Writer

Making a Writer’s Job Easier

January 25, 2012 By Raisa Leave a Comment

When you are a writer for online marketing and business-promotion collaterals, you play a pivotal role in the success of getting the marketing message across to the site’s target audience. Fortunately, however, several online publishing tools are making a writer’s job easier. The key as a writer is to learn what these tools are and how you can use them to turn your job into a breeze and make your clients love your work even more.

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Reaching Consumers Wherever They Are

Some of the best tools for writers are tools that allow them to reach a client’s customer wherever they are. One great example is the Foursquare Button for publishers. A location-based marketing campaign, this button is easily added to the website of a client or business.

When customers visit the site and click the button, the visitors subscribe to receiving updates. The key is that it adds the subscription to the subscriber’s mobile device so that the customer receives alerts about businesses, discounts, and special promotions from the businesses in the area where the customer is.

How did this tool redefine marketing?

For example, if a customer is shopping in the retail strip where a particular clothing store is running a 20 percent off special for Foursquare members, an alert appears on the screen of the mobile phone, informing the customer about the deal.

Talk about making a writer’s job easier, how much your clients will love you when you can easily boost their sales simply by adding a button to their website.

Establishing the Brand’s Online Presence

Writers should look for tools that make their job easier and at the same time, add value to the services they offer to their clients. SEO keyword research tools are another example on how you can make writing marketing copy easier. Conduct some research on keywords you should weave in to the copy you are writing for the client’s website, blog or online articles.

Building the Writer’s Credibility

Plagiarism scans are another simple and easy-to-use tool that can make a writer’s job easier. While it might not be your intention to copy or plagiarise, sometimes your original copy is too similar to an existing write-up in the Web. To ensure that this does not become a legal issue with the client, you should use an online scanner that helps you pinpoint any problem areas.

Proficient innovative tools help professional writers by making their writing job easier. When you find the tools you like and need, utilize them. You’ll be happier with your work and so will your clients.

Filed Under: Professional Writing Tagged With: Freelance writing, Job, Writer

Write the way people like to read

July 22, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Apple iPhone User's Guide not User Guide

Image by IvanWalsh.com via Flickr

Plain writing or informal writing is the new-age writing style. Times have changed. People do not have lots of time to read. For those who can manage some time to read, they want something that is informal and easy to understand.

People like to read on the move. They might not get enough time to read at home. Travelling time is the best time for them to catch up on some reading. E-book readers satiate this need of people by providing a mobile platform that supplies them with thousand of books.

But at the end of the day, people want to read information that is written like you spoke it. Sometimes such a writing style might not adhere to rules of perfect English. But does anyone care? Is effectiveness more important?

Modern communication has gone through a lot of changes. Preferences of people have changed dramatically. They do not enjoy reading something that is esoteric and full of words that makes one run for a dictionary. They want to read information that is written plainly and purely.

Thus, the need of the hour is for writer to communicate interactively. The power of communication in such a way is so effective, that is can influence people in a positive way. Writers need not think of losing their ability to use the language flamboyantly. They can do such self-indulgence for a niche audience. But what about the mass audience?

Writer the way people like to read. When you write, speak to them through your words. Don’t just write to them.

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer, Books Tagged With: FAQs Help and Tutorials, Writer, Writers Resources

Conducting an audience analysis before writing

July 15, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Example of how to capture different Audience T...

Image by IvanWalsh.com via Flickr

Writers need to understand their audience before even attempting to write something. Audience analysis might sound frivolous and often a bit over-rated. But audience analysis is an important component of the writing process. It simplifies a writer’s objective on writing an informatory article.

What is audience analysis? Audience analysis is analyzing the tastes and preferences of a target audience to which the writer is writing for. It includes a set of parameters on which the writer will base the article on. The article’s writing style, information design, and presentation will depend on the results derived from the audience analysis.

Here’s how to perform an audience analysis.

Classify the audience

Who is the audience? Are they doctors, lawyers, truckers, chemists, hustlers…?

Knowledge

How much does the audience know about the subject? Are they totally unaware about the subject or do they have an intermediate knowledge on it? Or are they experts on the subject?

Demographics

What is the average age group of the audience? Where are most of them located? Which language do most of them speak? What food and clothing do they wear? How educated are they?

Interest

Why do I need to write for them? How can this help them? How will they help themselves with this? Do they even need this?

Medium

How do they read information? Do they read online, on print, or do they read at all?

