Friday, December 28, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Getting Your Book Published - How to Find the Freelance Editor That's Right For You
How to Find Your Editor
To land a great literary agent you MUST stand out from the pack and not give the agent, or her assistant, any reason to automatically toss your pages into the rejection pile.
Some writers need editorial help to get there; some don't. If you decide to hire an independent editor to help you prepare your manuscript for submission, follow these handy guidelines for finding the editor who is right for you - and for your manuscript.
DO:
1. Put up an ad. There are lots of websites where you can place an ad for an editor. Some will charge you fees; some won't. You can try getafreelancer.com, guru.com, or elance.com to name a few, but I honestly recommend you take the easy route: craigslist.org. It's free for you and your editor, and TONS of quality freelancers regularly use craigslist listings to connect with potential clients. Beware of a few things if you do place an ad:
You'll get some spam. Easy to delete.
You will get LOTS of responses. Use some of the tips in Part III of this series of posts for sorting through the e-mails and picking the best of the batch.
You'll likely be contacted by scam publishers and predatory fake agents. More on this later, but for now, just hit delete on any e-mail response to a craigslist ad from anyone who claims to be a publisher or agent. The end.
2. Ask your writer's group (and if you don't belong to one yet, join one!). Other writers will be some of your best sources for finding a quality freelance editor. Ask around. If you don't belong to a group yet, Yahoo! has some great groups you can join. (My personal favorites include the Writing and Publishing group and the Fiction that Sells group.)
3. Google. I hesitate to recommend this one to anyone but the most committed of researchers. Searching for a good manuscript editor online takes some perseverance - most of the top results for any given search will be the large services I warn about below. That said, I recently surveyed all of the clients I've worked with in the last five years, and, to my surprise, found that more than a few said they'd found me through a Google search. Now, the highest I can find my site without actually typing in "Murdock Editing" is about the 13th page in, so...grain of salt.
DON'T:
1. Pick the first ad that pops up. Finding the right editor takes research - trust me, it's worth your time.
2. Use a big faceless service. I'm not going to name names, but you can find some of the offenders yourself by taking a scroll through the Preditors and Editors database. Many of these larger, corporate-looking editorial services - the ones that have no actual editor name and face behind them - farm out your work to people with very little to no experience in publishing who are working for next-to-nothing and have no real investment in your success. Some hire quality editors - but it's a crap shoot - you'll have no way of knowing whether your editor is a publishing pro or a college student trying to earn a little extra beer money (not that there's anything wrong with that!).
3. Choose a "literary agent" who also charges fees for editorial work. There are many out there with a mission to educate writers about this scam - start at Preditors and Editors or Writer Beware. Basically it comes down to this - no legitimate literary agent will ever charge you for anything upfront (except maybe incidentals like printing and mailing supplies - but that's at smaller agencies and fairly rare). If an "agent" is offering to edit your work for a fee, run.
Lindsay is a freelance editor and publishing consultant specializing in Manuscript Evaluation and Manuscript Critique. Read more on her blog at http://www.murdockediting.blogspot.com or her website, http://www.murdockediting.com.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Why and How To Write Short Web Articles
Can you read, write & type?
Good! Because you can make decent money by just writing a few short articles a day or week!
Sounds great! Here is how it works!
But before the HOW, please allow me to explain WHY you should!
Because you already are...
You presently spend quite an amount of time - daily, weekly & monthly - on the web. Since you are reading this on EzineArticles, I am assuming you do.
And you already do quite a bit of writing online as well. Oh yes, you do.
Think for a moment. You already write updates, posts, comments, notes on Facebook & on your other various social media & networking sites. And then, there is the writing bit on your phone.
Yeah? With the same ease and within minutes, now you just write a few online articles on some topics, submit them and hey, begin receiving cheques!
The way to do it...
Now, let's get to how it works!
Well, we already know what Search Engines are - Google for example. When people search for something, they type in what is called Keywords. It is whatever we type in Google, and based on those words Google will show you its search results.
Now, keeping this thing in mind, what you need to do is write web articles which are 'Keyword Rich' so that when people type in these keywords, search engines will show them YOUR articles with these keywords.
And when people click or buy something, say, a product you are reviewing... you make money. Quite neat, isn't it?
This is something called SEO writing where SEO means Search Engine Optimization. In order words, the articles that you write are optimized for better search results. So that people can find them easily.
However, this is just a cursory glance at how you can make money by writing online. But the key concepts - Keywords & SEO Writing - behind it are the same.
And now, here's the trick, you don't have to go hunting for topics actually. Or create your own blogs. There already are many who are hunting for SEO writers. What's more, they give you the topic and the keywords, and you just have to add your magic, weave them and turn them into a short, sweet & crisp web article.
