Frailty, thy name is woman.
Well, I went to Sam's Club today with my brand new Visa Freedom credit card, because I'd seen a commercial for a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (well, some kind of Galaxy tablet, not sure which one) and decided I wanted one, and this new credit card would allow me to make a purchase and not have to pay interest on it for 10 months or so.
I wanted the Galaxy because I like the name - but I'm already sort of regretting my choice - for the same price I could have got an IPad 2 which had twice the screen size. But, I went with my first choice.
Unfortunately, Sam's Club doesn't take Visa cards!
Right then and there I should have heeded my own advice, I didn't really need the thing. But if I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 (I'm repeating the name for SEO purposes, so that Google will hopefully rank this post high for anyone searching for that "search phrase" then I could write articles about it and perhaps recoup my investment.
Sam's Club was having a special, get an in-store credit card, and get $40 off any purchase of $100 or more. Of course their credit card charges 22% interest on balances, but since I don't intend to carry a balance...
So I applied and was accepted. Of course. (They don't care about your credit score or anything, these credit card companies. They'll give anyone a card - perhaps unless your credit score is absolute garbage...)
So I bought the tablet, brought it home, and plugged it in to charge up the battery.
Part 1: Where to find the 8 GB micro SD card (memory for storage) and the S pen
While the battery was charging, I searched high and low in the packaging for the SD card and the S pen and couldn't find them anywhere.
The manual was of little help - it's a tiny thing. Which is why I am operating on the assumption that all new users of this device are going to have some of the same problems I had and probably will have, and so this User Manual for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 will be published over several posts.
I finally found where the SD card was supposed to go, opened it up (it's a flimsy thing, and glanced in and didn't see anything. I also didn't expect it to be already installed .... but it was. When I looked inside that slot again it was there. Since it's black, it wasn't easy to see the first time. It's like an SD card for a camera - you press it in to insert it, and you press it again to remove it. So I pressed it back in and closed it up.
But I still didn't know where the S pen was. I tried to search online for the phrase "Where is the S pen in the packaging for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and saw a picture of someone using the pen, and it looked like the pen was attached to the device by a USB cord of some kind.
So I thought, well, I've been cheated out of my pen.
And I emailed support and asked them where it was.
And five minutes later I thought, well... and I turned the tablet over.
And there in nice big print was the icon for the pen - it inserted into a little hole in the device itself. And there was an icon for the SD card as well.
And so of course I felt pretty stupid.
But if the "manual" (I use that term loosely - it's a "Quick Start Guide") had just said, "The pen is in a slot in the device itself" I wouldn't have had a problem. The Guide features a picture of the device and arrows with numbers pointing to where things are, and No. 9 is S Pen slot, but just because it has a slot doesn't imply that the pen is in the slot! (In the past, I've had things shipped that were separate and you had to install them all to prevent Electrostatic build up and I was expecting something of the same nature here.)
Anyway, my readers might shake their heads at the above story and think me pretty stupid, but I'll lay dollars to donuts that as this User Guide progresses, you'll get some use out of it. (For example, why is it that when you input your password to access the internet, the Connect button remains grey, so you can't say Connect? Well, it's because even before you try to connect, the device can tell whether or not you've used the correct password or not! I had thought our Wi-fi password was one thing, but it was actually another, and if the device had allowed me to try to connect but said, "wrong password" I would have known that I was using the wrong password. But instead it wouldn't even let me try to connect - but it would let me sign on as a Guest to my Wi-fi - and then acted as if I was connected, when I tried to go through the rest of the sign in process, but I never really was. I went up to find the correct password, because even when I tried to sign in as Guest (when I went to the Internet and tried to log in, with the device telling me I was logged into wi-fe) it kept telling me wrong password.
Found the right password, but that still wouldn't work. So I decided to go back to the initial set up screen to switch from Guest to my actual Wi Fi account - and it took a helluva long time to find it, as I will describe tomorrow.)
But I found it, input the correct password, and immediately the greyed-out Connect Button ungreyed and let me log in.
So that will be the subject of tomorrow's post in the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 User's Guide.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Misperceptions....
I read the blog of a certain individual who is a successful boutique soundtrack producer.
Today, he made a comment in his blog entry that "Yesterday hundreds of thousands people spent money they weren't supposed to have."
And he seems to think that this means that it isn't true that we live in a depressed economy, it isn't true that jobs under the President have not recovered, etc. etc.
This is an intelligent guy, so I was surprised by his total misunderstanding of the situation.
I would be willing to bet that 90% of the people who went out in droves on Black Friday did indeed spend money that they do not have.
It's very easy to do.
They used their credit cards.
So all of these people snapped up deals, and maybe 90% of them used a brand new credit card that won't charge them any interest on their purchases for a specific amount of time. But I'd also be willing to bet that 90% of those people bought so much stuff that when that introductory period is over, they will then start paying 22% interest on their purchases.
I say this bit about credit cards from experience. For the last several months, not a day goes by that I do not receive at least one, and usually two or three, letters from a credit card company telling me I've been pre-approved for a credit card.
And a month or so ago, when I went into Barnes & Noble, they were encouraging people to get their credit card as well.
5% rebate on all purchases made in a B&N, and one point for every dollar spent everywhere else. Plus a free $25 gift card "on my first purchase."
So I applied for that one online and was accepted immediately.
The only problem is I've been seeing the Silverlight (Silver-something) commercials by Samuel L. Jackson lately, and with that card you get 5% cash back on every purchase....every damn day. (I'm sure I saw at least one version of this commercial where he did say the word "damn," but I haven't seen it recently.)
That of course would be a much better deal, but I've got so many credit cards now (yes - I applied and was accepted for all these major credit cards (each one with a different name, for example Visa has the Freedom card, which I now have, but I prefer the look of the Slate card they offer, it's a sad thing when you can apply for credit cards based solely on their appearance), this despite the fact that I am self-employed - they must have gone solely on my credit score because they sure didn't have an employer to talk to).
Long story short, I could have gone out on Black Friday and bought $7,000 worth of goods, spending money I don't have, but I learned my lesson about the tender trap of credit cards decades ago.
(I applied for the cards just out of curiosity, just to see if they'd actually give them to me, I don't need them and don't intend to use them - except the B&N card, of course.. The others are tucked away just in case of an emergency - and knock on wood I'll never have to use them.)
People spend an average of $700 on Christmas presents
This is another sad statistic. I don't spend more than $100 on my Christmas gifts for folks, but that's because all I give are books.
Most people go into debt to buy Christmas presents, reinforcing to little children that Christmas is all about receiving presents - and of course that is just what businesses want you to think. These days, if a kid doesn't get hundreds of dollars worth of gifts - that outpace what he received the year before, he or she tends to throw a fit - or parents suspect this and pile on the gifts just to prevent it from happening.
It will be very interesting to read a year from now just how many people default on their credit card bills, or go to the Credit Card Helpers of America (I can't remember their actual name) where they can get their debt cut down to pennies on the dollar. Good for them, good for the stores that sold them the merchandise, not so good for the "evil" credit card companies who have to eat the debt.
Pay off your credit card bill every month
If at all possible, you should pay off your credit card every month. Use the thing for convenience because you get points for it, but never spend more than you can afford to pay off. Otherwise - every single thing you buy will cost twice as much as it originally cost you, in interest (and potential late fees).
For freelance writers, especially, whose earnings each month can fluctuate, going into debt with credit cards is to be avoided if at all possible.
_____
88
Today, he made a comment in his blog entry that "Yesterday hundreds of thousands people spent money they weren't supposed to have."
And he seems to think that this means that it isn't true that we live in a depressed economy, it isn't true that jobs under the President have not recovered, etc. etc.
This is an intelligent guy, so I was surprised by his total misunderstanding of the situation.
I would be willing to bet that 90% of the people who went out in droves on Black Friday did indeed spend money that they do not have.
It's very easy to do.
They used their credit cards.
So all of these people snapped up deals, and maybe 90% of them used a brand new credit card that won't charge them any interest on their purchases for a specific amount of time. But I'd also be willing to bet that 90% of those people bought so much stuff that when that introductory period is over, they will then start paying 22% interest on their purchases.
I say this bit about credit cards from experience. For the last several months, not a day goes by that I do not receive at least one, and usually two or three, letters from a credit card company telling me I've been pre-approved for a credit card.
And a month or so ago, when I went into Barnes & Noble, they were encouraging people to get their credit card as well.
