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John Lemke

The Terribleminds Holy Mother Of God Lordy Lordy Hallelujah Guide To Creating... - 0 views

terribleminds.com/...omepants-supporting-characters

2014 writing WriteLink characters supporting guide creating

shared by John Lemke on 18 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • John Lemke on 18 Feb 14
     
    The article is just as great as a the title.
John Lemke

AJ Kohn talks Hummingbird, social, authority, writing and MUCH more! » SEO Co... - 0 views

www.seocopywriting.com/...-authority-writing-social-much

writing freelance 2014 WriteLink web2.0 tips writer

shared by John Lemke on 18 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • My mantra is to do it instead of thinking about doing it. If I catch myself doing the latter I just switch to doing instead of thinking. Easier said than done for me, but I’ve gotten better at that. But there aren’t enough hours in the day. Or not if you’re also going to stay healthy and be a part of your family and not get burnt out. So things fall off the table, even more so if you’re hell bent on creating really great work. Yet, I find that quality is what wins at the end of the day and that solves a lot of other problems.
  • And if they share it, you gain greater readership. So I encourage writers to think of the entire canvas when creating content. Think about the headers in your piece and about the images you’ll use to enrich the story.
  • People scan and don’t read, so you have to format your content to meet that reality.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Writers still concentrate too much on the text and not enough on formatting and presentation. Making the content you create readable, portable and memorable is what will gain success.
  • The other thing that I think was important was commenting (with links) on other content.
  • I believe in 90-9-1 participation inequality. Comments are the area on a piece of content where the 9 (contributors) and the 1 (creators) are most frequently found. Those are the people I wanted to connect with because I had a better chance of them carrying my content to other places. And they did.
  • Social media is a key factor in SEO and Internet marketing for businesses and individuals. You rock at social media, sharing across multiple platforms and gaining reach. Social media can be intimidating and time consuming. What advice do you have for managing individual as well as business social accounts? Well you hit on the big issue; it’s time consuming and most people don’t want to invest that amount of time. So that’s the first thing. You can’t half-ass it and expect to do very well. One of the things I try to do is make my content on these platforms consistent, readable and memorable. On Twitter I decided to use a convention for the vast majority of my tweets. [Activity]: [Title] [URL] [Comment] [Hashtag]
  • The last one is to not do work for free.
  • Well, I’m seeing more and more evidence of what I describe happening and believe that Knowledge Graph Optimization (KGO) is going to be more and more important moving forward.
  • John Lemke on 18 Feb 14
     
    Many good points about writing in this new era are brought out in this interview.
John Lemke

9 Irresistible Incentives That'll Grow Your Email List Like Crazy - 0 views

boostblogtraffic.com/email-list-incentives

2014 email list traffic blog marketing

shared by John Lemke on 10 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • Unless they see the value of joining your list, they simply won’t invest any of those valuable minutes in you and your blog.
  • Do something for me and I’ll do something for you. In this case, the bribe is “give me your email address and I’ll give you something that isn’t freely available on my blog.”
  • Minimum requirements: Useful and engaging content, whether unique to the bribe or already published on your blog, that you can easily break into pieces. On the technical side, you’ll need an email newsletter service (e.g. Mailchimp, AWeber (aff), etc.) with an autoresponder feature ($10-20/month).
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Minimum requirements: A word processor like Microsoft Word, Apple Pages or OpenOffice Writer is sufficient for creating a simple cheat sheet, but for a more sophisticated end product, you might require a desktop publishing package such as Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, or QuarkXPress. Alternatively, you can use a cheat sheet tool like Cheatography to generate cheat sheets based on a default template.
  • Minimum requirements: Your chosen word processor is enough to create a basic template, but to make it even more visually appealing, consider using some simple design elements such as colors, backgrounds and borders. If the template is meant to be printed, you can convert your .docx or .pages file into a downloadable PDF for your readers’ convenience.
John Lemke

