Platform Development Tip #1: Switch Writing Hats!
by: Jill Nagle
Platform-Building Tip #1: Switch Writing Hats!
Around eighty percent of nonfiction books today are written by “experts,” that is people who have a) earned credentials in the field they’re writing about, b) germinated information via articles, live presentations or other media, or c) had extraordinary, unique or memorably told life experiences relevant to their topic.
For an autobiographical work, such as a memoir, an author needn’t have any special expertise—she is the foremost authority on her own life. For a how-to or self-help book, however, the first thing mainstream publishers want to know is, “Does the author have a platform?”
Nov 25, 2009
Get Published with Goals, Guidance and Persistence
Mission Possible: Get Published with Goals, Guidance and Persistence
by: Stephen Earley Jordan, II
You send me an e-mail. You tell me you’ve written over three hundred poems since you were 16 (in your teenage angst stage). You mention the novel you’ve completed and it’s really good (it really is!!!), and the novel-in-progress. You mention how the International Library of Poetry has published one of your poems. (But, whom haven’t they published?)
However, all your work is stored away, hidden from the public eye on a black little disk.
by: Stephen Earley Jordan, II
You send me an e-mail. You tell me you’ve written over three hundred poems since you were 16 (in your teenage angst stage). You mention the novel you’ve completed and it’s really good (it really is!!!), and the novel-in-progress. You mention how the International Library of Poetry has published one of your poems. (But, whom haven’t they published?)
However, all your work is stored away, hidden from the public eye on a black little disk.
Nov 24, 2009
Make Big Money On Your Book - 10 H*O*T Tips
Make Big Money On Your Book - 10 H*O*T Tips
by: Susan Harrow
Wouldn't it be nice to write a book, get paid handsomely for it and be considered a top expert all at once? It's possible--if you know the rules.
1. Study the publishing industry.
Today celebrity books rule. Books that catch a quick trend come in second. Take chick lit, for example. Nobody cared about hip books for women ten, or even five years ago. But women buy the majority of books--and actually read them. It's not to say that other book genres aren't viable. Of course they are. The big categories of fiction and non- fiction will live on forever. But even self-help is on the wane according to some sources. And, as a literature savvy friend of mine said, *Plots are passe.* There's much more to know about the industry. Like what agents look for and how publishers decide on what will be profitable.
by: Susan Harrow
Wouldn't it be nice to write a book, get paid handsomely for it and be considered a top expert all at once? It's possible--if you know the rules.
1. Study the publishing industry.
Today celebrity books rule. Books that catch a quick trend come in second. Take chick lit, for example. Nobody cared about hip books for women ten, or even five years ago. But women buy the majority of books--and actually read them. It's not to say that other book genres aren't viable. Of course they are. The big categories of fiction and non- fiction will live on forever. But even self-help is on the wane according to some sources. And, as a literature savvy friend of mine said, *Plots are passe.* There's much more to know about the industry. Like what agents look for and how publishers decide on what will be profitable.
Nov 19, 2009
Write a Better Technical Article in Half the Time
Write a Better Technical Article in Half the Time
by: Christine Taylor
Good technical articles are challenging to write. They’re time-consuming, demanding to research and hard to organize. But they’re valuable weapons in the PR and marketing arsenal, and you need them.
If you can outsource the article, great. That’s what writers like me are here for. But if you can’t – or don’t want to -- then read and apply the tips below to save time and energy on research and writing, and come out with a much better product.
by: Christine Taylor
Good technical articles are challenging to write. They’re time-consuming, demanding to research and hard to organize. But they’re valuable weapons in the PR and marketing arsenal, and you need them.
If you can outsource the article, great. That’s what writers like me are here for. But if you can’t – or don’t want to -- then read and apply the tips below to save time and energy on research and writing, and come out with a much better product.
Nov 12, 2009
Writing technical articles
Writing technical articles is a challenge. By Christine Taylor
There you sit, surrounded by reams of research, notes and interviews. Where do you start?
