Effortless Writing

The Psychology Of Effortless Writing
by: Saleem Rana

I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions. ~James Michener

Writing has always been a highly pleasurable form of art for me. I find it surprising that many people view it as something to avoid as much as possible. The most baffling thing to me is how people complain of "writer's block." I've also heard of metaphors like "squeezing blood from a stone."

Not only is it a delicious experience to read and to write, but it's really easy. After all, it's talking and expressing your view of the world. Sometimes your views, like that of Nelson Mandela’s, can even change the course of history.

Through writing I can convey my entire experience so that someone else can benefit from it and learn from that experience without having had to be there. So, by writing I can give others much more than I can in person. In addition, writing bends time and I can convey my experience to someone centuries away.

Anyway my point is not to wax eloquent on the joy and gift of self-expression. Rather it is to demonstrate how easy it is to write quickly and with delight.

Here are five simple things that you can do to make your writing effortless.

1. Read. Enjoy your favorite book, luxuriate in the imagery, and allow yourself to drift into someone else's experience of the world. When you read, your brain starts to warm up. It starts to hum and sing. It discovers the pleasure of its own function.

2. Write. After getting inspired by the writings of others, it's time to cut your own piece of the pie. Sit down and write. Let the words flow; fall into a reverie; and go swimming in the river of your own cogitations.

3. Edit. Go over what you've written. Cut out extra words and tighten sentences and rearrange paragraphs. Make it a game. Play with the idea of how you can make it shorter, simpler, or more expressive.

4. Proof. Read over what you've written. See if there are any typos or spelling mistakes. See if there are any grammatical errors or awkward sentences. Prune, correct, and shear.

5. Publish. Get it out there. Do a blog. Post a letter. Gather it into a volume and pack it off to a publishing house or post it as an e-book.

Finally, bless the work and let it go. Don't be attached to the outcome. Your pleasure was in writing. You can't do anything about how others respond or fail to respond.

Writing can be a chore only if you set about it the wrong way.

Here are five ways that people like to turn pleasure into pain:

1. When you confuse the inner editor with the inner writer, you feel confused and pained and blocked. First, let the writer show up. Then, the editor can do its thing. Keep both functions separate.

2. When you write under pressure, with no sense of beauty, and with no sense of magic within. This is easily cured by reading a good book. Let the flow of language carry you. Your subconscious will then be attuned to replicating the beauty.

3. When you spend hours editing, trying to get it perfect, and upsetting yourself because it's impossible to read it through and not make a correction. Words are plastic and they can always be molded better, and each time you read you can see more to shape. Hence, just edit it once and let it go.

4. When you cling to the outcome. When your work is not published and you feel rejected. When it is read by “friends” who make comments that have nothing to do with what you wrote. When you expect something for your efforts and nothing comes back to you. After you write and send it out, let it go.

5. And when you're unclear on an idea and it never comes out right. You can’t get it right because your thoughts are all jumbled up. In this case, outline or wait for inspiration.

In conclusion, write. It will do your soul a world of good.

About The Author

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life. Free information.

http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.

What Employers Look For In A Freelance Writer

What Employers Look For In A Freelance Writer
by: Amber McNaught

Freelance writing is as much about selling yourself as it is about writing. With this in mind, we asked some of the employers who use our site, and others like it, just what it is that they look for in a freelance writer. Here's what they told us:

1. Employers won't go looking for the information they need

"A lot of the freelancers who replied to my advert just sent me their quote and nothing else," says Angel, who advertised for a freelancer in July. "There was absolutely nothing to set them apart from all of the other writers who responded, and I'd have had to contact them with questions to try and get the information I needed out of them. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I employed one of the writers who took the time to tell me a bit about herself, and why she was right for the job."

2. Employers won't ask the same question twice

If an employer asks a specific question: "what’s your writing experience?" say, or "who have you worked for before?" they expect an answer. Strangely, not all freelancers give them that answer.

"I advertised for a proofreader," says Jason. "One freelancer responded with a huge spiel telling me what a wonderful writer he was. That's great, but I wanted a proofreader. Rather than emailing him back and asking about his proofreading qualifications, I chose one of the people who'd answered my question the first time."

3. Employers appreciate courtesy

"A few weeks ago I was looking for a freelance writer," says Samantha. "I posted an advert on a number of different writing sites, and said that I would send a written brief to anyone interested in the project, to allow them to give me a quote. I was shocked by the responses I got, particularly the number of people who just emailed one line saying 'send me the brief'. I mean, is it really so much effort to write a proper email, giving your name and addressing me with mine? Does 'please' take too long to type? Apparently so. Needless to say, those kind of emails didn't get a response. I wasn't just looking for someone who could write well: I wanted to hire someone who'd be easy to work with. I don't want to work with someone with no manners."

4. Your writing matters – even in a query letter

"One freelancer proofreader asked me a question via email," says Jason. "She ended the question with four question marks. She didn't get the job."

5. Employers aren't always looking for the cheapest possible quote

"Some of the quotes I received were really shockingly low," admits Angel. "I just thought that if someone is willing to write an article for $10, they must really be struggling for work. And if they're really struggling for work, they must not be very good. I went with someone who charged what seemed to be a reasonable rate: she wasn't the cheapest I found, but quality was important to me."

About The Author

Amber McNaught is the owner of www.WritingWorld.org, a community for freelance writers, editors and proofreaders.

Join the WritingWorld.org forum: http://www.writingworld.org/forum

Amber also offers an article writing and distribution service through her business, Hot Igloo Productions

hotigloo.co.uk

Ten Tips on Writing and Creativity

Ten Tips on Writing and Creativity
by: Emily Hanlon

1. Don't think. Creating a story or book has little to do with the intellect or language when we first begin. Our best ideas will emerge as a spark or image. Like dreams, they will make little sense. Followed, they will hold the key to the creative unconscious.

2. Creativity is cyclical. You cannot and will not be creative all the time. What is full must empty and what is empty will fill. Creativity has its own internal rhythms. Learn to listen to yours.

3. Nothing kills creativity faster than criticism. Don't share your work-in-progress with people who are critical or those whose opinions leave you vulnerable, no matter how much you love them. Good critiquing should leave you inspired, not deflated.

4. Spend time listening to your inner critic. He or she is not comfortable with the risks demanded by a creative endeavor. By becoming aware of the foul jabber of your inner critic, you can see how your own mind puts up roadblocks to your creativity.

5. Being a creator is risky business. Don't underestimate the tremendous emotional and psychic risks the journey demands. Learn to push ahead even when you are afraid. Learn to love the risk.

6. Don't be afraid to fail. Every successful creator has failed hundreds of times. Failure is an integral part of creativity. It doesn't mean you're wrong or stupid. It only means you've uncovered a path or technique that does not work.

7. Don't be afraid to write garbage. Every successful writer writes mounds of garbage. Give your work time to percolate. Play the What If game. For example, if you're writing fiction and a characters is sweet and loving and you're stuck, have the character mean and hateful. In the world of the imagination, anything can happen.

8. Nurture your creativity. It is as fragile as a budding flower. Open to the dance. Listen to music that makes you feel like flying. Go for a walk. Laugh with a friend, child or lover. Creativity is about feeling.

9. Be passionate. Creativity is passionate. Passion is always creative.

10. Learn your craft. And write, write, write! The more you write, the better you will get. Discipline yourself. Successful writers are disciplined writers.

© Emily Hanlon, 1996-2005. The Art of Fiction or How to Fall Down the Rabbit Hole Without Really Trying, Labyrinth Press.

About The Author

Emily Hanlon is a writing coach who works with writers all over the world on the telephone. She is the author of 8 books of fiction, including Petersburg, translated into several languages and reached the best sellers list in England. She leads writing retreats for women and workshops in this country and abroad. Her websites are: http://www.thefictionwritersjourney.com and http://www.awritersretreat.com.

Break In With Fillers: The Best Market For New Writer

by: Shelley Wake

Interested in breaking into writing or breaking into a new area? You can’t go past writing fillers. Fillers are one of the most overlooked opportunities in the freelance writing world and offer one of the best opportunities for new writers.

Fillers Are In Demand

I’ve spoken to hundreds of editors and been told over and over again that fillers are the one thing they never get enough of. Most publications tend to publish more freelance fillers than they do freelance articles. Yet, they often receive 100 times more articles than fillers.

This is a gap in the freelance market that you can take advantage of.

Fillers are a Great Place to Get Started

Many publications are careful about publishing feature articles from writers they don’t know. Even if your article is good, an editor might decide not to publish you because they don’t know you as a writer. This is especially true if you don’t have a lot of experience or any clips.

But even without experience or clips, most editors will consider a filler. In fact, many editors treat writing fillers as the testing ground to see if a writer can be relied on to write feature articles.

Here’s what one editor had to say about fillers:

“One of the best ways to break in is to write fillers. It gives me a chance to start to build a relationship with a writer and see that I can trust them. Of all the freelancers I work with, over half started out writing fillers.” - Margaret, Magazine Editor

So not only can writing fillers get you some clips, it also has the potential to turn into a long-term writing opportunity. Consider fillers a stepping stone to much bigger things.

The Smart Way to Write on Spec

Fillers are almost always submitted on spec. This means that you avoid the problem of having to query the publication and sell yourself as a writer, because your filler is doing the work for you and showing the editor your writing skill.

The big argument against writing on spec is that you spend your time writing pieces that might never sell. Fillers reduce this problem because they are short and take less time to write. So even if your filler doesn’t sell, you haven’t wasted as much time as you would have on a longer feature article. Fillers are also more flexible, with few publications having set guidelines for fillers. This means that a filler will often be suitable for more than market. So if it gets rejected once, it’s not a waste of time. You can just send it to a new market, often without having to make any changes.

Fillers Rely on Information, Not Writer Qualifications

Fillers usually rely on information, not on the writer’s qualifications.

This means that you don’t have to sell yourself when you submit fillers. Instead, the information you put in the filler sells it for you.

This makes fillers a perfect option for writers lacking the experience or clips to sell themselves to an editor.

You Can Write a Lot of Them

Since fillers are short, you can write a lot of them and submit a lot of them. You could literally have hundreds of pieces out in the market for consideration in a short time. And if you write them well, you could have a lot of them published in a very short time. That means you can build a list of clips fast.

And one other benefit is that magazines don’t have as limited a space for fillers as they do for feature articles. So if your filler gets accepted, it’s likely to get published fast. The same isn’t true for feature articles, where an accepted article will often be scheduled for an issue a year or two away.

That’s one more good reason why fillers are a great way to build clips fast. Once you’ve got the clips, then you have a few more options. Until then, fillers are a great place to start.

And one final tip. Once you have the clips and start moving into feature articles, don’t forget about fillers. As you’re researching a feature, take note of interesting facts, trivia, or anecdotes you come across. These can make fillers and be an added bonus, bringing in some extra cash and some extra clips.

About The Author

Shelley Wake is the author of “Getting Published Without Clips.” This practical no-nonsense guide shows writers exactly what to do to break into freelance writing. Packed with inside information, proven methods, hidden markets, and more, it’s successfully launched hundreds of freelance careers. Link: http://www.writingstuff.com/fs02m.html

8 Elements to Creating a Results Generating Sales Letter or Advertisement

Copywriting a Sales Letter - 8 Elements to Creating a Results Generating Sales Letter or Advertisement
By Carol Bentley

There is a science to writing a Sales Letter (or advert) to generate massive results. Following this simple 8-element structure gives you an impressive head-start to creating your own high-performing letter.

In this article you discover how using AIDA-A with these 8 elements in your letter could dramatically increase the response you get:

(AIDA-A stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action – Attention)

1) Headline – spend the majority of your time on this. It is the ATTENTION part of the AIDA-A acronym. Include attention grabbing words which have been proven to raise the positive reaction from readers. (Words such as You/Your; Who Else; Which; Now; New; Bargain; Free; How/How to; Hurry or Breakthrough amongst others).

2) Promise - follow up on what you promised in the headline to keep your reader’s interest. If you promised some key information, tell him (or her) what it is. If your headline offered a critical report – tell him what the report contains and how it can help him. This keeps your reader’s INTEREST.

3) Offer - Describe exactly what you are offering, what it does for him, how he benefits. If there are a number of steps to a process describe exactly what you are going to do for him – start to create his DESIRE.

4) Testimonial – people respond to other people’s experiences and recommendations. The human nature of ‘I want that too!’ comes into play. Make sure your testimonials are descriptive and identify the problem your customer had or the result he/she wanted and the solution or outcome you provided. You’ll keep your reader’s DESIRE high. He wants to know more.

5) Lose – It is your job to make sure your reader cannot possibly ignore your offer. You have to make absolutely sure he understands exactly how much less his life is if he does not respond to your amazing proposition. You are harming him by not doing everything possible to clearly show the loss he would experience. So tell him what he loses if he doesn’t respond. How he misses out on key benefits or results, how his life is never the same again…

OK, so I’m exaggerating, but I’m sure you get the picture. People buy on emotions and then use logic to justify their decisions. You need to appeal to your prospect’s emotional wants and desires – the detail you provide helps him justify the logic of buying from you.

