I’ve been blogging for many years, and looking over my blog archives I’ve often figured that there was enough content there for a book. I’m a freelance writer, so much of my writing time and energy is devoted to writing for my clients. I’m also a single mom with three kids and I run a business from my home, so I had lots of excuses for not finding time to write a book.

There are countless benefits of being a published author. Whenever I introduce myself as a writer, people almost always ask if I’ve published a book. I have grown weary of making excuses for why I haven’t published a book, so last year I decided to use my blog to help me come up with the content for a book. I gave myself a focused challenge and I write a post every day for a month. I then took those thirty blog posts and expanded them and added additional content. Now I have got an almost completed manuscript for a book based on the content of my blogging challenge.

This morning I came across this article, 7 Things You Must Do Before Writing Your Book, which is full of great tips for those who are thinking about writing a book. The author, Ofili, writes about the power of blogging to help you get your book written, ” I put myself on a strict and disciplined regimen of writing at least one 1500 article every month. I did this unfailingly starting January of 2011 and at the end of the year, I had 20+ quality articles chapters and over 25,000+ words in my book.” The secret is to commit to a focused writing schedule and be consistent.

There are a few benefits of blogging your book. One of those benefits, as Ofili mentions in his post, is the opportunity for instant feedback from your readers. Another benefit is that you are establishing a platform, building an audience for the book and getting your name and writing out there in the world. The best benefit, I believe, is the responsibility to your readers to blog consistently. Once you hook your readers in with what you are writing, they are going to want to stay in the loop and find out what happens.

Bloggers who want to become authors should go ahead and give it a whirl. Choose the topic of your book and focus your blog posts around that theme. Tell your readers what you are doing and get their support and encouragement. The positive comments I received when I did my blogging challenge really motivated me to stick with it no matter what.

Now that my manuscript is almost finished I am researching publishing options. It will launch first as an ebook, so you will be the first to hear about it when it drops. Keep on writing.

I stumbled across this writing tool when they started following me on Twitter. I checked out the website and gave it a try. There’s a blank field on the main page of the website where you can paste your written copy and then click the ‘analyze,’ button. The pro writing aid software analyzes your writing and gives you suggestions for revisions in categories such as:

•  Overused words
• Sentence variation
• Clichés & Redundancies
• Repeated words & phrases

The pro writing aid tool also analyses sentence length, clichés and the pacing of your writing. If you are going to hand your writing over to a human editor, you might want to first pop it into this free tool and make the suggested corrections that you agree with and then see what your editor has to say.

I tried it with an article I wrote this morning, and I found the edits useful. It pointed out to me how much I overuse certain words, it revealed my penchant for beginning sentences with conjunctions and prepositions, and it showed how I could improve the pacing or my work. I also tend to write long, rambling sentences. Long sentences are fine as long as you vary the length of all the sentences in that piece of writing. Every single word should carry its own weight.

I often coach beginning writers about the importance of separating the creative process of writing from the mechanical process of editing and revising. After you have written something, set it aside for awhile and then run it through prowritingaid.com to help improve the finished product.

While it’s never going to replace a human editor, prowritingaid.com is a handy, free tool that you can use to run your writing through to clean it up and catch common errors.

Related articles

• In Books: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark (reflectionsinapuddle.wordpress.com)

By Steve Harrison

In the 20+ years I’ve spent working with entrepreneurs and authors, I’ve found that one of the best ways to grow your business is to be seen as an expert. People value experts’ opinions and advice. They want to buy from the man or woman who wrote a book on topics they’re interested in.

How to become known as the expert in your niche
Surveys show that more than 80 percent of Americans dream of writing a book someday. But most will never do it. So if you have written a book, people will see you as having accomplished something that sets you apart from other experts.

Writing a book will elevate your status, your income and your influence. It will also position you as a knowledgeable authority they can trust. Let me give you an example of how this works.

A few years ago, I spoke to a mortgage loan officer who told me this story. He said that he used to get calls all the time from people asking about his mortgage rates. The minute he told them, they’d hang up the phone and start calling around looking for the cheapest rate. He realized he needed to find a way to stand out from other mortgage brokers. He then decided to target people who had a bankruptcy in their past and now needed a mortgage. So he wrote a book about how people who have had a bankruptcy or foreclosure can still get mortgages.

