Author: Nitin Agarwal

An Interview with BRIAN KONRADT, author of Freelance Poker Writing:
How to Make Money Writing for the Gaming Industry

BRIAN: Freelance Poker Writing is the first book showing freelance writers how to make money writing for the gaming industry.

Q: Tell us about your book.

Q: So it’s not just writing about poker?

BRIAN: No, it’s writing for the gaming industry in general. This includes all types of casino-style games. Because it is the most popular game and writers make more money covering poker and the influences of poker, I focus more on poker in my book.

Q: Tell us about your writing career.

I’ve written for many publications and companies in several industries. I’ve been reporting on new trends in freelance writing since 1998. I don’t do much freelance writing for clients anymore because in the last ten years I have branched out into other areas.

Q: How did you come up with the idea for your book?

BRIAN: I became addicted to Texas Hold ’em when The Travel Channel began airing poker tournaments on TV. I then started playing poker for fun and became even more addicted. My poker addiction led me to research more about poker and the gaming industry.

Q: What was the writing process like?

BRIAN: It took me close to seven months to complete my book. I spent a lot of time researching the industry and interviewing writers and poker players. I wrote this book in my free time because I run my own business during the day.

Q: What obstacles did you face when writing your book?

I love graphic design as much as I love writing. I learned a long time ago if you offer both services to corporate clients– writing and graphic design– you can make a lot more money. The skills I had developed from my freelance career made writing and designing my book a lot easier.

Q: Who designed your book cover and website at FreelancePokerWriting.com?

BRIAN: Getting some of the information and facts correct was difficult, especially writing about the gaming laws. Interpretations of some of the gaming laws conflict with one another and don’t make sense entirely, depending on who is interpreting the law.

Q: Can you make a living writing for poker magazines?

Established freelance poker writers earn between.35 and.65 cents per word. Unless you are a writer with many clips and lots of experience, it is very competitive writing strictly for poker magazines. Poker trade magazines, on the other hand, do pay more and are less competitive, but this requires you to know the business sides of gaming.

Many writers look outside the scope of poker magazines to other magazines that cover topics related to poker and gaming; these include magazines on women’s issues, men’s issues, lifestyle, sports, betting, gaming, technology, travel, entertainment, law and so on. Many writers do make a living writing for these magazines. Pay rates are much higher, up to $1 per word and sometimes more.

Q: What other writing gigs exist for poker and gaming writers?

BRIAN: Tournament coverage, such as WSOP and WPT; SEO writing (writing search engine optimization copy) for affiliates and businesses; copywriting (writing for casinos, ad agencies, and gaming companies); ghostwriting books and ebooks; and, of course, magazine writing (which includes writing for newspapers, special publications, websites, and blogs).

Q: Which pays the most?

Many writers find that SEO writing pays well. Many SEO writing gigs are not for me because I write slowly and I prefer writing articles that entertain and educate readers.

Freelance copywriting in the gaming industry pays well. The average hourly rate is between $25 and $45 per hour with three or more years of related experience. Many freelance copywriters secure copywriting gigs from ad agencies in this industry.

Covering a big tournament can make you plenty of money because you can generate many articles and news pieces with exclusive content and interviews. You can almost guarantee yourself you’ll walk away with more writing gigs.

The most popular writing gig, I would have to say, is freelance writing for poker-related publications, both offline and online. Poker and gaming cover so many topics, and many writers sell their articles to a variety of media outlets.

Q: How do writers break into this industry?

Some writers start their own blogs. Other writers pitch an article idea to an editor. You can’t fake it till you make it in this industry.

Q: What is the most effective marketing strategy to publicize your writing services?

BRIAN: Online and offline social networking is the least costly and produces the best results to build a loyal readership and to build relationships with prospective clients. Online and offline social networking includes blogging; networking and schmoozing at poker events and tournaments; participating in discussion forums at poker websites and writing-related websites; joining a writer’s association to network with other members; creating a personality profile at MySpace.com; posting informative articles at AssociatedContent.com to generate free publicity for your services; and so on. There are so many variations of social networking these days, I can’t list everything.

