Tag: article writing

Categories
Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for March Part 1

Writers Chat Recap

Writers Chat, hosted by Johnnie Alexander, Brandy Brow, and Melissa Stroh is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”

Content Writing with Holand Webb

Holland Webb, a full-time content writer, shares tips for writers wanting to start their own content-writing business. After sharing a little about his own background and personal experiences, Holland focuses on content basics including tips for finding keywords for your clients’ posts; various types of content ranging from product descriptions and social media posts to white papers, ebooks, and ghostwriting; and writing content for LinkedIn. If you’re interested in writing content for businesses and/or individuals, either full-time or part-time, then this episode is for you!

Watch the March 5th Replay

Holland Webb is an inspiring content writer who understands the elements of storytelling and how to put them to work for business. In addition to writing material for U.S. News & World Report and Focus on the Family, he has written website content for a major chain of hotels with locations in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. Holland’s other clients have included International Ministries, BestColleges.Com, MailChimp, Wiley, and Architectural Digest.

Writing Articles that Give Hope to the Questions World with Annette Marie Griffin

In a world where attention spans dictate content, truth is considered relative, and clicks prove more valuable than gold—people still crave a cure for emptiness. In this episode of Writers Chat, Annette Marie Griffin covers the felt needs of today’s seekers. She discusses where they look for answers to life’s deepest questions and dives deep into the spiritual calling that drives today’s Christian writers to the foot of the cross to obtain relevant content.

Watch the March 12th replay

Annette Marie Griffin is an award-winning author and multi-generational speaker who has taught and written for adults and children for over 30 years. She began by writing story-driven curricula for youth groups and parenting classes while serving as Ministry Director at Gateway Church in San Antonio, Texas. Since then, she’s written hundreds of high-ranking articles for Salem Media Group, she’s a columnist and acquisitions editor for StarLight Magazine for kids, and she teaches workshops and training classes at local and national writing conferences. When Annette isn’t writing, speaking, or teaching, she loves making memories with her brilliant husband, 3 adult children, 2 teens, and 3 adorable grands!

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. The permanent Zoom room link is: http://zoom.us/j/4074198133

Categories
Guest Posts

How to Write the Intriguing Titles for Your Articles

Guest posts

A headline is the title of an article or any other publication the purpose of which is to get the audience’s attention and tell the visitor what the content body is about. A well-written headline motivates the user to read the article or watch the video—it must be interesting, clear, catchy, and intriguing. That is why writing a headline is sometimes more challenging than a text.

You should dedicate enough time to create an exciting title. At the same time, a bad headline can kill even the most amazing blog post from the best translation company or social media publication.

Fortunately, today we have access to research results in this area. Successful authors are constantly experimenting with headlines and sharing the results, and we can also take note of these tests. Here are just a few helpful tips for creating catchy titles for your articles.

The title should outline the benefits for the target audience

Ensure you choose a headline that shows the benefits that your readers will get from your product or service. The ideal headline solves problems or helps your audience achieve their desired goals or provides solutions they can get with your products/services.

Let’s go ahead and compare the following headlines:

  • Graphic Design Tools and Techniques.
  • Improve Your Design Skills: An Essential Guide to Fundamental Design Tools and Techniques.

The first title simply mentions the topic of the article, while the second explicitly focuses on the benefits the reader can receive from reading the publication.

Add relevant keywords and key figures to show the content value

Adding precise details like key figures and high-volume keywords in your headline can significantly enhance engagement with your content.

People are likely to get their attention towards well-organized information. Including such details in your title creates a certain content structure, promising that the content will offer something valuable. Commonly, numbers catch attention more actively than plain text, for instance:

  • 10 methods for boosting emotional well-being.
  • The 5 essential secrets of human productivity.
  • 7 helpful tips for enhancing your sleep quality.

Create an engaging element

A captivating headline provides a sneak peek into the content but doesn’t reflect the whole picture, which makes readers want to finish reading.

However, it’s essential to note that the content should provide answers to the reader’s curiosity that the title generates. For example:

  • Unveiling the real reason why low-carb diets don’t work effectively.
  • A disastrous car-buying experience: my cautionary tale.
  • Breaking news: deadly virus outbreak in China—here’s what we know so far.

Display the positive and the negative components

Have you heard the story of a radio station that broadcasted only positive news? It went bankrupt since it turned out that people expect to be aware of negative news as well.

Thus, to add some diversity to your content, consider presenting a list of insufficient advice or beginning with a story of life and business challenges that later turn out to be a success story. This approach has been successful in the past, and it continues to be effective these days.

Common mistakes to avoid when writing titles

Headline writing can be tricky, and content creators sometimes can make common errors. Here are some mistakes you should avoid:

  • Using wordplay in the headline: while a clever headline can catch attention, it’s not always easy to create. If you’re not confident in your ability to write a good wordplay headline, it’s better to avoid it.
  • Relying on clichés: try to avoid hackneyed phrases in your headlines. If a popular phrase is stuck in your head, think twice—readers are often more interested in an original title.
  • Creating titles without a call to action: often content creates headlines that merely state what the article is about, like a research paper headline. However, this can make it unclear what the article is really about.
  • Using too short titles: the headline should accurately outline the content of the article. If you try to keep it brief too much, it may be difficult for readers to understand what the article is about, and they probably skip reading.

Final thoughts

The aforementioned tips and tricks might not be brand new for you. But the approaches and techniques we describe in this article always work beneficially for your content and its promotion. So, you should definitely consider them for your writing practice, like writers from custom writing GrabMyEssay do. We hope, after reading this article, you’ll realize that creating a great headline is not as difficult as it may seem.

Nancy P. Howard has been working as a journalist at the online magazine in London for a year. She is also a professional writer in such topics as blogging, IT, and digital marketing. She loves travelling, photography and is always welcome to meet new people.

Categories
History in the Making

Using Your Research for More than Your Novel

History in the making

Writing a novel is hard work and takes time. Writing a Historical Fiction novel may require more time and hard work due to necessary research.

Then there’s publishing. Whether you publish traditionally or indie publish, it takes time to publish the book and make sales. Let’s take a look at ways you can use your research while you wait:

1) Writing short pieces – you can purchase the current Writers Market Guide, the current Christian Writers Market Guide (or both) to find magazines that might be interested in an article about your research topic (i.e. the California Gold Rush). Then you will need to find the magazine’s website and download their guidelines. Be sure to follow their guidelines carefully because they will not consider your article if it isn’t written, formatted, and submitted according to their guidelines. You can do this any time during your novel writing process.

However, I don’t recommend putting the next two suggestions into practice until closer to the time of releasing your novel, six months to a year prior depending on how many pieces you can write and put into use. You don’t want to run out of writing subjects for these important items before your novel releases.

2)Building your audience and building your brand – I’ve been told many times that it is very important for a writer to have a presence on Social Media – specifically, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I’ve also heard that Pinterest is a great place to connect with readers. You can connect with readers on these sites by posting interesting things from your research. Be sure to connect it to your novel by giving them a small tidbit of information like revealing the name of your novel’s town and sharing history about that town.

  You can also create a blog and write blog posts about something you’ve researched for your novel. This is a great place to include pictures as well. You might write about men’s and women’s fashions from the time period of your novel and include a couple pictures showing some of the clothing from that time period.

3) Market your novel – You can write an additional story that connects with your novel and release it for a reasonable price or offer it as a free gift for purchasing your novel. It could be a novella about the backstory of one of your characters and how they ended up in the time, place, and/or situation of your novel. You could use a scene from your story to create Flash Fiction story, or maybe create a short story about one of your minor characters.

Any of these suggestions can put your research to good use and make it work for you as it builds your brand and/or audience or as it draws readers’ interest in your upcoming novel. Your research can serve multiple purposes and be an enjoyable endeavor, making all your hard work pay off.

Kelly F. Barr lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She is married and has three sons. She writes historical romance. She has also been a blogger for ten years, and every Friday, you can find her Flash Fiction stories posted for your reading pleasure. She loves her family, including the family dog, books, walks, and chai lattes.

You can find her online at:

Categories
Writers Chat

Writers Chat Recap for February, Part 2

Writers Chat, hosted by Jean Wise, Johnnie Alexander, and Bethany Jett, is the show where we talk about all things writing, by writers and for writers!

“Because talking about writing is more fun than actually doing it.”

How to Write Articles, with Julie Lavender

In this episode of Writers Chat, Julie shares with us twelve steps for writing articles, including what needs to go in the query, the email, and the closing. She also reminds us to be sure to look at the guidelines for each publication because the can significantly vary depending on the publication. One of the last things she shared is to remember to celebrate, even if you receive a rejection, celebrate the fact that you put yourself out there. If you have thought about submitting articles, this episode has a wealth of information you don’t want to miss, so be sure to check out the replay.

Watch the February 25th replay.

