Susan Adams reports with these highlights (bolded text is original):
"For advice I turned to Lauren Berger, who runs a website called Internqueen.com and has written two books about getting started in a career, All Work No Pay: Finding an Internship, Building Your Resume, Making Connections, and Gaining Job Experience and Welcome to the Real World: Finding Your Place, Perfecting Your Work, and Turning Your Job into Your Dream Career...Plus I talked to four college placement officers and four career coaches, including Jill Tipograph, who specializes in helping young people. Here is their combined wisdom:...[S]ay who you are, where you go to school, what the job is that you’re applying for and how you came to apply. It helps a lot if you can include a name of someone with a personal connection. You should also clarify where you’re located geographically. If the internship is in a city other than where you live or go to school, say you are planning to be there during the dates of the job. Don’t say you 'could' be there...Say where you learned about the job...All job seekers, even college freshmen, should have a LinkedIn profile...[P]rint out the job posting and go through it with a highlighter. Note the buzzwords and incorporate them into this part of the letter. Also spend at least an hour on the company site reading and thinking, including clicking through every link. If the firm has a blog, read at least a dozen entries. Check out the firm’s presence on social media and do a wide-ranging Google search. Describe how your experiences meet the challenges presented in the job description...[D]escribe your personal traits and how they make you a great candidate for the job...[S]ay when you’ll get in touch...In most cases, send the letter as an attachment and format it like an old-fashioned business letter with your address at the top, then the date and then the address of the recipient...Your sign-off can be formal, like 'Sincerely,' or something warmer, like 'All the best.' When in doubt, make the salutation formal: 'Dear Ms. Adams' or 'To whom it may concern.'...Proofread carefully and get someone you trust to check for spelling, grammar and word use...[T]here’s an even more effective way for beginning job seekers to write a great cover letter. It takes work. Spend very little time writing about yourself and devote most of the letter to why you would be thrilled to work in this job for this employer. The first paragraph should be the same as outlined above, introducing yourself, naming your school, saying where you’ll be located during the job or internship and naming the position. But the rest of the letter should be devoted to the company, the job and why both interest you." Frances Caballo reports:
"Twitter is the most important social media network for writers. This microblogging platform is perfect for disseminating your newest blog posts, asking questions, and conversing with your readers...Before creating a new hashtag, do your research. Some seemingly innocuous hashtags may have other meanings you’d rather not be associated with...Adhere to the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the time you retweet content by other authors and 20 percent of the time you tweet your own content...Don’t use direct messages to spam new followers with messages asking them to visit your website, like your Facebook page or purchase a book. Reserve the direct message feature for times when you want to contact someone you know privately...Use the website Alltop.com as one of your resources. This comprehensive website contains links to the top blogs of the day in every category imaginable...Subscribe to an online curation application such as Scoop.it. Once you enter your keywords, Scoop.it will scrape the web for information in your niche...Create lists within Twitter so that you can track the top experts in your field...Stay within your niche [as you write your tweets]...Avoid posting about politics or religion." Karen Woodward reports:
"Before a writer can take advantage of ACX [Audio Creation Exchange], or any other technology designed to help us sell audiobooks, we have to produce the darn things! And ACX will help with this, by either matching you with professionals...or...umpteen tutorials on how to do the work yourself...The number one thing you want to do is cut down on noise...[You need a] [d]esk for your computer...[a] [s]tand for the script...[s]omething...to absorb the sound on surfaces...[and a] chair that's comfortable and won't creak...[Turn your] computer off [if it gets noisy], take a coffee break, and let it cool down...Use a fast peripheral drive with lots of capacity...[Back up] your work...Use a pop filter or shield. This deflects and minimizes sounds that can distort the recording...[You can use either a] large [diaphragm condensor] mic [which] is the standard for the industry and costs between $400 and $600...[or a USB-powered] snowball mic [which] will do the job if you want a [lower-cost] solution...Research it and find out what is available in your area. Go to audio stores, try out their microphones, ask questions, and find a balance of price and performance that suits you." Joe Bunting reports (bolded text is original):
