1. Editorial

Hello again. And welcome to the Christmas special issue of E-
Writer!

It's been a busy year for me, so I've been quite glad things
have got a bit quieter over the last few weeks. Apart from my
regular article-writing commitments, I've spent most of my time
working on my new project for White Cliff. I can't say too much
about this yet, except that it will be another writing course,
and it should complement my 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days'
course nicely. Oh, and as a valued E-Writer subscriber, you can
get your own free preview as one of my 'Christmas presents'
set out later in the newsletter!

I've had more nice e-mails from E-Writer subscribers and
buyers of my '28 Days' course since the last issue. In
particular, I was delighted to hear about the latest successes
of Dr Suzanne Harris, whose name has of course appeared in E-
Writer before. In her latest email, she wrote: 'How're things
with you? Guess what? I'm hot on your heels now! I just signed a
five-book deal and three books for other publishers too. Thank
you for your course, you gave me my career.' Aw, shucks, Suzie.

But seriously, many congratulations to Suzanne. My course
includes lots of tips and advice, plus my tried-and-tested
techniques for writing books in the shortest possible time, but
it is still down to each individual to apply them. If you've
bought the course then, please don't just read through it once
and then put it aside for 'some time in the future'. Get started
now, even if it's only developing ideas. Aim to do at least
something on your book every day - and sooner than you know it,
YOU could be writing to me with news of your own five-book
deal as well!

And if you haven't yet bought my course, why not make it a
Christmas present to yourself? You can read an extract at
http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm. Then click the banner at
the foot of that page to go directly to my publisher's website.
For non-US residents, the weak dollar (almost two to the UK
pound last time I looked) means the course is effectively the
cheapest it has ever been. And even if you are a US resident,
it's still great value, and you don't have to pay the dreaded
VAT imposed on those of us living in the EU!

One other E-Writer reader I'd like to mention is Vic Knight. Vic
wrote to thank me for the information about AdWords (and pay-
per-click services generally) in a previous issue of E-Writer (
http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/ew010.htm). The E-Writer article
presented this as a way of making a bit of extra cash from
affiliate advertising. However, Vic saw it as a great way of
testing his own new business idea.

Vic recently set up http://www.skillword.co.uk to promote his
service 'Here is Your Life;'. As you'll see if you visit his
site, he is offering to write the life story of any person as a
short book. He is even offering to run a 'Here is Your Life'
party (based on the popular TV show 'This is Your Life') for an
extra fee. Vic decided to use pay-per-click advertising to bring
potential clients to his site. The way this works is that anyone
performing a search including certain terms (e.g. 'life story')
will have Vic's ad appear in the list of search results.

As Vic himself says, it's early days yet, but the hit counter on
his site is showing over 650 visitors now, so his message is
already reaching a lot of potential clients. Vic gets my 2004
award for entrepreneurial use of the internet by a writer (something
E-Writer is all about, of course). I wish him every success with it.
Even if you're not in the market for a 'Here is Your Life' book or
party right now, why not drop by Vic's site and give him your
feedback. I know he'd love to hear from other E-Writer readers.


2. Article: It's Good to Recycle!

As some of you will know, I live in the district of Lichfield in
Staffordshire, England. Apart from being the birthplace of the
great lexicographer Samuel Johnson, Lichfield's other claim to
fame right now is that it has the highest rate of recycling in
the country.

Recycling is good news for the environment, of course, but in
another sense it can be very good news for writers too. In this
article I want to talk about how you can 'recycle' your work to
get more mileage - and money - from it.

If you're writing an article or, especially, a book, one thing
that is likely to occupy a lot of your time is research. In my
'28 Days' course I explain how you can cut research time to the
bone, but even then it has to be done. So once you’ve researched
and written a book or article, in my opinion it makes a lot of
sense to try to use at least some of the research again for
different markets.

As an example of recycling, I'd like to tell you about an
article I wrote a few years ago about a gentleman called Keith
Pratt. On taking early retirement from his job as a buyer with a
chemicals company, Keith had set himself up as a freelance
professional woodcarver.

Keith was a friend of my Dad, which is how I originally met him.
When I heard his story, I realised it could form the basis of an
interesting article for a magazine called Management Retirement
Guide, which I was writing regularly for at the time.

Management Retirement Guide had a regular slot for articles
about people who had retired from management-level jobs and set
up their own businesses, and I could see Keith's story fitting
neatly into this. So - having sent a proposal to the magazine
and got a green light - I set up an interview with him. Keith
was a great interview subject, happy to chat away about his
fascination for carving, and he was also able to give me some
photos of his work. Obviously, he hoped that the publicity in
the magazine would result in more commissions for him.

Well, I wrote a 1200-word article about Keith for Management
Retirement Guide, for which I was paid £120. Then, a few months
after it came out, I happened to see a new magazine called All
About Making Money. It was mainly about home-based businesses,
so I thought I’d see if they would like an article about Keith
as well.

It turned out they would, so I dug out my interview notes and
photographs and put together a fresh article for them. I did
speak to Keith again briefly as a courtesy and to clarify one or
two points. I got paid £180 for that one, so that brought the
return on the 'Keith project' to £300.

