November has come and gone and left me with some valuable lessons. The first lesson is that a heavily pregnant woman (that would be me) should never brag to her husband about how she “feels pretty confident that I will be able to write the first half of the novel this month, maybe even get close to the end.”

That is right, I strutted in front of November 1st rolling my neck, cracking my knuckles, daring NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to lift its gun in the air and begin the race. I was feeling in fine form. I planned not only to match last year’s stride towards the finish line but maybe cross it before the race was over, circle back to the beginning and start again. And then the gun went off. The earth trembled with the stampeding of thousands of fingers hitting keyboards all over the planet. I felt the adrenaline surge. I took my first stride forward and then…I fell on my face.

I would like to blame the whole ‘big and pregnant’ thing for the way I faltered but let’s face it, writing is a race of the mind, and the only thing that my mind was encumbered by was expectation. I was ripe with it. After months of research, mulling over plot, making attempts at the first several chapters and taking workshops, I had conceived this idea that 50,000 words were just waiting to emerge cleanly out of my mind. I was dreaming of a fully formed baby. In fact, I think I expected the novel to come out walking, talking and toilet-trained without a whole lot of sweat and effort on my part. Of course, I was wrong.

NaNoWriMo Lessons

Last year’s NaNoWriMo left me with a manuscript of harvestable material and the lesson that I am someone who needs to do some advance plotting before I begin writing. This year NaNoWriMo taught me that the first stages of labor are necessarily messy. Rough drafts do not always emerge from euphoric inspiration. In fact, mine required a lot of hard pushing and lots of swearing. I also learned that the best way to stall out is to have grand expectations.

I had about eight chapters outlined and I believed they would come tumbling out onto the page in technicolor, the characters fully realized, the prose singing. They didn’t. I panicked at the first sign that things were not going to go as painlessly as planned. I began pacing and searching for things to eat. I watched back to back episodes of “The Office.” I started to come up with elaborate rationalizations about how it was physically impossible to get the words out. I was stuck and an intervention was necessary. So, I took myself to the ER of writers: Dr. Wicked

Dr.Wicked is labor induction for words that need to get out. You choose the length of time you want to write and how fast and furious you want the pace to be set. I chose both ‘evil’ and ‘kamikaze’ modes—the meanest of the mean that Dr.Wicked has to offer. If the ‘electric shock’ mode was actually functional, I would have been setting myself up to be jolted.

I was ready to get the chapters out of my head. ‘Evil mode’ meant that I was given maybe 3 seconds to pause during writing before ‘kamikaze mode’ kicked in and started erasing everything I had previously written. It forced me to get past my expectations and start writing. One 48 minute with Dr.Wicked gave me about 1300 words. After about 5 sessions, I began to feel something like affection towards those screaming, messy rough drafts. I realized that they were a necessary stage, the beginning of my chapters cleaning up and coming to life as the cooing, rosy-cheeked sweethearts I had been daydreaming about.

Check out Alegra’s pre-NaNoWrimo post: Writing with the Bulls.

Alegra Clarke is due to have a baby—and a finished novel—at any minute. Visit her very entertaining blog for updates.

I decided to celebrate by sharing some of my favorite pieces of writing advice gleaned from interviews and guest posts from the authors, agents and editors who have graced this site in the past year. Enjoy!

“Never give up, no never means no. Keep writing. As my mentor Howard Fast (author of Spartacus and 80 other novels used to tell me when I’d say I had writer’s block: “‘Plumbers don’t get plumbers block. A page a day is a book a year.’” -Susan Sharpiro

“In many cases, authors understand the market for their book better than the publisher and can do a better job of reaching that audience. But they first need to understand that it’s now part of their job to do that, and they need to embrace it. Marketing can be fun!” -Michael Bourret

“Be generous. Spread ideas. Give things away. Write, share and repeat.” -Seth Godin

“I love real life. I love finding and telling stories, with the deep hope that it will somehow change the reader. Fiction can do that too, of course, but I have always wanted to find real stories and draw people to them, reveal something of life to them that they might not otherwise have a chance to see.” -Susan Orlean

“If you are clever, you’ll share the information that’s important to the audience, and not necessarily the contents of your book.” -Chris Brogan

“When it’s time to think of a new book idea, sitting in front of my computer and trying to squeeze something out just doesn’t work for me. But, when I’m running or on the bus or supposed to be writing something else, that’s when the characters come to me and the plots form. I try to just let myself be open to the flow and carry a pen with me.”-Julie Kraut

