Blog for b5

If you have that feverish passion for writing about a particular topic, blog for b5. b5media is among the world’s largest online new media networks featuring more than 150 blogs on a wide variety of subjects.

What does it take to become a b5 blogger?

• You must be able write at least 6-8 unique posts a week.
  
• You must spend a lot of time checking out other blogs.
  
• You must be willing to read news stories and respond to readers' comments.

b5 bloggers get a base pay according to their qualifications and a percentage of the blog's advertising revenues. Isn't that neat? I actually blogged for b5 for over a year. I enjoyed the warmth of the community, learned a lot and earned enough to pay some of my bills. ;-)

Interested? Send your application now. You can also join the b5 forums to know more about the community.

Tools for Generating Article Ideas

Chris Knight has listed 6 quick ideas on how to choose an article topic. For #6, he wrote:

Set up email alerts (or subscribe to RSS feeds) when new articles are available in your niche. Use these for inspiration only; keeping tabs on the competition while making sure you have content coverage within every angle of your niche.

This works well with me too. Since I write on many different topics (writing, web journalism, health/medical issues), I always make it a point to gather information in the most efficient way possible. Here are my tools:

1. Google Alerts - Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on my choice of topic or keywords. I can easily manage Google alerts by personally choosing search terms, the types of websites Google should tap, and how often I want to receive the updates. You too can create your own Google Alerts.
   
   
2. Firefox with Google Toolbar - I've been using the Mozilla Firefox browser for over two years now, and so far most things have been smooth. Its Google Toolbar add-on lets you subscribe to a site's RSS feed by clicking on the Subscribe button while you're on the page. Firefox with Google Toolbar also includes search for Google images, groups, news, and maps. Download Firefox - FREE!
   
   
3. Google Reader - Google Reader is a web-based feed reader that lets me keep up with my favorite blogs and news. Since it updates me only when a blog or website has posted something new, it saves me a lot of browsing time. Get your Google Reader now. Here's mine:
   
   

If you have other nifty tools for generating article ideas, I'd like to know them. :-)

Write for Australian Catholics Magazine

The Australian Catholics Magazine is looking for stories that describe the faith and life of Australians, both those well known and those less familiar. Australian Catholics is also interested in stories about social justice, and about initiatives that foster an awareness of social justice in schools and communities.

To know more:

• Read Submission Guidelines
  
• About Australian Catholics Magazine

Amazon Shorts

Sign up for Amazon Shorts and sell your unpublished short-form fiction and nonfiction pieces in digital format to a wider audience.

*

By participating in Amazon Shorts, you will be able to:

• Access a powerful marketing tool to promote an author's backlist in a new and meaningful way
  
• Create an author profile page with biography, photo, and complete backlist
  
• Maintain author's visibility between published projects
  
• Establish a more direct and frequent communication with readers
  
• Introduce readers to unfamiliar writers
  
• Provide a new outlet to sell short fiction and nonfiction

For more details, head on to the Amazon Shorts FAQ page.

* Affiliate link

Nanotales: Shorts Stories in Your Pocket

Guardian Unlimited has teamed up with Ziji publishing and Bebo.com to give writers the chance to see their short stories in print. If you have a story that's less than 1,000 words, send it before March 16, 2007 to books.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk with "nanotale" in the title field.

For more details about this contest, visit Bebo.com.

What are nanotales?

Nanotales is a gripping new style of literature perfectly formed for a generation with no time and very little patience. Shorter than a short story, a nanotale is the perfect antidote to modern-day life; designed to be read between tube stations, with a morning coffee, or at the bus-stop. With no chapters, no page numbers and no index, nanotales can transport the reader into another world and back in seven minutes.

- from Nanotales.net

Related:

• Ziv Navoth on how he started to write Nanotales
  
• Nanotales and the art of short story writing

Write for Mom.Exchange.Ph

Note: This is for writers based in the Philippines.

Mom Exchange, a weblog that caters to mothers from the pregnancy stage to those dealing with school kids, is looking for contributing writers who can blog on the following topics:

Mom Activities, Attachment Parenting, Babywearing, Breastfeeding, Co-Sleeping, Positive / Gentle Discipline, Bazaar, Behaviour, Birthday Parties, Celebrity, Charity, Childhood Illnesses, Education, Events, Exercise, Food, Gadgets, Health, Household Tips, In-laws, Infants, Marriage, Mommy Matters, Parenting Matters, Pre-school Children, Pregnancy, Recipes, School Kids, Seminars, Services, Sleep Issues, Supplements, Toddlers, etc.

Each blog post should be about 200-700 words. Writing mothers are preferred, but not required. You will be paid commensurate to the quality of your posts ranging from PHP150.00 to PHP300.00, and all submissions will be the property of Mom Exchange.

Interested? Send application and work samples to ghmercado@gmail.com. Do not send MS Word documents, just paste your article on the body of your email and include some relevant info about yourself.

[via PinoyWriters]

Why Do You Blog?

Anne Wayman of The Golden Pencil has tagged me. Thanks, Anne! Here are my answers to the question:

Why do I blog? I blog because:

1. I can write about anything without having my guards up.
   
2. I just love push-button, instant publishing.
   
3. I'm able to flex my writing muscles by writing short pieces every day.
   
4. Since I don't work with an editor, I'm able to apply self-editing techniques and learn more Web writing styles on my own.
   
5. I can interact with a wider global audience.
   
6. I earn some money.

Why do you blog?

Of Book Bags and Journals

Yes, women will always look for utility and fashion in everything.

I spotted this Virginia Woolf book bag at Literary Luminaries, a graphic arts product company that features Mike Caplanis' caricature art of the world's most famous authors. His caricatures are printed on a variety of products which include note cards, bookmarks, coffee mugs, umbrellas, journals and book bags.

I don't normally carry a lot of books with me, so a book bag purchase won't be necessary. I just thought it would be cool to carry along Virginia Woolf to the beach or some place quiet. Actually, I find this Fine Cloth Bound Journal of Great Women Writers to be more to my liking.