If we didn’t buy on emotion, people would never buy expensive cars, designer clothes or larger houses. After all a small, cheap car gets you from A to B, just as a more expensive car would. “Ah, but” I hear you say “it isn’t as comfortable, reliable etc.”

That’s our logic justifying the emotion of owning and being seen in a high status, luxurious car rather than an old rusty tin-can. (By the way – I agree the more expensive car probably is more comfortable and reliable and is certainly a better status symbol).

This is still part of his DESIRE – his desire not to lose what you have already created an interest in.

So, having ‘depressed’ your reader with what he might lose if he doesn’t take your offer, now you must …

6) Repeat the benefits – raise the desire again to own or experience your service or product. Get your reader excited about the benefits he can expect.

And then…

7) Action – tell him EXACTLY what to do now. Tell him to send the completed request form in the envelope provided. Tell him to call the Freephone number and place his request NOW. Tell him to send the email confirming his interest. Don’t let him ‘cool off’ by not leading him through the steps he needs to take immediately.

8) And finally add the P.S. – your second headline (and the final ‘A’ of the AIDA-A acronym). Having spent so much time preparing your main headline you have already discovered your second strongest – and that is a natural P.S.

Your P.S. should draw them into your letter, so it too, must be compelling.

© 2004 Carol A E Bentley

Extracted from the book 'I Want to Buy Your Product... Have You Sent Me a Letter Yet' (How to create powerful sales letters, advertisements, flyers, brochures, web pages and newsletters that persuade hundreds, or even thousands, of additional customers and clients to buy from you!) by Carol A E Bentley (Rated 5-star on Amazon.co.uk)

Subscribe to your free reports, with no obligation, at
http://www.accelerateyoursales.co.uk or visit http://www.CarolBentley.com

Your Copywriting Assigments

Pacing and Leading Your Copywriting Assigments
By Dina Giolitto
Platinum Quality Author

Yes, a good copywriter "paces and leads" the reader in the copy that she writes for her clients. But did you know? She must also pace and lead as part of successful copywriting project management.

If you're a copywriter, you know the frightening feeling of having stated on paper that you plan to have a project completed for a client by Date X, and then knowing that client is not rolling out feedback and updates fast enough to make that deadline reality. If the client is someone familiar and trustworthy, okay, no big deal. But if it's a new person on whom you want to make a favorable impression and do a good job, this can be quite a predicament.

So, what do you do? Bite your nails and suffer through sleepless nights? Start work with someone else, hoping that if your client has gone away, she'll "stay away" until you're ready to resume the work?

No. Unfortunately, you're going to have to be proactive in pacing and leading that project. If your client is clearly waffling along, then you have to take matters into your own hands. Is she withholding information that you need to progress further? Then you must clearly state that in writing. Remind her of her deadline, which you committed your signature to.

Give your client constant progress updates along the way and request more information repeatedly. If the information is something that she can provide in bulk, ask her to hit you with it all at once and then pace and lead yourself. If she refuses to relinquish control, then do your best to keep at her, keep at her and keep at her some more.

Your client cannot fault you for being fastidious, or for requesting needed information. Even though you may feel like a pest, if you're not receiving, then you must ask. There is no way around it, if you ever expect to make the completion date.

If the deadline is fast approaching and the project goes unfinished, you must beat your client to the punch and let her know that the work has not been moving along at a desired pace. Again, state in writing that your needs have not been met, and have your email and drafted evidence stacked up in case she tries to put the blame on you for not being vigilant.

Pacing and leading the project is NOT one of the most exciting parts of being a copywriter, but it's something that needs to be done if you can see that your client has no sense of timing. Do not think that if your client pulls a disappearing act, you're permitted to do the same. It's not responsible, and it's certainly not professional.

Better still, avoid signing any contractual agreements that lock you into a final due date. You really never know what circumstances could throw the project off course. Whether it's a difficult client, an unexpected illness, or some other unforseen event, just about anything can throw your schedule off course.

If your client does decide to stick you for the last payment because she's arguing that you didn't make the deadline, consult with a lawyer if you have one. Otherwise, cut your losses and make a promise to yourself to pace and lead every project from now on. Better still: next time, don't commit to a deadline in writing!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more information.

Kick Your Ghostwriter to the Curb

5 Reasons to Kick Your Ghostwriter to the Curb
By Dina Giolitto
Platinum Quality Author


With a million and one things to do, it's a wise idea to have a ghostwriter to lighten the load. But what if your ghostwriter is more of a hindrance than a help? Here are some signs it may be time to cut the cord and send that ghostwriter packing.

1. You edit your ghostwriter's work, and not the other way around.

Your ghostwriter is here to polish your appearance. If you're embarassed by what she comes up with, or if her grammar skills are sub-par, get out before things get ugly. And while you're at it, do her a favor and offer some dead-honesty about her ability. She may hate you for it tomorrow, but an honest constructive opinion can be just the thing to initiate improvement all around.

2. Your ghostwriter is a slacker.

Nothing like handing your ghostwriter an assigment and having to wait three days for a response, only to find that the draft is completely unusable. If you've clearly set a pace for productivity but your ghostwriter seems to be off in la-la land, it's time to end the contract.

3. You suspect your ghostwriter of plagiarism.

Signs that your ghostwriter could be a content-lifter: little copy slips like "In this section of the book we'll discuss..." If there IS no book, that's a problem... and that copy's likely been recycled from elsewhere. An easy plagiarism test: highlight and copy a sentence from the submitted work into a Google search box with quotes around it. If plagiarism's at play, the evidence will surface quickly.

4. You regularly run into your ghostwriter at the local bar.

Okay, this one's a joke (sort of). Fact is, if either of you are serious about being in business, no one should be boozing it up at the local watering hole. (Okay, I'll give you permission for once-a-week stress relief but no more.) Bottom line: your ghostwriter should be a dedicated professional, not some young college party person that you hired because her rates were so low.

5. Nobody seems impressed by your ghostwriter's copy.

If your website copy or printed materials are run-of-the-mill, ho-hum, dime-a-dozen, lackluster, typo-laden, and/or would have stood a better chance being written by your five-year-old niece... the time has come to say "Sionara, Ghostwriter." A ghostwriter should be indispensible for her ability to make your copy snap, crackle and pop off the page. If she's anything less, do yourself and your bank account a favor, thank her for her time and end the relationship.

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more information.

Copywriting Tip

Copywriting Tip: How to Format HTML for Clients When You Don't Know HTML
By Dina Giolitto

If you're a copywriter who works with web designers, there may come a time when you're asked to send the document in HTML format. The bad news: you don't know HTML. The good news: thanks to the many HTML editors available for use on the web, you don't need to know HTML. Learn how to produce quick HTML coded copy drafts in Ten Easy Steps.

Step 1. Type the article as you normally would, using your word processing program of choice. For most people, that's Microsoft Word. For others, it's Microsoft Works. Wordpad, WordPerfect, and any shareware word processor all work fine for this purpose. Save the file as you normally would, in a spot that's easily accessible.

Step 2. Locate your text editing program. The easiest way to do this is to open a web page... any web page at all is okay, and then go to the top and click VIEW, and then SOURCE. The page that opens up is your text editing program. For most users, that would be Notepad.

Step 3. In that text editing program, click FILE and then NEW. Go back to the file that contains your client's copy, and hit Control-A (highlight all) and then Control-C (copy). Return to the Notepad or other text file and do a Control-V (paste). The article text will flow onto the page. Go to the top and label this copy as "Plain Text Version."

Step 4. Visit a networking site, such as Ryze.com, or an article distribution site that you're familiar with, that offers an HTML editor. If you normally post to the Ryze network, you should go to one of the forums you're familiar with there.

Step 5. Start a "fake" post in the network forum of your choice. (Or, pretend you're entering article text if you're in an article site.)

Step 6. Paste the client's copy into that box where you'd normally type your post or article. Click PREVIEW and then EDIT POST, or else click the HTML icon if there is one.

Step 7. Once you see the text appear in HTML format, with all that nifty code, highlight and copy the entire contents of the box using the method described in Step 3. Go back to your Notepad file that contains the Plain Text version of your copy, and scroll down past it. Paste the HTML code you picked up from the HTML editor box after the Plain Text version. Label the second version of the text as "HTML Version."

Step 8. Save the text file on your desktop as a .txt file. Go back to the "fake post" and close it up (obviously you don't want to post your client's work on a public forum or as an article by accident. If for some reason you hit the dreaded POST button, delete your post immediately.

Step 9. Make sure that you communicate with the designer your plan to do this with the copy. Ask him if this HTML is something he can use. You may find that in talking with him, it's not what he needs after all. If he plans to use style sheets to design the site, then you definitely do not have to go through this needless process... the HTML code that is generated with a text editor will be useless to him.

Step 10. Offer the designer an alternative: That you will use basic HTML code such as <> for bold, <> for italics, <> for line breaks, and so on. If you do not know this code, make it your business to find out about it. I suggest you read this article:

HTML Explained

Above all, you should maintain open communication with your web design collaborator. If he finds you easy to work with, guess which copywriter is getting a call back? That would be you. Good luck and happy coding!

Copyright 2005 Dina Giolitto. All rights reserved.

Dina Giolitto is a copywriting consultant and ghostwriter with 10 years of experience writing corporate print materials and web content. Trust her with your next e-book, article series or web project, and make a lasting impression on your audience of information-hungry prospects. Visit http://www.wordfeeder.com for more information.

Starting A Business - How to get everything done on your list

by: Anthony Jewell

With all of the pressures that come with starting up a new business it is easy to get overwhelmed. Which many people face is a long list of tasks that need to be dealt with. Keeping yourself and your company organized can be a tall task with everything you have to face. It seems when starting a business that you have 1000 things to do but that you are walking in mud. It seems to take such a long time to get everything done. The key is to stay organized and move through your list with ease. Sounds impossible? Well it is not, let me show you.

The most important part of starting a new company is not to get in a panic with the responsibilities and efforts that you will have to put out to get it up and running. Trust me, no matter what is on your list you can do it. It is all just a matter of time and what you can get done first. Now take a deep breath and relax your mind. I am going to make this as painless as possible for you.

All right, lets go. The first step is to break your list down into smaller lists. Each list will allow you to identify what needs to be done to get your business running as well as when they can be achieved. So you are going to want to take your main list and create three smaller lists which are:

-Short List
-Medium List
-Long List

We'll start off with the short list. This list contains of everything that can be taken care of right now(Yes, right now. So don't put it off). Such as ordering supplies, setting up your office, getting a new phone line ect... It is everything that can be done without something impeding it. An example of this is if you were trying to set up your office but don't have space for it. So getting the space for your new office would go on your short list. It would be the first steps to take.

Now that you have figured that out, next in line for this would be setting up your office. So step one is to find space and step to is to set it up. This would go on your next list which is the "Medium list". This is everything that can be done after the short list is taken care of. Some things on your list may be "purchase programs for new computer" but if you don't have a new computer you will have to wait until get one, so this would go on your short list.

Next would be your "Long list". Which are things that can only be done when you are almost ready to go. An example of this would be "Advertise for Grand opening". This won't be possible until you 1. find space for your office(which is on your short list) 2. Set up your office(which is on your medium list) then finally 3. Advertise grand opening(because everything is set up and ready to).

Dividing your tasks like this will save you time but also help you get things done without getting overwhelmed. Also don't be scared to move along each list. So even though you have tasks to complete on list one, but there are some tasks you can now complete on list two. Don't be afraid to work on both of those list during the day even though you haven't finished all of the tasks from list one yet.

Another important part is that when you finish a task make sure to double check it to see that you did everything correctly. Then cross it off of your list so that you don't waiste time working on something you've already done.
----------------------------------------------------
Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article freely but please keep in the copyright

Becoming A Ghostwriter

By: Lorraine Cote

Ghostwriting can be rewarding in two ways.
a) You get a chance to research and write about all types of topics that you wouldn't normally have a chance to learn about. The old theory in writing "write what you know" doesn't apply to ghostwriting since your clients will dictate what topic you will write about.

b) You can make a decent living at it.If you're new to writing, it may take a while to get clients but it is possible. It just takes a little hard work and perserverance. There are several ways to get clients. Here are a few.

1. Bid on writing jobs on contracted work site such as Elance.com, Guru.com and Getafreelancer.com
You basically signup as a service provider to begin bidding on projects posted by clients. If you win the bid, you do the writing project as a ghostwriter.

2. Place ads for your ghostwriting service on free classified ad sites. It doesn't cost anything to
post ads on these sites and is a good way to get your services out there in front of potential
clients.

3. Post responses in forums with a signature that defines your ghostwriting service and an email address or website URL. Something along the lines of "Affordable Ghostwriting Services,[your website url] or email for more details [your email address].

4. Introduce your services in forums where you are allowed to do this. Many forums have a section where you can introduce your business. See out writing forums for this.

5. Have business cards created showcasing your ghostwriting business. Pass them out every chance you get. Put them on bulletin boards in supermarkets etc. You can create your own or have them made.