The book brought him a lot of local publicity. He did a number of radio, TV and print interviews and even got his own radio show. Now people were contacting him after reading his book or seeing him on TV. Clients would come into this office and feel privileged to learn from an expert on this subject, and some even asked him to autograph their book. This is a powerful example of how writing a book can help you expand your business tremendously.

What writing a book will do for you
A lot of exciting new opportunities will arise once you become a published author. Here are some of the biggest benefits that could come your way:

A lot of exciting new opportunities will arise once you become a published author. Here are some of the biggest benefits that could come your way:

1. Free publicity. It’s much easier to get radio, TV, magazine and online publicity if you have a book. The media need experts to interview, and often call upon authors to comment on timely topics in the news.
2. More sales leads and referrals. Once you have a book, you can promote and sell it to your existing customers. Some authors give their books away to key clients to create more word of mouth. This is a great way for people in a service business to generate referrals, since a book is much more powerful than a brochure.
3. Speaking engagements. People who book for corporate events, conferences or workshops may never have heard you speak, but they know people want to hear from someone who’s written a book. Almon Gunter is a good example. He’s a former world-class sprinter turned motivational speaker who wrote a book called Focus on the Final Seconds. Almon told me, “I had a very successful business before, but the book increased my speaking engagements by 50 percent.”
4. Higher fees. People are willing to pay an expert more money than someone without that expertise. Having your name on a book usually leads to higher name recognition–and the ability to command higher fees.
5. Dream customers will find you. The best way to take your client base to the next level is to find customers who can spend a lot more money with you. This is something that happens all the time for authors. Their completed book is like having a marketing agent that never sleeps; it continues to build exposure and bring in new clients.
6. It could lead to a whole new future. Your book can make the difference between feeling stuck in your current career and doing what you’re really called to do. Greg Kozera was a Halliburton executive with a passion for leadership. He believes that no one is a born leader–you have to learn how to lead. After Greg wrote a book called Learned Leadership, it generated so many speaking engagements that he was able to leave his job and speak full time.
So, whether you want to reinvent yourself, increase your sales and publicity or generate a whole new line of business or a consulting practice, a book can do that for you.

10 possible formats for writing a good book FAST!
Let’s say I’ve convinced you that it’s a good idea to publish a book. How do you decide what to write about? I’d like to make it easier by giving you some examples of different formats you can choose from. Starting with a proven model will make the writing process much less overwhelming. (Note: most of these ideas are designed for nonfiction authors.)
1. The Mistakes Book. People are always interested in learning about mistakes they can
avoid, so this is a popular format. A good example is this title: New Sales Speak: The
9 Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them by Terri Sjodin.

2. The How-to Book. I want to address a concern that many authors have. They often
ask me, “Why should I put what I know into book form? Will people still buy from me if I
give away this information?” Yes, and here’s why. Dan Kennedy is a well-known copywriter who gets paid tens of thousands of dollars to write a sales letter. But he still wrote a book called The Ultimate Sales Letter. By revealing how difficult it is to write strong sales letters and how much work goes into it, Dan’s book has brought him many new paying clients. When you give readers good solid information but don’t tell them everything you know, they will want to contact you to find out more.
3. The Question and Answer Book. Do people ask you questions when they hear about your area of expertise? Which questions are you asked most often? Maybe they could become the basis for a book. A good example is What’s a Synthesizer? Simple Answers to Common Questions by John Eiche. Imagine having a book titled “Answers to Your Most Common Questions:” (about your topic), and see what comes to mind.

4. The __ Ways to Do Something Book. You’ve probably heard of the bestselling book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. This is a format that many authors have successfully imitated. You can use any number–7, 10 and 101 are other numbers that are frequently used.

5. The How to Hire Someone Book. Two books that use this format effectively are How to Hire a Nanny and Before You Hire a Contractor, this a great way to showcase your expertise and gain new clients by sharing information you’ve learned in your line of business.

