How To Publish Your Way To Success
February 29, 2008
How To Publish Your Way To Success
by: BB Lee
Did you know, self-publishing is one of the easiest ways to
make money on the web. Of course, it requires talent,
but it’s easier to learn than you might think.
Getting Started:
Choose a subject that interest you. Select a
subject you enjoy or want to learn about. As an
example for this article, we will use “Computer Tips.”
Okay, next collect the information to put in the
book about “Computer Tips”. A good idea to collect tips
would be to use your own knowledge, contacts, friends, online
associates, family members, even neighbors.
Contact everyone you know who owns a computer,
ask them to share their favorite computer tips with you.
Tell them if you use their tip you will include their name in the book.
After several contacts you should have acquired a stack of
solid information.
Now, it’s time to start sorting the information and
separating it into categories. For example beginner tips,
hardware tips, software tips, online tips, troubleshooting
Writers: The Truth About Advertising, Publicity, and PR
February 29, 2008
Many of us are trying to do business and don’t know how to define these words. We read articles and think, this could have just as easily been about me! We wonder why the reporter picked that person instead. We wonder how someone got into magazines and onto radio shows. We attribute big successes with an expensive publicist. We are not sure what a publicist does but since the guy on Entourage has one, they must be a good thing. Some of use have publicist and secretly wonder why they can’t get us on the Today Show or Good Morning America. We have written books and wonder why we are not on the Oprah book club/
Advertising is something you pay for. Most of the time you have to come up with the content or copy. You need to hire a copywriter or take some training. There is more to getting people’s attention than a goofy picture. Advertising must be effective and have a call to action. You are asking the people to do something and they must be clear on what to do. Advertising has laws on what you can show and say. FCC rules in advertising will not apply to satellite radio, which is why Howard Stern is leaving regular radio. More and more people are choosing to keep out a lot of advertising by using pod casting and personalizing their media intake. Cell phone use to watch TV and communicate with people can make Generation X unreachable. Advertising is also so overbearing that people can tune it out if it does not directly speak to them.
Who Is The “Hero” In The “Hero’s Journey”?
February 29, 2008
Who Is The “Hero” In The “Hero’s Journey”?
by: Steven Barnes
During the past thirty years, much has been (rightfully) made of Joseph Campbell’s breakthrough research in cultural anthropology, most famously published in “The Hero With A Thousand Faces.” In this book, Campbell examines the many cultural expressions of the heroic role model, and in doing so helped to establish the universality of human hopes, dreams, and lives.
Hollywood, in particular, has embraced this vision, which powers dozens of films a year, and has become clichéd wisdom in development executive suites all over Southern California. Of course, the question of the nature of heroes enters other arenas as well. In the political arena, shaping doctrine around strong leader figures is one way to promote ideas to the public. Heroic firefighters and soldiers appear in ads for one party or another, and our elected officials trumpet their military service—or are criticized for their lack thereof, or are called cowards or even traitors if they disagree with the plans or opinions of an opponent.
Lesson #6: Six Simple Steps to Writing Magnetically Charged Email Messages!
February 28, 2008
If you remember, the majority of people (i.e., 68%) need to see your sales message more than once before they even think about going ahead. This is applicable to every market.
But, Does Following Up Really Get Results?
While most people understand the concept that using a smart autoresponder saves a lot of time by putting one’s business on autopilot.
Become Relentless Like a Collection Agent!
After a prospect asks for more information on your offer via your autoresponder, it can automatically deliver your series of pre-written follow-up email messages in preset intervals.
By creating a sense of urgency (such as by making your offer time-sensitive), your follow-ups can help reinforce that urgency in subsequent mailings and add weight to your offer!
Your follow-ups can nudge prospects into action!
Plus, by adding an extra incentive with each mailing, your offer becomes more valuable and more difficult to ignore.
These additional bonuses can simply be comprised of special reports, articles, ebooks, freeware, reviews or even courses delivered incrementally via smart autoresponders.
Write Effective, Sales-Generating Emails
Writing an effective, response-generating email ad, whether it’s a small, six-line ad or a full-length “solo” ad, is not as hard as it seems. It really needs to follow six simple steps:
One-Time, Low, Low, Introductory Rate
February 28, 2008
One-Time, Low, Low, Introductory Rate
by: Pamela White
Each week day brings a pack of mail from banks offering me and mine low introductory rates that are meant to pull us in and commit ourselves, right before the rates go up.
Writers face similar ‘bait and switch’ techniques when applying for writing opportunities. Last month I was contacted by a website owner who was looking for a writer experienced in producing e-zines. I submitted samples, wrote several emails, and had two evenings of instant messaging before she agreed to try me on, but with one caveat. She offered me a one-time, low, low introductory rate.
Only the rate wasn’t in my favor.
She asked me to write only four short articles and said that she would start with that low, low rate for me. After I had proven my worth, she would double that rate for the second issues, then bring it up to fair market for the third.
