Archive for April, 2007

How To Write In The Children’s Market (Part 1)

April 26, 2007 9:00 am

In the next couple of months I will be writing a number of articles about how you can break into the children’s market of writing. This will be a considerably long series so I suggest you keep checking back for the newest post.

Writing children’s literature is a great way to break into the writing market. There is an opening for a wide range of topics because the readers range from toddler to young adult. It’s up to you to figure out what best suits your writing and your ideas. You just have to figure out what you want to write about.

Magazines

Magazines can be the perfect place to break in with your short stories. When you write in magazines it’s the perfect way to build your writing credentials and it also helps to establish you as a professional writer. You don’t just have to publish short stories either. You can publish poetry, verse, puzzles, fiction or non fiction. Books can take for ever to hit the market but with magazine articles you can have your work published in months if not weeks sometimes.

Magazines are a perfect place to get specialty pieces published. As we all know most magazines limit their focuses on specific content.

Magazines aren’t only limited in their content. The intended audiences of most periodicals are limited to particular age levels and genders. Babybugs intended audience is toddlers while the Keynoter is aimed at high school students. Boys Life is geared to boys and Hopscotch is a magazine for girls.

Some magazines devote entire issues to a focused topic or theme. It’s in your best interest to read a magazine that you intend to publish to. Make sure your familiar with the magazine and what kind of content it will accept. Make sure you understand the publisher’s contents. You also want to make sure you know when the magazine publishes. This way you can plan ahead with your stories.

Many writers have gotten their start by writing in magazines. Writing for children can definitely be the easiest genre to follow if you want to follow your dreams.

Faith and Fiction

8:40 am

When it comes to some writers, publishers, and readers, there are two categories of fiction: General Fiction and Christian Fiction. If you’re an author you may sometimes wonder where your work fits, so let’s define the two.

-General Market

Most often these books are written with what is most termed as a secular world view. The target market is much wider and from my observations includes anyone who reads books. Content can be graphic but that is not always the case.

-Christian Market

What earns these books their section of a bookstore is their Christian world view. The target market here is readers who want some faith in their fiction. Content can be honest and at times gripping but is not usually graphic although that is changing.

As a writer (and a believer) I spend time and money in both sections because reading is my continuing education.

While I try to stay true to the story I’m given to write, I’m also a writer who wants readers, so I study the market on both sides of the aisle. I can spend hours learning from book covers. I will take time to write the title, author, and publisher in my notebook so I can check back and see what intrigued me enough to pull the book off the shelf when it’s time to design my next cover. I read the back cover copy - the blurbs that sometimes are just enough to make a reader buy the book. I check out the opening lines to see if I’m drawn in. Then I may take in the first chapter. If I enjoy the pace, language, and over all writing, I will either buy the book or add the title to my wish list. (I have a very long list!)

The first time I read a book is as a reader. No highlighter or pen although I might dog ear a page I know I want to come back to when I begin the reading as writer phase. The second reading is faster as I search for key spots the author delighted, scared, or disappointed me.

I’ve developed my own “code” for these places I’m drawn to and therefore learn from. A smiley face for places I found funny or that made me smile. A heart for a phrase I loved. A cross for a faith moment and a black dot for a spot that scared me spit-less. A sad face for a where the author disappointed me. An arrow means this is something I want to ponder, argue, or agree with. Question marks means there’s something there I didn’t understand and may want to learn more about. An exclamation mark means “right on!” in my short hand. Highlighted passages are those I want to remember either because they taught me something about writing or myself. I use a cross when the author is exceptional at writing about faith. These symbols become a word-less journal within the book.

As a reader and a student of writing, I’m picky about the books I purchase. If the books I buy can be both entertainment and text book, I get to double my pleasure.

As a writer and seller of my own books, reading books from both sides of the fiction market shows me what works for readers. This is not my main driving force when I sit down at the keyboard. The love of writing, the passion for my story, and staying true to the characters is far more important than writing for the markets. If a story is well-written, readers will cross-over.

I’ve also come to believe from reading that writers can put their faith all over their fiction. Bold authors are respected and read. Readers are savvy and unafraid of being converted. When an author writes a compelling book, people will buy it and read it if only to disagree. This kind of writing stays in the hearts of the readers and on the sales reports of bookstores for years.

Careers in Writing- Selling Information With Online E-book Publishing

April 25, 2007 3:34 pm

There is no longer room for the starving writer. Why? Writers do not have to live from hand to mouth anymore because now writers are in high demand in the Internet Marketing Industry. Some brilliant marketers discovered the value of writers. They discovered that people really do look for information on the INTERNET.

Daily, the internet is bombarded with millions of people worldwide search for answers to certain questions, information on a variety of topics and mainly searching for information that will help them make their lives better. It is the very reason why the internet is known as the Information Superhighway.

As such, the people who best fulfill this need are writers. As a writer, if you can answer some questions or know how to improve people’s lives, why not earn a living doing it? However, what writers must accept is that this does not undermine the integrity of the work.

