Ebay Auction Writing: Make the Most of your Descriptions by Paul Docherty

How many times have you opened an auction in Ebay and been put off by a poor auction description?

Lots of times I'll wager. The auction description, especially on Ebay, is a fundamental part of achieving a successful sale. If the description isn't right, no amount of pictures or repricing will get your item sold. So where do people go wrong?

Firstly, make sure the standard of your writing is good. Ensure your spelling is always correct and that you write in clear, concise sentences. There is a tendency these days for people to write phrases to get their point across because 'people will know what I mean'.

This couldn't be further from the truth. When parting with hard cash for any item, people want to know exactly what they are getting for their money. If you have not been clear or are relying on hinting at something, a potential buyer will just look elsewhere, rather than be bothered to even ask you the question.

So what does this tell you about the level of content you need to supply in your description? You need to supply as much information as possible without swamping the buyer in a sea of text and pictures. This is why your writing needs to be concise. You need to ensure that you get across the maximum amount of information in the shortest possible number of words. To illustrate the point, how many times have you seen an auction, or even a website that takes a full five or ten seconds to scroll down through. Ask yourself now, how many of those auctions or websites did you actually bother to read all the way through? The chances are that it's none, isn't it?

From a practical point of view, you need to supply a good, accurate description of what it is you're selling. Your facts need to be correct at all times. If you are unsure about any aspect of the item, you should state this in your description. It is far better to be honest about the item and your knowledge, than have to deal with an irate buyer intent on giving you negative feedback. It can all be avoided.

As with nearly all web related material, keywords are the key to getting your auction viewed by the right people. Take some time to think of what keywords you would use to find your item if you were looking to buy one. Make sure you use these words in both the title and description for your auction. Remember that some things can be called by different names in the US than they are in the UK: be sure to appeal to both markets.

An area vital to most Ebay sales, but neglected by many, is the condition of the item. Very few items will sell if the condition is not mentioned in the description. Someone else will mention the condition of their similar item and it will sell instead of yours. Be very careful with the language you use to describe condition. In some circles, words or specific terms carry a specific, unambiguous meaning. For example, if you are selling vinyl records, the term 'mint condition' is recognised as having a particular criteria for records to meet. If you are unsure, check out the meanings of condition descriptions on websites or in books relating to the item you are trying to sell. It pays to do your homework.

Lastly, you would be amazed at the number of auctions in Ebay that don't have a picture of the item. It is highly unlikely that your item will sell quickly if you don't put a picture in your auction. Some people make the mistake of using a stock, or library, picture of a similar item, usually taken from a manufacturer's website. Avoid this for several reasons. Firstly, there is no substitute for actually seeing the very item that you will be bidding for; buyers want to see it, so show it to them. Secondly, if you don't own the rights to the picture from the manufacturer's website, which you won't, it's probably an infringement of copyright to use it without permission.
Remember:

- check your grammar and spelling

- be clear

- be concise

- be accurate and honest

- use the right keywords

- be clear on the condition

- use a picture of the actual item you're selling.

If you follow these key points, you will improve your selling potential significantly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Docherty has many years experience in technical writing, business sales proposals and managing large engineering technical writing projects. Recently he has contributed significantly to many websites including http://www.freewritingadvice.com/

The World of Make Believe Words by Belinda Osgood

Fiction writers love to create stories. To bring those stories to life we also have to create many other things as well. Not only the obvious things such as plot and characters, but we invent new weapons or fictional places, beliefs, and social history. One important thing we decide is names--names of characters, places, and things.

This world of make believe is only as limited as the writer's imagination, but sometimes it is difficult to find the right word to name an element in our story. As a fantasy writer, I often formulate new words to describe original items I've included in my stories. If you want to invent a new word, but are struggling to get the right fit, try one of these fun and stimulating exercises.

1. Write down two words of which you like the sound. Separate each into segments and then try out a variety of combinations until you strike one you like. Add in more words and change words as you go. Allow a dynamic evolution of the process and enjoy the creative flow.

Example: To create the name of a place - Sandwich / Holiday Sandolay, Holwich, Daysan, Dysan, Olian, Onday, Sholind...

2. Take an existing word and alter the spelling or give it a different emphasis. Something quite simple or normal can become exotic and fantastical.

Example: A heroine's name based on "Christine" - Krystin, Cristonia, Krysti, Criztine, Istine...

