Social Media and Writing Services I Offer

In the past couple of weeks, the long-term freelance writing contract that was the main source of my income ended, and I find myself once again a freelancer at large. In an attempt to pick up some extra cash here and there, I've joined Fiverr, which allows anyone to offer and order services for a flat rate of $5. 

Writing and Editing Services

At the moment, I offer six different services. So far, the most popular one has been writing 100-word biographies. I've done this one for three different customers, and this is the feedback I've received:

"Very creative. Loved it!"

"Amazing job! So fun, creative, and prompt! You exceeded my expectations! Thank you!"

"Absolutely terrific work. An excellent writer who put a lot of time and thought into the gig. Most highly recommended!"

As you can see, for less than the cost of a venti cafe mocha, you can have me write a blurb for your blog, website, social media site, book cover blurb, writer's resume, or whatever else you can think of. I'll have it back to you in 24 hours or less. 

Need a Valentine's Day gift? I'll write you a custom 250-word (about one page in MS Word) romance. You can supply me a few details, and I'll write a creative, 100% original short-short romance story for you, as sweet or as spicy as you desire. (I'll do "spicy" if all the characters in the story are consenting adults over the age of 18.) Allow me two days to finish this gig. 

Need proofreading services? I offer those, too. I'll check a document of up to 5 pages for grammar, spelling, sentence structure, and punctuation (no content edits). I can check your school paper, resume, blog post, or just about anything else. I have more than three years as a professional content writer and editor, so this is something I'm good at. The turnaround time for this service is 24 hours. 

Social Media Services

The other services I offer are for those who need to get their books out there in social media, but don't have the time or the will. 

My apologies if you're not a fan of the Doge meme.

I'll post your book cover, with a link to your sales page or your book website, on my mostly-bookish Tumblr, Something Kitten This Way Comes. If you don't want to invest the time in creating a Tumblr blog, I'll be happy to get your product out into the Tumblrverse for you in 24 hours or less. 

Or I'll tweet your link on Twitter every day for five days. @ErinORiordan has over 1,000 followers, all organic (no tricks used to gain followers), and most of them are other readers and writers. My Twitter feed stays active with genuinely helpful tips for aspiring writers, how-tos, giveaways, and book reviews I find interesting. It's a great, inexpensive way to promote a book, a giveaway, a website, or a fun book-related product. This one, for obvious reasons, takes 5 days to complete. I'll send you the URLs of each tweet. 

Or, if you're using Pinterest for your business and want a fun way to get your pins out there, I'll write a blog post here on this very blog that embeds your Pinterest pins. Then I'll promote that blog post on all my social media sites. Allow 24 hours for this service. 

If you need a social media gig done that I haven't listed above, I will consider it. You can send me a note on Fiverr. I don't do Instagram, though, because I have a dumb phone, not a smart phone. But Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Google +, and Goodreads are all social media sites where I can do tasks for you. 

...Not spammy tasks, but sharing-useful-information tasks. Please don't ask me to do anything that would get one of my accounts flagged for spam. I'm trying to contribute in a creative, meaningful way that helps out my fellow artists. 

Of course, I'm also available for hire for bigger, more cost-intensive gigs. I can review, beta read, edit, ghost write, format text for an e-book, and much, much more. Feel free to visit my LinkedIn profile or my Elance profile to see my skills and experience. 

Thank you in advance for your business! 

- Erin O. 

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"Ghostwriting - A Collaborative Experience" by Colleen McCarty

In school, we were all taught not to cheat. Don’t look off someone else’s paper, don’t pay someone else to write your essays, don’t copy and paste something from Wikipedia into your book report. We all know cheating is wrong. To a lot of authors in the past, the word ghostwriter was considered dirty because it felt like cheating. It feels as though, if you use a ghostwriter, you are being inauthentic. It feels like paying a nerdy kid to write your paper…it feels icky.

We at EMG are not in any way condoning cheating, but we do feel that the ghostwriting process is, quite often, misunderstood. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some authors who will pay a ghostwriter for a manuscript that the “author” will have no hand in producing, put their name on it and say, “I wrote that!” That’s not the kind of ghostwriting experience we are talking about here.

We deal with a lot of clients who know that they have an important, meaningful message inside them – but they simply lack the technical expertise to put it on paper. In this case, we recommend using a ghostwriter. The process looks much more like a meaningful partnership rather than having someone else do your homework for you. There’s no guilt or shame in the fact that not everyone can write. In fact, we’d much rather you embrace that fact and let us help you produce the quality book you envision instead of attempting to do it yourself when you’re not comfortable in the writing arena.

A true ghostwriter must possess the talents of a great actor, a great artist, and a great writer. Through interviews with the author, reading the author’s notes, blogs, post-its – anything and everything that helps them see how you tick – the ghostwriter begins to write through your voice. They put themselves in your position, as a great actor does with an intense role, and they create the book as if they were you.

You work together, chapter by chapter, producing your work. If something doesn’t feel right or sound like something you’d say, scrap it. No hard feelings here.

Sure sometimes along the way, a ghostwriter may add some flare and details to enhance the reader’s vision of the story. The truth may be “I first saw my wife at the movie theater,” and the ghostwriter will pen, “there she was, standing in line at the theater. Her red dress lit up ever so slightly by the lights from the marquee…” She is still your wife and she is still at the theater, but now the reader is engaged by the visual effect. Think of your ghostwriter as a collaborator on telling the greatest story in the world…yours.

By Colleen McCarty
Co-Owner, Expert Message Group
http://www.expertmessagegroup.com

Colleen McCarty also represents Presenting Matters, specializing in Business Communication/Presentation Training, Speech Coaching and Media Training. Visit the Presenting Matters blog at www.PresentingMatters.com/blog.

The Best Book I Never Wrote

You Learn

As Alanis Morissette sang in “You Learn,” every experience, no matter how painful or how gigantic a waste of time, teaches us something. I learned something this week, something that was supposed to be pleasantly painful but in the end turned out to be one of those swallowing down the jagged little pill moments.

I was excited when I had the opportunity to place a bid on ghostwriting an e-book on how to be a female sexual submissive. Surely I can write about sex! I’ve written three erotic romance novels (two already published), scores of short erotic stories and articles about everything from vampire dildos to the eroticism of Terminator movies. I was even more excited when I was awarded the contract. My bid was low; the buyer didn’t have much of a budget. Still, I figured this would be a labor of love—of literary, twisted BDSM love.

How to Be a Submissive

Here’s the thing: I’m not a sexual submissive. I’ve known women who are, and who really get off on the psychological thrill of being told what to do in and out of bed. Over the course of my research, I read there’s no such thing as a “born submissive,” but I’m not so sure that’s true. It has to be in the psychological makeup, or it’s just not going to be pleasurable...

Read the full article, free, at Eden Fantasys