Writing Inrochester

With the Internet being the cyberspace shopping mall for both individuals and businesses, securing web traffic to your website is crucial. Having a belief system that simple is much better than complicated or what some still call the “K.I.S.S.” Theory (keep it simple and sweet or simple and short), I have discovered 7 steps that have tripled my article distribution rate, doubled my view rate during the last month and also doubled traffic to my web site. During the next few weeks, I will share these with you and provide some detailed explanations why these 7 steps will gain you additional traffic and more importantly additional business.

Believing in proper planning promotes positive performance (the 5-Ps), your topic selection should be based upon your “demand statistics” or how many times past articles have been viewed. For example, at ezinearticles.com, authors have the ability to track the number of times that their articles have been viewed. On April 20, 2005, I began to submit articles and now have over 40 articles in a variety of topics posted at this site. These articles have secured over 7,000 views in approximately 5 months. Most of these articles are receiving one to three views per day; however when I recently jumped topics to Internet SEO and web traffic, several articles began receiving 10 to 15 views per day.

Also, your article should look to the demand within the marketplace through the use of key words such as inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion, through Google and Yahoo searches and by reading posts in the various Groups and Blogs. Remember, potential clients or customers use the Internet to meet their current or future needs.

WRITING HINT: The article is not about how much you know, but rather how much your prospective client wants to know.

Many writers write not only for business purposes, but because they have a passion to share their knowledge with others. Occasionally, I write an article that is reactionary to something I have just read or to some thought that just popped into my brain. Yet, I still do the research to ensure that my writing efforts will be beneficial to potential readers and myself. What I have learned as an Internet writer and marketer is that there exists a continual challenge to connect our passion to our purpose to improve our performance.

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, M.S. CEO of ADVANCED SYSTEMS located outside of Chicago, IL, is the Learning & Process Specialist. With over 25 years of business & education experience, she helps her clients to double their performance. By uniting systems, strategies and people to create loyal internal customers, Leanne delivers ROI solutions in 4 key areas: financials, leadership, relationships and growth & innovation within a variety of industries including education, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. As co-author of M.A.G.I.C.A.L. Potential: 7 Capacities for Living an Amazing Life Beyond Purpose to Achievement due for 2005 release, Leanne speaks nationally to a variety of audiences. Please contact Leanne at 219.759.5601 or visit processspecialist.com processspecialist.com if you are seeking to connect your passion to your purpose to double your performance for unheard of results.

For those of you who are not trying to make a living writing, let me explain the process to you.

First, you write the article that has been floating around in your head. It may be that the perpetual state of road construction in the central Mexican town in which you’ve expatriated has finally caused you to flip out, so you write an article. Or, perhaps you’ve written a book.

Second, to sell this article or book, you have to write what is known as a query letter. This is a sales pitch to an editor telling her why she should buy your article.

“I need to eat, so please buy this screed!”

Then, if she wants to look at it, she lets you know, so you send the article, or in the case of a book, the book proposal.

Where this gets dicey for someone living in Mexico is that it costs big to send a letter to the States. The cost for a 25- to 50-page book proposal is astronomical. I spent $25.00 USD to send one book proposal.

There is no use crying over this since this is the way it is done. It is the way it has always been done and probably is the way it will always be done.

Sending a query letter or book proposal to a prospective editor or publisher is very formal. You have to check the submission guidelines of each outfit to see what their requirements are. Though there should be, there is no uniform way of doing this. Each editor will have his own anal-retentive, contrived way of wanting you to send him your stuff. I find this the height of insanity, but who am I to judge?

This gets very, very ,very tricky if you are a writer in a foreign country. Supposedly, there are supposed to be things called International Reply Coupons, which are essentially postage vouchers. The purpose of these little cuties is that editors and publishers, bless their anal little hearts, want you to enclose a Self-Addressed, Stamped-Envelope. They want this so badly that they will threaten you with simply pitching your materials into the trash bin should you so stupidly forget to included this item.

