~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Writing Etc. – November 15, 2006

ISSN: 1545-5580

Tips, Techniques, and Resources to Transform You From An Average

Freelancer to A Highly Paid Professional.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To subscr*ibe to Writing Etc. and receive the fr*e e-book, “Power Queries,” surf here:

http://filbertpublishing.com

Hey, did you know you can get your hands on 150+ webpages of fre* writing info? Just head to http://FilbertPublishing.com and dig around. Be sure to sign up for one of our fre* writing courses. Here’s to some great high profit writing.

Forward Writing Etc. to all your writing friends. They’ll be glad you did.

For easier reading and red hot links, surf to

http://filbertpublishing.com/current.html

Your Key to the High Profit Writing vault is here:   http://filbertpublishing.com/Top_Secret_Vault.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes from Minnesota

The Fine Art of Swiping by Beth Ann Erickson

Paying Markets

Important Reminder

~~~~~Highly Recommended~~~~~~~~~~

Four years in the making. Information like none other.

Whether you thrive on cold calling or are a die-hard introvert who

can’t handle rejection… these 101+ battle-tested, utterly simple

techniques will utterly turbo-charge your freelance income.

Now available as an extremely affordable, instantly downloadable e-book.

Get all the juicy details here: http://filbertpublishing.com/e101.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes from Minnesota

Wow. What a week!

If you want to stir up a hornet nest, I suggest you launch a coaching program. (http://BethAnnErickson.com/coaching.html)

Good, bad, ugly… I’ve seen ‘em all this past week.

Fellow writers calling me generous, kind, greedy, an imbecile, you name it, I’ve probably read it.

It’s been interesting to say the least. A true adventure.

I think the brouhaha erupted after I announced the price for this program. It’s not cheap.

And I won’t apologize for that. After all, if I’m going to spill pretty much every secret my mentors have taught me, the techniques I’ve spent thousands of dollars to master, I’m not going to freebie them.

Besides, getting into that kind of depth in a short issue of Writing Etc. is next to impossible.

But that’s beside the point right now.

I love the writing life. I enjoy every aspect of it from writing fiction, nonfiction, articles… I even love marketing.

Especially when I inadvertently stir up a hornet nest.

It’s nice to know there still are a few passionate writers out in this politically-correct world willing to boldly state their opinion.

That’s very cool.

I’m proud of every one of you.

Talk later,

Beth

P.S. I still have one more slot in the mentoring program. If you’re interested, check it out here: http://BethAnnErickson.com/coaching.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think It’ll Take Forever To Earn A Great Living As A Writer?

Think again.

With Jumpstart Your Writing Career, you'll discover how easy it is to:

• Think like a writer so you can turn every opportunity into a writing assignment
• Hone your writing skills until they're razor sharp
• Tackle the most lucrative branch of writing
• Learn secrets of fiction to make your story lines sing
• Organize your nonfiction articles so editors will happily publish your work
• Write powerful queries that’ll open new doors of opportunity
• Promote your writing business for little or no money

Absolute Write calls Jumpstart “a marvelous tool for novice writers and often published authors alike. It’s refreshing, easy to use, and applicable”.

Pick up your copy today so you can jump ahead of the pack and start snagging great paying assignments, read more here:

http://filbertpublishing.com/jumpstart.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Feature Article ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fine Art of Swiping

By Beth Ann Erickson

Copywriters write advertising materials. Often, to get their creative juices flowing, they’ll review successful ads and “swipe” it.

Article writers will often engage in a similar activity. They’ll read everything they can on a subject, then apply their personal twist on the information while they form it into an article.

Either way, every author needs to be very wary of not crossing that fine line between “swiping” and plagiarism.

Here’s a perfect illustration. I recently spoke with a potential client. Very important project… one that could easily net him at least 20k per month.

He led me to his web page and I started laughing. “You so totally stole (writer’s name omitted) sales page,” I said.

“I swiped it,” he replied.

“I see that,” I answered. “That’s one heck of a swipe.”

And his version wasn’t pretty.

First, let’s talk a bit about swiping.

It’s fairly routine for copywriters to turn to successful sales pitches and model new ones after them. After all, if a particular website generated a huge profit in one field, the general sales structure will often work again.

However, what this guy had done was copy and paste the entire web page into a document and simply changed the product name, revised a couple bullets, and slipped his name at the end.

That, my friend, wasn’t a swipe. It’s called plagiarism.

Worse yet, it resulted in a really bad sales pitch.

You see, every product, service, whatever you’re selling has what’s called a USP, Unique Selling Proposition. This USP represents everything that’s unique, different, awesome about your product.

When you plagiarize a sales pitch, you run the very real risk of not illustrating your USP in a compelling, dynamic way.

And this is exactly what this marketer did.

His copy ran flat. It didn’t sell. No zing. No magic. Nothing.

Plus, by stealing a highly recognizable website, he lost all credibility with me… someone he was hoping to hire to help him sell more product.

So, how do you go about elegantly swiping a successful sales piece?

Well, you don’t plagiarize or blatantly steal the content.

You analyze why the piece worked, who the audience was, what the state of world was, the date the piece ran, what patterns response followed… there’s far more than cutting and pasting involved.

You also have to analyze you own business. What is your USP? Who is your audience? What kind of tone do they respond to? What are their price points and why? How have you pitched them in the past and how does this fit in with the puzzle that is your marketing plan? What have you done to lead up this pitch?

See… there’s an art to successful swiping.

An elegant swipe slips into your business plan like a hand into a velvet glove.

A great swipe is utterly unrecognizable from the original. Your customers shouldn’t look at it and gasp, “I’ve read that before.” You certainly don’t want them to laugh at your ad and think it’s a joke.

Somewhere along the line, you want your swipe to glide away from the original and become something utterly unique… a web page that’ll work for a very long time. A sales message that’ll bring in mucho profits without any controversy. (And if you plagiarize, believe me, you’ll face controversy.)

I mention all this because many newbie writers are just now drafting their own websites. Be very careful when you craft your webpage that you don’t blatantly swipe someone else’s style.

After all, if you write your own web copy and have been told that all you need to do is “swipe” a successful letter and you’re on your way to huge readerships… well I think you know the answer to this outlandish claim.

As for my potential client, he’s still running his swiped web page. Lucky for him, the person he swiped from is very kind and doesn’t intend on contacting his lawyer. The client says he’s planning on re-writing the page on his own.

I wonder who he’ll “swipe” next.

It’s really too bad because if he simply invested a fair amount of thought into the project he could really make a dent in his unique niche, easily netting tens upon thousands of dollars every month.

As is, unfortunately, he’s not even breaking a few hundred a month.

But I guess that’s what happens when you try to swipe without understanding even a few of the complexities of the persuasive process…

Perhaps I’ll expand more on that next time!

