Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Freelancing - 5 Steps to Set Up Your Freelancing Business Online

Anyone who necessitates information on how to put up a freelancing concern online should read these five stairway on how to make so.

Here are the five stairway you will necessitate to make well.

Step 1: Post Type A Portfolio On Your Website

If you are going to begin an online freelancing business, you will necessitate to supply possible clients a portfolio on your website. A good manner to make this is to utilize your portfolio as a show window for clients to see your former work.

Step 2: Websites Or Blogs?

You necessitate to calculate out which will accommodate your demands best. If you experience like a professional website is the lone manner to go, then travel for it. If you go on to prefer blogs and blogging more, then you can make that as well. One thing to look into is using Wordpress. The ground being is that it can be adapted for usage as a website or a blog. There are people who will utilize both mediums for their freelancing business.

Step 3: Other Content Management Options (CMS)

If you make up one's mind that using blogs as your concern platform is not your cup of tea, don't worry. Even though blogs are usually easier to update and pull off than websites, there are a batch of centimeters available for you to use. These systems let you to update you website from anywhere online, and you don't necessitate computing machine scheduling accomplishments to make it.

Step 4: Rates Or No Rates

You necessitate to calculate out if you desire to expose rates on your freelancing concern website or blog or not. Sometimes it will assist your clients cognize what to anticipate right up front, where as other clients desire to be quoted terms on their peculiar jobs.

Step 5: Hold Out As A Business

This intends going to the county clerks office, registering your concern name with them, and have got some type of notice published in your local paper. Freelancers who make this may be helping themselves out because some clients prefer to only work with concern physical things for accounting and legal purposes. It also can make a better mental image for you.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Adsense and Pay Per Click For Writers - Exchanging Words For Dollars

What is the chief end of every writer? Ask this inquiry of one thousand authors and opportunities are strong that the overpowering response will be: "To acquire published."
I'm here to state you that all of these authors are wrong. Here's why. If these polled writers were pressed further, I'd wager that they desire to acquire published because that would acquire them to the existent goal...Getting paid.

How many authors would hold to a publication trade that offered no money? Would you? I thought not.

So, let's jump the publication deal, and acquire you paid. We'll salvage the publication thing until you're making a few dollars and generating consistent income from your writing. We've all done our share of research. Even when authorship fiction, research come ups into drama and gives your authorship a richer feel .You acquire depth and layers. But, this isn't a course of study on how to, or the benefits of, research. You'll necessitate to cognize all of that to continue.

Think of Google as a publishing house that volition wage you to research a topic, and develop a web land site with relevant quality content on that topic. You're also free to pick any subject you want. Once you compose five to 10 pages on the topic, all you make to acquire paid from Google is add some codification to the pages from Google's AdSense site. If you don't already have got got an account, you will have to take the two proceedings it takes to use for one.

After inserting the code, when you post your pages to the web; they will expose advertisements geared towards the subject you wrote about. Ads that volition be targeted to, and of interest, to people who will see your pages.

The AdSense advertisements aren't typical ads, meaning that no 1 necessitates to purchase anything for you to acquire paid. They are Wage Per Chink ads. You acquire paid every clip person chinks on the advertisement whether they purchase something or not.

It's a great conception that authors just like yourself are using to construct six figure incomes by edifice respective sites. Once the initial work is done, the income is residual. The possible money to be made from dedicated authors is staggering. I've seen, and am, living cogent evidence of the powerfulness of this process. By employing these simple tactics, my online income have exceeded my offline authorship income, and the online income goes on to turn every calendar month whether I work at it or not.

So, here's to you not getting published. Let me be the first to compliment you.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Ambiguity in Writing

The term ambiguity can be defined as a statement that incorporates two or more than meanings, or a statement that is unclear. One may believe that ambiguity in authorship would be a bad thing, but it really depends on the topic matter. Ambiguity can be used as a literary device to effectively beef up your authorship in respective ways.

An illustration of the first type of ambiguity (where a statement incorporates two or more than meanings) are these lines from Henry Martin Robert Frost's "To Earthward"

Love at the lips was touch

As sweet as I could bear;

And once that seemed too much;

I lived on air

The last line, "I lived on air" can be said to be equivocal since the phrase can have got two meanings. You can literally "live on air," or it can be seen as an look of emotion and feeling.

Ambiguity can be used for different reasons. It can take to negative secret plan points in your story, by creating confusion that Pbs to disaster. For instance, a fictional character misinterprets information owed to ambiguity and this action takes to a negative event.

It can also be used positively to demo complexness or to bespeak difficulty. In Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the fictional character of Hamlet utilizes ambiguity in his address to conceal his existent feelings. His deliberate ambiguity takes to positive consequences for his character.

