Online Writing Books

I read and studied this book and took the advice to heart. When I would go to the web addresses-I would get the "Page Not Found" message. Most of the websites did not exist. Websites that did and said that they were free, now charged a fee. One website even had removed the material stated in this book.I feel that I wasted my moneywith this book of useless information.

The websites have changed-this book has dated material. This book is too old-it was not published recently.

I am the author of Dreams in August: Life, Love, and Cerebellar Ataxia

GREAT BOOK WITH A LOT OF GREAT INFORMATION. GREAT BOOK FOR ANY AUTHOR.

This book has inspired me to market and sale my own books. It has also provided me with information and resources to publish my own books.

This book is a must read for anyone thinking about being an online infopreneur. Just about every book out there today that talks about being an infopreneur and/or how to be an infopreneur seems to (or should) cite this book in its bibliography. I read it some years ago and thought it was wonderful. I found it lacked a little polish, but it was jam-packed full of content. Actually it lacks a lot of polish, but it's still a great book.

Interestingly, the content found in this book is still pretty much up-to-date except for the online links. That is kind of hard to believe since the subject is about using the Internet to sell books, but it's true.

The other books that I recommend you read along with this one include the following:

From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur (ISBN: 0470050861)
Print-on-Demand Book Publishing (ISBN: 0972380132)
Literary Law Guide for Authors (ISBN: 0967457963)
Aiming at Amazon (ISBN: 093849743X)
The Web-Savvy Writer (ISBN: 0977830403
Plug Your Book! (ISBN: 0977240614)

This book will certainly help you in your efforts to publish and promote online. 5 stars!

Over the past several months, I've read about a dozen books on electronic and self-publishing. Although I've still to find a truly excellent resource ("The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing" by Tom & Marilyn Ross is the best I've come across as of yet), "How to Publish and Promote Online" is one of the worst I've seen by far.

The general layout of the book is perhaps the biggest disappointment. Rather than having concrete, substantial chapters, arranged in a logical and progressive order, "How to Publish and Promote..." consists of 58 short essays. The text itself is only 246 pages, divided by 58 chapters...and, well, you do the math! Most of the "chapters" are written by "guest" authors. The old adage about "too many cooks in the kitchen" is applicable here - there are so many authors that the different writing styles become distracting. Even more problematic is their seeming lack of communication. No one appears to have read one another's essays, or to even have a vague idea of what topic the other authors are writing about. This holds true for the book's authors, Rose & Adair-Hoy, as well as the many guest authors. Thus, some of the information is mentioned several times and quickly becomes redundant, while other information is presented chaotically and in no clear order. The end result is that the flow of the book is choppy and erratic; the chapters aren't arranged in any obvious order, and no one section transitions smoothly into the next. What little information is included in the book is hard to find.

For example, a survey of radio and television media executives conducted by Paul J. Krupin is described in excruciating detail twice in the book: first in a chapter written by PAUL KRUPIN himself, and in a later chapter authored by both Rose & Adair-Hoy. Additionally, there are numerous instances where Rose and Adair-Hoy provide URLs for similar web sites in different chapters, when it really would have made more sense to group the links together for quick reference. It wasn't a big deal for me, since I was typing up notes from the book in my word processing program, and could reorganize the info any way I saw fit - but I'm sure I would have been much more aggravated had I actually shelled out money for this train wreck. By the way, I ended up with six pages of typed, double-spaced notes for a 254 page book; this should give readers come clue as to how much helpful information is actually included.

Adair-Hoy includes this "disclaimer" (her words, not mine) in her introductory chapter:

"Finally...my secret. I have never taken a formal writing course and I don't intend to. I write the way I talk."

Without meaning to, Adair-Hoy offers a succinct summary of the primary flaw in "How to Publish and Promote...". When writing a reference book, it just isn't acceptable for the authors to ramble on and on in a disorganized, roundabout manner, offering pieces of information here and there in a sort of word jumble. If writing simply involved "writing how you talk," then anyone could do it! Nonfiction/reference books such as these should be well-organized, informative, and packed with useful knowledge. They SHOULDN'T be thrown together piecemeal. Any one of these 58 essays is acceptable on its own, in a `zine or newsletter, perhaps - but lumped together under the guise of a "how-to" book, they simply don't cut it.

