.

Many people dream of becoming a writer but think they don’t have the necessary skills. It may surprise you to know that you can actually make excellent money as a freelance writer even if you don’t have great grammar skills, and even if you don’t have the slightest idea of how to create a great plot.

There are dozens of areas of writing where you can pursue your dream of becoming a freelance writer! Check out some of the following ways writers are making excellent incomes in the freelance marketplace.

RETIRE THIS YEAR … WRITING

You can do it – once you know the proven secrets to writing a simple letter like the one you’re about to read. Imagine a job in which you set your own hours, and live where you please: at the beach, in the mountains, in Paris.  And still make more money than most doctors. As a copywriter, you can. Copywriters are some of the highest paid writers in their world. Many of them would fail 3rd grade grammar tests!  Here’s how you can learn the secrets of this little-known, lucrative writing business  CLICK HERE

HOW TO GET SOMEONE ELSE TO PAY FOR YOUR NEXT VACATION

I know several people who travel like this all the time. You decide where you want to go — an African Safari… Hawaii… Belize… Paris… Rome and then you tap into your resources and get yourself a free trip with all the luxuries you’ve only dreams of before.  Find out how to do it, where to find the deals and negotiate your freebies. If you’ve even wanted to tour the world but couldn’t figure out how … CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE.

THE FASTEST AND EASIEST WAY TO BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR…

This $1.63 billion segment of the publishing industry with over 50 million readers is practically desperate for fresh voices. Editors in this market publish over 2000 titles per year. They don’t need writers with fancy degrees who only want to write the Great American Novel. They need volume… and they need to keep their readers happy. Find out how you can join this exploding genre by using an easy system for success that will have you turning out titles, even if you’ve never written a word in your life… CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

BECOME A PROFESSIONAL RESUME WRITER

In 6 hours and 35 minutes, you can be in business well on your way to making upwards of $100,000 per year! That’s how long it takes to create what is without question the world’s easiest, most profitable and infinitely rewarding writing business. GET STARTED NOW!

RESOURCES

Proven Lottery Bundle System

Lottobusta Lotto System

How to Enter Screenplay Contest …And Win!, 2nd Edition

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3: The Great Coaster Contest (RollerCoaster Tycoon)

.

If you are serious about Winning Cooking and Recipe contests, you’ve got to keep current with recipe, diet and health trends. Keep up with current trends by getting subscriptions to appropriate cooking magazines and looking through current cook books.  Watch the cooking shows to see if you can spot trends and techniques. Study how popular cookbook authors describe and name their recipes and how they write their directions.

Of course the most FUN part of entering the contests … aside from winning … is the opportunity to test your new recipes on your family and friends.

Here are Ten MORE Tips to Help you Win!

11. Simplify your recipe by combining steps.

12. Create recipes using new ingredients that have shown up on grocery shelves. For example, kiwis used to be an exotic fruit … but is now commonly available.

13. Create versatile recipes.

14. Enhance the flavor of your dish.

15. Include the size of pots, pans, or casseroles.

16. Don’t forget to include the cooking temperatures and times. You could also include the preparation time.

17. State the number of servings.

18. The recipe should appeal to a wide audience.

19. Never send in hand written entries.  Be sure to keep a copy of your own recipe, and keep track of the contests and what you entered  (you can enter some contests monthly).

20. Triple check the contest rules!

COOKING & RECIPE CONTESTS
Ongoing (monthly) Recipe Contests
Recipe Contests with Deadlines

ANYTHING GOES and COOKING CONTESTS are also found in the Contest News BLOG

(c) 2007 Melanie Rockett
ContestGuru.com

All Rights Reserved
do not republish without permission

RESOURCES

Lottery Winning Package – Win Any State Lottery Game!

A Pick 3 Lottery System

The Cooking Contest Cookbook: More Than 120 Prize Winning Recipes

Taste of Home: Winning Recipes: 645 Recipes from National Cooking Contests

.

If you enjoy creating wonderful meals and dishes in your kitchen … DO consider entering a few of the MANY cooking and recipe contests available throughout the year.  Cooking contest have some of the highest PRIZE MONIES of any other kind of creative contests.  Why?  The food industry is a billion dollar industry and their mission is to keep their products on your mind and in your stomach!

When you think of bake-off … what comes to mind?  Yes, you probably said the Pillsbury Bakeoff.  And rightly so.  It is one of the longest running and THE most highly paid cooking contest ever, with the grand prize of a cool MILLION dollars.

Here are ten great tips for creating great recipes and positioning yourself to WIN the next cooking contest you enter.

1. Follow the directions very carefully. Read them twice … and then read them again before you send in your submission.

2. Do not use abbreviations.  Use tablespoon instead of tbsp.

3. Make your recipe as simple and easy to prepare as you can. The sponsors are looking for a recipe that everyone wants to try out and they won’t try if your recipe is complicated.

4. Use accurate measurements. If you are entering a US based contest don’t use metric measurements. If yothe contest sponsor is in Canada, it is probably wise to use US measurements, but DO check with the contest sponsor.

