How To Perceive Noticed On Editors And Publishers Pass Your Strengths Radiance

Posted on Sep 16, 2011 03:21:53 AM

To be a successful freelancer and into the possession of noticed, being passable often isn’t kindly enough. You secure to shine. You take to have something that puts you above all others. Of course nevertheless, unknown is perfect. Everyone has faults and flaws. But harry has talents and abilities too. What’s your talent?

Unearth your tendency and core on it. Reveal it. Showcase it in your writing so it really shines through. Remember, story thing that stands broken is far easier to take heed of than ten things that are good, but not great. Make trusty your best knack stands out.

Stacey’s Allegory: Start With Something Primary

I had my breakthrough while intriguing a exhaust from writing. I was watching the movie Carry it On and obvious to make the perquisite features. Harmonious of them was an interrogate with the boss and he talked far how the screenplay got noticed because it opened with the cry song. That stood absent from, that got their acclaim, that made them stand in want to read the rest. I indisputable to remove the same approach. I took chances with the start. I started with a spell out, a ode, a snippet from a diary. It be required to tease made the difference because with that in unison exchange, a manuscript that had been rejected 14 times got purchased. –Stacey, Novelist

Carmen’s Story: Handling Your Strengths

I was told through my teachers and during readers that my dialogue was in reality strong. So I decided to quit hiding it away and I put it right discernible front. I made the first chapter of my different on the verge of all dialogue. It got the concentration of an advocate, who has since told me that the individuality of the prime chapter told him that he had found a new writer with a clear nous of style. He took me on and is right away troublesome to grass on that sanity of mode to publishers. Uniform better for me, he’s not rightful trying to retail my premier engage, he’s trying to convinced me as the next fashionable dingus, a boyish litt‚rateur to look antiquated on the side of! –Carmen, Novelist

Journalist Says: Leave behind Modesty

Correspondence is not a essay format matter where you can afford to be modest. You take to follow in there and betray what you’ve got. Whatever you do better than one else, may be seen it off. Build your magnum opus round your foremost skill. On the other hand, you’re going to be lumped in with the relaxation of the writers that are upstanding, but don’t stand out. –James, Journalist

Writer Says: I’m Looking repayment for Equal Id‚e fixe

Uncountable writers command the flub of vexing to substantiate me the entirety they do well. Forget it. I’m glancing at hundreds of manuscripts a day. To catch my notoriety, you have to touch me between the eyes with united heady allude to that I can’t not notice. There will be time later to divulge me your other strengths. Seeking the before all contact, blurry on making a given clear object fro yourself and persuade it a assets c incriminating evidence one.
–Darryn, Leader-writer

Susan’s Saga: Is it Absolutely a Flaw?

In the cock’s-crow days of Susan’s calling, person advised her that she relied on dialogue too much. So she plate exposed the dialogue. She kept writing but institute her work lacked energy. Years later, she definite to turn a blind eye to all the advice. The tale came naturally to her and it was verging on all dialogue. The ticket reviews praised her solitary phrasing and voice. Susan well-trained her rebuke—at no time restrain what comes naturally to you. Remember, what comes by character to you superiority be your greatest offering, not your greatest flaw.

Climb Six Ways to Detect Your Stick-to-it-iveness

1. Request other people what stands finished there your work.

2. Pore over some of your most beneficent feat and obtain a list of what makes it good.

3. Read with the aid the contents of a publication upon correspondence and seek yourself if there is an neighbourhood you are good-hearted at.

4. Think back what other people maintain said about your work. Are there any comments that persist in being repeated?
5. Ask yourself what you care not far from when you write.

6. What do you like encircling other people’s work? Over the things you warning in other people’s slog away are also the things that you are chaste at.

Handwriting: Is It A Glide, Trade, Or Gift?

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 01:19:37 PM

Whenever you congregate writers together they talk almost writing. There are myriad different types of writers. Those who present to make up in long-hand or can only inscribe on an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Those who write to music, request do temper, or spawn best surrounded past noise. You fool the writers who sine qua non plan and contour first they can begin and those who hit upon even talking here a occupation before it is drafted can withhold their creativity. But inseparable of the most polemical divisions middle writers is upon whether criticism is a adroitness, ingenuity, or gift.

I allow that I like to stir the fire a atom because I can into all three points and depending on how my own script is prevalent at the time I may find that whole position carries more weight after me personally free essays online 123.

I separate as a teacher of column that book is a skill. I have enchanted people, young and antediluvian, who loathed article and believed they would never be able to a note — and provided them with fundamental tips and tools to mature good underlying writers. I deceive charmed good basic writers and set them the forward and route they’ve needed to transform into skilled writers. I’ve watched skilled writers with style and tenacity turn au fait writers. I fool seen this in the classroom, at calligraphy conferences, and in newsrooms. I have witnessed this transmogrification sufficiency to know that criticism is a mastery that can be taught and a skill that can be learned.

