So what can you do? Well, the simplest method I have found of protecting valuable images is not to upload them in the first place. Really, if something is so important, it’s probably best if you don’t place it online. However, that is drastic, an internet with no images would be a much drabber place indeed. Instead, why not watermark your work or photos. This is easy to do, and is likely to deter thieves who won’t want an image with your copyright notice emblazoned across it. In theory they could remove your watermark, but it would be time consuming, and the chances are they will go off in search of easier prey.

If you know your way around a graphics package such as Photoshop, you should find it easy to add a watermark. Simply open up your image, add a new layer and create your watermark. You could go for a legal sounding copyright notice, or add your name, the date and the url of your blog.

Take a moment to think about positioning: adding a watermark to the bottom of your image means you don’t spoil the overall appearance, but this method does make it easier for someone to crop the image to remove your watermark. If you add your watermark in a more central position it’s much harder for someone to tamper with it, but you run the risk of spoiling the overall appearance.

If you aren’t au fait with Photoshop don’t worry you can still watermark your images using one of the sites which offer a free watermarking service such as Picmarkr and Watermark Factory.

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Eric Idle talks about writing with the Pythons

Google, Yahoo, Bing Say Twitter is Stupid – That seems rather harsh, but apparently they do.

Design with Intent: 101 Patterns for Influencing Behaviour Through Design – A set of handy cards created with the aim of helping you understand how you can encourage users to interact with with your design in the way you want.

Make your own Search Story video in minutes – A really nifty gadget that lets you create a story around a series of Google searches.

34 Various Templates And PSDs To Ease Daily Workflow – Useful collection of ready-made templates for a wide variety of projects.

Too Much Hype – From the page, “An insidious creeping phenomenon among writers is over-hyping themselves. I’m seeing blogs and other social media for books that don’t even have publishers yet.”. I’m inclined to agree, but what do you think?

10 Things You Should NOT Ask a Freelance Writer – Been asked some variation on all of these … most of the time I respond politely.

WordPress.tv - Lots of WordPress related videos, from tutorials to interviews.

13 small things to simplify your workday – Liked this list, as the title suggests, it’s just contains simple ideas to make your work day a little easier.

That’s all – have a great weekend!

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The trolls could only watch as the young blogger protected her blog with the magical spell more commonly known as a comment policy

Although the blogosphere is a friendly place, there are (as is true everywhere) a few idiots who try to spoil it for everyone else. As a result, most bloggers receive unpleasant comments from time to time; some even see it as a rite of passage.

If you have ever been on the receiving end of spiteful remarks, or worry that you might be, here are a few tips to help you deal with the situation.

1) Decide in advance how you will deal with negative comments. While having a strategy may not take the sting out of one, it will help you to feel you have a measure of control over the situation.

Once you have a strategy, reword it as a comment policy and post it on your blog. It won’t actually prevent any spiteful remarks, but you are warning people in advance about what you will and won’t allow. If you aren’t sure how a comment policy works, here’s mine. It’s very basic, but says everything I need it to say.

2) Don’t react straight away. Take a few moments to evaluate the comment and decide whether it is critical but valid – maybe the person disagrees with a point you made – or whether it’s just a spiteful attack. It’s easy to tell the difference. A valid point will usually be respectful and backed up with evidence; a spiteful one will usually consist of little more than a  throwaway remark such as: you suck.

3) Don’t feel you have to respond to nasty comments, or even leave them on your blog. It’s your blog, you get to decide what does and doesn’t appear there. You are not violating any laws if you choose to remove anything. And if anyone contacts you to say this is undemocratic, or impinges on their right to free speech you can tell them they are mistaken. Your blog belongs to you, you are perfectly entitled to have control over it’s content.

4) Don’t take it personally. I know, I know, this is easier said than done, but do try to shrug negative comments off. Remember: the person who posted the comment does not know you, and the chances are they’ve read little to none of the rest of your content. Although, the attack may seem personal, really it’s not; some people just like to be mean for reasons that aren’t connected to the target of their vitriol.

In a way you could take it as a compliment because these idiots usually target people who make them feel inferior, so you must be doing something right.

