Guest Blogging

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 32 Comments

 Day 7: 

Have you considered guest blogging but don’t know where to begin? The first step is to determine what you want to accomplish.

What is your goal?

  1. Do you have expertise in an area and want to share it?
  2. Do you want to create more traffic to your blog or increase followers?
  3. Want to see an increase in backlinks to your content?
  4. Or, establish yourself as an authority?

Where to Find Guest Blogging Opportunities:

Once you know your motivations, it’s time to find the opportunities, and there are many.

  1. Begin with a simple keyword search for “guest post” on Google, Twitter, or preferred search engine.
  2. Utilize the connections you’ve already established – favorite blogs or other social networking sites.
  3. Look for blogs that best match your area of interest or expertise, have engaged readers, and is active on social networks.
  4. Check out sites like Contently, Huffington Post, or Angie’s Diary.

Things to do before pitching a guest post:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the blog; it’s content and readership.
  2. Have guest posts been featured before?
  3. Who were the guest bloggers? Authors? Other bloggers? Freelancers? Read their bios and get to know them.
  4. How did the guest post do? Was there a lot of reader engagement?
  5. Become a familiar face in the blogging community.

When to pitch:

  1. When someone mentions your blog on, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google.
  2. When a blogger advertises, they are seeking guest posts.
  3. When a guest post is featured on another blog.

How to Pitch:

  1. Read the guidelines.
  2. Introduce yourself. Craft a guest post bio and include links back to your blog or author websites that show your work.
  3. As with any pitch, personalize your email.
  4. Explain what you can offer in a guest post.
  5. Provide links to your blog and other sites on which you have published.
  6. Format your guest post the same as the site in which you are submitting.
  7. Provide valuable and relatable information.
  8. Do not self-promote except within the author bio.
  9. Utilize internal links to some of the owner’s posts.
  10. Create a call to action for comments.

Want to know more about guest blogging? Check out these resources.

 Guest Blogging Opportunities:

Does guest blogging interest you? Have you been a featured guest blogger in the past?

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood,  Pinterest,  Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.

 

Formatting Your Manuscript

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 30 Comments

Day 6:   

Properly formatting your manuscript is essential to a writer’s success. The first rule is always to check the guidelines outlined by the agent or publisher before you submit. Below are basic formatting tips. But, be mindful, the agent or publisher may have different requirements. Adapt per their preferences.

Traditional Print Formatting Tips:

  1. Title Page: Include your name, contact information in the upper left corner. Upper right corner – the estimated word count. Space down to center your title, double space and enter by, double space and add your name. Space three lines and begin your manuscript.
  2. Font: Courier 12 or Courier New 12 – this is the font most often preferred by editors; however, some editors are now accepting newer fonts – Arial or Times New Roman. Check the guidelines.
  3. Spacing: Double-space your manuscript – provides room for the editor to make notes and is easier on the eyes.
  4. Character spacing:  is a single space.
  5. Margins: 1 inch on all sides – allows room for the editor to make notes.
  6. Headers:  Include your name, title of the novel or keyword (all caps) and the page number.
  7. Chapters: Start each chapter on a new page, a third of the way down. Capitalize Chapter number and titles.
  8. Scene Breaks: indicate a break using the # sign in the center of the line.
  9. Word Count: Estimate word count by using 250 X the number of pages.
  10. Justification: Left justify.
  11. End: Designate with the # symbol in the center of the line or write, The End.
  12. Secure: the pages of your manuscript with a clip or rubber band.

No-No’s in Formatting:

  1. Do not use fanciful or colored fonts.
  2. Don’t number the title page. Start with the first page of the story.
  3. Do not place a copyright symbol © on your manuscript; it makes you look like an amateur. If your manuscript is accepted, the publisher will file a copyright in your name.
  4. Do not send a manuscript printed on both sides.
  5. Do not use word processors to determine word count; they’re not always accurate.
  6. Do not bind or staple your manuscript.

