Month: September 2021

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Tips To Get Your Children To Read Books

September 28 , 2021 Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
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Being in the profession that I am and always being surrounded by books – either for pleasure reading or for work, I’ve been approached by many parents who wanted me to introduce their children to reading. Some of these children were toddlers while some quite grown up and with busy lives, at 12 or 13. Honestly, someone who doesn’t spend time with them cannot really sell the concept of reading for pleasure to your children. People who read are perceived to be boring and uninteresting by most of those who don’t. And a child who doesn’t read would not be interested in hearing about the benefits of reading, from someone he is not used to taking instructions from. So here are a few suggestions from me, which you can try yourself, and you should be able to open the beautiful world of reading to your children!

  • First, you develop a relationship with reading. Your child is bound to follow the example you set. In households where at least one parent reads regularly, the children are known to follow suit. This happens mainly because of the example you set and also, because you are in the position to suggest and bring to them, titles they would enjoy to read. Let them see you reading; it’s okay if you are reading just a magazine.
  • If you child is a newborn, start reading together. Pick up age appropriate books, show them the pictures and you read the story. Don’t let their inability to understand bother you, with repeated and continuous storytelling, they will grow up with the habit of loving stories. Also, bedtime stories being read by parents make up for some of the fondest childhood memories when the children grow up.

  • Give your child a reading space. Maybe a corner of their room or any other room, where a shelf has their storybooks stacked together. A place where they can sit comfortably in proper lighting and read. Make reading an interesting experience.
  • Visit local book stores with them. What would be even better if you get a library membership together and make trips to the library frequently. Let your child spend time with books.

  • A child who reads cannot also watch a lot of television. Two reasons – doing both would harm eyes, and doing both would take up a lot of time. Soon, the child will be cutting reading time and spending more time in front of the televsion. If you want your child to read, play and do activites, the tab needs to go too. Maybe once a week to play games in, that is your decision.
  • If you are already a reader, pick your own childhood favourites and read with your child. Tell them stories about how you perceived the story, and ask they what they think it. Make it a fun activity. Perceptions will be different, there is an entire generation between your child and you. Exchange notes.
  • Having said that, please don’t force your child to read. The most you can do is, encourage them. But if your child is completely outdoorsy, there are strong chances that you cannot force them to stay indoors and read. It’s okay.

These were few suggestions of things you can do; they are not sure shot ways. Many schools have lately introduced reading periods, but those are only for junior classes. When the kids grow and are in senior classes, they get busy and move away from reading for pleasure. Don’t let that vaccum form. I am always open for dicsussion on further ideating about how to spread the love for books. Get in touch if you think I can help. Lastly, let your child choose the book. It is okay if one doesn’t like fiction, let them read about volcanoes or about cars. To read is what we want them to do, right?

Disclaimer: No, every child doesn’t need to read. This post is particularly for parents who want to try to get their children to read. Try, but don’t force, dear parents. 🙂

 

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Five Reasons Why Your Business Needs Content Marketing

September 25 , 2021 Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
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How would you react if I told you that every business is now a part of the publishing industry? Chances are, that you might scoff at me. However, the fact remains that what you publish online about your business leads to its sale and popularity or lack of both.

While big businesses have taken to tapping the content industry in promoting, strategising and even implementing their advertisements, it is the SMB group which would benefit a lot if content marketing is used effectively. How can content be used effectively in promoting a business or a brand, you might ask.

Well, that would take a separate post altogether and I will definitely get down to writing one. However, from what I have noticed in my career as a content strategist is that most small and medium businesses have not yet recognised the need of content marketing for their business!

Let us understand how content marketing works. Let us assume that you are an interior decorator and over some years, you have started doing pretty well for yourself. Word of mouth has been working well for you till now, but it is time you expand. Do you need to advertise in unrelated market spaces? Not at all.

What you require is a content strategy, planning and implementation of your social media promotion, over social media platforms. You identify your target buyers and with the help of a content creator and a social media manager, roll out specific content to reach them. Content could be in the form of blog posts, social media posts, infomercials, etc.