6. The Book of Interviews. J.M. Trippon is a CPA who followed this model when he wrote How Millionaires Stay Rich Forever. His book became a great networking tool that enabled him to connect with millionaires and interview them.
7. The Collection of Stories. One of the bestsellers our company helped launch is Chicken Soup for the Soul. This format is easy to follow–you request other people’s stories on a particular topic and choose the best ones to reprint (once you get their permission). Sales trainer Dan Seidman wrote another book I really enjoyed. In Sales Autopsy, he told and analyzed 50 funny stories about salespeople who have really screwed up a sale.
8. The Memoir or Biography. Most of us love hearing other people’s stories, if they’re compelling and well told. That’s why memoirs and autobiographies often show up on bestseller lists. Consider telling your own or a family member’s life story or sharing lessons from your life.
9. The Joke or Quotation Book. People don’t think lawyers are funny, but two attorneys disproved that when they compiled The Lawyer’s Joke Book. The media love topics that are funny and entertaining. This joke book opened many doors for the authors and led to dozens of media interviews.
10. The Collection of Your Previous Writings. Have you been doing a blog or writing articles? Do you publish a newsletter or an ezine? These could provide lots of great material for a book.
I hope I’ve inspired you to embark on your own book project. Writing a book is not as difficult as many people think. Like all journeys, it begins with a single step. I encourage you to take that step, and wish you the very best in your quest to grow your business by becoming a published author.

Note: This article originally appeared in Steve Harrison’s paid print newsletter Book Marketing Update which goes to members of my Million Dollar Author Club – get info at http://www.milliondollarauthorclub.com

Related articles

• Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book (techcrunch.com)
• Wake Up and Write For Your Existing Readers (Don’t Look for Readers Later) (debbieweil.com)
• Book promotion – it’s not rocket science (bookbrowsing.wordpress.com)

Writers and other creative types often have days when they feel stuck, blocked or otherwise unmotivated to write. Stories of how writers can raise procrastination to a high art are legendary. It’s amazing how appealing that stack of dirty dishes looks when you’re not feeling your writing mojo, but there is a way that you can take that resistance you are feeling and turn it around to motivate you to continue writing your book.

As a writer I’ve been there more times than I care to remember, so I wanted to share some inspiration that might spur you back to your purpose. I also want to encourage you to think back to why you are working on the writing project you are working on. Is it something that you love or is it something that you are doing to pay the bills? Do you have a deep passion for what you are writing or does it feel like drudgery to crank out the words each day? Take a moment and get a fresh piece of paper and do a bit of free writing. Write a single sentence that captures the essence of what you are working on. Write about why you are writing this, what you hope to gain by writing it, and what you intend for the reader to gain when they read it.

Just going through the motion of writing down the answers to these questions might stir up your motivation to put more of yourself and your passion into what you are writing. It might cause you to take your work in another direction, or abandon the project altogether so that you can free up your time to pursue something more worthy of your time and attention. But taking the time to answer those and any other questions that come to mind while you are doing that exercise creates momentum. You are taking action and that in itself is getting you unstuck.

Keep in mind that resistance is real. In his book, The War of Art, author Stephen Pressfield writes, “Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possess comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.” Pressfield also writes about the fact that the greater importance the project holds for ourselves or for the world the more resistance you will feel about getting it done. Don’t get mired down by fear and resistance. The only way out is through as the saying goes, so keep your butt in that chair and your fingers flying. After all, is there anything more satisfying than looking back at the pages you just wrote after having battled your way through feeling blocked?

I thought I’d share these posts that have other points of view and inspiration for you to keep on writing:

Feeling Stuck? Read This. . .

By Tim Ferriss

Big successes often seem like foregone conclusions.

In reality, most entrepreneurs (read: creators) who appear to have unique genius suffer through the same frustration as the masses of unknowns. They simply test and persist a few steps further. Read More. . .

Stuck? Uncertain? Meet Your Muse.

By Lisa Tener

“For years now, I’ve been taking my clients and students in my book writing classes on a journey to meet their muse. I think of your muse as a creative aspect of yourself.

It may seem like it comes from deep within you or it may seem to come from a place outside of you–everyone has their own experience–all valid. Your muse may show up in all kinds of ways. My book writing students and clients are often surprised by the trappings of their muse.” Read More. . .

