Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Making money online by writing

I've just posted "Four Steps to Making Money online Writing Articles" at Writing Hacker.

Here's an excerpt:

If you can write articles, you can make a great income online. The demand for competent, reliable article writers far exceeds the supply.

Writing articles for the online environment is easy. You essentially need a topic, a major slant to the topic, several points you want to make, and an introduction and conclusion.

With your topic in mind, write a headline (article title); an introduction; then cover your points in the article body and write a conclusion. Since online articles are usually somewhere between 200 and 600 words, writing an article doesn't take long: these are not print-style articles, they're casual articles which can be skimmed, and from which readers can pick up a few nuggets of knowledge or entertainment.

Read the rest...

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Seven Self Publishing Secrets – seven reasons to generate self publishing profits

In tomorrow's issue of Fab Freelance Writing Ezine, we discuss self publishing.

Here's an excerpt from the article "Seven Self Publishing Secrets – seven reasons to generate self publishing profits":

In this article, let's look at self publishing in terms of publishing a book yourself, because this is a common form of self publishing, and one that's worth considering.

If you write a book, whether it's a novel or nonfiction book, and go the traditional publishing route, that is, you get an agent and a publishing house, and the publishing house publishes your book and distributes it around the world, the time from idea to print can be anywhere from two years upwards – say three years.

You'll spend a lot of time on your book, and that time is unrecompensed, unless lightning strikes, and the book becomes a bestseller. Most books do not become bestsellers, in fact most books never "earn out" their publisher's advance.

Read the rest in the ezine.

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Online writing for free and writing for pay - know the difference

Confused about writing "for free" and writing for pay on the Web?

Here's part of a message I received this week (published with permission):

I don't see how a serious writer can make money writing articles for the Web, when there are so many sites that want content for free.

Here's my response:

Writing articles online is VERY lucrative. There are many "for pay" venues and with the competition for content hotting up as many print publications move online, some venues pay as much for Web articles as they do for print.

If you want to be paid to write articles, there are limitless opportunities to do that, but before you start, spend time getting to know the online world. There are free venues, and there are for-pay options and you must know the difference.

Writing articles for pay - find venues which appeal to you

Many sites are looking for competent writers. Find them - it's not difficult.

In addition to selling your articles to sites, there are many other options for you for writing articles for pay online, too.

One is marketing your articles yourself, and selling them as Private Label Rights Content.

Another option is collecting a batch of articles, creating a Web site with them, and then selling the site.

And yet another option is offering article-writing services from your own Web site.

There are many, many ways in which you can make money writing articles on the Web. You need to spend some time assessing venues however.

You're not in competition with "free" article venues

As a writer, you're not in competition with venues which accept articles written for "free." If you investigate most of these venues, they're article directories, on which business people post articles as marketing for services and products.

You may eventually use some of these venues yourself as a marketing tool.

If you want to write articles for pay, please realize that your opportunities are endless: content has been called "king" online, and that's very true. However, you do need to spend time orienting yourself, and getting to know the online environment.

For a competent writer, the online world is a place of limitless opportunities. Spend time exploring and discovering these opportunities for yourself. If you're completely new to writing articles for the Web, my Cash For Content primer is an excellent resource.

Writing Hacker - Build your writing skills

Subscribe to eNews & Updates on my new writing site, Writing Hacker - (right-hand column). Writing Hacker helps you to build your writing skills with great writing tips and how-tos, including video presentations.

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Four dangerous things to avoid as a baby Web writer

In days gone by, freelance writers started their writing career writing for magazines and newspapers.

This meant writing for months (and years, in some cases) collecting the proverbial shoebox full of rejection slips. I didn't collect a shoebox-full, because I started out as a romance novelist, so I sold the first magazine article I proposed, but I collected more than enough  "not quite right for us..." rejection letters.

Time moves on and things change, but for many new writers today aiming at a Web writing career they don't change for the better.

If anything, the situation offers dangers which make rejection slips look like kisses in comparison.

Let's look at four dangerous things you should avoid as a baby Web writer:

 

1. Low-paying gigs: they're writer-abuse

If you hope to make a career as a Web writer, avoid low-paying gigs. If you're not making more per hour writing than working at the golden arches, it's a low-paying gig. Run, don't walk to the golden arches. Asking "will you have fries with that?" is better for your self-respect.

$2 per article, $5 per article - avoid these gigs, unless you're using the gigs as a promotional tool. By this I mean you've got a Web site, and you're promoting the site, by getting links via the articles you write.

 

2. Scammers who ask you to write a chapter or an article or an essay or ANYTHING to "test" your skills

It's just a scam. Move on.

 

3. Freelance writer job ads on the Web

Yes, avoid ALL freelance writer job ads on the Web. Does this sound harsh?

OK, consider that genuine writing markets don't need to advertise. Genuine markets have a publication, or a business, and alert freelance writers approach them with proposals and queries. Sometimes (not always) they have a "writer's guidelines" page on their Web site.

A genuine market for writers hasn't got the staff to read/ respond to 400 neophyte writers who answered an ad. If they've got the staff to handle 400 responses to their ad, they have an ulterior motive.

 

4. Web writing jobs which pay on a revenue-sharing model

Revenue-sharing sites advertise for writers. They add your articles to their site, and then place ads on the articles that you write. You get a share of the revenue these ads generate.

However, revenue-sharing assumes that there's some revenue to share. There may well be a few cents, but a year of writing for a revenue-sharing site generally won't earn you more than a cup of coffee.

Keep out of danger, if you're a beginning Web writer. Trust yourself. When you first start writing, look on all your writing as practice. AIm for a real career, not a hobbyist's income.

Before you know it, you'll be making $500 a day. You'll be worth it.

Your key to super-productivity as a writer: think on paper

I've had a huge response to the article "Top Five Secrets To Writing More, and Selling More of Your Writing" on Writing Hacker (the article was first published in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine).

Secret #4, Remember The Magical Number Seven, Plus Or Minus Two - don’t “write” in your head got the most attention. :-)

So let's go into that secret in a little more depth. Why should you think on paper?

Writing is thinking - think on paper or on your computer screen

Many writers try to write whatever they're working on straight through. In other words, if you're writing an article, you write the title, and then plough through the article.

Invariably this leads to unpleasantness. Either the piece doesn't work - your logic was faulty, so you end up repeating yourself, or leaving out vital information, or whatever. Or you stall: you can't think of a title, the introduction seems boring, you realize you need more research...

There are a million things which can go wrong when you try to write anything in sessions where your first draft is your only draft. It puts too much pressure on you, and on your working memory.

Writing a piece straight through can succeed - but usually it doesn't, because of the Magical Number 7: there's a limit to how much information you can keep in your working memory.

FWIW, here's how I write. It's a process that's taken me 30 years to develop. I too used to spend a lot of time thinking in my head before I wrote - procrastinating, in other words: trying to write cold, straight through a piece, then getting depressed and confused when the piece didn't work.

So here's how I write:

1. I set a goal for the piece

What do I want to achieve with it? Setting a goal is vital. Often you'll have the goal handed to you, when a buyer gives you a brief. He wants a series of articles on a topic, or a buyer wants a Web sales page, or an ebook.

If you're not handed a brief, you need to WRITE THE BRIEF yourself. The brief (a goal and a description of what you're writing) is your road map.

2. I pre write - usually with free writing, or a mind map

The pre writing stage is just to trawl my memory for what I already know on the topic.

3. A zero draft

The "zero" draft is the draft before the first draft. I just take the mind map or free writing and turn it into a rough (very rough) draft.

4. Research - always necessary

Research is always necessary, but it's also a time sink. WRITE down questions which must be answered with the research (remember the Magical Number 7, and don't try to keep it in your head.)

Set a time limit on your research, and stop researching when you've answered your questions.

5. First draft

At this stage, the article, brochure, Web sales page or whatever will have all the essentials in place, but it's rough. I haven't paid any attention to word choice; the writing is a logical exercise only - I want the final piece to make sense. :-)

6. Additional drafts as required until it's done

I tend to write at least another couple of drafts, improving transitions, flow, and deleting material.

You'll notice that all the above is thinking on paper/ on the computer screen. There's no procrastination. If I'm thinking about writing, I'm actually writing, not trying to shuffle a meagre five to nine items of information in my head.

If you're not as productive as you want to be, feel free to try my process. You may get a shock at how productive you can be, when you have a method.

Write more - the key to your writing success

Yes, you can write more - even if you're a world-class procrastinator.
Did you know that when you write more, your writing improves? Many of my writing students experience this. They find that when they write more, writing is easier for them - they're not dominated by their inner editor.

My new writing class, "Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" is based on lessons I developed for my private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and make more money writing.
If you're struggling with your writing, the class will help. The techniques you'll learn in class with help you write fiction, nonfiction, and copy for business.

Discover how you can write more, improve your writing, and sell more of your writing to higher-paying markets.

Technorati Tags: be more productive

Writing for inventory: essential for a successful writing career

If you want a successful writing career, you need to write for inventory. That is, you need to write products which you can sell.

I've written a post "Writing to sell: forget your JOB, write inventory" on Writing Hacker which describes this process.

Build your courage to write for inventory: give yourself permission

The big stumbling block for many writers when they start to create their own products, whether they're books, Web sites, ebooks or whatever, is that they get frightened.

What if their ebook doesn't sell? What then? they ask. (Or their family and friends ask, which is even more scary.)

I'm a believer in facing the worst that could happen, so if your writing product doesn't sell, it doesn't. However, you've gained from the experience.

If your writing product doesn't sell you still have the product as inventory, and you can always re-purpose inventory.

For example, you could:

* Turn the ebook into a traditional book proposal for a print publisher;

* Turn it into a Web site or blog;

* Turn it into Private Label Rights content...

Your options for a product, once it's created, are limited only by your imagination. So "What if it doesn't sell?" is an answer to which you can cheerfully respond - "So what?!"

Once you've written a product, it exists, and you now have inventory. :-)

Make money writing Web sites

If you can use a word processor, you can write Web sites.

Many writers shy away from creating Web sites... they imagine it's too techy, too complex. It's not. A small simple site can begin earning money for you very quickly. As a rule of thumb, if you've created a site in an area in which there are advertisers you can start earning five to ten dollars a day per site. Now $10 a day isn't much. But what if you had ten sites all earning $10 day? That's $100 a day, which is $36,500 a year, just from ten simple sites. What if you had 20 such sites, all earning you $10 a day - or even more - in fact, some sites will earn you $100 a day? "Super-Fast Money-Making Web Sites For Writers: Join The Web-Publishing Bonanza" shows you how.

Technorati Tags: be more productive

Writing more and the Magical Number 7

This week's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine has just gone out to subscribers.

The feature article "Top Five Secrets To Writing More, and Selling More of Your Writing" is now on my Writing Hacker site for your enjoyment.

As described in the article, remembering the "Magical Number Seven" is vital for all your writing - you can't keep everything in your head. Journaling is one way to make plus-or-minus seven work for you.

I know some writers refuse to try journaling; in response to another article on Writing Hacker in which I mentioned journaling, I received a couple of messages from writers who think that journaling is a waste of time.

Indeed yes, that may be so. It depends on what your goals are. If you want to write more, I recommend free writing and journaling because they work, and the concept of plus-or-minus seven gives you a good reason this is so. :-)

Technorati Tags: be more productive

Write more and sell more: become a prolific writer

In this week's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine we discuss the "Top Five Secrets To Writing More, and Selling More of Your Writing".

Here's an excerpt:

Would you like to become a truly prolific writer, someone who's writing much more than you're writing now? Imagine if you could not only speed up your writing, so that you're writing FASTER, but also improve the quality of your output, so that you're writing BETTER.

There are many secrets to writing more. Let's look at my top five secrets to writing more, while improving your writing, so that you're making more sales than you're making now.

This issue is out on Wednesday. Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is free; it helps you to understand the fast-changing world of the freelance writer, and sets you well on the way to making the income that you want to make, and that many writers are already making.

Technorati Tags: get started freelance writing

My top three tips to success as a freelance writer

I've just published "Top three tips to success as a freelance writer" on Writing Hacker.

(Writing Hacker builds your writing skills.)

Here's the intro:

Here are my top three tips for freelance writing success:

1. Write a lot

Peter Mayle, the author of A Year in Provence, says "The best advice on writing I've ever received is from Henry Miller's On Writing: You have to write a million words before you find your voice as a writer."

This scares new writers, and I'm not sure why. The only conceivable reason to aim at a professional writing career is because you want to write. Writing is the job description for a writer, and the more of it you do, the better at it you will get. If you doubt this, go and find something you wrote twelve months ago. It may make you cringe. Even if it doesn't, you'll find ways to write it better now, because you've had more writing experience.

Read the rest...

Writing Hacker - Build your writing skills

Subscribe to eNews & Updates on my new writing site, Writing Hacker - (right-hand column). Writing Hacker helps you to build your writing skills with great writing tips and how-tos, including video presentations.

This week on my blogs - ebooks, get copywriting clients and blogging

As you may know, I have several other writing blogs, dedicated to specific areas of writing.

This week the bulk of my email has been about ebooks, how to get copywriting clients, and blogging, so here are links this week's posts which will answer your questions:

* Marketing Your Way to Ebook Success

Did you know that for a top-selling ebook, you need to start your marketing as you write your ebook? Ebooks are hot news for Web writers; you can make a mint writing ebooks, but there's more to ebook success than writing.

* Copywriting: get copywriting clients and start your new career

I've outlined the easy steps you can take to develop a great copywriting career. It all starts with your first client...

* Blogging: essential for freelance writers

In this post, I dispel the "a blog is an online journal" and reveal why blogging is essential to your writing career.

* Your 2008 Blog Marketing Plan - plan for success

I write for Blogging Tips each week, and this week's article helps you to create a marketing plan for your blog.

BTW, if you're looking for the latest information on writing skills, check out Writing Hacker, my new site devoted to writing skills.

Technorati Tags: blog how-to, blog tools, blog your writing, blogs, ebook

Blogging for Beginners - Set up a Blogging Empire

Blogs are instant publishing tools. You can write 200 words, hit Publish, and your words are immediately available online to hundreds of millions of readers.

This makes blogs immensely powerful. There's never been a tool for writers which is more powerful than blogging. And, as a writer, you're much better placed to handle the power of blogs than other bloggers: you know the power of words.

If you haven't yet experienced the power of blogging, I hope that this article will help you to get started creating your own blogs, and experimenting with them.

Read the complete article on Writing Hacker...

Technorati Tags: blog your writing, blogging, blogs

Become a writer/ publisher and get complete control of your words

The rush from print to the Web has become a stampede. As more print publications ramp up their online offerings, paying attention to what's happening on the Web is vital for all writers, whether you write nonfiction or fiction.

Online, words are gold.

Online, words are classified as "content", and as a writer, you're content-producer.

Perhaps you've heard the expression "content is king."

It is. As stated, your words are gold online.

Think about it. If your words are valuable to others online, they're even more valuable to you.

I've been recommending blogging to you on this blog and elsewhere for several years. I hope you've taken that advice. Over time, your blog will become a valuable property, earning income for you.

Blogging is a simple way of becoming a writer/ publisher and getting complete control of your words, and the income those words produce.

Make money writing Web sites - become a writer/ publisher
If you can use a word processor, you can write Web sites.

Many writers shy away from creating Web sites... they imagine it's too techy, too complex. It's not. A small simple site can begin earning money for you very quickly. As a rule of thumb, if you've created a site in an area in which there are advertisers you can start earning five to ten dollars a day per site.

Now $10 a day isn't much. But what if you had ten sites all earning $10 day? That's $100 a day, which is $36,500 a year, just from ten simple sites. What if you had 20 such sites, all earning you $10 a day - or even more - in fact, some sites will earn you $100 a day? "Super-Fast Money-Making Web Sites For Writers: Join The Web-Publishing Bonanza" shows you how.

Technorati Tags: blog your writing

Blogs in 2008 - blogging is vital to your writing success

Gotta blog? I hope you said YES. :-)

Blogs are vital to your writing success in 2008 and beyond, for many reasons.

One of the primary reasons is to help you to make a name for yourself.

Yesterday I published the article "Sell your Writing: Get the Writing Gigs You Want" on Writing Hacker, my new site. This article is for writers trapped in freelance writing ghettos. Blog(s) will help you if you're trapped in a ghetto; not only does your blog help you to stand out from the writing crowd, it also helps you to explore new avenues for your writing, AND set higher fees for your writing.

There are many other ways you can use blogs to build your writing career. I explore some of them in Fab Freelance Writing Ezine on Wednesday. This week our feature article is: "Blogging for Beginners – Set up a Blogging Empire" - subscribe now, and you'll receive the issue in your Inbox.

The article will show you the many different types of blogs you could write, and the many different ways you can use blogs to enhance your writing career. The article will help you to look at blogging in a completely new way.

Resources for blogging

* Writing Success with Blogs, by Angela Booth. How to use your blog to start, develop and power your writing career;

* Blogging For Dollars: How to become a career blogger -- in your PJs, if you want … and make more money than you thought possible with zero financial investment;

* Writing For The Web - discover the secrets of Web writing.

Subscribe to eNews & Updates on my new writing site, Writing Hacker - (right-hand column). Writing Hacker helps you to build your writing skills with great writing tips and how-tos, including video presentations.

 

Technorati Tags: blog your writing, blogging, blogs

Get inspired - regain the creative spark in your short story or novel

I've just published "Writing fiction: spark your writing with images" on Writing Hacker.

Here's an excerpt:

You've been writing your novel or short story, and for a while you were inspired, but as quickly as the inspiration arrived, it's departed.

You've lost the spark. You might as well be writing a shopping list; you hate every word you write.

This is a dangerous situation, because while you feel this way it's hard for you to imagine that your writing is good and worthwhile. You think it's awful, and you're tempted to delete the project from your computer.

Read the rest.

Technorati Tags: creativity, fiction, novel

New video - Write and sell Web articles

I've just posted a new video on Writing Hacker  - "Make money Writing: Write and sell Web articles - they’re in hot demand".

The video is for new writers, as well as experienced writers who are making the switch to writing for the Web.

I'll be posting a new video every week, so subscribe to Writing Hacker by entering your email into the eNews & Updates field just above the video.

If you're new to Web writing, my Perfect Article Writing System helps you to make money writing articles for the Web.

Enjoy. :-)

Technorati Tags: freelance writing