5) Don’t let one bad incident spoil your enjoyment of blogging. It’s easy to let the negative outweigh the positive, but try to keep a sense of perspective. So, one person didn’t like what you wrote and thinks you are ‘insert insult here’. What about all the people who do enjoy what you write? Is their opinion less valid because they don’t include abuse in their comments? Of course not.

And finally – find out where internet trolls really come from (not safe for work, or young ears, or prudish aunts).

Updated to add: Some great advice on this subject from Tim Ferriss.

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The advertiser asks for “1-2 blog entries a week (300 words each); well written and researched.”

Even if the post takes 20 – 30 minutes, the research is going to take much longer, but I’ll be optimistic and say the whole job takes an hour, how much would you charge for that? I know what I’d ask for, and it would be considerably more than the $3 the publisher is offering – that works out at 1.97 sterling at today’s exchange rates.

The publisher is based in the UK, and specifies only native English speakers should apply, so effectively, they’re asking for a writer resident in Britain to work for less than two quid an hour. There are currently three bids, which is depressing.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about this, except: if you are tempted to take these kind of jobs please think again. You would do yourself more favours if you took a job flipping burgers and wrote guest posts on friends’ blogs for nothing. That way you’d have a regular income (at about four times the hourly rate) while you built a portfolio of credits, and wouldn’t have your work littered all over what usually turn out to be little more than spam-blogs. You’d also be doing other writers a favour because, by accepting such low pay you legitimise those who offer it and make it harder for your peers to ask for what they’re really worth.

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Even Ernest had to start somewhere

This is a question I’m often asked, and the short answer is: write! If you write, you are a writer. However, that isn’t the answer anyone wants because what they really mean is: how do I become a paid and published writer? That’s quite different and a lot more difficult. It’s also not so easy to answer.

Writers who are fortunate enough to make a living from their craft come from a variety of backgrounds and will have followed a range of different paths. Some will have been offered paid work because they are an expert in a particular field, others devote their time to submitting queries and bids for advertised jobs; others will  have come straight from formal education. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all response. However, because I am asked this question a lot, and because it’s hard to really advise someone in a few lines on a message board, I thought I’d write about my experience in the hope it will be of use to someone else.

So how did I become a writer?

Short answer: I wrote. Often.

Long answer: Way back at the start of noughties, I took advantage of this newfangled thing called blogging, and used it to share my thoughts with the world. Over time, I built up a readership and got to know other bloggers, which meant I had a wonderful network of contacts. Many of my contacts are writers, bloggers and editors, and as with any other professional community we share information and gossip, including tips about potential gigs (jobs). Many members of my network have moved into publishing their own niche blogs and naturally, when they are looking  for writers, they turn to the people whose work they are familiar with. And that is how I get the majority of my clients.

At this point you may be thinking this can’t apply to you because you don’t have my network of contacts. That’s true, but you can build your own!

How do you build a network?

- If you don’t already have a blog start one now! Don’t think you’re too late to the game; if you are willing to work hard and publish entertaining, well-written posts, you can catch up. Building a readership does take time if you are new, but with patience and dedication it is achievable.

Your blog will serve as a showcase for your writing, and, once you’ve built up a solid body of work, can be a useful way to give potential clients an idea of what you do.

If you hope to focus on a specific topic, it’s probably best to keep that as the main theme for your blog. Mine is more eclectic, but if I was starting out now, I would try to keep it more on-topic. Saying that, because I do cover pretty much anything and everything, I have been offered gigs in niches I don’t usually work in, so variety isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, do try to avoid the clichéd ‘what I had for breakfast’ posts, many people would see them as amateurish.

- If you aren’t using social media, now is the time to start! Of all the networks out there, I would say Twitter is the single most useful for both publicising your blog, and finding jobs. I can’t overemphasise the benefits of Twitter for writers. Not only does it give you the chance to promote yourself, it’s also a wonderful place to socialise with your peers – something that is invaluable for people who are essentially isolated during their working day. You’ll also find it indispensable for finding information: join one of the chats and ask a question, you’ll receive responses from writers with varying levels of experience who work in a myriad of disciplines.

