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Happy New Year!

Hot Off The Press!

The New Issue of Yesterday’s Magazette.

“Hi. Come on in.”

I’m glad you could stop by.

My name’s Ned Burke and the first thing you may notice about E. P. Burke Publishing is that we do things the friendly, old-fashioned way here.

A quick visit to our online magazines, The Perspiring Writer and Yesterday’s Magazette will show they have the same look and feel of traditional magazines. So they are very easy to navigate. You can start with the Front Cover and work your way through the numbered pages to the Back Cover or skip around. It’s up to you.

Another service we offer is our Nook For Books where you can purchase the latest books and even have the opportunity to showcase your book for FREE! And speaking of books, check out The eBay Book Nook Depot, Ebooks On Writing, Ebooks For Marketeers and My Personal Copywriter.

We also have many interesting web sites, blogs, quips & quotes, jokes and more!

So take your time and browse all the interesting links on this page.

Thank you again for visiting and come back again real soon.

E. P. Ned Burke
President/E. P. Burke Publishing

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Launch of New Magazine

E. P. Burke Publishing (www.epburkepublishing.com), which specializes in books, booklets, e-books and magazines, has announced the launch of a new online magazine for writers titled The Perspiring Writer Magazine. Online Editor is E. P. Ned Burke. Contributing Editors are: Madonna Dries Christensen, Marshall Cook, and Carrillee Collins Burke.

“TPW Magazine contains many informative articles, as well fiction and poetry,” Burke said. “It is aimed at aspiring writers and writers searching for some friendly advice.” Writers are urged to contribute their work after reading the online guidelines. Signing up for a subscription to TPW Magazine is FREE and is highly recommended.

In addition to The Perspiring Writer Magazine, E. P. Burke Publishing publishes Yesterday’s Magazette, (www.yesterdaysmagazette.com) an original magazine of memories founded in 1973.

E. P. Ned Burke of E. P. Burke Publishing also runs a unique copywriting service, two instructional e-book sales sites and an affiliate eBay site as well as more than a dozen blog sites when he is not busy on his next Amos Grant mystery novel.

“I want to especially thank Sarasota (FL) writer and author Madonna Dries Christensen for her invaluable help with the launch of TPW Magazine and her ongoing support of Yesterday’s Magazette as well,” Burke concluded.

Look Before You Leap Into The Freelance Writing Arena

Here’s a scenario familiar to many aspiring and established writers.

Joe “wannabe” Writer hates his job. All he wants to do is write; it is his lifelong passion. He can taste success. He knows he can make it as a high-priced freelance writer. But he doesn’t have the time. He’s heard the stories; devoured the ads for all those writing courses that promised him fame and fortune. He can see himself sipping a cool Margarita on some exotic beach, smiling, pecking away at his laptop, knowing full well that he was producing another great masterpiece.

Then his boss screams, “Get back to work!”

That’s right, it’s back to reality and the 9 to 5 grind. Life ain’t fair for poor Joe.

But before you tell your obnoxious boss to shove it and storm out into the cruel world, take a minute to look before you leap. Think about this: Many well-known writers had to work for a living and write whenever they had the time … just like you.

For instance, Kurt Vonnegut worked at General Electric for years in the PR department. Walt Whitman served as a lowly government secretary. William S. Porter (O’Henry) was a bank teller … before bank funds were found missing. Lots of writers, such as Aldous Huxley, Joseph Heller and Dorothy Parker, worked full-time as copywriters during the day. Others worked for newspapers, like Erma Bombeck, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck. And if you ever wondered why Agatha Christie knew so many ways to poison people, it was because she worked as a pharmacist for years. So, you see, you are in good company if you’re writing and still holding down your day job.

Now if you really can’t take your present job anymore, look around for another one. Some writers do better with physical or “mindless” jobs that rests their creative minds for writing later on in the evening. I found an even better way: I often took jobs where I could work and write at the same time … and get a paycheck at the end of the week! Impossible, you say. No. I’ve done it. I produced four novels at work as a bridge tender, working the night shift. Years earlier, I worked as a night security guard and night parking lot cashier, polishing off a batch of columns, stories and articles. Of course, I made sure the writing didn’t interfere or cost me my job. But I was always aware that writing was my primary focus. The other was but a means to keep a roof over my head.

