Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 177
March 22, 2017
The Pros and Cons of Hiring a Ghostwriter
We all know how important content is today — it’s a way of promoting yourself and your company by providing relevant and interesting information to your target audience. Small businesses can especially benefit from content because it can help you develop your brand and make it preferable in the competitive market.
One of the first rules of promoting through content is that you have to be consistent. If you decide to write blogs that are a great source of information about the company, its products/services, general trends in your business field, know-hows, tips and tricks, etc., you have to produce them on a regular basis.
Not only will publishing blog posts regularly bring readers to your site, but it will also help you establish yourself as an expert in the field and someone competent enough to get the job done. Small businesses, start-ups and even freelancers always need to work on growing and strengthening their brands in order to be noticed.
Then again, regular blog posts are not worth much if they’re badly written. Blogs need to be engaging, interesting and well written overall.
What if writing is not your strongest skill or you just don’t have time to deal with it?
Writing blog posts, for example, once a week, sounds like an easy enough job, but it really isn’t. Generating relevant ideas for topics, conducting research, writing, proofreading and rewriting can take a lot of time that small business owners just can’t afford. Both you and your employees will be much more satisfied if you focus your efforts on running the company.
Sometimes, insufficient time isn’t even a problem. Being a business owner doesn’t require good writing skills. You may be an expert in your own field, but no one expects you to be able to write well about it.
If you really want to publish articles on your website, under your own name, but you know you’re not competent enough to do it, there is a simple solution — hire a ghostwriter.
What You Need to Know About Hiring a Ghostwriter
What are Ghostwriters?
Ghostwriters are people you hire to write text they won’t be credited for since the text will be published under the name of the person who hired them, in this case you. They work is present, but they are not credited making their contribution invisible, and that’s why they’re called ghostwriters.
Ghostwriters are hired to do the writing for everything — from blog posts and white papers to movie scripts, public speeches and even books. They basically trade their credit rights for profit and that’s usually good for both sides. You get high-quality text and the ghostwriter gets paid, but there is so much more to this relationship than just a basic trade of words for money.
Why Should You Hire a Ghostwriter?
I have already mentioned the main reasons for hiring a ghostwriter — not enough time to write your own stuff or no writing skills even though you have a lot of ideas and topics you want to cover. Let’s dig a little deeper into some of the pros of hiring someone to write instead of you.
Ghostwriters won’t take credit for the text they write for you, so you can start building your personal brand and your company’s brand by publishing quality text.
The ghostwriter will not only deliver the text to you on time, but he/she will also do it professionally. Like in any area of business, ghostwriters are trying to sell their services, or in this case their words, and make a profit, and they will do their best to meet their clients’ expectations.
No matter what field your company operates in, ghostwriters are masters of adjusting and they will do extensive research before even starting to write. Of course, if necessary, they will ask you for some insight or about certain terms used in the field.
Ghostwriters will hear you out and adopt your ideas about the text you hired them to write. They will send you a draft for the blog post (or any other text) and after reviewing it, you can ask the writer to change certain things. At the beginning, you will probably go through several drafts until you get the results you want. This will change over time if you continue working with the same writer, as they will get to know you and your requirements better.
Ghostwriters will never be critical of the subjects you want to cover!
Are There Any Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Ghostwriter?
Of course, with something like publishing text someone else wrote under your own name, there are some issues, mostly about the ethics of the whole thing. You will meet a lot of people who will consider the whole thing unethical, but usually not from the writer’s point of view.
As we said, ghostwriters are professionals selling their services for money, just like car mechanics, graphic designers and many others. They offer their services knowing they won’t be credited for the published text. You’re not doing anything they didn’t allow you to do. If you want to, you can mention them in the credits if they ask. It’s up to you. But this might no longer be considered ghostwriting.
On the other hand, you, as the person who hired a ghostwriter, have some things to think about before actually hiring one.
Even though ghostwriters are professionals who write for a living, they will never be able to express your original thoughts and express your voice through the texts they write for you.
As I said, ghostwriters do a lot of research in order to write relevant blogs. That is also the research you are not conducting. When reading through different articles, writers collect information important for the blog post or other article they are writing. If you, as an expert in the field, were reading through the same articles, the information you would gather would most certainly help you improve your skills and learn something you wouldn’t otherwise come across.
If you do choose to hire a ghostwriter, be sure not to run around telling everyone about it. A lot of people closely connect ghostwriting to plagiarism and find publishing someone else’s words as your own unethical. That is definitely not the impression you want to make when trying to be seen as an expert. Despite ghostwriting being a common thing in today’s world, it’s still not accepted as normal by everyone, so be careful.
Last but not least, people will not really see you as an expert if someone else is writing your words for you. Of course, there are a lot of people who are, for example, great with numbers but terrible at writing. They need someone to transform their thoughts into meaningful paragraphs. On the other hand, if time is an issue for you, you should reconsider your priorities and see where starting a blog stands and how important it is for you.
Is There Anything Else I Should Know Before Hiring a Ghostwriter?
There are some things that are considered secrets of the trade among ghostwriters that you should be aware of. They should not be strictly considered as cons, but simply something to prepare you for the worst.
Although ghostwriters will not be critical of the subject you are hiring them for, they should be able to express their feelings about it. A lot of ghostwriters will accept every topic you ask them to write about, but if a topic is controversial, they should feel comfortable to discuss some issues with you. Otherwise, you may get an article that is somewhat subjective and not what you imagined. If you create a professional relationship with certain ghostwriters, they will openly tell you if the topic is not something they are willing to write. This should be considered as a plus, because you want your article to be written professionally and without any judgment and subjectivity.
It’s not a secret that even ghostwriters hire someone to do the ghostwriting for them. This especially applies to ghostwriters that are already somewhat famous and known in their circles. They get a lot of offers and a fair number of them will not decline those offers but rather outsource the projects to someone else, so you never really know who wrote your article. This can be regulated with a contract specifically stating that a certain person will write for you.
Yes, a contract! You should always make a contract when hiring a ghostwriter, especially if you plan to hire one for the long-term or for a large-scale project. When entering into a contract, you should make sure you have the same rights as the writer.
Be sure to make it clear to the ghostwriter that your suggestions about edits should be final. Some writers will try to make you adopt their point of view, and even though they are professional writers, they may not be professionals in your field. This is your text that will be published under your name, on your company’s website, so even though you’re not the one actually writing it, make it your own.
Some ghostwriters may use text written for you as their reference. It’s normal that they would need some proof of their previous work, but they should discuss it with you before making it public. If you are not comfortable with them sharing the information that you are using ghostwriters, make it clear at the very beginning and put it in the contract. Another option ghostwriters have is sending some paragraphs to potential new clients. This might be acceptable for you if the writer signs a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with those potential clients.
Where Would I Find a Ghostwriter?
If, after reading this, you want to give ghostwriters a try, there are several options for you. There are platforms dedicated to this subject alone. Also, if you want to start small, so to speak, you can try hiring a freelancer through a platform like Upwork. This may be a cheaper solution, but be careful when picking your writer. You will probably want someone who has some experience. On the other hand, there are platforms that you can use to find professionals for different areas as well as ghostwriting.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Ghostwriter?
The price for ghostwriting services depends on many things. The first and most important factor is the length of the text. The price won’t be the same for a blog post with 800 words as for a white paper, or a book! Writers may start as low as $10 per article (but beware, the quality can be really bad when the fee is low!) and can go over $1000.
Another impact on pricing can be explained with the basic supply and demand rule. The more work a ghostwriter is doing and the busier he/she is, the higher price they will give you.
Some ghostwriters will charge you by the project, whereas those you are hiring more long-term may ask to be paid monthly. These are things you should discuss with a ghostwriter and put in a contract.
Whatever the price a ghostwriter gives you, you can always try to negotiate and find ways to save some money while still getting a professional service.
Source:
https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/03/hiring-a-ghostwriter.html
Fashion tech sector flourishes amid e-commerce lull
The e-commerce sector is witnessing a lull in the country, but the fashion tech segment continues to see an influx of investments. In Hyderabad, the sector is only set to grow, with the total investments expected to touch the $2 million mark this year.