6 Write a press release announcing your services. There are plenty of no-cost or low-cost distribution services on the web to get the message out for you. Ghostwriting may not be for everyone because you don't get credit for your work, the client does. If that doesn't matter to you and you like writing on a variety of topics, it can be an enjoyable way to earn some money.

Lorraine Cote
The Write Touch 4 U
http://www.thewritetouch4u.com
http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

The Power of Journals

Top 10 Miraculous Benefits of keeping
a Personal Journal

In earlier generations it was common to keep a diary or personal journal. Today few people do it, and very few recognize the value and astonishing power of keeping a journal. If you can read and write, you have access to the most amazing source of personal power and magic! Try it for 30 days and watch it transform your life! Clients periodically tell me they couldn't possibly find the time. I ask them to try it for 30 days. Then clients often tell me they couldn't possibly live without the power of their journals. The following are my list of the top 10 reasons to keep a journal.

1. A journal will clarify your goals. As you write a few thoughts each day, your ideas about what is important, what is worthy of your life and your time will become much clearer. You'll automatically discover what you really want in life.

2. A journal will simplify your life. Spending as little as 10 minutes with pen and paper describing your values, noting your achievements and giving thanks for the joys of life, will make you less tolerant of life's distractions. Things become much simpler when you write them down.

3. A journal will strengthen your relationships. It will give you time and the words to express your feelings, it will help you understand and be patient with your loved one's peccadilloes, and it will teach you to love more powerfully.

4. A journal will make you more attractive. Socrates said, "Know thyself." Keeping a journal will help you know yourself and express yourself more clearly, and that is amazingly attractive!

5. A journal will empower you. Thinking with pen and paper forces you to eliminate fuzzy or confusing images and "laser" in on precisely the right word, the most powerful image to express yourself. Keeping a journal will make you more a better communicator, and that can make you rich!

6. A journal will eliminate temptation. Some ideas sounds great in our imagination, but when written on paper they just aren't the same! It's easy to blurt out "I hate my job!", but writing about what it means to quit, change careers and start over will quickly result in one of two things: The temptation will go away, or you'll start generating actual plans to make your life better. Either way, you win!

7. A journal affirms the reality of your life. Writing about life adds meaning and power. Journal your child's first steps or first tooth, starting school, her first date and high school graduation adds substance to these things. A friend of mine just became a grandfather for the first time and gave his son, the proud father, a fat 3-ring binder of notes he'd written as he'd watched his baby boy grow 25 years ago. Together they cried and laughed at the reality that life is a sacred, wonderful thing.

8. A journal helps you be quiet. Journalizing has been called a form of meditation. It has a similar power to quiet the mind and focus your thoughts. It even has the power to turn off the TV! It can heal anxiety, change your breathing and make you smile. What more could you ask?

9. A journal helps you speak out. Many of my articles, letters to the local paper, and letters to friends began as notes in my journal. A journal helps ideas become words, and it provides a nursery for words to grow into sentences and paragraphs, until finally they need a stage on which to express themselves. Sometimes that "stage" is a candle-lit dinner, other times it's a protest sign or a letter to an old friend. Whatever form it takes, many of those messages would never have been born without the safety of a journal in which to grow.

10. Finally, a journal just feels good! Using quality paper and a fountain pen or other beautiful instrument with just the right "heft" and feel is a wonderfully sensuous, delightful experience. It will cheer you up, reduce your stress, make you smile and add to your life. Who knows, it may even improve your sex life or make you more patient with the kids! (Well, it might!)

Phil, Mary, and the Staff at
Resources for Success!™

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: "Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It's all on his website at: http://www.philiphumbert.com "

Making Money By Outsourcing

Making Money By Outsourcing
by: Anthony Jewell

So you are thinking to yourself "how can I expand my operation, do more business and make more money?". If you are thinking this right now and are in the web design or webhosting fields then Outsourcing might be for you. Now this is not to say that other companies or businesses can't do outsourcing work. The reasons I give web design and webhosting as examples is they are sort of related. You can't have a site up without hosting in return you really don't need hosting unless you have a site up.

Now you may be thinking what steps do you need to get started on expanding via outsourcing. Well the very first thing for you to do is to see if you have a good clients base where you are:

-Unable to keep up with the work.
-Unable to do the work yourself(in the case you run a website that gets alot of request but have no knowledge in website design).
-Can do website and graphic works but you have no clue about programming.

Anyone of these situations can leave you looking to outsource your business. Especially when you design websites but can not code them in anything but html(which your clients might need it coded in php and mysql). Not being able to offer your clients a complete solution may cause them to go another developer. Which in turn can cause you to lose projects in the $X,XXX range.

Now that you have decided to turn to outsourcing, you need to find a reliable team of developers. Whether they are website designers, programmers or both. You will need to know that they can do the work, are reliable and trustworthy. Make sure when you do this search that you follow these simple rules and check on some things. Such as:

-Make sure you can contact them multiple ways and that they will contact you back in a reasonable amount of time.
-Get samples of their work.
-Ask for references.
-Get their rates.
-Find out their years of experience.
-Make sure they are willing to sign a contract.
-Find out how much work they can handle, what languages they program in, as well as their team size.
-It is all right to give them a deposit but limit it to 25-50% and don't pay anymore until the project is complete. If you want to break it down into milestones you can, but do it in either 10% or 20% increments. Make sure the milestones are set out in the contract.

These things will protect you.

The next thing you are going to want to do before taking on any projects is start with a test project. This will allow you to try out your new team as well as see what type of markup on projects you will get. This will definitely show you what problems if any you might face with the new team. It will also show you if there is a significant enough markup for you to make it worth your time to outsource.

The final step you are going to need to do is to put in place a fluent system to monitor clients, emails and your team. This will definitely help when updates are needed to be done. A project management system will allow your clients and your team to talk to each other without revealing any personnel contact information. Which will save you from having your clients stolen from you. Also make sure you monitor all contact so that you can be sure you can trust who you are doing business with.

Just remember to take outsourcing one step at a time.

----------------------------------------------------
Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com
_________________
Owner of Logo2D.com,
Anthony Jewell
info@logo2d.com

Why Use A Ghostwriter?

No Time To Write? Try a Ghostwriter

by Sharon Hurley Hall

Many people feel they have a story to tell or an experience to share.
But time is precious and not everyone can make the words sing on
the page. But there are people who can make the whole experience
hassle-free. A ghostwriter will do all the work while you get all
the credit. Some common questions about the ghostwriting
process are answered below.

What does a ghostwriter do?
A ghostwriter edits, writes, collaborates, and researches on behalf
of someone else who becomes their client. Many biographies of
celebrities and television personalities have been ghostwritten.

Why do I need one?
Not everyone knows how to or has the time to turn an idea into a
book. A ghostwriter is a professional who has the time to turn your
thoughts into a polished manuscript.

How does ghostwriting work?
You give the ghostwriter your ideas; s/he tells your story. Most
people provide notes, digital recordings or audio tapes. Some may
even have drafts of chapters or the whole book and ideas about
characters and dialogue. The more information and material you provide,
the closer the final product will be to your original idea. The ghostwriter
turns your idea into something that people will enjoy reading.

Will the ghostwriter steal my idea?
No, that wouldn't be professional. Any ghostwriter who did that would
soon be out of a job. A reputable ghostwriter will usually be happy to
sign a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement.

Who gets the credit for my finished book?
It's your idea, so you take the credit. Many ghostwriters work behind
the scenes. Of course, in some instances, you may want to share the
credit - that's why many biographies are credited like this: Major
Celebrity with Ghostwriter or Major Celebrity as told to Ghostwriter.
But you call the shots and can opt to take all the credit.

How much does ghostwriting cost?
Each job is unique and that makes it hard to give more than general
guidelines. The length of time the project is likely to take and the
amount of research the ghostwriter will be required to do will affect
the final cost. Many ghostwriters will charge a small up front fee, followed
by payments at each stage of completed work. Unless you're a major
celebrity with an iron-clad publishing contract already signed and sealed,
a ghostwriter is unlikely to work for nothing.

What does a ghostwriter's fee cover?
It covers writing, research and any communication, but not usually travel
or accommodation.

How long will it take to ghostwrite my material?
That depends on the material. Anywhere from 2 to 6 months is average
depending on the type of book and how much work you've already put in.
A short article may only take hours while a longer research report may
take a year. You'll be able to discuss this once you've hired a ghostwriter.

What about publication?
Some ghostwriters help with publication as well, by sending query letters
and so on. This will probably cost you extra. Other ghostwriters see the
writing as their job and leave you to find your own publisher. Consider
which option you prefer before signing the contract.

How do I know the ghostwriter is experienced?
Ghostwriters generally have to keep clients' names confidential, but you
can look at other examples of their writing. If you enjoy reading these,
then chances are that others will enjoy reading your material too.

See you in print!

About the Author

Sharon Hurley Hall is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor. Sharon
worked in publishing for 18 years, writing articles and editing and
designing books and magazines. She has also lectured on journalism.
For more information or to contact Sharon, visit http://www.doublehdesign.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Great article on the uses of a ghostwriter. You would be amazed how
much time and trouble using a ghostwriter can be. Give it a try!
Lorraine Cote, owner of The Write Touch 4U blog

Affordable Copywriting Services
http://thewritetouch4U.com

Things you may like to know about copyrights

Copyright Your Content

You may be under the false impression that before you can get your text published, you must “get the copyright” to your own written material. You might also think that in order to get the copyright, you must “apply” for it. This is just not so. In the following few paragraphs, I’ll give you some simple facts about copyrights that may help you in your quest to get published.

First, it is important to understand that you cannot “copyright” an idea; you can only copyright what you have written. That is, you might have just written the greatest self-help manual on how to breed guppies. And you did, indeed, file for your copyright with the Library of Congress. Three weeks after completing the formal copyrighting process, you find out that the manager of your neighborhood pet store (where you’ve been buying your guppies) has just sold the TV rights to a new hit show “Breeding Guppies” and he is using many of the same principles that you’ve outlined in your manual on how to go about guppy breeding.

So, naturally, since this is the 21st Century and you live in America, you want to sue the guy. You think you have a sure thing, and you are dreaming of the million-dollar award that the jury is sure to give you. But…you’d better not put a down payment on that Guppy Farm in Iowa just yet.

The manual you wrote, the exact words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that you wrote, belong to you. It is illegal for anyone to reproduce or use any of that text, in part or in whole, for profit without your permission. However, you must be able to prove that your exact words have been stolen before you can get an award for copyright infringement. So, you know that guy with his hit TV series? Well, unless he’s reading from your manual word-for-word, or attempting to sell your manual as a supplemental text that he’s written, then he’s probably doing nothing illegal. He’s just using the idea of breeding guppies.

You do “own” the copyright to your text, all its words and clever phrases. And you don’t even have to file with the Library of Congress in order to have the copyright on your text. The copyright is conferred upon you the minute you write your New York Times Bestseller. All you have to do is be able to prove, beyond any doubt, the date that you wrote the material. For your protection, then, it is wise to print and date your material, and establish with a third party through a written communication that you have just finished your text. At that time, you can legally affix the copyright symbol (the letter c inside a circle) to your work.

Now here’s where a formal copyright comes in. By filing with the Library of Congress (and paying them their required application fee), you can establish definitively a date of copyright that will stand up in any court of law. Any judge or jury will defer to your date over someone else who can merely claim by word of mouth that his text came before yours. It’s a good idea to formally copyright any text that you are planning to market. So, if you’re convinced that the world population-at-large is in desperate need of “Breeding Guppies, What Every Ichthyologist Needs to Know” and you plan to sell it on Ebay for $19.95, you should apply for a formal copyright.

Just having the copyright, however, doesn’t mean that other people can’t quote your work. They may do so, as long as you are given full credit for having written it prior to their use. This is called a “reference” or a “citation” and generally, whatever passage is being quoted will appear offset in quotation marks (so that the reader can visualize which words belong to someone other than the author of the text in which the quote appears). Of course, at present the contingent of Copyright Police is not up to tracking down every single instance of copyright infringement, and chances are that not everyone cites original authors as scrupulously as they should, so beware of whom you casually let look at or read your text (or to whom you give a copy).

Copyrights are not forever. Typically, a copyright lasts for 50 years past the natural life of the original author. Authors’ heirs may sometimes re-apply for copyrights, but generally written texts that are this old are considered “public domain” and may be reproduced without paying the author’s family a royalty fee.

In the publishing world, you will find that many publications require that you relinquish your copyrights to the work in return for having your work published. This is a fairly standard procedure—unless your name happens to be Stephen King or Danielle Steele. Once you’ve relinquished your copyright to a given work, you can not sell or submit that text again unless you get express approval from the publisher that now owns the copyright.

There are sites on the World Wide Web where you can post your work for others to read or use as they see fit, so-called “free sites.” In cases such as this, there should be a disclaimer that anyone who uses or reproduces your work must give you full credit. Whether this happens all the time is certainly a matter for some speculation, but your safeguard is that you own the copyright and if you find that someone is profiting from your work and that you have not been compensated, you can file a copyright infringement suit against them.