If you really must read this book, check it out of your local library before purchasing it - I guarantee you'll thank me for saving you $10+. Then put the Ross' "The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing" or (if you're just interested in marketing ideas for your book) their "Jump Start Your Book Sales" on hold. Their writing style can be somewhat grating, but they offer a ton of useful information - and, better yet, their guides are actually organized into REAL CHAPTERS!

- Kelly Garbato

Author & ePublisher, "13 Lucky Steps to Writing a Research Paper"
Peedee Publishing / Hot Dog!, LLC

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it.
I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint.
What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

A must-have for working and aspiring writers alike. Beginners will find the articles helpful, working pros need the listings.

FYI: The listings makes side-by-side comparisons practically impossible, so I recommend inputting the information on your computer, then formatting it as a table. Pricing guidelines are sometimes inconsistent (average pay is listed as above-average and vice versa) and some small sections look as if they went directly to press without proofreading. Online updates more than compensate for such minor considerations.

I recently ordered Writer's Digest Market Online and am very disappointed with my order, if not downright angry. When I received it, I was dismayed to find out that this "Market Online" book is indeed the same thing, or very similiar, to the 2003 Writer's Market book. I ordered this with the belief that this book would offer online markets (websites) to sell articles to. Instead, it lists magazines and book publishers - the very same thing as the original 2003 Writer's Market! I feel that this book is a duplication of the first and cannot return my book now because I opened it and consider it a waste of money.

There are few events in life that I look forward to more than receiving my shiny new Writer's Market each year. Once again, the good people at Writer's Digest Books have outdone themselves. This exhaustively researched book contains more than 8,000 places to sell your work-- what more could you ask for? Oh! How about pricing guidelines, expert advice, info about agents, writing contests, syndicates, organizations for writers...

I mean it most earnestly when I tell you I wouldn't have a career without this book. And ever since I got the online version, I'm not sure how I lived without it. I use it every day to keep track of my submissions. It even tells me when it's time to follow up on a query, and allows me to record notes about different markets-- I can punch in my deadlines, payment info, contact names, etc.

Of all the books in the world, this is the only one that I can say with full confidence is an absolute necessity to those who want to make a career of their writing. The price is meager compared to its benefits. No matter what you write, you'll find markets for it here.

--Jenna Glatzer, Editor-in-Chief, AbsoluteWrite.com

Writer's Market On- Line Guide is an extensive resource for writers and one can easily become overwhelmed with such an exhaustive guide like this. It's mostly reference tools, with the bulk of the book dedicated to information from actual publishers, agents, and magazines. Only the first few sections, before the publishers, contain actual reading material. But it's all arranged very nicely and it includes very helpful facts for the aspiring author.

I like the sample form letters in the Query Letter Clinic. It's one thing to explain what works and what doesn't, but it's even more helpful to be able to visualize actual letters that are "good" and "bad". The contributors of this guide explain exactly what publishers look for when they review a manuscript and they give tips on common mistakes to avoid.

I spent most of my time thumbing through the publisher's reference section of this book. I was surprised at the number of publications, particularly magazines, that devote a substantial portion of their publication to freelance writers. With each listing, Writer's Guide shows the percentage of the magazine that is comprised of freelance writing, so that you can gauge your odds of getting published. Some are high, others are low. For example, Motor Trend Magazine contains only 5 to 10% freelance- written material, but the payoff for a published article can be as high as several hundred dollars. Entrepreneur Magazine, on the other hand, includes 60 percent freelance material. The payout is slightly less, but the higher level of freelance writing means that your individual odds of getting published are greater.

Writer's Guide includes a few postcards that can be removed to buy more products (like a magazine subscription to Writer's Digest), to send for free material from the Writer's Digest School, and to buy more Writer's Guides, like the Children's Writers Guide, The Literary Agent Guide, Novel and Short Story Writer's Market Guide, and a few others. There are countless listings of resources to access, including online and others.

