WriteArticlesToday.Com

$1036 in 12-hours From Writing A Single Article

madhanskumar — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 05:12:00 +0000

Would it be worth it to master a technique that places the power of generating a flood of consistent, highly targeted and rabid traffic squarely in your hands?

As an online marketing professional, your time is valuable, and you need to focus on what works, that’s exactly why this technique is so powerful.

To be truthful, the $1036 in 12-hours is an accomplishment I can happily say is not abnormal these days – what is nice about this example is that it was a Sunday (typically my slowest day for sales) while I was gone the entire day to a local festival here in my hometown of Ottawa, Canada.

Let me say, I do tend to still work for a few hours on the weekends, but this Sunday, I didn’t even check my mail until the kids were fast asleep at 8:30 PM, exhausted by a combination of rides, music, jugglers, magicians and an unending diet of junk food – ahhhh…summer!

My inbox was filled with orders for my own products and over $500 in affiliate sales – after about an hour of answering my mail, I decided on an early rest and hit the sack.

Today, I decided to check my statistics to find out where the sales came from (tracking really IS important), only to find that an article I wrote last week and was picked up by a high traffic site (from a generic article directory) generated
most of the sales.

What’s important to understand is that this is NOT a one-time occurrence. I’ve had this happen many times over the last
year. In fact, if I had to identify one single technique that has consistently increased my traffic by over 15% for the last 12 months (I mean every month), it is simply writing an article a week.

To repeat, I invested maximum 20-minutes, and NO greenback writing these articles. The return on investment is in the 1000%+ range….a pretty nice technique don’t you think.

But remember, this information only gives you the formula for generating an ongoing stampede of traffic and sales, it does not write the articles for you.

Like any successful system – it requires a solid formula that works with action to feed the formula.

Turn Your Ideas Into Profitable Information Products People Will Buy Online. Discover The Exact Formula For Turning Your Knowledge Into Highly Profitable Infoproducts To Sell Online In This Complimentary Course:
http://www.infoproductcreator.com/ebook/

A Mode of Transportation

madhanskumar — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:19:00 +0000

Great writing transports one vicariously to realms that the reader would not otherwise experience.

One of these areas is physical: ancient, modern, or futuristic. A great writer can bring the past into the present and make the reader experience the culture, the locale, the people of the time. Jean Auel’s great novels come to mind.

Another region is the pschological realm: Again great writing conveys us into the minds of characters giving us a better understanding of our motives, our passions, our wants, and our needs. Crime and Punishment is a good example.

Then there is the sociological realm where great writing gets the reader involved in the world of crime, or romance, or poverty, or wealth, and many other social situations, problems and solutions. Charles Dickens was such a writer.

The cultural region is another area where great writing has an impact, particularly authors from other ethnicities that help us to understand the mores and viewpoints that are different.

Finally we enter the political sphere. Here again, great writing points out the good and bad of different ideologies, political parties, governments. It introduces us to the search for power and influence, the good and the bad, the acceptable and the unacceptable.

Great writing occurs in fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc. Great writers abound, and each reader has his or her favorite.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available from Amazon.com and other bookstores.

His website is http://www.telusplanet.net/public/go1c

His blog is http://go1c.blogspot.com

A New Way To Self Publish

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 21:50:00 +0000

More and more good authors are turning to the Internet to self publish. There are several reasons for that. All of them are probably well known to every writer by now, so we’ll not go into them here. What we’ll talk about here is a new way to self publish.

Everyone has, by now, heard of ebooks. This is a wonderful way to publish on the net, but it requires special programs to empliment it. And there are web sites that will do all that for you for a fee. But what if you simply can’t afford it or you don’t want to pay anyone?

This idea I’ve come up with may be out there in left field, but out in left field is where you usually find some great ideas. Here is what I found.

Create a credit card account somewhere first. Pick any company you are comfortable with and doesn’t cost a great deal. After that is all set, put your novel on your web site, create its own page, and use the ariel font. Use size 10 for the main text. Your title and chapter headings can be larger.

Write an intro page for your novel and create a separate page for it. Here is where you’ll put any illustrations you may have. So people will have an example of your writing, copy and paste the first chapter of your novel and put it here, too. Also on this page will be the link to your credit card payment company.

