Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, Outlived: Playing Devil's Advocate

As a continuation of my Tudor eBook, Wars, Reformations and Illegitimate Heirs: How the Tudor Dynasty Changed England, I have now created the second one. Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, Outlived: Playing Devil's Advocate covers Henry VIII's six wives. I play the Devil's Advocate by looking into various areas of the lives of his six wives to find answers to some of the more controversial questions.

Did Anne Boleyn really have six fingers? Was she a witch? Did Anne of Cleves know that agreeing with Henry would save her neck? Did Katherine Howard's upbringing cause her fall?

If you want to find out the answers to these questions, please download a copy of my new eBook.

The book is currently available for the Kindle. For those in the UK, please follow this link instead.

What Is NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. What’s that? It stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea behind it is to write a novel of 50,000 words within the month. By the end, you will have a finished product – of course, that doesn’t mean that you will have a book ready to publish! Is NaNoWriMo for you?

Write 50,000 Words in One Month

You have 30 days to write 50,000 words. That equates to about 175 pages. Those participating start on the 1^st November and finish at 23:59 on the 30^th November. Wondering how you’re going to write a full novel in just 30 days? It is painstaking and it does take time and motivation.

Quantity and Not Quality

Due to the nature of NaNoWriMo, the month is about quantity and not quality – something that many writers are not used to. The idea is to just write, whether that means writing about nothing to do with the plot just to keep the fingers moving or writing poor dialogue to get the word count up. It encourages you to start taking risks in your story and trying out new ideas that you would not usually dare to.

Avoid Editing and Proofing

Don’t go through the parts of the novel that you have written the next time you sit at the computer. Simply check the last paragraph to see where you left off and then go back to writing. NaNoWriMo encourages you to write and not edit. However, that means that you will not have a completely finished product in the end. If you want to publish your book afterwards, you will need to go back, edit and proof everything to get rid of the (many!) bad parts.

Forums and a Community of Writers

By signing up for NaNoWriMo, you will benefit from a community of other writers and budding novelists. There are forums and you will receive regular emails. All of this helps you to stay on track. Of course, if you have lost track, you can start to get annoyed by the constant reminders of where you should be in your novel.

Not Up for Fiction?

This is Nation Novel Writing Month, so the emphasis is on writing fiction. However, not everyone likes to do that. One thing that I will be doing this November is working on my next eBook and will use NaNoWriMo as a way to kick myself into gear to write that. The chances are that by committing to it, I’ll be finished well before the end of November.

If this sounds like something you would like to do but don’t know where to start, why not try Angela England’s 30 Days to Make and Sell a Fabulous eBook. This short eBook is available by clicking here and offers all the tips you need to write, create and polish your eBook ready to get it out there to others. It is highly recommended by many eBook writers.

Will You Benefit from an eBook?

If you have a website, a blog or just love to write online then the chances are that you will greatly benefit from an eBook. It offers a great way to put together all your knowledge in one source to sell to your audience. Do you have a list of your homemade recipes that you want to sell? Do you have a list of tips on a hobby? Create your own eBook. The best thing is that it is completely free to do and self-publish.

Buy a copy of Angela England’s 30 Days to Make andSell a Fabulous eBook today and start with NaNoWriMo to make your dream come true!

Skyword Review: Is It Worth Your Time?

Content writing is one of the most popular options when it comes to making money online. Skyword is a platform that hires writers to write on various topics for clients. There are different programs within the Skyword platform, such as Daily Glow, Bounty and Gather News. Here is my Skyword review on whether it is a worthwhile platform.

Offers Two Types of Payments

One way that Skyword beats other platforms is that it offers bother upfront and residual payments. Some programs, such as Gather News, only offer residual based on page views but many others offer from $5 up for original content and then pay residually based on page views afterwards. The Daily Glow News program offers the lowest rate of $5 for a piece of beauty news between 250 and 500 words. The majority of the programs offer $10 upfront but there are some programs that offer $30 and $40.

The residual payments are only available for a limited amount of time so it is worth promoting articles. The news articles only have a shelf life of one month while evergreen content earns over the period of 12 months.