Investors have now stopped backing traditional e-commerce players and are more interested in the core technology offered by these fashion tech startups, said industry experts. “Investors have lost interest in regular e-commerce websites and mobile apps. The focus is on integrating fashion and technology to provide customized and personalized solutions to the end users,” said Karthik Venkat, co-founder of My Dream Store, which lets users create and sell custom-designed products such as coffee mugs and T-shirts.
Komal Prajapati, founder and CEO of Fabulyst, an online retail store that provides customised fashion products to users, said that personalized shopping is in demand.
“Traditional e-commerce players failed to address one of the biggest gaps between shopping online and shopping at a physical retail store — the presence of a shopping assistant or a stylist to give recommendations. Startups are now tapping into the possibility of offering personalized recommendations in the fashion tech space,” she said.
According to Sanjay Enishetty, managing director of Hyderabad-based investor group 50K Ventures, the market acceptance of ‘personalized’ shopping experiences is growing.
“Many fashion e-commerce companies shut shop as it is very hard to rake in profits using the conventional model. This has made investors reluctant to fund them. But startups using technology to offer customized shopping solutions are drawing a lot of interest. While the sector earlier catered largely to women buyers, many startups are now focussing on shopping solutions exclusively for men,” he said.
Vinutha Ralapalli, an investment expert said, “The next boom in the fashion tech space will be the use of augmented and virtual reality. The key is to leverage technology to enrich the customer’s shopping experience.”
Source:
Intel wants to be a tech ‘enabler’ for the fashion industry
The line between technology and fashion is blurring. Brands and designers are now using electronics to make cutting-edge wearables and experiences, while companies like Amazon are trying to break into a space that hasn’t until now been very welcoming of outsiders. Intel is another tech company that’s set its sights on the fashion world, with various smart garments and accessories, including dresses, glasses and bracelets. In an interview at SXSW, Intel Vice President Sandra Lopez said her team’s mission is to be an enabler first and foremost rather than trying to become a fashion brand unto itself.
Lopez pointed to last year’s New York Fashion Week, when Intel teamed up with 13 designers to livestream a runway show in virtual reality — a medium that’s being embraced by many fashion houses. Another example, she said, is Tag Heuer’s Connected Modular 45 smartwatch, which Intel helped build with Google and the Swiss watchmaker. “Our strategy is focused on collaboration and empowering leaders in the fashion industry to push the boundaries of fashion with technology,” Lopez said. “We are constantly working to make our technology smaller, faster, more energy efficient and more capable than ever before to help our partners succeed.”
One of the challenges for brands is figuring out how to make the most out of technology, she said, especially in terms of the data they’re collecting through connected garments, other types of wearables and at their retail stores. “There is a real opportunity to help the fashion industry harness the power of data,” Lopez said. “How can you analyze what consumers are doing in store, online and through every interaction you have in real time to maximize sales and open up new revenue streams?” That’s something designers like Rebecca Minkoff are already trying to do with in-store features like smart mirrors, self-checkout and RFID tags that let the brand know more about customers’ buying habits.
“Personalization and customization is only beginning to be tapped into,” Lopez said about the potential of both industries working together on wearable products. “Technology has the ability to transform industries, and fashion is no different.”
Source:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/16/intel-fashion-wearables-interview/
Finery Aims to Succeed Where Other Virtual Closets Have Not
NEW YORK, United States — The virtual closet organizer space is littered with apps and websites that promised to revolutionize the way women shop and organize their own closets, only be to be stunted by tiresome methods of uploading items and their images. Platforms like Editeur and ClosetHQ have attempted to remedy the problem by taking a full-service, but expensive, approach while labor-intensive apps like ClosetSpace and Stylebook have failed to gain steam because the technology was clumsy, especially in relation to image editing.
“Is there no winner because it isn’t something that people want?” asks Whitney Casey, a former television anchor and author. “No…There’s no winner because there was no tech approach to it.” On March 23, Casey is launching a new platform named Finery that organizes, styles and manages a user’s existing wardrobe. It employs patent-pending software to harvest data that already exists online and bypass the manual labor required by its predecessors. She started working on the technology with a developer a year-and-a-half ago to fulfill a personal need for a simple program to help her maximize her closet and plan outfits. If it works, it has the potential to optimize the way women get dressed and shop.
