Thursday, January 28, 2010

My Follow Friday - Authors Promoting Authors











As writers we're aware of how difficult it is to get your foot on the first rung of the literary ladder. This impossible 'feat' never happens for most potential writers. For the few who've made that first step, it wasn't without the help of colleagues and well-wishers who helped to promote them and their craft.

I follow Authors Promoting Authors because this is a blog set up to specifically support and promote other writers.



In our small slice of the world, most of us have turned to the Internet as a way of building our fan-base and writing platform. Sites like these are exactly what writers need to cast their promotional shadow on new audiences. I suggest clicking the link to the blog to read their FAQs if you have a book you'd like promoted, or a suitable guest blog idea.



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Monday, January 25, 2010

Writing Opportunities Feature Update

This week while my laptop was down, I did a considerable amount of research to bring you some fine sites which accept unsolicited work from new and established writers.



Take a look at the writing opportunities page on this blog and find something that’s suitable for you. It's one of the labels in my link-bar above.



You don’t have to be an author to find this new feature useful. I’ve found some fun sites accepting and paying for poetry and verses in greeting cards. If you’ve ever read a card and thought, ‘I can do better than that!’ Here is your big opportunity.



If you’re a poet or have an opinion piece, there’s paid work out there for you. If you can knit or crochet and suggest original ideas or patterns, I found some magazines willing to pay you for them.



Don’t miss out. This ‘opportunities’ page is updated every 6-8 weeks or so. Hopefully, I can find something made for you. If nothing strikes your fancy, maybe my link to paid tips, how-tos, and hints will be of interest to you.





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Thursday, January 21, 2010

My Follow Friday - ViperChill

I follow ViperChill for the thrill it injects into my blogging experience. There’s a two-fold aspect to this site: it uniquely targets the marketing and promoting needs of both bloggers and writers. I’ve come across a sea of Internet marketing blogs so filled with jargon, only a small amount of niche followers could decode the seemingly secret messages.



Viperchill is different, as it caters for a terribly wide spectrum of readership.





I look forward with pleasure to each new post on this blog. Viperchill is not so much about the technicalities of writing, but rather what you do with your writing once you're done. It’s run by young entrepreneur, Glen Allsopp, and gives free, detailed information about how to make money from your blog.





Glen's last e-Book made him a staggering $4,000 on its launch day. This is testimony that e-Books can perform well if targeted and marketed properly.

For writers like us, this is good news. For bloggers and others seeking to make money from the Internet or on Cloud Living (as he calls it), this is the blog you’ve been waiting to subscribe to.





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Sunday, January 17, 2010

How to Resize Facebook NetworkedBlogs widget









Have you just embedded your Facebook NetworkedBlogs widget on your site? If you’re just starting out with this widget, unless you’re Internet famous, you may only have a handful of followers showing up so far. 





Does it look a bit sparse? Do you feel stressed to fill up all the space they’ve given you with random faces of followers? Well, there is an easy solution! You can make the widget smaller so it looks full even with just 4 followers. I made some screenshots of the 'before and after' NetworkedBlogs widget on one of my other blogs.







BEFORE

The panel in which I've done the yellow squigglies is the empty white space I want to get rid of. The black arrow points towards the 'quick editing' tool mentioned below.



1. Go to your ‘Layout’ page on your blog. If you have a quick editing tool on your blog just use that instead, as it's more straightforward.











2. Identify where (on your layout page) your NetworkedBlogs widget is and click ‘edit.’ You should see something like this.









3. Look towards the top of the widget. In the second line, just about where I've  circled, you will see, ‘style="height:360pxpadding.'





4. Change the 360 to any number you wish.





5. Important: Click ‘save’ when you’re done.





6. Voila! Your NetworkedBlogs widget fits nicely on your page without a large white space at the bottom.







AFTER - NO UNSIGHTLY SPACE.



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Friday, January 15, 2010

My Follow Friday - A Book Inside, How To Write And Publish A Book





I’m back to normal (ish) so I’ve resumed my ‘Follow Friday’ feature – blog style – for the new year.





I follow ‘A Book Inside - How To Write And Publish A Book' because it’s crammed full of tips and expert advice for writers. There are tutorials on writing fiction and non-fiction; finding a publisher; or marketing your book in a way that’s right for you.





The author of 'A Book Inside' also conducts regular interviews with experienced people in 'the know.' It’s a how-to blog which is witty, sharp and knowledgeable about the processes of the publishing and writing industries. It’s a great place to be if you’ve got questions about promoting, outlining, researching for, or setting the price for your book. There is a wealth of knowledge for e-publishers too. Get it right the first time by reading up on some vital hints and tips on this blog.



Apart from listing a definitive collection of other writing blogs, this site assists the writer all the way from querying the publisher to marketing your book.





