Five Keys To A Successful Query Letter
September 30, 2006
Do you know what a query letter is? If so, you are of a rare breed-a writer. Most people don’t. I discovered this when I created "Instant Query Letters" software. "What’s a queer letter?” they ask. The sad thing-they aren’t joking.
Query letters are a major part of your life if you are a freelance writer. Almost every request for magazine articles includes the statement to "query first."
We know that this means to send a detailed summary of the article to the publisher. You should never send the completed manuscript until it’s requested.
I decided to ask a few editor friends about their preferences when it came to querying. They told me that a great query letter must do five main things:
-Grab attention immediately.
-Summarize your article or book idea in the most compelling fashion.
-Emphasize why YOU are the best one to write about the topic.
-Show your professionalism.
-Display your writing credits.
First, I highly recommend beginning your opening with the first line or two of your article or book. It immediately draws the editor or agent’s attention to your idea. Since you’ve probably sweated over the perfect beginning anyway, why not let it do double duty?
Prevent Procrastination With Positive Pressure
September 30, 2006
My wife and I recently bought a house.
It’s currently being built and moving day is slated for December. So we decided to buy some furniture in order to fill some of the “extra space.” (Our new home is double the size of our current one.)
Now, something really interesting happened.
The story is a little long, and almost unbelievable, but let me cut to the heart of the matter. (I’ll tell you the whole story some other time. You’ll cringe!)
After shopping around a few stores, we came across a big chain department store that carried what we were looking for - a bed, a couch, a dinner table and chairs, all at reasonable prices.
(In fact, they were all on special. Hey, call me stingy.)
We walked in, spoke to a salesperson and asked if they had a layaway plan that extended beyond their normal wait (i.e., since we were in August, we’re talking several months). Not that we needed it, but a layaway plan could help us temporarily store the furniture until we move into our new home.
Writing Your Best-Selling Non-Fiction Book Title
September 30, 2006
Your struggling to sell just a few copies of your book, ebook, report or other information-based product each month?
Are you stumped by the lack of response you are getting?
You are positive people want your information, yet no matter how hard you try, you can’t seem to tap into the flood of demand with your infoproduct.
Happily, there is one simple, quick change you can make to your product that can make a massive difference to your results — improve your book title.
Your book title is often the ONLY advertisement that stands between your bank account and your prospects wallet.
Why is that?
Your book title finds it’s way to directories, onto bookshelves (in the case of a printed book), website titles, website links, email and forum signatures, business cards, topics of seminars, press releases, joint venture partner proposals and campaigns, interviews, and much, much more….
Here are 3 highly successful techniques for turning your mediocre book titles into sizzling, red-hot, money-making titles…
Book Title Writing SECRET #1: Grab Their Attention
It often happens that book writers have great content, even great sales letters and press releases, but their title is a dismal, limp descriptive bore.
In Your Own Words
September 29, 2006
More Tips For New Writers (Part I)
Explain in your own words
Familiar phrase? Yes, we have all heard it many times in many different situations. This little phrase is used to convey subtly different meanings depending upon the circumstances in which it is used. At school, the teacher means "Don’t just copy chunks out of a book; show me you can write an essay". In an examination the words mean "Prove that you understand the question and know the answer". On an insurance claim form it means "Tell us what happened from your point of view". From a Judge it means "Tell the truth without embellishment".
What do all these people have in common? They want to hear what you know, what you think about things. They don’t want something you have copied from somebody else, they don’t want regurgitated chunks of something learned by rote, they don’t want to hear somebody else’s words repeated, they don’t want to hear excuses. They want to hear what you have to say. They want honesty.
Honesty is the best policy
Who Should Offer an Ezine?
September 29, 2006
If you are a professional, consultant, coach, speaker, seminar leader, author or small business person, you need to develop and offer one of the most powerful Online marketing tools around-the eNewsletter, otherwise known as the ezine.
Your ezine’s purpose is two-fold:
1 - It should give your clients and potential product buyers something that benefits them-tips, feature articles, resources and special offers. Subscribers want information and they love a bargain. Your ezine will offer all former clients, present ones, and potential ones particular how-tos and other useful information. In turn, your subscribers will become your loyal supporters.
2 - Because of your generous sharing with your subscribers, they will support you in turn, by forwarding the ezine to their associates, thereby helping you sign up new subscribers. They will also buy your books, attend your seminars and check out your other services. The more targeted your subscribers, the more chance you have of selling your products and services.
Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” and “How to Market your Business on the Internet,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says…and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com
What Posting Articles Online Did For My Google Page Rank In 90 Days
September 29, 2006
Article Marketing Builds Momentum and Traffic
When I started submitting articles to ezines and directories I was happy just to get an occasional article written and widely posted online. I assumed that was the point. But I’ve since learned about equally important considerations–like the Page Rank of the site where it appears.
