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Writer's Notes - By Jeanne Dininni

 
WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!


Win $500 for Writing One Line!

Zirdland.com is offering a $500 prize to the entrant who writes the best opening line for its twice-yearly That First Line writing contest. Deadline for the Spring/Summer contest is September 1st, so get creative and submit your best opening line before that date. The winning line from the last contest has been posted on the contest's submission page to give you an idea of the kind of writing Zirdland judges appreciate most. In fact, a number of winning lines from past contests can be found on the ZirdNEWS page.


Novel Competition Also Features a Generous Prize

Zirdland is also hosting a Novel Competition, which features a $1,000 prize. There's no entry fee for uploading/submitting your unpublished or self-published novel (plain text only), and the deadline for submissions is October 10th. So, if you've got a completed (or nearly completed) novel languishing on your hard drive, now's the time to pull it up, do a bit of editing, and place yourself in the running for this generous prize. (Your novel will not be posted to the website; its contents will remain private.)


New Arc Angel Story Analysis Tool Will Judge Entries

Zirdland has recently unveiled its Arc Angel Story Analysis Tool, currently in Beta testing, which will be used to judge entries in the Novel Competition. This marvel of modern software technology, according to Zirdland, "analyzes the sub-text of a literary work," detecting both rhetorical and plot strengths and weaknesses. The program "combines average rhetorical intensity...with (a) drama rating, and other metrics, to provide an overall story satisfaction rating," which is used to rank stories for both the site's contests and its eQuery service. (While many question whether a software program can truly assess a story's literary quality as well as a human judge, it's a fascinating concept and one that will certainly be interesting to watch.)


Free eQuery Service and Job Listings Also Offered by Zirdland

Zirdland also offers a free eQuery service for submitting your work via its automated system to publishers, agents, producers, etc. Its software will apparently generate your proposals, as well. (Is there anything this software can't do?) You'll find further information on the website. The site also offers a list of writing gigs, though at this point at least, the number of opportunities appears to be extremely limited.

You'll definitely want to check out Zirdland.com--particularly if fiction is your forte. This is one fascinating website with many uniquely interesting offerings!


Enjoy your visit!
Jeanne


Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? What do you think of Zirdland's offerings? Do you believe a software program can really assess the literary merit of a written work? Why or why not?



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Pillar Posts Link Helps You Locate Content Quickly

I'm not sure whether most of my readers have noticed it yet or not, but I've created a list of Pillar Posts to help you more easily find Writer's Notes' most beneficial content. You'll find a link in my Spotlight Posts list to Writer's Notes' Pillar Posts. This link will take you to a post in which I've listed my most helpful content, broken down into various categories.

Rather than simply listing them in reverse chronological order by month, as they are in my archives, I've decided that it would be far more helpful to you if I were to categorize this content. This should help you quickly find the topics you're interested in exploring or the tools and resources you'd like to use, rather than having to wade through all the posts on the list. (This will prove even more beneficial, no doubt, as the list grows through the addition of future content.) Hope you'll find this feature useful! Let me know what you think and whether you have any further suggestions for making it even more useful.


Other Spotlight Posts Links Point to Blog Carnival Feed and More

My Spotlight Posts list is also where a link to my About page is located, as well as links to Writer's Notes' Awards (given to me by various other bloggers), and my Blog Carnival Feed. Blog carnivals can be a fantastic way to get recognition, readers, and links to your site. So, check this feed often, visit the Blog Carnival website via the button in the Stats & Other Widgets section in my top left sidebar, and seriously consider submitting your blog posts to one or more carnivals. There are many carnivals on myriad topics, and the best part is that you may have already written content that's suitable for one or more of them. So, don't overlook a great opportunity to get exposure for your blog.


Sites for Writers Link List Points to Helpful Sites

Last, but not least, I'd like to remind my readers to make use of my Sites for Writers list (previously called "Helpful Sites for Writers") near the bottom of my left sidebar. (The links are still just as helpful, but I needed to shorten the title.) This is a comprehensive list of links to various websites which can be helpful to writers in one way or another.

Most are straight writing sites or blogs, some are sites to or through which to sell your work, and others offer various additional features beneficial to the writer/blogger: blog design, inspiration, wisdom about issues that affect writers/writing, both business and general life lessons that can be helpful to you in the craft or business of writing, etc. Be sure to use this list of links often--and try visiting some of the sites that are as yet unfamiliar to you. You'll find many gems in this list, and you may just discover one or more that really target your interests or needs. (How will you ever know if you don't check them out?)


Hope these additions to Writer's Notes' help to make your writing life, fuller, simpler, and more productive. And may they help contribute to your success!


From one writer to another,
Jeanne



Did you enjoy this post? Find it helpful? Have any suggestions for improvement or other features you'd like to see? Please let me know in comments. I'd love to hear from you!



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A New Blog that Led Me to Another Great New Site

As I checked my Technorati ranking yesterday, I noticed a Blog Reaction (backlink to my blog) that came from a blog I'd never, to my knowledge, visited before. This made me curious, so I clicked on over to check it out. When I arrived at the PhilMcDonnell.com blog, I discovered that in his post, Viral Day, Phil had reproduced a fascinating list of links that has been making its way around the blogosphere. (To learn more about the list, click the link to the "Viral Day" post.) At any rate, Writer's Notes was on the list, and hence my visit to his blog.


The Free Rice Site Where Words Buy Food for the Hungry

While I was there, I noticed another interesting post, called Free Rice.... The post tells of a United Nations World Food Program effort to feed the hungry which is partially supported by a website called Free Rice. This site offers its visitors a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz, with multiple levels of difficulty (50 to be exact); and the site--or rather its sponsors--pledge to donate 10 grains of rice to the U.N. effort for every correct definition chosen. While it's true that 10 grains isn't much rice, if enough people get enough answers correct, it could grow into a substantial amount of food for hungry people around the world. (According to the site's home page, 45,925,390 grains of rice were donated yesterday and 52,142,290 the day before. The site also publishes a list which includes a breakdown of the daily rice donations that have been contributed so far.)


My First Intellectual Donation to the Fight to End World Hunger

I, personally, earned 2,000 grains of rice yesterday by correctly defining 200 words. (I don't know how many words I attempted, since I got many of them wrong. [Decided not to use my dictionary.]) But, this quiz is a great way to improve your vocabulary while doing your small part to help those less fortunate than you. And, of course you can go back again and again, whenever you're inclined to learn a few words and feed a few mouths.


Win-Win Situation: How the Quiz Works

The vocabulary skill level varies as you take the quiz based on whether your definitions are correct or not. When you get three words in a row right, you're moved up a level, and when you get one wrong, you're moved down a level. It's a fascinating mental exercise! Personally, I tended to hover around the 40-43 mark, though I went as low as 38 and as high as 45. But, the great thing about this test is that, no matter what level you're at, you still earn 10 grains of rice for every correct answer, and you never lose any when you get an answer wrong. So it's a win-win situation! You win by learning new words that you'll be able to use in your writing--and understand in your reading--and the hungry peoples of the world who are on the receiving end of the U.N. World Food Program win by receiving the fruits of your intellectual labors.

So why not check out the site, learn a few new words, and help feed the hungry!

Happy helping!
Jeanne







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Get Paid to Blog at Smorty

August 28th 2007 01:00

Smorty, for My Australian Readers--and Everyone Else!

Since I've decided to add some carefully selected sponsored posts to my blog, in the interest of survival for myself and value for my readers, I thought I'd try Smorty, which is an Australian blog advertising site, and which, as such, might tend to offer products and services that my Aussie readers would really be able to relate to. (Of course, I'm sure that Smorty's advertisers' products and services have widespread appeal!)


An Opportunity to Get Paid for Blogging

I'm glad to have this opportunity to get paid for blogging. (After all, I already blog and love it!) This will be just one more way to help insure that I'll be able to continue bringing my readers as many great writing tips, techniques, and resources as possible.

