|
Training for Book Authors
|
|
|
Other Resources for Book Authors & Publishers
|
|
|
Please Support Our Advertisers
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creative Conjuring for Your Writing Team
Copyright (c) 2010-2023 Enzo F. Cesario
Let us suppose for a moment that you have made the decision to hire a permanent, in-house writing team as opposed to seeking out writers on a more per-contract basis. The advantages of this decision are numerous, of course — for one, you get to grow a team with a focus on your business so they grow more and more aware of it as time goes on, benefiting from long-term exposure to what you have them writing about.
However, now that you've got them, what's the best way to maximize their creativity? Having a dedicated writing staff is a fine thing, to be sure — but in order to get the most out of the investment, you need them to produce solid, creative and reliable content. It doesn't matter if they produce entire reams of articles if the material produced isn't worth reading.
This is something broadly known as a meta-concern. Meta means "alongside" or even "outside." A meta-concern is a matter that isn't immediately related to your primary purpose, but can have significant implications all the same. Time spent helping your writers be creative is time you aren't spending on direct branding efforts. However, it can pay off in solid support and respect for your brand in the long term. To that end, have a look at a handful of techniques that have been demonstrated to help spur productivity and creativity in your writers.
Let them Own the Project
Group brainstorming is creative asphyxiation. Yes, it will result in a quick sampling of several different ideas, but none of them will be particularly well developed. Creativity is an odd little thing. When it's highly personal, as in a project one or two people own to work on specifically, more effort gets invested into it out of a sense of pride and desire. When control (and therefore responsibility) of the matter is spread around, however, there's a sense of disconnect.
The latter comes as a result of two phenomena. First, there's the lack of privacy it causes. Some of the ideas creative types put forward are very personal, representing the best of their own minds. Exposing their best to others is intensely difficult at times, so a group setting can hinder them out of modesty or shame. Second is the shared laziness of a group. In short, when the work is spread around to many people, no one person pulls quite as hard on their share. The work will get done anyway, after all, so what's the point of putting forth more effort?
Instead of forcing intellectual exhibitionism through group sessions, share your particulars with small teams or, even better, with individuals if possible. Give them the parameters, ask them for their input and let them put their effort into the task. Let them own the project, and you will be more likely to get their best work.
Work Individually, Edit Collectively
Very few writers can edit or revise their own work. The best ones can, but there are few who couldn't benefit from a bit of critical advice from another source. When the article or project is done, hand it off to an editor not directly involved with it. Let them help refine what the team has put down. The creative portion being complete, this technical portion allows for more dispassionate, cooperative analysis that can really make a project shine.
Bring in New Blood
There are two ways to go about making sure your team stays fresh creatively, both along the lines of "new blood."
The first is exposure to new ideas. Your writing team is hopefully very widely read. People who study and read in more diverse circles are more likely to come up with the clever and creative ideas you most need from them. Part of this will come from reading their coworkers' projects in the editing process, but make sure they're spending part of their time reading materials and articles of many sorts, be they literary or factual.
The next is exposure to new people. Sometimes a writing team needs an outright boost from a new party. Even if you've hired your permanent, on-staff writing team, consider hiring the occasional project out to freelancers of a certain level of experience. This can have the effect of taking the workload off your standard workers, exposing them to new ideas or serving as an impromptu job interview.
Listen to Them
Writers are a notoriously picky lot. Yes, there is a benefit in making them stick to the grind and show some initiative, but there's also a great value to catering to some of their needs. Make sure to listen when a writer mentions a concern they have. Your input might make all the difference between an acceptable article and an outstanding one.
If you're going to go to the trouble of having a writing team on-staff, you have to make the effort to bring them into the staff proper. The rest of the team might not understand why some people are being paid to just tap keys, and you need to foster the relationship between them so that the crew knows these writers are giving them good press. Connect; listen, network and you'll have the team you need.
VOTE ON THIS ARTICLE
Needs Work >>
0 -
1 -
2 -
3 -
4 -
5
<< Excellent Article
Tell our authors what you think about their article.
|
Top-Level Category: Business Online Articles || Related Categories: Business Offline Articles and Writing and Speaking Articles
10 Most Recent Articles Written by Enzo F. Cesario
Leveraging the Social in Social Media
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-21 |
Word Count: 907 |
Page Views: 6186
| Votes: 7 |
Rating: 1.14
Social media marketing is about the conversation, not the
pitch. Having conversations with people is nice, but the
goal of a brand is ultimately to get people interested in
spending their time or money on the brand, after all. What
does having this conversation accomplish, and just how does
a brand use that conversation to get the critical conversion
from conversation to customers?
