Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Part 6: Hyphens in Compound Adjectives

Compound Adjectives before Nouns

If punctuation is a guide to help your reader understand more quickly and easily, then hyphens can be very useful signposts.  One of the most important and overlooked functions of the hyphen is to warn the reader, "Hey, I'm a compound adjective!"  Unfamiliar with the terminology?  It doesn't matter.  Your readers' brains are familiar with the reality.

Take this classic example: 

Hyphens, just like commas, can decide who lives and who dies.

Hyphens in Compound Adjectives

A compound adjective is two words that function as one word to modify a noun.  In "man-eating alligator," man and eating work together as one unit.  It's not a man alligator and an eating alligator.  It's a man-eating alligator.

Rule:  If a compound adjective comes before a noun, you can (and often should) hyphenate it. 

A thin-bladed knife

A 30-mile race

A nervous-looking boy

A leather-bound book

Bird-like legs

A well-known politician

Exception : If the compound adjective uses an adverb ending in –ly, don't hyphenate. This is because the –ly already alerts the reader that this will be a compound adjective.

A badly cooked steak

A wildly painted car

A quickly written memo

Note:  Some people prefer to leave out the hyphen if the meaning is clear without, but that can be dangerous.  The meaning is obvious to you, since you wrote it.  The reader doesn't have the same advantage.  So be careful if you decide to omit these hyphens.  And always be on the lookout for situations where the lack of hyphen can completely change the meaning, as in the examples below.

Hyphens Clear up Ambiguity

From Grammar Monkeys:

Small-state senator (a senator from a small state)

Small state senator (a state senator who is short and thin)

A violent weather conference (a weather conference where people punch each other a lot)

A violent-weather conference (where meteorologists professionally discuss violent weather)

A hot yoga teacher (an attractive yoga teacher)

A hot-yoga teacher (one who teaches yoga in a purposely hot environment, as in the style of Bikram yoga)

From Grammarbook.com (a great resource)

I have a few more important things to do. (A few more tasks remain on my list of important things to do)

I have a few more-important things to do. (I can't do what you suggest because I have tasks that are more important.)

He returned the stolen vehicle report. (At first, most of us will think he returned the vehicle he stole.  Then we come to "report" and we're confused.)

He returned the stolen-vehicle report. (Here it's clear that what he's returning is a report about a stolen vehicle.  The vehicle is probably still missing.)

From Apastyle.org

Students who live in two parent homes (students who split their time between two homes where parents also live)

Students who live in two-parent homes (students who live in a home with both parents)

From Wikipedia:

Zero-liability protection (you are not responsible in any way if something bad happens)

Zero liability protection (you have no zero protection if something bad happens)

Examples I've come across lately in reading:

Hard sell tactics (selling tactics which are difficult to perform)

Hard-sell tactics (aggressive selling tactics which perhaps play on the fears of the potential buyer)

A long deserted chamber (a long—perhaps narrow—chamber that happens to be deserted at the moment)

A long-deserted chamber (a chamber that has been deserted for a long time)

Hyphens Make Reading Smoother

Here are some other examples that aren't so ambiguous but that will still often trip up the reader for a moment if you leave out the hyphen.  Making your reader stop to think and re-read is something you should reserve for clever plot twists, elegant and thought-provoking lines, or intriguing ideas.  Don't make them stop and re-read because of lacking punctuation. 

Steel-plated boots

Custom-made device

Death-dealing steel

Decent-sized vessel

Grey-haired man

Sword-shaped hole

North-facing terrace

Cream-colored stones

Dirt-eating scum

Fire-lit faces

Remember that if you want to wrap your reader in your characters' world, you need to provide as few pointless distractions as possible.  And unclear punctuation is one of the biggest culprits in the world of pointless distraction.

For more in this series:

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 1:  Commas Save Lives; the Vocative Comma

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 2:  Commas and Periods in Dialogue
Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 3:  Commas with Participial Phrases

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 4:  The Mysterious Case of the Missing Question Mark

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 5:  Adjectives with Commas

Melinda Brasher currently teaches English as a second language in the beautiful Czech Republic.  She loves the sound of glaciers calving and the smell of old books.  Her travel articles and short fiction appear in Go Nomad, International Living, Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  For something a little more medieval, read her YA fantasy novel, Far-Knowing. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

Marketing Preps You Should Do While You Write Your Book

Guest post by Karina Fabian

It’s a fact of an author’s life that they will have to promote their book – book tours, extra materials for blogs and social media, and angles they or their publicists can exploit. Often, however, writers treat the writing and the marketing as two separate phases. I’ve done this myself, and the result is time lost going back over the book mining for pull quotes, reviewing endless emails and notes for the tidbits that make good interviews, or struggling to remember who helped with what scene.