This is not as bad a thing as one might want to imagine. I mean, these editors and publishers get thousands of submissions and would go bankrupt paying to reply to each one. I get that and, when I was in the States, never flinched in including the SASE with my editorial submissions.

What editors and publishers do not get at all is that in Mexico, where life itself functions along a different Quantum Dimensional existence, no one has ever heard of an International Reply Coupon! In Mexico, and I have come to suspect specifically in Central Mexico where I live, this is more true than anywhere else in the country (or world).

Here is an example: My wife loves to buy canned salmon at the local supermarket. It is the only place we know of where we can get it. That store has been carrying it for a couple of years. Well, one day they were out of stock. They were out of stock for so long that my wife finally asked, in the fluent Spanish at her command, when and if they would get some more in stock. She was told,

“Oh, Señora, we don’t carry canned salmon, and what’s more, we never have.”

You simply would not believe how common an occurrence this is in this part of Mexico. We hear this all the time. And, there is nothing you can do to convince the person with whom you are talking otherwise.

I talked to about a dozen postal employees who all told me that not only did they not have International Reply Coupons, but what’s more, they never have had such a thing. One lady went so far as to say nowhere in Mexico would you find such a thing.

I accept this now without so much of a twinge of wanting to scream like a banshee and run through the streets of Guanajuato pulling out my hair. What I cannot begin to possibly accept is that editors and publishers are so clueless about Mexico as to assume that Mexican postal employees would have heard of such things as International Reply Coupons.

What does make me want to scream like a banshee and pull out my hair is that in the day and age of the Internet, these recalcitrant editors and publishers for the most part—and I mean the vast majority—will not allow any writer, no matter where one lives, to send in work using anything other than snail mail.

I know of one publisher who said the reason publishers wouldn’t even let you send work by international courier, like DHL, is that they might try to deliver it when the publisher is not there, making it necessary for him to take the “attempted delivery” notice somewhere to pick it up

THEY DID NOT WANT TO GET IN THEIR SUV’S AND HAVE TO DRIVE TO PICK UP AN ATTEMPTED DELIVERY!

Not only do they demand you send your work by snail mail, but you somehow, someway, through a miraculous act of God, have to attach return postage on it or it gets trashed! So, no international courier and especially not as an e-mail attachment. God forbid!

Let’s say I was fortunate enough to send a manuscript by snail mail and could include an envelope with the proper return postage. The chances of it reaching the publisher from Mexico very closely approximates ZERO!

I have lost money like you would not believe sending requested manuscripts to publishers on speculation. This is a term which means, “we might buy it, or we might not”. They want you to spend a fortune sending them something from Mexico based on their whim.

Do you begin to see how writing for a living is very much a publisher-heavy proposition? Though, if it weren’t for writers, the publishers would not have a job. Yet they make demands on writers, especially those who live and work in a foreign country, that are all but impossible to keep!

How do you send something with sufficient return postage when the postal employees have never heard of International Reply Coupons?

Though logic demands using the Internet, those who sit on the throne of the publishing world simply do not get it.

Who ever said logic counts in the publishing world?

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Doug Bower is a freelance writer and book author. His most recent writing credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Content, Transitions Abroad, International Living, Escape Artist, and The Front Porch Syndicate.

He is founder of zyworld.com/theolog/pag➂.htm Mexican Living Print & eBooks.

There are two goals in ensuring the success of any writer’s press release: first, that the press release must be passed, approved and published by the editors, and second, that the press release is effective in capturing the attention of the audience. Attaining the first goal, of course, ensures the payment for the article, while the second assures the writer of continued job offers from advertisers. So in order to make sure that the power of a press release is sustained, any person in the business must take into consideration that these three things are done in his writing: concreteness, style and impact.

Concreteness refers to how concise and efficient the writer is in his work – after all, the plug shouldn’t be too short to lack information nor too long to need cutting and cropping or eventual rejection. Finding the perfect mean between too much and too little will take work, but it’s all worth the trouble if it means a person is getting better in the field. Style corresponds to the way the press release is written.