Q: What makes your book unique or what adds value?

BRIAN: That’s easy– the entire premise of the book is unique. I feel what adds value is the interviews with freelance writers and poker players. All of the writers and poker players I interviewed were eager to share their experiences so they could help other writers to succeed.

Q: What’s next for you?

Thank you for your time.

BRIAN: I am currently under contract to ghostwrite two books, one on small business funding, and the other on Internet marketing strategies. This should keep me extra busy for a while.

Unless you are a writer with many clips and lots of experience, it is very competitive writing strictly for poker magazines. Many writers do make a living writing for these magazines. Many writers find that SEO writing pays well. A client will ask a writer to write 20 articles at 300 words each on a topic (using certain keywords) for $10 per article. Many SEO writing gigs are not for me because I write slowly and I prefer writing articles that entertain and educate readers.

www.Battle24-7.com co-founder Francesco Albamonte states “If people are good they can make money. It’s as simple as that. As long as they have a venue to play from their only limitation is their skill.”

China already recognize gaming as a sport with 50 million serious video gamers in China alone and to coincide with the Olympics, GGL Global Gaming are holding the ‘Digital Games’ and are expecting more visitors and entrants than the Olympics themselves.

For all those unable to attend the ‘Digital Games’ this year, websites such as www.Battle24-7.com should keep your skills polished and hopefully line your pockets ready for the next one in London in 2012.

The gaming industry is bigger than ever and as such so are the opportunities to make a living from gaming. In Korea, gaming competitions are beginning to take on some of the stature of major league sports and as the West follows suit, the chance for players to earn a wage from their console becomes evermore a reality.

Skill based gaming online has, until now, mostly been limited to casual games and traditional board games but as technology improves and console gamers demand more venues for their style of gaming, ever increasing avenues are opening up. With some console tournaments giving prizes in the thousands, it might be time to rethink your stance on video games.

” This really shows how far competitive gaming has come,” states Albamonte “and with the exposure the Olympics are going to get it’s inevitable that some of that focus will be on competitive gaming.”

Most of them started game testing right out of high school, and they did so just by getting out there and taking it one step at a time. If you ‘d like to get started in video gaming testing, read and follow the simple steps below.

Think paid video game testing is a myth? Believe it or not, video game testers get paid extremely well to test the newest and most technologically advanced games.

Step One: Know That Being a Video Game Tester is A Career, Not A Hobby

If you want to be a professional video game tester, you have to realize that it isn’t a weekend hobby that you can do whenever your in the mood. If you conduct yourself professionally and treat video game testing like an actual job instead of just a fantasy where you get to do what you please, you will be much more successful with your game testing career.

Step Two: If You Want To Be a Game Tester, You Have To Get Yourself Out There

The simple fact in the matter is that game companies do not actively list “video game tester job” openings in the paper. They would be swamped by would-be testers who don’t know the first thing about testing if they did. Instead of merely glancing at the paper from time to time, actually head to the developers and companies and apply for a testing job.

Don’t be ashamed to brag about your expertise with video games when you apply for a job. Be sure that all bragging is done in a professional manner; otherwise, the interviewer might be turned off. In short, just do whatever you can to convince them that you would be a great addition to their video game tester “roster”.

It’s this; Experience is Everything if there is one thing to remember in this industry!

Step Three: Video Game Tester Jobs Must Be Completed As Specified

Any instructions given to you by your employer, in this case a game developer, must be followed to the letter. Make sure you know precisely what information the developers want, as well as any feedback that they require.

Anything you write down or report on must be clearly legible and easily understood. The developers/programmers rely on your reports to find and fix glitches & bugs; so if your writing looks like chicken scratch and your grammar is similar to the grammar of a non-English speaking immigrant, you probably won’t last long as a game tester.

Whatever the company asks of you, do it and don’t ask too many questions. The more compliant you are and the more you work, the more video game tester jobs they will ultimately hand you. It is imperative that you meet all specified deadlines; so, be sure to send your work in on time, every time.