So, the question now is: “How do you fulfill this need of information as quickly as possible. After all, the internet is about getting information and getting it fast. The answer is online e-books. Online e-books are electronic books that people can read online. Online e-books can be read in many different formats. However, the best format is Adobe pdf format because readers can download Adobe Reader absolutely free.

This makes it all so much easier. Your online e-book should the following this very effective formula: 1. A letter from the author telling your readers why you have written the e-book.

2. An introduction to the subject matter

3. An answer to the top 20 questions most people ask about the subject matter.

4. A new piece of information most people don’t know about (this can be very important to your marketing strategy).

5. Instructions on how to effectively apply the information you’ve provided.

6. A conclusion

7. Information about additional products, services, or business opportunities related to the subject matter (this would be a great area to up-sale any affiliate programs or products you may have).

Now the question you might be asking is: What will people pay money for your information? E-books are strange in this way. Some people pay more for an e-book than they do for a book from a bookstore. The reason is a simple one. People pay more for e-books for the immediacy of the product. Furthermore, you will be paying your affiliates anywhere from 25% to 75% of your e-book’s price. This can become a lucrative option. However, if you are marketing your e-book from your personal website, then you should price your e-book from $15.00 to $39.00.

Again, as a writer, there are options available to you to help steer your writing career in the right direction while you earn a lucrative income online.

How to Use Commas

3:15 pm

Commas are important,

The comma helps the reader, and without it the reader would often have to go back and reread a sentence to find out exactly what the writer meant.

The comma often helps set off interrupting matter within sentences. Many writers don’t realize that they are setting off a phrase, so they begin with the first comma but omit the second, which should conclude the parenthetical matter. Check for this sort of thing in your proofreading.

A standard use for commas is in separating the items in a series: knives, forks, and spoons. Authorities differ as to whether that final comma before the and is required, so you can use your judgment.

Use the following rules for clear and correct comma use:

  • Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by any of these words: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

    i.e. The class was over, but the teacher would not finish talking.

  • Use commas after introductory clauses, phrases, or words that come before the main clause. Introductory clauses that should be followed by a comma include: after, although, as, because, if, since, when, while.

    i.e. While I was jogging, the rain would not stop.

  • Use a pair of commas in the middle of a sentence to set off clauses, phrases, and words that are not crucial to the meaning of the sentence.

    i.e. My favorite desert is ice-cream. My brother, however, prefers chocolate cake.

  • Use commas to separate three or more words, phrases, or clauses written in a series.

    i.e. Angie, Dan, and Tina went to school.

  • Use commas to set off all geographical names, items in dates (except the month and day), addresses (except the street number and name), and titles in names.

    i.e. Los Angeles, California is a dynamic city.

  • Use commas wherever necessary to prevent possible confusion or misreading.
  • Don’t use a comma to separate the subject from the verb.
  • Don’t put a comma between the two verbs or verb phrases in a compound predicate.

Writing Fast - How to Write 10 Times Faster, Guaranteed

1:33 pm

How many times have you stared at a blank page, deadline looming, and felt the trickles of sweat on your forehead? Or cringed at the thought of writing a thesis, term paper, business proposal, or status report? Or dreamy of writing a book, novel or screenplay, but pushed it aside as “too difficult; it would take forever”? Alright. Enough procrastinating. Let’s cut through the waste and nail down the solution, right here, right now.

The reason you struggle with writing is simple: You think writing is an activity. But it’s not. Typing is activity. Writing is a process. And the way to write ten times faster than you do right now is this: Find a systematic approach to that process.

My approach is the FAST System. It’s got four simple steps:

Step 1: Focus your idea. All writing is communication, and the first thing to do is capture the essence of the idea you’re trying to communicate. Brainstorm, map and plan your concept. See the overview. Give yourself a roadmap.

Step 2: Apply your plan. Once you’ve got your writing plan in place, get the words onto the page as fast as possible. And I mean lightning fast. Don’t stop and re-read a word. You know where you’re going thanks to the plan, now just get words on the page.

Step 3: Strengthen your words. If you’ve created your writing plan and then blasted the words onto the page, you’re already halfway home. Now it’s time to go through what you’ve written and strengthen it. How well have you expressed your idea? Mark up your writing. Some of it will have missed the mark completely; other sections will be pretty solid. Edit and adjust, and then repeat steps 1 and 2 if necessary.

Step 4: Tweak your writing. This is what most people do at the start. But that’s what slows you down. Forget perfection at the start. Wait until you’ve created your plan, blasted words onto the page, and then strengthened those words until your idea is expressed clearly. Now tweak and polish your writing to make it a lightning fast read.

Ironically, the more you write fast, the faster you’ll write.

Now, writing fast does not mean writing poorly. Quite the contrary. Writing fast means getting your words on the page as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you can talk, you can write — they’re two sides to the same coin.

Both are communication. Think about it. If you know what you’re saying, the words come easy. So Focus, Apply, Strengthen and Tweak. You will be writing ten times FASTer in no time.