Poetry: Sitting Bull Thinks Tesla was Wright

You have misunderstood my statement.
You have twisted my assertion.
Mr. Tesla, you wound these words and made theman electric slide rule,
to measure my progressat healing these ancient wounds.
My scars are approximately 100 watts wideand two inches long,
spanning the scale model Brooklyn Bridge I constructedto connect this to that.
But this is now, and that was years ago,
and Science has yet to fillthe canyon between present and past.
I have put my faith in architecture instead,because it covers cowardice with columns,
cloaks bitterness with buttresses,
and lets us forget about the terror we saw
that night on h*** owned ground
for buried braves and sorrowful squaw.
"Yes, this was an Indian cemetery Nikola,
but if the natives get restless
you may take comfort in the 'isms' that have conquered them.
"I never mean to say what I intend,
but I intend to mean what I say.

Austin Emerson Carter

Blogging Tips When Writing Content for your Blog Readers

The common mistake that bloggers do is to go straight to writing after they're done constructing their blogs. This is definitely no problem is you have a clear idea of what you're suppose to write, who are you writing for and how you should write it. Writing content for your blog plays a crucial role to your blog's success and therefore, it requires skills and knowledge to do it.

Today's article focuses on writing good content for your blog readers and in order to do so we have to deal with these three questions:

1. Who are you writing for?
2. What are you suppose to write?
3. How should you write it?

Millions of people surf the Internet everyday to look for some specific information. The information ranges from anarchism to zionism, the latest to the oldest, or from 0 to infinity. Given this case, bloggers have so much to blog about. Unfortunately, not every topic can be possibly covered by a single or a few bloggers. Even wikipedia does not have all the information in its database. Moreover, thousands of blogs or weblogs and websites are created everyday making the competition fiercer. What can we infer from these data? Simple. We need a strategic approach in blogging to secure our blog's survivability and success.

Who are you writing for? Blog Readers

Yes, I know that you are blogging for your blog readers but do you know who are your blog readers?

If you are blogging for everyone who visits the Internet then you lack strategic approach in blogging. If however, you have a specific target reader, then you'll probably be successful.

Because we cannot cater to every netizen, the need to segment them arises. I call it Concentrated Blogging. Concentrated Blogging is the process of segmenting or subdividing blog readers to identify a specific segment or subdivision where you can leverage your blog. Concentrated Blogging allows bloggers to focus writing to a specific group of people. Catering to a specific group of people provides the benefit of being able to understand them better, know what they need, what they want etc.

Let's take the case of bloggingmix.com. For my blog, I have decided to write about blogging for bloggers. But bloggers can still be further subdivided into beginners, intermediate, and experts. I've finally decided to write for beginners and intermediate bloggers because I believe I know them better. I have been in the stage of starting my own blog and developing it so I know the needs and wants of beginners and intermediate bloggers.

What are you suppose to write? Quality Information for Blog Readers

What do you think will happen to bloggingmix.com if I start to write about my favorite color or when I blog about my friend's friend's dog? I'm sure, by the time I know it, my blog readers found a better blog that will provide them information about blogging. This is where the idea of continuity (consistency), one of the 3Cs of blogging, comes in. Details about continuity will be discussed thoroughly in the succeeding articles.

People go on-line to search the Internet for Quality Information, information that they need, relevant and useful to them. If you don't have it, expect that there will be few people who will be visiting your blog. Or you might not have any visitors at all. So what are you suppose to write? The answer is obvious. You should write about something that your readers need and want. It should not be a bunch of useless article but rather informative, relevant and useful to them. Try to do this in your blog and see how amazing quality information can do to it.

I have to say however that writing about your personal experiences, or personal stuffs about yourself is not wrong. This is of course assuming that your target readers are limited to your family, relatives and friends. Otherwise, you need to be very controversial or popular for people to be curious and become interested of your life.