5% rebate on all purchases made in a B&N, and one point for every dollar spent everywhere else. Plus a free $25 gift card "on my first purchase."
So I applied for that one online and was accepted immediately.
The only problem is I've been seeing the Silverlight (Silver-something) commercials by Samuel L. Jackson lately, and with that card you get 5% cash back on every purchase....every damn day. (I'm sure I saw at least one version of this commercial where he did say the word "damn," but I haven't seen it recently.)
That of course would be a much better deal, but I've got so many credit cards now (yes - I applied and was accepted for all these major credit cards (each one with a different name, for example Visa has the Freedom card, which I now have, but I prefer the look of the Slate card they offer, it's a sad thing when you can apply for credit cards based solely on their appearance), this despite the fact that I am self-employed - they must have gone solely on my credit score because they sure didn't have an employer to talk to).
Long story short, I could have gone out on Black Friday and bought $7,000 worth of goods, spending money I don't have, but I learned my lesson about the tender trap of credit cards decades ago.
(I applied for the cards just out of curiosity, just to see if they'd actually give them to me, I don't need them and don't intend to use them - except the B&N card, of course.. The others are tucked away just in case of an emergency - and knock on wood I'll never have to use them.)
People spend an average of $700 on Christmas presents
This is another sad statistic. I don't spend more than $100 on my Christmas gifts for folks, but that's because all I give are books.
Most people go into debt to buy Christmas presents, reinforcing to little children that Christmas is all about receiving presents - and of course that is just what businesses want you to think. These days, if a kid doesn't get hundreds of dollars worth of gifts - that outpace what he received the year before, he or she tends to throw a fit - or parents suspect this and pile on the gifts just to prevent it from happening.
It will be very interesting to read a year from now just how many people default on their credit card bills, or go to the Credit Card Helpers of America (I can't remember their actual name) where they can get their debt cut down to pennies on the dollar. Good for them, good for the stores that sold them the merchandise, not so good for the "evil" credit card companies who have to eat the debt.
Pay off your credit card bill every month
If at all possible, you should pay off your credit card every month. Use the thing for convenience because you get points for it, but never spend more than you can afford to pay off. Otherwise - every single thing you buy will cost twice as much as it originally cost you, in interest (and potential late fees).
For freelance writers, especially, whose earnings each month can fluctuate, going into debt with credit cards is to be avoided if at all possible.
_____
88
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Blog Ideas: Choose a TV show....
I typically like to know how an episode of a TV show ends just as I start to watch it - usually one of the Law & Order franchise but really, any drama.
I don't like to watch the episodes all the way through unless I know how they are going to end - so I go online and do a search on the series and the the episode name and "recap," and sometimes it comes up that a Law & Order blog (All Things Law & Order) has the recap (a blog that the author has not monetized, interestingly - I'd've thought she'd've joined Amazon.com or BN.com and put ads for the DVDs or videogames on her site...)
Anyway...I'm also watching a Mexican soap opera called Una Familia Con Suerte, in an effort to improve my Spanish. Actually, the term for these things is a "telenovela."
This one lasted for a year, and I think it's about halfway through now. I didn't want to have to wait a whole year to find out how it ended, so I went online and did searches for recaps of the episodes - and there *is* a site that shares summaries of Spanish telenovelas, in English, but it's very poorly designed and I could never track down all the daily episodes for Una Familia Con Suerte. (And it wasn't moneitized either.) Finally I did find a site, in Spanish, and learned what I wanted to know...(and the last episode is actually available to watch on YouTube!)
So, if you like a TV show - probably a drama would have more change of getting readers than a sitcom - whether it's a new one that is just starting or one that has been on for a while, try starting a blog dedicated to that TV show and providing synopses of episodes, because you may be sure someone's going to do a search on the web to find out how a particular episode ended and who the villain was or who lives or dies - depending on what type of show it is, of course.
Moonetize it with DVDs of the shows, novelizations of episodes, etc. as an affiliate with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.
Specialist blogs are much more successful than generalist blogs when it comes to earning money from affiliate sites (unless you live in Hollywood and can do a gossip site on all the actors, but that's rare...)
Find a TV show - or any subject that interests you - start a blog and post in it daily and make it an "authority site," and you will attract visitors and income from Google Adsense and your book store affiliates.
(Be aware that it may take three or four weeks before you start getting hits - don't worry about how long it takes for Search Engines to start indexing you or people to start finding you. If you post quality content every day - sooner or later your audience will arrive.
If it's a Really Popular Show....
Some shows become so popular that people will want to create their own magazine or site dedicated to the show, and will look for a freelance writer who will want to write articles on the show in all its aspects - so if you like a show, be sure to keep detailed notes on it.
I actually once had the opportunity to write articles on the show The Living Dead- or whatever that latest zombie show is called...it would have paid well but I would have had to track down the episodes and watch them - since horror shows aren't my cup of tea.... however, fortunately I got a much better gig at the same time so had to tender my regrets...
But, "you never know," as the saying goes.
I don't like to watch the episodes all the way through unless I know how they are going to end - so I go online and do a search on the series and the the episode name and "recap," and sometimes it comes up that a Law & Order blog (All Things Law & Order) has the recap (a blog that the author has not monetized, interestingly - I'd've thought she'd've joined Amazon.com or BN.com and put ads for the DVDs or videogames on her site...)
Anyway...I'm also watching a Mexican soap opera called Una Familia Con Suerte, in an effort to improve my Spanish. Actually, the term for these things is a "telenovela."
This one lasted for a year, and I think it's about halfway through now. I didn't want to have to wait a whole year to find out how it ended, so I went online and did searches for recaps of the episodes - and there *is* a site that shares summaries of Spanish telenovelas, in English, but it's very poorly designed and I could never track down all the daily episodes for Una Familia Con Suerte. (And it wasn't moneitized either.) Finally I did find a site, in Spanish, and learned what I wanted to know...(and the last episode is actually available to watch on YouTube!)
So, if you like a TV show - probably a drama would have more change of getting readers than a sitcom - whether it's a new one that is just starting or one that has been on for a while, try starting a blog dedicated to that TV show and providing synopses of episodes, because you may be sure someone's going to do a search on the web to find out how a particular episode ended and who the villain was or who lives or dies - depending on what type of show it is, of course.
Moonetize it with DVDs of the shows, novelizations of episodes, etc. as an affiliate with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.
Specialist blogs are much more successful than generalist blogs when it comes to earning money from affiliate sites (unless you live in Hollywood and can do a gossip site on all the actors, but that's rare...)
Find a TV show - or any subject that interests you - start a blog and post in it daily and make it an "authority site," and you will attract visitors and income from Google Adsense and your book store affiliates.
(Be aware that it may take three or four weeks before you start getting hits - don't worry about how long it takes for Search Engines to start indexing you or people to start finding you. If you post quality content every day - sooner or later your audience will arrive.
If it's a Really Popular Show....
Some shows become so popular that people will want to create their own magazine or site dedicated to the show, and will look for a freelance writer who will want to write articles on the show in all its aspects - so if you like a show, be sure to keep detailed notes on it.
I actually once had the opportunity to write articles on the show The Living Dead- or whatever that latest zombie show is called...it would have paid well but I would have had to track down the episodes and watch them - since horror shows aren't my cup of tea.... however, fortunately I got a much better gig at the same time so had to tender my regrets...
But, "you never know," as the saying goes.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Doctor Who Marathon on BBC America Today: or Didn't I Record These Already?
or It Pays To Keep A Detailed Log of Everything You Do!
It may seem a little off-topic to be writing about the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America today, but it's really not.
You can turn any of your interests, and any event that happens to you, into a blog post, a memoir for a magazine article, or just use it as an exercise in writing.
In the 1980s, whenever there was a Doctor Who Marathon, it would feature the 4th Doctor, my Doctor, the one I grew up with: Tom Baker.
Today's marathon features Matt Smith, and I have to admit I never watched his episodes before - and I'm not watching them now, I've got too much work to do. But I am DVD-R-ing them.
And I'm doing this even though I think that I actually did DVD-R them before, when they were shown in their normal times slot on BBC America last year, but I never watched them then either. A combination of not having time or being in the mood.
Because I'm so busy, I typically watch TV shows I know I'm going to like - because I work in front of my TV. I concentrate on my writing, looking up at the TV only when my favorite parts of a particular episode are on, and since I know the shows by heart I know when to do that!
But if you were to ask me - okay, where are all these Doctor Who shows you supposedly DVD-R-ed, I couldn't tell you.
