Earlier this month, Writer’s Round-About had the opportunity to talk to MaAnna Stephenson about her new eBook series, “Just The FAQs”. It is wonderful to be able to share this interview.

It is such a pleasure to have this opportunity to talk about your new eBook series, Just the FAQs. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

1. First, what prompted you to write the “Just the FAQs” series of eBooks?

I took four years off from developing sites to do the research for my book The Sage Age – Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom, which was featured in Publishers Weekly. When I began creating an online presence for that book, things on the Internet had changed and Web 2.0 had become popular. I wasted a lot of days trying to find clear resources to learn what I needed to know to get caught up with the new technology. Since that process was difficult for someone with my background, I knew it would be a nightmare for non-geeks. I simply documented the steps as I went through them and that’s where the material for Just the FAQs eBooks originated. I made sure that they were clear, to the point, and easy to understand for folks who had no prior technical experience.

2. What do you feel is the most important fact these books give readers?

I believe the most important thing these books impart is a sense of confidence built on a solid education so that folks feel very comfortable creating an online presence for themselves that works right the first time and gets results.

3. Who would most benefit from reading these books?

The books are beneficial to anyone who is just starting out with online marketing and wants to promote a product or share news with a target audience. Or, if you’ve been blogging for a while but don’t know if you’re getting the most out of your blog or are confused about how to best use RSS feeds, the eBooks can help take you to the next level. The new classes also teach advanced tips and tricks not covered in the eBooks. Also, folks who already have invested in a nice static site that is tied to their shopping cart but have never blogged can integrate a blog into their site very easily. The eBooks will help them get started on the right foot with that.

4. You’ve taken to Web design and marketing alongside your writing.
How important do you feel it is for professional writers and
freelancers to learn the fundamentals of internet use or the more advanced aspects of Web design?

An online presence is critically important to all writing professions now, therefore, it is almost mandatory that folks learn at least the most basic skills of how to make the Internet work for them. This will include becoming familiar with HTML code, not just for their own site, but to enhance posts they make on other sites that will help get them noticed and stand out from the crowd. Also, new widgets are being created every day that are handy tools that help make managing on online marketing campaign easier and more efficient. Knowing how to work with some of the code to customize them to suit your needs is helpful. Those are part of the advanced tips and tricks I teach in the classes.

5. What sort of impact do you feel the online world has had or will have on the future of writing and publishing?

Digital media is the future of writing and publishing, just as it has been for the music industry for the last several years. Increasingly more folks are viewing online or downloading digital media, whether that is music, podcasts, or videos. The popularity of the Kindle and other digital readers are increasing the demand for more writing content in digital format. Fewer folks are purchasing the tangible medium these days, as we’ve seen with the decline of paper subscriptions to newspapers and magazines in favor of the online only editions. However, I believe some print material will remain for at least the next few decades, including reference books and study material. However, most college students own a laptop and use the school’s digital library and resources everyday, so the trend toward digital reference media will continue to grow.

6. Along with reading your eBooks, where would you recommend a writer begin learning about creating an online presence?

There are literally hundreds of thousands of folks who claim to be gurus on this topic and I’ve been fortunate to develop relationships with some really wonderful folks who are degreed in marketing and help folks develop strategies that work for their product. So, even though there are a lot of people who can teach you how to write an exciting blog post that gets attention and results, there are very few folks who teach the basics of the technical aspects of creating a blog and using all the whistles and bells of it. I’ve attended many teleclasses where the host is giving out the most wonderful information about blogging, but so much of it goes over the heads of the participants because they don’t understand the lingo or know how to install some widget. I’ve found very few sites or other resources that give clear, concise information about the basics in a step-by-step manner where folks can build on their knowledge. In fact, when I first heard about RSS feeds, it took two days of intense searching for me to have a full understanding of what they were and how to get the most out of them. I had to visit multiple sites to finally piece together that there are three components to RSS feeds. I’m posting new articles on the Resources page of Just the FAQs every week or so to help others avoid that frustrating and time-wasting search and to teach folks what they need to know to get started.

7. I love the smart and fun presentation of the Just the FAQs eBooks.
What went into making each of the books? Do you follow a particular process when creating a new eBook?

Thanks, I had a lot of fun creating them. I’ve written several types of technical documents, including engineering change orders, training manuals for technicians, and end user manuals. This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to include colors and symbols and make it fun and appealing to the more creatively-minded folks. I’m a woodcarver, multi-instrumentalist, and composer and I hang out with all sorts of creative folks, so I know how they think and what they like. In fact, I asked a few of my artistic buddies, who don’t feel very comfortable with techie things, to proofread the eBooks. They gave them a thumb’s up for ease of use and fun without being silly or verbose.

