Books and eBooks are not the only way to express creativity in writing.  What about the song writer?

Below is an article on the topic that is helpful, and if you click here, you will find a resource especially for those who write songs, or would like to learn more about writing songs.

Please enjoy this article by Tiffany Provost, titled “Tips on Songwriting“.

Music is a form of artistic expression that can comfort and enhance your life. Songs can creates memories and allow us to interpret our emotions and feelings through lyrics.
And, you know, it’s not too hard to write your own music too. With the right tips, just about anyone can write a great song. These helpful instructions will guide you on your way to song writing and bring out the musician in you.

Understanding music theory. The language of music is unique. It is known as music theory. If you can find someone to help you understand how music is written it will help you to write songs that other musicians can read. It is a universal language. It may not be a good idea to get a professional musician to aid you in writing songs though, if you have no time or patience. Another option is to use a special computer program so that you can concentrate on writing songs and not worry so much about the technical information.

Understand how songs are created. Even if you don’t understand music theory, you still need to know a few musical concepts in order to write songs. You can learn a lot about choruses, verses, the bridge and much more. If you expect the songs you write to be well receive they should have a similar makeup to popular songs you hear on the radio.

Write your thoughts down. If you always have a tune in your head, you ve probably had a good idea for a song the whole time. Until you slow down and ensure that the song can be enjoyable for all, you won t get very far. So, find the nearest napkin, tablecloth, tissue or notepad and scribble down your masterpiece.

Popular music. Understanding trends in modern music is the key to writing successful songs. Try to get a good understanding of lyricists, current bands and artists in the music industry. Usually a popular song will be unique, the song will have a good rhythm or beat, and the song will make you want to sing along. To be successful at song writing, you need to keep up with the trends in music.

It s important to write lyrics that will be considered strong and memorable. Words to a song give it a meaning. To appeal to the audience’s emotions you need to have lyrics that are catchy. While you will undoubtedly have some rhymes in your song, it’s important that it also tells a story. By finding the ‘hook or the catchy part of the song you re writing, and repeating it throughout, you are halfway there.

Accept advice. If you have written a song, get people to listen to it. Seek feedback from people you trust. Doing this is a pretty important part of the song writing process. Those who are impartial to the song will definitely see the flaws or weaknesses in your music even though you may not. Practice AND constructive criticism make perfect. All parts of the song should go together nicely and flow together. Record it to CD once your audience agrees that you ve got a great song. You can then decide whether to release your recorded song for others to enjoy or just store it in your archives.

Author Resource:-> Tiffany Provost writes about songs and hobbies tips for http://www.howtodothings.com.

Article From Selling With Articles

There are so many people who are “going green” these days, looking for ways to do their part to preserve our natural resources.  As new as the concept may seem to many, it is not new at all.  Back in the ’60s and early ’70s we were very much into living off the land, living simply, natural foods, organic gardening…it was as extremely popular a trend then as it is now.

When I was in college in the early 1970’s I took classes in Ecology, a wonderful course of study that taught me so much. Even before the “hippy” days when all were “into” saving the planet in the 1960’s - early 1970’s, I was already a lover of nature, always wanting to be in the woods enjoying God’s creation.  “Mother Earth News” became a favorite magazine of mine at the time, and I still love living close to nature, am surrounded by lakes and trees where we live, and I enjoy organic gardening. I use organic pest control myself which makes me feel much safer when I eat the vegetables and herbs we may grow, and I feel better about having my little yorkie, Aspen, sniffing around the plants.

I do have an organic gardening ebook available for just a couple dollars, you will find the link to the ebooks I have to the right, and below you will find a video that discusses one way of protecting your garden from pests naturally.

In a competitive job market, you need to have the tools to compete and beat the competition, and I’ve found just the place to help you do so.  I’ve spent quite a bit of time browsing an elearning site called learn.com.

This site is truly unique, and offers you the opportunity to watch your knowledge increase through their Skill Score® system. What you need to realize is that employers can also utilize the site to find potential employees, this is where your Skill Score® can work to your advantage.

While some will use the site to build their skills and make themselves more marketable, others can gain knowledge that will help them in how to use their computer, use common computer programs, or manage a business from home.

Another thing that those of you who are writers and publishers will be interested in knowing is that you can actually put together a course at the site, and receive a generous percentage of any income generated by your course.

Along with the skill-building courses at the site, there are accredited courses that you will want to explore.

Here are some terms that you will find at learn.com that you will not find anywhere else:

• An award-winning LearnCenter® learning and talent management suite
• A WebRoom® Web conferencing suite
• A PeopleCenter® application builder
• FormFlow® custom form creation

Presently there are 1,000+ titles in the learn2.com® online library.

You have spent many months putting down your dreams and plans for your book store, publishing company, or your book series, magazine or website. You do your best to put your presence out there, only to have your ideas stolen and used by a competitor.

Your business “brand” is what identifies your business..through your logo, your title, your name, your website, and anything else that makes your business uniquely yours. Once you have put in all that work “branding” yourself and your work, you do not want your ideas to be stolen or abused. This is where you might benefit from a trademark filing service to help you with your business plans. Such a service can help you in the following ways:

• They can help you find out whether the image or other aspect of your business you would like to use to “brand” yourself is available
• They help you register as well as renew your trademark.
• They can protect your trademark by monitoring it
• If there is an infringement on your trademark, or even your domain name, they will help defend you.

These are only a few of the services that are offered by thetrademarkcompany.com that  might be useful to you as an author or publisher, or in any business for that matter.

A book of great value that authors of novels, biographies, and other great works don’t often think of is the product manual.  We all are familiar with them, I just worked through one yesterday with a new GPS I purchased for Geocaching.  I’m new to geocaching, and will be spending a good bit of time enjoying our local woodland trails to search for hidden treasures…in the woods with the bears, mosquitoes, and other fun creatures.  My husband will be joining me to protect me from the bears, and I may have to rely on a Mosquito Magnet for the other little bugs, with that help it should be a fun experience.

But getting back to product manuals. They are a humble publication compared to a novel or a biography, lets say, but very important…I spent the whole day with one. But I notice that with access to the internet, you can often get information you need at the website of the product you purchased.

Lets consider the item that I’m using for mosquitos…when I was reading about Mosquito Magnet and considering how to protect myself while out in the woods, I saw that they offer support in a big way at their website, especially important if you find yourself in a situation where you need mosquito magnet repair advise. There is a lot of interactive material that you can take advantage of that you can’t get in a manual so you can keep your product in optimum condition.

I don’t think that the writers of product manuals need to worry too much about being replaced, I always expect to find one in any technical or other product that I purchase. But at the same time, writers of a different kind, those that put together helps on websites, are playing an important role as well.

All of this has me wondering whether any of you readers actually do put together product manuals as a writing profession.

I came across an article written by a gentleman who seems to have an understanding of publishing companies, what they offer and how they operate. I am sharing one of his articles with you, and leaving his links in the article as requested so that you can look into help he may have to offer.

More About Publishing and Publishing Companies

By: David H.

Publishing is a process of distributing and producing books or forms of literature. There are numerous varieties of publishing such as self publishing, vanity publishing and so much more.

Publishing is a process of producing and distributing forms of literature or books. Publishing includes the stages of the acquisition, development, graphic design, copy and editing, and printing. It also involves marketing, production and distribution of magazines, book, newspapers as well as software, musical works, literary works and other works associated with information. With the arrival of internet and some digital information systems, the scope of publishing is expanded to electronic resources like the electronic versions of periodicals and books as well as video games, blogs and websites.

Technically, television, radio, cinemas, DVDs, VCDs, games, music systems, mobile telephony and computer hardware publish some information to their consumers. Indeed, the advertising of a major film regularly includes a comic version or graphic novel, novelization, a model toy, a game, the soundtrack album and never ending promotional publications.

Numerous companies of major publishers have full divisions dedicated to a single franchise. This would include the likes of Ballantine Del Ray Lucasbooks which has the rights to Star Wars in the US, the Random House in UK and Century Lucasbooks that has the same rights in the UK. BBC also owns publishing divisions that perform very well with a long series like Doctor Who.

It is the publisher that commonly controls the marketing and other advertising tasks but it can subcontract various features of the process in order to expert publisher marketing agencies. In several companies, layout designs, proofreading, editing and other features of production processes are made by freelancers.

Dedicated in home salespeople are rarely replaced by some companies that concentrate in sales up to chain stores, wholesalers and bookshops for a fee. This style is accelerating as supermarkets and book chains have centralized their selling techniques.

Vanity publishing is referred to as one that constricts with authors, despite the marketability and quality of their work. Vanity presses also call themselves subsidy or joint venture presses. However, in these vanity press agreements, the author undertakes all the risks and pays all the costs of publication.

There are lots of publishing companies that can be found around the world. One example is the Whitston Publishing Company. Whitston focuses on publishing fiction, non-fiction, classic re issues, reference materials and anthology works. The company publishes the best quality products for researchers, scholars, students, libraries and individuals who have interest in the subject areas covered.

