Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Writing Post RoundUp: Web Writing Training and More

As you may know, I have many sites and blogs related to writing, and this means that you've probably missed a recent post.

Here are links to posts I've published recently.

* Web Writing and Keywords: your best SEO tool is your brain

If you're writing for the Web, using appropriate keywords is essential. Unfortunately, many writers forget about one essential keyword tool. It's the one they have easiest access to...

* Web Writing Training: 5 Reasons You Need It

Web writing training is essential if you want to make money writing. 95 out of 100 writers flounder, and there's no need for it. Here are five reasons you need training...

* Business Correspondence: 5 Tips to Write Effectively

Terror or boredom? We all need to communicate professionally in our business correspondence. When you know how, you'll get the results you want, and your reputation as a writer will grow. These five tips will help.

* Web Writing Training: How to Make Easy Money from Your Writing Today

I hope you're making great money from your Web writing. You should be. If you're not, you need training. Why make less money than you're capable of making?

* Write a Book: Old and New Ways to Get Published

The world of publishing is changing. Pay attention, if you're writing a book, or want to write one. Discover how to publish your book in 2010 and beyond.

Enjoy. :-)

Introducing -- Angela Booth's Lazy Rich Blogger method

After several years of trial and error, these days I create blogs which I know will make money: I've cracked the code. Not only do my blogs make money almost immediately, they'll also keep on making money for years to come.

If you wish, you can join me on the blogging journey. I hope you do. As the Internet grows ever larger, there are endless opportunities which can turn you into a lazy, rich blogger.

Writing: Find Your Motivation

What motivates you? If you know that, you can achieve success in any area of your life, and in your writing.

It's easy to lose your motivation.

For example, I haven't been writing much, and thought that I was being lazy, until realized I'd lost my motivation.

These past few months my time's been eaten up by several clients' Web content management projects which have taken up huge swathes of time. Although these projects pay well, they're focused on strategical and editorial work, rather than on  writing. Reading others' writing was interesting at first, then quickly became frustrating and boring. Thank heavens the last of these projects is winding down.

Although I won't be taking on any more of this kind of work, I've learned a lot from it. Mainly that I like writing more than I like not writing. Looking forward to writing each day gets me out of bed in the morning and motivates me.

What motivates you?

It's worth spending some time thinking about this. Very few people know exactly what they want.

It's OK if what you really want turns out to be different from what you've been telling people.

A friend confided that she'd spent years thinking she wanted a happy marriage. Then enough was enough, and she decided what she really  wanted was freedom: a divorce. She had a hard time with this, because it made her feel guilty, and she had to work her way through her own sadness and doubt.

When you've decided what you really want (your intention), it's time to create a primary goal.

Create a goal which inspires you, even if it scares you

Any worthwhile goal will scare you because it takes you right out of your comfort zone.

Complete this sentence: "If only I could write___________" or "If only I could_______".

I write about WIGs (Wildly Improbably Goals) in the Top 70 Writing Tips guide. If a goal doesn't scare you on some level, it's not going to motivate you.

Don't stop now: find four ways to achieve that goal

Now you've chosen your goal, how do you feel? You should feel happy and energetic. If you're not enthused about your goal, then keep digging until you find what your real intention and goal is.

Now find at least four pathways to that goal. Think about how you might achieve your goal, and come up with four ways. Write them down.

Are you feeling motivated?

If not, keep digging. Keep asking yourself what you really want. Once you know that, you'll know what motivates you.

Write more - become a pro writer

Yes, you can write more and become an expert writer - 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.

Write a Book and Get Published: Old Way, or DIY?

If you love books, and writing them, it's an exciting time. New ways to get published are appearing all the time. This means that you need to make choices about how you'll publish.

In an Editorial article on my freelance writing blog, Write a Book: Old and New Ways to Get Published, I wrote:

If you’ve written a book, or are in the process of writing one, you have a choice to make: will you publish your book the old way, that is, go the traditional publishing route (get an agent), or will you publish your book yourself?

For new authors, who want to make a career of writing books, I recommend the traditional publishing route. Write your book, get an agent, sell your book, and learn how publishing works.

Yes, it's slow, and frustrating, and it may break your heart, BUT you will have a deep understanding of the challenges and rewards of publishing.

While you're shopping your book proposal around to agents and publishers, there's no need to twiddle your thumbs. There are new ways to DIY publish now (I talk about Print on Demand in the above article), which means that while you're selling your big book, you can turn out lots of little books and publish them yourself, either via POD or as ebooks, in various formats.

Apropos of which, Ken Auletta, author of the wonderful book Googled, wrote a gossipy article for the New Yorker, Publish or Perish: Can the iPad topple the Kindle, and save the book business? which you should read:

The industry’s great hope was that the iPad would bring electronic books to the masses—and help make them profitable. E-books are booming. Although they account for only an estimated three to five per cent of the market, their sales increased a hundred and seventy-seven per cent in 2009, and it was projected that they would eventually account for between twenty-five and fifty per cent of all books sold. But publishers were concerned that lower prices would decimate their profits.

So, dear author (published or aspiring), fire up your word processor and start tapping the keyboard. Wonderful things are happening. Choice is always great, and you get to choose how you'll publish. But the writing comes first, so write. :-)

Recession-proof your freelance writing career

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" gives you all the tools you need for a thriving writing career, no matter what the economic climate.

Three weeks after completing the class one student wrote:

"Thanks Angela, for all your help and advice in class. I'm quitting my job next week. I printed out my letter of resignation tonight after landing a contract writing job that will pay me more for three months part-time work than I earned in from my day job in the whole of 2008! You were right – the great gigs are out there, and now I've got the skills to land them. Your class opened my eyes. Bless you…"

"Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process" shows you how to thrive as a freelance writer. Would you like to write five times more than you're writing now, and sell to higher-paying markets? Take the class.

Weekend Writer: Plan your writing for the coming week

The feedback for my new writing guide, Write From Home: Best-Ever Money-Making Tips, has been great.

As always when I release a new guide, it's offered to my wonderful Fab Freelance Writing Ezine subscribers first, as an exclusive. So I've had lots of feedback on it in the past week: writers have told me about their challenges.

It turns out that the biggest challenge for writers is planning.

If you want to make a great income writing from home planning is essential, so as your Weekend Writer challenge for this weekend, I'd like you to plan your writing for the coming week.

Here's how.

Start by listing all your current writing projects, both your own projects, and  any projects you're writing for others. These may be projects you're actively working on, or projects you have coming up.

You can keep this running list anywhere you choose; I keep it in my Things (Mac and iPhone) task manager.

The benefit of keeping this list is that once something's on your list, you can clear your mind.

Now choose one or more projects you'll be working on this coming week. Please don't over-commit. Until you get into the swing of planning, it's much better to commit to too few projects, rather than too many.

We'll imagine that you've chosen just one project; if you have additional projects, plan each one in this way:

Start by writing a description of the project

Write 200 words. This description clarifies the project in your own mind. Once it's on paper (or on the computer screen), you'll have a much clearer idea of what you need to do, and when. You'll find that just knowing this goes a long way toward eliminating procrastination.

Make a list of tasks you need to do to complete the project

For example, your task list for a copywriting project consisting of a display ad might look like this:

* Contact client. Request all marketing material related to this product;

* Draft three concepts;

* Write ten headlines;

* Send three headlines to the client;

* Draft body copy;

Etc.

Chunk the project down as much as you can. Each task you create should take no longer than 30 minutes. Even if you totally hate the project, you can stand anything for 30 minutes. :-)

Transfer all your tasks into your calendar program

Next, transfer all those tasks you created into your calendar program. Then, at your scheduled time, DO each task.

When you plan, and schedule tasks, you'll find that you complete projects, almost effortlessly, because you've removed the enervating feeling of "God help me, I've got so much to do and I don't even know HOW to start". Instead, you'll know exactly what you're doing and when, and you'll get it done.

Happy planning. :-)

Self-Publish Your Book and Deliver It on the iPad

If you want to write a book, or if you've already written one, you may be wondering how you get your book onto the iPad.

Of course, if you have a publisher, it's out of your hands. Your publisher will undoubtedly (if it hasn't already) make a deal with either Apple or an aggregator, and your book will be available on the iPad just like magic.

On the other hand, if you're self-published, you're in the happy position of being a do-it-yourselfer. :-) Relax, it's not difficult. The iPad looks as if it might be the blockbuster some predicted, so companies small and large will be happy to help you to get your book into the iBookStore.

There are several companies doing that already.

This article "Get your e-book on the iPad (and keep all the royalties)" announces another one:

Today, Tunecore announced that it would extend this model to e-books through a service called Bibliocore. After an upfront payment, the e-book is delivered to Apple's iBookstore, rights remain with the author, and Bibliocore takes no cut of the royalties.

iPad or not, you still need to promote your book

Unfortunately, no device, not even the iPad, can be your magic wand to pour money into your bank account. You'll still need to promote your book.

Think of the iPad as being just another channel for delivery. If you've self-published, you already sell your book on your website, and on your publisher's site perhaps.

I hope you've created a marketing plan, and are diligently doing some marketing each day. If you are, your book will be a success, no matter which channel you use.

Befuddled by Twitter? You'll be amazed at how many writers, editors, agents and buyers of your writing use it

Be where the action is with "Twitter for Writers: Achieve Writing Success 25 Words at a Time", your guide to micro blogging for writers.

Rewriting (for pay): beware

There's a fascinating story at Ars Technica, "Is permission needed to retweet hot news?" about the copyright law protecting hot news:

think about our third question above, the one involving rewrites. These don't implicate copyright law, since nothing is being copied excepts the facts from the original article—and copyright law famously does not extend to facts and ideas.

Read the entire story. You should be aware of what's involved when you rewrite anything.

