  Noticing Newbies
This week: Membership Types: Premium, Upgraded, etc Edited by: esprit  
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Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com
We hope all members of the site will take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends! |
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Membership Types: Premium, Upgraded, etc.
These questions and answers were found on "Technical Support Forum" and "Non-Technical Support Forum"
I could have written a full letter on the value of a premium membership, but I thought it best to let others do it. You see, I am biased. I've been fortunate to have been able to continue my premium since the day I first bought it six years ago. This year though, I couldn't purchase the full year so took the six month option. I will keep it and I will add to the length as I can. For me, the value is in the entire package with space being number one. I use the generous note pad to store many things I use infrequently, but need to get to quickly when I do, and the recycle bin is priceless.
I love the portfolio costumicons, I'm so glad all the useful stuff comes with it. 
Premium Membership - Is it Worth It?
 My upgraded membership expires in a few days. I have read the various things each membership has. Can anyone tell me the advantages to them, personally, of having a premium membership? What are you doing in practical use where the premium is a useful tool, other than the expanded space?
The most practical tool from the premium membership is the recycle bin!
I know, I know, it's the not the fanciest, or the prettiest tool in the tool shed but it's been there for me when I've needed it! I've often deleted an item that months later I need. I can go to recycle bin and restore it to my port as long as I haven't purged it. Once you've purged the bin, they're gone.
The other things I like about premium are the web pages. I published a book and have a link back from the publisher to my web page. Other things to think about are the submission tracking feature, extra book items to create and more group items.
The extra size allows me to create more Cnotes for GP income, create more groups for contests and interests and okay...I admit....being able to have some fun animated images on my pages is a plus that I personally enjoy.
I appreciate the larger email space. I get a lot of writing newsletters plus all the ones from Writing.com. If I don't check in for a few days, it's nice to know I'm not bouncing important mail back to senders.
The "Double Column" layout is very helpful - it keeps your "My Favorites" in a column on the right hand side of each page. (You do have to have a screen resolution of 1024x768 or bigger to make this really worth while.) And you have the "always on" costumicon, so you can wear the icon all the time.
You can head to your "My Account" -> "Change Preferences" and see the added preferences for Premium... The "Quick Functions" setting for email and forums really makes surfing Writing.Com much faster.
I really love the full screen edits feature. Being able to open an item, without opening it, to make a simple change is wonderful. I had an ASA for a while, just upgraded, and it drove me nuts having to hit edit every time I wanted to make a change to an item
Also, I love the direct link to my port, without having to type the www.writing.com/ part. That has been so nice to add to my submission contact information. Now, I just need to get my web page finished...so I can link that too.
I really find Revision Control System (RCS) helpful. With that, you can see how your item looked prior to edits and can change it back to how it was quickly and easily.
Trial Premium Membership
I signed up for the the trial Premium membership, but I have not noticed any difference from my previous upgraded account. I understand not all services are available in the trial, but I have not noticed any difference. Is this correct? Or am I missing something? I wanted to get a feel for the premium account, and so far I have not.
The biggest difference you will probably notice on the trial membership is in the Surfing Writing.Com section and the full time costumicons. The other differences in the memberships are primarily with the number and type of items you can create, which won't be demonstrated with the free trial. Click on this link for a detailed description of the benefits "Compare Free and Paid Membership Benefits"
You'll find additional features to turn on by going to your "My Account" -> "Change Preferences" section... look for the settings available to those with Premium Membership...
Subject: Upgrading Membership
I just got a Basic Membership, but want to upgrade to the Upgraded Membership so I can post a classified. I was hoping to just pay the difference between basic and upgraded, but it doesn't allow me to do that when I check out. Can you please help with this?
Ok, lets say I purchase an Upgraded account for a year and after a couple months, I find I would prefer the Premium account. Can I buy the Premium now, or would I have to wait for the years end? And if it is possible, do I merely pay the price difference? Also is my payment going to be auto deducted at each renewal?
You can purchase another membership at any time. http://www.writing.com/main/faq.php#higher_membership explains the process of being refunded when you move up to a higher level of membership before your current level expires. You can't just pay the difference; you have to pay the full amount and then be refunded. To answer your last question, you have to manually renew each time; there's no "auto-renewal" feature.
