Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

What an amazing day! It has been without doubt a day to remember, if only for its feel good factor.

The Royal Wedding captivated audiences from around the world, sending good vibrations throughout all those who tuned into the much heralded event. I, for one, was riveted to the TV as Wills and Kate made their vows to each other. The pomp and pageantry of the ceremony certainly stirred the emotions. It was a great spectacle, even for those who are cynical about the role of the Royals in today’s society.

I felt good and so did millions of others when the Royal Couple exuded genuine warmth and affection as they waved to the crowds who had lined the streets of London to watch the ceremony. And that warmth and affection was reciprocated when Wills and Kate appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the 500,000 well wishers who had gathered to cheer and see the iconic ‘kiss’ between the newlywed Royals. Amazing stuff!

But when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, I got an email from a writing colleague in South Africa. She had sent me a video link from YouTube.

The link was to the performance of Edward Reid, a Scottish drama teacher, during an audition for Britain’s Got Talent. And what a performance it was too. Edward gave a very unusual rendition of some well known nursery rhymes accompanied by an instrumental of Leona Lewis’ ‘Run’. It was simply brilliant! Way to go Edward!

I guess today was one of those rare inspirational days when hope was restored to a world beset by crisis and conflict. If today taught me anything, it was never to lose faith in mankind’s indomitable spirit and ability to reach for the stars.

Big or small, young or old, royal or commoner, we owe it to ourselves and others to radiate a sense of positivity in all that we do. Being positive certainly makes the world a more bearable place in which to live.

Checkout Edward’s Audition:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQlNbtM5Okk

E-books and Wedding Bells

The big day has finally arrived for Wills and Kate. Today’s Royal Wedding promises to be the biggest event in the British Social Calendar this year.

Thousands of people will line the streets in the nation’s capital to witness the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, and two billion more will watch the ceremony on TV or the Internet. If other Royal Weddings are anything to go by, there will be plenty of partying today. I certainly wish I could be in the UK to join in the celebrations. There is nothing like a good wedding to lift the spirits.

One of the things I like about this particular Royal Wedding is the fact that everyone can participate in the celebrations thanks to the online publication of the Order of Service. The Order of Service is free to download and comes in a page turning PDF format. What a nice little touch for those of us who can’t get to London to witness the nuptials firsthand.

Having downloaded a copy of the Order of Service, I have to say that it is beautifully put together and includes such details as the couple’s family Coat of Arms and their wedding vows. Anyone who is a fan of the Royal Family will enjoy the publication. I certainly enjoyed reading it.

Whilst I was thumbing through the pages, electronically that is, a thought crossed my mind. Why don’t more young couples make use of the e-book format to publish their Order of Service? After all, what is good for Royalty is certainly good for the people.

Creating a page turning PDF copy of your wedding ceremony is not that difficult. You can include photographs, a brief history of the families involved and the vows you plan to make. You can even thank those who have helped plan and organize your wedding, much in the same way Kate and Wills have done.

If you don’t feel confident in putting together your own Order of Service, then you can always ask an e-book writer/creator to compose one for you.

You can contact an e-book writer/creator at: info@mapconsult101.com

Reap the Harvest of Effort

It’s that time of year again. The sun is reaching ever higher into the sky, casting its gilded warmth over the shock of color now spreading across the landscape. Yes, spring has finally arrived here on the River Danube, my home.

Kiliya is a quiet rural backwater on the border between Ukraine and Romania. It is a place where life goes on pretty much as it has done since the Cossacks reclaimed the town from the Turks back in the days of Catherine the Great.

The smallholding is a way of life in these parts, with the landscape a patchwork of strawberry and potato fields. The people, uncomplicated by the politics of an urban environment, live each day as it comes. The way nature intended.

Our own smallholding is a modest affair made up of an orchard of cherry, apple, pear and apricot trees, and some land to grow potatoes, corn, and other vegetables.

In addition to growing fruit and vegetables, we also keep chickens, ducks, and geese. Rarely do we buy food, as much of what we need is produced by ourselves. We live a simple lifestyle, one which is far removed from the clamor, noise and speed of our previous existence in the city that never sleeps, London.