I’ve learned the hard way, but after 11 books, I’ve found there are some things you can do while writing and editing the book to make the marketing of the book easier once published:

1.    Have one copy with all your commentary: Who gave you the idea? What links did you go to for research? Was there a scene you cut you can use as an extra? How did you come up with this scene?  This will help you immensely when doing your acknowledgements page and for interviews, etc. Use the Comments function of your word processor or stuff it into the appendix.

2.    When you’re in the final editing stage, copy and paste one-liners that might make good Tweets or Facebook posts.  Tweets need to be about 100 characters so you have room for the link of the book later. Put these in a file. I aim for 30 so I can post one a day for a month.

3.    Pick out three short scenes and three long scenes that will make good excerpts.  Pick a couple that will make good read-alouds.

4.    If you do an online book tour, people will want you to guest post, often about something to do with the writing of the book. When you have 15 blog posts to write in a couple of weeks, it can get hard to come up with ideas. Therefore, if something about what you’re writing at that moment strikes you, make a note, write a short paragraph, or do an outline and save it in a promotions file. Some examples: special research, a sudden insight that fed a scene – or insight about a scene that impacted you personally - something new you learned or tried while writing. Keep these in your annotated file or put them in a separate document.

5.    Jot down the answers to these questions because they will be asked during tours. Yes, do it now, because it may be a year or more before the book is published, and you will hopefully have written more books as well. Things get blurry and jumbled in the memory.

* What was the best part of writing this?
* What was the worst?
* Did you have any issues you had to research or rewrite?
* Did you learn anything new?
* Did anything/any character surprise you?
* Any funny stories associated with writing this book?
* Any lessons learned?

Marketing is never an easy thing, but it can be fun. We had a good time prepping for the I Left My Brains in San Francisco audiobook tour. It was easier because I already had a lot of materials prepared. I hope these tips can make your marketing experiences more enjoyable as well.

Be sure to check out Karina's Zombie series:

Zombie problem? Call Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator--but not this weekend.

On vacation at an exterminator’s convention, she's looking to relax, have fun, and enjoy a little romance. Too bad the zombies have a different idea. When they rise from their watery graves to take over the City by the Bay, it looks like it'll be a working vacation after all.

Enjoy the thrill of re-kill with Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator.

HERE'S AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK

"Hi! Welcome to Zomblog!  It's ‘Time to Re-kill!’  This is Kelsey Gardenberger, and we are reporting to you live from Fisherman's Wharf, where zombie exterminators Rii and Hi Lee of Bay
Exterminations have been called in to take out a zombie."

Police held back spectators who had cell phones to film the event.  On the ground lay a man in a black-and-white striped shirt, black pants with suspenders and gold makeup on his rotting skin.  He pounded on the air with imaginary fists, and then felt along imaginary walls with his hands.  Where he should have had fingers, only mangled skin and bare bones showed. Rii and Hi, both in protective gear, watched the prone figure and spoke among themselves.  The zombie continued his act unconcerned, except to pause now and again and make drinking motions before pointing to the top hat waiting beside him.

"It looks like Rii Lee and Hi Lee have decided on their strategy.  Despite the fact that the zombie appears so docile, it could turn violent at the slightest provocation--and if you don't believe me, check out 'Don't wave that thing at me!' on the Zomblog archives.  They're starting!"

While Rii stood by with a power blaster of anti-zombie foam, Hi ambled up to the prone zombie, sword relaxed but ready in his left hand.  He watched the undead mime its struggle against the imaginary coffin, nodded appreciatively, and tossed a twenty into the hat.  The Wasted Mime started clawing with fervor, dug himself up, and brushed himself off.

Some of the crowd in the front stepped back.

It picked up the hat, checked the money.

The crowd took in a breath.

It faced Hi.

Hi bowed.

The crowd gasped.  Cameras flashed.

The zombie bowed back, deeply and theatrically.

Hi lashed out with his sword, its blade cutting deeply and theatrically into the zombie's neck.

The re-killed corpse folded over.

The crowd broke into wild cheers.

Kelsey smiled big for the camera.  "And there you have it!  Looks like a mime isn't such a terrible thing to waste after all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Winner of the Global eBook Award for Best Horror (Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator), Karina Fabian’s writing takes quirky tales that keep her--and her fans--amused. Zombie exterminators to snarky dragons, things get a little silly in her brain. When she’s not pretending to be an insane psychic or a politically correct corpsicle for a story, she writes product reviews for TopTenReviews.com and takes care of her husband, four kids and two dogs. Mrs. Fabian teaches writing and book marketing seminars online.

