It is August now. Let’s start with some tips.

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Need to proofread a document? There are four ways you can go about it, each one with their own pros and cons.

1. Check it manually yourself. If you’re going to check your work this way, use a proofreading checklist to tick off all the items you’re going to check for. You can find recommended checklists from many writing books and websites. We’d suggest taking one of those and adding your own items, particularly those that you find yourself frequently erring on.

2. Have a friend check. It’s tough to evaluate your own work for correctness. Most of the time, you’re emotionally invested in it and that makes being objective damn near impossible. Having a friend check, especially one who’s experienced in proofreading, should prove a much better choice.

3. Use an automated grammar software. It’s 2010. We’ve got software for everything, including proofreading. You can cut the time you spend on the activity considerably by simply using a writing checker software. Believe me when I say the results of these modern proofreading tools are highly impressive.

4. Use an automated grammar checker first, followed by manual check later. If you’re one of those who remain unimpressed with software-based solutions to something that used to require so much personal attention as proofreading, you can use the software and follow it up with a manual checking later. At worst, you’ll confirm your suspicions about grammar software not being up to par. In some cases, you may end up surprising yourself with the results. Either way, you’ll save yourself plenty of time.

Watch how innovative Automated Grammar Checker instantly can improve your writing on a daily basis and learn how advanced NLP technology can help you to write perfect emails, essays, letters or reports. Read more

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Sumerset

4 Proofreading Options is a post from: Writing Consultation

Because of this reason alone, I am encouraging all readers to take note any interesting articles (it could be your own article, as long as it is informational and interesting enough, not spam ok!) and send the links to me so that I can have a look. (contact me!)

To begin with, we have two links to share with everyone.

1. Suggested by Samantha Kovar, What Are The Best Practices For Web Writing

2. Suggested by Alan Wood, 25 Writers Who Changed The World

Thank you so much.

Keep them coming!

Reader’s Suggestions #1 is a post from: Writing Consultation

Enjoy!

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If your goal is to be a published author, you need to understand the different publishing options available to you and the advantages and disadvantages of each. There are two principal classifications of publishing: non-subsidy and subsidy. Non-subsidy is the traditional form of publishing where a commercial publisher pays you to publish your book. In a subsidy relationship, you pay to have your manuscript published.

Commercial, Non-Subsidy Publishing

In a non-subsidy relationship, professional editing, cover design, printing, binding, distribution, and promotion are provided to the author at no up-front cost. Authors may receive an advance on royalties and ongoing royalties will range from 5% to 10% of the book’s cover price.

Advantages:

- Market credibility
- No up-front expenses
- Professional design, editing, and production
- Distribution
- Marketing and promotion

Disadvantages:

- Time spent pitching agents and publishers
- Expectation for self-promotion
- Some loss of control and rights over the book

Subsidy Publishing

There are a variety of subsidy publishers such as pure subsidy, vanity presses, hybrid publishing, and POD (print on demand). In a pure subsidy publishing relationship, the author shares upfront costs with the publisher for design, editing, printing, stocking, warehousing, and distribution. After the publisher’s costs are recovered, the author receives a percentage of the sale of the book. A vanity publisher formats, prints, and binds the book completely at the author’s expense, offering no editing, marketing, or promotional services. The publisher’s revenue sources strictly from the author, not the book. Hybrid publishing is a relatively new business model where the author pays the publisher to edit, cover-design, typeset, print, publish, distribute, and promote the book. Authors first recover their investment by receiving all the royalties off the sale of the book. Then the publisher and author share ongoing royalties. In POD publishing, the author assumes the entire cost of printing, marketing, and distribution. Digital publishing enables print on demand and ebook formatting.

Advantages:

- Faster time to market
- Control of the book project and rights
- Some distribution (primarily through hybrids)
- In some cases, author retains all proceeds off book sales

Disadvantages:

- Stigma of being self-published – Up front expenses
- Limited distribution
- Limited support in design and editing
- Limited promotion

Recommendations

The best outcome for any author is with a non-subsidy publisher. Even if unsuccessful in your pursuit, the discipline of developing a book proposal and pitching it to agents and publishers before writing the manuscript has great merit: It will help you sharpen your book concept, give you a structure to write against, and force you to develop a thorough marketing plan.

