Get serious about publishing your ideas

Welcome back to Copyblogger! I'm Stefanie, Copyblogger's Editor-in-Chief, and today's quick tip is about turning into a pro writer who publishes content regularly. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored We're part of the ConvertKit Sponsor Network (CKSN). Interested in sponsoring the Copyblogger newsletter? [Click here to learn more](). --------------------------------------------------------------- What Is a Content Calendar? Get Serious About Publishing Your Ideas �€‹ written by Stefanie Flaxman Do you keep a content calendar? While getting comfortable calling yourself a writer is definitely one hurdle new writers face, you must also settle into a regular publishing routine ... which also makes you a publisher. “Publisher” doesn’t sound as glamorous as “writer,” but it’s a vital part of getting discovered as a writer. See, if you don’t share the final drafts you produce, it’s difficult to grow the confidence to declare that “writer” label. You need to publish writing samples first, and a content calendar helps keep you on track. What’s a low-tech content calendar? There are a lot of high-tech tools available to plan and organize your content, but once again, you can easily veer off into cart-before-the-horse territory. (You’re going about things in the wrong order.) Writers need to first develop the proper work ethic, discipline, and writing habits before they’ll benefit from any fancy publishing software. Accordingly, your first content calendar can be low-tech — a simple and easy tool to use consistently for your business blogging. The best part is you can start planning and organizing like a publishing pro with supplies you probably already have on hand. Content calendar supplies Here’s what you’ll need: - A calendar (digital or paper) - Your preferred writing utensil (likely a pen or pencil) - A notebook with pages you can write on both sides It doesn’t matter if you use a digital or paper calendar because you’re only using it to look up dates and days of the week. You’ll use one page of your notebook (front and back) for each one of the content ideas you plan to publish. If you don’t want to write on both sides of a page, you can use two pages per topic. Since I’m focusing on how to use a content calendar, the publishing platform you use isn’t too relevant right now. I’ll assume that you want to craft content to publish on your own website, and after you use the method below, you’ll be ready to do just that. Content calendar elements If all of this sounds incredibly straightforward so far, it is. Producing great writing is the hard part. Let your administrative processes set you up to do your best work. So, what is a content calendar exactly? Here are the five elements that make up your content calendar: - Publish day - Publish time - Front of the page - Back of the page - Draft transfer Let’s take a look at how they all work together. Publish day How often are you going to publish your writing? Once a month? Once a week? Multiple times per week? Your content calendar is centered around the days you share your writing, so look at the month ahead of you and decide when your next piece of writing will go live on your website. For example, you might decide that March 1 is going to be the first entry in your content calendar, and you’re going to publish once a week from that day forward. That would make March 1 the publish date for the first post on your calendar. March 8 is the date for your second post, March 15 is the slot for your third post, and so on. --------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored It's time to promote your brand Guess what? You're reading promotional content in a newsletter. Sponsoring newsletters, like this one, is a great way to reach engaged and targeted audiences. It will build your brand — whether that is your personal brand or your business. So here's the deal. This newsletter is part of the ConvertKit Sponsor Network (CKSN), representing more than 100 individual newsletter creators. Sponsor the Copyblogger newsletter and gain access to many more. ​[Sponsor this Newsletter ❤️ CKSN]()​ --------------------------------------------------------------- Publish time Your publish time gets special attention because it’s a symbol of commitment. Rather than just aim to get a post published on your site on a certain day, you’re dedicated to a specific schedule — and that specific schedule includes details like the time your content goes live. Whether it’s 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time or 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, you enhance the professionalism of your content calendar if you select an exact publish time. Front of the page Now let’s move on to your notebook. At the top of a fresh page, write the publish details for your first content calendar entry: - The day of the week - The date - The time Use the rest of the page in your notebook to draft headlines, brainstorm ideas, or capture any inspirational quotes for writers that keep you motivated. This will turn into a brief outline of your content, which you can reference when you start writing. Back of the page You knew one of these steps was going to be related to content editing, right? ;-) Even though you haven’t written a draft yet, your content calendar can be an outlet for refining your ideas. Use the back of the page of your notebook for organizing your points. For example, you might find that something you thought you wanted to talk about in this certain article might work better as a separate article. That’s an opportunity to create another entry in your content calendar, either in the next open slot or another time in the future. Draft transfer You might be wondering why I’m recommending that you only use the front and back of a page in your notebook for a content calendar entry. Remember, this isn’t your writing notebook. It’s a system to keep a record of what you have already published and what you plan to publish in the future. So, you don’t want to write down too much on these pages. Two should be enough. You’ll transfer all of the important information to a digital document, a new post in your publishing platform, or any other place where you write drafts. If you'd like to learn more advanced tips next, make sure to click on the full article below ... Read on Copyblogger: [What Is a Content Calendar? Get Serious About Publishing Your Ideas](​ Talk with you again soon, ​ ​[Stefanie Flaxman](=)​ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COPYBLOGGER MEDIA​ --------------------------------------------------------------- Share with friends, get discounts to The Copyblogger Academy Have friends who'd love our newsletter too? Give them your unique referral link (below) and get MASSIVE discounts to The Copyblogger Academy. [(=) [facebook]( [twitter]( [whatsapp](=) [telegram]() [linkedin]() [email]( PS: You have referred 0 people so far [See how many referrals you have]() ​ ​ This email is sent from Copyblogger Media LLC, 1942 Broadway, Suite 314, Boulder, Colorado 80302 If you would like to stop receiving emails from us you can [Unsubscribe]( Powered by [ConvertKit](=)