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Monday, January 11, 2010

Writing Opportunities





I've scoured the web and hard copy editions in the UK and elsewhere to find writing prospects so you don't have to do any of the hard work.



Subscribe to this blog to keep updated with this page. I'll be adding new writing/publishing opportunities every 2 weeks or so. Keep in mind that most of these prospects may be tiny, one-off writing jobs, but each small break is a chance to get your foot on the ladder. Each piece accepted is another chance to add 'published' work on your CV.





The opportunities below are grouped by countries, but you can email submissions to any of them regardless of where you live.



WRITING OPPORTUNITIES IN THE UK



PAID



Reader's Digest

Pays £100.00

For - short stories, jokes, anecdotes, It's Your Time You're Wasting, Laughter Is The Best Medicine, My Story etc.

email; excerpts@readersdigest.co.uk

Or post

Excerpts, Reader's Digest, 11 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4HE

Pays £200.00 for cartoons with captions

email: captions@readersdigest.co.uk

Or post 'Captions' to the above address.





The New Writer

http://www.thenewwriter.com/guidelines.htm

Pays for articles, features, short stories and poetry.





Knit Today

http://www.originpublishing.com/vacancylist.asp

A monthly magazine which is interested in work from freelance writers. If you can write about, create, or instruct in knitting and crochet, they want to hear from you. Great rates of pay: £250.00 for 1,500 words article with pictures.





Kiki Magazine

http://www.kikimag.com/submit/submitWriting.php

This is another craft magazine site that pays well for submissions. Approach them with your ideas.





Heat Magazine

Heat magazine pays £200.00 for unposed snapshots of readers with celebrities. Text your picture to snapped pictures 0784 350 0911. Or email them to (write 'heat snapped' in your subject line) snapped@heatmag.com with your name, address and daytime telephone number.





Full House

Earn £100.00 for your holiday stories. Send your story and photos to: features@fullhousemagazine.co.uk 





Smallholder

If you write about farming, agriculture or have a smallholding, you can submit work to Smallholder. You will be paid extra for pictures or for technical livestock-type articles. Contact them first for details of submission. 





Your Dog

A monthly magazine covering topics about caring for dogs. Send queries first if you have stories or articles you want to share. Payment is negotiable. 





UNPAID



The London Magazine

http://www.thelondonmagazine.net/default.aspx



Rough Guide To Presentation



Short stories, features, memoirs, critical articles No more than 2,500 words

Reviews Generally no longer than 1,800 words

Poetry No longer than 40 lines



Short stories, features, memoirs, critical articles No more than 2,500 words

Reviews Generally no longer than 1,800 words

Poetry No longer than 40 lines

Form of submission

They accept ideas for art reviews, memoir pieces, fiction, poetry and poetry reviews. They prefer e-mail, with the poems or stories to be sent in the body of the email, as well as in attachment.

Send submissions to admin@thelondonmagazine.net.  

All postal submissions must be accompanied by a stamped and addressed envelope.

The London Magazine, Flat 5, 11 Queen's Gate, London, SW7 5EL.





Pick Me Up Magazine

http://www.pickmeupmagazine.co.uk/tip_offs/

Pays £25.00 for every tip, hint, how-to you send in.



WRITING OPPORTUNITIES ELSEWHERE



PAID



Wet Ink (Australia)

http://www.wetink.com.au/about.htm

They accept fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction, interviews, photography, book reviews and more, from new and established authors.

They publish:

• short fiction (including genre fiction)

• creative non-fiction

• poetry

• memoir

• essays

• opinion pieces



Women On Writing (USA)

http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contact.php

WOW! Writer's Guidelines

WOW! welcomes queries and submissions from its readers. Remember each issue focuses on Women, Writing and the monthly Theme.

Columns, Word Counts and Pay Rates:

Twenty Questions: $50

How 2 (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75

Inspiration (1,500 - 2,000 Words): $75

Feature Interviews (up to 3,000 Words): $75

Feature Articles (up to 3,000 Words): $150





Apex (USA)

http://www.apexbookcompany.com/submissions/

A book company looking for dark/SF/fantasy/horror novels, short stories and poetry.

They pay a substantial advance and high royalty rates for novels. Best of all, they accept unsolicited material.





Blue Mountain Arts

http://www.sps.com/help/contact.html

Think you can write smart, funny, thoughtful greeting cards and get paid for them?





Poetry Magazine (USA)

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/submissions.html

They say on their website: 

'Payment is made on publication at the rate of $10.00 per line (with a minimum payment of $300), and $150 per page of prose, for first serial rights. All rights will revert to the author upon publication. Authors will also receive two contributor copies of the issue in which their work appears.'



Riddle Fence (Canada)

http://riddlefence.com/submissions/

Get paid for your poems.