[image error]
Frustrated by the response of predominately male venture capitalists after self-funding the initial stages of the company, Casey raised one seed round that closed four months ago from four female angel investors: model and actress Brooklyn Decker, who oversees Finery’s branding; Miroslava Duma, founder of culture website Buro 24/7; her partner, Nasiba Adilova; and one unnamed angel investor. Casey declined to disclose the amount raised or the current number of beta users, but says the base is statistically relevant. “You really only need ten thousand users to make really amazing assumptions with data,” she says.
Finery differentiates itself from other competitors in the space by relying on a proprietary email parser that searches user inboxes for purchase order confirmations and transforms that data into a visual catalogue of items (much like an e-commerce shopping feed) that can be organised into looks. Casey describes it as TripIt meets Mint and Slice — meets Polyvore. “It runs in the background,” says Casey. “It’s so much smarter than what’s out there now.” Finery counts Leandra Medineand Lauren Santo Domingo as beta users.
“We found the pain point to be 20 percent: if we couldn’t get 20 percent into a person’s closet, they weren’t going to use our product,” says Casey. “That’s when we realised we had to go back 10 years into their purchase history.” The older the order confirmation, the less comprehensive the data. But Casey says the receipt parser is 100 percent accurate on product data and 85 percent accurate on picture matching, and Finery imports extra images in order to try to account for the margin of error.
Purchases made in store can be added after the fact through a one-click browser extension that works on 550 e-tailors, including Shopbop and Net-a-Porter. Finery also sends users return reminders on recent purchases and requests price adjustments from retailers on behalf of users if another seller is offering an item at a lower price— hence it requires a rather comprehensive email access approval request. Casey argues it is still less invasive than Mint, a personal finance management service that requires access to user bank accounts.
It’s not a perfect product. For instance, if a user has a habit of deleting receipts or shopping second-hand, the uploading process quickly veers towards being more trouble than it is worth. Casey insists, however, that there is an “elegant workaround to all of these things.” Users can link their individual retailer accounts to Finery or upload their own photos to an image recognition software that can tag basic details, like material or heel height.
Source:
Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott Team for Navy SEAL Movie ‘War Party’
In another sign of Netflix’s flexing of its film fortitude, the digital giant has made a seven-figure deal for a film pitch.
Netflix has picked up War Party, an adventure project that has Tom Hardy attached to star and Andrew Dominik, the helmer behind Brad Pitt’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, to direct.
Dominik will co-write the project with Harrison Query. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Films, which is working with Hardy on his FX period drama Taboo, will produce.
War Party details are being kept in a suppressor, but it is described as a being based on true events and centers on real-life Navy SEALs. Life rights was part of the deal.
Bidding was competitive for the project, with Netflix outflanking Amazon, Universal and Lionsgate, among others, according to sources.
Query is an up-and-coming writer who last fall sold a pitch centering on a true-life exorcism set on a military base to Lionsgate. And he wrote 1970s true-story crime thriller Honor for Sale, with John Hillcoat attached to direct, for Cross Creek. He is repped by UTA and Ground Control.
CAA-repped Dominik made his debut with the gritty prison drama Chopper and followed that up with the lyrical Assassination of Jesse James. He reteamed with Pitt for the crime movie Killing Them Softly and most recently made the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds documentary One More Time With Feeling.
Hardy will next appear on the big screen in Dunkirk, the war drama that reunited him with filmmaker Christopher Nolan. It is set to open in July. The actor is repped by CAA, United Agents in the U.K. and Sloane Offer.
Source:
March 21, 2017
Gifted – Official Featurette
Gifted is an upcoming 2017 American drama film directed by Marc Webb and stars Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. The film is scheduled to be released in select theaters on April 7, 2017, by Fox Searchlight Pictures, followed by a general release on April 21.
‘Alexa, order beer:’ Amazon adds Prime Now two-hour delivery voice ordering to digital assistant
Amazon has added Prime Now rapid delivery voice ordering to its Alexa-powered family of devices.