In humor, ambiguity can also be used in duologue to make wit or even mystery. An illustration of ambiguity to make wit often come ups in the word form of puns, like the line in Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet." While Mercutio lies dying, he says, "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall happen me a sedate man," where the word "grave" have two meanings. Another illustration of equivocal wit is the celebrated line by Herbert Marx Marx: "I shot an elephant in my pajamas. What he was doing in my pajamas, I have got no idea!"

Ambiguity is a great manner to open up a story, as well. By offering a confusing statement, or one that looks to belie itself, the author can pull the reader in by creating involvement or mystery. Often the ambiguity will be cleared by the end of the piece of writing, but it is the initial confusion that tin make struggle or interest.

An illustration of ambiguity in the gap of a piece of authorship is one of the most celebrated first lines of any novel, "A Narrative of Two Cities" by Prince Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the era of belief, it was the era of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the springtime of hope, it was the wintertime of despair." These contradictory statements make a sense of ambiguity which pulls the reader into the story.

In writing, being concise and clear is cardinal to conveying significance to the reader, but using ambiguity effectively can be used to beef up a piece of writing.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Book Proposal Writing for Beginners

You already cognize that the book proposal is your cardinal to authorship success. You cognize this because you've heard it from professionals, literary agents, and editors. And as a author you think, "Oh, give me a break, I'm stymied enough trying to compose the manuscript, and now you're telling me I have got to worry about a #2!&/!#! book proposal! All Iodine desire is to happen person to read a few chapters of my book."

Relax. Take a deep breath. And listen to some good advice from person who's been in your place and felt the exact same way. I was annoyed at the very thought of having to compose a book proposal. I had spent a batch of clip thought about my book idea, getting chapters ready, and doing research on my topic. And now I was faced with the other hurdle of authorship a book proposal. I hated the idea.

But the truth is you necessitate a book proposal to sell your book.

THE audience FOR YOUR book PROPOSAL

The good news is that it's relatively easy to compose a book proposal -- once you cognize who your audience is. The cardinal is realizing that the audience for your book proposal is vastly different from the audience for your book. The audience for your book proposal is, first and foremost, a literary agent. Your 2nd audience is an acquiring editor at a good publication house. And your 3rd audience is the gross sales and selling military unit at that publisher. These people are all professionals, and they're all looking for one thing: cogent evidence that your book will have got a large adequate marketplace to sell briskly and do them a profit. That's their primary concern. That's their underside line.

YOU ARE THE EXPERT

Once you recognize who your existent audience is, you're on the manner to success. Remember that you're the expert on your subject. No 1 cognizes it like you do. You can compose rings around people when it come ups to your book's subject. So don't worry about these people in the publication human race -- these literary agents, editors, and selling people. Just hit consecutive with them, state them what your topic is, state them who will desire to read your book, explicate how you'll assist the publishing house publicise your book, and include some information about yourself, especially mentioning why you're an expert on this topic or why you're a good individual to compose this book.

As far as publicity goes, I always happen this a very easy thing to compose about. I mean, if your book is of involvement to a batch of people, all you have got to make is state that telecasting and radiocommunication will be dying to acquire you on the air to speak about your book. It's probably true, isn't it? If you're writing about anything that's even remotely interesting to the norm layman, mass media mercantile establishments would love to have got you as a guest. Newspapers and mags will also be eager to cover your book. Just state this in the proposal. You don't have got got to turn out it, all you have to make is state it. If it sounds plausible to you, it will also sound plausible to the literary agents, editors, and other people who read your book proposal.

By apprehension your audience, you can compose your proposal in no time. Just take it at your literary agent and editor, keeping in head a few other industry people as well, such as as your selling and publicities managers. Trust person who's done this numerous times. It's much easier than it looks -- once you cognize who your audience is.

Copyright (c) 2007 William Cane

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Web Basics for Writers

The first thing you necessitate to make when starting a website is make up one's mind exactly what you desire it to do. Are it to advance your freelancing services or books, offering information, or tally a societal baseball club for all of your authorship buddies? What you make with it will impact your determinations surrounding hosting and even sphere registration.

Once you've established your goals, you'll necessitate a host. There are a gazillion web hosts, and because we're starving artists, we have got a inclination to jump at the freebies. Like everything else though, 'free' web hosts are deserving as much as you pay for, so they're not deserving a hill of beans. Invest a small money in yourself and happen a host that actually rans into your needs, and have a good path record for waiter reliability. There's no sicker feeling than working on a website for a few old age only to happen that the waiter have crashed and taken all your data files with it. (Don't do the same error I did and trust 100% on ANY server. Always back up your work.)

Domain name calling are of import too. You'll desire to integrate your pen name, publication company or undertaking into it somehow to make it recognizable and to hike those all of import ratings.