Let's face it; financial realities confront each one of us, every day. Few of us are strangers to the need to earn a living. But, I have no intention of belaboring the point, because I see my new relationship with Smorty as a great thing! I feel it has a lot to offer both me and my readers, and I intend to do my best to choose opportunities that are relevant to you, as writers; though I have to confess that I may occasionally just happen to choose a few that seem intriguing to me--and remember, I, too, am a writer--whether or not they relate to writing directly. (After all, writers have lives, too--outside of writing, that is--though at times it may not always seem that way!)


A Few Words About Smorty

At Smorty, as with most other sites where writers blog for money, advertisers pay bloggers to write opinion posts with links back to the advertiser's site. While this is great for us bloggers, who get paid to blog, it's also obviously beneficial to the businesses that advertise on blogs. This mutual benefit is the basis of every truly successful business transaction--and, for the writer, this includes the sale of our writing in any other venue. After all, this is what free enterprise is all about!

As I see it, if we bloggers pick and choose our advertising opportunities with care, our relationship with Smorty--or with any other blog advertising network--should not only benefit the company, the advertiser, and the blogger, but also the blog's readers, as well.


Here's to the Future--With Smorty and My Readers!

I look forward to a great relationship with the people at Smorty, as well as with their advertisers! And I also look forward to a continuation of the excellent relationship I currently enjoy with my readers and fellow bloggers. You are very important to me, and I promise, you, my readers, that I will not knowingly post inaccurate information or reviews and certainly will not intentionally mislead you about any product, service, or company, for the sake of money.


How About You?

Should you be interested in pursuing your own opportunity to blog for money, I'll be placing my Smorty affiliate badge into my sidebar very soon. If you'd like, you may use it to get more information about how you can get paid to blog at Smorty. (In the meantime, feel free to use the link found in the first paragraph of this post.)


Thanks for your support!
Jeanne



This post sponsored by Smorty.



Blog Advertising - Get Paid to Blog



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The Lucid Mind: A True Gift

As writers, each of us can appreciate, in a particularly vivid way, the blessing of a lucid mind! Clear thought, dependable memory, logical deductive power: each of these is critical to us as we go about our daily activities, giving us the ability to share ideas via the written--or spoken--word. Because of this, we writers are able, perhaps more than most, to understand just how devastating the loss of these abilities can be--and is--to every person who falls victim to Alzheimer's, and to each of their family members, as well.


The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk®: Your Opportunity to Make a Difference

The
Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk® is America's largest event held to raise awareness about Alzheimer's and funds for Alzheimer's care, support, and research. Held annually since 1989 in hundreds of communities across the U.S., walks are typically 2-3 miles long and take place on a weekend morning in early fall. This year's walk will involve more than 600 communities--communities where volunteers of all ages will gather to champion the cause of Alzheimer's sufferers.

Since its inception, Memory Walk has raised more than $225 million in funds to help in the fight against Alzheimer's, and caring people like you are the ones who have made that happen!


Memory Walk Team Captains Needed Immediately!

Team Captains are needed NOW to assemble, organize, and lead teams of other concerned individuals in preparing for and participating in the Walk. Teams can consist of family members, friends, and/or business associates who are dedicated to helping fight Alzheimer's. As a Team Captain, you can inspire the caring people in your own personal sphere to take action on behalf of a worthwhile cause, becoming true champions of those who face Alzheimer's.

The rewards of taking charge and making this happen in your local area will be great! You'll experience the satisfaction of knowing that you've gone the extra mile--literally!--in the fight to help make Alzheimer's a thing of the past. You'll know that you were the catalyst that brought your entire group's energy, enthusiasm, and compassion together, creating a synergy that would be hard to beat. You'll be respected and admired, not only by those you lead, but by others who learn of your dedication and leadership in such a worthy endeavor. By signing up to become a Team Captain, you can't lose--because you'll know that you're helping those who are contending with Alzheimer's win!


Please Sign Up Early!

The Association recommends that Team Captains sign up as early as possible so they will have sufficient time to recruit their teams and raise funds for the cause. As a Team Captain, you can help make this year's Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk® a success.

