Ninety Degrees Media

Lincolnphiles will enjoy host Fred Klein’s chat with Frederic Hunter, author of Abe and Molly: The Lincoln Courtship.

Literary Gumbo: Frederic Hunter from Literary Gumbo on Vimeo.

Screenwriters Association of Santa Barbara presented novelist and Santa Barbara Writers Conference owner Monte Schulz on Thursday, February 10 at Goleta Borders.

Monte Schulz, Novelist from dolphingal805 on Vimeo.

Writing for magazines can be fun and sometimes you can even get paid to write an article. First you need to brainstorm some ideas. In On Writing Well William Zinsser says, “No area of life is stupid to someone who takes it seriously. If you follow your affections you will write well and will engage your readers.”

Before forming an article idea take a look at yourself and those around you. Make a list of your own skills and interests, and a list of the interesting people you know—including friends of friends. What and who do you deal with in your daily life? Even if you work in a car wash others could benefit from your experience, because you could write about how to avoid damage to a car when it goes through the mechanism. Everything, even the simplest tasks, could result in a writing prompt. A friend of mine sold a piece to a glossy magazine about organizing family photos. If you don’t have an exciting career or a fascinating hobby, look at the people around you. I knew a lady who owned a massage school, so between interviewing her and the contacts she gave me, I wrote something about the benefits of massage.
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Santa Barbara author and journalist >Leslie Andrea Westbrook joins host Fred Klein in the studio to talk about her widely published articles and her new book A Century of Success about SBCC.

Literary Gumbo: Leslie Andrea Westbrook from Literary Gumbo on Vimeo.

The Association for Women in Communications, Santa Barbara Chapter presented “Confidence, Charisma, and Cash with Chellie Campbell” for their January 2011 meeting. Chellie Campbell is the creator of the popular Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops and the author of The Wealthy Spirit and Zero to Zillionaire.

Women in Communications: Chellie Campbell from dolphingal805 on Vimeo.

Former executive editor at Macmillan and then St. Martin’s Press, Toni Lopopolo, reminisces with host Fred Klein about her many years in publishing, and talks about her unique editing skills which she now uses in her full service literary management agency.

Literary Gumbo: Toni Lopopolo from Literary Gumbo on Vimeo.

If you’re looking for a literary agent or want to get published, you should have a Facebook page for either yourself or your proposed book. This is an essential part of building your author platform. It’s like when you’re trying to sell a product you have to establish the brand. Which soda would you buy, a Dr. Pepper or a Mr. Teddy? You’d go for the more familiar brand. In the same way, literary agents and publishers look for an author people already know, like and trust.

In “Building Your Author Platform” book marketing coach Dana Lynn Smith said, “To sell books in today’s marketplace, you need to be connected.” One of the connections she recommends is online communities such as Facebook, which is a popular choice. Facebook is now used by one in every 13 people on earth, with over 250 million of them logging in every day.
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