In light of ongoing technological advances, the need for good writing skills remains constant. Little things like correct punctuation and verb tense are as important today as they were hundreds of years ago. I just cringe when I see some of today’s “professional” writing. From national level ads (XYZ mini’s are available) to local marquees (There our hometown champions), it’s disturbing to see this bastardization of the English language.  And don’t even get me started on spelling! One of the major networks recently spelled “mortgage” as “mortage” during an entire series on the real estate market!

Call me a dinosaur, but I believe it’s up to each of us to ensure that our writing skills appropriately reflect the beauty of our language. If not now, when?

Have you seen any “cringe-worthy” writing lately?

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Where have Good Writing Skills Gone?

With the obvious assumption that I enjoyed this masochistic tendency, my brain settled on a workable pattern. A few weeks before my essay was due, I would complete the required reading, research and notes.  All the information needed to write my essay was now ready for me.

As time elapsed I started to believe that writing under pressure had less to do with the mechanics of time, and more to do with self-restrictions and limitations, i.e. stress, worry, doubt and disbelief.

As I’m sure many people can attest to, no one placed greater pressure on me than I did. It was just my way.  While I wrote my final submission for a course, I fought to keep the pressure at bay.  I did not want to allow destructive thoughts to cloud my words or ideas.  I began to visualize and believe that writing under pressure was an exercise in my personal growth.  I knew I had the ability to write an engaging short story. I did not fight or try to hide from the weight of the pressure. Instead I used it to my advantage.

Whether you are a student, a journalist or a copywriter at an ad agency or large corporation, the ability to produce your best work can very well be attained from writing under pressure. You are forced to align your creative and productive natures into a cohesive unit. The result, well, you tell me.

What happens when you are forced to write under pressure?

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The Beauty of Writing Under Pressure

Writing is all about timing.  While the events, research, interviews and other due diligence are fresh on your mind, start writing. Even if this means you have to write on a piecemeal basis following the gathering of new information, the outcome will be much more reflective of the facts.  For example, you’ll be able to include the visuals and tone of an interview through your choice of adjectives and verbs.  “Academicians took turns at the microphone” versus “dozens of academicians anxiously awaited their turn at the microphone”.  Similarly, “We voted him out,” said Professor Jones doesn’t convey “We voted him out,” shouted Professor Jones.

As writers, our job is to accurately relay an experience to people who weren’t there. When you can pen the story as soon as possible after you’ve completed an interview, researched some facts, confirmed some details or attended the event, you and your readers benefit.

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When is the Best Time to Write?

This is not a definitive list; I tried mixing some well-known blogs with some not-so-well-known ones. If you have a site to add, please feel free to make your suggestion in the comments section!

Culture

Absolute Arts This is actually a niche-blogging community, where you can start your own art-related blog. You can place your portfolio on this site as well, under one of three different portfolio offerings. There is a free portfolio level, as well as an “Artist” level for $44 per year, and a “Premiere” level for $100 per year. Premiere level portfolios are judged by a jury for acceptance, for which there is a $25 fee.

Book Reporter – This site, and its sister sites, reviews books. You can sign up to be a reviewer for a variety of genres including fiction, memoirs, mysteries, nonfiction, fantasy, science fiction, romance, youth, and graphic novels.

CPAL – Officially known as the “Cultural Property & Archaeology Law” blog, this legal blog accepts submissions for “scholar[s] looking for a forum to discuss [their] area of special interest.”

Design/Web

Pro Blog Design – Every accepted post is $50 in your pocket, but you get a $30 bonus if the article is a “social media success.”

SitePoint – Both articles and full-length books are accepted at this site. SitePoint is well-known for publishing definitive how-to guides for web designers and developers.

Smashing Magazine – Seriously one of the largest design blogs out there. A post here gets you exposed to over 138,000 subscribers. They’re looking for both single article submissions and long-term contributors. Payment varies depending on article length and quality.

Tutsplus – The TUTS+ network (psdtuts.com, nettuts.com, etc.) accepts tutorials and other articles for submission on any of their eight niche sites.

Webitect – For $150 per accepted submission, Webitect is “a resource blog for webmasters” looking for interesting tutorials or articles.  Their topics range from blogging to development to website traffic.

Yanko Design - If you have a review or article you’d like to post about any design related topic, you can share your 250 word post to this blog. They like things short and sweet and related to modern industrial design.

General

Associated Content – You can write about any topic, or choose from the assignment desk. Submissions can be in any medium — text, video, audio, or images. Money is paid upfront and over time as people read your posts.

Freelance Writing – This website lets you search through thousands of jobs that you can either apply for or bid on. Other site features include writing advice, discussion forums and a reading room.

Fuel Brand Network – A network of blogging sites “dedicated to creative development.” Each of the 12 niche blogs focus on a separate topic, and are always looking for contributors.

Funds for Writers – Recipient of Writers Digest’s accolade as one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers,” this site lists paying opportunities for writers as well as offers payment for articles submitted to its site. They’ll even pay for articles you’ve already written elsewhere.

Health

Disabled World- This online community for “persons with disabilities” accepts articles of at least 400 words that are related to health or disabilities. Subject areas include seniors, assisted living, disability sports, and more.

The Health Care Blog – This health blog posts original material only. It’s been mentioned in a number of media publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Economist, to name a few.

Marketing/Media

Marketing Profs – Over 350 contributors help develop the content over at Marketing Profs already. Exposure is a guaranteed with this site, which publishes the blog as well as daily newsletters.

Mashable – The Mecca of all things social media related. Quality content on new media, technology, and social media fill this site. With over 280,000 subscribers, and over 1.15 million twitter followers, guest writers have to apply to the popular program.

Sports

Sports Blog Net – This is another blogging community, where your blog is connected with others that will help you to promote and build your own site. Content on your blog is fed through the main site to help drive traffic. There are many, many other sports blogs looking for content, but most are targeted to specific areas.

Technology

Digital Inspiration – Over 37,000 subscribers comprise the readership of this technological blog.  This “online tech magazine” publish reviews, guides, tutorials, news, and tips.

GeekEstate Blog – Specifically for the real estate industry, this blog is founded by Zillow.com. Contributions should related to technology uses or applications for the industry, including MLS, APIs, SEO, and office gadgets.

Read Write Web – This blog focuses on web technology news and reviews, often reporting on trends and popular tech use. Guest posts are accepted upon approval of topic and content.

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22 Places to Get Published Now

In my personal experience as a Marketing Assistant, I had to improve my skills in graphic design, public speaking, project management, planning and negotiation. But when you have to learn something from scratch and you’re not at school anymore, you may end up running into some difficulty.

In those times, whom do you call upon? Google, of course. Google introduced me to all those blogs, guides, tutorials and cheat sheets – any helpful, wonderful and FREE tips. I am grateful for all of those experts-in-their-field sharing their experience and know-how for the sole purpose of contributing to the web community, thus giving a hand to budding professionals like me.

That’s precisely the point. It’s my turn now! Copywriting is what I’m good at (please, don’t contradict me on this point), and I’d love to share some tricks with the non-copywriters out there who need to make up a formal letter, do a PowerPoint presentation or write a product description. Of course you don’t have to become a professional copywriter to do all of these things. I haven’t become a designer just because I watched all of the Photoshop video tutorials available on the Internet. But I did achieve better results thanks to those tutorials, so maybe there’s something I can do to help you write effective, engaging text.

Well, exhaustive enough for an introduction! Let’s start right away with some links you might want to add to your bookmark list:

WordReference

WordReference is my favourite site free translation dictionaries. It might come in handy with idiomatic expressions in foreign language. The Spanish, French and Italian dictionaries and forums are the most popular.

Online Spell Checker

Online Spell Checker is a free and accurate tool for spell-checking in 28 languages.

Advanced Text Analyzer

Get useful statistical information out of your pieces of text such as word/character count, lexical density, readability, word analysis, phrase analysis and graded analysis with Advanced Text Analyzer . It’s free, but it requires registration: Wordcounter is a plug-and-play alternative.

Visuwords

Learn how words associate with Visuwords. This graphical dictionary draws diagrams from the words you look up, highlighting their meanings and the type of relationship with other words and concepts.

Definr

Definr is a nice, suggest-as-you-type English dictionary. You can add it to your Firefox search box for turbo-charging your word search.

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A Non-Copywriter’s Guide to Effective Writing

But just sending out a press release won’t guarantee that the news outlets will bite. If the press release isn’t written properly, even the best product won’t be given an inch of white space.

Mayra Flores de Marcotte, Editorial Projects Manager of Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, gives us some tips on how to write a successful press release.

Address your audience at the top of the press release.

“Why should a San Jose publication want to know about this event? For instance, a San Jose resident spearheads an event in Cupertino. This makes it appropriate and attractive to San Jose publications,” said Flores de Marcotte.

Be sure to let readers know why the information is important.

In other words, don’t fluff your press release with excessive adjectives, quotes, or commentary.

“Press releases should be informative in a concrete way. The number one press release that gets eye rolls in the newsroom is the one that glows about something or someone and provides quotes but never any tangible reason for the editor to care,” said Flores de Marcotte.

“Remember the most basic rules are usually the most effective. Always include the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. The order of this information may vary but if your press release doesn’t answer these questions, it will get tossed to the bottom of the news pile and your event or product unnoticed,” she continued.

Be concise.

As mentioned in Tip #2, include the basic info and don’t fluff it up. A press release isn’t just an advertisement, it’s a key public relations tool.

Flores de Marcotte remarked, “The editor or reporter should be able to read the release and find out the following: what it’s about, why it’s important and why this paper should follow up.”

Know to whom you’re addressing your press release.

Make connections with news outlets by finding out the correct contacts.

“Don’t send out mass e-mailings of press releases without finding out a little about the publications you are sending it to. As with most things, quality over quantity. Most have websites as well as contact information. Always address your press releases to SOMEONE. Again, the website is a good tool for this too,” commented Flores de Marcotte.

Bottom Line

If you want people to care about your product, take the time to care about the information you’re putting out. Just remember that your press release basically has to cover these two important things: audience and importance.

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4 Tips To Make Your Press Releases Rock