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John Fayad is The Literary CoachTM, offering essays, workshops, and individual consulting to aspiring and experienced authors. John’s creative tips and techniques help authors formulate their book concepts, develop their book proposals, and achieve their dream of becoming published authors.
John Fayad
jfayad@theliterarycoach.com
http://www.theliterarycoach.com

The Pros and Cons of Self-Publishing is a post from: Writing Consultation

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sylviane_Nuccio

Duplicate Content is a post from: Writing Consultation

Enjoy!

*****

Word Power is a post from: Writing Consultation

In humor writing, the first person that has to think something is funny is you. If you don’t think what you’ve written is funny, probably no one else will either. Still, that’s no guarantee others will enjoy your comedy because not everyone shares your sense of humor. We’re all unique when it comes to comedy. We laugh at different forms of humor. Some like clever jokes, others visual slapstick comedy, and others dry wit. That’s the hardest thing about writing funny humor and comedy. Creating comedy that is universally funny and appeals to a large audience is challenging.

The number of times I’ve been the only person in a movie theater laughing during a particular comedy scene that I find funny is, according to my family members, ridiculous. And the loud, solo laughter at my favorite humor becomes the source of humor for everyone else. At my expense and to the embarrassment of my family. Of course, so is my solo singing, which is why I’m frequently asked to sing solo that no one can hear me. Hey…whatever lame joke it takes to get a laugh, right? So let’s take a closer look at humor.

Comedy is similar to magic. It surprises the audience. Like slight of hand, you intentionally lead the audience along a thought pattern towards a certain assumption or conclusion and then switch to the unexpected. For you, the comedy writer, it means always looking at things from a different, humorous perspective. Always asking what if? Where’s the comedy? How can I make it funny?

Tomorrow morning I have to get on a plane to Chicago…I’d prefer to ride inside the plane, but really, have you seen ticket prices lately? Work has been killing me lately because I’ve spent the last 3 weeks on the road…run over by 100 cars, 25 trucks, and picked on by 4 buzzards.

Universal humor and comedy is all around you. But you must train yourself to be observant and capture those funny moments when you encounter them. And when you see things that are funny, actively turn them over in your mind to make the comedy stand out. It’s the common problems we all face, the similar annoyances we experience, the familiar quirks of humanity we see every day. In reality, life is routine most of the time. And when you observe the comedy episodes in routine life, you’ll find humor that makes everyone laugh. Like…

The person ahead of you in the grocery store checkout line, that unlike you, is not in a hurry and uses the opportunity to share all the details of his current medical condition with the cashier. The five year old that keeps obnoxiously blurting out loud questions to his parents in the middle of an intense movie…that he shouldn’t even be at because it’s R rated.

However, it’s not just reporting these comedy moments, although sometimes, they are so naturally funny that alone is enough. What separates you as a freelance humor writer is when you add comedy, color commentary. It’s embellishing, exaggerating, and inserting the flavor of a little sarcasm. When you do, you create humor that makes us all laugh together. And it brightens up our day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chip_Tudor

Comedy Writing is a post from: Writing Consultation

Apparently most of us will miss any typo until we click on ‘publish’ or ‘submit’.

Don’t believe it?

see more Funny Graphs

Believe it!

Typo: When Will You Notice It? is a post from: Writing Consultation

If your copywriting isn’t pulling in the amount of response and sales you were hoping, this article is your solution.

I’ve learned the secrets of copywriting through years of my own experience, and now by now my copy pulls in ten times the amount of responses it used to. And I was a pretty poor English student back in school, in fact I barely passed, but I sure can write copy that gets me a ton of responses and makes me a whole lot of money as a result.

And I’ll laugh all the way to the bank at the people who told me I couldn’t because of my poor English performance in school. You can too, regardless of how well you understand the English language, because copywriting isn’t about beautiful prose and elegant, or even correct, syntax, it’s a science, and a science I’ve mastered and I’m willing to share the secrets.