Objectives

What is the expectation of the audience from the information you are writing for them.

Tailoring

How would I need to customize the content to meet their needs?

Filed Under: Blogging, Books Tagged With: Writer, Writing, Writing process

The Necessity of Collaboration

July 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Hands collaborating in co-writing or co-editin...

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Writer’s block is an old enemy, and it strikes every writer at some point. No ideas flow, no new creativity abounds. For a writer to carry on his work, he has to get around the block and carry on. This is where collaboration comes in.

Bouncing ideas off someone else can get both your imagination and theirs working. With so many ideas flying around, chances are you’ll find one that gets the magic going again. While some may shrink from the idea of sharing their work-in-progress with someone else, it really does help. A collaborator can give you suggestions, ask questions that point out issues that need to be addressed, and catch inconsistencies or errors.

Just as the picture shows, having multiple people work on a project can help move things along. Even if you want to retain a final say on the creative genius of the project, it can be beneficial to have others give you “what ifs?” to get your blocked mind going again.

Collaboration doesn’t have to be with another person in the room. Collaborate with authors and artists that you admire, by gaining inspiration from their work. Read a book you love or watch a movie. Go to an art museum, anything that will jar your mind and refill your empty tank of creative juices.

A famous author stated that writers don’t get blocked, they just get empty. You need to restock your mind’s shelves with creativity and imagination. Once you’ve done that, you can carry on to completion of your project.

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer, Books, Writing For Kids Tagged With: Collaboration, Writer, writers block

Becoming a Better Writer

June 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

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There are many ways to becoming a better writer. Like many things, not one set path gets you there. Determine what you want your goals to be, and then set out to accomplish them, not goals that someone else gives you. If an English professor is training you to become a reporter and you want to be a novelist, drop the class. Become the writer that you want to be.

Just like riding a bicycle, cooking, doing autopsies, or painting, writing takes practice. So practice! Look for any opportunity to write, and do it. Are you in school? You get to write papers? Does your school have a newspaper? Go into their offices and say “I want to write for you.” Look online. With the Internet revolution, websites after website has to have content on each page, and they need someone to write all of that. There are plenty of organizations that hire content writers and provide them with work online, or you can approach companies alone and offer your services. Writing never goes out of style.

Writing is how we communicate, and the human race will never need to communicate less, quite the opposite in fact, it needs to improve. And as a writer, you get to help the rest of us improve!

Practice, practice, practice. Take advice from others, but remember that you get to set the rules for your writing education and how you go about doing what you do. So go and do it!

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer, Books, Writing For Kids Tagged With: English language, Writer, Writing

Turning Words into Money

February 21, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are a few things that can be considered stereotypical of writers. Many people imagine a depressed author writing mystery novels. Some people imagine a 1950′s style newspaper writer with a typewriter and a Chicago accent. Still others think of a balding man with glasses who writes prose and poetry out of his mother’s basement.While these are certainly not descriptions that would match most writers, there is one feature that does in fact pertain to the vast majority of writers: Most do not get paid enough for their work. Or, that is at least how many writers feel. Luckily,the Internet has provided several ways for writers to earn an extra buck on the side, more so than it has offered for most people.One way to earn money by writing online is by creating a blog. If you believe that many people would be interested in what youhave to say then you can blog it and earn income off of advertising on your website. Many people do this and there are even some people who are able to get by on only the money they get from the advertisements on their websites. Another option is getting a second job with an online advertising and writing company. There are several companies online that pay writers to writeadvertisements for other websites to post. These kinds of jobs do not tend to pay very much, but they offer one the ability tochoose his or her own hours and give very reasonable deadlines. Also, if you are the type of person with a lot of opinions, many websites pay people to review things online. Usually, these things are simply household objects or food. Some of these websites do not pay in cash but instead let you keep the product you tested, which is often something you would otherwise have tobuy anyways.

