For many people, the two years have really driven home the benefits of running your own home-based business. After all, being in charge of your schedule, workload, and work location is extremely appealing in the face of a pandemic—plus, the benefits will stick around well after the pandemic is behind us.

During these challenging times, many home-based business owners may not be sure how to best design their office. Should you design with in-person meetings in mind? Plan to create a photogenic backdrop for video meetings?

Courtesy of Inkwell Book Co., the online accounting team that takes care of all your payroll and tax needs, this guide is here to help you manage both, as well as keep productivity in mind in your home office design.

Offering Virtual Options

You can take steps to make sure your office is well-suited for virtual meetings. Make sure your desk is set up so that there are no windows or other sources of light behind you on your webcam. Keep the area on the screen neat and tidy to give the best impression at meetings, and try to organize your desk so that everything you need is within arm’s reach to keep empty screen time to a minimum.

You can even have a great home office in an apartment, which may be advantageous, especially if you’re trying to save money so you can put more funds into your business. Exploring different designs of how to lay out your small office, especially if you don’t have much space, is still doable.

Creating a Safe In-Person Space

If you and your clients are all comfortable meeting in person, you can still take steps to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19—or any other illness—in your home-based office. First and foremost, set your office up in such a way that people can keep a reasonable distance. Set up comfortable, high-quality furniture your guests can sit on, and keep it six feet or more from your seating area. Consider investing in a projector so you can prevent having people gathered around a single small screen.

You can also take steps to improve airflow in your office, such as installing a new HVAC system. If the weather is nice, simply opening some windows to let fresh air move through your space can reduce risk significantly. Finally, consider wearing a mask—and asking clients to do the same—to help prevent contributing to viral spread in your community.

Boosting At-Home Productivity

Although staging your office for meetings is an important part of office design, you should also focus on design that will keep you productive. After all, you’ll only be hosting meetings periodically – the rest of your time will be spent doing the hard work of running a company. You need an office that will help you stay focused while providing some work-life balance.

The most important part of productive home office design? A door. Being able to close away other distractions in your home—not to mention, closing the door on a long day’s work—can help you stay focused and productive for the long run. If you don’t have a door, no worries. That can be a part of your vision on how you want your business to grow.

You should also be sure to invest in an ergonomic desk and office chair. The right furniture will ensure you have good posture and help you to avoid office-related injuries like sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Having a healthy space to work in at home is important; you want your home and home-office to promote feelings of calm and focus. You should decorate your space in a way that inspires you, such as with a one-of-a-kind wallpaper. Decor that is unique to you and matched to your wants will help keep you productive out of the office.

Your home-based office will be the space where your business comes alive. We hope this article inspires you to design one that works for your business’s present, while also carrying you into the future. After all, the right office can make all the difference on your path to success!

You’ve written a book. Now what? That’s where we come in. Inkwell Book Co. is your last stop on the way to holding the final product in your hands. Whether you need a cover, editor, brand design, illustrations, e-book, print/publishing consultant, or the whole kit and caboodle, we can help you. For more information, please visit our website or contact us today!

So you want to become a writer but the real question is how to start a writing career with no experience? Here’s how you can do it and find work too.

Starting a writing career without any formal education can be daunting. Don’t worry though, this article will show you how to start a writing career with no experience.

Don’t let other people discourage you. No, seriously!

You’ll get “the talk” from some people that you tell about your plan to start a writing career. You know, the one that goes something like this:

Can you type without looking at the keyboard? How fast can you type? You know it’s difficult being a full-time writer. Blah blah blah…

Don’t listen to the naysayers or largely negative messages that you’ll get out there. Don’t believe what others say until you try it yourself.

So with that out of the way, let’s move on.

What You’ll Need to Start a Writing Career

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need any experience to start but you do need the willingness to do and a determination to succeed.

So how do you start learning?

Start by reading some publications from other established writers or people that inspire you. Then you need to take the following steps.

1. Start Writing More

At first, you may find it difficult to write for hours but most things worth doing are. So don’t be discouraged.

At this stage, you may not have any work or contracts and that’s ok. By writing regularly, you’ll begin to develop the skills necessary to become a great writer.

Also, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start a blog!

A blog will help you focus on a niche topic that you enjoy and come in handy for acquiring higher paying clients in the future.

Most importantly, it’ll give you much-needed experience but make sure that you’re open to feedback.

2. Acquire Effective Communication Skills

Communication is important in our personal and work lives. So learn to communicate effectively because you’ll need these skills when dealing with clients.

This article about communicating effectively is a good start: 7 Tips to Improve Your Communication Skills.

3. Build Your Reputation

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.

—Warren Buffett

Luckily, it’s not going to take you 20 years but Warren drives the point home.

