by Mark Bloom | Dec 24, 2014 | Announcement
We Came, We Saw, We Wrote It All Down
Ray Access & friends at the start of 2013
Looking back on what Ray Access was doing in December 2013 is like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. We were still writing on paper, using pen and ink. We sent each other messages by Pony Express, especially when the cans-on-a-string hardware malfunctioned. And everything was in black-and-white. At least it was easier to pick out our clothes — everything matched!
OK, we’re exaggerating. But Ray Access did come of age this past year. Here are some of our highlights:
The Early Months
When 2014 started, Ray Access was primarily a freelance operation. We had few regular clients and no idea where our next meal would come from. We lived on the streets, writing on the backs of worn envelopes. But we did great work, and our few clients loved us.
Then came our big break in February when we gave a presentation for a group of business people through the Vibrant Asheville Business networking group. We followed that with an encore for a joint meeting of the Fletcher Area Business Association and the Mills River Business Association. Suddenly, clients started calling.
A Growth Explosion
In March, Ray Access rewrote a number of websites, including those of our current blog clients Asheville Cabins of Willow Winds and Hendersonville Tents. We started the company to write blog posts for businesses, but realized that website content was just as important (and just as in demand) as blogs. It was then that we started to hit our stride.
We gained quite a few new clients during this early growth explosion, such as the Southeastern Spine Institute and the Wired Mouse. It felt like being in the driver’s seat for the first time, ready to go, but not moving, and then noticing the parking brake’s still set. Naturally, we released it while pressing the accelerator to the floor. And varoom! Off we went.
Moving and Shaking
In May, we joined the Fletcher Area Business Association. We gained more visibility and more clients, like the amazing Bubbleland Imagination Company. In July, Linda and Mark signed a formal partnership agreement after consulting with SCORE. By then, Ray Access had existed for about two years. In August, we joined the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. We had arrived. We were a real presence. People were getting to know us.
In October, we started writing for an online magazine called Simply Appalachian, which officially launch in January 2015. Serving seven states in Central Appalachia, we write feature articles on sports and adventures, flora and fauna, and people and places of interest. Look for our work on the pre-release version of the website.
Expertise and Exceptional Service
As we continue to grow, we pride ourselves on our personal and professional service. We love that we can do what we love while serving a growing number of businesses. One client has even called us “genius” for the work we did. But we haven’t let it go to our heads. We don’t have time for that.
In 2015, we’re going to maintain the momentum, both in Asheville and in outside markets. Regardless of our future growth, however, we promise to maintain the highest level of customer service and support to all our clients. If you were a client, thank you for your business during 2014. We remain — gratefully — at your service. If you are not yet a client, learn how we can help you attract more business.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Elle Ray | Dec 17, 2014 | Announcement
It Was a Very Good Year for Very Good Reasons
I have a whole heap of gratitude for 2014 and all the opportunities afforded to me. While the U.S. economy continues to improve, I think I’ve been granted a little piece of the burgeoning pie. Our business is not where I want it to be yet — but it certainly is going in the right direction.
Ray Access Is Thriving
First and foremost, I am grateful for a superior partner. We’ve heard so many horror stories of partnerships gone terribly wrong that I am especially honored to have in Mark Bloom a steady, reliable partner who motivates me when I need it and offers up his shoulder when I need it to cry on. He’s also a fantastic editor and great writer — Mark puts the humor in our pages that is especially difficult to write.
I love that I get to meet so many cool people through our business. Sure, we’re an online company, but behind ever website and blog is a person trying to send a message. I’m grateful for the opportunities we get to play a small role in the growth of so many wonderful companies and the people who run them.
Shared Through Classrooms
I’m a typical Ashevillian who cobbles a number of jobs together to meet my financial goals. And it’s so cool that I get to practice the skills at which I excel. As an adjunct teacher at AB Tech, I’m grateful for the students who enter my classes. I can share my experience, strength and hope with them as they look for ways to improve their lives.
Whether I’m in the women’s prison teaching students how to manage money or on campus giving students an inside look at how we create content at Ray Access, I get to talk about those things I’ve learned and hope the information makes a difference. Why learn lessons, after all, if you don’t have an outlet for sharing them?