You may want to also consider a “regular job” in the writing field. My 16 years in newspapers taught me the value of deadlines, interviewing techniques and writing quickly and accurately. I strongly recommend any aspiring writer to put in a stint at his or her local community newspaper. Unlike large dailies, these smaller papers offer wannabe writers an opportunity to be more creative. The diversity of covering everything from hard news to features to photography to production to circulation will give you a foundation unlike anything taught in today’s liberal arts colleges.

Writing is a continuous learning experience. And today, thanks to the Internet, you can gain knowledge with a click of a mouse. Ebooks on writing or the writing profession is a cheap way you can get information quickly and easily. Tips and insider secrets are there for the taking. So don’t hesitate to learn and keep on learning and writing. When you have gained enough knowledge and confidence in your writing ability then, and only then, it may be time to go out on a limb.

But don’t take that leap until you …

1. Have two year’s worth of savings in the bank, just in case.
2. Have sufficient knowledge of your field to be classified an expert.
3. Have sold enough of your work to know you can sell more.
4. Have the complete backing of your family members.
5. Have finally had it with your regular job!

If you’ve checked all five, then go ahead and take that leap. But watch that first step. It can be scary. Then again, so is a life of unhappiness and watching your dreams fade away. It’s your choice. Good luck!

E. P. “Ned” Burke has been in the publishing business for 30 years. Besides holding the title of editor of various newspapers in Florida and Pennsylvania, he was also the publisher of Yesterday’s Magazette, New Writer’s and Writer’s Guidelines and News magazines.
He has published six novels and numerous articles and short stories. Currently, he is the president of E. P. Burke Publishing and serves as online editor of Yesterday’s Magazette and The Perspiring Writer Magazine.
His copywriting service, “My Personal Copywriter,” specializes in helping authors. He is also owner of Ebooks On Writing, Ebooks For Marketeers and The eBay Book Nook Depot.

On Authors and Publishers

Many authors regard publishers as pompous, totally unfair creatures with little, if any, consideration for the feelings of another human being.

If an author’s work is rejected, you can be certain the publisher, editor, or agent responsible for this dastardly act will be blacklisted for eternity. Authors have even resorted to voodoo and witchcraft to bring about revenge, I am told.

As for publishers, many appear to regard authors with the same amount of enthusiasm as a shot of penicillin. That is, they realize they need them to fill up pages of a book which they in turn can sell for a profit, but somehow they can’t shake the feeling they are being fed nothing more than fungus on moldy cheese.

There are authors who are very prolific, like Charles Hamilton, alias Frank Richard “Billy Bunter.” He was known to produce 80,000 words a week of finished copy. His lifetime output was said to be more than 72 million words. The fact that Charlie never married may have something to do with his many hours of productive labor.

Erle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame worked on as many as seven novels at one time. Before he died in 1970, he dictated up to 10,000 words a day.

Then there was John Creaset, the British novelist, who pounded out two complete books in a single week. (Talk about touch-typing!)

If it’s money that turns you on, then consider Hemingway being paid $30,000 for a 2,000-word article on bullfighting for Sports Illustrated in 1960. That’s $15 a word for writing about some guy throwing the bull.
Publishers and their supposedly wise staff do make mistakes. All you have to do is consider the people who turned down Gone With The Wind because they felt it was too long. Numerous publishers also rejected the novel Peyton Place before it was accepted and eventually sold 12 million copies.

And, what publisher, or anyone else for that matter, would ever dream that six million people would go out and purchase a simple boy/girl postcard created by Donald McGill in the early 1900s with this caption:

He: “How do you like Kipling?”

She: “I don’t know, you naughty boy. I’ve never Kippled.”

This goes to show that an author must (for a better choice of words) stay the course. If an author has talent and persistence, that author will eventually find a publisher equally gifted and farsighted who will be quick to recognize these attributes.

However if an author is lacking in either quality, he’d do better using his hands to dig ditches.

(E. P. Ned Burke is president of E. P. Burke Publishing and editor of The Perspiring Writer Magazine and Yesterday’s Magazette and is also the owner of My Personal Copywriter, Ebooks On Writing. Ebooks For Marketeers and The eBay Book Nook Depot.