You need to build a portfolio to start building your reputation. You don’t need to have published pieces but you do need samples.

Going back to step one:

If you’re frequently writing, then you’ll always have an abundance of samples to show potential clients.

4. Keep Up With Current Trends

To keep up with trends, you can subscribe to a few blogs that you enjoy or read current publications on things that interest you.

Many writers focus on a single niche while others can write about practically anything that comes their way. Neither approach is wrong.

It really depends on what you want to do.

5. Learn The Basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

A basic understanding of SEO is an asset to most clients but not absolutely necessary. Some clients will want their articles optimized for search engines, so having this skill can help you win those contracts.

Where to Find Work

It wouldn’t be complete without this!

Here are some great places to find work as a writer.

• Freelance Websites – Sites like Upwork, Guru and Freelancer are great places to find writing gigs. Clients go to these companies to post available assignments and freelancers apply for the work. The competition can seem fierce but you can win bids if you focus on value or customer needs.

• Content Mills – Similar to freelance marketplaces, these websites act as the middleman. You’ll definitely find work here but the pay is a little lower. Popular content mill sites include: TextBroker, Great Content and Hire Writers.

• Job Boards – In most cases, you can find the best paying gigs on job boards like Indeed or Career Builder. Often, these are companies looking for full-time or part-time writers. Also, yearly contracts or more are posted on these sites.

• Market Yourself – This one can be tough, especially when you’re just starting out. If you don’t have one already, get a website or blog and start marketing yourself. You can use social media, email, video or other strategies to do this. However, make sure that you choose one primary marketing strategy and focus on it.

That’s it! You’re ready to start your writing career and build up experience along the way.

About The Author:

Gabriel Nwatarali is a digital marketer and designer. He works as a consultant for businesses that want to improve their web presence. He is the founder of Tech Help Canada, a design and marketing agency. He currently resides in the beautiful city of Ottawa, ON.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—especially if you have something to sell. And selling books is just like selling any other product. You need to find your target audience, get on their level, speak to them directly, and sell the crap out of your book. Easier said than done, I know. That’s why I’ve included several articles below written by the pros to help you get the most out of this Christmas shopping season.

Happy Holidays!

SLB

5 Ways to Boost your Christmas Book Sales

Over the years, we’ve found that the Christmas season usually brings in the highest book sales of the year – even without any extra marketing! Why not make the most of the season and plan your book marketing accordingly…

Social Media – 5 Quick Tips to Boost Your Christmas Sales

If you haven’t started to prepare, get busy if you want to switch strategies to make your cash registers ring. But there are at least five social-media ways to increase sales by the end of the holiday season, according to strategist/writer Sam Cannon…

25 Holiday Marketing Tips and Ideas

The holidays are right around the corner, and savvy business owners know that you need to start marketing before they’re in full swing to launch a profitable holiday marketing campaign. Start your planning early, and you’ll be able to focus on your day-to-day operations while your holiday marketing plans roll out. Maximize your profits this holiday season with the following 25 holiday marketing tips and ideas…

Indie Authors: How to Sell More Books at Christmastime

We want to gather and share the best ideas, hints and tips about how we can reach readers at this time when they want to buy books for themselves and as gifts for friends and family, so we put the question out on our ALLi Member-Only Facebook group, Here are some of their responses…

 

By Sarah Lapallo Beck

 

It’s New Year’s Eve of 2012, nearly midnight. Surrounded by my friends and thousands of other Richmonders, I stand in the middle of the street in Carytown.  We’re all anxiously waiting for one thing—2013.

Suddenly a roar erupts from the crowd and my eyes become glued to the giant clock projected onto the brick side of the Byrd Theater. As though led by our very own Maestro, the crowd begins chanting in unison down from ten. The excitement is contagious, and no one notices the sub-zero temperatures.

A friend told me once, “Sarah, you’re the only person I know who cries every New Year’s.” And this year is no different. I’m counting along with the crowd, but I have icy tears running down my face. A low-grade panic attack has been setting in for about an hour now, giving me heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and a general lack of enthusiasm for this otherwise festive but meaningless holiday. I’m panicking because I don’t know what I’m doing with my life, and watching another year slide away into the night isn’t helping. Not to mention, it’s always been hard for me to say goodbye.

Years ago my mom told me that at New Year’s she likes to write down what she accomplished that year. She told me, “It feels good to look back and realize you made progress.” She was right. Though I tried to employ her technique I found it hard to remember everything that happened that year. Small victories got lost in the tide of milestone events. It’s easy to feel that another year has passed and very little has changed or become better. I’ve always been an avid journaler, but flipping through a year’s worth of words just to pick out a few key moments wasn’t working either.

