Want to start up a podcast? So do we - so we did the reach.

So, we did some reach and found some great advice on why should you start your own podcast? Here are some good points.

When you’ve been blogging for a while, you may come to a point when you’re looking for other ways to tell your story or share your ideas. If you’ve already tried several ways of sharing content beyond written words, then a podcast might just be your next best move. It’s really quite simple.

A podcast is a way to reach an audience that you wouldn’t reach otherwise with just your blog.

There is an increasing number of people who listen to podcasts more than they read blogs. In a recent report, 33% of Americans have listened to at least one podcast.

That’s a huge number of people listening to content in podcast form. Don’t you want in on all the potential traffic it could bring to your blog?

While a podcast is a great way to bring new readers to your blog, it’s not the only reason you should start one.

In addition to new followers, you connect with your audience on a more personal level.

Hearing someone speak is, no doubt, more personal than reading words on a screen. With this kind of connection, you can gain your listener’s trust and get their attention in lesser time than it takes to read a blog post.

If you’re comfortable with talking to get your ideas across, and you’re not scared of a little technical adventure, then you’re more than ready to start your own podcast. Here are 10 tips to help you through the process.

Beginners Guide to Launch a Podcast:

1 - Plan your content!

A well-planned podcast will make your podcasting routine easier. Decide how many episodes you want to publish in a month, which topics you want to cover (and in what order), when you plan to release a new episode, and so on. Just like a blog, a podcast needs a content calendar so you have a clear idea of what you need to accomplish for each episode.

List down potential episode titles and schedule to publish them in a logical order. For instance, an episode with the title “How To Choose A Web Host” should come first before “How To Set Up WordPress”. You can also have a theme or single general topic and break it down into sub-topics within a given time frame. For instance, you can assign April as “SEO month”, so all your episodes will be about SEO for that month.

When you have a clear content plan for your podcast, you don’t have to worry about coming up with a topic for your next episode. All you need to focus on is creating and recording the content.

2 - Invest in a quality microphone

We made the mistake of buying a cheap microphone and ended up having to edit my recording heavily to compensate for poor audio quality. If you have the budget, or you can wait a little longer to have enough money to buy a quality microphone, we suggest you do so. 

Of course, you can research other mics that are available in your area.

Having the best possible recording equipment will save you loads of time and trouble when it’s time to edit your audio. 

3 - Get a professionally made podcast cover image and intro

Unless you’re a graphic designer, we suggest having your podcast cover image made by a professional.

You can ask around for the best designers in your area, or you can hit up Fiverr and get a custom graphic made starting at $5-$20.

Choose a designer whose graphic style you like and matches with your personal brand. Have a clear idea of how you want your image to be, and take your time to give clear instructions and even an image sketch for good measure.

Take note that your podcast cover image will appear as a thumbnail image on most podcast streaming services, so go for a design that still stands out even when it’s small.

You should also hire someone on Fiverr for creating your podcast intro & outro.

4 - Follow an outline

The dangers of recording a podcast without an outline are that you’ll go off-topic and find yourself rambling on about something else entirely.

Just like a blog post, a podcast should have an introduction, body, and conclusion. You don’t have to write a script that you read word-for-word, but just a bullet point list of what you’ll talk about and in what order.

In case you go off-track, you can always pause and refer to your outline to circle back to your topic. While talking about something else for a few minutes can add personality to your podcast, you need to know when to bring your show back to delivering the subject matter at hand.

5 - Get personal

One of the benefits of a podcast is connecting with your audience on a deeper, more personal level. Podcasts are great for telling personal stories that relate to the episode’s topic. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerable side — it makes you more relatable as a human being and people will definitely trust you to be an honest podcaster. If you’re giving advice about how to do a certain task, talk about how you learned to do this task effectively and whether you had challenges along the way.

6 - If you're not going to do it yourself - get a dedicated podcasting host to work with

Once your podcast is live, it has the potential of being streamed by thousands of listeners. When this happens, it’s important that your podcast file host can handle the bandwidth. Rather than using your web site’s server to load your audio files, use a service like BuzzSprout, LibSyn or Blubrry for a better and secure podcast hosting option.

These services require a minimal amount for a monthly subscription, but it’s definitely worth it. Integrating your podcast episodes to your blog is also easy with LibSyn and Blubrry plugins for WordPress.

7 - Promote your blog or 

landing page in the podcast

Don’t forget to mention your blog at least twice during a podcast. This lets your audience know where to find you outside of your podcast. You can also direct your audiences to a specific page on your blog to find certain information like how to contact you and/or a landing page that sells your products or services. Make sure the links you give are short and easy to remember.

8 - Ask your listeners to subscribe and leave a review

In iTunes, podcasts appear in the “New and Noteworthy” section when they’ve gotten lots of good reviews. Before the end of each podcast episode, always tell your readers to subscribe and leave a review if they liked the episode.

You can also include a link on your blog below your podcast player, so your blog readers can subscribe and leave a review as well.

9 - Learn basic audio editing

You can hire someone to edit your audio 
files for you or you can do it yourself. Learning audio editing can take a while, but it’s worth it if you want total control of how your finished recording sounds. A free audio editing tool called Audacity works great, but if you want to get more advanced, you can check out Acoustica or Sound Forge Pro. These tools allow you to edit, enhance and compress your audio files so it has the best possible quality when streamed online.

If you are looking for an automatic tool, you can use Auphonic. It is an automatic audio post production web service, where you need to upload your recorded podcast file and it will take care of the rest.

10 - Be yourself

It may seem obvious, but when you’re talking to a mic for the first time, it’s easy to get self-conscious and not sound like yourself. You don’t have to edit out every “um” and “ahh” in the sound file. This makes you sound more human and less like a robot. Smile, laugh, be intense if you must. Don’t hide your accent if you have one. Be yourself and enjoy the process of getting your message out there. Soon enough, you’ll have a group of followers who can’t wait for your next episode.


As always, thank you for stopping by. 

Breaking Rules Publishing continues to accept submissions in 

all genres from writers around the world. Please email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com.

Gone Writing - This is US!

GONE WRITING -

This is

Breaking Rules Publishing - what we want - what we look for and who we want to help. It is our thought that together we can help make your publishing dreams come true. It's a team people - you and we will work together to try to make your book a success.

About Us - Breaking Rules Publishing has been founded to be the writer's publisher. To be a means of support to all writers, both young and not so young, who are in pursuit of their passion for creative writing. Hoping to inspire those who love to read and write stories, long or short.

We were founded to help writers break down the system. Be a publishing house that is willing to take a chance on writers no matter their experience. Offer help when needed. And to work as a team with our authors, cutting through time to get the work done and move toward success.

The Story -

The Story is simple - on a dare from his 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, Christopher Clawson-Rule wrote his first book. It took him 6 months to write it and 6 years to get it published. During that time he looked for an agent, found one. His reward? She changed the entire story around into something that he didn't recognize. For a year he worked with her to try to get his book published without success. He then started submitting to every publisher that he could find. After 6 years of trying he finally found one willing to take a chance on him. Once his manuscript was published they sent him a copy and said - "Good luck, you're on your own."

Now, his goal is to not let that happen to other writers. Everyone should have a chance to get their work published, or be able to get the help they need to make it work. AND - publishers shouldn't just publish your book and then leave you hanging. Which is why - together - we'll create a team and a plan that will move you and your book toward success.

Our Mission - is to be the writer's publisher, create a writing community, provide encouragement, resources, competitions, and inspiration to writers, both young and not so young, at any writing level.

​Our Goal - is to help any writer who has hopes to see and learn from others, as well as possibly become published.

What Drives Us - Writers that get lost in their own imagination, topics, and characters. Writers that have the nerve to look beyond, offer what they have within and are willing to break the rules.

