Being a writer is hard work. In addition to the often grueling creative process, writers who wish to be published also have to research markets, request guidelines, prepare cover letters, and track submissions. Many writers love to write, but absolutely hate the business of writing.
Enter Writer's Relief, a unique business that caters to these frustrated authors who want to publish fiction, publish books, publish short stories, or publish poetry. "We spend an enormous amount of time researching and targeting appropriate markets for our clients' work. In addition, we work with our clients to prepare their manuscripts to meet industry standards," says Ronnie L. Smith, president and founder of Writer's Relief. "We help fill in the blanks so that writers have more time to write."
Smith's team prepares and submits manuscripts for writers who want to publish fiction, publish books, publish short stories, or publish poetry. "Most writers are not good at promoting their own work," says Smith. "They're good at creating; we're great at marketing." In addition to helping writers prep their book proposals and query agents, Writer's Relief proofreads and submits poetry and short stories/essays to literary journals and literary agents.
One of the toughest things that writers have to deal with is rejection. Writer's Relief has a different way of looking at the large amount of rejection that most authors have to go through when their work isn't accepted by literary journals and literary agents. "Rejection letters don't bother us," Smith says. "In fact, we view them as steps bringing a writer closer to publication. Each rejection brings you closer to acceptance."
Literary journals have a 99 percent rejection rate, but Writer's Relief's track record defies the odds. "You often have to make 100 submissions before you get one 'yes,'" says Smith. Out of their 300 current writer clients, Writer's Relief has gotten 268 of them published.
Writer's Relief was founded over eleven years ago by Ronnie L. Smith. Today she has hundreds of clients and ten employees, ranging in age from 21 to 82. "Our business is unusual in that we all still like to come to work every day and so do our dogs," Smith says.
In addition to maintaining a worker-friendly job environment, Smith is proud of the work they do. "It makes me happy to give media voices to people who have none," says Smith, who is fearless when choosing to take on clients. She makes a special effort to work with writers whose "voices are traditionally not heard," such as people with disabilities, racial minorities, feminists, and gays. "These writers have a particular voice," she says. "Our writers have a lot to say." Smith plans to continue opening doors for scribes everywhere.
Here is Writer's Relief's list of the Top 20 Misused (and Mistreated) Words. Choose wisely.
accept: to receive; to answer positively / except: not including; everything but
anxious: worried/nervous / eager: excited/looking forward to
affect: to pretend; to influence / effect: a result
assure: to make certain (such as with a person) / ensure: to make sure (such as with a thing)
insure: to provide or obtain insurance / beside: at the side of
besides: in addition to / between: two items that are related
among: three or more things related / choice: a decision or an option
choose: to make a decision / chose: past tense of choose
compliment: to praise / complement: something that completes
farther: literal or physical distance / further: to a greater extent
fewer: comparative with plural items / less: items that are singular
imply: to suggest / infer: to deduce
its: possessive form of it / it's: contraction for it is or it has
lay: to place, which is always followed by an object / lie: to recline **For present tense only. Tip: If you can replace the word in question with put, then use lay.
nauseated: not feeling well / nauseous: disgust
set vs. sit: In general, set refers to an object ("Set the materials down on the table") and sit does not ("She sat for an hour, waiting for the bus").
that vs. which: "That" is used for introducing restrictive clauses that refer to things, phrases that ARE essential to the meaning of the rest of the sentence. For example: The CD that consists of all of the band's top-ten singles is her favorite.
"Which" is frequently used to introduce a nonrestrictive clause, a phrase that isn't necessary or supplies additional information and is usually set off by commas. For example: The burned CD, which she received from a friend, wasn't as great of quality as the original from a music store.
that vs. who/whom: In most cases, "who/whom" is the standard form when referring to human beings, especially in regards to an individual person. "That" is used when referring back to a class, species, or type. "Which" should never be used in reference to humans.
A correct example with "who": She goes to the hairstylist who is the best..
A correct example with "that": He is the type of hairstylist that should charge more because he is the best.
their: possessive form of they / there: in or at that place / they're: contraction for they are
whose: possessive form of which, who / who's: contraction for who is
your: possessive form of you; belonging to you / you're: contraction for you are
To learn more about subjects like writer please visit the web site at: http://www.writersrelief.com
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Chris Robertson is a published author of Majon International. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011 (Mon Nov 07 2005) Majon International. Majon International is one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing and internet advertising companies on the web. Visit their main business resource internet marketing web site at: http://www.majon.com
