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CREATIVE SMALL BIZ

Turn your talent into a flourishing business.

For freelance writers and other creative professionals.

Published monthly, on the 15th of each month.

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Issue 103: March 15 , 2005

Read this issue online at:

http://www.digital-e.biz/newsletter.html


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BLOG: DAILY WRITING NEWS, VIEWS AND TIPS:

Angela Booth's Writing Blog:

http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/

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(For instructions to join or leave the ezine's mailing list,
scroll to the end.)
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In this issue:

* Editorial: Should you blog?

* Excerpt from Pro Write Workshop #12, "Blog Your Writing":
Benefits and advantages of public blogging for writers and other
creatives

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=> Editorial: Should you blog?

Blogging, which is essentially instant publishing by anyone,
anywhere, is gaining momentum on the Web. Creatives, as you might
imagine, are taking to the new medium in droves.

Should YOU blog? I get several email messages every week asking
me about the pros and cons of blogging, and I hope that this
month's excerpt from our Pro Write workshop "Blog Your Writing"
will help you to make a decision.

"How much time do you spending blogging each day?" is the most
popular question. It takes me around 15 minutes to write and post
an item of 100 to 200 words. Therefore, depending on how many
items I post on a particular day, it might take around half an
hour to an hour.

Your blog is what you choose to make it. You don't need to spend
hours on it every day. Many bloggers only post a couple of times
a week.

Hope you enjoy the excerpt. :-)

Best wishes from

Angela
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=> Earn as you learn with Digital-e! <=

Sick of your day job? If you'd rather stay home and write,
Digital-e's email writing courses will help you to become a
professional writer. Write when and where you want. The weekly
payment plans on our e-courses and coaching programs make it an
affordable option to earn as you learn. (You'll have Angela at
your side to cheer you on. :-)) You'll find the part-payment
buttons on the appropriate course pages. Not sure how it works,
or if it's right for you?

Info on Digital-e's courses:

http://www.digital-e.biz/ecourses.html

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=> Excerpt: The benefits and advantages of public blogging for
writers


Copyright C 2005 by Angela Booth. All rights reserved.





All writers who are serious about writing and selling need a
blog. Or blogs. Let's look at the advantages of blogging for both
new and established writers.


==> Blogging advantages for new and aspiring writers ---

* If you're a new writer, a blog gives you the confidence and
ability to write for an audience. Please notice that I put
confidence ahead of ability. As a new writer, you need the
confidence to START. Some writers are born with the confidence to
send their work off to editors, but they're in the minority.

I've even heard of professional writers admitting to collapsing
into tears when they send off work that means a lot to them, so
it's not surprising that aspiring writers feel that the process
of writing for public consumption is overwhelming.

* Your blog helps you to get comfortable with words.
Inexperienced writers "write". Experienced writers just say what
they're got to say --- you can hear the writer's "voice" behind
the words. Developing this voice takes a lot of writing. A blog
lets you do that writing in a low-risk, comfortable arena.

* Your blog enhances your creativity. Writing begets writing.
The more you write, the more you'll have to write about. If you
commit to blogging, the knowledge that you need to collect
material for your blog stimulates your creativity. You'll come up
with ideas for your blog, and for other writing too.

* You can use your blog as a writing sample. When you're a new
writer, you don't have any credits. This means that editors are
hesitant to assign commissions to you. Your blog proves that you
can write, and gives a commissioning editor an idea of what your
style is like. Add your blog's URL to query letters and proposals
that you send to editors, and invite editors to visit your blog.
The fact that you have a blog lets editors know that you're
serious about writing.


==> Blogging advantages for established writers ---

* Your blog helps you to build a platform for your writing
career. Your platform is a base of readers, people who know you
and your work. Your platform is a ready-made audience. Yes,
publishing a book will build your platform, BUT publishers want
you to have a platform first. If you have a built-in audience,
then publishing your books is less risky.

* Your blog gives you the courage to find your voice and be
yourself. I mentioned voice above. Your writer's voice can only
develop with practice. It's as distinctive as a fingerprint.
Forensic word-use document analysis proved that Newsweek
columnist Joe Klein was Anonymous, the author of the roman a clef
novel, Primary Colors. His voice was just as distinctive as
yours.

* Your blog gives you contacts. The writing world is now global.
You have a global audience. This means global competition. This
is a good thing. It means increased markets for your work. The
blogosphere is a huge collection of bloggers, people who blog for
fun, or who blog for marketing and promotion for their business,
or some other work-related reason, and bloggers talk to other
bloggers.

Your blog, with its RSS feed, permalinks, and comments (see the
Glossary) features makes you part of the blogosphere, the social
network of bloggers.

* People can find you online. Blogs get indexed by search
engines FAST. It only took a couple of days for my initial Angela
Booth's Writing Blog items to start appearing in Google. With a
Web site, you'd expect to get indexed in a couple of months. This
means that your blog will get you more readers, faster, than a
Web site.

Note: I'm not suggesting that you don't need a Web site. However,
if you don't have the time/ money/ knowledge to create a site,
get a blog.

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=>Love to write? Join Pro Write: Professional Writing Secrets

Build a successful professional writing career. For both novices
and experienced, selling writers. A new interactive writing
workshop every month, for fiction, nonfiction and copywriting,
plus writing coaching and writing forums.

http://www.prowrite.biz/

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*** Copywriting eight-week email course ***

Sick of your day job? Make great money writing for business!

Interactive Eight Week Freelance Copywriting Email Course:

"Writing Words that Sell: Freelance Copywriting"

With Angela Booth

(A professional writer for 25 years, published by mainstream
publishers.)

Dear Fellow Writer

If you love to write, you may be overlooking a fantastic way to
make your writing pay --- by copywriting (writing for business).


Starting pay? $60 an hour, with UNLIMITED POTENTIAL EARNINGS!

Not only is freelance copywriting creative, fun, and easy (if you
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earn.

You may be interested to know that established copywriters with a
stable of clients estimate that they'll earn at least $100,000 a
year. And that's without working particularly hard. In fact,
copywriters who specialize in company reports may only work a few
weeks in the year, and still make a comfortable six-figure
income.


Write from home, and write when it suits you

Most freelance copywriters write from home, either moonlighting
from their regular job, or as full-timers. As you can imagine, if
it's your full-time job, it's a great life. You can write an ad
or three pages of a manual in the morning, and then take the rest
of the day off. Why not?

There's no age barrier on freelance copywriting. No one cares if
you're just out of college, or if you're retired from an active
working life. If you can write, you can write copy.

There's also no education barrier. You can have an MA or a PhD or
you can be totally self-taught.

More information at:

http://www.digital-e.biz/ecourses2.html

(Earn as you learn --- weekly payment option available.)

Want a sample? Sign up for a free 3-day course based on the
course:

http://www.digital-e.biz/freecourses.html


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=> Market your writing (and writing skills) like an expert!

Comprehensive ebook marketing manual:

**Tell, Yell And Sell: Marketing Skills For Writers**

Sell more, earn more: get the marketing skills to make writing a
lucrative career; get confidence in your writing; and eliminate
writer's block permanently.

http://www.digital-e.biz/ebook_marketing_skills.html

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=> Writing Coaching: Plot Your Novel

This five-week coaching program helps you to create a compelling
plot, fascinating characters, a synopsis, and more. We'll work
with your current novel, or if you don't have a novel in
progress, we'll plot and develop one.

If you've always wanted to write a novel, this coaching program
is for you:

http://www.digital-e.biz/coaching.html#plot

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Creative Small Biz: Copyright C 2005 by Angela Booth. All rights
reserved.

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