“If you’re a writer, then blogging should be a no-brainer for you. Read all the available resources on how to have a successful blog, then get going. Target your blog toward the exact audience you’re writing your books for.” -Rachelle Gardner

“I can see e-publishing as a great way for a genre writer to develop a fan base before going the traditional publishing route, along with podcasting and blogging and all of those other great grass roots ways of attracting readers.”-Michelle Brower

“If you have an idea for a new way to get your work out and build a market, go for it. If it fails, nobody will notice, and will usually give you credit for trying. And if it works, the sky’s the limit.”-Matt Stewart

“Writing is truly a test of endurance. So much of the battle is figuring out ways to keep showing up, and proving to yourself that you take your writing seriously.” -Laura Dave

“There’s nothing to be afraid of about putting content online. Like Cory Doctorow says, ‘Our enemy isn’t piracy. It’s obscurity.’ It’s true: The more people who know my work, whether from reading a pdf online, listening to me read it via podcast, or find it on my site as text, the better off I’m going to be as a writer.”-Seth Harwood

“Get excited about things!
Your well will never
run dry.”-Leo Babauta

“If you want to become more in touch with creativity then you must be creative. You must consciously fashion a life in which creativity is central. Visit art museums. Expand horizons. Dream. Imagine. Play. Pretend you are again a child discovering your world. Take risks. And risk again. Dare to fail. Practice your craft. And read, read, read.” -Anne LeClaire

“I blog about the things I’m learning about and living, in my life, and I never stop learning and experimenting with life. It’s a passion. So no, I never run out of topics, because I simply reflect about what I’ve been thinking about, reading about, and doing in the last week or so. I’m always excited about something, and that’s what I write about. If I’m excited about something, writing about it is a joy and a breeze. Get excited about things! Your well will never run dry.”-Leo Babauta

“I’ve discovered that I’m a writer who really needs that lightning bolt of an idea, and once I have it, I’m off to the races.”-Allison Winn Scotch

“More and more authors have been telling me how disempowered they’ve felt for a lot of years and many are sensing that there’s a window, now, to begin to reclaim power in the publishing equation.” -Jonathan Fields

“Ideas build on ideas—that’s how cultures grow. It’s a wonderful thing. But I always advise newbie writers not to quit their day jobs until they’ve sold a million copies of something or other. Dream. Plan. Write. Move ahead. Remember that we don’t get to decide the value of our work to anyone but ourselves.”-Laura Benedict

I’ve been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to help chronicle an amazing year of transformation in the writing and publishing industry. Not to mention very lucky to be able to interview some of the smartest authors and publishing pros around.

Thanks to everyone who’s left a comment, written a guest post, joined the forum, shared a link, or otherwise helped support this site. You’ve all helped make this site more than I even hoped for when I launched it a year ago. I’m grateful and looking forward to sharing another inspiring year with you.

-Maria Schneider

And last week, Jonathan launched a new site, Tribal Author, including a free report that’s filled with great advice and case studies of writers who have taken charge of their own success.

Here, Jonathan explains how his career renegade philosophy empowers writers to find more fulfilling careers. Jonathan will be visiting the Editor Unleashed forum next Wednesday (details below).

How does your concept of Career Renegade apply to writers?
Being a Career Renegade is about building your career around the people, places and activities that make you come alive, while also earning enough to live well in the world. So, to the extent that writers treat their craft in this manner, they fall within the realm of the Career Renegade. 

Of course, reality is, while a lot of writers conform easily to the first part of that sentence, fewer and fewer earn enough to live well in the world. My new venture, TribalAuthor.com, exists at least in part, to help provide the information, strategies and resources needed for writers and authors to reclaim control over their content and their careers.

What is the one thing about marketing your book that you found most surprising?
How rapidly the face of book marketing is changing. Tactics that launched NYT bestsellers 24 months ago don’t work today. I was prepared to roll out my book online on a fairly aggressive level and I did. We crushed it online. And, eventually landed some big mainstream print reviews, too. But, the waning power of mainstream media to sell books, compared to the power wielded by digital tribes, took even me by surprise.

Your report on tribalreader.com focuses on the importance of authors being their own marketing engines. What do authors most need to know about marketing their work?
It’s no longer enough to write a great book, hand it over, go where you’re pointed and hope for the best. If that’s all you’re willing to do, with rare exception, you should plan on keeping your day job. 