Filed Under: Professional Writing Tagged With: Writer, Writers Resources, Writing

Discover Yourself

February 9, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

There are several things that can make it difficult to be a writer of any kind. If you do not work well under pressure and are suddenly forced to work under a very demanding deadline then you may find it hard to be efficient. On the other hand, if you need a strict schedule and need to feel pressured to get motivated then it might be hard to work well under a loose deadline. If you work well with background noise then it can be hard working in silence, whereas people who are easily distracted can find it hard to work in a noisy area. These are only a few examples of the countless things that can influence how well a writer can perform. Luckily, these things can also be very helpful for a writer. For example, if you realize that you cannot work in silence then you can listen to music or turn on a television when you are working to help you concentrate. If you work best under a strict deadline and pressure then you can set strict deadlines for yourself and maybe even get your editor or someone “above you” to enforce those deadlines to help you. In other words, knowing yourself well can be the key to improving your writing style. If you are able to analyze how you work in certain environments then you can edit your environment to support your work. If you do not think that your environment has a drastic effect on your work performance then try to work in a very different place than you normally work. If you normally work alone at home then try writing at a crowded restaurant and see how that effects your work. If you want to improve the things you put out then you first need to improve the things you take in from your environment.

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer Tagged With: Writer, Writers Resources, Writing and Editing

All about Writer’s Organizations

November 18, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Writing is a craft where you only need to depend on yourself to create high-quality content. You find a cozy spot to isolate yourself and finish your work away from the distractions of the modern world. There are many others out there like you. Those interested parties often join writer’s organizations to improve their skills, socialize with other brilliant minds and network.

Learning in a Group Setting

Information within writer’s organizations is passed in a group setting and can be quite valuable. Even if you are a passive attendee, you can still gain pertinent information. However, those that organize, brainstorm and fully participate in the meetings will get the most out of them. Meetings allow the free flow of information to be communicated to others within a structured and friendly environment.

Types of Organizations

There are many types of organizations available covering different forms of writing including, freelance, creative, fiction, non-fiction and much more. These groups can be large or small. The larger organizations have more information passed along to its members and may provide more functions. Many offer more services than only writing including illustration and editing. Also, the largest groups have legal services that protect writers from excessive taxes, improve copyright laws and fight for an improvement in writer royalties.

Writers Must Have Proper Resumes

November 13, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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It’s easy to assume that your work speaks for itself, but it often doesn’t. If you’re just sending a two-line email to prospective clients and asking them to click the links to see your work, you’re missing out on a lot of clients and a lot of money. Most people who’re looking for writers aren’t very interested in clicking all around the Internet, doing research to see what a person has done. They want to be able to look at a strong resume and attached samples, so they don’t have to spend a lot of extra time making a decision.

If your resume doesn’t sing and it isn’t professional and well-polished, you’re losing out. There are a lot of writers out there, and the only way you’re going to stand out is by being a complete professional. That means always meeting deadlines, having good communication with your clients and potential clients, and having a resume that truly speaks to what you can do. If your resume is brief and doesn’t have much to say, you won’t be seen as someone who takes his or her work seriously. On the other hand, a six-page resume isn’t going to be read by many people, because it’s way too long.

Try to keep your resume down to two pages, if possible. You should be able to say everything you need to within those two pages. If it stretches to three, there had better be a seriously good reason for it, because most people who are hiring someone off of a resume don’t want to see that much information. The resume should be a snapshot of the best and more important things that you’ve done as a writer and/or as a person. Keep in short, simple, and with good information about the things you can do best.

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer, Books Tagged With: Employment, Résumé, Writer

Getting a Writing Mentor to Help You

November 10, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

When you’re just starting out as a writer, one of the things that can really help you is having a mentor. Of course, getting a mentor isn’t always easy. If you’re fortunate enough to be friends with people who are already established writers, perhaps one of them will be willing to take you under their wing. If you don’t have that luxury, though, you can try joining writing groups. You can also offer to pay for instruction, but a lot of aspiring writers don’t have much money – and a lot of established writers won’t work for free. It can become a bit of an impasse.

If you’re serious about getting a mentor, though, don’t give up. Keep going to writing groups and writing forums, and keep asking questions. Join organizations that are specifically designed for writers, so you can talk to people who are already in the business. That way you’ll have a better chance of connecting with someone who would actually like to help you, and who will be willing to do so for less money than you might otherwise have to pay. If you can get help for free, so much the better. The more friends you make in the writing world, the better.

Even if you don’t find that one person who will stop what they’re doing and mentor you, you may still be able to get a lot of help from other writers. They often have suggestions for places where you can write a little for some extra cash, and you can get good experience there. Don’t stay there, though, or you’ll get stuck writing inexpensive content. At some point, you have to make the changeover to higher-paid work, so you can move your career forward.

Filed Under: Becoming a Better Writer, Professional Writing Tagged With: Mentor, Writer, Writers Resources, Writing circle