Writer’s Residence uses PayPal to manage monthly subscription payments.

Unfortunately a number of our customers have been having problems with PayPal when they get a new credit card or bank account.

This is a quick guide to making sure your PayPal account is configured correctly so PayPal can continue to draw monthly subscription payments from your account.

If you need help at any point with this please get hold of us: support@writersresidence.com or UK: +44 (0)220 7193 3255 or USA: +1 (312) 239-0765.

First check that your Credit/Debit cards are up to date. Log in to PayPal. Click “My Account” then “Profile” and then “Credit/Debit Cards”.

Make sure all your credit/debit cards are up-to-date and remove any cards that are expired.

Now that you’re sure all your cards are current check your subscription settings. Click My Account, then Profile and My pre-approved payments.

Next click the subscription from The Freedom Partnership:

In this screen make sure the credit card or bank account selected as the funding source is up-to-date and valid.

Now that you’ve confirmed your PayPal account is set up correctly and that there are no expired cards the next time PayPal attempts to take payment things should work fine.

If your payment fails again please contact PayPal and ask them why the transaction is failing. They should be able to help you reconfigure your account so that the next payment is successful. Unfortunately PayPal will not talk to us about your account, for security and privacy reasons.

Some customers have experienced their subscriptions being cancelled while configuring their accounts at PayPal, in the case that this occurs please log in to Writer’s Residence and subscribe again. Your website will be reinstated and none of your work will have been lost.

f you have further problems get in touch with us again and we’ll make sure your account doesn’t expire while we’re trying to sort this out. support@writersresidence.com.

Thanks,

Tim and Monica

Writer’s Residence

A few months ago, marketing expert Penny Sansevieri told us how important it is that authors have a website as part of their marketing machine. This goes for new authors, as well as authors who have already been published. In fact, it’s crucial that multi-published authors have websites so that they can present their catalogue of work in one unified place. So naturally, I was really excited when Novelists, Inc., the international organisation for multi-published authors, contacted me for an interview about websites and online portfolios for authors.

They just published the interview on their blog today and I encourage you to take a look. In addition to advice about writing and websites, I also had the chance to talk about health, fitness and even mathematics. It’s an eclectic interview, that’s for sure, but all the more enjoyable for it.

So thanks Novelists, Inc. for the opportunity. It’s a thrill to be featured on your website.

Read the interview: Freelance writer and Web designer Monica Shaw

Tomorrow we’ll be moving servers which will require us to take the server down for an hour at most.

Why are we doing this?
We’re moving to a new server at a new hosting location so that we can provide you with better service. Our existing host is having some problems and sometimes the server is inaccessible. This is not acceptable.

What does this mean for you?
Nothing. You won’t have to change a thing. During the changeover you might experience the occasional problem. If you experience any continuing problems, please contact support@writersresidence.com and we’ll sort you out.

The switch will occur Sunday, September 27 at 7am GMT.

We’ve added Google Analytics support to Writer’s Residence so that you can keep track of visits to your website.

Google Analytics is a free Google product that gives you stats on where your web traffic is coming from.

You can sign up for Analytics here: http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html

Google will give you a web property ID when you sign up. It will look something like ‘UA-512321-1′ and you’ll want to enter that into the Google Analytics Web Property ID field on the settings page in Writer’s Residence.

Here’s where you’ll find the Web Property ID while signing up for Analytics:

Contact us if you have any trouble setting this up and we’ll help you out.

Thanks,

-Tim & Monica

I just finished reading the book Purple Cow by Seth Godin. Seth argues that the only way to sell a product in today’s overcrowded marketplace is to create something truly remarkable.

My goal in Purple Cow is to make it clear that it’s safer to be risky –to fortify your desire to do truly amazing things. Once you see that the old ways have nowhere to go but down, it becomes even more imperative to create things worth talking about.

I recently reviewed his book on SmarterFitter, where I wrote that many Purple Cow ideas can also be applied to health and fitness. Strangely, I’m having a harder time applying these rules to freelance writing, an actual business!

Can writers be Purple Cows? In the freelance world, it seems difficult, especially for new writers. Can we really afford to pass up paying jobs waiting for something remarkable to come along? Or is the whole concept of “remarkable” simply relative to the competition?

Seth actually discusses how Purple Cow thinking applies to freelance writers on his blog. He writes about “Bradley”, a freelance writer, who told Seth that Purple Cow thinking didn’t apply to his profession because all of his clients want average work. In response, Seth observed that there are loads writers out there who seem to get paid way too much for the effort they put in. How do these writers get those gigs?

It’s because they stand for something. Because they are at the edges. Because if an editor wants a ‘Bob-Jones-type’ article, she has to call Bob Jones for it… and pay Bob’s fees. Bob would fail if he did average work for average editors just to make a living. But by turning down the average stuff and insisting on standing for something on the edge, he profits. By challenging his clients to run stuff that makes them nervous (and then having them discover that it’s great), he profits.

This is scary. It’s really scary to turn down most (the average) of what comes your way and hold out for the remarkable opportunities. Scary to quit your job at an average company doing average work just because you know that if you stay, you’ll end up just like them. Scary to go way out on an edge and intentionally make what you do unattractive to some.

Which is why it’s such a great opportunity.

Seth added to this in an recent comment on Renegade Writer, where he suggests “If I could offer one idea, it would be to become ultra-specialized.”