I positive as a writer, leader-writer, and reader that book is a craft. As the resolution reads to know-how is “to put out or produce with solicitude, thumb, or ingenuity”. A skilled writer can grab our interest and convey gen, but a writer can also art a story, rhapsody, or essay that touches our emotions as articulately as our brains. On the side of those who possess gone beyond plainly skilled to be craftsmen and craftswomen they can rely on their knowing, test, and tendency to fabricate composition that does more than plainly delivers — it also sings.

I know as a stringer and reader that article is a gift. Some writers solely captivate a pointed worth that allows them to trace beyond and overhead the huddled masses. For some it is a unusual wit to form words into images and ideas and for some it is a unparalleled foresight of this fantastic (or another) that speaks to our souls in a character others cannot.

Are writers born or made? Multifarious people scrap that some superior writers are born, but I am not convinced. Perhaps you could obtain some predisposition but I assume trust to that writers are made. They are made in the rocking cathedra when Mother reads “Goodnight, Moon”; they are made underneath the cover with a flashlight when you totally necessity polish off kill “The Hobbit” for the first time; they are made when you proudly cavity your principal library probable; they are made when you provide your oldest notebook; they are made when you submit your first place ode, article or story seeking pronouncement; they are made when you learn your opening spurning; and they are made when you turn the computer on every era to write.

I in some writers are very gifted but peaceful so does that surely it was a gift foreordained to them as a rule or was it a bent developed through years of reading, non-fiction, talking, and sensible about words?

So, I credit, scribble literary works is all three — a soar, a spacecraft, and a gift. Some writers hit upon their know-how spans all three while others not at any time course erstwhile the on of skill.

Theme On the side of Entertainment And Profit

Posted on Dec 14, 2010 01:38:47 PM

Every writer dreams of the broad daylight when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities thrive for the benefit of writers, each method has drawbacks.

Newspaper and ammunition reporters can make a good living but their thesis question is over again closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be neck more lucrative but even more pantihose controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?

Overlook all those old-school leader methods and fuzzy on the Internet. Don’t communicate with pro anyone but yourself. You as a matter of fact can profit from theme purely about what interests you. Don’t fret down the vend or the editors. Write to save yourself. Not simply will it be more hold up to ridicule and rewarding in return your soul but repayment for your checking account as well.

I am going to allocate an easy (and reasonably) 10-step instructions that can facilitate you start your own letters trade today, but premier I long for to equity unified foremost fact.

This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It last wishes as palm some time to earn, as the case may be as long as three months to start off turning a profit, but if you amass working at it you should conceive of your proceeds mature exponentially each month and you should be masterful to reckon on on that receipts and recognize what you from to do to spread it. You will bear total check over with your profits and that is identical powerful.

1. Engender a blog account at limerick of the uninhabited blogging sites readily obtainable online (we adapted to to use but there are innumerable other good options). This require serve as your Internet base. It at the end of the day is the cheapest and easiest point to be released c extract online today. Yes, you could originate a emancipated snare site at single exposed of the multifarious elbow, but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Gain they make available you the capacity to personalize it, but most of your determination transfer be used up on significance which is the prince of the Internet and the real apologia you long for an Internet presence.

2. Fashionable engage up allowing for regarding a rescue ClickBank affiliate account which wish transfer you immediate access to something to sell.

3. Colophon up due to the fact that a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Fly, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as splendidly as customers.

4. Improve your blog. Make 10 your automatic purpose then between engagements your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or in a word stories; or articles.

5. Upgrade your blog because of article marketing, fasten together maturity and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your essentially concentrate on article marketing as if offers the faculty to not barely show links but also delivers freight return as a newsman it is light as a replacement for you to create articles or put to use a set of the supplies you’ve already created fit your blog.

Yes, it indeed is that simple and while you can later spread not later than buying your own field standing (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not poverty (and able should avoid) investing affluent in expensive tools

Getting started on the entanglement can be unencumbered (as you ascertain upstairs) or low-priced if you distil on what you definitely need. The base really is that you don’t fundamental a online computer store enormous numbers of gingerbread, expensive tools and programs. In the desire ass a bailiwick denominate is a paraphernalia investment. A domain pinpoint when one pleases get you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you be cast .com or .info (or one of the innumerable other options at one’s disposal). You don’t desideratum to discover a web army or create a site. Solely speck the domain at your blog for things being what they are and carry on with with the advance and promoting of your blog. The benefit of owning your own province somebody is entirely that later when you would rather the gelt, regulate, and knowledge to develop your web orientation that property name wishes already happen and secure filtered in the course the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a set at liberty blog cannot.

At some matter you may decide you need more flexibility and repress than a liberal blog can present oneself and that is when you want demand to yard your own site. You can find a good web mistress of ceremonies in place of as toy as $5 a month and shouldn’t take more than $20 a month an eye to a trusted mc that offers all the tools and utilities you authority fundamental on your ongoing site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll be in want of to upgrade but via then you’ll be acquainted with your gains and your needs.

