Win A Fortune From Consumer Competitions, Contests And Sweepstakes

Win A Fortune From Consumer Competitions, Contests And Sweepstakes - or How to Win Contests for short - is my brand new downloadable course, published by WCCL.

As you may know, I'm a full-time professional freelance writer. I've written over 50 books, and innumerable published articles, short stories and so on. I'm the author of Write Any Book in Under 28 Days and Quick Cash Writing, both also published by WCCL. Yet over the years there is one type of writing that has brought me the best returns - for the amount of work involved - of ANY type of writing I do. Yes, that's entering consumer competitions!

I regularly collect prizes large and small (large is better, obviously!) just by writing a few words on an entry form and sending it in. You see, the type of competition I most enjoy - and which is discussed in most detail in my new course - requires you to produce as part of your entry a so-called tie-breaker slogan. But really, in such competitions, the slogan is the only thing that matters (the preliminary tasks are usually quite straightforward). Write a good slogan, and there is every chance that YOUR name will pop up on the winners' list!

I believe that this is an opportunity that no-one with a smidgeon of writing talent can afford to ignore. So in How to Win Contests I've set out in detail my never-before-revealed strategies for winning consumer contests. I've covered everything you need to know, from how to find out about contests to how to avoid being disqualified, where to get help on the Internet to how to improve your chances in sweepstakes and mail-ins.

I cover all the preliminary tasks you may be asked to perform in detail - yes, most are straightforward, but there are still a few pitfalls to catch out the unwary. And - most importantly of all! - I show you how to come up with contest slogans that will knock the judges' socks off!! I've examined many thousands of winning slogans and analysed the categories they fall into - and in my new course I reveal a range of easy-to-apply techniques you can use to come up with similar slogans, or even better ones!

To give you a flavour of just how detailed the course is, here's a short extract from the start of Module 3, where I discuss preliminary tasks...

PRELIMINARY TASKS

As mentioned in Chapter 2, most competitions are in two stages, a preliminary task followed by a tie-breaker slogan. In most cases the first-stage task is fairly straightforward, but it is still essential to get it right, or all your work devising that perfect slogan will be wasted. In this chapter I will be looking at the various types of preliminary task and offering some hints and tips on completing them correctly.

1. Factual

This is the most common first-stage task. You are asked one or more questions and required to provide the correct answers to them (or select from a number of alternatives).

In many competitions, the answer can actually be found by reading through the information provided. In others, you will need to do a little research, but in most cases this will involve no more than looking in an encyclopedia or logging on to an Internet search engine such as Google (www.google.com).

Some newsletters aimed at people who make a hobby of entering competitions provide suggested answers to preliminary questions. You should never rely on these, however, as the magazines' solutionists can be wrong. Use their suggestions simply to confirm your own research. If you come up with a different answer, double-check - and if you are still sure your answer is right, submit it. This is actually good news for you, as the chances are that many people entering this competition will be knocked out at the first-round stage because they gave the wrong answer. It's therefore worth making a particular effort to come up with a great slogan in such instances.

Top Tips

Read the questions carefully, and ensure you understand them.
Research the answers, preferably using two or more different resources. This applies especially if you are using the Internet. Some websites are out of date, and others are just plain wrong (and erroneous information gets copied from website to website…).
When researching on the net, look for authoritative information sources, e.g. Encyclopedia Britannica Online (www.britannica.com). This is a paid-for service, but you can look up concise answers on any topic free of charge.
Another very useful online resource is Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). This massive - and ever-growing - free encyclopedia is written and edited by thousands of volunteers, but several studies have found that the information it contains is, on average, more up-to-date and accurate than many paid-for services. But be sure to double-check anything you discover here - just in case it is wrong.
In questions with multiple answers to select from, it's not unknown for all the answers provided to be incorrect. In this case, simply leave the form blank. Such questions are normally declared void.
Watch out for booby trap questions. These aren't often used, but when they do they catch a lot of people out. A few years ago, a British competition asked entrants to name the last Prime Minister who didn't have a wife. Many people answered Edward Heath, who was Britain's last bachelor PM. However, the correct answer was Margaret Thatcher. She was married, of course, but she didn't have a wife! This example also illustrates the importance of reading the question carefully, and answering the question asked.
With multiple choice questions, mark your selections clearly and legibly, and according to the instructions. If you're asked to encircle your chosen answer, don't just tick it. If you're asked to write your answers yourself, use capital letters unless told otherwise. Ensure your 'D' looks like a 'D' and not an 'O', and write your 'F' just above the line so it isn't confused with an 'E'. For clarity it's best to use a pen with a fine point.

Like all my courses, How to Win Contests assumes no previous knowledge and is ideal for beginners to this field. However, such is the depth it goes into and the power of the strategies it reveals, it is also suitable for serious "compers" (people who enter competitions as a hobby) who wish to improve their success rate.

How to Win Contests is written primarily for people in the UK and Ireland, for the simple reason that there are many more slogan-type competitions open to residents of these countries. However, these contests are appearing more frequently in other countries as well, including the USA, Australia and New Zealand. And many Internet-based contests (which, naturally, I cover in detail in the course) are open to literally anyone in the world.

How to Win Contests is available as an instant download and will run on any PC using Windows 95 or later. As well as the course manual itself, you get a range of bonus items. These include my Treasure Chest of Winning Slogans, a file containing well over 40 pages crammed with winning slogans from recent consumer competitions, to study, adapt and learn from. You also get my Slogan-Writing Template, the exact same tool I use myself when creating original slogans (this is discussed and explained in Module 6 of the manual).

And finally, as a buyer of How to Win Contests, you are entitled to a free lifetime subscription to my unique e-mail newsletter Winning Lines. More details can be viewed on my publisher's website, which can be accessed by clicking on the banner below...

And in case you're worried that the course won't deliver on its promises, may I draw your attention to my publisher's guarantee? Near the foot of their sales page, they say...

Try out the AWESOME techniques inside this guide FREE for SIX MONTHS! If after that period, you’ve failed to at least win TEN TIMES the cost of the guide back in prizes – we’ll refund your entire purchase price. We may ask to see a couple of your entries, to avoid dishonest claims – but we WON’T quibble and there’s NO small print. You’ll be BEYOND EXCITED with this package – WE GUARANTEE IT!!

Yes, you read that correctly! WCCL expect you to win back at least TEN TIMES the (modest) price of this course within six months of buying it, so long as you actually apply the advice it contains. If you don't, they will give you a full, no-quibble refund. You can't say fairer than that, now can you?!

Lastly, if you are interested in buying How to Win Contests, can I respectfully urge you to move quickly? This course has only just been launched and my publishers are currently offering it at a discount in order to generate as much interest as possible. Once the launch period is over, the price is certain to go up.

Thank you very much for your interest in reading this far. Whether or not you decide to buy How to Win Contests, I should like to take this opportunity to wish you every success in fulfilling all your writing and "comping" ambitions.