Selling Success
Through Ray Access, Mark and I make numerous pitches to sell our services, though they usually sell themselves. This process taps into another of my strengths — the ability to sell something I love. While writing and research is my first love, I also get to practice this skill every so often working at Rug and Home, an Asheville icon in the retail industry.
The owners like my style and I love their products. We make a really good fit and I am grateful for the open door they provide me to work when I have extra time. The rugs and furniture are so tempting, though, that I have to be careful to make more than I spend there.
The Homefront
Finally, I’m grateful for my husband Gary, who stays out of my way when I’m busy writing in my office and who supports my dreams. He’s my biggest cheerleader, something most important in a life partner. Our extended families can try our souls sometimes (although our two grandkids are exceptional). But in the end, no matter what happens among friends, co-workers, the community and the world, we feel safe at home with each other.
Thank you, everyone who touched our lives this past year. Oh no, I’m getting ready to tear up now — not a common sight. But, yes, my work and my home are so very special that they are worth the water works. So let it flow! Happy holidays to everyone!
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Dec 11, 2014 | Announcement
Mark Bloom Edited Three Published Books
Many of our clients don’t know that Mark used to work for Lark Books, a subsidiary of Sterling Publishing in New York. Even though Lark Books has now downsized its way to insignificance, Mark retains his skills and interest in editing books for publication. As a result, he has a freelance business here in Asheville.
How he finds the time to edit books while completing all his writing and editing work for Ray Access is a bit of a mystery, but he mentioned once that he prefers working to sleeping. However he does it, 2014 marked a high point in his freelance book-editing business. Here are reviews and more for each of the three books:
Not Lost for Lookin’
Mark met author Lexi Boeger through mutual friends, and they became friends themselves. The novel — subtitled “A fly-fishing romance ghost-story adventure of the high Sierras!” — is everything that implies, and more. Lexi proved herself to be an excellent writer, taking Mark’s constructive criticisms and embellishing them. Find out more about Lexi and the book at Smashwords. Here are some reviews:
“Not Lost for Lookin’ captures the shimmering light off a Sierra trout stream and examines the dust of generations collected in the back of a gold-rush bar. Pairs well with a dusty bottle of bourbon.” –Alex Stephens, fisherman
“Lexi Boeger takes us through a great modern take on an old western/ghost yarn, complete with incredible descriptions of the sierras and love for the mysteries they hold. Her characters are vivid, raw and compelling.” – Julie A Rohrer
Other People’s Money
Elizabeth Russell is an Asheville local who’s worked in the charitable foundation world for 20 years. She had already rewritten this mystery novel several times and submitted it to a contest before coming to Mark for help. Together, they refined the plot and characters, and Elizabeth did the rest, capping her long, determined journey to publication. You can buy the book and read more about it on Amazon.com. Here are several reviews:
“Foundations need not be mysterious, but this novel about grant-making by someone who knows foundations well clearly belongs on the mystery-lover’s bookshelf.” –Dorothy Ridings, former president, Council on Foundations
“Elizabeth Russell has crafted a compelling and most intriguing narrative sure to make the reader smile with satisfaction and delight.” –Mark Constantine, author of Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination
Farmer & Chef Asheville
Collaborators and curators Debby Maughans and Christine Sykes Lowe collected a treasure trove of recipes and stories from Asheville bakers, chefs, bed-and-breakfast owners, farmers, bartenders and more in this unique cookbook. It gives the reader a “taste of Asheville,” which has become a real Foodtopia® in recent years. Mark has to take all the content and edit it to feel like a single voice. This beautifully designed book, the first of a series by Farmer & Chef South, should sell very well, both in Asheville and beyond. Here are some reviews about the book:
“As a producer for Chopped, I saw chefs from all over the country add bits of Southern food wisdom into their cooking. This cookbook, like Asheville itself, has a unique and progressive, but deeply rooted Southern sensibility. The recipes, essays, and rich photos will continue to inspire you.” –Kirstin Moburg Davis, producer, “Chopped,” Food Network
“I grew up visiting my grandparents in the Asheville of the 1980s, an era when the best meals could only be found in a home kitchen. My how things have changed. With gorgeous ingredients and mountain food traditions in mind, talented chefs and brewers have quietly built a vibrant food and drink culture that rivals any city in the South.” –Hunter Lewis, editor, Cooking Light
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Jan 21, 2013 | Announcement
Mark Bloom Recently Edits a Published Book
Joseph Campbell’s Wisdom Hits Close to Home
Two Asheville locals “follow their bliss” to create an unusual yet meaningful book.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell (1904–1987)
Mark Bloom and Linda Ray follow their bliss as the duo behind Ray Access. But both find other outlets for their creative and professional passions. For Mark, editing books (fiction and nonfiction) allows him to focus all his talent on a goal with two parts: helping an author create a marketable work and improving the author’s skill set.