I’ve been an electronics engineer for so long that documenting a process as I go through it is simply second nature. Because finding the information was such an arduous task, I wanted to ensure that I had good notes for my own use. When my editor for The Sage Age heard that I was doing this, she began asking questions about her own sites, including her blogs and feeds. I sent her the documentation and she strongly suggested I consider publishing them. They are all step-by-step guides and all have the same color coding, symbols and layout.

The websites book is a little different. It’s written more in prose format and was developed from my years of experience working with clients, especially clients who came to me to completely redesign their site. They had no idea what they were getting into with the first one and made a lot of very expensive mistakes, including losing the copyright to the entire content of their site or not being able to get control of their domain name to point it to a new site. The book is full of information that will help you avoid these mistakes and create a site that both looks great and functions in a way that gets results. (I love your site, by the way. It’s very well done!) The websites book also contains the three worksheets I gave my clients to help them organize and gather the content for the site, which most folks get bogged down in doing because it seems so overwhelming. The only thing they had thought about before hiring a designer was making it look pretty. That’s only skin deep. You have to create content and functional aspects that capture your audience and drive them through the site. It’s the same reason grocery stores put the bakery up front, the meat counter at the back, and the dairy section on the last aisle.

8. We all began somewhere and I know from my own experiences that learning how to build websites and become known online often requires a great deal of trial and error. What sort of mistakes did you make as you learned the answers to the FAQs you share in your eBooks and how
have they helped you develop your skills?

Years of developing sites for non-profit organizations taught me a lot about being in the business of site development. They always wanted something that I didn’t yet know how to do, so I was constantly being challenged to learn and try new things. Of course, being an engineer or in any other technological field is that way. You may graduate, but you never get out of school.

I think the biggest challenge most everyone faces now is how to effectively and efficiently use an online marketing strategy. There are simply too many ways to market online to do them all. It’s important to develop a strategy that is a good fit for you and your product and have a site that lends itself to that strategy. At first it was important to develop a static website as an online brochure. Later, it became popular to post news on a blog as a way to drive traffic to your site. Now, you have to use micro-blogging and social network sites to drive traffic to your blog, which, for many folks, is integrated into the static site. The next wave that is already getting red hot is to use video clips on your site and in articles.

9. Creating a website, writing a blog, and developing a presence in article directories are all fantastic ways to build a writers brand.
With new opportunities becoming available on the Web every day, what else do you suggest a writer get involved in to develop their skill and personal brand?

As stated previously, videos are the next big thing. YouTube has created a culture of folks that want to watch instead of read. Internet radio and podcasting has created a culture of folks that want to listen on their iPod while they’re doing other things, like driving. So, it’s not enough to simply deliver great content now. The culture is demanding that it be entertaining and/or convenient too. Fortunately, there are lots of free applications that allow folks to create this type of content for themselves. Because of that, most of what’s on YouTube, internet radio, and podcasts is not produced by professionals nor is it always edited. It has a genuine, almost folk-feel to it. And that’s the key. The reason this low-budget production content is so well received is because of the cultural shift away from hard-sell marketing tactics to soft-sell, people oriented ways of building relationships between the seller and their target audience. It’s a natural extension of Web 2.0 and social media marketing, which is credited with creating two-way conversations between seller and buyer.

I’m moving in that direction with Just the FAQs. I introduced a podcast series a few months ago. Video articles and instructions are next on the to-do list.

10. You’ve already created several fantastic resources but I know most writers often think ahead to the next mountain. What are you working on now? Will you be adding new eBooks to the “Just the FAQs” series?

Besides the videos, I’ll be exploring WordPress this summer. My background was in enterprise level sites for businesses, but WordPress offers a lot of advantages for authors, musicians, and artists. I want to learn it at a developer’s level so I can create custom templates and widgets as well as add other functionality to it that’s not included with the original code. I’ll be expanding the eBook series to include the same type of information for WordPress that I’ve already done for Blogger, which is a much better platform for a small business to integrate a blog into their existing site very inexpensively without a huge learning curve. I’ll also be expanding the advanced section of the classes with this information too. I’ve considered doing a free teleclass at least once a month to help folks get started with the basics because I work with several editors and other marketing guru folks who need a little help getting their clients up to speed with the technology so they can help the client develop the rest of their marketing strategy.

Thank you so much for your time, MaAnna.

Thank you for the opportunity. You have great questions and it was a pleasure to answer them. I hope your readers find them informative.

MaAnna is visiting us at WRA today so if you have more questions of your own please leave them in the comments.

Each time a blog visitor comments on any or all of the blog stops, they will be entered in a random drawing for two free Just the FAQs classes. Not only that, but every commenter is a winner and will receive a copy of MaAnna Stephenson’s e-book the Quick Step Guide. If you haven’t already read her books, be sure to pick up the series at MaAnna’s Site, Just The FAQs.