Noticing Newbies 1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! You come across this site, by accident, or perhaps following a link from some entrenched Writing.com'mer. Soon you are drawn into the supportive community who all share a common dream and passion - writing. After that initial excitement of finding Writing.com there comes the need to make the most of the many opportunities afforded. This newsletter is to welcome you, our 'Newbies' and to help make you experience here an exciting, friendly and rewarding time. In this newsletter we will showcase some of our talented Newbies as well as providing handy tips and advice. We welcome you to submit questions, ask for help or say hello. We are here to help. Many non-newbies read this newsletter to. A warm welcome to them and a huge thank you for helping to make our new members feel welcome and supported. Your host this week is: Puditat Passionate about writing? Take your passion to new heights - with an online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, available only from top ranked National University. Choose workshops based on your interests. Work with experienced and published faculty. Prepare for a variety of career opportunities. Use a state-of-the art online system: Study where and when you want. Click here to get more information! I have Gift Points! Now what do I do with them? Last month my editorial covered some of the many ways that you can obtain gift points, the currency we use here at Writing.com. But now I come to a much more important issue - what you can do with these wonderful things, affectionately called "GP's". There are so many ways you can use these little virtual coins, but first, let's tackle the 'Why?' Writing.com is a community - a group of people brought together by their common interest and love of writing and reading. Like any community, relationships/friendships are developed, fostered and blossomed. As in the big wide world, we like to reward members of our community who are doing well, we like to commiserate with members' lows and help celebrate their highs. Just as you may send a greeting card to a friend across town, you can do the same here at Writing.com. So, it's basically all about building community - helping to be a productive and friendly neighbour, while fostering that which were are ultimately all here for - improvement in our writing (if you are a writer) and some great reads (if you are a reader). Now, onto the wonderful ways to spread around a little of the cheer that GP's offer: Benefitting the Community Sponsoring an item Donating GP's to a contest Donating to one of the groups which provide upgrades Donating to one of the other Charity groups Surprising someone whose upgrade is expiring with a renewal Gifting a costumicon Send a C-note Bid in a fundraising auction Gift them to an author whose writing you enjoyed Purchase a merit badge or awardicon to gift to a member Host a contest Sponsor a game on Scroll Send them as a thank you to someone who reviewed one of your items Send them as a "well done" gift to an author whose work you enjoyed reading Personal Uses (these benefit the community at large too ) Purchase an upgraded membership Buy a signature Purchase an emoticon subscription Pay the entry fee to a competition Buy Writing.com branded products Place auto-rewards on your pieces to 'buy' reviews There are probably many things that I have forgotten from my list. If you can think of any others, send them to me via the Feedback form and I will include them in my next issue. Thanks for reading. Puditat
And a couple of places where you can spend some GP's (really there is heaps out there, just go browsing! )
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! %%NL_AD_BOT%% As a newbie, when you're trying to earn a lot of GPs, sometimes the tendency is not to review things that don't auto-reward. Maybe you could write about reviewing things as a karmic exercise: the more you review, the more likely you'll be reviewed, instead of plugging auto-rewarding things so much. I understand that the point was teaching newbies how to earn more GPs, but just wanted to mention this. Also I notice in this newsletter, the titles of the items are less intriguing to me than many titles other newsletters feature. Maybe you could write about how to title things more interestingly to get more people to read them. quarksoup Thank you for your interesting point about only reviewing auto-reward items. There are some who will only review such pieces but I hope these are the minority. There are so many wonderful works to read that people restricting themselves to auto-R items are short-changing themselves. A community must operate with some trust as well as the rules, guidelines and common courtesy. I hope that all appreciate the wonderful facilities offered by our wonderful The StoryMaster and The StoryMistress , and not misuse them. At the end of the day, if people only choose to review auto-reward items, it is their choice, and there is no problem so long as the reviews are quality ones and not drivel to make up the 250 characters. Your second suggestion on titles I will use for my issue next month. I appreciate the input! Again, a huge thanks for the ideas! ~~~~ This newsletter was great. I've gotten a lot of questions about GP's from newbies. You covered how to get them in this issue... but what about how to give them? I'd like to see an issue which lets people know how much fun it is to give these points away, and the many ways to do that (charity groups, c-notes, donate to contests, give awardicons, etc). Thanks megsie2584 hehehe - I believe this issue should resolve your desires. How did you know what I was planning? ~~~~ Any queries, problems, praise or advice? Send it to one of Editors via the feedback form on this newsletter or direct to their email by clicking the wee envelope after their handle. Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |