Blue Pencil Consulting

“Have a website! Use social media! Write a blog!” That’s the message business owners are hearing these days. Blogging about your business and being active on different social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter are excellent ways to share valuable information and engage in a conversation with your clients and prospects. Here’s the catch: doing these things effectively takes some investment of thought and time on your part. 

“Well,” you say, “I’m a busy business owner juggling a hundred things at once. How on earth am I supposed to come up with compelling content for my website, my blog or my social media outlets?”

Rest assured, there is a way to create dynamic, valuable content that keeps visitors coming back to your website and helps turn them into clients. I’ll tell you how in a three-hour workshop I’m offering on Monday, March 5, at 6 PM at North Shore Community College (Danvers Campus). The workshop, “Content Is King: Stand Out Using Social Media,” will focus on how to generate ideas for terrific content that helps your business stand out from the competition.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ll cover in the workshop:

• Quick overview of why you want to use social media in the first place.
• What’s your current process for generating content? What’s working and what is not?
• Tips for generating a steady stream of topics for your social media channels, so you always have something to post.
• How to set up an efficient, time-saving content-generation process that works for you and your business.
• How to promote your social media channels in a way that also helps promote your business.

To register for this workshop, which is offered for just $49 through NSCC’s Community Education division, visit http://community.northshore.edu/registration/index.html and sign up for course CSA103.

Today a wonderful word landed in my email in-box, courtesy of the A.Word.A.Day newsletter from www.wordsmith.org. The word, so relevant to anyone who writes, is sitzfleisch, from the German Sitzfleisch -- sitzen (to sit) + Fleisch (flesh).

As Wordsmith’s Anu Garg writes: “Sitzfleisch is a fancy term for what's commonly known as chair glue: the ability to sit still and get through the task at hand. It's often the difference between, for example, an aspiring writer and a writer. Sometimes the word is used in the sense of the ability to sit out a problem -- ignore it long enough in the hope it will go away.” (If you love words, do yourself the favor of subscribing to Anu's newsletter -- I learn something new every day from it.)

Whether you’re wrestling with a book, a proposal, or a blog post, don’t think of your writing project as a problem that might go away if you ignore it. Take a deep breath, sit yourself back down in that chair, and write! (Of course, if you’re really stuck with a project, get some help – but always practice a little sitzfleisch first.) 

If you’re looking for a good excuse to take a break from your writing chair, consider attending a conference that focuses on the type of writing you do. In the form of the annual “Muse and the Marketplace 2011” conference, the good people at Grub Street in Boston provide an excellent excuse for abandoning your writing chair for a weekend in early spring. Blue Pencil Consulting is proud to be a sponsor of this year’s “Muse,” which takes place April 30 – May 1 at the Park Plaza Hotel. This is a terrific event for writers of fiction and non-fiction alike, offering sessions on the craft of writing and the business of publishing, plus many opportunities to network with writers, agents, and editors. For those of you considering self-publishing, there’s a conference track devoted to that topic. See conference and registration details at www.grubstreet.org/.  

Interested in learning how to write a media release that gets noticed? Need to write a book proposal to pitch your non-fiction book to publishers? Or do you want to improve the content of your business blog? Then come take a non-credit course with me during the Winter/Spring session at North Shore Community College, at the Danvers, MA campus. Register online at www.northshore.edu (search non-credit courses by keyword or instructor name).

Here’s a quick look at what each course covers:

Press Release Clinic: How to Write an Attention-Getting Media Release (CSA795)

This hands-on, 2-session workshop shows you how to craft a press release that gives editors and other media gatekeepers the information they want, so your business or organization can get the attention you want. We’ll cover the anatomy of a press release; what to include and what to leave out; and how to distribute the release to your target audience. Bring your draft press releases and learn how to improve them on the spot.
Meets two Wednesdays, February 2 and February 9, 6:30 to 8:30 PM

The Nitty Gritty of the Successful Book Proposal (CSA792)

If you’re trying to interest a traditional book publisher in your non-fiction manuscript, you (or your literary agent) will pitch it using a book proposal. In this three-session course, you’ll learn how to develop an attention-getting book proposal. We’ll cover the process of putting together a book proposal, including how to refine your book concept, assess the competition and the market for your book, and how to quickly develop chapter summaries and a sample chapter. If you want to self-publish, writing a book proposal is a valuable exercise because it forces you to crystallize your book idea.
Meets three Saturdays, March 5 through March 19, 9:30 to 11:30 AM

Be a Better Business Blogger (CSA793)

Customers, clients and the media are looking for you online – and they expect to find not just your website but also a blog. This workshop is for you if you already have a business blog and want to learn how to use it more effectively, how to generate an endless supply of topics for blog posts.
Meets Tuesday, April 5 from 6:30 to 9:30 PM

Though shiny new technologies have given us more ways to communicate, the basics remain the same: Be clear, get to the point, banish meaningless buzzwords, and provide key details that convey your expertise, credibility and professionalism to your target audience. 

On Thursday, December 9, I'm teaching a workshop at the Enterprise Center at Salem State University (www.enterprisectr.org) called "Put It In Writing: Shaping Your Business Through Words." This hands-on workshop runs from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and will provide you with techniques for creating effective proposals, reports, business plans, memos and investor pitches. Bring your company mission statement or description and learn a process for improving it on the spot.

This free workshop is co-sponsored by the Small Business Development Center. Register at http://businesswritingdec9.eventbrite.com/

Thankful…

For ideas…
For words…
For books…
For the many ways we can share ideas and words.

Thank you to all my clients, supporters, and friends who make it such a pleasure to work with words every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!