Welcome to The VERB!

You know those flyers you get in the mail every week, announcing special deals at your local grocery store? And if you don’t get them in the mail, you've surely seen them at the bottom of your empty buggy (or cart or rolling thingy) or stacked by the door when you enter the store. Do you usually grab one and commence to scanning it? And if you do, do the ads make you want to stock up on items you didn’t think you needed or could afford?

Same here.

So at ReadingWriters, we had the brilliant idea to provide a similar service. But rather than food, of course, we'd focus on the needs of the writing community.

Announcing... dum diddy dum... the Wednesday Flyer! Our mission: to stimulate the writing economy by providing weekly bargains for hardworking writers and readers, and increasing weekly sales/website traffic for hardworking businesses.

Every Wednesday, we will post new bargains on the Flyer page. These bargains will be available for one week. That's right, buyers will have exactly seven days to take advantage of the deals before they are gone. Kaput. Out of the warehouse!

But wait a minute, you crazy ReadingWriters, what about me? What do I have to do to get in on this?

Glad you asked, O Curious One! If you have something to sell to the writing community—books, CDs, DVDs, classes, webinars, consultations, magazines, conferences, software, furniture, office supplies or anything else readers and writers might find alluring—we’d like to hear from you.

From the complete guidelines, I give you a brief excerpt below: 

1) Choose the product or service you want to sell. What's your bargain? Whatever you choose, make it unique. If buyers know they can get the same price anywhere, and at any time, they won’t consider it a big deal. Instill a sense of urgency. Offer something they won’t find any other place.

2) Create an eye-catching headline. Grab the buyer's attention. Let them know immediately what you have to offer and how much it will cost them.

3) Write a brief description. No need for hype here. Simply focus on the benefit to the buyers. What do they get? How much will they save? Whether it’s learning a new technique or escaping into another world, tempt them with a succinct (up to 100 words) description that says, Buy me now!

4) Provide clear purchase info and contact information. Since your special offers won’t be found anywhere else on the Internet, how will consumers buy them? Will you set up a special web page or direct them to other websites? Ask them to email you for further instructions? Also, feel free to include a photo of your business logo, your bargains or yourself. 

The weekly deadline is Monday, 12:00 pm (Pacific), so mark your calendars, stick a note on your screen or tie a string around your finger. Ads received after noon on Mondays will be posted the following week.

Again, we'll be updating the Flyer every Wednesday. Be sure to bookmark the page or, better yet, request a reminder. As a VERB subscriber, you will not automatically receive these additional emails. You must go to the Flyer page and enter your address in the sign-up box. Otherwise, do nothing. You will continue to receive only The VERB.

Today I posted a special offer, effective immediately, to give you an idea how the ads will look. The first official Flyer will be published Wednesday, June 10.

Mmmm... I smell bargains in the air!

Oh, and just out of curiosity, what do you call that four-wheeled, food-transporting contraption at the supermarket? In the South, we always referred to it as a buggy, but in other areas of the country I've been subjected to outright giggles when I used the term.

"That," I was told, "is a cart."

"A cart?" I replied. "That buggy over there?"

Tell us what you call it. And please include your region—city, state and country—so we can tally up the results from all over the world.

Elizabeth Guy
Editor

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This issue 
was published 
under the musical 
influence of...



PINK FLOYD
Dark Side of the Moon