Don’t make the mistake of using your Twitter followers as a source of free promotion. Remember, it’s about give and take. Interact, chat with people, take an interest in what they do; that’s how you build up that aforementioned network of contacts!

So, that’s how I got into this rather strange profession – no really, it is strange, so are the people who choose to do it. It’s not easy, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and a thick skin (still working on that). To an extent luck also plays a part, but you can make your own. Luck is often a matter of being in the right place at the right time, and building that network I keep rattling on about means it’s more likely that you will be!

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Another Freelance Marketplace Bites the Dust: Elance Work View – A must-read article for anyone who uses Elance to find jobs. Apparently, new introduction, Work View, gives clients the opportunity to spy on you at work. I included Elance in a post earlier this week, so would recommend you read about Work View before you sign up there!

Guardian Style Guide – Online version of the Guardian’s style guide; full of useful information, and amusingly illustrated.

How Libraries Choose Books to Purchase – Interesting look at the process of getting your book into libraries.

Fresh and Exceptional Twitter Bird Design Icons – Really nice collection of Twitter birds, in a range of different styles. If you’ve been looking for something a bit different you might find it here.

The BBC Linking Policy – My Experience – A discussion of the vagaries of the BBC’s linking policy which seems to advocate back-links to some sources, but not others.

5 Sneaky ways to cut calls short with family and friends – Think this might be of use to a lot of freelancers.

That’s all – have a great weekend!

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Despite it’s simplicity, Twitter has become many things to many people. Some use it to keep in touch with friends, others to promote their businesses, and writers use it to chat to each other. There are a growing number of writers’ chats held every week on Twitter, and they’re a great way to get to know other writers, socialise, network, share information, and just remind yourself you aren’t the only one crazy enough to do this for living.

If you’d like to take part in Twitter writers’ chats, here’s is some more information about how they work, and a list of some of my favourites.

What are Twitter chats?

Chat groups on Twitter revolve around the use of the hashtag # (you’ll have seen these if you’ve been using Twitter for any time). In the same way that popular topics and memes circulate when tweeters include #hashtag in their tweets, chat groups organise around a designated hashtag which users add to their tweets.

How to take part?

This is very easy, simply log in to Twitter, and search for the relevant hashtag. So, if you want to join the writechat session, just search for #writechat (if you find that doesn’t return any results, try dropping the #, sometimes Twitter doesn’t recognise it). To contribute to the chat, type a tweet as normal, but include #writechat.

Don’t forget etiquette!

Do try to follow the posting etiquette. Some chats discuss specific topics, or revolve around a weekly set question. If the organiser specifies only on-topic tweets, don’t start telling everyone what you had for dinner. If you aren’t sure what the etiquette is, either follow the chat and take note of what other posters do, or send a quick message to the organiser asking for guidelines.

Why should I get involved?

You probably already know Twitter is a great place to meet other writers, network and socialise. Chats are an extension of this. They give you the chance to chat with writers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines, who are working at all sorts of different levels. You’ll meet up with complete beginners, successful and much-published professionals, and everyone in between. You’ll also have the opportunity to share advice, ideas and inspiration.

Chats for writers and editors:

• #booktweet is held every Saturday from 12-1 EST, organised by @MaraBG
• #editorchat every Wednesday from 8.30-10 EST, organised by @LydiaBreakfast and @milehighfool
• #followreader every Thursday from 4-5 EST, organised by @KatMeyer and #mpaynknoper
• #kidlitchat every Tuesday from 9pm EST, organised by @BonnieAdamson and @gregpincus
• #litchat held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 4-5 EST, organised by @litchat
• #scifichat held every Friday from 2-4 EST, organised by @DavidRozansky
• #scriptchat held every Sunday at 8pm EST and 8pm GMT, organised by @jeannevb and @yeah_write
• #writechat held every Sunday from 2-5 CT, organised by @WritingSpirit

Hope you find the list useful, and if you know of any relevant chats I haven’t mentioned leave the details in the comments!

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First up, subscribe to Freelance Switch – they do list jobs, but I think you have to have a paid membershop to apply for them However, it’s also full of really useful advice, so well worth adding to your feed reader. They also have a huge list of boards and markets that’s well worth a browse.

