If you’re opting to be last in this list and to earn the infamy of your local publication circle, consider these steps on how to make the world’s worst press release:

1. Use a boring headline. Nothing quite brings out a yawn as much as a ho-hum title like, “Acme Company Holds Annual Office Picnic.” Have the editor keep asking ‘so what?’ and ‘who cares?’ Or simply lull him to sleep -those eyebags look pretty gruesome.
2. Observe terrible grammar and spelling. Turn off the spell and grammar check. Leave your subjects and verbs in disagreement. Generously sprinkle it with textese. Because editors need to be reminded why they don’t teach high school English and Literature.
3. Never follow the journalistic format. In this postmodern world, why go for the standard who-what-when-where-why-how format? Why bother with creating a compelling lead and meaty details? Start with the first sentence of the chairman’s speech, which is usually “Ahherrm… Is this thing on?”
4. Stretch your article over three pages. It is not about brevity. It is about adding all the little irrelevant details, such as what was served for lunch. Still too short? Add in excerpts of the company brochure. Triple the amount of adjectives. Hey, those editors are trained to read fast, right?
5. Handwrite it. Nothing brings a deep sense of that personal touch and friendliness like a handwritten press release. Better if the penmanship resembles that of a preschooler, and laid out on crumpled and smudged paper. Bonus points if the press release is a bit smelly.

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Long before I ended up back in college as a 53-year-old sophomore in pursuit of my dream of publication and in becoming a better writer, I spent the earlier part of my life trying to teach myself to write short stories.  I read self-help books for writers.  I read books about writing short stories.  I read books on grammar and spelling and punctuation.  I obsessively read the short story collections of my favorite authors.  In other words, I didn’t just write; I studied my craft.

I also investigated writing workshops.  All of this happened years ago; I’m writing from memory.  I signed up for the Writer’s Digest Writing Workshop.  The workshop was associated with the Writer’s Digest Magazine which still publishes today.

All of the instructors were published in their fields of expertise.  They weren’t big-time writers but they had credentials.  The workshop was operated by mail.  The student got a booklet in the mail with all of the instructors’ names, photos and credentials.  The student picked an instructor to work with.

Once the student had signed up, the workshop sent the student a book of coupons.  The student mailed in a fee along with the coupon every month.  It was a one year course and my total fee was $300.  What did I get for my money?

I would mail in a short story to my personal instructor.  You could only send one story at a time and you had to wait for an answer before sending in another story.  About two to three weeks later I would get the story back with written corrections on the original hard copy and a typed two to three page critique.

Was the workshop worth $300?  No.  Did it help me to write better?  Definitely yes.  The workshop convinced me that I had to keep writing and keep studying my craft on my own.

There are still a lot of workshops for writers, many of them online.  What a writer needs to know is that a writer must teach the self to write.  That means keep writing and keep studying.  Sometimes I get the feeling that too many writers just want to write and don’t want to study.

So you want to publish your book? That desire is the first step, so I commend you for wanting to take the risk.

But now what?

That is a complicated question that requires that you understand the nature of the publishing industry.

I was an editor in both the trade and textbook departments at a relatively small publishing house (about 150 employees) for 8 years. I’ve also worked as a freelance editor for various book publishers, large and small. In my experience, the realities of publishing that I’m going to share with you hold true for nearly all publishers, no matter the size.

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A Marketing Machine

The first thing you need to understand about the publishing industry is that each publishing house is primarily a marketing machine. The publishing house might promote its lofty goals of enriching the body of literature, inspiring a love of reading, and so on, but the smart writer reads beyond the mission statement. A publishing house exists to make money, period. That’s its first and its last goal. Keep this in mind as you read through the rest of the suggestions that can help you find a publisher for your book.

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What Can You Do for the Publishing House?

You probably have read many sources that tell you that you must be a great writer to be published. This is not necessarily true. You should not be dwelling on whether or not you are the greatest writer who has ever lived, but rather you should be dwelling on what you can do to help the publishing house sell your book. For this reason, your professional affiliations are more important than your writing experience or expertise. It’s more important that you are well connected in your field than you are a brilliant writer. I saw over and over that the peols publishing houses pursued and who succeeded in securing a contract were the ones who had lots of connections. Often times, these people were not even writers but were rather specialists in their field. Connections mean that you will have an audience for your book, an audience who already knows, trusts, and likes you, and thus will want to purchase copies of your book. If a publisher had a choice  between a writer who could write a flawless manuscript or one who was a mediocre writer but who was well connected to the community through politics, an organization, service to the community, whatever, the later individual would always get the contract. The cliche–”it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”–is an all-too-true reality.