Let us understand one more thing – buyers today are smarter than before. With almost everything available on the internet, they know how to research, read and find out the best option for their requirement. While the buyers don’t mind spending, they are also very clear about what they want. (e.g.) if I want a crop top which I want to buy online, I will check five websites, compare prices and place an order only when convinced. Now if your brand of clothes have informercials and blogposts talking about the special features of the garments available, and if it is marketed well (and by an expert), it will remain in their minds. So the next time, someone thinks of similar products, your brand name surfaces in their minds immediately.

Let me discuss five of the innumerable reasons why your business needs content marketing at the earliest, if you are not already using the medium.

Content Marketing Helps Grab Attention

Your product/service/work needs attention, and why not! The first step to ensuring that people buy what you have to offer, is ensuring that they know about it. And no amount of billboard, television or print advertising can compare to content marketing for certain brands. An advertisement limits your capacity to convey, to minutes and sometimes even seconds, or words. Content strategising and marketing on the other hand give you more time to reach out to your target buyers. Your audience is larger, and hence, so is the prospect of attracting more customers.

Related: 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Must Avoid

Content Marketing Helps Build Trust

Through content marketing, you can create a relationship of trust with your target and existing customers. When a potential or existing customer reads blog posts, informercials and social media posts coming from your brand, talking about what you are selling – an impression that you know about your business is formed. Take this post as an instance. If you have reached this page through a web search or probably clicking on the link shared on some social media platform, you will see who has written it. When you see more posts (legitimate, of course) from me on similar lines, you will start trusting my knowledge in the topic. Similarly for a fashion designer – if s/he writes about nuances of fashion and the content attracts readers, they will come back for more, start trusting the designer’s opinion and chances of them turning into a potential customer is higher. An advertisement on the television can showcase the designer’s designs, but what would increase the designer’s credibility would be good content and information.

Related: #Hashtags, and how to use them on social media

Create Brand Awareness With Content Marketing

Same goes for building brand awareness. The more your content is spread far and wide on the digital space, more number of people would be reading it. Strategies planned by content curators would help you take informational and promotional content about your business to concerned markets via the world wide web. Over here, I would also want to add that the content that goes on your business’ website is also crucial on how to reach out to potential markets. A content curator knows exactly what would catch a buyer’s eyes and would ensure that correct information goes there, in the precise format that it should. Strategic content marketing would attract traffic to your website/blog and introduce to the buyers, a brand that they might not have known, even existed! Slowly and steadily with a kickass content strategy and relevant content, you can build brand authority and reach the level of industry expert.

Related: Promote Your Home Without Leaving Your Home!

Content Marketing Helps Increase Engagement With Customers

One of the many handy things on the internet is the ability to be able to reach out to anyone. And for a business, this could be a boon, provided the aim is giving better customer service. When your business is out there in the world wide web and you are indulging in content marketing, you are also connected to the customer directly. This enables the customer to get in touch with you directly for queries, doubts, complaints and brickbats. Of course, praises come too and you, at your end, get first had feedback of how your product and services attached to it, is faring. Handling escalations and complaints are tricky business and language, tone, etc are very important. Here, experts helping you with content marketing can come to your rescue and assist you with communication strategies as well. May this never happen, but imagine that something goes wrong. It’s all over social media and people are angry. How do you solve this? By reaching out. Where? On social media. An advertisement on the television or newspaper wouldn’t solve your problem. This is a time when you might need to form content strategies overnight and get into damage control. ‘Hope you never need to, but if you ever do, I hope you consult specialists with enough experience.

Related: Are You Active On Twitter But Not Gaining Positive Visibility? This Is What You Could Be Doing Wrong.

With Content Marketing, You Can Make Your Business A Household Name

The Internet is a loud place and there is unimaginable amount of content moving across. Content marketing helps picking your game, strategising and channeling the content to the right markets. You could be a seller working out of your home or a small office in any part of the country (or, the world), but this enables you to take your business to almost every person who has a smart phone! The internet’s algorithms work like magic and if you entrust an expert with this job, you’ll be surprised at how far you and your business would reach! You can track your expenses, the outreach for every penny spent and even conversion. Content shared over the internet also gets re-shared openly, thus reaching ever more people – this is called, making the content go viral. A trusted and experienced name in content marketing could do more magic in promoting your business than you might have imagined. However, before you step into this and make an investment, it is important to know exactly what to expect, in how much time and for how much. I’ll write about the same soon and link the post to this one, so that if you are reading this, you can head over there as well. In the meanwhile, if you are still not convinced that content marketing would benefit you, drop a comment and let me try and convince you more!