That means owners of any Alexa device — whether it is Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Amazon Tap, Fire Tablet, or Fire TV — simply have to say, “Alexa, order (product) from Prime Now.” Alexa will respond with an exact product that matches the general ask. Orders can feature multiple items, and Alexa can recommend complementary items based on what is already in the order.
Prime Now products are available for free, two-hour delivery, and Alexa is in charge of picking the closest available delivery window.
Voice-activated rapid delivery is now available for Amazon Prime customers in more than 30 cities. In three cities — Seattle, Columbus and Cincinnati — Alexa-based Prime Now orders can include beer, wine and spirits as well.
Amazon points to a variety of scenarios where it thinks people will see the value voice-activated Prime Now ordering. Sick people who can’t make it to the store and need some cold medicine, parents who have their hands full with a baby and a host of a game night who doesn’t want to leave the party are all examples of potential users of the new feature, according to Amazon.
“We’re excited to offer the full Prime Now catalogue with Alexa, including tens of thousands of items, which allows you to refill everyday essentials you’ve just run out of like diapers or dish soap, or cater to unexpected guests with merlot and ice cream, all without ever leaving your house or even getting up from the couch,” Assaf Ronen, vice president of voice shopping, said in a statement.
There are a few limitations, however. Users can’t complete in order through Alexa that they began on the Prime Now app. And, Alexa can’t track delivery progress for you. Customers also can’t place an order that includes both Prime Now items, and regular Amazon items.
Amazon has an early lead in the voice assistant market, thanks to Alexa and her more than 10,000 skills. Amazon has been adding Alexa to more of its own devices, and the company is now going after the smartphone market. Last week, Amazon announced plans to bring Alexa to iPhones and eventually Android devices.
Analysts believe that Alexa’s skills will pay off for Amazon. A recent analysts from RBC Capital Markets estimated that sales of Alexa devices could hit $5 billion by 2020, with another $5 billion in annual revenue predicted to come from shopping done via the voice assistant.
Despite those skills, Alexa still has much to learn. Amazon senior principal scientist Nikko Strom spoke at the AI NEXT tech conference in Bellevue, Wash., last weekend, where he said the next step for the digital assistant is comprehending emotion and intonation so that it can understand what people mean, not just what they say.
Source:
How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30
Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy.
It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.
Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.
1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.
2. Don’t show off — show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.
3. Save to invest, don’t save to save. The only reason to save money is to invest it. Put your saved money into secured, sacred (untouchable) accounts. Never use these accounts for anything, not even an emergency. This will force you to continue to follow step one (increase income). To this day, at least twice a year, I am broke because I always invest my surpluses into ventures I cannot access.
4. Avoid debt that doesn’t pay you. Make it a rule that you never use debt that won’t make you money. I borrowed money for a car only because I knew it could increase my income. Rich people use debt to leverage investments and grow cash flows. Poor people use debt to buy things that make rich people richer.
5. Treat money like a jealous lover. Millions wish for financial freedom, but only those that make it a priority have millions. To get rich and stay rich you will have to make it a priority. Money is like a jealous lover. Ignore it and it will ignore you, or worse, it will leave you for someone who makes it a priority.
6. Money doesn’t sleep. Money doesn’t know about clocks, schedules or holidays, and you shouldn’t either. Money loves people that have a great work ethic. When I was 26 years old, I was in retail and the store I worked at closed at 7 p.m. Most times you could find me there at 11 p.m. making an extra sale. Never try to be the smartest or luckiest person — just make sure you outwork everyone.
7. Poor makes no sense. I have been poor, and it sucks. I have had just enough and that sucks almost as bad. Eliminate any and all ideas that being poor is somehow OK. Bill Gates has said, “If you’re born poor, it’s not your mistake. But if you die poor, it is your mistake.”
8. Get a millionaire mentor. Most of us were brought up middle class or poor and then hold ourselves to the limits and ideas of that group. I have been studying millionaires to duplicate what they did. Get your own personal millionaire mentor and study them. Most rich people are extremely generous with their knowledge and their resources.