Securing a Contract

Spamming publishers is rarely an effective way to secure a publishing contract. I strongly advise against printing off a generic cover letter, packaging up your manuscript, and shipping it off to a bunch of publishers that you know little or nothing about. You will be wasting your time. Unsolicited manuscripts are rarely considered, anyway. At the publishing house I worked for, stacks and stacks of boxes and envelops with manuscripts sat in a back office, where no one ever ventured. The packages were never opened, and they were periodically tossed in the dumpster.

The most effective way to secure a contract is to know someone–have a contact–at the publishing house. Networking is key. Figure out how to attend events, conferences, trade book shows, and so on that publishers are represented at. The American Library Association is a huge one. You might also want to check various resources for publishers that list conferences, such as the Association of American Publishers (www.publishers.org), PubWest (www.pubwest.org), and the Independent Book Publishers Association (www.ibpa-online.org).

Negotiating a Contract

You do not necessarily need to have a finished manuscript to secure a contract. Your idea for a book and your marketing angle is often on what a publisher will base its decision to publish or not publish your book. If you have a niche or a creative take on an idea or some other hook for your book, you’re ahead of the game.

Once a publisher is interested in your book, the next phase of the game is to negotiate a contract. The best negotiator, not the best writer, receives the best terms–the best advance and royalty. Most publishers will try to negotiate a contract with you for the terms that are most favorable to them (read: they will try to get the rights to your book for as little as possible). The savvy writer knows this and is well prepared for the negotiation process.

The following questions are some considerations that you will want to work out with the publisher prior to signing the contract:

• How much will the publisher be involved in the marketing of your book? The publisher I worked for devoted the most marketing resources to about 5% of the new books that would be published each season. The other 95% of the books that would be published received limited resources and scant attention. If you will be counted on to do most of the marketing for your book, your advance and royalty should be adjusted accordingly.

• After the season in which your book is published is over, how much continuing marketing effort will be devoted to its sales? Some publishers don’t devote much attention to back-list books. Be sure you understand what type of marketing attention your book will receive after the initial sales push is finished. If your book goes out of print, do you retain the rights? Can you republish the book with another publisher?

• If photos are necessary for your book, who will research, track, and pay for the images? Finding and negoting prices for images is very time intensive, and each photo can cost anywhere from $100 to $300.

• How will the editorial process work? Some publishing houses instruct their editors to fix only grammatical errors and other critical problems, while other publishing houses instruct their editors to do massive content edits, which involve a lot of reorganizing and rewriting. Be sure that you have a full understanding of and comfort with how involved your editor will be in the editorial process and what type of rights you will have in this process (e.g., who will have the final say in the event of a disagreement?).

• How much say will you have in the design of your book? Will you be allowed to give input and approve the cover and interior design of your book? This can become a huge point of contention between publisher and writer if the arrangement it is not worked out in advance.

All of this advice is just meant to serve as an introduction to the publishing world. There are many other considerations that will inevitably crop up. As with any endeavor, each individual’s journey will be uniquely their own. People can give you pointers, but, ultimately, you will need to take the reins and tread a path for yourself that has not yet been created. My best wishes to you!

1. Pick a Topic

Choose something you can write easily about. Nobody’s going to pay $20 for a cheap three page book that’s poorly written. For the purposes of this article I’ll pretend you’re writing an eBook on how to setup your own website.

2. Research!

I cannot stress how important this is. Make sure you either are an expert on your chosen topic or you know where to go to find information. You will need a good twenty pages at least before you can even think about writing one.

3. Get the right Tools

Most eBooks are in a PDF format. PDF makes them easy to read and very easy to download. A lot of people use Adobe Reader Pro, but this is quite expensive if you don’t have it. Some other options include CutePDF and eWriter Pro(the free version). eWriter is the tool I would choose, as it allows you to write the PDF file exactly as you want it and even include links before compiling it.

4. Start Writing

Use whatever method suits you. I personally prefer getting a bullet point layout of what I’m going to cover. This makes sure I know what to put in and keep to the structure I have planned out. Make it easy to read, especially if it’s an instructional eBook. No-one wants to read fifty pages of size 10 text. Make it a decent size, use headings and bullet points. Make the paragraphs relatively short. Add some colour and pictures if you want. Just make sure it’s pleasing to the eye and not too difficult to read.

5. Share your first draft

Send your first draft to a few close friends and have them read over it. This is essential to catch any spelling errors, things you may have missed out or things you got wrong. Listen to their ideas and make sure you have a solution to all of them.

6. Write a 2nd Draft

Write another draft, or edit your first and fix all the problems raised by your friends. Show them your second draft, rinse and repeat until you are happy with the final product and are sure it can no longer be improved.

