CornerScribe

Still here…

Yes, I’m still here. I’ve been telling myself how busy I am, what with spring and yard work and new kittens born to “our” stray cat. Then there was my birthday and Mother’s day (and the shawl I very nearly finished for my mom).

The truth is, though, my creativity has been running a bit low lately, and I just couldn’t bring myself to write for the blog, or for anything really. I’ve been getting the itch the last few days though, and I’m hoping that my little hiatus will have me back and feeling inspired.

In short, I’m back.

Zombie Markets

Here are a couple market listings you may be interested in.

Permuted Press

I found these guys because my husband bought a couple of their books. I read one this weekend, Day by Day Armageddon, and it was good. If you like zombie fiction, then it’s one you may want to check out.

It looks like Permuted Press is taking submissions for an anthology now, but not for novels.

Tales of the Zombie War

If you like to write (or read) zombie fiction, then this is a magazine you may be interested in. They don’t pay, unfortunately.

Dark Scribe

While not exclusively zombie, this magazine covers horror in general. If you’d rather write a review or some other nonfiction piece, then they may be for you. Plus, they’re a paying market!

Accountability - Late

I’m still fighting off a cold, so my progress post is late. I hope I’m not the only one who finds that a bit ironic.

Well, here’s how I’m doing.

1. Spend two hours on the novel done
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no, and I’m thinking of pulling this off my list for now
3. Go through my e-mail done
4. Find at least one new short story market done, but not posted yet. Will do that soon
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs done
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs some time, but not an hour
8. Write one article started, but not finished
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) done
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard done

Not bad for being sick, I think. What tips do you have to be productive?

Recently Popular Links

In case you missed them, here are some of the most popular posts recently.

Publishing is Changing

How Real are your Characters

17 Writing Prompts

Make the most of Entrecard and StumbleUpon

Social Networking for Readers 

10 Reasons I didn’t buy your article

I recently headed over to Constant Content to shop for some articles for my sites. I was surprised by some of the things I found. If you’re having trouble selling your material, then maybe one of these is the reason why.

1. Your sample was too short. I want to see a good size chunk of the article before I buy it. I think some writers resist putting in a large sample because they’re afraid someone might “steal” their idea. If you want it to sell, you’ll need to put in a real sample.
2. And the point is? If I read the sample, and I’m still not sure where the author is going with the article, I’m not likely to gamble that it’s going to get better in the part that I can’t see.
3. Errors. If there are a lot of errors (grammar, punctuation, etc.) in the article, then I’m not likely to buy it. I don’t want to have to take the time to clean it up myself, and I wouldn’t put it up on my site in that condition.
4. Usage rights only. I’d be more likely to purchase unique or full rights than usage only. Any number of people could buy and post the same article under a usage contract, and that can lower my SEO.
5. Overpriced. I looked at one article, as an example, that was priced at $50 for usage rights. I think that’s a bit expensive. For that price, I’d expect to at least get a unique license, especially for a short blog post article.
6. Underpriced. I also looked at an article that was $1 for 1000 words. Wow. The article had been bought only twice, despite the bargain price.  I have to wonder if it’s worth even the dollar.
7. Passive voice. I’m not usually a stickler about the passive voice, but when it pops up in the first paragraph, I tend to notice. I don’t know how many articles I read that began with some variation of “Much has been discussed about…”
8. Weak introduction. If you don’t catch me on the first paragraph or so, you’ve lost me. This is more important on a site like constant content than even in your blog, where loyal readers will cut you some slack.
9. Inappropriate slang. Another example, in an article obviously intended to sound professional, the writer used the phrase, “They’re just too hung up on themselves…” While that’s perfectly okay for a casual blog post, it’s not appropriate for an article intended to sound authoritative.
10. Lack of details. One article turned out to be a list of links, with no explanation. Another turned out to be a quickie article that looked like it took all of five minutes or so to write. If I’m going to buy it, it needs to be fleshed out a bit more than that.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I write for Constant Content, and I’m happy to say I’ve sold about 75 percent of what I’ve written there. You can see my profile and articles here. I hope that these tips can help you sell more there, or wherever you’re trying to sell your content.

Progress Update

Wow, what a spectacularly unproductive week. We were out of town a couple days, and then I came down with a rotten cold. Anyway, here is my update, such as it is.

1. Spend two hours on the novel no
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no
3. Go through my e-mail yes
4. Find at least one new short story market no
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs no
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs no
8. Write one article no
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) no
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard spent 1 hour
    

That’s terrible, isn’t it? I’m going to leave my goals the same for the upcoming week. Let’s try to do better, shall we?

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard

Guest Blogging Contest

Daily Blog Tips has a post about a guest blogging contest you might be interested in.

Here are a few tips for participating, and doing well, in a blogging contest.

• Follow the rules. You’d be surprised, but a lot of people get disqualified simply because they missed a simple rule, like making the deadline or word count, etc.
• Revise! Put together your post and let it rest for a day or two. Even if you usually don’t, take the extra step this time. Get someone to read it for you if you can. Regardless, you need to spend more time revising for a guest post.
• Check grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. After you revise to get your point across as well as you can, spend time cleaning up your post. Judges can be put off by simple errors that a bit of proofreading could have fixed, even when the post is great otherwise.
• Get the right subject and voice. Read the blog you’re posting for, and make sure your post fits not only the content but the voice as well. Is the tone irreverent, humorous, serious? While you don’t want to lose your own voice, a radically different tone than the site you’re blogging for may put you out of the running.
• Use humor. Posts that are informative and humorous tend to do well. If you can successfully mix the two, you’re likely to get some positive attention.
• Tackle tougher subjects. In my experience, people who are willing to write about the difficult topics tend to do well. It’s obvious when someone has spent a lot of time putting together a great post, so take the extra time with this one.
• Add visuals. Try to add pictures, diagrams, drawings, or screenshots, if they’re appropriate to your subject.

Do you have any other tips on how to do well in a blogging contest?

Accountability Day

Last week, I set some goals for this week. So, here I am to update you on how I did.

1. Go through my e-mail (not yet, but I plan to tonight)
2. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs (done for 2 blogs, only 1 post for the third)
3. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts (done)
4. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs (done)
5. Write one article (done, and submitted it too)
6. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works (nope)
7. Spend two hours on the novel (ahem… nope)
8. Send one inquiry about guest blogging (done)
9. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard (done)
10. Find at least one new short story market (no)

While I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to (obviously), I’m still pleased with the amount of work I did get finished. I think the real benefit of an exercise like this is getting MORE accomplished, not necessarily everything on the list.

And here’s my list for the upcoming week. Those items that didn’t get finished this week will get higher priority next. If you’re doing something similar on your own blog, leave a link in comments and I’ll link to you.

This week, my goal is to finish the following.

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard

Links

links

Originally uploaded by lizjones112

Here are some interesting (and useful) writing links that I’ve come across lately.

Tools to Life

This site lets you set and track goals, and get support from group members as well. Warning: the site has sound.

MindMeister

This is an online mind-mapping tool. Yes, there’s a free version.

Google Smart-Pricing

Courtney Tuttle explains how to avoid having Google devalue your adsense clicks because one (or more) of your sites has a low click through rate. Yes, this explains why you don’t see adsense here.

Short Stories

East of the Web has a place where you can post your short stories and share them.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Here’s one for fun. Enjoy!

Publishing is Changing…

Book collection

Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson

Techdirt has a great article about publishing and the internet, and how the publishing model will need to change in the future. I’m sure you know about the RIAA and/or MPAA and their many lawsuits against users downloading their content without paying.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see it happening with books as well.