"[S]how your short story to a group of trusted readers. If your trusted reading group likes it, send it. If they mostly like it but have a few issues (especially if the issue is with the ending), consider tweaking it...[E]ditors say they read hundreds of interesting, well-written stories which they reject because it wasn’t the right fit for their magazine. If you want to avoid rejection, do your research. Read two editions of twenty literary magazines and take notes...Literary magazine [editors] work long hours and are severely underpaid. Standard formatting makes their life easier by ensuring that everything at least looks the same...Rejection will not change your identity. It doesn’t make you a bad writer. It doesn’t mean you won’t be published someday. But it might mean you have to work harder." Christine Nolfi reports:
"The most experienced scribe feels trepidation at the sight of a blank page waiting to be filled. As you develop your novel’s plot, invite the characters to chat with you. Write down random dialogue, events and POV descriptions (of other characters or events) directly into your document...As work progresses, continue adding random paragraphs and compelling fragments...[Y]our creative well, the lifeblood of your art, resides in your subconscious mind. Learn to welcome these random snippets...Paste them inside your document behind the chunk of completed chapters...Halting work in the middle of an argument works beautifully...Throw the parent and adult aspects of your ego out the window, and let your imaginative child steer your writing...Leave the Freudian analysis and all your grammar books locked in a safe until after [you’ve] written the first draft. The entire draft. Ignore this rule, and you shall never learn to fly...Too many novels die in Chapter Five (or Six, or Ten) because the writer has no real direction. Don’t stop writing—improvise...[T]here’s nothing you set down on paper today that can’t be edited, revised or removed during the read-through of your initial draft." The Film Connection reports:
"There are many different tips to keep in mind when considering how to write a TV pilot. The first thing you must do to write a TV pilot is come up with an excellent idea. The original idea must be concise and be able to be described in two sentences. The next thing to do when writing a TV pilot is to develop the characters. Think of characters; think about their personalities, the attributes, even what you want them to look like. Write it down...The plot is secondary to the characters in a [pilot] episode because if the audience fails to connect to the characters and enjoy spending an evening with them they won't tune in again and there goes your show...[T]he author must create a detailed plot. You must decide what the show will be about...Keep in mind that the plot must be interesting, be able to be separated into either three acts, or six acts and be able to keep the audience watching the show...[T]he dialogue must be perfect. The key to writing great dialogue when considering how to write a TV pilot is to make sure that the character’s conversations flow together and seem very natural. It may help to visualize your pilot already on television or even ask some friends to act out the script. Television pilots are very visual things. That must be considered when writing your pilot...Page count is one page per minute of television...Have several people read your pilot once it's fully written and listen to their feedback. Writing is rewriting so expect to make changes. The best tip on how to write a TV pilot is to draft, draft, draft." From TV Commercial Guide:
"Be clear and to the point so that your objective doesn’t get lost in words...Most TV commercials are 30 seconds in length – make sure that you keep your script short, sweet, and to the point...Run through the script yourself, first – the stopwatch function on your iPhone works great. The trick is to read it at your own pace...Repetition helps people remember, so whatever it is you want people to do...make sure to repeat your call-to-action at least twice...Get your client to sign off on any scripts before production begins...Brent Brace, a voiceover artist in Denver, told me his personal opinion (although there are many): 'Most voiceover artists, including myself, prefer scripts written as upper lower case. It allows us to see the shapes of the words so that seeing it and saying the entire phrase is easier. When we worked in radio, we capitalized every word because we were not typists and it was easy to hit CAPS and go fast, but in the L.A. and [N.Y.] major voiceover world, major ad agencies write a script like a movie script … upper lower case.'...Write out numbers...Capitalize [either] every word [or]...the first letter of every word...Break lines where they seem most natural". Dave Koziel reports on the factors to think about with regard to what name you want your audience to remember you by if you publish on Amazon Kindle:
"[T]here are some topics I’d like to write about that I don’t necessarily want my [real] name associated with. If I use a pen name and no one knows it’s me I have the freedom to write about whatever topics I want without worrying about it not fitting with or damaging my brand...I could eventually sell [the] brand [of my pen name] down the line. I like that idea because with using my name no one else can be me...I like the idea of potentially selling because it gives me options to be able to move [on to] other projects...I can only write so many books in a period of time. However, if I use a pen name I can have someone else write the books for me...Hiring writers will allow me to produce more books in a faster period of time...My main goal is to grow myself as a brand so I want all the exposure I can get. I’d also hate to write a book and put it under someone else’s name. I spent all that time and effort on writing the book and no one will even know it was me...Part of growing a brand is interacting with other people. So in order to do that and grow my pen name I’ll have to [set up] 'fake' accounts...This can be a pain to [set up] and maintain. I’d also hate having to act like I’m someone I’m not...I’d love to eventually have a hit book and be considered a 'Best Selling Author'. Even if I don’t have a hit every book I put out there under my [real] name will get me in front of more and more people...I can just be myself and let my personality shine through [if using my real name]...If one of my books bombs...I could lose or alienate a lot of my fans and followers. It’s impossible to please everyone but I at least want to please SOME people...It would be foolish of me to let [bad book reviews] be a main reason why I wouldn’t put a book under my [real] name but it’s something to at least think about. Some people have nothing better to do than try to bring others down." Oh, and while we're at it, here's another tidbit about the advantages and disadvantages of having a pen name to begin with. Susanna Gebauer offers these pointers on what to think about in deciding between publishing on your own blog or elsewhere:
"Are you looking for quick publicity for a [short-term] project, or do you really want to build something that lasts and grows?...Your own blog gives you the opportunity to publish anything you like on your own site. It’s a hub for all your content. It does not necessarily and always have to be a sophisticated article, [but] it can be an announcement for an event, a short review of a past experience or even a very promotional piece about what you are really doing...[K]eep in mind what your target audience wants...Your blog is as much a portfolio for yourself or your organisation [sic] as it is a publishing opportunity. Just imagine someone searching on Google for your company and finding your content segmented through various outlets like LinkedIn, Medium and elsewhere without a central place to find it...The advantage of using established outlets is that they give you an existing audience. You can get attention to your own purposes via the content, the bio and links therein. In addition these links can help your SEO...If you already have a large following in social media it might be worth the effort...An audience needs to be built whether it is on social media or your website...Social Media audiences do not come for free...[S]tart with a combination of your own blog and posting to an established audience in other outlets...For [short-term] projects where you do not aim to build an audience which you can grow and reuse over a longer period of time, it might be an option to just go for guest posting and not using your own blog...For everyone else who is rather looking to build a community and lasting success an own blog should be included in your efforts." Writer's Digest offers five tips for writing a book by blogging (assuming you already do it): "As a blogger, you produce lots of valuable content every year that you can use for more than just blog posts. Indeed, with the right focus and planning, your blog can become a book-writing machine...Look in your blog archives. Do you see the foundation of a manuscript?...Intentionally produce a manuscript on your blog, or blog a book. To do this, write your manuscript in blog-post-sized pieces and publish them regularly on your site...As you do so, you’ll build [a] platform—a loyal fan base of readers eager to purchase the book you are blogging...And you’ll have great content to share on your social networks. Blogging a book is easier for nonfiction writers, but novelists use the strategy successfully, too. In either case, don’t publish whole chapters as one post; publish each chapter as many post-sized bits...To blog a short book, brainstorm a series of ten to 30 posts. Once you’ve published these on your blog, repurpose them into a book manuscript...Maybe you already published a series of posts—or many posts related in some way. At the time, you didn’t write these with the intention of producing a book, but that shouldn’t stop you from creating one now. Short series are the easiest books to blog!...If you use guest posts on your blog, create an anthology. Either publish a series of guest posts with the intention of producing a book, or book the guest posts you’ve already published. To do this, look for guest posts you’ve published on the same or related topics." |
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April 2024
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