FREE! FREE!

This will come off as a plug for Best Buy, but since I'm not on their payroll, I invite them to contact me to do some writing for them (dudes, I'm a HUGE customer!).

Anyway, if you ever purchase cartridges for your inkjet printer, you know how damned expensive they are. If you buy refills or cheap substitutes online, you're only wrecking your printer, your ink isn't archival and will fade in time (hope you didn't print any important family pictures with that stuff), and you probably voided your printer's warranty. I only buy brand name ink. It's like buying toilet paper - some things, you just don't skimp on!

So here's my plug for Best Buy: If you join their Reward Zone club (free), every time you purchase two ink cartridges (on the same receipt), you can take home a free ream of paper up to $9.95 in value. I like to take the HP bright white inkjet paper. It's a heavy 24 pound bond, 97 brightness, and it feels like a million dollars compared to the cheap stuff you're already buying.

If you don't need inkjet paper, you can use the $9.95 toward other paper. I've taken the discount toward the purchase of photo paper, for instance. Hey, not bad considering I was going to buy the cartridges anyway. And as a Reward Zone member, you're racking up points that add up to dollars that can be spent - where else - at Best Buy.

Don't throw tomatoes ... as a writer, I go through a lot of paper and ink, so this was as appropriate an entry as any! And yes, I CAN live with myself.

PS: Best Buy, don't forget who loves ya....

Copywriters and Phonies

At 42 years old, I may be ready for a new eyeglasses prescription and my tri-annual physical. But age doesn't make me old fashioned. Just a little wiser.

Yet, a recent discovery made me wonder if I'd just hit a senior moment. Because after I discovered it, the words, "Why, in MY day..." crept into mind.

Here's the discovery: some writers out there are competing (fiercely, I might add) to write Internet articles for two bucks a pop. Not just any articles. Original ones, fully researched articles of 450 words (a typed page), SEO articles.

HELLO ... who's buying this stuff? Is this the same mentality that enables people to purchase brand name digital cameras online for $5.00 each? What does the buyer think they're going to get?

And for a moment, just a fleeting moment, I began to panic. Is this what I am up against? Is this the New Competition? Will I be forced to abandon my healthy double-digit hourly rate in order to keep writing for hire?

But then it dawned on me; I don't have to compete with these fakes. They'll compete with each other. Let them scramble and claw and drop their prices ever closer to zero. Some of the buyers won't notice or care how bad the writing is, or where it was stolen from, and others will learn a valuable lesson. Maybe they'll call a professional.

I consider myself fortunate. There's no shortage of customers looking for professional writers. I'm staying busy, and if I ever need more, I just open the faucet.

What does this mean to you? Keep it real! Don't fall prey to price centric buyers. If you sell value, quality and experience, you deserve what you're worth - NOT what others are worth.