Asheville author Dielle Ciesco took the words of mythologist Joseph Campbell to heart and started writing. Mark gave her words the heartbeat needed to make them come alive. By following their bliss, the two created a book that was accepted by the first publisher it was presented to. The results are apparent in the work, The Unknown Mother: A Magical Walk with the Goddess of Sound, published this month (January 2013) by Roundfire Books (ISBN: 978-1780996318).
The book personifies the kind of collaboration that makes Asheville a unique and thriving arts community. A vocal activist, healer, and teacher, Ciesco’s book is based on a lifetime exploring the mysteries and subtleties of the power of voice, the meaning of words, and the properties of sound. But writing the book became a journey in itself.
Ciesco at first tried to write an educational book to capture all the archaic research and practical experience she had acquired. After struggling with it for years, she had a brainstorm to turn the information into a novel.
“The book took on a life of its own,” Ciesco says. But the change to fiction also led to new challenges. Novels from unknown writers aren’t the easiest to get published. “I knew I had to present a very clean package and was willing to invest in that,” she says.
To realize her bliss in print, she turned to Asheville editor Mark Bloom, who does work for Ray Access, a local web content provider. Bloom’s passion lies in editing. His bliss led him through many careers, all involving the written word, including a stint editing at Lark Books.
“Working with Mark was easy,” Ciesco says. “He would take a sentence or paragraph and make it say exactly what I wanted with precision and flow. He had some really great ideas that made the book better.” When asked about the collaboration, she admits, “I really had no idea how deep the editing process could go. Mark made sure the story was unified and was a big support in making my characters more interesting.”
The book represents Ciesco’s life work, which is far from complete. “Going through the editing process has definitely made me a better writer,” she says. “I really internalized the things I learned from Mark, and that’s going into my second book right off the bat.”
About Dielle Ciesco: Dielle specializes in the transformational power of the voice to heal and connect us with our own Divinity. With over 18 years experience as a performer and healing facilitator, she teaches, writes, sings, creates art, and helps clients. Contact her at info at thevoiceoflife.com.
About Mark Bloom: A professional writer since 1989, Mark has contributed to five published books. As an editor, he loves guiding authors to improve their work and their skills. He has a number of projects in various stages of development. Contact him at mark at rayaccess.com.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
by Mark Bloom | Aug 28, 2012 | Announcement
We’ve Launched a Content Business in Asheville
If you put a writer and an editor together, what do you have? Some might posit you’d have two underemployed dreamers who are on the government dole. Others might claim that you’d have the wait staff at a local restaurant. Fortunately, both conjectures are way off.
Writer Linda Ray and editor Mark Bloom have joined forces, combining their collective years of experience and expertise to form Ray Access, a content provider service firm catering to companies who wish to increase their online presence and establish themselves as authorities in their respective industries.
With more people searching the Internet to shop, research, or just read, more companies are discovering the value of providing compelling and informative copy to attract them. Fresh content is key for you to reach that goal. And that’s what Ray Access provides. Visit our Portfolio page for a selection of articles we’ve provided past and present clients.
In this blog, Linda and Mark will share more about our value-added service and explain our business model and why you need what we do. We will also use this platform to share our thoughts and opinions on a number of related topics. Business is about relationships, and we want to develop one with you.
We welcome your feedback on this or any of our blog posts. Use our Contact form to share your thoughts, experiences, or rebuttals. We look forward to our ongoing dialog.
Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.
