Hello again. And thank you for being a valued subscriber to E-
Writer!

Looking at my records, I realise it's been over a month since
the last E-Writer. Where does the time go? Well, actually I know
the answer to that. Till early September I was rushing to tie up
all my loose ends before going on holiday, then after my return
I've been equally busy trying to get up to date with my regular
commitments and the backlog which built up during my absence.

Anyway, I'm glad to say we had a very good holiday. We went to a
place called Stoupa in Greece - it's in the Pelopennese, in an
area called the Mani peninsula. It was our third visit there, so
we pretty much knew what we were getting. Stoupa is a quiet but
delightful resort, with three beautiful beaches and a range of
amazingly good (and cheap) tavernas. It was too hot for a lot of
walking, but we did go swimming a lot in the sea and the hotel
pool - so we didn't feel too guilty about indulging ourselves in
the bars and tavernas in the evening!

In fact, though, it wasn't entirely R&R for me, as I had been
booked to judge an article writing competition by the Southport
Writers Circle. So I took all the entries with me, and spent a
pleasant morning by the pool reading them - chilled drink in one
hand, pen to make notes in the other. Nice work if you can get
it, I must admit!

I was in Southport last weekend as a guest speaker at their
annual seminar (for the benefit of non-UK readers, Southport is
a seaside town near Liverpool), presenting the results of the
competition and talking about making money from writing. I took
the opportunity to give E-Writer a mention, so a warm welcome to
anyone from the seminar who has just signed up! Incidentally,
judging the competition raised a number of interesting points
about article writing, and I plan to say more about this in a
future issue of E-Writer.

In this bumper issue of the newsletter, I'm revealing one of the
most useful bits of advice I ever received as a writer. I'll
also be sharing with you my latest market information, and my
advice on profiting from that ideal writers' sideline, Google
AdWords. And finally, I'll be passing on my thoughts about
another aspect of grammar in Style File.

2. Article - Give It A Week

'Give it a week' is a piece of advice I heard many years ago
when I was starting out as a freelance writer. I believe the
phrase is commonly used in advertising agencies, though as I've
never worked in one of these myself I can't confirm this - I
simply read it in a book, the rest of which I've long forgotten.

Anyway, the idea behind the expression is that, before signing
off any piece of work, you should put it to one side for a week.
When you return to it, with fresh eyes you are almost bound to
see ways in which it can be improved.

Of course, in our frenetic world, you may not always have a week
to spare - but even if you can only give it a day, the principle
still applies.

I have always tried to apply this guideline in my writing, and
when I haven't I've often regretted it. I think there are two
reasons why it is such a worthwhile principle to follow.

First, you return to the project with fresh eyes. It's a well-
known fact that if you spend hours continuously working on a
project, you become so close to it you no longer see 'obvious'
mistakes and infelicities - e.g. repetition of the same long
word within a couple of sentences. This is otherwise known as
the 'can't see the wood for the trees' phenomenon.

But, even more important, if you leave the project for a while,
you give your intuitive right brain the chance to come up with
its own suggestions. Readers of my course 'Write Any Book in
Under 28 Days' will know that I'm a big believer in the right
brain, left brain theory - the idea that we all have in effect
two brains, a rational, logical left brain and an intuitive
right one.

The right brain cannot communicate directly the way the left
brain does - instead it works by sending ideas bubbling through
in dreams and moments of inspiration. Giving the right brain
time and space to work often results in better ideas than if you
just sit down and try to complete an entire project in one sitting.

Personally, I find that a lot of my best ideas come when I am
doing something totally unconnected to writing. Best of all, for
some bizarre reason, is mowing the lawn, but shopping, walking
and driving are also good. On the other hand, I can't say I have
ever had any especially good ideas whilst watching TV - I think
it's because television occupies all our senses and drowns out
any attempt by our intuitive right brain to communicate with us.

Anyway, my main point is, when you think you've finished any
writing project, if you possibly can, set it to one side for a
week, then return to it for a final revision. I'll be amazed if
you don't find mistakes you didn't notice before, and sections
you can polish and sharpen. If you don't have a week, give it a
day at least, but any break before tackling the final version is
better than none. Otherwise, I can guarantee that, soon after
pressing the 'Send' button, you will think of at least three
ways the work in question could have been improved!

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3. Market Info - Miscellany

Here are a few more potential markets for you...

To kick off, I have received an e-mail from Simon Benn,
managing director of North Yorkshire-based communications agency
MBA. The agency develops teaching and learning resources for use
in schools, colleges and universities. Simon says he is always
on the lookout for business studies teachers aspiring to be
authors for their secondary schools business studies project
produced in association with News International called The Times
100 ( http://www.tt100.biz/ ). Authors research and write case
studies featuring real-life companies for use in courses ranging
from GCSE to undergraduate level. If you think you might be
interested in this, and have some background in business studies
teaching, send Simon an e-mail at mailto:simon-at-mb-a.biz.