And you see...this is the value of serendipity.
Originally this blog post was just going to be a paean to Doctor Who, a ground-breaking series that holds a special place in my heart for reasons I won't go into now, but as I wrote the direction of the post changed - that happens sometimes.
Now it's a post about Organization and Keeping Track of Your Belongings/Collections.
If you're not organized, you really need to be. Otherwise you can waste time and money (albeit perhaps not a lot of it, DVD-Rs aren't that expensive) duplicating effort you've already done.
Money may not be that precious (you can always earn more), but time definitely is.
Let me repeat that: Time is precious, and you shouldn't waste any of it unnecessarily.
So when you pack away some of your belongings, either by necessity or just because you're cleaning house, make sure you make a note of everything you pack away and where you've packed it away, and keep those detailed notes in an easily accessible notebook so you always know where to go to find out what you've put away and where you've put them!
Trusting in your memory, especially after a year or two of "out of sight, out of mind," just doesn't work.
The same thing holds true for your writing. Presumably you write everything on your computer, but do you have all your files properly named so you can find them easily? You may depend on your Search function on the computer to be able to find any file, but sometimes that Search function can go wonky, or you may not remember what you named the file, if you don't give them sensible, identifiable names but rather whimsical ones.
So, go, enjoy The Doctor Who marathon. And remember - the best Doctors were Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. These new guys, pshaw!
It may seem a little off-topic to be writing about the Doctor Who marathon on BBC America today, but it's really not.
You can turn any of your interests, and any event that happens to you, into a blog post, a memoir for a magazine article, or just use it as an exercise in writing.
In the 1980s, whenever there was a Doctor Who Marathon, it would feature the 4th Doctor, my Doctor, the one I grew up with: Tom Baker.
Today's marathon features Matt Smith, and I have to admit I never watched his episodes before - and I'm not watching them now, I've got too much work to do. But I am DVD-R-ing them.
And I'm doing this even though I think that I actually did DVD-R them before, when they were shown in their normal times slot on BBC America last year, but I never watched them then either. A combination of not having time or being in the mood.
Because I'm so busy, I typically watch TV shows I know I'm going to like - because I work in front of my TV. I concentrate on my writing, looking up at the TV only when my favorite parts of a particular episode are on, and since I know the shows by heart I know when to do that!
But if you were to ask me - okay, where are all these Doctor Who shows you supposedly DVD-R-ed, I couldn't tell you.
And you see...this is the value of serendipity.
Originally this blog post was just going to be a paean to Doctor Who, a ground-breaking series that holds a special place in my heart for reasons I won't go into now, but as I wrote the direction of the post changed - that happens sometimes.
Now it's a post about Organization and Keeping Track of Your Belongings/Collections.
If you're not organized, you really need to be. Otherwise you can waste time and money (albeit perhaps not a lot of it, DVD-Rs aren't that expensive) duplicating effort you've already done.
Money may not be that precious (you can always earn more), but time definitely is.
Let me repeat that: Time is precious, and you shouldn't waste any of it unnecessarily.
So when you pack away some of your belongings, either by necessity or just because you're cleaning house, make sure you make a note of everything you pack away and where you've packed it away, and keep those detailed notes in an easily accessible notebook so you always know where to go to find out what you've put away and where you've put them!
Trusting in your memory, especially after a year or two of "out of sight, out of mind," just doesn't work.
The same thing holds true for your writing. Presumably you write everything on your computer, but do you have all your files properly named so you can find them easily? You may depend on your Search function on the computer to be able to find any file, but sometimes that Search function can go wonky, or you may not remember what you named the file, if you don't give them sensible, identifiable names but rather whimsical ones.
So, go, enjoy The Doctor Who marathon. And remember - the best Doctors were Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. These new guys, pshaw!
Writing Magazine Roundup: Writer's Yearbook 2014
Writer's Yearbook 2014, Special Annual Issue from Writer's Digest magazine.
Prepare Yourself
Build Your Book's Success
For Your Reference
Endnotes
Prepare Yourself
- 2013: The Year in Review
- Grow Your Freelance Business, by Roger Morris
- How to Write the How-To, by Christina Katz
- Find Freelance Opportunities Online, by Carol Tice
- Paid in Full, by Debbie Swanson
Build Your Book's Success
- Ask the Agent, by Barbara Poelle
- Crafting Queries & Synopses by Janice Hussein
- The Digital Age of Nonfiction Book Proposals, by Jane Friedman
- Rewriting the Rules of Marketing, by Kevin Kaiser
For Your Reference
- The 15th Annual 101 Best Websites for Writers
- The Top 100 Markets for Book & Magazine Writers
Endnotes
- 5-Minute Memoir: The Art of Falling Without Hitting the Ground
Friday, November 22, 2013
Successful Book Review Blogging #2: Choose a specific niche
Unless you have a lot of friends who can help you review books - and some of you might be at that point, you have time to read and review only one or two books a day.
(How can you read two 300-page books in a day? Well, you're reviewing, not reading. You read the first two chapters. A couple of chapters in the middle, and the last two chapters, and from that you can craft a review.)
The best thing to do is choose a niche - something your book review blog will be known for. You can review only mysteries (which consists of a pretty wide range - the science fiction novel Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov is a mystery, as is The Naked Sun), or you can review only science fiction - and please, please distinguish that from fantasy because science fiction does not equate to fantasy!
Romance books, young adult, children's - all these make for very easy reading, if you feel that you have to read a book straight through before you can review it.
Non fiction is also a separate category, but you can specialize here as well - books that teach you how to use computers and their programs, photography books, how-to manuals, travel books, and so on.
It's not necessary to feature only new books, too. When you're just starting out, why not review books you've already read - call them "retro reviews" or "vintage reviews" or something of that nature. By doing this, you can write several reviews quite quickly to place on your blog, as a foundation for the new reviews to come.
Below are a few books you might like to read, including Faint Praise, The Plight of Book Reviewing in America which talk about the actual subject rather than being a how-to guide:
Writing Magazines Roundup: The WriterNovember 2013
Table of Contents for The Writer Magazine, November 2013
Departments
Features
Check out their site at http://www.writermag.com
Departments
- Breakthrough: The 40-year Novel
- Writing essentials: Character profile (Having trouble with characters? Interview them)
- Off the cuff: Filling the tanks (Looking for great ideas? Travel may help)
- Write stuff: Between the sheets (Be fearless about intimacy in your work)
- Freelance Success: Teen time (YA markets)
- Conference Insider: Magical Space (India's Jaipur Literary Festival renews joy)
- Literary Spotlight: Father's Day (Kindling quarterly)
Features
- Cave Art: Andre Dubus III
- That's a Wrap (video to sell books)
- Lonely arts: How to stay connected to others
- Slams: poetry slam
- Hannah Moskowitz on the edge (interview)
- Character and Point of View: Alexander Maksik
Check out their site at http://www.writermag.com
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Free Book Download: How To Create and Monetize Your Blog(s)
The first issue of Freelance Writer Magazine will be available on December 1, 2013.
In the meantime, please feel free to download this guide to creating and monetizing a blog, written by Caroline Miniscule (owner of several blogs, as well as author of such books on the Kindle and Nook as The Coldest Equations: The Labyrinth Makers, The Lady and the Tiger...Moth, The Powder Puff Derby Puzzle and Radiation Theatre: The Science Fiction Quiz Book.
This guide will take you on a step-by-step journey from blog creation to choosing a template, arranging the layout, and adding "Gadgets" that allow you to monetize your blog.
You'll also learn how to format your posts - bolding and italicizing your text, adding H1, H2 and H3 tags, justifying it, adding bulleted or numbered lists, adding (and optimizing) images, adding links and video, and scheduling your blog entries to post on whatever day(s) you'd like.
The book is fully illustrated so you need only follow the illustrations to create and monetize your blog, with no stress or confusion. Once you create your blog, you can start posting, and after a month to establish the blog's reliability, you can join various affiliate programs and start making money!
http://volcanoseven.com/FreelanceWriterMagazine/Covers/MinisculeBlogGuide.pdf
In the meantime, please feel free to download this guide to creating and monetizing a blog, written by Caroline Miniscule (owner of several blogs, as well as author of such books on the Kindle and Nook as The Coldest Equations: The Labyrinth Makers, The Lady and the Tiger...Moth, The Powder Puff Derby Puzzle and Radiation Theatre: The Science Fiction Quiz Book.
