The Writing Jobs

Welcome To The Writing Jobs

The Writing Jobs offers the resources and information you need to assist in your search for employment in the writing and editing fields. Our job board and category sections include the latest leads available. Both are "search" friendly whether you are looking for a certain type of position or specific location. Jobs for writers are out there...our goal is to help you locate them.

7 Ways to Write Your Book to Sell Way More Than Its Competition

Did you define an intense problem and solve it within your book? Congratulations! You now have the ingredients to make your book a top seller in your field or expertise. With the right mix, your book is destined to sell way more than its competition. But, wait; don't rest in your success just yet. You still have work to do to become a successful author with a book selling way more than its competition.

After you have defined a problem and solution, researched your competition, you now have to develop a different approach. With all the books in the world on your topic, it's not enough to know the solution; you have to present the solution in a different way than existing books do.

You need to develop a way of making your book special. You need a different viewpoint, a niche, and a unique spin on sometimes the same information. Look at the problem again and the solution your book solves with the goal of developing a way to describe and present your knowledge in a different manner than existing books.

Self-Mutilation…er…Self-Editing

You've got that blessed first draft completed and now it is time to jump from the frying pan into the fire. You've got to clean it up and get it ready for submission. The first thing you need to do is to set it aside and give your mind some space from it so you can go back to it with fresh eyes. Don't go back to it with the mistaken idea that it will just need a little tweaking. You are going to need to do some serious overhauling on that baby and the more comfortable you are with the idea, the more productive your edits and revisions will be.

Okay, you've taken some time and now you are ready to rip that mother up! Make sure you have all the tools you need.

A back-up ink cartridge or toner.
A fresh ream of paper for printing out your chapters.
A highlighter or two.
A notepad.
A dictionary.
A Thesaurus.
A Tape recorder with a couple blank tapes.

The hardest part of writing a book is getting started, keeping at it, and crossing the completion line. What makes those pivotal phases so difficult is the appearance, again and again, of five obstacles that seem insurmountable:

1. Inertia
2. Fear
3. No Time
4. Wavering Motivation
5. Unclear Commitment

Of course, none of these are really insurmountable. Here are some simple strategies for making each one instantly irrelevant.

Obstacle One: Inertia

Inertia tends to arise in the chasm between an idea and its execution. Ideas seem to pop into awareness almost effortlessly, while finished book manuscripts do not. To cross the yawning chasm between an idea for a book and its completed exploration in words, you need what amounts to a map, or a list of simple, specific steps that will take you where you want to go. Your list might look something like this:

Want to develop a writing habit? You can.

Here are five very simple steps.

1. Schedule time for your writing every day

For something to become a habit you have to train yourself. So every day, at the time you choose, sit down and write.

This is purely mechanical. No effort is required. Sit. Write.

2. When you're writing, write without expectation

When you write, write without expectation. Stay in the moment, and focus on what you're doing.

It takes around 11 minutes to change from one mind state to another, so after 11 minutes, you'll start to feel "inspired" and will write easily. Again, this is mechanical. It's just the way your mind works.

In philosophy, two views exist on where the ideas originate. One view claims that ideas live in a separate realm that give rise to what is called innate ideas; the other view insists we get our ideas from life experiences. Both views may have a say in our writing life.

According to our standard understanding and sometimes our wishful thinking, ideas come to us writers spontaneously; however, ideas may also come as derivatives of other ideas or whatever enters the mind at a given moment. Once an idea enters the mind, it triggers other concepts that are connected and similar.

Everything starts with an idea. Each piece of writing starts with an idea. If the idea behind a story is attractive, the editors will welcome its proposal, and most importantly, when the story or the script is written, that attractive idea will keep the readers reading.

What makes any idea attractive, then?

A contradiction emerges in the answer. The idea has to be original and attention getting; yet, it must be familiar. Finding an idea both original and familiar sounds like a paradox; however, these two oppositions can be made to work together to benefit the writer.

In Search of the Perfect Copy Editor

10 Copy Editor Traits That Guarantee You Success

To be a copy editor is to tackle one of the toughest - and sometimes most thankless - jobs in the newsroom. To get hired or to move ahead in the business is even tougher - in many newsrooms, it's "sink or swim" for the copy editor, with very little help or advice along the way. Here, veteran copy editor, desk supervisor and newsroom manager Anne Glover offers some inside tips on how to get a good copy desk job. They apply not only at her paper but at all good newspapers.