Blog Writing - Finding the Right Person
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-21 |
Word Count: 884 |
Page Views: 6705
| Votes: 5 |
Rating: 0.80
There are a host of articles and sites covering advice on
how to address various topics, but one area that doesn't
get a lot of attention is what "person" to write the blog
in. Each linguistic person has its own strengths and
weaknesses, depending on the message that needs to be
covered. Ultimately, most will simply write in whatever
person is most natural to them, but there is some merit in
taking a bit of time to think about the implications,
advantages and disadvantages of each.
That First Impression: Title Considerations
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-19 |
Word Count: 860 |
Page Views: 6101
| Votes: 5 |
Rating: 0.60
While it certainly isn't as much work as crafting the body
of a superior article, selecting a title for a piece is
definitely an important element of the entire process of
content creation. Here are some thoughts on crafting a
perfect title.
Dynamic Content: Using Analytics to Write Your Blog
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-16 |
Word Count: 873 |
Page Views: 6146
| Votes: 5 |
Rating: 0.60
The role of web analytics in setting useful metrics for a
site has been discussed in-depth in any number of places,
but this is far from the only useful function that web
analytic practices can offer. As in any field, a little
thinking outside the box can offer extensive rewards to the
creative researcher. Perhaps most usefully, creative
cultivation of web analytics can help conquer blogger's
block and help a good writer come up with some unique angles
for content they thought they had peaked out on.
Social Media Marketing Tools – Putting Your Finger on the Pulse of the Web
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-14 |
Word Count: 856 |
Page Views: 5868
| Votes: 5 |
Rating: 0.60
Social media marketing is the home of successful brand
promotion, and finding the right mix of tools to take
advantage of it has become the defining issue of the modern
brand. Knowing the focus of each of these tools and the best
way to use them is the key to bringing all this power under
control and using it to help promote a brand to its full
potential.
Trans-tangental: The Value of Off-topic Blogging Posts
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-12 |
Word Count: 863 |
Page Views: 6373
| Votes: 6 |
Rating: 0.33
Brand-oriented blogs by necessity have to focus on a
particular topic. People are coming to the blog because of
the brand, and they want content related to the brand in
most cases. However, there are many very good reasons to go
into off-topic posting as well. The trick is to balance the
needs of on-topic commentary with the occasional bit of
off-the-wall entertainment that brings some lively
discussion with it.
Press Preferences - Blogging Software Explained
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-08 |
Word Count: 881 |
Page Views: 5307
| Votes: 5 |
Rating: 0.40
Understanding a few of the more common blog creation
software programs can help any blogger make an informed
choice about their particular needs and get their message
out in the most efficient way. Here are a few of them.
Blog Writing - Ghostwriting Dos and Don'ts
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-06 |
Word Count: 879 |
Page Views: 6130
| Votes: 6 |
Rating: 0.83
There are still some misconceptions about ghostwriting that
pop up from time to time. To that end, it can be helpful to
clarify the nature of ghostwriting and how it relates to
creating a high-quality blog, particularly through examples
of some of the best and worst practices that can pop up when
employing a ghostwriter.
Beyond Expectations - Getting the Most out of Like and Share
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-09-02 |
Word Count: 860 |
Page Views: 5860
| Votes: 4 |
Rating: 0.25
What started as socialization programs only slightly more
complex than the average e-mail client has grown into one of
the newest and most promising marketing niches in the entire
world. Taking advantage of this means familiarizing oneself
with a few surprisingly simple concepts that have unusually
far-reaching implications. In particular, marketers are
finding that the "Like" and "Share" features on Facebook
have become the newest and best tool in the online marketing
arsenal.
Four Types of Blogs and How To Use Them
Written by: Enzo F. Cesario |
Distributed: 2011-08-31 |
Word Count: 930 |
Page Views: 629
Blogging clearly has arrived and is here to stay, according to
the buzzword-slinging set. It's the “next big thing” or the
“wave of the future” - even a “revolution.” Still, most of the
people commenting on the blogging trend aren't sure exactly what
it is, how it works or even what the different kinds of blogs
are. Here are a handful of blogging types and what sets them
apart from the others.
