Essays Assistance » writer

How To Get Noticed Away Editors And Publishers Secure Your Strengths Radiance

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 08:22:17 +0000

To be a winning freelancer and retain noticed, being good often isn’t kindly enough. You comprise to shine. You be struck by to have something that puts you mainly all others. Of progression yet, nobody is perfect. Everyone has faults and flaws. But harry has talents and abilities too. What’s your talent?

Chance your talent and concentrate on it. Develop it. Showcase it in your composition so it really shines through. Memorialize, one aspect that stands out is loaded easier to mind than ten things that are good, but not great. As though trusty your most desirable knack stands out.

Stacey’s Allegory: Start With Something Special

I had my breakthrough while delightful a break from writing. I was watching the talkie Yield it On and asseverative to watch the perquisite features. At one of them was an audience with the boss and he talked about how the screenplay got noticed because it opened with the cry song. That stood out, that got their attention, that made them want to present the rest. I indisputable to take the selfsame approach. I took chances with the start. I started with a letter, a ode, a snippet from a diary. It must be subjected to made the contrast because with that harmonious change, a manuscript that had been rejected 14 times got purchased. –Stacey, Novelist

Carmen’s Allegory: Bring into play Your Strengths

I was told through my teachers and by readers that my parley was categorically strong. So I evident to stop hiding it away and I utter it to be fair out front. I made the key chapter of my untested on the verge of all dialogue. It got the concentration of an deputy, who has since told me that the individuality of the principal chapter told him that he had initiate a new paragrapher with a purify import of style. He took me on and is at present infuriating to vend that head of term to publishers. Smooth more advisedly representing me, he’s not rightful trying to sell my original record, he’s upsetting to sell me as the next new sentiment, a boyish writer to look commission in search! –Carmen, Novelist

Compiler Says: Neglect doing Modesty

Publication is not a how to write an essay business where you can sacrifice to be modest. You suffer with to get in there and accompany what you’ve got. Whatever you do better than dick else, arrive it off. Bod your expand yon your foremost skill. Way, you’re growing to be lumped in with the relaxation of the writers that are well-mannered, but don’t stand for out. –James, Journalist

Columnist Says: I’m Looking repayment for One Id‚e fixe

Sundry writers cook the flub of trying to show me the whole shooting match they do well. Forget it. I’m glancing at hundreds of manuscripts a day. To catch my limelight, you secure to touch me between the eyes with united heady point that I can’t not notice. There will be loiter again and again later to divulge me your other strengths. Throughout the before all contact, blurry on making a given sure object on every side yourself and beat a hasty retreat it a saintly one.
–Darryn, Senior editor

Susan’s Legend: Is it Definitely a Flaw?

In the originally days of Susan’s profession, everyone advised her that she relied on conference too much. So she dilute loose the dialogue. She kept criticism but inaugurate her career lacked energy. Years later, she decided to ignore all the advice. The fresh came actually to her and it was on the brink of all dialogue. The earmark reviews praised her unique form and voice. Susan intellectual her rebuke—at no time stifle what comes really to you. Remember, what comes really to you potency be your greatest offering, not your greatest flaw.

Prune Six Ways to Catch Your Stick-to-it-iveness

1. Ask other people what stands old-fashioned there your work.

2. Pore over some of your get the better of work and frame a listing of what makes it good.

3. Announce result of the contents of a publication upon theme and ask yourself if there is an yard you are good-hearted at.

4. Over nearly what other people maintain said close to your work. Are there any comments that obey being repeated?
5. Seek from yourself what you circumspection not far from when you write.

6. What do you like nearby other people’s work? Often the things you warning in other people’s slog away are also the things that you are allowable at.

Writing: Is It A Skill, Trade, Or Gift?

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 18:19:51 +0000

Whenever you rise writers together they talk close to writing. There are myriad unconventional types of writers. Those who enter to make up in long-hand or can at worst inscribe on an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Those who write to music, request do silence, or conceive best surrounded past noise. You organize the writers who ought to plan and outline ahead they can initiate and those who find regular talking here a occupation ahead it is drafted can throttle their creativity. But inseparable of the most polemical divisions in the midst writers is upon whether book is a facility, skilfulness, or gift.

I allow that I like to stir the stirred a grain because I can into all three points and depending on how my own script is prevalent at the two seconds I may find that whole viewpoint carries more albatross for me personally free essays hurricane katrina.

I separate as a teacher of column that book is a skill. I have taken people, prepubescent and antiquated, who loathed calligraphy and believed they would conditions be able to a note — and provided them with primary tips and tools to become upstanding basic writers. I deceive captivated gain principal writers and given them the buttress and route they’ve needed to fit skilled writers. I’ve watched skilled writers with practice and solution evolve into au fait writers. I fool seen this in the classroom, at writing conferences, and in newsrooms. I force witnessed this change enough to be aware that expos‚ is a skill that can be taught and a artistry that can be learned.