As of the date of this article, the current copyright fee is $30. All the instructions and necessary forms can be found on U.S. Copyright Office’s web site: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/. I have copyrighted several texts and advise that you mail your application with a “Return Receipt Requested” from the U.S. Post Office. This is your proof that the Copyright Office has received your copyright application.

Author Information:
Jan Kovarik
Jan K., The Proofer
jankproof@aol.com
http://www.janktheproofer.com

Where Can You Find The Best Resources For Technical Writing

Where Can You Find The Best Resources For Technical Writing
by Niall Cinneide
Send Feedback to Niall Cinneide
More Details about Freelance Writing Jobs here.

As a freelance writer, it is important that you have a solid foundation for your skill. In many cases, though, there may be a need to use technical writing resoures to excel. Because there are many fields in which an individual can work in, there are just as many different bits of knowledge that they must have. In order to build a business as a freelance writer, it is important to find and use technical resources as necessary. But, finding these can prove to be difficult for some people.

It is wise to study and research the topic long before beginning the piece of work. This will take time and it will be necessary. There are many options to researching though. There are the traditional encyclopedias and dictionaries that can answer many questions. The problem with these, though, is that they are often outdated especially in the technology fields.

Instead, the researcher can take their quest online. It is quite important to avoid the search engine jumbles though as these can simply point the researcher in the direction of ads that sell. Unfortunately, solid information will need to come from knowing which websites to go to. A little work in this area and there will be no problem though.

When a writer is engaged to write in a difficult field, it is wise to have as many avenues of information open to them as possible. It is often necessary to ask the client for information on their product or service in order to get it just right.

In any case, technical resources are available and can be extremely beneficial to the actual copy. It is important to gather the information needed because no client will pay for work that is incomplete or inaccurate in any way.

Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Advice about Freelance Writing Jobs. Copyright © FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

Keywords: writing,copywriting,freelance,jobs,work at home,home business

About the Author
Niall Cinneide,
Learn more about Freelance Writing Jobs
Visit FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Views about Freelance Writing Jobs. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and live links are included intact.

5 Self-Publishing Ways To Earn Continous Cash From A Single Article

5 Self-Publishing Ways To Earn Continous Cash From A Single Article
by Christopher Kyalo
Send Feedback to Christopher Kyalo
More Details about writing online for cash here.

While it is clear that writers and self-publishers will never be able to attract the same rates online that they did from offline publications and media, it does not mean that online writers doomed to starvation. If anything a number of them are already proving that many online writers and self-publishers will end up making a lot more cash than their offline counterparts ever did.

Actually already we are starting to see online writer's incomes grow steadily. However what has confused a lot of folks is the fact that the rules online are very different. It is useful to examine a few of these differences because it will help us understand the online rules better and how to make money as an online writer with less effort.

Why Online Rules For Writers And Self-Publishing Are Different

The offline media has always been fat from the high advertising rates attracted and in some cases from a high circulation on a healthy cover price. The result was that freelance writers could live off a few articles a month. This is in sharp contrast to webmasters looking to pay single-digit figures for 500-word articles.

What all this means is that there are only two ways a writer can make money. Either by selling the same content to hundreds of sites or by finding a way to earn a continuous stream of cash from a single article. The first option doesn't fly on the net because the World Wide Web is not a local fragmented medium. Rather the feeling is that when an article is published at one site, the whole world has seen it because the whole world has access to it. While this may not be entirely true, it is the general feeling and it greatly limits the number of different web sites you can sell a single article to.

In this article we examine closely what writers and self-publishers online are doing to maximize on their earnings from a single article.

Self-Publishing For AdSense

So far this has proved to be the most lucrative source of revenue for self-publishing and writing online. AdSense are pay-per-click ads from Google that are posted on web sites and blogs all over the net. When people click on them Google shares their income with the owners of the blogs or web sites.

So a writer writes a single article and posts it at a blog somewhere where it attract relevant Google AdSense ads and they will continue aerning money from that single article for years to come. Even if an article earns $ 2 a day on average, it will end up earning the writer $730 a year. Not bad when it has the potential of doing the same for the next couple of years.

The trick with Adsense is to use the right keywords that will attract ads that will pay a lot more when people click on them. It is said that there are some keywords that will attract ads that will pay out as much as $100 per click. My special report provides tools that will help a writer find the highest paying Adsense keywords.

Self-Publishing At A Site That Sells Content For You

The great challenge for any writer is that they have to be good at two very different tasks. At writing and also at selling and marketing their writing. Not any more, web sites have emerged that will gladly sell your articles for you, leaving you with the task of writing them. The particular site I have in mind has experience selling license rights to the same article to various web sites, meaning that the writer can earn again and again from the same single article.

Self-Publishing For Traffic

Self-publishing your article and content at various other sites is a powerful tool for increasing traffic to your site by creating links to it and also causing folks to visit your site for more information.

So the result is that a single article can earn you cash for a long time by simply directing targeted traffic to your site where some of the folks will click at your Adsense ads while others will purchase something, maybe your special report based on some of your articles.

Self-Publishing At Blogs

An increasing number of organizations are paying people to blog. Some will pay bloggers for the traffic their articles attract while others pay writers a commission from the Adsense revenue that their articles generate. There are a host of different programs a writer or self-publisher can use to generate income from a single article for years to come.

Self-Publishing A Special Report

It is very easy to convert your article into a special report, which you can then sell at your site. Even if you charge pocket-change for your special report, over time you could earn thousands of dollars from it.

Conclusion

Now imagine the potential if you were to ensure that every single article you wrote was slightly adjusted so that it was able to earn you a steady income stream from all the 5 revenue generating ideas we have talked about in this article. That's how a self-publishing online writer can make over $ 100,000 a year.

---------------------------------------

Christopher Kyalo earns a good living writing online. Get his special report that is a more detailed version of this article from Special Report He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com

Keywords: Self-publishing

About the Author
Christopher Kyalo, Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.
Learn more about writing online for cash
Christopher Kyalo is a writer/marketing expert who makes money online only by posting free articles. Visit his blog at http://www.big-online-story.blogspot.com for free tips and valuable secrets.

Is Online Business Card Design Right for You?

Is Online Business Card Design Right for You?
by Christopher Brunner
Send Feedback to Christopher Brunner

Designing a business card online is right for you if:

• You want a business card to represent you and your company that looks professional and classy.
• You don't want to dive into an unfamiliar graphics-editing program.
• Paying a graphic designer is not in the budget.

The Dark Side of Self Design

Creating your own business card design is not an easy task. Photoshop can seem overwhelming and MS Paint doesn't even scratch the surface of professional design requirements. You can expect to pay $350-$800 for a quality graphic design program. If you have no prior graphic design experience, it can take weeks, months or even years to master the program.

All this can result in frustration and a huge amount of wasted time and money. Then again, you could spend even more money by...

Hiring a Graphic Designer

Hiring a graphic designer to create a card for you can be just as frustrating, and at times, very expensive. You can expect to pay anywhere from $300-$5,000 for a complete identity makeover with fresh business card designs (that doesn't include the cost of printing). You will also likely encounter the weeks and numerous phone calls it takes to get a design finalized.

If you have a mature business and need a high-impact logo, I suggest going this route. Otherwise....

Get More For Less

Bottom line: designing your business cards online will save you time and money. Breakthroughs in web programming have allowed print providers like GreatFX Business Cards to offer complete online design studios allowing you to create a business card within your web browser in just minutes.

What are you waiting for? Lets get started!
Design your new business cards online now

More business card design and networking articles:

• Free Business Cards... But At What Cost?
• How to Choose Photos, Logos and Graphics for Your Business Cards
• How to Add Value to Your Business Cards
• Power Words Business Cards
• 8 Ways to Use Business Cards to Network and Market Your Business
• Alternative Uses for Business Cards
• How to Beat Your Competition Outside the Phone Book with Magnetic Business Cards
• Personal Networking Cards: What They Are and How to Use Them

Keywords: online business card cards design make

About the Author
Christopher Brunner, Springfield, Missouri, USA
info@greatfxbusinesscards.com
Learn more about design business cards online
Christopher Brunner is interested in helping you gain more clients with your business cards. Browse one of the web's largest collection of business card networking articles and create business cards online at http://www.greatfxbusinesscards.com

Little Known Ways To Make More Money With EBooks

Little Known Ways To Make More Money With EBooks
by Geoff Morris
Send Feedback to Geoff Morris
More Details about Make More Money with Ebooks here.

There are a myriad of free information products on the internet today, and actually looking to make some more money out of the act of 'giving' them away can be a constant source of much frustration.

In conjunction with Johan Mok and Ewen Chia, Geoff Morris has compiled a list of some15 points that should remove some of these frustrations and actually start to make a deal more money foe the site owners.

Look at the list below, and carefully select the ones that will be of use in your web sites.

1. Allow other e-zine publishers or web site owners to republish small nuggets or excerpts of information from your ebook with your byline or ad included.

2. Make extra profits from selling monthly updates of your ebook. You could also back end sell the extra never released chapters of your e-book.

3. Give away a free ebook and then give people an option of buying the paid version of the ebook. Also let others give away the free version of your ebook.

4. Divide your ebook content into reports then give people the option of just purchasing the info they want.

5. Purchase reprint rights to other people's ebooks an combine them with your in a large package deal or private ebook library web site.

6. Change the benefits on your ebook ad copy into links. When people click on it take them right to the order page. It'll give them a urge to buy your ebook.

7. Charge people a cheap price to read half of your ebook. If they like it, they can pay full price to read the other half.

8. Offer freebies that are related to the ebook your selling. It could be free monthly ebook updates, free e-zine, free consulting, etc.

9. Show your prospects a sample page out of your ebook. Just black out some of the important info. This will make your prospects curious to buy.

10. Provide a low and high priced version of your ebook. Show benefits of each version side by side. People usually spend a little more for extra info.

11. Offer the reprint rights to your ebook. You can sell the rights with the regular purchase price or as a separate higher price.

12. Make your ebook available for offline people. Your could turn it into a print book, report, video, audio book, print newsletter, etc.

13. Redesign your ebook for specific niches. You can create multiple profits with very little work. Ex: Turn a business ebook into a craft business ebook.

14. Give your prospects discount coupons on other products when they purchase your ebook. It could be your products or others that you made deals with.

15. Divide your ebook into online newsletter issues. You could charge a recurring monthly subscription for people to view each issue.

Hopefully, most readers would have found some useful advice in the above. If you use them, and are successful, please drop us an email, with a few words on what sort of success it brought to you.

Keywords: ebook, ebooks, money, making money, marketing, freebies, reprint rights, offline publishing, redesig

About the Author
Geoff Morris, Cambridge UK
geofftrader@gmail.com
Learn more about Make More Money with Ebooks
Geoff Morris has built up a multi-million pound property portfolio in less than 18 months. He has written a number of articles aimed to help others follow the same path to financial freedom. Imagine the peace of mind that you would achieve if you follow the advice to be found in his Free reports and consumer guides to be found at www.propertyprofits4you.com

A Copywriting Lesson from Dr. Seuss

Looking for inspiration for your next marketing communication? Try the children’s bookshelf.

Dr. Seuss has entertained young (and old) audiences for nearly 50 years with titles such as "The Cat in the Hat," "Hop on Pop" and "Green Eggs and Ham."

The reason why his books remain so popular says something about what makes for good writing (and reading), no matter who the audience is.

Nouns and Verbs

Nothing keeps readers moving like strong noun-verb combinations. If the sentence were a train, nouns and verbs would be the engine. Adjectives, adverbs and the other parts of speech make the train longer and slower. Dr. Seuss' sentences have strong engines pulling light loads to keep readers moving down the tracks.

Lots of Periods

A byproduct of eliminating the extraneous words is shorter sentence length. Lots of periods. Paradoxically, more sentences of shorter length increase reading speed and comprehension. Dr. Seuss, as are many children's authors, is a champion of the short sentence.

Imagination

Albert Einstein said, "The gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge." Were it not for imagination, there would be no Cat in the Hat and no Dr. Seuss. Imagination is the beginning of copywriting because first there must be an idea or concept.

Fun

Dr. Seuss' books are fun to read. They're funny, too, but that's not the same thing. Fun to read is material that's entertaining and effortless for readers, an excellent standard for all writing.

Lyrical

Dr. Seuss' books are written in verse. Of course they're lyrical. However, this goes beyond silly rhymes. There are a sound and rhythm to the words that, like a favorite tune, you don't mind hearing over and over. Good writing of all varieties is pleasing to the eye and ear.

Economical

Children have short attention spans. Dr. Seuss knows how to tell a story without unnecessary detours. Every word counts. That's good advice for all who write copy because children aren't the only ones with short attention spans.

Memorable

This is the litmus test for all writing. Did readers take something away? Was their time well invested? "The Cat in the Hat" is a story about having fun, even on a rainy day. Now that's worthwhile reading.

(c) 2005 Neil Sagebiel

Neil Sagebiel is a veteran copywriter and publisher of "Headlines from Floyd," a FREE monthly ezine for those who want proven copywriting and marketing tips to generate more business. To sign up and also get a FREE bonus report, "Close More Sales with Testimonials," visit http://www.neilsagebiel.com.

Sales Headline Copywriting – Two Quick Steps to Success

Get a Good Start for Sales Success

The headline to a sales letter is like the doorway to a store. The purpose of both is to draw people in. To get people in the store, a doorway has to be both attractive and inviting. To get people to read the letter, the headline has to both make the prospect take notice and make them want to know more.

When you write a headline to sell something, make sure it does these two things:

1. Gets attention

2. Arouses curiosity

How to Get the Prospect’s Attention

If you’re out in the street and you want to get someone’s attention, it’s easy enough. Just yell at them, “Hey, YOU!” They’ll turn and look at you to see what you want.

A lot of headline writers think they can do the same thing in print. The sprinkle “you” and “your” and “you’ll” around and figure that’s all it takes. It’s not that easy.

What gets attention is something that truly interests the prospect – it solves a problem for them or meets a compelling need.

For example, if you’re addressing someone who wants to get rich quick and easy, a headline like this could work “You’ll Make Millions Selling Our Christmas Cards Part-time.” Now this headline has some problems that we’ll address in a minute, but at least it would get attention if the prospect were interested in making millions.

Remember though: Interest – like beauty – is in the eye of the beholder. If you were sending a sales letter to monks and nuns, an appeal to their greed probably would not get attention. That’s why it’s so important to know your prospect. One way to do that is to research your product. Often asking what the purpose of the product is will give you insight into the prospect’s thinking. That’s because the product’s designers were trying to solve a problem or meet a need.

Golf clubs designed with gigantic titanium heads appeal to golfers who want a tool to help them hit the ball farther. They could probably do better by spending the money on lessons but they want what they want the easy way. The headline can get their attention by acknowledging what they want:

“With Our Big Pig Titanium Driver, You’ll Hit The Ball At Least Fifty Yards Farther – Without Changing A Thing About Your Present Swing.”

This headline will get attention because it appeals to the prospects interest. But it shares a problem with the earlier headline. Maybe you already know what it is.

The Missing Element – Curiosity

The problem with both our headlines is that they don’t arouse curiosity. In the first case, we’re told how we can make the millions – by selling Christmas Cards for the company. There’s no mystery.

In fact, if I’ve had any experience selling Cards in the past, I’m liable to trash the letter because experience says it’s not a good idea. Your sales letter will never get a chance to weave its magic spell.

The same problem exists with the second headline. We’re familiar with the Big Pig Titanium Driver. We actually had a friend that bought one and it didn’t help him increase the distance of his drives at all. Again, rejected before we have time to make our pitch.

How To Arouse Curiosity

You arouse curiosity by hiding, obscuring, veiling, hinting but never revealing. Let’s change the first headline to read:

“Make Millions With A Joyful Product Everybody Needs – And LOVES!”

Now we’re going to want to read the letter to find out what the joyful product is. Our curiosity has been aroused.

And our second headline could be changed to:

“Hit The Ball Fifty, Even One Hundred Yards Farther – Without Changing Your Swing!”

Wow, lousy golfer that I am, I’m going to read the letter and find out how I can do this!

The important of arousing curiosity is the main reason for the old copywriter’s adage: Never Mention the Brand in a Headline.

Just Two Quick Steps to Headline Success

If you’ll just apply these two simple steps, you’ll be able to write great headlines. They’ll get the prospect’s attention and they’ll pique his curiosity and make him want to read more.

That’s the whole point of the headline – to make them want to read more.

Ronald A Murphy is a Copywriter and Graphic Designer specializing in Direct Response, Internet and Multichannel Marketing. Murphy writes and designs sales letters, direct mail packages, inserts, web sales pages, direct email, newsletters for marketing, Internet articles, white papers, and other sales focused materials. He provides expertise to clients serving financial, business, technology, health, opportunity and fundraising markets.

For more information on copywriting and marketing, visit his site at http://RAMurphy.com. At the site, you can subscribe to this newsletter, R A Murphy's Copywriting and Design Tips. Murphy also writes a Blog at http://RonaldAMurphy.com

5 Types of Article You Can Write

5 Types of Article You Can Write
by David Goldsmith
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More Details about writing articles here.

If you always write the same type of article then you are probably limiting your chances of getting published. Look at your favorite publications and you will see they print a variety of types of article. Here are five of the most popular types.

The ‘How To’ Article

This is a very popular type of article, in which you tell the reader how to do something. It could be how to build a garage, how to write a book, how to sell a house, or how to clean tar off a pair of trousers. These articles tend to be particularly popular because people love to find out how to do something.

When writing how to do something, and if the sequence is important, then it is a good idea to number each step. Remember to keep your instructions simple, yet specific. And you could even use a picture or illustration if the publication allows it.

The ‘List’ Article

The list article is an article that lists several related pieces of information, and is one of the easiest types of article to write. It could be “10 Ways To Save Money”, “5 Flowers to Plant In April”, or “The Best 12 Places To Live In Canada”. A list article should have:

• An introduction.
• The list; each item may be a paragraph or two.
• A conclusion.

The ‘Roundup’ Article

In the roundup article, you provide a roundup of information, statements, or opinions from a variety of sources. You might interview a number of experts, for example, and ask them the same list of questions. In your article you then write a roundup of the answers, e.g.

“Bill Jones, CEO of SHJ Limited, is confident that the market will turn around soon. “Within the next six weeks at most”, he predicted. But Tom Sloane, at Pickwick Associates, disagrees. He explains why…”

The 'Inspirational' Article

Inspiration articles include inspirational narrative, essays, articles on faith and religion, and self-help articles.

Do you know of an issue or concern that affects many people? Think of your own every day experiences. Write about the issue… and help the readers to deal with life and to improve themselves in some way.

The ‘As Told To’ Article

Because many of the people who have outstanding experiences are not writers, there is a market for writing those people’s stories. This is quite similar to ghostwriting, except that in this case the audience knows that you are the writer. In the credits, you would show “By Peter Wallace [subject], as told to Jim Davies…” [writer].

Instead of writing a third-person narrative of the event, the ‘As Told To’ article makes the tale more real and personal by using the first-person.

So next time you are about to write an article, pause… and ask which type of article would best suit your situation and topic. By varying the types of articles you write your writing will also develop a new depth and your articles will be picked up by a much wider variety of publications.

Keywords: writing, articles, journalism, marketing, reprint, free content

About the Author
David Goldsmith,
Learn more about writing articles
David Goldsmith is a freelance consultant and helps to manage ArticleStop, your one-stop resource for great, free content. http://www.ArticleStop.com

Where Can You Find The Best Resources For Technical Writing

Where Can You Find The Best Resources For Technical Writing
by Niall Cinneide
Send Feedback to Niall Cinneide
More Details about Freelance Writing Jobs here.
As a freelance writer, it is important that you have a solid foundation for your skill. In many cases, though, there may be a need to use technical writing resoures to excel. Because there are many fields in which an individual can work in, there are just as many different bits of knowledge that they must have. In order to build a business as a freelance writer, it is important to find and use technical resources as necessary. But, finding these can prove to be difficult for some people.

It is wise to study and research the topic long before beginning the piece of work. This will take time and it will be necessary. There are many options to researching though. There are the traditional encyclopedias and dictionaries that can answer many questions. The problem with these, though, is that they are often outdated especially in the technology fields.

Instead, the researcher can take their quest online. It is quite important to avoid the search engine jumbles though as these can simply point the researcher in the direction of ads that sell. Unfortunately, solid information will need to come from knowing which websites to go to. A little work in this area and there will be no problem though.

When a writer is engaged to write in a difficult field, it is wise to have as many avenues of information open to them as possible. It is often necessary to ask the client for information on their product or service in order to get it just right.

In any case, technical resources are available and can be extremely beneficial to the actual copy. It is important to gather the information needed because no client will pay for work that is incomplete or inaccurate in any way.

Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Advice about Freelance Writing Jobs. Copyright © FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

Keywords: writing,copywriting,freelance,jobs,work at home,home business

About the Author
Niall Cinneide,
Learn more about Freelance Writing Jobs
Visit FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Views about Freelance Writing Jobs. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and live links are included intact.

Custom Writing Services - Market Overview

Custom Writing Services Market Overview
by: Serge Chepurko

In this article the author is going to carry out custom writing services market overview providing comprehensive survey of the market divided into the following categories: market identification, market size, market segmentation, market growth speed, market customers, principles of operation, financial characteristics, regulations, and other categories. The research is structured in such a way as to group related issues in a logical order.

Market identification

Custom writing services market is a sector of the e-commerce industry. Custom writing services are fee-based.

Market size

The precise size of custom writing services market is unknown, though some rough estimate could be made. The number of competitors in the market approaches nearly 200. It is also known that around 30 percent of organizations in the industry have annual turnover equal amounting to $120,000 approximately, whereas other 70 percent have almost twice as low annual turnover. Total turnover, market size, is estimated at $10,800,000 annually. The size of the market in relation to the economy is yet unknown.

Segmentation

Segmentation is the process of allocation of particular homogeneous sub-markets within a heterogeneous market. A market is a multitude of sub-markets that have similar motivations.

In the case with the market concerned, segmentation is interpreted as follows. Companies that operate within the market could be divided in accordance to specialization differences into such categories: (a) generally-oriented companies; (b) particularly-oriented companies. Generally-oriented companies are those that produce custom-written papers on a wide variety of topics. As a rule, such organizations hire writers representing different specialties or simply those able to perform on appropriate level in one or several fields. Companies ascribed to another organizational category usually operate within a narrower framework. In the market there are companies that offer custom-written papers exclusively on math, physics, sociology, the African-Americans, William Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, etc.

Other products and services offered by the industry representatives include proofreading and editing services, and pre-written papers.

It is noteworthy that there are companies in the market that offer both custom-written and pre-written papers. This, however, may have nothing to do with violation of ethics, but what about privacy of those students who previously ordered a custom-written paper, which might have been later re-sold to another student?

Growth speed

Growth rates of the market are varying over the time. Thus, in 2000 there were nearly 25-30 companies offering custom-written/pre-written essays, term papers, cases studies, and other types of research papers. Over the 5-year period the number of companies in the market grew up to nearly a hundred and a half.

The leap in growth rates of the market is noticed to take place in 2003-2004 when sudden change in pricing occurred. The number of companies in the market increased almost 30 percent and now estimated around 80 companies. This leap was probably caused by the tendency towards ecommerce solutions being new to hoards of entrepreneurs in a number of developing countries like India, Ukraine, Poland and other countries. Companies with headquartered in these countries began offering similar services but with lower fees as compared to those located in the U.S., Canada, or Australia. More on pricing policies see in Pricing.

Today, market's growth speed is rather low as the market is full-fledged due to a variety of services offered by market participants.

Geographical distribution of services

It is worth mentioning that the researched market is a subdivision of ecommerce industry. This gives ground to conclude that either products or services produced by industry's parties are of intangible character rather than of tangible. This especially concerns custom writing services market, which offers its customers intangible products delivered to them mostly via email.

It should be clear that no matter where a company holds its general/backup office, it operates worldwide.

The only principle that regulates geographical distribution of custom-written papers is linguistic attachment. Among major countries using the service are: the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and some European and Asian countries.

Seasonal character of the market

Another aspect of the market is its seasonality. Seasonal character of the examined market is sharply defined. As services offered by the market participants are oriented at student needs throughout the academic year only, the season of active sales almost coincides with the academic year. The first half of September - usually passive - is compensated with several weeks in June.

Such seasonality of the market explains its instability of prices. It was noticed that prices for services increase throughout the year with peaks in December - January and April - May; and drop dramatically during the summer season.

Customers/Clients

Customers of online services such as custom writing services are usually students of high schools, colleges, and Universities, of 16 to 25 years old. As pricing in the market is relatively low, target group of the market covers the so-called middle class and higher. A research shows that in 2005 from 14 percent to 23 percent of students (considering seasonality correction) have in due time applied to custom writing services. In other words, one-seventh to one-fourth of students has bought at least one paper during 2004-2005 academic years. The same research provides data that gives ground to conclude about the growth of the market. It is declared that in 2003 peak rate of students who applied to the service at least once was 25 percent, whereas in 2005 it is estimated to reach 36 percent.

Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is obviously a behavior demonstrated by frequent or systematic purchases of a company's product or service. Customer loyalty could be achieved through customer-friendly pricing policies, various discount programs, incentive plans etc. Customer loyalty is also an aspect of a company's customer retention or loyalty programs. Customer retention programs are usually complex systems that include two or more elements listed above. As regards the market of custom writing services, the following was noticed in the course of the research held by the author: (a) more than 80 percent of the market uses basic techniques in acquiring customer loyalty such as permanently variable prices that depend on demand for the product or service throughout the year, bonus plans (such as bonus key that allows up to 4 percent reduction), and other techniques; and (b) nearly 10 percent of companies within the market use complex customer loyalty programs such as flexible discounts (som!

etimes up to 30 percent!) in a combination with weekly feedback bonuses, personal selection of a writer, order status check, 24/7 customer care, and other modes of customer attraction.

Factors that influence buyer's choice

Among factors that have impact on customers' choice in the market of custom writing services are price, quality of products and services (including exclusiveness, professionalism, and compliance with the requirements), and delivery time.

As to price and quality of a specific service, these two factors are the most important. It is vital for companies to balance between price and quality values since optimum correlation between these two categories benefits both a service provider and a customer. It is worth mentioning that there are companies that offer papers written by Ph.D.s for "as low as $8.95 per page". Quality of a paper is directly related to its price and vice versa.

In respect of the delivery time, many companies offer urgent order accomplishment within 12 (and sometimes even 8) hours. Some of them limit the volume of an order to certain number of pages, though there are some companies that accept urgent orders without volume limitation.

Pricing

Custom writing services market has been experiencing a decline in prices lately. As it was mentioned earlier in this research, there had been fall in prices in 2003-2004 caused by sudden increase in market's growth rates. By far, average fees are kept at the level of $15 per page for regular (5+ days) orders, $20 per page for urgent (24 to 48h) orders, and $30 a page for extremely urgent orders (within 24h).

There are companies offering custom-written papers half price as compared to average pricing. This fact may indicate that a company either hires instant workers from developing countries or is new to the market and provides such a low pricing policy in order to enter the full market and gain certain status.

Principles of operation

Principles of operation are the same throughout the industry. Intangible nature of products produced by competitors in the market implies single system of relationships between a company and a customer irrespective of an organization's capacities.

Companies that offer custom-written papers (essays, term papers, case studies, literature reviews, executive summaries, dissertations) operate through their websites. Websites are supplied with all necessary and optional features such as credit card processing system (necessary), online customer service (optional), and auto-responder to provide existing customers with automated thank yous and newsletters, and other features.

A customer places an order, which is then forwarded to a writer. This step is omitted in small companies where two or three people wear several hats, e.g. one person could perform as an administrator, a writer, and a customer service representative. If there ARE a couple of writers working for a company, one of them accomplishes an order, which is then delivered to the customer via email.

It is worth noting that major attention is paid to a company's website. It is common for a company producing custom-written papers to have as many webmasters as writers. Hard to believe? In your opinion, what is the correlation between webmasters/programmers and book reviewers working for Amazon.com?

Competitors and leaders

As mentioned above, the number of competitors in the market estimates nearly 120. Leadership in the market where companies offer custom-written papers of any kind is defined exclusively due to a company's website's ranking in various search engines. The most powerful search engines are Google, MSN, Yahoo!, Altavista, and Alltheweb. Moreover, websites are ranked in accordance to their content oriented at different key words. Thus, different websites could be leaders in the same search engine, though for different keywords or phrases.

Regulations

Being a subdivision of the ecommerce industry, custom writing services market is regulated by nothing but several codes like BBB Online that refer to web entrepreneurs. In general, ecommerce industry is poorly regulated.

Current trends within the industry and market success factors

Among current trends in the market particularly three aspects are worth mentioning: (a) constant fall in price; (b) constant increase in the number of competitors; and (c) diversification of services offered by companies.

Constant increase in the number of competitors is obviously caused by simplicity of operations and growing number of freelance writers who once decided to start out their own business.

Permanent fall in price is caused by growing number of competitors and similarity of services offered by companies in the market.

Finally, diversification of services is a logic consequence of the same increase in the number of competitors.

Among factors for success in the market the following issues could be mentioned: [...]

Full version of this article is available at http://www.personal-writer.com/overview1/

About The Author

Serge Chepurko is one of the best - though relatively young - writers employed by Your Personal Writer. Over the year that Serge's been writing for living he produced more than 100 quality essays, case studies, research papers and term papers on management, sociology, history, and literature. Serge is MA in organizational management. Get to know Serge better at http://www.personal-writer.com/. We're not offering you custom written essays and term papers, we offer you freedom.

s.chepurko@personal-writer.com

Finish Your Book Already!

Finish Your Book Already!
by: Tom Antion

I owe the completion and success of my book to a big cardboard box that saw me through the entire process. I found this box and filled it with any and all information I could find on my topic ‘advanced presentation skills for speakers and business presenters.’ I printed out articles I had written, listened to tapes and read every single book on presentation skills that has ever been published. I have a huge library filled with these books, which are a great thing to have. I took notes and pulled out the best information from each text, finding a way to work it into my own. This is not plagiarism. Some information is too important not to use, so you reword it and use it as substantial background information, giving credit in your bibliography.

When my box was full, I had a huge mess of papers filled with quotes on speaking, great techniques I had jotted down at other presentations, and even cartoons. I grabbed a pile of manila folders and slowly sorted through the rubble, putting items of similar interest together. At the end of the day, I had about 14 folders that represented my book chapters. I hadn’t written a word, but I was organized.

I told myself I would write as much of my book as I could by myself and I did. When I had done all I could, I hired an editor who worked word magic and made my book a grammatical success. Then I designed the cover, well, designed is the wrong word. I brainstormed, came up with an idea, and then bartered presentation skills training to get it done. Lastly, I hired a professional copywriter who wrote something up for the back cover, and that is how my book came to be.

Another benefit of having a book is that you can sell those blank pages that make up dead space in the back of your book. I sold and traded this ad space, putting some of the money I spent back in my pocket.

About The Author

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'Em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs. http://www.antion.com.

Secrets of a 6-Figure Freelance Copywriter

Secrets of a 6-Figure Freelance Copywriter
by Nick Usborne
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More Details about being a freelance copywriter here.

I have been a freelance copywriter for almost twenty years now, and for the last ten years I have made over $100,000 a year. Sometimes maybe a shade less, but often a great deal more. Can you do the same? You probably can...

Here is the biggest secret of all...you don't have to be the BEST freelance writer to make the MOST money.

For sure, you need writing skills. You need to know your medium and know your audience -- and you need to write well. If you don't, clients won't want to hire you. So whether you are writing articles, direct mail packages, white papers or resumes...you need to do a professional job.

But writing well is NOT the secret to making a 6-figure income. There are plenty of excellent writers out there who make a lot less than that. The real secret to freelance writing success lies in four areas:

>> Secret 1: Go Where The Money Is!

Too many freelance copywriters slog away on projects that require a lot of work, but don't pay a decent fee.

Whatever your niche or specialty, take the trouble to find out which companies REALLY understand the value of your writing.

For instance, if you write direct mail, there is great money in the health market. If you write articles, you can make a wonderful living as a travel writer. And so on. Do your own research and find out which industries and which companies pay a good fee to freelance copywriters.

>> Secret 2: Promote Your Business Every Day

Don't think of yourself just as a freelance writer working from home. Think of yourself as a business. And as a business you need to promote your services, aggressively and consistently.

Do one thing to promote your business every single day. It may be a phone call, attending a local business meeting, sending some emails to prospective clients, improving your web site, buying some ad space. Just do something.

What if you end up with too many leads and too much work? Go where the money is! Stop working for clients that take up too much of your time and pay too little in return, and start working for clients who pay you more.

>> Secret 3: Work Efficiently

Working on your own can lead to lazy work habits that you'd never get away with if you were employed by a company. Remember, if you want to earn a 6-figure income, you need to be earning money every day.

The most important thing is to organize your day. Set your hours and put aside blocks of time for writing, promotion, administration etc. You may want to use some kind of program or system for scheduling tasks by the day, week and month.

Be tough on yourself. Set your schedule and stick to it.

>> Secret 4: Set Goals

If you don't know what you're aiming for, it's really tough to get there! Far better that you set some goals. Again, set weekly goals, monthly goals and yearly goals.

How high should you aim? Stretch yourself, but be realistic. In other words, set goals that will challenge you and make you work hard, but don't set goals that are so ambitious you are almost bound to fail. When you do that, you'll simply become discouraged.

>> Concluding thoughts...

Does $100,000 a year sound too ambitious? I hope not. Thousands of freelance writers have broken the 6-figure barrier. With some determination and a clear set of goals, it's very achievable.

Want to be a 6-figure freelance copywriter? Read my review of "Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting" http://www.freelancewritingsuccess.com/michael-masterson.php

Already a freelance copywriter, but want to make a lot more money? Read my review of "Selling Yourself as a Copywriter - How to Earn $100,000 a Year" http://www.freelancewritingsuccess.com/freelance-business.php

Keywords: freelance copywriter, 6 figure income, freelance writing success

About the Author
Nick Usborne,
nick@freelancewritingsuccess.com
Learn more about being a freelance copywriter
Nick Usborne is a freelance writer, author, speaker and advocate of good writing. For more articles and resources on making money as a freelance writer, visit his site at www.FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

Why many people fail to succeed

Why many people fail to succeed
by Mufad P
Send Feedback to Mufad P
More Details about home business here.

You are never a failure until you accept defeat as permanent and quit trying. Everyone faces defeat. It may be a stepping-stone or a stumbling block, depending o­n the mental attitude with which it is faced.

Very rarely do we find home business entrepreneurs succeed at their first attempt. o­ne has to learn through the school of hard knocks, before o­ne can emerge as a champion of success.

While failure forms the foundation for the building of success, we can shorten the route to our success by learning from the mistakes of other people. A smart person does not make the same mistake twice. A smarter person will learn from the mistakes of others!

Let us examine why most people fail in their work at home business

1> Selecting the right Business

We reap what we sow. We need to find fertile land before we sow the seed of our efforts, but o­nce we have found an opportunity that suits us, we should not uproot the seed and keep planting from o­ne field to another. The investment of our efforts takes time to set root and give the fruits that we desire. It is important to research the right opportunity before we commit ourselves. Many people realise all too late that the business they have got involved with is not the ideal marriage partner, but they try stick it out anyway, o­nly to find that a divorce is inevitable down the road ! That is why o­ne has to exercise due diligence before selecting a work at home business, fortunately, its not as difficult as selecting a marriage partner ! If you are with a stable business that has been around for over three years, has a good compensation plan and growing membership, you should be fine.

2> Attitude

People who fail in a work at home business usually tend to have the wrong attitude. They expect to build a business without putting in the required effort. Attitude is everything. We are what we think we are. The power of positive thinking is what breeds success. Nothing is Impossible unless you think it is. The habitual inclination of your thoughts determines your talents and your personality. If you find yourself dwelling o­n negative thoughts, you need to think them away by replacing them with positive constructive thoughts. Success comes to people with a win win attitude, who see the opportunity in every problem.

3> Persistence

Most people give up too early. People can enter and exit a home business as and when they like because o­nline business programs are easy to join, and most of them require no upfront investment. If you are o­nly kicking the tires, testing the waters, then it is fine to move o­n if you do not feel suited to a particular business. But o­nce you commit yourself, you should act like you have invested thousands of dollars in your business and treat your business that way. It may take a few months to even a couple of years but if you persist with the right business opportunity, you cannot fail.

Other Factors that leads to failure may be

- Wrong or misleading information

- Lack of Clear Directions

- Lack of Support from uppline

- Lack of money to invest in your business

- Lack of technical knowledge to build and manage your website

- Lack of time to run your business

- Products are not selling

- Fear of Rejection

But know this, all these are secondary reasons, or rather excuses for failure. With the right attitude and persistence, all of these factors can be easily overcome. Examine any person who has failed in an o­nline business and you will find that either they were with the wrong company, or had the wrong attitude or lacked persistence. Now that you know the exact recipe for failure, you should be able to create your success. The right business worked with a positive attitude will eventually lead to success when there is persistence.

Remember that failures are o­nly stepping stones to success, if you fall a few times, just get up, dust yourself, and be o­n your way. When a child is learning to walk it will have to fall few times,

One has to fail, to succeed in a work at home business. With the right attitude, o­ne cannot fail to succeed in a work at home business. Now Read that o­nce again!

About the Author: Mufad is the founder of the popular Work at Home Community website Biz-Whiz.com that features free membership, home business articles, ebooks and a discussion forum. Become a Member of the Biz-Whiz.com Work at Home Community today.

This Article May be reproduced provided the authors Name and WebSite are included.

Keywords: work at home, home business, success

About the Author
Mufad P,
Learn more about home business
Mufad is the founder of the Work at Home Business Community at http://Biz-Whiz.com - Work at home related articles, ebooks, forums, links and tools are available. You can earn points when you post, review or submit; articles, links & downloads - Get your membership today while its free to join.

Work Less, Earn More As An Infoproduct Publisher

By: Jeff Smith

There's no doubt, publishing information products to sell online is a thriving, exciting and very rewarding business.

For many though, the product development and marketing curve simply seems too steep.

How do you find the time to publish products given the time crunch in most of our lives?

There Is Another Way

Many of us were brought up to value hard work.

Our parents, grandparents and school system hard coded our brains to believe that if we just work a little harder than the next guy - we'll get ahead.

I'm not about to tell you that hard work doesn't pay off, but it certainly won't pay off on its own.

Another saying - work smarter, not harder is more to the point.

You have to have a plan that works - I call this mastering the fundamentals.

Once you mastered the fundamentals, you need to suspend your disbelief for a period and target your plan ahead of your competition - ahead of what is already going on in the world around you.

If you are ready to learn both the fundamentals and master the steps outlined below turning your dreams of being a home-based information publishing entrepreneur into reality - then pick up a copy of:

http://www.infoproductcreator.com

How does all of this relate to those of us who make our living publishing and marketing information?

