* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42129064 * https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/using-generative-ai-to-teach-computing-insights-from-research/

Following its Cannes-winning run, French director Jacques Audiard talks about how ‘Emilia Pérez’ reshapes the musical genre, with its lead star’s dazzling spectacle of contradiction and rebirth

In today’s competitive job market, having a well-crafted resume is essential for landing your dream job. Your resume is your first opportunity to make a strong impression on potential employers. To ensure that your resume stands out, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide on effective resume-writing tips for job seekers. Introduction A well-written resume is the […]

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to much critical acclaim and financial success. The book was the best-selling children's book for two years after its initial publication. Baum went on to write thirteen more novels based on the places and people of the Land of Oz. ... His final Oz book, Glinda of Oz was published on July 10, 1920, a year after his death. The Oz series was continued long after his death by other authors, notably Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote an additional nineteen Oz books. ... Baum also anonymously wrote The Last Egyptian: A Romance of the Nile. -- Baum continued theatrical work with Harry Marston Haldeman's men's social group, The Uplifters, for which he wrote several plays for various celebrations. He also wrote the group's parodic by-laws. The group, which also included Will Rogers, was proud to have had Baum as a member and posthumously revived many of his works despite their ephemeral intent. Although many of these play's titles are known, only The Uplift of Lucifer is known to survive (it was published in a limited edition in the 1960s). Prior to that, his last produced play was The Tik-Tok Man of Oz (based on Ozma of Oz and the basis for Tik-Tok of Oz), a modest success in Hollywood that producer Oliver Morosco decided did not do well enough to take to Broadway. Morosco, incidentally, quickly turned to film production, as would Baum. -- In 1914, having moved to Hollywood years earlier, Baum started his own film production company, The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, which came as an outgrowth of the Uplifters. He served as its president, and principal producer and screenwriter. The rest of the board consisted of Louis F. Gottschalk, Harry Marston Haldeman, and Clarence R. Rundel. The films were directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, with casts that included Violet MacMillan, Vivian Reed, Mildred Harris, Juanita Hansen, Pierre Couderc, Mai Welles, Louise Emmons, J. Charles Haydon, and early appearances by Harold Lloyd and Hal Roach. Silent film actor Richard Rosson appeared in one of the films, whose younger brother Harold Rosson photographed The Wizard of Oz (1939). After little success probing the unrealized children's film market, Baum came clean about who wrote The Last Egyptian and made a film of it (portions of which are included in Decasia), but the Oz name had, for the time being, become box office poison and even a name change to Dramatic Feature Films and transfer of ownership to Frank Joslyn Baum did not help. Unlike with The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, Baum invested none of his own money in the venture, but the stress probably took its toll on his health. -- On May 5, 1919, Baum suffered from a stroke. He died quietly the next day, nine days short of his 63rd birthday. At the end he mumbled in his sleep, then said, "Now we can cross the Shifting Sands." He was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. ... Political: Women's suffrage advocate - Sally Roesch Wagner of The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation has published a pamphlet titled The Wonderful Mother of Oz describing how Matilda Gage's radical feminist politics were sympathetically channeled by Baum into his Oz books. Much of the politics in the Republican Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer dealt with trying to convince the populace to vote for women's suffrage. Baum was the secretary of Aberdeen's Woman's Suffrage Club. When Susan B. Anthony visited Aberdeen, she stayed with the Baums. Nancy Tystad Koupal notes an apparent loss of interest in editorializing after Aberdeen failed to pass the bill for women's enfranchisement. Some of Baum's contacts with suffragists of his day seem to have inspired much of his second Oz story, The Marvelous Land of Oz. In this story, General Jinjur leads the girls and women of Oz in a revolt by knitting needles, take over, and make the men do the household chores. Jinjur proves to be an incompetent ruler, but a female advocating gender equality is ultimately placed on the throne. His Edith Van Dyne stories, including the Aunt Jane's Nieces, The Flying Girl and its sequel, and his girl sleuth Josie O'Gorman from The Bluebird Books, depict girls and young women engaging in traditionally masculine activities. ... Religion: Originally a Methodist (albeit a skeptical one), Baum joined the Episcopal Church in Aberdeen to participate in community theatricals. Later, he and his wife, encouraged by Matilda Joslyn Gage, became Theosophists, in 1897. Baum's beliefs are often reflected in his writing. The only mention of a church in his Oz books is the porcelain one which the Cowardly Lion breaks in the Dainty China Country in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Baums believed that religious decisions should be made by mature minds and sent their older sons to "Ethical Culture Sunday School" in Chicago, which taught morality, not religion.