To quote the Association, "By teaming up with the Alzheimer's Association, you can walk with a purpose – and move us closer to a world without Alzheimer's. Together, we can MOVE a nation."

Won't that be a wonderful thing?


Thanks for reading,
Jeanne













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Bloggers Need Income, Too

If you are a blogger, you've probably noticed that the amount of revenue to be made via Google Adsense is, to put it kindly, minimal--unless, of course, you happen to be a Darren Rowse or a John Chow, or one of the other relatively few bloggers whose traffic stats are absolutely phenomenal (in which case, you probably won't need to read this). And, after all, few of us can afford to sit at home blogging all day with no likelihood of any sort of monetary reward for our efforts. Not that we wouldn't want to. Most of us love connecting with others through blogging, and that's the main reason we do it. Yet the realities of life remain: We must have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and all the rest.


Advertisers Need Value, Access, Flexibility, and Control

If you are an advertiser, you may be looking for good opportunities to feature your product or service without "breaking the bank." You may want to be able to turn over your advertising needs to a company that will find advertising outlets for you, while maintaining the option of also seeking and using other advertising venues you may come across on your own. After all, advertising budgets are finite, and whether your company is small or large, you want to make the most of your advertising dollar. And the fact of the matter is that "profit" isn't a dirty word. "Profit" is what puts a roof over the head of the advertiser and food on the business owner's table.

In both of the above cases, PayPerPost may have something to offer.


PayPerPost Marketplace

The PayPerPost Marketplace provides opportunities for bloggers and advertisers to connect, through listings in the PPP database. Advertisers list opportunities for bloggers to review their product or service by writing a blog post about it.* Whether or not a particular advertising opportunity is available to a given blogger is based upon the specific criteria the advertiser has decided on for the blogger he or she would like to feature his or her product or service (i.e., minimum Googe page rank, minimum Alexa ranking, etc.)--though not all opportunities require a Google page rank. Bloggers browse the list of opportunities and submit requests to handle the ones that interest them. If chosen, they have a limited time in which to write and post their reviews (6 hours, as I recall).

The PayPerPost Blogger Signup Form may be found here.

The PayPerPost Advertiser Signup Form may be found here.


PPP Direct

Bloggers may also participate in PayPerPost Direct, in which they deal directly with advertisers, displaying a badge or text link on their blogs through which they offer to write posts for pay, setting their own prices, and/or negotiating with interested advertisers for compensation. They may either post a badge containing the cost of their posting services or choose to display a badge or text link which doesn't contain compensation information. When advertisers click on the badge or text link, they are taken to the PayPerPost website, through which the details of the transaction are handled.

The following is my own PPP Direct badge, which will give both bloggers and advertisers an idea of what these badges look like and the way they work. The badge is active--as are all the other buttons and badges in this post--and may be used by any advertiser interested in hiring me. Clicking on the badge will open up a PPP Direct form that may be filled out to request a sponsored post.)



ointer;" onclick="show_direct_form(24991,'/index.html', 'badge_1_blue')" src="http://tinyurl.com/2p8ufz" alt="PPP Direct" border="0">



"Review My Post": Another Opportunity for Bloggers

Another way for bloggers to earn a few dollars is through the "Get Paid to Review My Post" program. In this program, a button is posted at the end of each of a blogger's posts inviting other bloggers to review the post for pay. When an interested blogger clicks on the button, he or she is given the opportunity to sign up with PayPerPost and write a review of the blog post. In these instances, both the blogger who writes the review and the blogger whose post is reviewed receive a modest payment.

This is the "Get Paid to Review My Post" button that I use here at Writer's Notes:






PayPerPost Affiliate Program

The PayPerPost Affiliate program offers bloggers still another opportunity for earning income by referring bloggers and advertisers to PayPerPost, as does the PayPerPost Signup program . (Details may be found on the PayPerPost website.)


Further Information

Whether you are a blogger or an advertiser, if you'd like to learn more about any of the PayPerPost programs or opportunities, please feel free to either click the link in the previous paragraph or use the "PayPerPost Affiliate" button reproduced below, which will also take you to the PayPerPost website, where you'll be able to read more about the details and requirements of PayPerPost's various programs.