For more resources of formatting check out these links:

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story and look for me on Facebook at SheilaMGood,  Pinterest,  Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.

Editing Made Easy – 7 Free Tools for the Writer

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 19 Comments

Day 5: 

images

pinterest.com

One of the most annoying, time-consuming and necessary aspects of writing is editing.

For me, after writing a piece, I find it difficult to spot all the things I might need to revise or eliminate.

Because I can’t afford to hire an editor for every short story or chapter I write, I use editing tools available to me via software downloads.

Each tool has pros and cons, and it’s worth repeating, no software can take the place of a good pair of editing eyes, but it’s a start and a good resource to have at your fingertips.

My top 7 Free Editing Tools

  1. Hemingway App – assesses the number of adverbs, complex words, passive voice, and readability.
  2. ProWritingAid – provides analysis, identifies overused words, sentence length, redundancies, clichés, plagiarism, consistency, and writing style.
  3. EditMinion – one of my favorite, uncomplicated tools. It checks for weak and overused words, passive voice, adverbs/prepositions, homonyms, and more.
  4. Word & Phrase Frequency Counter: This tool does exactly what it says, counts the number of time you use a word or phrase.
  5. Readability Score – indicates reading ease, grade level, text statistics, and keyword density.
  6. Cliché Finder – afraid you might have used a cliché or two? Identify them with this handy tool.
  7. The Writer’s Diet – Is your writing flabby or lean? This simple, automated feedback tool provides a quick look at some of the sentence-level grammatical issues which weigh writing down.

My top 3 Paid Editing Tools 

  1. Grammarly – Enhances clarity and meaning, identifies most writing errors, vocabulary enhancer, contextual spelling checker, and offers a Safari extension. A little pricey for the premium plan @ $139.95/yr. – a monthly and quarterly plan is also available ranging from 29.95/mo. – $59.95/quarterly.
  2. Ginger – Basic- $ 61.20/yr. – Offers a browser extension, unlimited grammar checker, translations, and definitions. An upgrade to $111/yr. will give you sentence rephrasing, analysis of mistakes, text reader and more. The software is available on a month-to-month basis ranging from $8.30 -$14.60/month.
  3. AutoCrit – An online manuscript editing tool specifically for fiction writers. Ranging from $60 – $144/yr. This tool provides analysis in 25 areas in your work, highlights key elements, fiction style errors, repetition, pacing, word choice, and a comparison of your manuscript to published fiction.

There you have it, my favorite editing tools. Although it will never replace a good set of eyes, any one of these will make the process of editing easier, faster, and smoother.

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. You can find me on Facebook at SheilaMGood,  Pinterest,  Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.

Dictionaries for the Writer

/ Sheila McIntrye Good, Author / 28 Comments

Day 4: 

Wikipedia.org

Don’t you hate it when the word you want to write escapes you? There’ve been times I’ve stared at my computer screen repeatedly saying the word aloud as if it would magically appear.

That sort of magic rarely happens, so I’ve collected a number of dictionaries at my disposal, and they have proven to be life savers.

My Top 20 Dictionaries for Writers:

  1. Merriam-Webster
  2. Your Dictionary
  3. The Dialect Dictionary
  4. Written Sound
  5. Urban Dictionary
  6. Net lingo
  7. Word Hippo
  8. Visual Words
  9. Idioms and Phrases Free Dictionary
  10. Words to Use
  11. Grammar Definitions
  12. Literature Glossary
  13. Glossary of Books
  14. Wordnik
  15. Cliché Finder
  16. Grimace Project.net
  17. Southernisms
  18. Nonverbal Dictionary
  19. 100 Words for Facial Expressions
  20. One Look Dictionary

Do you have a favorite dictionary you use? Feel free to add to my list and pass it on.

I’d love to hear your comments. Talk to me. Tell me your story. You can find me on Facebook at SheilaMGood,  Pinterest,  Bloglovin, Twitter@sheilagood, and Contently.