Step 4: Don’t Stop After One Video Game Tester Job, Keep Going!

The simple fact in the matter is that game companies do not actively list “video game tester job” openings in the paper. The more compliant you are and the more you work, the more video game tester jobs they will ultimately hand you.

Once you get and complete your first video game testing job, don’t sit around and stare at your check thinking “Wow, I did it”. Instead, get right back out there and apply for more testing jobs.

The company you did the job for, if satisfied with your reports, will probably offer you another testing job right after that one. If they don’t, well, you could always use them as a reference for your future and next video game testing jobs.

Believe it or not, video game testers get paid extremely well to test the newest and most technologically advanced games. If you want to be a professional video game tester, you have to realize that it isn’t a weekend hobby that you can do whenever your in the mood. If you conduct yourself professionally and treat video game testing like an actual job instead of just a fantasy where you get to do what you please, you will be much more successful with your game testing career.

Remember, you have already landed and completed your first game testing job; so, the hard part is pretty much over. Now, all you have to do is repeat and rinse and you will be on your way to a very successful video game tester career.

Paleo diet is not only good to lose weight. Paleo experts believe that most of the health problems that exist today are linked to the kind of foods that we eat. Eliminating some of the foods by sticking to a paleo diet could help people alleviate some of the risks and finally live longer and fuller life.  The elimination of sugars and certain grains from the diet will help lower the blood sugar levels and even maintain it. Diabetes sufferers could get a lot of help from a paleo diet because it lowers the sugar absorption. The less sugar means there would be lower blood sugar levels.

One of the facets of the paleo diet is the non-consumption of processed foods. When the body retains more water it gives the body a harder time to lower the blood pressure. There is a debate whether a paleo diet can really bring hypertension down because of increased cholesterol intake, there is yet a solid study to purport that cholesterol indeed causes high blood pressure.
One of the problems of the body is its inability to take care of inflammation. The increased consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids helps the body fight against inflammation and indirectly help boosts the immune system.
Acne is one of the most surprising health problems that are being addressed by a paleo diet. The increase in Omega 3 fatty acids together with probiotics, anti-oxidants and selenium can help control the inflammation and to fight the bacteria that can cause acne.
There are lots of health benefits in eating paleo. It is important that you are able to consult a paleo diet-friendly physician to give you the best options and better explain to you the benefits and the mechanics of the paleo diet. It is a revolutionary way of losing weight and it could help you in the long run.

Eliminating some of the foods by sticking to a paleo diet could help people alleviate some of the risks and finally live longer and fuller life.
Diabetes sufferers could get a lot of help from a paleo diet because it lowers the sugar absorption. There is a debate whether a paleo diet can really bring hypertension down because of increased cholesterol intake, there is yet a solid study to purport that cholesterol indeed causes high blood pressure. Acne is one of the most surprising health problems that are being addressed by a paleo diet. It is important that you are able to consult a paleo diet-friendly physician to give you the best options and better explain to you the benefits and the mechanics of the paleo diet.

The caveman diet or Paleolithic diet is actually a return to what the body is meant to eat. Paleo diet is a logical diet framework that is fit for the modern human. That makes the modern human equipped and truly fit to go on a paleo diet. What makes paleo diet different from any other low-carbohydrate diets is the fact that it is not restricted to counting the calories or counting the carbohydrates. The body is able to cope with the new lifestyle easily as long as the human is able to psychologically shift the mindset from the traditional eating to the paleo diet.

Can humans of today really go on a diet that was followed by cavemen thousands of years ago? Yes, there is a sound backup study that modern humans can do just that and start on paleo dieting. Well, there hasnâEUR ™ t been much change in the human genome for the last thousands of years. Going back to the original question, are the humans of today ready for the caveman diet? The caveman diet or Paleolithic diet is actually a return to what the body is meant to eat. Most of our modern diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart problems and kidney problems are borne out of our unwise food choices. The concept of paleo dieting is not actually going back to how our caveman ancestors actually ate. That is why it is just a return to what is healthy to the body and how the body can get a lot or more from the non-toxic food that are good for the body.