7. Compile the PDF File

Fairly obvious and shouldn’t need explanation. Make sure you know how to using the program you chose in step 3.

8. Find a Way to Distribute it

Do you want to give it away for free or sell it? Is it a novel or a how-to manual? These are all questions you must ask before settling on a distribution method. If you’re giving it away for free then just host it using Rapidshare or another free filehost solution. If you intend on selling it then make sure you pick the right place to do so. You can either sell it through your own online store, through Lulu or through Clickbank. Personally I recommend Clickbank. Lulu charges exorbitant rates while Clicbank allows you to sell your book at whatever price you want and they only take a minimal charge. Furthermore, Clickbank affiliates will help sell your product as they get a share of Clickbanks profits.

9. Advertise It

Once you’ve chosen how to sell/give away your eBook then start spreading the word. You can use a paid solution like Google Adsense or any of the myriad of free services out there (click exchanges, etc). Tell your friends and family, send out emails. Just make sure people know where to go to buy it.

10. Repeat

One eBook isn’t going to make a living wage (unless it’s reall, really good) so start writing another one! Depending on how well you carry out the previous steps you can earn a very decent residual income off your publications!

Sounds highly interesting, isn’t it? But the truth is freelance writing is more than just writing by your lonesome self and having less of the typical office worries. It definitely involves so much more than that. To get you a feel on what really involves freelance writing, at least the behind-the-scenes, here are a few things to know:

A Freelance Writer Should Be a Jack of All Trades

She has to make cold calls to find clients, she has to do the accounting, the billing and the follow ups when the client becomes late in payments. The freelance writer must also know a few things about computers and how to fix them when something goes down.

A Freelance Writer Must Learn How to Handle Many Bosses… All at Once

The notion that freelancers don’t have a boss is a myth. The freelance writer has lots of bosses – clients – at any given time. If you don’t want to communicate with many ‘bosses’ and try your best to accommodate all their wishes, then freelancing is not for you.

A Freelance Writer Don’t Have Holidays… Usually

If you are working in an office and you want to take a leave of absence, more probably there is someone there who can cover for you for a day or two. But that’s not the case if you are doing freelance work. When you are swamped with writing assignments, you can’t simply declare that you want to take a leave and go on a vacation. You are liable to your clients and you have deadlines to meet. If you are working alone, you don’t have the luxury of just hanging your pen and going to the movies any time you want.

These and many others are among the the reasons why full-time freelance writing is not meant for everyone. If you are a people person, you can work with zero supervision, and you can understand and deliver what clients want, then you can follow in the footsteps of the countless freelance writers who have found success in this exciting field.

These are some tips on how to write copy that sells.

See, when you’re a writer, you are your own boss. You might have an editor or publisher or agent to answer to, but when it comes to getting the work done, you are your own immediate supervisor.

Reasons to get writing? You don’t want to disappoint yourself, and you enjoy that felling of accomplishment, of having finished a work. Maybe you have bills that need paid. Maybe you need to meet a deadline. All are good reasons to keep writing.

But how do you keep yourself on track? Planning ahead is the key. Possibly you even need to write down a schedule of sorts.

It’s easy, actually. Just get a piece of paper and a pen and write down a list of things you want to accomplish. Once finished, look the list over. Perhaps you need to juggle the list around a bit, to prioritize.

You might even want more than one list. You could have a short-term list of items that need finishing in the next week. Then you could have a list of writing projects you want to finish over the next year. You could even get more complicated than that and have a scheduling calendar with real deadlines penciled in and your own self-created deadlines.

Keeping to those deadlines might be something else altogether, but having a plan can help you stay ahead of the game and gives you impetus to get cracking on your projects. If you miss one of your own deadlines by a day or two, don’t beat yourself up over it; get back to work and try to get ahead on the next deadline, or maybe adjust your schedule back a few days. However, if you miss a real deadline, one set by an editor or publisher, you’ve probably got a phone call to make and some explaining to do; still, most smart publishers and editors will have worked in a little fudge factor, so you might be alright (which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take their deadlines seriously, because you should).

Does all this sound too professional to you? Sound like work? That’s because it is. To make it as a professional writer, you need to realize it is work, and it’s not easy.

I’ve authored two books, both of which were accepted for publication from my initial letter, currently writing a third under contract, secured once again from the initial pitch, and have written many articles for magazines, all of which were accepted from the first letter I sent to the editor. Sure I’ve had some rejection, but the rejections I’ve had are few and far between.