The next step is to set up your credit card account to connect with the novel page after your customers have paid for it and then they can simply print out the novel or copy and paste it to their Word or Works program that is already on their computers.

This is a simple and yet effective way to self publish and it does not cost you anything, either. Out in left field, I know, but hey. Anything to survive, huh?

About The Author

Anna Kathryn Bir is a published author of many sci fi short stories. One of them was a Star Trek story. You can find her sci fi novels on her web site http://e-sac.com email address is info@e-sac.com

A Perfect Day for Writers

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:30:00 +0000

In one of the exercises in my “Getting Started as a Freelance Writer” workshop, I ask participants to describe what a “perfect day” would be like for them.

The responses are frequently tender, wistful and unfailingly vivid. Those who’ve taken my course write about waking up first thing in the morning, refreshed and filled with anticipation for what their “perfect day” holds in store. They paint lush and lovely surroundings with their words, serve up exquisite foods, and spend endearing or romantic time with loved ones. They describe feelings of peace and deep contentment, so often lacking in their day to day realities.

But what invariably surprises me is that these writers seldom include time to write in their “perfect day” narratives. Nor do they mention that such a day would include the thrill of opening their mailboxes to find acceptance letters or checks for something they’ve written. What I had thought would be an exercise that would enable workshop participants to visualize writing as an integral part of their lives, generally turns out to have nothing to do with writing whatsoever.

Not that I’m criticizing–there are no right or wrong responses to these writing exercises. I simply wonder whether placing such a low priority–or none at all–on writing as part of one’s “perfect day” is a reason for lack of writing success. In other words, do people truly dream of being writers, or simply dream of what writing might bring them–fame, fortune, freedom–while skipping the process altogether?

The idea of being a published writer, or a six-figure income writer, is indeed glamorous. But make no mistake–writing is hard work for most of us. Rejections outpace acceptances, at least until we’re very well established. Making a more-than-decent living from stringing words together takes extensive persistence, diligence, dedication and chutzpah. Moreover, you’ve got to love doing it.

I do a lot of writing during my vacations from my day job. All of my “perfect days” include stints at the keyboard, or filling page after page in a paper notebook when I’m far from home. As a matter of fact, I am on vacation as I write this. It’s a stunning day outside, deliciously warm and gloriously sunny. I will venture out soon enough, to run errands and bask in the day’s beauty. But right now, in front of my PC, I am perfectly content, my fingers clicking along the keys, putting black words onto a white screen.

Certainly my own perfect day scenario would include a beautiful and peaceful setting, excellent cuisine, time with John and my family, and the freedom and energy to volunteer my services to a worthy cause. But I believe that a “perfect day” for all writers must include writing. If it doesn’t, how could it ever be perfect? And even in an imperfect world in an imperfect life, every day that I do at least a little bit of writing comes that much closer to perfection.

A Plan

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:08:00 +0000

All writers should use a plan whether written or reflected. This includes the initial idea, the content or main points, and the conclusion whether it is an article, a short story, a chapter, or a complete novel.

Let us look at the article. This starts with main idea that is engendered in the title. Then the content is considered: the main points that will make up the article. All that is left to do now is to fill in the details of each line of reasoning. Leave it for a few days before editing, revising, and rewriting. The article is done.

Similarly, the short story starts with the intent and then the character who has a desire or want that is stymied by some obstacle. As the character attempts to overcome the obstacle, more complications occur until defeat seems the only possibility, but defeat is turned into success or disaster, success if the short story is a comedy and disaster if it is a tragedy.

The chapter of a novel follows a similar plan, but it is not as complete as the short story, since the tale or narrative must go on. The chapter is like one event in the short story with its aspiration, its impediment, its complication, and its achievement or downfall.

Even the novel follows a similar development. Novels can emphasize plot or character but in either case, the protagonist meets an antagonist that can be another human, an belief, or nature that encumber and frustrated him or her. The effort to overcome increases the difficulty rather than alleviate it, resulting in further complexity until a solution is found or the protagonist is overwhelmed.