As far as actually building your site, unless you're going to moonshine as a designer, you don't desire to pass old age learning HTML. Some hosts come up with land site builders, and Netscape offers a free programme called Composer. A what-you-see-is-what-you-get program, Composer do web designing as simple as authorship a missive in Word. You should still have got a fundamental apprehension of HTML; Composer wishes to throw the occasional curve ball, but you don't necessitate to be an expert on the subject.

You've got your host, your sphere is registered, and there's a handful of content on your site. Who's paying for all this? While the initial cost will be incurred by you, advertizers can countervail the disbursal of running a website and bring forth more than income than you'd have got gotten authorship for exposure only. You could offer advertisement space for a monthly fee, but unless you've got one thousands of visitants trooping through every month, don't anticipate advertizers to lb on your door. They desire exactly what we all want, the greatest knock for their buck. Your land site won't be of involvement to them if your Numbers are low (and at first, they will be).

Affiliate advertisement is your alternative. Companies such as as Amazon.com, Committee Junction, and LinkShare.com all offering a assortment of appropriate merchandises to have on your site. Payrates change from seller to vendor, and until you acquire a regular watercourse of traffic, it may take clip to actually bring forth any money from them. Google Adsense is another possible beginning of revenue.

Once you have got a fairly complete package, you'll necessitate to allow people cognize about your site. Add your uniform resource locator to your electronic mail signature and spreading the word around at every opportunity. Join networking land sites such as as Myspace, Facebook, or Ryze. View offers free concern card game for the cost of transportation and handling; take them up on it and have got professional promotional stuff printed for your website. It's actually cheaper than printing your ain at place when you calculate in the cost of stuff and ink, and you'll have got a better looking merchandise to go through out.

Designing and edifice a website may sound scary, but it can really be alot of fun. Dainty it like an synergistic scroll saw puzzler and allow your creativeness loose. Once you acquire started, you may happen it hard to stop!

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Standing Out As a Professional

One of my pet peeves is not being valued as a writer.

What I mean by this is that people think you're "just" a writer, so your time is worth far less than theirs. And we both know that's so far from the truth it isn't funny.

As writers, we are professionals. We offer a professional service and charge accordingly. We run a business, and have overheads, just like every other business.

And like other professionals, we've had to pay our dues by learning our craft. We've attended classes and workshops, studied and practiced. But unfortunately most people still don't get it.

They think because we are writers, our time is not worth as much as theirs.

I recently attended a business meeting where I was approached by another business owner. She asked how she could write, create, and format an ebook she wanted to sell to her clients. I gave her a very brief overview of what would be required, but added I could consult with her on this.

She gave me a very strange look and said "Oh, but I don't want to pay. I was hoping you would do this for free."

I explained that I wouldn't ask her to supply her services free to me, and don't expect another business owner to ask me either. I know this business owner was very taken aback by this, but before anything else, we must value ourselves and our services.

Of course bartering is always an option, but it doesn't pay the bills.

Obviously everyone will be individual in their needs, but as a full-time writer, I simply cannot afford to write/work for free. I learned a long time ago that doing so devalues your worth, not only to potential clients, but also to yourself.

How much is your time and expertise worth? Would you give away your services for free to your employer? Would you expect your plumber to repair your pipes for nothing? Does your solicitor spend an entire morning in court on your behalf, and expect nothing in return?

As writers, we sometimes tend to forget that our own profession and skill is just as important as that of other vocations.

This usually comes from other people's perception. They put us down, and they don't see why we should earn (or charge) as much as other professions.

Mostly they believe anyone can pickup a pen, or sit at a computer, and simply write. And of course, our words are perfect first time every time!

Just like a doctor, solicitor, plumber, electrician, or other professional, we've studied hard and practiced for years. Our skills have been learned and refined, not simply handed to us on a silver platter.

Next time your value as a writer is taken for granted, think about the work involved to get to this stage. Think about the "apprenticeship" you've served. And think about the time, skill, and effort involved every time you sit down to write.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Hero's Journey, Monomyth (188 Stages) Screenplay Tips

FORWARD

The 188 stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188+ stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

THE 188 STAGE HERO'S JOURNEY:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).

d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventure and the micro elements within.

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

(simply go to http://www.heros-journey.info/ for full details)

*****Final Conflict: Allies against the Hero*****

Post the Crossing of the Return Threshold and before the Master of Two Worlds and Selves, a hell of a lot happens that is rarely given mention. The Final Conflict (a metaphor for this stage) follows a distinct process. One aspect of this stage is the possibility of allied forces turning against the hero. In Straw Dogs (1971), Amy decides to go against David and give then Henry.

*****Middle Cave*****

This is a place of Allies and Enemies. Where no new characters are met, the problem becomes one of establishing greater friendship or animosity. In Brokeback Mountain (2005), Jack and Ennis become friends through the act of hunting.