Bio

Julie Lavender is a journalist, author, and former homeschooling mom of twenty-five years who holds a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. She joins us on Writers Chat to share her expertise and advice on writing articles. Her writing has been published in magazines like The Upper Room, Homeschooling Today, Guideposts, Angels on Earth, Mysterious Ways, All Creatures, Clubhouse, Country Woman, Taste of Home, Today’s Christian Woman, Focus on the Family, Mature Living, ParentLife, Refresh, BookFun, Southern Writers, and Secret Place.

You can find Julie on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as her blog, “On My Walk With God.”

JOIN US!

Writers Chat is hosted live each Tuesday for an hour starting at 10 AM CT / 11 AM ET on Zoom. Here’s the permanent Zoom room link. 

Participants mute their audio and video during the filming then we open up the room for anyone who wishes to participate with our guests. The “After Party” is fifteen-minutes of off-the-record sharing and conversation.

Additionally, you can grow your network and add to the conversation by joining our Writers Chat Facebook Group.

Categories
Magazine and Freelance

What Oscar Mayer Wieners Have to Do with Style

One of the joys (and frustrations) of the English language is how it ebbs, flows, and changes. Unlike dead languages, which are, well, dead, English is fully alive. As writers, it’s our job to stay informed. Does email have a hyphen? Is the word internet capitalized or lowercased? And what in the world is a singular they? It sounds a little schizophrenic if you ask me.

As you write and submit articles, your professionalism will shine if your grammar, punctuation, and formatting reflects the latest updates. Your editors will appreciate you, the publications you write for will invite you to contribute more often, and your edited articles will no longer look like the victim in a slasher movie.

Here are several changes and points of style you may find helpful. In the spirit of full disclosure, I also struggle with (and sometimes fail to remember) the rules that govern usage. When in doubt, look it up. But be sure to use credible sources. One of my new favorite reference books is Dreyer’s English, An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer.

The Singular They

Every year, editors announce big stylebook changes at the American Copy Editors Society (ACES) annual meeting. In 2017, they announced, “the AP Stylebook now allows writers to use they as a singular pronoun when rewriting the sentence as plural would be overly awkward or clumsy.” Even though I squirm a little, this change helps me avoid the annoying and often interruptive he/she or his/her.

Example: The teacher announced that each student could use one homework pass a month. This means he or she won’t have to turn in his or her homework on the night of the big football game. 

Change To: The teacher announced that each student could use one homework pass a month. This means they won’t have to turn in their homework on the night of the big football game. 

 The style also allows writers to pair they with everyone in similar situations.

Exclamation Points

The late Sue Duffy first editor at Reach Out, Columbiamagazine, gently but firmly told me, “Use as few exclamation points as possible — only when someone is shrieking or their house is on fire.” Even now, years later, whenever my left pinkie reaches for that forbidden punctuation mark, I hear her voice and my pinkie returns to its proper place.

“Began to” and “Started to”

In most cases, it’s best to avoid the use of “began to” or “started to.”

Example: “Tears began to roll down his cheeks.”

Change To: “Tears rolled down his cheeks.”

We don’t begin to cry, we cry. We don’t start to walk, we walk. We don’t begin to eat, we eat.

Occasionally someone might start to walk to the front of the church and change his mind, but most of the time, it’s best to use the verb only. If you’re not sure which is correct, try it both ways. You’ll realize that began to and started to are usually unnecessary.

Were vs. Was

Remember the hot dog jingle, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener”? Why doesn’t it go, “I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener”? Many writers struggle with knowing when to use were and when to use was.

Dryer proposes this rule of thumb: If you’ve presented a situation that is unlikely, improbable, or just plain impossible, use were. If the situation that is not the case but could be, use was.

Example using were: If I were to become the president of the United States, I’d end war, rid the world of nuclear weapons, and give every ten-year-old a bike.”

Example using was: If I was in that meeting, I’d have asked for a raise.

I hope these four points of style have made you think and settled more questions than they’ve raised. And in case you’re wondering, during that 2017 meeting of the ACES, editors also announced the Associate Press would no longer use a hyphen in email and lowercase the word internet. The Chicago Manual of Style followed suit the next day.

Now you know.

(Portions of this content were previously posted on The Write Conversation.)

Lori Hatcher is the editor of Reach Out, Columbia magazine and the author of several devotional books. Hungry for God … Starving for Time, Five-Minute Devotions for Busy Women won the 2016 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year award. Her most recent book, Refresh Your Faith – Uncommon Devotions from Every Book of the Bible is due out in the spring of 2020. A blogger, writing instructor, and inspirational speaker, her goal is to help women connect with God in the craziness of life. You’ll find her pondering the marvelous and the mundane on her blog, Hungry for God. . . Starving for Time . Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter (@LoriHatcher2), or Pinterest (Hungry for God).