Next, in my local newsagent's one day I saw a magazine called
Woodcarving. I queried them and yes, they were interested as
well. I had to interview Keith again for this, as they wanted
more technical information, such as what sort of tools he used.
Still, it was easy enough to do over the phone. They eventually
produced a beautiful four-page spread about Keith and his
carvings, for which I was paid £200. Running total so far: £500.

Then one day I was talking to my friends at The Writers Bureau,
the UK's leading correspondence school for writers. They were
updating their course material, and wanted part of the module
about article-writing updated. In particular, they wanted a
piece about how a real-life article was written, all the way
from first draft to finished item. Hey, I said, I’ve got the
perfect example. I ended up doing around 4,000 words for them,
based on my original Management Retirement Guide piece.
That was another £400, giving a total return on the Keith project
of £900.

And that still wasn’t the end of it. The publishers of
Woodcarving got back to me and asked for permission to republish
my article on Keith in a special 'pick of the year' compendium.
There was no extra work for me and a fee of £100, so of course I
said yes to this.

That gave me a total return on this one project of £1,000 (near
enough $2,000 at current exchange rates). Unfortunately Keith is
no longer carving as he got arthritis in his fingers, but at the
time he was very pleased with all the publicity he was getting,
and it brought him a lot of extra customers. So everyone was
happy.

So the moral of this story is, don’t just research and write your
book or article, then always move on to something new. If you've
written a book, think about whether some of the material could be
re-used in article form. If you've written an article, think about
whether the material can be re-angled and sold successfully to
other markets.

This can also be a great technique if you're ever stuck for an
idea for something to write. Go through your notebooks and/or
your cuttings of published work, and see if any of it can be
given a fresh slant and sold elsewhere. Almost certainly it can
be, and then you will have the great benefit that most of the
research needed will have been done already.

Good luck, and happy recycling!


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3. Market Info - Miscellany

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

US publishers Avalon Books are actively seeking new contemporary
romances, mysteries, historical romances and westerns. According
to their writers' guidelines, they are looking for well written,
wholesome fiction suitable for a family readership, 'with no
graphic sex, violence or strong language.' Manuscripts should be
between 40,000 and 70,000 words. You are asked to submit three
sample chapters initially, along with a 2-3 page synopsis and
SSAE. They pay a 5-15% royalty on sales, with a minimum advance
of $1,000. For full guidelines and submission details, see their
website at http://www.avalonbooks.com. 

New UK magazine Chapter & Verse is currently looking for good
quality articles on writers and poets, both classic and modern;
interviews with modern writers; and suggested days or weekends
out with literary connections. Length can range from 1200 to
2500 words. Shorter literary snippets of interest to readers
are also welcome. They pay £100 per 1000 words, but do expect at
least one, preferably more, good quality illustrations with
permission for use included in that price. (In the case of
classic writers, permission from a museum, society or gallery to
reproduce a specific drawing, painting or engraving is fine.)
Send articles or queries (with SSAE) to: Diana Nadin, Editor,
Chapter & Verse, Sevendale House, 7 Dale Street, Manchester, M1
1JB, England, or by e-mail to diana-at-writersbureau.com.
Book reviews and readers' letters are also invited. Full
guidelines can be found at http://www.chapterandversemag.com. 
NOTE: You can also get a free sample copy of Chapter & Verse
magazine - see my Christmas Presents list, below!

TimeTravel-Britain is a new website covering British travel and
history; it is expected to launch in spring 2005. They are
currently seeking articles covering historic travel destinations
in England (Scotland and Wales will follow later). A huge variety
of contributions is needed, including articles on specific
historical destinations such as Hadrian's Wall and on the
historical highlights of a particular town. Payments range
from $50 for short features up to $250 for longer articles.
Digital photos are required if possible to accompany articles.
The publishers say that unfortunately they can't pay extra for
photos at this time; however, the availability of photos may
well make the difference as to whether they accept a piece. For
further information about this opportunity, which has already
generated a lot of interest among UK writers, see the in-depth
guidelines at
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/adm/guidelines.shtml. 

No payment for this next one, but it's in a very good cause.
Liggy Webb, Commercial Director of www.linactraining.co.uk, is
appealing for contributions for a new book, the proceeds from
which will go to a variety of charities. The book will be called
'Oops' and will be a compilation of humorous anecdotal stories
about people's funniest and most embarrassing moments. Liggy
says, 'I am trying to collect as many as I can to select the
best. The stories can be quite short, and if you have one that
you are willing to share then it will be published with your
name if that’s OK.' Send your embarrassing stories by e-mail to
liggy.webb-at-linac.co.uk. Note: Thanks to E-Writer
subscriber Anne Vasey for passing this one on.

Pitch-Black Books are inviting submissions for RAZOR-EDGED
ARCANUM, a collection of Heroic Fantasy short fiction to be
released in the spring of 2005. The anthology will consist of
ten to twelve short stories. They say their guidelines for
fiction are straightforward: "We are interested in heroic
fantasy stories with an emphasis on sorcery and magic. We want
heroic stories with heroic endings, not stories of negation.
Word lengths 3000 to 8000. Payment is by negotiation to a
maximum 8 cents per word, paid on publication. Each contributor
receives a copy of the anthology. The deadline is December 31,
2004. For further details, see
http://www.pitchblackbooks.com/Razor-edged_Arcanum.htm. 

