Do You Know How Much Amazon Can Do?

As writers, we're all aware that Amazon sells books and ebooks.

But are you aware of how many other products they sell?

Knowing this is good for two reasons.

Firstly, it's oh so handy if you need to buy something because many times Amazon sells items cheaper than other companies.

Secondly, it's handy if you have a website and you're an Amazon affiliate because it gives you more advertising opportunities.

Amazon now not only sell more products than ever before but they also have more ways that you can make money.

For instance, did you know that Amazon has a trade-in offer for used books that you can sell back to them?

And did you know that they have a baby registry service and a wedding registry service or that they now sell their own smart phones?

Writing For The Love of Writing

Why do you write?

Can you answer that question?

It's a simple question yet it can stumble so many.

A question I get asked a lot is "how much money can a writer earn?"

And I tell people, that is really the wrong question.

A better question is, why do writers write?

The answer is because they love to write.

7 New Writing Markets

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E Magazine
E Magazine claims to be the "largest independent environmental magazine." They accept freelance submissions in the following departments: features, currents,  Money Matters, Going Green, Consumer News, House & Home, Your Health, Eating Right, and Eco Style. Pays $.30 per published word.
http://www.emagazine.com/writers-guidelines/

Hobby Farm Home
Hobby Farm Home magazine is published bi-monthly. Topics include: gardening; how-to guides; rural, country and farm events; profiles of successful hobby farmers and home-based entrepreneurs; preserving the harvest; decorating the farmstead; the beauty of nature; the joys of country life, and more. Features should be 2000-2500 words.
Payment for feature articles is $300+
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/corporate/hfh-writer-guidelines.aspx

Urban Farm Magazine
Urban Farm focuses on self-sufficiency and covers how-to projects, small-space gardening, profiles of urban farmers, “green” and innovative products, recipes for preparing your homegrown vegetables, eggs and other farm bounty.. Features should fall in the 1000-2000 word range. Shorter news-oriented pieces of around 500 words are also accepted. Payment rates vary and writers are paid on publication.
http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/urban-farm-writer-guidelines.aspx

Entry-Level Writer for Internet Marketing Company
Good writer needed for a North American company ... to write blogs and web pages.
Must be fluent in English; Must have very good grammar. Knowledge of SEO principles is preferred.
We supply all keywords to write with and we add images.
Payment (to be determined) for our contractors is made via PayPal twice per month.
We have been working with people all over the world for many years, and can supply references about our organization.
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/van/wri/4523807133.html

Taking the 12 Month Writing Challenge

My good friend and writer, Patricia Sills, has set up a new website.

She sent me a link to it and I have to say I'm impressed.

Patricia is doing  my 12 Month Writing Challenge and has set up a blog so that she can do it in public.

I think it's very brave and very smart.

Brave, because not many people would have the courage and smart because publicly announcing you plans can make you more likely to stick to them.

So it will be interesting to see how she gets on.

The second month of the challenge is to set up a website so this is what she did without any prior knowledge of knowing how to go about it.

I wish her all the luck in the world and I hope she manages to stick to the whole 12 months and earns more money than she ever dreamed she would from her writing.

All the best Pat.

Take a visit to her new writing website at http://ritealong.com.

And if you want to, you can join Patricia and start The 12 Month Writing Challenge for yourself.

It's not easy because it will keep you writing, planning and earning money for a whole year.

But I have to say, that although the pace is tough, it's fun.

There is nothing like the satisfaction of continually writing, submitting and publishing and watching your income increase.

When I first started my own writing challenge (which I based the course on) I found it challenging for sure, but the results were more than worth it and the feeling of satisfaction was great.

If you haven't yet tried your own 12 month writing challenge, I can personally thoroughly recommend it.

And at the very least, you'll earn $36,000.

75% Off Writing Market Books Until June 30th

Writers Digest are currently running a 75% discount on all 2014 market books for writers including books for poets, short story writers, song writers, guide to self publishing and more.

There are big discounts on their other books for writers too, but stock is limited.

