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Annabel Candy is a Gutsy Woman Who Runs 2 Successful Blogs

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Annabel Candy A GUTSY WOMAN
Annabel Candy
A GUTSY WOMAN

 

When I first started blogging in 2009, I had no idea what I was doing. It took me a while to come up with the name “Gutsy Writer” for my free blogger.com blog. Little did I know at the time, that this was a perfect name for me, and that it would lead to my brand.

I often tell my audiences the story of why I started blogging, and explain how I wanted to be just like my hero, Catherine Sanderson.  You see Catherine started blogging early on, when most of us had never heard of the word blog. She started a blog “La Petite Anglaise: Slices of My Life in Paris ,” and wrote gossipy work-related stories about life as a Brit in Paris, with a French boss. The followers started flocking to read her posts and she landed a book deal. Needless to say, I wanted to be just like Catherine.

I soon realized that I needed a more professional blog with a theme and tag-line that would encompass more than just myself, and that’s when I hired a professional web-designer and changed to a custom web-hosted WordPress blog. I started my “Gutsy Living: Life’s too short to play it safe,” blog and now I recommend to any writer who wishes to become a commercial author, whether indie-published, or traditionally published, to invest in their WordPress.org blog, and not waste time starting with a free blogger blog like I did. (There are many reasons, one of which is the lack of SEO, which means in layman’s terms, a lack of discoverability. Please contact me if you’d like me to explain other reasons.)

I followed many “Big” bloggers, to see what they were doing right, and Annabel Candy, was one of them. Here is a post I wrote about Annabel  when I started reading every post she wrote, and also purchased her helpful e-book called, “Successful Blogging in 12-Simple Steps.”

I have come a long way since starting my blogger.com blog, and finally interviewed another hero of mine, Annabel Candy, about her life as a mother, a travel blogger whose work has been published in print and on the biggest blogs in the world, a website designer, and how she can run two successful blogs at the same time. Annabel lives in Queensland where she writes the popular travel blog Get In the Hot Spot and shares online marketing tips at SuccessfulBlogging.com.

Here is my interview with Annabel Candy on 3/26/14.

Would you like to submit your “My Gutsy Story®” and get published in our 2nd anthology?

MGS FINAL COVER Small
Click on cover to go to Amazon

Please see guidelines below and contact Sonia Marsh at: sonia@soniamarsh.com for details.

You can find all the information, and our new sponsors on the “My Gutsy Story®” contest page. (VIDEO) Submission guidelines here

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND SHARE USING THE LINKS BELOW.

A Gutsy way to grab more readers

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Dave the Podcast Guy

 

Do you want to kick things up a notch? Want to be more “Gutsy” in what you do online?

  • Start Podcasting

Tomorrow I get a chance to interview the expert on Podcasting, Dave Thackeray, The Podcast Guy, who is charming, energetic and fun. You’ll love his accent; it’s more British than mine.

If you don’t know what Podcasting is, Dave will explain, but in the meantime, think of it as:

  • “A way to turbo-charge your static content.” Dave Thackeray, The Podcast Guy

My focus will be on asking Dave how you as a  blogger, writer, or a published author can use podcasting as an extra tool (more engaging than simply writing) to connect with your audience.

After all, we’re all nosy aren’t we? We like to hear people’s “live” voice, especially writers we enjoy.

  • So you think you have nothing to say?

Don’t worry, Dave is an expert at finding “the expert in you.”

  • Do you have any specific questions you’d like me to ask Dave on your behalf?

Please leave them for me, and I shall ask him tomorrow, via Skype, when I speak to him in his office in Liverpool, U.K.

In the meantime, you can check out a brief overview on Dave’s blog called, “New to Podcasting?”

I shall let you know when the podcast will be ready for you to click on.

Thanks, and be Gutsy.

I want to thank Annabel Candy for her great post on podcasting and for putting me in touch with Dave Thackeray.

 

 

Join the “My Gutsy Story” contest and sponsor prizes

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Every Monday,  we shall feature a short story on “Gutsy Living”  about something Gutsy you have done in your life that either:

  • Changed you.
  • Changed the way you think about something.
  • Made your life take a different direction.

You can check out all the details on the Join the “My Gutsy Story” contest page.

Starting next Monday, we shall feature the first story, so please submit before then if you wish to be considered for the November 2011 prize.

I would like to thank the following 5 sponsors who have kindly offered their services or prizes to the winner of the “My Gutsy Story” contest.

List of Sponsors and prizes for November contest.
  • Marla Miller has kindly offered one Free Quick Query Critique. She is the expert on Query letters whether you are seeking the attention of an agent, a publisher, a magazine editor or if you wish to offer a guest post on a large blog. She will guide you in making your query hook the reader from the start. (Marla has offered her expertise to one winner/month)
Marla Miller "Quick Query Critiques"
  • GM has been generous to offer a Chevy loan vehicle for 3-5 days for one of the winners ( a one-time prize) in the Western Region. The car will be delivered to your home if you live in Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco or surrounding areas.