I identify as a pen-pusher, editor, and reader that criticism is a craft. As the definition reads to know-how is “to mark aggressive or generate with solicitude, skill, or cleverness”. A skilled hack can pinch our interest and convey gen, but a penny-a-liner can also craft a story, rhapsody, or essay that touches our emotions as articulately as our brains. Concerning those who possess gone beyond plainly skilled to be craftsmen and craftswomen they can rely on their data, knowledge, and bent to originate writing that does more than plainly delivers — it also sings.

I know as a novelist and reader that literature is a gift. Some writers totally take a odd mark that allows them to step beyond and overhead the huddled masses. In return some it is a exclusive wit to appearance words into images and ideas and in return some it is a solitary vision of this life (or another) that speaks to our souls in a way others cannot.

Are writers born or made? Multitudinous people scrap that some superb writers are born, but I am not convinced. Conceivably you could be dressed some predisposition but I put faith that writers are made. They are made in the rocking chair when Mother reads “Goodnight, Moon”; they are made subservient to the enclose with a flashlight when you simply essential finish “The Hobbit” for the benefit of the beginning period; they are made when you proudly cavity your chief library probable; they are made when you fill your primary notebook; they are made when you submit your first rhyme, article or fib for daily; they are made when you be subjected to your first denial; and they are made when you turn the computer on every broad daylight to write.

I accept some writers are very talented but balanced so does that no matter what it was a gift given to them in one piece or was it a gift developed from head to foot years of reading, critique, talking, and opinion yon words?

So, I hold, scribble literary works is all three — a skill, a ability, and a gift. Some writers find their knack spans all three while others not at any time course previous the level of skill.

Correspondence On the side of Fun And Profit

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 18:39:08 +0000

Every writer dreams of the day when they can profit from their writing. While return opportunities overflow with owing writers, each method has drawbacks.

Newspaper and ammunition reporters can fare a honest living but their thesis dilemma is oftentimes closely regulated and directed. Corporate editorial can be steady more lucrative but fair and square more tensely controlled. Freelance journalism leading article offers more independence but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?

Overlook all those old-school review methods and sharply defined unclear on the Internet. Don’t dash off pro anyone but yourself. You surely can profit from critique purely back what interests you. Don’t fret here the market or the editors. Communicate with as a replacement for yourself. Not simply wishes it be more fun and enriched in regard to your soul but repayment for your checking account as well.

I am prevalent to interest an easy (and cheap) 10-step directions that can help you start your own calligraphy function today, but premier I need to slice one noteworthy fact.

This is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It will take some time to clear, dialect mayhap as extended as three months to go into turning a profit, but if you provision working at it you should spy your profits thicken exponentially each month and you should be proficient to reckon on on that income and recognize what you arrange to do to inflate it. You liking receive total check outstanding your takings and that is utter powerful.

1. Father a blog account at one of the uninhabited blogging sites available online (we adapted to to put but there are uncountable other passable options). This require function for as your Internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest point to be paid online today. Yes, you could think up a unburden web site at single out of the many nearby, but blogs are more inviting to the search engines. Gain they offer you the ability to personalize it, but most of your determination will be used up on significance which is the monarch of the Internet and the real apologia you call for an Internet presence.

2. Now gesticulation up allowing for regarding a free ClickBank affiliate account which wishes transfer you instinctive access to something to sell.

3. Enlist up fit a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as splendidly as customers.

4. Develop your blog. Gauge 10 your pressing goal then coax your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or compendious stories; or articles.

5. Advance your blog because of article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would lead one to believe your especially convergence on article marketing as if offers the faculty to not barely reveal links but also delivers transport together with as a newsman it is foolproof notwithstanding you to father articles or from a selection of the supplies you’ve already created as your blog.

Yes, it very is that simple and while you can later thicken not later than buying your own department name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own put you do not demand (and likely should keep off) investing money in overpriced tools

Getting started on the snare can be free (as you endure not susceptible) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you definitely need. The clear truth is that you don’t privation a Online Store Navigation lot of gingerbread, precious tools and programs. In the desire run a department denominate is a paraphernalia investment. A domain name last will and testament cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the innumerable other options ready). You don’t desideratum to discover a snare master or think up a site. Solely stress the dominion at your blog for things being what they are and continue with the evolution and development of your blog. The advantageously of owning your own province prestige is simply that later when you procure the gelt, loiter again and again, and insight to arise your spider’s web site that realm esteem resolve already exist and have filtered inclusive of the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a set at liberty blog cannot.

At some matter you may referee you want more versatility and repress than a liberal blog can present oneself and that is when you see fit have a yen for to run your own site. You can discover to be a good trap body due to the fact that as dwarf as $5 a month and shouldn’t benefit more than $20 a month an eye to a honourable host that offers all the tools and utilities you sway fundamental in place of your current site–including blog software. Possibly down the line you’ll require to upgrade but by then you’ll skilled in your receipts and your needs.

Surely the but other automatic expense that you might judge to institute your Internet vocation executed would be a mailing directory tool. You can do this looking for fair-minded $20 a month and it last will and testament be good every penny after sales, bloke service, and promotion. But this is not sure to start out and you may umpire fix that it isn’t superior to your efforts so you can pass by it entirely.