Find Karina at:

Website: http://fabianspace.com  http://zombiedeathextreme.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karina.fabian

Find I Left My Brains in San Francisco at:

Damnation Books: http://www.damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615727643

Amazon: http://amzn.to/Nzm01L (paper) http://amzn.to/OBBmkL (Kindle)

More about it at http://zombiedeathextreme.com 

Video Link

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BjqTWdkTR0

CHECK OUT THE AUDIO OF "I Left My Brains in San Francisco!" You can find it here: http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/I-Left-My-Brains-in-San-Francisco-Audiobook/B016CF3U80/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1444796217&sr=1-2

~~~~~
Want to write and publish your own book? Check out:

Shaun the Sheep and Marketing with Animation

By Karen Cioffi

I’ve watched silent movies before. And, a couple of the ‘oldie’ cartoons (e.g., Tom and Jerry) that had no talking. But, I would never have thought a full length movie for kids would work in today’s dwindling attention span society.

Well, I was wrong.

Shaun the Sheep has NO talking. No captions either.

The entire 1 hour and 25 minute cartoon movie conveyed the-grass-is-greener concept, conflict, obstacles, heroism, loyalty, and emotions. And, it did it all through actions, through animation.

I took my grandsons to the movie and the theater had lots of other grandparents with their grandchildren. Every child was captivated, the adults too. In fact, you forgot there were no words – no dialogue.

My 9 year old grandson who has ADD paid attention through the entire movie – and, he didn’t want to go in the first place, thinking it was a baby movie.

I was amazed, not only that it held his attention, but it help my attention. Me, who is always thinking of what I have to do next.

Quite an accomplishment.

This is the power of animation.

And, just imagine if an hour and a half animated movie can hold children’s attention, think how it will hold your readers’ and visitors’ attention on your website in short focused clips.

But, aside from my own viewpoints of Shaun the Sheep, there is research that backs up animation’s benefit in content marketing and inbound marketing.

Some Statistics

According to TippingpointLabs.com

• People are 64% - 85% more likely to purchase your product or service after watching an animation/video – that’s a significant boost to your conversions.
• Visit lengths are another factor that gets a boost. Visitors will stay on your site at least two minutes longer with animation/video.
• And, there’s the power of YouTube. You're 53x more likely to get on Google's first-page for search results by embedding video on your site. (1)

Along with this, Shooting Business states that, “Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL are among the hundreds of Search Engines that give priority listings to websites that host video content.” (2) Taking advantage of tags, descriptions, and any other kind of SEO strategies allowed when publishing the video is another avenue of search visibility.

If this isn’t enough incentive to jump on the animation bandwagon, think about the social media marketing aspect. Sharing and clickthrough rates are increased significantly with video.

Animated videos can be humorous, serious, emotional, and educational.

Using animation in your marketing, specifically your content marketing, is a win-win strategy that you should be taking advantage of.

For the icing on the cake, according to Hubspot:

• Ninety percent of the information the brain receives is visual.
• The brain processes visual information 60,000 faster than text.
• Videos in posts get 3X the inbound links than posts with only text.
• Animation (visual content) increases engagement. (3)

If you’d like to try your hand at a free animation tool, go to PowToon.com and click on the FREE option. (I’m NOT an affiliate, I just think it’s a great marketing tool.)

If you’d like to get one done without the headache of creating it yourself, check out AWD’s Animation Service.

References:

(1) http://www.slideshare.net/tpldrew/steal-this-slide-ecommerce-video-conversion-rates-statistics
(2) http://www.shootingbusiness.com/web-video-statistics/
(3) http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33423/19-Reasons-You-Should-Include-Visual-Content-in-Your-Marketing-Data.aspx



MORE ON WRITING AND MARKETING

Case Study – Failed Star-Studded Book Promotion

What is Social Media Proof? Is It Important? How Do You Get It?

26 Reasons a Writer Should Blog





This article was originally published at:
http://www.articlewritingdoctor.com/2015/08/shaun-the-sheep-and-marketing-with-animation/ #ContentMarketing

Presenting: A Title that Sells, Part 2

What do potential book buyers look at first? Your title. A jewel of information thanks to research done at Thomas Nelson Publishers and shared by Michael Hyatt, former chairman and CEO. The research yielded a list, in order, of how a book is chosen. I can vouch for the list's authenticity. It's exactly how I choose books. See if you don't agree:
1. Title
2. Cover
3. Back cover
4. Flaps (hardcover books or trade books with "French flaps")
5. Table of Contents
6. First few paragraphs of book's contents
7. Price