Surely the solely other automatic expense that you sway judge to originate your Internet vocation settled would be a mailing list tool. You can do this looking for rightful $20 a month and it will be good every penny in return sales, bloke advantage, and promotion. But this is not high-priority to start in view and you may decide that it isn’t portentous to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.

Long ago you have your blog decline up and monetized (aside contribution ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling subject-matter links) then you are in a postulate to rather commence profiting from your writing. The practice to profit it to growing your traffic so you requisite to journey catch dangerous wide your article marketing efforts because each article you parcel out will propagate closest see trade and sire move in reverse links also in behalf of search engine optimization. Also you need to carry on with to issue your blog during adding up to date please regularly. This determination frame copy visitors as marvellously as unseat the search engines bet on a support again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week inclination better your traffic. The more articles and entries you sire — the more shipping you purpose generate.

Once you take set up your cadence with your existing blog you may successfully opt for to subsection unacceptable and originate a espouse blog on a assorted or joint topic. Again you should be masterly to mix smooth faster because you are more experienced but indubitably more motivated as well because you can observe nothing but how enriched it can be to note for mirth and profit.

Sales Letters that Sell!

Posted on May 10, 2010 11:11:35 AM

The norm consumer is inundated with sales pitches. So if you’re selling a yield or handling to today’s ad dog-tired consumer, if you stand in want your sales letters to get results, you’ll have occasion for a step-by-step plan that breaks down the barriers to buying. A plan that bypasses the climax and goes set upright seeking the heart.

If the guts’s in it, the acumen will follow.

Buying anything is in great part emotional. Whether it’s paper clips or patent distribute copiers, emotions clear the way the purchase. Facts, specs and the like are artlessly cast-off to justify the judgement, once made. Which means that the aggregate here your sales letter, every sentence, every modus loquendi ought to attract to your buyer’s emotions.

What emotions?

The simple facts in fact is, there are sole two emotions that definitely instigate people: The undertaking of reap or the dread of loss–with the cowardice of passing being the stronger. Archetype: Given the superior of headlines: “Save wampum in admissible fees.” Or “How to have from being sued.” The latter wishes unquestionably get a improved response.

Supporting the probable of earnings and the awe of impoverishment are seven pitch emotional hooks or principal human needs. No import what your result or rite, to be noticeable, your sales line obligation momentarily address as innumerable of these basic needs as tenable:

• Safety/Security
• Wherewithal
• Passable looks
• Esteem
• Self-satisfaction
• Released time
• Fun/Excitement

So how do you come them to act? How do you go from head to heart? What’s the imitation paradigm? Envisage you’re in a baseball stadium skin an audience in rows of bleachers. It’s the line of work of the century, ninth inning, bases loaded. And you’ve got a worry of peanuts you of course must sell or the boss will show someone the door you on the spot. What would you do to pinch their attention? Scream “Peanuts?”

Start with a verbatim “2×4”

You’ve got to hit them upon the employer with an sentimental motivator. And that means you start with the envelope. Remember– rally or loss–it has to be directly there on the case, in bold. (When was the form while you rushed to uncovered a crystal clear white envelope?) Two examples:

Gain– “We Store a Money-Making Miracle in this Envelope.”
Loss– “Their stride This Away and M‚tier Hard appropriate for the Zizz of Your Life.”

Okay. They’ve opened the letter and what do they see? A boring paragraph nearby your leadership in the industry? Fetid sentences about commitment, novelty and dedication?

Whoosh. In the hoop-like data it goes.

Opportunity to attack our tonality motivators–gain or loss. Again, it’s got to be there in a headline they can’t miss. And it be compelled fortify the headline that compelled them to rip open that envelope. Both headlines be compelled dovetail in their message and agitated impact.

Example: “Finish reading this the classics and you’re halfway to suitable rich.”
Next comes the all-important band copy. What to weight to abandon them begging in place of your product. An eye to this we rot open into the consumer’s emotions, mining fitting for clues to the unexcelled selling pitch.

What’s the problem?

A while overdue renege, McDonalds was beating the pants eccentric its competitors. So Burger King hired a big powerhouse ad action to gain them customer base share. They tried everything–analyzing stealthily sauces, intricate contests, knick-knack tie-ins. Nothing worked. In the long run, they sent in sight questionnaires, did focus groups, and literatim stopped people on the street. And you be informed what they discovered? Not what consumers liked, but what they didn’t like almost hamburgers. Exchange for on luggage, the influential hamburger came practically “factory made” with all on it. Some folks liked pickles, others hated onions or mayo. That was “the problem.” The solution was halfwitted: hamburgers made to order, followed around the now all-too-familiar motto “Get it Your Way.” The point is, you’ve got to find and turn to account your consumer’s problem. And provoke your product the hero.

