Write & Get Paid Get Paid $100 Do you want to earn money online? Listverse was built on the efforts of readers just like you. So here is the deal: We will pay you $100 for your efforts. It works like this: You write your list (10 items per list minimum), you send it in, we reply and say “Great—we’ll publish it” and send you $100 by PayPal (don’t have an account? Either way you win—your list will be read by us and reviewed, and if it’s amazing it will appear on the front page of Listverse to be read by millions of people a month! We can not accept lists from writers who do not have a PayPal account; this is non-negotiable. The Rules The rules are really pretty simple. Oh—and there’s one more thing: If you have a blog, a Twitter account, or a book you want to promote, mention it in the submissions form and we will stick it at the bottom of your list. Pictures and Video When you send in your list you don’t need to include images or videos. Please note that we publish original articles. Ready to start?
Freelance Writing Online: What Are You Worth? I didn't know what I would get paid to write this article. I didn't ask. It doesn't matter. It won't make a tangible dent in paying the rent on my apartment in Brooklyn, or, for that matter, rent on an apartment in any other city. By the time I finish the research, the interviews, the writing, and the editing, whatever small sum—$30, $125, $200—this site pays me will pale in comparison to the effort. It's not news that making a living by writing on the Internet is a tough business. Nicholas Jackson worked as an editor at TheAtlantic.com and saw the math first-hand. Assume an editor pays a writer $100. There is a general correlation between good, hard work and success, but it's not one-to-one. In that way, making money on the web has much in common with book publishing, just with more cat photos. The Internet democratized writing. But the destruction of the job market hurts not only the quantity, but the quality. Slowly, it started to pay off. I pitched and wrote constantly. I'm lucky.
How to Write Great Articles Using This 7-Point Checklist Every serious writer wants to write well and know that they are somehow making an impact on their readers. A writer may be trying to convey an emotion, provide information, describe how to do something, persuade a buyer, or any number of other endeavors. The writer is hoping to move the reader in some way. It may be an emotional movement, as in invoking feelings of joy, humor, anger, or injustice; an intellectual movement, as in having educated them on how to do something better or more efficiently; or a movement to act, as in purchasing a product, and so on. There are several ways to go about reaching an audience, and the best writers always keep in mind the article’s impact on the audience. So, before you release your copy to a client, magazine editor, or the Internet, ask yourself the following questions – it will help you to write content that appeals to readers and keeps them coming back, looking for more of your work. 1. 2. Your copy should be of interest to readers, not just you.
Mistakes Often Made by Beginning Writers We all make mistakes. While some errors are peculiar to individual writers, others tend to be more universal, particularly among beginners. Below I’ve supplied some common errors and weaknesses often seen in the less experienced. 1. Telling instead of showing. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Copyright by Debbie Lee Wesselmann About the Author Debbie Lee Wesselmann is the author of two novels, Trutor & the Balloonist and Captivity, as well as a collection of short fiction, The Earth and the Sky. Ms. Visit Debbie at www.trutor.net Nerd Paradise : How to Write a 20 Page Research Paper in Under a Day Posted on: 10 Cado 7:0 - 5.27.29 So you've procrastinated again. You told yourself you wouldn't do this 2 months ago when your professor assigned you this. Pick a Topic The more "legally-oriented" your topic is, the better. Make a list ...of every possible outcome that this issue could cause in...the near future...the far future...of every person that this topic affects....of any instances where this topic has come in the news....what you would do about this topic if you had the chance/power/enough-sugar...any little detail you can think ofThe important thing about this is to think of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING, no matter how silly or far-fetched. Reorder everything Put your most obvious argument first. Then put weird off the wall stuff, regardless of importance. Put the strongest argument for your case next. Now list the incidents that will help argue for your point. Now, list everything that could be construed to be the answer to the question "if elected, what would you do about this issue?"
78 Tools for Writing and Previewing Markdown Markdown is a text-based markup language created by John Gruber in 2004 as a way to write in an easy-to-read format that can be converted into HTML. It uses a very simple formatting syntax of familiar punctuation and characters, which makes writing content for the web a faster and more intuitive experience. As Markdown grows in popularity, new tools and applications have sprung up to cater to writing, converting and previewing the markup language. From tutorials, WordPress plugins and books to dedicated Markdown Service Tools for OS X, there is a wealth of excellent resources available. This post concentrates on 78 of the best tools and applications for writing and previewing Markdown, including resources for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and the web. Are there any Markdown tools we may have missed? 1. Markable is a powerful online Markdown editor, with syntax highlighting, auto indent and unindent, current line highlighting, and line numbers. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. iA Writer 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.
Journalism 101 - What Bloggers Need to Know Blogging Published on December 12th, 2012 | by Colleen Corkery The blogger vs. journalist debate has been a heated topic for years. Bloggers are influential, educational and informative, but some believe (including an Oregon court) blogging doesn’t equate to journalism, hence bloggers aren’t considered by some as completely legitimate resources. However, with the influx and influence of blogs, several traditional news media outlets, including The New York Times, have adapted and taken on a more blog stylistic approach. There are significant differences between journalism and blogging, including the idea that “the media” (is supposed to) remain objective and unbiased. Let’s jump into some Journalism 101 every blogger should know: Cite Sources and Attribute Content (no ifs, ands, or buts!) Tech journalist, Jolie O’Dell wrote a blog series called, “Be a Better Journo” in which she discusses attribution: Edit, Edit, Edit Think people won’t notice a little spelling or grammar mistake?
A scientific guide to writing great headlines on Twitter, Facebook and your Blog 5.9K Flares Filament.io 5.9K Flares × Ever since we started Buffer a little over 2 years ago, people have been asking us about one question very specifically: How can I write great headlines for social networks and my blog? The topic is a very tricky one, as the accuracy for what works best is hard to nail down. Whilst we have some specific techniques that we are using for our own postings and article headlines every day, I thought looking at the most cutting edge research is definitely required. So I thought of combining all the research we’ve done for the Buffer social accounts and our blog as well as the best research out there and combining them into one comprehensive guide. Without any further ado, here is a scientific guide to great copywriting on Twitter, Facebook and your blog: What works best on Twitter? Finding the right headline for your Tweet is one of the most important things to do, especially as Twitter only allows for text display. Test it yourself – here is how 1.) 2.) 3.)
25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer When George Plimpton asked Ernest Hemingway what the best training for an aspiring writer would be in a 1954 interview, Hem replied, “Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.” Today, writing well is more important than ever. Far from being the province of a select few as it was in Hemingway’s day, writing is a daily occupation for all of us — in email, on blogs, and through social media. It is also a primary means for documenting, communicating, and refining our ideas. So what can we do to improve our writing short of hanging ourselves? 1. Don’t just plan to write—write. 2. [The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around “getting ready,” the more time and opportunity we’ll have to sabotage ourselves. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
How To Gather Ideas, Turn Them Into A Novel - & Finish It In her third article for Writers & Artists, Nail Your Novel author Roz Morris gives her advice for researching and developing your book ideas. Writing a novel is a lengthy undertaking. Many novices launch in, compelled to write by an idea, a situation, a character or a world. But often the story runs out of steam; they paint themselves into a corner and invent so much they can’t keep it under control. So how do professional writers create novels that hang together well, juggle subplots and characters, add subtext, themes, ingenious levels of literary resonance... in fact, how do they even get to the end? The answer is surprisingly simple. No two authors will be alike, of course. Different as we all are, there are certain things most of us do to get from Chapter 1 to The End. 1. Professional authors rarely start bashing the keys as soon as they’ve had the idea. That doesn’t mean they don’t chase the muse, they just do it in other ways. 2. Usually we try to establish these basics: 3. 4. 5. 1.
Ink - Quotes about writing by writers presented by The Fontayne Group Writing "I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark." Henry David Thoreau "Writing is an adventure." Winston Churchill "Know something, sugar? "Whether or not you write well, write bravely." "The first rule, indeed by itself virtually a sufficient condition for good style, is to have something to say." The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource Last week, I launched a new site I’d been working on for several months, dedicated to technology and the writing life. Since I’ve been eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping “writing” all week, it seemed natural to pull together some of the tools, sites, and Lifehack.org tips I know of that can help make writers more productive, organized, and creative. Note: Maybe you don’t consider yourself a writer. 10 9 Free Apps Every Writer Should Consider q10: A cool, minimalist full-screen text editor that includes a spellchecker and a couple other nice features. Update: Sorry, I don’t know what happened to my 10th! 10 Online Apps and Services Every Writer Should Check Out Buzzword: Luscious Flash-based word processor from Adobe. 10 Sites Every Writer Should Bookmark (Besides Lifehack) 30 Lifehack Posts Every Writer Should Read 5 Online Communities Every Writer Should Join Anything to add?
Seven Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction Image by Lloyd Arnold via Wikimedia Commons Before he was a big game hunter, before he was a deep-sea fisherman, Ernest Hemingway was a craftsman who would rise very early in the morning and write. His best stories are masterpieces of the modern era, and his prose style is one of the most influential of the 20th century. Hemingway never wrote a treatise on the art of writing fiction. He did, however, leave behind a great many passages in letters, articles and books with opinions and advice on writing. Some of the best of those were assembled in 1984 by Larry W. 1: To get started, write one true sentence. Hemingway had a simple trick for overcoming writer's block. Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. 2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next. 5: Don't describe an emotion--make it.
12 Most Rudimentary Ways to Improve Your Writing Sports Journalist Red Smith once said, “There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” The quote describes how many people feel about writing. My analytical husband described my reporting job as “writing essays, all day, every day.” Still, I understand that writing is difficult for many people. Regardless of our skill level, writing is a fundamental form of communication, which all professionals must learn to do well. Whether you’re a natural writer or a forced writer, there are simple ways to improve your writing. 1. It’s weak to sit down at your computer and start typing randomly. 2. We speak in subject-verb-object order. 3. Associated Press style is the preferred writing style for media writers. 4. Mark Twain was quoted as saying he would have written shorter, but he didn’t have the time. 5. Very is a weak substitute for a strong verb or adjective. 6. Semicolons are for complex sentences. 7. 8. 9. Spell check is a blessing. 10. 11. 12.