Note: If the author is well-known, that might be the deciding factor. (Unknown authors are a "non-factor.) Price, last? Intriguing, but true. Hyatt says, "Readers don't buy price. As long as the book provides enough value for the price requested, it sells."

In the PINC
Hyatt, referring to non-fiction books and blog posts, went on to say: GREAT TITLES ARE PINC (pronounced "pink.") Great non-fiction titles follow at least one of the following strategies:

                                                                            Examples

P: Make a Promise       Sexy Forever: How to Fight Fat after Forty, by Suzanne Somers
I: Create Intrigue          The 7 Wonders that will Change your Life, by Glenn Beck & Keith Ablow
N: Identify a Need         How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One, by Stanley Fish
C: State the Content      Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1, by Mark Twain & Harriet E. Smith

Hyatt notes that some (many) titles cover more than one letter. And that fiction titles are in their own category--Intrigue--true for virtually all fiction books that sell.

Titles that Sell: Two Excellent Resources

1. Emma Walton Hamilton's post: "What's in a Title?". Hamilton, whose post focuses on fiction, suggests making your title:

• Specific to your book, not general (Pat the Bunny, Blueberries for Sal)
• Implies what the story is about (The Pokey Little Puppy, Goodnight Moon)
• Catchy, such as a play with language, using alliterations, rhyme or rhythm, or having a sense of humor (Liza Lou and the Yeller Belly Swamp, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)
• The shorter the better (Little Toot, Freckle Juice)
• Appropriate to the story (Make Way for Ducklings, Curious George)
• Memorable (The Little Engine that Could, The Call of the Wild)

In short, come up with a title that encompasses all of the above and your title will not easily be forgotten. Summarized here are a few of Hamilton's suggestions on how to explore your title:

• A memorable line from the story (A Wrinkle in Time, Little House)
• Character names (Peter Rabbit, Corduroy)
• A place (Little House on the Prairie, Misty of Chincoteague)
• A hidden meaning (revealed in the story) (The Carrot Seed, Where the Wild Things Are)
• Something ultra-simple (Holes, Where's Spot?)

2. Tips from Writer's Relief: "How to Come up with a Great Title for your Book (or Story

     or Poem)"

• Action words: Titles with strong verbs (Call it Courage, The Cat Ate my Gymsuit)
• Quirky titles (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)
• One-word titles (Severed, Hatchet)
• Inherent mystery/conflict (Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, Prisoners at the Kitchen Table)

Sources: For a more complete study of creating titles that sell, I recommend that you read the entire articles summarized in "Presenting: Titles that Sell, Part 1" and Part 2. An additional site to explore is the Book Title Name Generator. For help in creating your book title, Lulu.com offers Marketing Consultation with Lulu's publicity team. Clipart from: www.mycutegraphics.com.

Linda Wilson, a former elementary teacher and ICL graduate, has published over 100 articles for adults and children and six short stories for children. Recently she completed Joyce Sweeney's online fiction and picture book courses. She is currently working on several projects for children. Follow Linda on  Facebook.

Aromatherapy To Help You Write

The Northeast is gearing up for a spectacular show of rich, autumn colors. The morning chill, picking fresh apples, and the wonderful earthy smell of fallen leaves gives me the second wind I need to finish my writing goals for this year. Autumn energizes me!

©kathymoulton

Writers are observant and very in tune to their surroundings - positively and negatively. Sights, sounds, and smells spark creativity and find expression in the written word. But sometimes, we have to create an environment to spur us on.

One valuable tip that has worked for me is aromatherapy. Essential oils are extracted from the roots, seeds, leaves, or blossoms of plants. While I have not delved into all their uses, I have been pleased with using them for their aroma.

According to the article "9 Aromatherapy Health Cures" (Sarah Mahoney, Prevention Magazine, December 2012):

In a study at Wheeling Jesuit University, peppermint vapors gave college basketball players more motivation, energy, speed, and confidence.  

Additionally:

In an Austrian study, researchers wafted the smell of oranges before some participants and lavender before others. The two groups felt less anxious, more positive, and calmer, compared with participants who were exposed to no fragrance at all.

 S I G U R / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

There is lots of information on the internet about aromatherapy and what scents produce. Here are a few I've used:

• lavender - calming and relaxing
• citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruit) - energizes, promotes alertness and concentration
• peppermint - invigorating, energy booster
• eucalyptus - mental exhaustion, lethargy, stress 
• tea tree - stimulates the brain and provides blood flow
• rosemary - headaches, fatigue, tired eyes, focus, memory
• basil - wakes up the mind

Are you feeling stressed with deadlines? Do you need some fresh energy or soothing tranquility? Try aromatherapy. A diffuser on your desk or in your living space may help give you the boost you need!

Re-blogged from September 27, 2013