What is going for the modern human is that there is a better understanding on the concept of paleo dieting. This will ensure that the body is getting the right nutrients that are going to be lost when dairy and other grains are taken off from the diet. Paleo diet is a logical diet framework that is fit for the modern human. That makes the modern human equipped and truly fit to go on a paleo diet. Paleo diet, though, does not exist in a vacuum. That is why the food that he should be consuming should allow the caveman to expend energy, lower the blood sugar levels and to efficiently expend the energy that he gets from the food that he eats. What makes paleo diet different from any other low-carbohydrate diets is the fact that it is not restricted to counting the calories or counting the carbohydrates. The body is able to cope with the new lifestyle easily as long as the human is able to psychologically shift the mindset from the traditional eating to the paleo diet. The paleo diet is not a magic bullet that will solve everything. It is a diet prorgam that can help humans make most of their food. It is a recreation of how humans should eat and the kind of food that should be eaten.

Paleo diet or the caveman diet is a type of diet that is gaining popularity after its rediscovery. Paleo diet has become one of the most searched terms in Google and this alone is an indication that there are lots of people that are intrigued by this old but new kind of diet. Paleo diet may sound new but it is the diet that our ancestors have been following and it seemed to work for them. When learning about Paleo diet, it is best to immerse oneself into the dynamics of the diet. Paleo diet is tapping into the real way of eating and the designed diet for humans.

Paleo diet or the caveman diet is a type of diet that is gaining popularity after its rediscovery. Paleo diet may sound new but it is the diet that our ancestors have been following and it seemed to work for them. When learning about Paleo diet, it is best to immerse oneself into the dynamics of the diet. Proponents of paleo diets say that our ancestors are stronger and did not suffer from any metabolic diseases that we have today. The diet contributed immensely on how they have staved off disorders and remained strong as they go through their daily grind without much help with technology and machineries that we have today. The idea behind paleo diet is rather simple, eat what our ancestors had eaten and do the workload of our ancestors and you will get a healthy body as a result. Don’t be, as here are some of the things that you need to know about the diet.

In the 1970s, paleo diet proponents acknowledge the work of Walter Voegtlin for introducing a concept that has been mulling around for years. Voegtlin said that the best diet for humans is the diet that consumed by Paleolithic ancestors. Critics said that the diet could pose potential health risks as an unbalanced diet could do more harm than good.
Proponents say that humans should go back to eating the way the ancestors did because of the staggering numbers of people that are obese and overweight that led to numerous diseases. Paleo diet is tapping into the real way of eating and the designed diet for humans. This will lead to better health and longer lives.
Paleo diet completely eradicates sugar and prevents sugar from damaging the body and crashing it. Cancer patients had better lifespans when sugar is eliminated from the diet.
The proponents of paleo diet believe that the body is designed to operate at a low carbohydrate level. The body has a way to find new sources of energy and it will eat the fat that is stored in the body through ketogenesis.
The jury is still out on paleo diet. It is best that you consult a doctor whether this kind of diet is plausible. Regardless of diet plan, your health and welfare is of paramount concern and only a health professional can help you determine it.

Most of our exposure about Pinterest is all about re-pins and pins. You can do freelance work, write a blog but nothing has made inroads to earn their keep using Pinterest. Well, if you have heard about affiliate marketing then Pinterest is your bet.

Pinterest is natural for affiliate marketing because of the thing it does best, drive traffic. Businesses that rely in traffic to earn money will find Pinterest a very useful business partner. That is why affiliate marketers are just raving about Pinterest as the best social media site that could redefine the game.

Pinterest is basically a virtual scrapbook where you can pin pictures of products and services from various businesses that are being displayed prominently in boards. The idea here is to provide as much brand recognition and product awareness as possible through presence in various boards all across Pinterest.

There is something about Pinterest and affiliates that goes well together. In order to make money, people should click through the pins where the referral links reside.
Essentially you are leveraging the natural advantage of Pinterest in helping other businesses reach out to potential buyers through your boards. In return, you get a cut in each sale made in your makeshift grocery store in your garage.