You need to be the lead partner in the marketing of your book. And, one of the most powerful ways to do that is to build layers of digital tribes that play different, yet critical roles in the marketing equation. These include loyal fans, evangelists, colleagues, attention-traders, mainstream gone digital, friends and family, to name a few.


“More and more authors have been telling me how disempowered they’ve felt for a lot of years and many are sensing that there’s a window, now, to begin to reclaim power in the publishing equation.”

What are your plans for Tribal Author? And what are you working on now? Another book in the works?
I launched TribalAuthor.com last Wednesday with a report on the state of the book marketing that was part expose and part next generation book marketing roadmap. I sensed it would be well-received, but was blown away by what unfolded. I seeded it in social media for about 15 minutes, then it just took off from there. I think that really speaks to the desperate need for hype-free, fact-driven, killer book marketing information these days.

Right now, there’s nothing for sale at the site and I have a lot more pure, nonpromotional content to release over the coming weeks, including a PDF of the report, a highly-detailed Tribal Author Book Launch Mindmap, additional case-studies and more.

I’ll eventually make premium content and live-trainings available.

But, that’s still just the beginning. More and more authors have been telling me how disempowered they’ve felt for a lot of years and many are sensing that there’s a window, now, to begin to reclaim power in the publishing equation. 

As someone who’s one part entrepreneur, one part author, one part marketer and one-part social media sponge, I spend a lot of time exploring models for next generation publishing and IP buildout. And, the more I develop those ideas, the more potential paths it seems TribalAuthor may end up leading down.

 As far as next books, yes, Career Renegade was the first of many for me, but I’m not ready to go public with idea for the next one quite yet.

You’ve become a prolific blogger. Any advice to other writers who are trying to build and grow their blog readership?
Be real. Readers sense it when you’re not. The only way you can do that is to write on something that genuinely interests you…and isn’t wafer thin. You’ve got to be able to go deep, offer value and sustain that effort for an extended period of time before readers will buy into your “value proposition.”

Don’t be afraid to take a position.

As I recently tweeted, most of what can be said has already been said many times over. What makes you worth reading is your voice and your stories. If those lack conviction, it’s game over.

 Also, find like-minded bloggers and social media folks and join in the conversations unfolding in their communities. Do it first and foremost because you have a genuine interest. But, know, too, that links and comments that add to the conversation are the major currency across social media. Give often. And, give long before you ask for anything in return.

Mark your calendar: Jonathan Fields will be visiting the Editor Unleashed forum for a live chat, Wednesday, September 30, 1:00 p.m. EST. Go here for details.

-Maria Schneider

Get free daily updates here!

Hundreds of writers participated in voting. Other than me breaking a few ties, the blogs listed here are the ones nominated and voted on by the Editor Unleashed community. Thanks so much for participating.

Here, in no particular order, are the results. I’m proud to have each one of these blogs included on the Editor Unleashed 25 Best Writing Blogs. Now go check out these remarkable resources for the modern writer.

Publishing Trends

A Newbie’s Guide to Getting Published Author J.A. Konrath has tried it all and offers his hard-won advice and first-hand perspective for what it really takes to get noticed in the quickly evolving world of book publishing.

Editorial Ass A mysterious former editorial assistant turned editor sheds much-needed light on the publishing world from an insider’s perspective.

Loudpoet Poet, publisher and digital media strategist, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez presents a big picture view paired with grassroots advice for writers and publishers struggling to figure out a way toward a digital future.

GuardianUK Books Blog One of the best online sources for traditional and new media publishing news & views.

Writer Beware Every writer should have this blog by Victoria Strauss bookmarked. Writer Beware offers reports and analysis of the scams, schemes and pitfalls of publishing.

Marketing & Social Media

How Publishing Really Works Writer and editor Jane Smith discusses the ins and outs of the publishing world.

Nathan Bransford A favorite go-to spot for writers, literary agent Nathan Bransford offers encouraging and thoughtful advice on getting published.

QueryShark Literary agent Janet Reid gives her realistic, snarky take on query letters from writers who are courageous enough to throw their work into her shark tank.

Rants & Ramblings of a Literary Agent Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner offers clear, sound and friendly advice on the nut-and-bolts of publishing.

The Creative Penn Prolific blogger, podcaster and social media stalwart, Joanna Penn offers interviews, tips and solutions for writers with a digital media bent.

Creativity

Inkygirl Debbie Ridpath Ohi has practical and creative writing and publishing advice with a playful touch—her clever cartoons charmingly chronicle the daily life of a working writer.

