Michael Stelzner is a copywriter who focuses on writing white papers. Every year he runs a Top Ten Blogs for Writers Contest, in which the blogs are nominated by readers. I wanted to kindly thank the reader who nominated this blog, and let you know that you simply must get your bookmarking ready and head over there. You'll learn a lot about the writing world by going through the nominated blogs and keeping up on them. Michael's blog is also quite valuable, too, so take a look around.

Guess what? You're going to have to take off that smock and get to selling.

Coming into this game, you may have some lofty goals of the artist's way, and, in fact, books like Bird By Bird and the like, while valuable, only represent one side of the story. Sure, there are some days when I take an afternoon in a hammock writing long hand, but there are more days when I'm on the phone poking editors or grueling over pitch letters on my laptop. As a writer, you are selling yourself and/or your writing, and you are doing it everyday, day in and day out. Here are some things you are constantly selling:

• Your ideas via pitches.
• Yourself, your experience and your track record to potential biz tech clients.
• Past experiences and future projects through grant opportunities and scholarship competitions.
• Your position and take on things to editors who are shaping your work.
• Your career path to friends at social events.
• Your experiences and tips via your blog.
• Your image and brand on your website.
• Your pricing structure and time proposal through bids.
• Your personality and charisma at business events.
• Your brand, personality and image at writer's conferences.

I know that many writers prefer the solitary nature of the career. Sometimes I do, too. But you're going to need to cultivate these extrovert's skills in order to be successful, too. Think about it as your dual personality.

Ok, you can put your smock back on now.