5. Feature the contest sponsor’s product. Make the product the focus of your recipe.

6. If this is an ongoing or annual contest, analyze recipes that have been chosen as previous winners.

7. Use ingredients that are readily available.

8. Write directions in easy to read and complete sentences.

9. List the  ingredients in order of use.

10. Use your creativity when naming your recipe … make it appealing to the ear, eye and mouth!

COOKING & RECIPE CONTESTS
Ongoing (monthly) Recipe Contests
Recipe Contests with Deadlines

RESOURCES

Lottobusta Lotto System

Double Lottery Winner Reveals His Lotto Secrets

Taste of Home Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2009

The Ungarnished Truth: A Cooking Contest Memoir

There are loads of reasons for entering contests:

* winning great loot
* winning cool CASH
* knowing where you stand as compared to your cohorts
* getting acknowledgement
* being able to put “winner” in your resume
* helps get you an agent
* simply being a “winner” is fun
* getting published
* getting noticed
* getting your name out “there”

And the reason I am going to concentrate on today is that winning contests can help drive and enhance your career.

Take this scenario.

A well know Canadian photographer, entered dozens of prominent local, regional and International contests for years. He won dozens of contests … including several full blown camera systems, lighting kits, lenses, a boatload of film and processing, trips and more.
He used some of the gear to develop his kit … and sold the rest so that he could buy more of what he needed. He used the trips as a way of adding to his stock collection. Basically he was totally set as far as equipment went. Tens of Thousands of dollars he didn’t have to come up with!

But the best part, was the exposure he received. One of the contests he won (several times) was with one of Canada’s top photo magazine. First he got invited to write for the magazine. Then he got a job as editor of that magazine. He’s had several fabulous books published and is now considered to be one of Canada’s top photographers.

Too cool.

All from entering contests?

No … but the contests sure HELPED!

Another scenario.

A scriptwriter friend entered her screenplay in the Nicholl Fellowship. This is one of the TOP contests for screenplays.

Every years thousands of people enter their scripts into the competition. The competition goes through several rounds.

She made it into the 3rd from the top round. And based on her placement was able to get a top Hollywood agent. That agent put her together with an Independent producer who worked with her to further develop the script and to “shop” it around.

The result? We’ll just have to wait and see.

The point here is, that just “placing” in the Nicholl Fellowship competition gave her career a boost that may otherwise have taken years … or that may not otherwise have happened.

Third scenario

You love cooking and want to write your first cookbook. How can you get an agent? How can you get publishers to even look at your book proposal? WIN a boatload of recipe writing and cooking contests. Do you think an agent or a publisher is going to ignore the $million dollar winner of the Pillsbury Bakeoff? NOT likely.

And the third scenario is not limited to cooks. Artists, web designers, niche experts … can all enhance their “credibility” and calling cards with a few wins under their belts.

OK … you are convinced. Now which contests do you
enter?

If you are just starting out … find some of the free to enter contests. For the most part (cooking contests being the exception) free contests come with smaller prizes.
If you are looking for “career enhancing” try to choose contests that are run by writing communities or organizations … such as the Writer’s Digest contests or the Photo Life photography contest.

Look for contests where the judges are “named” and are respected members of the particular community you are wanting notice in. For example, if you are entering a mystery novel contest, having a “well-known mystery writer” as a judge will make a big difference. You can “drop” the name of the judge in your resume or
introductory letters.

Winning a contest from a private website and being chosen by an anonymous judge just because s/he “liked” your work just doesn’t have the same level of clout!

Look for contests with many categories or divisions and loads of prizes.
When entering “fee based” contests be sure the fee you are paying is proportionate to the prizes being given. There are contests that are run by private websites which charge fees disproportionate to the prizes being given. The purpose of these contests is to make money, not to enhance YOUR career.

To get you started there are LOADS of skill based contests at the
proofpositive.com and the contestguru.com websites.

RESOURCES

NetLotto

Lotto.Play To Win! How To Win The Lottery!

The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest Book

How to Enter Screenplay Contest …And Win!, 2nd Edition

.

OK, you’ve decided to run a contest. Now you have MORE decisions to make and a few steps to take before you can get started

Choosing the Type of Contest You Will Run

Your first decision is, what kind of contest will you run? You have several choices: a sweepstakes contest, a free skill contest or a fee based skill contest.

Here are the pros and cons of each choice.

1) By law a sweepstakes contest must be free to enter and you must choose the winner through a random draw. If you charge money for this type of contest you have just entered the “realm” of a lottery or raffle and you have to have a state or provincial licence for that.

On the upside, a sweepstakes contest is “relatively” easy to set up. Just collect the names of the participants and when the time comes to choose a winner … make a random selection. On the downside is the fact that you will get a lot of very unqualified visitors who just want to win something. They will not spend much time on your website and they are not likely to explore your product, book or services. However … you will also attract, some qualified traffic. These people will look at your product. Some of them may want it right now and will buy right now.

2) Your second choice is to run a skill based contest with FR>EE entry. You will want to choose a theme for your contest that matches the theme of your product. For example if you are promoting a book on how to setup and run a bed and breakfast, you might ask contest participants to write an essay about their best B&B experience.

