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Seven Secrets Of Highly Creative Writers

by: Steven Barnes

The Lifewriting� approach to your writing career demands a relatively high creative output. It isn�t designed to coddle people who nurse a single story for years before sending it out.

But students often protest that they simply don�t come up with many good ideas, and that the ideas they do generate are appropriate for novels.

In my opinion, basic ideas have no intrinsic length. The TREATMENT of an idea has an intrinsic length. The Civil War can be treated in a one-page story, on in a library of books. It all depends on the skill and intent of the writer.

Let me tell you a story:

When I was in college, I knew a woman who wanted to be a writer. She told me that she was working on a short story, and I said �great.� A few weeks later, I asked her how the story was going. She said �It�s getting a little long�I think it�s a novella.�

�Great!� I said.

A couple of months later, I asked her how the novella was going. �Well, it�s getting a little long, I think it�s a novel!�

�Wow!� I said, although a warning bell was tinkling at the back of my mind. A couple of years later, I asked her how the novel was going.

�Well, it seems to be turning into a trilogy,� she said.

Hmm. I made optimistic sounds, and left it at that.

A decade later, I was traveling on the East Coast, and knew I�d be passing the town where this lady lived. My wife and I stopped in to visit. Just because I have a masochistic streak, I asked how the trilogy was going.

There was a pause. Then, sheepishly she said, �I got tired of it, and put it away. But just a couple of months ago I started working on a new story. It�s good! But� she said, as I knew she would, �it seems to be getting a little long��

That is so sad. My friend had encountered one of the stealthiest forms of writer�s block: to be able to write, but not be able to finish and submit. It serves the same purpose to an insecure subconscious: it prevents you from suffering rejection.

After all, the idea is so bright and appealing when it enters your mind! The process of actually slogging your way through multiple drafts can be a joy-killer.

Short stories are a perfect means to combat this. A short piece employs all the same basic tools that will be used in a novel, with a crucial difference. In the time it takes you to write a hundred thousand word novel, you can write twenty to forty short stories, and you�ll learn vastly more about your craft in the process.

Also, because you are going through the complete arc of generating story, planning, researching, writing rough draft, polishing, and submitting, you find out where your technical and psychological weaknesses lie.

And yet another advantage: if you write a story a week, or every other week, you don�t need to cling desperately to an idea, thinking it is the only good idea you�ll ever have.

But how to generate ideas? Here are some suggestions:

1) Keep a dream diary. A little digital or tape recorder at the bedside works great for this. Just tell yourself before sleep that you will briefly awaken after a dream and dictate the essence. In the morning, transcribe.

2) Search the newspaper. Make an exercise of looking through the various sections of the paper, looking for odd or interesting stories. Imagine how it would be to be the people caught up in these situations. What story would capture the essence of their lives?

3) Read books and watch movies. Imagine grafting the end of one film to the beginning of another. When a book falls apart, come up with a better ending�and write it.

4) Create modern versions of favorite old fairy tales. Have fun with this�remember, it�s just practice!

5) At the next family reunion or gathering, get the old folks to talk about their youthful days.

6) Go to a playground and watch children playing. Really notice the power games, the sharing, the crying, the laughter, the struggles and triumphs. Every single child, every day, has a story to tell.

7) Mine your own life. Learning to walk, to talk, to drive, to win, to lose. Your first fight, your first kiss, your first job, the first time you got fired.

There is really no end to the possibility. All you need is a belief in your goals, and the recognition that any individual story is just a step along the way�not some soul-searing win-or-lose proposition.

Have fun!

About The Author

NY Times bestselling writer Steven Barnes has lectured on storytelling and human consciousness at UCLA, Seattle University, the Maui Writer's Conference, and Mensa. He created the Lifewriting� high-performance system for writers and readers. Learn more at http://www.lifewriting.biz and http://www.lifewrite.com.

This article was posted on December 06, 2005

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Writing The Perfect Sales Letter
by: David Hennebery

Before you actually write the e-book we are going to write the sales letter first. Now I suggest you write it in Microsoft Word and save it. Then we can transfer it to the main �Sales site Page� when we are designing our basic site in step 5

The main reason we are writing our sales copy before we ever write a word in our e-Book is because it hasn�t actually being created yet, which means there is absolutely no limit what you can write in your sales letter. The sales letter doesn�t fit the e-Book; it�s the other way around.

Now you can describe exactly what your e-Book will show to the potential customer. There are no restrictions on what you can write in the sales letter. When the sales letter is completed you can then incorporate all the ideas you have come up with into your e-Book

Your sales copy must do the following three things

� Get the attention of the prospects
� Communicate the benefits of the product
� Persuade the prospects into the desired action

Remember the most important part of your page design is your actual sales copy. A fancy website and graphics help but the key is in the words used

Sales letter Structure

� Header/Title
� Promises
� Testimonial
� Info product
� Benefit
� Bonuses
� Guarantee
� Summary

This is the structure that you should use for your sales copy. If you check out the best sales letter they will all follow this formula?

Header

The main function of the header/title is to grab the reader�s attention. The header should be displayed in a large, bold font. This demands your potential customer�s attention and intrigues them to read further on. Include your logo or e-Book cover (discussed later on) close to the header. If you header is not well designed you run the risk of losing the potential customer straight away. Spend time creating your header.

A Promise

This section promises the potential customer a huge benefit which is almost too good to be true. It�s ok if it�s a bit too unbelievable the testimonials will take care of that. Here is an example of such a headline

Discover how my 5 step affiliate programme can increase your income by 10,000 a month

Testimonials

In this section you include testimonials that old/new customers have sent you about your product or service. You probably don�t have any customers yet so email some potential ones your e-book for free in exchange for a testimonial. When you do start selling you can always ask a new customer for one.

Now the testimonials page has assured the potential customer that you can fulfil the promises you made in your header also you have gained a bit of trust from your potential customers so anything else you say that follows the testimonials page will be taken as true. This is the reason why the testimonial is placed at the top to gain trust right away where if it was placed at the bottom after presenting some good sales copy it may be already too late.

Info and product

In this section you will give info on what your product or service is about. You should show your customers a list of problems in this area. Agree with the customers, on how frustrating these problems can be and how you, yourself dealt with these problems. The key is to show the person that you have a deep understanding in this area and you are an expert on the subject. That is very important.

Next you must introduce your product as the solution to the problem. Then you must have a proper e-Book cover design. This is crucial. Many people have never purchased an e-book so you must give them some idea what exactly they will be purchasing

Benefit

This section is basically telling your potential customer of the benefits they will receive from purchasing your product. Show your potential customers the enjoyment they will get from using the product. Give them as much information on your product as you can. Use bullet points to emphasize the benefits. Put in another testimonial just to remind the person that it�s all true. Keeping their trust is highly important.

Bonuses

This is a powerful tactic used to increase sales. Including free bonuses with the purchase of your e-Book will increase the perceived value of the e-Book. Also a deadline on bonuses is also a good way to speed up consumer purchases. Bonuses also reduce the risk of money back returns

Guarantee

Offering a guarantee to your potential customers takes the risk off their shoulders. A good guarantee is the final bit in the jigsaw that will make the person finally purchase the product. The agreement is such that if the customer is not happy with their purchases then can get a full refund. You must remember that lots of your potential customers will be �first timers� therefore a guarantee puts their minds at ease. Guarantees can be 30 day, 60 day, or lifetime; however such guarantees must be backed up with an exceptional product.

Summary

This is one of the most important steps in the sales letter; this is where you close the sale. In this section you must include your most appealing benefit and finally ask for the order, because if you don�t they wont. Finally make it easier for them to order like an �order now� button shown below.

At this stage you should start to write your sales letter in Microsoft word we will concentrate on the html design and implementing the sales letter in it in section six but for now just concern yourself with writing your sales letter. To help you here are some of the web�s top e-book publishers sales sites. You can check out my own sales page at http://www.ebookprofitmaker.com

Sales Letter generator

Ok ill now offer you an alternative to writing the sales page yourself. Only use this if you are willing to spend some money. You may want to check out this piece of software that actually writes the sales letter for you. All you do is answer the questions it asks and you will receive your sales letter. You can find this software at sales generator here

Credit card Transactions

Finally you will need to find a credit card processor later on so your e-Books can be ordered. The one I seriously recommend is Clickbank. Ill go into them in more detail in section 6 but for now I want you to know that all these company�s, including Clickbank, have a set of rules that you must abide by to use their software. Don�t panic ill go through these rules now. Basically it involves putting a certain amount of details in your sales letter and product delivery page so you can be accepted by your credit transaction company. So here they are:

You must provide on your sales page:

� Detailed description of your product
� Buy now link
� Explain how the product will be delivered
� Mention how long the delivery will take

* remember theses are rules not suggestions

So that is everything you need to know on how to write your sales letter, hers a quick summary

We need to:

� Write the sales letter before the e-Book
� Sales letter structure must have , header, promise, Testimonial, info and product, benefit, bonuses, guarantee and summary
� You can have your sales letter made by Sales letter generator
� Certain set of rules should be included in the sales letter for the purpose of the credit card transaction company

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