3. Try writing words back to front and add a letter or two to the end.

Example: To create a plant name - pill becomes llipi; apple becomes elppan; cup becomes pucaw...

4. Shorten words to take out the strongest or best sounding piece that fits the need.

Example: creating a regional food - accident--acci; promise--omi; refrigerator--iger...

5. Borrow from other languages. Take your favourite sounding word from another language and give it a new definition.

Example: inventing a new musical instrument - noventa (Spanish, meaning "ninety") becomes a large drum used to send messages by vibrations through the ground; bliksem (Dutch, meaning "lightning") is now a pocket-sized whistle with 3 buttons to reproduce the sounds of animal calls...

The possibilities are limitless and the exercises provided merely a stir to get creative thinking fired up. Do not attempt to restrict the process to words one might normally think of to fit a situation. It is quite as possible and appropriate to create a character's name from a vegetable as from an actual existing name.

Once one starts breaking words down and mixing them up, the imagination will wander all over the place. This is exactly the desired effect. Some options will be appealing, but not quite fit a particular need. Do keep a record of these words and ideas on the new word's definition. They very well could be the perfect choice to name the next world, character, or thing. Sometimes these new words take a life of their own and prompt a completely new storyline.

Expand the creative elements within the scope of a story and enjoy the process and results of bringing new words to life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Belinda Osgood is an author on http://www.writing.com// which is a site for Fiction Writing. Belinda enjoys writing a range of material, covering both fiction and non-fiction.

Free Service for Generating Personalized Newspapers

FeedJournal has launched FeedJournal Reader, an Internet service for generating your personal newspaper. Users of the free service can select web feeds from more than 100 million bloggers as well as many other web resources.

"The realization of FeedJournal Reader turns every blogger into a journalist," says Jonas Martinsson, who founded FeedJournal in early 2006, and has since managed the software development based on his original idea. "The long tail of the blogosphere has finally reached printed traditional media. Today's newsrooms cater to a general audience while FeedJournal puts the editorial decisions in the hands of each reader."

FeedJournal Reader accepts all RSS and Atom feeds, and transforms them into a PDF file, in the format of a traditional newspaper. The user can then print it out and read it offline, where interruptions are typically less frequent. Research has shown that reading on paper is 25% faster then reading on screen; and reading comprehension is much higher for reading texts on paper.

Website: http://www.feedjournal.com/

People Who Read This Article Also Read

The newspaper, that daily chronicle of human events, is undergoing the most momentous transformation in its centuries-old history. Online versions are proliferating, attracting young readers, and generally carving out a sizable swath of the news business. In the United States alone, 34 million people have made a daily habit of reading an online newspaper.

It's just the beginning. Online news will inevitably grow at the expense of its traditional counterpart, not just to save its publishers money but because the infinite malleability of the Web will make for better newspapers. Yet so far, few newspaper sites look different from the pulp-and-ink papers that spawned them.

There's no need for that. An online news site can change minute by minute and generate a different front page for each reader. The most interesting and useful customization involves capturing information about the readers' interests from their past behavior. There's already a model for that--the recommendation systems used by Web sites like Amazon.com, TiVo, and Netflix. Using information on past purchases, movie ratings, or items viewed, these systems steer consumers to items from among the thousands or millions they have on offer. Why can't newspapers borrow this idea?

It may seem a small step from recommending products to recommending information, but, in fact, doing so is actually quite complex. Stand at the entrance of a Wal-Mart or look at Amazon's home page and the shiny world of their wares seems limitless. But it's not. It is firmly bounded by the constraints of time and warehouse space. A sprawling Wal-Mart store typically has about 100 000 items; Amazon.com carries a few million. The world of information, on the other hand, is measured in billions of pages and petabytes of data. Processing data on this scale can require a supercomputer-scale infrastructure well beyond the means of a city newspaper. Recommender systems also face what is known as the "cold start" problem, which stems from the difficulty of rating any item that has not yet attracted the notice of qualified recommenders.

In this article in the March issue of IEEE Spectrum, author Greg Linden looks at how he and other researchers at Google and elsewhere have tackled these problems, which must be solved if newspapers are to play the same role in the next century they have in the two previous ones. Linden now works at Microsoft Live Labs. From 1997 to 2002, he worked at Amazon.com, first writing its recommendation engine and then leading the software team that developed the company's personalization systems.