Earning with affiliate marketing is a natural fit for Pinterest and marketers. The only problem is to do this kind of commercial activity in moderation due to the non-commercial nature of Pinterest. You need to know how to keep the activity under the radar so you are able to sell more using your boards.

You can do freelance work, write a blog but nothing has made inroads to earn their keep using Pinterest. Pinterest is natural for affiliate marketing because of the thing it does best, drive traffic. Businesses that rely in traffic to earn money will find Pinterest a very useful business partner. Pinterest is basically a virtual scrapbook where you can pin pictures of products and services from various businesses that are being displayed prominently in boards. The idea here is to provide as much brand recognition and product awareness as possible through presence in various boards all across Pinterest.

If you are selling online, here is the down side of our business … you will never be able to compete with Amazon. The answer is very simple … if you can’t compete with Amazon, don’t! (I know sounds too simple, but stay with me) So, if I can’t be the cheapest price, or compete with Amazon, how can I make any money? Here’s the thing, if every small business in the world tried to compete with Wal-Mart, or Amazon, there would be no small business around. What you want to do is to not compete with Amazon, but others on Ebay, or wherever you are advertising your site, that are selling the same product.

How To Compete With Amazon.com

Here is the down side of our business … you will never be able to compete with Amazon if you are selling online. (Or Kmart, or Target, or any other big outlet) Here is why, They buy directly from the manufacturer in such huge quantities that they are getting the product for a price that you and I (as small business owners) will never realize. That is an unfortunate fact of business.
They are willing to take a huge loss on the product in the hopes that the customer will buy other things. If you are like me, you can not afford to do that.
The answer is very simple … if you can’t compete with Amazon, don’t! (I know sounds too simple, but stay with me) So, if I can’t be the cheapest price, or compete with Amazon, how can I make any money?
Here’s the thing, if every small business in the world tried to compete with Wal-Mart, or Amazon, there would be no small business around. What you want to do is to not compete with Amazon, but others on Ebay, or wherever you are advertising your site, that are selling the same product.
I know that sounds funny but, you would be amazed that if you write a GREAT sales letter … then pricing has very little to do with it. (And that has been proven time and time again) In the members area of Drop Ship Connection there are great resources and software that can help you write a great sales letter.
They list the product specs and throw up a picture and expect it to sell. Think of all of the junk mail that you receive in your mailbox; Most of it (if they are trying to sell you something anyway) is going to be in the form of a sales letter. You really have to make people want to buy your product from you with a great sales letter, then price is not an problem.
Why is there not much difference between what Amazon sells it for and the wholesale distributors you list; Are you sure they are real wholesalers? You will never get the same price Amazon gets … that’s just an unfortunate fact. You are not buying hundreds of thousands of units shipped on pallets with a HUGE discount because of the size of your order.

Because it means you do not have to get involved in product fulfillment, this is great. You have no stock to store, you don’t have to pick and ship orders and, perhaps most importantly of all, you don’t need to get involved in any customer service activities. All you have to do is be purely a marketing machine and send traffic to Amazon’s site.

You can pick specific products from the Amazon website to set and promote up a specific pay-per-click campaign for each of these products. You, in turn, point the user to Amazon’s website.

Now, there are a number of options open to you for creating traffic. You can create traffic for free by writing articles, creating your own blog or even by setting up a website of your own and going through the lengthy process of optimizing your website for the search engines so that your website is listed near the top of the search results. These three methods are time consuming, but they will get you results if you stick with them.

Amazon have set up an affiliate program (they call it the “Amazon Associates Program”). The theory behind the Amazon Associates program is amazingly simple. By sending traffic to the Amazon website, you will earn a commission (between 5%-10%) on all of the sales that result from any visitors that you send.

Of course, the real trick– in fact the key to making this all work – is to send traffic to the Amazon site at a cost that is less than the revenue you receive from Amazon. You can definitely make a tidy profit in the process if you are able to do that.

