Essay Online

In the 1600’s most cultured socialites considered chapbooks vulgar. These ‘flimsy’ booklets were often sold in less than reputable establishments and contained a variety of less than quality poetry, stories, ballads and political dissent. Often filled with spelling mistakes, factual blunders and little in the way of quality assurance these chapbooks often connected with the uncultured alone.

Today you will find several colleges that are working to collect copies of aging chapbooks. International universities have collections of hundred and even thousands of these manuscripts.

What are chapbooks?

This type of literature provides a relatively small grouping of thoughts or poetry in a booklet form that is generally unacceptable in traditional book markets. The length of a chapbook rarely exceeds 50 pages and can be assembled using a home printer and publishing software or using an office supply store that provides copying services.

Chapbook History

In the past these booklets were sold by peddlers to others who enjoyed the simplified nature of the work.

Some chapbooks were purchased if only because paper was scarce and the pages of the chapbook were used to wrap food items for transport.

Chapbooks have historically received very little respect and ultimately faded away for a time with the advent of mass produced newspapers and other periodicals.

In many respects historical chapbooks are now considered desirable folk art and are appreciated in ways the original authors would find surprising.

Chapbooks Today

In the twenty-first century chapbooks are seeing a prominence they have not seen in the past.

Today chapbooks are successfully used to promote an author’s poetry or short stories. They are marketed online and in specialty shops. Some chapbook developers have used the work for philanthropic purposes while others have funded group projects and the distribution of personal writings.

A fundraising effort for families involved in the Sego Mining Disaster in West Virginia saw a poetry chapbook used to provide needed finances for those dealing with loss.

With the advent of easy-to-use publishing programs and printers who can mass-produce a chapbook at reasonable prices, there are more people than ever looking to impact others through the distribution of chapbooks.

Chapbook Future

Some chapbooks may be downloadable through PDF technology while other writers of chapbooks may move solidly toward ebook technology in the future in an effort to distribute their chapbooks thus avoiding paper distribution entirely.

It is safe to presume that the time-honored tradition of chapbooks will see these little publications delight, encourage and challenge readers for centuries to come.

“Careers, like rockets, don’t always take off on schedule. The key is to keep working the engines.” - Gary Sinese

If you pay close attention to the words and inferences of some who use freelance writers you will see that freelancers must be superhuman.

The Top Ten Signs you Have Found a Perfect Freelance Writer

1) They are never too busy to work on my project.

2) They are always efficient enough to have the project completed yesterday.

3) They are willing to write for a fee less than the poverty level.

4) They are willing to provide unlimited rewrites.

5) They always know exactly the style of writing I need.

6) They do not have a personal life.

7) They are knowledgeable about every subject known to man.

They never get sick.

9) They never expect prompt payment.

10) They like it when I’m snippy.

As a freelance writer you may be finding some truth to this list, but the burden of proof is on your shoulders as a freelancer. You do need to adopt a can-do attitude, but be honest enough to pass on a project if you are uncertain about the subject, deadline or volume of work.

The reason a good freelancer may seem superhuman is they have learned the value of follow-up, follow through, customer service and commitment.

All freelance writers have had clients that have more than likely been refused service from other freelancers. These clients refused to be pleased with any work they are presented with. They have an idea writer in mind, but sadly that writer does not exist.

In these cases it is difficult to end the relationship gracefully. It could be you have provided numerous rewrites and the client remains dissatisfied. At that point you may need to stand up to the client and ask for payment or to be released from the obligation.

When you do hear from satisfied customers, you should not hesitate to ask for a brief testimonial you can use for the benefit of other customers who may be considering you as a means of reaching their content objectives.

Stretch your wings and learn new skills. A good freelancer may specialize in one type of service, but is adaptable enough to facilitate new writing formats when needed. The more you learn about freelancing the more marketable your skills will be.

“Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.” - Lowell Thomas

Is it better to participate in content writing or write for magazine publication?

The above question is actually multifaceted and can help you determine the overall thrust of your freelance writing career.

It has been estimated that a writer will need to pen a million words before a publisher is likely to accept their first work. That means a lot of rejection slips.

So, does that imply that content writing is preferred to the crafting of a book or magazine article?

