Join Us for An Interview With Ginger Allen Cucolo

This week's guest is writer and historian Ginger Allen Cucolo. Ginger is here to speak about her new book, Dog Tags: The History, Personal Stories, Cultural Impact, and Future of Military Identification.

The title promises a lot, and it delivers--tenfold. Dog Tags is a fascinating chronicle of the heroism, bravery and humanity of the United States military. But even more than that, it is the story of America itself, told through the eyes of those who protect it.

Ginger Allen Cucolo is the wife, daughter, and sister of American servicemen, and her love for the military shines through in every story. From the Civil War to current day, Dog Tags provides a window into the events--both tragic and triumphant--that shaped our nation.

Ginger has written many articles regarding this topic, both online and in print. She holds a Bachelor Degree in History from The University of Texas, and a Master of Science Degree from California College for Health Sciences. She also manages five websites, including http://www.dogtaghistory.com/


Click here to listen


Like what you heard? Order Dog Tags today:
http://outskirtspress.com/dogtags
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dog-tags-ginger-cucolo/1104047130?ean=9780983305705&itm=7&usri=dog%2btags
http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Tags-Personal-Cultural-Identification/dp/0983305706/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316747248&sr=1-3

How to Make Your Blog Readers Into Rabid Fans

by Joel Friedlander

One of the reasons I like blogs as a foundation for social media book marketing is that they offer many levels of engagement for visitors, from web surfers to dedicated readers. Engagement is the degree to which blog readers feel connected with you, your content and the ideas or solutions you present.

Engagement is what turns casual readers into regular subscribers, and subscribers into raving fans. Have you ever thought about how readers show this engagement?

For instance, think about the different ways people can engage with your blog:

 They may be sent by a search engine to an informational article in your archives based on the keywords used in the article. This is a great way content continues to draw new visitors to your blog, but this visitor is initially at a very low level of engagement with you.

 They may come from a link on another site they like, or a link in a guest post. This type of connection is a little more engaged, simply because there was probably a similarity in the content and the link itself that drew them to your site.

 They may come from a site that directly refers your site as an information source, a reference, or an authority in your field. These visitors might be ready for a higher level of engagement.

 A closer connection is coming to your site through a direct link you’ve placed in an outpost, like a comment on a LinkedIn discussion or a post on Twitter that draws people to a blog post with an engaging headline of your own. Since these visitors have shown an interest in your material (in the click) before arriving, they are at a higher level of involvement.

 Those who contribute comments engage with your ideas in a public way, adding to their level of engagement.

 Repeat visitors to your blog are more engaged than casual or one-time-only visitors, who could make up one third to a half of all visitors. So a person who comes back to your blog is higher on the engagement scale.

 Subscribers are near the top in engagement. By agreeing to let you send them email and blog posts, subscribers are in fact requesting more engagement with you and giving you permission to address them in a personal space—their inbox.

 Fans are at the highest level of engagement. They share in your issues and concerns, and advocate for you on their own initiative. Although they may be small in number, they have a disproportionate influence due to their activism.

You simply can’t interact with readers and potential customers in so many ways in any other online medium that I’m aware of.

This look at the levels of engagement also naturally leads to the question, “What am I doing to support these different ways for people to engage with my writing, my books, or my other activities?”

Let’s take a look at some clear and simple action steps you can take to make these levels of engagement a reality for visitors to your blog.

Keyword research and awareness. About half the visitors to my blog come from search engine referrals. One of the big reasons for this is that I’ve been researching and consciously using the keywords associated with my niche in my blog posts for some time. You can do the same with a small effort.

 Action: Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to research keywords in your niche. Check Brian Clark’s free report on writing copy for ideas on how to include keywords in your blog writing.

Guest posting and article writing. You can’t get referral traffic to your blog without putting content out in other places off your blog. Writing guest articles and submitting articles to article directories are both ways to spread your content—and your keyword links to your site—to attract referral traffic.

 Action: Contact one blogger in your niche this week about writing a guest article for his or her blog. Do this every week. Get their permission after 60 or 90 days to repost the article at article directories. You will probably have to edit the article for this second use.

Using email to stay connected. Get an account with an email provider and put an opt-in box on your blog. Offer a sample of your work, a regular newsletter, a quote of the week, a free resource like a PDF, or anything else of value in exchange for a subscription.

 Action: Make sure your RSS, email and newsletter subscriptions are clear, easy to use, and “above the fold” (in the top portion) of your blog. If you’ve been offering one thing for a long time, create something new to revitalize interest in your offer.

What Will All This Reader Engagement Do for You?

I think it’s clear that as an author you have a lot to gain from promoting visitor engagement on your blog.

Here’s my best advice, although it might seem counterintuitive or odd: Don’t blog about your book.

This is the first thing most authors think of when they start blogging, and it’s usually not a great idea. What works really well is when you blog not about your book, but about its subject.