 

Chevy

 

 

Annabel Candy
Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps
  • Writer’s Digest has offered a one-year free subscription to the winner of “My Gutsy Story.” I love this magazine with so many tips for fiction and non-fiction writers. Thank you so much.
Writer's Digest November/December cover

 

  • Spectrum Specialties and Awards just joined on 11/2/11 with a wonderful prize: 1000 14pt business cards with UV coating, full color process, & double sided print. I am so thrilled as I know they do quality work.

 

Guidelines and how to submit your “My Gutsy Story” are on contest page.

Good luck. Thanks to all our sponsors and future sponsors coming along.

Please share with other writers, and anyone you know who has an exciting  “My Gutsy Story.”

Are you ready to celebrate blog day?

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Are you ready to celebrate Blog Day?

Have you heard of blog day?

I had no clue what blog day was until my blogger friend, Barbara Hammond and her other blogstresses, at The Blogstress Network mentioned it last month on their blog talk radio interview.

Blog Day is held on August 31st, and it’s an opportunity to connect with new bloggers from around the world. Here’s what happens:

“Bloggers from all over the world will post recommendations of 5 new Blogs, preferably Blogs that are different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers. “

But something important is happening on August 30th, one day before Blog Day, well it’s my birthday,  (sorry I couldn’t resist)  but it’s also the day when  The Blogstress Network is having a call in show where bloggers can promote one new blog they admire, as well as mention their own blog. You can find the call-in details on The Blogstress Network website. Hope to hear your voices on the show.

Blog Day is not to be confused with Blog World, a large conference being held in Los Angeles this November, 3-5, 2011, where some blogging, social media and marketing experts will be speaking.

Since Blog World Expo is in my backyard, please let me know if you’ll be attending so I can drive up and meet you. I know three bloggers who are hoping to attend this event, and what a fantastic opportunity to finally meet them in person. Annabel Candy and Barbara Hammond are two of them. This event is packed with presentations and workshops on social media, and an opportunity to network with bloggers from all over the world.

Let’s give a boost to all bloggers, in particular bloggers from around the world. I shall try to contact new bloggers in Kenya, Cambodia, Laos, Peru and Vanuatu. I guess I need to start researching.

What about you? Do you have any new bloggers you’ve discovered you’d like to share with us?

 

Photo credit to woodleyonderworks

 

 

 

Kick your blog up a notch, Come to Blog World.

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If you believe that blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn is the future of media, the way we shall communicate and share information with one another from now onwards, you may want to check out BlogWorld, the largest social media conference in the world.

With over 3,000 attendees, 140 educational sessions, not to mention all the gurus of social media, accessible to talk to, so they say, this may be a perfect way to kick your blog up a notch.

You might be thinking, “I’m not interested in selling anything, or branding myself,” however, every blogger is a writer, who shares content for others to read and as such, learning to improve your content, is not such a bad thing. More and more journalists and businesses are turning towards new media.

Presenters such as Mark Burnett, (Producer of the show Survivor) talk about the importance of story-telling. I sent in a video to the Survivor Show in 2001, to become a contestant. (In the video, I bench-pressed my seven-year-old son and pretended to eat a bowl of worms, consisting of Japanese noodles in teriyaki sauce to make them look real in color.) I was so hopeful to be one of the contestants in the Marquesas islands but was not selected. Just had to tell you my story.

Darren Rowse (one of the approachable gurus of blogging) says that attending BlogWorld, helps you shift your mindset so you start taking social media seriously. There are so many bloggers who fly from all over the world to attend this conference, including Annabel Candy from Australia. I told her I’d like to meet her in L.A. in November, as she plans on attending.

Here are some statistics on the BlogWorld website I found very interesting. Especially the third one, over 57 million Americans read blogs, and spend on average 23 hours a week reading them. For all writers, almost 90% of companies say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.

* Over 12 million American adults currently maintain a blog.
* More than 147 million Americans use the Internet.
* Over 57 million Americans read blogs.
* 1.7 million American adults list making money as one of the reasons they blog.
* 89% of companies surveyed say they think blogs will be more important in the next five years.
* 9% of internet users say they have created blogs.
* 6% of the entire US adult population has created a blog.
* Technorati is currently tracking over 70 million blogs.
* Over 120 thousand blogs are created every day.
* There are over 1.4 million new blog posts every day.
* 22 of the 100 most popular websites in the world are blogs.
* 37% of blog readers began reading blogs in 2005 or 2006.
* 51% of blog readers shop online.
* Blog readers average 23 hours online each week.

So do you think you’d consider attending a BlogWorld conference? Why or why not?
(I know it’s expensive.)

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