Finally, regular readers will know that I am a freelance group
editor for the new UK mobile phone publishing company Kwickee.
Kwickee has been closed for new submissions recently, but the
latest word I have is that it will be re-opening shortly with a
new, much improved interface for both users and contributors.
Those of us working as editors for Kwickee (so far unpaid)
have been promised an initial credit in February 2005 as
recognition of our contribution so far. It is fair to say that it has
taken a bit longer than anticipated to get Kwickee up and running
successfully, but with the recent changes in personnel and
additional investment in the company, I am reasonably optimistic
that everyone involved will soon start getting some return from their
efforts.

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 to receive one of their contributions. For
further details, see the web pages http://www.kwickee.com and
http://www.kwickee.info. Anyone from anywhere in the world can
contribute Kwickees - payments to non-UK residents will be made
by Paypal.


4. Christmas Presents

Finally, as promised, here is a selection of freebies which I hope
will be of interest to you, and help boost your writing income in 2005.

(1) Free Magazines

I have arranged for E-Writer readers to get free sample copies
of Chapter & Verse magazine (mentioned above in Market Info) and
Freelance Market News. Chapter & Verse is a new magazine for
anyone who enjoys good writing. Freelance Market News is a well
established newsletter for writers packed with market info in
every issue. To get free sample copies of both magazines, just
send an e-mail to candv-at-writersbureau.com and put 'E-
Writer - free copy' in the subject line. Don't forget to include
your name and full postal address!

(2) Article Magic e-Book

This free e-book comes to you by courtesy of my colleague Priya
Shah. It is primarily aimed at people who want to promote their
websites by writing short articles, which are then distributed free
across the internet. It will therefore be of most interest if you have
a website already, but even if you don't there is lots of useful advice
for writers here, and some great free and low-cost resources.
Article Magic is an executable e-Book. To get it, right-click on http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/articlemagic.exe and select 'Save Target
As' from the pop-up menu that appears. Save the file to the folder of
your choice (preferably the Desktop), then simply double-click to run it.

(3) New Writing Course - Complete Module

This one is entirely my own work! It's a complete module from my
new writing course, which is due to be published by WCCL in the
spring of 2005. The topic of this module is greeting card writing
(it seemed appropriate at this time of year...). One or two changes
may be made in the final published version, but this is basically what
purchasers of my course will be getting - but it's free of charge to
you as a valued E-Writer subscriber! You can simply left-click on http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/Cards.rtf to view the module on your PC,
or right-click and select 'Save Target As', as above, to save the
module to your PC. The module is in RTF format, which nearly all
word processing software can read, but if you have any problem
opening it, do get back to me. NOTE: If you want this module, please
download it before the end of December. I will be removing it from
the site at that time, after which it will only be available to buyers of
the new course. Now removed from the site. Please watch for details
when my new course is launched!

(4) 250 Free Business Cards

This offer is available from http://www.vistaprint.com in the USA and
http://www.vistaprint.co.uk in the UK. They also make the same offer
to residents in other countries, including Canada, Australia, France,
Germany and so on - just scroll down to the bottom of the screen and
click on the appropriate flag.

The cards are full-colour printed on good quality card. Your first 250
are entirely free - you just pay a small fee for postage and handling.
Thirty different designs are available, and you can order via the
website. If you need business cards to help promote your writing
business, the Vistaprint offer could be just the thing to get you started.

(5) Free E-Mail Program

My final 'Christmas Present' is a great free program you can pick up
from http://www.msgtag.com/home/. One problem with conventional
e-mails is that you can never be sure whether they have been received
or not - which could be bad news if you have e-mailed an urgent query
to your publisher or editor and they fail to receive it.

MSGTAG is a free program which works with most popular e-mail
clients (including Outlook, Outlook Express and Pegasus). Once it is
installed, you can switch tagging on or off by simply clicking an icon
which sits in your system tray (the small bar at the bottom right of the
screen). MSGTAG automatically notifies you when a tagged e-mail
has been viewed at its destination. Unlike traditional read-receipts,
MSGTAG doesn't hassle your recipient with pop-up boxes, and you
can send tagged messages to practically any e-mail address, including
Hotmail and Yahoo addresses. I've been very impressed with it - hope
you are too.


I do hope you've enjoyed reading this issue and found something that
may be useful to you. E-Writer will be back again in the new year - 
until which it only remains for me to wish you and your loved ones a
very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Happy writing!

Nick


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Advertisement

Nick Daws' CD-based course 'Write Any Book In Under 28 Days'
takes you through every stage of writing a book, from getting
the original idea through to editing the completed manuscript,
all in the shortest possible time. Read a lengthy extract from
the course at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm, then click
through to the publisher's website to read some of the many
testimonials!

* New! See the latest independent review of 'Write Any Book in
Under 28 Days' at http://www.writelink.co.uk (click on Software
in the left-hand menu).
----------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright Info

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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