I've also placed a smaller version of the Affiliate button (due to space and speed-of-loading constraints) in my blog's sidebar. This button may be used at your convenience to access information about signing up for PayPerPost, either as a blogger or an advertiser. The smaller button is reproduced below:





Badge Color and Design Variety

All buttons and badges offered by PayPerPost come in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors, to fit in with the color scheme and design of your blog and your own particular blog organization and navigation needs. There are also versions of the signup forms that are designed to be placed in your blog's sidebar, in addition to those intended for incorporating into individual blog posts.


PayPerPost's Key Ingredient: Versatility

The key ingredient that makes PayPerPost so valuable to both bloggers and advertisers just may be its versatility. While this program boasts many other key features, including convenience, access, review of advertising opportunities, and screening of potential blogs, the number and variety of ways that both bloggers and advertisers can profit are what make PayPerPost stand out from the crowd.


Whether you are a blogger in need of revenue or a business owner in need of advertising, why not check out PayPerPost? It may just prove to be your long-sought after connection to the individuals and/or companies that can help you meet your goals.


Wishing you success!
Jeanne



*NOTE : PayPerPost requires disclosure of the blogger's relationship with the advertiser for whom any post commissioned through PayPerPost is written.



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McGrath Dot Ca (formerly Steve's Tech Blog) Hosts Another Blogger Contest with a Cash Prize

Since I've been writing on the subject of blogger contests that have monetary prizes lately, I'll tell you about another such contest that I just came across: The Blog About My New Download Site and Win $100 Contest, being held at McGrath Dot Ca (formerly Steve's Tech Blog).


A Little Background

For quite some time, Steve has dreamed of owning a freeware/shareware download site, and, apparently, his dream is becoming a reality. Now that his new site, 1 Cool File is up and running--and acquiring new software every day--he wants the world to know about it!

Hence, the contest.

Requirements to Enter

To enter, bloggers simply have to copy and paste the following paragraphs from Steve's contest blog post into one of their own blog posts. (Don't forget to add all the links when posting the quoted text.)

Steve is launching his brand new site: 1 Cool File. It is a directory of cool files(shareware, freeware, plugins). For example, you can try a new media player after you have just finished a music download. You can add your ebook about making money or a screen saver. That’s not all, it has a section just for blogs(plugins). You can also rate a file or make a review about it. It does support PAD files so tell authors about it.

And just by linking to the contest post, I can win $50. You should read the contest post to win 2 other prizes of $25/each if you don’t have a blog. If your entry is before the next Google page rank, Steve will double the main prize. So, don’t wait to long. It’s coming soon!

And one more thing… You can read Steve’s blog while there.


Not a Blogger? You Can Win a Prize, Anyway

While bloggers may win $50 (or $100 if they enter before the next Google page rank update,) non-bloggers who visit and register for free membership at 1 Cool File, will be entered into a random drawing for $25. And another random $25 drawing will be held among all who point out "relevant" errors they find on the new site (with a few limitations that Steve mentions in his blog post). So, pretty much everyone has a chance of winning something, whether or not they have a blog, which sounds like a pretty fair deal.


Contest Details

Deadline: August 31st, 2007

All prizes paid in Canadian dollars.

All prizes paid via PayPal.



Want More Info? Visit Steve's Site

For more details about the contest, please visit McGrath Dot Ca.

What have you got to lose? Even if you don't win, you'll have found one cool site that will be offering an increasingly great selection of freeware/shareware that can satisfy most--if not all--of your software needs.

Happy "shopping"!
Jeanne



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If you're looking for a site with tons of valuable information for freelance writers, you'll want to check out Writers-Editors Network. This site is also the home of Cassell Network of Writers (CNW) and Florida Freelance Writers Association (FFWA).

While both of the aforementioned writers associations charge varying fees for membership, the Writers-Editors Network website contains a great deal of free information, in the form of articles filled with advice on writing, getting writing assignments, negotiating fees for your work, and many other aspects of freelancing.