Aside from grammar and method, the way the content is presented should be taken seriously. If the nature of the press release is targeted towards young audiences, then the tone must be light and bubbly. If it is for the elite sector of society, then it must be serious and classy – the style depends on the audience. And Last of the three things to do is to make sure the work has impact. This means that the press release is catchy – and to do this, the writer must make his work interesting and enticing. To have this quality, the writer must then be well-read and up-to-date when it comes to the latest trends. By having all three qualities, one can be assured of the effectivity of the written article.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘

Download it free here:

Writing is easy when you leave it to your subconscious mind. Think of your
subconscious mind as your inner librarian.

Colin Wilson, in his book Access to Inner Worlds, says: “The (inner) library contains
detailed recordings of everything that has ever happened to us, and these can be
recombined in any order… We catch a glimpse of this inventiveness in dreams… but
these are obviously some kind of a random selection. Our inner librarian does his
best work when we ASK FOR his cooperation.”

This is a useful insight. Try it out — ask your inner librarian to help you with a
specific writing task, and he/ she/it will happily do so. You’ll find that there’s a time
lag when you do this. It’s best to leave at least a few hours between your request,
and the writing. Barbara Cartland famously used to ask for the plot of her next book
as soon as she finished one, and A COMPLETE plot was ready for her the next day.

=> The pro writer’s secret to accessing the subconscious: use improvs

You can access your subconscious on command. Each morning, sit down, and
whether you feel like it or not, start writing. In the morning, you’re close to your
unconscious, and it’s got a lot to say.

Improvs give you an idea of how this works. With an improv, you’re not struggling,
you’re not straining, the words just emerge, and you write them down. Improvs are
easy writing exercises.

Here’s an improv:

Write 100 words using these three words: Card, Bikini, Run.

Choose three words from that, then write another 100 words including those three
words.

Keep going, if you like, and pick another three words from your improv.

Easy, wasn’t it? That’s because your subconscious mind did the work.

=> Improvising your way through writer’s block

Improvs are a sure cure for writer’s block.

If you′re blocked, spend 21 days writing a short (no longer than 200 words) improv
each day.

You’ll feel ready and raring to write long before the three weeks is up, however the
key to this process is to keep it going for at least 21 days.

The idea of the 21 days is that you′re developing the habit of sitting down and
writing to order. You′re training your unconscious mind that when you say “write″ to
yourself it sends up the words immediately.

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The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188 stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

There is only one story.

The Hero’s Journey:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharsis).

d) Gives you a universal structural template upon which you can superimpose your situational story.

and more…

Convergence

Pre the Seizing of the Sword the Hero separates ideologically and physically, often from allies. Post the Seizing of the Sword (or the Rebirth through Death) those allies and that ideology converge again. This is where the Shape Shifter’s True Nature becomes most apparent.

a) In Gladiator (2000), Lucilla comes back to Maximus.

b) In Star Wars (1977), Han thinks about “leaving this party.”

c) In The Departed (2006), Dignam leaves.

Learn more…

WRITE THAT SCREENPLAY!

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at clickok.co.uk/ clickok.co.uk/

Managing Creativity and Innovation and related techniques and tools can be found at managing-creativity.com/ managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

Your publisher will initially have a marketing plan for your new book. But ultimately it is your responsibility to market and promote it. Don’t solely rely on the publisher’s efforts. Why not? Because there are many variables that can limit the publisher’s marketing plans. For instance, other new books the publisher is promoting limit the promotion budget for your book. The budget has to be allocated among all the new books on the publisher’s list. Unless you are a new author that already has an established name and public visibility, your book will get a smaller allocation. In addition, corporate downsizing has resulted in publishing companies having fewer people in their marketing departments. Your new book’s publicist will therefore be trying to do the work of multiple people and not be able to give your book the full attention it needs.

There limitations can be overcome if you proactively work with your publisher to market and promote your new book. There are steps you can take to enhance whatever marketing plans the publisher has for your new book. In addition, you can use your publisher to enhance your own book marketing initiatives.

