Creative Data Networks
For Better or Worse: Writing About Influence in Fiction
Some of my favorite stories are stories about influence: the way people can change one another. Lord Henry Wotton—a decadent aesthete—corrupting the innocent titular character of Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. The sophisticated and thoroughly European Madame Merle taking naive American Isabel Archer under her wing in Henry James’ 1881 Portrait of a Lady. In each case, the story of a relationship between two people—one charismatic, one vulnerable—makes it possible to simultaneously explore personal dynamics and wider questions of morality and ideology, how “dangerous” human beings and “dangerous” ideas alike can transform us, or destroy us. […]
Are Relevance, Distance, & Prominence Google Ranking Factors? via @sejournal, @kristileilani
Can prominence, distance, and relevance affect your organic search rankings? From customer reviews to local maps, see whether these will truly help your business. The post Are Relevance, Distance, & Prominence Google Ranking Factors? appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Local SEO For Beginners: Getting Started via @sejournal, @BrianHarnish
Just getting started with local SEO? See who needs it and how it coincides with voice search, mobile, and organic SEO, as well. The post Local SEO For Beginners: Getting Started appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Plot Twist Story Prompts: Weakness Becomes Strength
Plot twist story prompts aren’t meant for the beginning or the end of stories. Rather, they’re for forcing big and small turns in the anticipated trajectory of a story. This is to make it more interesting for the readers and writers alike. Each week, I’ll provide a new prompt to help twist your story. Find last week’s prompt, Shock to the System, here. Plot Twist Story Prompts: Weakness Becomes Strength For today’s prompt, have a character’s weakness become their strength. Here’s an example: A character is picked on and given a hard time by her stepmother and mean stepsisters, so […]
How To Do Writing Research During a Lockdown
I’ve always been a great believer in hands-on research. This dates from when I was writing my first novel, Living Dangerously. My heroine was a potter, and I asked a friend who was one to help me. She was willing, and we set a time for me to visit her in her working environment. I had imagined I’d stand in the corner of her studio and take notes. She had different ideas. She gave me a lump of clay and told me what to do. (Writing Inspirational Novels With Flawed Characters) The feeling of having the clay in my hands […]
Book Formatting Software: 9 Options to Get the Job Done
Have you ever opened a book and found the formatting to be awkward? Maybe the margins are inconsistent, so the block of text on the page looks like it’s been stamped at an angle. Maybe there are strange inconsistencies with spacing or font size. Maybe it’s in a font that’s hard to read. These kinds of things will feel unprofessional and unpolished to the reader, and this will make them view your story more negatively, too. If you can’t afford to hire a formatter, that’s okay! Fortunately, there are plenty of book formatting softwares on the market. In this article, […]
9 Ecommerce Content Examples To Inspire Your Marketing Campaigns via @sejournal, @JuliaEMcCoy
What does it take for content marketing to really resonate with customers and drive sales? Check out these amazing content examples. The post 9 Ecommerce Content Examples To Inspire Your Marketing Campaigns appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Nearly 50% Of Twitter Users Tweet Less Than 5 Times A Month via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Does Twitter have an engagement problem? A new study from Pew Research Center finds 49% of US adults on Twitter qualify as “lurkers.” The post Nearly 50% Of Twitter Users Tweet Less Than 5 Times A Month appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
How to Calculate Marketing ROI [+Free Excel Templates]
If you can prove that your marketing activities actually made an impact on your business, you’ll have many more opportunities (and budget) to grow your marketing efforts. Sounds like a marketer’s dream, right? But how do you find the right metrics to measure and prove marketing ROI to your boss and stakeholders? With the help of this guide and a free marketing ROI excel template, you’ll learn how to calculate your marketing ROI with Excel to secure more resources for your marketing team. For example, if you’ve been running an $800 marketing campaign for three months, and average sales revenue […]
Simone St. James: On Finishing the Book First
Simone St. James is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls, Lost Among the Living, and The Haunting of Maddy Clare. She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent 20 years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full time. Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Simone St. James Photo by Perrywinkle Photography, 2018 In this post, Simone discusses the nonstop learning that happened in writing her new suspense novel, The Book of Cold Cases, why […]