Interestingly, other commenters point out that simple professionalism is rare enough in the writing world that simply adhering to deadlines and running spell-check is enough to be considered “remarkable”.

“Get articles in on time, according to spec, and error free,” says Brian Westover of WriterSpot, “that alone will purple your cow considerably.”

Cathleen of LoudWriter adds, “it’s not just any kind of professionalism that will make you go far. I’m talking about sincere, stick-to-your-word type of professionalism mixed with a healthy dash of spirit.”

I can’t argue with the importance of professionalism, but I do wonder how practical it is to be “ultra-specialized”, especially for new writers. At the moment, I spend about half my time writing for a client who isn’t in my target area of specialization, but who does send me a paycheck every month. I spend the other half chasing my specialty – pitching ideas, research, and occasionally writing an article or two. But it’s slow going and I can’t afford to give it my all.

Where do you draw the line between being a Purple Cow and making enough money to pay the bills? Is it possible to have both, even early in a writing career?

We perform routine maintenance and upgrades weekly on Saturday mornings between 7am and 8am London time (GMT+1 at the moment). Today’s upgrade took 5 minutes. Future upgrades should take about the same time, all going well, but it is good to have some headroom on changes like these. Thanks for your patience, we want to keep making the site better for you.

Here’s a run-down of the changes…

Checklist in the dashboard

When you sign in to Writer’s Residence, you’ll now see a checklist on the dashboard that contains a list of all the things you can do with your website. We listed things in the order that we think makes the most sense, but you can certainly do things in any order you wish.

Improved guidance in the management screens

The management screens now contain a few extra tips and suggestions to help you fill in the required information. Once you get the idea, simply click the upper right hand corner of the box to close it forever.

More obvious notifications and easier navigation

We’ve also added some extra notifications and links to reassure you that your changes have been saved and to make it easier to see your changes.

A website address is now required

We’ve integrated the website address process into the sign up page so that customers choose their website address when signing up. From now on you’ll always have an address like http://monicashaw.writersresidence.com, you can also set up your own domain name like http://monicashaw.com.

Any questions?

In addition to the site changes, we’ve also changed our UK support telephone number and added a USA number. Give us a call if you need any help! Or send an email to support@writersresidence.com.

UK: +44 (0)20 7558 8654
USA: +1 (312) 239-0765

In case you haven’t heard, I’m guest-posting today on Freelancewritingtips.com, Linda Jones’ incredibly useful blog of tips, inspiration and advice for freelance writers. Linda has been awesome enough to let me share a few of my own tips. Thanks, Linda!

Now go check out the post!

Monica Shaw’s tips on starting an online writing portfolio

Writing is all about generating ideas. Think your ideas could change the world? Then send them to Google by October 20th for a chance to see those ideas come to life. Google is calling for “ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible”. Google calls is “Project 10100″ and they’re committing $10 million bucks to making these ideas happen.

Here’s how it works:

1. Send Google your idea by October 20th.
   Simply fill out the submission form giving them the gist of your idea. You can supplement your proposal with a 30-second video.
2. Voting on ideas begins on January 27th.
   Google will post a selection of one hundred ideas and ask the public to choose twenty semi-finalists. Then an advisory board will select up to five final ideas.
3. Google is committing $10 million to implement these projects, and their goal is to help as many people as possible. So remember, money may provide a jumpstart, but the idea is the thing.

Guidelines

Google’s goal is to set as few rules as possible. However, they ask that you put your idea into one of the following categories and consider the evaluation criteria below.

Categories:

• Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
• Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
• Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
• Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
• Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
• Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
• Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
• Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

Criteria:

• Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
• Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
• Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
• Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
• Longevity: How long will the idea’s impact last?

project10tothe100.com

The International Journalists’ Network (IJNet) has featured Writer’s Residence on its website in a news article discussing our recent free, one-year membership offering to student journalists.

IJNet’s mission is “to help connect journalists with the opportunities and information they need to better themselves and raise journalism standards in their countries.” We’re grateful that IJNet has featured us amongst its Training Opportunities and thank them for the mention!

Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers has just published his third annual top 10 blogs for writers. Michael chose the winners based on the quality of their content. Writers: add these to your RSS feeds!

1. Copyblogger: As the undefeated champ, this blog has held the number-one spot for three straight years! The baby of Brian Clark, this blog keeps winning because of its excellent and educational articles.
2. Men With Pens: James Chartrand and Harry McLeod are the dynamic duo who continue to deliver rich content and community discussion.
3. Freelance Writing Jobs: Founded by Deb Ng, this site is the first stop for freelance writers seeking new work and great articles (and it remains a top winner since this contest began).
4. Write to Done: This blog delivers a steady stream of excellent articles for all writers and is the product of top blogger Leo Babauta.
5. Confident Writing: Looking for encouragement? Joanna Young will help you take your writing to the next level.
6. The Renegade Writer: Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell, authors of a book by the same name, help freelance journalists find inspiration.
7. Remarkable Communication: One part writing, one part marketing and one part selling, this excellent blog by Sonia Simone will help any writer succeed.
8. Writing Journey: Looking for a great stop on your writing journey? Bob Younce’s blog will refresh and energize you.
9. Freelance Parent: Two moms, Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry, provide excellent perspective on writing while balancing time with little ones.
10. Urban Muse: Susan Johnston covers a wide range of excellent topics that all writers will enjoy.