That's Awesome

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have been studying the list of New York Times "most emailed articles" for the past six months.

The surprising result: Science articles did much better than expected; among the top most-popularly-shared items.

What researchers have concluded is that writing that sparks a sense of awe is more likely to be passed along.

Awe-inspiring stories tended to be large in scale and to require the reader to view the world in a new way. Once the reader changes her outlook in response to new information, the researchers theorized, she's more likely to send it to other people to talk about it with them or enlighten them.

I doubt that small business advice regularly inspires awe. But any writer who's looking for a popular response probably would do well to keep the awe-effect in mind.

What's a Writer Worth?

Jim Rainey's "On the Media" column in today's L.A. Times features a gloomy outlook for freelance writers.

He accurately nails the twin dilemmas of shrinking newspapers/magazines and websites that recruit professionals - Chamber of Commerce types, think tank pundits and professors - as free columnists, spurning the tradition of paying journalists for their talents.

Back in November, the BusinessWeek SmallBiz page featured a column decrying the freelance economy in general. Not sure I agree with his conclusions, but it's an interesting debate.

Having been happily self-employed for two decades, I hope I never have to return to employer-based work. But the outlook for writers who expect a living wage seems to be dimming.

Pop! Seminar

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting author and consultant Sam Horn at a conference.

I raved about how wonderful she is, had her as a guest on my podcast, and fantasized about getting her in a room so all my writer and entrepreneur friends could benefit from her magic.

Well, it's a new year and dreams do come true. Sam and my good friend Lilli Cloud have teamed up on a personal branding/marketing/motivating seminar that will be held in Southern California on Sunday, Jan. 24!

Do you have a business idea, a book proposal, or a career that needs some attention? Sam and Lilli will show you how to stand out and have the confidence to put your creative work front and center in our crowded marketplace of ideas.

Sam and Lilli have priced this half-day program far below what they would normally charge, so it’s affordable for writers, startups and people in career transition. We'll spend all afternoon being informed, juiced up and enlightened at the beautiful Pasadena Conference Center - all for just $49!

I'm not making a dime off this event, which is being co-sponsored by a nonprofit group I belong to, IWOSC (the Independent Writers of Southern California). But I am hoping we can fill the room!

Buy your ticket online now and get signed up. Then tell your friends and colleagues to do the same. You will be very glad you did, I promise.

Nine Lives

My long-time source and friend Paul Edwards has a new blog.

It's called "9LivesForYourBook" and it's all about book marketing and particularly ebooks.

Paul and his wife, Sarah, are truly the experts. Between them, they've written 18 books, most of them about entrepreneurship and work-at-home careers.

Now, they're changing with the times and investigating the details of ebooks and what they mean, particularly for writers. I'll be following Paul's blog - I hope you will, too!

A Woman in Boxer Shorts?

It's hard to believe this kind of thing still happens.

Without anything more than his/her word to go on, we don't really know if it happened or not. But this blogger claims to have finally succeeded as a writer only after she took on a male byline and a persona as a guy.

Salon takes a look at the larger issues, including the cautionary tales of women who published/posted under their own names and got viciously attacked - worse, they say, than their male counterparts.

Have we really come so far only to be falling so short?

Give It Away

Great story from a fiction writer about how he used Web 2.0 tools to get his book published*.

Where there's a will ... right!?

*Hat tip to the IWOSC newsletter, which reprinted the article from earlier this year.

Calling All Writers

Since I started blogging, I've often mentioned the creative genius of my friend and web guru Paula Johnson.

Her latest project is a website anthology for authors of "flash fiction." (She defines that term as really, really short stories - 1,000 words or less.)

The site is a place for fiction writers to try out their work, get some feedback and perhaps develop a following. There are a couple of rules about content but mostly you can write about whatever you want to, as long as you wrap it up quickly.

Are you a short fiction writer - or a wanna-be "flasher"? Go over to Rose City Sisters and get your work published online.