Well not exactly. Content writing is a means of addressing a short-term need. If the immediate need is cash, then content writing might provide the answer. However, if you are looking for a means of affecting long-term royalty payments or a greater flexibility in the ownership of your material you may look at other publishing options.

When you agree to write content for a client you are essentially providing a service for hire. Once you release the article or story to the client and they reciprocate with a payment you have no further interest in the article. You can’t use it again and you will gain no further payment for its ongoing use.

When you write a story for potential use in a book anthology, or a full manuscript for publication, you may have a variety of rights to consider.

If you are the author of a story, you can negotiate with a publisher for the rights you are willing to provide. You could provide First North American Rights, which would allow you to resell the story in the future as a second right, but you would also have the capability of selling first rights to someone else on an international basis. Nonexclusive rights allow you to continue selling the material with the same rights to as many publishers as are interested.

As we venture back to the original question it is important to understand that freelanced writing can and should be a balanced approach to writing. If it takes you a million words before you find publishing success why not make some of those words available to a paying content market to provide some skills-based writing while you work on other projects that are more personal and may have the potential to provide long-term residual payments.

A writer should always find time to write about the things they are passionate about, however the service of content writing provides a means of gaining some writing income while learning new skills and writing techniques while you are waiting for a publisher’s acceptance letter.

“[Henry David] Thoreau is a keen and delicate observer of nature - a genuine observer - which, I suspect, is almost as rare a character as even an original poet; and Nature, in return for his love, seems to adopt him as her especial child, and shows him secrets which few others are allowed to witness.” &ndash Nathaniel Hawthorne (Journal entry, September 1, 1842)

Most of the greatest poets were not recognized for their work until they had long been laid to rest. Many suffered great difficulties in their personal lives, which may have led the poet to the wellspring from which they drew their words.

It has been suggested that poetry was used in our long distant past as a creative means of passing along traditions and history simply because the poetic language was easy to memorize and enjoyable to recite. The bards in medieval times were renowned for their use of poetry.

From free verse to rhyme and meter, poetry remains a benchmark in the world of literature. The pursuit of poetic markets remains a positive way to further an ancient form of storytelling that requires a special gift while the poet’s emotions are largely exposed.

Poetry is the one element of writing that impacts the emotions of writers more than any other. The vulnerable feel of poetry allows a writer to explore circumstances and emotions in a way that is difficult to do in most writing genres.

Most poets craft their words as a stress release and rarely share them with the world at large, however, there may be markets available for poetry.

It is true that publishers of poetry are about as plentiful as wheat fields in the Arctic, but there are other avenues for your poetry that can allow you to publish your material in unique and memorable ways.

Greeting card publishers are always interested in new succinct poems to share with card buyers. Poems can also be artfully placed on a line of gift merchandise including mugs and artwork suitable for framing.

In our modern era you would be hard-pressed to find someone who is able to make a living writing poetry. However poetry can provide a source of writing income and is often a creative outlet for those who also write in other genres.

It is true there are those who have little appreciation for poetry, yet the poet’s work has brought about significant societal debate and ultimate change in our world. Perhaps this is because the reader is invited to share the writer’s perspective in an emotional way that allows a perspective to be heard with something other than ears.

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. - Dale Carnegie

Some of the special skills discussed in writing may have you feeling as if there is really no room for expressing your own personality in your writing. However, there is always a misunderstood need for personal innovation in storytelling. There will always be intriguing stories that defy conventional wisdom.

Children’s author Pamela Jane struggled with the advice she was receiving from others in the field of children’s literature. The suggestion was that Pamela should write about the subjects she knew. She was advised to avoid stories about dolls, fantasy and seasonal titles.

As it turns out, Pamela had just written a story about a doll she had owned as a child and the imagination she used to convey a fantasy Christmas story.

Pamela angrily accepted the advise of her writing friends and set the story aside. However, another friend encouraged her to at least explore the possibility of publishing the story.

“I decided to send it to an obscure regional publisher who might not have heard that seasonal doll fantasies were pass

“When length is a problem, I’d rather cut out sections — entire thoughts — than chisel off the texture and color from the most important parts of the story. Cutting is hard and painful work, but I’d rather do it myself than leave it to someone who doesn’t know the story as well as I do.” - Warren Wolfe

For some the idea of actually having writing deadlines would be a dream come true. They enjoy writing, but have never experienced the ruthless demand of completing an article by a preset time.