Get in touch through the contact page if you are looking for content strategy/creation or curation!

If you are reading this post and have reached this part, it is a given that you know I am a professional manuscript editor. If you want your manuscript edited, evaluated, help with ideating or writing, or even a ghost writer – drop me an email to editor@samarpita.in and we can have a conversation. There is so much I want to share about writing, editing, and social media for authors – I have so many informative posts planned for the next few weeks – hope you find them helpful. If you do, or if there are things under these topics that you’d want me to write in detail about, leave me a message in the comment box and I promise I will create that content for you.

You can also hop over to author.to/Samarpita and check out my ebooks on how to write better and make a social media presence before your book hits the market. The books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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10 Misconceptions About Freelancers Which Need To Stop

September 23 , 2021 Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
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I’ll get to the point and break some myths people harbour about all freelancers. If you are thinking of hiring the services of one, it is most important that you read these! What I am about to list isn’t new but needs to be said again and again because of lack of acceptance and understanding.

1. Freelancers work for free. Whatever we freelance in, all of us who do, have been through stages of selling our work for free – some unwillingly and some regretfully. From getting people’s resumes (re)written, to content for their work website created, to even thesis paper being edited and proof read – I have done all this for free. Every freelancer has such shameless friends and family, that’s how life tests us. It had to stop, and has. I am now considered rude and arrogant, but so be it. You need my services because you can’t do it yourself. So, pay up. When I need your services, I will too.

2. Freelancers have flexible work hours. Errm…No. We might not have to clock in our presence inside an office, but, we work long hours too. And this might come as a shocker to most, we work more than what 9 to 5-ers do! I have clocked in up to 18 hours too, and not just once or twice! But that had happened only because I wanted to and will never happen because client wants me to. Most of us have set work hours and are strict about them.

3. Freelancing isn’t quite like an office job. Of course. It isn’t. ‘Coz we don’t get time to indulge in office politics, office affairs and lengthy meetings in conference rooms. We work at all those times. We pack in more in eight hours, believe me.

4. Freelancing is cool, ghar baithe paise kamao. We work our asses off. We work through our teeth. To earn what you full timers earn, we, at times need to do triple the amount of work at least in the beginning. You know why? Because, people like you, don’t pay freelancers what they deserve. And if it was really so cool, you’d be doing it too.

5. Freelancers are money minded, they quote unrealistic amounts. And you aren’t? You think we haven’t seen you haggle for raises after every appraisal? We give back an end product – a product which you and your bosses cannot create. So why can we not demand our worth? Bargaining, when you are demanding a quality output, is pretty uncool. Pay up, if it is quality work that you desire.

6. Freelancers are their own bosses. Nobody is their own boss unless they own the mint. As long as someone is paying us, they are our bosses. With multiple projects running, we deal with multiple bosses. Can you imagine the kind of drama we deal with, now?

7. Freelancers are so lucky, pursuing what they love doing. And, who stopped you from doing the same? It takes guts (and some financial security) along with immense faith in own capabilities  to let go of regular salary and freelance.

8. Freelancers work in ideal conditions. You should start noticing more, you know. Look at the photographer standing in the sun, while you pose in the shade. Look at the editor editing your book all through the day and the night, so that you can be a famous author. Look at the painter straining her neck, while running a high temperature, so that you get the painting you ordered, in time for your house warming. See them? Try to, next time.

10. Freelancers need a website. Maybe. But it’s not a prerequisite. I got mine after five years of being in the business, that too on a whim. A fancy website doesn’t guarantee steady inflow of good projects. Most people I know are doing pretty decent with a blog and facebook page.

Disclaimer: There are more points, trust me. But first, try understanding these ten? Thank you!

If you are reading this post and have reached this part, it is a given that you know I am a professional manuscript editor. If you want your manuscript edited, evaluated, help with ideating or writing, or even a ghost writer – drop me an email to editor@samarpita.in and we can have a conversation. There is so much I want to share about writing, editing, and social media for authors – I have so many informative posts planned for the next few weeks – hope you find them helpful. If you do, or if there are things under these topics that you’d want me to write in detail about, leave me a message in the comment box and I promise I will create that content for you.

