From Bouillon to Bullion: Transforming Chicken Soup into Gold

The role of the author is to make bouillon cubes out of chicken soup.                                                        –author Susan Sontag

The comedian Buddy Hackett once said that when he was growing up, there were always two choices at dinner: take it or leave it. One of the essential survival tools for getting through winter nights is my wife and partner Elizabeth’s chicken soup. She takes a chicken, an onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and other spices, puts them in a big pot, and voila!, a week’s worth of main courses. I always take it.

One reason why now is the best time ever to be a writer is that if you want to write, the opportunities for you to reach and build relationships with readers are like a huge vat of chicken soup:

Online, you can:

• Post comments on blogs
• Write your own blog, articles, short stories, poetry, an ezine, e-newsletter, and books
• Participate in social networks, groups, chat rooms, message boards and forums
• Do videos, podcasts and teleseminars
• Be a guest on radio or television shows and start your own

You can harness the power of the Web to reach readers with words enhanced with voice, music, images, video, animation, graphics and the power of links to enrich your work. Readers around the world can access your work on computers, telephones, and e-readers.

Off-line, you can get published and appear in the media. Your books may become films or audiobooks. You may be able to use your knowledge to speak, teach, consult, coach or train people.

You can integrate your on- and off-line efforts for maximum promotional synergy. The challenge is to condense this bubbling pot of possibilities into bullion: the writing life that nourishes you creatively while earning you the income you need to lead the life you want. More on what this means to you in another post.

Comments and questions welcome.