9. Get your money to do the heavy lifting. Investing is the Holy Grail in becoming a millionaire and you should make more money off your investments than your work. If you don’t have surplus money you won’t make investments. The second company I started required a $50,000 investment. That company has paid me back that $50,000 every month for the last 10 years. My third investment was in real estate, where I started with $350,000, a large part of my net worth at the time. I still own that property today and it continues to provide me with income. Investing is the only reason to do the other steps, and your money must work for you and do your heavy lifting.
10. Shoot for $10 million, not $1 million. The single biggest financial mistake I’ve made was not thinking big enough. I encourage you to go for more than a million. There is no shortage of money on this planet, only a shortage of people thinking big enough.
Apply these 10 steps and they will make you rich. Steer clear of people that suggest your financial dreams are born of greed. Avoid get-rich-quick schemes, be ethical, never give up, and once you make it, be willing to help others get there too.
Source:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234454
Top 5 Apps for Traders
Consumers are increasingly shifting towards mobile platforms as new tools can help investors gain insight, hone their skills without risking a dime and ultimately trade their portfolio. Below are the top five apps that gained popularity and positive reviews among users in 2016.
Robinhood
Robinhood allows investors to trade stocks with no commission fee. While more experienced traders may be skeptical about the simplicity of the app and the newbies it attracts, there is no denying that it is a game changer. Launched in 2014, Robinhood’s target audience is the younger generation of traders with an average age of 26 years old, 25% of whom are first-time investors.
In 2015, Robinhood became the first financial app of any kind to win an Apple Design Award, thanks to its quick sign-up process and easy-to-use interface. The app uses geolocation to suggest relevant stocks. It provides an innovative crowd-sourced, social approach that shares insight and trends from other Robinhood users, looking to build a following. Latest updated versions of the app both for iOS and Android were uploaded in October 2016 and so far have been receiving positive reviews from the users.
In September 2016, the company announced the launch of Robinhood Gold – an advanced version of the platform with a set of premium features, such as extended trading hours, a line of credit and a faster option for making deposits and withdrawals. Access to Robinhood Gold will cost the users a flat fee of ten dollars a month.
TD Ameritrade Mobile
TD Ameritrade Mobile is offering customers several applications for monitoring the market and making trades. TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader enables the trading of equities, options, futures and forex. Traders can keep the track of the news through integrated live streams from several CNBC regional channels and a financial news service. With access to comprehensive research materials, traders of any level benefit from TD Ameritrade’s expertise. Users of this app can chat with other traders and learn about the upcoming events through the interactive market calendar.
TD Ameritrade Mobile app, the second tool offered by the mobile division of the company, is mostly focused on analysis of trends and keeping track of the trader’s positions and orders. It provides an opportunity to transfer cash and deposit checks by taking the pictures of them with the phone camera. Moreover, users can find out market information about the companies by simply scanning the bar code of the consumer products in the store. The iOS version of the application is rated higher by mobile store users than the version for Android devices.
E*Trade Mobile
E*Trade Mobile’s easy-to-use interface helps users locate stocks quickly through a voice search function. Similar to TD Ameritrade applications, E*Trade Mobile provides an opportunity to trade a variety of securities: stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and options. With real-time quotes and news from Morningstar, MarketWatch, Briefing.com, and various wires, along with CNBC Video on Demand, users have access to a wealth of information. Users can select information that is displayed on the customizable dashboard and have access to educational tools and comparison charts. E*trade Mobile’s application is available on mobile phones with both operating systems and can be connected to Apple Watch.
StockTouch
StockTouch is an informational resource that allows users to monitor the stock market in real time with an intuitive visualization of the market data. Stocks are sortable alphabetically, by size, by market capitalization, by percentage gains and by volume. Users can zoom in to obtain the detailed information about a particular stock and its historical performance, or touch anywhere on the screen to gain more insight into market trends on companies and sectors. Color-coded heat maps help users track the market’s ups and downs. The app was shut down for several months earlier this year without an official reason, but became available in the App Store again at the end of September 2016. The tool is only available for the users of Apple devices.
TradeHero
TradeHero is a learning app that allows investors to practice trading in a safe environment. Based on the real world data, the app is perfect for users looking to hone their skills or test new strategies without financial risk on simulated stock exchanges from around the world.