Writers Block? Are You Stuck? Draft, Then Craft. Get It Written, Then Get It Right

By Sam Horn

“Inspiration often emerges from our work; it doesn’t precede our work.” – Madeleine L’Engle (author of A Wrinkle in Time)

“A client emailed me to say she was having a hard time making progress on her book.

I sent her the following message – and thought it might have value for you if you’d like to get in that delightful stream-of-conscious state where the words are flowing out of your head so fast your fingers can hardly keep up.

(Name of client) . .. please keep giving yourself props for writing, writing, writing.

E.L. Doctorow was asked what it was like writing a book.

He said, “It’s kind of like driving a car at night: you can only see to the end of your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Keep driving to the end of your headlights.” Read More. . .

Writers: What To Do When You Get Stuck

By Writers Relief Staff

“Most writers have a secret stash of half-finished short stories, manuscripts, or poems—discarded when the author came to a screeching halt somewhere in the middle of things. If you’ve ever gotten stuck in the middle of a story or can’t find the last line of a poem, Writer’s Relief offers a few steps to help you get moving again.” Read More. . .

Do you have any words of wisdom or advice to share from your experience for writers who are feeling stuck? What is your favorite thing to do to get that mojo going again? Please leave a comment.

Are you one of the reported 80% of Americans who want to write a book? Do you feel like you’ve got an amazing idea for a book that will absolutely transform the lives of your readers? If so, you might call yourself a transformational author. The other day I was listening to an interview with Christine Kloser, creator of the Transformational Author Experience. Even if your aspirations for your book are not quite that lofty, you might still want to learn more about what Christine has to offer.

Christine offers a self-directed class that will help you, as the title says, “Discover How to Successfully Write, Publish and Market Your Transformational Book.” She offers free access to four of the classes in her program so that you can get a feel for the process. After listening to her interview where she shared a ton of useful content with the listeners, I signed up to get her introductory classes, and I am seriously considering taking her course. I already own a book that she and Lynne Klippel compiled called, Align, Expand and Succeed, so I was familiar with her, but now that I have heard that in-depth interview I was even more impressed.

As I make progress on my book project I will be sharing more resources related to writing books, indie publishing, ebook publishing and publishing on demand. I just received a fabulous Nook Color ebook reader for Christmas, so one of my new projects is learning all about the Barnes and Noble ebook publishing platform.

If you’re a writer, please keep writing and sharing your stories and insights with the world. If you love books, then buy books and help support the authors who write the stories you love to read, and share those life-changing lessons that inspire us to live better.

Related articles

• On the Future of Books: A Discussion with Seth Godin (zenhabits.net)
• Barnes and Nobles Nook ebook reader – It is Not only A regular ebook reader (mykidcan.org)
• Has Amazon turned ebooks into commodities? (teleread.com)

Here we are on the last day of the year once again. Whether 2011 has been a banner year for you, or one you’re glad to see go by, New Year’s Day always seems like the perfect day to begin everything anew. We seem to have adopted this custom of making resolutions about what we will do differently, or better in the new year. As writers, we make grand statements about finishing that novel that we shoved into a desk drawer, or submitting more proposals, or even writing a certain number of words every day. But along with setting these gigantic, earth-shattering resolutions, comes the dismal reality a few weeks into the new year, when all of our old habits have crept back in and we are right back where we started from. Becoming filled with self-loathing from not having done what we promised to do is not exactly conducive to writing more.

A few years ago I ended my annual ritual of writing elaborate new years resolutions. Instead I set a few goals that if I achieved them would make a positive and lasting impact on my life and the lives of those around me. I know that many people still make New Year’s resolutions. I did a little round-up of seven different blog posts on the topic so that you can get a taste of how other writer’s face the issue of whether or not to set New Year’s resolutions.

New Year’s Resolutions for Writers from the How to Write Shop http://bit.ly/rQdRE9

New Year’s Resolutions for Writers Who Want to Be Read http://bit.ly/ruFqmZ

Joe Konrath’s Resolutions for Writers | The Passive Voice http://bit.ly/vSDUse

10 Bad New Year’s Resolutions for Writers from Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour http://bit.ly/sdNisH

5 New Year’s Resolutions For Writers from theblueinkwell.com http://bit.ly/susoC8

New Year’s Resolutions for Writers http://bit.ly/u8Hfn7

I’ll end with a quote by Joey Adams which says, “May all your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions!” Regardless of whether you love New Year’s resolutions, or if you leave them alone and just plunge head-first into the new year determined to simply do your best and write as much as possible, I wish you a happy, safe, and prolific New Year!