I don’t remember how the idea came to me, but I found an interesting jar (not hard, since I apparently collect them), and together with my then-boyfriend/now-husband Dale, we began to write down good things and accomplishments as they happened. We did this for one year.

At the end of that year, we cracked open a bottle of vino and dumped the notes out on the kitchen table. Sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes enjoying quiet reflection, we took turns reading the crumpled memories.

All the big ones made it into the jar, of course:

“9-1-13. Sarah is now a business owner! Inkwell Book Co. officially launched!”

“5-20-13. Dale got a raise!”

“12-29-13. We took the leap and began raising chicks.”

“7-10-13. We’re engaged!”

And some little ones were there, as well:

“8-2-13. Sarah made a new friend.”

“2-13-13. We went on a run together and didn’t die.”

“12-20-13. Our dog learned a new trick: when food falls on the floor while we’re cooking, she has to be given the ‘good girl’ command before rushing in.”

It felt good to know I could sign off on that year. I had done good things, big things. Things I would never forget and things that made me a better person. There had been hard times too, of course. But with a clear head we could look back and see what we learned and how we’d become stronger. 

This year on New Year’s Eve, sure, I might cry a little. But I won’t be crying because I’m unable to let the old year go. I’ll be looking forward to the new year, excited for what’s just around the bend (like moving into our first home and continuing to grow our businesses). I’ll be ready for the good things that will fill the jar this year, as well as the surprises and challenges. With open arms, I’ll be waiting to greet whatever might come my way.

Q: I just finished writing the first book in my new trilogy. How do I format the name of the series on the title page?

A: There are a few different ways to go about including a series title on your book’s title page. How you format the title will largely depend on how you want the book to be referenced. That is, do you want the book to be identified first and foremost as a singular work, or as a part of the series?

If you think your series works better or makes more sense as a cohesive unit, then it’s smart to assume it will be referred to by the series title. A good example of this is The Lord of the Rings. The books have individual titles, but the entire story is more commonly known by the series title, because any one of the books would not function as well on its own. In this case, the series title should be italicized, because it’s being used in the same way as any other title. This is also a good option for books with short or ambiguous titles. A book titled Courage, for example, would be difficult for a reader to track down, due to the sheer quantity of existing titles that will include the word. Courage, book 2 of the Deadly Values series, by contrast, gives the reader much more specific information to use when searching for or telling others about your book.

On the other hand, if the book can stand alone as an individual story — say, if the books share a theme but tell their own stories in each — then it’s more likely to be referred to by the book’s title. In this case, the series title acts more as additional information, characterizing the nature of the series without explicitly titling it. An example of this use is found in the Harry Potter series: the series is not technically known by this title, but can be used to offer additional information about any of the books for identification and grouping purposes. In this case, the name of the series would not be italicized, because it is not being used as a formal title.

A good gauge is to ask yourself if a reader could pick up one book in the series without having read the others and still understand and enjoy it.

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Jacki has been editing professionally since completing her study of the English language at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. She has been an Inkwell Book Co. editor since 2013. From memoirs to fiction to fantasy, she can’t resist a good story, and can usually be found at her rural Virginia home with her nose in a book and a cat in her lap.

So you want to make a reference to a real person in your writing. What’s the etiquette? What’s the law?

The last thing anyone wants is to pour their heart and soul into a masterpiece, only to be slapped with a cease and desist letter. Now, I’m not a legal expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I can offer some general guidance for writers. I’ll focus on writing such as novels and memoirs in this article, as works like biographies, commentaries, or criticisms are a different beast entirely.

It’s almost always a good idea to use altered or entirely invented names for characters based on real people. This is true whether you want to write a character based on a celebrity or your eccentric former coworker.

If you’re writing about a public figure or celebrity, using a real name is risky business for two big reasons. First, you can be sued for “misappropriating” a name and likeness. That means you’ve effectively taken a person’s name or recognizable image and applied it to something without their consent. Famous people who make their living off of branding their name and image will likely not take kindly to being included in a novel they didn’t okay—and make no profit from.  Second, the threat of defamation. What this boils down to is that you don’t want to attach any inflammatory or untrue behaviors, traits, acts, etc. to a real person with a reputation to protect.

Use your common sense and respect when deciding whether you want to use a real person in your story. Saying your teenage protagonist went to a Taylor Swift concert is most likely fine. Saying the protagonist  met Taylor Swift backstage, then drove around Reno punching old ladies and mooning nuns with her probably won’t go over as well. But if you want to take the safest road possible (and I would advise it, as Taylor seems nice, but she does have a lot of money for excellent lawyers), it’s just as effective to use an altered name (Taylor Brisk has a nice ring to it) or a completely invented name accompanied by a simple explanation that the character is an “America’s sweetheart” style pop star. A caveat: if you use a different name  but still make it very clear through descriptions, illustrations, or even quoted speech, you can still be held liable legally for using a public figure’s likeness without authorization.