All of Author's Articles on this site: Enzo F. Cesario Articles
Most Recent "Business Online" Articles
Four Tips For Creating An Effective Authors' Resource Box
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-27 |
Word Count: 1669 |
Page Views: 8284
| Votes: 18 |
Rating: 2.50
In article marketing, there are many factors that will
affect your articles' ability to promote your website in
the most effective manner. In this article, we will briefly
discuss a couple those factors, before we dive into how to
create an effective Authors' Resource Box, also known as
the About The Author Information.
Website Traffic Generation: Winning the Love of the Traffic Fairy
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-24 |
Word Count: 1149 |
Page Views: 9144
| Votes: 14 |
Rating: 1.86
Some people still believe that all they have to do is build
a website and customers will magically appear on their
site... Once they have built their websites, they wait
anxiously for the "Traffic Fairy" to come and sprinkle its
magic dust on their website too, so that they can make lots
of money like other success website owners.
What Kind Of Backlinks Are Best At Helping Your Website In Google?
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-21 |
Word Count: 439 |
Page Views: 10208
| Votes: 23 |
Rating: 2.74
I was in the Warrior Forum, and someone asked what kinds of
Backlinks are worth pursuing. This is my answer to that
query.
Understanding the Mechanics of Effective Article Marketing and Article Syndication
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-08-01 |
Word Count: 1399 |
Page Views: 6787
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.80
Visit several marketing blogs or marketing forums, and you
will find dozens of people proclaiming the death of article
marketing as an effective marketing tool. Before we start
agreeing with them, consider this...
Top 10 Reasons Why Online Marketers Fail With Article Marketing
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-31 |
Word Count: 1025 |
Page Views: 8081
| Votes: 13 |
Rating: 2.08
If you've been marketing products online for any length of
time, you've likely heard people talk about the power and
promise of article marketing for the promotion of your
online business. Unfortunately, many online marketers have
tried to utilize article marketing to benefit their online
business and failed. In this article, I document the top ten
reasons why people fail to find success with article
marketing... And how to fix your article marketing
campaigns...
Article Marketing Tip: Stop Trying To Sell From Within Your Articles
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-30 |
Word Count: 1229 |
Page Views: 6239
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.40
The basic premise of article marketing is to present people
information that will be important to them, then at the end
of the article, present information "about the author" and
offer to the reader a means to see how the author can help
the reader further. When done well, article marketing
continues to be one of the most effective methods of
promotion that one could employ online.
The Six Degrees of Internet Marketing
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-30 |
Word Count: 991 |
Page Views: 8666
| Votes: 14 |
Rating: 2.43
The theory behind the Six Degrees of Separation is that all
people on earth can be connected together in as little as
six steps. Now, I know what you might be thinking at this
juncture... That sounds fun and interesting, but what does
that have to do with Internet Marketing? That is a great
question that I am going to answer for you in this
article...
How To Win More Eyeballs for Your Offers and Websites
Written by: Bruce Lansing |
Distributed: 2013-07-29 |
Word Count: 1373 |
Page Views: 6142
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 1.45
Most people using search engines on the Internet are looking
for answers to questions and solutions to problems. If you
can give people what the answers they want, you will be able
to position your business as one worth hiring today or
tomorrow.
How To Increase Your Rates and Earnings As a Freelance Writer
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-29 |
Word Count: 1191 |
Page Views: 6171
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 1.55
Freelance writers fill a very important role in today's
business marketplace. They create the on-demand, customized
content that business owners everywhere need to push their
businesses forward. In this article, the author explains
what freelance writers should do to ensure that employers
will pay them well for their services.
Promoting Your Business With Content:: Defining Your Writing Strategy
Written by: Bruce Lansing |
Distributed: 2013-07-25 |
Word Count: 677 |
Page Views: 5870
| Votes: 11 |
Rating: 2.00
Many people suggest that you should write articles on the
basis of the benefits that people will get from reading your
articles. I'd like to suggest that there is a better
reason, and that is to write your articles on the basis of
what problem people will be able to solve, as a result of
reading your articles.