There are many free resources on the web that will teach you all about SEO writing. Once you get a fair idea & have done some amount of practicing, you may now want to look for clients who would offer you writing assignments.
To start with, you can join various freelance writing sites where you can find writing projects or join sites that pay you upfront for articles you write. Between the two go for the latter. On many freelancing sites you will have to bid and often the lowest bidder gets the job. While you may get work, you may not be making much money.
However, the best strategy is to look for private clients who would offer you a constant stream of work. And a great place to start is classified sites like Craigslist etc. where can you directly contact clients who are looking for writers and take up assignments. And once you have a client or two, you are in business.
To conclude...
As you can see, if you know how to do it, it is quite a simple & easy way to increase your income.
And the great part is you can do this all from the comfort of your home! Plus you can do it anytime you want, wherever you want. All you need is an internet connection and the commitment to stick to it.
Wilson Modi is a Mercenary Writer who writes just for the thrill of writing. And the money comes in handy. You can follow him on Twitter for regular writing tips, tricks as well as freelancing job leads. And much more.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
How to Sell Anything On Craigslist Whether You Own a Business Or Not
Did you know that craigslist is one word? Did you also know that it's not capitalized? The reason is that the founder of craigslist, Craig Newmark, didn't capitalize either the name of his site, or any of the link names anywhere on his site. In fact, when you visit the site, you'll notice how plain the site is.
Some might even call it ugly. Who cares? The truth is, this site is consistently ranked in the top 50 most trafficked sites in the world, and the top 20 for the United States. This site gets a HUGE amount of traffic, and if you are a small business owner who is looking for free, and targeted traffic, you can't afford to ignore this site.
This book will easily help you harness this traffic, and the best part is that the information in this book is pretty much evergreen, which means that it's classic. Unless Craig completely changes his business model, the information contained in this book will always work.
In this book, you'll find the following sections:
Part I - craigslist 101
Part II - Posting on craigslist
Part III - The Other Side of craigslist
No matter what you are trying to sell on craigslist, you'll want to read the first section. This section covers safety and helps you protect yourself from spam, as well as helping you understand how craigslist actually works.
Depending on what you are selling will determine which chapters you read in Part II. Everyone will want to read Chapters 4 and 5 as these chapters will explain how to create listings that get results. Chapters 6 through 12 explain the different sections on craigslist, like For Sale, Housing, etc. and shows you how to post appropriately in each of these sections so you get better results.
(If you are a business person promoting your business, you are only allowed to promote in the services section. However, the writer clearly explains how to get the most from listing here.)
The final section explains techniques to help you get the most from your buying experience. You'll also learn how to find what you're looking for and not get scammed in the process.
What I liked about this book is that the author gives you plenty of instruction on how to use craigslist properly. There's no hype, and these techniques will work for anyone who is willing to follow them. In other words, the techniques are what search engine marketers would call "white hat," and these techniques will get you results.
The one thing I was unclear on after reading this book is how many ads you can post and how often. After re reading Chapter 4 though, I found the answers I was looking for. That's another good thing about this book. You don't have to read the whole book to get started quickly, so if you're trying to get rid of that old couch in your living room, you can actually read the book and then write and post an ad in a couple of hours.
Whether you own a business or not, if you plan to use craigslist, this is the book you'll want to read first. It contains plenty of clear instruction that will keep you from getting banned from the site, and you'll get better results from your ads. Well worth reading.
The name of the book is: "craigslist 4 Everyone" by Jenna Lloyd and Sherry Kinkoph Gunter
Like this review? Then check out my internet marketing blog. You'll find tons of free stuff to help you market online. Get my free " Internet Marketing Tips " Guide and discover how to market your business online using only free techniques.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Freelance Online Writing Jobs - The Best Places to Develop Your Career
Trust me when I say that it is a lot easier to find freelance online writing jobs than a paycheck. If you're one of the millions of people who have recently lost their job due to the evaporating real world economy this could be the answer to your financial dilemma. You see the system that is crashing down around us is fatally flawed. That job that showed the world how responsible you were was really a dead end slave type situation. Rejoice in the opportunity to be in charge of your own future now.
There are quite a few places to find freelance online writing jobs. Some are better than others for different reasons. None of the places that you can find good paying freelance writing jobs will be free. Everyone who works online is here to earn money just as you are. Instead of crying scam get with the program. Tune out those scam reporters. Those people will never make any money working online because nothing for nothing is still nothing. You only get what you pay for even here on the Internet.
Here are some of the best places I've found to find freelance writing jobs. Bear in mind that the highest paying writing gigs will always be found on the freelance boards that cost the most to become members of. Start with the following few sites and you'll find more as you get deeper into your new freelance writing career.
o Craigslist
o GetAFreelancer
o Elance
o Guru
o Virtual Vocations
o ODesk
To access the easiest system to make money online all you have to do is Click Here