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E-Writer Issue #24 4 October 2005 http://www.nickdaws.co.uk E-mail: ewriter-at-nickdaws.co.uk "Hints, tips and tricks for wired-up writers" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> In This Issue <<< 1. Editorial 2. Article: Writing for Local Businesses 3. Market Info: Miscellany 4. Useful Resource: Quick-Type 1. Editorial Hello again, and thank you for being a valued E-Writer subscriber! I was away for a couple of weeks' holiday in September, so please accept my apologies if you tried to contact me during that time and didn't get a reply (or simply got a standard message from my autoresponder). I think I'm more or less up to date with my correspondence now, but if you haven't heard from me and think you should have done, please feel free to write again! We - that's my partner Jayne and I - went to one of our favourite holiday destinations, the Greek island of Kefalonia. Kefalonia is one of the Ionian islands, though possibly its greatest claim to fame recently is that it was the setting for the book and the film 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'. Kefalonia is a large and beautiful island, still relatively unspoiled (unlike the neighbouring island of Zante). If you want a laid-back beach holiday, but with beautiful coastal and mountain scenery to admire and explore as well, I thoroughly recommend it. We stayed at a resort (which is also a genuine Greek village) called Lourdas on the south of the island. If you'd like to know more about the apartment we booked - which again I recommend - check out http://www.ioniansun.com. Anyway, back to business! In this month's EW, as well as the usual range of market info, I'm sharing some information about a new program from my publishers WCCL which you can try for free and could greatly boost your productivity if (like me) you're not the world's greatest typist. But first of all, I'm going to say a bit about a market you might not have considered before... ------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement If you're looking for more work, have you checked out Freelance Work Exchange? FWE covers all types of freelance work, but writing and editorial are particularly popular, with over 1,500 assignments currently listed. The following shortcut URL should take you directly to the main info page: http://tinyurl.com/a37w8. On FWE, potential clients post details of projects for which they need freelance help, and freelances can apply for these jobs via the website. Many of the clients are US-based, but in most cases the work can be done electronically from anywhere in the world. The standard fee for membership of FWE is $29.95 a month, but it's possible to take out a seven-day trial membership for just $2.95 (around £1.60 in UK money) to see whether joining might be beneficial to you. Trial membership gives you access to all the jobs currently in the database and lets you apply for them. Jobs on offer include copy-editing, ghost-writing, script-writing, article writing, and more. If you're seeking more freelance work, for $2.95 it has to be worth a shot. Once again, my shortcut link to the main page is http://tinyurl.com/a37w8. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Article: Writing for Local Businesses Many writers concentrate to trying to sell their work to national publishers and magazines. And yet, by doing so they are overlooking a huge potential market which is literally on their own doorstep. There are many small and medium-sized businesses who at times would appreciate the help of a writer, yet have no idea how to go about finding one. Among the many items they might need assistance with are: Newspaper advertisements Brochures and leaflets Sales letters Website content Press/news releases Important letters Bear in mind that the average small business owner may be very good at car repairs, plumbing, interior design or whatever, but have limited writing skills. If there is someone local he (or she) can turn to, who is not going to charge a fortune, chances are he will be delighted to hire that person to take the work off his hands. At this point you might ask why such a businessman would not simply go to an advertising agency for help. The answer is they could, but agencies are expensive, and because they make their money from commission on the advertising they place, most are not really interested in doing occasional work for small businesses. This is the market niche which you, with your writing skills, can fill. I would suggest charging by the hour - maybe starting at around $30 (£20) an hour initially, perhaps increasing to $50 to $100 an hour or more as you become established. This will give you a reasonable rate of return for your efforts, but will still be a lot less than most agencies will charge (or professionals such as accountants and lawyers). Here's just one example. A few months ago I was contacted by a man who runs a local second-hand car business (we met when I bought my current vehicle from him). His landlords wanted him to vacate the land he was using, which he had sub-contracted from a local garage. He felt this was unfair, and had drafted a letter explaining his objections and offering to pay an increased rent. In view of the letter’s importance he wanted a ‘professional’ to check it before he sent it. I edited the letter, correcting several spelling and grammatical mistakes, and re-typed it on good quality paper. I charged him $50 for this, which he was happy to pay. I am pleased to report that the letter had the desired effect, and he is still successfully trading from the site in question! Work can be obtained by advertising in local papers and via mail shots. You could also spend a day leafleting local businesses. Word-of-mouth is also a powerful sales medium, so if this type of writing appeals to you I recommend getting some business cards printed and handing them out to everyone you meet - the car mechanic, the gardener, the builder, even the dentist! It’s also worth trying local charities, schools, and so on. After all, if they don’t hire you, they might end up spending an awful lot more on an advertising agency. On the other hand, advertising agencies (as well as marketing and PR agencies) can be markets for freelance writers as well. At one time I did a lot of work for a local one-man-and-his-dog advertising agency. The main in question was a talented graphic designer but did not really have a way with words (neither did his dog), so he used freelance writers when required. You should be able to find information about local agencies in 'Yellow Pages' or whatever local business directories circulate in your country. Drop them a line introducing yourself (preferably with one or two examples of your work) and ask if they would be interested in using your services. If you're brave enough, follow up the letter with a phone call a few days later. Another tip is to make friends with your local printer. Printers regularly deal with small businessmen and women, and will often be willing to refer requests for writing help your way (especially if you bring them work in exchange). Ask if you can leave a supply of your business cards on their counter. And finally, don't forget to try your local newspaper. Often nowadays they have only a skeleton staff of reporters, and many rely on freelances to supply news and gossip to help fill their pages. You won't get paid a fortune for this work - though you should certainly be paid something - but it can be good fun, and a way of raising your profile in your local community. NOTE - This article is based partly on a section from Module 11 of Quick Cash Writing, my brand new course on making money from shorter writing projects. For further details, including my current special offer to purchasers of QCW via my website, check out http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm. -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Every writer should have their own website, to promote themselves, communicate with their readers and perhaps generate additional streams of income. But what do you do if you're a complete newcomer to website building? The Newbie Club First Website Builder could be the answer. At its heart is a three-volume guide to creating, writing, designing, automating, uploading and promoting your own website, in fully illustrated e-book format. In addition, the course has recently been expanded to include a 24-part HTML course, a book of insider tips and tricks of the web design trade, and such website-building tools as a gizmo wizard which enables you to add special effects in just a few clicks, a mini-site wizard for creating a no-frills mini-site in minutes, and a website encryption wizard which allows you to encrypt everything on your new site to stop content-thieves and spammers. This is without doubt one of the best website building packages around, particularly for beginners - and the addition of the new software, which itself is worth well in excess of the cost of the whole package, makes it an essential purchase. Of course, if you find you disagree, you've got 12 months to claim your money back under the no-strings guarantee. Check out everything on offer at http://tinyurl.com/2syw8. Even if you decide not to build a site yourself, the information in this package will give you the background knowledge (and confidence) you need to offer your writing services to website builders and other web-based clients. -------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Market Info - Miscellany Here are a few more potential markets for you... Scottish publisher Geddes & Grosset would like to hear from specialist writers and freelance editors. They publish books on popular health, exercise, MBS (mind, body & spirit), self-help and reference. Authors who approach them with an idea for a series are more likely to be accepted, as they seldom publish one-offs. Rather than royalties they prefer to pay authors a single fee, typically around £3,500 (about $6,000) for a 75,000 word book. They claim to pay freelance editors "the industry going rate". Write to Eleanor Cowan, Editor, Geddes & Grosset, David Dale House, New Lanark, ML11 9DJ, UK, or by e-mail to eleanor-at-geddesandgrosset.co.uk. See also their website at http://www.geddesandgrosset.co.uk. Dark Recesses is a new online horror magazine. They are looking for horror/dark fiction stories between 500 and 5000 words. Currently they are paying authors $5 for works between 500 and 2000 words and $10 for longer works up to 5000 words, though they hope to increase this as the magazine finds a readership. Regarding content, they say: "We are not looking for pure shock value. All components of your story should have merit. Gore for gore's sake is not what we are looking for. We want to give nightmares that happen during the waking hours." All submissions must be sent by e-mail to submissions-at-darkrecesses.com as an attached MS Word document or RTF file, with "Submission" in the subject line. Stories embedded in the body of an e-mail will go unread. The reading period for the next issue is Oct. 1 to Nov. 31. You can read the launch issue free of charge on their website at http://www.darkrecesses.com (it's a PDF file). E-Clips is a quarterly Canadian fiction e-zine, with each issue reflecting the season. They are in the market for flash fiction (up to 500 words), short fiction (500 to 2000 words), poetry and personal experience travel pieces. Payment is US$10 to US$30. Submissions are accepted by e-mail only, and the preferred payment method is Paypal. Writers' guidelines can be viewed at http://eclips.us/home1.html (click on Submissions in the left- hand column). And here's another market for short story writers, this one rather better paying. That's Life! Fast Fiction is an Australian newsstand magazine looking for humorous, positive, contemporary stories of 100 to 2,800 words. Twist-endings are not essential, but if your story has one they say it should arise naturally from the story rather than a detail withheld from the reader (so no stories in which the central character turns out to be a ghost or a family pet!). Graphic violence is not acceptable, and there should be a maximum of four characters. Payment ranges from AU$50 to AU$800. Local authors should submit work by mail only to Samantha Brazel, Editor-in-Chief, That's Life Fast Fiction magazine, 35-51 Mitchell Street, McMahons Point, NSW 2060, Australia. Overseas contributors are welcome and can e- mail their stories to fastfiction@pacificmags.com.au. Ensure that you provide a word count and state whether you are offering first or second rights. Unfortunately the magazine does not have a website with writers' guidelines, but these are apparently available by sending an SSAE. There has been a call for submissions for "Sleeping With the Gods: An Erotic Odyssey"- an anthology inspired by classical mythology edited by Mitzi Szereto (to be published by Thunder's Mouth Press/Avalon Publishing Group, NY). Mitzi says: 'Classical mythology has always contained a strong undercurrent of the erotic. It is my goal as editor to take this to a further erotic realm, fostering the creation of a new myth based on the classical. Although the main focus will be on the Greco-Roman tradition, I will consider material outside of this area. Select your favourite myth and go where your imagination takes you! Contemporary themes preferred.' Original material only is required (no reprints). Submission deadline: March 1, 2006. For further information, including how to submit your work, e-mail worddabbler-at-yahoo.com. On the other hand, if you are more comfortable writing romance than erotica, Vintage Romance Publishing may be more up your street. They are looking for sweet romances (no graphic sex) set before 1969. Novels should be 45,000 to 75,000 words, and (to quote from their guidelines) have stories where 'the man saves the day, the woman is content to be a woman, and their love is the most important thing to both of them.' For full guidelines, see http://www.vrpublishing.com (click on Submissions in the left-hand menu). Vintage Romance Publishing are also looking for contributions for two new lines. Perfectly Paranormal stories will still meet the specifications above, but they will have a paranormal twist (ghosts and so on). For this line they are looking for novellas between 10,000 and 35,000 words and novels between 35,000 and 75,000 words. And they are also looking for short, inspirational stories for an upcoming anthology series called Vintage Inspire. Stories for this must be between 7,500 and 10,000 words. They say they are looking for stories 'which will bring us to tears, make us smile or give us reason to sigh with pleasure.' Full guidelines, including how to submit, can again be found at http://www.vrpublishing.com. -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Can you draw as well as write? Then you may be interested in the new course from my publishers WCCL, DRAW CARTOONS TODAY. DRAW CARTOONS TODAY is written by the prolific American cartoonist, Lou Darvas. In his unique style, Lou reveals the secret techniques that can turn you into a professional, published cartoonist within just three months. And, Lou insists, it doesn't matter how good or bad your current drawings are. Lou's course shows you tricks that will guide you from amateur to pro in just twelve easy steps. It includes over 1,000 hand- drawn illustrations and 174 pages of quality content. DRAW CARTOONS TODAY is currently on special offer for just $19.95, or around £12 in UK money. It's an instant download, so if you order it now, within minutes you can be polishing and perfecting your cartooning skills. For full details, check out the website at http://tinyurl.com/5nn5r. -------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Useful Resource: Quick-Type I'm afraid, like many freelance writers, I never got round to learning to type properly, and at this stage in my career I doubt if I ever will. After many years of two-finger typing I can rattle along at a reasonable pace. Working this way does have its drawbacks, however. Obviously, I'll never type as fast as someone who has learned to do it properly. And typing large amounts of text can put a lot of strain on the digits concerned. That's why, when I heard about the new Quick-Type program from my publishers WCCL, my ears pricked up. This is a neat, user- friendly program which can save you a lot of time and effort on typing. It will work with any PC running Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP. Quick-Type works by associating chunks of text you commonly use with keywords or 'hotkeys'. When you type these words or hit the relevant keys (e.g. Ctrl+2), the full text you entered is automatically inserted. Quick-Type is very easy to use. You begin by setting up your keywords and/or hotkeys which (as mentioned above) are linked to chunks of texts that you commonly type. Then you leave Quick- Type to run in the background, and continue typing as normal. Whenever you type one of the keywords you set up, in any text- based application, Quick-Type automatically replaces it with your chosen text. Unlike some similar applications (and the Windows Clipboard) there is no limit to the number of special keywords you can create. If you want to see all the shortcuts you have made at any time, press Ctrl+1 (i.e. the Ctrl key and the number 1 key together). As long as Quick-Type is installed and activated, a pop-up menu will appear listing all your shortcuts, and you can then enter any of the items concerned by clicking on them. You can download a free trial version of Quick-Type from the dedicated website at http://www.quick-type.com/?afl=6785. The trial version has all the features of the full version, though it will expire after 14 days (giving you plenty of time to try it out). The full version is currently on offer from the above site at the discount price of just $14.97 for an instant download or $24.97 if you want it on CD-ROM. As with all WCCL products, unlimited 24-hour customer support is available from their website at http://www.myhelphub.com. I am now a regular user of Quick-Type and recommend it highly. However, one tip is to think carefully about the shortcuts you specify. For example, one chunk of text you might find it useful to automate is your postal address. However, don't just use the keyword 'address' for this, or every time you type 'address' you will find your whole postal address being inserted! I now use 'myaddress' as the keyword for this purpose, and that works perfectly for me. Finally, when Quick-Type is installed on your PC, you should see its icon in the system tray at the bottom of your screen. Right- click on this and a menu will appear allowing you to activate or disable Quick-Type, or open the program to add new keywords. And really, that's all you need to know about it! That's it for this issue. I do hope you've enjoyed reading it and found something that may be useful to you. E-Writer will be back again in a few weeks' time. All good wishes, Nick ---------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Nick Daws' original 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 an extract at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm, then click on http://tinyurl.com/bvtjk to read some of the many unsolicited testimonials the course has received! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Info Except where specifically stated, material in E-Writer is protected by copyright of Nick Daws, 2005. 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! |