This guide will take you on a step-by-step journey from blog creation to choosing a template, arranging the layout, and adding "Gadgets" that allow you to monetize your blog.
You'll also learn how to format your posts - bolding and italicizing your text, adding H1, H2 and H3 tags, justifying it, adding bulleted or numbered lists, adding (and optimizing) images, adding links and video, and scheduling your blog entries to post on whatever day(s) you'd like.
The book is fully illustrated so you need only follow the illustrations to create and monetize your blog, with no stress or confusion. Once you create your blog, you can start posting, and after a month to establish the blog's reliability, you can join various affiliate programs and start making money!
http://volcanoseven.com/FreelanceWriterMagazine/Covers/MinisculeBlogGuide.pdf
Writing Magazines Roundup: The Writer's Chronicle, Oct/Nov 2013
I browse my local Barnes & Noble and local magazine store (City News) for magazines all the time. I don't usually pay attention to the writing magazines since they are all typically 90% devoted to fiction, but I decided to start a feature on this blog called Writing Magazines Roundup, and I'll be sharing the Tables of Contents for all these magazines, since there are actually plenty of fiction writers out there who write on a freelance basis. Folks - this blog entry is for you.
The Writer's Chronicle, Volume 46, Number 2, October/November 2013. $5.95. 146 pages
The magazine is published by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, or AWP. Membership dues $70 for one year. Magazine subscription alone, $20 for six issues.
Table of Contents
Features
1. An interview with Kristen Iversen, by Cassandra Kircher. Iversen is the author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats (non-fiction)
2. A Spiral Walk Through the Golden Mean: A Foray into the Structure of Thought & Invention, by Leslie Ullman
3. Economy, Intensity & Ferocity, the Poems of R. S. Thomas, by Stephen Dobyns
4. The Changing Publishing Landscape: Merger to Challenr Amazon's Monopoly
5. More: An Interview with Jane Hirschfield, by Amy Pence. Hirschfield's 7th book of poems is Come, Thief!
6. Marianne Moore & the Politesse of Protest, by Joy Ladin.
7. The Golden Pelt: Berryman & the Fame Equatio, by Michael Shou-Yung Shum
8. Hearkee, Ye Raskal! Hear Me, Sirrah: The Conundrum of Dialogue in Historical Fiction, by Larry Feign
News
Departments
The Writer's Chronicle, Volume 46, Number 2, October/November 2013. $5.95. 146 pages
The magazine is published by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, or AWP. Membership dues $70 for one year. Magazine subscription alone, $20 for six issues.
Table of Contents
Features
1. An interview with Kristen Iversen, by Cassandra Kircher. Iversen is the author of Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats (non-fiction)
2. A Spiral Walk Through the Golden Mean: A Foray into the Structure of Thought & Invention, by Leslie Ullman
3. Economy, Intensity & Ferocity, the Poems of R. S. Thomas, by Stephen Dobyns
4. The Changing Publishing Landscape: Merger to Challenr Amazon's Monopoly
5. More: An Interview with Jane Hirschfield, by Amy Pence. Hirschfield's 7th book of poems is Come, Thief!
6. Marianne Moore & the Politesse of Protest, by Joy Ladin.
7. The Golden Pelt: Berryman & the Fame Equatio, by Michael Shou-Yung Shum
8. Hearkee, Ye Raskal! Hear Me, Sirrah: The Conundrum of Dialogue in Historical Fiction, by Larry Feign
News
- Issues: From the Editor's Desk
- AWP in Seattle, Washington
- 2014 Conference Sponsors
- News
- Moveable Type
- Winners of the 2013AWP award Series
- Awards
- Guidelines for the 2014 Intro Journals Project
- Guidelines for the 2014 AWP Award Series
Departments
- Grants & Awards
- Submit
- Conferences, olonies & Centers
- Services
- Bookshelf
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
How To Create Passive Income Streams # 1: Introduction
There are two types of income streams, active and passive.
When someone hires you to write an article, and pays you for it, that's an active income stream. You've had to do something to earn money, and you won't earn more money unless you actively write a new article, or rewrite and submit an old one to someone else, and so on.
Most of our earnings come from active income streams.
But passive income streams can be very profitable as well.
If you have a blog or a website - and really you should have both - and place ads from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, Google Adsense or Clickbank, or any other affiliate program, the money generated from those ads - if any - are passive income streams. You don't have to do anything - the money just comes in.
Now, the money won't come in unless you get a lot of traffic to your blog or your website, and so it's in your best interest to make sure that you do get traffic.
How can you do this?
Well, you have to take action. ;)
Search Engines won't index blogs - or at least, not very high - unless you post in them on a regular basis. Once a week is not enough. Three times a week is barely sufficient, five times a week, or even seven, is best.
You can do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your blogs as well.
Even if you don't want to place Google Adsense ads on your site - and lots of people prefer other adverts - you should still join the program (it costs nothing - you don't need to give them your bank details unless you want to be paid) in order to gain access to their Google Keyword Tool. (The Google Keyword Tool used to be available to anyone but that changed rather recently.)
Use the Google Keyword Tool to input a topic, and see what kind of Search Phrases people use to find out information about that topic. Then, when you write an article for your blog, make sure you use that search phrase a couple of times in your writing. Don't stuff your entry full of that Keyword phrase - use it normally, but use it at least a couple of times.
When someone hires you to write an article, and pays you for it, that's an active income stream. You've had to do something to earn money, and you won't earn more money unless you actively write a new article, or rewrite and submit an old one to someone else, and so on.
Most of our earnings come from active income streams.
But passive income streams can be very profitable as well.
If you have a blog or a website - and really you should have both - and place ads from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, Google Adsense or Clickbank, or any other affiliate program, the money generated from those ads - if any - are passive income streams. You don't have to do anything - the money just comes in.
Now, the money won't come in unless you get a lot of traffic to your blog or your website, and so it's in your best interest to make sure that you do get traffic.
How can you do this?
Well, you have to take action. ;)
Search Engines won't index blogs - or at least, not very high - unless you post in them on a regular basis. Once a week is not enough. Three times a week is barely sufficient, five times a week, or even seven, is best.
You can do SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on your blogs as well.
Even if you don't want to place Google Adsense ads on your site - and lots of people prefer other adverts - you should still join the program (it costs nothing - you don't need to give them your bank details unless you want to be paid) in order to gain access to their Google Keyword Tool. (The Google Keyword Tool used to be available to anyone but that changed rather recently.)
Use the Google Keyword Tool to input a topic, and see what kind of Search Phrases people use to find out information about that topic. Then, when you write an article for your blog, make sure you use that search phrase a couple of times in your writing. Don't stuff your entry full of that Keyword phrase - use it normally, but use it at least a couple of times.
Reviews by Ranpo #2: Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters
Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters
First published 1975, this edition May 28, 2013
First published 1975, this edition May 28, 2013
When writing a book review, not only isthe title of the book and the author needed, but it's also a good idea to provide the publisher and the year published - if you are reviewing a first edition. In one sense it's not quite as necessary anymore, thanks to the fact that every story these days has a computer system so they can order the book if it is not on their shelves, and of course the website for Barnes & Noble, Amazon and used bookstore sites like ABE.com all find the book according to author and title. But book collectors who are only interested in first editions of books do need to know who the publisher is and the publication date, because they specifically want those first editions - of the hardback edition and the paperback edition if there is one. Since I'm reviewing a book that is strictly for reading purposes, and not because I expect anyone to want the first edition, I'm just giving title and author, and publication date.
My review: The opening paragraph
Elizabeth Peters, the pseudonym of the late Barbara Mertz who died in August 2013, had several series of books, but her most popular - and influential - is the Amelia Peabody mystery series, which takes place beginning in "the enlightened decade of the 1880s" and ends in 1923. The first book in the series, Crocodile on the Sandbank was published in 1975. Eighteen more books in the series followed, for a total of nineteen, with the last book in the series published in 2010, A River in the Sky.
Since I'm writing a "retro-review," of a book that was published some 40 years ago, I'm giving some background info on the book and the series itself. This type of opening paragraph would only be used for a retro-review, or reviewing a book that was the latest in a long series of books.
