Making $$$ The Write Way A free eMagazine for writers of integrity *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ October 30, 2002 Volume 1 Number 1 *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ To subscribe, and receive the FREE eBOOK, "So You Want to be a Travel Writer," surf here: http://www.ebookstand.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In this issue: 1.) Letter From The Publisher---On The Home front 2.) Ask an Expert/Questions and Answers 3.) COMP-ortunity of the week 4.) Online Success-Internet Boot camp (Part 1) 5.) The Business of Writing by Duane Newcomb 6.) Fiction Tip-Best Selling Author, Lee Roddy 7.) Editor's Pick/Reviews 8.) The Boast Post---Bragging Board of Writers Triumphs and Victories *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Making $$ The Write Way eMagazine is a division of The Magnum Group ISSN pending. Copyright 2002 Write Spirit Publishing. All rights reserved. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Start Comping today by purchasing our best selling eBook: "BEEN THERE---COMPED THAT!" Free Travel, Dining, and Entertainment, All for the Cost of Some Ink Available at: http://www.ebookstand.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ On The Home front Carmel L. Mooney News from the "Home front" We are so excited to launch the first issue of our new FREE eMagazine providing writers: industry news, publishing opportunities, contests, priceless marketing pointers, reviews, and opportunities to exchange ink for incredible FREE travel, dining, and entertainment. (Comping) If you like travel writing, you will never again have to wonder what destinations to write about! Our listings offer the best destinations and venues to experience and write about for FREE...OK for a little ink. If you want to ride the hottest self-publishing wave, we'll explore eBooks each week and we'll introduce writers to the vast opportunities that await any writer who seizes the moment now. Reflecting back to "why" this eMagazine came to fruition, I remember the excitement I felt when I first started writing for publication. That quickly led to travel writing and realizing that "comping" was part of the business. All types of travel, dining, and entertainment venues RELY on bona fide writers to successfully promote them through the printed word. It's mutually beneficial because writers get material for their writing, and business owners of inns, resorts, and restaurants get valuable printed exposure. As a travel writer, columnist, and former radio talk show host, I am no longer surprised at the number of businesses who want to host legitimate writers but didn't know how to find them. This e-Magazine is the solution for writers and businesses alike. Two years ago, in October 2000 the excitement bug bit me again as I entered the world of eBooks and ePublishing. What an adventure this has been also and I can't wait to share it with you---immediate publishing and passive income; it doesn't get much better than that. The time is now to ride the hottest self-publishing wave and in this eMagazine we'll show you how. As I sit here at my computer gazing at my glorious view of the Tahoe National Forest with a rambunctious toddler and a baby cooing beside me, I am reminded what a terrific business we're in---writing and freelancing. My promise to you is that this eMagazine will strive to inspire, educate, entertain, and guide writers into the world of publishing, freelancing, and comping with integrity. As you follow us to the boarding gate, feel free to bring other writers you know along for the ride...pass this eMag onto them by forwarding or pasting it in its entirety. My Best Wishes and COMP-liments to all, Carmel *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ This week's newest COMP-ortunity Rosemary Cottages Website: http://www.rosemarybb.com Address: PO Box 273, Inverness, CA 94937 Phone: 415-663-9338, 800-808-9338 Contact: Suzanne Storch Location: Inverness, CA adjacent to Point Reyes National Seashore Description: Rosemary Cottage is a secluded French country cottage nestled against the Point Reyes National Seashore. Large windows over look the herb garden and wooded scenery. Located minutes from the ocean, with queen bed, large kitchen, full bath and stunning views. Hot Tub, Pets welcome, and Families welcome. Coverage desired: Seeks professional writers to expose/cover FAMILY FRIENDLY aspects. Also Private and romantic. Prefers writers with: Book in progress; Letter of assignment Possible comp: One Mid-week night; extended case by case. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ "Ask a Pro" Publishing/Comping/Writing Q&A Get "Your Questions---You Always Wanted To Ask," answered by professional writing consultant/coach/instructor, Carmel L. Mooney To ask Carmel a writing, publishing, or comping question, email her at: Carmel@ebookstand.com. Questions may be edited for length or content if necessary. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Question: Can I really make any money on the Internet with eBooks? SH, Sacramento, CA Answer: YES! YES! YES!!! I wrote my first 51 page eBook in a weekend and had it up for sale on a Monday. I got my first royalty check the next month and have continued to get them ever since. Never before has it been so easy and inexpensive to self publish and make $$$ the WRITE way. Question: How hard is it to get comped in Las Vegas? They comp gamblers all the time, don't they? WT Sand Point, ID Answer: I've comped hotels, attractions, and shows in Las Vegas. It's not difficult, as a writer, if you speak to the marketing department or sales department and have a letter of assignment, sample clips, press pass, or an eBook in progress. I outline exactly how to do this in my book, BEEN THERE-COMPED THAT! http://www.ebookstand.com/carmelmooney.htm To ask Carmel a writing, publishing, or comping question, email her at: Carmel@ebookstand.com. Questions may be edited for length or content if necessary. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ Internet Marketing Tips and Strategies For Writers How to sell your publications online by Hazel Nieves, Our E-business Marketing Expert and Consultant Internet Boot camp Basics, PART 1. By: Hazel Nieves, Internet Marketing Expert Let me ask you a question... Are you just starting out on the Internet? Are you suffering from information overload? Well, you're not alone. Online Business beginners are bombarded with words that sound like ... gibberish. There's so much to learn and it can be hard to figure out which end is up! So,I thought we might start out with Internet Online Boot camp today. We will have a practical, down-to-earth look at what to expect if you're thinking of doing business on the Internet. You will get a clear picture of what life online is like before you jump in with both feet. The Internet Definition: A network of computers all over the world, which communicate with each other using common protocols. Beginning as a military network called ARPANet in 1969, the Internet later expanded to include universities and now businesses and individuals. Each Internet computer, called a host, is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. It also includes many distinct services, such as email, chat, and file transfer and the World Wide Web. Also Known As: Net, Information Superhighway, Cyberspace World Wide Web Definition: Invented in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee, A system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a script called HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. This means you can jump from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. As: web, WWW, W3 IP Address Definition: Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses. ISP Definition: A company, which provides access or connectivity to the Internet, usually for a monthly fee. Local and national companies are available. Generally, you use your modem to dial in to the ISP's modem, giving you direct access to all of the Internet services available. You'll need to find an Internet Service Provider (ISP) so that you can connect to the Internet. This typically runs from about $15 to $30 a month. Also Known As: Internet Service Provider, access provider Internet access. Web Page Definition: A file on the Internet that can be displayed by a browser. Web pages can contain text, graphics, animation, video and audio. Web pages are generally written in HTML. Several related pages located at the same address are called a web site. Also Known As: page, Internet page Web site Definition: A collection of pages at the same IP address, or URL, is called a web site. The first page you come to is called the home page. >From there, you can get to other pages in the site using hyperlinks. Also Known As: site, Internet site, website HTML Definition: The language traditionally used to write web pages. HTML is actually a collection of "tags" which tell your browser how to display a web page. HTML tags determine the size and color of the words on your screen, where the graphics are displayed, and what pages the hypertext is linked to. You can take a look at the HTML for any page on the web by clicking on the "View" menu in your browser and selecting "View Document Source." Also Known As: Hypertext Markup Language FTP Definition: The method by which computers can send files to one another over the Internet. Also Known As: file transfer protocol Browser Definition: A program used to view, download, upload, surf or otherwise access documents (pages) on the World Wide Web. Browsers can be text-based meaning they do not show graphics or images but most however are text and graphical based. Browsers read "marked up" or coded pages that reside on servers and interpret the coding into what we see "rendered" as a Web page. Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are examples of Web browsers and are the most popular used although Explorer is by far the preferred choice. Domain (NOTE: This one has a lot of info as to why a biz needs a domain) Definition: The location of a computer (or a group of computers) on the Internet. Domain names are similar to this: www.sierratechnologysolutions.com. Together with the name of a specific computer, a domain name can take you to a location (or 'site') on the Internet. For example, typing in www.sierratechnologysolutions.com takes you to the Sierra Technology Solutions home page. Typing www.sierratechnologysolutions.com.portfolio.htm takes you specifically to the portfolio page. Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top-level domain it belongs to. There are many such domain extensions but the most widely used are... .gov - Government agencies .edu - Educational institutions .org - Organizations (nonprofit) .mil - Military .com - commercial business .net - Network organizations (DON'T MISS NEXT WEEK PART 2. OF INTERNET BOOTCAMP) ---Hazel Nieves, expert on Internet Marketing and Online business success is owner of Web Development Company, Sierra Technology Solutions. Inc. She has 20 years experience in sales, marketing, and technology and is a committed crusader in helping take the confusion out of taking your business online. You can Contact Hazel at 530-367- 2915 or customerservice@sierratechnologysolutions.com Special Offer! Writers Special E-biz Website Package Turn-key Package Includes: *5 Custom Pages *Shopping Cart (up to 10 products) *Secure Server *One year hosting service *Uses your own domain *Up to 15 Email accounts *Attractive Professional designs to choose from *Copyright Statement page Special Price: $ 600.00 complete Get started today with your Affordable Professional E-business website here: http://www.sierratechnologysolutions.com/writers/writers_special.htm Learn more from Hazel at: http://www.sierratechnologysolutions.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ The Business of Writing by Duane Newcomb Each week this column looks at writing as a business and offers tips to increase your writing income. This week focuses on what rights to sell and how to handle them. This is important because if you retain the right rights, you may be able to sell the same article 10 or 15 times. Here are the rights you generally sell: First North American rights. Generally I lump similar rights together here: first North American English language rights and North American English language rights. This gives the magazine the right to publish the article first in English in the United States and Canada. After the magazine publishes it, you are free to resell it. There are some technical differences between the two but the outcome is the same. Second rights. The magazine acquires the right to publish an article that has already been published first by another magazine. You will find these listed in the Writer's Market. One-time rights. This can be first or second rights, but the magazine acquires the right to publish the article one time only. Magazines in certain categories are willing to buy one-time rights. These include religious magazines, regional magazines, company magazines, newspapers, trade journals and more (over 8000 magazines). English language periodical rights. The magazine acquires all periodical rights that are published in English. You retain book rights, other non-periodical rights, and foreign rights. World periodical rights. This gives the publication the right to publish in magazines all over the world. These rights apply to both English and foreign translations. You, however, keep book and dramatic rights. I recommend that you do not sell these because often you can sell your article to one country at a time. All rights. The publication obtains the right to publish the material in magazines, books and electronic publications. This applies to both English and foreign translations. What you sell depends on the magazine and you. Most magazines ask for first North American rights. Some insist on world periodical rights because they have foreign editions. Others are willing to buy one- time rights. Don't give your rights away just because the magazine asks for them. The rights you retain mean extra money later on. The American Society of Authors and Journalists suggests that writers sell first North American publication rights only. I personally mark all manuscripts except those intended for major magazine, "one time rights." This is usually accepted and allows me to resell my manuscript anywhere I wish. If a magazine asks for more than first North American rights, you should always try to negotiate. Some magazines will accept the rights you offer, others will not publish your article if you don't give them the rights they ask for. If a magazine insists on world periodical rights or all rights, you should always ask for more money than they have offered. The justification is that you won't be able to make additional income by selling second rights to other magazines. Sometimes a publication will agree to pay more for additional rights, and sometimes they won't. But it doesn't hurt to ask. Often, magazines that acquire world rights or all periodical rights will give your rights back after they have published your article. This is never automatic; you must always ask. Some magazines send you a contract or a letter of agreement to sign that states the rights you are selling. Many simply send a letter stating what they will buy. Sometimes the rights the magazine wants to acquire are printed on the check. Often beginning writers will simply sign these and send them back. When you do, you have given them whatever rights they ask for. Don't sign anything until you and the magazine agree on what you are going to sell. Indicate the rights you are willing to sell in the upper left hand corner of the first page of the article under your name and address. Work-for-hire agreements will be discussed in depth in another issue. Duane Newcomb is a literary consultant with 36 non-fiction books to his credit, over 5000 articles and more than 150 client books in print. He has taught articles and non-fiction writing courses at numerous colleges, universities and writer's conferences across the United States. Duane's The Professional Author's Newsletter is a free monthly newsletter that is full of tips and techniques for writing, finding a publisher and publicizing your book. Subscribe at dnew@thegrid.net and visit his Writing the Nonfiction Book web site at www.bookforce.bizland.com. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ Fiction Tip by Lee Roddy, Author/Speaker About the time I sold the first of my fifty-plus novels, an editor told me a great truth: "You don't have to eat the entire egg to know if it's bad." >From critiquing countless fiction manuscripts on my teaching sessions across the country, I'm convinced that most aspiring writers don't know that their manuscript may be rejected after the editor only reads the first page. Brian, a successful writer friend, began by reading unsolicited short story manuscripts for a major New York magazine publisher. Brian was paid 50 cents for reading a story from the slush pile and rejecting it, but he got five dollars for a story the house could use. Naturally, it didn't take long for him to work out a system that he later found was commonly practiced. It still is. He glanced at the title, then the first paragraph. If he liked that, he skimmed to the bottom of that page and perhaps the top of the next. If it still interested him, he flipped to the last page to see if the story ended well. If so, he put it aside to read later. It the story still held up, he passed it on to a higher editor for final review and usually a five- dollar fee. Aspiring writers may scream at this practice, but with thousands of manuscripts cascading on readers' over-loaded desks, it makes sense. So those of us who have gone on to sell our stories have learned that our entire manuscript may be judged primarily on the opening page. That's usually true of movies, television and other story forms. Samuel Goldwyn, the motion picture producer, reputedly told his writers, "Open with an earthquake and build from there." I practice this in writing both my adult and juvenile novels. At teachers' and other conventions where I exhibited my books, I often told a new prospect, "Read the first page and see if you can put the book down." Thousands of new readers were gained that way. So remember all this in writing your short story or a novel. If the first page doesn't hook the reader, you need to strengthen it before letting an editor see it. Space doesn't permit explaining what needs to go into the first page, but now you know a great publishing truth. Editors don't have to eat an entire egg to know if it's bad. To purchase any of Lee Roddy's books go to: http://www.leeroddybooks.com Best-selling author Lee Roddy has written 50 published novels and 15 nonfiction books with sales in the millions of copies. His credits include Grizzly Adams, which became a prime-time television series; The Lincoln Conspiracy, which made the New York Times best-seller list; Jesus, now a film in more than 500 languages; and four series of character-development novels for young adults and readers ages 8- 12. Lee Roddy is available for personal appearances as schedule permits. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ Editor's Pick Book, Magazine, Website, and e-Book Review by Victoria Beninga, Editor The Travel Writer's Guide By Gordon Burgett How to Earn at Least Twice What You Spend on Travel by Writing Newspaper and Magazine Articles Warning: Be careful what time of the day you start reading THE TRAVEL WRITER'S GUIDE, because if you start reading in the evening, you may be aimlessly walking around (as I was) in a sleep-deprived condition the next day. This is definitely one of those books that is difficult to put down. Gordon Burgett does a fabulous job sharing what he knows to inform writers, both new and experienced, how to make money from travel writing. This 308- page book is packed with helpful advice, including worksheets, sample letters, sample photos, and my favorite section: "365 ideas for travel articles." One of the many helpful ideas in this book deals with how to get many articles out of one writing assignment. First, Mr. Burgett advises traveling to one destination while gathering information on and taking photos of interesting places along the way. In one example, he started in Los Angeles, California and drove to Reno, Nevada. He didn't just concentrate on Reno, though. He stopped in towns along his route that were ripe for potential travel articles, such as Monterey, California and the Gold Country of the Sierra Nevada. By writing about these and many more stops, he had enough material and photos to write 20 more articles. He didn't stop there, though. Later in the book he demonstrated how to sell all those articles and photos again and again! Whether you are a beginning travel writer eager to know all you can about how to get started, or an experienced travel writer who is open to more ideas, you will find THE TRAVEL WRITER'S GUIDE a helpful, informative, entertaining source. Victoria Beninga Travel author/columnist Book available at http://www.ebookstand.com/m/victoria Travel column at http://plum.he.net/~mountan/restaurants,local_activities,day_trips,and_weeke nd_getaways.htm *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~*~ The Boast Post Don't be modest-we applaude you! Whether it's an assignment victory, a publishing accomplishment, or a writing goal achieved, we'd love to hear it. Send your boast in 50 words or less to: Carmel@ebookstand.com (may be edited for length or content) *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Coming Soon: -Guidelines, rules, topic, and prize listings for the upcoming autumn writing contest *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ It's FREE---List your inn, resort, restaurant, entertainment venue, business, or destination seeking written coverage---contact the publisher at: Carmel@ebookstand.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Making $$$ The Write Way eMagazine TO SUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail with "subscribe" as the subject to: subscribe@ebookstand.com TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail with "unsubscribe" as the subject to: unsubscribe@ebookstand.com *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Write Spirit Publishing P.O. Box 3405 Auburn, CA 95604 Contact us at: Carmel@ebookstand.com We welcome your comments/suggestions/requests/contributions Carmel L. Mooney, Publisher Victoria Beninga, Associate Editor http://www.ebookstand.com If our links don't work for you this may mean your E-mail program doesn't like our code. If so, please click directly from our online issue at: http://www.ebookstand.com/newsletter_archive.htm This eMagazine may be FREELY distributed to friends, discussion lists, and writing groups as long as the entire issue is included. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~