Incidentally, Simon also says that if any author can introduce
corporates who want to communicate with children through a case
study in The Times 100, they will pay a finder's fee. If you
contact Simon about either of these opportunities, please
mention that you saw the feature in Nick Daws' E-Writer
newsletter.

Greece is still on my mind following my holiday, so for any
fellow Grecophiles out there, I thought I would give Greece
magazine a mention in this issue. This UK-based magazine is
published alternate months and available by subscription and
from newsagents. The content is largely written by freelances,
and though they have a pool of regular authors, the editor
Diana Cambridge says she is always happy to hear from new
writers with fresh ideas. My sample copy featured articles on
riding holidays in Corfu, Greek wine and cookery, creative
writing holidays on Paxos and the magic of Kefalonia. For more
information (and sample articles), see the magazine website at
http://www.greece-magazine.co.uk. 

Wax Romantic is a new, US-based online magazine devoted to
romantic fiction. They are currently looking for short stories
with holiday themes, such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas,
and Valentine's Day. They also require stories in the medieval,
regency, inspirational, and humorous contemporary sub-genres.
Stories should be 3,500 (minimum) to 5,000 (maximum) words. They
are also in the market for articles designed to instruct the
aspiring romance writer, either one-offs or regular columns.
Articles should be 1,500 (minimum) to 2,500 (maximum) words. The
bad news is that there is currently no payment on offer, just a
free subscription to Wax Romantic. The publishers say, 'While we
are currently unable to continue to offer a monetary payment,
our goal is to do so again as soon as it is financially
feasible.' You can check out the full writers' guidelines at
http://www.waxromantic.com/submissions.html. 

If you're a young screenwriter (young is not defined, but
probably in your twenties) and fancy a trip to Europe, the
Berlinale Talent Campus may appeal. It offers young film
professionals from all over the world unique chances to improve
their skills and to participate in the 55th Berlin International
Film Festival. If you are applying as a screenwriter, your
sample of work can be a scene from your screenplay, including an
outline of that screenplay. The maximum length is five pages.
You may send your work as a Word file by e-mail or as a print-
out by regular mail. The application deadline is 1 November
2004. Successful applicants who are not German citizens and who
do not live in Germany will receive free accommodation and a
contribution towards their travel expenses. The Campus takes
place from 12 to 17 February, 2005. Full details at
http://www.berlinale-talentcampus.de. 

Finally, I can confirm that UK mobile phone publishing company
Kwickee, for whom I am a group editor, launched last month.
According to Kwickee founder Julian Fisher, payments to editors
and contributors will start within 60 days of the launch date,
then be made every 30 days thereafter. Julian has also revealed
that contributors will receive 60% of the revenue generated by
each sale of one of their 'Kwickees', with the balance being
divided among the editors, telecom service providers, and
Kwickee itself.

For the benefit of new readers, Kwickee publishes articles and
fiction which customers can download via their mobile (cell)
phones, PDAs and the net. Anyone is welcome to submit material,
and writers receive a proportion of the payment received every
time someone pays for one of their contributions. For further
information, see the web pages http://www.kwickee.com and
http://www.kwickee.info. Anyone from anywhere in the world is
welcome to contribute Kwickees - payments to non-UK residents
will be made by Paypal.

4. Article: AdWords Season Approaches!

In E-Writer issue 2 ( http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/ew002.htm ) I
mentioned that writing and publishing Google AdWords ads could
be an ideal sideline for a freelance writer. As the peak time
for this opportunity (the run-up to Christmas) is now almost
with us, I thought I would just recap on this.

For those who don't know, Google AdWords are the small text
boxes that appear on the right-hand side of the results page of
searches performed using the world's leading search engine,
Google (http://www.google.com).

These are actually mini-advertisements. The advertisers bid a
certain amount (say 20p or 30c) for one or more keywords or
phrases. Every time someone performs a search which includes
these words, the ad in question is displayed and the advertiser
is charged the amount of their bid by Google. In general, the
more you bid, the higher your advertisement will appear on the
searcher's results page.

So how is this relevant to writers? Well, these ads have to be
very small: generally no more than a dozen words and a heading.
No pictures or graphics are allowed, and neither is there any
design input or programming. On the other hand, there ARE
various rules about punctuation, repetition, capitalization,
correct spelling and so on (which are clearly explained on the
AdWords homepage). So this really is a writers' medium!

You can, of course, offer your services to advertisers wanting
help with their AdWords campaigns - and this is indeed something
that I do. However, what is really exciting is that you can make
a so-called affiliate deal with a merchant and sell goods on
their behalf using AdWords.

Every time you make a sale through one of your AdWords ads, this
will be tracked automatically and you will be paid a commission,
e.g. 10 per cent of the value of the goods. As long as you make
more in commission than you spend on AdWords, you will be
earning a steady profit for no more than writing a few ads and
doing a bit of simple administration!