For good occasionally you have on the agenda c trick your blog appoint up and monetized (on contribution ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling subject-matter links) then you are in a postulate to rather commence profiting from your writing. The practice to profit it to growing your above so you miss to grab dangerous down your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute pass on propagate instinctive freight and sire move in reverse links towards search machine optimization. Also you destitution to continue to grow your blog during adding fresh please regularly. This determination create copy visitors as prosperously as attract the search engines backwards again and again. Wholly publishing new articles and untrodden blog entries each week inclination better your traffic. The more articles and entries you create — the more freight you purpose generate.

At intervals you have institute your time with your existing blog you may well opt for to branch absent from and create a second blog on a assorted or related topic. In the present circumstances you should be proficient to post smooth faster because you are more expert but likely more motivated as reservoir flow because you can aid just how enriching it can be to jot on the side of sport and profit.

Sales Letters that Sales-clerk!

Mon, 10 May 2010 16:12:55 +0000

The customarily consumer is inundated with sales pitches. So if you’re selling a spin-off or handling to today’s ad weary consumer, if you longing your sales letters to get results, you’ll need a step-by-step delineate that breaks down the barriers to buying. A aim that bypasses the mr big and goes right respecting the heart.

If the guts’s in it, the sense thinks fitting follow.

Buying anything is fundamentally emotional. Whether it’s instrument clips or patent distribute copiers, emotions command the purchase. Facts, specs and the like are entirely used to defend the decisiveness, definitely made. Which means that caboodle here your sales the classics, every rap, every couch have to apply to your buyer’s emotions.

What emotions?

The easy actuality is, there are on the other hand two emotions that definitely induce people: The expectation of money or the trepidation of loss–with the cowardice of depletion being the stronger. Archetype: Given the realm of possibilities of headlines: “Deliver money in legitimate fees.” Or “How to keep from being sued.” The latter inclination unquestionably get a better response.

Supporting the undertaking of on and the forebodings of liability liabilities are seven mood temperamental hooks or fundamental human needs. No import what your result or accommodation, to be noticeable, your sales line forced to directly accost as myriad of these primary needs as practical:

• Safety/Security
• Capital
• Careful looks
• Esteem
• Self-satisfaction
• Available things
• Fun/Excitement

So how do you get them to act? How do you lose from avert to heart? What’s the copy paradigm? Dream up you’re in a baseball ground coating an audience in rows of bleachers. It’s the line of work of the century, ninth inning, bases loaded. And you’ve got a despatch-case of peanuts you of course must sell or the boss will fire you on the spot. What would you do to get their attention? Scream “Peanuts?”

Start with a said “2×4”

You’ve got to chance them over the flair with an emotional motivator. And that means you start with the envelope. Remember– gain or loss–it has to be privilege there on the secondary, in bold. (When was the matrix time you rushed to open a plain fair-skinned envelope?) Two examples:

Gain– “We Put a Money-Making Miracle in this Envelope.”
Loss– “Throw This Away and Work Hard on the Zizz of Your Life.”

Okay. They’ve opened the dispatch and what do they see? A dry paragraph with respect to your management in the industry? Stuffy sentences nearly commitment, modernization and dedication?

Whoosh. In the full file it goes.

Time to attack our key motivators–gain or loss. Again, it’s got to be there in a headline they can’t miss. And it be compelled strengthen the headline that compelled them to rip unsettled that envelope. Both headlines be compelled dovetail in their idea and emotional impact.

Illustration: “Stop reading this letter and you’re halfway to becoming rich.”
Next comes the all-important band copy. What to respond to take one’s leave of them begging in place of your product. An eye to this we go fitting into the consumer’s emotions, mining fitting for clues to the suitable selling pitch.

What’s the problem?

A while distant, McDonalds was beating the pants eccentric its competitors. So Burger King hired a brawny powerhouse ad agency to glean them customer base share. They tried everything–analyzing unpublishable sauces, elaborate contests, small tie-ins. Nothing worked. Definitely, they sent thoroughly questionnaires, did centre groups, and faithfully stopped people on the street. And you certain what they discovered? Not what consumers liked, but what they didn’t like upon hamburgers. To save on fixation, the influential hamburger came practically “factory made” with all on it. Some folks liked pickles, others hated onions or mayo. That was “the problem.” The fluid was halfwitted: hamburgers made to enjoin, followed around the instant all-too-familiar rallying cry “Get it Your Way.” The quiddity is, you’ve got to find and turn to account your consumer’s problem. And provoke your outcome the hero.

Animation without your product–miserable

So, you’ve succeeded in getting your reader’s attention. You’ve discovered their “problem.” At present it’s control to remind them how varied ways that imbroglio affects their lives. If you’re selling a cordless exciting lawnmower, you’ll insufficiency to remind them of all the headaches of their antediluvian gas powered mower. Like contest out of gas, determination the gas can, fascinating it to the gas post, driving subvene with a can full of miasmatic gas in the car, dialect mayhap spilling gas on the carpet. In the same instant at refuge, there’s the annoyance of yanking the starter until your arm feels like a namby-pamby noodle. And the stirred danger of having a can of gas in the garage with kids playing just about it. The meat is, you want to greasepaint a entirely worrying picture of enthusiasm without your product.

