Abbamay wrote:Hi light87,
I have to say I don't know anything about the subject you're writing about, but I write articles for a client about financial news relevant to a couple of different countries. Statistics are useful, but I try not to use too many. I use them to back up my point or to catch the reader's interest if it's a surprising fact or something. While I reference companies, politicians, websites or newspapers, I just mention the name and don't include the web address (readers need to follow what you're saying without being distracted so often). I also think it might help if you only refer to a couple of them, and try not to use too many different sources in your article. Most of the text should be your words, and if you want to add in a quotation it should be a really good one. You don't need to do it very often as you can usually paraphrase what you need to. If they are someone else's ideas then you will mention the name. Eg. You wrote: "VentureBeat reports that..." but then you can go on and describe what they said in your own words. Mentioning the source gives you some credibility, but you're still the writer of the article, not them.
Hopefully you'll get some more advice from other forum members, but the above approach has worked well for me for the last couple of years.
Good luck!
Abba May
Hey Abba May, thanks for the advice
. I don't know anything about this article either! But, I understood the sources... and that's how I wrote it... and I thought that's what everyone else does, haha
.
So, I tried writing another article and submitting it. It was like 500 words, and like 3 sources. Fun times! It took only like 5 hours post-submission for an editor to request revisions... and the next day (today) it was accepted.
Here's what I did differently:
1. Changed all the quotes to paraphrases. It felt kinda wrong... because the quotes were so spot on, so to make the sentences my own, I had to do stuff like: Source: "The amount of X,Y,Z is greater!" Rewrite: "The increased count of Z,X,Y..." It's the XYZ -> ZXY that felt so very wrong. I really would much prefer quoting... but, oh well! The academic world and the blogging world are totally different, I guess
. Gotta just roll with it if I want to sell blogs for $20+ rather than for like... $5-$7 on TB.
2. Citations were placed at the end of the article rather than @ the sentences they're referring to. I don't understand this exactly
, since blogs are known to have hyperlinks to the sources in the sentence using their info... but! Once again, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Less work for me, and if everyone is happy - cool
.
If anyone else is having problems with what I had been dealing with... Do #1 and #2, and you should be all set. tl;dr: quote-free, citation-free.
Lysis wrote:I think all the references triggered their copy system (forget who they use..it's not copyscape)
I think the percentages are interesting. I would nix everything except the first paragraph and explain why you need a tech savvy marketer. What skills should they have? What type of marketing should they know and what type of technical skills should they have? What does a tech savvy marketer bring to the table that a regular marketer does not? I am writing an ebook for a customer who told me that older people are having a hard time understanding that traditional marketing isn't really relevant on the Internet. Marketers have to be more social and understand Internet culture.
So, I would cut out most of the references (although the percentages are interesting, so maybe keep a couple of them) and explain in your own words what it means to have a tech savvy marketer and why it's important.
Hey Lysis
thanks for the advice. I am selling this article for $8 on another site... oh well, too bad. A client is already lined up to buy it in like a couple of hours. So, that said - feel FREEEEEEEEEE to use those stats for your eBook. Thanks again for the advice.
Thanks again everyone!