Do You Need Expert Help?

Question mark in Esbjerg (Photo credit: alexanderdrachmann)

Have you ever needed some expert advice? I’m talking about advice from a real expert, not a relative or friend who claims to be all-knowing about everything. I have plenty of those folks in my world. What I am referring to is a person who from experience, research and someone who has spent a great deal of their time studying a particular subject. Writing an article or book may require asking an expert. Perhaps you need some clarity on a subject that has left you in a fog of questions. I have visited a site that has experts on every subject you can imagine. Have you ever heard of ExpertClick.com?

The experts found on this site are all categorized in a free pdf download titled “The Yearbook of Experts.” Categories range from blogging, self healing, media coaching, massage and so many other areas that it can be a bit overwhelming. The directory holds 324 pages of information with reference to bios, links, images and more.

If you are an expert, journalist, writer or just simply curious, I would recommend checking this out. If you know of any other sites where writers can find an expert please let me know. As always, happy writing and researching.

Are You A Writer – Check Out Which Type You Belong To?

Writer Wordart (Photo credit: MarkGregory007)

Are You A Writer – Check Out Which Type You Belong To?

 By Shruti S Sharda

Are you one of those few people who find it very easy to put down their thoughts on a piece of paper? Can you visualize a scene and know the words that would best describe it? If you are one of these people, then it seems that you have the ability to write. Just knowing a language is not enough to make anyone a writer. Writing requires an ability to put together words in a way that is most effective. This quality is a pre-requisite for anyone interested in becoming a writer. Once you decide to become a writer, it may be at first a bit intimidating to figure out where to start from. One thing that will help you to find out what kind of writing you can do is to know the various types of writers and the kind of work they do. The different types of writers are mentioned below –

* Business writers write for business magazines. This involves writing articles related to the business world. It requires a certain amount of knowledge about the business, which has to be explained to the readers.

* Ghostwriters are those writers who write for somebody else and do not take credit for any of their work. These writers are paid a bit more, but the downside is that they do not have any claim on their work.

* Columnists are one of the most followed types of writers. They usually write articles regularly for a magazine or a newspaper on any particular subject. These people build a following of readers, who anticipate their next article.

* Freelance writers are those writers who write on a variety of topics and choose whatever business that comes their way. These are the most versatile type of writers, as they need to build up their knowledge on a wide variety of topics.

* Journalists are the most widely recognized type of writers there are. The journalists write fact based material that they get via thorough investigations. This kind of writing requires the maximum amount of research.

* An author’s work is the most demanding, as he has to build up a whole story and plot from his own imagination. A good author has the ability to not only capture the attention of a reader but also get him hooked on to the book and prevent him from putting it down.

After reading about these types of writers, one can see the different types of writing that presents so many avenues for a rewarding career. The secret to a successful content writer’s career is to identify the strong points and concentrate on those areas. Do not try and do everything by yourself. The sooner you identify your niche, the better it will be for you.

For the best content writer choose the best content writer india today with Niche Writers

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shruti_S_Sharda

10 Unpleasant Blog Practices That You Should Prevent

English: Logo for the Addicted to Social Media Blog (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10 Unpleasant Blog Practices That You Should Prevent

 By Kimberly Lim

No blogger is immune from developing bad blogging habits. As a matter of fact, it normally goes out as you get at ease with your work. So before everything gets worst, you should review and ensure that those unpleasant blog practices are prevented, just like the things that will be tackled here – 10 unpleasant blog practice that you should prevent:

1. Postponement – Bloggers are like newscasters, they are known to relay latest issues, so it’s a must to stay that way. When you want to blog about something, do it! Do not dilly-dally because you will never know the significance of the blog topic if you do not create it right away.You might end up losing your concentration and forget everything including your intention to blog about it.

2. Trying too hard – Take it easy when you blog. It is not essay homework and it doesn’t require a minimum number of words to look good. Several blogs live through with merely a sentence and one visual image. Just show the best in you and don’t bother yourself to create metaphors and lines that would give an impact.

3. Responding late to comments – Many readers like to ask questions and leave feedback through the comments section. Your appreciation to them can be felt by giving them feedback on time. If their queries are not being considered, they would definitely look for other blogs who can give attention to their thoughts and consider their opinions as well.

4. Skip proofreading – Editing or proofreading is a vital practice that has to be considered even on blogs.If not, you might face humiliation and they will start to question your credibility by allowing your error-filled article to be published and be read by many.

5. Not ready for the battle – Every human being has different talents and not everyone has the ability to write spontaneously. Even though you are already used to write an article, creating an outline for your blog post is still a helpful tool for you. You might miss other important notes on your article once you only rely on your spontaneity.

6. Not mindful of your fonts – Utilizing different kinds of fonts in one sentence will definitely not attract readers. Even children on their first grade do not make use of those, so better stop doing it.

7. Having a negative attitude – It’s very inviting to create an article wherein you can voice out all of your problems and true feelings. However, ranting over and over again would never produce a positive result. It can even be so infectious to your readers that they’ll end up having a dark cloud over their heads after reading your blog.

