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April 2004

ANNOUNCEMENTS

YASH TECHNOLOGIES HIRES Herb Rubenstein Consulting AS MID-ATLANTIC MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE

YASH Technologies (YASH), an international software developer, with US offices in Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia, Massachusetts, California and Texas has hired Herb Rubenstein Consulting to serve as its marketing representative in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area. YASH has been successful in working with companies in the areas of Business Portal, Content Management, Enterprise Security, CRM, ERP, SCM, SRM, BI, Data Warehousing and e-Business Infrastructure (in conjunction with its strategic partners, including IBM, SAP, Microsoft, Mercury Interactive, Actuate, Siebel and BEA). YASH's client list includes enterprise customers such as John Deere, Cox communications, Caterpillar, Sprint, AT & T, Verizon, Wells Fargo and Bank of America and Mid Market clients such as RNA, Fonda, webAlg and AAA Aircraft. A 2-time winner of the 'Fast 500' Technology Consulting Firms in North America (Inc Magazine) YASH offers high end consulting, comprehensive e-business solutions, end-to-end project management, program management, and combined US based professional services, IT outsourcing services and offshore-outsourcing services to its clients.

KNOWLEDGE ASSET MANAGEMENT EXPANDS BROKER NETWORK AND PUBLISHES AN ARTICLEIN HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

Copies of many of the articles we have written that have been published at other websites are currently on display at our website: www.growth-strategies.com. Feel free to view them. Take care and have a great spring.

ARTICLE

HOW TO WRITE ARTICLES AND GET THEM PUBLISHED ON THE WEB

Article by Herb Rubenstein
President and Founder, Herb Rubenstein Consulting

Introduction

The process of getting your ideas in front of other people has never been easier. No longer is there a year long wait to get your article into a journal, nor do you have to send your article only to one place for publication and then wait for six months for a “rewrite and resubmit” or a rejection notice before you can send it to other places. With the invention of the internet and hundreds of thousands of newsletters and millions of “article hungry” websites, you can get your materials out into the marketplace of ideas quite quickly. This article documents the 20 step process that we use at Herb Rubenstein Consulting to write our articles and get our ideas onto the web. We hope that you can use this process to assist you in finding your authentic voice and get your point of view into websites, newsletters and into the public arena.

This process is written assuming that there will be only one author for an article. However, if you want to “co-author” an article with someone, this process can work for you and your co-author with some minor modifications. When you co-author an article with someone, make sure as to whose name will go first on the article (usually the one that writes the first draft, comes up with the idea or is more senior in the field). Also, co-authors should spend time up front to discuss a thorough outline, the conclusion, and especially, the audience for the article. After this initial collaborative effort, one person should write a draft of the entire article, the co-author then rewrites and the process continues until the two (or more) co-authors agree to send the article out for publication.

Initial Steps

1. Make a list of 5-10 topics about which you would like to write a short article In order to generate a great list of initial topics, consider carefully what audience will benefit from reading articles on these topics. In addition, be sure to consider what unique knowledge, experience or point of view you have on these topics that will make your article a contribution to your audience.
2. Then, turn these topics into "titles." Be sure the title accurately conveys the most interesting element of your article, is short and catchy. Good titles may include the words, “The Future of _______…” or “________: The State of the Art.” Other titles may start with the words, “How to ________” or “Key Challenges in __________.”
3. Go to Google® Advance Search (or some other search engine) and type in your proposed title(s) and study a good sample of the “hits” that come up to become more familiar with other writings on this subject. You can also type in your subject area and type in “electronic journals and newsletters” and this could provide a significant number of leads for you to pursue and study. This part of the process is time consuming, but absolutely necessary.
4. Keep a record of where these other articles have been published to facilitate your search for a place to
   publish your article. You may want to mark some of these as “favorites” in your browser or make a list of the URL’s and file it so you can refer back to it in the future.
5. Study the other writings and websites that you find related to your proposed titles so you can begin to understand the different issues raised and points of view expressed in these articles. You may want to cite in your article those with whom you agree. It is critically important in your article, if possible, to make sure your point of view is distinguished and distinct from what other have said in other articles. Also, when you find a website at this stage write them and ask them if they accept articles from outside and ask them if they have guidelines for submissions that they can send you to guide you regarding the length, the style and format for your proposed article.
   