Here's how.

You need to master 2 very important things to "work smarter" at information product publishing.

First, you need to be smarter about niche demand - or what your market really wants (in terms of an end result) and WHY they want it (the emotional drivers for achieving the desired end result).

Take golfers - what are some of the really strong desires golfers have for learning?

- How to cure their hook or slice

- How to add 50-yards to their average driving length

- How to take 10 points off their game

Now - what are the motivations behind these desires?

Could it be:

- To impress and build more friendships

- To increase their financial outlook by impressing clients

- To feel younger (allowing middle age golfers to stay competitive)

Your job as an information publishers and marketer is to uncover the hidden secrets of your market - what they want and why they want it.

Second, you package your own system for getting what they want.

For the life of me, I don't understand why information product publishers spend months researching their market and then developing their product - only to deliver some bland, uninteresting, uncommitted and undifferentiated coverage of the topic.

Your information product is your chance to SHINE!

Deliver a slam dunk by putting together the ULTIMATE system for...

Master these two skills - and you'll be well on your way to reaching your online business goals.

You Really Can Become A High Earning, Financially Free Information Product Publisher And Marketer. Get Full Information And Roadmap At The Ultimate Resource Site For Information Product Entrepreneurs: http://www.highertrustmarketing.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Producing Ezines for Growing Your Business

What an ezine is ?
An ezine is an electronic newsletter sent out by email at intervals of your choice to a list of subscribers. An ezine is a mutual bargain, a kind of compromise between editor and his subscribers.

How comes that ? Let's see :
Every ezine has a topic : marketing, humor, gardening, sports, etc... An ezine can and should contain lots of helpful information and resources related to its topic. Everyone interested to receive these information, subscribe to ezine. On the other hand, besides all above information and stuff, the publisher delivers and materials promoting his business. The bargain I've spoke before is simple: subscribers agree to receive promotion materials altogether with other information they are interested in.

An ezines is an excellent recruitment tool for your business. Let's say you sell books online through your website. If you chose 'new issues' as topic for your ezine, you will recruit more prospects for your venture saying "come here to see the newest books" than saying "come here to buy the newest books".

Ezines are very efficient in business development. From the very beginning I can say that they target the market(s) you are trying to reach with your products and services. As I said before every ezine has a topic. By choosing this topic close related to your business you may be sure that your subscribers are interested by your business as well, because they enjoy the ezines' topic.

I already told you above that ezines are perfect promotion tools by delivering advertising materials to subscribers.

I can tell a day or two about ezines and how they can help to grow a business. I just want to tell you something very important. If you decide to publish an ezine, you must learn that there is a lot of work to producing a quality one. You should pay a special attention to the following items:

1. How to discover your real audience - the ones who want what you have.
2. If is better to write your own content than using someone else's.
3. How to choose an attention-getting, enticing name for your email newsletter.
4. What popular sections you can choose to include in your own ezine.
5. Editing in plain text vs. HTML - what you must know before making this choice!
6. Resources for building your subscriber base fast.
7. Places to submit your ezine to gain more exposure and more subscribers.
8. How to sell advertising and the amount of money you'll make.

And the list may continue. Only by reading these 8 points you can see that publishing an ezine means work and abilities. It's hard but not impossible, you may learn by doing, from articles and books or talking with experienced publishers.

Valerian D. is editor of Morning Co~free ezine. This is not like other ezines, you get what you need when you need it.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Write For Yourself First

Write For Yourself First
by: Roy E. Klienwachter

It would be very selfless or noble of me to tell you that I have created my web site only to help you and the rest of humanity. The reason for me spending so much time and energy into my writing and this site is selfish. And I must remind myself of that from time to time, especially when I move into a down period and I am asking myself "why."

The real truth for the site in all honesty is to give myself an outlet for my own thoughts, a forum in which others may benefit. It really is all about me. I place value in my belief system. I can express these thoughts on my site without censorship or having anything cleared or approved by another person or organization. That's important to me. My writing most often gets to the point in as few words as possible. I am a sort of "No Frills," author, and some people may get offended.

All of us have something to say. There is a book in each and everyone of us, that needs to be written. I write for myself first, if anyone benefits by it, it is a bonus to my ego and it likes to receive the praise that it does.

I sincerely want to empower others as well as myself to get the book out. My fondest wish is to inspire someone else to write something even better than I have done.

I often question the validity of my writing and its source. The truth is, there is only once source, and it is the same source that is yours or any other author. There is only one consciousness in the universe and we all draw from the same pool. I express that consciousness in my writing. The writing that I do each morning comes from that source and it is filtered through me in a way, that it only can be, and is uniquely mine.

All the words that I use are words that have been used millions of times by others. There are no original words. It is the combination of the words and the circumstances of how they are used that bring them from my subconscious to the paper. These words will be heard or read and they will trigger the correct response in the reader. As the correct combination of a lock will open doors for those that use it. Every one of us has these combinations present within us, and need to get them out.

Once again there is a book waiting to be written in all of us. We all have an obligation to write or tell it. First for ourselves, simply because it's there, and secondly we know that there is someone waiting to hear or read it. It is our words that will open the door for one of them. For every lock there is a combination that will open it.

You owe it to yourself and others to open that door. What you write should be heart felt and always in your own words and said or written your way, in order to match the correct combination.

Authors say to me, I am overwhelmed when I go to the book store and see all the books and the authors that are writing about the same thing as I. What chance do I have of being published or anyone seeing my book. I remind them that they are writing the book for themselves, it's in the action of having the words come out that the reward is found, the door opens for you as well as for others. You do it because it's there and it needs to come out. It is there for that one person who will read it and be inspired, because of you words. Many may read your words, but few will hear what you have to say.

It is your legacy, your obligation. It is the inheritance that you pass on to others, after you are gone. All of us, everyone has this ability. Whether it is a quotable quote or an entire 500 page volume. Someone will be touched, and more than likely, the one who wrote it.

You have the skates, I have the key, give the key to me, so that I may skate. My treasure is locked within. It may be you that sets me free, for I am a prisoner of my own ignorance. Your word, just at the right time is all that I need.

My writing is for me first. The answers you are looking for my be hidden within the paragraphs on the pages. It is my gift, my obligation, my Karma being released, that you should find it. If, even the dull and ignorant have their story, then I am in fine company.

About The Author

Roy E. Klienwachter is a resident of British Columbia, Canada. A student of NLP, ordained minister, New Age Light Worker and Teacher. Roy has written and published five books on New Age wisdom. Roy's books are thought provoking and designed to empower you to take responsibility for your life and what you create. His books and articles are written in the simplicity and eloquence of Zen wisdom.

You may not always agree with what he has to say. You will always come away with a new perspective and your thinking will never be the same.

Roy's style is honest and comes straight from the heart without all the metaphorical mumble jumble and BS.

Visit Roy at: http://www.klienwachter.com

roy@klienwachter.com

The Gift Of Writing

Writing As A Gift
by: Jenna Glatzer

“What am I supposed to give Anthony as a wedding gift?” I asked Kristin, my bridesmaid and person-who-was-married. “I mean, what kinds of things do brides give their grooms? I was thinking of hiring someone to clean the house before we left for the honeymoon so we’d come back to a spotless house. Is that a good wedding gift?”

“Um, no,” she said gently, so as not to make me feel like an idiot. “It should be something personal. Like, you could paint him a picture, or make a scrapbook, or write him a poem...”

A poem? Why, I had at least a dozen poems I’d written about him that he’d never seen. And if I wrote a few more, I’d have a whole chapbook!

That’s exactly what I did. Over the next couple of months, I wrote more poems. I wrote the final one the day before our wedding, capturing my feelings on the eve of our marriage. Then I printed them out, three-hole-punched them, made a cardstock cover, and tied the pages together with ribbon.

On our wedding day, I took him aside after our ceremony and read him the last poem. It was a perfect gift.

But you don’t have to wait for such a monumental occasion to use writing as a gift. One of my friends writes children’s books and illustrates them, then gives them to her grandkids on their birthdays. A successful greeting card publisher started out her business because she used to write original cards for all of her family and friends-- they loved them so much that they encouraged her to offer her sentiments to the masses.

I’ve also “donated” personal essays to anthologies, just so I could give the book as a gift to the person the essay was about. I wrote a love letter to Anthony and sent it off to be published in the anthology Love Letters of a Lifetime, then gave it to him for Valentine’s Day.

A poem I wrote for my grandmother was made into a plaque by the James Lawrence Company. A poem to my mother was made into a plaque as well, which I gave her for Mother’s Day.

For my bridal shower, a family friend gave me two journals: one for Anthony, one for me. On the card, she wrote her instructions: We were to write in our journals every day, and exchange them on our first anniversary.

Your words don’t have to be published to be gifts. You can design your own prints, cards, banners, and books on your computer, or go truly hand-made and pick up a pack of construction paper and markers.

If you want to get fancy, you can hire an artist to make you a cover or design your work for you. Finding them couldn’t be simpler: try Googling “illustrators,” “graphic designers,” or “artists” and see for yourself!

You may write and self-publish your family history as a gift for all your relatives and future generations. Print-on-demand companies make this an affordable option if you shop around and do away with the “extras.”

You may use a program like Greetings Workshop to design a calendar. You can insert your own photos and poems or short sentiments, and even write in your own imaginative holidays.

Write your own romance, starring you and your significant other, as an anniversary gift. (Could be a short story, or a novella if you’re feeling ambitious!)

Write a story to be read every Christmas as a new family tradition.

Write an inspirational poem for a relative who’s in the hospital.

Write a limerick to stick in your daughter’s lunchbox.

At the local printer, a personalization shop, or several places online, you can have your words made up into a t-shirt, mug, poster, bumper sticker, magnet, or plaque.

It’s wonderful to find that strangers enjoy your published words, but it can be even nicer to find that your words can light up your children’s eyes, or your spouse’s, or your parents’. A gift of your talent and your heart is generous, and more meaningful than anything you could get at the local mega-mall. Spend some time today writing for someone you love.

About The Author

Jenna Glatzer is the editor of http://www.absolutewrite.com (pick up a FREE list of agents looking for new writers!) and the author of 14 books, including MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER, which comes with a FREE Editors' Cheat Sheet. She's also Celine Dion's authorized biographer. Visit Jenna at http://www.jennaglatzer.com

jg@jennaglatzer.com

7 Powerful Sales Copy Techniques

Your sales letter is the most important component in your web site or marketing campaign. It will introduces your products or services to your visitors and how people react (buy, bookmark, leave) is 80% entirely depends on your sales letter.

Below, I will show you how to make you sales letter a Compelling, Non-stop, 24/7 cash generating machine!

1. Tell a good story in your sales letter.

Every body loves a good absorbing story, with a good story you will create empathy with them.

Give story that relates to your reader’s situation, Tell people about how you get started in your business, put yourself in your visitors’ shoes and show them that you know, understand about their problems and how your product or service can help them solves their problem.

2. Put your main benefit in your headline.

It is easy to sit back for a while and write down all your Product’s benefits on a piece of paper, after that you can Choose which benefit to put on your headline. Combine your product’s benefit with power words such as discover, amazing, Secrets, guarantee, exposed, secure, love, etc.

Remember that people are overloaded with information, this Is why you need to put some quick attention grabbers so people will stay and read the rest of your sales letter. If your Headline doesn’t get read then everything else may go unread.

3. Focus on one product or service.

You need to focus on one product only, don’t offer too many things to your visitors, if you want to sell other product you can have different page on your web site or create a new mini site to sell it.

4. Put testimonials on your sales letter.

A Good, believable testimonials from real people will help Increase your sales dramatically, put their photos, highlight their main satisfactions with using color, bolding key sentences, italic, underlining, etc.

5. Put women, babies, pets attributes in your sales letter.

Tie your product with one of these trio because they can deliver more attention responds to your product or service. Insert a women’s picture in your web site header, e-book cover will increases your sales response.

6. Create some urgency for your visitors to order.

You need to make people take action and order your product. e.g. “For a very limited time only”, “Until the end of this month”, “Only for our first 100 customers”

7. Tell people what they are going to lose if they don’t buy your product or service.

It’s true that people will react more to what they are going to lose instead of what they are going to have.

e.g. “Order now before you competitors catch on!” “You will save hundreds of dollars using this product!”

About the Author

Samuel Indrajaya is the leading expert on building a successful online home based business from scratch. He is also the author of the best selling ebooks "A Step by Step Home Based Business Roadmap to MASSIVE PROFITS!".

Start earning MASSIVE PROFITS from your home today! Just visit his website at: http://www.home-based-business-roadmap.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How To Become A Freelance Copywriter In New York

How To Become A Freelance Copywriter In New York
by: Niall Cinneide

As a freelance copywriter in New York, your work is never done.

What?

Do you mean to say that it is hard to find regular freelance writing jobs, even here in New York City?

For those looking to succeed, employment is hard to find only because we lack the knowledge of where to find the work we want. However, for a freelance copywriter, New York is an excellent place to start working. In fact there may be no better place, actually.

With this city, it's all about being the first to get your resume in, right?

Well, 'hurry up and rush' is not always a good practice when it comes to this business. But, in this city it is often necessary to succeed. Clients demand work to be well done, complete, on time and in a rush! Can you meet those demands? Honing your skills to fit that of your employer is what is going to have you filling your name next to the job vacancies the company has. Most essential is being prepared, resume fully developed, portfolio in hand, when you walk in to speak to the new client. If you haven’t gotten to this interview level yet, create these essential pieces, then begin the search by applying at companies that need your services. Think out of the box on this! In this sense, being a freelance copywriter in New York is no different to anywhere else.

In any city around the world, there are job vacancies waiting for the most qualified individuals. These people showcase their talents by providing well thought out examples of their work. They also get the edge because they are professional, serious minded individuals who want to make their difference within the world. Employment in this field is exploding as more and more people are needed to create effective copy for websites. Do you fit in? Land your first jobs by being prepared and outgoing.

Go, get what you want!

About The Author

Niall Cinneide

Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Views about Freelance Copywriting Opportunities. Copyright © 2005 FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

How To Find Freelance Jobs - Writing About Food

How To Find Freelance Jobs - Writing About Food
by: Niall Cinneide

Did you know that jobs writing about food are available? These opportunities are available in a variety of areas. Employment in these fields is an exciting concept. For many, getting their foot in the door is the most important and most challenging first step. In order to succeed, a wide range of knowledge is needed as well as a good base of experience.

These jobs are available in all sorts of media. The internet is full of postings for good quality writers in a variety of fields. Some in this field write for magazines, newspapers, or even books. Others work right online. There are several avenues a prospective writer can take.

The first step in getting into any of these, though, is getting a good base of knowledge. There are courses that can be taken to give a good base of knowledge for the food aspect of the business. But, for the writing, grammar, and compiling of the articles and pieces, you will need at least a few years of schooling. Writing is the foundation of the work you will do, after all.

To start out in freelance writing though, you need to know how to get experience.

You can take your career to the next level by expanding your knowledge, getting your experience into a portfolio, and presenting yourself to the prospective employers. Try small, local newspapers to start. Or, submit an article to a magazine asking them to review it for consideration. Present yourself to the companies you want to start with, but always keep striving for other levels of opportunity. There are hundreds of companies that are looking for a new, fresh face in writing. You’ll find them throughout the internet posting on message boards and websites. Or, you can contact all of the organizations that you would like to get your start in by sending resumes and samples of your work.

You will enjoy a career with the freelance food writer jobs that you do get. You certainly will love the opportunities that are available!

About The Author

Niall Cinneide

Visit http://www.FreelanceWritingResource.com for more Articles, Resources, News and Views about Freelance Copywriting Opportunities. Copyright © 2005 FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

Copyright © 2005 FreelanceWritingResource.com. All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact.

It's A Doggy Dog World In The Freelance Work Marketplace

The Trials and Tribulations of Finding Writing Work in the Freelance Work Marketplace

By: Lorraine Cote
Thewritetouch4U.com

There are many ways to find freelance writing work on the net. The most popular method is by signing up to one or more of the many freelance work sites available. There are a ton of them to choose from. Take Elance.com for instance, it is the site that I belong to and it's where I get most of my writing work. While I do also have offline clients, mostly corporations, Elance is a good supplement to my writing business.

However, there are some things that you should be aware of before you go rushing off to sign up to one of these sites. Take a look! ( I will use Elance as an example because it is the one I am most familiar with).

Costs: Many of these sites don't charge a signup fee, however, many charge either a monthly fee (can be quite steep like Elance, writing category, $75 per month for select provider status), or they charge a transaction fee for each project you accept. Many charge both (again Elance does this).

Categories: Many of these sites break out their projects into levels such as basic level, where basic providers can bid on projects and select providers, where select providers can bid on any job, but basic providers cannot. Of course, as you may have guessed, you pay a higher price for select as you are looked at as an expert in the field.

Bidding: This is the hardest part I find, bidding on projects. The reason is that, say for instance that you are paying $75 per month to bid in projects plus an 8.5% transaction fee for each project (total $ amount of project) you bid on (as I do on Elance), well along comes a provider that underbids you and gets the project, regardless of your skill level, portfolio or client references. It is disheartening and frustrating.

The reason that this type of thing occurs is that there are always going to be people who will "low-ball" bid you every time for one reason or another.

First you have the "newbies" the ones that have just signed up and are new to the workplace, have no portfolio or client references, looking to break-in and will take any job at any pay to build themselves up. This may be understandable in some cases because everyone has to start somewhere, right? Wrong! Actions like this devalues our skills as a writer and says to prospective clients I work cheap, use me like slave labor!

Secondly, you will always find providers who will underbid you simply because they outsource the work and get a percentage. So they can make money without ever doing the work themselves. They can afford to bid less because a piece of the pie is better than none.
This also undermines the skills of writers trying to make a living off writing. They are basically decieving the client by not disclosing that they have a "team" or writers that the work will be outsourced to and keeping you from getting work. I find it to be a cheap tactic. If you have a team of writers and you are a legitimate business, then you owe it to the client to disclose it. It will also help the other providers bidding against you to swallow it better.

In addition to the above, let's say that Elance itself, one of the largest freelance work marketplaces on the net, marketing themselves as basically a place where customers can get "cheap labor." This prevents providers from being able to place a bid based on what they are worth in terms of skills, experience and expertise. They basically have to bid what the Elance marketplace will bear, which in most cases is peanuts in comparison to what writers in the real world make. They are literally at the mercy of customers because they flock to Elance to get a 500 word article written for $5 or a 100 page ebook for $300. Both absurd prices by the way. It makes it so hard for more seasoned writers to bid higher, because so many providers on Elance make these kinds of bids.

However, recently I have seen somewhat of a change, not much but hopefully some. It seems that customers are willing to pay a little more lately simply because they are finding the cheap labor source to be unreliable in terms of content and delivery. I even have been contacted by Elance customers who paid one provider their low fee to write something, only to ask me to rewrite it at a higher price (I won't bend on my prices, work or no work) because the provider either:
Took a down payment for the work, did half of it and disappeared, or
Plagerized entire work, word for word, or
Just did shoddy work.

Basically what I tell clients in this predicament is that "if you PAY peanuts, sometimes you get MONKEY's!"

I believe that you get what you pay for, but customers have to learn this the hard way sometimes. So when they contact me for a rewrite, I charge my going fee, and you know what? They pay it without blinking an eye and you can bet they learned a valuable lesson the hard way.

Unfortunately these kinds of actions on the part of the providers give good quality writers a "black eye." It causes customers to be skeptical and leary of what we say we can provide them in terms of our slills and expertise. So it makes the negotiation process that much more difficult.

I wish I could report to you on all the other freelance work sites, but unfortunately I am inly familiar with Elance. However, I do believe that the actions that I have described here, do exist on other sites as well. You can visit any one of them and see how low the bids are for various writing jobs. It appears to be the norm out there.

Take a look for yourself, visit these sites and learn all you can about them before making a decision to fork over your hard-earned money on a subscription. It may be quite awhile before you will even see a small return on your investment!

Elance.com
Guru.com
Getafreelancer.com
freelanceyourproject.com
contractedwork.com
rentacoder.com

Now, luckily I have been with Elance since 2001 and have built up a portfolio, a long list of client references and even made some decent money. But it hasn't been easy and I would hate to see anyone else jump in thinking that their troubles are over and the money will start rolling in.

So I'll leave you with this to think about.

NEVER think that you can make a full-time income from freelance work sites! It will never happen for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

NEVER think that just because you sign up to try to get projects on these sites that it will happen overnight! It won't. Expect it to take a few months before you are selected for any projects.

NEVER forget that these sites are on the side of the CLIENT not on YOUR side! It's sad but it's true.

If you can look past all I have told you and want to give it a shot, then by all means, research these types of sites and try one that seems to meet your needs the most. At least you won't be jumping in with blinders on. Good luck in your writing endeavors!

Lorraine Cote is a freelance writer and owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She has written over 100 ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a trainer and business writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Some of her clients include Pure Energy Entertainment, Axis Asia Airlines, The RFK Foundation, Security Hologram, LeLine Marketing, Devix Corp and many more. Visit her at Thewritetouch4u.com

Creating "Tips" Articles

Ten Tips Articles
by: Tom Antion

“Ten Tips” articles are the easiest piece to write because they are made up of only an introductory paragraph, your Ten Tips, and a conclusion. Print editors love these because they can easily be shortened if there is a lack of available space.

Your articles can be used in book chapters, on websites, in E-zines and anywhere else you would like to put them. If you publish an article in a magazine, that publication now holds some or all of the rights to your work. Compiling many articles into one book works well, but what happens if other people own the copyrights? Read on.

First off, there are many rights involved with publishing your work. I only give up all rights if it is a big magazine, and in all other cases, I give up what I absolutely must in order to still get published. If you have an opportunity to be published in Newsweek or some other large publication, that is a far bigger deal than having to rewrite a portion of your book. So don’t give up all of your rights unless you absolutely have to. Especially be sure never to give electronic rights to a print publication unless you receive some money for it.

For other information on publication rights check out these sites:

http://www.authorsguild.org Do a search on this site for the keyword “rights”

http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec97/cew3.htm A Novice Writer’s Guide to Rights

About The Author

Tom Antion provides entertaining speeches and educational seminars. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, having owned many businesses BEFORE graduating college. Tom is the author of the best selling presentation skills book "Wake 'Em Up Business Presentations" and "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing." It is important to Tom that his knowledge be not only absorbed, but enjoyed. This is why he delivers his speeches laced with great humor and hysterical jokes. Tom has addressed more than 87 different industries and is thoroughly committed to his client's needs.

http://www.antion.com

The Writer's Dance

Professional Writers Dance Between Passionate and Impersonal
by: Bonnie Boots

People that love to write often feel being paid for publication is the benchmark of a “real” writer. So they read all the books on writing and dutifully send off queries, filled with hope and fear that one will be accepted: hope they’ll get the chance to be a real writer, fear they won’t live up to the challenge. Sadly, for some, their fears will turn out to be well founded. The emotional highs and lows of writing for pay will be more painful then they can bear. Shocked, wounded, these natural writers will put their dreams behind them in the mistaken belief that they’re not good enough to write for publication.

Why does this happen? Because books on writing often fail to tell the aspiring writer the one thing they most need to know: the marketplace demands more than talent. It demands that the writer be skilled at dancing between the emotional states of passion and detachment. It seems like a conundrum, and it is, so let’s unravel this riddle.

The writer filled with fervor for the process of writing produces the best product. And in the marketplace, that’s just what your article, poem, short story or novel is—a product. Products, whether they are romance novels or car wax, are pretty much processed, pimped and put on the shelves the same way. All sorts of people, from editors to advertising sales managers, have their hand in the marketing process. They have the power to tweak, alter and otherwise transfigure the product. As a writer, it takes emotional detachment to watch, even help as your beloved work is worked on.

The ability to call forth and control your emotional states is a primary survival skill if you hope to write for print. Can it be learned? Yes. In his book “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ,” Daniel Goleman says the ability to master emotions often makes the difference between success and failure in people of equivalent intellectual abilities. He suggests these steps for increasing self-control:

(1) Pay attention to your emotional states. Don’t just let excitement or fear run riot over you. Use your writer’s “inner eye” to observe and record your own emotional states. Simply being aware of your emotions is the first step to controlling them.

(2) Get it off your chest. Rejection hurts. Seeing your carefully considered words edited for publication is painful. If your feelings have been hurt, by all means vent, but do it in a journal and not, under any circumstance, in a nasty email to an editor or a hastily posted blog. Nothing is learned from burning bridges, and you could seriously injure your chances of ever being published. Editors and publishers read the net, too, you know.

(3) Consider the other person’s point of view. Editors and publishers have to deal with issues you know nothing about. Before you take personal offence, stop to consider their side. If an editor doesn’t quickly answer your query, stop and imagine the view from their desk. If you got 1000 letters a week AND had to handle the work of 2 because of staff cuts, might you put mail on the back burner?

(4) Try not to take it personally. This can be especially difficult for writers, because our work is so very personal. But when your feelings are hurt, it’s important to take a step back and realize that in business, decisions may need to been made that have nothing to do with YOU, personally.

(5) Stay well-mannered and self-motivated. Being polite and persevering even when your feelings have been hurt is a definite sign of emotional maturity. The ability to keep your cool and keep moving ahead will take you places talent alone can only dream of.

Like any skill, learning to waltz between passion and dispassion takes practice and persistence. Some writers tap a tentative foot, then withdraw to be wallflowers the first time someone steps on their toes. But you can survive and even thrive by joining the dance with passion and purpose, accepting the thrills as well as the spills as you learn to step with the tune.

About The Author

Bonnie Boots (www.BonnieBoots.com) is an award-winning writer and designer who says all writers should show off their talent by wearing their Write Side Out! Her wise and witty product line of gear that shows the world you're a writer is at www.writesideout.com

bonnie@bonnieboots.com