Introduction
There are many screenplay contests available to the aspiring screenwriter.These contests can be a good avenue to getting one’s work noticed and/or make a sale.So, it’s important to make certain that you have written your screenplay to the best of your ability and according to industry standards.

The most important thing to do for any aspiring screenwriter is to first learn the basic techniques of screenwriting before sitting down to write one.I come across many hopeful writers who think that all it takes to write a script is a good story idea and a lot of explosive special effects.While a good story is important, with or without the special effects, writing that story using proper industry standards is equally important.(Please visit http://www.coverscript.com/education.html — Tips for Screenwriters link for further information.)

There are specific techniques to the craft of screenwriting involving everything from act structure to proper screenplay format, which must be followed.It’s difficult to write engaging characters, focused plots and entertaining screenplays without having a solid framework in which to bring it all to life.

Before any money is spent submitting your work to a screenwriting contest, it would behoove the writer to first educate himself in the “tools of the trade”.There are many, many screenwriting books available as well as workshops and seminars, both online and in live classroom situations.My advice is to take advantage of them.Then, armed with the basics, write, write and then write some more.

Then before submitting your work to any screenplay competition have it copyrighted and WGA registered.(United States Copyright office: http://www.loc.gov/copyright. Writers Guild of America: http://www.wga.org.)

Advice and Suggestions
I am a judge for many contests and as such, have read thousands of TV scripts and screenplays.I can assure you that the winners are chosen because their screenplays or TV scripts contain great stories and are written to industry standards.Therefore, putting your best foot forward is a must.Below are some pointers to keep in mind before you submit your screenplay.

• If your purpose is to “break into the business”, make certain that the script contest you enter offers meetings with agents and/or producers as part of the prize for winning and not just cash prizes.Of course, if it is just the extra cash you’re after, then go for it!

• Make certain, before you write that entry fee check and send in your material, that the screenplay contest or TV script competition is a reputable one and indeed has, in the past, delivered to its winners what it promised in its promotion.

• Presentation of your screenplay does count so make certain your screenplay follows the accepted industry standards.This not only includes using the proper screenplay format but also such things as a typo-free screenplay and the correct binding.

• Keep in mind that the industry professionals who sponsor some of these film and TV competitions do so in order to find good producible material, hopefully for lower rather than higher budgets.Therefore, entering a screenplay in a genre with a story that screams “high budget” lessens the writer’s chances of winning.This means that

1. Sci-fi special effects stories taking place on purple planets populated with giant, paisley-skinned, seven-armed, Plasmanian Wooglegorps who magically float through the air using anti-gravity belts or

2. a 1920’s Period Piece necessitating Model-T’s, Zoot suits and flappers or

3. an action/adventure story that has the bad guys blown to smithereens, along with their Lear jet, over the ocean, followed by a high-tech nuclear submarine underwater search and rescue mission while the oil slicked water burns out of control, are not the best way to go.

• Make certain that your story is told visually.Film is a visual medium.

• Make sure you don’t have “on the nose” dialogue or too much dialogue and that all the dialogue sounds natural.

• Check to make sure that your characters are interesting, engaging and have good character arcs.Nothing worse than having an unlikable hero, a wishy-washy bad guy, or a protagonist who starts out angry at the world and by the end of the story is still angry at the world having learned and changed nothing in his nature.
  

Conclusion
Once you’ve gone through your screenplay and are satisfied with it, have it read by someone else.After all, your story is intended for a movie-going audience so honest opinions from friends and family members will give you a feel for that audience reaction.

Then do yourself a favor and have your screenplay read by an industry professional that has experience and good credentials in the area of script analysis.A writer can become too close to his work and not be able to “see the forest for the trees”.It is to your advantage to have any possible format, story, character, dialogue and structure flaws found and corrected before it is submitted to a movie or TV script contest.

While there is never any guarantee your screenplay or TV script will be a winner, writing one to the best of your ability and which meets industry standards is a must, as the competition is fierce.

I wish you great success in your present and future story-telling adventures.

Website:
http://www.coverscript.com

Email me at: lynnepem@aol.com

Lynne Pembroke
Coverscript.com
Los Angeles, CA.
323-953-5921
lynnepem@aol.com
http://www.coverscript.com

Copyright 2003 Lynne Pembroke, Coverscript.com
The information on this page may not be reproduced, republished or
mirrored on another webpage or website without the permission of
the links site owner or webmaster.

About the Author

Over 18 years experience as a freelance script reader/analyst & consultant for agents, studios, producers, script consulting companies & screenwriting competitions.A writer, poet & screenwriter. Specializing in screenwriting, script writing help & screenplay analysis of movies/tv scripts. Services provided, include: story analysis, ghostwriting, rewriting & adaptation of novel to screenplay. Website: http://www.coverscript.com

So you want to be a successful author? You want to be up there with
Brown, Archer, King, but what price are you prepared to pay? You might be lucky and your first book could be an overnight success but the chances are you’ll be hacking it for years before success knocks.

If you decided to become a lawyer, an accountant, a bricklayer, or even to start an ‘ordinary’ business then you would be prepared to make sacrifices, to invest in the future. Why expect it to be different??

The amount of effort you put into your apprenticeship will dictate how successful you will be as a fully fledged tradesman, a successful author!

Are you prepared to spend a year putting a novel together to have it rejected by not one, not two, not three but four publishers? Are you prepared to take the novel sit down and do a major rewrite! If you are then you might, just might, be more successful second time around.

Harder still are your prepared to accept that the book just doesn’t hack it and bin it!

There are very few real overnight successes: role up your sleeves and do some hard graft, learn the trade. Then you’ll succeed.

Competitions are a good starting point. You are continuously challenged to meet deadlines. You should aim to enter at least one competition a month and you should aim to enter all the major competitions for new writers. For details on current competitions see my website http://www.abcwritersnetwork.co.uk/competitions.htm Remember that as far as major competitions are concerned you can ‘win’ without collecting the first prize, though that would be nice! Get a good mention and it will do your career the world of good. Publishers are often asked to judge competitions, think name recognition.

Competitions also help you understand what it is you are doing wrong, and what it is you are doing right. Contact the winner, congratulate them on their success, ask them for a copy of the winning entry and see how it differed from yours.

When entering a competition you are effectively asking someone’s advice, you are asking them is my entry the best in the bunch. And they will say either yes or no! The price here is rejection.

If possible get your own personal critic. Your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, sibling. Anyone as long as they are prepared to give you a good, fair, honest opinion and not just say for an easy life, ‘that’s a fantastic story.’ If they’re not prepared to give it to you, warts and all, then let them wait until they eventually see your name in print.

A good place to find honest critics is at your local writing group. Join one, join two - but join! Some people underestimate these groups; think that they are just a bundle of middle age women playing at writing. In many cases that is correct but there is always one or two serious authors there and it is those you want to meet. Together you can knock ideas of one another. Believe me you will learn and grow.

You wouldn’t dream of becoming a lawyer or a doctor without buying the books necessary to study. Granted you’ll not buy them all, you’ll borrow some, perhaps most, from the university library but there are key books you’ll need throughout your career and these you will buy and use again and again.

Why on earth are you not prepared to invest in your chosen career by buying your own trade books? I’ve given a list of the most popular ones over on my website. They’re not all essential, like all reference books there is some cross over. But please: beg, borrow or steal (no skip that last one!) at least three of them. I’ve suggested the main ones. It’s all part of the price.

You’ve decided on the genre you’re going to specialize in. You have, haven’t you!! Well then make it a point to read at least one, if not two, books in that genre each week.

We all like to go to our local library and borrow books, and I’m all for supporting my local library. Be honest though, they are totally under-funded and while my librarians are wonderful they can’t come up with the goods.

I’m not suggesting buying a new book every week but I do suggest buying one every four to six weeks. You must keep up with what the market is producing. My site carries information on what is current - http://www.abcwritersnetwork.co.uk/reviews.htm.

For those of us who are forty plus tax there is the added danger of reading what we like: be careful, ask yourself the question would your favourite author hack it today?

Consider collecting the works of a particular (modern) author who you appreciate and admire and don’t be afraid to use the yellow marker, after all they are text books, not collector’s items.

What ever you do, don’t try to be the same.. Why be a second rate Stephen King, or Jeffery Archer when you can be an original!