8. Indulging in distractions – You do not need to be updated every so often on your email and Facebook stuff. And stop looking at your stats! Most websites will only distract you in creating a quality article. If it’s an important thing, set an allowable time to spend on them.

9. Blowing your own horn – Everyone knows that it’s your personal blog, but reading things that only refers to you over and over again would lessen the interest of your readers. Create an excitement by presenting other individuals on your article. The topic doesn’t have to be always you.

10. Too much social media – Social media is an important key to have a successful blog, but too much of anything is unhealthy. Some bloggers spend way more time updating their social media profiles they forget to update their blog.

You don’t have to wait for the New Year to start making changes. These routines can be insignificant to others but do not disregard because they can make or break your blog.

Copyright (c) 2013 HowToStartABlog.com

Click here to learn how to start a blog, get people to read and share your blog, and make money from blogging with a step-by-step tutorial: http://www.HowToStartABlog.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kimberly_Lim

Writing To Live

Making a living as a freelance writer or novelist is a tough gig. If you aren’t aware of how to get started or what some of the terms truly mean help is here.  I love finding useful information for new writers and even for writers who are stumbling a little in the void. There is too much information out there and it’s difficult to grasp all of it. Over at Bubblecow, there is a terrific list of helpful terms and how you can utilize them in your real life writing.

English: Traditional freelance writer work system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How To Make a Living as a Writer

Posted August 31, 2012 by bubblecow & filed under Get Published.

So you want to make a living as a writer? Well despite what some writers will have you believe traditional publishing still offers writers a realistic chance of making a living as a writer. However, it’s not easy and it takes some planning, but it can be done. So here’s how to make a living as a writer…

The Tools Needed to Make a Living as a Writer

Advance

To build any kind of meaningful discussion, I am going to need to work with generalisations. Forgive me for this, I know there are exceptions to these rules, but I have tried to stick to ‘real life’ as far as possible.

The first generalisation is that most books deals begin with an advance. This is a sum of money, paid by the publishers, to the writer prior to a book’s publication. This advance is exactly that, an advanced payment of royalties the book will (or should) earn. It is possible to negotiate a deal without an advance, but if an agent is involved then an advance will almost certainly be paid.

This brings us to our second generalisation, the size of the advance. Once again these vary greatly and depend on the book’s potential market, the writer’s potential selling power and the agent’s ability to negotiate. However, as a general rule of thumb, an advance for a debut novel will be anywhere between £500 and £10,000 (or more). Advances tend to be paid in two instalments. The first is on signature of the contract, the second is on delivery of the manuscript. Since we are generalising, I am going to use a figure of £5000 per book. In the US it is pretty safe to work with a figure of $10,000 per book.

Royalties

A royalty is the amount of money that a writer receives for each book that is sold. This sounds simple in theory but is painfully complex in practice. The writer will receive a percentage of… something. It may be the cover price or the price at which the book is sold to the trade, or something else determined by the publisher. Add to this, differing rates for different vendors, varying digital models and promotions and you can quickly see a complex mess of confusion arising from the gloom.

I know this will be controversial, but I would not build royalty payments, beyond your advance, into your immediate calculations. Many books never sell enough copies to earn back the money that a writer has been paid as an advance, and those that do often don’t start paying out until after a full year of sales (if not more). In short royalties are important, but when starting out it is dangerous to rely on royalty cheques to pay the bills.

Rights

Rights, be them foreign or film, are potentially a rich source of income for writers. The problem is that they are unpredictable and often beyond the control of writers. Agents and publishers will wrangle over the rights when a contract is negotiated, and then proceed to try and sell them through their own departments or third party companies. Whether a writer is luckily enough to sell additional rights is largely in the lap of the gods. However, a general rule of thumb (more generalisations, sorry) is that the better a book sells in the home territory (UK, US etc.), the easier the rights will be to sell.

Foreign rights are often the key for many writers to making a full time living. Foreign rights are the rights for a book to be published and sold in another country. What normally happens is a foreign publishing house will pay an upfront, a one off fee for the rights to publish the book. In addition, the writer will also receive a percentage of future sales, in essence a second royalty stream. In terms of figures, we are once again into the realm of generalisations, but you are probably talking £5,000, rather than £50,000. However, three or four foreign rights sales and the writer’s income suddenly starts to become attractive.

Film rights are another potential source of income. What tends to happen here is that a film maker will option a writer’s book. This means a lump of cash is paid for an exclusive period of time in which the book can be turned into a film. If the period lapses, and no film has been made, the rights revert back to the writer (but they keep the cash). So how much can a writer expect to get for an option? The answer is – it varies. The better the book sells in the real world, the higher the option price. You hear stores of hundreds of thousands being paid, but in general terms, for a first time writer, it is more likely to be in the tens of thousands. Read more here.

 

Best Links for Writers and Publishers (September, 9) « 40kBooks

 

 

Best Links for Writers and Publishers (September, 9) « 40kBooks.

I came across this wonderful site that has loads of information for authors. Especially those who are wanting to self publish. Check it out.