One thing to note about this guide is that the title is a little misleading. While it does contain information on getting published by utilizing the internet, this is really only a small fraction of the guide. It actually contains information on all sorts of ways to get published, including phone and fax numbers to contact publishers directly.

Overall, this is a very good guide to writing and getting published. A little bit more personal reading would have been nice (there are only about 90 pages of actual reading material) but the reference sections are invaluable to the aspiring writer. If you have ever considered selling your personal writing, then you will find this guide very helpful. It's a heap of writing information, right at your fingertips.

[$$$] book offering great online access BUT you have to scrape off a number (like a lottery ticket) to access your code and mine got all mangled (not like a lottery ticket) - and Writer's Market just ignored me when I contacted them. That's fraud! I wasted [$$$] for nothing!

That night I dreamt about marketing. About the big internet. I swam in a sea of marketing ideas. I felt fine and save. The future was wide and open.

The author seems to understand many old mass marketing tricks, but is clueless about the Internet. Spam by any other name is still spam. Mark Twain would, I suspect, be turning his acid tongue to the spammers, not joining them. I highly recommend avoiding this book.

That night I dreamt about marketing. About the big internet. I swam in a sea of marketing ideas. I felt fine and save. The future was wide and open.

Emotional writing works on the web. This easy to understand book clearly identifies and persuades the reader to use language that will really get someone to contact you, buy your product, or try your service.

Sure, many in the advertising game will disagree with Joe. They'll tell you it's image, image, image that works. Bull! The stuff in Joe's book really works and anyone involved in direct mail, or internet marketing should take the time to read this book with an open mind.

This book was in excellent condition. Needed for a college english 1 class. Great book very helpful.

i think this book is really good if you struggle with english. It has really helped me already.

I use this text for my remedial college freshman English course to help them brush up on grammar, punctuation, and writing forms before moving on to freshman English. My students have always liked it, and so have I.

The readings within it are short, simple, and easy for anyone of any skill to read. They all evoke some sort of response out of my class and have even converted some "non-readers" into new devotees.

This text might also be useful for high school English courses. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because some of the grammar/punctuation sections don't have quite enough exercises in them to help some lower-level students get a firm grasp on the ideas. However, any teacher well-armed with worksheets can remedy that problem immediately!

I teach developmental writing at a local community college. My department decided on this book long before I started teaching there. I've found the grammar section of this book useless. anytime I have ever assigned a chapter for my students to read from it, they all complained in unison that it was "boring, too broad, and way too confusing." There is not a single note in the entire text about how to combine sentences using subordination, coodination, or relative pronouns, much less how to punctuate them.

With the writing section, there is one decent chapter on how to write a thesis statement. The chapters on the individual rhetorical patterns, on the other hand, present students with two student models and a professional essay, but no explanation or exercises on how to actually write an illustrative or descriptive or definition essay. As a result, I am a slave to the copy machine. Since I am required to make my students buy this useless book, I photocopy material for students to use to initially help them learn the material. I then use the material from Langan's as additional practice, just so students don't feel like they wasted valuable money.

Even the companion website is a pain. I thought of using the companion website for my students, but I found it particularly confusing to get around. In addition, it is next to impossible for me me to assign anything from the website because nothing can be printed, emailed, or pasted.

I did not know I was ordering a preview copy, which are not supposed to be resold.

This grab-bag of writings from around the world includes Kate Wilhelm's short story "The Village," which dramatizes the Vietnam War in an unusual way; Octavio Paz's analysis of "The Day of the Dead" in Mexico; and Samir Al-Khalil's account of how Saddam Hussein uses fear to control the people of Iraq. Truly multicultural, this collection has a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction from around the world. Themes include The Family in Different Cultures, Turning Points, How Culture Shapes Gender Roles, How Work Creates Identity, Class Conflicts, The State and the Individual, Strangers in a Strange Land, The Role Customs Play in Different Cultures, and The Impact of War. Authors include George Orwell, Joan Didion, Amy Tan, Danny Santiago, and Jamaica Kincaid. Great for a high school or college reading or writing class.

I am currently a graduate student in a writing program, and my background is in journalism. While my goal is to write for travel magazines, I certainly need to have a good understanding of web writing, more knowledge about creating and keeping up a web page (especially for a future publication), and some idea of how my writing must look on that page when it's published.