© Kevin Hart MA BA(hons) ABC Writers Network 2005

http://www.abcwritersnetwork.co.uk
ABC Writers Network: an indispensable resource for creative writers with competitions, suggestions, reviews and general market advice.

The same week our fowls were stolen, Daphne Moran had her throat cut.

I think he has our attention. Would you read the next paragraph? That’s how Ronald Hugh Morrieson begins his New Zealand novel Scarecrow.

You’re quite right of course, we can’t go making up stories about people having their throats cut just to improve our business letters. But we can copy the technique. Morrieson’s opening line is short, direct and engaging. Ours should be too.

Most business letters don’t grab attention.They encourage us to scan the whole letter in search of something to persuade us it’s worth the effort.

We are arranging a seminar at our premises on July 26 at 5.30pm for the purpose of explaining what the changes to the tax depreciation policy announced by Government recently will mean for our major customers.

Eyes glazing over? How about this instead?

Good news.

You may have less tax to pay next year. The Government’s announcement on depreciation will help most companies like yours, some considerably, some only slightly.

Would you like to hear more?

You can go on to give the details of where and when. They key difference is in the way we attract the reader’s attention. In the first draft we try to cram it all in. In the second we begin with a short statement and feed the reader more information when she is ready for it. Notice that we have used you and yours to make it more audience-centred.

Most writers begin with formal clichés.

Further to our telephone conversation of March 12, we advise that…

In reply to your letter of 17 May, my specific interest is in…

I refer to our correspondence at the end of August and…

Break out. Forget the clichés and the rules that say you must start in a formal way. There are no rules, only conventions, and they get in the way of effective communication. Imagine you are having a business conversation with the reader. Suddenly it’s much easier to write openings that are short, direct and engaging.

Thanks for your proposal. We accept.

Thanks for your letter on Friday. I agree. We will have to do something about the scaffolding.

Thanks for letting me know how well the study programme is working out for you.

It was good to hear from you on Wednesday. I was especially interested in your comments about John’s success this year.

Thanks for the demonstration last week. It is certainly an impressive machine and we would like to know more.

I thought you might appreciate a written record of our discussion on Tuesday.

Your fax came as a complete surprise.

If you are initiating the contact get straight to the point, but keep it conversational.

I’ll make this brief, but it’s important. Did you know that five of our branch managers are away this week with stress-related illnesses?

I have been thinking about your comments on Thursday. You were right, and we must take action
immediately.

We are going to help you make more money this year - even if you don’t do business with us.

I have some disappointing news for you.

We hope you can join us for a celebration.

What I am about to say will surprise you.

I’d like to talk frankly with you.

HOLD THEIR ATTENTION

Ever been stuck with the party bore?
Ever wondered what makes them so boring, and you so conscious of the time, your backache and your struggle to maintain focus?

The party bore is generally self-absorbed. An interesting guest is interested in other people too, including us, and quickly develops a rapport. The party bore is usually obsessed with facts. The interesting guest is genuinely interested in feelings, impressions and opinions, yours as much as hers. The party bore drones. The
interesting guest offers us a variety of pace and topic. She keeps coming up with surprises. We can be interesting guests in our business letters and presentations too.

BUILD RAPPORT

Nothing builds rapport as effectively as the Golden Rule of all Communication - be audience-centred. Never lose sight of the reader’s interests, needs and motivation.

Don’t tell your readers or audience what they already know. Here’s an important rapport-building principle:

Acknowledging shared understanding builds rapport.
Telling people what they know erodes it.

Let’s take an example. You could use that expression Please find enclosed our brochure. But the reader knows the brochure is there. It’s bigger than your letter and probably fell out of the envelope on to the desk. Please find enclosed… says you don’t know that your reader has already found it. A rapport-building alternative
would be, You’ll see the high performance model on page six of the brochure. You are saying in effect, I know you have found the brochure and I remember that you were particularly interested in the high performance model. You are acknowledging a shared understanding.

By the same reasoning, you can build rapport by leaving out some details. Usually you don’t need to say Thank you for your letter of March 17, outlining the problems you have had with our service department between February 14 and 28. You could say Thank you for your letter. I have been looking into the problems you have had with the service department and…. In effect you are saying, We both remember what the letter was about.

Yes, but what if they don’t remember what the letter is about?

It’s simple. If you really think it’s an issue, add Ref: Letter March 17 on the right, above your text. It’s formal, but it gets the record keeping out of the way so that you can concentrate on talking to your reader on paper.

Many people worry that if they don’t say Please find enclosed and they forget to put the brochure in the
reader won’t know to ring them and ask for it. If you refer to your brochure in the letter your reader will know, but you can always put it beyond doubt by adding Encl: Brochure, Better Building Products after your
signature.

Always avoid telling your readers or audience what they already know. Instead, refer to it and move on.

GIVE THEM VARIETY

Vary the length of your sentences and paragraphs. It can make an enormous difference to the visual appeal of your letter and your reader’s motivation to keep reading. Give them variety for your presentations too. Varying the length of sentences and paragraphs will make them sound more appealing.

President John F. Kennedy knew the value of varying the length of sentences. Here’s what he told a rapturous crowd of Berliners at the height of the cold war.

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the communist world.

Let them come to Berlin!

…And there are even a few who say that it’s true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress.

Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen! Let them come to Berlin!

It’s regarded as one of the finest speeches of the century. It’s easy to absorb and it even looks inviting in written form.
So what does Kennedy’s speech have to do with business writing? Let’s apply the idea of a long sentence
followed by a short one to a business context.

You asked me to keep you up to date with developments, so I want to mention that next Friday our managing director will be speaking to clients with a particular interest in packaging for Asian markets.

Would you like to come?

You can do the same with paragraphs.

Joan has shown the real value of having an operations manager with the skills and maturity to bring out the best in people, under pressure. In her five years with us she has always been focused on the goals of the company, yet has been a patient listener and even a confidante for many of the people in her team.

We strongly recommend her.

Long, short is a pleasing effect, but don’t let it become predictable. Notice how Kennedy comes up with a surprise. Just when you think he’s going to say Let them come to Berlin! again, he says it in German and translates it. He surprises them. The party bore wouldn’t think of that.

Ralph Brown has been writing professionally for 35 years. He teachs writing to business people and has written books on writing and self-development. His company, Media Associates, is based in Christchurch and Wellington, New Zealand. http://www.media-associates.co.nz

Swimming with Sharks

I just finished my first novel, “Shades of Betrayal”, and felt a rush of giddy excitement at the prospect of being a REAL writer. I had a vague idea that I would need an agent, so I went to a search engine and typed: “Literary Agents”. My search returned thousands upon thousands of results, and as I surfed from page to page, I quickly realized getting an agent was not going to be an easy undertaking. Most would not accept unsolicited queries, or queries from previously unpublished authors. I wondered if it would just be easier to contact publishers directly, in essence acting as my own agent. My bubble quickly burst when I found very few publishers willing to accept unagented queries. I was disappointed but not deterred.

In retrospect, I wish I had begun my search for information with these words: “Writer Beware”. These words would have saved me from surfing in shark infested waters. The sharks got me, but thankfully it was just a little nibble, they didn’t tear off my entire leg. Here are just a few tips to keep you safe from the sharks posing as agents and/or publishers:

Regardless of what they call them: Reading Fees, Evaluation Fees, Handling Fees, Sliding Fees, Publishing Fees, Marketing Fees, or Adjunct Services, FEES = money leaving your pocket and going into theirs. I paid an agent to set up a web site where my book would be promoted in junction with submissions to various publishers. I wanted to believe my dream was coming true, so I gagged my inner critic and stuck her in a dark corner. Paying up front fees just doesn’t pass the common sense test. “Fee-charging violates the basic premise of the author-agent relationship: a shared financial interest in the sale of the author’s manuscript.” (Writers Beware, p.2)

Referrals can be made for editing, illustrations, cover art or publishing by the agent, who in turn receives a kickback. Avoid agents that require use of outside companies as a condition of representation.

Contests may be used to lure unsuspecting writers to an agent or vanity press. A new writer, eager for acceptance and validation, is especially vulnerable if their writing is favorably judged. This adds fuel to their belief that if only they had readers, their work would be appreciated. With this newfound confidence, a writer may decide to bypass traditional publishing to publish and distribute their own work. This is a viable alternative for some: however, there are plenty of con artists waiting to take your money.