Each article was written to inform and appeal to the human readers. Search engines were incidental in my mind. I wasn’t systematic about submitting new ones on a regular basis so they built momentum. Nor was I careful to emphasize my website’s keywords and principal theme. But I do now–it matters. Despite that, the articles already posted have been hard at work for me.
My list of places for submitting keeps expanding. And it’s further refined with every article posted. After a year and a half, that’s a large list (nearly a thousand). And I’m a known quantity with sites and ezines that consistently post my contributions. My best-received article to date shows 181 Google mentions (with their related incoming links).
Starting from Zero Online Visibility
Top Ten Tips (Part 2)
September 28, 2006
Golden Rules For New Writers - Things you need to know before you begin.
Rules govern everything we do in life; even if those rules are of the unwritten kind we abide by them and expect other people to do the same. Why should writing be any different? It shouldn’t be and it isn’t. The following rules are the basis for good writing. If anyone tries to tell you that rules are made to be broken, remember that you have to learn those rules before you try to bend them or break them otherwise you are just being sloppy, not radical.
If you missed Part 1 of this Article, you can read it in its entirety at my website: http://www.huntingvenus.com/ecwart1.htm
_____________________
Spell well
Ezine List Building-Wealth Mentor Teaches 5 Easy Steps To Skyrocket Your Subscriptions and Profits
September 28, 2006
Would you like an Internet Marketing tool that can put your efforts on autopilot?
In a recent interview for the List Crusade program, Matt Bacak revealed what he called the “foundation” for automatically building a successful and profitable ezine.
(Note: To access Matt Bacak’s complete audio interview for fre^e, see end of article)
A little about Matt: He was the leading facilitator for Robert Kiyosaki’s (of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame) Cash Flow 101 program. One of his secret techniques he used was to create the Millionaire Minutes ezine, which allowed him to stay in contact with participants even after the seminar was over.
With a several hundred thousand subscribers and around 750 new subscribers each day, Matt knows how to quickly develop an opt-in subscriber list.
The ezine was so successful the he was able to do mailings to his subscriber list three days before an event and fill the room to capacity.
He attributes the success of this ezine with causing him to cross over from wealth building to the Internet Marketing world. He now is considered one of the top Internet marketing mentors in the world.
Top Ten Tips (Part 1)
September 28, 2006
The following rules are essential if you want people to take you seriously.
Be yourself
Know your subject
Be interested
Punctuate proudly
Respect the apostrophe
Get great grammar
Spell well
Keep to the point
Read and revise
Sleep on it
Pay attention to detail
Be yourself
Write from the heart or the head or the gut, depending upon the type of writing you are doing. You can let your heart pour passion into a love letter but your head is better for the contents of a business letter and the gut feeling should never be ignored. Never try to imitate somebody else’s style, no matter how much you might admire it, you will always appear fake. Find your own unique style, your own voice.
Know Your Subject
Are Long Copy Salesletters Scams?
September 27, 2006
A passionate debate is currently raging in the Copywriters Forum about long versus short copy. (If you haven’t joined, do so. Click the “register” link the top. It’s free. There are tons of tips from other very successful copywriters.)
The debate was originally sparked by a comment a very well-known Fortune 500 “guru” made about Armand Morin’s AudioGenerator.com.
I love it, because debate ignites passion, provides insights and shows some very interesting clues in the way people think - and feel. Which is the very point I’m bringing up with the issue of “long copy.”
Before we begin, let me remind you of a truth we must keep in mind…
Copywriting is “salesmanship in print.”
And that hasn’t changed since former Canadian policeman John E. Kennedy changed the face of advertising forever with those three words in 1905. (Selling has been around since the beginning of time. As sales trainer Zig Ziglar once noted, selling is the oldest profession in the world. Not that “other” job.)
Because long copy is exactly that: a printed form of a sales pitch. Every question, every handled objection, every attempt the close, all the way to asking for the order, are elements that are applied in long copy salesletters.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Latest Stories
- Mozilla Firefox 3.0 Is Here
- Top Six Lies About Book Marketing: (And the Truths to Set Your Book Free!)
- Talking Pictures Are the Go!
- Sales Headline Copywriting ? Two Quick Steps to Success
- 5 Plus One Internet Marketing Strategies to Improve Article Quality to Increase WebTraffic
- How Can You Find Out The Salary Of A Freelance Proofreader?
- How to Write a Resume That Stands Out From The Crowd
- Depression Can Turn into Joy
- The Best and Fastest Way to Get Unlimited Free Back Links Guaranteed!
- 7 Keys to Writing a Children’s Book that Sells Like Hotcakes
