Benefits of the Apprenticeship Program

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   gmwilliamsposted 11 years ago

   To those who graduated from the Apprenticeship Program, how did the program help you meet your writing goals and made you a better writer?  Also, how is the Apprenticeship Program instrumental regarding your future writing goals whether it is becoming a published author, writing for a featured magazine, or broadening your internent base?

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      wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Anyone wantint to learn to write books or magazines should think twice about joint the AP.  It is designed to learn to write better on the net and specifically on HP.

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      MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Well I've heard they teach you how to spell internet there.
      
      *ducks*

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         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Throws a *virtual* hub through the *virtual* internet, but misses.

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      theraggededgeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The AP doesn't teach you *how* to write. You should already have a decent standard of writing. It teaches you how to produce researched titles and content for HP, how to construct hubs, how to use images correctly and how to work to deadlines.
      
      It doesn't teach you how to write for print publications or how to be a better writer. An apprentice receives the same lessons that are available to everyone on HP. They do get feedback from mentors, though this reduces to once a month as the course proceeds. Interaction and feedback from other apprentices is probably much more useful.
      
      HTH

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         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You have to wonder if the mentors (HP) is learning as well from the feedback given.  I got the strong impression that the mentors had never seen nor conceived of some of the formatting "tricks" seen in those hubs, for instance.
         
         No one knows it all, and there have now been hundreds of smart people going through those lessons.  I'm sure HP picked up some good ideas, too.

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      adjkp25posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Anyone can write but can they write material that is desirable and able to be found on the internet?  Part of the program is to help writers publish articles that are easy to read, are formatted well and are on topics that have interest on the web.
      
      It helped me learn the correct way to title an article, what subtitles are, how to properly credit a photo, etc.  It was well worth the months or hard work.

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      1. 59

         MelissaBarrettposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         No... not anyone can write.  Trust me... I've seen hubs that look like someone dropped skittles on the keyboard and the hub was the result of trying to pick them up with their tongue.

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            tussinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            
            There are many "writers" on this site for whom that method would actually be an improvement on their current creative process.

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         2. 85

            gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Melissa, THAT is not nice but I concur with you a multillion percent.

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            adjkp25posted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Sure they can, it doesn't have to be good though.

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            habeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            LOVE the visual image!

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            Uninvited Writerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            

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2. 81

   Mark Ewbieposted 11 years ago

   I learned a lot before I was kicked off.  Apparently you can't copy content, you can't rip off pictures and get this... you have to write stuff that people want to read.  A whole lot of rules which put me off making millions by writing pages.
   
   Not only that but after I wrote my first article - nearly TWO hundred words of quality content about something I copied from Wiki, one of the mentors said it was garbage.
   
   I gave up on the programme and took my page to Squidoo.  They sent me back here.

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      SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm thinking of creating a brand new content farm...
      
      CWWNTG.com  (Hmm that was nearly a very rude acronym - it's short for Crap Writers With Nowhere To Go - I added the extra G at the end!!!)
      
      I'll charge $1 to join and share 50% of Adsense income on my wife's Adsense account so mine doesn't get disabled. I think I'll make millions!!!

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         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         If we can negotiate that percentage all the way up to 52%, you can sign me up.  Sounds right down my alley!

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         1. 85

            gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Both of you are AWESOME, ELITE, A-ONE WRITERS-that is why you two are Apprentices, the creme de le creme so to speak.

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               Mark Ewbieposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               That is very close to what I was about to say.

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               wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               Sure enough, at least for Simey.  I know - he was in my class and I had to read those humiliating hubs that I couldn't match.
               
               But we aren't apprentices any more - we're graduates, which you can tell by that green slime on our avatars.  That's our reward - to face the world with our faces covered in slime.

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               1. 85

                  gmwilliamsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                  I apologize, I mean Apprentice Alumni.  Still both of you two are great writers.   I have read many of your awesome hubs. Wilderness, you should be an author as you have great knowledge of the subjects you write about!

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                     SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                     Thank you (and Mark and Wilderness) - I don't think I'm particularly a great writer - I know how to write well for the web, but I don't approach the excellence of many of the top writers on here who simply blow me away with their grammar and sentence construction.
                     
                     The whole thing about an apprenticeship (of any sort) is that it sets you in the right direction - it will take years to master the process of writing - as an alumni I am still learning somethnig new every day!
                     
                     I note that I take something from everyone on here - everyone has their own style, their own humor and their own skill-sets - where they may not have the same quality of writing as I, they often more than make up for that by quality research, in depth coverage, brilliant pictures and many other facets I am still not good at.
                     
                     I'm hoping there's a next step eventually that is a Journeyman program and the perhaps a master writer program....

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                        wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                        That would be neat, wouldn't it? I think I'm an OK writer, but that's all.  I can write for the net, I understand what the program taught us, but it wasn't how to be a writer.  I'd like to learn that one day as well.

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                           theraggededgeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                           I think I am going backwards - have just been (re) contacted by Demand to write eHow articles for the UK. Can't turn it down though, have an apres-Christmas overdraft to wipe out, and HP isn't going to do it!

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                           1. 89

                              SimeyCposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                              sadly I can't write on Demand Media - they need a Bio that includes publications etc. - the only published writing i have is on Hubpages, Squidoo etc. - as they are competitors they won't allow me to add those - therefore I cannot get an approved Bio therefore I cannot write!
                              
                              Sucky or wot!

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                                 theraggededgeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

                                 Well, that's all I had, more or less, I did have some in print media a long, long time ago but they were okay with it. I don't have a degree either just a Btec cert - it's a good thing that they didn't understand the UK ed system. I gave them Squidoo articles as samples of my writing.
                                 
                                 It's probably tightened up even more now since 2010 when I joined. There was a massive clampdown after they got G-slapped and they pruned off a lot of writers by making them reapply to write for their various sites. I didn't bother as my grammar score was a whisker below the desired 4 score. And now they've come to me, which is gratifying, to say the least
                                 
                                 Maybe you should give it another go, Simey?

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