First Word

Over the years I've figured out some unusual ways to do business on the cheap. Who doesn't want to save a buck, right? So, here are some cheap tricks to do business with less expense... Gmail is a great backup device . What I do is pay the annual $30 fee to buy extra storage space each year. I then have an automatic backup system for every document I send to my team, which equates to all of the documents. I don't have to buy extra storage devices. If I need to save something and back it up I send it to myself. Blogger is free . If you're not looking for links to other blog sites and just need a straight-up blog tool then Blogger works great. My only expense is the graphic design required to keep my brand consistent. This expense is recurring about once every couple of years just to update the look. You can't beat free. Pandora is mostly free . I listen to music all day long. I pay the extra $30 annual fee for Pandora for unlimited listening. I like Pandora ...

#1 Pandora – All music is piped in through Pandora. I work listening to music in the background all day. I have my favorite channels. My New Age channel is all instrumental music for when I’m writing (words colliding with words doesn’t work for my word-addled brain). No Internet means I must resort to (egads) CDs or my iPod. (Notice my priorities here <grin>. #2 Email – I monitor email in the background behind my working screen. It’s how I stay proactive and responsive. My responsiveness has helped make 3L Publishing’s reputation. Now I have to use my iPhone, but I completely hate typing long missives on that tiny pad. #3 Web – How do I do all my research for all of the books? On the Web, of course, who goes to libraries anymore? Who has time? I can sit right at my desk and do all the research I want. #4 Social Media – I try to post to the social media at least once and sometimes twice a day. No Internet and I go back to that tiny iPhone type pad again. Didn’t I just compl...