It’s about the message
After reading the comments on a post discussing an important issue, but in a very rude, sarcastic, and condescending tone, I realized a few things. [<a href="http://storify.com/michellewitte/it-s-about-the-message" target="_blank">View the story "It's about the message" on Storify</a>]<br /> <h1>It’s about the message</h1> <h2>Why dashing off blog post or tweet in anger won’t help your cause.</h2> <p>Storified by Michelle Witte...
Read MoreGive us what we want
It appears that a simple comic by artist and humorist Matthew Ingram, aka The Oatmeal, has demonstrated one of the biggest issues of online piracy better than any previous article or debate. You should read that before we start into the discussion. Don’t worry. I’ll wait. *whistles and glances around room* This insightful commentary from Andy Ihnatko suggests the problem with piracy is due to modern sense of entitlement many of the middle and younger generations have. While I...
Read MoreA thought on accepting criticism
While I might seem young, I’ve had a lot of experience with taking criticism in situations where I wasn’t able to offer a rebuttal or excuse—I just had to take it, smile, and say thank you. The most memorable of these public dressings-down came as part of my work on a newspaper copydesk. The copydesk is different than any other department at a newspaper. We worked in the evening, line editing and fact checking and writing headlines for news stories that would go into the paper the...
Read MoreAuthors, Bloggers and the Goodreads War
If you’re involved in the YA book community and haven’t noticed any of the recent dustups over reviews, well, you’re probably lucky. So let me fill you in a bit. Since January 1, there have been 8 separate incidents in 2 weeks between (mainly new) young adult authors and book bloggers who post reviews on Goodreads. Timeline of the meltdowns: Update 1-17-12: It seems the drama continues with a rebuttal from YA author Maggie Stiefvater in her post The Only Thing I Am Going to...
Read MoreCaveat writer
I always encourage writers to verify the credibility of people they’re working with, whether it be agents or publishers, designers or printers. It can be tricky, I know, but there are some excellent resources to help authors feel a bit more confident about their decisions as they seek to publish their books. I decided to create this list after I got a tweet from a company that makes book trailers for authors, then promotes those trailers. Sounds like a good thing. But it turns out that...
Read MoreSocial overload
I’m on the point of social media overload, so I’m taking stock of what I use and what can be cut out. Looking at all the social media platforms I use/have tried is a bit scary. No wonder it’s so easy to get distracted and waste hours online. I really need to think about how I’m spending my time online. Daily use Twitter: my true social media love Facebook: out of necessity because family/friends from real life are there Tumblr: I love the ease of the format and...
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