Resources

Writers Beware, http://www.sfwa.org/beware/agents.html
Unknown Author (2004) Writers Beware. Retrieved March 12, 2004 from www.SFWA.org

Lisa Hood is the author of “Shades of Betrayal” and “Shades of Revenge”. She has been writing for over 10 years and is presently working on her third suspense novel, “Shades of Jealousy.” She is also the Talent Liaison @ BOOKJOBBER.com. Other articles by Lisa Hood can be downloaded from http://www.bookjobber.com/articles.asp or mailto:lisa_j@bookjobber.com

User documentation is all too often written by programmers for programmers. It tends to focus on the product’s features, rather than the user’s tasks. Generally, programmers aren’t in the ideal position to be writing user documentation. They’re too close to the bits and bytes, and they’re too far from the user. To them, what the product can do tends to be far more important than what the user can do with the product.

It’s a subtle - but vital - distinction. Research shows that the key to effective user documentation is writing task oriented help. Even better, write your help according to the minimalist theory. In the documentation world, “minimalism” is a fancy word for a commonsense practice. In basic terms, it means write to your reader and keep it simple.

The theory itself has a lot of twists and turns. If you want to read a great - but slightly wordy - book on the subject, check out the book “Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel”, 1998, edited by John Carroll.

In the meantime, if you can tick every item in the following checklist, you’ll be well on your way to usable online help that both your readers and your managers will thank you for.

Helpful Help Checklist

1. Base the help on real tasks (or realistic examples)

2. Structure the help based on task sequence - Chapter headings should be goals and topics should be tasks

3. Respect the reader’s activity - this is generally more about what you don’t do than what you do. Don’t waste the reader’s time by diving off into tangents

4. Exploit prior knowledge and experience - Draw the reader’s attention to previous tasks, experiences, successes, and failures

5. Prevent mistakes - “Ensure you do x before doing y”

6. Detect and identify mistakes - “If this fails, you may have entered the path incorrectly”

7. Fix mistakes - “Re-enter the path”

8. Provide error info at end of tasks where necessary (rule of thumb, one error info note per three tasks is a good average)

9. Don’t break up instructions with notes, cautions, warnings, and exceptional cases - Put these things at the end of the instruction, wherever possible

10. Be brief, don’t spell everything out, especially things that can be taken for granted

11. Omit conceptual and note information where possible, or link to it. Perhaps provide expansion information at the end of the topic, plus maybe a note that there are other ways to perform the task/goal, but this is the easiest

12. Sections should look short and read short

13. Provide closure for sections (e.g., back to original screen/goal)

14. Provide an immediate opportunity to act and encourage exploration and innovation (use active invitations to act, such as, “See for yourself…” or “Try this…” rather than passive invitations such as, “You can…”)

15. Get users started quickly

16. Allow for reading in any order - make each section modular, especially goals, but perhaps tasks (definitely if they can be performed in different order)

17. Highlight things that are not typical

18. Use active voice rather than passive voice

19. Try to account for the user’s environment in your writing

20. Before writing anything, ask yourself “Will this help my reader?”

By building these practices into your documentation process, you’ll find that your online help becomes easier to write, shorter, and far more usable for your reader. What’s more, your boss will love you!

* Glenn Murray is an SEO copywriter and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company, Article PR, and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit www.DivineWrite.com or www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.

Good writing requires self-examination. Why is one writing? What part of the writer will be shared with readers? Will it be only information or will it include the essence of the writer? This, then determines what will be written: poetry, essays, articles, short stories, novels, or any other genre of writing.

A writer’s work must share part of his or her being, or it is merely reporting. And when the soul or spirit of the writer is included, it requires a depth of self-examination; it requires searching the psyche for what is important and even relevant to the writer and thus, to the reader. This is egoism, not egotism; the first is self-assurance, the second is vainglory.

Athough writing for financial gain is important, it should never be the sole reason for writing, as that will not bring out the best in the writer. Passion of expression, a need to communicate, a desire to share a part of the personideas, feelings, passionsand love are the bases for exemplary and ageless writing.

Writing must fulfill a heartfelt need for self-expression, ego fulfillment, or a therapeutic necessity, and last, but not least, financial reward and fame.

If writing does not foster this self-examination, it is nothing more than a skill to use words, to use language, and to use writing to manipulate and not to satisfy the reader.