3 Steps for Creating Meaningful Goals That Will Help You Make Progress as a Writer - 0 views

thewritelife.com/-for-creating-meaningful-goals

2013 writing copywriting goals writer writelink

shared by John Lemke on 23 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • This goes beyond setting goals for individual projects and instead spans all parts of your writing life, from pitching to craft to the business side.
  • Brainstorm all the things you’d love to see yourself accomplishing as a writer. Once you’ve got your ideas down on paper, streamline those thoughts by writing in one sentence that encompasses your overall objective for writing.
  • Each big picture requires a different set of tasks. And each short-term goal will flow naturally from your big picture goal.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Create specific dates by which you want to reach each short-term goal. It may initially feel strange and groundless to set deadlines when you’re unsure of how long things should take. Do it anyway. You can always go back and edit. In fact, you should regularly edit and tweak your goals as you gain expertise and knowledge
  • John Lemke on 23 Dec 13
     
    I am big on goal oriented planning.  This is good article, complete with personal examples from the author, on how to specifically apply the process to copy and freelance writing.
John Lemke

» Increase Your Freelance Writing Income in 5 Days : Freedom With Writing - 0 views

www.freedomwithwriting.com/...lance-writing-income-in-5-days

freelance writing copywriting 2014 increase income tips tricks howto tutorial steps

shared by John Lemke on 30 Jan 14 - No Cached
  • Spend a few minutes setting up an email system that you can use to contact potential clients. The ideal system will let you contact many people at once, based on a custom list that you create.
  • you need to spend the time to create a custom pitch to that matches your potential clients very closely. Once that is done, set your email system to send the email out at 8am on Tuesday
  • look for potential network possibilities. This should only take about 5 minutes of your time. You want to check Meetup.com for both freelance writing networking as well as networking opportunities within your writing specialties. Check for local community meetings such as School board and city/county council meetings. All of these are great places to meet potential clients.
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  • oday is the day for cold calling. Most people don’t particularly enjoy this aspect of marketing but it is extremely valuable. Use the list you made on Monday and call each company.
  • By now you are getting some serious responses to your quick burst activities. So today you want to focus on social media. If you don’t already have Facebook and Twitter accounts for your freelance writing business, this is the time to set them up. You should also have a LinkedIn account. If not, set one of those up as well. Then go into the settings of LinkedIn and Twitter and set them up to update whenever you post to the associated Facebook page. Properly setting up your social media pages is extremely important; you are selling yourself. Make it look good.
  • PLEASE do not use your personal Facebook page for this. You do not want clients and potential clients to see the funny faces you made during your best friends wedding reception! Use your professional Facebook page for this and close your personal page to anyone but friends. If you are thinking it doesn’t matter, look at your page as though you were the client. That should do it.
  • Ok we are at the end of the week. You have set up an email marketing blitz, found and attended networking opportunities, written a letter to your local paper, cold called potential clients and set up your social media sites (and are updating them!) The only thing left is to update your Freelance Writing Website.
John Lemke

Our Free Society Stands Or Falls With Our Defense Of Sharing Knowledge And Culture | To... - 0 views

torrentfreak.com/g-knowledge-and-culture-131215

2013 censorship lobbying politics yourrights LL-PUB

shared by John Lemke on 16 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • For once the censorship regime is in place, you won’t think for a second that it will stop at culture-sharing sites, would you? Once such a tool is available in the bureaucrat toolbox, it will be applied to anything and everything considered insubordinate or troublesome. There is a reason the copyright industry loves child pornography so much – the reason that industry lobbied hard to create censorship of child abuse sites, actively hiding the problem and preventing assistance. They knew politicians wouldn’t dare disagree on such a toxic subject, and once the box was open, “other illegal sites” – those that circumvent the harmful copyright monopoly – were next in line. In reality, the culture-sharing hubs had been the target all along, and mentioning “child pornography” had merely been a battering ram to get the censorship started – notwithstanding that the censorship actually creates more child abuse and protects predators, something the copyright industry doesn’t care about at all.
  • In the UK, censorship that started as “violent pornography” has crept to “all pornography”, already censoring a lot of political opinion under that definition, and crept further into “extremist views” and other clearly political material.
  • John Lemke on 16 Dec 13
     