Another way of generating traffic, which unfortunately is not free, is to create advertising campaigns using one of the many pay-per-click options that exist. This basically means using Google Adwords or the similar services offered by Yahoo! and MSN.

If you hadn’t already noticed, every time you do a search in Google, you will see a series of paid advertisements down the right-hand-side. When the user types in specific search terms, you can create adverts that will be displayed.

Not many people know this, but you can actually make money online using Amazon.

Simple as that!

You can pick specific products from the Amazon website to set and promote up a specific pay-per-click campaign for each of these products. If you are interested in learning how it is possible to make good money as an Amazon Affiliate, visit my website now for more information.

Amazon have set up an affiliate program (they call it the “Amazon Associates Program”). By sending traffic to the Amazon website, you will earn a commission (between 5%-10%) on all of the sales that result from any visitors that you send.

Well, not quite. Help is at hand. Visit my website now for more information if you are interested in learning how it is possible to make good money as an Amazon Affiliate.

Because you can use the Clickbank Mall concept to organize the better products on Clickbank into understandable categories, you make it a lot easier for your customers to find the things they want to buy through you. The potential for commissions becomes quite lucrative as many Clickbank affiliates have reported up to 75% commissions and the ability to market thousands of Clickbank products because of the organizational power of the Clickbank Mall.

If you have been looking to get into internet marketing in a big way without the burden of a web site, this is the perfect solution for you. The Clickbank Mall will generate a fully functional marketplace web site that can provide the front end for your sales and generate large volumes of Clickbank sales but still be presented to your customers as your web site and your marketplace.

When you begin to get moving using this powerful feature of Clickbank, the money making functions that are still to discover will continue to convince you that this is a great way to go. And the more you exploit this resource, the more money you make for yourself and your partners. That’s why this is such a great tool that Clickbank provides to its affiliates.

The thing that is so great for you when you sign on to be an affiliate in Clickbank is also the thing that can be so frustrating about the marketplace and that is how big it is. With over 10,000 products available for you to promote, just the task of discovering them all and then selecting and organizing them, can be a real challenge. And if you have wrestled with how to get as much Clickbank product in front of your customers and still keep an orderly system you can work with and your customers can use, a little help goes a long way.

The beauty of the Clickbank mall is that once you step through the process of creating your own free mall, it really will become your marketing presence that you can use as your total front end for your affiliate business. In laymen’s terms that means that if you have been looking for a way to make a lot of money through internet marketing using affiliate sales but you don’t want the overhead and fuss of your own web site with all the cost and technical effort that takes, the Clickbank Mall is the perfect solution. You can of course use your existing web property and expand the marketing value with the search bar and links that will make the Clickbank Mall work virtually as another page of your web site.

One way that the Clickbank Mall is so profitable is that it can serve as a way to centralize the use of some powerful internet marketing tools that Clickbank makes available. When you set up a Clickbank marketplace, you can provide webmasters with a free Clickbank search box that will bring customers right to your mall to make purchases.

As with a lot of marketing needs though, Clickbank has a way to help you kick your management of the huge Clickbank catalog to another level. There are extra profits to be made using the Clickbank Mall and promoting the Clickbank products using the mall concept.

There are extra profits to be made using the Clickbank Mall and promoting the Clickbank products using the mall concept. One way that the Clickbank Mall is so profitable is that it can serve as a way to centralize the use of some powerful internet marketing tools that Clickbank makes available. When you set up a Clickbank marketplace, you can provide webmasters with a free Clickbank search box that will bring customers right to your mall to make purchases. Whenever a customer uses that search box, you get a commission on top of your existing Clickbank commission as a direct Clickbank affiliate.

On top of these benefits, Clickbank has an advertising mechanism that works much like the Google Adsense approach but it far more profitable because it is targeted at the Clickbank affiliate team and enhancing your profitability, which of course makes them and the merchants on Clickbank more profitable. You can use the Clickbank Ads free and they even better than Adsense because you earn a commission by the sale rather than just by the click so your take per sale is far greater than the tiny amounts pay per click can generate.