Remember 5th grade English? You start with an outline.
Outlining has fallen on hard times lately. Mind mapping and brainstorming are much more fashionable. These techniques are great when generating ideas, but once you’ve got your ideas germinating you’ve got to outline them. Without an outline, your article will:
Christine Taylor is president of Keyword Copywriting, which helps marketing and PR pros leverage their relationships with technology clients. E-mail her at chris@keywordcopy.com, call her at 760-249-6071, or check out Keyword’s Website at www.keywordcopy.com
There you sit, surrounded by reams of research, notes and interviews. Where do you start?
Remember 5th grade English? You start with an outline.
Outlining has fallen on hard times lately. Mind mapping and brainstorming are much more fashionable. These techniques are great when generating ideas, but once you’ve got your ideas germinating you’ve got to outline them. Without an outline, your article will:
- Be an unstructured mess.
- Take three times as long to write.
- Outlining keeps you from writing an unstructured mess. Readers, especially American readers, prefer distinct sections in their media. For example, look at American screenplays. Movies invariably have three acts, and anything that doesn’t have them is considered an art film. Effective speeches often contain three parts, and readers like three points because the structure makes easier to retain information.
- Outlining shrinks your writing time by a third to a half. How do you whittle down that pile of research notes and interviews into an article or white paper? You guess it – outline it. By assigning sections to your notes before you start writing, you’ll categorize, simplify and clarify. Not bad before you’ve even written an introduction. For example, let’s say you’re writing an article about mirroring. You can divide such an article into several different sections depending on what your client wants to get across. Here are some examples of different outlines:
- 1) Explanation of mirroring 2) Differences between local and remote mirroring, 3) Contrasting mirroring with other forms of replication, or
- 1) Define mirroring 2) List environments that require mirroring 3) Decision matrix for assigning different mirroring levels.
- 1) Explanation of mirroring 2) Differences between local and remote mirroring, 3) Contrasting mirroring with other forms of replication, or
Christine Taylor is president of Keyword Copywriting, which helps marketing and PR pros leverage their relationships with technology clients. E-mail her at chris@keywordcopy.com, call her at 760-249-6071, or check out Keyword’s Website at www.keywordcopy.com
Nov 9, 2009
How To Write Ad Copy
HOW TO WRITE IRRESISTIBLE AD COPY
When selling through advertising, you're faced with two options,
both of which you will probably use frequently. Those options
are display and classified advertising.
We won't deal here with radio and television copy writing
because it is not something many of you will be using until you
have developed a great deal of mail order experience. Once
you're dealing with that sort of capital investment, you'll
probably have an intimate understanding of the fact that expert
help is essential to the successful launch of any campaign, and
frankly, electronic media are not our field of experience.
When selling through advertising, you're faced with two options,
both of which you will probably use frequently. Those options
are display and classified advertising.
We won't deal here with radio and television copy writing
because it is not something many of you will be using until you
have developed a great deal of mail order experience. Once
you're dealing with that sort of capital investment, you'll
probably have an intimate understanding of the fact that expert
help is essential to the successful launch of any campaign, and
frankly, electronic media are not our field of experience.
Nov 6, 2009
Guidelines For Reviewing Writing
Guidelines For Reviewing Writing
by: The StoryMaster
Writing detailed reviews is time well spent.
Reviewing itself is a writing exercise. At Writing.Com, creating detailed feedback for a fellow writer is one of the best tools available for improving your own writing. That said, if you're going to spend the time to do it, helping the author is important. There is a better chance for the ideas in a review to get through to an author if they are well presented.
by: The StoryMaster
Writing detailed reviews is time well spent.
Reviewing itself is a writing exercise. At Writing.Com, creating detailed feedback for a fellow writer is one of the best tools available for improving your own writing. That said, if you're going to spend the time to do it, helping the author is important. There is a better chance for the ideas in a review to get through to an author if they are well presented.
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