Mortal with your artifact—categorical joyousness

Promptly that you’ve raised your reader’s moment by making them guess the spasm of life without your commodity, it’s perpetually to lay down your solution. Here’s where you’ll seconds present yourself and your product or service. No more uninterrupted for all to see of gas, no more smelling gas cans in your contemporary jalopy, no more yanking that starter string till your arm falls off. Ethical flick the direct and you’re cheerful to mow. Dam up it into your exciting escape hatch and it charges overnight. Your worries are over. You opportunity on and on, hammering old folks’ the the score that your offering or amenities is the holy solution. At this matter, your reader last will and testament indubitably expect, “Sounds compelling, but who the heck are you to think you can solve my problem? I not under any condition heard of you.”

Credentials however

Here’s where you enlarge credibility by means of detailing tone facts that build faith in you and your company. You could start by listing some testimonials from satisfied customers. If these on from people in the earnestness who your panorama is friendly with, so much the better. And if you can become infected with photos, phone numbers and so forth, it settle upon supplement equable more to your credibility. This is also the together to reveal how extensive you’ve been in business and any articles that close to your comrades and/or its products that take appeared in the provincial or civil media (these can be notably valuable, since they come from an disinterested horse’s mouth).

These days that you’ve assuaged their fears to doing business with a finished unsung, they’ll shortage to be fully sold approximately your artifact or service. Here’s where you urinate into detail. And this is the ideal heretofore to do so, because you’ve established trust. They won’t be point of view on every side who you are, but what you can do in place of them–how you’re prospering to figure out their problem.

Group specifically benefits, not features

A explanation caveat here. Don’t sway your reader quagmired in “Featurespeak.” It’s plain to do and it’s what most unskilled writers go to ruin sacrificial lamb to. Featurespeak is for your sales team, not your implied customer. Keep off things like “Our inexperienced cordless electric mower features the X9T Autoflex handle, or the PT600 Zenon Battery. More safely a improved to allege, “Our late exciting mower’s treat by far adjusts to your crest in support of most comfort.” Or “The easily rechargeable battery lasts up to 5 years without replacement.” If your output or service has more than three larger benefits, schedule them in bullet malapropos look to realize them easier to read.
Make them an bid they can’t deny

This is the momentous as for of your sales letter. Your furnish should be compelling, irrefutable and urgent. You privation your reader to say, “This is a great extend, I’ve got nothing to misplace but my problem.” Attempt to merge the big 3 in your offer–irresistible price, terms, and a unencumbered gift. Owing standard, if you’re selling a cordless stirring mower, your submit weight be a discounted retail price, infirm benefit toll, and a blade-sharpening tool. Try to wolf the perceived value of your proposal sooner than adding on products or services–for energized mowers, it effectiveness be an extended bond or security goggles. Augment this with compelling benefits these additional products or services wish provide.

Assuage with a bond

There’s a little convey in the back of every customer’s fountain-head that whispers, “Acquire this and you’ll be sorry.” So make your propose bulletproof. Assume the risk into the open of the purchase. Give the pure strongest swear to you can. It tells your reader you’re confident in your outcome or service. Passably so to resting with someone abandon it up with a sturdy guarantee. Don’t be lily-livered to urge this terminating commitment.

Motivate the procrastinators

So they’re reading your the humanities and are fetching convinced that your comrades and your issue or employ can make plain their problem. They want to buy. The mind is compliant but the physically is weak. Stretch to bring in our key motivator—cowardice of loss. One system to seacock into this fear is around convincing your reader that because this is such a company have to do with, at worst a scant infrequent mowers remain. Or that the extended agreement is being offered only in behalf of the next handful days, or in return the next 50 customers. Our old motivator–gain–can be reach-me-down here as well. Standard: “Procure in the present circumstances and touch a $20 gift card–FREE!”

Call to action–KISS

You and your help be familiar with what readers constraint to do to gain your spin-off or service, but your readers are inundated with offers every day. And each suggest has a singular from conducive to buying. Distribute them a irregularity and walk them sometimes non-standard due to the order/purchase process. And OSCULATE (tend it easy stupid). Use simple proceeding words like “Pick Up the Phone and Appeal to c visit cancel Stylish!” If your phone reckon spells thoroughly a catchy battle-cry or troop nominate, forever add numerical phone numbers. If they poverty to fill out a regimen and send it, communicate so. And if possible, services large type on your sort—especially if you’re selling to seniors. Be clear on what they’re ordering and for what price.

ABC!

Admire persist Alec Baldwin’s admonition in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross—“ABC…Unceasingly Be Closing.” Sprinkle your entreat to liveliness in every nook your letter. Beg on the side of the order. Then when you give the rally to enterprise at the end of the message, it won’t get about as a shock, but moral another reminder. Well-advised b wealthier stock-still, if they’re apt to command halfway through your message, they’ll know what to do.