The decision to swap the comfort of our urban existence for the uncertainty of a lifestyle impacted by the vagaries of nature was not an easy one. It took a lot of souls searching before we actually made the decision to leap into the dark unknown of living off the land. In the end, we decided to give it a go and last year we planted our first crops.

Our first harvest yielded barely enough to sustain us through the winter months. However, we learned a lot from that initial experience. We learned that to succeed at smallholding, we needed to have patience and an understanding of how nature works.

Nature is not a machine. It is an interlocking system of life cycles dependent on weather and season. You work alongside nature, learning how to harness its power to produce what you need. That is how it works. And so it is with writing.

You have to have patience and understanding to learn the art of writing. It takes time. There are no shortcuts, just a constant and prolonged effort to learn the nuances of articulating your thoughts through the written word. But once you’ve mastered the art of writing, as with learning how to plant crops, you will reap a rich and bountiful harvest.

Article Marketing and Your Info Product

I woke up early this morning to do some research on article marketing. Like all my projects, I plan my research using a set of aims and objectives. This saves time and stops me wandering off at a tangent as I surf the net for information.

My research starting point this morning was the various article directories I use to submit my own articles. Article directories house a wealth of information on every subject imaginable so it was only natural to start my research here.

Although the articles posted on free directories are fairly limited in scope and sometimes quality, they do, nonetheless, contain references to other sources of information. It is these references that prove the most valuable when it comes to building knowledge around a chosen subject. However, that is not what I want to write about today.

Most of the articles I read on article marketing this morning were absolutely appalling. Yes, they contained reference material, but the articles themselves were so poorly written I had to ask the question: why were they ever published in the first place?

One article in particular, promoting the services of ‘a web content writer’, was so poorly written that I had to stop reading it before I threw up over my laptop. (Barfing at four in the morning is something that family would not have appreciated.)

I am certainly no purest when it comes to writing and I do make mistakes, as we all do. However, proof reading and a good spell checker eliminates a majority of errors in my work. If only the author of the article in question had used the same tools, they might have received more work from content hungry webmasters. And this is the point I want to make.

A majority of info product writers spend an inordinate amount of time and energy producing a first class product only to throw all their hard work down the drain with a poorly planned, written and executed article marketing campaign. Why?

As info product creators, we owe it to ourselves and our product to produce an article marketing campaign that builds credibility around the material or services we want others to buy. You don’t have to be a writing expert to produce a good article marketing campaign. You just need to apply a little thought and effort to the process of planning and producing articles that people will want to read. Here are some useful tips for producing a good article marketing campaign.

1. Plan your campaign. The five ‘P’s apply here. PRIOR PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE.

2. Research your subject before you begin writing. Your articles should be written from a foundation of knowledge. Don’t write garbage. Always remember that you are trying to build credibility for yourself and your info product.

3. Produce articles that are fresh and unique. Don’t rewrite PLR articles or use article generating software. It’s your voice the audience wants to hear, not the nonsensical sound of a word mincing machine.

4. Quality is better than quantity. Some article marketers suggest writing 50 to 100 articles at the beginning of each campaign. This is nonsense. Think about it for a moment. If you write 50 articles at 500 words each, then you will need to write 25,000 words for each campaign. That’s the equivalent of a novella, and probably more than the total number of words it took you to produce your info product. It is better to write 10 to 15 really good quality articles in the initial stages of your campaign. Then simply add to that number as your campaign gathers momentum.

5. Don’t submit the same article to multiple directories. Most search engines employ filters to sift out duplicate content. You will simply be wasting your time submitting the same article to multiple directories.

6. Don’t use article submission software to submit your articles. Submit them manually, selecting only the top ten directories in your chosen niche.

7. Proof read your articles before submitting them to an article directory. A poorly written article will destroy the image of your info product and call into question your credibility as an authority in your chosen niche.

8. Monitor the progress of each article. Check to see how many people have viewed your article. Readers sometimes leave comments. Read them. Reader comments will provide you with valuable insight into how your article marketing campaign is going.

Article marketing takes time, patience and effort. Planned, written and implemented correctly, your article marketing campaign will generate genuine interest in your info product and build your credibility as an authority in your chosen niche.

Writing Strategies for Promoting Your ‘Info Product’

So you’ve written an outstanding ‘info product,’ one that you feel certain will profit your endeavors. But writing an outstanding ‘info product’ is only part of the equation. You also need to promote your ‘info product’ if your expectations of profit are to be realized.

There are many ways to promote your ‘info product,’ some of which have been discussed on this blog. But one area of promotion that is often overlooked by ‘info product’ creators is the ‘landing page’ which they use to attract potential customers.

The ‘landing page’ is where you tell people how brilliant your ‘info product’ is and why they should click on the buy link. Unfortunately, a lot of landing pages that I’ve come across of late have failed to do justice to the ‘info product’ they are trying to promote. This is because the 'landing page' writer has overlooked the fundamentals of writing good sales copy.

Let’s start with one significant fact: most visitors to your landing page will probably spend less than 12 seconds viewing what you have to offer. Twelve seconds is about the length of time it has taken you to read the first three paragraphs of this post. It’s not a lot of time in which get your message across.

A useful ‘landing page’ is one that:

1. Speaks to its audience without overwhelming them with too much information
2. Identifies with its audience’s needs
3. Offers solutions relevant to its audience’s needs
4. Builds credibility around the product it is trying to sell
5. Creates a clear ‘call to action.’

Speak to Your Audience

Don’t overburden your audience with fluff. Get to the point. Tell your audience what can be expected from reading your ‘landing page.’ There will be plenty of time to extol the virtues of your ‘info product’ once you’ve hooked your readers.

Use big, bold headers to break up your sales copy into easy to digest pieces of information. Reams of text is a surefire invitation for your audience to click away from your ‘landing page’.

Identify with Your Audience

Visitors to your landing page are there for a reason – they have needs, wants and desires which they would like satisfied. So address your audience’s needs with understanding. Empathy is the glue that will bind your audience to your ‘info product.’

Offer Real Solutions that Work

Offer real and tangible solutions to your audience’s needs. Spare them the hype, as they’ve heard it all before. Offer your audience proof that the answers contained in your ‘info product’ actually work.

Build Credibility

Building credibility is essential to the success of your ‘info product.’ So speak with authority about your work, citing past achievements and successes. Use testimonials where possible.

Create a Clear Call to Action

Tell your audience how their lives will be vastly improved once their needs have been met. Your ‘info product’ can help them achieve this, if only they decided to purchase a copy.

So there you have it, some useful tips on how to create a compelling ‘landing page’ that will convert visitors into buyers. Good luck!

Crafting Your E-book: The Beginning, the Middle and the End

At an elementary level, if you want to earn money from writing e-books, you will need to know how to structure your material so that it forms a coherent message. In this post, I look at a strategy for structuring your work through the use of chapters.

The Introduction Chapter

The introduction speaks for itself. In this chapter, we tell our readers what they can expect from reading our e-book. We also outline some of the problems associated with the topic we are writing about. It is at this juncture we also tell the reader how our e-book will help them to overcome these problems.

Identifying your reader’s problems and then telling them how your e-book could possibly help them is all part of the process of building a rapport with your audience. Once this has been achieved, the reader will be more receptive to your ideas on how to solve their problems.

Chapter One

Most writers have heard of the Aristotelian three-act play theory in one form or another. The Aristotelian theory states that every play has a beginning, middle and an end. This seems quite logical. However, in its simplified form, the three-act play theory lacks the sophistication to be a useful writing tool. Instead, I prefer to use the Conflict, Development and Resolution concept.

The conflict and resolution on a timeline are much shorter in length than the development. This is because the setting up of any conflict requires fewer words than the development, likewise the resolution. The development of any story takes much longer because you need to address the conflict before you can present a solution.

In chapter one of ‘How to Succeed as a Newbie E-book Author,’ I set out to dispel the myth that everyone can make money from writing e-books. I also tell the reader some of the reasons why people don’t make money from writing e-books, and then I offer a solution. The solution, however, is not a standalone mantra but is part of an integrated strategy to help the reader develop their e-book writing skills.

Here is an example of the conflict I set up in chapter one.

There are several reasons why many wannabe e-book writers will never cut the mustard when it comes to turning their writing into cash. The most obvious reason is the lack of effort on the part of the wannabe writer to write effectively.

These two sentences capture the conflict that every e-book writer will encounter – we need to know how to write correctly before we can begin to write for profit. It is here that we set the course for the first chapter and every chapter that follows. In short, the conflict determines the route our project will take. Get this part of our writing project wrong, and our reader is going to look elsewhere for his or her reading material.

The Middle Chapters

Our writing project is like a journey, and as with all journeys, there is always a danger of being sidetracked. It is, therefore, imperative when planning our writing project to think about the sequence which our middle chapters will follow. The last thing we want to do is to take a wrong turning which might lead our readers and ourselves along the garden path. The middle chapters, or our development chapters, must address the issues set up by the conflict in a sequential order that is clearly understood by our readers.

In chapter one of ‘How to Succeed as Newbie E-book Author’ I address the issue of being able to write clear and accurate sentences. I then went onto offer tips or solutions to some of the other problems that writers encounter while writing.

In chapter two I explored the process of finding a topic to write about. I could have very easily placed this chapter much further down the development process and moved directly to the chapter on the writing your e-book. Although the chapter on writing dovetails neatly into chapter one, it is not necessarily the logical choice. Put simply, in order to begin our writing project we must first have something to write about. Consequently, it made sense to explore how to choose a topic for our writing project before we do anything else.

The next two chapters, packaging and marketing your e-book, continue to build on the development process. They address each of the issues related to writing for profit until we finally come to the resolution – the summary.

The Summary Chapter

The summary chapter brings all the threads and potential solutions related to our conflict into one easy to read and discernable package. It is here that we reinforce the ideas we have written about throughout the course of our e-book.

Most writers normally write their summary at the end of their work, but I am not one of them. I find it useful to write my summary prior to writing the main body of my work. I do this because it gives me a focal point to work towards. Used together with my aims and objectives, the pre-written summary provides a useful addition to my writing tool kit.

Knowing how to sequence chapters will lend structure to your work and make writing your e-book that much easier.

Strategies for improving article writing

I came across an article from a publisher earlier today. It was primarily a critique of article writers who fail to follow the fundamentals of good writing. Below are some of the publisher’s criticisms.

· Article lacks an overall basic structure

· Article requires pace and rhythm.

· Article meanders and fails to get to the point

· Too much use of the one-sentence paragraph.

· Sentences are too long.

· Poor punctuation

· Bad spelling

I have to agree with the publisher. The Internet is awash with poorly written articles, which makes life difficult for webmasters who must sift through reams of dross to find quality content for their sites. But it doesn’t need to be like this. All the above errors can easily be remedied by the simple application of a ‘best practice’ approach to the art of writing.

As writers, we should ensure that the quality of our written material matches the expectations of our readership. This can be achieved by applying a few basic strategies to improve our writing skills.

Structure:

1. Write a thesis statement about the topic of your article. This will give your article direction.

2. Mindmap or brainstorm content for your article. Exclude anything that is not relevant to your thesis statement.

3. Write the article summary first. This will give your writing focus.

Rhythm and Pace:

1. Divide your article into an introduction, development and a summary.

2. The introduction, which should be no more than one paragraph, is where you tell your reader what the article is about.

3. The development is where you put across your ideas on the topic you are writing about. For written pieces of 500 words or less, use no more than four paragraphs.

4. Summary. The article summary should be no more than two paragraphs in length and included the salient points covered in the development section of your article.

5. Paragraphing – paragraphs should contain three to six sentences of varying length. Avoid over long sentences as they can confuse your readers.

Proofread/edit your article:

1. Proofread your article, checking for grammar, spelling, and typos

2. Edit your article – be ruthless. Remove anything that doesn’t work towards your thesis statement or article summary. This should prevent your material from going off point and leading your reader up to the garden path.

Grammar and Punctuation:

1. The English language contains only four types of sentences. They are The statement, exclamation, question and the directive. You should, therefore, punctuate accordingly. Capital letter at the beginning of the sentence, then a period (.) or exclamation (!) or a question mark (?) to complete the sentence.

