the same as planting flowers in a stranger's yard.

You'll have to decide whether using LinkedIn or other properties that you do not pay for is something worthwhile, but one thing we know now about various free social media platforms, including free webhosting.

• These companies run for their own self-interest (nothing wrong with that), and often tweak and alter what they do, and how they display things to suit their own purposes.
• They also remove features, often closing some down completely, and if a feature is something you rely on for exposure, you are out of luck.
• The RULES also change often. The perfect example is the SWAM, (site wide automatic moderating) that operates on LinkedIn and can completely choke off your ability to interact in discussion groups.

As a business strategy you need to look very closely at how much you depend on free services from companies that have no legal obligation to you. 

Writing Well: The Difference Between Reporting And Opinion Pieces

By Robert Bacal

With so many people able to write in blogs or social media, we've lost the traditional distinction between editorializing (offering opinions), and reporting (informing). It's kind of an old school distinction that comes from the journalism field, but it's an important one to keep in mind when you write anything, whether it's a blog post, an article on your own website, or a report written to be shared within a corporation. The distinction is pretty simple. In old school journalism you'd find opinion pieces on the editorial pages of the newspaper, and clearly marked as editorials. Sometimes call op-ed pieces (opinion/editorial), the intent is clear -- to offer up some analysis, and an opinion on the subject. In contrast reporting is about informing people, and traditionally, opinions should be eliminated from "reporting the news". More and more that distinction has been weakened, even in today's journalism.

Browse Robert's books on amazon in both print and
Kindle Versions

Your Writing And The Editorial/Reporting Difference

Chances are that if you write online, you are editorializing. There' s nothing wrong with that provided you realize that it's just your opinion expressed, and not a factual account. If you are writing documents for work - financial reports, policy documents, and so on, chances are you should NOT be editorializing, but reporting the information in a dispassionate, objective manner, without coloring the report with your own opinions. Why?

It Goes To Credibility

When you write something to inform (or report), your job is to present the information as accurately as possible, and in as balanced a way as possible, so that the reader can form his or her own opinion. YOUR opinion isn't relevant, unless you've been tasked specifically to make recommendations, or offer your analysis. When you insert your opinions, whether intentionally, or because you have forgotten the distinction between editorial and report, many readers will catch on that you've drifted, and let your own biases into the arena. If they are not clearly labelled as your opinions, readers will call into question whether they are receiving from you, an unbiased and credible account on the subject. Even if you slip in an opinion amidst a great analysis, astute readers will question ALL of what you have written, as they assume you have some sort of agenda that is biasing what you write. Opinions masquerading as fact sabotage your ability to get the information out in front of others so they can make informed choices. Your readers are relying on you to be informed, and they can't rely on you if you present opinions as facts.

Reporting Now A Writer's Competitive Edge

Since the huge majority of material written is of an editorial nature, it's easier to establish yourself as a subject matter authority provided you focus on reporting, and stimulating thinking in others by providing them with valid, unbiased information. Opinions are a dime a dozen. Everyone can have one, or express one, so if you step out of editorializing all the time, and provide good, actionable and reliable information, build your credibility, and ask the right questions of readers, you may carve out a niche of reputation that brings readers to you.

Some Tips On Reporting and Editorializing

It's important that you recognize for yourself when you shift from reporting to editorializing and back. Neither is "better" and there are functions for both, provided you don't present opinion as fact. That means you have to have both a sense of self-awareness about your writing, AND the discipline to keep the two separate, or at least clearly labelled. Here are some tips.

1. When writing about a subject you are passionate about, be particularly careful about confusing fact with opinion. After you finish writing something, and prior to making it available to readers. Go through each sentence and identify whether it expresses an opinion. If it's an opinion is it labelled as such?
2. It's impossible for anyone to remove all bias from reporting. But you need to try or suffer a hit to your credibility. There's a simple, and powerful way of working towards less biased reporting. When you look for information, prior to writing, and you already have a position (opinion), spend 80% of your research time looking for information that will prove your position wrong. Seek to disconfirm your conclusions and you'll probably end up balanced. Your task is to counter our natural (and documented) psychological tendency to seek out information which CONFIRMS an already existing opinion.
3. If you really want to be strict with yourself, seek out other perspectives about what you've written, specifically from people who will LIKELY disagree with you. Have them poke holes in your logic, and ask questions about what you've written. You don't want people to pat you on the back. You want people who will disagree, and will tell you so. You don't have to incorporate their suggestions, but you need to listen, because other people -- readers -- act as a kind of mirror for the writer. The mirror helps you become more self-aware as a writer, and to identify your biases.

Kindle Unlimited Behind The Curtain: Why Books You Want Aren't Available

By Robert Bacal

In July Amazon unveiled Kindle Unlimited, a program that allows subscribers to read, free of charge, books on their Kindle, provided they pay the $9.99 per month subscription fee. Sounds great, until you see what's behind the curtain, because it may be that the books you'd really like to read are not available within the program.

Things You Need To Understand About The Kindle Unlimited Model

1. Publishers need to opt-in to include their titles in the program so you can read them free. If publishers choose not to do so, their books will not be available. 
2. Large publishers will likely have to sign an individual blanket agreement with Amazon to be included, and currently many publishers (McGraw-Hill, my main publisher has not, so my McGraw-Hill titles aren't available, as an example).
3. Independent authors and publishers (small houses, and individual authors) also have to sign up to be part of the Kindle Select program to be included in the Kindle Unlimited Model. As you'll see below, this is important because of an exclusivity provision to enter the program.

The upshot is that publisher involvement and consent is required so you can read their titles in the program. Amazon's relationships with the major publishers are exceedingly rocky to say the least, with Amazon already being sued (along with Apple) for trying to drive e-book prices down (parts of the case was settled out of court). The fight continues and its become extremely dirty.

Amazon's Heavy Hand With Independent Publishers: Demanding Exclusivity

Bacal & Associates publishes a number of titles both in print and in Kindle format. We will NOT be part of the Kindle Unlimited program, and here's why.

One of the conditions of being part of the Amazon Select program for publishers, and by extension part of the Kindle Unlimited program is that the title may NOT be sold, or given for free in any other digital format or on any other site or retailer. That means it cannot be sold at Barnes and Noble, for example, or given away or distributed anywhere in PDF format.

Amazon encourages publishers to enroll with various claims that granting exclusivity will result in higher royalties and visibility and that may or may not be true. Usually, when one grants exclusivity one receives a significant bonus for doing so, and that is NOT the case here.

Beyond that there's the principle of the thing, and good business practice. We will not agree to that exclusivity clause, because it's simply wrong and poor business to grant that exclusivity to Amazon. We will not contribute to Amazon's effort to monopolize the e-book industry by demanding that exclusivity without significant UPFRONT payment, much as would be the case when one gets published by a book publisher that buys exclusive rights.

Why would any publisher or author choose to restrict themselves, and not be able to sell their own books from their own sites or other venues? It doesn't make sense.

At this point independent authors and publishers are experimenting with being part of the program, but you should also know that many of those folks are the people that have been selling their self-published Kindle books at 99 cents or a similar low price.

Bottom Line On The Program

Amazon deserves huge credit for pioneering and in effect, creating an entire industry -- the ebook. That's a boon for readers, many writers, and some publishers.

However, be aware that many many books are not available in the program, and that you may find that the quality of the books included does not satisfy you. Or maybe it will. It all depends on the genre and your interests. However, if you think you are going to get major non-fiction books that sell in print for $20 for free, you'll probably be disappointed.

One thing though, you will NOT find my books included, or at least the one's we have control over. And there are many other publishers that are not part of the program.