Make Your Mark
Looking for a way to express yourself? Need some extra spending money? Do you want to beef up that college application package? Look no further than this book.
With advice on how to write newspaper and magazine features, Web blogs, music and movie reviews, novels, graphic novels, short stories, and more, the father-daughter team of Timothy and Elizabeth Harper shows that it's possible for anyone who writes well to get published.
Topics include:
- How to find subjects to write about
- Learning productive research and writing habits
- Identifying the best market for your work
- Managing your career
- And so much more
With practical information on every step of the writing process, writing samples, personal anecdotes, tips from the pros, profiles on young authors such as Christopher Paolini and Zoe Trope, and a resource section, "Your Name in Print" has all the tools and advice young writers need to break into the writing world.

Doing Good: Inspirational Stories of Everyday Americans at Home and at Work is a collection of profiles of people who have found a way to make a difference--serving their communities, helping friends and family, improving the quality of life and work for colleagues--doing what they can to make the world a better place. A few of them are famous or prominent, but most of them not known outside their own communities, including: * The modern-day Helen Keller. * The widowed great-grandmother who lives alone in the Rocky Mountains and passes along her outdoors skills to children. * The college professor who spends his summers teaching poor Appalachian kids to use computers. * Top business executives using their time, money and skills to make a difference. * The Big City Forest man. * The best pickup basketball player in America. * The senior citizens who help other 'silver surfers' lean to use the Internet. * The lady brewer. * The man who invented e-mail. These stories and more provide lessons for all Americans in how to work, how to play and how to live our lives to the fullest.

Whether you're just starting out, considering going full-time, or are already a successful freelance writer, you'll find the information and insights needed to take your work to the next level in this smart, thorough guide. Compiled by the prestigious American Society of Journalists and Authors, the book's twenty-six chapters cover the business from every angle, tackling the topics every freelancer needs to master in order to make it today.

Chapters cover: planning a writing business * generating fresh ideas * the secrets of a successful magazine query * the latest research tools and techniques * writing for the Web * developing areas of specialization * promoting yourself and your work * op-eds, essays, and other ways to leverage your knowledge * contracts * taxes and deductions * working with editors and agents * going full-time * key lessons you won't have to learn the hard way * and more.

Written by twenty-six of the top freelancers working today, this indispensable guide provides trade secrets that others have learned the hard way, inspiration to take your work where you want it to go, and a revealing view into the minds and working habits of freelance writers at the top of their game.