Write Topics You Like

With there being different programs available, it is possible to write on topics that you are an expert in or that you favour. For example, I started writing within the Daily Glow program and then branched out to Daily Glow News. I also wrote for the Lowes program, which was all about DIY projects.

If you sign up to the Gather News, you can write on technology, entertainment and many other areas that are newsworthy. While this only gains residual amounts, it is possible to gain thousands of views within a month, depending on the topic that you choose to write about.

Keyword Scorecard

The platform offers a scorecard for articles before they are sent for submission. This makes it easier to determine whether you have placed keywords into the article too much, whether the content is written in the active voice and whether it is easy to understand. The scorecard is easy to understand. It offers a letter grade for SEO and a number range for how easy the content is to read.

Excellent Training Tools

There are strict guidelines in each of the programs but there are some excellent training tools to help you get used to writing. It is important to look at the training tools regularly as the guidelines can change without being warned. This is something that I found after returning from a break from writing there.

Minimum Quota

And now for some of the downsides; the first being a minimum quota. This differs between programs, some only ask for five per month while others ask for 10. This starts from the first full month within the program. You need to meet the quota, unless you have arranged it with the program manager, or you will be removed.

Only One Shot at Approval

You only have one chance at being approved for a program. Once you have used that chance up, that is it. There are many reasons why you will be rejected, including your sample being unsatisfactory or there simply being too many people applying. This leads to some problems though as you are never warned upfront that the program has very limited spaces.

At first, they used to hold applications when this was the case but eventually they stopped doing this. I ended up wasting applications for two programs because of too many writers, even though my samples were great for the program. In my opinion, there needs to be a change where it is possible to reapply after a set period of time – such as six or 12 months. This avoids the chance of wasting an application and also helps writers gain more experience.

Will Not Say Why You Have Been Removed

Unless it is because there are too many writers and they will hold the application, you will not be told why your application has been rejected. This makes it difficult to know what you can approve on for other applications on the program. Their reasoning behind this is that they have too many applications to be able to give each writer a reason, even when asked.

Just Remove You From Waiting

Even when they say that they will hold your application for the future, they will still just reject it after a while without explanation. This was when I really started getting annoyed with the platform. I could never understand why they would say they will hold an application and then just remove it without explanation. It obviously wasn’t the writing sample so I’d love to know the reason.

Removal from Programs

They will also just remove you from a program without warning. As I stated, I took time off for personal reasons and explained this to my program manager. After coming back, I found that the guidelines had changed but there had been no warning about it. I wrote as I used to only to find that articles were being returned due to the changed guidelines. The problem is I sent a few at the same time so I had revisions on each of these articles. This meant that I had “too many revisions” and was removed from the program. While some people will need too many revisions, maybe it should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. I had never had a problem in the past so it didn’t make sense now simply because I assumed, since there was no message, that the guidelines were the same.

Slow Acceptance Times

When I wrote in the Daily Glow program, the topics were evergreen so it didn’t matter that the queue became backed up – although it was annoying! However, with news it did matter. I found that, at times, news pieces were sitting in a queue for a day or two so by the time it came around for approval/rejection they were no longer relevant – and I was penalised for that.

There have been attempts at fixing this issue. For a while, all keywords and topics were closed on the Daily Glow program to be able to catch up with the approval process. However, it soon became clear that there were too many writers and not enough editors so they simply cut a load of writers. Their excuse was a “change in direction to evergreen content” even though that was the type of content I was already writing. Maybe they should have just said “we’ve hired too many people, sorry!” I have a lot more respect for a company that is willing to be honest.

I wouldn’t say definitely don’t write for Skyword but keep an eye on them. Many of the programs are currently closed to applications due to a large amount of writers, which is no surprise. There are a few new programs that are added now and then but I’m not sure how long they stick around. The Lowes program was meant to open up in May 2012 but then got pushed to September 2012. By the time September rolled around, it was announced that the program was closing – they had only started looking for writers around November 2011 so it seems a little pointless to me. There was news of other programs opening but they either haven’t happened or are still in the planning phases.