Postscripts are sleight of hand

Cipher reads postscripts, right? Wrong. The P.S. is the third most pore over climatic conditions b rudiments of a sales letter—after the headline and any envisage captions. The top wordsmiths use a number of (P.P.S) in their letters. It’s one of the maximum effort places to jog the memory readers of your ungovernable offer. But you force to be to the point and compelling, establishing need and value, and drawing on your timbre motivators of recuperate and loss.

Trip it home on the order cut

The unorganized aspect is where some of the greatest sales are won or lost. It’s where that teensy-weensy expression in the wager of your character’s chairperson comes living in the same breath again and says, “You’ll be sorry” or “You sure you yearn for to pay off this now?” It’s what I gather Preemptive Purchaser’s Remorse.” Prematurely to topple b reduce in our top gun persuaders–gain and loss–one last time. Abuse the same persuasive arguments as before–only be brief, more compelling and urgent.

Do you desire the steak knives or the El Dorado?

Okay, you’ve got the prized Glengarry leads. And the procedure fitted writing a fetching sales letter. Start by knowledgable your thought’s hard, then impel at ease pitch benefits using the high-strung motivators I’ve described. And don’t forget Alec Baldwin’s other maxim, AIDA–Attention. Interest. Decision. Action. Travel their regard, erect their charge, convince them it’s the perfect steadfastness, and at length, urge them to act. Passable luck. You’ve got 26 letters in the English alphabet. How you use them can establish all the difference …between getting the steak knives or the Cadillac El Dorado.

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Edit or Rewrite: Either Way it is Work for You!

Essays — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:49:20 +0000

As a freelance writer, some of my least favorite projects are those where the client wants me to rewrite an existing article. I have since learned that this type of statement, “It’ll only involve a little editing,” usually really means, “You’ll have to rewrite the entire article in order for it to make sense.” My advice to you, the freelancer, is try to determine in advance just how much “editing” you will have to do, otherwise be prepared to initiate a time consuming rewrite that won’t pay for itself.

My first sizable rewriting job was one I now call, “my blunder from down under.” By down under, I certainly don’t mean Australia &ndash you have to dig a lot deeper to go to where it is hotter. Get it? A real “devil” of a job!

The job involved “editing” five articles by including new information and cleaning up verbiage and syntax. Or so I thought. As it turned out, each of the five articles lacked clear and concise purpose and failed to produce a tight and sensible conclusion. I saw the “writing on the wall” and decided that the editing job would need to turn into a complete rewrite in order to make any sense of them.

Two full days later my work was done after submitting the drafts to the client, having the client send back additional changes and comments, and resubmitting the final copies back to the client.

After this experience I was mentally exhausted and frustrated, but I learned a valuable lesson: work diligently to uncover what a job entails before agreeing to take on a project and/or leave open the possibility that your price may change [read: will increase] should extra work be involved.

It was a tough lesson learned, but I found out that the “devil” is really in the details when it comes to accepting a rewriting project. Either way it is “work” for you!

Writing: Is It A Skill, Craft, Or Gift?

Essays — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:41:16 +0000

Whenever you gather writers together they talk about writing. There are many different types of writers. Those who prefer to compose in long-hand or can only write on an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Those who write to music, demand complete silence, or create best surrounded by noise. You have the writers who must plan and outline before they can begin and those who find even talking about a project before it is drafted can stifle their creativity. But one of the most controversial divisions among writers is about whether writing is a skill, craft, or gift.

I admit that I like to stir the fire a bit because I can argue all three points and depending on how my own writing is going at the moment I may find that one viewpoint carries more weight for me personally.

I know as a teacher of writing that writing is a skill. I have taken people, young and old, who loathed writing and believed they would never be able to write — and provided them with basic tips and tools to become good basic writers. I have taken good basic writers and given them the support and direction they’ve needed to become skilled writers. I’ve watched skilled writers with practice and determination become proficient writers. I have seen this in the classroom, at writing conferences, and in newsrooms. I have witnessed this transformation enough to know that writing is a skill that can be taught and a skill that can be learned.

I know as a writer, editor, and reader that writing is a craft. As the definition reads to craft is “to make or produce with care, skill, or ingenuity”. A skilled writer can capture our interest and convey information, but a writer can also craft a story, poem, or essay that touches our emotions as well as our brains. For those who have gone beyond simply skilled to be craftsmen and craftswomen they can rely on their knowledge, experience, and instinct to create writing that does more than simply delivers — it also sings.

I know as a writer and reader that writing is a gift. Some writers simply possess a special quality that allows them to step beyond and above the huddled masses. For some it is a special ability to shape words into images and ideas and for some it is a unique vision of this world (or another) that speaks to our souls in a way others cannot.

Are writers born or made? Many people argue that some gifted writers are born, but I am not convinced. Perhaps you could have some predisposition but I believe that writers are made. They are made in the rocking chair when Mother reads “Goodnight, Moon”; they are made under the cover with a flashlight when you simply must finish “The Hobbit” for the first time; they are made when you proudly pocket your first library card; they are made when you fill your first notebook; they are made when you submit your first poem, article or story for publication; they are made when you receive your first rejection; and they are made when you turn the computer on every day to write.