A spoon full of sugar!

So here’s the deal. Everyone makes mistakes.

NO ONE IS PERFECT.  Certainly not us.

All we can do is learn from our mistakes and move forward.

What we don’t need is someone pointing out any mistakes or errors that we make in public. And then taking it one step further and bashing the work that you do. Simply not cool.

And now we have it. A spoon full of sugar!

Yesterday we made a post on one of our social media sites and we had someone that we don’t know leave a harsh and destructive comment. Now we’ve all had them and we’re old enough and big enough to realize that it is just a way for this person to feel better about themselves. And, it should be used and looked at as a tool for us to learn. Maybe they were right. So – we’ll look at it and fix it. Could she have brought this to our attention in a different way – yep! Are we any worse for this? Nope. Are we going to close the doors or crawl over in the corner and cry? No! Will people look at us differently? I hope not. But all we can do is get better from here.

What this person may not understand or get is that Breaking Rules Publishing has many overseas writers who struggle with the English language just as much as we do. AND, sometimes you have to give them a break. They are trying to write in a second language. We're trying. And I ask you young lady with the chip on your shoulder who seems to know best about everything - what are you trying to do? How many languages do you speak?

What we do here at Breaking Rules Publishing is to try to help those writers that are struggling. That want to be published and can’t. Those who don’t want to go the self-publishing route and need help with marketing – maybe editing and cover art. We are looking to work with them. To help them reach their dreams and become successful. Even if they only sell 201 books – at least they beat the national average. In my mind, that’s a win. Hell – selling 10 books is a big deal.

The greater question is - what is this person doing to help out her community? Nothing. Unless you count hiding behind her computer screen handing out backhanded comments trying to do damage. My ex-wife did that. It did her no good either. But sister woman, you do what feels right. See where it gets you.

What isn’t needed here, especially in a community of millions, is a nasty ass negative attitude or word from someone who doesn’t know better. My suggestion - keep that shit to yourself and do your best to be a good person and help. Don’t try to damage and destroy.

Sorry, at this moment I’m laughing a bit, because, will this post of comment hurt us. No – what it has done is make us stronger and our skin thicker. On the other hand – the person who was hiding behind their keyboard to try to bring down a company that is only trying to do good, she is still weak.

AND SHAME ON YOU!

Grow up and try to be a part of a community that needs some positivity. After all – we all have witnessed rejection over and over again – why toss that same feeling on someone else. Especially a peer.

I don’t want to rant too much. I just want to let you know – if you see something on the website or on a post – please bring it to our attention. We would appreciate your positive feedback.  If you have a negative word – be respectful and keep it to yourself. That should be something that you learned in kindergarten.

So in closing - Wise up Chic!

As always, Breaking Rules Publishing continues to accept submissions in all genres from writers all around the world. Simply email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com

The Scribe Magazine - Get in for July

The Scribe Magazine

Breaking Rules Publishing's

Online And Hard Copy Magazine comes ​out 6 times a year.

Save $3 per issue by subscribing to The Scribe Magazine for just $7.00 an issue - 6 times a year - Use the link below

The Scribe is a 60 - 90-page magazine that features articles and tools to assist in the success of the writers and readers that subscribe. It also offers writers, published authors and young writers the opportunity to share their work, promote their novels, short stories or poetry.

The Scribe is available online as well in hard copy. It is sent out to all of our subscribers as well as placed in various locations throughout the country, concentrating on St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Clearwater in hard copy form. We also share The Scribe on our social media sites.

For information about advertising and pricing for The Scribe, please look below. If you are interested in placing an ad please email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com or use the link below to make your purchase now.

All of the artwork on the front covers is created by artist David Rule - created.rule

Sponsors will be placed throughout The Scribe Magazine as well as placed on our website - promoted on our social media sites and at events. 

Ad Size                                           
Full Page                                  $200            
3/4 Page                                  $150             
Half Page                                  $100           
Quarter Page                            $75             
Business Card                           $25

Author Promo   $30 Per piece - per issue                                           
(Includes art - blurb, author’s website, and a photo)   

Short Story - $20 Per piece - per issue
(Includes - up to 5,500 words, author's website, and a photo)  

 ​Poetry Submission $10 Per piece - per issue
(Includes - up to 300 words, author’s website, and a photo) 

Next Up - the July Issue. 

We have the cover - now we need to fill it.

If you are interested in submitting a short story or poem - advertising your latest book or previous books - or advertising your business, please email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com.

Breaking Rules Publishing continues to accept submissions in all genres from writers around the world. Simply email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com.

 www.breakingrulespublishing.com 

Self Editing Your Book - Need Help?

Are you in a self-editing nightmare?

Here are 9 Simple Ways to Edit Your Manuscript.

A writers’ victories are short-lived indeed.

For a brief moment after completing a first draft, writers sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, post a self-congratulatory humble brag on their social media sites about finishing their manuscript, and then immediately think about that one character we forgot to really complete, or that we’re pretty sure we overused the word “that” instead of “than,” or that those squiggly red lines scattered throughout our manuscript are surely incorrect.

In other words, the joys of #amwriting give way to the trials of #amediting.

As a strong believer that every author needs an editor, your first line of literary defense shouldn’t be a professional editor. Rather, you need to learn how to self-edit before sending your manuscript off for that second pair of eyes.

Breaking Rules Publishing offers full-service editing packages and payment plans that are affordable to everyone. We have witnessed dozens of simple mistakes authors constantly make. If only they’d take the time to learn and incorporate better self-editing techniques, they would become better writers; endear themselves to their editors, and maybe even save money on a professional edit.

Check out our editing services on the Breaking Rules Publishing website – www.breakingrulespublishing.com.

If you think that you’re ready to self-edit your book, take a look at these 10 tips that will help you out:

1. Rest yourself and your manuscript

When you’ve finished typing the last word of your masterpiece, set it aside for a few days. If you can stand it, set it aside for a week or more. Many writers place their finished drafts in a drawer for at least a week before looking at them again.

Why rest your draft for so long? It’s easy - you want to try to forget everything you’ve written so that when you do come back to it with fresh eyes, and the best way to do that is to rid your mind of what’s been filling it for so long.

2. Listen to your manuscript

Hearing your words spoken makes mistakes glaringly obvious. You can enlist a (very patient) friend to read it to you, or you can go the friendship-saving route, which has the benefit of being free: use your computer’s built-in speech synthesis function.

For PC users, make use of Narrator, part of the system’s Ease of Access Center. Press “Windows+U” and click “Start Narrator.” Since the program is intended for blind users, it will automatically begin to read any text your mouse encounters. To turn this off, hit “Control.” To have Narrator read a paragraph, place your cursor at its beginning and type “Caps Lock + I.” To have Narrator read an entire page, press “Caps Lock + U.”

3. Search for troubling words

All writers have specific words and phrases that 

(which?) always cause them to (too?) second-guess whether (weather?) they’re (their?) using them correctly. If you know what your (you’re?) troubling words are, use your word processor’s search function to locate every possible variant of that word or phrase.

To help you consider what your troubling words might be, here’s a good starting list.

·          a lot/a lot

·          affect/effect

·          can/may

·          further/farther

·          good/well

·          i.e./e.g.

·          into/in to

·          it’s/its

·          lay/lie

·          less/fewer

·          that/who

·          their/they’re/there

·          then/than

·          who/whom

·          your/you’re

If you’re unsure of how to properly use these words, there’s no shame in looking them up.

4. Remove or replace your crutch words

Do you know the top 10 words you use most frequently in your manuscript?

Outside of necessary articles and prepositions, you may be surprised at what words you tend to use over and over. One client of mine used “suddenly” too often, making every action seem unnecessarily rushed. Some new writers have crutch words that tend to fly in the face of the age-old encouragement for all writers to “eschew obfuscation.”