   Writing the Article
   
6. Now you are ready to write. Begin to draft a four or five section article of between 600 and 1500 words. The sections are: Introduction; Point A, Point B, Point C and Conclusion
7. Send your draft article to at least three people for comments and feedback.
8. Study and appreciate the criticisms and thank the people for taking the time to edit, add comments, disagree, etc.
9. Rewrite the article. It should go through at least three drafts before it is submitted to a website or newsletter. Some articles I have written have gone through 18 drafts. An article can always be improved. One person once said, “There is no good writing; there is only good rewriting.”
10. Look for ways this article could form the basis of a series of articles.
11. Add a biographical section and a maybe your picture to the article with contact information. Be sure to put a © symbol on the article to claim your intellectual property rights in the article.
    
    Finding Your Publication Targets
    
12. Keep an eye out for every newsletter you get, every website you see and contact them to ask them if they accept guest articles, editorials, book reviews or any form of submissions from readers. Also, you might want to start your search for websites and newsletters with professional associations and trade groups in your area of interest since they may have a large number of “links” to other relevant websites. If you are a business or non-profit organization without a librarian or “cybrarian,” this might be an aspect of the effort that you will want to outsource to a library support company or a company like InfoCurrent or other “cybrary” service.
13. If a particular website or newsletter says the accept articles then ask them if they have guidelines for submissions that they can send you and if they say they do not accept outside articles, ask them if they know of others that do accept submissions. Through research, you should be able to build a data base of hundreds of websites and newsletters that will accept, or at least consider, accepting your articles. Be sure to tailor your article to their guidelines since this will increase your likelihood that your article will be accepted and published by the website or newsletter very quickly.
14. If the website or newsletter says that they accept articles, send them one or more articles you have written and let them choose which one or ones they want to put on their website or in their newsletter. Do not give any website or newsletter exclusive rights to your article, although you may want to give a particularly large website or popular newsletter a “right of first publication” if you can pin them down on when they will publish the article and make your “right of first publication” expire the day after they say they will publish your article. This way, you can and should send the same article to as many websites, newsletters as you like.
15. Generate and keep an ever growing list of websites and newsletters where you believe there may be an interest in publishing your articles. You might want to make a special note on journals and newsletters to identify which ones are indexed in electronic databases such as Lexis-Nexis®, Dialog®, Ebscohost® since these journals and newsletters will have a longer shelf life for your article. Since websites are constantly being updated, just because your article is there today, does not mean that it (either the article or the website) will be there in the future.
    
    Building and Keeping Track of Your Inventory
    
16. Keep track of every submission of an article and where (if) it was published in a spreadsheet or table in your word processing system. Also, keep a list of every title of articles that you written.
17. Keep all articles in a computer generated “folder” titled “publications/articles” in your computer and in paper form.
18. Check every week to see how many hits you get when you type in your name at Google or any other search engine that supports “advanced word search” to determine where your articles have been published and who is citing them.
19. Send your articles via mail or email to a list of people that you want to receive them.
20. Consider using some form of electronic “stationary” with your logo or “masthead” like the Herb Rubenstein Consulting masthead at the top of this article.

Benefits to Writing and Publishing Articles

There are many benefits to getting your articles in front of others. They include:

• Creating new business opportunities
• Improving your reputation
• Starting a conversation with others
• Influencing others’ ideas
• Learning from others’ feedback
• Sharing your work with others
• Expanding your political base
• Promoting a culture of sharing ideas
• Improving your writing skills
• Strengthening your own ideas through the rigor of writing concise, cogent articles in support of your position
• Building an inventory of articles for future use
• Building great collateral for your business
• Using an article to form the basis of a new curriculum or seminar
• Use your article to stimulate a debate on a topic
• And, promote creative discipline which is required to write thoughtful articles.

I hope this short article will assist you in your effort to write articles and have them published on the web, in magazines, in journals and as chapters in books.

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