People expend lots of energy and discussion on getting listed in search engines. There are companies that promise all sorts of amazing results if you just pay them a fee to perform their often questionable tactics. And people invest inordinate amounts of time fretting over where they are in the search results. Truth is, there's really only a few things you need to know about search engine and directory submissions... …
I'd like to share the experience of our first novel, On Thin Ice, recently published by Booklocker, with readers of WritersWeekly.com. Our enthusiasm for our creative work was matched by the number of friends and acquaintances who offered to review our work before and after publication. They assured us they were newspaper and magazine writers eager to support us. One said, "I am an English professor and would love to review your book." …
I have been a full-time freelancer and sole support of my family for 24 years. I try to cover the bases - and check both free job boards and those who accumulate specific job site listings for a small fee. …
Opinions on editing tests vary. Some would place editing in the class of professions that includes medicine, plumbing and haircutting, in which auditions simply aren't done. Others might consider the acting profession to be a better analogy. …
It's almost tax time again! And, as in the past, A.J. Cataldo offers his tax wisdom to self-employed writers. …
Authors, heed my words. Hire an editor. Find someone you have never met before, some good soul with a great resume and references, but someone who has no emotional interest in you or your project. Hire an editor who won't give a rat's shiny fanny whether your manuscript changes the course of history; hire an editor who just wants to know what your deadlines are and whether your check will clear. …
Let's say that you followed the advice of several publishing professionals and prepared a complete book proposal. Good for you! It's clear to anyone reading your proposal that you have a handle on your target audience. You did a good job of showing that there is a need for your proposed book. Your synopsis and chapter outline are superbly written. And your promotional plan is impressive, indeed, except for one thing. It's fake, counterfeit, phony, bogus. …
How much do you make PER HOUR writing articles? $100? $50? Less than $10? Here are two critical questions: How much do you need to make every day, week or month to run a profitable full-time or part-time freelance business? How does this income requirement translate into an hourly rate? …
This article may be reprinted/redistributed freely, as long as the entire article and bio are included. It's not very fun to be stuck in a rut. Chances are the last thing you want to do some days is write something, let alone get out of bed! Even though we know it will pass, our doldrums tend to get the best of us. One way to fight the unwelcome moodiness is by understanding why it comes and goes, which we begin through creative writing. Creative Writing is well recognized as a powerful tool for encouraging self-awareness, empathy, and personal change. …
Writing is often considered a solitary profession, and in fact, many writers confess to a certain degree of isolation or loneliness. Perhaps it's not surprising then that so many writers collaborate on projects. Teaming up with another person can help you improve your craft and boost your chance of success. But there can be drawbacks to collaborating as well. Read on for a look at the pros and cons of working as part of a team and factors to consider when deciding whether it's right for you. …
The holiday season is synonymous with big spending. For writers this means assignment heaven. From the hospitality industry, to fashion, to auto dealers, real-estate firms, and even banking, businesses are rushing to promote new products and services in time for holiday splurging. The good thing is that a lot of these promotions carry over months after the New Year, making now a prime time for enterprising writers to cash in on the action. …
At a conference in New York City two years back (the first formal conference ever on the subject of blogging), panelists at a roundtable discussion were asked the inevitable question: "What is a blog?" A huge argument ensued because no one could agree on a single definition. While even the experts can't agree on what a blog is, everyone agrees that blogs are fueling something significant. …
hanks, WritersWeekly readers, for your great response to my article, No More Rejection Slips: Sub-Contract Article Assignments, published by WritersWeekly.com on August 3rd. Public relations agencies and creative design shops can provide a steady stream of lucrative article assignments to freelance writers -- often over months or even years. Most of these assignments are writing marketing or employee newsletters which are typically published on a monthly or quarterly basis. Many writers asked exactly how they could get such work. Here's how to find such opportunities and successfully sell your writing and professional skills to public relation agencies and creative design shops -- even if you don't have previous business communications, public relations or copywriting experience. …
Groan and moan all you want to, but the successful writers do some type of business plan to figure marketing and income projections. You do not have to take the financial details down to nickels and dimes, but you need a map to your destination. Dislike the business stuff? Then write for self-satisfaction; there is nothing wrong with that. When you write, you are a writer. When you sell, you are a businessperson. If you do not like the business aspect, then write for your own enjoyment. …
Let me start by telling you that many people you see behind the check-out desk at the library are not "librarians," as in they have not completed a master's degree in library science. You didn't know librarians had master's degrees, either? Next I'm going to tell you that librarians don't read all day long. That's not true, either?! …