When I first set eyes on Evelyn Barton-Forbes she was walking the streets of Rome--Amelia Peabody, the narrator of this book, is a spinster of 32 years old who has no illusions about herself. "I am too tall," she tells the solicitor who has just told her she's inherited a fortune from her father, "I am too lean in some regions and too amply endowed in others. My nose is too large, my mouth is too wide, and the shape of my chin is positively masculine. Sallow complexions and jetty black hair are not in fashion this season; and I have been informed that eyes of so deep a gray, set under such forbidding black brows, strike terror into the beholder even when they are beaming with benevolence-which my eyes seldom do."(I am informed, by thw self-appointed Critic who reads over my shoulder as I write, that I have already committed an error. If those seemingly simple English words do indeed imply that which I am told they imply to the vulgar, I must in justice to Evelyn find other phrasing.)
In justice to myself, however, I must insist that Evelyn was doing precisely what I have said she was doing, but with no ulterior purpose in mind. Indeed, the poor girl had no no purpose and no means of carrying it out if she had. Our meeting was fortuitous, but fortunate. I had, as I have always had, purpose enough for two.
After spending her life looking after her father - an archaeologist - Amelia intends to satisfy her desire to travel. While in Rome, she meets and helps the destitute Evelyn Burton-Forbes, who has been abandoned by the man whom she thought loved her, and disowned by her wealthy uncle and guardian. Amelia employs her as a companion, not for the sake of propriety, "Oppressed as my sex is in this supposedly enlightened decade of 1880, a woman of my age and station in life can travel abroad alone without offending any but the overly prudish," but because she had been so used to taking care of her father that she wanted someone else to take care of.
While visiting Cairo, Amelia meets the dominating and rude Egyptologist, Radcliffe Emerson, and his much more engaging brother, Walter. Evelyn falls in love with Walter, but she harbors a dark secret that threatens to destroy her happiness. And when mysterious things start to happen...and a mummy walks...Amelia begins to wonder if Evelyn is quite so destitute after all...
This is an attempt to write a brief plot of the book, without giving away too much. After a summary of the plot, it's time to review the book.
The opening chapter of this book reminded me of Agatha Christie's book, The Man In the Brown Suit, which also features a woman protagonist who has looked after her elderly, archaeologist father, been orphaned, finds money enough to travel, and has an adventure...albeit in South Africa rather than Egypt. It's rather an homage to that Christie novel, but of course Peters from that homage, Peters takes her book in entirely different directions.
Amelia Peabody is an engaging heroine; intelligent, "feisty," enthusiastic about her new-found love of Egyptology, and loyal to her friends. Evelyn Burton-Forbes is at the heart of a mystery, and brings danger to not only herself and Amelia but to Radcliffe (she insists on calling him Emerson, he insists on calling her Peabody) and his brother.
Elizabeth Peters tells the tale with a sure hand. She is well-versed in Egypt and the state of Egyptology in the late 1880s - as Barbara Mertz she has a degree in the subject - and evokes the time-period so well that one can feel the sand in one's shoes and hear the grunts of the mummy....
Now it needs a summary.
Crocodile on the Sandbank was published in 1975....Peters would not publish the next book in the series, The Curse of the Pharaoh until six years later, in 1981. From that time on, however, hardly a year passed that did not see a new Amelia Peabody book, as Peters covered the history of Egyptology - and the world - as in World War I - right up until 1923. The series came to an untimely end in 2010, as Peters began a long bout with cancer, finally succumbing in 2013.
Her novels, and in particular her Amelia Peabody series, will live on.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Two Potential Client Pitfalls
Elance is a great site for the freelance writer.
Potential clients from all over the world come there to offer you jobs, and many times if you do a good job, certain clients will use you for all their future work.
But there are dishonest people in every walk of life, and that includes potential clients at Elance.
I've worked through Elance for about ten years and I've only come across four such clients in all that time, so they are few and far between...
So here's a couple of things to be wary of:
Make Sure All Bidders Have To Do The *Same* Sample Test
When it comes to proofreading and editing work, every job usually gets about 80 bids.
The reputable client, who wishes to test bidders on their skills before giving them the job, will upload a single "proofreading test" so that all potential bidders can attach the same test when they submit their bid. There's nothing wrong with this.
But on more than one occasion I've bid on a proofreading job where there is *no* preloaded sample test, and the potential client will contact me and send me a sample page of their document to edit instead.
80 people bid on the job,the potential client might send out 80 different pages of his document, we freelancers edit that single page, the client gets back 80 different pages and he then ends up hiring no one because he doesn't have to - the work's already been done and he hasn't had to pay for it.
Obviously, if the potential client has a row of green circles by his or her name that means the client has purchased a lot of work and can be trusted to not be trying to diddle you out of a free page of work, but if it's a brand new potential client on Elance who proceeds in this fashion, I'd tread carefully.
Don't Do Sample Articles for Free
When you submit a bid on a project, you attach some samples of your writing, or your proofreading work, or what have you. That should be enough.
A minority of potential clients - the crooked ones - will respond to your bid proposal and say something like, "I'm thinking of hiring you, but could you do me a writing sample on "this" or "that" subject, written in the way I need it to be done, so I can make sure you're the person for the job.
Ask them to put a milestone on their job for $5 or $10 - so that if you do this work you will be paid for it, even if they don't choose you.
It's the same principle - someone who has no intention of hiring anyone gets lots of people to send him (or her) a sample article - and if 20, 30 or 40 people have bid on the job, that's 20, 30 or 40 free articles this person has gotten.
Again, you need to use your best judgement - if the client has lots of green dots indicating that they have hired freelancers and do pay, then chances are they are honest...but if it's a new person to Elance, tread carefully.
It All Goes Into The Portfolio
If you do do a sample article and are not chosen for the job, even though the potential client has led you on that you're "in the top ten" and he just wants one more sample, or something of that nature, and the potential client doesn't pay you even a token amount, all is not lost. Add the article to your portfolio - and note down the screen name of the client so that you never bid on his or her jobs again.
Potential clients from all over the world come there to offer you jobs, and many times if you do a good job, certain clients will use you for all their future work.
But there are dishonest people in every walk of life, and that includes potential clients at Elance.
I've worked through Elance for about ten years and I've only come across four such clients in all that time, so they are few and far between...
So here's a couple of things to be wary of:
Make Sure All Bidders Have To Do The *Same* Sample Test
When it comes to proofreading and editing work, every job usually gets about 80 bids.
The reputable client, who wishes to test bidders on their skills before giving them the job, will upload a single "proofreading test" so that all potential bidders can attach the same test when they submit their bid. There's nothing wrong with this.
But on more than one occasion I've bid on a proofreading job where there is *no* preloaded sample test, and the potential client will contact me and send me a sample page of their document to edit instead.
80 people bid on the job,the potential client might send out 80 different pages of his document, we freelancers edit that single page, the client gets back 80 different pages and he then ends up hiring no one because he doesn't have to - the work's already been done and he hasn't had to pay for it.
Obviously, if the potential client has a row of green circles by his or her name that means the client has purchased a lot of work and can be trusted to not be trying to diddle you out of a free page of work, but if it's a brand new potential client on Elance who proceeds in this fashion, I'd tread carefully.
Don't Do Sample Articles for Free
When you submit a bid on a project, you attach some samples of your writing, or your proofreading work, or what have you. That should be enough.
A minority of potential clients - the crooked ones - will respond to your bid proposal and say something like, "I'm thinking of hiring you, but could you do me a writing sample on "this" or "that" subject, written in the way I need it to be done, so I can make sure you're the person for the job.
Ask them to put a milestone on their job for $5 or $10 - so that if you do this work you will be paid for it, even if they don't choose you.
It's the same principle - someone who has no intention of hiring anyone gets lots of people to send him (or her) a sample article - and if 20, 30 or 40 people have bid on the job, that's 20, 30 or 40 free articles this person has gotten.
Again, you need to use your best judgement - if the client has lots of green dots indicating that they have hired freelancers and do pay, then chances are they are honest...but if it's a new person to Elance, tread carefully.
It All Goes Into The Portfolio
If you do do a sample article and are not chosen for the job, even though the potential client has led you on that you're "in the top ten" and he just wants one more sample, or something of that nature, and the potential client doesn't pay you even a token amount, all is not lost. Add the article to your portfolio - and note down the screen name of the client so that you never bid on his or her jobs again.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Reviews by Ranpo #1: Vader's Little Princess
I will be reviewing a graphic novel in this first book review entry.
Vader's Little Princess, by Jeffrey Brown, 2013, Chronicle Books LLC.
http://www.StarWars.com
Because I am an Amazon.com associate, I can also embed a sales box for every book I review, and so of course I will do so:
and since you should never miss an opportunity to offer something of value to your readers, I'll also share the sales box for the companion book in this series, even though I haven't read it yet:
There's something serendipitous about searching for books on Amazon (and Barnes & Noble - you can be an associate of both, by the way) - I've also just discovered that there's not only a Vader's Little Princess Wall Calendar 2014, but also a book called William Shakespeare's Star Wars, which might be a fun read. I'll have to check it out later.
The Review
My library has a single section given over to graphic novels for adults - about five long shelves worth. (The graphic novels for kids are in the kid's section on the second floor - that's where my favorite graphic novels are to be found, the Tintin works).
I browsed through this section last night on a whim, just to see if there was anything there to interest me. As is the way of things, I saw nothing that caught my eye until the very end of the shelves, when I saw the title Vader's Little Princess.
It was an intriguing title. I thought..."What the heck?" I picked up the book - a small one, about 5 X 6, and discovered that the "conceit" was that Darth Vader was raising his daughter Leia on the Death Star. It's 60 pages long, and isn't really a novel at all, but rather a series of one-page vignettes, jokes - whatever the technical term is!
I glanced through a few of them, found them amusing, and decided to give this book the honor of the first to be reviewed by Edogawa Ranpo for the Freelance Writer Magazine blog.
The Voice
Whatever you write, you have a "voice" that you can use. You can write in a straight-forward way and keep your personality out of it, or you can write in a friendly, chatty way and attempt to draw your reader "in" to your world. Some people enjoy the chatty style, others look at it askance and think, "You've spent four paragraphs maundering on about you - get to the book review, already."
I have modeled my review style on the essay style of Isaac Asimov - science fiction writer and science popularizer. In his non-fiction science essays - at least the ones published in his monthly column for The Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy (SF & F), he'd spend the first two paragraphs telling an anecdote before getting in to the essay proper. I liked that, I have adopted it for my use. Of course Asimov's readers enjoyed these little personal insights because they were reading about the life of Asimov - will people enjoy the same type of "personal anecdotes" from someone whom they otherwise don't know at all? Time will tell.
Back to the Review
Vader's Little Princess is written and illustrated by Jeffrey Brown, and quite frankly it is a lot of fun. Brown knows his Star Wars. Leia is presented as a little girl with the donut swirls by her ears, and an Ewok teddy bear. Usually she wears the white dress that we saw in the first Star Wars movie, but occasionally she's in other costumes.
For example, Brown presents an teenage version of Leia, dressed in her slave girl costume from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, her back to her father, who tells her, "You're not going out dressed like that!"
The opening page of the book, with text reminiscent of the opening prologue in the first Star Wars sets the scene:
Episode Three and Three-Quarters
VADER'S LITTLE PRINCESS
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, continues to rule the Galactic Empire and is out to destroy the heroic Rebel Alliance. Meanwhile, he must raise his young daughter, Leia, as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious teenager...
So there are panels showing Vader teaching Leia how to "drive" the Death Star, Vader taking Leia to school in one of the Walkers from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Vader wondering if Leia is wearing her pajama bottoms to school, Vader staring at the slumbering Leia and thinking, "Her resistance to getting out of bed is considerable. It will take some time before we can wake her."
There are other homages to the dialog of the three movies presented as well. For example, Leia is holding up a cellphone and says, "I think it's telemarketer's calling." Darth replies, "Leave them to me, I will deal with them myself."
Han Solo is cast as Leia's date in her teenage years, and her brother Luke makes an appearance now and then as well.
This little book is a lot of fun and I think fans of the original Star Wars trilogy will find it amusing. Brown knows the movies inside and out, and it shows. The drawings are in the "comic book" style, but rendered with precision.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Successful Book Review Blogging: #1. Choose a memorable title
A new feature of this blog is Reviews by Ranpo, which will be an extended course in how to write book reviews.
1. If you're going to start up a blog for book reviews - and why shouldn't you? - make sure you choose a memorable name.
Edogawa Ranpo is the Japanese way of saying Edgar Allan Poe. I can't remember how I learned that - I think I was reading some history of the mystery genre book...
Now, by rights I should save this name for a blog that focuses on reviews of mysteries, but I like it so I'm going to use it for this teaching project, in which I'll write reviews of all books that catch my fancy.
It's memorable because it's alliterative: Reviews by Ranpo. Alliterative names are always popular and easy to remember.
And the name under which I'll sign all my posts, Edogawa Ranpo, is "exotic" and also easily memorable.
1. If you're going to start up a blog for book reviews - and why shouldn't you? - make sure you choose a memorable name.
Edogawa Ranpo is the Japanese way of saying Edgar Allan Poe. I can't remember how I learned that - I think I was reading some history of the mystery genre book...
Now, by rights I should save this name for a blog that focuses on reviews of mysteries, but I like it so I'm going to use it for this teaching project, in which I'll write reviews of all books that catch my fancy.
It's memorable because it's alliterative: Reviews by Ranpo. Alliterative names are always popular and easy to remember.
And the name under which I'll sign all my posts, Edogawa Ranpo, is "exotic" and also easily memorable.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Video: What Does It Take To Become A Professional Writer?
Everything you need to become a successful professional freelance writer, distilled into one minute:
Our first video. At least, for FWM. ; ) In future issues of FWM we'll teach you how to make book trailers, videologs, and so on.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Increase Your Typing Speed Online
I had been a secretary for many years - but long after the age of taking shorthand dictation, I'm happy to say! - and have been a freelance writer for many years as well.
I never had to worry about my typing speed. I assumed I was pretty fast, but I never worried about it.
Then one day last year I decided I was leaving money on the table by not bidding on the transcription jobs offered at Elance.
So I decided I'd better improve my typing speed to be as fast as I could make it, so that whatever I bid for these jobs would be adequate for the time it would take me to do them.
And to tell the truth, I improved my speed by playing Typing Terror on the http://Neopets.com website, at http://www.neopets.com/games/game.phtml?game_id=574
However, if you prefer to not go with whimsy and learn like a grownup, there are a few sites online that will help you, including http://typingtest.com.
(They charge money for a typing course, but there are also games there you can play for free, which will increase your typing speed.)
Software to Slow Down Voice Speed
Regardless of how fast you can type, you may come across some people who will dictate a mile a minute, and you just can't keep up.
The solution is easy - use a software that allows you to slow down their voice to whatever speed you can keep up with.
I use VLC (downloadable from VLC.com - it's also a video player as well as an audio player), which allows me to slow down a voice "finely" or greatly.
Then, you just type away happily until the transcription is complete, then listen to the whole thing again at normal speed just to be sure, and bob's your uncle.
How much to bid?
If you have to transcribe a 20 minute dictation, 45 minutes is the BARE MINIMUM of time you should allot. 25 minutes at slowed down speed to type everything, and 20 minutes to listen to it again for quality control.
But there will *always* be delays, as you have to stop and go back again and again over a particular sentence because the person slurs their words or something...
So frankly, for any increment of 20 minutes, I would bid on 1 hour of work. And when you bid this, explain why, because most clients think that it will only take you 20 minutes to transcribe 20 minutes worth of dictation, but even if you can type 100 words a minute, it would take you an hour to do the job properly.
So in your bid just say something like, "For this 20 minute audio file, it will take me one hour to do it. 20 minutes to type as I listen to it, another 20 minutes because there will be times when I have to go back and forth to hear a sentence that has been slurred or otherwise is hard to hear - and in my experience there will always be a few of these in any audio file - and 20 minutes to listen to everything again as part of my quality control process..."
And if you are transcribing foreigners - remember accents can make the process even more difficult, so allot an extra 15 minutes if you're not transcribing someone from the same country as you!
I never had to worry about my typing speed. I assumed I was pretty fast, but I never worried about it.
Then one day last year I decided I was leaving money on the table by not bidding on the transcription jobs offered at Elance.
So I decided I'd better improve my typing speed to be as fast as I could make it, so that whatever I bid for these jobs would be adequate for the time it would take me to do them.
And to tell the truth, I improved my speed by playing Typing Terror on the http://Neopets.com website, at http://www.neopets.com/games/game.phtml?game_id=574
However, if you prefer to not go with whimsy and learn like a grownup, there are a few sites online that will help you, including http://typingtest.com.
(They charge money for a typing course, but there are also games there you can play for free, which will increase your typing speed.)
Software to Slow Down Voice Speed
Regardless of how fast you can type, you may come across some people who will dictate a mile a minute, and you just can't keep up.
The solution is easy - use a software that allows you to slow down their voice to whatever speed you can keep up with.
I use VLC (downloadable from VLC.com - it's also a video player as well as an audio player), which allows me to slow down a voice "finely" or greatly.
Then, you just type away happily until the transcription is complete, then listen to the whole thing again at normal speed just to be sure, and bob's your uncle.
How much to bid?
If you have to transcribe a 20 minute dictation, 45 minutes is the BARE MINIMUM of time you should allot. 25 minutes at slowed down speed to type everything, and 20 minutes to listen to it again for quality control.
But there will *always* be delays, as you have to stop and go back again and again over a particular sentence because the person slurs their words or something...
So frankly, for any increment of 20 minutes, I would bid on 1 hour of work. And when you bid this, explain why, because most clients think that it will only take you 20 minutes to transcribe 20 minutes worth of dictation, but even if you can type 100 words a minute, it would take you an hour to do the job properly.
So in your bid just say something like, "For this 20 minute audio file, it will take me one hour to do it. 20 minutes to type as I listen to it, another 20 minutes because there will be times when I have to go back and forth to hear a sentence that has been slurred or otherwise is hard to hear - and in my experience there will always be a few of these in any audio file - and 20 minutes to listen to everything again as part of my quality control process..."
And if you are transcribing foreigners - remember accents can make the process even more difficult, so allot an extra 15 minutes if you're not transcribing someone from the same country as you!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Blogging as a Career: Book Review Blogs
There are several free blog providers - this one (blogger.com) and Wordpress.com to name just two, where you can create a blog and also monetize it (by becoming an affiliate for Amazon.com, for example, Ebay, Google Adsense and so on).
So, what type of blog can you found that can serve as one among many income streams?
Consider starting a book review blog.
A book review blog serves many purposes.Once it becomes well-established, people and book publishers will send you their books for review (they may do this on their own, or you can email their customer relations folks and ask to be put on a review list). If you have a well-established blog - meaning you have posted in it at least *twice* a week for at least three months, even large publishers may be quite happy to send you books in a certain genre.
If you create a book review blog, you must:
1. Decide on the types of books you will review. Will you do only fiction, only non-fiction, and what genres in each?
2. Give the blog an appropriate name that will be memorable.
3. Read books in your chosen genres and review them thoroughly - 500-word reviews are a minimum, really, to please book publishers.
4. Design your blog site well. Whether it's blogger.com or wordpress or whatever, you should have the capability of creating more pages - one as a contact page, one as a page that describes what your blog is about, etc.) It's on these pages that you'll give your address - a PO Box address would be best, as you want to maintain your privacy) and state that you'll review books in certain genres - and you'll do it for free! (Potential clients will post jobs on Amazon and be willing to pay for reviews - and you can bid on those if you want, but really, it isn't ethical - your readers trust you to write objectively about books.)
4a. You must decide - will you post reviews only of books you like, or will you post negative reviews should you read a book and dislike it? If you bid on a job at Elance, will you specify that you'll give un-biased review? (A potential client may or may not appreciate this - but those who are confident in their book will.)
5. Make the commitment to review. Again, it's only if you post regularly in your blog, at least twice a week - and have done so for at least three months to six months - that authors and publishers will trust your review blog as an "authority blog" and send you review copies.
_____________________________
From now on , a regular feature in this Freelance Writing Magazine blog will be my book review series, Reviews by Ranpo. (I'll explain the name in my inaugural book review post). In these reviews, I'll attempt to teach folks how to write good reviews.
So, what type of blog can you found that can serve as one among many income streams?
Consider starting a book review blog.
A book review blog serves many purposes.Once it becomes well-established, people and book publishers will send you their books for review (they may do this on their own, or you can email their customer relations folks and ask to be put on a review list). If you have a well-established blog - meaning you have posted in it at least *twice* a week for at least three months, even large publishers may be quite happy to send you books in a certain genre.
If you create a book review blog, you must:
1. Decide on the types of books you will review. Will you do only fiction, only non-fiction, and what genres in each?
2. Give the blog an appropriate name that will be memorable.
3. Read books in your chosen genres and review them thoroughly - 500-word reviews are a minimum, really, to please book publishers.
4. Design your blog site well. Whether it's blogger.com or wordpress or whatever, you should have the capability of creating more pages - one as a contact page, one as a page that describes what your blog is about, etc.) It's on these pages that you'll give your address - a PO Box address would be best, as you want to maintain your privacy) and state that you'll review books in certain genres - and you'll do it for free! (Potential clients will post jobs on Amazon and be willing to pay for reviews - and you can bid on those if you want, but really, it isn't ethical - your readers trust you to write objectively about books.)
4a. You must decide - will you post reviews only of books you like, or will you post negative reviews should you read a book and dislike it? If you bid on a job at Elance, will you specify that you'll give un-biased review? (A potential client may or may not appreciate this - but those who are confident in their book will.)
5. Make the commitment to review. Again, it's only if you post regularly in your blog, at least twice a week - and have done so for at least three months to six months - that authors and publishers will trust your review blog as an "authority blog" and send you review copies.
_____________________________
From now on , a regular feature in this Freelance Writing Magazine blog will be my book review series, Reviews by Ranpo. (I'll explain the name in my inaugural book review post). In these reviews, I'll attempt to teach folks how to write good reviews.
The Devil is in the Commas: How to Make Money on Textbroker
I will be writing this blog in an informal style, and as such, I will be placing my commas where I think they need to go to make it easier for my readers to follow the flow and make sense of what I say.
However, when you're writing in formal style - as you have to do for anything at Textbroker.com, you've got to make darn sure you use your commas "correctly," or you'll never get to level 4 or 5 - which is the level you need to be at to make a lot of money.
Nevertheless, Textbroker.com is an excellent site for someone just starting out who needs to build up their portfolio, and start earning money immediately.
With Elance and other freelance sites, prospective clients post a "request for quote" in which they say what they want and what they expect, and freelancers put in their bids. If we're lucky, the prospective client is serious, and will choose one of our bids. More often than not, these RFQs were just info-gathering forays, and no one is chosen at all - so the connects we use are just lost. (Still, that's part of the process, and I'm not complaining. Much.)
With Textbroker.com it is different. (One main difference is while Elance charges a monthly fee - albeit not an onerous one - for each category to which you want to belong, Textbroker doesn't. There is no cost to join Textbroker at all.)
You sign on to Textbroker, give them your payment details - social security and Paypal account, etc, and write a sample. Make this sample as good as you can - make sure all your commas are in the right place because Textbroker editors are death on commas - and once you're accepted, you'll be able to write 5 articles before they put you "on hold" to evaluate what you've written.
If they like the way you've used your commas, as well as your other writing skills, they'll put you at Level 4, which is where you need to be to access the better quality writing assignments.
YOU DON'T NEED TO BID! YOU JUST WRITE!
The nice thing about Textbroker, regardless of in what level you are placed - and most folks go into Level 3 - is that you don't have to fiddle about with bidding on jobs.
The jobs are there, for you - you just select the one you want to do, and you do it.
Once you're done with it, you select another one you want to do, and you do it.
Yes, the jobs can disappear quickly if you're only at Level 3, because that's where most folks are put, but your writing is evaluated every month or so and you can be moved up to Level 4 at any time, so that's good. (What most people do is leave the Textbroker assignments page open and "refresh" it every few minutes, and when a new job appears, snap it up.)
And, as with Elance, if you please your client they can come back to you directly to give you more work.
You don't make as much money on Textbroker as you do on Elance until you get to Level 4 and eventually to 5, but it is very easy money - you can work while you're watching TV, which is what I do (well, I do that regardless of which freelance site I'm working for), so it's hardly like work at all.
So if you need to start earning money quickly, give Textbroker a try.
However, when you're writing in formal style - as you have to do for anything at Textbroker.com, you've got to make darn sure you use your commas "correctly," or you'll never get to level 4 or 5 - which is the level you need to be at to make a lot of money.
Nevertheless, Textbroker.com is an excellent site for someone just starting out who needs to build up their portfolio, and start earning money immediately.
With Elance and other freelance sites, prospective clients post a "request for quote" in which they say what they want and what they expect, and freelancers put in their bids. If we're lucky, the prospective client is serious, and will choose one of our bids. More often than not, these RFQs were just info-gathering forays, and no one is chosen at all - so the connects we use are just lost. (Still, that's part of the process, and I'm not complaining. Much.)