So how do I do it? I’ve learned the art of writing perfect pitches. You see as writers we’re not just wordsmiths. If we want to see our words in print we need to be great marketers as well. In fact the marketing comes first as no one should write a full article or story unless it’s first been accepted, and that means we have to sell the idea before we put pen to paper, or rather, fingers to keyboard.

The first rule in writing effective pitches that sell, sell, sell is to find out the name of the editor. That may sound simple but its a simple mistake many writers commit, both new and experienced hacks. So phone the publishing house and ask the receptionist.

Secondly, under the Dear Mr/Mrs…, write the title for the article in bold letters are centered on the page. Below that write out an opening paragraph or two. Both title and opening should be punchy and to the point so that the editor is left in no doubt about the subject matter.

At this point I always like to leave the editor with a question.. “If you want to find out what happened to… then I’d be happy to send you the full article with a view to publication” followed by a little about why I’m qualified to write the article and information about my previous writing experience.

Using this method I’ve been successful on many occasions and rejection slips are a rarity. Usually when I do get rejected it’s because I didn’t do my homework and pitched the wrong article to the wrong magazine, rather than the pitch itself letting me down.

So why not give these tips a try and see rejection turn to acceptance and your name in print.

First in order to earn a living as a freelance writer and be successful, a person should be creative in their thoughts, writing techniques, and have a good business sense with accounting background.

You need to learn to be creative in marketing techniques, and advertising your work. It is neccessary to have a personal and professional attitude in attire, speech, and business clientele.

• Know your work AND your market
• Obtain a tax ID
• Make up examples of your freelance writing works; or if you have any tear out sheets from previously published work
• Purchase a good accounting system either manual or software. QuickBooks is excellent software that takes care of all your accounting needs including tax preparation and information. It is presented with business contacts and addresses, invoices, online banking, payments, and purchasing. It comes equipped with company web site information and QuickBooks support services.
• Make up price lists for each type of work you will perform
• Always, always, write up contracts with your clients

Second: Opportunities for your writing profession draws closer by interviewing clients and presenting your talents with professionalism in your presentations.

To have a successful interview there has to be an exchange of information, both from the interviewer and the interviewee. The first requirement of the interviewer is to begin with the introduction of your name, business name, and state the reason for your visit with that specific client. If you know what the business is about it will give you a clue how to present your specific skills that will meet the needs of their establishment.

Example: You walk into a floral shop and one of your specialties is the knowledge and or experience working with flowers; you may offer the fact of photographing their flowers, putting it on a CD or DVD and write a special advertisement for their business that is appealing and eye catching.

Your main objective is to know what you are qualified to do prior to entering the door of that business and speaking to the manager. Do not extend services that you know you are not qualified to pursue or you may find yourself struggling to complete the task. Your quality will suffer and you won’t be able to present a professional quality product.

Below are the 10 priorities before meeting and presenting your quality product:

• Type a presentation page or poster with your company name and what your company is about. List specialties and personal contact information and make plenty of copies
• Plan ahead what specialties you will present to which contact
• Write down what you want to represent to each business and rehearse
• Practice your introduction and presentation prior to entering the establishment
• Above all, dress professionally, smile, speak clearly, and get to the point immediately
• Try to glance around to utilize anything you see in the establishment that would reflect a part of your presentation to the manager or owner of the company. This will give them the impression you are interested in what they do.
• Begin with the introduction of yourself, reach your hand out to shake theirs, then hand them your page or poster to look at while explaining why you are there
• Make reference to something about their establishment that will bring their attention to why your services are the greatest and why it will be useful to them
• Present some of your previous work and a price list so you can show them why and how you are qualified to satisfy their needs
• Smile and thank them for their time and they can contact you for further information when they are ready to hire you to write their special project

Third: Have a Strategy, Process Analysis, Topics & Development Structure

• Classify and divide the categories of your best quality writings
• Process and analyze each step that shows great effects, definitions and exact meaning with variations
• Write examples
• Summarize your qualifications and special techniques
• Anticipate possible market and give examples why they will be best marketing strategies for clients
• Develop your market
• Go for it!!!

Believe in your capabilities and develop a “nitch” in the market that no one else has.

Benefits of Entering Writing Contests

First off, let’s discuss the obvious and less obvious benefits for entering writing contests. The easy answer is that you can win. What can you win? That answer will vary depending on the contest you’re considering. Some organizations offer publication in an anthology, while others may offer cash prizes as well as publication.

So far, the beneficial reasons for entering your work may seem quite apparent. Not so fast, Hotshot! Did you know that writing contests are another good way to promote yourself? If you’re considering contests at this point, you may have your eye on a future of publishing your writing. Many authors are surprised to find out that it is very hard to get a foothold in the industry. Publishers and agents prefer writers who are proven, with tangible work history. That makes it very hard to break into print. How can you be proven if no one will let you test your mettle? The writing contest may be a great first step to adding notches in your belt.

