A Dream Come True By Penny A. Zeller
“Please get your shoes on, Girlies. Mommy has a mail drop to make before 5:00!” I help my two small daughters put on their tennis shoes, grab my stack of manila envelopes, and head out the door.
Getting Ready To Head Out Again!
We’ve finalized our itinerary for our next big RV trip. We’re once again taking our family and business on the road. We’ll be running our business from campgrounds that offer wireless Internet access and have plans to visit most of our relatives and many old friends along the way on this trip. We’re leaving Maine on August 19th. It usually starts cooling off in Maine in late August so we’ll be heading west and south in just the niche of time!
Amazon.com Best Seller? Ha! – Part II
Ah, but what a kettle of controversy we stirred up with last week’s article. In case you missed it, we came out publicly against those so-called “Amazon.com Best Seller” programs, which are very good at taking money from hopeful authors while teaching them how to manipulate the Amazon.com best seller database, thus giving the false impression that their book is any good and is selling in great numbers. Basically, these programs teach you how to get a bunch of people to buy your book on the same day, around the same time, making your book, albeit for just a few minutes or hours, an Amazon.com Best Seller in a certain category. You then get to say your book is an “Amazon.com Best Seller.”
Letters To The Editor For August 3rd
This Week:
- No Social Security Number Until Contract Offered!
- Amazon.com Best Seller? Ha!
- From A Friend In Argentina
No Rejection Slips: Sub-contract Article Assignments By L. L. Star
Would you like to get an abundance of article assignments without writing a single query letter? By getting sub-contact work from public relations agencies, I wrote over 100 newsletter articles, a professional column in a monthly trade publication, and a chapter in a travel guidebook. Sub-contract work gave me the opportunity to write for large, prestigious companies such as Bell & Howell, Grant Thornton, LaSalle National Bank and many others.
The Importance of Networking and Spinning Off Stories By Deborah J. Myers
After being laid off four times in as many years, I knew I could do better in freelance writing than as an executive secretary.
I had been writing piecemeal for a few magazines and newspapers for years; however, once my day job evaporated, I put all my energy into freelancing.
Our Little Comedian
Frank, age 12, who has always been the class clown (before we started homeschooling him anyway) has a very quick, very bright sense of humor. He can really keep us rolling most days.
Amazon.com Best Seller? Ha!
I received the following inquiry from a reader two weeks ago:
Angela,
I saw an ad in a well-known zine that offered a “free telephone
seminar” about “how any author can become an Amazon.com bestseller.”
What are your thoughts on their message?
C.
Letters To The Editor For July 27th
This Week:
- AOL = Amateurs On Line
- Amazon.com Best Seller Scams
Freelancer Beware: Read This Before You Hire a Transcription Service By Bill Shirley
A few weeks back I was especially busy in my communications consulting business. One late evening, as I pondered how I’d get everything done in the brief time available to me, I made a note to visit the Yellow Pages the next day to find a transcription service. I write a lot of feature articles for the employee newsletter of an insurance company, and most assignments involve interviews with executives whom I quote for the stories.