With Textbroker.com it is different. (One main difference is while Elance charges a monthly fee - albeit not an onerous one - for each category to which you want to belong, Textbroker doesn't. There is no cost to join Textbroker at all.)
You sign on to Textbroker, give them your payment details - social security and Paypal account, etc, and write a sample. Make this sample as good as you can - make sure all your commas are in the right place because Textbroker editors are death on commas - and once you're accepted, you'll be able to write 5 articles before they put you "on hold" to evaluate what you've written.
If they like the way you've used your commas, as well as your other writing skills, they'll put you at Level 4, which is where you need to be to access the better quality writing assignments.
YOU DON'T NEED TO BID! YOU JUST WRITE!
The nice thing about Textbroker, regardless of in what level you are placed - and most folks go into Level 3 - is that you don't have to fiddle about with bidding on jobs.
The jobs are there, for you - you just select the one you want to do, and you do it.
Once you're done with it, you select another one you want to do, and you do it.
Yes, the jobs can disappear quickly if you're only at Level 3, because that's where most folks are put, but your writing is evaluated every month or so and you can be moved up to Level 4 at any time, so that's good. (What most people do is leave the Textbroker assignments page open and "refresh" it every few minutes, and when a new job appears, snap it up.)
And, as with Elance, if you please your client they can come back to you directly to give you more work.
You don't make as much money on Textbroker as you do on Elance until you get to Level 4 and eventually to 5, but it is very easy money - you can work while you're watching TV, which is what I do (well, I do that regardless of which freelance site I'm working for), so it's hardly like work at all.
So if you need to start earning money quickly, give Textbroker a try.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Elance: The Bidding Procedure
There are many freelance sites on the internet, most of them reputable. I will deal with the reputable ones in this blog.
First, let's talk about Elance.
When you join Elance, you pay a certain monthly fee for each Category you wish to be able to bid in:
Whatever the Membership level you choose, you get a certain number of "Connects," which you use to bid on jobs.
Because I don't pay for any categories, and belong just belong to the Writing & Translation category, I get 40 connects a month.
When you bid on a job, most of them take 1 connect. If the person offering the job is willing to pay over five hundred dollars, it costs you more connects to make a bid.
If you run out of Connects, you can buy more for a dollar a connect, so they are in essence money.
And that's what makes this so damn annoying - you will find that 90% of the people who put out jobs on which you can bid - never select anyone. They are basically just checking for price.
But - you've got to bid without worrying about that. And it doesn't seem to matter if the person offering the job has a good reputation - offering many jobs and actually awarding a percentage of them, and people who are brand new and have never awarded a job before.
So just bid without worrying about that.
You can also spend 4 extra connects if you want your bid to be "pinned" to the top of the bid list, but I wouldn't bother to do this - it's just a waste of connects since, again, 90% of the time the potential client doesn't choose anyone!
I'll talk more about how to bid and win in future posts.
First, let's talk about Elance.
When you join Elance, you pay a certain monthly fee for each Category you wish to be able to bid in:
- IT & Programming
- Design & Multimedia
- Writing & Translation
- Sales & Marketing
- Admin Support
- Engineering & Manufacturing
- Finance & Management
- Legal
Whatever the Membership level you choose, you get a certain number of "Connects," which you use to bid on jobs.
Because I don't pay for any categories, and belong just belong to the Writing & Translation category, I get 40 connects a month.
When you bid on a job, most of them take 1 connect. If the person offering the job is willing to pay over five hundred dollars, it costs you more connects to make a bid.
If you run out of Connects, you can buy more for a dollar a connect, so they are in essence money.
And that's what makes this so damn annoying - you will find that 90% of the people who put out jobs on which you can bid - never select anyone. They are basically just checking for price.
But - you've got to bid without worrying about that. And it doesn't seem to matter if the person offering the job has a good reputation - offering many jobs and actually awarding a percentage of them, and people who are brand new and have never awarded a job before.
So just bid without worrying about that.
You can also spend 4 extra connects if you want your bid to be "pinned" to the top of the bid list, but I wouldn't bother to do this - it's just a waste of connects since, again, 90% of the time the potential client doesn't choose anyone!
I'll talk more about how to bid and win in future posts.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Can you make a living as a freelance writer?
In today's economy, with more and more people being downsized from their 9 to 5 jobs or having to take cuts in pay, working as a freelance writer is a viable option - for those that have the skills to do it.
In fact, it's easier than ever before to be a freelance writer, thanks to the internet, and such sites as Elance.com, Textbroker.com and ConstantContent.com, which offer writers safe, reliable and steady work and payment - either to their bank accounts (Elance) or to Paypal (Textbroker.com).
Like any profession, though, when you just start out you don't make a lot of money. However, you need to look at it that you're supplementing your income, you are building up your portfolio, and you're getting practice and experience.
After a few years, if you do a good job - and of course you will - you will have built up a stable of clients who come to you for repeat business.
That is when you start to make the money.
The internet has made it easier to be a freelance writer, but it has also depressed income to some extent. Now people all over the world can offer their writing services, and folks in India, Pakistan and so on will work for $1 per 500 words!
However, you mustn't despair about that. Most clients need the quality that a native English speaker brings, and so if you lose some jobs to others who are willing to work for pennies an hour, don't worry about it. (And I"m not criticizing the folks in India, etc. They've got to do what they've got to do to make a living - the sad thing is that working for pennies an hour is good money for many folks over there.)
So, to summarize, yes, you can make a living as a freelance writer, and as you build your skills and expertise you can make a very good living at it.
In this blog, I will explain how you can do that - and of course you should subscribe to the new magazine, Freelance Writer Magazine (first issue available on Kindle, Nook and other e-readers in December), which will help you to do that, also.
In fact, it's easier than ever before to be a freelance writer, thanks to the internet, and such sites as Elance.com, Textbroker.com and ConstantContent.com, which offer writers safe, reliable and steady work and payment - either to their bank accounts (Elance) or to Paypal (Textbroker.com).
Like any profession, though, when you just start out you don't make a lot of money. However, you need to look at it that you're supplementing your income, you are building up your portfolio, and you're getting practice and experience.
After a few years, if you do a good job - and of course you will - you will have built up a stable of clients who come to you for repeat business.
That is when you start to make the money.
The internet has made it easier to be a freelance writer, but it has also depressed income to some extent. Now people all over the world can offer their writing services, and folks in India, Pakistan and so on will work for $1 per 500 words!
However, you mustn't despair about that. Most clients need the quality that a native English speaker brings, and so if you lose some jobs to others who are willing to work for pennies an hour, don't worry about it. (And I"m not criticizing the folks in India, etc. They've got to do what they've got to do to make a living - the sad thing is that working for pennies an hour is good money for many folks over there.)
So, to summarize, yes, you can make a living as a freelance writer, and as you build your skills and expertise you can make a very good living at it.
In this blog, I will explain how you can do that - and of course you should subscribe to the new magazine, Freelance Writer Magazine (first issue available on Kindle, Nook and other e-readers in December), which will help you to do that, also.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Elizabeth Peters RIP
Elizabeth Peters has long been one of my favorite writers, and I was saddened to read just now of her death, on August 8, 2013, at the age of 85.
Admittedly, I had not cared for the later books in her Amelia Peabody series, but the first five or six, were great, as were most of her other books featuring librarian Jacqueline Kirby, and art historian/romance writer Vicki Bliss.
Peters was the pseudonym of Barbara Mertz, who under her own name wrote two non-fiction books on Egyptology - Red Land, Black Land and Temples, Tombs and Heiroglyphics.
If you like a writer, study his or her writing. Although the vast majority of her work was fiction, Barbara Mertz (aka Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters) incorporated information and research into that fiction - and how she presented this background information seamlessly into her plots can be very educational for those wanting to learn how to do it!
Admittedly, I had not cared for the later books in her Amelia Peabody series, but the first five or six, were great, as were most of her other books featuring librarian Jacqueline Kirby, and art historian/romance writer Vicki Bliss.
Peters was the pseudonym of Barbara Mertz, who under her own name wrote two non-fiction books on Egyptology - Red Land, Black Land and Temples, Tombs and Heiroglyphics.
If you like a writer, study his or her writing. Although the vast majority of her work was fiction, Barbara Mertz (aka Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters) incorporated information and research into that fiction - and how she presented this background information seamlessly into her plots can be very educational for those wanting to learn how to do it!
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