Source: Newswise

Writing Advice From The Experts Part #2 by Scott Lindsay

The most valuable of talents is never using two words when one will do. - Thomas Jefferson
There are many books that provide tips and guidance for publishing success. This series of articles takes you directly to a trusted source of wisdom - established authors. The hope is the experiences they have encountered will assist you in your writing objectives.

On Editing

There is but one art, to omit! - Robert Louis Stevenson

A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. - William Strunk, Jr., from The Elements of Style

My most important piece of advice to all you would-be writers: when you write, try to leave out all the parts readers skip. - Elmore Leonard

The great art of writing is knowing when to stop. - Josh Billings

As to the adjective, when in doubt, strike it out. -- Mark Twain

When rewriting, move quickly. It's a little like cutting your own hair. - Robert Stone

Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. - Joseph Pulitzer

On Writer's Block

If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it an hour when it isn't expecting it. - H. G. Wells

On Motivation

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly

The most original thing a writer can do is write like himself. It is also the most difficult task. - Robertson Davies

If you wish to be a writer, write. - Epictetus

Talent is helpful in writing, but guts are absolutely essential. - Jessamyn West

You write about the thing that sank its teeth into you and wouldn't let go. - Paul West

On Humility

Young writers should be encouraged to write, and discouraged from thinking they are writers. - Wallace Stegner

In the third and final part in this series we will look at a few words of wisdom from authors on the naming of your work, learning from the success and failure of other writers and the inner struggles authors often face.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters (http://www.faithwriters.com/) and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers. Please visit the website at: http://www.faithwriters.com/

Free Webinar: How Leading Brands Are Unleashing the Power of Social Media

Free Webinar to discuss the results of a global study on how companies are planning, implementing and evaluating social media tools.

Consumers have taken control of brands, but has the business world figured out smart ways to use social media in brand and product marketing? To find out, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony surveyed 70+ marketers around the globe about their experiences incorporating all types of social media tools in their marketing strategies. During this Webinar, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony will summarize the findings of this study and discuss the insights with participants.

Who: This interactive discussion will be led by Jim Nail, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony

When: February 28, 2008
1:00 PM EST

Where:
Register at: http://www.socialmediainbusiness.com/

Free Downloads of Public Domain Movies, Ebooks, Computer Applications

WorthArchiving.com is now the fastest growing legal torrent site on the net. This new site offers free legal torrent downloads of public domain movies, non-copyrighted ebooks, federal documents, and freely distributable computer applications.

WorthArchiving.com offers users a way to save rare files and share them with others. Many classic movies and computer games have expired copyrights. Now, interested users can download these non-copyrighted items as legal torrents.

When a user downloads a document (or movie, computer application, etc.) as a torrent, he receives small "chunks" of information from many different sources. These torrent "chunks" come together to form the complete document. Downloading torrents to a computer is a simple, relatively fast process.

WorthArchiving.com only stores legal torrents. All content is free from copyright and is legally available for distribution.

WorthArchiving.com is currently asking users to submit legal torrents for consideration on the site: "We enjoy archiving legal torrents for movie downloads with expired copyrights, and with the help of our users, we preserve rare files that would otherwise cease to exist. Do you legally possess the last copy, or one of the last copies of a digital file? Share it today, and save it from extinction."

Website: http://www.wortharchiving.com/

Skinny Words Lead to Fat Pay Checks by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE

Nothing can turn your audience off faster than using fat words when they're hungry for skinny ones. Or vice versa. I learned this exciting concept from Dr. David Palmer, a Silicon Valley negotiations expert. In his talks on negotiations, he describes "levels of abstraction." Unless you can match your message to the expectations of your audience, or talk at the same level at which they are listening, you won't connect as well as you would like. This is true whether your audience is one person or one thousand.

Suppose you write the word "automobile" on a pad. A simple concept. Going up to the next level of abstraction, you could write above it that the car is a "wheeled passenger vehicle, then "surface transportation," then "major force in the world's economy." This is making the word "automobile" fatter and fatter, larger and larger. These big ideas and abstractions are "fat words." They are great for conveying the big picture, inspiring ideas and motivating.

Now, let's make the word skinnier. Underneath, you might write "sedan," "Ford sedan," "red four-door Ford sedan." Eventually, you would be talking about a specific car with the VIN. Those are "skinny words." They are essential for conveying instructions and solving technical problems. No one holding a screwdriver, camera or have a blank screen on their computer wants "fat" words. You'll just frustrate them -- maybe make them furious. They want to know minute details and specific who, what, when, where and how.