~~~

Want a ton more ultra-effective techniques that’ll give you an incredible edge in the over-crowded freelance world? Click this link. http://filbertpublishing.com/e101.html

Pssssst… you can even instantly download this incredible information! 

P.S. You can use this article free of charge on your own website or zine. Just don’t make any changes and be sure to include the entire byline. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paying Markets – check ‘em out!

Golf Tips

http://www.golftipsmag.com/content/submissions.html

Referee

http://www.referee.com/WritersGuidelines/index.html

Runner’s World

http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/contactus/0,7248,,00.html

Sea Kayaker

http://www.seakayakermag.com/contribute/writers_guidelines.htm

Sport Diver

http://www.sportdiver.com/article.jsp?ID=10482

T’ai Chi

http://www.tai-chi.com/mag_guidelines.php

Wave Length

http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/guidelin.php

Journal of Asian Marshall Arts

http://www.goviamedia.com/journal/contentguidelines.html

Mushing

http://www.mushing.com/pages/editor.php

Outside

http://outside.away.com/system/guidelines.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reminder!

Filbert Publishing has launched its affiliate program. This means that when you sell our e-books, you’ll receive a 50 percent commission.

How would an extra ten spot in your pocket sound every time you sell Beth’s latest book?

Details are here:

http://filbertpublishing.com/earnfast.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We Recommend:

Writing For Dollars! The FREE ezine for writers featuring tips, tricks and ideas for selling what you write. Receive the FREE ebook, 83 WAYS TO MAKE MONEY WRITING when you subscribe. Email to subscribe@writingfordollars.com -*-

http://www.WritingForDollars.com

WRITERS FIND MARKETS EASILY - Worldwide Freelance has a NEW fully-searchable Markets Database. Discover writing markets from North America, Europe, Australia and other places. It's free, so come and try it out

here: http://www.worldwidefreelance.com

Information Marketers! Discover the copywriter who knows the unique demands of your industry and can help you sell a ton of product. http://BethAnnErickson.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Feel free to forward Writing Etc. to all your writing friends. Just be sure to include the entire issue. Thanks!

We strive to make Writing Etc. an invaluable resource to writers. If you have any comments or suggestions please send them to mailto:filbertpublishing(a)filbertpublishing.com

For Easier Reading and Red Hot URLS, read this issue online at: http://filbertpublishing.com/current.html

The Fine Print:

You are receiving this e-mag because you (or someone who has access to your computer/e-mail account) entered your e-mail address into our subscription form at http://filbertpublishing.com AND confirmed your desire to receive this fre* subscription via e-mail.

If you feel you are receiving this publication in error, we want to know about it. E-mail us at filbertpublishing(a)filbertpublishing.com so we can investigate how your e-mail address arrived into our double-opt-in system. Also, you can easily remove your e-mail addy from this list at any time by clicking your personalized link at the end of this e-mail.

To receive Writing, Etc. surf to http://filbertpublishing.com and insert your e-mail address into the form.

Please recommend this newsletter to anyone you know who'd like to learn how to make their writing sparkle.

PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not distribute your email address to anyone. Ever. Period.

Writing Etc.

Box 326

Kandiyohi, MN 56251

Maurice and Beth Erickson, Publishers

filbertpublishing(a)filbertpublishing.com

http://filbertpublishing.com/

© 2006 Filbert Publishing