Image licensed under CC-BY-3.0. Attributed to Romina Espinosa Celebrity ghostwriters lie behind the captivating stories of many famous actors, politicians, entertainers and even other writers. Some ghostwriters stay hidden for their entire careers, others are openly credited as ‘co-writers’ and some decide to step forward and reveal themselves (often if they feel mistreated in some way!) … Read more
Wouldn’t you just love to be able to grab the attention of your reader every time? Unlike in a verbal conversation, there is no second chance for the copywriter to achieve this. Your copy will need to instantly hook your reader and start pressing his or her buttons. Only then will you maximise the chance … Read more
It sounded too good to be true when I first heard about them, but when the first author’s copy of my first self-published book arrived through the letterbox, I knew I had made a good decision. Now, if anyone asks me who to use if they want a bookshop-quality paperback book created for a minimum … Read more
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is a minefield, and it can be bewildering to the beginner. Whether you’re handling your own SEO or letting a company handle it for you, you will have to incorporate relevant keywords into your content. But how do you know which keywords to use? I suggest that you use the Google … Read more
Today’s blog post is kindly provided by ActuallyWeDo(TM), a British creative design studio. Three Seconds to Save a Career: Why Writers Need to Invest in Cover Design It’s taken you years of toil and sacrifice to complete your precious novel and months of painstaking editing and re-editing to make it worthy of a publisher’s attention. … Read more
Most of us have heard of antonyms; these are words that mean the opposite of another. For example, ‘hot’ is an antonym for ‘cold’. Contranyms, on the other hand, are not so well-known. These are words that can mean two opposite things, depending on the context in which they are used. Eh? OK, it’s time … Read more
If you thought that I spent all of my working days and nights sitting behind a keyboard writing content for the web you would be wrong. OK, so 90% of the time that would be a pretty good description of what I do, but on occasion I do get out and about talking to people … Read more
Does anybody remember the case of Derek Bentley? He was a British teenager hanged for his part in the murder of a police officer. When Bentley told his accomplice to ‘let him have it’, it was interpreted that this was an incitement to kill the policeman. In his defense, it was argued that Bentley may … Read more
The Universe is truly a wondrous thing: the observable part is widely believed to be about 13.75 billion years old with a diameter of 93 billion light years. It is expanding, believed to be propelled by an energy (dark energy) which can not yet be detected by our astronomical instruments. However, it is not expanding … Read more
Time management is one of those corporate clichés, something you find yourself jotting down on your empty piece of paper when brainstorming for a job application form or company appraisal. When you’re self-employed it becomes everything, because every minute of your time is either earning you money or costing you (even if it’s only those … Read more
