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Contents contributed and discussions participated by John Lemke

John Lemke

Is U.S. a Noun? - 0 views

  • The Chicago Manual of Style prescribes spelling out United States as a noun in running text and reserving US for the adjective form only. CMOS also prefers US without periods, to match the US postal codes like AR, MI, and WY.
  • The AP Stylebook recognizes U. S. as a noun as well as an adjective. It calls for periods when the U.S. appears in a running text, but US without periods in a headline.
  • When it comes to formal speaking and written text, however, reserve the abbreviation for adjectival use and write out United States as the noun.
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    I never really thought about it before but it seems that using "US" or "U.S."  as a noun is somewhat debated.
John Lemke

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

  • 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).
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  • 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

Direct and Indirect Objects - 0 views

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    This article uses some great examples to explain direct and indirect objects.
John Lemke

How to write an optimized blog post - exploreB2B - 0 views

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    Some good SEO tips in this article.
John Lemke

Storyvile: Putting Your Life in Your Fiction | LitReactor - 0 views

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    This articles list things you can use from your life experience to make your fiction better.
John Lemke

5 Ways to Build Long-Lasting Authority - Copyblogger - 0 views

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    Authority is a big deal these days. It is even part of Google's algorithm. This article offers 5 tips on how to build your authority.
John Lemke

44 Things Bloggers Should Be Delegating to Virtual Staff to Catapult Their Online Growt... - 0 views

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    This is a nice round up of things an aspiring blogger should look to out source.
John Lemke

Seth's Blog: Meandering toward nowhere special - 0 views

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    A good list of things that lead you nowhere.
John Lemke

Your Character's Flaw is His Greatest Strength - 0 views

  • Robin described the “character flaw” as the belief, need, or fear that shapes a character.  It is the barrier that keeps him from moving forward.  It determines how he makes decisions, and, for better or for worse, is the essence of who he is.  Examples of character flaws are the “belief that love is conditional” and the “fear of failure.”
  • a character’s “flaw” is the source of both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.
John Lemke

Janus Words - 0 views

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    "Such words are variously known as auto-antonyms, antilogies, enantiodromes, and contranyms."
John Lemke

5 Quick Ways Busy Freelancers Can Keep Marketing - 0 views

  • The clients are “not there” for all freelancers, until we go out and proactively market and find them. Take responsibility for your business success and realize it’s up to you to get out there and look for new clients (or new projects from current clients).
  • Don’t have a writer website? It’s time to get one. You really can’t present yourself professionally these days without a site.
  • Tweaking your site copy is something you can do 10 minutes a day on, and it’s well worth it to up your odds of drawing prospects to you.
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  • The writer who sent this comment may be missing out if they’re not active on LinkedIn, the one social-media platform where self-promotion is more acceptable.
  • My experience is LinkedIn connections are happy to recommend and refer you, if you’ll only ask. And it takes just a few moments a day to reach out. You can even mass-mail your LinkedIn contacts 50 people at a time, but use this option with caution to avoid coming off spammy.
John Lemke

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

  • “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.
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  • 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.
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    The article talks about taking small steps to make a big difference.
John Lemke

How to Make Your Writing Concise - 0 views

  • It’s not as violent as it sounds, but this process can prove painful for many writers; it’s all about getting rid of self-indulgent, flowery writing
  • don’t go off the deep end with the thesaurus. Don’t choose every synonym Word suggests for your replacements, as some lead to awkward phrasing and don’t fit within the context. Your words should fit naturally in the sentence while also decreasing redundancy.
  • go over your work as if you were an editor. Take a red pen to your words, and cut out anything the content can do without.
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  • Look for words and phrases like “a number of,” “in order to,” and especially “that.” All can be replaced with shorter and more powerful words or can be completely cut out.
  • it should never be the first thing on your mind while writing.
  • Don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get rid of all forms of “to be,” but make sure there is no other way to phrase the sentence before you give up.
John Lemke

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

  • 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.
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  • 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.
John Lemke

Conduct Better Podcast Interviews with this Simple 6-Step Preparation Process - Copyblo... - 0 views

  • your interview will fail if you do not display curiosity about who you are interviewing and what he or she might say.
  • an interview is not so much a chance for you to get to know your subject better (though you will) … an interview is your chance to be the conduit that allows your audience to get to know your subject better.
  • f you are not asking this question to yourself before every interview, then your interviews are failing. Because they aren’t delivering the value to your audience that they could be.
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  • if you’ve prepared well, then your interview is going to be predictable.
  • If one of your questions is controversial, or you don’t know how your subject will respond, consider the possible responses and plan your own counter-response accordingly. (You might also discuss this with your interview subject beforehand. Let her know you are planning to ask the question and preempt any potential awkwardness.)
  • The more relaxed an interview subject feels, the more likely he or she is to open up and be candid.
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    I can't tell you how often I see people interview others when they are completely unprepared.  These steps may may seem like common sense but how often do you actually follow them.
John Lemke

The Most Lucrative Ways to Make Money Off Your Blog - The Write Life - 0 views

  • the most commonly used are a 728×90 “leaderboard” and a 300×250 “medium rectangle”.
  • If you don’t collect email addresses on your site — for example, to send out a weekly or monthly newsletter — you should start. (
John Lemke

5 Tips for Quality Content Creation That Won't Bust Your Budget - 0 views

  • Forty percent of respondents admitted that poor spelling and grammar reduced their favorable impression of a brand.
  • As a marketer with a limited budget, the good news about focusing on quality content creation is that you don’t need to think in terms of producing more content but rather in terms of making each piece of content more effective.
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    I liked this article as soon as it mentioned spelling, grammar and being too "salesy". In short, it makes good sense.
John Lemke

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

  • 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
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  • 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).
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    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

Hyperlink with care, website owners urged :: Freelance UK - 0 views

  • Website owners should use hyperlinks carefully, such as by checking they are not linking to subscription-only content and that the terms of the site linked to permit such an action.
  • Under the directive, right holders have the power to control the online communication to the public of their works – the so called "communication to the public right".
  • “The door was left open to find the right infringed where for example the hyperlinks point to material only available via a subscription.
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  • The court also did not address
  • if the website linked to expressly prohibited links or required prior permission in its website terms and conditions or what if these terms prohibited commercial re-use.
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    Sad that we have to worry about sending other sites traffic.
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