"Everyone has a talent. What is rare is courage to follow talent to dark place where it leads." - Erica Jong

Funnily enough, I don't believe there are any magic 'secrets' to writing success. If so, I'm still trying to discover them. So I'll cover this subject very briefly, because I don't know answers. It's really all common sense, following your basic instincts and having a bit of fun at same time. Just BE YOU and write what your heart, your imagination tells you to write. The writer or author is a puppeteer, moulding clay through words that you choose. You weave strands of article or story together, through use of your creative imagination.

You start your article, short story or novel with an idea. You decide HOW you will start: "Once upon a time". (This could be little child emerging from depths of your soul). Sounds very "airy-fairy" that, like many "arty farty writer types"!

You perhaps got plot from a television programme or a newspaper article. The plots of some of my novels came from newspaper articles.

Then you make choices as you go along: to base your story upon fact or fiction, or faction (a mixture of fact and fiction - I like that genre (impressive word that - must use it more often!). You choose track. You are director, producer and actor: YOU set scene, decide whether it is to be local or foreign. It's up to you HOW you describe landscape or surrounding environment.

You decide on characters and how you will describe them. To let them live or die? What immense power you have to determine destinies! Whether to have a happy or sad ending? "And they all lived happily ever after...."

A few short words of advice to end off this lesson... Make your writing FUN and get readers (and editor) "hooked" with a good opening paragraph and an even better opening line.

What do you think of this example by Charles Dickens from "A Tale of Two Cities"?

Whether you have a Print on Demand (POD) book or an eBook, you author can become your own distributor these ways:

1. Distribute through two-step email promotion campaigns.

You don't need a Web site to sell products. Benefit from easy and preferred way to buy by many people out there in cyberspace.

First Step: Send your different email lists a freebie. Think of your groups--customers, clients, ezine subscribers, ePublishers, teleclass groups, and networkers. Offer a free answer for a question with your expertise. Offer a free "Special Report," or an excerpt from your book. This will start your relationship off on a good foot. (Increased sales come from trust developed during relationship marketing more than anything else)

Second Step: Follow up freebie with your sales letter for your product or service. Each sales message includes: headline to capture attention, background of problem, where potential buyer wants to be, benefits and features of how to get there. Add testimonials and be sure it's credible and sincere.

Be sure to ask for sale and include several easy ways to buy--toll free number, fax or mail an order form placed at end of sales letter, or if you have a Web site, a link to where they can buy with a secure provider.

2. Distribute through your own ezine.

If you want to attract more credibility, trust, and sales, then write your own ezine. Your potential clients and customers expect a lot of free information, so give it to them. In your ezine include a feature article, editor's note, resources and tips. You'll get to be well known as "expert." In each ezine, add your sales messages for your products or service. Keep your ezine regular- once every two weeks or once a month to start. Keep it short--a real challenge to many of us.

3. Distribute by submitting how-to free articles to top opt-in ezines.

Online readers love free information. They subscribe to ezines that you can submit your well-written article to. After learning acceptable article formats from a book coach, start subscribing and submitting them. Collect 5-10 edited articles before you send. Thousands, even 500,000-targeted potential buyers will see your article with your signature file on it every time you submit it.

Be sure your product is already up on a Web site. Many Web publishers will take your e or print book, sell it, and distribute it for you for a commission of 50% or so. This is great for people who do not have their own site.