You can also hop over to author.to/Samarpita and check out my ebooks on how to write better and make a social media presence before your book hits the market. The books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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10 Things To Remember When Your Manuscript Is Being Edited

September 21 , 2021 Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
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Your manuscript is complete. You have been through it with a fine comb, made a dozen changes and only when you are happy with what you have produced, have you decided to hunt for a good editor.

Rightly, so.

In my years of experience as an editor, I have noticed that the role of an editor is not very clear to people who are not editors. Fair enough, we don’t need to know everything. Here is a checklist of things you need to remember before and during the editing process –

  1. Check your editor’s experience and portfolio. Don’t hire just about anyone who can write grammatically correct sentences. Check experiences, work done and preferably, some samples if the editor is a stranger to you. Hire someone who knows how a manuscript should be edited, in particular – this is important.
  2. Your editor is not your ghostwriter. Unless the terms of the editing procedure includes re-writing, don’t expect the same from your editor. You are the author. If changes need to be made in the manuscript, your editor will only suggest them and edit after you have incorporated them.
  3. Your editor will edit your manuscript. If other services like preparing the concept note, summary, etc are not in the package, it is rude to try to get them done right before you pay the last instalment.
  4. If you want your editor to follow a certain pace, make sure you do that when you are reviewing or have an email from your editor to answer. Keep each other in loop and respect each others’ times.
  5. You are hiring your editor’s services for your manuscript. Their time is still theirs. Please respect that.
  6. Revision takes time. Be patient.
  7. Do the first edit yourself. This will point out developmental flaws if any, and you can mend them. Hand over the manuscript when you are satisfied with the plot.
  8. Listen to what your editor is saying. If you have a counter-reasoning, point it out. But do understand that the editor’s keen eye notices what yours might skip.
  9. The editor will make what you have written, look the best that it can. The story will still remain yours; as will be the onus of making it a best seller. Editing is a tool used in the process of creating a book, it is not a lever.
  10. You would require your manuscript ready in time, right? Yes. And your editor would expect the installments to come in time, without having to remind repeatedly.

That’s all for now. All the best with your book!

 

If you are reading this post and have reached this part, it is a given that you know I am a professional manuscript editor. If you want your manuscript edited, evaluated, help with ideating or writing, or even a ghost writer – drop me an email to editor@samarpita.in and we can have a conversation. There is so much I want to share about writing, editing, and social media for authors – I have so many informative posts planned for the next few weeks – hope you find them helpful. If you do, or if there are things under these topics that you’d want me to write in detail about, leave me a message in the comment box and I promise I will create that content for you.

You can also hop over to author.to/Samarpita and check out my ebooks on how to write better and make a social media presence before your book hits the market. The books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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The Why & How Of The Oft Dreaded Self-Editing

September 15 , 2021 Samarpita Mukherjee Sharma
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I will be honest about why I am writing this post on self-editing. It’d been brewing inside me for a while now. I have been witness to an acute lack of knowledge of the need for self-editing in authors, fresh and seasoned, alike. I won’t go into the reason behind the lack of self-editing. Instead, let’s try and understand why your manuscript needs it, how can you go about doing it easily, and what happens when you send the manuscript ahead without a round of self-editing.

UGHHH, No!

Writing a book is no easy task, even for those who have successfully written and published many books. And once the book has been written from cover to cover, the sense of accomplishment is high. I get it. Going back to what you have written and gone down the rabbit hole of finding faults in your writing is not always a pleasant idea.

Also Read: Reasons Why You Need A Professional Beta Reader For Your Manuscript

I have seen few established authors say that they don’t self-edit. I cannot comment on that, but what worries me is that this is read by new authors and possibly followed as a part of their writing process – and that is how people get misled with half-information.
This post is just to throw some light on why every manuscript must go through at least one round of self-edit done by the author, and how beneficial it would later prove to the process of actual editing.

 

 

But, it’s a waste of time!

Self-editing can be a drag. I know, I understand. I cry when I have to self-edit. (I shall have to self-edit this post before publishing it and I am already dreading it.) It can get boring. And what is worse is that during self-edit you might want to trash the entire manuscript, hate it, hate yourself, decide never to write again, and go on a royal trip on imposter syndrome.