Basically, all writing follows a similar scheme. Thus, only the details are different for each composition, be it an article, a short story, a chapter, or a novel.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

His website is http://www.telusplanet.net/public/go1c
His blogsite is http://go1c.blogspot.com

A Quick Guide to ISBNs for Self-Publishers

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:14:00 +0000

ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. It is a code assigned to every published book that uniquely identifies it in the marketplace. ISBNs make it easier and more efficient for libraries, booksellers and others in the publishing industry to order, distribute and catalog books.

When To Use an ISBN

You need to assign an ISBN to any content you intend to distribute through outside channels such as bookstores, catalogues or libraries. ISBNs should be placed on

– print books

– electronic books

– videos

– audio cassettes and CDs

– CD-ROMs, and

– other items as detailed by the International ISBN Agency.

You need to issue a separate ISBN for each edition of your book and for every format. For example, if you issued the same book as a print book, e-book, audio book and Braille book, you would require a separate identifier for each. If one year later, you updated the manuscript and re-issued the book, you would assign new ISBNs to this second edition in each of its different formats.

Deciphering the Numbering System

All ISBNs are currently 10 digits. (The industry will slowly be transitioning to a 13-digit system starting in 2005. See http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/transition.asp for more information on the change.)

The digits identify

– the group (country, area or language area of the publisher)

– the publisher, and

– the title of the item.

The last digit is a check digit.

The group number is comprised of one to three digits. Zero is the number for the English language group that includes the United States, English-speaking Canada, the U.K., Australia and other countries.

The publisher number is comprised of two to seven digits. The more ISBNs a publisher uses, the small their publisher number.

Publishers that use more than 100,000 ISBNs are given a publisher number of only two digits. If you apply for 10 or fewer ISBNs, you will be assigned a publisher number with seven digits. Everyone else falls somewhere in the middle.

Thus anyone in the book trade can look at an ISBN and know roughly how big you are as a publisher by the number of ISBNs you have applied to use. This is why self-publishing gurus like Dan Poynter recommend acquiring your ISBNs in blocks of 100 to avoid being labeled "small potatoes."

Poynter further recommends that you use an ISBN from the middle of your list of 100 for your first book, since a 0 or 1 as your title number will reveal you as a first-timer.

The check digits range from one to 10. Since there is space for only one check digit, the number 10 is represented by an X.

How To Acquire ISBNs

ISBNs in the United States are administered by R.R. Bowker. Bowker charges a fee to process your application. Ten ISBNs cost $225; 100 ISBNs cost $800. Visit www.bowker.com for more information, or to complete an application.

ISBNs in Canada are administered by the National Public Library as a free service. Visit http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/isbn/index-e.html for more information or to apply on-line.

For more information on the ISBN system and how it works, visit www.isbn.org.

About The Author

Juiced Consulting helps business owners package what they know into information products — such as books, audiotapes and teleclasses — that they can sell to generate new business revenue. For a free newsletter and other resources, visit www.juicedconsulting.com.

jtribe@juicedconsulting.com

A Series of Articles on Autobiography

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 12:37:00 +0000

ESSAYS ON AUTOBIOGRAPHY: NUMBER 1

Preamble:

Nearly seven years ago I wrote my first essay on the nature of autobiography. It was some two years after completing my initial draft, the first edition of my own autobiography. I am now working on the 5th edition of that autobiography some twenty years after the inception of this project. I trust this 5th edition will be the final one. I am overwhelmed with a sense of complexity, with feelings of indifference and with a vision of the magnitude of the task at hand. I think I could find the motivation to pursue this 5th edition if I could get a clear sense that the work I am doing in the field of autobiography. I certainly hope that this work will be of quite practical use to my fellow-man in the decades and even centuries ahead. This very notion seems presumptuous and this presumptuousness militates against the pursuit of the goals I began with when I set out to write this autobiography twenty years ago.

Since I find the study of autobiography more interesting that the writing of my own I continue writing these essays. Today I read an article on autobiography and what follows is based on that article. My intention is simply to write a summary of the relevant parts of that article with the long range aim of drawing these ideas together into some meaningful whole.