First you need to get a clear understanding of the marketing plans the publishing company has for your book. What is the timing? What are the elements of the plan? The media outlets to be used? Get original copies of all marketing collateral pieces. Also, get a schedule of all events such as book signings and other public appearances, and the cities in which the events are planned. Establish a point of contact within the publisher’s marketing department to ask questions about your scheduled appearances to avoid miscommunication.

After you know the publisher’s marketing plans for your book, you can then take steps to enhance those plans. Use your circle of contacts network to tell of media advertising about your new book. Don’t depend on the publisher to generate attendance at book signings and other personal appearances. Again, use your circle of contacts network to spread the word about it via email, post cards, telephone calls, etc. At book signings be proactive and engage customers. Give a brief seminar about your book’s topic or read excerpts. The publisher will tell you when and where to appear, but it’s your job to make the most of your time at the signings.

You also work with your publisher to enhance your own book marketing initiatives. For the press kits you put together, for media distribution, the publisher can provide you with marketing collateral pieces such as bookmarks, press releases, etc. Your publisher is also the source of information about your book such as awards and positive reaction from readers it receives. This is information you will want to include in your marketing activities. Also, requests for appearances can come through the publisher.

As a new author, you must be proactive in marketing and promoting your book. Don’t depend solely on the publisher to do it. Work with your publisher to enhance whatever marketing plans it has for your new book. Then use the publisher as a resource to enhance your own book marketing initiatives.

Kevin L. Mitchell is the co-owner of MKM Book Services, a book consulting firm. For information about The New Author’s Book Marketing eCourse visit mkmbookservices.com/” target=”_blank mkmbookservices.com/ or send an email to: mailto:Kevin@mkmbookservices.com Kevin@mkmbookservices.com

In the Book of Luke, chapter 11:1, one of Jesus’ disciples requested, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” In answer, Jesus gave what is now known as the Lord’s Prayer.

So, how do I write my own prayer? I use as a format the one Jesus gave his disciples. To wit:

1. Father…
You begin your prayer by addressing the one you’re praying to. It can be “Our Father,” “Father in heaven,” Heavenly Father,” or simply, “Lord.” It’s up to you.

2. Hallowed be your name…
Hallowed means holy. This line gives praise to God. So write down something to thank God for. If I’m writing a prayer for an event, for example a board meeting, I would write something like, “Thank you for gathering us in this place for our board meeting.”

3. Give us each day our daily bread…
I then write what you would need at present. Again, if it’s a board meeting I would pray: “I pray for your wisdom that we may all come to an agreement about our expenses this coming year.”

4. Forgive us our sins…
While asking for God’s forgiveness may be appropriate only in prayer meetings and such, this line nevertheless is akin to asking God to prepare us for doing his work. So in writing my own prayer if I’m not in a prayer meeting, I would write something like, “I pray that you would clear my heart and mind to know your will so it will be your will that prevails in this meeting.”

5. And lead us not into temptation…
This is the time to pray for God’s strength and provision that you would persevere. To continue with our example, I would pray, “Grant us your strength and continued guidance as we carry out our plans this year, that we may not falter nor fail.”

7. End the prayer by thanking God again by simply saying, “Thank you, Father.” Then say, “Amen!” Amen means so be it.

So, how do i write my own prayer? Here’s a framework to put it all together.

1. Name the person to whom you’re praying.
2. Thank God.
3. Pray for what you need right now.
4. Pray for God to prepare you for the task on hand.
5. Pray for future provision.
6. End with thanking God again.

The above is only a guide. You may, of course, add or subtract to it according to what you see fit.

One more thing to remember. How do I write my own prayer? With simplicity.

Dean Mapa is a lay minister who ministers to abandoned and abused children. Help his ministry by getting a prayer box. Find out what a prayer box is by following this link: bestgems4you.com bestgems4you.com

The big question is, can a content provider become a millionaire from his or her online writing activities? This is the question on most people’s minds.

The answer is an emphatic YES. It is not really all that difficult for a content provider to make some very serious money, and maybe even reach millionaire status, just by writing content online. Marketing your writing online may be tricky, but once you have learnt the ropes, there is really no limit to what you can earn or what can be achieved.

To start with programs like the Google Adsense pay-per-click ad program mean that a content provider can steadily earn from one article for many years and easily find their way to millionaire status. For instance if a writer has, say 500 articles posted in some blog with Adsense ads and if each article earns them an average of just $2 a month, that will give them an income of $1,000 every month, without them having to do anything more. There is no limit to the number of other relevant affiliate programs that a writer can join.

A content provider can also earn millionaire status by selling a popular ezine title or two online. The other name for ezine is email newsletter.

Read the rest of this article and get more information at the writer’s 100grandonlinewriters.blogspot.com/2006/06/content-provider-success-easiest-way.html content provider secrets blog.

This won’t make you money. Yes, yes. I know. I’m sad about it too. It will however help you down the road to making you money…or at least I hope that’s what it’s doing for me. It’s posted under my alter ego (and vaguely familiar site) Norway Writes.

There are so many ‘keys’ to be a good writer, that generally none of them are key. Because the word key insinuates some tempestuous journey with a lock at the other end for which you will require said key item. There isn’t any such lock.

You will not find at the end of your rainbow a pot of gold. It’ll be a half of a single piece of gold and the beginnings of a thousand more rainbows. There is no key to good writing. It’s in the feel, in the talent, in the observation, and most of all in the practice. You just have to keep writing, all the time, about everything.

And I, like millions of others have only thing to tell you: Journal. Do it often, and do it everywhere. Make it an integral part of your day. Put it on par with showering and breakfast, lunch breaks and sleeping. Just write. This is very important though and don’t forget: it’s only for you. The sole purpose of journaling is to write, a private record of your thoughts for any given day. I’m not going to tell you how it should look, or how you should write it, what you should write about or any of that.

I’ll share my basic routines with you. I have two moleskin journals that I keep on me at all times, usually one in my back pocket, and the other in my coat pocket. The first is a sort of diaryesque journal. It’s the day’s events, thoughts and rants. Mostly rants. I date it and write whatever comes to mind during the day that has to do with the day. It vents my frustrations, elaborates my laudations and catalogs my endeavors. The second notebook is a less organized one. It’s written in whenever, and contains all of my thoughts pertaining to random observations, a story I’m working on, any poetry I feel like writing on a bus somewhere, and so on. It’s covered in drawings, random lines, fragmented sentences and broken grammar. Whereas my first one reads like a finely tuned letter to myself, a time capsule of sorts for some future date to be decided, the second is a reflection of my brain, of everything going on inside creatively. It’s a chance to let loose and write away.

It’s a good habit if nothing else. Gets you used to writing asinine amounts of stuff every day. And from the looks of it, if there’s any way to make money writing, it’s by writing asinine amounts of stuff every day.

I’m a self avowed unemployed writer, working on semi-constant basis to try and overcome the need to go and work a real job. I’ve written more than 200 articles and reviews and am constantly scouring the internet for any and all excuses and methods to make myself less dependent on corporate pay days. Visit my website at thechatfield.com TheChatfield.com

Having the skills and knowledge to write an effective sales letter will mean the difference between success and failure in almost any business. The strategies that worked 100 years ago are the same strategies that still work today, because even though the times have changed…people haven’t, especially when it comes to the way they react to an effective sales letter

When writing a compelling sales letter or killer ad copy, there is one crucial fact that you must always remember…Most people will not make their buying decision based on simple logic, more times than not, their decision will be based primarily on emotions.

So, in order to master the skill to creating the most effective sales letters, you will need to remember this one crucial fact, every singe time you sit down to write.

You will find that writing a compelling sales letter is really quite simple when you follow my 4 simple strategies as outline below, And if you consistently apply those same strategies in all of your sales copy, your sales will explode!

