BookBuzzr Interviews Nick Daws, Author of 'The Festival On Lyris Five'

Please let us a little bit about yourself and your work?

I am a self-employed freelance writer, and have been for almost twenty years now. I have both online and off-line clients, including some I have worked with for ten years or more. I write mainly non-fiction, including articles, training materials, distance-learning courses, advertisements and other sales copy, website content, newsletters, quiz books and other novelty products, and so forth. And, as you say, I've written over 80 published non-fiction books, from Living & Working In Germany to Advertising for the Small Business. I also write fiction, and hope one day to have a bit more time for that.
On the Internet, I am probably best known for the range of freelance writing courses I have written for the electronic publishing house, The WCCL Network. These include Write Any Book in Under 28 Days, Quick Cash Writing, Essential English for Authors and my latest, The Wealthy Writer, a guide to making making money on the Internet for writers, co-written with Ruth Barringham.

You have written over 80 books, which of those is closest to your heart. Why?

That's a hard question to answer. But maybe if I had to pick I'd choose a book I wrote about 15 years ago called The Internet for Writers. I'm proud to say that this was the first ever book about the Internet published specifically for writers. Of course, it's out of print now, but it was beautifully produced and illustrated with cartoons, screengrabs, and so on. It's only a shame that it went out of date so quickly. That's the trouble with printed books about the Internet!

What are the different marketing activities you do? What modes of marketing have been most successful?

I don't actually market my writing services very much these days, because I don't need to. As I mentioned, I have a group of regular clients for whom I work most months, and other semi-regular clients I might work for a few times a year. Then there are other clients who come to me via my blog or homepage, or (very often) by personal recommendation.
I do, of course, use marketing to raise awareness of my books and courses, and help promote sales. Nowadays I make a lot of use of social media, including blogging, forum posting, Facebook, Twitter (follow me at http://twitter.com/nickdaws), and several others. Probably the most effective for me has been blogging, however. I've been running my blog at www.mywritingblog.com for nearly four years now, and it's really - along with Twitter - the hub of my social media activities.

Please tell us a little more about your newsletter and forum.

My e-mail newsletter is called E-Writer. Anyone is welcome to subscribe via my homepage at www.nickdaws.co.uk. I've been running E-Writer for a long time now - longer than my blog or forum, for example. I used to send it out every week or two, but nowadays I've reduced the frequency to monthly. People nowadays have lots of other ways to connect with me if they want to!
I use E-Writer to update subscribers, some of whom are not heavy Internet users, on what has been going on at my blog and forum, and highlight any particularly interesting posts I think they might like to check out. I also reveal a bit about what I am working on at the moment, and try to offer a few useful hints and tips. I regard many of my E-Writer subscribers as old friends now, and I'm able to discuss things in the newsletter I might not always feel comfortable discussing in more public media. And finally, I sometimes mention opportunities that might be of interest to writers but again, for one reason or another, it's not appropriate to advertise too widely.
My forum at www.mywriterscircle.com is a free, open-access forum for writers and aspiring writers. It's actually owned by my publishers, The WCCL Network, but I handle the day-to-day running (aided by a wonderful team of moderators). MWC has built a reputation as the Internet's friendliest writers' forum, something I'm very proud of.

Recently you used BookBuzzr for marketing and publicizing your book ‘The Festival on Lyris Five’. What are your thoughts on the tool and how is it different from other marketing tools (how does it benefit you as an author)

The Festival on Lyris Five is a humorous science-fiction novella I wrote a while ago, when I had a bit more time for fiction writing. It was published by Salvatore Publishing, a small publishing house run by Guy Cousins, a member of my forum. They also organized the wonderful illustrations by Louise Tolentino.

I'd been aware of BookBuzzr for a while, and The Festival on Lyris Five seemed a great opportunity to try it out. I found it easy to set up, and was impressed by the wide range of features it offers. I like the way it allows potential buyers to read an extract from my book, then click through to the sales page. I've embedded the widget in my blog (twice!) and linked extensively to my page on the fReado website. I've also used some of the special marketing features, e.g. the facility to schedule regular 'tweets' about the book from my account.
As an author, BookBuzzr benefits me by providing (free of charge) a smart, professional-looking widget that lets readers preview my book and acts as a very effective marketing tool, with a range of cutting-edge, Web 2.0 features. I definitely intend to use BookBuzzr to help promote more of my books and courses in the future.

Nick, would you like to share about the range of services you offer?

I offer a full range of freelance writing and editing services - please visit my homepage at www.nickdaws.co.uk for more details. It's only fair to say that I have a very busy schedule, so these days I am quite selective about what work I take on. But if I'm not able to fit in a particular job myself, I have various professional contacts I can normally recommend.
Incidentally, I'd love to do more paid fiction writing, so if any publishers or producers out there need, say, a novelization of a TV show or a set of short stories on a particular topic, drop me a line via my blog or homepage and we can discuss terms!

Do you have a message for authors and readers out there?

Only to say that if your dream is to become a full-time writer, stick to your guns, and don't let the nay-sayers (of which there are plenty out there) drag you down. I don't pretend it's easy, especially in the beginning - but I firmly believe that if you persevere and work hard to achieve your writing goals, you WILL succeed in the end. I'd like to conclude with one of my favorite inspirational quotations: "Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by those who are doing it."