When Your Paid Membership Expires...
A question about losing upgrades re: Books.
If I happened to not pay my upgrade in time, and say I'm working on a book, would I lose my book? Or would I be denied access to it? I would only keep up to ten items, right? So that means, even if my book happened to be in the tenth created item range, would it be banned from me because I don't have the required upgrade anymore? This question is for future notice, if I need to know it, just in case I do lose my membership.
Yes, you would lose your book. You are allowed to keep only the items currently allowed in the free membership packet. Books are not allowed in free memberships. You'll have two weeks of grace period after your upgrade expires to renew the upgrade.
A question about losing upgrades re: regaining lost items.
A while ago I allowed my paid membership to expire. Since then I have retained a basic free membership. A lot of what I wrote is lost now. I was wondering if I purchase an upgraded membership if the poems and stuff that I lost will be regained?
You are given a two week grace period to renew from the date your upgrade expires. If the time lapse has exceeded that, Lost items cannot be regained. After two weeks, your items will be permanently deleted.
Be aware that this grace period is extra time to renew the membership, not to retrieve and save the items. Remove the items before the expiration date. You will be sent alert notices a few weeks before the expiration date. Pay attention to them. Your items will be locked at the time it says on your notices, you will not be able to save them unless the upgrade is renewed, or delete them until two weeks have passed.
Delete the individual items from folders, and then delete the 'empty' folder.
It is always a good idea to keep a copy of your existing work in your computer and/or on CD's, whether your upgrade expires or not. Don't forget, folders are counted as items, and don't forget to empty (purge) the trash (recycle) bin. If you don't purge the trash the items are still there and you won't be able to add new items. Do these housecleaning chores before the time of expiration so you can keep what you choose.
For info on what happens when your upgrade expires, see "When Your Paid Membership Expires..." }
Enjoy the site and enjoy your upgradedness. You'll love it!
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Remember to read your neighbor's work too!
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
Submitted By: sarahreed
Submitted Comment: For stylebooks such as Strunk and White ever become obsolete? I mean, I have a 4th edition of Strunk and White printed back in 2000. Is it out-of-date? I guess I'm trying to get a handle on how often the rules change, or will this 9-year old book still help me.
As for your newsletter, thanks for going into detail about the difference between basic writing skills and genre-specific skills. It also helps me in recognizing reviewers that may be trying to change my genre-style rather than helping me fix my basic writing style. There have been a few times that reviewers have suggested re-writes that completely change what the meaning or style of what I wrote. On the other hand, now I will be more aware of how I review and make sure I don't re-write another person's writing into a different genre/style. Thanks!
As long as you stay aware of common changes the publisher's accept, you'll do fine. There are several good grammar/style books. Chicago Manual of Style. Thanks for reading our Newsletter and commenting, it's truly appreciated.
Submitted By: sydneybird
Submitted Comment: Gives a sense of balance to the subject of writing.Good advice
Thank you for reading.
Submitted By: Crawling Dragon
Submitted Comment: The wise have spoken! Seriously though, these newsletters reinforce my way of writing and reading.
Thank you! The Editors appreciate their readers.
Submitted By: northernwrites
Submitted Comment: Good points, esprit!
One nice thing about how-to-write books these days is that we are not limited to a single, one-size-fits-all offering. There are so many of them available that you can browse the library shelf until you find someone whose teaching style works for your learning style. You can even find books written by publishing industry insiders who share the lessons they've learned from seeing hundreds of books get published (and thousands more get rejected).
Thanks for highlighting the Library!
Northernwrites
Well said, Northernwrites!
Submitted By: Gen
Submitted Comment: Your literary wisdom has grown quite a bit since I first started reading your Newsletters years ago. This particular one is most assuredly in your top five. Everyone here at this site should sit up and take notice of it. Your words show common sense, as well as solutions, to major creative writing obstacles that all of us experience at one time, or another. And yes, in any type of genre, also. Well done, dear Author!
Thank you so much for the inspiration and advise.
Thanks, Gen. I'm glad you're still reading it.
We always appreciate the feedback, thanks!
Editors:
Cubby 
laurencia
Your host this week is esprit
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Noticing Newbies: May 06, 2009 Issue [#3029]
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