Ever since Google shifted their algorithms with the Panda or farmer updates earlier this year it has thrown the SEO content creation world into a topspin. Here’s a great article with some practical tips that you can put to use right away when you are creating SEO content in a post Panda world. These practices should help you get better results from your articles and blog post content-at least until the next update. . .

5 Article Writing Best Practices After Panda Updates
by Sushant

If you’re an SEO article writer, you’re probably aware of Google’s farmer updates and how they have turned the SEO world upside down. Today, webmasters are being extremely careful about choosing their article writing company as they want to make sure their content is good enough for Google guidelines. Therefore, ambitious SEO article writers should follow the best article writing practices to make sure their articles comply with Google’s content quality guidelines. Here are a few things you must keep in mind before you approach your next article:

Focus on Information: The Web is growing bigger and Google is getting smarter. The new algorithms (aka Panda updates) have been designed to value articles that offer original information to the users. Now, Google’s renewed algorithms can spot if your articles contain the same information that is already available within Google’s database. Therefore, if your articles aren’t original enough, Google may not value them as much. In other words, your articles will rank lower in terms of Google search algorithm parameters.

To avoid this, you should have a fresh approach towards SEO article writing. Try to focus more on the quality of information rather than the word-count. Join relevant forums and discussion board to develop an idea on what potential readers are looking for. Your best articles are hidden in the discussions across the Web, so take advantage of them. Do your own research to find the right information in order to make your SEO articles more valuable for Google search engines.

Avoid being Keyword-Centric: We are living in the world of Facebook, Twitter and Google+ where valuable information has a way being recognized and rewarded. Therefore, it’s pointless to go focus too much on SEO aspect of your articles. Using target keywords here and there are fine, but the prime importance must go to the quality of the articles rather than the other way round.

Don’t stress too much on whether you can begin the first sentences with the target keywords or use them in the headings. If you articles are based on research and read naturally, they will get recognized across the social web faster than search engines. Google’s renewed algorithms are smart enough to recognize the social popularity of your articles as well. Therefore, it’s time to shift your focus from keywords to quality information.

Write for Niche Audience: This may be convention wisdom but still holds true today. Keeping your target audience in mind is critical to improving the compliance of your SEO articles for Google search algorithms. This aspect has assumed more importance as Google’s farm updates have been designed to offer the most relevant results and information to the users. Therefore, if your SEO articles are crafted with your target readers in mind, they have increasing chances of being rewarded well on Google’s ranking priorities.

Try to develop articles around the subjects that interest your niche audience. Do a lot more research on what your potential audience is looking for. Write down their questions and see how your articles can address their queries. Use a personal tone to make your SEO articles read naturally and appeal to the taste of the potential readers.

Avoid Rewriting Others Articles: Many SEO article writers have misunderstood Google farmer updates and assume quality content is all about original text. It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee – Google doesn’t value spun content anymore. So, there’s no point in sweating over quantity of articles. Moreover, avoid the temptation of rewriting popular articles to steal the advantages. Google is smart enough to recognize the same and devalue your articles categorically. There’s no alternative to doing your own research and writing fresh, innovative and informative SEO articles for better Google rankings and higher social recognition.

Make It Interactive: If you’re active on the social Web, you would have noticed an increasing social inclination towards interactive content. Today, your potential readers are being ambushed by too many articles across the Social Web. They have developed a habit of scanning through their social updates to spot articles that look actually interesting to their eyes at first sight. Therefore, by using interesting and visually interactive images, you can enhance the visual interaction of your target audience. Plus, present the information around your images in a way that appears relevant to the images. Spend some additional time on your SEO articles to make them appear more interactive before you post them.

Post Panda updates, SEO article writers are beginning to approach their articles in a way we couldn’t have imagined before. Article writers can no longer enhance the popularity of their articles buy following the old tricks. The Social Web has also empowered your audience to read articles that are really worth their time. In a way, Google Panda updates have been devised to rank articles based on their social popularity as well. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense for SEO article writers to approach their article writing strategies in a whole new way.
Source: SEO Content Writer

Try these tips and see what kind of results you get. Do you have any tips to share that you have learned since the massive sea change from Panda? Feel free to share them in the comments. If you find this article useful, please share it.

Ebooks, or electronic books have been popular in the world of Internet marketing for years, but recently, with the exponential growth of electronic ebook readers such as the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, ebook sales have surpassed sales for hard cover books as the price for these ebook readers drops making them more affordable to a wider audience. The Kindle app, which is available on PCs, smartphones and tablets makes it possible to read Kindle titles without even needing to purchase the Kindle ebook reader device.

This represents an amazing opportunity for content publishers to gain a wider audience for their ebooks. It also represents a great opportunity for writers who are looking to get their books published and into the hands of readers.

If you have already created ebooks and you are selling them from your website, you can easily convert that content to the Kindle ebook format and offer them for sale in the Kindle marketplace. Amazon will take a percentage of the sale, but it works out great because you do not have to worry about generating traffic, dealing with customer service issues, or shipping books.

Another avenue for writers and content publishers is the Kindle Single, which is for shorter works from 10,000 to 30,000 words. Amazon describes a Kindle Single as, “a compelling idea – well researched, well argued, and well illustrated – expressed at its natural length.” Kindle Singles offer writers the chance to get their not-quite-booklength works out there so that they can find their audience. This is a new format and it will bear watching to see how popular these Singles turn out to be.

In addition to creating and selling your ebooks on Amazon, you can also sell subscriptions to your blog. Amazon will sell the subscription at either $.99 or $1.99. Subscribers can then access your blog directly on their Kindle as they are automatically delivered wirelessly with offline access to your blog posts.

Because of the rising popularity of the ebook format, there will be steeper competition for readers. Writers and publishers will need to create compelling titles and market them effectively in order to gain visibility in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

The first step for getting your content published and available on the Kindle platform is to open a free account at, kindlepublishing.amazon.com. After you set up your account there are tutorials and support forums inside that will help you to get your book properly formatted, uploaded and available for purchase.

Do you have ebooks that have been languishing on your site that could benefit from the additional exposure of the Kindle marketplace? Do you have an idea for an ebook that you’d like to publish, but don’t have the time or the desire to write it yourself? I have ghostwritten and published several  titles for my clients on the Amazon Kindle, and I’d be glad to help you convert your existing ebooks to Kindle and get them uploaded and available for sale, or I’d be happy to discuss writing an ebook for you that you can publish on Kindle.

Related posts:

Ghostwriting Revisited: A Roundup of Resources for Hiring and Working with a Ghostwriter
Content Creation Workshop: How Many Ways Can You Re-Purpose Your Blog Content for More Traffic, Links and Sales?

You are on the web because you want more visibility and more sales for your business, right? Well, what better way to get more visibility than notifying the media and the search engines about a new development or event related to your business? That’s what you accomplish when you write and distribute a press release.

Writing and submitting press releases has more far reaching benefits than just the exposure that you could get for your business if a reporter picks it up and does a news story on you. Press releases can really help to boost your website’s search engine rankings from all of the relevant, high page-rank websites that your release will be published on.

Each time you submit a press or media release you’ll get a ton of fresh back links pointing at your site, which makes it look more important to the search engines. In this article we’ll take a look at two different approaches to writing and submitting press releases for your business, the benefits of each approach, and you’ll get some cool resources that will help you improve the quality of your press releases.
Resources for writing your press release:
The first thing you must keep in mind when you are writing your press release is that the language can not be ‘salesy’ or promotional. A press release is not an ad for your business. Your goal is to get a reporter to find what you are writing about interesting enough to their readers or viewers that they want to do a story on your business.

There is a standard format for a press release that you must follow. You can download a press release template and use that as a framework for adding your content. Keep your target audience in mind when you are writing and keep the language spare and absolutely hype-free.