Why does this work? In the case of books, nobody really wants to read what you have to say about the book, or how many chapters it has, or the information in it, because it can come off as making a sales pitch. Your blog’s readers do want to hear your passion for your subject, your insights into new developments in your field, and your opinion of other resources.

It’s this type of writing that will make your blog’s readers interested in the knowledge, information and overall content you share in your book. You’ll lead them to wanting to buy your title and follow your creative process by connecting to them as a person, not just an author pushing for a sale.

Your blog’s ability to provide the online community with many levels of engagement is one of its most powerful characteristics. When you take action to make sure that you’re using that ability as best you can, you maximize your greatest online asset, and you will step up your marketing to a whole new level.
Joel Friedlander is a self-published author and book designer who blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.

 

 

This Week's Podcast Guest: Sherree Rogers

Join us for a conversation with writer Sherree Rogers as she speaks about her memoir, Who Will Cry For Me?

As a child, Sherree endured years of agonizing abuse, molestation and abandonment. Her only outlet was her love of writing, which she used to purge her pain.

Today Sherree is a well-adjusted, happy woman, with a husband, children and a succesful career with a major telecommunications company. She has written a number of articles on a variety of topics and contributes to a children's newsletter. Her life now, she says, is blissfully normal.



Who Will Cry For Me? shares Sherree's journey from victim of abuse to a healthy, self-actualized adult. She has written her story so that she may help others realize that they too can heal. It is also an excellent tool for family members, friends and spouses to support loved ones recovering from traumatic experiences.


Click here to listen to the podcast


Like what you heard? Order Who Will Cry for Me?
http://outskirtspress.com/whowillcryforme or
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/who-will-cry-for-me?store=book&keyword=who+will+cry+for+me

Orb Entertainment: the future of entertainment

By Rick James

As I sit across from the affable and erudite Paul Rhodes of Orb Entertainment, an old joke runs through my mind:

A struggling writer arrives home to find his house cordoned off by the police. He immediately runs up to the officer in charge and, sick with worry, asks him what has happened.


Grim-faced, the officer tells him: “I’m sorry, sir. Two hours ago your agent came to your house, butchered your wife and strangled your children.”


The shock on the writer’s face is palpable.


“No … it’s not possible. How can it be? My agent actually came to my house?”

The joke is all the funnier for being generally true of this industry. Most publishers and agents don’t have the time to talk to unknown writers, let alone make themselves available for face-to-face interviews.

So it is with some trepidation I turn up at Bar 5 on the top floor of Waterstones in Piccadilly, London.

I find Paul already there: I am late, but if he is irked by this he is too professional to let on.

We sit and chat, and there is a touch of the old Groucho Marx observation about the whole arrangement: after all, most writers secretly suspect they don’t want to join any club that would have them as a member.

And mostly this observation is correct: with the burgeoning number of thinly disguised pay-to-publish outfits sullying the market there are any number of ‘clubs’ a writer is best off declining membership for!

But Paul Rhodes’ entertainment label is not one of these.

Not by a long, long way.

So the question is: why me?

And the answer after our enlightening chat is as simple as it is elegant.

Paul had clearly read with a savvy marketer’s eye my recent blog posts on branding in books and had drawn a very interesting conclusion, one he now wishes to aggressively pursue.

He framed his conclusion as a rhetorical question: in a market where digital format’s i.e. e-reader, kindle etc are becoming increasingly popular and thus driving prices ever-lower, how does a publisher make any money out of books?

As a man of no small insight, Paul sees a future where e-books themselves are literally free.

The obvious conundrum: how to make a profit out of zero? What is the literary equivalent of medieval alchemy? What exactly is the ‘philosopher’s’ stone that can achieve this trick with books: i.e. how does one spin gold from thin air?

Simple: the same way free newspapers do. Stick advertising in them.

Paul has identified that niche in the market and has the skills to exploit it, and I will deliver the blueprint to meet his needs.

And that relationship may well be the future of publishing. Watch this space…

Rick James is an author, speaker, blogger and teacher living in London, England. He can frequently be found people watching on the streets of East London to get inspiration for his weird and wonderful fictional creatures and monsters and ranting, fantasy-tinged tweets.

 

 

Self-Publishing Bang for the Buck

by Joel Friedlander

When you get down to it, when you have an idea that’s bigger than your budget, when your book is finally done, but your checking account is flying on a wing and a prayer, you have to know where to put your money to get the best effect from self-publishing, to get the most bang for the buck.

Lots of people want to publish now, get in the Kindle store, see if they can match the success of the ebook authors we keep reading about.

What to do? Here’s a simple plan.

Spend money on two things:

1. Editing. There’s nothing else that will improve your book, and its chances in the market, more than a good editor. And here’s a secret: you may be creating the book to fill a short-term need, but it will be around for the long term anyway. Books are persistent in a way lots of other things aren’t. I still have books from my college days decades ago, but none of the music from that era will play on anything I own now. No matter how small your budget, find someone to edit your book.  Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services is a great choice for editing and proofreading. See http://writersinthesky.com/.


