Archive for April, 2011
Here’s what I learned when I asked my Quips and Tips writers how I could improve my blogs – I asked them to be brutally honest with me. Their feedback applies to all blogs — not just mine — and can help you attract and keep readers! Here’s one of the most interesting tips I received: [...]
What blogger doesn’t want to get more links to her blog? I know I do, so I asked my Quips and Tips writers what makes them link to blog posts, spread web articles, and keep visiting a blogger’s space. Here’s a great tip, right off the bat: “I really like clean cut minimal looking blogs [...]
If you can’t get published, you’re making mistakes. Freelance writers, here are the top reasons I don’t assign articles – and sometimes don’t even return emails from writers. These tips will help you get your articles (and perhaps books) published…but only if you take a cold, hard look at your own writing. Before the tips, [...]
I’m compiling a list of the best writing websites and blogs – including the reasons why those sites are great for writers. So, tell me which writing site you can’t live without, and give me at least one reason why. Is the website motivating, informational, funny, interesting, or quirky? Is the writer a published author, [...]
Querying and pitching query letters to editors are reliable ways to get freelance writing work. I’ve been on both sides of the fence – I worked as an editor receiving queries, and I worked as a freelance writer pitching magazine articles. These are some of my best tips on how to pitch a query letter and [...]
Why create character sketches before writing stories? To bring your fictional characters to life! These tips for sketching out the personalities, weaknesses, and strengths of the characters in your novel or short story will help you bring those “peeps” alive. Before the tips, a quip: “When writing a novel a writer should create living people… people, not [...]
Creating strong fiction characters involves knowing how to keep track of them. Learn what a character web is, and how to use it to track the relationships between your stock and dynamic characters. But first, learn how talented writers create fiction characters readers never forget… “Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under [...]
These email bloopers or mistakes writers make are not only true and funny, they’ll help you stay out of hot water with editors! I also included tips for emailing pitches to editors of magazines. Have you ever hit “Send” on an email – only to spot a cringe-worthy error just as it launched into cyberspace? [...]
You’ll find selling poetry much easier if you know how to spread the word! These five tips for marketing your book of poems are from author Cherie Burbach. Let her help you sell your poetry in low-key, fun, easy ways… Before the tips, a quip: “Happiness is sharing a bowl of cherries and a book [...]
Finding article ideas that editors will actually pay to publish is the hardest part of freelance writing! I already knew this as a writer – but I’m seeing the problem in a whole new way as an editor. About 90% of the Quips and Tips article ideas I’m pitched are not fresh, specific, tightly focused, creative, or [...]
Or stay connected other ways...