Welcome to the latest edition of Writing Lab News. In this issue, I focus on organization and promotion. I highlight the tools I use for keeping track of research and for organizing my email and daily tasks. There are articles on two promotional methods: article marketing and running a group writing project. And don't miss the announcement of the launch of the Get Paid To Write Online premium content channel. See you next month! Next edition: November 4.

In this issue:

• An Article Marketing Guide
• Two Tools For Tracking Research
• Getting Organized: Two Firefox Tools
• How To Run A Group Writing Project
• Premium Content Channel Launched
• Diary Of A Working Writer October 2008

An Article Marketing Guide

by Sharon Hurley Hall

This is an excerpt from a how to article for Daily Writing Tips. It's hot off the press!

Here’s how to create a good article marketing article.

The Title

The title of your article is the most important part, because that’s what will grab the reader. The golden rule is to tell readers what the article offers and tell them quickly - within the first three or four words if possible. If you’re writing about buying a second home, then use this:

Buying A Second Home: Five Tips For Success

rather than this:

Five Tips For Success When Buying A Second Home

The first tells readers straight away what they will get from your article; the second focuses on the number of tips.

Read the rest of An Article Marketing Guide

Two Tools For Tracking Research

by Sharon Hurley Hall

I'm always interested in tools that help me to do my job better. Research is essential for any good web content writer, but after a while you might forget where you found that all important resource.

Tag And Save

Delicious is the best social bookmarking site there is. It’s easy to use and you can access your bookmarks from anywhere. You can tag, save and share the interesting sites you find at a click of a button. Delicious has been extensively reviewed, so I’m not going to duplicate those efforts here. Instead, I’ll point you to this description of the site’s best features.

Custom Tags

For research purposes, I use some custom tags for labelling the stuff that I find. If it’s something I need to read and digest, I label it ‘to read’. If I want to remember to write a blog post about it, I label it ‘to blog’ and if I need to do something else with it, I label it ‘to do’. This means I can easily access blog ideas at any time. Even more important is to use the notes function so you can remind yourself why this resource was important to you.

Read the rest of Two Tools For Tracking Research

Getting Organized: Two Firefox Tools

by Sharon Hurley Hall

I don't often write about tech things on this newsletter, but two of the tools I wrote up for a gig on TechGerm.com are useful for writers.

GTD Inbox takes a Getting Things Done approach to email. Created by Andy Mitchell, this Firefox add-on transforms your inbox and makes you more productive. It uses Gmail’s labeling system as a starting point, adding five new labels that indicate the status of your emails (and the tasks that go with them). The trick is to label everything as soon as it comes in and get it out of the inbox. If something can be completed in a couple of minutes, then you do it. Otherwise you label it next action, action, someday or finished. If you are waiting for info, then there’s a label for that too.  (Find out more about GTD Inbox)

Remember The Milk for Gmail brings a task list right into your Gmail inbox, providing an at a glance view of the tasks you need to accomplish. You'll find it hard to forget anything when you use this extension. (Find out more about RTM For Gmail).

I've also written a post on personal productivity that outlines how I use these two tools to streamline my writing business.

How To Run A Group Writing Project

I ran a group writing project on Get Paid To Write Online in August. It was great fun, and I learned a lot, which I'm sharing with you in case you want to do the same thing.

The best themes for group writing projects are those that can easily be adapted to a wide range of blogs. My project was about how people got started in blogging, which is pretty much a universal theme for bloggers. Others choose to drill down and get more specific, such as Freelance Parent’s crowdsourcing project on home business help. Whichever approach you take, choose a theme that will be relevant to your readers, but which could also apply to others.

The Logo

It’s always good to have some branding for your group writing project. If you’re not a great photographer or designer, you can use CoolText to generate a logo or banner that everyone who takes part in the project can use.

Announcements

Once you’ve thought about the theme and logo, it’s time to announce the project. Encourage readers to get others involved by spreading the word about the project, joining in or giving some social media love.

Read the rest of How To Run A Group Writing Project

Premium Content Channel Launched

September saw the launch of the Get Paid To Write Online Premium Content Channel. It consists of short courses about aspects of managing your freelance writing career. So far, there are 32 mini-courses online and I plan to add more in the coming weeks. The full list of what's available is here.

Diary Of A Working Writer - October 2008

September was a busy month, as I expected. It was the start of a new corporate travel blogging gig for ParkRideFlyUSA and so far it's been going well. I am enjoying the chance to write about new places, as travel is something I really enjoy. In addition, I've done some promotional work for clients, including the creation of Squidoo lenses. I'll be continuing that in the coming month with some promo for Wrideo, a social bookmarking site for writers.

I was really excited about the launch of my premium content channel, which I've mentioned in this newsletter. The response to it has been great so far. I plan to hold my first contest in the coming month and to expand my premium content offerings. My mentoring service for new writers will launch this month too. Melissa of the Busy Beehive blog has tested and reviewed it. I hope you have a productive month.