Job boards

These sites feature lists of newly available writing jobs – many offer an RSS feed which makes it easier to keep up with the latest openings.

• Freelancer.co.uk: This is the link to the blogging jobs page, but there are other categories too. There are free and paid accounts, but the only disadvantage to a free one is that you have to until the job as been listed for an hour before you see it.
• Writers Weekly: Most jobs here are US based, but that’s not really a big deal with the internet. They tend to list higher paying gigs too!
• Writerfind: I haven’t used this site, but I’ve heard good reports about it, so it might be worth a look.
• OnlineWritingJobs.com: Offers a global search of multiple boards.
• Poewar: A mix of lower paying (saw some content mill gigs) and higher paying jobs.
• Morning Coffee: Sends a weekly email listing new jobs
• Media Bistro: I find this site a bit confusing, but there is some good stuff there if you can figure it out.
• Freelance Writing Jobs: Similar to Freelance Switch, a mix of available gigs and advice for freelance writers.
• Funds for Writers: Publishes two newsletters listing jobs, one low paying the other for more lucrative stuff. The publisher does include competitions too, which I’m not keen on, but the jobs are good.
• Writing for Dollars: A jobs board and newsletter.

Bidding Sites

These sites list jobs and writers place bids on them. I’ve ‘won’ a couple of bids, but don’t use them much because the jobs tend to pay really badly – $50 for as many articles doesn’t seem to be unusual. However, they’re worth joining because something worthwhile does appear now and again.

• Freelancer.com
• Get a Coder : The name is misleading, they have writing jobs too.
• Rentacoder: Once again, ignore the name, they have writing gigs too.
• Elance

Content Mills

Not the best paying markets, and they do lack some credibility, but on the up side they do get a writer into the habit of writing for publication and to a deadline.

• Helium
• Demand Studios
• Hub Pages

On a similar theme, Suite 101 and About.com are also regularly looking for writers. Of the two I would say About is the better, they do give their writers a basic wage in addition to bonuses.

And as I mentioned above, if you have boards or markets you’d like to suggest let us know about them in the comments!

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The first in a series of weekly round-ups of great stuff that passed through my feed reader. Hope you find it useful, feel free to share your own finds in the comments!

What Bloggers Can Do With Their Old Designs – Some great ideas about how to get new life out of your old blog themes.

How Much Time Do You Waste? – Asks whether wasted time is really more useful than we think. I have a feeling this one will ring bells with a lot of writers.

How to write apps for iPhone and others in PHP – Introducing a platform for writing apps – the title says it all really – great for anyone techy types who want to have a go!

15 Lesser Known Blog Resources for Writers & Other Freelancers – List of some great blogs and resources you might not have come across before. Well worth a look!

Six Tips for Forcing Yourself to Tackle a Dreaded Task – And who doesn’t need help with that?!

5 New Google Docs Features You Might Have Missed – Google Documents is one of, if not the best online document processing tools; this article takes a look at some new features that make it even more useful.

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How long is too long? It’s important to remember that reading text on a screen is very different to  reading the same material in a newspaper or book. Your 3000 word essay discussing the merits of Chaucer may be absolutely fascinating but the average reader will struggle to wade through to the end. Try to keep your posts under 1000 words, if you write a much longer piece, break it up and post it in installments.

What about long paragraphs? Keep paragraphs short, no more than a few lines. It is ok to go a little over this mark, but avoid allowing paragraphs to run on for 20 or 30 lines. Once again, most readers will find it difficult to follow the text when it is presented in a large block.

Should I stick to very short posts? Not necessarily. I recently came across someone who advocated blog posts of less than 200 words, but I wouldn’t subscribe to that idea myself. There will be times when you can say all you want to say in a couple of sentences, but don’t feel that this should be the case with every post you write.

One more thing: Make sure you include some empty space between each paragraph so that each one is clearly defined. I have seen some blogs, where one paragraph begins immediately after the last, which kind of defeats the object and doesn’t make for easy reading. If your blog editor or word processor only drops down one line when you press enter, remember to press twice.

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