In other words, they tend to cash in ten-dollar words when five-cent words suffice.

Many writers put words on the paper that are an indication of how they speak. This is fine – just remember that your reader may not understand and you may need to explain your way of speech somewhere to give them a hint about what is going on. “With,” is something that I personally have an issue with. “Do you want to come with? Go with.” And, on and on. So consider your reader as you write.

No matter how you determine your crutch words, go back through your manuscript and see where you can remove or replace them with something fresher.

5. Remove all double spaces at the end of sentences

If tapping two spaces following your sentences is an age-old habit ingrained into you since before the dawn of modern digital typography, may I suggest ingraining another practice? It simply is no longer done, so find a new habit.

6. Search for problematic punctuation

Are you a comma chameleon, adapting that otherwise innocent punctuation mark to do work it was never meant to do? Or does your manuscript need a semicolonoscopy — a thorough check-up on proper semicolon and colon placement?.

If you know you have trouble with certain punctuation marks, conduct a search for that mark and figure out whether you’re using it correctly. If you’re still unsure, let your editor fix it, but make a note to ask him why.

7. Run spell check or use an automated editing program

I think writers become too accustomed to the colorful squiggles under words and sentences on their digital pages; I know I do. In an effort to get ideas on the page, we might run rampant over grammar and usage.

Yet those squiggles mean something. At the very least, run spell check before sending your manuscript to an editor or beta reader. It’s a built-in editor that I’m not sure every writer uses to their advantage. You may not accept every recommendation, but at least you’ll save your editor some time correcting basic errors.

8. Format accordingly

While preferred styles may differ from one editor to the next, you can show your professionalism by formatting your manuscript to conform to industry standards.

Such formatting makes it easier for beta readers to consume, and editors prefer industry-standard formatting, which allows them more time to edit your actual words instead of tweaking your formatting. Here are some basic formatting tips:

• Send your manuscript as a Word document (.doc or .docx).
• Use double-spaced line spacing. If you’ve already written your book with different line spacing, select all of your text in Word, click Format > Paragraph, then select “Double” in the drop-down box under “Line spacing.”
• Use a single space following periods.
• Use black, 12-point, Times New Roman as the font.
• Don’t hit tab to indent paragraphs. In Word, select all of your text, then set indentation using Format > Paragraph. Under “Indentation” and by “Left,” type .5. Under “Special,” choose “First line” from the drop-down menu. [Note: Nonfiction authors may opt for no indention, but if they do so they must use full paragraph breaks between every paragraph.]
• The first paragraph of any chapter, after a subheader, or following a bulleted or numbered list shouldn’t be indented.

9. Don’t over-edit

Set aside an hour or two to go through this list with your manuscript, but be careful about over-editing. You may start seeing unnecessary trees within your forest of words, but you don’t want to raze to the ground what you’ve toiled so hard to grow.

A middle path exists between exhausting yourself in a vain attempt for perfection and being too lazy to run spell check. Do yourself and your book a favor and self-edit, but be careful not to go overboard.

In the end, you’re going to want a second pair of eyes to look at your manuscript. Plus, going through the editing process with a professional editor will help you become a better self-editor the next time you write a book.

Again – look to the Breaking Rules Publishing Services page to find our editing packages. And remember – we’re here to help you, if you need a payment plan, don’t be shy, we more than understand. You only need to ask.

www.breakingrulespublishing.com - Check us out!

As always, Breaking Rules Publishing continues to accept submissions in all genres from writers around the world. Simply email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com

Writers Block?

10 Ways to Fix Writer's Block

For the last few weeks, we have been encouraging our writers to become guest bloggers - or create a blog on their own. 