LeftBrainWrite LeftBrainWrite talks through writer’s block, offers regular reviews of novels by debut authors and links to the best places on the Web for creative sustenance.

Roughly Speaking Jenny Rough dishes on writing, reading and nurturing the creative spirit via her own journey toward living a more creative life.

Six Sentences What can you say in six sentences? Try it out to get your creative juices flowing.

Write for your Life Iain Broome hosts this playful spot for writers seeking creativity with a practical edge.

Fiction Writing

Flogging the Quill Ray Rhamey—author, writing coach, and author of a book on fiction writing—talks technique.

Post-Apocalyptic Publishing Sci-Fi writer Emma Newman posts pieces of her works in progress and chronicles her attempts to get published.

The Word Indie horror writer Alan Baxter posts his short stories and news and views on what’s floating around the online publishing sphere.

The Book Deal A great resource on craft and business advice by an editor who’s worked with everyone from Toni Morrison to Hunter S. Thompson.

Writer Unboxed This group blog by 11 up-and-coming writers includes publishing advice, interviews and news and views from the front line of publishing.

Freelance Writing

Freelance Writing Jobs Network Here’s the spot for finding freelancing advice and leads to paying gigs.

Quips & Tips for Successful Writers Quick articles and timeless advice from successful writers from past and present.

The Urban Muse Susan Johnston hosts a long-running blog full of practical advice and resources for setting up shop as a freelance writer.

Thursday Bram Helpful marketing and business tips from a freelancer’s perspective.

Words on the Page Freelance writer Lori Widmer offers thoughtful, practical advice to the modern freelancer and takes a strong stance about writers getting paid fairly.

Have fun checking out all of these great blogs! You can find all of the writing blogs nominated here, and find the 50 that made it into the voting round (as well as the voting results) here.

-Maria Schneider

Keep learning with me. Subscribe to this blog (free) and you won’t miss a post! And follow Editor Unleashed on Twitter.

That 1,000 number is significant to me because that’s the number I decided I needed to reach to continue pumping my time and energy into Editor Unleashed.

I made a deal with myself when I launched this site last October: Hit 1,000 members on the forum before the one year anniversary and I could keep going (aka not get a real job). In my mind anyway, 1,000 meant I was  building something worthwhile.

Why 1,000? That number got stuck in my head after reading this post by Kevin Kelly: 1,000 true fans

A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author—in other words, anyone producing works of art—needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.

Now I’m not foolish enough to think that just because 1,000+ people have signed up for the Editor Unleashed forum, that I have 1,000 true fans. But it does tell me that maybe I’ve been building something that others are connecting with.

So here’s a big thanks to all of the members of the Editor Unleashed forum, especially the community pillars (you know who you are) that help make it such a great online home for writers.

What are the milestones you’re reaching for right now? How close are you to achieving them? I’d love to hear about it.

-Maria Schneider

Flickr photo by crystalflickr

It’s just a fact that most writers aren’t crazy about marketing their work. It feels egotistical, unseemly, smarmy even. It’s a problem every writer struggles with. But marketing yourself doesn’t have to be painful, especially if you’re already an avid blogger.

The end of your blog posts is a prime spot for a call to action. Think about it: At the end of your blog post there’s a reader who’s already shown an interest in you and what you have to say. That’s exactly why the end of your post is the perfect place for a call to action.

Make it easy for people to find more of your work. Give your readers a way to keep in touch with you or find more of your writing at the time they’re already thinking about it.

Here are 4 sample calls to action you could include at the end of a blog post:

• A link to purchase or sample your book via Amazon, Smashwords or wherever you’re selling it.
Find the first three chapters of my techno thriller free on Smashwords. (include relevant link of course)

• A link to subscribe to your RSS feed.
Don’t miss a post! Get this blog right in your inbox by subscribing (free) here.

• A request to sign up for your e-newsletter.
For book tour dates, giveaways and more, be sure to subscribe to my soon-to-launch free weekly e-newsletter.

• An invitation to follow or friend you on Facebook or Twitter.
Get more tips and advice from me on Twitter at mariaschneider.

A call to action isn’t the place to be modest, shy or self-effacing. No matter what the tone of your blog is, your call to action is the place to be clear, bold and maybe even a little forward. Let your readers know how to keep in touch and get more of your writing.

If you have more tips for pain free self-promotion methods, please share here.