2. Cover design. Nothing will be as critical to how your book is perceived in the marketplace than the cover. It’s the branding for the book. It positions the book within its genre. It should create excitement and interest, drawing readers in. It has to pop out in searches that return screens full of little postage-stamp sized cover images. Book cover design is a specialty and rightly so. Once you’ve got the editing under way, find a cover designer who can fit into your budget and see what magic they can work with your book.

Editing addresses the content, the interior, the guts of the book. Cover design dresses it for its existence in the world. A way to interest readers, and a way to give them something satisfying. Two great places to use the budget you have available to make the best book you can.

Joel Friedlander is a self-published author, a book designer and blogs about book design, self-publishing and the indie publishing life at TheBookDesigner.com. He's also the proprietor of Marin Bookworks, where he helps publishers and authors who decide to publish get to market on time and on budget with books that are both properly constructed and beautiful to read.

History of St. Patrick's Day

The following is an article I (Yvonne Perry) wrote for the March issue of Jan Darpan Magazine.

Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17 across the world by both Irish and non-Irish people. Parades and lively music, beer drinking, wearing green, eating corned beef and cabbage, displaying shamrocks, and chasing leprechauns are part of the tradition.

St. Patrick's Day, also known as St. Paddy’s Day, is a national holiday and annual event that celebrates the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. While it is not an official holiday in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Argentina, and New Zealand, it is widely celebrated in these countries.

According to History.com, the origin of St. Patrick’s Day dates back to 5th century Britain when a 16-year-old boy named Maewyn Succat was kidnapped by a band of Irish pirates and sent to work as a shepherd slave for six years. He had a vision that directed him to escape slavery and return to Britain where he became a priest and changed his name to Patrick. He returned to Ireland in 432 A.D. with a mission to convert Irish Pagans to Christianity. There, he built schools and monasteries along the north and west coasts and was quite successful at winning converts by influencing the people in power. This upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but like a tricky leprechaun, he always escaped.

The leprechaun is an Irish fairy. According to legend, he resembles a small, old man dressed as a shoemaker with a cocked hat and leather apron. He is said to possess a hidden pot of gold and if caught, he can be forced to reveal the whereabouts of his treasure. But the leprechaun often tricks his captors and then vanishes along with all hopes of finding his treasure.

When Patrick died on March 17, 461 A.D., Irish Christians marked it as a holy day. The congregation refrained from working in order to attend church and celebrate the feast of St. Patrick. The feast day usually falls during the season of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and repentance in preparation for Easter. Catholics typically abstain from their immoral habits during these six weeks, but St. Patrick’s day allows a one-day reprieve in which folks may drink ale. This became a popular way to celebrate on March 17 and the tradition continues today.

In 1840, there was a potato famine in Ireland. Millions of Irish families fled to Canada, Australia, and America. They brought their old customs with them and made a few new ones—one of which was the wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day. A traditional meal in Ireland was boiled bacon and potatoes. In the U.S., the Irish used a cheap piece of meat, tenderized it with brine, and cooked it with cabbage—thus corned beef and cabbage became the meal commonly used to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in America.

The original color associated with St. Patrick was blue. Somewhere along the way, the holiday became associated with the wearing of the green, which is to celebrate the coming of spring and remind the Irish people of the green, lush hillsides of their homeland, the Emerald Isle.
It is said wearing green also brings good luck, especially on St. Paddy’s Day. In the U.S., there is a tradition of pinching people who forget to wear green on March 17.

In 1737, the first St. Patrick’s Day celebration in America occurred in Boston with a parade organized by the Charitable Irish Society. New York City’s annual parade down Fifth Avenue is now the largest and most famous St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Three is Ireland's magic number. The shamrock (three-leaved clover) originally represented the maiden, mother, and crone stages of the female deity in the Celtic tradition. It is believed that Patrick used the three-leaved clover to teach the concept of the trinity or three-in-one male deity (God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to his Irish converts. Early 20th century greeting cards included a shamrock as a way of sending good luck to the recipient.

No matter where you live, the coming of spring is an event to be celebrated, and St. Patrick’s Day is a good reason to get together with friends and enjoy life. But, remember to wear green!

Has Your Blog Helped Your Business?

Most of the marketing for Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—my freelance writing business—is conducted online. About 80 percent of my customers find me through my online promotion efforts.

I have both a Web site and a blog for my business. My Web site shows all the writing and editing services we offer to our clients. My business blog, contains book reviews, author interviews, networking opportunities, announcements from subscribers, resources for writers and authors, and provides a place where people can share information.

The main reason I started my business blog was to have a place for people to listen to Writers in the Sky (WITS) Podcast—my weekly show about the craft and business of writing. I interview authors who want to promote their book and share their experience with writing, publishing and marketing their book. I have also interviewed publishers, publicists, book reviewers, editors, eBook companies, book cover designers, and other experts in the field. All those shows are archived on my blog.