Even as a retired person with far less on my plate than during my thirty years of employment, life still takes me into corners of activity that keep me away from the kind of academic pursuits that this brief essay involves. My wife’s illness, my class in creative writing at the Seniors School, family duties and obligations of home and hearth however minimal, a necessary amount of physical activity to keep a sound mind in a sound body, fatigue after ten or eleven in the evening and an endless assortment of odds and ends have kept me from continuing this simple task. So it is, a day later I approach this essay with continuing enthusiasm.

Errors, omissions, even lies, are part of the fiction or imposture that is autobiography. The creative writer turns to autobiography out of some creative longing that can not be satisfied through fiction. Such a writer finds some peculiar closeness and intensity of effect. It is difficult, in writing autobiography, to keep history and fiction distinct. Nabokov says that the tracing of images into intricate harmonies is what autobiography does. Writers also try to repossess the realities of the past from what appears to be a sterile and fictive world to which he has sacrificed himself. The historiographical transaction that is autobiography does not contain the total freedom or imaginative response of, say, poetry or fiction. Unreliability is an inescapable condition of autobiography. The reader can watch the writer wrestle with truth.

It is important for the critic to understand the organizing principle or purpose behind the work. For the conscious shaping of a life, an informing purpose, exists behind the work. A voyage of genuine self-discovery is an essential component of such a work. This voyage takes place in a narrative past juxtaposed with a dramatic present. Confession, apology and memoir exist side by side as various contradictory and often unstable selves battle it out.

I have been married for 37 years. My wife is a Tasmanian, aged 58. We’ve had 3 children: ages in 2005 are 39, 35, and 28. I am 60, a Canadian who moved to Australia in 1971, and have written 3 books–all available on the internet. I retired from part-time teaching in 2004 and full-time teaching in 1999 after 30 years in classrooms. In addition, I have been a member of the Baha’i Faith for 45 years. Bio-data: 6ft, 225 lbs, eyes/hair-brown, Caucasian. See my website for more details at: http://bahaipioneering.bahaisite.com/ and go to any search engine and type: ‘Pioneering Over Four Epochs’ for additional writings.

A Simple Suggestion to Improve Your Article Marketing

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:58:00 +0000

Article marketing is becoming more and more popular, especially as marketers begin to see the impact and influence they can have from one well-written, well-timed, and well-placed article.

Some marketers use an article distribution service like the Phantom Writers or iSnare, or distribution software like Jason Potash’s Article Announcer, but many marketers submit their articles manually, working from a list containing somewhere around 100 article sites they either created or were given.

While article marketing is perhaps the best low-cost or free way to market online, many marketers miss out on a key part-their resource box. Because many marketers are focused on keyword anchor links, they anchor their website link to certain keywords. For example, if I did this, I would write:

Jeremy M. Hoover helps you market your business by writing low-cost lead-generating and traffic-generating articles.

This works great for HTML submissions, but what happens when someone cuts and pastes your article to put on their site? Or what about sites that don’t accept HTML submissions? In either case, you can actually lose the hyperlink to your site, especially in the case where someone cuts-and-pastes.

One simple suggestion to fix this problem is this: Use both keyword anchor text links and a natural link to your website. Using my site as an example, again:

Jeremy M. Hoover helps you market your business by writing low-cost lead-generating and traffic-building articles. For more information, visit his site at www.jhooverwebcopy.com.

Including your website link both as keyword anchor text (which helps with search engine placement) and as a natural link will insure that your website link remains intact in your article, regardless of how someone comes across it.

To promote your business better, you should build a network of lead-generating, traffic-building articles. Jeremy M. Hoover will write these for you, at a very good cost. Order now at http://jhooverwebcopy.com.

A Single Technique

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 08:32:00 +0000

Writing is hard work, and like all hard work, one tries to avoid it if possible. Yet writers feel the urge to write, the need to write, and the inspiration to write, but these are not what produces. The writer must have a technique for writing.

Many writers use the approach of fantasizing. They imagine that their article, essay, short story, or novel will make them the great find of the literary world. They see themselves as being lionized by society with recognition and financial success, but that is not reality, and soon the incentive to write disappears so they produce little or nothing.

Others wait for inspiration, a vague, nebulous event which seldom happens. So they bide their time waiting for the muse to send them to the typewriter or keyboard. Sometimes Clio (the muse of history), Erato (the muse of lyric and amatory poetry), Euterpe (the muse of music), Terpsichore (the muse of choral song), or Thalia (the muse of comedy and bucolic poetry) do appear, but most often they do not, and again nothing is accomplished. Since the muse does not arrive, the would be writer does something else.

That something else takes the form of many other distraction. It can be meaningless chores about the office, the kitchen, the yard, any place but at the keyboard. It can be a telephone call, a visit to socialize with a friend, reading to pass the time , or studying the mail. Often the writer excuses this procrastination as necessary to mentally organize what is envisioned, but actually it is to avoid the disciplined task of authorship.

Only one technique is sure to bear fruit, that is to sit down at the typewriter or computer and to write. If at first nothing worthwhile issues, keeping at it will soon result in something acceptable. Usually when writing is difficult, upon review it is impossible to tell what was burdensome and what was effortless. The act of writing is a complex activity that is honed by practice, practice, and more practice, so sitting and writing is of utmost importance to any author.

Of all the techniques used, the most important is to sit down and write.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca. Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

A Writers Glossary (Part One)

madhanskumar — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:03:00 +0000

Find definitions from A to G!

~~~~~~~~~~~ A ~~~~~~~~~~~

About the Author -
usually a few paragraphs to one page that describes the author. Written in 3rd person. Used for books, book proposals and sometimes articles.

Advance -
The amount of money paid to a writer by a publisher before a book is published. The amount varies depending upon a variety of factors like: the publisher; the writer’s background; and the type of book. Advances are sometimes paid in installments as the writer works toward publication. The payments come from the projected royalties of the book.

Advertorial -
An article or copy created by a writer that is being paid for by an advertiser (or “advertiser driven”). This definition can be complicated because while they may pay well, a writer must protect herself ethically by making sure her work is marked as advertising in some way or making sure her name does not appear on it. It is also to your benefit to specify from the beginning how many rewrites you’re willing to do.

Agent -
a liason between a writer and their publisher or editor. They try to sell the manuscript to a publisher or editor and they usually take a 10-15% fee from the royalties and the advance.

All Rights or Work-for-Hire -
This means that the publication you’re writing a piece for owns your work once it is submitted to them. Unlike “First Rights” – this type of deal prevents you from ever reselling your work and/or making money on it other than the one time payment you receive from them.

Anthology -
a collection of short stories written by various authors, compiled in a journal or a book, or a gathering of works by one author.

Assignment -
an article the publisher or editor has assigned to a writer for an agreed upon fee.

Attachments -
clips attached to an e-mail query. -(2) -research, photos, or charts, usually attached to a nonfiction book.

~~~~~~~~~~ B ~~~~~~~~~~

Backlist -
Books that are still in print, but are not being published during the current season.

Bio –
A short paragraph, usually less than 100 words, that tells about the writer.

Biography -
A life story of someone other than the writer.

Blank Verse -
Nonrhyming poetry, usually written in iambic pentameter.

Boilerplate -
A standard contract. Most agents and/or authors make many changes on the boilerplate.

Business size envelope -
A #10 envelope which is the standard size for sending business correspondence.

Byline -
The line (usually printed below the title of a published article) that states the name of the writer and to credit her with writing the piece.

~~~~~~~~~~~ C ~~~~~~~~~~~

C.V. or curriculum vitae -
Simply put – your resume.

CC or Contributor’s copy -
This usually means a copy or copies of a book or magazine sent to a writer whose work appears in that publication. Sometimes publishers offer this as a form of compensation instead of monetary payment to a writer whose work they choose to publish.

Category Fiction -
Includes all types of fiction. See also genre.

Chapbook -
A small booklet of poetry, ballads, or tales.

Clean copy -
a manuscript free of wrinkles, smudges, cross-outs, and errors.

Clips -
Copies of a writer’s published work, usually taken from newspapers or magazines, which serve as samples for prospective editors.

Column Inch -
The amount of space in one column inch of typeset for newspapers.

Commercial novels -
A general term referring to novels designed to appeal to a large audience. Often broken into categories such as romance, mystery, western, etc. See genre.

Copyediting -
Editing a manuscript for printing style, punctuation, and grammar, but not for the subject matter.

Copyright -
A means to designate ownership, and protect an author’s work. Most publishers will copyright the text in the name of the author so that when the work goes out of print, all rights return to the author and the book can be sold to another publisher.

Cover Letter -
A short (usually one page) introduction letter usually sent with a manuscript to remind the editor that the manuscript was requested. A cover letter may also be sent with a book proposal. It is not the same as a query letter.

Creative Nonfiction -
Nonfiction in the 1st person, that uses creative language and an innovative approach to the subject.

~~~~~~~~~~ D ~~~~~~~~~~

DF –
An abbreviation for dark fiction usually meaning the genre of dark fantasy.

Derivative Work -
An alteration of a previous work by annotating, condensing, adapted, translated, abridged, etc… This must have the written permission of the copyright owner of the original work.

Desktop Publishing -
A publishing method for a personal computer that can illustrate, layout, print, design, and typeset for distribution.

Distributor -
A company that provides services to publishers like – warehousing, fullfillment and marketing to bookstores.

Dummy -
Mock-up of a book with that includes: page breaks; illustrations; and text.

~~~~~~~~~~~ E ~~~~~~~~~~~

Eclectic -
A variety of different genres or writing styles.

Editor -
Chooses articles or novels and edits writing.

Editing Service -
A company that offers to copyedit, rewrite or provide similar assistance (for a fee) to writers. Many organizations for writers supply information on the quality and legitimacy of such companies.

Electronic Rights -
The definition of electronic rights or Web rights is not clear-cut at this point. Many publishers feel they have electronic rights when they buy “First Rights.” Most freelance writers disagree. The courts are going back and forth on the definition of this term. If a publisher’s contract includes “electronic rights” – you may want to specify how long you give them permission to keep your work published on the Web and/or try to negotiate additional payment for giving them “electronic rights.”

Electronic Submission -
A submission of an article or book proposal, manuscript or similar work sent to the editor electronically (usually by e-mail or on computer disk).

Experimental Fiction -
A term that usually applies to fiction that can be defined as innovative in content or style.

E-zine -
A magazine published online.

~~~~~~~~~~ F ~~~~~~~~~~

Fair Use -
A portion of the copyright law stating small passages from copyrighted material may be used without the owner’s permission.

First Rights or First American Serial Rights -
This usually means the rights that you sell, even if you do a story on assignment. It means you give the publication the right to run your piece one time and then the rights come back to you. It is to your benefit to specify “First Rights” on your work as this allows you to resell your work after the initial publication.

Fanzine -
Usually refers to a publication produced by speculative fiction fans, which features fan-written stories about characters from popular published stories.

Feature -
An article about human interests instead of news. Used in magazines to describe a distinctive department or a lead article.

Filler -
A short item used to complete a magazine or newspaper page such as: short humor, an anecdote, a timeless news item or light verse.

First person point of view -
The author reports or narrates the story from his or her point of view.

Flash Fiction -
Very short fiction pieces that vary in length from 100 words to 1,000 words depending upon the genre.

Flat Fee -
Same as “work-for-hire.” The illustrator or author is paid a lump sum for their work, and gets no royalties.

Formulaic Fiction -
Fiction that tells a story following a pre-formatted formula.

Frontlist -
Books published in the current season and shown in the publisher’s current catalogue.

~~~~~~~~~~ G ~~~~~~~~~~~

Galleys –
The first typeset of a manuscript before it’s been divided.

Genre/Category -
A term used to classify a writer’s work according to its content. Some examples of different types of genres include – erotica, gothic, mystery, poetry, romance, science fiction, and western.

Ghost Writer-
A book, story, article, or speech that is based on another person’s experience or ideas. No byline given for the writer.

GL or Guidelines -
The publisher’s instructions for writers to follow in order to submit their work to that publication.

Gothic Novel -
A genre or category of fiction that usually has a pretty young woman, a castle or mansion, a menace, and a hero.