~~~~~~~~~~

After raising and homeschooling her 8 children and teaching art classes for 10 years, Kathy has found time to pursue freelance writing. She enjoys writing magazine articles and more recently had her story, "One of a Kind", published in The Kids' Ark. You can find her passion to bring encouragement and hope to people of all ages at 

When It Hurts - http://kathleenmoulton.com

The Energy of Busy

clip art by Holohololand at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Nothing like doing more to cheer yourself up when you're feeling overwhelmed :-)

The writing blues hit us all at some time--usually after a spurt of great energy leaves us exhausted. Banish them by learning a new skill, trying something different.

Write non fiction if you find yourself stuck with a novel. Alternatively write fiction if you're finding it hard to get enthused over your usual content writing tasks.

Bite the bullet and start using the PLR (private label rights) articles you bought for a rainy day. It's never advisable to use them as is, but they act as a plan to follow and get you going again.

Treat yourself to a new piece of software.

Worn out trying to think up titles for your blog posts? Make life easier by using the Ideator .
You type in your desired keyword and the search produces a selection of titles using that word.
For this blog post, I typed in energy and in double quick time the Ideator produced  25 pages of suggested content titles. I'd never in a month of Sundays have thought up The Energy of Busy  myself but I think it's exactly right for what I want to say. Oh and I forgot to say--it's free.

And how about Keyword Kiwi? Again free, it finds long tail keywords based on what people are searching for on Google. You can set it for Google in any area, set it to produce questions or list titles.

Read and learn

My book of the month has to be Danny Iny's Teach and Grow Rich. It's short but packed with information about the state of marketing and publishing today. It is already at the top of the best sellers for business education on Amazon.com . But be sure to read the one star as well as the five star reviews to make up your own mind first before you buy. It resonated with me. He's not promising "rich" in the sense of making millions before Christmas but in the sense of making a comfortable living while having a happy and fulfilling career. That's good news for a start. 

Joanna Penn's How to Make a Living With Your Writing: Books, Blogging and More is a much longer read, packed full of useful links and information. It seems still to be free in the Kindle store and worth grabbing if you don't have it already.

   What have you found to boost your energy and re-inspire you this month? I'd love to know. Share your ideas, please, in the comments below.

Anne Duguid Knol

A local and national journalist in the U.K., Anne is now a fiction editor for award-winning American and Canadian publishers. As a new author, she shares writing tips and insights at Author Support : http://www.authorsupport.net

Her Halloween novella, ShriekWeek is published by The Wild Rose Press and comes out in print next month included in the Hauntings in the Garden anthology. (Volume Two)

Time she wrote something else...

How to Starve Your Inner Critic

For most writers, the inner critic is a challenge to be controlled. Here are some tips to getting the inner critic monkey off your back so you can get back to writing.

1. Don't feed your inner critic. Your inner critic is fed by self doubt. The first step to gaining control of your inner critic is gaining self confidence. How? Focus on that which you are doing well. Keep track of word count, or keep track of grammar lessons that are learned. Anything that shows you are improving your skills, can stop the inner critic.

2. Don't buy into what others have said: Do not let the fact that your third grade teacher didn't think you could write continue to be a factor that keeps you from writing your novel, poem or song lyric. No matter how well meaning family and friends are in keeping it 'real,' keep your focus on what you can and will accomplish.

3. Prove your inner critic wrong: Your inner critic says you can't write, so write 25 words and prove the critic wrong. To prove your inner critic is wrong, take small steps and gradually increase. This is a great way to keep the critic in check until you can completely do away with him.

4. Believe in yourself: Affirmations are a great way to keep focus on the positive.
          I am a talented writer.
          I have a right to be a writer.
          My writing is appreciated.
          My writing has the ability to bless others.
          I am capable.

If affirmations aren't your thing, then find a quote, object or thought that can be used to keep you moving forward.

5. Finally, don't give your inner critic power: You actually choose to listen to the words of your inner critic. So stop! Take back control and tell your inner critic to stop the talking.

Whatever tips or combination of tips work, keep writing. Eventually the critic will starve and no longer bother you at all.

___________________________________

D. Jean Quarles is a writer of Women's Fiction and a co-author of a Young Adult Science Fiction Series. Her latest book, House of Glass, Book 2 of The Exodus Serieswas written with coauthor, Austine Etcheverry.

D. Jean loves to tell stories of personal growth – where success has nothing to do with money or fame, but of living life to the fullest. She is also the author of the novels: Rocky's Mountains, Fire in the Hole, and Perception.The Mermaid, an award winning short story was published in the anthology, Tales from a Sweltering City.

She is a wife, mother, grandmother and business coach. In her free time . . . ha! ha! ha! Anyway, you can find more about D. Jean Quarles, her writing and her books at her website at www.djeanquarles.com

You can also follower her at www.djeanquarles.blogspot.com or on Facebook.

A Few Tips for Writing Nonfiction Articles

by Suzanne Lieurance, the Working Writer's Coach

Writing nonfiction articles can be a lot of fun and an excellent way to earn income as a freelance writer. But whether you’re writing a nonfiction article for a major magazine or an article that will become a blog post, follow these tips to create a well-written article.

Tip #1 Create a Clear Title for Your Article

A catchy title is good but be sure it accurately conveys what you article will be about. If it is misleading, your editor or your readers won’t be impressed.

Tip #2 Start with an Introductory Paragraph, Not a Subtopic Heading

Be sure you have an introductory paragraph before you have your first subtopic heading. You don’t want to start your article with a catchy title, then immediately have a subtopic heading. This doesn't really make sense.

Tip #3 Make Sure Your Title Reflects the Structure of Your Article

Be sure your title and the content of the article match up. For example, if your title is “Ten Ways to Take Charge of Your Life” and then within the article you tell readers to “follow these ten steps to take charge of your life” the title and content don’t match up. A "way" isn’t necessarily a “step.” Plus, steps generally need to be taken in order, but ways might not.

Tip #4 Use the Right Words

Be sure you’re using the right word. I see articles all the time that say “peek your Interest” or “peak your interest” but the right word in this case is “pique” your interest.

Tip #5 Count the Steps or Ways in Your Article

I edit articles for www.workingwritersclub.com and I often get submissions with titles like “5 Ways to Write an Article” but when I read the article, there are 6 ways listed or only 4 ways. Again, the title and content need to match up. It’s easy for your computer to mess up the numbering so check your article for this type of thing before you send it off to your editor or publish it on your blog.

Tip #6 Check for Parallel Structure in Your Bulleted or List Items

Look at this list and see which item isn’t parallel in structure to all the others:

Catching
Watching
Looking
Create

All the words, above, end in -ing, except for "create." This is an easy fix. Simply change "create" to "creating" and each of your items is parallel in structure.

Tip #7 Avoid Mixing Metaphors

Don’t switch metaphors from sentence to sentence. If you’re talking about how “writing is an ocean of possibilities” don’t then say, in the next sentence, “there are all sorts of ways to bring home the bacon if you’re a writer.“

These tips are pretty basic, but you might use them as a checklist when you're writing your next nonfiction article.

Try it!

Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, writing coach, certified life coach, and the author of over 30 published books. For more tips, resources, and other helpful information about writing and the business of writing, get your free subscription to The Morning Nudge at www.morningnudge.com.

September Blogging Prompts

Whether or not you are in school or have kids in school, there is something about autumn that makes people want to regroup and get a fresh start on any and all projects. Much like the beginning of the calendar year, September feels like a clean slate. So offer tips to encourage productivity and help your readers re-approach their writing projects. 

Here are some other ideas of what to blog about in September.

Plus:

September Holidays: September is National Courtesy Month, Self Improvement Month and Classical Music Month. September 13 is Positive Thinking Day (challenge you readers to think positive all day long), September September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day (you've probably seen goofy promotions on social media. Be creative and see if there's a way to tie it into your business), and September 28 is Ask a Stupid Question Day (no question is too stupid. Ask questions of your readers and encourage them to ask them of others).

September Food Holidays: September is National Breakfast Month, National Waffle Week is the second week of the month, and National Pancake Day is September 26. Plus, Drink Beer Day is September 28 and National Coffee Day is September 29. Love it! Writers can relate to all things food and drink, but there's something about coffee and alcohol (and the fact that they are a day apart) may inspire some creative posts..

Bonus: Fiction writers, send your characters to school. If they are the right age, send them to a new school and see how they interact with their classmates. If not, send a character to teach for the day (substitute!) or have a character take or teach a continuing education class or workshop. Another option is to send them back to school. Put a character in as much of a fish out of water scenario as you can concoct and see how they handle it. It may lead to creative scenes you can incorporate into current work or just be a character-building (pun intended) exercise to see how much your characters can handle.

***

Debra Eckerling is the author of Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. She's a writer, editor and project catalyst, as well as founder of Guided Goals and Write On Online, a live and online writers’ support group. She is an editor at Social Media Examiner. Debra is also a speaker/moderator on the subjects of writing, networking, goal-setting, and social media.

Case Study: Failed Star-Studded Book Promotion

A Case Study: Determining What Went Wrong to Get the Future Right
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a case study from the last decade that still holds some lessons for writers today.

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter

Once upon a time, way back in the last decade, author and researcher Sylvia Ann Hewlett's publicity predicament illustrated to the world of books what we authors suspected all along: Huge amounts of publicity surrounding a release don't necessarily translate into massive sales figures.  In fact, the result of a major publicity coup could turn out to be the most bitter dose of rejection we ever encounter. That may be true even when the publicity is the stuff of which dreams are made-in Surround Sound and Technicolor.

It is reported (variably) that Hewlett’s Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children sold between 8,000 and 10,000 copies. Many authors would be ecstatic with sales figures that look like that but everything is relative. Talk Miramax paid a six-figure advance for this title and projected sales in the 30,000 range for hardcover alone. Considering expectations for the book, the figures do appear dismal.

Therefore, smart people in the publishing industry searched for reasons for its less than stellar performance, especially with the kind of publicity this book received and I mean biggies like Time magazine (the cover, no less),"New York" magazines, "60 Minutes," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," and "NBC Nightly News" lined up behind this book, for heaven's sake. Even Oprah's magic book-sale-wand was not effective.

Hewlett’s book made great news! It warned young career women that they have been mislead by petri dish miracles reported in the press. She pointed out that women have come to believe that they can put conception after career and be reasonably sure they can have still have both. She attempts to exorcise that notion in Quest.

So, just what did go wrong?

The title is not scintillating, many said, nor is its cover. Those in the know wondered if that influenced book sales. But that’s a huge burden to put on bookcover or title choice under the circumstances.

My 37 year-old-daughter who had just returned to college to embark on a career in anthropology suggested that women don't want to hear the dreadful news. She says, "I just flat out don't want to hear this bad news in the middle of something rewarding, exciting and new! Why would I slap down the price of a book to get depressed?" Another unmarried friend who is also caring for an aging mother said, “I wouldn’t buy it. What am I supposed to do with that kind of information once I have it?”

All this searching for answers may reap results, may help publicists and publishers and authors determine cause and effect so that this syndrome can be avoided in the future-or not.

I figure that all this soul-searching and hullabaloo is misdirected. As an example, the media that chose to feature my novel may not have been as stellar, the publisher not as dazzling, the expectations not as astounding. But when I spend a half hour being interviewed by a host syndicated on more than 300 radio stations and do not see the figures on Amazon rise even an iota the next day, I get this inkling that it is not all that unusual for a book to languish in spite of the tumult that surrounds it.

When my novel won its third award or was honored by my publisher for sales and I still did not see evidence of my title on the LA Times bestseller list, I have to assume that sales are not necessarily affected by such news. The rejection feels every bit as tangible as a polite “Not Quite Right for Us” message.

Of course, my book is a novel and Hewlett's is nonfiction. That alone could account for a discrepancy between what results in sales and what doesn't.  This kind of convoluted reasoning allows me to sit back on my laurels and say, "That's the way the ball bounces." This kind of examination is no more fruitful that those exercised by Hewlett’s publisher and publicists.

Even Hewlett says, "I don't know what to make of this absence of huge sales." One can see her shaking her head in disbelief. If someone with her research skills can't figure it out, can anyone? It may be the economy, stupid. Or retailing. Or the book biz. It's surely something completely out of the author's control unless someone had thought to run the idea by a focus group of career women the age of the book’s expected audience.

But there are more lessons to be had. I think the most valuable lesson that can be learned with this kind of rejection—any kind, really—is that it is not personal, and that it does pay to search for the lesson. For me the lesson is that I must keep the faith. I must keep writing and keep publicizing, because if I don't, I’ll never know if I gave my book—or my career—the best possible chance at success. If I don't see direct or immediate results and my faith should slip just a tad, I don't have to feel too bad. Thanks to Sylvia Ann Hewlett.
-----

This Is the Place was published. It is my first novel and the one that taught me a whole lot about book marketing as opposed to general marketing. It is now out of print and only available using Amazon’s new and used feature. There are at least two more lessons in this latter day situation: 1. Because of the Internet and online bookstores, books can stay alive much longer than they once did. 2. Authors who are more interested in readership than selling books will find it easier to persist through the ups and downs of publishing and eventually build a writing career. Find my HowToDoItFrugally series of how-to books for writers at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Part 5: Adjectives and Commas

Image by Peter Arkle

I'm back with more punctuation tips!

Commas between two adjectives

When you have two adjectives in a row, sometimes you put a comma between and sometimes you don't. The fancy grammar explanation has to do with whether the adjectives are coordinate or non-coordinate, and their underlying semantic categories, but you don't really need to know all that. All you need is the rule of thumb.

Rule of Thumb:

If you can REVERSE the two words or put AND between them, and it still sounds okay, you need the comma (to show that the adjectives are equal).

If you can't reverse or put AND, you shouldn't put a comma.

Example 1:

The slippery, slimy frog (good)

The slimy, slippery frog (good)

The slippery and slimy frog (good)

You need a comma between

Example 2;

The big foreign car (good)

The foreign big car (sounds weird and unnatural)

The big and foreign car (sounds a little weird)

Don't put a comma

NOTE: If you've done the tests and it's still not clear (maybe one test sounds a little awkward, but not totally wrong), it can probably go either way, depending on what you want to emphasize. Just make the call and then don't worry too much about it.

Practice

For each sentence, insert or delete commas between adjectives as necessary.

1) I hated the stupid iron bars on the windows.

2) She worked twelve hours a day in a cold wet cave.

3) He sang to his laughing, gurgling baby.

4) They ate delicious, ham sandwiches in a bright airy diner.

5) The sleek, silk dress must have cost a fortune.

6) The fluffy purring kitten softened his hard unyielding heart.

7) We suffered through the long boring meeting.

8) They all understood the complicated, geometry problem.

9) No one wanted the old, beat-up, lawn chair.

10) Samantha's wide, happy smile shone like the warm summer sun.

Practice ANSWERS (Highlight everything from here to "End Practice Answers" to reveal them.)

1) I hated the stupid iron bars on the windows. (Correct as is)

2) She worked twelve hours a day in a cold, wet cave.

3) He sang to his laughing, gurgling baby. (Correct as is)

4) They ate delicious ham sandwiches in a bright, airy diner.

5) The sleek silk dress must have cost a fortune. (This one's a little iffy, but probably you don't want a comma because "silk dress" is one unit.  If you think "dress" is independent, and "sleek" and "silk" modify it equally, you can put the comma.  If it were "silky," you'd surely put a comma)

6) The fluffy, purring kitten softened his hard, unyielding heart.