I have just finished reading a fantastic book by G.A. Riplinger entitled, "New Age Bible Versions." Among other things, it details who the writers were of the Greek Text used to translate the NIV, NASB, NKJV, NRSV, NAB, REB, RSV, CEV, TEV, GNB LIVING, PHILLIPS, NEW JERUSALEM, and NEW CENTURY versions of the Bible. If you own one of these, you probably bought them because they supposedly come from the most ancient manuscripts and they are more accurate and authentic than the old standard King James Version of the Bible. WRONG!!!!! If you are reading one of these versions, it is a compilation of the work of Satan, Demons, drunks, necromancers, channelers, ghost followers, Nazi staff members, Lucifer worshipers, Plato, Origin, Philo, and many other NEW AGE (demon inspired) thinkers who want nothing more than to bring in a One World Government under a New World Order, with the Anti-Christ as the ruler of the world, and Marxism as the world political system. What angers me the most is that supposedly God fearing ministers of the Gospel have, like the Pied Piper, led their congregations by a passive attitude that will open up the door to the religion of the Anti-Christ one day. -- I just wrote an email to a good friend of mine, a minister, who sent me an email with a quote from one of these OCCULT translations of the bible. He is a good man and a soul-winner. I then realized that the Bible is true when it says that in the last days deceivers will come that will deceive, "if it were possible," the very elect. I then knew that it is happening right before our very eyes. People purchase Bibles thinking that there are godly men that have made these new translations with much care along with prayer and that they are delivering what is the most accurate copy of the Word of God in existence today. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. Since the book that I cited above gives more evidence than I can possibly give here, I want to tell you about the men that did the translations of the revised Greek text and some of their friends and acquaintances. Once you have read this, if you can continue using one of these OCCULT versions of the Bible, God help your soul.

Imprisonments: As his popularity and notoriety grew, Bunyan increasingly became a target for slander and libel; he was described as "a witch, a Jesuit, a highwayman" and was said to have mistresses and multiple wives. In 1658, aged 30, he was arrested for preaching at Eaton Socon and indicted for preaching without a licence. That same year his wife died leaving him with 4 children, one of which was blind. He continued preaching, however, and did not suffer imprisonment until November 1660, when he was taken to the County gaol in Silver Street, Bedford. In that same year, Bunyan married again, Elizabeth, by whom he had two more children, Sarah and Joseph. The Restoration of the monarchy by Charles II of England began Bunyan's persecution as England returned to Anglicanism. Meeting-houses were quickly closed and all citizens were required to attend their Anglican parish church. It became punishable by law to "conduct divine service except in accordance with the ritual of the church, or for one not in Episcopal orders to address a congregation." Thus, John Bunyan no longer had that freedom to preach which he had enjoyed under the Puritan Commonwealth. He was arrested on 12 November 1660, whilst preaching privately in Lower Samsell by Harlington, Bedfordshire, 10 miles south of Bedford. -- John was brought before the magistrate John Wingate at Harlington House and refused to desist from preaching. Wingate sent him to Bedford County Gaol, to consider his situation. After a month, Bunyan reports (in his own account of his imprisonment) that Wingate's clerk visited him, seeking to get him to change his mind. The clerk said that all the authorities wanted was for Bunyan to undertake not to preach at private gatherings, as it was suspected that these non-conformist meetings were in fact being used by people plotting against the king. In answer to the clerk, John argued that God's law obliged him to preach at any and every opportunity, and refused to consider the suggested compromise. -- In January 1661, Bunyan was brought before the quarter sessions in the Chapel of Herne, Bedford. His prosecutor, Mr. Justice Wingate, despite Bunyan's clear breaches of the Religion Act of 1592, was not inclined to incarcerate Bunyan. But John's stark statement "If you release me today, I will preach tomorrow" left the magistrates - Sir John Kelynge of Southill, Sir Henry Chester of Lidlington, Sir George Blundell of Cardington, Sir Wllm Beecher of Howbury and Thomas Snagg of Milbrook - with no choice but to imprison him. So Bunyan was incarcerated for 3 months for the crimes of "pertinaciously abstaining" from attending mandatory Anglican church services and preaching at "unlawful meetings". -- Strenuous efforts were made by Bunyan's wife to get his case re-heard at the spring assizes but Bunyan's continued assertions that he would, if freed, preach to his awaiting congregation meant that the magistrates would not consider any new hearing. Similar efforts were made in the following year but, again, to no avail. In early 1664, an Act of Parliament the Conventicles Act made it illegal to hold religious meetings of five or more people outside of the auspices of the Church of England. -- It was during his time in Bedford County Gaol that John Bunyan conceived his allegorical novel: The Pilgrim's Progress. (Many scholars however believe that he commenced this work during the second and shorter imprisonment of 1675, referred to below.) Bunyan's incarceration was punctuated with periods of relative freedom - lax gaolers allowing him out to attend church meetings and to minister to his congregation. -- In 1666, John was briefly released for a few weeks before being re-arrested for preaching and sent back to Bedford's County gaol, where he remained for a further six years. During that time, he wove shoelaces to support his family and preached to his fellow prisoners - a congregation of about sixty. In his possession were two books, John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the Bible, a violin he had made out of tin, a flute he'd made from a chair leg and a supply of pen and paper. Both music and writing were integral to John's Puritan faith. John Bunyan was released in January 1672, when Charles II issued the Declaration of Religious Indulgence.