Deadlines have been the nemesis of writers for generations. Writers are notorious for seeing a deadline as being so far in the future the need to work on an article ‘right now’ seems nonexistent. In the end they simply make a mad dash to the finish line hoping they have everything in place to make the article shine.

I find that when I write on deadline, my stuff sometimes reads better, because I don’t spend as much time trying to write the perfect sentence or capture the perfect image. In other words, allow the deadline to force you to be concise, crisp and to write with urgency.” - Jim Souhan

A deadline does contribute to the tyranny of the urgent, yet writing for a deadline is a close cousin to Pressure Writing. When you are forced to work quickly your brain actually works harder and faster to process and compile only the most relevant facts. When you allow yourself to spend too long on an article you can begin to second-guess article construction and language use. Many writers will tell you that writing for a deadline actually works to make their writing clear and concise.

“Some people freeze on deadline. My cure for that: Start typing. The simple act of typing in possible leads or details frees you up. Sometimes writing a bad lead on deadline helps you remember what a good lead looks like, and allows you to jump-start your writing.”

- Jim Souhan

As you develop a writing career you will find there are more and more deadlines to greet you. These deadlines are important and may ultimately liberate your writing to become something that is crafted in a timely manner and set free for the enjoyment of others.

Writing for a deadline also allows you to discover there is more writing to be done once you’ve met your cut-off date.

In poetic literature you will often find a poem that seems to be inviting the reader to participate in an adventure or a love story. The use of ‘you’ is evident in the poetry, but in most cases the reader understands that the poem is written to a third party and the author is simply allowing you the opportunity to read these moments of intimate conversation.

Possessives in poetry, marked by an apostrophe, are a way to understand that the poem is written for and to another person &ndash even when written from a first person perspective.

There is, however, a unique form of writing called Authorial Intrusion that will find the author breaking away from the storyline and speaking directly to the reader. This technique is sometimes used to take a work of fiction and make it seem somehow real. This is accomplished when the storyteller breaks from the action to talk directly with you.

Authorial Intrusion can also be used in poetry and is used extensively in persuasive essays. In fact, in essays Authorial Intrusion is often used as a means of allowing a personal voice of persuasion to assist in the point being argued.

You can see the use of Authorial Intrusions in old detective movies where they step out of the shadows and talk to the audience about what they are thinking. This particular adaptation has been used for comic effect in recent years as it has been used extensively in film parodies.

As film and fiction writing have matured the use of Authorial Intrusion has diminished. Sometimes Authorial Intrusions make a work seem amateurish simply because the audience is informed of an impending scenario just before the scenario plays out. It can come across as redundant and unnecessary.

Here’s a short example of Authorial Intrusion…

“Ben had assumed there was nothing to fear on the plateau, but he didn’t see the grizzly bear approaching from behind.”

This particular example really isn’t needed in the context of the story. If the story is indeed Ben’s then allow the reader to experience the emotions Ben has when he makes the surprising discovery.

In the case of fiction writing Authorial Intrusions should be minimal in a worst-case scenario and eliminated altogether in a perfect world. When you choose a Point of View in which to tell the story it is best to allow that voice to remain as consistent as possible throughout the narrative.

There was a time when you needed to relocate if you wanted to become a successful writer. In essence you went where the work was.

The Internet has opened a whole new world for writers. The idea of telecommuting has become a welcome component to the mechanism of freelance.

Today you can sit in a kitchen in Iowa and write for a publication based in the heart of New York. You can write for a firm in Australia from the comfort of your home office in Ontario. You can also write for clients from any point on the globe while wearing your sweats.

There is still a need for local writers to cover local events, but freelancers tap into the human experience and pass that information along in a way that can defy time zones.

The truth is there is a growing acceptance of freelance writers for both print and cyber content. I suppose one of the primary reasons has to do with the cost-effective nature of relying on freelance writing. As publishing businesses have worked to streamline operations they have come to rely more on freelancers who can provide copy on an ‘as needed’ basis. For the freelancer this provides a sense of personal freedom and income. The benefit for the publisher is in not paying a full time writer when their may not be enough work to warrant their employment.