Most Viewed "Business Online" Articles
Attracting Readers to your Book
Written by: Alastair Hall |
Distributed: 2006-05-18 |
Word Count: 708 |
Page Views: 46678
| Votes: 17 |
Rating: 2.06
One of the common and obvious ways to market a self-published
book is having your own website. The harder part is how to
attract your target audience and then convert the sale.
How To Make Visitors Bookmark Your Site
Written by: Cheryl Miller |
Distributed: 2006-10-10 |
Word Count: 536 |
Page Views: 38964
| Votes: 21 |
Rating: 2.19
When visitors bookmark your site it is a sign that you have built
a great website and are pleasing them. Visitors think highly
enough of your site to want to return and possibly tell others
about it. You are not only increasing traffic from your existing
clientele you are encouraging new traffic by means of viral
marketing.
Treat Online 'Guests' With Respect
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-07-27 |
Word Count: 472 |
Page Views: 30470
| Votes: 33 |
Rating: 3.33
Does your website show your customers lack of respect? Review the
following checklist to find out.
How I Got 70,000 Useless Visitors To My Site In One Day! (One Internet Marketer's Analysis of Social Bookmark Traffic)
Written by: Titus Hoskins |
Distributed: 2007-11-06 |
Word Count: 1545 |
Page Views: 28517
| Votes: 10 |
Rating: 1.70
Is social bookmark traffic useless? Is it even worth cultivating
for your site? Can it be used from an online marketing
perspective? Read to discover one Internet Marketer's analysis
of social bookmark/media traffic...
Successful Article Marketers Help Readers Solve Problems
Written by: Bill Platt |
Distributed: 2013-07-24 |
Word Count: 816 |
Page Views: 26276
| Votes: 34 |
Rating: 2.79
Every week, I have the opportunity to speak with people about the
benefits and challenges of using article marketing to promote an
online business. Article marketing is about getting your sales
message in front of potential customers and to get links to your
website. Many interpret this to mean that an article should
directly promote a website within the article, but that approach
is wrong and will reduce one's success using this methodology.
Tips For Building Your First Website
Written by: Benny Tsabba |
Distributed: 2007-05-30 |
Word Count: 1511 |
Page Views: 19529
| Votes: 18 |
Rating: 2.11
New people are coming online everyday. And many of those people
desire to turn their spare time into spare cash. So begins their
journey.
The Importance Of Effective Follow-up
Written by: Kate Smalley |
Distributed: 2007-01-15 |
Word Count: 493 |
Page Views: 14486
| Votes: 22 |
Rating: 2.55
Marketing experts say that following up with clients is crucial
to successful selling because most prospects do not buy the first
time, according to Aweber, a leading autoresponder company.
People must encounter a marketing message multiple times before
making a purchasing decision.
Today's Google Bots and What They Do
Written by: Kim Roach |
Distributed: 2006-08-02 |
Word Count: 1061 |
Page Views: 14174
| Votes: 16 |
Rating: 2.63
Google currently indexes over 8 billion web pages. However,
before these pages were placed in the index, they were each
crawled by a special spider known as the GoogleBot. Unfortunately, many web masters do not know about the internal workings of this virtual robot. This article will attempt to
reveal some of the most important Google spiders, their function,
and how they affect you as a web master. We'll start with the
well-known GoogleBot.
Ten Tips For User Friendly Online Registration Forms
Written by: Jim Romanik |
Distributed: 2009-02-24 |
Word Count: 775 |
Page Views: 13373
| Votes: 15 |
Rating: 0.93
Have you ever registered or attempted to register for an event
and spent half an hour trying to figure out what you needed to
do? Or have you used an online registration form that lost your
data or was so complicated that it seemed like more work than
faxing the form?
Successful Forum JVs and How To Get Them
Written by: Diana Barnum |
Distributed: 2006-06-15 |
Word Count: 648 |
Page Views: 13107
| Votes: 19 |
Rating: 2.11
The forming of common alliances, also referred to as a joint
venture (JV), happens nearly every day in the business world.
One of the most popular means of linking people up online of so
that they can work together on their projects is via forums,
where people of all levels of business and expertise post in
common threads.
Highest Ranked "Business Online" Articles
Is Your Business 'Out Of Site'? Employ The Ultimate Marketing Tool
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-01-09 |
Word Count: 445 |
Page Views: 5584
| Votes: 21 |
Rating: 3.76
With the rapid expansion of the digital economy, the web site is
conceivably the most powerful marketing and sales tool you can employ.
Find out what a web site can do for you.
How To Use Your Race To Get Rich
Written by: Herbert Harris |
Distributed: 2009-07-07 |
Word Count: 1407 |
Page Views: 5994
| Votes: 48 |
Rating: 3.71
Amid recent news reports that there continues to be an ongoing
and substantial gap between the net worth of Whites and other
racial groups, it is easy to be distracted and overwhelmed by the
raw data. However, I am immediately reminded of a quote offered
by an economic expert from the past... "There are lies, damned
lies, and statistics!"
Why I'm A 'B-Level Marketer!'
Written by: Willie Crawford |
Distributed: 2007-07-16 |
Word Count: 917 |
Page Views: 6863
| Votes: 26 |
Rating: 3.58
At a recent Internet marketing seminar, I was sitting around the
hotel lobby with approximately 20 other seminar attendees and
speakers. The seminar's host was in attendance, and the
conversation covered a range of internet marketing topics with
extreme frankness. Our proximity to the hotel bar certainly
contributed to our 'conviviality.'
15 fixes for a failing website
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-02-07 |
Word Count: 593 |
Page Views: 3552
| Votes: 25 |
Rating: 3.48
Employ these 15 tactics to improve your search engine rankings,
engage visitors and convert more sales.
The Most Important Ingredient for Info Product Success (is You)
Written by: Judy Murdoch |
Distributed: 2008-04-15 |
Word Count: 981 |
Page Views: 6043
| Votes: 15 |
Rating: 3.47
Last week I was attending a conference and mentioned to someone I
help small business owners create information products. The other
person was very friendly until I said "information products."
Then the temperature in the room dropped about 10-degrees
How to Keep Your Article Content Fresh and Interesting
Written by: Craig Ritsema |
Distributed: 2006-08-29 |
Word Count: 699 |
Page Views: 5565
| Votes: 25 |
Rating: 3.44
Webmasters everywhere are constantly on the lookout for fresh and
interesting content for their website. Along with these content
qualities is the requirement that it be unique. Everyone wants
their website to stand out above the others in the search engine
results. So what is the trick for you to keep a steady supply of
this quality content coming your way?
How To Build A Profitable Twitter Profile
Written by: Harold Hemmings |
Distributed: 2009-08-06 |
Word Count: 1357 |
Page Views: 2743
| Votes: 8 |
Rating: 3.38
Online marketers everywhere are finally starting to tap into
the Twitter Marketplace. Marketers are getting involved in
Twitter at awesome rates, but all seem to have one
unanswered question: How do we actually monetize this
marketplace? It is my goal that by the time you have read
this article, you will have a clear idea of exactly how to
monetize your activities in Twitter.
Increasing Productivity In Your Online Business
Written by: Willie Crawford |
Distributed: 2006-06-14 |
Word Count: 1407 |
Page Views: 7451
| Votes: 40 |
Rating: 3.35
Running an online "empire" of approximately 1600 websites and
blogs, selling a variety of products, services and ideas, I
have to be much more productive than the average person in a
"regular job."
Turn A One-Night-Stand With Google Into A Long-Term Relationship
Written by: Diane Metz |
Distributed: 2007-07-10 |
Word Count: 882 |
Page Views: 2709
| Votes: 6 |
Rating: 3.33
Want to win the favor of Google? Then you've got to build a
long-term relationship with her. Many new SEO strategies are
simply recycled old-tricks. And Google is a smart gal who can see
right through them. Position your website for the future by
understanding what Google really likes â€" and what she
really loathes.
Treat Online 'Guests' With Respect
Written by: Rick Sloboda |
Distributed: 2007-07-27 |
Word Count: 472 |
Page Views: 30470
| Votes: 33 |
Rating: 3.33
Does your website show your customers lack of respect? Review the
following checklist to find out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Article Reprint Rights
|
This work is
licensed under a
Creative Commons
License
You are not required to show the creative commons license notice when you reprint this work.
|
|
Article Statistics
|
Word Count: 870
Total Views: 5517
Article Rating: 1.20 of 5
Votes Cast: 5
More Articles By Author:
Articles On This Website
Last Distribution Date:
2010-08-17 11:15:00
Internal ID: #7518
|
|
|
Home