Charles O. Goulet has a BA in history and a BEd in English literature. He has written several historical novels that are available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

Charles O. Goulet
RR 1
Evansburg, AB
T0E 0T0
go1c@telusplanet.net

I’ve heard a lot about what writers have to say about the publishing process–and many are disappointed. Usually it’s because they had certain expectations that were not met. Whether they knew it or not, there was no way those expectations were going to be met because of the way they chose to have their books published. The way to avoid such disappointment is to be clear about what you want and to make sure you’re pursuing an avenue, whether it be self-publishing or traditional publishing, that will get those needs met.

To get clear about your desired outcome, it’s best to create a publishing plan for yourself. To do that, you ask yourself a series of questions so you can get a concrete picture of what you want. Make sure you write down your answers!

Fill-in-the-Blank

First, complete this statement: “I want my book to be____________”. Here you want to ask yourself, “Do I want my book to be a product I’m going to sell when I get speaking engagements?” or “Do I want it to be a door opener for potential jobs or other business opportunities?” or “Do I want it to be a gift that people are going to pass around?” or “Do I want it to be the first in a long line of my contributions to the literary canon?” What exactly do you want your book to be or to do for you?

I recently spoke to an author/editor working on an inspirational book. When I asked her why she was doing the book, she said she wanted to put a positive message out in the world. Okay, that’s great, but she could do that by just printing up a few hundred copies and giving the book away to anyone she met. When I probed further about what she really needs this book to do, she said she wanted it to put her fledgling publishing company on the map and to establish a brand so she could create a series of books, much in the same vein as “Chicken Soup for the Soul”. With this in mind we were able to focus on marketing, because in order for her book to do these things she would need a very persistent, aggressive marketing campaign to make this happen. If she had only focused on her first answer, she would have made different decisions that may not have helped her get the result she wants.

The Money Question

Next, what do you want financially from your book? Do you want a publisher to give you a huge advance or does the money not really matter because you’re looking for prestige? Be honest with yourself. If making a lot of money is important to you, it’s going to be hard for a first time author to do that through a traditional publishing house. You would be better off self-publishing your book and then making a big push to sell as many copies as you can. Once you’ve established yourself with some sales you can always turn to a traditional publisher to help you reach a broader market.

Determined to Go Traditional?

Are you set on having the prestige, not to mention the relatively low-cost experience, of being published by a traditional publishing house like a St. Martin’s, Random House or any of the smaller to mid-size companies? If so, how long will you try to find a publisher? If this is your goal, you’re going to be focused on doing all the things you need to do to get the attention of a literary agent and/or acquisitions editor. That means developing a following (your platform), taking writing courses if necessary to improve your work, and searching for the right agent to represent you so you can get your foot in the door.

What are you willing to do to find the right agent and publisher? Send out 200 query letters? Are you willing to spend the money to go to conferences to make connections and tell people about your work?

The Numbers

How many books do you want in print and how many do you want to sell? If you sign with a traditional publisher, you may have no say in the matter, but if you self-publish you have the option to go with a company who can print up copies as you need them. Or maybe you don’t mind doing a print run of 5,000 copies and storing them in your garage! But what number of sales would you consider a success? 5,000 is considered a really good number in traditional publishing for your first time out. Maybe your goal is to sell 200. Or maybe you’re just making this book for your family, so you don’t really care how many you sell; you just want your family members to see that you wrote a book. That’s okay too!

Distribution

Next, how will you get those books to the places where they can be sold? How will you get distribution? How many doors are you willing to knock on? What’s your budget for this?

The Team

You may try, but if you self-publish you really can’t do it all on your own. Publishing will require you to work with others on developing an audience, marketing, distribution, sales and production. Who will be on your team? Are you going to hire a coach, an editor, a proofreader, a book designer, a publicist?

Stick to the Plan

If you answer all these questions clearing and honestly, you will have a comprehensive plan for how your book will come into the world. You’ll find the whole process will be easier when you have a plan–it’ll help you make decisions when problems or opportunities arise. Then you can tell others a different kind of story: how the publishing process was exciting and enjoyable–and not disappointing–for you.

Have you noticed the feeder site or mini-site craze?

This is a traffic generation strategy where you create mini websites that feed targeted traffic to a primary “money” site… meaning, your core website that earns revenue for you and your business.

Feeder site example: Your core website is a financial investing tips website along with ebooks and pay per click ads on the site for revenue creation. You would create 5 mini-sites that are more granular than your core site (in this example, perhaps stocks, personal finance, mutual funds, college savings accounts, etc) and attempt to attract traffic that would deliver qualified traffic to your “money” site.

Should you build feeder sites? No.

Why?

Because you can get a much higher return and widen your reach by investing your time in writing hundreds and then thousands of articles that you put into syndication / distribution. Share your expertise with others and you’ll be rewarded with quality traffic back to your site.

The net effect will be better because rather than having 2-10 feeder sites sending traffic to your ‘money’ site, you’ll have hundreds and then thousands of websites sending your qualified traffic to your website.

Search engines frown on feeder sites because they (just like you and I) don’t like to be ‘gamed’. You can actually protect your search engine friendly reputation by not engaging in thinly-veiled feeder sites.

Article Syndication vs. Feeder/Mini-Sites Bottom line:

Feeder sites are not necessary.

Writing and distributing thousands of quality original articles is necessary if you want to achieve better targeted traffic creation results.

Go deep and think bigger. You can write and distribute thousands of articles before the year is over. Those who say it can’t be done are often investing their time in defending why it can’t be done vs. those of us who are doing it and know it is possible. You can do it too! Put on your writing cap, get a plan, set an article writing volume goal and get started today.

About The Author:

Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ directory. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links in tact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/

Copyright 2005 - Christopher M. Knight. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give proper author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.

White papers can make the difference between convincing a client to work with you rather than your competitor. Sharing information is the key to showing you are the expert. This step by step approach to writing a white paper will make the process much easier.

White Paper Format:

A white paper is generally ten pages in length including the covers. The paper should contain the following information:

Page One - Title page that includes in large type the title of the paper, in smaller type the name of the author, the name of the company, and the date.

Page two - The next page should contain all the copyright information

Page three- The Introduction to the company producing the paper including a very brief description on the services offered. The Introduction should also include a description of what is contained in the paper.

Page four to page eight - The body of the paper. This should be written in a format that gives the reader at least seven major points.

Page nine - The Conclusion

Page ten - The Back Cover - could contain ordering information for additional papers, books, seminars or similar items. This should be brief and to the point. If you overdo this page, the paper will not get read.

If you keep your white paper very simple in nature yet very informative, you may receive requests for more information.

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprints for Success - Networking: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprints for Success Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2006. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com

Early on, while working in radio stations, I learned that ‘dead air’ is a bad thing.

Dead air means silence, unintentional silence, that is. So, if I happened to be standing in the hall, for instance, and heard no music or voice for more than a couple of seconds, I would quickly check to see what had happened in the announcer’s booth or the news booth.

Speakers and presenters, too, often think of silence as a bad thing. But, they should not. In fact, silence, as in a long pause, can be wonderfully powerful.

Pause for a moment before you start speaking, and you’ll almost immediately have the attention and respect of everyone in the audience. Any whispering that had gone on will stop, as will the shuffling of feet and papers, and the opening and closing of briefcases and purses.

The same holds if you lose the attention of the audience part way through your speech or presentation. Pause, look systematically around the room at everyone in the audience, and you’ll have them back with you again.

Pause for a long moment if you want to emphasize a point. When you pause, you not only get the attention of the audience, but you create a contrast between the silence and the sound of your voice.

You’ll also find pauses helpful when you change from one subject to another within your presentation. In this case, the pause signals that something’s about to change, especially if you foreshadowed the new subject as you wrapped up the preceding section.

Of course, you can also pause when you lose track of where you are in your presentation. Deliberately stop, look at the audience as if you had planned to stop at this point, collect your thoughts, and then start again.

In summary, don’t be afraid of pauses or long moments of silence in a presentation or speech. They can get and hold attention better than almost anything you can say.

Robert F. Abbott offers three free chapters from his book, A Manager’s Guide to Newsletters: Communicating for Results at www.managersguide.com/free-sample.html . He also offers free subscriptions to Abbott’s Communication Letter, a free newsletter that helps you enhance your career through improved business communication, at www.abbottletter.com .