More Reasons to Hire a Freelance Writer

1) You don’t have to pay freelancers overtime.

2) You don’t have to pay freelancers sick leave.

3) You don’t have to provide benefits to freelancers.

4) You can pay a freelance writer well and still pay less than a full-time counterpart.

5) Most freelancers are eager to please and will likely provide their best work. If they don’t, you have the satisfaction of knowing there are many other freelancers available.

Reasons to Become a Freelance Writer

1) You set your own hours.

2) You can always refuse to work with a hard to please client.

3) You can work as much or little as you want.

4) A happy client not only returns, but they often bring referrals.

5) If you need time off, you only need to ask yourself.

The possibilities for a freelance writer seem to expand each day. The need for content from writers is huge and even the start of a part-time freelance business may provide a better income than you could have imagined. There’s no doubt that it’s hard work, but it’s also doing something you already love to do.

Many of the best stories in fiction have both an antagonist and a protagonist.

The protagonist is the main character or hero that we cheer on and hope conquers all.

The antagonist is the story’s villain. The best bad guys are the ones we love to hate. We don’t need to know why they are bad, we don’t need a play by play of the choices they made early in life, we simply recognize they are bad and we don’t want them to win.

A story can operate without an antagonist; however the use of an antagonist is the best way to demonstrate conflict within a storyline.

Conflict in a well executed work of fiction provides the friction that keep readers tuned in. In most cases the antagonist reigns supreme through the majority of storyline. The reader wants the forces of good to triumph, yet the villain remains in charge of the bulk of events that thread through your tale.

This combination of good versus evil creates suspense and causes your reader to wonder how exactly the protagonist will gain an advantage.

One of the primary benefits fictional conflict is the reader is often forced to consider how they might respond against such odds and in similar circumstances. In a best case scenario the story assists the reader in learning more about themselves.

Conflict can also be used to disrupt a normally predictable plot. By presenting conflict that is, in many ways, worse than the previous conflict you can instill a greater desire for evil to be defeated while keeping the reader guessing where the story may be headed next.

Ultimately the story must provide resolution. For the fiction writer of faith this resolution process often provides the simple message that good will triumph over evil although other threads of faith will likely work their way through your text &ndash sometimes without you being consciously aware of their presence.

If you allow the antagonist to loose the struggle too early in your story it becomes anti-climactic and the fire in the story is reduced to an ember that may leave your audience cold.

The use of a villain (may not be a human, could be an animal, ideal, political agenda, etc.) goes a long way in conveying a story with elements that emotionally involve your reader.

When an author decides to write fiction one the primary methods of storytelling is through a first person perspective. For many writers this is the most comfortable manner of storytelling.

In a first person narrative the reader is allowed to relate to the story one dimensionally. The story is presented to the reader from the viewpoint of a character in the story. The narrator might be the main character attempting to relate their own story. The story might also be told from the perspective of a bystander who may not be overtly involved in the storyline.

In the movie, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, the story is narrated by a deeper male voice. It is only at the end that we discover the story was related by one of Willie Wonka’s Oompa Loompas. This is an example of first person storytelling.

This type of story telling is well used in cinema. Many early filmmakers used first person narrative to present their stories. The reason this type of format was used is primarily due to early filmmaking technology that required some help in the transition between scenes. Narration provided that transition. Film noir and other detective dramas relied heavily on first personal narratives to further their storylines.

Today’s authors are more adept at relating a story from other perspectives such as second or third person which will be dealt with in other articles.

A first person narrative allows you to understand the specific character of the narrator. You are likely to find yourself identifying with the storyteller in a variety of ways. You will either love or despise their mannerisms, but it is their character that provides the strongest connection to the storytelling process.

Because your narrator is finite they will never have all the details of the story they are unfolding for you. Sometimes this creates a unique perspective because the story can sometimes become more about the narrator (at least for awhile) then about the actual storyline. This can occasionally provide a comedic touch to the novel or at the very least some rabbit trails to follow just for the fun of it.

Interestingly some first person narratives are actually related from the perspective of a consortium. The premise is that a group of individuals are relating the story. This is identified by the use of ‘we’ or ‘us’ as part of the narration.