Did you know that integrating a blog as part of the marketing mix for your business can be very effective...the ability to share the story about you and your work can be the difference between a browser and a new customer. A blog can create that personal connection with potential customers that sometimes lacks in the online world...but what if you just can't seem to come up with the words for your blog, what if you encounter writer's block?

Don't worry, writer's block, for some, is very common and can easily be addressed using a few very simple methods...below are 10 ways that we have come up with to fix that all to deadly writer's block the next time you are trying to write that story that is locked up inside of you.

1. Get up and just WALK AWAY

Walking away from your computer, tablet, paper, or notebook can provide the break you are looking for.  Staying in the same place will only discourage you more so walk away and give yourself a chance to take the necessary mental break. Some find it easier to get all of their errands and chores out of the way before they sit down to write. They say it helps to clear their head - try it.

2.  WRITE SOMETHING ELSE

Sometimes writer's block occurs because you just don't enjoy the topic you are writing about so try writing about something else.  For example, write about the events of your day, a hobby you enjoy or even just draw some pictures to distract yourself.  After this, go back to your original topic with a more refreshed and relaxed mind. You could also try journaling. Many, many writers keep a journal and find that it helps to kick start them back into their writing process.

3.  READ SOMETHING ELSE

For God sake, pick up a book. Taking a break from your own

scribbling to read something that someone else has written may provide a new idea or inspiration and encourage you to get back to your own writing.

4.  MAKE A LIST

it's not a grocery list, but it could even be that. 

It's simple. Just write what you know...make a list of everything you know about the topic you, we were going to say trying to write about but decided to be a little more uplifting and say that YOU ARE WRITING about.  Creating a list could provide you with new directions and areas to take your storyline.  This all and powerful list may also provide you with new topics for the future. You could also add this list or parts of it to a blog that you've started and ask for some help from your followers. 

5.  RESEARCH AND LEARN - GOOGLE IT

Google it! Do it enough - it'll become a habit. 

Go online - do the research to learn more about your topic...this will give you many new ideas and areas to write about.

6.  ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS...AND ANSWER THEM

Ask yourself questions about the topic or your story and then answer them...and answer them as if you were describing it to a child.  Write it out if you have to. Sometimes we forget how much we know and forget to inform our audience about what is happening in our story or about the characters.

7.  DON'T EDIT...JUST WRITE

Some of us have a tendency to edit as we write. BIG MISTAKE - HUGE! You should allow yourself to write from a stream of consciousness...write whatever comes to mind and continue to write.  Another reason why a journal can be helpful - you can just write without worry of who is going to read it. 

You can always go back and edit your story later, just get the words down, you can move them around later. Moving forward and making progress is the goal, not whether you misspelled - supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Yes, we had to look it up. Remember, good writing means rewriting.

8.  TRY WRITING AT AN UNUSUAL TIME

If you typically write during the afternoon, try writing late at night or early in the morning.  If it's usually on the weekend, try it on a weeknight...you might find that this disruption actually becomes a great creative outlet.

9.  EXERCISE

Stand up - move around - touch your fingers to your nose. Not only will it give you practice for when you're being pulled over for drunk driving. But it will also get the blood flowing and can help get the creative juices flowing.  Exercise not only keeps you healthy, but it can also keep you mentally strong by giving you the needed break to reduce your stress and increase your heart rate.

10.  ASK FOR HELP

One of the best ways to get over writer's block is to ask for help from your family, friends or even online community, even us.   Reach out to us or fellow artists and ask for new ideas or tips for how they deal with writer's block.  Creating a community of support is the core of everyone's success so use those people or groups close to you. It's like stopping to ask for directions. As you know, most men hate to do that - put the pride stick down - get out of the car and just do it.

So tell us - How do you personally deal with writer's block?  Share - Let us know so others can benefit from your ideas...besides - writing it all out may just help your own writer's block. 

Most importantly - have fun and good luck!

As always - Breaking Rules Publishing continues to accept submissions in all genres from writers around the world. Simply email us at info@breakingrulespublishing.com.