    The problem with censorship is that it starts with child porn, like who would object?, moves to Pirate Bay, then opposing political view points and, eventually, your Bible. Either all speech is free and protected or we are on the slippery slope of "what next" in order to protect "the greater good".   The best form of censorship is when free thinkers choose not to buy porn through the exercise of free will.
John Lemke

The Scientific Guide to Creating Sticky Headlines - 0 views

www.steamfeed.com/uide-creating-sticky-headlines

2014 writing WriteLink freelance writer list tips headlines guide

shared by John Lemke on 22 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • According to Social Triggers and Wired Magazine, George Lowenstien, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University developed a theory called “the information gap theory of curiosity.” Lowenstein says “curiosity is rather simple: It comes when we feel a gap ‘between what we know and what we want to know.’” (source) He goes on to say “This gap has emotional consequences: it feels like a mental itch, a mosquito bite on the brain. We seek out new knowledge because we that’s how we scratch the itch.” That’s why these headline formulas increase traffic.
  • Imagine again that you’re a blogger looking to leverage Facebook.  You begin to click on multiple posts titled “How to get more traffic using Facebook” and bunch of other variations. What happens?  All of the posts begin to run together becoming indecipherable to your brain.  Psychologists call this cognitive overload and you passively read post after post after post.  You never truly connect with the blogger or the message.
  • By adding a quantifiable benefit, you’re accomplishing two things.  First you’re laser targeting the type of reader you want to see the post.  And second, you’re giving them a realistic goal to strive for.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • When a person can see the finish line, they’re far more likely to start.
  • Take a look at what happens when you google “From 2,500 to 1 million fans in 2 years”.
  • Ask yourself if you can add either a quantifiable benefit or a specific time frame to your post.  Can you tell the story about how you got more readers to your blog in 30 days?  Or can you tell the story about how you helped a friend drop 15 pounds without starving herself?
  • John Lemke on 22 Jun 14
     
    This is a good list and also explains the "whys" of it.
John Lemke

How To Become A Prolific Writer While Holding Down A Day Job | Positive Writer - 0 views

positivewriter.com/prolific-writer-day-job

2014 WriteLink freelance copywriting tips positive how to tip howto

shared by John Lemke on 03 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • The author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll (real name, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), continued to work day jobs throughout his life.
  • Other authors who held down day jobs throughout their writing careers include Bram Stoker, Philip Larkin, T.S. Eliot, and Virginia Woolf, among many others.
  • she wrote the bestselling book Interview With The Vampire while working her day job as an insurance claims examiner.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Anne Rice
  • Having a day job makes it imperative that I allocate time for writing. I insure I write at least 2 hours before I go to work come rain or shine. And I do this by following my rituals every morning without fail.
  • Regardless of what time I work (shift work), I wake up at least 3 hours prior and like clockwork, 1) I brush my teeth, 2) make breakfast, 3) sit down at my desk, 4) check emails, 5) check in on my social connections and finally 5) after stretching my legs for a moment, I write on cue for at least two hours.
  • ake note of the things you do consistently every day before and after work.
  • Create a space of time within your current daily rituals for writing every day. Make sure it’s at a time of day that works best for you.
  • Commit.
  • I highly recommend creating a writing sanctuary for yourself, somewhere you only go to write, and therefore, your mind will associate being there with writing.
  • John Lemke on 03 Jul 14
     
    A good PMA oriented article.
John Lemke

The Secret to Writing Well Isn't What You'd Expect, Says Study - 0 views

thewritelife.com/writing-well-new-study

2014 writing WriteLink freelance copywriting study research

shared by John Lemke on 30 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • While visualizing your story may seem like the right way to approach writing, it turns out that for full-time writers, the brain performs a bit differently. When Dr. Lotze watched writers from a competitive creative writing program perform the same tests, he found that experienced writers, while brainstorming, used parts of their brains associated with speech instead of vision.
  • Novice writers, Lotze suggests, are more likely to watch the story unfold like a movie inside their heads.
  • And perhaps more importantly, write often. If creative writing is a skill your brain learns over time, then like anything else, the more you practice, the better you’ll get.
  • John Lemke on 30 Jun 14
     