Users receive $100,000 to build their fantasy portfolios and compete against each other. The winners have a chance to be listed on the leaderboard as a hero and receive a real cash prize. Participants receive alerts about the performance of their favorite stocks and can get access to the video tutorials and the tips from experienced users.
The most recent updates for the app were launched in October 2016 with predominantly positive reviews from users. Currently the iOS and Android versions of the app slightly differ by functionality, however the company promised to add the missing features in the next versions.
Source:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/111315/top-5-apps-stock-traders.asp
Finding Your Niche: On Genre Fiction and Indie Authors
Let’s talk genre. Whether you’re a thriller writer, a natural when it comes to love and romance, or like to spend your time exploring undiscovered galaxies, your genre can be your best friend. Some genres are hot right now and some not so hot, so let’s take a look at those that are really on fire and figure out why — and what this could mean for you.
First of all, what is a fiction genre anyway? It is a category, a sub-set of the form of literary composition known as fiction — literature created from the imagination, even though it may be based on fact. Traditional publishers often distinguish between literary fiction (usually more character driven) and commercial fiction (usually more plot driven). Of course, there are overlaps between these classifications, but, for the most part, genre fiction falls into the commercial category.
These days, especially in the e-book world of digital publishing, genre fiction is huge. Right now, the leading genre categories for self-published titles are: romance, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery/thriller/suspense, in that order. There is some controversy about how e-book sales are actually measured and it is difficult to come up with precise sales figures in each category, but Los Angeles-based science-fiction author Edward W. Robertson has studied the data from the Author Earnings Report, and, using a different methodology, twice come to the same conclusion, namely that “these four genres continue to comprise 70 percent of Amazon’s e-book sales, and roughly half of those sales are of self-published books.” That adds up to a lot of people reading self-published genre fiction in the e-book format.
As an author, it took Robertson a few years to “get his sea legs,” he says, and at the beginning sales were slow. Now, though, he has sold over 160,000 copies of his books and his sales are getting better every year. His advice to new authors: create a series and build on each book; commission a dynamite, genre-appropriate cover; and experiment with pricing until you find what works best for you.
When we asked Hugh Howey, bestselling sci-fi author of the Wool Series, how he found his niche, he said he thinks he was just lucky. “As a kid I always felt like an outsider in my literary taste,” he says. “I thought science fiction was a narrow genre, but when I started to write I just followed my passion and it worked out better than I could have ever imagined. My goal was to write lots of books and sell 5,000 copies over my lifetime. My dad encouraged me to go for it, so go for it I did. And look what happened.”
Howey’s books have sold millions of copies. He’s considered a marketing genius, and yet remains humble about his success. “I was in the right place at the right time,” he says. “In 2009, when I published my first book, it was the beginning of the gold rush in self-publishing and the timing couldn’t have been better. But people are still having this kind of success today. Authors like A.G. Riddle are selling like crazy, and refining their marketing skills every day.” Howey’s advice to new authors: “Make a plan. Think long term. Decide to write 10 books instead of just one and then start writing — everyday. That’s what worked for me.”
And then there are all those hugely successful romance writers, such as Laurelin Paige with her Fixed Trilogy and Amanda Hocking with her paranormal romances, just for starters.
Obviously not all indie writers enjoy this kind of success. In fact some studies suggest that the majority of self-published books sell modestly. But here’s what’s so exciting. These days, if an author’s sales are sluggish to begin with, there is a lot she can do about it. Today, as never before in the history of the book publishing business, an author can find her niche — figure out who her readers are and connect with them. I remember once, years ago, at the weekly editorial meeting at the publishing house where I was working, suggesting that we slip a postage paid, self-addressed post card into the front of a couple of upcoming books on our list to find out who the buyer was and why they bought this book. Don’t be ridiculous was the response. We just don’t do that.
Well, now, we don’t have to. It is done for us, especially when it comes to tracking the sale of books sold online. It is a new day for authors, and no matter what your genre, or your subject matter, you can find your readers, connect with them, listen to them, learn from them, and enjoy sales you probably never dreamed were possible.
Source:
