Angela Booth's Writing Blog

What's the perfect NEW writing career?

Career blogging, of course. You can make dollars as a blogger-for-hire for a business, or you can set up and monetize your own blog, or blogs. When you're a career blogger, you're not dependent on anyone: you're an independent professional. And of course, you can work from wherever you please, your own home or an island in the Pacific.

I've set up a new blog for the Blogging For Dollars ebook; I hope it whets your appetite for a lucrative (and fun!) new writing career.

Please subscribe to the blog with your newsreader of choice. The ebook will be released in August.

I want to make this ebook as useful as I can, so if you have questions about career blogging you'd like answered, please leave a Comment. Everyone who helps me with the research by telling me what they'd like to know will receive a complementary copy of the ebook.

Related: Free ebook: Blogging For Dollars

ebook update

Technorati Tags: blogger-for-hire, career blogger, marketing your writing

Free ebook: Blogging for Dollars update

I've had several Comments to my Blogging for Dollars post.

Thanks to everyone who's asked questions and offered suggestions, and for the kind words, I really appreciate it all.

I've collected all the email addresses (they'll be used for NO other purpose). I'll send everyone who helps me with the research (by asking questions that they'd like to see answered in the book) a download link to the ebook -- expect it around August.

I'm pleased and amazed at the interest in blogging.

One question was about money: what you should expect to be paid for blogging. Let me address this question in general terms.

You get paid for blogging for a business:

* according to the business's budget;

* according to your experience and what you bring to the project. For example, if you're an experienced marketer with a track record, and are blogging as a form of marketing for a business, then you have experience and contacts that you MUST be paid for. You've got an hourly rate, and you get that hourly rate, don't undercut yourself.

Currently, in June 2006, payment for business bloggers is around $4000 USD per month, for two blog posts each weekday. This is for corporate blogging. If you're bringing more to the table than blog posts -- if you're helping to strategize marketing and doing other marketing work -- you will of course be paid more. From my own blogger friends who are willing to share info, I'm hearing that some corps are desperate for bloggers.

If you're blogging for small businesses, which have a smaller budget, you can't expect this kind of compensation. If you're new to blogging, blog for a small biz for a month, just to get the experience. You can parlay this track record into higher compensation elsewhere, or start your own entrepreneurial blogging venture.

Please keep asking questions (use the Comments to this post and this one). Everyone who responds and helps me to research will get a complementary copy of the book with my heartfelt thanks. :-)

BTW, if you're interested in business blogging, please bookmark my Creativity Factory blog. I've got a current series which shows businesses how to blog. You might find the info useful too. :-)

Technorati Tags: blogger for hire, career blogger, copywriting, get started copywriting, how to blog your business, Internet marketing, make money online, marketing your writing

Easy plotting: start with a character

Many writers find plotting difficult. This applies equally to "into the mist" writers who write without outlines, and writers who do create outlines. They find it difficult because they complicate the process too much.

There's nothing much to plotting. You can use several methods. The easiest way, and often the way that's most satisfying to readers, starts with a character. Your character has ONE major trait. At the end of the book, that trait becomes its opposite.

How?

OK, here we go:

A timid character becomes courageous.
An angry character becomes forgiving.
A character who's a know-it-all realizes he doesn't.
A character who's beautiful and trades on her looks realizes that her looks are a danger to herself.

If you choose a "timid character becomes courageous", you start off by showing, in several scenes, your character being timid.

Your plot consists of all those events which turn your timid soul into a courageous one.

That's essentially it for plotting using this method. Of course you need to create your character's world, but the main bones of your plot consist of the transformation.

Try it. It's a great way to plot because it's FUN. Be outrageous in the events you create for your character. :-)

Technorati Tags: creativity, fiction, plotting fiction

Free ebook: Blogging For Dollars

Like a free copy of my new ebook? I'm working on a new ebook about career bloggers. A "career blogger" is a blogger for hire, someone who writes a blog for a business, under contract to the business.

To improve the quality of the ebook, I'd appreciate your help, and in return, of course you get a free copy.