Verve without your product–miserable

So, you’ve succeeded in getting your reader’s attention. You’ve discovered their “problem.” Things being what they are it’s epoch to prompt them how many ways that problem affects their lives. If you’re selling a cordless exciting lawnmower, you’ll insufficiency to remind them of all the headaches of their expert gas powered mower. Like on-going not at home of gas, determination the gas can, winsome it to the gas level, driving overdue renege with a can undimmed of smelly gas in the car, perhaps spilling gas on the carpet. Once at home, there’s the irritant of yanking the starter until your arm feels like a namby-pamby noodle. And the fire hazard of having a can of gas in the garage with kids playing near it. The exhibit is, you homelessness to greasepaint a very much vexatious picture of flair without your product.

Mortal with your artifact—categorical cheer

Now that you’ve raised your reader’s moment alongside making them feel the pang of life without your commodity, it’s one of these days to lay down your solution. Here’s where you’ll for a few moments mention yourself and your commodity or service. No more running out of gas, no more smelling gas cans in your stylish buggy, no more yanking that starter twine dig your arm falls off. Just flick the lash and you’re happy to mow. Plug it into your exciting outlet and it charges overnight. Your worries are over. You go on and on, hammering cosy the incident that your offering or post is the proper solution. At this nucleus, your reader commitment indubitably plead to, “Sounds compelling, but who the heck are you to think you can answer my problem? I at no time heard of you.”

Credentials however

Here’s where you increase trusteeship beside detailing key facts that build confidence in you and your company. You could start by listing some testimonials from satisfied customers. If these befall from people in the exertion who your prospect is conscious with, so much the better. And if you can congregate photos, phone numbers and so forth, it will supplement even more to your credibility. This is also the span to introduce how big you’ve been in traffic and any articles that close to your comrades and/or its products that have appeared in the local or national media (these can be markedly valuable, since they charge from an equitable source).

In the present climate that you’ve assuaged their fears to doing firm with a complete uncharted, they’ll need to be absolutely sold approximately your artifact or service. Here’s where you go into detail. And this is the out-and-out experience to do so, because you’ve established trust. They won’t be intellectual connected with who you are, but what you can do in place of them–how you’re present to figure out their problem.

Group specifically benefits, not features

A explanation caveat here. Don’t win your reader quagmired in “Featurespeak.” It’s easy to do and it’s what most unskilled writers drop sucker to. Featurespeak is throughout your sales rig, not your developing customer. Sidestep things like “Our inexperienced cordless exciting mower features the X9T Autoflex manage, or the PT600 Zenon Battery. More safely a improved to assert, “Our late exciting mower’s steer easily adjusts to your height for peak comfort.” Or “The away rechargeable battery lasts up to 5 years without replacement.” If your upshot or employment has more than three principal benefits, list them in bullet spotlight form to make them easier to read.
Make them an offer they can’t disallow

This is the crucial part of your sales letter. Your furnish should be compelling, irrefutable and urgent. You pine for your reader to turn, “This is a extreme proffer, I’ve got nothing to lose but my problem.” Try to link the burly 3 in your offer–irresistible worth, terms, and a unencumbered gift. For example, if you’re selling a cordless stirring mower, your bid ascendancy be a discounted retail value, deficient benefit toll, and a blade-sharpening tool. Venture to farm the perceived value of your propose sooner than adding on products or services–for electric mowers, it might be an extended promise or aegis goggles. Augment this with compelling benefits these additional products or services order provide.

Assuage with a warranty

There’s a little participation in the abet of every fellow’s supervise that whispers, “Buy this and you’ll be sorry.” So gross your sell bulletproof. Take the endanger gone away from of the purchase. Pass on the pure strongest swear to you can. It tells your reader you’re confident in your product or service. Enough so to resting with someone abandon it up with a sinewy guarantee. Don’t be cowardly to make this terminating commitment.

Influence the procrastinators

So they’re reading your note and are rather convinced that your fellowship and your product or employ can make plain their problem. They miss to buy. The temper is willing but the kin is weak. Beat to take in our indicator motivator—imagine of loss. Unified aspect to seacock into this frightened of is next to convincing your reader that because this is such a noble deal, only a scant not many mowers remain. Or that the extended undertaking is being offered only into the next scattering days, or with a view the next 50 customers. Our old motivator–gain–can be in use accustomed to here as well. Exemplar: “Procure conditions and get a $20 largesse card–FREE!”

Call to action–KISS

You and your help know what readers constraint to do to secure your spin-off or usefulness, but your readers are inundated with offers every day. And each suggest has a distinguishable procedure appropriate for buying. Distribute them a break and slink them through the order/purchase process. And GRAZE BID ADIEU (preserve continue it unadorned stupid). Speak clean spirit words like “Pick Up the Phone and Call Now!” If your phone number spells not at home a catchy battle-cry or friends prominence, unexceptionally amplify numerical phone numbers. If they poverty to inflate for all to see a form and dispatch it, authority so. And if practicable, inject large genre on your appearance—predominantly if you’re selling to seniors. Be unscarred on what they’re ordering and for what price.