All my online marketing efforts interface with one another. I mention my blog in my free electronic newsletter each month. I use the newsletter material as posts for my blog. This interaction draws people to the site and once they see how much valuable material the blog offers, they want to visit my Web site and sign up for the WITS newsletter. My blog helps people find me on social networks, I use social networking to lead folks to my blog or to read articles on this directory. I update my blogs daily, which increases a blog or Web site’s popularity with search engines. By providing fresh and helpful information daily, writers and authors have come to view this blog as a vital resource and they may sign up for the RSS feed.

Online marketing is truly like a web with many crossovers in promotion.

If you want to sell a product or service by using a blog or Web site, be sure to offer quality content, and don’t use hype to try and sell something. Instead, share information and make your product or service visible and easy for a customer to make a purchase. If the visitor wants what you are selling, they will purchase it without your having to get in their face.

Develop a networking relationship with your target market, and be willing to help them as they help you. That is what being online is all about. And, that is what our blog chain is for—networking

Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services (WITS). She and her team of ghostwriters are ready to assist with writing and editing for books, Web text, bios, articles, and media releases. For more information about writing, networking, publishing, and book promotion, sign up for free email delivery of WITS newsletter by visiting http://writersinthesky.com/ . New subscribers receive a free e-book Tips for Freelance Writing.

Speaking for the Downriver Town Hall Lecture Series

By Pierette Domenica Simpson

On February 10, I received a call from my agent asking if I could fill in for Anne Thompson of NBC News. The event was to take place the next day, but thousands of flights had already been canceled due to the snowstorm and Anne could not travel from New York.

This was one of those moments that I had to be strong and not dwell on what ifs—even if I had never spoken to a crowd of 600 people before! I answered affirmatively, saying I was glad to be available and to help out The Downriver Town Hall Lecture Series (Southgate, Michigan). They have a long-standing reputation for doing a great job by pulling in well-known speakers. I figured, even if I didn’t live up to Ms. Thompson’s standards, they would still appreciate me for doing them a favor.

Pulling up to the Crystal Gardens Banquet Center was a surreal experience: my name was flashing on the huge neon sign in a hot pink on Fort Road. I almost put my brakes on! Then, as I was carting in boxes of books into the lobby, a lovely elderly lady said, “I know this is going to be a great program! I remember when the Andrea Doria sank.” She didn’t know it, but she broke the ice for me. I realized that I wasn’t going to get a chilly reception because I wasn’t Anne Thompson.

I’ve always admired Ms. Thompson; I also know she’s a survivor like me—just different battles: 9/11 and breast cancer. Of the latter, she explains:

“Chemo also took all the cancer. My hair, as you can see has come back, and my desire to report is as strong as ever.”

That’s what I call a steadfast professional! I had big shoes to fill, but I was going to take my first step.

Mary Jarosz, event planner extraordinaire, introduced me and my topic: A Nostalgic Journey: The Andrea Doria’s Last Crossing. She explained it was based on my book, Alive on the Andrea Doria! The Greatest Sea Rescue in History. For an hour, I gave it my all. The audience of 600 did not seem so impersonal after all, as they warmly clapped at the end. Their gracious comments at the book signing table provided me the feedback I was hoping for:

“You are the best speaker I’ve ever heard! ---You look like Sophia Loren! ---You enthralled me! --- What a story! --- Can you come and speak to my group?”

These words were music to my ears. After lunch, the audience of 400 had many good questions. I could tell that they had followed every word I had said during the lecture. (37 years of teaching gives me that skill!)

That evening I watched Ms. Thompson report on Bill Clinton’s medical condition outside of a New York hospital. Fate had placed us where we were both meant to be.

Pierette Domenica Simpson
http://www.pierettesimpson.com/

What is Article Marketing?

There are many online article directories where people look for material they can use in their newsletters and on their blogs and Web sites. They may as well find yours!

When people pick up your article, they are required to post the resource box along with it when they use it on their site or in their newsletter. This increases your exposure to more people than you would meet in a lifetime and it gives you links back to your blog or Web site. Naturally, a good resource box with a link is going to be important so write one that entices people to visit your blog or Web site where you can continue to network with them.

Your resource box needs to have your contact information and give your name, Web site or blog URL, and may give a call to take action (such as “call xxx or go to xxx for more info”). Some type of freebie can be presented to entice the reader to click and visit your blog or Web site. Here is an example of one I have used:

Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services (WITS). She and her team of ghostwriters are ready to assist you with writing and editing for books, e-books, Web text, business documents, résumés, bios, articles, and media releases. For more information about writing, networking, publishing, and book promotion, or to sign up for free email delivery of WITS newsletter, please visit http://www.writersinthesky.com/ New subscribers receive a free eBook Tips for Freelance Writing.

Organizing, Putting Together, and Writing a Non-Fiction Book

A non-fiction book is built, then written. The key to finishing a book is having a plan that organizes the steps from start to finish. Learn how this ghostwriter puts a book together.

There are several key components to writing a non-fiction book and you really need a plan. Sure, you can sit down and start typing or writing and just see where things go, but you may find that you get stuck after the first few chapters. You may even be tempted to give up when you find the task overwhelming. I have used this plan to write about twenty books.

1. Decide on a working title. This may change later, but you need a title when referring to the book in any of the preliminary stages. Your title should be short and easy to remember. Include keywords that people might use to search for a book on your subject. The subtitle needs to further explain what the book is about. If someone reads your title and subtitle and still has to ask what the book is about, you need to rethink your titles.

2. Get the domain name for your book title. Get several versions (.com, .net, .org, .info) and purchase domains that have keywords that refer to your book. For example, if your book is titled Super Soccer: Training Young Girls to Play Soccer, you might want these domains: SuperSoccer.com (.net, .org), YoungGirlsSoccer.com, GirlsPlaySocccer.net, SoccerTraning.info, GirlsSoccerTraining.net, and so on. These domains can be forwarded to the site that actually contains your Web content.

3. Write your query letter. Even if you don’t plan to use a conventional publisher, write a query letter anyway. You will need an elevator speech for your book anyway. This concise one-page document that is normally part of the process of asking a publisher to accept your book and offer you a lucrative contract is a great way to get an overview of what your book is going to be about. You can use part of this query as your back cover blurb—a very important part of your book marketing. But mainly this query will bring clarity to the overall scope of the project.

4. Write your book proposal. This requires you to do your marketing research, see what your competition is doing, determine what the book will do for the reader, and outline every chapter that will be in your book. By the time you are finished with the proposal, you will have a clear picture of how your book is going to be organized. All you have to do is flesh it out.

5. Begin to structure your book. Use the chapter outlines from your book proposal to create a skeleton structure of your book. Make chapter headings and bullet point anything you want to cover in that chapter. This is when I assign styles to my headings. This allows me to create a hyperlinked table of contents, which makes it easier to move around in the document once it gets larger.

6. Research the topic more fully, conduct interviews, ask people for stories that will help illustrate your points, and use this information to fill in the bullet points on your outline. Get contributors to sign a release form that gives you permission to use their stories in your book. As you come across experts, contact them and ask if you may send them the part of your book that mentions their topic of expertise and have them critique it.

7. Document your sources as you go! You may not remember where you found certain information a month or so after the fact. If I am using text or a quote, I will copy the URL of the site where I found it and put it in a comment bubble (using MS Word) or as part of the text. I can go back later and get the article title, author’s name, etc. and put it into proper format for the bibliography. If I copy and paste text directly from the Web or an e-book, I will highlight that section in yellow until I can get back to it. The yellow highlight reminds me that I must cite or rewrite this material to avoid plagiarism.

8. Round one edit. You have a rough draft and it is called rough for a reason. It hasn’t been edited. It is jumbled and needs more organization. In your first round of edits, you may move part of one chapter into another place in the book. As you rewrite the copied text, you will begin to see where you need to do more research and flesh out certain weak parts. You may add or remove an entire chapter!

9. Send pertinent sections of your revised rough draft to the experts you’ve contacted. Make revisions using the feedback they give you.

10. Add your front and back matter. This includes the introduction (which is a summary of what the book is going to be about). Pull this from the proposal you created in step 3.

11. Round two edit. At this point, you should have a cohesive manuscript that flows well and contains the material you want to include. Start correcting grammar, punctuation, spelling, and other mechanical errors.

12. Ask your friends to read your manuscript and give feedback. You are still perfecting the manuscript so it’s not too late to make changes.

13. Ask the experts you have worked with along the way to give you an endorsement or write
the foreword for your book. You may use their endorsements on the back cover, inside the book’s front flap, or as part of your marketing material. If the expert is pressed for time, write the foreword for them and ask them to make changes or sign off on it. Make it easy for them to say yes to you.

14. Hire a copyeditor. The book is now ready for the eyes of a qualified editor who will mark your every error in red ink. Yikes! This is the part we all hate, but I can’t tell you how much I have learned from seeing red ink on my pages! Not only will your book be better, all your future writing will benefit from the effort.

I wish you well in writing your book. If you get stuck, you can always contact me for help.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

Keyboard Shortcuts When Using Microsoft Word

Most PC users have Microsoft Office and use Word as the word processing software on the their computers. There are several keyboard shortcuts that can be utilized to make working in Word faster. And, we all know that faster means a better use of our time.

Right click is your friend! The mouse has a right and left button. Each accesses different option menus. You may copy, cut, paste, change font settings, adjust your paragraph settings, create bulleted or numbered lists, add a hyperlink, look up a word online, find a synonym, get a translation of a word in another language, or adjust your style settings by utilizing the right click button.

This next feature comes in handy when your document is large and there are many occurrences of a word or phrase. Pressing Ctrl and F together (Ctrl+F) opens a box that allows you to type in the word or exact phrase that you are looking for in your document. Type the word or phrase in the box that reads: “Find what.” Click OK and Word will start from the point in your document where your cursor is located and find the next word or phrase that is exactly as you typed in the search. Click “find next” to go to the next place that word or phrase appears in your document.

To replace that particular word or word phrase, click the “replace” tab at the top of the search box and type the word or phrase you want to substitute in the “replace with” box . If you click “replace,” Word will replace one at a time so you may review each change or all of the occurrences at the same time. If you select “replace all,” Word will replace all occurrences of the word or phrase at one time. If you need to select words that are only lower or uppercase, explore the More >> button on the left hand side near the bottom of the box.

In this same search box, you may click on the “go to” tab and locate a particular page number. This is very useful if you have a lot of pages to scroll through but you know that you want to be on a certain page. Just type in a page number and Word will take you there. This option is also accessed by Ctrl+G.

Pressing Ctrl+A will highlight everything in your document.
Pressing Ctrl+C will allow you to copy the text currently highlighted onto your clipboard. If you used Ctrl+A, it will copy everything in that doc!
Pressing Ctrl+V will paste whatever was last copied to your clipboard.
Pressing Ctrl+X will cut the currently highlighted text.
Pressing Ctrl+Z will un-do whatever change you just made.
Ctrl+S will save your document to the last place it was saved. If it hasn’t been saved yet, it will open the “save as” option so you may specify where you want it saved.
Highlight the text you want to use to “hide” a URL. Press Ctrl+K to open the box. Type in the URL in the bottom blank where it reads “address” and click okay. You can also use the drop down menu to show and select from recently used URLs.
Pressing Ctrl+Home will take you to the very top of a document.
Pressing Ctrl+End will take you to the very end of a document.

These are only some of the shortcuts Word has to offer. And, did you know that many of these commands will also work when you are browsing the Internet? Give it a try!

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

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Accenting Your Writing

Our modern English language is a hodgepodge of many languages. We borrow words from another language when we say crêpe, à la carte, résumé, or señor, but when writing these words, we stare at a blank screen wondering how to create these characters needed to cause our employment history to be pronounced résumé rather than resume.

I remember learning to read and write while in grammar school. One way the teacher helped us pronounce words was to separate the syllables and use accent marks to show where the emphasis or strongest beat should be. Take a look at the dictionary. In the pronunciation guide you will see some strange characters called diacritical marks above or below a letter to modify the way a word is pronounced. I remember writing a long dash over the letter “a” to make it a long vowel (ā) and putting a small cup over the “a” to make it a short vowel (ă). Now I know that the long mark is called a macron and the short mark is called a breve. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic to learn more about diacritical marks.

Writing the dash is one thing; typing it is another matter entirely. There are shortcuts you can use to create diacritical marks. When you engage CAPSLOCK, and hold down the ALT key and type in a number on the numeric keypad, you can create almost any character. For example to get this symbol: é press the CAPSLOCK, press alt and type in 0233 on your numeric keypad. Mac users would select the “option” and “e” to create this same character. For a list of other shortcuts for both Microsoft and Apple, see http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/e/j/ejp10/psu/gotunicode/macron.html.

There are so many characters available you might have a hard time remembering all the shortcuts. The best way to make a symbol appear in your Word document is to use the character map, which requires you to cut and paste individual symbols from a preset list. This is done by going to Windows Start menu on the lower left side of your screen and selecting “all programs,” then “accessories,” then “system tools” and finally “character map.” This opens a grid of characters for you to choose from by scrolling down or right. The font on the dropdown list should match that of the document you are creating, but you can get a different set of characters when you choose Times New Roman versus Wing Dings as your font. If the character you want is not in the grid, change the font. When you’ve found the character you want to place in your document, double click on it and the image will be placed on the clipboard to be copied. You can put several symbols on the clipboard. When you are ready to paste the symbol, highlight it in the “characters to copy” list and click the “copy” button. Then, find the place in your document or any Windows application and insert the character by choosing “paste” on your edit menu. The character should appear.

And now that we’ve had our lesson for today, I’ll end with a mark that you may have seen at the end of a magazine article. 𵯻

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

Setting a Google Alert to Determine Who is Using Your Articles

I set a Google alert for each of my articles by going to http://www.google.com/alerts and typing in the full name of my article. Google then sends me an email with a link to the site(s) that have my article posted. Be sure to spell and punctuate the title of your article exactly as you posted it on the article directory. Also be sure to use quotation marks around the title to refine the search criteria and avoid getting email alerts that are not related to your article.

Google alerts are also a great way to be sure that those who are picking up your articles are including your resource box on their site. It also works for your book title, company name, or topic of your book. You can get a notice on all things that are pertinent to you.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

One Dash or Two? Using En and Em Dashes in Writing

Some people do not use dashes in their writing because they are not sure of how to use them correctly. However, proper use of dashes can add zest to your writing, so why not learn the proper way to punctuate a sentence with them?