2. There are only four sentence structures that you can use in the English language. They are: the ‘Core Sentence’, which contains a subject and a verb; the ‘Basic Sentence’, which contains a subject, a verb and an object; the ‘Compound Sentence’, which contains two ‘Basic Sentences’ of equal status joined together by ‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’; and finally there is the ‘Complex Sentence’, which is made up of dependent and non dependent clauses. Any other structure is not a sentence. It is a fragment. Avoid using fragmented structures where possible.

When it comes to writing, none of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes. However, by applying a few well thought out strategies to our writing process, such as those written above, we can reduce the number of errors we make and improve our overall writing skills.

For those of you looking to improve your punctuation skills, I can recommend: ‘The Penguin Guide to Punctuation’ by R.L. Trask. Larry Trask, who sadly passed away in 2004, was one of my former professors at the University of Sussex. He was a great teacher and role model for those of us who had the privilege and good fortune to study under his tutelage.

How to search for ideas for your next e-book

In a previous post on this blog (Writing E-books: How to choose a topic), I wrote about where you should begin your e-book writing career.

Basically, I suggested that you begin by writing on a subject familiar to you, drawing on existing knowledge and supplementing it with research. If you have followed this piece of advice, then the chances are you’ve already written several well-received e-books on your particular area of expertise. However, with the success of your first e-book under your belt, you’ve probably now reached the point whereby you would like to expand your writing experience into other subject areas. So where should you begin?

As with all areas of expertise, you will have built up a core of knowledge which can be transferred from one topic to another. And this is your starting point for finding new subjects to write about. For example, if you write about growing roses in an urban setting, then you might want to consider writing about other plants which might be of interest to your existing readers.

If, however, you are looking to write about an altogether different subject, then you will need to think about doing some research. Knowing where to begin your research is the key to finding new subject areas to write about.

As a starting point for your research, you might want to consider visiting the following websites:

1. Amazon.com

2. DMOZ

3. Dummies

Amazon.com

Amazon is a rich source of information when it comes to finding new subjects to write about. Just look through the latest hot products on sale at Amazon to get an idea of what is in demand. This should throw up some related topics which you can write about.

DMOZ

DMOZ is an open directory that lists all the niche markets available on the Internet. Browsing the DMOZ directory will not only stimulate ideas for your next e-book, but it will also give you an indication of what is already available on the Internet. This will provide direction to your writing and prevent you from entering a market already saturated by other e-book products.

Dummies

Dummies are the largest repository of ‘how to’ subjects on the Internet. This is by far my favorite website for sourcing new topics to write about. The wealth of information available on Dummies is phenomenal and is guaranteed to stimulate your imagination. Why not give it a try. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The above three websites have proven to be an invaluable source of ideas for my own writing. I hope they prove likewise for you. If you would like to make a comment on any of the posts on this blog, please feel free to do so, as feedback is always useful.

How to use your blog to promote your e-book

Promoting your e-book requires a continuous effort across a range of marketing platforms, including article marketing, social media networks and forums, to name but a few. However, one platform that is often overlooked when it comes to promoting e-books is blogging.

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you’ve no doubt posted a link or showcased your e-book publication on your blog. But have you ever thought about posting extracts from your e-book to your blog?

Posting extracts from your e-book to your blog will give your readers a taste of what you have on offer. Furthermore, it will allow your readers to make an informed decision about whether to download your e-book or not. And, if you’ve enabled comments on your blog, it will allow readers to post their reaction to your publication. This will provide you with valuable feedback on your work, enabling you to tweak content in order to meet your reader’s needs.

In posting extracts from your e-book to your blog, you need to consider very carefully which parts of your publication are best suited for this purpose. If your e-book publication is on a ‘how to do’ subject, then the most appropriate chapter to post will be your introduction. On the other hand, if your e-book is a novel, then you should think about serializing the first two chapters.

To persuade readers to download a full version of your publication, you should provide them with a link at the end of the extract. This will encourage your reader to act while the information from your e-book extract is still fresh in their mind.