Many of my clients hire me to coach their sales teams. After I give them the automobile illustration, they learn to be more effective by evaluating each other by saying: "Your words are too fat" or "Those words aren't skinny enough." "When you are presenting a sales overview to an executive or senior management," I ask, "Should your words get fatter or skinnier?"

Upper management needs fat words. After a successful initial interview with an executive, you will be invited to present your offerings to a middle-management team. For this group, your ideas need to be brought down the level of abstraction by using "skinner words and phrases."

Let's assume you were very effective and persuasive. You made the sale. Now you are dealing with the individuals that make the technology work. That is when the words and phrases need to get "skinny." The “who, what, when, where and how” do I turn it on?

At what level should you present your information so that you get your message across? It all depends on the audience.

As a professional speaker and sales trainer I ask my clients, "What do you want the theme of my remarks to be? What is the purpose of the meeting?" For years, I have been hearing: "Get them to sell more" or "Motivate them." My reply would usually be "How much are they selling now?” and “How much more do you want them to sell?" or "Motivate them to do what?"

Can you see the challenge? Their words are too fat for me to get a clear picture of how to meet and exceed their expectations. With my questioning, I need to drive their comments and expectations down the level of abstraction by saying things like, "Can you help me understand specifically what you mean by that?" Thank you, David Palmer. This simple concept has increased the effectiveness of my sales presentation skills training, and my clients report fat paychecks!

----------------------------------------------------
Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE, is an award-winning speaker, sales presentation trainer and executive speech coach. Meetings and Conventions magazine calls Patricia "one of the country's 10 most electrifying speakers." Kiplinger's Personal Finance says, "Patricia Fripp's speaking school is the sixth best way you can invest in your career."

Professional speakers and executives learn how to deliver effective business presentations at Patricia Fripp's presentation skills training. Thursday and Friday March 6-7, 2008, San Francisco Bay Area, Corte Madera, California. http://www.fripp.com/speakingschool.html

Copywriter Never Mumbles - and Other Principles of Effective Ad Copy by Walter Burek

H.L. Mencken, the author, jounalist and social critic observed that most people "write badly because they cannot think clearly." And the reason they cannot think clearly, he went on, is that "they lack the brains."

Putting aside H.L.'s cricisim for the moment, let's assume that all copywriters have the "brains" and, more often than not, we are capable of clear thinking. It follows then, that we stand a very good chance of being able to write well. But clarity of thought is only step one. The following principles will help you move on from there, so that you can put down in writing exactly what you have in mind.

1. Don't mumble.

Advertising is most effective when it is easy to understand. (Take a look at any advertising effectiveness study.) In other words, you sell more stuff when you write copy that is clear.

Copy that speaks out commands attention; copy that mumbles doesn't. So once you've thought about what you want to say, come right out and say it. Don't mumble your message by being short on specifics or long-winded in your sentences. And don't use big words, cliches, jargon or borrowed interest.

Keep in mind E.B White's sobering advice: "When you say something, make sure you have said it. Your chances of having said it are only fair."

2. Get to the point.

Start selling with your very first sentence. Try to make it and every sentence that follows simple and declarative. Factual. And short. Short is powerful. Lincoln used only 266 words in his Gettysburg Address. And many believe that the shortest sentence in the New Testament - "Jesus wept." - is also the most moving.

3. Don't write like a nerd, a lawyer or a bureaucrat.

In his Simple and Direct, Jaques Barzun says, "The whole world will tell you, if you care to ask, that your words should be simple and direct. Everybody likes the other fellow's prose plain." Don't inflict technical jargon, pompous words or fancy phrases on your readers. Remember, you're trying to communicate with them, not impress them with your grasp of show-off fad words or vague abstractions. Why write "sub-optimal" when you mean "less than ideal?" Why write "interface" when it is more clear and direct to write "discuss, "meet," or "work with?" Why take the chance of annoying your reader by writing "net net" instead of "conclusion?"

4. Use short paragraphs, short sentences and simple words.

The professional copywriter always practices this simple principle: Short sentences and short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones. And easier to understand. Rudolf Flesch, in The Art of Plain Talk, says that the best average sentence length is 14 to 16 words, 20 to 25 words is passable, but anything over 40 words is unreadable. So write in crisp, short, snappy sentences. A trick of the trade -- using sentence fragments -- can help keep your average sentence length to a respectable number of words. And add drama and rhythm to your copy.