Whenever you write a sentence that requires a break in thought, you may be accustomed to using double hyphens or two dashes (--); however, the proper length of the dash is dependent upon the punctuation needed in the sentence. The proper name of the symbol(s) you need is either an “en” dash, an “em” dash or a 3-m dash. Originally the en dash was the width of the letter "N" on a typeset, and the width of the em dash was the width of "M"; hence the names.

En dashes (–) are used to show duration such as when writing the time 9:00–5:00, or range such a date April 15–31 or number 100–150. The en dash can also be used as a hyphen in compound adjectives in which one part consists of two words or a hyphenated word: pre–World War I era. En dashes do not have spaces in front or behind them.

En dashes are created on a Mac computer by simultaneously pressing option-hyphen. For Windows users, the en dash is created by holding down ALT while typing 0150 on the numeric keypad.

Em dashes (—) are used in place of a colon or parenthesis to show an abrupt change in thought or to separate clauses in a sentence. Em dashes may be also used to show an open range: Jane Smith, 1987—

Mac users press shift-option-hyphen to create an em dash. The em dash is created in Windows by holding down ALT and typing 0151 on the numeric keypad. Microsoft Word will automatically create an em dash whenever you type two hyphens without spaces between them and without spaces before or after the words connected by the hyphens: word--word will convert to word—word.

Hyphens are used to connect two words and to separate characters in a phone number (123-555-0123).

The 3-em dash uses six hyphens before and after a word ( ------ and ------ ) when a person’s name or some other word(s) is being omitted. You may want to start in the middle of a longer quote while indicating that other words actually preceded or followed the part of the quote you used. For example:

------ that religion is a matter that lies soley between man and his God ------ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Now you have the facts about dashes and it’s up to you whether you decided to dash or not to dash!

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

Type Setting for Titles of Book Series

WITS editor Barbara Milbourn was asked a common question about how to set off titles of books and series of books.

I know that book titles are set in italic font, but in this next sentence, does the title of a series of books need to be italicized as well? She was a recluse, who spent all her time in her room under a pile of Sweet Valley High books and Archie comics.

Barbara answered: Consulting The Chicago Manual of Style, beginning with Books and Periodicals at 8.178 Freestanding publications through 8.186 Series and editions, this particular sentence should have the series names italicized as follows:

She was a recluse, who spent all her time in her room under a pile of Sweet Valley High books and Archie comics.

If you need a good editor for your nonfiction manuscript, Barbara is a great choice.

Crashing a Book to Pub Date

If you're going to bring a book to market within a year's time, there is a lot to be done even after you've collected your research material. Perhaps it is different when writing a novel where your imagination is allowed to flow easily.

If you're pushing to get a book published in a short time as I was when I released Right to Recover Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America, there are some things you need to know.

It’s important for those considering a career in writing to realize how much time writing a non-fiction book really takes. Everyone thinks that their time is free, but that’s a quick trip to the poorhouse. You may or may not make any money when you take into consideration the amount of time it takes to prepare a book. I put more than 600 hours into the research, writing, editing, and proofreading Right to Recover.

I started my research in late summer of 2006, and had a publisher accept the book from my tentative outline. I had a contract before I had even written the first sentence. For nine months straight, I couldn't take on any new clients because I was working night and day trying to get everything finished by May 2007 so my publisher could take a galley copy of my book to BookExpo America (BEA) in June. It’s true the book wasn’t set to publish until October, but it takes the publisher several weeks to layout the book’s interior, design the cover, and get everything uploaded to Lightning Source Inc. (LSI) or whatever printer the publisher uses, and get copies shipped to the event. The field of stem cell research changes very rapidly as new discoveries are made. I had to give up on having the latest statistics and information in my book and go with what I had at the time. By rushing the book to finish by the middle of May, I turned in an unedited copy knowing there would be tons of changes to be made before the final copy could be printed and released. It cost me $350 for LSI to make the changes to my manuscript.

If you need motivation to write, there’s nothing like having a deadline to meet. Therefore, I urge writers to participate in events and contests that give incentive and encouragement to get the juices flowing. This also helps develop the habit of writing. Just don’t turn in your work before it is edited.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

Should an E-book Have a Different ISBN and Pub Date Than Its Print Version?

Barbara Techel, author the multi-award winning, Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog wrote in with a question about ISBNs for books and e-books:

I am having WITS graphic designer Jessica Dockter get my Frankie book formatted as an e-book. Should I change the copyright page to state that this is the e-book version? Also, do I need a different ISBN # if it is e-book format? And lastly, do I keep the same publishing date or do I change that for the e-book version?

Yvonne answers: your e-book should be treated as a separate entity from the print version of your book. Therefore, the e-book will have its own ISBN and pub date. You should change the copyright page to reflect that this is the e-book version.

Here’s an extra tip: Make sure you include a list in the back of the book that shows all the other books you have written. Since this is an e-book you are publishing, you can link directly to the titles so readers can get more information and make a purchase.

Showing Thought in Written Form

What is the correct way to write a character’s unspoken, internal thoughts?

The following question was posed to WITS editor Barbara Milbourn.

Does the sentence below need quotation marks or should the thought line be italicized?

Staring across at the greatest entrepreneur and the richest man in the history in the world, I thought, “What do I say to this man?”

Barbara replies: This is a tough one. I have read three things [and do not remember the sources].

1. Because they are not spoken words or a quotation, they are not to have quotation marks.
2. While some authors—mostly novices—put thoughts in italics, this, too, is discouraged.
3. The idea is to write strong and clear enough that the thought reads as a thought and needs no augmentation; or you reword like: I stared across at the greatest entrepreneur—the richest man in the history of the world—and wondered what I should [might, would, could] say to him.

If you need a good editor for your nonfiction manuscript, Barbara is a great choice.

Postcards and Bookmarks as Marketing Pieces

Postcards and bookmarks are a handy tool for giving people information about your book using as few words as possible. They may be used as handouts at speaking engagements and book signings, or as giveaways with the purchase of your book. You can include one in the correspondence you have with clients, friends, or co-workers. I have even enclosed them with my bill payment. After all, someone has to open the envelope to log in your payment, which means a connection with a potential reader.

As a marketing piece for a book, the postcard or bookmark should have these items:

· Your book cover photo
· Book title
· Author’s name
· Very brief book synopsis
· URL to purchase

If you have enough space in the layout, you can add an endorsement from a celebrity (if you were fortunate enough to garner such an endorsement), or someone who is well-known as an expert in the topic of your book. If you don’t have an endorsement that carries clout, pull something from your best book review and use it as an excerpt. Be sure to give credit to the person who gave you the endorsement or wrote your book review.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you want to include on the bookmark or postcard, you’ll need to find someone to design and print them for you. If you design them yourself, you can take them to Kinko’s or your local printer. Call first to get their upload specifications. Some will accept an MS Word document, but others prefer a PDF and will charge an extra fee to open a Word document.

There are plenty of companies online that can design and print the cards at an affordable price. I’ve made a list of places to get the bookmarks or postcards printed. This came from a social networking site where several folks chimed in.

One person was very pleased with the results when they used http://www.48hourprint.com/ and stated that she found their prices to be the most reasonable; they shipped quickly and the quality was very good.

http://www.earthlycharms.com/ has author-related items. They also have stickers that read Autographed Copy, Local Author, or Award Winning Author.

I’ve personally used http://www.vistaprint.com/ for business cards, postcards, tee-shirts, and check printing. Use their designs or upload your logo to create your own design. This company offers several other promotional items free with purchase. I’ve been pleased with the quality of their products and their customer service.

PS Print http://www.psprint.com/ has several promotional items as well as postcards. Even though I haven’t used this company, others in my network report they have quality service and reasonable pricing. A bulk of 500 color 4” x 6” postcard run about $0.08. This company also provides mailing services.

http://www.gotprint.com/ for full color, high gloss products such as bookmarks, postcards, business cards, and brochures. Their work is outstanding and the shipping price is low.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.

How Much Time Does It Take to Successfully Market a Book?

After putting 600 hours into the actual research and writing of my book, Right to Recover Winning the Political and Religious Wars over Stem Cell Research in America, I did not expect to turn around and spend nearly that many hours promoting it.

I was spending a lot of time trying to arrange appearances, giving lectures, setting up book signings, doing a virtual blog tour, writing and sending media releases, and writing articles about the topic and posting them on free article directories where other people would pick up stuff. Additionally, I was querying medical magazines hoping to get an article published there. There was constantly something to do every day to promote that book.

I spent close to $4,000 on traditional marketing because I hired a publicist to help me. To spend that much time and money on it, I needed the sales from the book to cover at least my investment in order to say that it was worth the time and effort. When that first royalty check came, I was not impressed enough to continue promoting the book. Maybe if I had continued it would have sold enough copies to even things out, but I had to go back to trying to make a living to pay for what I had already invested.

Maybe I didn’t get a financial return on my investment, but what I did get from the experience is an education. I learned so much from writing and publishing that book—not just about stem cell research but also about the publishing industry, how a book goes through the process at a publishing house, and what BEA and other books trade shows are all about. I also learned a lot about how to market a book. I’ve learned that the best way to market a book is online. When I started utilizing the Internet for book marketing, the sales increased because I could reach more people in less time and spend less money doing it—a lot less!

I have shared the knowledge I gained from marketing my book in hopes of saving someone the frustration and disappointment I faced. I’m now offering my knowledge and information in Book Marketing in the Digital Age: Online Promotion Made Easy available at http://www.onlinepromotionmadeeasy.com/.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it.