It could be a worthwhile venture and they do pay on time but definitely do not put all your eggs into this basket. I learned a long time ago never to put all your eggs into one basket and I’m glad I didn’t with Skyword. At one time I enjoyed it but now I’m not too sure whether I will ever bother applying for programs again.

Ways to Start Your Online Portfolio

To gain private clients, you need to have samples that you are willing to share with them. The best way of doing this is to have a writing portfolio. The articles that you put in your portfolio need to showcase your work and the topics that you are knowledgeable about. It means taking the time to create a great portfolio.

Start Your Own Blog

One of the best ways to create an online writing portfolio is to start your own blog. This will give you the chance to write about topics that interest you and you have knowledge in. You can also make the choice over whether you want to monetize your blog through various methods or make it non-profitable and purely for samples.

When writing for your own blogs, make sure you optimize posts for search engines to help potential clients find you – after all, they will not know your name yet! You may want to start various blogs on different niches to help attract specific clients to your work and keep topics separate from each other.

Write for Article Directories

If you do not want to start a blog then you could write articles for article directories or revenue share websites. These websites will already have the page rank to help you with search engine results. The problem with some of these is that you will be limited to the topics that you are able to write about and you will need to stick to the websites’ guidelines. If you have your own blog, you can write to your own guidelines.

Offer to Write for Free

I often tell people to stay away from this but it could be something for those who are struggling to find high paying clients. Employers are more likely to accept your work if it is free of charge – and there are many websites that will allow guest blogs. The benefit to these is that you gain your name on the work and the websites often already have a higher page rank, meaning you are noticed quicker than starting your own blogs.

The people that you offer free material for may be willing to pay for material in the future. If they like your work, they may also pass your details on to others who are looking for writers – and willing to pay for the work. Word out mouth is a great way to get noticed in the online writing world.

Whatever way you decide to start writing your online portfolio, make sure that you have one. This will help to prevent you needing to write samples for every client that you contact. Make sure that your writing samples are full of information, free of all spelling, grammar and punctuation errors and written in a way to make people want to read them. This will help you gain more clients and start earning money writing online quickly.

Why Online Writing Courses Are Beneficial

While there are downsides to online writing classes, there are many advantages that often make them the best value for money; especially if you are looking into the different types of writing courses available. Here are just some of the reasons why you should consider taking a writing class online.

Freedom to Study Anywhere

The best part about a course being online is that you can study anywhere, whether it is in your home, in a coffee shop or on the other side of the world. There are no limitations, as long as you have a good PC and access to email, which as a writer you should already have anyway. The only limitation that you may find is that a course may not be in your language, but there are plenty of options out there.

Freedom to Study in Your Time

Some online writing courses have set deadlines for handing in work while others will give you the freedom to study completely at your own pace. However, you will benefit from being able to study when you are free to do so, whether that is at home in the middle of the night or at work during your lunch break. This is something that no physical writing class will be able to offer as you need to attend physical classes.

Save Money on Travel

There is no need to travel to locations for classes, which means that you save money that way. In fact, many online writing classes are often cheaper than physical one since all the material is online, meaning that you save money all-round. The only time that you may need to travel is if there is an exam at the end.

Help With Discipline

A major benefit of taking an online writing course – in fact, any type of online course – is the discipline that it gives you. You need to study by yourself and set time to do the work to be able to pass. This is a handy skill to have when working as a freelance writer since you need to be able to plan your time and work when set to be able to meet deadlines and earn money.

The Ability to Gain Constructive Criticism

When you ask family and friends for their opinion on your work, they will likely tell you it is good – they either do not want to hurt your feelings, will think that you will take it the wrong way or will be biased and instantly think it is good because you wrote it. An online writing class gives you the chance to gain unbiased reviews from people who do not know you; meaning they are more likely to give criticisms as well as praise.

Another benefit, though, is that they are likely to give constructive criticism. This gives you a better opportunity to make changes to your work and improve it. You will become a better all-round writer for this.

Writing classes online could help you to become a better writer. There are many benefits, including financially and employability. Take the time to look around at the different online writing courses around and find something that works for your budget and looks interesting, so you are more likely to stick with it.