    The important part of the finding is that writing is a skill that one can master over time.  While I agree with Stephen King in the sense that great writers can not be created, I also agree that anyone can become a decent writer.
John Lemke

What happens with digital rights management in the real world? | Technology | theguardi... - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...digital-rights-management

rights 2014 DRM yourrights copyright DMCA copywrong security law legal litigation

shared by John Lemke on 10 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • In 1997's Bernstein v United States, another US appeals court found that code was protected expression. Bernstein was a turning point in the history of computers and the law: it concerned itself with a UC Berkeley mathematician named Daniel Bernstein who challenged the American prohibition on producing cryptographic tools that could scramble messages with such efficiency that the police could not unscramble them. The US National Security Agency (NSA) called such programs "munitions" and severely restricted their use and publication. Bernstein published his encryption programs on the internet, and successfully defended his right to do so by citing the First Amendment. When the appellate court agreed, the NSA's ability to control civilian use of strong cryptography was destroyed. Ever since, our computers have had the power to keep secrets that none may extract except with our permission – that's why the NSA and GCHQ's secret anti-security initiatives, Bullrun and Edgehill, targetted vulnerabilities in operating systems, programs, and hardware. They couldn't defeat the maths (they also tried to subvert the maths, getting the US National Institute for Standards in Technology to adopt a weak algorithm for producing random numbers).
    • John Lemke
      John Lemke on 10 Feb 14
       
      This is also why they have a hard on for developing a quantum computer.
  • An increase in the security of the companies you buy your media from means a decrease in your own security. When your computer is designed to treat you as an untrusted party, you are at serious risk: anyone who can put malicious software on your computer has only to take advantage of your computer's intentional capacity to disguise its operation from you in order to make it much harder for you to know when and how you've been compromised.
  • The DMCA's injunction against publishing weaknesses in DRM means that its vulnerabilities remain unpatched for longer than in comparable systems that are not covered by the DMCA. That means that any system with DRM will on average be more dangerous for its users than one without DRM.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • For example, in 2005, Sony-BMG music shipped a DRM called the "Sony Rootkit" on 51m audio CDs. When one of these CDs was inserted into a PC, it automatically and undetectably changed the operating system so that it could no longer see files or programs that started with "$SYS$." The rootkit infected millions of computers, including over 200,000 US military and government networks, before its existence became public. However, various large and respected security organisations say they knew about the Sony Rootkit months before the disclosure, but did not publish because they feared punishment under the DMCA. Meanwhile, virus-writers immediately began renaming their programs to begin with $SYS$, because these files would be invisible to virus-checkers if they landed on a computer that had been compromised by Sony.
    • John Lemke
      John Lemke on 10 Feb 14
       
      How the Sony DRM created serious security issues.  It should also be considered a violation of our civil rights.  Who the hell gave Sony permission to modify my OS!  Furthermore why didn't the OS companies sue Sony?  Likely because they are in bed together.
  • If I was a canny entrepreneur with a high appetite for risk -- and a reasonable war-chest for litigation – I would be thinking very seriously about how to build a technology that adds legal features to a DRM-enfeebled system (say, Itunes/Netflix/Amazon video), features that all my competitors are too cowardly to contemplate. The potential market for devices that do legal things that people want to do is titanic, and a judgment that went the right way on this would eliminate a serious existential threat to computer security, which, these days, is a synonym for security itself.And once anti-circumvention is a dead letter in America, it can't survive long in the rest of the world. For one thing, a product like a notional Itunes/Amazon/Netflix video unlocker would leak across national borders very easily, making non-US bans demonstrably pointless. For another, most countries that have anti-circumvention on the books got there due to pressure from the US Trade Representative; if the US drops anti-circumvention, the trading partners it armed-twisted into the same position won't be far behind.I've talked to some lawyers who are intimate with all the relevant cases and none of them told me it was a lost cause (on the other hand, none of them said it was a sure thing, either). It's a risky proposition, but something must be done. You see, contrary to what the judge in Reimerdes said in 2000, this has nothing to do with whether information is free or not – it's all about whether people are free.
  • The DMCA is a long and complex instrument, but what I'm talking about here is section 1201: the notorious "anti-circumvention" provisions. They make it illegal to circumvent an "effective means of access control" that restricts a copyrighted work. The companies that make DRM and the courts have interpreted this very broadly, enjoining people from publishing information about vulnerabilities in DRM, from publishing the secret keys hidden in the DRM, from publishing instructions for getting around the DRM – basically, anything that could conceivably give aid and comfort to someone who wanted to do something that the manufacturer or the copyright holder forbade.
  • Significantly, in 2000, a US appeals court found (in Universal City Studios, Inc v Reimerdes) that breaking DRM was illegal, even if you were trying to do something that would otherwise be legal. In other words, if your ebook has a restriction that stops you reading it on Wednesdays, you can't break that restriction, even if it would be otherwise legal to read the book on Wednesdays.
John Lemke

Creating Stunning Character Arcs, Pt. 1: Can You Structure Characters? - Helping Writer... - 0 views

www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/...character-arcs-1.html

WriteLink 2014 freelance writing copywriting tips tricks characters story developement podcast

shared by John Lemke on 09 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • John Lemke on 09 Feb 14
     
    Some very understandable tips on character development. There is also an audio version.
John Lemke

Why so many digital publishers are flocking back to print | Digiday - 0 views

digiday.com/...blishers-reviving-print-corpse

2014 writing LL-Pub magazines media Newmediaorder circulation

shared by John Lemke on 10 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Publishers are leaning heavily on the idea that these are “premium” magazines, with deep reporting and full-page photos. Music reviews site Pitchfork even hopes that printing its quarterly magazine’s long-form features and illustrations on high-quality paper stock will encourage readers to collect them just as they collect vinyl records.
  • ather than eye the big general-interest numbers of Time and Rolling Stone, digital publishers are creating their magazines with lower circulations and content aimed at more niche audiences.
  • Most media companies have historically treated magazines as loss leaders, selling them for cheap in the hopes of building the sort of big circulation numbers
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • That’s not the model that these digital publishers are following. Rather than sell the magazines for cheap, Pitchfork is asking for $50 a year (or $20 an issue).
  • John Lemke on 10 Mar 14
     
    A few interesting differences about today's print and yesterday's.  Seems there is still a market for premium content and consumers will actually pay much more than in yesteryear.
John Lemke

This One Tiny Habit Can Help You Become a More Productive (and Wealthier) Freelancer | ... - 0 views

www.therenegadewriter.com/...mini-habits-stephen-guise

2014 writing copywriting tips freelancer writer

shared by John Lemke on 06 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
  • Not only did his book confirm for me that the best way to create a positive change is through small acts repeated daily, but the book was exceptionally well written and researched — impressive in that the author is not a professional writer — and so applicable to the many writers I meet who struggle with getting query letters out the door or writing big projects like books and novels.
  • There are two kinds of motivation. The first type is having a reason for doing something. My motivation for exercise is to look and feel healthy. My motivation for doing this interview is that you asked me to do it and I want to spread the word about mini habits. Unlike the next definition of motivation, your reason for doing things is generally very stable and changes very little over time. There’s also emotional motivation, which is rooted in enthusiasm and determines your willingness to take action in the moment (“This year I’m going to get in shape so I’m off to the gym!”). Most goal systems rely on this type of motivation; they’ll tell you that you need to find this motivation to succeed. The problem is that emotional motivation isn’t reliable or habit friendly.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • There’s a quote from Sun Tzu’s Art of War which sums up the Mini Habit system: “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” By taking one small action a day—just one small behavior change—we start with a win. After that point, you’re free to do more.
  • John Lemke on 06 Apr 14
     