How should you write your blog entries? Consider the Nature of your Blog Readers

If you are blogging for Investors then it's perfectly fine to use terms such as Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Discounted Cash Flow etc. But if your blog is dedicated to the average Joe, there's simply no need of using panoplies of multi-syllabic words and quintessential examples if you can decipher the intricacies of your thoughts into fundamental ideas that everybody can comprehend. In short, your objective as a blogger is to send the message across to your target blog readers. Failure to do so, is failed blogging.

There are several ways that bloggers write. Darren Rowse of Problogger.com writes short articles while Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com writes elaborate and long articles. Both of them are successful bloggers but their ways of blogging are different. What does this have to tell you about how to write blog posts? Simple. Writing for your blog should not necessarily be elaborate or short… the bottom line is Quality Information. My advice is write freely and objectively. If your topic calls for an elaborate writing, then elaborate is should be but if you don't need too much words to make yourself clear and send your message across, then say it briefly.

In my succeeding articles, I will be writing about how to write search-engine-friendly blog posts. Your primary priority is to blog for your readers and second on the lists are search engines. I'm sure that you are aware that search engines (i.e. Google, MSN, Allthewebs, Lycos etc.) are great sources of traffic for your blog, hence, you should write your blog entries in such a way that it pleases these search engines. Watch out how in the coming posts.

If you have found this article useful, I hope you take the time to share it with others by Digging it, or bookmarking it. I will also appreciate if you take the time to leave your comments or tell us what you think about this article.

MORE READINGS
1. Cost Free Blogging Services http://www.bloggingmix.com/2007/06/cost-free-blogging-services.html

2. Blogger: Blogger's Choice for Blogging http://www.bloggingmix.com/2007/06/blogger-bloggers-choice-for-blogging.html

3. Construct Your Own Cost Free Blog with Blogger http://www.bloggingmix.com/2007/06/construct-your-own-cost-free-blog-with.html

by: Rocky John M. Tayaban

Why Anyone Can Write A Book

Ask anyone that you meet if they’ve ever had an idea to write a book and I bet that 99% of the time their eyes light up and they say ‘Yes.’ Everyone has numerous wonderful book ideas. My experience and conversations with thousands of people tell me that this is true. The difference between those that actually write a book and those that don’t is simple. Those that don’t write a book don’t believe that they can.

That’s simply not true. Anyone can write a book. If you can talk, you can write. Take a look at 5 of your favorite books, fiction or Non-fiction it doesn’t matter. In fact, grab a few of each. Now, open each book and read a few paragraphs. What do you see? What you’ll likely notice is that there is a common theme running in all of them. They’re written conversationally. They’re written like you talk. Conversational style is the best style because it is easy to read, easy to understand and easy to write.

Take a look at some of the most prolific authors, both fiction and Non-fiction. Stephen King comes to mind as a very prolific fiction writer. Non-fiction writers might include the Chicken Soup series and co writers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. All of those books are written conversationally. They’re accessible to readers of all ages, income levels, and IQ's.

Conversational style eliminates jargon. It eliminates large words that people have to rely on a dictionary to understand. Conversational style also uses the word ‘you’ often. It’s written as if you were writing a letter or telling a story to a friend.

Basically, if you can write a letter to a friend, then you can write a book—I promise. Of course you need to be able to plan a book too but all that requires is a plan or an outline. Once your outline is established, writing the book can take as little as a month to complete.

by: Bob Burnham

How To Write Articles For Pay

In the search for an internet home business that is legitimate and well-paying, article submission is one solution that seems to work well for many people. Article submission in the traditional sense has usually been restricted to writing for magazines or newspapers. Some people have found that this type of article submission works well for them, and the freelance writing from home is an excellent way to make some spare money on the side. However, with the advance of the internet, there are plenty of companies and individuals who need content for their websites. This is an excellent stroke of luck for those who are a little less talented in the area of writing, but are still interested in article submission.

Article submission is now growing in popularity through the use of websites that provide content for other websites. Those who put up websites, especially business websites, are not always talented writers. Therefore, they are often looking for writers who are interested in article submission. Those who are willing to write for article submission can then write about whatever content the website owner would like to see on his or her website.

Many times this is done through a website that brings both those interested in article submission and those needing website content together. Usually, the people writing content will turn their article submission over to a website for review. If the article submission review is positive, the content website will usually accept the article submission and put it up on the site. Then, those interested in buying the article will purchase it from the website. Normally, the content website pays the authors who sent in an article submission, while taking some type of commission.

Article submission can be a good way to make money if you are good with words and enjoy writing. However, it is important to note that getting into article submission means you will need to have good grammar and sentence structure skills. Additionally, most article submission sites make you proofread your own material. It is recommended that anyone interested in article submission research what is involved before making any commitments.

by: Pasi Kaarakainen

10 Tips for Marketing Your Book Online

1) ALWAYS have a link to where your book can be purchased in your signature line. Never send an email without it. You can link to a website, your blog, newsletter, etc. as well. Keep the number of lines between two and four--it's considered good 'netiquette' especially when posting to regulated groups or forums.

2) Request to do a chat in every available online spot you can. Offer to send a freebie as a 'door prize' but DON'T offer your current release. This could slow sales as prospective chatters might wait to find out if they win one for free. Book thongs, markers (very cheap to mail,) older releases, and other related promotional items work well . You can also offer a critique if the chat is writer-related. Get creative.

3) Target websites and blogs that are in the genre you write and offer to do a Q&A or an interview on the site or blog. (See above for possible prizes you might offer.)

4) Get your own website. This is important because no matter how much advertising or promotion you do, it'll be hard to generate internet interest without a web presence. Even if it's a smaller, free site, it's better than not having one at all. Check into some of the more prominent websites that cater to authors and look into their specially discounted hosting/design packages.

5) Create a newsletter. Try to make it fun and interactive for both writers and readers. In my newsletter I include chocolate recipes and a family-friendly joke section. Depending on the genre you write in, you can even gear it toward your target audience. If you write YA, you can make it more teen-friendly.

6) Start blogging. Write as often as you can on your blog, even if it's just a few paragraphs every other day or so. When you blog, try to include links to other places (even if it's just to your own website) so that you'll generate more 'hits' from searches to your blog, and hence to your title(s). Don't forget that you can comment on other people's blogs as well, leaving again, a link back to you.

7) Join groups and use them wisely. If you're on MySpace, send bulletins out when you blog (which can be cross-posted between your MySpace blog and your personal blog.) Visit your 'friends'--try to aim for at least five a week, for just a moment, to drop them a note. Keep it casual and friendly. Join other groups on the net that are for readers (like book club groups) and post occasionally--where your signature line will be seen by everyone. Aim for groups with large memberships.

8) Once you have your website, do "link" or "banner" exchanges with friendly authors or others that you know. Cross-promotion is fabulous for getting your links in front of new internet users.

9) Enter your title into internet contests, usually for free, but you may consider a nominal fee. Whether it's a cover-art contest, or just a contest decided by voters and even if you don't win, your title will be listed on the internet in yet another place.

10) Write press releases, articles, and reviews and post them in the appropriate places. If you set up a "virtual tour", if you have a new release, if you win a contest, you can write a press release. Write articles and submit them to free-to-use article places where content seekers can grab your article (with the source box including your links) and use it on their site or in their newsletter. Every time you finish reading a book, write a review for it and submit it everywhere you can--like online booksellers such as Amazon.com. (If you alter it a bit, you can even send it out as an article.) Of course, with a link back to you.

Make friends everywhere you go. Be helpful to others. Volunteer your time. Offer congrats and commiserations when someone else needs a friend. Most of all, be sincere. This is more valuable than any of the above because it not only makes your internet existence bearable, but you'll get help, inspire others to promote you, and have a host of opportunities already in place when your next release comes out.

by: J.R. Turner