1) The very first thing your ad copy or sales letter must do is to grab the customers attention, the way to achieve that is with an effective headline.An effective headline is one that answers one very important question: “How will this benefit me”? That’s really all your customer cares about. How will this benefit me”?

The very fact that you are reading this article is proof positive of how important an attention grabbing headline really is. Remember my headline: “Explode your Sales with 4 simple strategies to writing a killer sales letter”

So, what makes the headline of this article so effective? I answered that all important question of “How will this benefit me″?, which grabbed your attention and made you want to read the article, and that is exactly what you need your headline to do, because without that, you will never get people to read your sales copy.

2) You must appear as an authority, no matter what it is that you are promoting, you must always appear to be an expert on that subject. How do you accomplish that? Simple…research, research and more research. For example, if you were selling a Money making program, you would be wise to actually buy the program first and learn everything you possibly can about it before promoting it yourself. The effects of that will definitely shine through in your sales letter.

You’d be surprised at how many people are promoting products online that they know absolutely nothing about…It’s painstakingly obvious in their sales letters! I have to confess that I too was one of those people, the first product I ever promoted online was an e-book about making money with affiliate programs and I tried (unsuccessfully) to promote it without ever reading a page of it myself. It wasn’t until I finally purchased the e-book myself and became an authority on it, that I was able to sell it successfully.

3) Next thing your sales letter needs to accomplish, is to create “DESIRE” within your customer, in other words, you will need to make your customer “WANT” your product or service above all others, and the way to do that is to continually spell out all of the benefits, benefits and more benefits! Again, keeping in mind the crucial fact that most people will make their buying decision based on emotion…”DESIRE” is an emotion.

Remember to keep on reminding them of what your headline promised. Tell them what they want to hear, tell them how the benefits of buying your product will change their life or how NOT buying your product will be a detriment to them, use your imagination and work on their emotions.

Using power words in your sales letter is an important factor in working on peoples emotions, Words such as - Bonus, Urgent, Incredible, Impressive, Fantastic Extraordinary, Magnificent, Foolproof, Tremendous, Unprecedented, Exquisite, Highly Recommended and Essential - all play an important role in creating a sense of “DESIRE”

4) The all important sense of Urgency - You must convince your customers that it is important for them to order your product NOW!, not tomorrow, not today, but right NOW! Chances are, if they don′t take immediate action, you will lose them forever. Saying something clever like “the next 10 people to order will receive the following bonuses″ - or - “limited number of copies being sold, once they’re gone, they’re gone forever”. It’s this kind of call for action that creates a sense of urgency.Again, use your imagination and work on their emotions

TIP: try asking for the sale at least 3 - 4 times on your sales letter by placing an “ORDER NOW ” link throughout the page.

Here are a few examples of effective “order″ links

1. ORDER NOW, Risk-Free!

2. Beat the Price Increase, Order Now!

3.Order NOW before this offer expires!

On a final note, it is also important that you complete your sales letter with a post- script (P.S.) at the end. Make it Grab their “Attention” then mention your most important benefits, thus creating a sense of “Desire”, and finally ask for the order NOW! by offering some kind of “limited time only” incentive.

Studies have proven that when reading an ad or sales letter, most people will read the headline and then immediately scroll down to the bottom of the page to check out the price and to see if the offer is anything that they would be interested in, that’s why it is so important to have a compelling Post-Script that SELLS, SELLS, SELLS!

That’s all for now, Here’s to your success.

P.S. Remember, implement these 4 simple strategies to writing a killer sales letter and watch your Sales Explode

Pat Johnson - Is a successful Internet marketer and the owner of RichJerkReviews.com, Check out his Website to read what others are saying about richjerkreviews.com Rich jerk ebook

Pat has many years experience in online marketing and has written numerous articles on the subject.

Copyright © 2005 myrichjerkreviews - Warning, any reproduction of this article must include the Authors Bio, and all links must be left intact, failure to do so will result in copywright infrigement and will be reported to your hosting company!