When it comes to characters based on “regular” people in your life, they won’t be able to claim you used their reputation and image for profit, but you still don’t want to risk a defamation lawsuit. In these cases though, changing a name will usually be more than enough. You can absolutely include characters based on people you’ve known, as long as the actual person is not identified. This, again, should be guided by your common sense. If you want to write about your ex-girlfriend Trisha, you probably can include a “Trista” in your memoir, but real-life Trisha is not going to be pleased. You’re much less likely to step on any toes with something unrelated, like “Maria.” That said, writer Anne Lamott raises the very fair point that, “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” So don’t let the reality of a character’s inspiration or source scare you away from writing what you feel needs to be written.

Bottom line? The legal aspects are tricky. You might be able to get away with it. But personally and professionally, I would always advise a writer to protect themselves and their work. Change the names. Include a disclaimer. Stay out of court. Don’t incur the wrath of your exes, or Taylor Swift.

*  *  *

Jacki has been editing professionally since completing her study of the English language at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. She has been an Inkwell Book Co. editor since 2013. From memoirs to fiction to fantasy, she can’t resist a good story, and can usually be found at her rural Virginia home with her nose in a book and a cat in her lap.

When you’re pouring an amazing story out of your head, heart, and soul, it can be easy to get tripped up on the details. One of the most frequent mistakes I see is misused or missing punctuation somewhere in the vicinity of quotation marks. The quotation mark is important to tell the reader that someone is speaking, but other punctuation is equally important in telling us how.

To get the easiest bit out of the way first, let’s get one thing straight: In the United States, we put our periods and commas inside quotation marks. There are arguments to be made for and against this practice, but nonetheless, that’s how we do things. Now that we’ve established that, let’s look at the particulars.

Much of the time, you’ll simply use a comma at the end of a quote, like this:

“I don’t believe you,” the detective growled.

The comma replaces the period that would be there if it was an independent statement because the text following the quote is an attribution and description of the quote, rather than a fully separate statement. That’s why it’s important to know when to use a comma or a period: the choice can completely change the meaning of your words. With a comma, it’s clear that the detective is the one speaking, and he says it in an aggressive tone. If we change it to a period:

“I don’t believe you.” The detective growled.

The text following becomes an independent statement. Though the detective is the implied speaker, there is some ambiguity. Furthermore, his growl is no longer a description of how he speaks, but a separate action. This simple punctuation swap takes us from a rough-around-the-edges detective doing his job to a very strange detective indeed, who sometimes growls like an animal after simple statements.

Of course, there are times when a period within quotation marks is appropriate. If the speaker is defined clearly enough through context, and the text following is a continuation of narration, not more information about the quotation, a period would be the correct choice. For example:

“I don’t believe you.” The detective turned his attention back to the stack of files on his desk.

But because English is an eccentric jumble of a language (I say this with love, you understand), there are, of course, exceptions to this rule. Exclamation points and question marks will replace the comma or period that would otherwise follow the end of a quote, inside the quotation marks, even when the following text describes the quote or attributes it to a speaker. That’s because there’s really nowhere else to put these punctuation marks that would make sense. At the end of the sentence, after the following text, can change the meaning of the writing entirely, making the description of who spoke a question or exclamation itself, rather than simply stating a person’s remarks. Check out these examples to see what I mean:

“I don’t believe you!” the detective roared.

That exclamation point simply has nowhere else to go. Put it after “roared” and the whole narration suddenly becomes a yell. Remove it entirely, and the point that the detective is exclaiming loudly is undermined by a chill little comma sitting where a dramatic exclamation point should be. Still, if your intent is to make the following text an independent narration (a shouted statement followed by a roaring detective), don’t forget to capitalize and treat it as a full sentence.

The same reasoning applies to question marks:

“How am I supposed to believe that?” he asked, incredulous.

Move that question mark to follow “incredulous” and it seems like the narrator is either unsure or has a Valley Girl habit of up-talking at the end of sentences, both of which are only rarely the desired effect.

But because that’s not confusing enough, there are times when punctuation (other than periods and commas) should go outside the quotation marks. Namely, if the punctuation is not a part of the original quotation. For example:

Did he really say “I don’t believe you”?

or

He said “I don’t believe you”; I could see the questioning in his eyes, though.

As I’ve said: it’s a confusing language sometimes. But practice these instances enough and you’ll be quoting without worry in no time.

*  *  *

Jacki has been editing professionally since completing her study of the English language at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2012. She has been an Inkwell Book Co. editor since 2013. From memoirs to fiction to fantasy, she can’t resist a good story, and can usually be found at her rural Virginia home with her nose in a book and a cat in her lap.