What the best marketers know, and don’t want you to know, is that good copy sells based on psychology and emotions, not with big words or cute phrases. The psychology behind selling and marketing is something that has been tested and tested and tested again over the years. Basically, psychology is the driving force behind any great copy, and it’s a proven fact.

It’s so easy anybody can do it

In fact, just last month I got an e-mail from a student I met when I spoke at a college about the fundamentals of copy and marketing. He was a very poor student on the verge of dropping out of the college, something he felt that just wasn’t right for him, and he told me that after I had finished my presentation he had spent weeks deliberating on his future until he eventually decided to quit school. He used the principles that I taught him, in only one seminar, to become a millionaire in just a couple of years. He wanted to thank me for changing his life.

So then what makes good copy?

All good copy has one common trait: it connects with the target. You have to understand your target market, which requires a good amount of research, and then you have to express to your consumer that your product provides benefits, or more specifically it provides the exact benefit that they need. And if they don’t know they need this benefit, you have to make them understand that they need it.

If you don’t connect with your buyer, get inside their heads, then you have little to no chance of influencing them to purchase your product or service. That’s why psychology is so important, because it gives you a key to the mind of the target market. There are certain words, phrases, that resonate with your market in a way that will get them to buy now.

I have my own list of words that are psychologically proven to get results, and in order to make your own you’re going to have to do a lot of research with your target market.

An example of what I’m talking about:

Do you ever see the same infomercials over and over again? Do you sometimes think they are lame or overdramatized? So why are they always on?

Because they work. Because the people behind the infomercials have done their research and use psychology that connects with the consumer and makes them understand the benefit-solutions of the product.

In conclusion:

The secret to any successful marketing or copy is psychology. Understand your market so you can connect with them on a level so it’s like you’re in their head, forcing them to buy.

That’s what I do, and that’s how I make my money.

The Best-Kept Secret to Making Money With Copywriting is a post from: Writing Consultation

The first rule of writing might be “show don’t tell” but the second is surely “use active verbs.” Almost every book I own on writing stresses the use of active voice over passive. Read on to find out the difference.

Verbs have two voices, either active or passive. When you use active voice, the subject performs the action and verb expresses the action. For example – Gail opened the book. The subject is Gail, the verb is opened and the object is book.

When you use passive voice, the subject becomes the passive recipient of the action. For example – The book was opened by Gail. The passive voice will have a “double verb” – a form of the verb “to be” and the past participle of another verb, often ending in “ed” as in “was opened.” Generic verbs such as – is, are, were, was, be, being, been, be, had and have – don’t convey much and passive voice can make a sentence confusing. Active voice is short, direct and easier to understand.

Sometimes it’s okay to use passive voice such as when the reader doesn’t need to know who performed the action. Example – The building was erected hundreds of years ago. The doer of the action is unknown or unimportant.

If you look for the forms of “to be”, you can see where you are using passive voice. Microsoft Word 2003 provides an easy way to check for readability and passive voice. Just go to the Tools menu and click Options, then click the Spelling & Grammar tab. Select the box for Check grammar with spelling. Also select the Show readability statistics box. Click OK. Highlight the document you want to check. Click the abc icon on the toolbar, hit F7 or go to Tools and click Spelling and Grammar. Word will check your highlighted document, and then display information about the reading level.

You will get a box that displays counts for words, characters, paragraphs, and sentences. It will also show averages for sentences per paragraph, words per sentence and characters per word. Under the readability section, there are three useful statistics. First listed is the percentage of passive sentences – the closer to zero you score the better. Next is the Flesch Reading Ease score, which is rated on a 100-point scale. The higher your score, the easier it is to read your writing. Last is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level. It rates on a US school grade level. If you score a 7, then a student in the 7th grade will understand your writing.

This is only a tool and there is so much more that goes into good writing. But it may provide some useful information that will help you improve what you’ve written.

Make Your Writing Readable is a post from: Writing Consultation

I found one of my articles being posted on Writing Career.

To be honest, I am happy. Yes, being featured is something I am proud of (any writers would be proud of too).

Click here to read the article: Freelancing – Becoming a Freelance Writer

If there is any problem with the link, this is the alternative at Ezine Articles.

Featured Article on WritingCareer.com is a post from: Writing Consultation