***************************************************************** W R I T I N G W O R L D A World of Writing Information - For Writers Around the World http://www.writing-world.comIssue 6:02 15,750 subscribers February 2, 2006*****************************************************************SPECIAL NOTICE: Please DO NOT REPLY to this e-mail; any messagessent to the listbox address are deleted. See the bottom of thisnewsletter for information on how to subscribe, unsubscribe, orcontact the editors.***************************************************************** CONTENTS================================================================= From the Editor's Desk NEWS from the World of Writing THE INQUIRING WRITER: Business Plans by Dawn Copeman FEATURE: A Smorgasbord of Markets by Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz THE WRITE SITES -- Online Resources for Writers WRITING DESK: A Day Late and a Dollar Short? by Moira Allen BEGINNER'S GUIDE: The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Article by Dawn Copeman WHAT'S NEW at Writing World WRITING CONTESTS with no entry fees The Author's Bookshelf*****************************************************************EARN AN MFA IN WRITING through the brief-residency program atSpalding University in Louisville, KY. Call (800) 896-8941x2423or email mfa"at"spalding.edu and request brochure FA90. For moreinfo: http://www.spalding.edu/mfa*****************************************************************WRITERSCOLLEGE.COM has 57 online courses. Prices are low.If you can reach our web site, you can take our courses.http://www.WritersCollege.com*****************************************************************DISCOUNTED SOFTWARE FOR WRITERS -- PowerWriter, DramaticaPro,StoryCraft, WritePro, MovieMagic, StyleWriter, plus many more.HUGE SAVINGS! GREAT SELECTION! Save online at:http://www.MasterFreelancer.com*****************************************************************THE WELL-FED WRITER by Peter Bowerman - Learn how you can make$50-100 an hour as a freelance writer and easily earn $1000 aweek or more working 2-3 good days. Details:http://www.writingcareer.com/pb001.shtml*****************************************************************LOOKING FOR PAYING MARKETS? Absolute Write Can Help! Subscribeto the Absolute Markets PREMIUM Edition for just $15 a year andget all the writing markets we can cram into your inbox! We'vegot calls for freelance writers, screenwriters, editors, greetingcard writers, translators... http://www.absolutemarkets.com*****************************************************************CAN YOU WRITE A SIMPLE LETTER? If yes, you could be in bigdemand, earning big money, writing just a few hours a day fromanywhere in the world you choose to be. I personally made morethan $200,000 this way in one year. Please click here NOW formore details: http://www.thewriterslife.com/cyw/wworlda6***************************************************************** FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK=================================================================I Spoke Too Soon...-------------------Sadly, I spoke too soon in the last issue, in declaring that"all was well" with my kitty. Exactly one week after his firstseizure, Brisco had a second, and died. At least, however, wewere prepared by this time, and knew what the problem most likelywas; he had always suffered from a condition called hypertrophiccardiomyopathy, or, for those of us who always stumbled overthat, an enlarged heart. Thus, most likely his seizures werecaused by blod clots, which is generally what happens in thissituation. But based on the "life expectancy" projections forcats with this condition, he truly beat the odds by living to agrand old age of ten. He will always be missed.However, since cats and keyboards go together like... well,oil and water, fire and rain, silk and porcupines... I have anew companion to assist me in my writing tasks. Her name isTabitha, and she is learning that all kinds of fascinatingthings happen on the computer screen. That funny arrow thing,it MOVES! She especially loves the status bar of a project asit crawls across the screen, as when I'm scanning. She hasturned on my computer, reset my clock, dialed my phone, andhandled a few other office projects, demonstrating that shewill be an ideal "office assistant." Her favorite toy is,naturally, a paper wad -- and what writer doesn't have lotsof those?!It's a Class! It's a Book! It's a Classy Book!----------------------------------------------In trying to carve out more writing time this year, one of mydecisions was to discontinue my online writing class, "Breakinginto the Magazine and Periodical Market." But if you were justwaiting for the next class session to be announced, do notdespair! I have compiled the entire course (eight regularlectures plus a ninth "bonus" lecture on digital photography)into a new book!Titled "How to Write for Magazines," this 132-page book isavailable in both print and electronic formats. It contains thecomplete text of all the class lectures, plus the "homeworkassignments," and has been thoroughly revised and updated. It isdesigned to walk the beginning freelancer through the process ofdeveloping a marketable article idea AND of finding just theright market for that article.Best of all, unlike my class (which cost $100), it's affordable:The print version costs only $14.95, and the electronic versioncan be downloaded for $10.95. Both versions come "bundled" withelectronic resources "2000 Online Resources for Writers" and theWriting-World.com market guides (an additional combined valueof $15).So if your goal is to "break in" in 2006, this is the book youneed!Purchase the print edition at http://www.lulu.com/content/223245Purchase the electronic edition athttp://www.writing-world.com/bookstore/index.shtmlDownload a free sample chapter athttp://www.writing-world.com/admin1/magsample.pdf -- Moira Allen, Editor*****************************************************************LOOKING FOR A MENTOR? Explore your possibilities. Discover yourauthentic voice. Set and achieve your personal goals. Beginningor experienced poets and/or writers welcome. Work privately witha widely published poet and writer, poetry editor, college writinginstructor, life coach, and licensed clinical social workerthrough telephone conferences and E-mail. Contact Linda LeedySchneider at 616-942-7179 or Loschneide"at"aol.com*****************************************************************THE WRITE STUFF CONFERENCE in Allentown, PA, April 7-8, 2006.Keynote: Award-winning investigative journalist Stephen Fried. 17sessions: fiction, business writing, journalism, childrens. Meetagents, editors, authors. http://www.glvwg.org/conference.*****************************************************************NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF WRITING=================================================================Nielsen BookScan report: 2005 a better year for book sales----------------------------------------------------------According to a recent report by Nielsen Bookscan, sales of bookswere up 9.3% in 2005, with sales of children's fiction providingthe biggest growth, finishing 19.3% higher than last year. Thisis not surprising as this year's bestseller "Harry Potter and theHalf-Blood Prince" sold more than twice as many copies as lastyear's bestseller Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code." Sales of adultfiction were quite weak in 2005, growing by only 5.3%, whereasnonfiction grew by an impressive 9.2%. Sales of hardbackeditions, audiobooks and trade paperbacks were strong, but salesof mass-market paperbacks fell by 3 million copies. Despite this,it was a good year for book sales; frontlist sales (i.e. currentand new releases) grew by 11.7% and backlist sales grew by 7.3%.This growth meant that you needed to sell more books in 2005 toachieve a place in the Top 200 than you did in 2004. In 2004selling 500,000 copies got you a place at #32, in 2005 that onlygot you to #34. Let's hope 2006 is even better! For moreinformation: http://tinyurl.com/dpzwrFree content for Royal Library in Alexandria--------------------------------------------Ebrary, an ebook/digital content provider and technology company,has given the Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt,its technology and digital content for free. This gift includesmore than 60,000 digital books, maps, etc. from variouspublishers. The Royal Library of Alexandria was once the largestin the world. It is assumed to have been founded at the beginningof the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt.The initial library was believed to have stored 400,000 to700,000 parchment scrolls at its peak. The original Library ofAlexandria was destroyed by fire, but has recently been rebuiltand is now able to provide patrons with content in a digitalformat.Do you read mystery novels? Your help is needed!------------------------------------------------Katherine Clark is writing a PhD dissertation through CaseWestern Reserve University in Ohio and needs our help. Katherineis attempting to show that cozies are an important and marketablesubgenre that publishers should take more seriously. If you'dlike to help her, she wants readers of mystery novels to completeher approved survey at: http://survey.mysteryphd.com*****************************************************************WRITE BETTER; WRITE FASTER; WRITE IT RIGHT! Discover a simplefive-step process for creating flawless written text.Write It Right: The Ground Rules for Self-Editing Like The Prosshows you how! $17.95 + s/h. http://www.cameopublications.com*****************************************************************LET MASTER TEACHER AND WRITER SHEILA BENDER be your writing coachby subscribing to http://www.writingitreal.com, her instructionalmagazine for those who write from personal experience. Or installLifeJournal for writers, a software tool with Sheila's prompts(http://www.writers.lifejournal.com). Jumpstart your writing,stay organized, learn, reflect and discover!