This company currently has subject areas that cover several literatures like African American, African, American, Children’s and Contemporary Friction, French and English Literature, Irish Literature, Native American Studies and so much more. The Whistons Publishing company is located in Albany, New York.

John Benjamins Publishing Company is an academic publisher’s headquarters in Amsterdam. The company developed two online Bibliography sites such as the electronic Translation Studies Bibliography and the electronic Bibliography of Pragmatics. This publishing company appears in several international academic areas and trade fair conferences as well as worldwide networks of appointed agents and distributors. John Benjamins Publishing Company also has headquarters in Philadelphia.

Code Publishing Company is a full service and innovative publishing company. The company uses the current technology that provides high quality print publication along with an electronic version of all papers published. This company provides legal and technical editing services as well as data alteration to some organizations. It also provides all of the binding, storage, printing and delivery services. This is for the supplements and codes. The company can provide Internet hosting of public codes; plus, other documents and hosts that create small public websites.

Author Resource:-> For more information on Publishing Companies in Alabama and Publishing Companies in Arizona please visit our website. http://www.publishing-companies.org/alabama-1.html & http://www.publishing-companies.org/arizona-3.html

Article From Selling With Articles

Many movies that we view were inspired by books, and I am sure for an author, having a book become a movie is one of the greatest compliments you can receive.  I think of such titles as “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “The Lord of the Rings” series (oh that the writers of those series could be alive to see what has become of their titles!), “The DiVinci Code”, “Twilight”, the list is endless.  Writers are involved in the process whether the movie is taken from a book or not, so movies very much fit in with the theme of this blog.

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and one of my traditional things I do is to view a movie that is in some way related to our military and veterans and their service to our country.  It may be a documentary, or a movie such as “Saving Private Ryan”, or some of the old classic World War II films.  Anything to remind myself of the sacrifice that was made for our wonderful country, the United States of America.

On a lighter side, it is also the start of the summer season.  If the weather is good, time is spent outside, if not so good and when the sun goes down, people may spend time going to theaters to take in the latest movie.  We haven’t seen the new “Star Trek” movie yet, and hear it’s great, but are still trying to decide whether to see it on the big screen, or wait to rent the movie.  Usually we wait, unless the movie is enhanced by seeing it on the big screen for the first time, and if it is great, we always rent it to see again later.

BLOCKBUSTER offers the ability to rent from home, and while there are other services that do the same, I’m definitely going to sign up for the free trial Blockbuster is offering….it’s so inexpensive to rent movies through them, and have them delivered to your mailbox, that I’m sure we’ll go beyond the free trial. The fact that they also allow you to return your movies to a local Blockbuster store which saves some time in waiting for the delivery of your next movie is also unique to similar services.

Actually, soon after I finish this post, I’m headed over to this BLOCKBUSTER link to sign up…we have a lot of movies to catch up on!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend…don’t forget to pray for and remember our men in the military, and thank God for those who have sacrificed so much to keep us safe.

I love Google Alerts and have been using this tool for a number of purposes. For those of you who don’t know, with Google Alerts, you enter a word or phrase, whether you want to track information from every source (”comprehensive”) or just blogs, news sites, video sites, etc., and you choose how often you would like to receive alerts by email, providing an email address.

I have many alerts set up, an alert for each of my blogs, for example, the phrase “ebook & book reviews and news”, and each day I receive an email showing any site on the web that happens to mention my blog. I also set up alerts for things that interest me, or for ideas to help me when I have a bit of “writer’s block” when it comes to what to post about on my blogs, or my website.  I don’t copy other’s information at all, but sometimes just reading what others have written will inspire a thought of my own.

How do I manage my many alerts?  Since I can’t read each of them every day, and they fill up my inbox quickly, I’ve set of folders for them and filters so that they sort into the folders rather than my main inbox.  All email programs have some type of sorting feature so that you can do this.

As an author, you may want to see who is talking about your book, article or a post you have done; you may want to track a your own name, you may want to track phrases from your book that you would not want to be plagiarized, you may want to track words that are important to your genre of writing to help you with ideas as you are writing a book, the possibilities are endless.

I do appreciate this helpful tool offered by Google and think that you will too.

Other Posts about Book Promotion:

Using Twitter to Promote Your Book

Using Craigslist to Promote Your Book or Event

Doing Virtual Book Tours or Author Tours

Publishing Tips and Myths