I found this book to be quite useful for online journalism practices, and I appreciated the many real world applications that the author used. The author, Dr. Richard Craig, has much experience in journalism himself, and he enforces the common practices of good writing that all journalism students should keep in mind. He is very thorough, but go on and stick with him until the end of this book.

Dr. Craig's book may be outdated in a matter of years or less, but overall, this is still a very helpful and timely textbook. Read it, even if you don't have to for a class!

Online Journalism: Reporting, Writing and Editing for New Media is an informative book that explains the difference in writing for traditional media/press and the Web. The book does a great job of explaining why writing is so different on the Web and it illustrates the types of things that one must do in order to get a job in this new and growing profession. Although the comparisons are very effective in showing this difference in the beginning chapters, it become very monotonous to explain these differences throughout the book. A few of the chapters become long and over analytical because of such comparisons - specifically the chapters on interviewing and searching for information. I think it would have been more effective to have one chapter that gives a background on traditional media and then move on instead of badgering the point that the two are different. However, that is not to say that I didn't learn a lot from this book about writing, because I did.

It is obvious by the way that the author writes that he has an extensive background in this field and really cares about sharing this information with others. This helps the book in many ways to get the important point across.

The title of this book doesn't reflect its very broad coverage. Indeed, the book discusses a wide range of PR topics, as well as marketing communications and advertising. For this reason, the book is suitable for an undergraduate-level introductory course on corporate communications. However, while the information presented is clear and relevant, it lacks depth. Students who want to pursue PR and marketing writing as a career will want to supplement this book with other resources.

Effective writing skills must be mastered by anyone hoping to work in the field of public relations. If PR people do nothing else, they write, revise, write, revise, and write, more and more and more, until finally they write the wrongs (figuratively speaking, of course). In answer to this call, Thomas H. Bivins has created a dynamically comprehensive guide to many forms and styles of PR writing, from news release writing to desktop publishing. He also suggests ways of enhancing creativity, another important skill, in such areas as feature writing, poster, flyer, and brochure design, and newsletter design. Bivins further provides complementary examples and demonstrations that every current and potential PR writer will find useful. I'll never forget one statement the professor of my Public Relations Writing course (Spring 1999) made on the very first day of class: "I highly suggest none of you sell this book back to the bookstore at the end of the quarter. I wish I had a guide like this when I was working in public relations!" When she made that statement, I was immediately anxious to know what literatural pleasure awaited me!

I knew within 10 minutes of opening this book I would adopt it for my multi-media/convergence course. It is a carefully crafted book written with grace. The new world of media is moving at break-neck speed and this is a book that helps all of us envision what the future can and will be. Although a complex and even controversial topic, Quinn and Filak explain, define and provide a great jumping off point for their readers into the world of convergence. The chapters are written by authors of power, credibility and good common sense. Best of all, my students like -- that's right like -- the book.

Ralph Braseth is director of the fully converged student media center at the University of Mississippi and is assistant professor of journalism

The title on the cover of this excellent book may be confusing, as it is a partial title...Internet Guide for Students & Writers. The plastic spine has the complete title, as does the title page. The work covers an overview of connecting to the Internet and access to FTP, Gopher, Telnet, and WWW sites, and is a Style manual for all the major style manuals including APA (American Psychological Association,) MLA (Modern Language Association,) CMS (Chicago Manual of Style) and CBE (Council of Biology Editors.) The latter uses the 6th edition of Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors Editors and Publishers. I recommend this small spiral bound book to my writers and dissertation research classes.

The book is an attempt by its authors to come to grips with the effect of the Internet on how to teach writing skills to a university audience. It shows how students are becoming, or indeed have become, facile with elaborate typography and colours, and images and hyperlinks to web sites or other resources on the Web. Yet, if you turn to a teaching text of say twenty years not, nothing is said of this. Because the Web did not then exist.

So the book tries to bring up suggestions for new pedagogies. That do not reject the Internet experiences and abilities of the students, but embrace these. In the hope of ultimately laying out more powerful writings. Still to early to say how fruitful these will be. But worth contemplating.