Try challenging fifty mostly unpublished members of a writers guild by giving them three months to write, revise, and submit from one to three 1500 to 2500 word stories, and commission an artist to design and produce an original cover in time to meet a goal of publishing a 250-300 page anthology within ten months. Do that and the book world will look at you like someone who has sniffed too much print head cleaner. …
People like to read about places they know. I discovered this to be true when I recently published my first mystery novel, Murder on the Prairie: A North Florida Mystery. The book is being received with an unexpected degree of enthusiasm for the setting, Gainesville, Florida - home of the University of Florida - the nearby Paynes Prairie State Park Preserve, and its Visitors Center in Micanopy. Reader comments and book sales have reflected this enthusiasm. …
Fifteen years after I first began to work as a writer, I decided that it was time I looked for an agent to sell my work to overseas publishers. At first I emailed writer friends, asking them to suggest agents who would be receptive to new clients. When nothing came of that, I visited my favorite writing websites and followed their market links. As expected, there were links to agents…
Imagine you have written a book, say, about wine, or business, or how to get your cat through college. It really makes no difference what you have written, someone can use it. But there are limits. …
While watching the evening news with my husband, there was a segment on NASA's mission to collide with a comet. I turned to my husband and said, "Oh, I'm interviewing one of the NASA experts on this subject next week". He gave me the strangest look, and replied, "How'd you get that?" "I just asked." …
More and more in my position as editor of an online newsmagazine I come across what I'm calling e-mail English and spelling. Grammar mistakes are rampant, words are mangled, and punctuation is non-existent. In a recent letter to the editor, I chastised the writer for his use of our language and his retort was, "who cares if it's spelled right, you know what I mean." …
Like public speaking or bungee jumping, negotiation is something that gives most people at least a little anxiety. When you're dealing with payment for your services, you don't want to seem greedy and obnoxious, and you don't want to be seen as a doormat, either. But whether you're haggling at a yard sale or buying a car, a little self-confidence and some carefully chosen words can go a long way. …
Each weekday brings a pack of mail from banks offering me and mine low introductory rates that are meant to pull us in so we'll commit ourselves, right before the rates go up. …
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. …
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. …
When I first heard an editor mention my article had a good hed/dek, my first reaction was to offer her a throat lozenge. My second reaction was, what the heck is a hed/deck? …
You've always wanted to stay at home and write, but can you really survive on an "eat what you kill" plan? That depends on your determination to succeed. If you have tenacity, you're in good shape, and, if writing is your passion, you can make decent money online. First, you need a clearly written daily planner so you will be motivated to move ahead each day. …
In-flight publications are a unique breed in the magazine industry. Geared toward the flying public - which is a fairly broad demographic - they offer a wide range of articles, essays and shorts on everything from travel and food to politics and current events. Given this diversity, each publication is still very specific when it comes to their editorial needs. …
As a starving writer in New York City; you're supposed to say you're a writer even if you earn your keep shelving books at Barnes & Noble on Union Square. So okay, I'm a writer. It's just that I write direct mail, not books, for a living, even though I've published quite a bit. Hardly a household name, my essays and poems have appeared in inspirational anthologies, obscure literary journals, upbeat writers' e-zines and alternative monthlies nobody's ever heard of outside of western Pennsylvania, San Juan, Toronto and parts of South Africa (and I'm not making that up). The exceptions are a couple of paragraphs about the Chartres Cathedral that ran in Glamour - one of those "our readers write about their fab vacations" things for which I was not paid - and a piece at Salon.com which earned the distinction of "soft-porn pap" in a famous columnist's blog. I was thrilled; at least he read it. …
I couldn't have been more excited when my query made its way through the slush pile last fall to be accepted by an editor at Budget Travel. I was even more elated when that same editor accepted my second query on the spot a week later. That this editor took the time to send me a hand-written note, praising my writing prowess on the first story, was icing on the cake. I was all set, to paraphrase Casablanca, to begin a beautiful writer-editor friendship. I was just in the middle of preparing a flurry of new queries for this editor when I received the dreaded news. As soon as he finished editing my second story, he would be moving on to other things, things that didn't include Budget Travel. I wouldn't have been as disappointed if this editor had transferred to a different magazine, as I could have followed him there, but he was leaving to become a freelancer so where did that leave me? …
Playwright and novelist Saul Bellow once said, "I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, "To hell with you." …
Are you a pizza connoisseur? An expert cookie maker? Maybe you've visited a winery, know the best diners in 10 states, or your town hosts the world's largest strawberry festival. Even if the extent of your food expertise lies only in your grandmother's recipe box, you have an angle for an article. You just need to know where to sell it. …
There are a few steps you can take which will turn your great idea into a fantastic query letter, and, hopefully, a well-written, attention-grabbing article. …