-Maria Schneider

For must-read links and news for writers, sign up here to get the free weekly Editor Unleashed newsletter launching in July. (See, I practice what I preach.)

Flickr photo by striatic

The “should I start a blog” topic popped up on the forum yesterday, and I want to offer my answer to this question once and for all: Yes, of course you should start a blog!

Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this fabulous, free opportunity to not only practice your craft, but also start actively building your readership.

Every writer circa 2009 should have a blog. It’s free and the technology is accessible to all. Don’t worry yourself over things like SEO and RSS or HTML. You don’t need to know any of that to start a blog, although your knowledge of these things will naturally grow as you become more comfortable with blogging.

I’ve written many posts on website building and blogging. I highly recommend starting out with a simple Wordpress.com account for the most user-friendly, free service. Then, when you’re ready to expand into a full-fledged multi-page website, it’s easy to transfer those files onto Wordpress.org, which is a more flexible and powerful platform.

The most important thing is to start and stick with it. That puts you ahead of the pack in more ways than you realize.

Here, I’ve assembled a number of the posts I’ve written on blogging/website building in one handy post. If you’re just starting a blog, this will be more information than you need, so you may want to skim the information and come back to specific topics when you’re ready.

Choosing a Domain
Since I’m a writer and no techno-wiz, I’ve just gotten past a steep learning curve to build my website from scratch, and I wanted to share what I learned in a weeklong series here on Editor Unleashed.

I’m going to start from the very beginning, because I wished several weeks ago for one reliable resource to take me through all of the steps in a very basic way. Read more…

Website Software and Hosting
OK, so you’ve got your domain registered and you’re ready for the next big step in building your website. Now it’s time to figure out software options and hook up with a Web Host (aka server).

Several people here have spoken out in favor of iMac, and I’ve used FrontPage before with decent results. But after much research and discussion with other writers, I opted to go with WordPress. Read more…

Design
Now, let’s talk design. This is perhaps the most subjective element of building your website, because your website, after all, should reflect your personal aesthetic.

Here’s my thinking and why I chose to go with such a spare, minimal theme at least for now: if you’re going the DIY route, it’s best to stay simple. Simple works. Read more…

Advertising
It seems to me a lot of people are getting into blogging because they believe they can earn easy cash via ad networks like Google AdSense. Admittedly, it is an appealing prospect since Google does all the work of actually selling the ads, all you have to do is host them on your site right? Read more…

How to Start Building Your Platform
I spent much of last week following coverage from the O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing conference. What was made abundantly clear is that the future of publishing is largely in the hands of individual authors. In a nutshell: All writers absolutely need to start building their community of readers. Read more…

Blogging to your Niche
I want to expand on yesterday’s blog  How to Start Building Your Platform. I realized I didn’t get specific enough about a very important issue: Blogging to your niche. And yes this applies to both fiction and nonfiction writers. Read more…

Get on the Bus: How to Find your Peeps
No writer can be successful without a supportive group of friends. The reality is, when you start a blog, no one is going to go looking for you. You’ve got to reach out and start looking for those like-minded folks who want to go on a long ride with you—to get on the bus with you, metaphorically speaking.

The most common mistake most bloggers make is thinking they can simply turn out several clever posts a week and the masses will show up and greet you with open arms. Wow, that would be cool wouldn’t it? Read more…

Keep learning with me. Subscribe to this blog (free) and you won’t miss a post!

-Maria Schneider

Flickr photo by RiotJane

Dave Clapper is the founder and editor of one of my favorite online journals of flash fiction,

Tell me about SmokeLong: What is its mission and what’s your role?
From our home page: Our Mission: SmokeLong Quarterly is dedicated to bringing the best flash fiction to the web on a quarterly basis, whether written by widely published authors, or those new to the craft. The term “smoke-long” comes from the Chinese, who noted that reading a piece of flash takes about the same length of time as smoking a cigarette. All the work we publish is precisely that—about a smoke long.

That’s the official mission. Unofficially, but more importantly to me, it’s our mission to treat writers well: to respond to submissions quickly, present the work we publish beautifully, and to be stable so that published work doesn’t just disappear. Treating writers well, in my opinion, leads to a reputation that in turn generates better and better work being submitted and, subsequently, published.

My role is mostly whatever is needed. I was one of the two founders of the magazine, so I’ve provided continuity of some sort from the beginning. At various times, I’ve responded to submissions, conducted interviews with authors, solicited work, created artwork for stories as needed, etc. On the non-editorial side, I’m also the web developer for the site, so I built the submissions system, designed the site, and built all the web pages.

Currently, I’m probably the least regular submissions reader on staff—I read when I have time and inclination, whereas most of the staff have regular reading schedules. My focus right now is on growth opportunities: How can we increase our audience, can we find funding to pay writers and/or run a print edition of the magazine, are there new technologies we should be incorporating, etc.?

And what are your long-term plans for SmokeLong?
We’ve generally grown pretty organically, and much of our growth has been driven by what is desired by our writers and/or our staff. A few things I’d like to see, though:

Randall Brown and I have both conducted workshops in high schools and I’d love to see more opportunities for our staff to get in front of students, and generate more publication opportunities for students (we’ve published a few already, but it’d be great to publish more).

I’d like to get incorporated as a non-profit so that we could take tax deductible donations and start using that money first to pay writers, and second to produce some sort of print artifact. In doing that, I’d also like to make our finances absolutely transparent so that people could see all of the income and exactly where that income is spent.

Talking to editors and publishers from other independent presses, I’d like to see an organization created that better allows cross-promotion between presses. I actually have the URL already registered for that; I just need to find the time to start building the site.

Mostly, though, I just want to see SmokeLong continue to get better.

What are some of the characteristics of great flash fiction?
It really depends on who’s defining flash fiction. There are still a lot of publishers who adhere to a more “classic” definition of flash fiction, that it has to have a beginning, middle, and end, and the end should be some sort of twist. I don’t subscribe to that. In general, I hate twist endings in flash, as I feel they bring the level of the form to glorified joke telling.

What characterizes my favorite flash is honesty. By honesty, I don’t mean non-fiction. I mean that the characters are examined and presented with integrity, that they aren’t forced to act in ways they wouldn’t, or to speak in language alien to their tongues. The author needs to have enough love for her characters that she presents them as they actually are, and to recognize that good and evil aren’t absolutes, that everyone falls somewhere in between.

The best flashes are those that I’m still thinking about months, possibly even years, later.

Besides SmokeLong, what other venues do you recommend for writers who are interested in reading and submitting short-short fiction?
FRiGG Magazine, Quick Fiction, elimae, Night Train, Wigleaf, Dogzplot. I’d be proud to have my writing appear in any of those.

What is your advice for writers who are interested in writing flash fiction?
Read as much of it as you can. Wigleaf’s annual list of 50 great flashes from around the web is a great place to start.

-Maria Schneider

There’s three more weeks to get your story in to the Editor Unleashed/Smashwords Flash Fiction 40 Contest!

It seems to me a lot of people are getting into blogging because they believe they can earn easy cash via ad networks like Google AdSense. Admittedly, it is an appealing prospect since Google does all the work of actually selling the ads, all you have to do is host them on your site right?

Well, it’s possible to earn some pocket change through your blog, but you really need to build a substantial readership to make decent money from blogging.

It’s probably not the best plan for any blogger to go into it just to make ad money. You may notice I haven’t put any ads on this site yet. I might, eventually, but I’m just Midwestern enough to believe you should create something good before you try to sell it.

So just how much can you really make via Google ads on your blog? It depends on the topic you’re writing about, keywords, and what advertisers in your particular segment are bidding. Just for a ballpark figure: A friend in advertising told me it’s conceivable that a website/blog that’s getting 500,000 page views a month could be bringing in upwards of $30,000 a year in Google ad revenue.

500,000 page views a month is a tough target to hit. I know of quite a few magazine websites that aren’t even coming close to that number. But it is possible if you’re working hard at building your site up and putting out content that’s relevant and targeted to a decent-sized audience.

One more caveat: As I learned from our friend Anthony, if you do allow Google Ads, you can’t click on them yourself or encourage others to do so to get the number of clicks up. Google frowns on this practice and might just cut you off.

Here are two very good primers on the subject if you’re interested in learning more about blogging and Ad Networks: Blogging for Dollars (Slate) and AdSense explained (About.com).

What are your thoughts about allowing ads on your blog or website?: “Ya” or “No way!”

-Maria Schneider
p.s. My forum is just about ready to go. Come back Monday for my launch party—cupcakes for everyone!

Here’s a question for you: Should this page be written in first or third person? I went with third, but I’m thinking it comes across a bit stiff. Should I rewrite it in the more casual first-person? Is that more blog-appropriate?

How do all of you handle the bio pages on your websites and blogs?

-Maria Schneider