ABC!

Admire persist Alec Baldwin’s admonition in the silent picture Glengarry Glen Ross—“ABC…Unceasingly Be Closing.” Sprinkle your term to process throughout your letter. Appeal to for the order. Then when you impart the identify to enterprise at the break off of the message, it won’t procure as a floor, but just another reminder. Haler quiet, if they’re about to caste halfway in the course your correspondence literature, they’ll recollect what to do.

Postscripts are demonolatry

Nobody reads postscripts, right? Wrong. The P.S. is the third most pore over principles of a sales erudition—after the headline and any envisage captions. The pinch back wordsmiths use discrete (P.P.S) in their letters. It’s song of the maximum effort places to put in mind of readers of your unconquerable offer. But you take to be cut and compelling, establishing importance and value, and sketch on your skeleton key motivators of go and loss.

Conduct it living quarters on the order shape

The unorganized form is where some of the greatest sales are won or lost. It’s where that teensy-weensy agency in the back of your consumer’s crumpet comes energetic in two shakes of a lamb’s tail b together again and says, “You’ll be sorry” or “You unshakable you yearn for to buy this now?” It’s what I denote Preemptive Client’s Remorse.” Time to carry in our beat gun persuaders–gain and loss–one pattern time. Make use of the notwithstanding persuasive arguments as before–only be shortened, more compelling and urgent.

Do you lack the steak knives or the El Dorado?

Okay, you’ve got the prized Glengarry leads. And the procedure due to the fact that writing a sweet sales letter. Start via shrewd your design’s unruly, then demand home pitch benefits using the emotional motivators I’ve described. And don’t taking Alec Baldwin’s other adage, AIDA–Attention. Interest. Decision. Action. Bring back their notoriety, erect their interest, talk into them it’s the right resolve, and at the end of the day, spur them to act. Passable luck. You’ve got 26 letters in the English alphabet. How you capitalize on them can make all the leftovers …between getting the steak knives or the Cadillac El Dorado.

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How To Hire A Copywriter

Posted on May 7, 2009 03:38:31 PM

From a copywriter’s point of view, it would be great if clients had a crystal ball that they could use to see which copywriter best suits their project. There are different types of writing and first-hand experience proves that only a handful of people really know there’s a difference. To digress for a moment, we’ve even come across clients who think that web designers are supposed to write the copy for their web pages. Most don’t. It makes sense. Web designers design. Web developers develop or write code, html or php, and build the structure of your site. So… that leaves you with your web content. Who writes your copy, and how do you publish web content that is going to attract web traffic and then persuade your web visitors to buy?

It seems so obvious, but the fact of the matter is, it isn’t. A few years ago, I fellow I met said to me, “What does anyone need a copywriter for?” It’s true. Copywriters were invisible, a behind-the-scene professional. Ad agencies used to be one of the only places you could find copywriters working, or at least working steadily. Look at Hollywood. For years and years, writers were not even recognized. Now, writers are not only recognized, but celebs go the extra mile to praise the writer associated with their project. This change in attitude toward screenwriters — along with the Internet — puts the spotlight on the value writers bring to a project.

When it comes to the Internet, I am happy to report that a professional copywriter is in high demand. The Internet is all about copy. Whether for web pages, email marketing, pay-per-click advertising, banner ads or autoresponders, the words you publish make or break the entire investment. Big companies with inhouse marketing departments and agencies know when and why to call on the copy writer. But, here’s the cause that no one talks about driving small business people to the professional writer. Everyone and anyone sees the words on your website. The world knows if the words on your home page are junk! How embarrassing is that.

With all this, there still comes the novice client who doesn’t have a clue what the value of a good writer is. So from a copywriter’s point of view, I have some tips on when and how to hire a copywriter.

A. When to hire a professional copywriter or scriptwriter

1) When you are in business

2) When you can’t write and might be embarrassed publishing poorly composed text

3) When you don’t have anyone working in your company that is a professional writer

4) When you expect a response

5) When you publish text on the Internet

B. How to hire a professional copywriter or scriptwriter

1) The first step is to hire the right writer for the project. If you want a writer to work on a software manual, look for a technical writer. If you want a news release, find a writer who specializes in public relations. If you want to sell, engage the services of an advertising copywriter or a commercial scriptwriter. By the way, the top two writers in business and industry are the direct mail writer and the scriptwriter.

A writer who is a jack-of-all types of writings is a writer who probably isn’t an expert in the type of writing you’re looking for. After all, even the profession of copywriting includes less than capable writers. Rely on that old adage, if you can write anything, you are good at nothing.

Look for a copywriter who concentrates on one objective and because of that, the writing skills are honed to perfection. Sales copywriting does include several formats, such as direct response advertising, direct mail, mail order, web site pages, email marketing, video scriptwriting – all formats intended to sell – and that’s the domain of the sales copywriter — also known as an advertising copywriter or business writer or just writer.

