The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up

This post is part of a new weekly series on YWP, aptly titled “The Writer’s Weekly Wrap-Up”.

Each Sunday, I will endeavour to provide you with a curated list of the best articles that I have seen throughout the week that relate to building your platform.

The featured articles will cover topics on book marketing and promotion, blogging, social media and self-publishing. (I may even throw in a few inspirational and fun posts, just so that it’s not all work and no play!)

Remember the old adage a chain is only as strong as its weakest link? Use these resources to help strengthen the ‘weak’ points in your writer platform and forge a solid career.

Featured Articles

How To Create a Viral Book Trailer (or Get 1,000,000 Views for Almost Anything) by Time Ferriss at The Blog of Time Ferriss.

In his post, Tim deconstructs the book trailer for his book “The 4-Hour Chef”. It is currently the most viewed non-fiction book trailer of all time. “Roughly 1.5 million views and counting…”

Self-Publishing Carnival of the Indies Issue #31  by Joel Friedlander at The Book Designer.

Superb round up of articles relating to book design and production, self-publishing and book marketing. A one-stop shop, especially for indie authors.

How to Optimize Your Amazon Book Page to Sell More Books by Gary Smailes at BubbleCow.

Gary clarifies what’s important and provides a list of six ‘areas’ of your Amazon book page that should be edited when trying to capture the maximum number of book sales.

27 Wacky Ways to Beat Writer’s Block by Henneke Duistermaat at Boost Blog Traffic.

Learn a few tricks to loosen up and get crazy. Henneke shows us how to let the goofy side out and get your creative juices flowing again.

35 Hot Blogs to Help 21st Century Writers Light Their Fire by Kimberley Grabas at Your Writer Platform

In case you missed it, this post summarizes my favourite sites for writers.

2 Strategic and Compelling Reasons to Keep Blogging – Plus When to Kill a Blog by Dan Blank at Jane Friedman.com.

This post addresses the value of blogging and why you should continue, despite some opinions to the contrary. Dan also addresses when it’s a good time to call it quits.

Book Marketing: Create Your Author Press Kit by Tolulope Popoola at The Creative Penn.

In this article, Tolulope explains the benefits of having a press kit when dealing with the media, book bloggers, retailers and others. She also outlines what should be included in your author press kit for maximum impact.

How Much Attention Should You Pay to Book Design? A Q&A With Joel Friedlander by Jane Friedman at Jane Friedman.com.

Very informative Q&A on what self-published authors should consider with regard to book design, and how to avoid some common mistakes.

How to Contact Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Other Social Networks by Kristi Hines at Kikolani.

This is a gift! How many times have you wished you could contact a support person at one of these popular networks and gotten lost in the maze? In her post, Kristi provides links to the contact information for Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, and Reddit. (Bookmark this baby!)

Just For Fun

What Shakespeare Play Should I Read? An Infographic by Jessica at Goodreads.

I love infographics! This is a ‘helpful’ infographic aimed at aiding you in choosing the perfect Shakespearean play… Enjoy!