Remember! All the modern versions are based on the Westcott and Hort text, compiled by two men who both believed that the sacred text of Holy Scripture was to be approached and treated like any secular text of history. The English people, who felt secure in their trust that these two Cambridge scholars would take care of attacks on the Scripture, unknowingly accepted the public utterances and writings of men who boasted between themselves that they held doctrines that would be considered dangerous heresy. Nowhere in all literature can we find a more perfectly clear self-revelation of Fenton John Anthony Hort than in the Life and Letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort published in 1896 by his son, Author Fenton Hort. Hort was brought up by a well taught Bible-believing evangelical mother. She recognized the fact that her son had departed from the faith "once delivered to the saints" and was saddened thereby. -- Hort acknowledged his departure from the Evangelical faith when he wrote, "Further I agree with those who condemn many leading specific doctrines of the popular theology, as to say the least, containing much superstition and immorality of a very pernicious king... The positive doctrines even of the Evangelicals seem to me perverted rather than untrue. There are I fear, still more serious differences between us on the subject of authority, and especially the authority of the Bible," Life and Letters, Vol. I, p.400. Again Dr. Hort states, "Another idea has lately occurred to me: is not Mariolatry displacing much worship of scattered saints and so becoming a tendency towards unity of worship? I have been persuaded for many years that Mary-worship and Jesus worship have very much in common in their causes and their results" Vol. I, p.50-51 "Life and Letters." -- Hort was completely deceived by Darwin Vol. I, p.374 "Life and Letters." "Have you read Darwin?...in spite of difficulties, I am inclined to think it is unanswerable (page 416). "...another last word on Darwin...I shall not let the matter drop in a hurry, or, to speak more correctly, it will not let me drop...there is no getting rid of it any more than a part of oneself." Vol. I, pages 433-434. On the atonement Hort writes, "Certainly nothing can be more unscriptural than the modern limiting of Christ's bearing our sins and sufferings to His death; but indeed that is only one aspect of an almost universal heresy." Vol. I, page 430 "Life and Letters." -- Hort in writing to a friend, John Ellerton, Dec. 20, 1851 said: "I had no idea till the last few weeks of the importance of texts, having read so little Greek Testament, and dragged on the villainous Textus Receptus... Think of that vile Textus Receptus leaning entirely on late manuscripts. It is a blessing there are such early ones." Hort refers of course to the very corrupt Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Alexandrius in which its finder, Tischendorf, noted 12,000 alterations, Codex Sinaiticus. We ask, "From where did Hort get this great antipathy and hatred for the Textus Receptus so early in his career? How did he conceive his ingenious theories to do away with the fact that the Textus Receptus (the Greek text underlying the King James Version) and that which is representative of a very, very high percentage of all Greek Manuscripts?" -- Look at the hidden background for the modern spreading rejection of the King James Version. The followers of Westcott and Hort are following the lead of men who have departed from the faith and have given themselves over to a strictly forbidden prying into the occult. They had received from the world of spirits a hatred for the true Word of God. After we learn that Hort describes the sacred text as "being that vile Textus Receptus," we read Hort's words, "Westcott, Gorham, C.B. Scott, Benson, Bradshaw, Luard, and I have started a society for the investigation of ghosts, and all supernatural appearances, and effects, being all disposed to believe that such things really exist, and ought to be discriminated from hoaxes and mere subjective delusions; we shall be happy to obtain any good accounts well authenticated with names. Our own temporary name is the [occult] Ghostly Guild." Vol. I, page 211.