Here’s a fabulous website that has lots of resources for you if you are going to try to write your own press release:
http://www.press-release-writing.com/press-release-writing-tips-sample-press-release/

These next two resources I got from Nancy Juetten, who is an absolute publicity passionista:

This, ‘Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer,’ is a free tool that will analyze your headline and given a score according to its emotional marketing value.

http://www.aminstitute.com/headline/index.htm

HubSpot’s Press Release Grader evaluates your press release and provides a marketing effectiveness score.

http://www.pressreleasegrader.com/

Submitting a press release for media exposure for a major event or new development
If you are hosting a major event and you are looking to get media coverage, submitting a press release is the best way to accomplish tat goal. However, while the PR submission service can guarantee that your press release gets delivered, they cannot guarantee that reporters will do a story about your event.

When you are trying to get exposure for your event, submitting your press release to a well-known, reputable pr service gives your release a better chance of being picked up by reporters. The better known services have established a reputation, and reporters are more likely to run with something from prweb.com, or prnewswire.com than from one of the thousands of free press release submission websites online.

Here’s a list of specialty press release distribution resources:
http://www.yudkin.com/resources.htm

Submitting a press release for SEO purposes
If your goal is to get lots of relevant backlinks for your website, gain more exposure online and boost your website’s SEO,  then you should be submitting press releases to the free press release distribution sites on a regular basis.

These are just a few of the hundreds of free press release distribution websites:

• prlog.com
• freepressindex.com
• free-press-release.com

Would you like to see how your website is currently measuring up to your competition? Type your site’s primary keyword into a search engine. Are you are the top of the search engine results page, or is your competitor there above you?

Writing and distributing press releases is a powerful way to help build a ton of high page rank back links to your site, while generating massive exposure and traffic.

Can you see now what an effective tool press releases can be? Whether you are looking for media attention for an event or if you just want a SEO boost for your website, submitting press releases can accomplish either task for you.

If after reading all about how press releases can help your business, you understand what a great benefit they could be, but you’re thinking about how many other things you have to do and how much you dislike writing, I’ve got a solution for that too–Hire me to write it for you. Shoot me an email at ebb567 {AT} gmail {DOT} com and I will send you all the details.

Do you have a success story related to media coverage that you got from submitting a press release? Please leave a comment and share your story.

It’s been said that we teach that which we most need to learn, and I have found that to be a profoundly true statement. I have been doing freelance writing and blogging for many years, but there are times when I hit slumps where I feel blocked and I just don’t feel inspired to write. I sometimes wonder with all of the blogs out there why I even bother. Does what I write really resonate with people? Are my words making a difference?

If you have been blogging for any length of time some of these thoughts might have fluttered through your mind a time or two. If any of this sounds familiar this post is meant to be an encouragement to you to keep on writing.

A writer writes out of a desire to share that which is within them with the world. Writer’s have a love for the written word, and we enjoy the satisfaction that comes when we have polished up a piece of writing and it gets published so that others can read it. But did you ever stop to think about where your desire to write comes from? Do you ever wonder about the origins of those lofty ideas that are floating around in your heart and mind? Your inspiration to write flows to you and through you from God, the Universe, All That Is, because you are a chosen instrument of the Divine.

The Universe communicates with us through each other. It wants to get its message out in a way that will be understood and acted upon, so you are given those creative impulses, those flashes of insight, that burning desire to write because the world needs to know exactly what it is that you have to share.

Think for a moment about those writers whose work has greatly inspired or influenced you. What if those writers had listened to that critical voice inside of their heads telling them that they suck, that no one cares what they have to say, and causing them to doubt their talent or worth as a writer? Pick a favorite author and try to imagine your life without the inspiration you gained from having read their work.

As a writer you have been chosen to tell the story that will transform, uplift, or maybe simply enchant your readers. You have a sacred duty to keep listening for the whispers of inspiration that the Universe will send your way. It is your duty to remain a yielded vessel. Stop looking to ‘someday’ as the only someday that matters has arrived in this moment. Write as if your words were a life saving elixir, or as if they contained the key that would release someone from the bondage of ignorance. Stop resisting living and working into the fullness of the gifts and talent that you have been blessed with.

The world is waiting to receive the message you came here to deliver. The audience you seek is seeking your message. Stop making them wait until you sort out your issues and take your place. It’s not about you, your fears, your excuses, your self-imposed limitations. It’s about the message.

Watch and be inspired: