Book Themed Costume Party

May 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Boy dressed as pirate

Image via Wikipedia

Teaching children to enjoy reading is an important step for every parent to take. Books can not only be a great source of fun, but also help children to perform better in school. Unfortunately, it can take a little work to get children interested in reading sometimes; however, with a little effort, most children will love to read with a little encouragement, such as by having a book-themed costume party.

Children love to dress up, so costume parties offer the perfect encouragement to kids to read. Costumes come in almost every storybook character you could think of, from Harry Potter to Spot. Kids can get very excited about reading when they can take the story outside of the book and role play as their favorite storybook characters at a costume party. Book-themed costume parties are also a great way to turn annual celebrations, such as birthday parties, into an educational experience where everyone can dress up as a book character and get excited about reading new books.

You also do not need to spend a fortune on a costume. While it can be fun to buy an extravagant costume, many people have trouble affording expensive costumes; however, with books you get to decide how characters look. Many kid costume stores sell generic costume pieces, such as pirate eye patches and ninja swords, so you can create your own image of your child’s favorite book character. Kids can get excited about the costume party, and you can get excited about the educational experience it offers.

Filed Under: Book Collections, Children Series Tagged With: , ,

Promoting Yourself as a Freelance Writer

March 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

If you are new to the freelance writing world, it is important to promote yourself and showcase your talents.  Getting your name out there can lead to better pay and bigger jobs.

Website

Put up a website.  Even if you can’t afford a hefty bill for a professionally made site, these days anyone can throw up a template site in a matter of minutes.  Having a website will give potential clients a home base to contact you at.

Social Network

Join popular social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Digg.  These are great ways to promote your articles, increase your readership and meet clients.

Join a Writing Forum

Joining a forum can help you to learn tips from veteran writers.  Many of these sites will have lists of Internet scams to watch out for.  You can also get legitimate leads and marketing ideas from these sites.

Do a Few Freebies

Small, local publications often will take articles from new writers but there is no pay.  Doing this can help you to gain some exposure and beef up your resume.  Giving of your time now can lead to a high paying job later on.

Get Out and Meet People

Don’t let your freelance writing career turn you into a hermit.  Make new friends and get new leads by going out to local writers groups or taking a writing workshop at a community college.  Always be supportive of other writers.  Writing is a challenging craft and other writers can be your greatest resource.

Filed Under: Book Collections, Writing Tagged With: , ,

Writing For Residual Income

March 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Writing for residual income can be lucrative, but it is important to remember that it is not a get rich quick scheme.

Time

Writing for residual income takes time and patience.  Unlike writing assignments for upfront pay, getting paid a lot for your residuals can  take months to a year.  The average person takes at least a year to start seeing a large return on their residual articles.

Diversify

Always write for more than one site, it is ideal to have multiple income streams coming incase a certain venture folds or changes their compensation structure.

Keep on Writing

You need to write in volume to make the most out of residual articles.  You can not just put up two or three pieces and expect success.  Top writers with residual earnings success have over 300 articles on one content site or personal blog.

Why Residuals are Good

Residuals are a good egg for freelance writers because they will allow you to take a “sick day” or “vacation day” and still have money coming.  After a good year or two writing residuals, some writers came make $900 or more without lifting a finger.

Shelf-Life

Make sure that the topics of your articles have a long shelf-life.  Not many people will care about Christmas 2011 during the Christmas season of 2013.  Write articles that can be fresh now or a few years from now.  Writing about topics such as health, savings and green living are popular topics.  Write about topics that you are passionate about and your work will seem like play.

Filed Under: Book Collections, Writing Tagged With: , ,

Great Books for Tween and Teen Girls

February 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Encouraging tweens and teens to read is a great way to keep them busy and improve their vocabulary.  Allow your tween or teen daughter to read books that interest her.  There are several popular book series that are dominating the teen girl market that your daughter may enjoy.

The Clique

The Clique is a series of books written by hit author Lisi Harrison.  The Clique chronicles the tale of a popular group of rich girls living in Westchester.  Their life is seemingly perfect until Massie, the group leader, gets upset when her parents’ friends the Lyons family moves into their guesthouse.  The new family includes a dorky girl name Claire who is in the same grade as Massie.  When Claire tries to fit in with Massie’s friends, Massie strikes back.

Pretty Little Liars

Now a hit show on the ABC family channel, Pretty Little Liars started out as a book series by Sara Shepard.  This mystery series is about a group of girls who are torn apart when their best friend is murdered one summer.  A few years later, the girls are reunited when the all start receiving creepy text messages from the same person who seems to know a little too much about their dead friend.  Is their friend still alive?  Or is the killer just trying to play mind games with the girls?

Twilight

Unless you have been living under a rock, you must have heard about the mega series Twilight .  Although it is easy for your teen to watch these movies, it is important to encourage your vampire loving teen to read the books as well.  The novels are well crafted with many enchanting details  Your teen will fall in love with Bella and Edward all over again as they read their love story page by page.   Author Stephanie Myer has a unique writing style that makes werewolves and vampires seems realistic, sexy and romantic.

Filed Under: Book Collections Tagged With: , ,
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