A career blogger can also be a blogging entrepreneur, someone who develops a blog, or several blogs, and monetizes the blogs in various ways.

I'll be covering both aspects -- blogger-for-hire, and entrepreneur blogger.

If you want to develop a brand new, cutting edge and lucrative writing career, either option offers you the chance to be your own boss (even bloggers for hire work from home), start and build a new career, and make money.

Writing and learning: get focused and energized

If you've been writing for longer than a month, you know that there is way too much to learn about writing. And, as you keep writing, and keep learning, you start to realize that the learning never stops.

This can energize you, or it can enervate you.

If you're procrastinating on a writing task, or aren't writing as much as you could, chances are that writing is enervating you.

Read "The Future of the Future: Learning fast to stay relevant in a flat world" and use the checklists:

To "learn before doing" at the start of your day or any activity:

What is supposed to happen today?
How will I know if I'm successful?
What knowledge do I need to get what I want done, and where can I get it?
What help do I need?

You'll be amazed at the effect this has.

Related: Thinking about writing is different from writing

Writing is thinking: switch to a pen and paper and use both sides of your brain

Technorati Tags: creativity, time management

Utterly del.icio.us: your online bookmark manager

If you haven't yet discovered del.icio.us, here's a heads-up.

Del.icio.us is the ultra-easy place to store your bookmarks, and share them with others. You can bookmark anything at all that you find online.

When you're looking for new writing links, just type "writing" into the search box.

As you might imagine, del.ico.us has its own blog.

Technorati Tags: writers low pay

Giggle of the Day: type-in domains, oh the horror

Cute "the sky is falling" story at Publishing 2.0 about type-ins/ parked domains. As dozens of commenters have pointed out, there's nothing new about this. What's tragic is that this practice is just coming to the attention of someone from the world of traditional publishing.

If you're an author, you've got to laugh at the outrage in this story -- and feel some grim satisfaction.

From an author's point of view traditional publishing has been broken for decades. A traditional publisher aims to publish as many books as possible, hoping to make back their investment. This is at the expense of authors, who unknowingly in many cases, subsidize publishers. An author trusts a publisher to make the most of his words, whereas the publisher just wants a fast return on investment.

The Internet has leveled the playing field for authors/ writers AND publishers. If you're a writer, you no longer need traditional publishers: you get to sink or swim on your own, and so do they.

Technorati Tags: Web publishing

Easy writing: turn your blog into cash

Yes, I've been hammering at the "you're a writer so write for cash, already" thing for years, and if you're a regular reader you're tired of it. :-)

OK, so here's yet another opportunity for you to turn your blog's words into money. ScrooptWords: You Write, We Sell is a new service that wants to sell your words to print organizations. You get half of money for the first sale, and 75 per cent thereafter.

What? You're NOT blogging and you've got no blog-words to sell? Shame on you. Get your keyboard clicking now.

Note: I have no connection to ScrooptWords, and I'm not recommending them. I know nothing about them. I'm just alerting you to the opportunity. If you sell anything through them, please let me know.

If you're not sure how to get starting turning your talent for words into money, my ebook writing manual Writing For Online Cash gives you all the info and inspiration you need.

Technorati Tags: blog your writing, marketing your writing

Blogging your next book

You've got a great idea for a book. Before you spend the next six to 12 months writing a book proposal and sending the proposal to editors and agents, you can short-cut the process: create a blog and write your book on your blog.

Dozens of bloggers have been seduced into traditional book projects. My favorite is Julie & Julia, it's a wonderful book by any standards.

Unfortunately I'm snowed under with other projects, but I'd love to test out a blog-to-book project.

If you decide to blog your book, remember:

Paul Jones, another judge and director of iBiblio, a digital library, said: "A great blook is not a blog shovelled on to paper. Julie and Julia successfully makes the transition and grows as it goes, having learnt from the blog readers."

Enable Comments on your blog, and your blog's readers will help you to write your book.

Copywriting intelligence: learn about your clients

A couple of days ago one of my copywriting students called me, bubbling over with excitement -- she was about to sign her first BIG client.

She gave me the company's name and URL, and while we were chatting I opened a couple of tabs in Firefox. In one I typed the company's URL. Then I copied the URL, and opened Alexa.com in the other tab to paste in the URL so I could check the site's stats.

Liar, liar, pants on fire...
Ho hum. Clients shouldn't lie to you, but they do. :-)

The "big" client's site was a mess. Now, this wouldn't be a problem, BUT the big client boasted to my student that they were a Fortune 500 company. They weren't of course; one look at the site told you that much. It was strictly cookie cutter, and no copyediting had been done on any of the four pages (count 'em, FOUR). :-)

The Alexa.com info showed that the site had only been online for a couple of months, and had no rankings at all.

I could have done more checking on this company, but what was the point? They were lying to my young student. It's completely up to her whether she works with them, of course, but I wouldn't.

Do YOU check on your clients? Do it BEFORE you sign an agreement with them. Check any new client in Google and Alexa.com. Heed any warning signals.

Technorati Tags: Business, copywriting

(Mac) New RapidWeaver 3.5 is out in public beta

I love RapidWeaver; it takes the fear out of Web-site creation for anyone, even for technophobe writers.

Unfortunately you need a Mac to use the software, BUT... if you need an excuse to get a Mac, RapidWeaver gives you one. :-)

The new 3.5 version is out in public beta.

Technorati Tags: Mac, software

Spamming this blog: spam comments and trackbacks are deleted

On a housekeeping note, there's a trend towards newbie "Internet marketers" (it's in quotes because they NOT marketers of any description) spamming this blog with comments. The spam trackbacks are coming from companies hiring el cheapo "SEO operatives" to insert trackback spam.

All spam is deleted -- it never goes live, so there's no point to it.

Why it's spam
Spam is an attempt to get a free link to advertise a product or service.

Ostensibly the spam comment is directed at a blog post with a statement like: "Love this post___ and I recommend a product called _____ (software URL with affiliate link)". In this instance it's spam because you're trying to sell something without adding any value whatsoever.

A company hiring link monkeys to spam blogs with bots or manually needs to get a clue. True, you're not wasting a lot of money since these people are paid pennies to spam for you, BUT you're presenting your company as a business no sane person would want to buy anything from.

OK, end of rant. Back to our normally scheduled programming. :-)

Technorati Tags: spam

Print on Demand success: J. Michael Straczynski

paidContent.org reports:

J. Michael Straczynski wrote most of the scripts for cult sci-fi series Babylon 5. Now he’s self-publishing them as a series of print-on-demand books — and, based on sales of the first seven of 14 planned volumes, he estimates the total take will be about $1.5 million.

Now you know why I've been nagging writers to monetize their own work. ;-)

Technorati Tags: marketing your writing, POD

Offer an online version of your article, as well as a print version

This part of the post is cross-posted from my Creativity Factory blog:

>>>

Advertisers Neglecting New King Of All Media reports that the Web:

... complements other media as surfers often open up a browser while watching television or listening to radio. The research found that the Web increased the reach of television by 51 percent in the morning, 39 percent in the middle of the day, and 42 percent in the afternoon. Magazines, though, enjoyed the greatest benefits, as the Web more than doubles their reach.

This is fascinating stuff. It means that online advertising is nowhere near saturated, and as advertisers discover the power of this new advertising venue, more money will be spent on online ads of many different kinds.

This knowledge offers great opportunities both for advertisers AND online publishers.

I write for magazines, so in my next article proposal to editors, I'm going to suggest an online version of the article in addition to the print version.

>>>

If you've been bemoaning the way that magazines are losing advertisers and therefore cutting their editorial, it offers the hope that we may be in for an advertising boom. Get ready for it now, by sending out more article proposals -- don't forget to include the offer of an online version.

Writing for Online Cash freebie: still available

In one of my mad online housekeeping attacks I seem to have deleted the free Writing For Online Cash ezine sign-up page.

Oops. :-)

I'll restore the page as soon as I get a free moment. In the meantime, if you'd like the ezine, just send a blank email message to writeforcash@aweber.com

Enjoy. :-)

Technorati Tags: marketing your writing, Web writing, writing ebook