They also have some new books for writers that they've added to their collections including:

• Essential Writing Skills for College and Beyond
• February 2014 Writer's Digest
• The Complete Guide to Article Writing
• 82nd Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition Collection
• An Insider's Guide to Publishing

Just take a minute to have a look and see if there's a book that can help you.

The offer is only open from 19th June 2014 until 30th.

Save up to 75% on 2014 Market Books at Writer's Digest Shop

All Marketers are Liars

I'm currently enjoying reading the latest book I purchased, "All Marketers are Liars" by Seth Godin. ISBN 13: 9781591845331.

And I'll say one thing for it, it certainly is an eye-opener into how successful marketers think and work.

I only received the book last week (paperback) and have been so busy with other things that I'm only 3 chapters into it, but already I'm learning so much, which is important because if you sell anything (including being a writer who sells books) you're a marketer whether you like it or not.

I bought "All Marketers are Liars" from The Book Depository (which is owned by Amazon) and they give great discounts on all their books plus free worldwide shipping. They also display book prices in your own currency.

So if you want to buy a book, don't pay retail price and pay for shipping. Get it straight from The Book Depository. It will be cheaper and won't cost you extra for packaging and posting.

Here is the official description of "All Marketers are Liars" straight from The Book Depository:

Seth Godin's three essential questions for every marketer: "What's your story?" "Will the people who need to hear this story believe it?" "Is it true?"

All marketers tell stories. And if they do it right, we believe them. We believe that wine tastes better in a $20 glass than a $1 glass.

We believe that an $80,000 Porsche is vastly superior to a $36,000 Volkswagen that's virtually the same car.

We believe that $125 sneakers make our feet feel better--and look cooler--than a $25 brand. And believing it makes it true.

As Seth Godin showed in this controversial book, great marketers don't talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story--a story we "want" to believe, whether it's factual or not.

In a world where most people have an infinite number of choices and no time to make them, every organization is a marketer, and all marketing is about telling stories.

Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends.

Think of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, or Fiji water, or the iPod.

But beware: If your stories are inauthentic, you cross the line from fib to fraud. Marketers fail when they are selfish and scurrilous, when they abuse the tools of their trade and make the world worse.

That's a lesson learned the hard way by telemarketers, cigarette companies, and sleazy politicians. But for the rest of us, it's time to embrace the power of the story.

As Godin writes, "Stories make it easier to understand the world. Stories are the only way we know to spread an idea. Marketers didn't invent storytelling. They just perfected it."

http://www.bookdepository.com/All-Marketers-are-Liars-Seth-Godin/9781591845331

Goodbye Writer's Block

I've just published my latest ebook.

Goodbye Writer's Block:
How to Be a Creative Genius and Have an Abundance of Ideas Plus the Inspiration and Motivation to Write

It's available as a PDF download.

http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/WB.html

It's not a huge book but it's so full of everything you need so that you never get stuck for ideas of what to write about ever again.

Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, this ebook will show you numerous ways to get ideas.

And not just one or two ideas, but so many that you'll never be stuck. Ever.

With this ebook, if you want to write a novel, even if you haven't a clue what you're going to write about, just follow the advice, and before you know it,  you'll have an abundance of ideas.

And it's the same if you want to write non-fiction. Just follow the advice and you'll have an avalanche of ideas of things you can write about.

Getting ideas isn't hard. You just need to know how to start looking and where to get ideas from.

This ebook makes it so easy to find ideas that you'll never suffer from "writer's block" ever again.

In fact, you'll "suffer" from idea overload.

Go to the website to read more.

http://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/WB.html

Goodbye Writer's Block will spark your creative genius and give the motivation to keep on writing for years.

You don't have to know what you're going to write.  You just have to know that you want to, and let Goodbye Writer's Block do the rest.

On Fire With My Writing

Today has been a really busy day of writing.

I've written several articles, finished the first draft of a new ebook and written the sales page.

Phew! Not bad going for one day.

Working on the ebook also involved finding several hyperlinks for things I wanted to link to in the text. Things like that can really slow things down sometimes.

But none the less I cracked on and have been busy working away all day. I didn't intend to work all day, but the time just seemed to fly. One minute I was starting to write and the next thing I knew it was over an hour later yet it didn't seem that long at all. And that kept happening all day.

My Horoscope Was Spot On Today

I have an astrology app on my iPhone. I read my horoscope every day.

Usually what it says is far removed from my life and how I live it. So I mostly ignore it and give it my haughty snort of derision after every reading.

But this morning  it was so spookily accurate that I had to sit up and take notice. 

It was as though it knew what I'd been doing and what I was thinking.

Kick Start Your Writing Career This Weekend

If you're not where you want to be with your writing, then it's time to start taking things seriously and doing what it takes to get off the ground running (or should that be writing?).

If you're not doing the writing that you want to do or your not earning the money from your writing that you want to, then change what you're doing and start doing the kind of writing that you want to do and earn the money you need.

To help you, here is a list of writing products from the Writers' Digest Workshops. You'll find something that can get you to where you want to go with your writing.

Writing the Thriller: The Secrets to Keeping Readers Up All Night

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How to Brainstorm & Develop Awesome Story Ideas

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Digital Issue: Writer's Digest Write Your Novel in 30 Days

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102 Ways to Earn Money Writing 1500 Words or Less

Can you really make a living writing? Absolutely! 102 Ways to Earn Money Writing 1,500 Words or Less shows you the wide...[Read More]

101 Habits Of Highly Successful Novelists

Learn from the Masters! The purpose of this book is to help you do what we do: write the best novel of which you're...[Read More]

21 Ways to Increase Your Copywriting Income and Skills
21 Ways to Increase Your Copywriting Income and Skills [Read More]

Overcoming Distractions So That I Can Write

Distractions can sometimes be the hardest things to deal with when you want to sit down and write.

And they can come in many forms from ringing phones, nagging children, emails, Twitter alerts and more.

Or sometimes it can simply be a persistent thought that you really should be doing something else.

Whatever your own personal distractions in life are that keep you from writing, you're not alone. We all have them.

The difficult thing is to find a way to overcome them, and I'll tell you how I do it.

Faster Money From Affiliate Marketing

Quite often, writers use their writing ability for affiliate marketing instead of creating their own products. And I’m no different. I use affiliate marketing as a way to earn more money.

And if you’re thinking of doing the same, here are 3 things you need to consider which are Time, Different Ways to Market and How Much Money You Can Earn.

So let's take a look at all three.

Turning Articles Into Ebooks

Every writer wants to make money writing ebooks.

Why?

Because it's fast to do and can be quite lucrative.

And because of this, writing ebooks is something that can be done again and again.

But how can you write ebooks if you don't know what to write?

15 Best Places To Find Free High Res Images

If you've got a blog or a website, you'll know how important it can be to find a good image for your post.

But even though you want to find free images you still want them to be high resolution so that they look good.

Well I found website that lists 15 places where you can find free high res images for your blog or website.

You can find free images by doing a Google search but Google doesn't always provide you with the best sites because they prefer to send you to websites that contain premium stock photography, at a premium price, so many of the free image sites probably won't show up in a search.

But the following website has a list of 15 websites that offer free images.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/find-free-images/24990/

The list also includes a bit of information about each website telling you what you can and cannot do with the images.

My personal place to get my images for this blog is FreeDigitalPhotos.net and my favourite image person is Stuart Miles (also on that website). I once subscribed to his RSS feed and found that he publishes about 50 new images a day so I had to unsubscribe to stop them coming so often. But he sure is a hard worker.

10 Freelance Writing Markets

Today I have for you a list of 10 more freelance writing markets.

Each of these 10 places has an extensive list of links to writing markets.

The list includes different genres of fiction writing including horror, sci-fi, speculative fiction and romance plus children's writing markets and magazine markets.

Take a look through the list and start submitting today.

To earn a great income trough freelance writing, aim to make 30 submissions every month.

These 10 new writers' markets will also be added to the ever-growing list at my website for writers, http://writeaholics.net/writingmarkets.html.