Cold Calling & Follow-up: The Two Basic Food Groups of Freelance Success
By Peter Bowerman

Just got off the phone with a dear friend of mine (and fellow commercial writer) out in Colorado. Frankly, it was a lot rosier conversation than the one we’d had a few weeks prior... More

Eleven Minutes
By Margie Lukas

I opened my eyes to the soft glow of the morning sun filtering in around the canvas shade.  But even that dim light felt fierce and I turned my face from the window.  When had I last slept well, or without my eighty-five year old twin sister beside me in the bed where both our parents had died and where Letty and I would also likely die?... More

Any Time for a Conference or Workshop?
By Regina Allen

Working full time, going to school full time and attending clinical rotations, the time to write shortened from Saturday mornings to whenever I remembered to take a break at work or had time before classes. Attending conferences also diminished. One day, I sat down at my kitchen table and asked myself:  Can I attend a conference?... More

Writer's Block? Never!
By Terrie Leigh Relf

Ok, so I’m not a very good liar. If you could see my eyes right now, you’d know that I, too, occasionally succumb to the “Midwinter”, as well as the “whaddya- mean-spring-isn’t-here-yet?” Blues... More

Roller Coaster RidE
By Stephanie Olsen

A long-term copywriting job goes down the drain without warning. An editor you pitched months back suddenly emails a high-paying 650-word assignment. You have to decline several article submissions for your newsletter while dealing with three disappointing rejections of your own. That $460 check finally comes in the mail. Just another day in the life of a freelance writer... More

The Curmudgeon Speaks: Rewriting the Drivers' Manual
By Pamela Beers

Driving has become a sport I have discovered while maneuvering from country roads to city highways and back again. Because of that discovery, I think each state should re-write its driver’s manual... More

By Pamela Beers

Just When You Thought You Heard It All: Unotchit, Inc. (You No Touch It)

Acclaimed Canadian novelist, Margaret Atwood has come up with a unique approach to author signings... More

Blogs: Communication Tool or Fad?0

Ninety media, marketing, and public relations leaders met at the New Communications Forum held at the Silverado Resort in Napa, California to discuss the pros and cons of blogging for professional communicators in everyday business practices... More

Partnership: Harper-Collins and Smithsonian

Building on Harper Collins international brand appeal and Smithsonian’s stellar and trusted name, the publishing industry’s top two performers are collaborating to produce an overall quality of published books that will generate an expansion of brand and content in the marketplace... More

Here’s the Rap: Sean (P. Diddy) Combs Sued

Random House has filled a suit against Sean Combs (P. Diddy)  and Bad Boy Books for $300,000 to recover an advance payment for his autobiography that was never delivered... More

Changing Careers: Movie Star to Writer

Bill Murray is thinking about changing careers. The 54 year-old Oscar-nominated star of “Lost in Translation” and “Life Aquatic” wants to be a writer... More

Learn a Language: Phone Text and Audio

Random House, leading trade book publisher and VOCEL, a San-Diego based company has reached licensing arrangements to provide cell phone access to the publisher’s Living Language foreign-language study programs... More

World Book Day March 3: Send Postcards

Eight million postcards will come tumbling out of virtually every publication in Britain until World Book Day on March 3, 2005... More