Is this your first time to visit Writing the Cyber Highway? Be sure to subscribe to my Feed or by e-mail. In the next couple of posts, I’ll be sharing photos and details about my visit to an old-fashioned festival where I dressed up as a pioneer woman (bonnet and all!) and also had the amazing opportunity to meet an Editor and an Editor-In-Chief. Eeek! (It’s coming, I promise!)

The Contest Has Ended

What an awesome contest! Thanks so much for all the wonderful entries. I truly wish I had enough copies of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing to send each and every one of you a copy–but I don’t.

I know you’re all super excited to find out who won, so I’ll get right to it. I used Random.org to randomly select the winners. Speaking of which…

And the Winners Are

Winner #1 is comment #26, which is Rebecca Laffar-Smith!

Here’s what Rebecca said in her comment:

26.  Rebecca Laffar-Smith Says:

June 4th, 2009 at 1:45 am

“Grammar! It’s a frightful word to be honest. I’ve fudged my way through the ins and outs but don’t really know the ‘rules’. Thankfully, very few people do know all the rules so it’s not so hard to get by in day to day writing but when we’re submitting to the harsh eye of an editor every grammar goof is a glaring admittance of ignorance. Have you tried learning from style guides? I am brain dead in ten seconds. It would be nice to have a resource that makes learning Grammar light, easy, and fun.”

Winner #2 is comment #1, which is Lori from Green Gigs!

Here’s what Lori said in her comment:

1. Lori Says:

June 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 pm edit

“Two words: science major – that is why I could use this book! I love the passive voice, “quick” and “light-hearted” are my type of tips!”

Lucky ladies, contact me with your mailing addresses and I’ll get Mignon Fogarty’s fun words of wisdom in the mail to you!

Thank you to everyone who entered, and especially to Richard Rhorer and Mignon Fogarty for making this contest possible!!

First, I’d like to send out a special thank you to Richard Rhorer and Mignon Fogarty for sponsoring this contest.

Is this your first time to visit Writing the Cyber Highway? Be sure to subscribe to my Feed or by e-mail. In the next couple of posts, I’ll be sharing photos and details about my visit to an old-fashioned festival where I dressed up as a pioneer woman (bonnet and all!) and also had the amazing opportunity to meet an Editor and an Editor-In-Chief. Eeek!

“My philosophy is that learning about language should be fun. I’m not in this for the thrill of running a metaphorical red pen through e-mail messages or blog posts. Although writing badly is like dressing in lime skorts and an orange plaid sweater-people notice-publicly correcting a stranger’s writing is as rude as asking someone with a fashion problem “Did you think that looked good when you got dressed this morning?” I would do neither. Instead, I hope to raise the waters of good writing by distributing quick and dirty tips as widely as possible.”-Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl

And she’s definitely accomplishing that!

I love the fun way Mignon Fogarty explains difficult English grammar and usage rules. The cartoon examples are fun, too! You don’t have to be a writer to want to improve your grammar. Maybe you’re in college or high school, or maybe you just want to write perfect e-mails to your co-workers or persnickety friends and family. Whatever reason you have for wanting to learn the ins and outs of English, now’s your chance to do just that! I’m excited to offer a contest with Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing as the prize. Wait, not only does one reader get the chance to win-two of you are going to have the opportunity to win this awesome book!

No, you aren’t seeing double!

Two of you will each win a copy of Grammar Girl’s book!

Mignon Fogarty shares her knowledge of the English language in a light-hearted, down-to-earth way all of us can learn from.

From the bright, cheerful cover to the fun and easy-to-understand grammar and usage tips to the oh-so-cute cartoons of Squiggly and Aardvark, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is a book that should be on everyone’s bookshelf-even if you aren’t a writer or blogger!

A peek inside:

Learning from Aardvark…

You may find it odd that an adult English grammar reference book has cartoon illustrations sprinkled throughout its pages, but you’ll understand once Fogarty explains:  “I get flashes of crazy memory tricks, funny phrases, and cartoons where Aardvark (a blue aardvark) and Squiggly (a yellow snail) go on grammar adventures, and I love to share them all with you.” (Isn’t it so nice of her to share with us?!)

Keep up with Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl speeds the cyber highway sharing grammar and usage tips and can be found at the following locations:

• On Twitter: @GrammarGirl
• Subscribe to her daily tip newsletter.
• Visit Grammar Girl’s site and listen to the podcast!

I love the cover design!

I have an endless thirst for knowledge. I love learning, and as a writer and blogger, I especially love honing my craft. I adore writing reference books. Some of you may remember last year I won a contest myself: a $100 Amazon Gift Certificate. You better believe I used every last penny of it on reference books to enhance my writing career. And this is one reason I’m so excited for you, my readers, to have the opportunity to expand your own reference library!

Have a Kindle? You can get a Kindle version of Grammar Girl, too!

Oh, and did I mention Mignon Fogarty is only Oprah’s favorite grammar gal?!

Contest Rules

You’re allowed FIVE entries for this contest:

Note: Please leave a comment for each thing you do (tweet, plurk, etc.) because each comment will be counted as a number when I enter the total number of comments at Random.org once the contest ends. Thanks!

1. Leave a comment sharing why you’d benefit from owning a copy of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. (DO NOT just say “thanks for the contest” or something like that-I do not publish those type of comments because they seem like spam and aren’t fair to the other contestants who leave a thoughtful, genuine answer.)
2. Do you use Twitter? Tweet about this contest and then leave a comment with your Twitter name.
3. Share this contest on your blog, linking back to this post. (The pingback will be counted as your third entry.) If you don’t see your pingback, just contact me and let me know. It may have gone to spam for some reason.
4. Add Writing the Cyber Highway to your favorites on Technoratori. Comment to let me know, with a link to your technoratori profile to show you added us.
5. Do you Plurk? Share this contest on Plurk and then leave the Plurk page URL in the comments. That will count as your fifth (and last) entry.

NOTE: ANYONE can enter this contest. You DO NOT have to be in the United States. Oh, and I’ll be using Random.org to choose the winners.

Contest ends Saturday, June 13th, at 9 p.m. (Central Time) so you have 10 days to get all your entries in. Have fun trying to win!

Copyright 2007-2008 WritingtheCyberHighway.com

Posted Thursday, December 4, 2008

By

Michele L. Tune

Ever heard of eHow?

Maybe you’ve searched for something and landed on an eHow article. Read that sentence again. Don’t want to? Ok, I’ll write it again. Stay with me. This is significant. Read: Maybe you’ve searched for something and landed on an eHow article. Can you even fathom how powerful that sentence really is? Why is it powerful? Because if you’re the author of that article someone ends up reading after searching online for an answer, and they happen to click an ad related to your topic, you earn money!

I know, this sounds too good to be true.

I’m always skeptical of things like this myself and that’s why I waited so long before I joined eHow. (Everyone wants to get paid upfront, right?) And even once I joined (May, 2008), it was months before I even considered really submitting articles and participating in the site. (I’m kicking myself right now!)

Don’t like reading eBooks?

Me either. I’m not a fan of eBooks. I spend enough time online and staring at the computer screen writing and blogging. The last thing I want to do when I have time to read is stare at the computer screen even more. I’m over that now. Why? Because I just finished reading How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers – eBook by WriterGig. (Again, I’m kicking myself because I didn’t take action and buy this eBook sooner!)

Okay, okay… so what am I loving about this book? Why do I think it’s worth $25? Why do I think you should buy it immediately?

Here’s a few reasons and things you’ll learn:

• tips and tricks for increasing your revenue from the first time you publish an article
• resources that will hugely benefit you and your articles
• how to write the best titles for ranking your articles higher in the search engines
• which topics to stay away from
• about key words, where to test them, and more

You’ll also get to see real screen shots of the author’s earnings!!

Extra Tip:

I highly recommend purchasing this book BEFORE you sign on with eHow. You’ll learn things that will boost your sales and help you tremendously from that very first article. What WriterGig shares about creating your eHow account is crucial. I SO WISH I had read her eBook BEFORE I created my account! Take this opportunity to get a step ahead of other eHow writers…

I was really surprised that the eBook is so short (24 pages) but it is packed with tons of information. It’s definitely worth the $25 – and more! Think about it. You’re benefiting from the author’s experiences, wisdom, and tried-and-tested methods of what works best and what doesn’t. Don’t you pay a doctor well for their expertise? Remember how much lawyers and doctors and therapists charge for their hard-earned wisdom and advice?

Does the thought of residuals make you cringe?

Keep reading. Have you ever sold an article for $10? That payment may be upfront, but if you sold all rights to it, you’ll never earn another dime. With eHow’s residual income system, countless writers are earning thousands per article! I’m an honest gal. I’ll tell you not to expect $1,000 your first month. If that happens, fantabulous! But I won’t give you false expectations. My reputation is worth more to me than a few bucks of affiliate commissions and I’d never want you to waste your hard-earned money on something (like this eBook) that I wasn’t 100% positive would be an asset to your freelance life and bank account.

Yes, I have already started applying what I learned from this eBook to my own (20+) eHow articles and am seeing my residuals increase daily!

BONUS:

When you order, you’ll receive a FREE eBook: The Affiliate Masters Course (152 pages)!

What are you waiting for? Snatch up your copy and get started earning with eHow now!

How to Earn Passive Income at eHow.com: Residual Income for Web Content Writers – eBook by WriterGig

Total:$25

Click here to view more details

(Yes, this is an affiliate link. If you buy the eBook, I’ll earn a commission. But I’ve been a guinea pig so you know you’ll be purchasing a quality product. ‘Tis the Season!)

Be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss out on eHow updates about my own articles, as well as tried-and-true tips from this awesome freelance life!

Best wishes on your eHow articles. (Be sure to add me as a friend once you sign up.) Here’s to eHowing the Cyber Highway!