I believe some writers are supremely gifted but even so does that mean it was a gift given to them whole or was it a gift developed through years of reading, writing, talking, and thinking about words?

So, I believe, writing is all three — a skill, a craft, and a gift. Some writers find their ability spans all three while others never progress past the level of skill.

Maintaining Article Integrity

Essays — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 03:31:44 +0000

Inasmuch as I enjoy writing, I do not enjoy participating in schemes to create “templated” articles for other “authors” to use or misuse to their delight. Or, at the very least, to profit from my hard work!

On occasion, I am asked by a client to take someone else’s article, make some changes, and make it their article. Quite frankly, this smacks of plagiarism…I won’t do it, so please don’t ask!

Instead, if there is a general idea in a particular article that strikes a responsive chord in you, I would be interested in taking a look at the article and see if it inspires me to create original work. The key, of course, is original work, not a rip off of someone else’s writings and not a thinly disguised rewrite of the article.

My policy regarding working for others is this: if you trust my writing talents, you can trust that what I write for you will be “knock their socks off” good writing that will stand on its own two feet.

A good writer is a wellspring of original material while a poor writer hangs on to coattails of other writers or, worse, steals their information outright. Don’t get caught up in the “article mill” schemes that some so-called writers are involved in. Your reputation is at stake and you will be found out.

Sales Letters that Sell!

Essays — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:21:32 +0000

The average consumer is inundated with sales pitches. So if you’re selling a product or service to today’s ad weary consumer, if you want your sales letters to get results, you’ll need a step-by-step plan that breaks down the barriers to buying. A plan that bypasses the head and goes right for the heart.

If the heart’s in it, the brain will follow.

Buying anything is largely emotional. Whether it’s paper clips or plain paper copiers, emotions lead the purchase. Facts, specs and the like are simply used to justify the decision, once made. Which means that everything about your sales letter, every sentence, every phrase must appeal to your customer’s emotions.

What emotions?

The simple truth is, there are only two emotions that really motivate people: The promise of gain or the fear of loss–with the fear of loss being the stronger. Example: Given the choice of headlines: “Save money in legal fees.” Or “How to keep from being sued.” The latter will probably get a better response.

Supporting the promise of gain and the fear of loss are seven key emotional hooks or basic human needs. No matter what your product or service, to be effective, your sales letter must directly address as many of these basic needs as possible:

• Safety/Security

• Wealth

• Good looks

• Popularity

• Self-satisfaction

• Free time

• Fun/Excitement

So how do you get them to act? How do you go from head to heart? What’s the copy paradigm? Imagine you’re in a baseball stadium facing an audience in rows of bleachers. It’s the game of the century, ninth inning, bases loaded. And you’ve got a bag of peanuts you absolutely must sell or the boss will fire you on the spot. What would you do to get their attention? Yell “Peanuts?”

Start with a verbal “2×4”

You’ve got to hit them over the head with an emotional motivator. And that means you start with the envelope. Remember– gain or loss–it has to be right there on the outside, in bold. (When was the last time you rushed to open a plain white envelope?) Two examples:

Gain– “We Put a Money-Making Miracle in this Envelope.”

Loss– “Throw This Away and Work Hard for the Rest of Your Life.”

Okay. They’ve opened the letter and what do they see? A boring paragraph about your leadership in the industry? Stuffy sentences about commitment, innovation and dedication?

Whoosh. In the round file it goes.

Time to visit our key motivators–gain or loss. Again, it’s got to be there in a headline they can’t miss. And it must reinforce the headline that compelled them to rip open that envelope. Both headlines must dovetail in their message and emotional impact.

Example: “Finish reading this letter and you’re halfway to becoming rich.”

Next comes the all-important body copy. What to say to leave them begging for your product. For this we go right into the consumer’s emotions, mining for clues to the perfect selling pitch.

What’s the problem?

A while back, McDonalds was beating the pants off its competitors. So Burger King hired a big powerhouse ad agency to gain them market share. They tried everything–analyzing secret sauces, elaborate contests, toy tie-ins. Nothing worked. Finally, they sent out questionnaires, did focus groups, and literally stopped people on the street. And you know what they discovered? Not what consumers liked, but what they didn’t like about hamburgers. For on thing, the leading hamburger came practically “factory made” with everything on it. Some folks liked pickles, others hated onions or mayo. That was “the problem.” The solution was simple: hamburgers made to order, followed by the now all-too-familiar slogan “Have it Your Way.” The point is, you’ve got to find and exploit your consumer’s problem. And make your product the hero.

Life without your product–miserable

So, you’ve succeeded in getting your reader’s attention. You’ve discovered their “problem.” Now it’s time to remind them how many ways that problem affects their lives. If you’re selling a cordless electric lawnmower, you’ll want to remind them of all the headaches of their old gas powered mower. Like running out of gas, finding the gas can, taking it to the gas station, driving back with a can full of smelly gas in the car, maybe spilling gas on the carpet. Once at home, there’s the annoyance of yanking the starter until your arm feels like a wet noodle. And the fire danger of having a can of gas in the garage with kids playing near it. The point is, you want to paint a very troublesome picture of life without your product.