Another reason to enter a contest is for feedback. Yes, it’s true. Some contests will include personal feedback to all or some of the entries they receive. Professional feedback can be invaluable for a beginning author, and thus should not be scoffed at. If it helps you to improve your writing (or craft, as some may refer to it), it could be worth far more than monetary prizes in the long run.

Pitfalls? How could there be anything bad about submitting to a contest?!

Unbelievable! The obvious answer here is that a vast majority of writing contests require an entry, or “reading fee” for each submission. Some will accept multiple entries, but charge for each one. This can be hard for the beginning writer who never expected to have to pay someone to read their story or poem. Are there contests out there that don’t require fees? Of course!

Some contests aren’t really contests at all. That’s right… everyone’s a winner. That’s great, right? Not really.

Some contests are not looking out for your best interests. Sounds like the rest of the world, right? Everyone’s out for themselves, but how does that apply to a contest? These guys are generally very easy to spot, if you’re not taken in by the prospect of being published over all else. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment though, so if you’ve fallen prey to this swindle buck up and dust yourself off. Just don’t let it happen again. So, what am I talking about? Let me explain. Some contests aren’t really contests at all. That’s right… everyone’s a winner. That’s great, right? Not really. Usually these “contests” are in place to accept all the entries they possibly can. When they have enough for an anthology they just start pooling for the next one. That’s right! Everyone gets published. It’s what you’ve been waiting for; finally someone appreciates your work! What’s more, the anthology is highly publicized and the organization sends out a lot of advertising for people to buy the anthology. That’s a good thing right? Their target market: the people whose entries have been published. These anthologies can cost $40 a pop and really, shouldn’t you buy two or three? This is your big break, after all. Mom will want one, you’ll need one for your writing desk or the mantle, and who wouldn’t want to keep a copy underneath their pillow? When your copies arrive, you may find your story or poem has been hacked to pieces. The work is shoddy at best and it may seem it was edited for length or page format rather than for style. The goal of these operations is to fit as many entries as possible. Well! You’ll never join that contest again, how can they stay in business? Some change their name from time to time, but for the most part… there’s a sucker born every minute.

Another pitfall is, what if you don’t win? An author’s self esteem can be fragile at best. A beginning author may enter a contest feeling sure of herself, when she doesn’t win she’s devastated and throws in the towel. Maybe it’s for months, maybe it’s for years, unfortunately for some it can be the end altogether. That may sound extreme, but it’s true.

That Sounds Horrible! Why Should I Bother? (Tips to Make it Worth the Effort)

Remember those benefits I mentioned at the beginning of the article? There are reasons to enter and the pitfalls are very easily managed in most cases. Allow me to start with the most important one.

So what if you don’t win? Is this a true indication of your worth? Not necessarily. It simply means that maybe there were a few entries that were just a bit better than yours. Maybe it means that you were writing for judges with a slightly different palette than what you offered them. Maybe it means that your writing still needs to improve. Is that such a bad thing? What beginning writers need to understand is that you never truly “make it”. You never stop improving. This is the beginning of your own unique story. Don’t be melodramatic, pick yourself up and dust yourself off, and keep working at it. Not placing first in a contest is not the end of the world. The first time around you may not place at all, maybe by the second or third try you’ll snag an Honorable Mention, then who knows? You’ll find that the experience of writing for these venues may outweigh the benefit of actually winning on your first go. You may even find yourself getting one of your previous entries published before you ever win anything. Does that mean the judges were stupid for not seeing your brilliance? If that’s the thought that keeps you writing, go with it.

Do your research. Don’t just enter any contest you come across, be selective. Use google or your favorite search engine to research what other people have to say about the contest. It’s better to learn from someone else’s mistake than to learn it first hand, especially when it comes to writing. Sometimes writing blogs have contests and publish the winning entries on their blog for all their visitors to see. This could be a great way to increase your exposure with minimum risk. Take a look at the blog, get to know the author by reading their posts and sifting through the archive. If it looks like a good venue, go for it. If you find a mainstream contest that looks good and the reviews are positive, give it a shot.

Like I mentioned before, not all contests charge a fee. For the beginner, I would suggest this, try to avoid paying for someone to “read” your work. If the contest includes feedback with the reading, it may be worth a ten or fifteen dollar entry fee for the professional insight, but that’s for you to decide. I’ve written a post about perspective and critiques on my blog, feel free to check it out.