7) We suffered through the long, boring meeting.

8) They all understood the complicated geometry problem.

9) No one wanted the old, beat-up lawn chair. (the comma between "old" and "beat-up" is correct, but you can't reverse "beat-up" and "lawn" (The lawn, beat-up chair), so you don't need a comma there.

10) Samantha's wide, happy smile shone like the warm summer sun. (Correct as is)
End Practice Answers
Any you disagree with?  Let me know below.  Because we all know punctuation can be slippery.


For more:  

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 1:  Commas Save Lives; the Vocative Comma

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 2:  Commas and Periods in Dialogue
Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 3:  Commas with Participial Phrases

Avoiding Common Punctuation Errors Pt 4:  The Mysterious Case of the Missing Question Mark

Melinda Brasher currently teaches English as a second language in the beautiful Czech Republic.  She loves the sound of glaciers calving and the smell of old books.  Her travel articles and short fiction appear in Go Nomad, International Living, Electric Spec, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and others.  For an e-book collection of some of her favorite published pieces, check out Leaving Home.  For something a little more medieval, read her YA fantasy novel, Far-Knowing. Visit her online at http://www.melindabrasher.com.

What is Social Media Proof? Is it Important? How Do You Get It?

Before social media networking, social proof came in the form of reviews, testimonials, recommendations, referrals, word-of-mouth, and so on. This form of ‘proof’ came through word-of-mouth or written. It wasn’t called social proof at the time.

Now, it’s all about social proof.

But what exactly is this new strategy?

According to TechCrunch, “Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something. It’s also known as informational social influence.” (1)

Wikipedia describes social proof as “a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.”

Pro-copywriter Colin Martin also weighs in on this subject. In a webinar I attended, he said, “The influence of your friends, family, and co-workers has greater effect on your buying decisions than the best advertising [. . .] People give more credence to ideas that are started by multiple sources.”

Why is It Important?

For one thing, social proof is recognition (acknowledgment) that other people and businesses value you, your business, and/or your services. It shows you have influence.

As an example of this phenomenon, marketing research shows that book reviews sell more books.

People perceive you and your brand as having authority based on what others are saying about you. This perception motivates consumer behavior. In other words, if Joe sees that Tom, Jessica, Amanda, and lots of others bought your program or software or product, he’ll be motivated to buy it himself.

It’s very similar to how search ranking works. The more people who visit your site and share your content, the more valuable the search engines will perceive you to be.

So, these numbers matter significantly. The higher your numbers the better your search engine ranking, traffic, authority, and conversion

It’s important to note that having social proof from influential people carries an even heavier weight.

In the realm of social media networking, this proof is more quantifiable than before. Now, we’re talking about hundreds and thousands weighing in on your influence through social networks.

Social Proof and Numbers

How many Twitter followers do you have? How many Tweets, Favorites, and Retweets do you average? Are you on any ‘social proof’ lists?

What about Google+ and Facebook? What about LinkedIn? What about YouTube?

How many blog post and social networks shares do you get? What about comments.

How many email subscribers do you have?

Again, these numbers matter. The higher the numbers the more influence you will be perceived as having.

How to Get Social Proof

There are a number of ways to garner the proof you need. Here are nine simple ways to get started:

• Guest blogging on influential sites
• Getting comments on your social media posts and your blog posts
• Provide case studies on your website and social media
• Provide case studies on how you helped clients move forward
• Be active on social media and promote engagement (activity)
• Show you're numbers (number of followers, number of shares, etc.)
• Show the good stuff (show any 'good' comments you get on your social media channels, show any 'good' lists your included in)
• Show off your LinkedIn recommendations
• Show actual testimonials and recommendations

Keep in mind that video testimonials are more powerful than any other kind of testimonial from clients. The reason is the visitor to your site can actually see a person. She’ll know it’s not a fake. This absolutely matters.

You can also create banners for your website’s home page showing your numbers. Add it to your header or your sidebar.

Colin Martin recommends:

• Use content share buttons that display the number of shares
• Use the WordPress Rotating Testimonial Widget for your website sidebar
• Use the WordPress Facebook Comments Plugin
• Get some YouTube testimonials up

There are other tools and strategies to use to get your social proof out there, but these should get you going in the right direction.

Below are a Couple of Examples of Other Social Proof

This shows my Top Skill on LinkedIn:

Here are a few Lists I was recently added to on Twitter:

This is social proof.

You an also use the stats from a blog post that got lots of views or a screenshot of 'good' social media engagement numbers. You get the idea. 

Do you have other strategies you use to get and display social proof?

References:
(1) http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/27/social-proof-why-people-like-to-follow-the-crowd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_proof 

MORE ON CONTENT MARKETING

SEO and Website Ranking – Inside Visit Lengths
26 Reasons a Writer Should Blog (Part 1)
Selling Your Book - 2 Steps Toward Success




This article was originally published at:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2015/03/what-is-social-media-proof-is-it.html


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