Life with your product&ndashabsolute bliss

Now that you’ve raised your reader’s interest by making them feel the pain of life without your product, it’s time to provide your solution. Here’s where you’ll briefly introduce yourself and your product or service. No more running out of gas, no more smelling gas cans in your new car, no more yanking that starter cord till your arm falls off. Just flick the switch and you’re ready to mow. Plug it into your electric outlet and it charges overnight. Your worries are over. You go on and on, hammering home the fact that your product or service is the perfect solution. At this point, your reader will probably ask, “Sounds interesting, but who the heck are you to think you can solve my problem? I never heard of you.”

Credentials time

Here’s where you build trust by detailing key facts that build confidence in you and your company. You could start by listing some testimonials from satisfied customers. If these come from people in the industry who your prospect is familiar with, so much the better. And if you can get photos, phone numbers and so forth, it will add even more to your credibility. This is also the time to mention how long you’ve been in business and any articles that about your company and/or its products that have appeared in the local or national media (these can be particularly valuable, since they come from an impartial source).

Now that you’ve assuaged their fears about doing business with a complete unknown, they’ll want to be totally sold about your product or service. Here’s where you go into detail. And this is the perfect time to do so, because you’ve established trust. They won’t be thinking about who you are, but what you can do for them–how you’re going to solve their problem.

Detail benefits, not features

A key caveat here. Don’t get your reader quagmired in “Featurespeak.” It’s easy to do and it’s what most unskilled writers fall victim to. Featurespeak is for your sales team, not your potential customer. Avoid things like “Our new cordless electric mower features the X9T Autoflex handle, or the PT600 Zenon Battery. Better to say, “Our new electric mower’s handle easily adjusts to your height for maximum comfort.” Or “The easily rechargeable battery lasts up to 5 years without replacement.” If your product or service has more than three major benefits, list them in bullet point form to make them easier to read.

Make them an offer they can’t refuse

This is the crucial part of your sales letter. Your offer should be compelling, irrefutable and urgent. You want your reader to say, “This is a great offer, I’ve got nothing to lose but my problem.” Try to combine the big 3 in your offer–irresistible price, terms, and a free gift. For example, if you’re selling a cordless electric mower, your offer might be a discounted retail price, low interest rate, and a blade-sharpening tool. Try to raise the perceived value of your offer by adding on products or services–for electric mowers, it might be an extended warranty or safety goggles. Augment this with compelling benefits these additional products or services will provide.

Assuage with a guarantee

There’s a little voice in the back of every customer’s head that whispers, “Buy this and you’ll be sorry.” So make your offer bulletproof. Take the risk out of the purchase. Give the absolute strongest guarantee you can. It tells your reader you’re confident in your product or service. Enough so to back it up with a strong guarantee. Don’t be afraid to make this final commitment.

Motivate the procrastinators

So they’re reading your letter and are pretty convinced that your company and your product or service can solve their problem. They want to buy. The mind is willing but the flesh is weak. Time to bring in our key motivator&ndashfear of loss. One way to tap into this fear is by convincing your reader that because this is such a good deal, only a scant few mowers remain. Or that the extended warranty is being offered only for the next few days, or for the next 50 customers. Our old motivator–gain–can be used here as well. Example: “Buy now and get a $20 gift card–FREE!”

Call to action–KISS

You and your staff know what readers need to do to buy your product or service, but your readers are inundated with offers every day. And each offer has a different procedure for buying. Give them a break and walk them through the order/purchase process. And KISS (keep it simple stupid). Use simple action words like “Pick Up the Phone and Call Now!” If your phone number spells out a catchy slogan or company name, always add numerical phone numbers. If they need to fill out a form and mail it, say so. And if possible, use large type on your form&ndashespecially if you’re selling to seniors. Be clear on what they’re ordering and for what price.

ABC!

Follow Alec Baldwin’s admonition in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross&ndash“ABC…Always Be Closing.” Sprinkle your call to action throughout your letter. Ask for the order. Then when you give the call to action at the end of the letter, it won’t come as a surprise, but just another reminder. Better still, if they’re ready to order halfway through your letter, they’ll know what to do.

Postscripts are magic

Nobody reads postscripts, right? Wrong. The P.S. is the third most read element of a sales letter&ndashafter the headline and any picture captions. The top wordsmiths use several (P.P.S) in their letters. It’s one of the best places to remind readers of your irresistible offer. But you have to be brief and compelling, establishing urgency and value, and drawing on your key motivators of gain and loss.

Drive it home on the order form

The order form is where some of the greatest sales are won or lost. It’s where that little voice in the back of your customer’s head comes alive once again and says, “You’ll be sorry” or “You sure you want to buy this now?” It’s what I call Preemptive Buyer’s Remorse.” Time to bring in our top gun persuaders–gain and loss–one last time. Use the same persuasive arguments as before–only be brief, more compelling and urgent.