Thriving Family (Canada + USA)





This is a bi-monthly magazine which focuses on the family. They invite writers to submit articles about parenting and marriage relationships. They pay well and have a good ethos. 

The website is here: http://go.family.org/thrivingfamily/



The PDF writers' guidelines document is here:

http://www.family.org/sharedassets/correspondence/pdfs/GeneralInformation/TF_Writers_Guidelines.pdf





Horizon Air Magazine (Canada and the USA)

http://www.horizonairmagazine.com/contributor/writers.php





Have a look at their writers' guidelines before sending anything in. This is a monthly in-flight magazine for travellers in parts of the U.S and Canada. They pay $100.00 for short news articles (200 to 500 words) and $450.00 for features of up to 2,500 words. 

They ask to see a sample of your writing work.





MAD (USA)

http://www.dccomics.com/mad/?action=submissions





Their writers' guidelines page (above) tells you everything you need to know about submitting to MAD. They're a comedy magazine and are actively looking for new writers for their writing pool. They pay $500.00 per page. 

The link above tells you in detail what kind of material they publish and gives you the email link to send them to. 





JQ Greetings (USA)

http://www.jqgreetings.com/artists.php





They pay for art and verse submissions. You can find the guidelines on their site. Payment is by negotiation. 





Poetry (USA)

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/submissions.html



This is a poetry magazine. You're able to sign up and create an account which allows you to track your submissions online. They pay $10.00 per line, ($150.00 per page) so not a bad investment for something you like doing. Their submissions' page is pretty comprehensive so read it thoroughly before submitting anything to them.





Cats and Kittens (USA)

http://www.petpublishing.com/catkit/

They accept submissions of educational and informative articles and stories about cats and how to care for them. They pay 10 cents per published word. Contact for details. 





Constant Content

Sell your original content on Constant Content. Get paid by PayPal. You need to read up their terms and conditions on the website to see if this is for you.





Lightspeed 

This is an online magazine which publishes science fiction. They mainly deal with fiction, but also publish a few non-fiction pieces every month. They pay very well at 5 cents a word (on acceptance). They accept pieces of up to 7,500 words! 

See the complete submission guidelines at this link.





The First Line (USA)

Another chance to be published in a American (hard copy) magazine. The First Line accepts short stories and poems. They pay $20.00 on publication and you can submit material by email. See their submissions page for full details.





Naval History Magazine

This is a monthly, American hard-copy magazine which accepts submissions from all over the world, based on naval and maritime history. If this is your speciality or if you know any stories related to this, you can submit your material to them. They also publish book reviews. Their payment (which is quite good) is tiered to suit your submission, so you'll have to look at their writers' page to see the details.





  



Sunday, January 10, 2010

My All-Time Best BookMarked Articles For Writers and Bloggers



I have placed all these essential and helpful articles in one blog post. I have personally found these pieces entirely useful in my blogging/writing career. They’re simple and easy-to-follow without many of the jargon-filled tutorials out there. Here’s hoping you find one to help you do just the thing you’ve been meaning to get done for a while.





How to Change The Font On Your Blog

From: The Cutest Blog on the Block





The Easy Way To Put 'Top Comments' Widget On Your Blog

From: Reach Beyond Limits





How To Insert A Custom Signature In 'Blogger' Posts 

From: Isabella Snow





How To Add A Retweet Button On Your Blog 

From: Rose DesRochers – World Outside my Window





Essential HTML Skills For Article Authors  

From: Christopher Knight – Ezine Articles





Collection Of Essential Articles For Bloggers/Writers

From: Social @ Blogging Tracker



How To Display Your Content On A Blog's Front Page

From: Web Designer Depot





8 Simple Ways To Make Google Love Your Site

From: Daily SEO Blog





How To Place Photos Side By Side In 'Blogger'

From: Isabella Snow - Hub pages





What Does Blogger 'NavBar' Do? 

From: The Relationship Supermarket.com





How To Find Your Blog's RSS Feed URL 

From: Athlyn Green’s Hub pages





Vital Start-Up Tutorials For New Writers Of Online Content  

From: A Blogger's Books



10 Blogging Attitudes You Could Learn From American Idols  

From: Social @ Blogging Tracker





101 Ways To Promote A New Blog  

From: DailyBlogTips





How To Establish A Writing Platform  

From: Sunday’s Child Lives At Annie’s House





The Most Important Blogging Analysis Ever 

From: ViperChill





The Practical Way To Improve Your Ranking

From Search Optimization





How To Find A Literary Agent 

From: Nathan Bransford, Literary Agent





How To Create Your Own Handwritten Signature

From Wandering Thought





10 Commandments For Aspiring Writers

From: The Man Who Painted Agnieszka's Shoes





How To Write A Successful e-Book

From ViperChill





5 Ways To Gain Agents' Attention

From Jody Hedlund





10 Photoshop Video Tutorials

From Tech Milieu.com





How To Embed YouTube Videos Into Blogger

From Blogger Tricks





How To Make A Publisher Say 'Yes' 

From: Help I need a Publisher!





How To Really Build Backlinks And Dominate Google

From ViperChill





How To Get A Feedburner Account For Your Blog

From Wandering Thought





Market Your Smashwords e-Book: The Definitive Guide

From Mark Coker





5 Ways To Get Your Blog Indexed By Google in 24 Hours

From ProBlogger





A Simple Way To Clear Your StumbleUpon New Shares

From Tech Milieu.com





Blogging Attitudes You Could Learn From American Idols

From Social @ Blogging Tracker





Put a Facebook 'Like' Button On Your Blog





In Defense Of Print

From: A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing





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Friday, January 8, 2010

Earn Money Writing For Hard-Copy Publications



Writing is the only profession in which you’re expected to work (sometimes 12 hours a day) without any pay at all for months on end. I’ve told you about this before, how a certain publisher kept my manuscript for 11 ½ months (that’s almost a year) before saying they weren’t interested.





While creating our books we need to find other writing-related ways to make some money. However, even if we are earning from writing, most of us have other jobs because the money we make simply isn’t enough to live on. This is why I’ve decided to include some potential earning links here on A Blogger's Books.



The first set consist of sites which invite you to submit work to them for a chance to be published, sites running writing competitions with winning and runner-up prizes, and sites which list articles and material to help you get your work accepted and bought by magazines and other publications. Remember these are mainly related to hard copy works because the online versions are easy to find.





Writers' Market. Find publishers, competitions, agencies and places to submit your work.

Haunted Magazine. Submit paranormal stuff.

Spinetinglers. Submit horror stories for a chance to win money if yours is in the top three.

Brit Writers' Awards (competitions to win money - for unpublished authors)

Women On Writing

BBC Writers' Room  submit TV and film scripts – drama and comedy.

Short story Radio 

Wordsmag and The New Writer, get practising for your big break by entering stories and poetry competitions.



Below are the (hard copy) magazine listings for the UK, Canada and the USA. Normally you need to buy a few back copies of a publication. This is in order to gauge what they publish to properly target your submissions. With this list, you’re just a click away from finding all your facts on one page for free.



In most cases you can read a few pages of their back copies to determine what they publish, check the current editor’s name to know who to send your material to, and generally establish whether they accept unsolicited material or not before sending yours. There are also some new publications you may never have heard of, opening your possibilities for more potential work.





UK magazine listing

US magazine listing 

Canadian magazine listing





And here is a link to my hard copy published article (Dec/Jan issue). It's the feature article called Silent Nights starting on page 22.





Here are a bonus couple of online sites where you can earn small amounts of quick cash (from $10.00 an article)





Simple Life Of Joy. They pay through paypal - $10.00 U.S per article.

Common Ties. They pay no money as such, but you stand a good chance at being published if you can write short and snappy ‘answers to questions’ and you can illustrate or take pictures. Plus it’s fun.





For more freelance writing jobs click on the link. It will take you to my big (regularly updated) writing opportunities' page on this blog.



Happy Submitting, and I hope you make some money from one of these leads.






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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

TweetBrand



Twitter is one of the main social networking sites used by bloggers and site owners to share their work for web traffic. Usually, when you post your updates to Twitter, no matter which of the popular applications you use, the links you share are always giving traffic to someone else - giving back-links to their website.



Unless you’re always posting your own links – in which case, you’re a spammer – you don’t get anything out of the free advertisements you give away to other people.





While it’s great to make friends, maintain your relationship to your online colleagues, and have genuine internet connections with other people in cyberspace, it’s also fantastic to be able to leave some of your own identification with each of the thousands of twitter updates you make every month.





Recently, there’s been the introduction of something called, TweetBrand  In a matter of five minutes you could start branding your tweets with your name, and insert a link back to your own website with every post you make. Isn’t that fabulous? But the best thing is, there's an easy, step-by-step, free guide.



image source for above picture





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Friday, January 1, 2010

Top Websites for Writers and Bloggers

Even though I have this information listed elsewhere on A Blogger's Books, I’ve been planning to share it as a blog post for a very long time. According to my Live Traffic Feed (Feedjit), many of my readers leave via these sites after reading my posts, and I just wanted to give them an additional boost.



Maybe some of these will turn up some great writing tips for you. I’ve added the individual by-lines (if they have one) of sites to help you target your search. Here are the ones most visited by hundreds of readers on A Blogger’s Books in 2009.

 Let me know if I've missed your site.



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