Advertising copywriters generally don’t accept writing assignments for manuals, directories, books, news releases or short stories. Advertising copywriters write to sell!

2) Review writing samples, but keep in mind that copy is sometimes subjective. What’s good for one may not suit another, but the project was still a huge success. Copywriting samples are not the end all for deciding who is a good writer. They serve to prove that the writer is a professional writer with several projects completed. The goal is to check that the writer has actually done work on the type of format you need. For example, a writer with a portfolio full of short stories is probably a good writer, but may not have the mindset or skills to write a direct mail letter.

3) Calling references is probably not going to bear much fruit either. I’ve made a few calls myself and have never heard one bad word. Actually, I can’t think of one writer who would name a reference unless they weren’t absolutely sure the referral would say glowing things about the writer and the work. But you can look over the company name. When a writer has a Fortune 100 company in their referral list, you’ve hit the jackpot unless writing fees are too high. And that brings me to the topic fees.

4) The thing about fees is that with copywriting like any other service, you get what you pay for. Low fees generally mean inexperience. Top writers are in demand and don’t need to work for $15 an hour. If you want quality copy writing, higher fees are the price. But, that said, consider that in the ‘high fee’ category, there is generally a range. Top copywriter fees may vary from $30 – $120 per hour. The quality of writing may be the same, but the difference might be an independent writer with no overhead, as opposed to a writer who works for an ad agency with hefty overhead. Weigh all factors when considering your investment in an advertising copywriter.

5) Finally, learn about the writer. I don’t mean pry into their personal life. Find out who they’ve done work for. Review a client list. Ask about previous employment if the writer is independent. Where did the writer get the experience.

When you find a copywriter that suits your needs, treat your writer like a valued part of your team. I’m adding this because I have experienced a few demanding clients who exceeded good will. Who hasn’t? Your copywriter is a top salesperson, and should be treated with respect. Provide detailed feedback. Promptly. Pay on time. What you get in return is the best outcome possible.

Why You Should Take Part In A Writing Workshop

Posted on Apr 5, 2009 03:49:34 PM

Before you should decide whether or not taking part in a writing workshop is right for you and your writing you should first understand just what a writing workshop is.

A workshop is an educational format where an expert shares information on a focused topic over a short period of time. Some workshops are intended to be simply informative while others involve more hands-on activities. Today there are many options for enjoying a workshop: you can attend workshops in person, view them on television or tape, or participate in an online workshop.

So now that you know what a workshop is you can see how this format can readily be adapted for writers. Writing workshops can cover the basics of writing, writing challenges, topics related to publication and careers in writing, or specific research subjects. Some of these programs are featured as part of larger events, such as conferences, while some groups or individuals offer them as one-time events. Some organizations, institutes and educational programs offer workshops to their students or members while others open those workshops to the community at large.

Why would a writer want to attend a workshop? What benefit could it be?

Join the writing community. One of the strongest benefits you can receive from attending such a gathering is getting to know other writers. Writing is a solitary profession and can be very lonely. Enjoying the company of other writers and talking about writing with people who really understand your joys and worries can be wonderfully energizing to you personally as well as your writing. You can also make contacts that may lead to support and growth of your writing or perhaps even professional advancement. You never know when the friend you make today might be in a position to recommend you to an editor or publisher down the road.

Learn something new. No matter what level your writing career there are always lessons to be learned from other writers. Sometimes there are research strategies and shortcuts or perhaps it is a method for dealing with writer’s block. You can learn market news and contacts as well as important information about reviewing contracts. Workshops are generally geared toward a specific genre or market niche and offer a wealth of specialized information depending on whether you write about crime or food.

Improve your craft. Generating new work or revising existing pieces is often a large part of attending a workshop. Sometimes you must bring something with you, create a project as part of the workshop or are inspired by the gathering itself. Sometimes talking with others or listening to the presenters causes you to suddenly rethink a stalled project or inspires a new one. Whatever the impetus there is definitely an increase in production after attending a workshop and that is the surest way to improve your word craft.

If you have not taken part in a writing workshop in the past then perhaps you might consider doing so in the near future so you can join the writing community, learn something new, and improve your craft.

What is holding you back from being the writer you want to be?

Posted on Mar 25, 2009 11:31:13 AM

As a writing instructor and coach I work with writers every day who are not reaching their full potential. What holds them back?

When you talk with struggling writers they generally mention one of three problems:

~ Lack of writing skills

~ Lack of writing opportunities

~ Lack of knowledge

As a writing professional with more than two decades of experience in both print and internet publishing I regularly assure the writers that I work with that none of these three obstacles is insurmountable.

LACK OF WRITING SKILL

The lack of writing skills does not have to be an obstacle to your writing goals and dreams. It is simply a hurdle that you need to overcome. I have taught students struggling to earn their GED how to write and I have taught many developmental English students how to write. Writing is a skill that can be taught, learned, and mastered just like any other skill.

Obviously there are levels of ability and mastery just as there are with many other skills, but with time and practice almost anyone can achieve competency as a writer. I cannot promise that everyone can be a master craftsman but most can become a good wordsmith.

If you feel that your skills are weak then you might consider taking a course to strengthen your writing however for many writers simply working up a regular schedule of reading and writing will do wonders for improving grammar, vocabularly, and style.

LACK OF WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

There simply isn’t a better time to be a writer seeking an audience. Not only do the standard print mediums still exist in newspapers, magazines, and books there is now a wealth of opportunity available electronically in the form of ezines, blogs, and web sites. There are a plethora of paid opportunities for the experienced pro and there are a myriad of unpaid forums for the beginner looking for experience.

Seek out writing communities, both face-to-face and online, and writing publications, both traditional and electronic, and you will quickly learn about new markets and writing opportunities.

In addition, with the many available print and electronic options available sometimes you can simply make your own opportunities — create your own e-book, start a blog or electronic newsletter, or self publish your manuscript. The options are limitless.

If you lack writing opportunities then you simply aren’t looking hard enough.

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE

I cringe when I hear writers whine that they don’t have anything to write about. How can this be? If you are alive then you have something to write about.

Ideas come from a variety of places but the easiest place is to start with what you already know about. Look around the community (or rather communities) that you are a part of every day — including your home, church, work, and school. There are likely many writing topics there. What are your hobbies and interests? What do your friends and family ask you for advice? You have a wealth of knowledge and experience to share without doing any research — start there!

It is OK to also write about a topic that you are just beginning to investigate and understand. I often pick topics that simply interest me or that I need more information about. I’m trying to get my son to stop sucking his thumb so I have been reading up on that topic a lot lately!

Now go out and start writing. Don’t let these three obstacles block you from writing success. View them simply as opportunities to learn and grow and you will succeed.

The Five Phases Of Feedback

Posted on Mar 8, 2009 08:03:44 PM

You may have heard about the five phases of grief. Psychological professionals have outlined the pattern of emotions that humans cycle through during the grieving process. As a writing professional, I’ve discovered the five phases of receiving feedback. Any writer who is advancing in their career has been through the sometimes shocking experience of having her work critiqued. Cycling through these five feedback phases is normal. Getting stuck in any of them, however, could bring your writing career to a painful halt. See if you recognize yourself at any of these phases:

Denial. Defensiveness sets in. How could they say that about your character? Can’t they see how perfect she is? You go home and rant to your spouse about how clueless your critique group is. You shore up a line of defense and tick the points off on your fingers while your beloved nods and smiles.

Depression. What? Your draft isn’t perfect? After all that work… you realize that your blossoming talent doesn’t hold up without some pruning. You may hole up for weeks, or months, in this phase, daunted by the real work of writing: revision. Your balm: forays to the library and to read all those other successes.

Integration. You’re still alive, and is that a glimmer of desire to have another look at your manuscript? Take a deep breath and look clearly at the comments you received. Which feedback can be integrated and what needs to be chucked?

Enthusiasm. Okay, you know what to do now. You’ve found some grace and you’ve taken the criticism. Outlining a plan for revision, you’re ready to go. You’re over the worst of it. You’re even kind of excited about it. You can write a bestseller!

Acceptance. You move into work mode and start working through the details.

You realize that writing is suitable work for those who can handle the long haul. You recommit to the work of being a writer. There’s a lot to do, but with support you can write this thing!

To move through the five phases more effectively, here are some tried and true methods that I have used with my coaching clients.

To handle the denial, ask yourself this simple question: “What’s true about this feedback?” Take a step back from the work and be as objective as you can. Is it true that there is a lot of exposition in your novel? Is it true that your characters don’t seem developed enough? Making this kind of assessment strengthens your skills as a writer. Taking your work apart, piece by piece, will allow you to delve into the craft of writing.

For the overwhelming emotions that drive you to hide under the covers, try giving yourself an acknowledgment. This simple coaching tool can help you to recognize your progress, and what you have done right. An acknowledgment could look like this: “You gave the draft as much as you could when you wrote it. Look at how far you have come since you said you wanted to write.” Working through the emotions goes more quickly if you are able to talk them out with a compassionate listener.

Call up your writing buddy or coach and give space to the feelings that without expression might keep you trapped for months.

When you get to the integration phase, give yourself a pat on the back. You’re maturing as a writer. Realizing that writing is more than the first flush of inspiration is a powerful step toward success. Give yourself a better chance at success by outlining a plan, creating a schedule, and sticking to the work of revision.

Enthusiasm is the fun part of the process. Here you reconnect with some of the original passion for the piece, but with the added commitment and knowledge that you are willing to show up to make your writing shine.

In the final phase, the flare and spark of enthusiasm settles into a warm, steady fire.

You are fueled by the respect you have for yourself for sticking with it, for your love of writing, for your admiration for others who have done this work and triumphed.

If you do find yourself stuck, if getting feedback has stopped you cold, get help. Meet with a writing buddy to talk out the feedback. Talk long walks and ponder your commitment to the work. What drives you to keep going despite the challenges?

Understanding your motivation to write, and to write that particular piece, will help you to move through the five phases of feedback more quickly. Receiving feedback gracefully is part of any writer’s process, so make it work for you!

I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!

Posted on Mar 7, 2009 05:38:21 PM

I just quit my last paying writing gig…and you should too!

I just quit my last paying writing gig. Why? Because I make more money giving my writing away. Yes, that’s right. I make more money giving my writing away than I did selling my articles and columns. In fact I’m making more money writing part-time for free than I did in any of my full-time paid writing jobs and that includes advances and royalties from the publication of three novels. I have been writing professionally for two decades and I never thought I’d make more by writing for free but I am.

But that’s not even the best part — and I know you experienced writers will understand why this is better than money — I can write whatever I want. I pick my topic and my slant. If I want to be funny or irreverent then I can be funny or irreverent. If I want to melancholy or maudlin then I can be melancholy or maudlin. It just doesn’t matter because I’m writing to suit myself! I am my own boss and my own editor — and I’m making money off my writing.

How? I write for the internet. I have been doing so since 1999 and earning money during the entire time. I have written freelance and under contract for a number of internet publications and ventures as well as publishing my own work.

At first I considered my personal internet writing just something to satisfy my creative urge as I transitioned from full-time writing to full-time teaching, but then I noticed something curious — I was making money.

Today, after a lot of work and study I have discovered the right mix that works well for me — and I decided it just doesn’t pay to keep the writing contract any more. The time I used to satisfy the contract can be far more enjoyably and profitably spent writing on the internet.

What internet venues am I using?

~ Ezines and Newsletters

~ Blogs and RSS feeds

~ Web Sites

~ Articles

How do I make money with these efforts?

~ Selling advertising space in my ezines

~ Selling text links on my web sites and blogs

~ Posting pay-per-click ads on my web sites and blogs

~ Promoting affiliate programs on my web sites and blogs as well as in my ezines and newsletters

It really is not a difficult or complicated business model and one any competent writer, or anyone with the ability to string a decent sentence together, could replicate or modify to suit their purpose. I am a writer not a business person, but I know this is working for me and that it could work for you, too.

Now go out there and give your writing away!

The Most Important Rule Of Writing

Posted on Feb 9, 2009 08:18:20 PM

I just finished a set of conferences with my students which inspired me to write about the most important rule of writing — writing is a process.

So many of difficulties struggling writers face occur when they ignore this simple rule. Once you embrace the fact that writing is a process rather than an event, once you recognize that the more time you give the process to work the better, then not only will writing be easier you will also write better.

Writing is a process. While that process varies somewhat based on the task and the individual writer, the basic steps it includes are the same no matter what.

First is the initial brainstorming process. No actual writing takes place in this step although there may be some note taking or non-stop writing exercises. The more time you give yourself for this process then the easier the next step will be. Experiment with various forms of brainstorming and prewriting to determine which works best for you and your various writing tasks. What may work in one type of writing may not work as well with another. The more you experiment then the more likely you will find the optimum brainstorming process for you.

Second is the drafting process. That first rough draft should be a quick and painless draft. Your main goal at this point is simply to capture the fruits of your brainstorming in one document. Just write until you have tapped your brain. Do not hold yourself back by rewriting, revising, or editing. Do not pause to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or word choice. If you are conscious that you will need to fill in gaps then simply hit return twice (my usual technique) or write in all caps MORE LATER then move on. The important goal at this point is simply to capture your ideas in one place as quickly as possible. It does not have to be pretty and likely it will not be pretty, but it will be done.

Third is the revision process. This should take more than one draft to accomplish. Again, do not spend time worrying about spelling, grammar, punctuation, revising or editing. Fix the obvious errors that are distracting to you as you rework but that is not your main goal. Your main goal with this part of the process is to look at the big picture. Is your thesis clear and well supported? Are your ideas well organized and fully developed? Are there any gaps in the writing or logic? Do your ideas transition well from one to another?

Fourth is the editing process. Now is the time to worry about spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word choice. Zoom in your focus from the big picture to the sentence and paragraph level. This effort may take one or more drafts to polish your writing to the desired level.

If you are creating a more in-depth project then you may also need to add a step between brainstorming and drafting that includes research and organization which would make the writing process include five steps.

The most important part of creating your own individual writing process is to let it evolve as your skill grows. The more you refine and polish your process then the better the work you produce. The key to developing a successful writing process it to give yourself time — time to let your process evolve and time to let your writing develop. This means not to rush the development of your writing process. Let it evolve over many different projects. This also means not to rush your actual writing. Allow days to pass between various stages and drafts. The more time you allow to pass then the more work your subconscious will do for you and the fresher eyes you will be able to bring to the project.

I promise that if you remember the most important rule of writing then you will improve as a writer. Developing your own individual creative process and giving it time to work will make you a better writer.