I hope you enjoy reading the following articles that I have written and that they are of help to you.

Article 1 When Writing Gigs Slow Down By: Lorraine Cote So you have been busy writing lately. You may have had more work than you wanted and were not in short supply of clients, which is great for you and for business. Now, all of a sudden, the well seems to have run dry, things may have slowed down quite a bit, so now what? What do you do when your writing projects seem to literally dry up? The first thing you should know is that you shouldn't PANIC, it's bound to happen and things will bounce back, sooner or later. I have been running my writing business for twelve years now and there hasn't been one year when I didn't experience at least one slow down. For me, things usually slow down around holidays, especially around Christmas. It's understandable that people are wrapped up in shopping and the festivities of the season and are not likely to move forward with projects. I also experience a little lull during summer months when people enjoy the outdoors or are on vacation. As I said, it is expected, especially if you run your own small business, but usually doesn't last very long. The key to taking advantage of these slow times in business is to stay busy. Keep focused on your business. It's not the time for you to slack off. So what can you do to make the most of your downtime? Here are a few suggestions that may help you use this time productively. 1. Organize your office. Use the time to do tasks you couldn't keep up with during peak business times. Things like filing, cleaning and organizing your office space. Catching up on correspondence and so on. 2. Review your business plan. If you don't have a business plan, learn how to create one or have one created for you. If you don't have a plan, you won't know where you are coming from and certainly won't be able to get where you would like to go in business. You should check your business plan yearly to see if you are on track and to make any changes that reflect changes in the way you do business. 3. Learn something new. Take online classes or classes at your local college and learn a new skill or hone an old one. Learn a skill that will be beneficial to your business in some way. You can teach an old dog new tricks! 4. Expand your business. Maybe you will need to hire more personal to help with additional work or maybe you will need to purchase equipment/tools or software to automate things. In any event you should always plan to expand your business at some point. After all, you are in business to make money and expansion of your business is a good way to generate additional revenues to grow your business. 5. Catch up. Touch base with clients you have done work for in the past but have not heard from recently. You never know when you may get additional work from them. Sometimes they may be planning to get in touch but something keeps them from it, so they may need a reminder that you are there to help them. It's a good way to rekindle relationships with former clients and drum up a little extra business in the process. 6. Get with the program. Maybe you can outsource some tedious administrative tasks by hiring a virtual assistant. This will free up time to market your business more aggressively and generate new opportunities. Whatever the reason for a slowdown in business, take it with a grain of salt. Know that it won't last forever and things really happen in cycles. You can't stop the slowdown, but you can make the most of the extra time on your hands, by doing something productive that will pay off in a big way, in the long run. Copyright 2006 Lorraine Cote This article may be freely reprinted as long as the author’s information and copyright notice remain intact. Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

Article 2   Shopping For the Perfect Gift For the Writer In Your Family By Lorraine Cote It's that time of year again, Christmas. You are probably trying to figure out what to give your friends and loved ones as presents this year, especially the writer in the family. I think that choosing just the right gift for a writer or budding writer can be a little mind-boggling. After all, how much more that paper, pen and a computer does a writer need? Well, you would be surprised. First of all, almost all writers are avid readers, so a good book is always appreciated. Secondly, depending on what type of writing, the writer you know does, can trigger many creative gifts that you can give them. For instance, if you know a copywriter, maybe a little gift basket containing the latest book by an accomplished copywriter plus an assortment of other goodies to include colored markers, a great pen and a small pocket notebook. I know as a copywriter myself, that would be a great gift. However, if you have a writer whose focus is on writing novels such as mystery novels, you may want to consider putting together a gift basket that contains several new mystery novels by various writers in addition to other writing related implements. The point is that when shopping for the writer in your family, skip the fru, fru, and lacy things and give them something related to their type of writing that can be used and will be cherished for a long time to come. Keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be a big elaborate gift basket. Just make sure to include items that will not only stimulate their imaginations, provide them with new knowledge about a particular style of writing and also helps make the writing easier. It takes just a little planning and a list of items for the gift basket. You can even visit your local bookstore for ideas and suggestions for filling the basket. It will definitely be worth the trip and will most certainly put a smile on the face of the writer receiving the gift. You can bet that it will be one of their most cherished gifts. Who knows, they may even write you a touching thank you note that you will cherish. Copyright 2006 Lorraine Cote This article may be freely reprinted as long as the author’s information and copyright notice remain intact. Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

Article 3 Don't Take Your Writing So Seriously! By Lorraine Cote Maybe you are an aspiring writer or maybe you have been writing for quite awhile. Regardless of how long you have been writing, every once in awhile you need to take a step back and look at your writing, really look at it. There is all types of written material in the world, each with an different purpose. You may be writing a children's story or something more business-like such as a press release or even an Ebook on dogs. Whatever you are writing, stop and take a look to see if you are writing with the right tone. By that I mean that some things that have been written that I have read were written for an entirely wrong audience, or the writing itself was too business-like and stuffy. It simply had the wrong tone to it. The key is to know your audience! Those who will be reading what you have written. Having said that, let me also say that regardless of what you write, you can write it in a lighter more conversational tone. It doesn't all have to be straight-laced. One way to approach writing is to think of each piece you write as a written conversation between you and someone else. Picture sitting down and having coffee with this person and having a casual conversation about your intended topic. In this setting, you wouldn't use big fancy, technical words would you? Of course not. You would discuss things in a casual light-toned manner, that was easy to understand. This tone is the key to reaching your target audience, every time. Unless you are a journalist writing hard-hitting news stories where a lighter tone wouldn't fit or make the kind of impact you are looking for, you can inject a lighter conversational tone in just about anything else you write. Take for instance Sales materials, you can write a "soft sell" article or one that leans more towards a "hard sell." However, on the hard sell side, most people will back away because they don't feel the need to be beat over the head with your pitch. They would prefer a lighter-toned, more conversational soft sell pitch. So, the next time you sit down to write something, try to inject a lighter tone to all your writing and lighten up! Copyright  2005 Lorraine Cote This article may be freely reprinted as long as the author’s information and copyright notice remain intact. Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

Article 4 Becoming A Ghostwriter By: Lorraine Cote Ghostwriting can be rewarding in two ways. a) You get a chance to research and write about all types of topics that you wouldn't normally have a chance to learn about. The old theory in writing "write what you know" doesn't apply to ghostwriting since your clients will dictate what topic you will write about. b) You can make a decent living at it. If you're new to writing, it may take a while to get clients but it is possible. It just takes a little hard work and perseverance. There are several ways to get clients. Here are a few. 1. Bid on writing jobs on contracted work site such as Elance.com, Guru.com and Getafreelancer.com You basically signup as a service provider to begin bidding on projects posted by clients. If you win the bid, you do the writing project as a ghostwriter. 2. Place ads for your ghostwriting service on free classified ad sites. It doesn't cost anything to post ads on these sites and is a good way to get your services out there in front of potential clients. 3. Post responses in forums with a signature that defines your ghostwriting service and an email address or website URL. Something along the lines of "Affordable Ghostwriting Services,[your website url] or email for more details [your email address]. 4. Introduce your services in forums where you are allowed to do this. Many forums have a section where you can introduce your business. See out writing forums for this. 5. Have business cards created showcasing your ghostwriting business. Pass them out every chance you get. Put them on bulletin boards in supermarkets etc. You can create your own or have them made. 6 Write a press release announcing your services. There are plenty of no-cost or low-cost distribution services on the web to get the message out for you. Ghostwriting may not be for everyone because you don't get credit for your work, the client does. If that doesn't matter to you and you like writing on a variety of topics, it can be an enjoyable way to earn some money. Copyright 2005-2006 Lorraine Cote Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

Article 5 It's A Dog-Eat-Dog World In The Freelance Work Marketplace The Trials and Tribulations of Finding Writing Work in the Freelance Work Marketplace By: Lorraine Cote There are many ways to find freelance writing work on the net. The most popular method is by signing up to one or more of the many freelance work sites available. There are a ton of them to choose from. Take Elance.com for instance, it is the site that I am known as a “service provider” and it's where I get most of my writing projects. While I do also have offline clients, mostly corporations, Elance is a good supplement to my writing business. However, there are some things that you should be aware of before you go rushing off to sign up to one of these sites. Take a look! (I will use Elance as an example because it is the one I am most familiar with). Costs: Many of these sites don't charge a signup fee, however, many charge either a monthly fee (can be quite steep like Elance, writing category, $75 per month for select provider status), or they charge a transaction fee for each project you accept. Many charge both (again Elance does this, 8.5% of total project amount). Categories: Many of these sites break out their projects into levels such as basic level, where basic providers can bid on basic projects and select providers, where select providers can bid on any job, basic, or select. They also have a category in writing called professional for $40 per month where you can bid only on basic projects as well. Of course, as you may have guessed, you pay a higher price for select as you are looked at as an expert in the field, whether you are or not. Elance doesn’t check, so if you are willing to shell out the $75 per month, you too can be a select provider. Bidding: Now this is where it really gets competitive, the real dog-eat-dog stuff. The reason is that, say for instance that you are paying $75 per month to bid on projects plus an 8.5% transaction fee for each project you bid on, then along comes a provider that underbids you and gets the project, regardless of your skill level, portfolio or client references. It is disheartening and frustrating. You’ve just been passed over for what is known as a “low-baller.” Low-balling is a frequent practice on these sites, especially from foreign providers whose cost of living is a lot lest than the US. Also, you will find “newbies who have no experience, portfolio or references stoop to this to get the project to build these things. You may be thinking that this may be understandable in some cases because everyone has to start somewhere, right? Wrong! Actions like this devalues our skills as a writer and says to prospective clients I work cheap, use me like slave labor! Additionally, you will always find providers who will underbid you simply because they outsource the work and get a percentage. So they can make money without ever doing the work themselves. They can afford to bid less because a piece of the pie, which is better than none at all. This also undermines the skills of writers trying to make a living off writing. They are basically deceiving the client by not disclosing that they have a "team" or writers that the work will be outsourced to. Again, this prevents you from getting work. My personal belief is that if you have a team of writers and you are a legitimate business, then you owe it to the client to disclose it. It will also help the other providers bidding against you to swallow it better. It becomes more of a way of doing business and less of a sneaky tactic. To top it all off, a lot has to do with the way the contracted work site markets itself. Elance, one of the largest freelance work marketplaces on the net, markets themselves as basically a place where customers can get cheap labor. This prevents providers from being able to place a bid based on what they are worth in terms of skills, experience and expertise. They basically have to bid what the Elance marketplace will bear, which in most cases is peanuts in comparison to what writers in the real world make. Providers on Elance are literally at the mercy of customers because they flock to Elance to get a 500-word article written for $5 or a 100 page Ebook for $300. Both absurd prices by the way and a fraction of what writers in the real world get. This type of marketing makes it so hard for more seasoned writers to bid higher, because so many providers on Elance are willing to offer these ridiculous prices. There are times when you will come across a potential client that is willing to meet your price, but it doesn’t happen as often as you think. It would be great if this continued and clients would wake up to the fact that they “get what they pay for.” Many have found the cheap labor source to be unreliable in terms of content and delivery. I have been contacted many times by Elance customers who paid one provider their low fee to write something, only to ask me to rewrite it at a higher price (I won't bend on my prices, work or no work) because the provider either took a down payment for the work, did half of it and disappeared, or plagiarized entire work, word for word, or just did shoddy work. It appears on these sites that customers have to learn the hard way sometimes. So when they contact me for a rewrite, I charge my going fee, and you know what? They pay it without blinking an eye and you can bet they learned a valuable lesson the hard way. Unfortunately these kinds of actions on the part of the providers give good quality writers a "black eye." It causes customers to be skeptical and leery of what we say we can provide them in terms of our skills and expertise. So it makes the bidding and negotiation process that much more difficult. Unfortunately I am only familiar with Elance, however, I do believe that the actions that I have described here, do exist on other sites as well. You can visit any one of them and see how low the bids are for various writing jobs. It appears to be the norm out there. Signing up? Take a look for yourself, visit these sites and learn all you can about them before making a decision to fork over your hard-earned money on a subscription. It may be quite awhile before you will even see a small return on your investment! Elance.com Guru.com Getafreelancer.com Freelanceyourproject.com Contractedwork.com Rentacoder.com Now, luckily I have been with Elance since 2001 and have built up a portfolio, a long list of client references and even made some decent money. But it hasn't been easy and I would hate to see anyone else jump in thinking that their troubles are over and the money will start rolling in. I have branched out and obtained corporate clients that have become long-term clients. You may not be so lucky or it may take you just as long if not longer to get to that stage. So keep in mind before you shell out high monthly fees coupled with a percentage of the project amount that trying to eke out a living as a freelance writer on these contracted work sites is rocky going at best. It may take months before you are awarded your first project from a client. Don’t quit your day job just yet! Good luck in your writing endeavors! Copyright  2005 Lorraine Cote Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

Article 6   Get Discovered Through Press Releases By: Lorraine Cote Do you have a service or product that you want to get in front of the masses? Maybe you have reached a new milestone in your existing business that you want to shout out to the world. Well, the easiest way to get the message out is through the power of a press release. Press releases have been around for awhile and can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. If you have a little experience writing, you can create one on your own. If not, you can hire a professional to write one for you. It is well worth the money to get a professional job done. There are several elements that comprise a press release. 1. The contact information, this allows the press to contact you for a possible story or for potential customers to come to your site to see your offerings. CONTACT: www.ABCcompany.com Joe Schmoe, President Phone: (123) 456-7890 Boston, MA. 00000 Email: schmoe@email.com 2. The Headline, this is possibly the most important element of the press release because it must be "newsworthy." It can't be a sales pitch but must be crafted as though you are announcing a news item. For example: WHERE WILL YOU GO? Local Online Job Network Shows You the Path to Job Search Success. Not something like, ABC Company Is Offering The Best Job Hunting Technique In Town! 3. The first paragraph of the press release needs to make the announcement. The thing to remember throughout the press release is not to make a sales pitch, that's not what it is intended for. It is meant to make an announcement about something that is considered news such as opening a new store, a new division, re-launching a business and so on. For example, Sterling Heights, MI—June 20, 2004—ABC Company, a new local online job network for residents of Massachusetts, is set to launch on July 1st to give job seekers an additional outlet to aid in their job search. This is announces the date of the launch of ABC Company. 4. The rest of the press release should give background on the company, the product development or the service improvement etc. For instance, ABC Company offers numerous benefits to both those seeking a job and employers looking for local talent to fill positions. The benefits to job seekers includes the ability to search for jobs by location, date range, categories, job type and keywords. It will give a person the ability to view all jobs posted by a specific local employer. 5. Add at least two quotes from an executive in the company. For instance, "We're very excited about the launch of ABC Company. Being able to provide both job seekers and employers with direct access to local jobs and candidates, respectively, is the best possible solution for both," offers Joe Schmoe, President and founder of ABC Company. Further down in the press release, add another quote like, According to Schmoe, “The benefits to local employers besides finding qualified candidates for positions, includes a reduction in time and effort in regards to recruiting new talent." 6. Finish with something like, ABC Company is a local online job bank serving residents and employers of Massachusetts. They are based in Boston, MA. and can be reached by calling (123) 456-7890, by contacting Joe Schmoe via email at schmoe@email.com or visiting www.ABCcompany.com for more information. That's about it. Easy, simple and quick to whip up. Once you have the press release completed, you will need to distribute it. The best place to so that is at http://wwwPRweb.com because they offer a low cost solution to distributing your press release. If you need a professional to write a press release for you, please contact me at writetouch4u@verizon.net My press releases have netted press interviews and media coverage for many of my clients. I would love to help you "get your message out. Copyright 2005 Lorraine Cote This article may be freely reprinted as long as the author’s information and copyright notice remain intact. Lorraine Cote is the CEO and Owner of The Write Touch 4U, Copywriting Service. She is also a published freelance writer who has written over 100 Ebooks on various topics for clients as well as all types of other written materials. She also has 16 years experience in the corporate world as a Trainer and Business Writer and is an Internet Marketer as well. Visit her at http://www.thewritetouch4u.com or visit her blog at http://writetouch4u.blogspot.com

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