*****************************************************************THE INQUIRING WRITER================================================================= by Dawn Copeman (DawnCopeman"at"Write-away.biz)Business Plans--------------Hello. You might have noticed we've changed the name of thecolumn again: we think this name suits our purpose better. Wehope you like it.First of all, I want to thank you all for your responses to lastmonth's column and your questions for future columns. We hope touse all the questions received.Now, last time I asked if any of you had written a Writer'sBusiness Plan. I wanted to know if you thought they were worthdoing and if they had helped you in any way, and boy, do I feellike the only one in class who hasn't done the homework! Everyoneseems to have one except me, although many of you didn't realizeit at first."When I first read your column my immediate thought was 'I'venever done a business plan...'" wrote M. Deppe. "So I surfed tothe link provided. After reading Moira's article I realized thatalthough I'd never thought of my homespun organizational effortsas a 'business plan,' I actually meet a lot of the criteria."For some of you, like E. Masters, the business plan is very shortand simple: "For a few years, my goal was to earn more fromwriting than I spent on writing (including conferences, books,etc.). The year I finally reached that goal, I upped the stakesto include the amount of money I hoped to earn from writing aboveexpenses."For others, like D. Schuller, the business plan is a much bigger,more complicated document. "My plan contains specific weekly andmonthly writing-related goals. In addition to those, my planincludes two other sections: 'overall' and 'general.' In the'overall' section, I build in room for extras to keep in mind andsome market specific goals. In the 'general' section, I note downany miscellaneous areas that I should also be working towards."But most of you have written something between the two, likeDeppe. "Twice a year I write long-term specific goals, usuallyaround New Year's and then again during Summer Solstice, becausethose are easy dates to remember. But then I write short-termspecific goals on a weekly basis. My weekly goals include boththe long-term and short-term goals I've set myself."Many of you have said that having a writing plan has helped toincrease your productivity. "I credit my successes directly tomy business plan" wrote Schuller. "It keeps me organized, ontrack, in print, and moving on!"And Deppe has discovered that if she does her assignments wellahead of the 'due date' then "something wonderful comes along tofill its place" -- like an additional assignment or more time forqueries.So I'm convinced! I'm off to write a business plan and see if ithelps my productivity. How about you?But before you dash off -- I need your help with this month'squestion from E. Heller. "I'm a freelance magazine featurearticle writer. When doing research on the web, I find it takesme hours to come up with the info I need and I don't even alwaysfind what I was looking for. I'm sure there must be some tricks,shortcuts and links that are especially helpful for writers."What are your secrets? Are there any secrets or is it just amatter of slogging away? How do you research? Do you rely solelyon the information you find on the web?Send your responses to: DawnCopeman"at"Write-away.biz (Subject Line"research")See you next time!(Editor's Note: Be sure to see Dawn's new "Beginner's Guide"column later in this newsletter!) >>-----------------------------------------------------<>-----------------------------------------------------< >-----------------------------------------------------< >-----------------------------------------------------< >-----------------------------------------------------< >-----------------------------------------------------<<10x Media National Writing ContestDEADLINE: March 3, 2006GENRE: Nonfiction; you simply write three 300-500 word articleson real estate/finance topics given by the company. Must be 16 orover to enter.LENGTH: 300 - 500 wordsTHEME: real estate/financePRIZE: Over $7,000 in cash prizes including a $2,500 grand prizeURL: : http://www.10xmedia.com/2006writingcontest/EMAIL: jennilyn"at"10xmedia.com >>-----------------------------------------------------< Copyright © 2010 by Moira Allen. All rights reserved.
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