She has also written three eBooks to help and guide bloggers, called the "The Bloggers Guide To" series, on Freelancing, Effective Writing and Irresistible Ebooks. Apart from this Ali recently published her first fictional novel titled "Lycopolis" through Amazon for the kindle platform.
Ali is also a writing coach and works personally with writers of all levels, from the beginners to seasoned writers, to help them take their writing to the next level. She does this by reading some content written by her client and then interacting with them personally through skype, phone or via emails and pointing out the common mistakes and/or give tips on how to make the content a more absorbing read. Ali was good enough to take some time out to do an interview with us, read on to find out what she has to say about her passion for writing.
Ali, let us start with an introduction to yourself for our readers.
Hello! :-) I’m Ali Luke, I spend my time writing and working with writers (which is pretty much what I’ve always dreamt of doing) and you can find me all over the internet. My own blog is Aliventures, and I also run a writers’ community/teaching site at Writers’ Huddle.
I’ve self-published several ebooks (including a novel, Lycopolis) and I’m currently writing Publishing e-Books for Dummies for Wiley, which is scheduled to come out in September 2012.
What was the inspiration to take up writing as a full time profession? Tell us about the inception of Aliventures.
I’ve loved writing all my life, and during my teens and early twenties, I was keen to be a published novelist. I got into blogging, though, and found that I really enjoyed writing non-fiction as well (plus I discovered it’s a lot easier to make money that way). After working in IT for a couple of years, I left my day job to be a full-time writer.
Aliventures is the name of my business, but it’s also the name of my blog. I didn’t start up the blog until 2009, though, when I’d already been freelancing for over a year. At first I wrote about quite broad topics (mostly personal development) but when I started coaching writers in late 2010, I changed Aliventures to focus just on writing, blogging and publishing related topics.
According to you, what is optimum frequency of posting on a blog and why?
There’s no magic number, but I think anywhere between once a week and once a day works well. It really depends on your audience and the sort of material you’re writing. Personally, I normally only post once a week: I like to write long, in-depth posts, and I don’t want to overwhelm my readers.
What’s really important, though, is that you make sure you’re consistent in your posting habits. Don’t post every day for two weeks then post nothing at all for the next two weeks; it’s going to confuse and frustrate your readers. I always advise bloggers to choose a schedule they can easily stick to, rather than aiming for some “perfect” number of posts.
What is the process that you follow to remedy the mistakes that are being made by your clients, in your one-on-one coaching exercises?
First, I always try to help my clients see what they’re already already doing well. I firmly believe that all writers have a lot of talent -- and it’s my job to help that talent really shine through.
But my clients aren’t paying me just to praise them! So I always give specific suggestions on how they can improve particular areas of their writing. When I read through their work, I look for mistakes that come up consistently -- that could be anything from missing off the conclusion of posts (a very common mistake) to getting a particular word or phrase wrong.
I do my best to explain why something might be wrong, too: for instance, the reasons why it’s a bad idea to miss off the conclusion of posts are that it’s jarring for the reader and that it’s a missed opportunity for the blogger to give a call to action.
Tell us something about your novel, Lycopolis. How has this novel been received by your readers?
Lycopolis took three years from first words to final publication -- and I believe it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. The feedback has been really encouraging, too; I’ve had lots of great reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. It’s about a group of online roleplayers who summon an evil demon into their game ... which starts having an impact on their real lives. I published it on Kindle, for $2.99, but I’ve also created a paperback version after several readers asked for this.
What I’ve been struck by is the wide range of people enjoying it -- I envisaged the book as being something for slightly geeky readers in the 16 - 30 age range, but I’ve had plenty of older readers (and non-geeks!) who’ve said they really liked it. So I guess, as an author, you never really know who might end up reading your work.
What are on the top shelves of your inspiration library right now? This can be anything from blogs, books and magazines to vintage catalogues/manuals, etc.
Great question! I have a lot of books, both physical and digital, and some favorites that I’ve been re-reading recently include Chip and Dan Heath’s Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard and Prof. Richard Wiseman’s 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot.
I subscribe to the UK’s Writing Magazine and Writers’ News, which are always packed with inspiration and ideas. And of course I read a lot of blogs ... there are so many great ones that I won’t list them all here, but I particularly like Kikolani’s Fetching Friday roundup of posts, which is a great way to find resources that I might otherwise miss out on.
Besides writing and blogging, what other activities do you enjoy? How do you like to spend your chill-out time?
I really enjoy walking -- there’s so much lovely countryside here in the UK. I love spending time with my husband, Paul; he’s hugely supportive of my freelancing, even when I end up working long hours. I enjoy playing games with friends (Dominion, Fluxx and Bang are some of our current favorites). And of course I read a lot, though not as much as I want to... there never seem to be enough hours in the day!
What are your future plans, both as a writer and a blogger? Are there any interesting projects that you are working on?
I’ve got all sorts of plans! Right now, one of my big projects is Publishing e-Books for Dummies, which I’m really enjoying writing -- and I’m very excited about seeing that on the shelves in bookstores before the end of this year. I’m also working on the as-yet-untitled sequel to my novel Lycopolis, which is a lot of fun.
As well as that, I’ve got my Writers’ Huddle site that I started up just a few months ago, in January. I’m going to be opening the doors for new members at the end of April, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how that community grows.
During April and May, I’ll be doing a lot of guest posting (which I love, because it’s a great chance to write on slightly different topics, for bigger audiences) -- I’m having a “virtual book tour” where I go from blog to blog, to promote my novel Lycopolis. I’m excited to see how that goes; I’m hoping to build up my fiction readership, now that my (non-fiction) blog Aliventures has a good number of readers.
I’m also looking forward to BlogWorld in June; I always learn a lot at BlogWorld, and it’s great to hang out with other bloggers and writers -- plus I’ll be speaking for the second time ever, which is a real privilege. And it’s in New York, so I’m keen to dob some sight-seeing too.
And after that ... who knows? But whatever I do next, I know it’ll involve words and writers, and that I’ll
have a blast. :-)
Thank you for taking the time for this interview, you are a source of inspiration for many bloggers and writers out there. We wish you the very best for the future.
Find out more about Ali:
Website
She has also written three eBooks to help and guide bloggers, called the "The Bloggers Guide To" series, on Freelancing, Effective Writing and Irresistible Ebooks.
Ali Luke is based in Oxford, United Kingdom and is a writer and blogger w
Ali Luke is based in Oxford, United Kingdom and is a writer and blogger who has been interested in writing right from her teen years,
t was about 4 years ago that she decided to take up writing seriously as a full time profession and then later on started her business and blog