Do you want the steak knives or the El Dorado?

Okay, you’ve got the prized Glengarry leads. And the formula for writing a winning sales letter. Start by knowing your prospect’s problem, then drive home key benefits using the emotional motivators I’ve described. And don’t forget Alec Baldwin’s other maxim, AIDA–Attention. Interest. Decision. Action. Get their attention, build their interest, convince them it’s the right decision, and finally, urge them to act. Good luck. You’ve got 26 letters in the English alphabet. How you use them can make all the difference …between getting the steak knives or the Cadillac El Dorado.

Helping Clients Overcome

Essays — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:46:45 +0000

If you write for a living, that is, if you write articles for clients you often have heard about writer’s block. Personally, I think the topic is overdone and simply something that comes about when the author is too tired, distracted, or simply not interested in the topic at hand [oh, yes...this does happen!] On the other hand, do your clients sometimes suffer from writer’s block? Okay, before you throw your hands up wondering how could this be, just think about it: do your clients always know what they want you to write? Am I making myself clear? If so, read on…if not, please read this paragraph again!

As writers, we can assume that when a potential client approaches us to write for them, that they always know which topics they want you to cover. Without sounding cheeky, only if this was always so! To put it mildly, you may have a client who wants you to write “X” amount of articles, which he or she will place on their own web site in hopes of building up SEO [search engine optimization, that is], and your part of the equation is to write interesting and compelling copy that will drive traffic to their site.

Well, this only works out if your client knows exactly which topics/subjects are to be covered, keywords used, and the length of each article. No, your client isn’t going to write the article, but they will certainly lay its foundation. No web content article can possibly get going without your knowing certain essentials including the topic and which keywords are to be utilized. Make certain that these building blocks are included with your proposal, otherwise you risk going down one path while your client wanted you to go down another.

Unless you have plenty of time to constantly rewrite every article I recommend that you uncover precisely what the client wants from you.

When I sense that a client isn’t sure which direction they want me to proceed, I then start asking several questions, including:

Do you have a topic you want covered? If so, what is it and do you want me to come up with the article title or is this something that you would like to do? Knowing this information will help you create the introductory paragraph and your topic sentence.

Next questions: which keywords do you want me to use? I try to limit my clients to a small group of 2-4 words per article. Additional keywords mean additional articles…why confuse your readers? Why kill SEO? As I write this article for you do you have 3-4 points you want me to make? All of this information will comprise the article’s body.

Finally, what sort of “call to action” are you desiring? Do you want readers to buy a product? Read something else? Call their representative? I leave the anchor links up to the client, but I try to bring the article exactly to the point where the client wants it to be.

If you have gotten satisfactory answers to each of your questions, you have helped your client get over their own case of writer’s block. Yes, to a certain point every client has already visualized what they want written [they bring you on because they don’t know how to craft the right words or are simply too busy to write for themselves]. If they haven’t, you must help them answer the previous questions in order for you to write effectively.

If you don’t take the time to make certain that your client is sure of what he or she wants, you will have wasted time and delayed the opportunity to go to the next project.

I don’t know about you, but time is of the essence and we writers cannot afford to waste any of it. Nail down exactly what your client wants before tackling any project to save yourself time and to preserve your sanity!

Learn Why You Should Have A 3-Tiered Strategy For Article Submission

Essays — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:53:44 +0000

You’ve heard a lot about how much writing articles can do for your internet marketing strategy. You now understand how writing articles can help position you as an expert in your field, gain valuable targed traffic for your web site, and quickly multiple your site’s text links.

Now you have convinced yourself to take the plunge into article marketing and you have a few articles all lined up and ready to submit — and you are overwhelmed by the sheer volume and variety of article directories available. It is easy to simply go with the big dogs and forget the rest, but that is a big mistake. You really need to have a 3-tiered article submission strategy. Select a couple of the big dogs, but also add some medium-sized directories and some smaller, newer directories to your list for regular submission as well. There are several reasons why this strategy can be much more effective in the long run than targeting the large directories alone.

The mega-directories carry a big punch in terms of link power and recognition. You can almost watch the reader numbers climb on your articles. But because they are so big they also get a large volume of submissions every day and your articles very quickly move from the top page of the directories new submissions list and even from the top page of the topic listing.

Medium-sized directories don’t pack as big a punch as the mega, but their text link value is still strong and they usually have a solid reader base. They have been around long enough to build a loyal audience and clientele. However because they are not as big their submission volume is lower than the mega so your articles retain top billing longer — and becoming a top article or top author may be an attainable goal for the part-timer.

Small and/or new directories usually don’t offer nearly the level of power of their larger brethren, but a quick study will reveal whether or not the directory is regularly maintained and promoted — and you know that will mean the link power currently exists and will grow in the near future. Also with new and small directories you can easily achieve top author status and your articles will stay at the top of the ranking longer — they may well pass directly from “new” status to “top” status which rarely if ever happens at a mega directory.

That is my current strategy for article submission and I hope you found it helpful.

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