Paragraphs should also be kept short. Long, unbroken blocks of text intimidate readers. If it looks hard to read, they probably won't read it.

As for short words, John Caples, the Hall of Fame copywriter said: "Even the best-educated people don't resent simple words. But they are the only words many people understand."

Plain writing in simple words simply communicates more effectively than writing with a lot of big words. Keep in mind that in Shakespeare's most memotrable sentence -- "To be or not to be?" -- the longest word is only three letters.

5. Write simply and naturally

People like to read simple, easy-to-understand writing. And the simplest, most easy-to-understand style is to write conversationally, the way you talk when you're at your best -- when your ideas are flowing smoothly, when your syntax is fluent and your vocabulary accurate. A simple test to check on your conversational tone is to imagine yourself speaking to your reader instead of writing. Are you expressing yourself clearly, or are you mumbling? Are you using only those words, phrases and sentences that you might actually say to your reader if you were face to-face? Or do you sound stiff and impersonal? If you wouldn't say it, why write it?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walter Burek is an award-winning copywriter who learned his craft at some of the finest advertising agencies in the world and has been a writer and Creative Director on some of advertising's most important accounts. Currently, he offers freelance copywriting services through his company, http://www.walterburek.com/. Walter also writes, edits and publishes Words@Work, a free newsletter for marketing communications professionals.

5 Reasons Why Business Blogs Fail

Some businesses that use blogging to market their products and services struggle to see results, yet others have been strikingly successful through business blogging. Why is that? There's a lot to love about blogging: it's fun, inexpensive, and satisfying to see your thoughts and words published on the Web. But if you aren't seeing tangible results for your business, you could be on the verge blog failure.

The Blog Squad did a survey among business professionals who have let their blogs go. Here are some reasons business owners give for abandoning their blogs:

1. Not getting many comments

2. Not enough subscribers

3. Didn't see any increase in traffic to their website

4. Too hard to come up with new content every week

5. Couldn't figure out how to promote their products and services

The Blog Squad is a team of blogging experts, Patsi Krakoff, Psy.D., and Denise Wakeman who specialize in helping business owners get results from their blogs. Most business people haven't been trained adequately in the four areas essential to getting results from business blogging: Content, Outreach, Design, and Action.

"Many professionals simply don't know how to use the features of their blogging platform," explains Denise Wakeman, co-founder of The Blog Squad™. "Furthermore, they often struggle with what to write about on a business blog. So their posts are infrequent, their traffic stagnant, and they don't convert readers to clients."

Unless a professional knows how to use a blog for marketing, driving traffic, and converting readers to clients, it becomes one more chore to do. That may account for the fact that over 50% of blogs are abandoned within 90 days.

The Blog Squad™ is offering a four-week teleseminar program in February to educate and mentor small businesses and professionals called: Better Business Blogging: Boost Your Blog for Better Results- …how to use the 4-point CODA system to take your blog to the next level The teleseminar is being offered on Tuesdays, February 5, 12, 19, and 26 at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT).

Participants can attend by phone or listen live via simulcast on the Web. For information and registration, visit http://www.boostyourbusinessblog.com/.

Differences Between UK and US English by Paul Docherty

George Bernard Shaw is famously quoted as having said that the British and the Americans are two nations "separated by a common language". In reality, there is no real difference in the application of the language in grammatical terms between American English and British English: sentences are constructed in an identical manner and the application of punctuation is the same.

The main area of difference is in the vocabulary and spelling used. There are many differences in these areas, not immediately apparent to a many people but afficionados of Hollywood movies will be able to identify a few of the more obvious differences without difficulty. For example:

gas (US) v petrol (UK)

soccer (US) v football (UK)

apartment (US) v flat (UK)

attorney (US) v lawyer (UK)

sidewalk (US) v pavement (UK)

If you are a writer considering writing either in the UK, the US or both, you will need to ensure you tailor your writing for the readership you are trying to target. The use of American vocabulary, and particularly spelling, in British publications is frowned upon and will immediately switch a reader off; that's if it ever gets past an editor first. Likewise, use of UK-specific vocabulary will have a similar effect in the USA. It is far better to take account of this at the beginning, than be put in the potentially embarrassing position of having to rewrite your text.