I researched and wrote, answered several emails, and even rewrote some of her own writings for her. She asked for a list of ideas for the next three issues. I complied with a list of 30 ideas. Her answering email said, “Is this all?”
Bugaboos of Article Marketing in Web Content Management Systems (CMS)
February 28, 2008
One of the most common blunders by those using article marketing to distribute free reprint articles is to include periods after domain names at the end of sentences. Surely those authors who have made this blunder realize that if that period gets included in the URL, the link will lead to a 404 error or “Page Not Found” message any time a visitor clicks on your link from any web site that used your articles. Publishers complicate things by not visiting links included in author resource boxes and failing to correct the address error in the URL once they do notice it.
To be fair to publishers, it is often difficult to edit within some content management systems and it simply takes too much time to make those changes. To be fair to article authors, we certainly ought to be able to use correct punctuation in our writing, even if it does cause problems with automated link creation in CMS (Content Management System) tools. To be fair to CMS programmers, writing exceptions into the software on CMS sytsems to remove that period leads to incomplete and truncated filenames along with other complex unintended consequences.
How To Take Your Freelance Writing Chances
February 27, 2008
Your initial freelance writing assignments are the best way to present yourself to your client for repeated work. If you provide for them a good product, at a good price, they are likely to come back time and time again. The goal of any career, particularly as a freelancer, is to have steady business. Instead of continually needing new clients or another job to fill your day, why not utilize repeat business? When you make the most of your freelancing time you are helping yourself to gain more business and maintain that which you already have.
For many people getting that first job is the key to success. It is the hardest part of working because more and more people want quality providers and want to use someone who is proven and worth the risk. You cannot get these jobs if you are new. But look at it another way. When you do get to that point, it is important to make the most out of all assignments so that you get return business from that client. This could be any number of things, but should always focus on maintaining a strong working relationship with the client. Providing them with good work, timely work, and listening and meeting their needs will have them coming back to you time and time again.
Benefits of Submitting Articles - 10 Reasons Why Free May Bring in the Bucks
February 27, 2008
Benefits of Submitting Articles - 10 Reasons Why Free May Bring in the Bucks
by: Marie Gervacio
Websites, Bloggers, Ezine Publishers all need content. All business need exposure and advertising. Writing artilcles to share your expertise with others can benefit in a number of ways even if you offer your articles freely.
1. Brand Yourself. You will brand your website, business and yourself . Make sure you include your name, business name, credentials, web site address and e-mail address in your resource box.
2. Gain credibility. You will become know as an expert on the topics you write about. Get an edge on your competion with a boost in credibilty.
3. Free advertising. This will broaden your advertising efforts in addition to yur normal advertising budget.
4. Get Published All Over The Web. Multiple visiting publishers to need free content for their websites, ezines, blogs and more.
5. Get Published in Offline Content. Some publishers may put your content in ebooks and so your advertising can multiply further.
6. Gain Trust. If when people read your article they like it, they will be more likely to buy your product or service increasing your profits.
How to Identify Great Book Ideas and Writing Opportunities
February 27, 2008
How to Identify Great Book Ideas and Writing Opportunities
by: Stephen L. Nelson, CPA
The first and maybe the most important step in writing a book is coming up with a great idea for some really useful or interesting book. The great idea makes the writing fun. The great idea makes the book easier to sell to a publisher. In the end, the great idea means you’ve got a shot at making good money from your writing. Unfortunately, many new writers don’t have a clue as to how to do this. Accordingly, I offer the following tips based on the 150 or so books I’ve written and the three dozen books I’ve published:
Don’t pick something big and obvious
The first thorough book on any important topic—the last war, the current big business success, the next medical breakthrough—can be a good book that succeeds even to the point of becoming a bestseller. But I respectfully suggest that you leave the big topics to the big writers. The problem with big, well-known topics is that they are well-known. And that means, very probably, that big publishers are already talking to big authors about writing books. Sorry. But that’s the reality.
How to Write a Book in Five Easy Steps
February 26, 2008
How to Write a Book in Five Easy Steps
by: Stephen L. Nelson, CPA
Because I’ve written more than a 100 books and even been a book publisher, people regularly ask me how one writes a book. I always shrug and say it’s not that hard. But this little article attempts to provide a better answer to the question by describing the easy five-step approach that I use and that I recommend you use.
Step 1: Research Your Topic
Your first step in writing any book is to research your topic. Obviously. To begin any constructive development work on a book—that early thinking about what might make for an interesting book and that planning about what should go into a book—you need to know your topic very well.
This situation leads to a pretty interesting conclusion if you gnaw on this idea a bit. How do you know what you should research if you haven’t yet actually come up with the idea for your book.
Here’s the reality: You can’t know. You can’t practically know what you should research until you possess a pretty good idea about what you should into the book. And yet you can’t have a good idea about your book–a professional quality idea– until you have your research done. It’s another Catch-22.
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