Also Read: A 5-Step Basic Guide To Editing Your Own Manuscript

Don’t let this scare you. If you find parts in your manuscript that you don’t like, that is actually to your advantage. Now is a good time to reimagine and rewrite the section that doesn’t seem to be working for you.
As a rule, the editor should not be handed the rough draft that you have just completed and haven’t gone through. Editing is not a cheap process and for the money your editor shall charge, it is only wise that you use their expertise rather than have them correct spellings, remove extra spaces, format the document, put header/footer/margins, and other necessary yet mundane jobs that don’t require an editor’s expertise.
When I receive manuscripts that have not gone through self-edit, the entire first round of editing which is also the most crucial round of editing is spent in correcting things just to make the document readable and edit-able. The actual editing that is also done on the parallel is impossible to be 100 % because attention gets divided.

Also Read: 10 Things To Remember When Your Manuscript Is Being Edited

One would say how unfair that is to a paying customer and they’ll be finding me agreeing to it very vocally. It is unfair. When you send manuscripts without basic self-editing, you do many disservices to your manuscript by dividing the editor’s attention and skills and diverting part of it towards correcting silly mistakes.

Don’t let laziness or the overwhelming idea of what self-editing might make you do, put you off this important step in publishing your book. Here is a read-reckoner you can refer to every time you are about to begin this step. Tick all the points below, and your manuscript is ready to be sent to the editor.

Ready-reckoner for self-editing:

* Once you know that the manuscript is ready and you have nothing new to add, step away from it. Close the file and don’t open it for at least a week. Let the story get old, it shouldn’t be fresh when you start reading it. This gap is important, my advice is to not hurry here.

* After 7-10 days, return to your draft. Now start reading it as a reader, not as its author. This will help you look at it as an outsider, someone who has no attachment to it. Your eyes and mind will start spotting mistakes. Disassociating from what you have written is also a good way to critique the writing.

* Run a spell-check. Read each correction suggested as depending on the system you are working on, the suggestion could be conflicting with the kind of English (US/global/Australian etc) you are writing in. Make note that the entire manuscript has the same type of English. (Your editor will also be checking this for any stray spelling that might be left uncorrected, but expecting them to locate and correct every such word is too much).

* Delete extra spaces. There are bound to be a few left behind and your editor/proofreader will spot them. But a manuscript with 100 or so extra spaces throughout will waste the editor’s time. Such things usually happen if the story or parts of it are written in notepad or apps other than MS Word/Spaces, and then pasted to these applications.

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* Read out loud. Listening to the words helps register better and at times our ears catch what the eyes miss. Sometimes it might be errors and at other times you might want to change a sentence/paragraph/section after hearing what it sounds like. Don’t get ruffled, this is good. If it doesn’t sound right to you, the author, chances are it wont sound right to the reader as well. So go ahead, read it out loud until you like how the words flow.

* Check adverbs. Here is a small exercise – spot adverbs in this post and see how you could have written those sections better! There are bound to be some adverbs in your writing – the essential ones, that justify their existence there. But apart from that, use precise verbs and nouns so that you don’t need to use adverbs.

* Always choose active voice. The subject of the sentence should be in the front part of your sentence. If you have time in hand, try to spot passive words in this post and rewrite them in active voice. Let me know in comments, and we can have a chat about how to handle these easily, if you wish!

Also Read: How To Become A Pro At Content Creation Right From The Beginning

* Just self-editing isn’t enough. You could be brilliant in the language but the fact is that an experienced editor can do magic on any manuscript, and your draft is no exception. Find one that suits your requirement and see what they can do for your manuscript.

If you are reading this post and have reached this part, it is a given that you know I am a professional manuscript editor. If you want your manuscript edited, evaluated, help with ideating or writing, or even a ghost writer – drop me an email to editor@samarpita.in and we can have a conversation. There is so much I want to share about writing, editing, and social media for authors – I have so many informative posts planned for the next few weeks – hope you find them helpful. If you do, or if there are things under these topics that you’d want me to write in detail about, leave me a message in the comment box and I promise I will create that content for you.

You can also hop over to author.to/Samarpita and check out my ebooks on how to write better and make a social media presence before your book hits the market. The books are FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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