I first started trying this method last year in the run-up to
Christmas. I applied for an affiliate deal with a well-known
online merchant selling a wide range of consumer goods. Once I
was approved (and almost everyone is) I simply looked at their
'best sellers' list and wrote ads for some of their top-selling
items. I bid just enough to get my ads listed in 8th place or
better (which ensures your ad appears in the first page of any
search results).

In the month leading up to Christmas I spent around 200 UKP
($300) in AdWords advertising and made over 600 UKP ($900) in
commission - effectively tripling my investment. That's not a
fortune, of course, but considering it was my first time and I
approached the project with great caution, I was well pleased
with the results I obtained.

One thing which quite surprised me was that I found I was
selling all sorts of stuff apart from the goods I was actually
advertising. Having followed my link to (say) a camera or an
electric toothbrush, some folk then went on to buy other things
from the store as well - and I got paid commission on those
sales too! This is obviously more likely to happen at Christmas,
but that's not to say you can't make a profit at other times of
the year as well.

Getting started in this field isn't rocket science - if you read
the Google AdWords guide at https://adwords.google.com/select/ 
it will tell you must of what you need to know. However, if you
want to use this method to make money via affiliate schemes,
it's useful to have something to guide you. An e-book which I
read, and which I thoroughly recommend to others, is Google Cash
by Chris Carpenter. Assuming no previous knowledge, Chris takes
you step by step through signing up for an AdWords account,
finding suitable merchants to promote, and writing and
publishing your adverts. You can read all about Google Cash by
visiting http://tinyurl.com/2xtga. 

As I mentioned at the start of this article, the next few months
are the peak time for online sales, so now is the ideal time to
get started in this field. My personal tip would be to market
items from big name online retailers whom the public know and
trust, such as Amazon. Look for products that are currently
selling well and would make good Christmas presents - cameras,
DVD sets, toys and games, mobile phones, personal stereos, and
so on. Help people find the items they want at the best prices,
and you can barely avoid making money in the next few months.

And finally, do sign up too as an affiliate with my publishers,
WCCL. As well as my course 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days',
you can promote any of their other e-books and software, and
earn up to 40% commission on every sale. I've actually done
extremely well using AdWords to promote both my course and other
products, and they sell throughout the year, not just in the
run-up to Christmas. The following URL will take you to the
sign-up page for affiliates for my '28 Days' course. Once you
are an affiliate for this, you can also sell any of WCCL's other
products if you so wish:
http://www.writequickly.com/author/affiliate.aspx. 

Good luck!

5. Style File: Subject/Complement Mis-matches

In this feature I examine an aspect of English usage - words,
punctuation, grammar, and so on - which can cause problems for
writers and editors. In this issue I'm looking at the problems
that can occur in sentences where the subject and complement are
different in number (i.e. one is singular and the other is
plural).

In fact, the grammatical rule governing this situation is quite
straightforward, but it sometimes causes a degree of confusion.
In modern English, when subject and complement are different in
number (i.e. one is singular, the other plural), the verb
normally agrees with the subject, as in the examples below:

Plural subject:
Cars are his main interest
Their wages were a mere pittance
Stained glass windows are our speciality

Singular subject:
His main interest is cars
What we need is more customers
Our speciality is stained glass windows

So the old sandwich-board slogan 'The Wages of Sin is Death'
would no longer be regarded as standard English.

But note that a plural word or phrase used as a name, title, or
quotation counts as singular:

'Sons and Lovers' has always been one of Lawrence's most popular
novels
Freeloaders is the term used to describe people who obtain
benefits without paying for them

A singular phrase that happens to end with a plural word should
nevertheless be followed by a singular verb:

Everyone except the Germans wants (not want) Britain to join.
One in five has (not have) this problem .

Most of the time, if you follow this principle you should not
have any problems, but occasionally where subject and complement
do not match, the end result can be a little awkward. Consider
the example below:

First dates are often an embarrassing experience.

This sentence follows the rule stated above, but the mis-match
between the plural subject and the singular complement is
perhaps a little jarring. The sentence would probably be
improved if we make both sides match.

First dates are often embarrassing experiences OR
A first date is often an embarrassing experience.

Either of these reads a bit more smoothly, and is probably an
improvement on the original. But nevertheless, if you still
prefer the original version, no-one can say that you are wrong
grammatically!

That's it for this issue. I hope you've enjoyed reading it and
found something that may be useful to you. E-Writer will be back
with you again in a few weeks' time.

Happy writing!

Nick

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Except where specifically stated, material in E-Writer is
protected by copyright of Nick Daws, 2004. Material from the
newsletter may, however, be reproduced in other online or off-
line publications so long as (a) the text (including any URLs
and e-mail addresses) is not altered in any way, and
(b) the souce is acknowledged and a link or text reference is
provided to my website at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk. Notifying
me is not essential but would be appreciated - please use the e-
mail address above or the link on my site. Many thanks!

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