The best sorts of business plans tell a clear story of what the company plans to do and how it will do it. Given the high failure rate of startups in their first year, a business plan is also an ideal opportunity to safely test out the feasibility of a business and spot flaws, set aside unrealistic projections and identify and analyze the competition.

complete article

I just had a conversation with someone who has formed a Delaware LLC and is ready to invest in growing his business. Specifically, this individual was looking for a paid…

I love knowing what my friends and family are up to. I love finding out about the latest thoughts going on within my peer groups. I enjoy reading many blogs, newsletter and emails. I used to regularly get over 400 emails a day including group/mailing list traffic, followed over a thousand people on Twitter and was friends with more than 250 people on Facebook. I subscribed to over 200 blogs. I read all of it, all the time.

Mix in LinkedIn, reddit, Hacker News and a few other corners of the web, and we’re suddenly talking about a lot of data flowing into my head.

I’m led to believe that some even value the contributions I make myself from time to time.

However, I’m about to start dialling all that down. I’ve made a start in some places, but over time I’m going to stop reading anywhere near as much short-form (twitter, Facebook, etc.), a little less medium-long form (blogs), and use the time to start reading longer form work again (books) and creating more.

The reason is not because of burn-out, cynicism or some other excuse: I’m not arguing that it’s all pointless, and I’m not being a Luddite. I just want to create more, and there are only so many hours in the day.

This was prompted by going back over my resolutions posted here in December, and realising I’ve made little progress:

• I need to get my weight down. I’m finally prepared to do something about it.

• I want to create more, so will aim to not go more than two or three consecutive days without working on something creative in 2012. It could be writing (here, for example), it could be code for a personal project, or it could be something I’ve never really tried before (music? art? Don’t know yet). I basically want to spend less time reading/consuming and more time doing stuff. David Tate provides excellent inspirationif you want to consider doing the same. I’ll try to document as much of that as possible here.

• I’m going to try and shift from always being behind/late for almost everything going on in my life, to being early. I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but I suspect if I can pull it off, I’ll be calmer and happier as a result.

This, I am happy to report, seems to have actually happened for the most part. Public transport not withstanding - including my own self-sabotage - I tend to be where I need to be on-time (or early), far more than I was last year.

Back to the main point: by reading what’s going on out there, by trying out new apps, by listening to all these voices, I am feeling engaged and plugged in, but only as a consumer. The purpose of the Internet is not to simply consume but to create, amend, edit, destroy, vandalise and promote. Ideas, content, products, whatever.

Also, am I the only one who has noticed how exhausting this hosepipe of information can be on a daily - even hourly - basis? I’m tired of consuming. It’s worse than television - at least with television an editor or commissioner has attempted to do some curation.

So I’m not departing, I’m not shutting down accounts, I’m just going to read a great deal less online, to the point the relevant apps might disappear off my phone. In return, I should be able to produce a few new things to share. Watch this space!

Imagine writing by hand in a paper notebook, then showing the notes to your camera to instantly make them searchable and organize them in context with previous notes on physical pages. If you’re like me and have particularly messy handwriting, InkSight could help turn your chicken scratch into typewritten text that is still accurate to … Continue reading ""Google Shows off AI Tool for Reading Handwritten Text by Rewriting It Digitally""

Google Cash - How to Earn Thousands Writing Google AdWords Part Time: "GoogleCash gives you all the tools you need to turn the Search Engine *Google.com into an Autopilot Cash Generating Machine!
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GoogleCash is a #1 top seller on Clickbank.com!"

Google Cash - How to Earn Thousands Writing Google AdWords Part Time: "There is a Wealth of Opportunity and Money to be made on Google and the Internet. Once I learned this it became my passion. I'd never felt like that about work before. But now I am finding new ways to make money on the Internet all the time. In Google Cash "

Recommendation Letter Toolkit That Is The One-And-Only Master Information Source For Writing All Types Of Letters Of Recommendation. If You Need To Write Any Kind of Recommendation Letter, or Letter Of Reference, Whether It's For Business, Work, College Admission, or Home, This Kit Is Your One-Stop Information Source.

WRITING ARTICLES SHOULD BE YOUR #1 FORM OF PROMOTION! But once you've put your masterpiece together, who should you send it to? Now there's a list of Ezine Editors who are simply crying out for your quality articles.

Introducing the new e-book by Ken Evoy "Make Your Content PREsell." It's the only book of its kind. It will make you more effective, every way, every day. Every communication that you write will be better. Not just your web pages, e-zines or personal e-mail. Everything you ever write will simply be more effective.

Anna Mills, Bluesky Social, Nov 13, 2024

The most interesting migration in social media these days is from twitter to Bluesky. Here are two approaches to making it easier: the first is a 'starter pack' on people in AI and education. It makes use of the Bluesky Lists feature or the Bluesky Starter Pack. In the same genre, here's a Tech Media Starter Pack. The second, via Miguel Guhlin, is based on a hashtag with members listed on a Google Docs spreadsheet. It's cleverly done. You have to apply to be listed on the spreadsheet, and to be accepted you have to use the #Edusky hashtag in your account on Bluesky. Viral. Here's the Edusky feed.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse better, news comes that WordPress.com has just embedded an AI feature into it’s blog editing code. The Jetpack AI Assistant is a one click solution for those who want to produce vapid, generic, boring blog posts at the touch of a button. Did we get that right? The assistant provides the full range of GPT type functionality you would expect, including creating nice looking blog structures, and can even suggest fabulous...

The post WordPress.com Embeds AI Function Into Its Post Writing Editor. oh dear appeared first on The Red Ferret Journal.

The post How to Schedule Time for Writing appeared first on ProBlogger.

Maintaining Momentum in Blogging Series I find it is very easy to get distracted by the many different elements of maintaining a blog and the allure of social media, to the point where I find it hard to do the core element – creating content. Here’s how dedicating specific times ...more

The post How to Schedule Time for Writing appeared first on ProBlogger.

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It hits you like a TON of BRICKS! It’s an idea for that KILLER blog post that is just bound to bring you all the traffic that you’ve ever dreamed of. With the idea fresh in your mind you sit down at your keyboard and BANG it out – desperate ...more

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How did the New Testament Church worship? Fr. Thomas shows a specific structural practice that Orthodox worship today is based on.

Fr. John Whiteford preaches from Colossians 2:6-15.

Fr. Apostolos Hill delivers a short homily on what we will all write in the New Year on the pages of the books of our lives.

Bobby Maddex interviews Nicholas Muzekari, the publisher and editor of Aletheia Writing Magazine, a new literary publication geared toward Christian teens.

Bobby Maddex, Operations Manager of Ancient Faith Radio, interviews Melinda Johnson, the Director of Marketing and Development with Ancient Faith Ministries, about our upcoming Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference.

Bobby Maddex interviews Melinda Johnson, the Marketing Director of Ancient Faith Ministries, about the 2017 Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference, which will take place at Antiochian Village this coming June 15-17.

Melinda Johnson, the Marketing Director of Ancient Faith Ministries, talks about the Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference, which will take place June 13-15 at Antiochian Village in Bolivar, Pennsylvania. Click here to register!

Bobby Maddex interviews Katherine Hyde, the Acquisitions Editor of Ancient Faith Publishing, about the Ancient Faith Writing and Podcasting Conference.

Copywriting is the best side hustle for writers in 2023. Discover why it may be a good fit for you, plus how to get started.

The post Copywriting: the best side hustle for writers in 2023 appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Should you narrow your focus and choose a copywriting niche? Check out top niches you should consider in 2023.

The post Best copywriting niches for new freelancers appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Not sure about making money from copywriting? This NEW post explores the possibilities of making good... heck, great... money from copywriting.

The post Can I make money from copywriting? (Yes) A look at the possibilities appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Effective copywriting is your secret weapon for driving conversions. With strategic word choice (based on voice of customer data) and a clear understanding of your target audience, you can craft copy that not only grabs attention but actively encourages action. Here's how...

The post Copywriting for Startups: 7 Lessons To Drive Conversions appeared first on Coaching and training to scale your copywriting business, plus programs for new copywriters, startups, and marketers.

Jim Donahue is writing and photographing the Thames Valley's life and history.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way,” - John C Maxwell, best-selling author, speaker and coach.

Genuine thought leadership is a powerful differentiator for any business.

Articles and reports that demonstrate true expertise, authority and insight stand apart from your competitors’ me-too blah-blah. They build trust, enhance your brand, help close deals and defend your margins.

High-quality content also avoids the Google penalties that come with spammy or AI-created content. Don’t take our word for that, here’s what Google has to say about creating helpful, reliable, people-first content. (See our take on AI in marketing too.)

What is high-quality content?

Thought-leadership copywriting provides unique insights, presents new research and uses data. It covers complex subjects in a new and engaging way. It is designed to expand readers’ understanding. It manages to be persuasive but not pushy.

Everyone can write, but not everyone is a writer. High-quality marketing content requires expert copywriters. (Read more about what a copywriter actually does.)

To get it right, writers require a deep understanding of their audiences, clients, products, the wider context of the industry, and the current shape of the market. For businesses embracing thought-leadership content, that’s where the true value lies.

But you have to invest time, money and marketing effort to realise this value. That can be challenging when business leaders and decision-makers can’t see the return on investment (ROI).

Let’s explore the ROI of copywriting and thought leadership to help you build a business case for their value.

What are the likely costs of copywriting and thought leadership?

The short answer? It depends. The long answer? There’s no one-size-fits-all cost and most writers will offer packages or tailored pricing. According to a study by Clutch, the average UK digital agency charges approximately £98.10 per hour. Research by DDIY suggests that a monthly content marketing retainer can cost between £1,805.78 and £23,551.50.

Of course, an hourly rate doesn’t tell you much about how long something will take or the required level of expertise needed to do an outstanding job.

That’s why, at Articulate, we charge for copywriting on a fixed price basis related to the length and complexity of the piece.

For maximum transparency and flexibility, we have a tariff—a kind of menu—of common writing deliverables such as case studies, white papers, or thought leadership articles. Our fixed prices include research, interviewing, writing, project management, editing, proofreading two rounds of revisions (if required), keyword optimisation, and, for blog articles, meta descriptions, a featured image and a couple of social posts.

Our marketing retainers start at £4,100 per month and one-off copywriting projects start at £5,000 for things like a case study library or a lead generation campaign centred around a flagship report or ebook.

We charge for website copywriting slightly differently, on a per-word basis, because of the additional complexity of integrating it with design, search engine optimisation and the rest of the development process. Also, in our experience, writing website copy for clients is like writing poetry and demands a high level of experience and client knowledge for your most important marketing asset.

Broadly speaking though, the cost of a content project will vary depending on the following factors: the who, the what, the when, the where and above all, the why.

The Who

Freelance copywriters and marketing agencies will charge different prices because, of course, their overheads and offerings are different. An agency may cost more but brings benefits such as editing, additional skills (e.g. SEO, research), better availability and turnaround times.

Then there are factors such as years of experience, location, specialisations and so on. You might also consider an in-house or staff writer who will require a competitive salary.

There are specific skills required to be a good marketing copywriter, including:

• Marketing know-how
• Business, sector and client knowledge
• Interviewing skills
• Research and analytical skills
• Search engine optimisation, e.g. writing with keywords
• Agility with tone of voice and messaging
• Self- and pair-editing
• Proofreading
• Social media writing skills
• Content planning and ideation

It’s helpful to put a good marketing copywriter with a reasonable level of skill and five or more years of experience in the same bracket as, say, a lawyer or an experienced, professional journalist writing for a trade magazine or reputable newspaper.

Typically, in an agency, they will work in teams that provide complementary skills and coverage for illness or holidays. All of this is hard to replicate in-house. (For more on this see our article: Should you hire a marketing person or a marketing agency.)

The What

The nature of your business and its content can impact how much copywriting will cost you. For technical or niche businesses, you’ll need to work with writers who understand your industry thoroughly or who have the skills and processes in place to learn about it efficiently.

You might not need to work with specialists if your company wants more generic content. But generic isn’t going to cut through the noise. Similarly, the length of your copy will affect the price, too. Some providers charge per project, others per word.

The When

How quickly and how often do you need copywriting and thought leadership content? Time-sensitive projects may incur additional costs to help you meet deadlines. And the more content you need, the more it will add up. A freelancer will struggle to produce tens of thousands of words in a short period of time but an agency can bring a whole team and a well-oiled production process to the challenge. You can, however, explore these helpful tips from the Articulate Marketing team on how to make every piece of content work harder for you.

The Where

Where are you posting, hosting or submitting the writing? The platform will impact the word count and, in turn, the price. A detailed report, an eBook or a long-form pillar page will set you back more than a 750-word blog post for your company website, for example. Similarly, copy for your home page might be short but it is very important and getting it right might take longer and cost more on a per-word basis than a more general piece.

The Why

Here’s where it gets interesting. You might know who you want to work with, what you want them to produce, when you need it and where it’s going. But do you know why you’re doing it? Have you considered who you want to read your thought-leadership content? And what you want them to do once they’ve read it?

From top-of-the-funnel content for brand awareness and lead generation to bottom-of-the-funnel content for conversions or customer retention, your copywriter needs to know what role your content plays in the context of your wider business.

In our opinion, the ‘why’ separates good writers from bad ones — and both kinds from the likes of ChatGPT. This is why we call our writers ‘marketing copywriters’ because they understand how to weave their work into broader marketing objectives.

So, what’s the ROI of copywriting and thought leadership?

Whether you choose to go external or in-house, there’s significant value in investing in the art of copywriting. Here’s why.

Demonstrate relevance and expertise

A study by Edelman and LinkedIn found that 73 percent of decision-makers say an organisation’s thought leadership content is more trustworthy for assessing its capabilities than its marketing materials.

The same study found that 80% of respondents want to see third-party data included in it, and 44% believe the highest-quality content helps them better understand a business's challenges and opportunities.

Decision-makers want to know why they should work with you. And your knowledge, experience, and expertise are your differentiators. The ROI? As many as 60 per cent of decision-makers say they’re willing to pay a premium to work with a business that produces good thought leadership.

Establish your brand and raise your profile

While thought-leadership and content marketing materials are busy showcasing your expertise, they’re also putting you on the map. Readers get to know your brand and tone of voice (TOV). Decision-makers may even share your content online, quote your research in their content, and reference your work conversationally.

The front of a buyer’s mind is a powerful place to be. Especially when we consider that 70 percent of C-suite executives said thought leadership content made them question their current B2B relationships — with 54 percent realizing other vendors might better understand their needs, according to a study by Edelman and LinkedIn.

Reach new audiences

A key part of establishing your brand with thought leadership is connecting with new audiences. Businesses often have a clear idea of who they want to work with and who wants to work with them. But growing your brand presence with thought leadership content means you’ll start to appear in new places online.

For example, when Basecamp founder Jason Fried tweeted about his company’s new ad, which called out Google’s paid ad strategy, he subsequently received over 1,000 backlinks to the company’s website. Depending on how you value backlinks, that could be worth up to $500,000 in SEO benefits.

This kind of thought-leadership content will help you rank for new search engine queries, generate more backlinks, appear in different social media feeds and so on. You might even find that your successful written content creates entirely new opportunities for you — podcast appearances, webinar invitations, the chance to speak at industry events and so on.

Build existing customer loyalty

Your written content doesn’t just serve the purpose of attracting new audiences. It’s a valuable tool for staying connected to your existing customers (and re-connecting with previous ones, too).

According to Accenture, 80 percent of businesses spend less than a third of their time and budget on customer-focused messaging. This presents a clear missed opportunity when considering loyal customers' ROI.

On average, a loyal customer is worth up to 10 times the value of their original purchase, according to the Office of Consumer Affairs. And, Bain and Co found that increasing customer retention by two percent has the same impact as reducing costs by 10 percent. Remember: the grass is greener where you water it!

Content is still king

Powerful, engaging, well-written thought leadership content has a functional role to play, too. Of course, establishing your brand, growing your audience, and giving your customers something to talk about are important. But high-quality written content is necessary to get discovered online. For example, brands that regularly update their blog get 67 percent more leads than those that don’t, according to Absurd Insights.

Similarly, search engines are starting to prioritise the quality of the content they promote to users, cracking down on misinformation, clickbait, spam, and AI-generated content. For example, Google looks for content showcasing experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. This is called E-E-A-T content and thought leadership is precisely the kind of writing that reflects these crucial areas.

Recent Google updates penalise companies that fill up their site with cheap AI-generated SEO content. This tactic is just empty calories and now it’s creating marketing heart attacks for companies that tried it. The need for high-quality EEAT content has never been higher.

The final word

The ROI of thought leadership is going to take a lot of work to prove. That’s because it’s about more than just numbers. It’s about value. An AI-generated blog post will save you time and probably be fairly accurate. It may even generate a small amount of traffic (before Google recognises it as AI and penalises you for it, that is). But well-written thought leadership is a conversation starter. It’s the kind of content people are still thinking about after they’ve logged off. It makes potential customers think — and start questioning whether they’re working with the right providers. It’s full of insight, personality, colour and expertise. You can’t put a price on that.

In this paper a line detection and segmentation technique is presented. The proposed technique is an improved version of an older one. The experiments have been performed on the training dataset of the ICDAR 2009 handwriting segmentation contest in order to be able to compare, objectively, the performance of the two techniques. The improvement between the older and newer version is more than 24% while the average extra CPU time cost is less than 200 ms per page.

One of the toughest things about trying to understand climate change – arguably the most important story of our time - is wrapping our minds around it. To even imagine something so enormous, so life-changing, we need a story. Some characters, a metaphor, and even some lessons learned. For that, we turn to the novelists and journalists telling the story of climate change – as we – and our children – live it.

Original Air Date: August 14, 2021

Guests:

Alice Bell — Lydia Millet — Lidia Yuknavitch — John Lanchester

Interviews In This Hour:

The Climate Change Stories We Need To Hear — The Climate Crisis Gets Biblical — Lidia Yuknavitch’s Dream World: How Dreams Shaped Her Dazzling Speculative Novel — A Climate Dystopia Of Cold, Concrete, Wind and a Wall

We take a look at the romantic tropes of modern love and how they’re changing. Do the old dreams of true love and happiness ever after fit our new lives and new identities?

Original Air Date: February 13, 2021

Guests: 

Logan Ury — Angelo Bautista — Jane Ward — Angela Chen — Bara Jichova Tyson

Interviews In This Hour: 

The New Coffee Date: COVID-19 Pushes The Dating World To Zoom — Are Straight People Okay? — Love Without Touch, Desire Without Sex — Learning To Believe In Monogamy 

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These SEO-friendly content writing tips can help security industry professionals enhance their online visibility, attract more visitors and outperform their competition.

Perhaps you've heard of us, perhaps not. Look at your smartphone, digital camera, smart TV, gaming console, or your saved images in the cloud. Guess what, you’ve already got an Arm-based device or are connected to one!

Get a buzz out of learning new technologies? Do you enjoy writing? Arm’s Information Developers and Technical writers work with exciting and results-oriented projects that really impact the technological world. The fresh ideas of undergraduates and people early in their careers can help shape these technologies. People at Arm are diverse, dedicated, and innovative. We'd like you to bring your passion and curiosity to our company, and share your ideas! In return, we'll provide training, coaching, and a challenging environment to start your career. You'll be exposed to technologies that will be the foundation for innovative products for years to come! At Arm, we encourage our undergraduates to strengthen their proficiencies while advancing their education. You can build a career as unique as you are, with your team mates and leaders right there supporting you, even when the world throws us curveballs. 

Arm Information Developers and Technical Writers create different types of technical content, including web content, specifications, tutorials, and multimedia. This content helps our customers and ecosystems to design and develop with Arm products and solutions.

Arm has a range of vacancies for enthusiastic undergraduates with ambitions in writing and technology. You will be part of a larger community of writers, who can guide, train, and give suggestions. We nurture our people, we provide one-to-ones, and a collaborative and friendly working environment. Our leaders are open to sharing their career experiences and also giving feedback for your development.

In a first-best world, we'd all save enough money and there'd be no scammers. In a second-best world, we'd all know how to protect ourselves.

That's what Sheila Bair thought, too. As former chair of the FDIC, she noticed many kids and adults weren't quite getting the education they needed. So, she decided to do something about it.

Today on the show: What Sheila Bair has learned about American capitalism as one of its top regulators and how she's trying — one book at a time — to help new generations from falling into its traps.

We learned about Sheila Bair's kids books from listener Erin Vetter. If you've come across anything that makes finance fun, email us! We're at indicator@npr.org.

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Mailbag: Children Edition
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For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

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A video created as part of the Transportation Research Board’s centennial celebration has been named the winner of three 2020 Telly Awards, which annually showcase the best work created within television and across all types of video production.

By the time you read this, most people’s New Year’s resolutions or goals will be a distant memory, and they’ll be back to doing the same things they said they weren’t going to do. 

Alan H. Rosenus is a distinguished expert in Western American writing

The former owner of a landscaping company, Coby Lin McGee has found more recent success as an author

Dan Rademacher has found success as a senior underwriter at Kind Lending.