Reading Materials for Careers in Writing.

As explained in a previous entry, I would like to embark upon a freelance writing career. I’d like to take you back in the past and reveal some books which have played some part. Before buildings are called great, the foundations must first be laid.

Although not my first writing book, Zamri Mohamad’s Cari Duit Cara Mudah Sebagai Penulis Bebas (PTS Professional) offers a good basic on starting out a writing career. I repeat, this is a good starting book. As a friend of mine warned, also contained in the book, traditional freelance writing is very competitive. The focus of the book is on magazine and article writing - subjected to the editor / editorial board’s mercy. Zamri also discusses on how to submit articles, handle rejection and some other how-to tips.

For those of you who are serious, I would recommend Secret’s of a Freelance Writer - How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Robert Bly (Owl Books). Robert focused on a more “contemporary” form of freelance writing: copy writing or commercial writing. This is serious business, literally. Businesses would hire copy writers to do their brochures, pamphlets, web sites (which includes maintaining them), proof readers and editors, reports - including annual reports, short newsletter and other projects. Bly also talked about pricing, networking, portfolio and resumes needed by a freelance writer to succeed. A good investment for those who intend to pursue a copy writing career.

The two aforementioned books, although are on writing, focus on different types of writing. Zamri’s approach, or what Bly would call “traditional free lance writing”, is about sending articles to periodicals, magazines and the like. Both authors warn that competition is high - so did a good friend of mine. Payment is not that high, which can be seen in the titles for their books. Zamri did not mention any figure in his title or his book. The payment varies according to publishers. This does not mean that you should give up all together. Writing to magazines, although serious in business, is more like a hobby. Unless you are hoping to get that column, that is how you should approach it. Writing for businesses, however, means generating income, attracting customers and clients, promoting good PR and the like. It IS serious business, no kidding.

For those of you interested in fiction, Sara Maitland is among the good authors to go. Her book The Writer’s Way - Realize Your Creative Potential And Become A Successful Author published by Arcturus guides you how to properly do creative writing. She covered grammar, metaphors, character creation and plot development.

Another book I would recommend for those swimming in creative juices is Need To Know? Writing Fiction - The Best Guide for Anyone with Ideas published by Collins. This book guides readers and referring the discussions to works of great authors like Herman Melville (Moby Dick) and Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels). Themes, motifs, plot, character development, humour and other necessary components of what makes a good literature are discussed in Writing Fiction.

With the advancement of technology, and some creative brains, the world now know what blogs are. Politicians fear them, business adore them and the people are caught in between. Whatever the view is, blogging is a good way to promote yourself and your writing to the world. How to turn something free and basic to a profit and income generator, attracting hundreds of readers and customers? Rosli Jamal offers some suggestions up his sleeves. In his book Blogger, Blog, Blogging Untuk Semua (Ameen), he covers some basics of a blog and tips on generating income. This engineer’s advices also covers tools which can be used. Just for the record, the software I am using to write this entry was recommended in the book.

Saving the best for last, I offer John Lee’s Great by 24 (Truewealth) for those who wants to convert skill into service and start their own business. This young entrepreneur shares his experience in creating and building his translating service company (Epsilon Translation) - all while studying engineering in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. This simple yet comprehensible book offers valuable advice for those with aspirations to create their own business but are intimidated by the lack of reading materials and the complexities of the available ones.

In the words of Adam Khoo (author of Master Your Mind, Design your Destiny and the Best Selling book I Am Gifted, So Are You), success can be duplicated. Learning from others and preparing ourselves mentally and emotionally is vital. For those of you who are wondering, I am not paid by any publisher or author to write about their books. I’m just sharing some books that I have read and found useful. With that, I wish you all the best in your endeavors. Would appreciate your comments on this entry.

 

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