Of equal importance when understanding the differences between American and British English vocabulary and word usage, is spelling. There are some significant differences which, if not taken into account by the writer, will highlight that you may not have fully investigated your target audience. Again, for example:

center (US) v centre (UK)

donut (US) v doughnut (UK)

favorite (US) v favourite (UK)

tire (US) v tyre (UK)

catalog (US) v catalogue (UK)

color (US) v colour (UK)

If you are looking to write for both markets, it is worthwhile acquainting yourself with more of these kind of differences. It will also be useful to get a hold of UK and US English dictionaries (Websters for the US and Oxford OED for the UK).

Use the internet to look for key differences and ways in which the language is developing on each side of the Atlantic. Since the UK and the US are separated by an ocean and several thousand miles, we will increasingly find that the dialects of British and American English will continue to diverge as the modern languages develop. It is also worth investigating the now apparent differences in English language usage between the generations as well, especially in the modern urban environments.

About the Author
Paul Docherty has many years experience in technical writing, business sales proposals and managing large engineering technical writing projects. Recently he has contributed significantly to many websites including http://www.freewritingadvice.com/

Different Types of Editing by Yvonne Perry

Once an author writes a book, it should go to an editor for a second look. Why? A good writer is also a good editor, right? That may be true, but as writers we get too close to our own work to give it an objective critique. We know what we are trying to say, and what we have written makes sense to us even if it doesn’t to someone else. It's the proverbial "too many trees to see the forest" syndrome. When an editor reads your work for the first time, certain things stand out like a pink rabbit sitting in a tree. Things that might not be obvious to you after you've worked on the manuscript for months.

There are different types of editors and you will need to choose one that is right for your book. If your manuscript is exactly how you want it, you may only need a good proofreading from a copy or line editor. However, if your book needs character and plot development, a check for overall flow as well as proofreading for punctuation, grammar and spelling, you need an editor who can help you rewrite confusing and awkward areas and create better structure.

Here are some types of editing offered by most editors:

Developmental Editing
Similar to ghostwriting in collaboration with the author, a developmental editor assists the author as a writing coach by taking a rough draft of a manuscript from initial concept and make suggestions about content, organization, and presentation. The developmental editor always has the target market (reader) in mind and may make an analysis of competing works and suggest additional research to "flesh out" certain parts and give the book credibility and factual content. Plot and characterization will be analyzed and reworked if needed. Suggestions will be given for rewriting confusing and awkward areas to create better flow. Sentence structure, punctuation, grammar and spelling may also be considered.

Heavy or Substantive Editing
Still a copy editor’s job, but in addition to reading and marking errors in punctuation, grammar and spelling, the heavy edit may offer editorial comments on style, structure, content and flow. Substantive Editing improves a manuscript by identifying and solving problems with order and flow of information. It may require reorganizing paragraphs, sections, or chapters for overall clarity or readability. Suggestions will be given for rewriting confusing and awkward areas to create better flow. Sentence structure, transitions, punctuation, grammar, and spelling will also be considered. Heavy editing also checks URL links, graphics, captions, photos, references, foot notes, tables, quotes, bibliography, and citations; and makes sure proper permission has been granted to use copyrighted material. Formatting to include page numbers, margins, headings, font styles, indentations, paragraph spacing, header and footer text, a hyperlinked table of contents and indexing. Many times a heavy or substantive edit is the same as a rewrite of the manuscript.

Proofreading is usually offered only to a well-written manuscript that has already been through a heavy edit. The copy editor will proofread and mark errors in punctuation, grammar, and spelling. Proofreading is limited to 5-7 marks per page, so if your manuscript has more than the occasional grammatical error, you will need to choose another type of editing.

The writers and editors at Write On! Creative Writing Services are able to assist you with any of these types of editing. We work with our clients to assure that your manuscript is ready to present to a conventional publisher. To learn more, please visit us at http://www.writersinthesky.com/.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services based in Nashville, Tennessee. She and her team of ghostwriters service clients all over the globe by offering quality writing on a variety of topics at an affordable price. If you need a brochure, web text, business document, resume, bio, article or book, visit www.yvonneperry.net While there sure to subscribe to the RSS podcast feed and the free monthly newsletter about writing, networking, publishing and marketing. Read more on Yvonne’s blog at yvonneperry.blogspot.com