    The article talks about taking small steps to make a big difference.
John Lemke

Writer Unboxed » A 'Logic Model' for Author Success - 0 views

writerunboxed.com/...logic-model-for-author-success

2014 writer model author WriteLink copywriting freelance tips marketing management GTD

shared by John Lemke on 14 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • in this age of the “writer as an entrepreneur” responsible for a growing share of the work required to not only create but also sell a book, adding management skills to our repertoire of abilities is not at all a bad idea.
  • as launch time approaches, authors get overwhelmed by thinking that they have to do “everything:” Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, ad campaigns, bookstore talks, conference panels, media articles, email newsletters, book clubs…you name it.
  • what our goals are beyond sales
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Based on our mission and our definition of success, we can then work out a manageable set of steps to take in line with our specific interests and goals. We feel more in control and less anxious about having to “do it all.”
  • A more viable definition of success does have a quantitative element, but it doesn’t necessarily mean “number of copies sold or dollars earned.” It can mean other measurable outcomes such as landing a teaching job or a column in a respected publication.
John Lemke

3 Big Reasons Your Freelance Writing Dreams Go Nowhere - 0 views

www.makealivingwriting.com/ance-writing-dreams-go-nowhere

WriteLink freelance copywriting tips 2014 list writing dreams

shared by John Lemke on 15 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • When you have access to materials that could help you create a plan for launching your business, but you never use them, you’re not serious about this.
  • Sitting around beating yourself up about what you don’t know or haven’t taken action on yet is not going to help you take the plunge into the uncertain world of freelancing.
  • Your dreams are not puny.
John Lemke

Why Failure IS an Option for Writers | Positive Writer - 0 views

positivewriter.com/why-failure

2014 writing WriteLink freelance copywriting tips writer

shared by John Lemke on 23 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Stop making failure a negative thing and start writing. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and start creating. And if you do mess up, do your best to learn from it. Trust me, you’ll be much better off.
  • What if your first book was sold to a publisher quickly, but then each of your next 5 books were turned down? That exact scenario happened to none other than, Danielle Steel, currently the best selling author alive and the fourth bestselling author of all time.
  • John Lemke on 23 Jul 14
     
    Very true for writers but also applies to life in general.  "Nothing beats a failure except a try" is one of my favorite sayings.
John Lemke

9 Ways to Promote Your Writing Without Being a Jerk | Positive Writer - 0 views

positivewriter.com/promote-writing

WriteLink freelance copywriting tips list writer 2014 writing promotion

shared by John Lemke on 24 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • I found out the hard way that if you’re not going to self-promote your work, then you might as well not even write it for public consumption.
  • Did you know that Henry Ford created a full-scale motion picture department for the Ford Motor Company and that the department itself rivaled all of Hollywood’s studios at the time (1914)? The first movie produced by Mr. Ford’s movie department (Highland Park) was, “How Henry Ford Makes One Thousand Cars a Day.” Does that sound self-promotional to you?
John Lemke

How to Make Absolutely Sure Your Article Gets Killed - 0 views

www.makealivingwriting.com/ow-article-writing-gets-killed

2014 how to article WriteLink copywriting tips list

shared by John Lemke on 30 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • When your article assignment is to write 1,000 words and you turn in 2,000 words, it creates all kinds of problems for your editor. She’ll need to comb through your article and decide which 1,000 words she can cut. After all, she has only so much space, so she has to make it fit. Now, don’t get all wishy-washy on me and turn the extra material into a bonus sidebar. Just squish all those extra words in there and let your editor deal with it.
  • Avoid showing even a modicum of personality. If you want your article killed, it should look like it was written by a robot…a robot that doesn’t speak English.
  • When you get an assignment, your client will send you a little thing called an assignment letter, which details the specs of the assignment. Ignore this.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • If those don’t work out, over-rely on source-finding services like ProfNet and Help a Reporter Out, using whoever happens to respond — and whatever you do, do NOT check out the sources you get from there to make sure they’re credible.
  • When the editor asks you for backup on your facts, tell him you’re the backup. And whenever you get the chance, inject your opinion into the article.
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