For example, you'll often find projects on the outsourcing sites which ask for bids on "rewriting" articles, or books. This is theft, pure and simple. The project consists of  rewording someone else's work. In essence, translating it. There's no originality involved. 

I suggest to my writing students that they steer well clear of all these dubious projects. Sooner or later someone whose work has been "rewritten" in this way is going to take it badly, and it will result in a lawsuit. Since the writer who took the job is the person doing the "rewriting", the writer will be involved in the legal wrangle, like it or not.

Posted via email from Angela Booth's Life Stream

Writing motivation: keep your mind off what you don't want

Do you obsess about your writing? Over the past week, I've been creating writing plans for several worried writers... They want to increase their writing income, but they're so worried about their situation that they're spinning their wheels, and not achieving very much at all.

I realize that since these writers are having challenges with their mindset, there must be thousands of writers with similar problems.

If you're busy worrying, here's how to get your mindset right:

1. Forget your worries by writing them down

Write down every single worry you have -- every bill you need to pay, every relationship hassle, every job and health hassle. Get it all down. Give yourself at least 20 minutes to do this, more if you need it.

You can't control your mind, but you can control what you're thinking about. Once you've written down your worries, you'll find that you feel much more relaxed.

Everything you've written is what you don't want. Keep this file, or these sheets of paper, and add to them as you need to. This is your "worry file."

2. Write down what you want

Here's a starter phrase: "It would be wonderful, if...."

Write this phrase, and then complete it:

* It would be wonderful if I were making $150,00 a year from my writing...

* It would be wonderful if I found three new clients this week...

* It would be wonderful if... etc

Expand on the "It would be wonderful if..." phrase at least ten times.

This is your "want file".  As with your "worry file", expand on it as you need to.

Now, keep your mind off what you don't want (worry file), and keep it on what you do want (want file).

Next, take action on what you want.

For each "want" write a list of five small, simple actions -- no action should take longer than 20 minutes. Schedule your actions and take them.

Taking action gives you confidence.

When you're overly worried, you can't relax enough to be creative and write. You'll find that keeping worry/ want files makes all the difference. Try it.

"Go From Zero To Making $250 Per Hour For Web Writing - Kick Off Your Web Writing Career In 24 Hours!"

There's great money in Web writing. Some Web writers are making $20,000 a month by blogging for a stable of sites. Others are writing articles or ebooks.

Want to jump on this opportunity? No matter what your level of writing skill, you can make great money writing for the Web too.

Get a full year of weekly assignments; become a Web writing pro with Sell Your Writing Online NOW.

Happy Easter, Dear Writer

Have a wonderful Easter, dear writer... and don't forget to write. :-)

Writing contest: Describe How You Write, Win $800 Prize

Fab Freelance Writing Ezine is now integrated with the Fab Freelance Writing Blog, which means that the ezine can become much more interactive -- look for writing challenges, and contests too.

I've just posted the details of our first writing contest: “How I Write”, an essay of 100 to 200 words:

* Where and when you write;

* What you use to write (computer or pen and paper or ___?);

* The writing schedule you keep;

* Anything you like, as long as it fits the “How I write” theme of the contest.

Please enter. I'd love to know how YOU write.

Enjoy the contest. :-)

Fab Freelance Writing Ezine: Devoted to helping you to make money writing in 2010

Free: Write And Sell Your Writing -- The Power Write Report 2010

Writing jobs: how to be booked solid

Why are some writers booked solid, while others scratch around looking for writing jobs?

I wrote this article "Get More Writing Jobs When You Become a Credible Writer" over two years ago, and said:

Anyone can claim anything online

I'm constantly amazed at some of the claims I see made online. These outrageous claims make writing clients wary of hiring writers they don't know.

Anyone considering you for a good writing job will Google your name. If you have no Web site with writing samples, your credibility drops. You will lose out to writers who do have a site and samples.

So, if you want to be booked solid, I have two words for you: SITES and SAMPLES.

Sites and samples

Anyone who's considering hiring you consciously (or unconsciously in most cases) worries about your credibility. Can you do what you say you can? Where's the proof?

If you say you write articles, they want to see articles.

If you say you're a copywriter, they want to see advertising material you've written.

If you say you write ebooks, then they want to see ebooks you've written.

If you're a new writer, and can't show material you've written for clients, just write samples, and play up  the fact that you're a new writer. Believe it or not, being new is a plus. Clients know you'll be cheaper than established writers who can pick and choose clients. You're new, and hungry, so clients know that not only will you be cheaper, but you'll work harder...

In order to have any confidence in you at all, they need to see samples, on a website.

Whether you're a new writer, or are an established pro, remember "sites and samples". Create them, and you'll be booked solid.

Want to become an established web writer? Sell Your Writing Online NOW (SYWON) has been developing skilled web writers for two years. The SYWON training is an investment in your future, and in that of your family. Join us: you'll have a lot of fun, and you'll build a foundation for a solid income.