The upside for this type of contest is the fact that you will get more qualified visitors. People who enter will be interested enough in your topic to spend some time on it. People who enter the contest may purchase your product before entering the contest just to find out who you are.

On the downside of skill based contests is the fact that you will receive a LOT fewer entries. Any time you ask for “an action” in a contest, you will get fewer entries.

A skill based contest is much more work than a simple sweepstakes contest. You must collect the entries and you must DO SOMETHING with each entry. You will need to develop a way to “judge” the entries. Will you be the judge or will you get an independent “guest” judge? What criteria will you use to choose a winner?

3) Your third choice is a skill-based contest with an entry fee.

Frankly, if you are running a contest in order to get traffic and exposure, charging a fee will make it harder to achieve your goals.

Just “taking an action,” such as writing an essay, limits your audience. Charging an entry fee will narrow it down even further. If you choose to run this type of contest, you will have to balance the “fee” by offering a prize that is VERY enticing.

If you want to promote your product by increasing your traffic and exposing the greatest number of people to your product, then choose either of the “free” entry options.
Choosing the Prizes

Once you’ve decided on the type of contest you will run, you need to choose your prizes. What are the prizes and how many prizes will you give away?

With a sweepstakes contest, you can offer your book or your product or a “taste” of your services. I would suggest at least two prize offerings … ie two first prizes of the same book, or a first prize that includes a package of two or three different books and a 2nd prize that includes one book

With a skill contest, match the difficulty of the skill with the prize. In the Bed and Breakfast example above, you could offer a first prize consisting of a night at a well-rated B & B and 10 second prizes consisting of a copy of your book.
The Rules Page

You need a rules page for your contest. The best way to figure this out is to check out the rules pages from other similar contests. Don’t break copyright laws by copying other people’s rules pages. Use them as a guideline and develop your own rules page.

The minimum information you need is:

1) Who qualifies? Are there country limitations or will your contest be International? Are there age limitations? Are there any other limitations … such as who “cannot” enter?

2) A list of the prizes along with an approximate retail value.

3) A deadline date.

4) Judging rules. For example: “winners will be chosen by a random draw.”

5) Who the sponsor is.

6) You may want a clause in your “rules” page about what happens if you can’t contact the winner via email or phone.

SELLING Your Contest

You need a page that “sells” your contest. I know you are giving away something for free … but these days that’s not enough. You need to promote your contest and the prizes. Motivate people to enter. Your advertising page is called a “splash” page. Your splash page can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be. Showing the prizes would be a great idea! If you are design “deficient” hire a graphic designer from one of the freelance job boards to build you a great looking contest splash page.

Some sponsors build the contest entry form right into their splash page. Others have a separate entry submission page.

Entry Submission Page
If you are running a sweepstake contest, make it simple. Ask for a minimum of information. First name and email may be sufficient. The more information you ask for, the less entries you will get.

If you are running a skill contest. You need very clear instructions on how your participants must “submit” their contest entries. Online is best. You will need some kind of forms submission provision either on your site or on a third party site.

Thank You Page

Once someone has entered your contest and clicked on the submit button, you must let them know their submission was successfully received. You can use the Thank you Page to give them more information about your product, to ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, or use it to sell them an affiliate product.

___________________________________

Melanie Rockett is THE Contest Guru! Her book Contest Guru’s Guide To Winning Sweepstakes has been downloaded by thousands of hopeful winners. Her website proofpositive.com lists hundreds of skill based contests for writers, poets, photographers, cooks and musicians.

(c) 2007 Melanie Rockett
All Rights Reserved

RESOURCES

Proven Lottery Bundle System

21 Lucky Lottery Tips For Selecting, Playing, And Winning Lotteries

Writing To Win:: The Colossal Guide To Writing Contests

Winning Digital Photo Contests

.

Many people dream of becoming a writer but think they don’t have the necessary skills. It may surprise you to know that you can actually make excellent money as a freelance writer even if you don’t have great grammar skills, and even if you don’t have the slightest idea of how to create a great plot.

There are dozens of areas of writing where you can pursue your dream of becoming a freelance writer!

Check out some of the following ways writers are making excellent incomes in the freelance marketplace.

RESOURCES

Play & Win Daily Pick 4 Lottery With Big Cash Winning Numbers

Give Away $218 Self Growth Freebies And Make Money

Taste of Home: Winning Recipes: 645 Recipes from National Cooking Contests

The Psychology Of Contest Prize Winning

SELL YOUR PICTURES FOR CASH

How would you like to make money — real money — with your camera?

Everyday more than 20,000 photographs are published in the US alone.

More than 80% of them are shot by freelance photographers, many of them amateurs.  You don’t need fancy equipment. And you don’t need to know a thing about photography to get started.

Here’s everything you need to know about this fun and lucrative business … CLICK HERE

RESOURCES

The Worlds #1 Lotto System

Double Million-Dollar Lottery Winner Shares Lotto Secrets

Taste of Home Contest Winning Annual Recipes 2009

The Cooking Contest Cookbook: More Than 120 Prize Winning Recipes