In addition, the site offers a Contest Tip Sheet, with great advice that can help you become "a contender" in any writing contest you may decide to enter. They also offer a list of current writing contests, as well as info on their own contest, and an FAQ page which answers many questions that writers may have about the writing/marketing process. They also list a few job opportunities, as well as "Talks, Seminars, and Conferences of Interest" to writers and/or editors.

If you are serious about writing--and about selling your writing--there's a lot of great information here that would undoubtedly be worthy of your time. So, check it out, and see if you don't find something here that will help you along the road to writing success.


Here's to your success!
Jeanne



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I learned, a few days ago, from reading my friend Yvonne Russell's Grow Your Writing Business blog, that WritersWeekly.Com is raising the rates it pays writers for their work. According to an article, written by Angela Hoy and reproduced in its entirety (with permission) by Yvonne, WritersWeekly is raising its rates 20% for features and 33% for success stories. This is great news for freelancers!

According to Ms. Hoy's article, the 20% increase for feature articles figures to "$60 for around 600 words for non-exclusive electronic rights only," and she adds, "For freelance success stories, we now pay $40 for around 300 words."

Her article is exceptionally interesting reading for freelancers, as it also contains an explanation of the payment history of several other major online publishers of freelance material, as well as several print publishers, giving us a glimpse into their going rates, and letting us know just how long it's been since each has raised its own rates.

Check out this great article on Yvonne's site! You'll find it in her post, entitled, Freelance Writing Rates. The article, entitled, We're Raising Our Freelance Rates, by Angela Hoy, is also posted on the WritersWeekly website.

Thanks, Yvonne for this fascinating and thoroughly helpful info! We can only hope that all the other publishers of freelance material will follow WritersWeekly.Com's shining example of adopting fairer freelance payment rates and thereby engaging in more responsible business practices!


Happy writing!
Jeanne


P.S. You'll want to visit Yvonne's blog often! Through it, she provides lots of great info and many helpful resources for writers! For your convenience, a link to Grow Your Writing Business can always be found in my blog's sidebar in the Helpful Sites for Writers list.

You'll also want to visit WritersWeekly.Com. Their site is packed with articles, market listings, and other resources that will help you reach your writing goals!



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If you're looking for a website where you can earn more for your work than at many other sites, give Constant-Content a try. Constant-Content doesn't actually buy your work; instead they sell it for you--in effect, acting as your online literary agent.

This site attracts many different people who are in the market for writing--much of it content for their websites or blogs--though, at times, you will even come across individuals who are looking to purchase writing for publication in various types of print media. At this site, the deal is simple: You provide the written material; they provide the customers. What could be easier? It's the proverbial 'marriage made in heaven'! With this arrangement, everybody wins! The writer earns money, Constant-Content earns money, and the customer gets the desired written material for his or her website or other project. Everybody's happy!

At Constant-Content, you, the writer, are the one who sets the price for your work. Of the price you charge, you will receive 65% each time your article is sold. (C-C receives 10% and their affiliates receive 25%.)

If you sell "usage'" rights, the buyer will be allowed to purchase your writing for a one-time use, which means you'll be free to sell and resell it over and over again. (If your work has appeared elsewhere in print or online, "usage" rights are the only rights Constant-Content will allow you to sell on their site, since they guarantee their customers that any work for which they sell "unique" or "full" rights has not previously appeared anywhere other than the Constant-Content website.)

"Unique" rights means that, after your article is sold, C-C will remove it from their site, because buyers who purchase unique rights want work that will appear only on their website. You will, however retain the rights to your work, and, as with 'usage' rights it will contain your byline (as long as you put your name on the article itself before submitting.)

When you sell "full" rights, which are often referred to in publishing as "all" rights, your work is likewise removed from the site, and the buyer may do whatever he or she desires with your piece--including modifying it, reselling it, and even removing your byline from it and taking credit for writing it.

Of course, depending on which rights you're planning to sell, you'll want to price your work accordingly. You'll also want to charge a reasonable amount for your articles, based on their quality, complexity, length, and nature--and possibly also on your writing and publishing experience, your expertise or credentials in your subject area, and/or your popularity as an author. Obviously, if you charge much more than the average buyer is willing to pay, you might very easily price yourself right out of the market, which will not help you to sell your work. (Of course, there's always the chance that you'll find just the right buyer who loves your writing so much that he or she will be willing to pay a higher price for it--but it may be just as likely that this individual will continue browsing the site for lower-priced content.)

Constant-Content pays authors at the beginning of each month for work sold during the previous month, and payment is made through PayPal. There is a $50 payment threshhold, however, which means that you will only be paid for work sold in the previous month(s) if, as of the date of payment, (generally the first of the month,) your balance has reached or exceeded $50.

The new site is great, and you'll find it very easy to input your work into their templates. (One nice feature of the new site is that you can go back and edit your articles after uploading right up until the time they've been posted to the site for sale. If you find any errors after that, you'll need to contact C-C's editors.)

If you haven't checked out Constant-Content now that their new site is up and running, drop by for a visit. You'll be pleased with the improvements they've made to the site! And if you've never visited Constant-Content, check them out. They're a first-rate marketplace for your work!


Good luck!
Jeanne



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Last time, I gave you four great websites where you can get your work published: Creative-Poems.com, MoonTownCafe.com, Helium.com, and AssociatedContent.com. A few helpful hints about each of these will make your experiences with them more pleasant, more productive, and less frustrating. In this post, we'll cover some of the idiosyncracies of Creative-Poems.com.

The Creative-Poems website is a wonderful site, where you can receive recognition for your work through member comments, weekly Featured Poetry Awards, and monthly Poetry Contests. They do not pay for the poems they post, though they do offer prizes in their monthly Poetry Contest.

At Creative-Poems, non-premium (free) members--as well as trial members--are allowed to place up to five posts on their site in a 24-hour period. (Premium members are allowed eight.) This is somewhat misleading, though, and requires a bit of clarification.

At first glance, it would appear that you'd be able to post up to five--or eight--poems to the site every 24 hours--and this can, indeed, be the case, provided you are very careful not to leave any typos or other errors in your poem, which might require its modification after it's been posted! The reason for this is that, should your poem require editing after posting, you will be resubmitting it after making your corrections--just as if it were a new poem--and thus you will be using another of the finite number of posts you are allowed daily. (This can be a bit frustrating.)

If you're anything like me, you could use an infinite number of posts to edit, modify, correct, and improve your poems to your satisfaction before final submission! But, alas, this is the real world, and every website is set up differently. So, always preview your work before submitting, to be sure your formatting is the way you want it and your work contains no typos. (Occasionally, you'll miss something and need to resubmit--we're all human--but at least you'll know that you aren't wasting most of your posts simply correcting errors!)

Another important point about formatting, while we're on the subject: At Creative-Poems, the default setting--for both poetry submissions and member comments--is centered. So, if you want your poem or comment to be left-margin justified (which is generally my personal preference) you'll need to select your text--if it's already been entered--and click the appropriate icon. (You can also simply click this icon before entering your text with the same effect.) Both regular and premium members may save, for later posting, up to five drafts in addition to the five--or eight--poems they may post in a 24-hour period, in case they aren't quite ready to post their work when they must leave the site.)

With a little prior knowledge of the workings of this great site and the obstacles you might encounter there, you can be well on your way to a long and fulfilling relationship with a dedicated group of site administrators and moderators who are friendly, helpful, responsive, and eager to showcase your work!

Creative-Poems.com is a fabulous forum for your work and a great community of friendly poets, who will help encourage you along the path of self-expression through that most magical of mediums: Poetry! (A very small word with a very big meaning!)*

If you are a poet and haven't yet visited this site, I would definitely--and without reservation--recommend that you check it out!

You'll be glad you did!


Till next time,
Jeanne


*I've written a short article on exactly this subject entitled "Why is Poetry So Difficult to Define?" Why not drop by AC and take a look?



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