What is Your Dream Writing Job and What are You Doing to Get it?

We all think about our writing goals for the year when the new year comes around. Now we’re at the mid-point. Are your writing dreams still alive and well? Are you working towards your goals?

I think it’s important to always have that “dream job” in the back of your head, whether or not you think it’s ever going to happen. It reminds you why you love being a writer, and it gives you something to strive for.

I’m going to tell you a bit about my “dream writing job,” and what I’m doing to get there. And I’d love it if you would share your own goals and how you’re working towards them here in the comments (or share a success story if you’ve reached those goals already). Do you want to hit a certain income level? Do you want a full-time writing job? Do you want to be a freelance writer if you’re not already? A professional blogger? A published author? Tell me.

My Dream Writing Job

My ideal writing job wouldn’t involve clients. That’s not because I don’t love my clients - most are fantastic to work with. It’s because I want to be earning my primary income through my own websites, blogs, and informational products.

I’m shooting for the end of 2009 at this point. I figure when my blogs are collectively earning $4-5k per month, I’ll either quit taking on new clients or I’ll take on far fewer to focus my full-time hours on my sites (so I can continue to build the income from there). I think it’s a realistic goal and time frame. I talked last year about how I took my business blog alone to $2k per month. Right now, several are making a few hundred dollars per month, and slowly growing as I’ve been getting back into regular postings. That’s going to be the key for me - keeping the blogs alive with fresh content.

So essentially I guess you can say my goal is to be a full-time professional blogger. I’ve always advocated “writing for yourself,” so I doubt that’s a big surprise. Of course I’ll also be doing other projects like e-books and hopefully spending more time writing books to either self-publish or pitch to publishers (I have an indie music marketing series I’ve been dying to spend time on and self-publish for a few years now for example, and have several books in the works that I’ll likely pitch to publishers).

What I’m Doing to Get There

The biggest focus at the moment is to get my “final blog lineup” in order. I’m building two new blogs that I’m hoping to launch Saturday (AllBookWriting.com and JennSays.com). That would put me at 10 active blogs that I’ll be trying to post to regularly (and monetize). I’ll be building and flipping a few others as well, but they’re not a part of the long-term plan.

I’m also putting a lot of effort into keeping things updated. I’m trying to get myself into a better set routine, so I never feel overwhelmed by the number of blogs. When all ten are live, I’m thinking most will be 2-3 day per week blogs (this one, the freelance writing jobs blog, BizAmmo.com, and NakedPR.com will usually see more posts).

I’m re-evaluating monetization plans for the bigger blogs right now. I’ll be removing some ads, incorporating others, adjusting placements, and altering designs / themes if necessary. I’m also looking into quite a few affiliate products that may be worth promoting. I’ve purchased a few, am testing them, and if I actually like them, I’ll refer them on my various sites.

I’m also plotting informational product plans for certain blogs - like the Web Writer’s Guide e-book series for WebWritersGuide.com. I’m hoping these types of things will become a primary income source from my blogging.

A final thing I’m doing is starting to build email lists (such as for my PR blog). Why? Because those will be valuable promotional tools when it comes time to pitch my book on a related subject to potential publishers.

I’ve got the “big picture” in the back of my mind at all times, doing little things now to make that “dream job” a reality within a reasonable time frame.

It’s your turn. What do you want to do as a writer, and how do you plan to make it happen?

Posted in Freelance Writing Careers | 5 Comments »

Blog Launch Checklist

We were recently talking about setting up your own blogs. I shared my favorite resources. I let you know where I find my Wordpress themes. And then I let you know how to install Wordpress, and how to install themes. I’m currently in the process of setting up two new blogs (eventually going up at AllBookWriting.com and JennSays.com), so today I’m going to share a basic rundown of my full blog launch process. While I don’t follow it exactly for every blog, it’s pretty close, and may help you get through the blog launch process if you’re new to it.

Blog Launch Checklist

___ Decide on a niche / topic / theme.

___ Jot down some preliminary post ideas (make sure you can think of enough topics to keep the blog going, and it will help you set up your category structure).

___ Choose and register a domain name.

___ Set up a Web hosting account (I usually use Hostgator - I have a few accounts in different places to install new blogs on, so I don’t need to do this each time. If you plan to launch multiple blogs, you may want to find a host that allows you to host them together.)

___ Set up an email address (I generally set up an email account for each domain I have. If you want to do this, you should be able to through your host.)

___ Install the blog platform (in my case that’s always Wordpress).

___ Find and install a theme (the blog design template).

___ Customize the theme if you plan to, and add your own graphics (including your logo).

___ Set up your category structure.

___ Add your blogroll or links list if you plan to include one.

___ Go to Feedburner and burn your feed to be able to track your RSS feed stats.

___ Install and activate any plugins. (I usually activate Akismet to control comment spam. I also usually install the Add Meta Tags plugin whether or not I plan to use it for each post, and the Feedburner Feedsmith plugin which converts your feed links to your Feedburner address.)

___ Change your permalink structure in the options if you plan to (I usually make this show the category and post name instead of just a post number).

___ Set up your ads or any widgets (such as if you want to add a MyBlogLog widget or something). Some people prefer to not put ads in until they build an audience. I’ve always considered that dishonest - leading readers to believe it will remain that way. So I include them immediately. It also helps you solidify your long-term layout.

___ Set up any necessary “pages.” These would be things like your About page. Remember, if you plan to use Google Adsense on your blog now, you’re required to have a privacy policy in place, so it’s a good time to add one.

___ Set up an email subscription form if you plan to have this feature. I prefer using Feedblitz for this.

___ Create initial posts / content to cover at least the first week.

___ Start announcing your blog (on other sites of yours, in forum sigs, etc.).

Posted in Blogging, Blogs and Websites | 10 Comments »

Interview with Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging.com

If you frequent freelance writing blogs, you may have come across ChrisBlogging.com. The blog is run by Chris Bibey, and it’s one of very few blogs I try to check in on regularly. While Chris shares good advice on everything from the day-to-day life of a freelance writer to specific types of writing work available, he’s probably best known for being the blogger who shares his monthly freelance writing income to help inspire others.

Recently Chris blogged about reaching the $9k level during a month through his freelance writing work. Seeing the reaction on a particular forum, I thought I’d nag him for a chat, pick his brain a bit, and see what we could get him to tell you about his success and how you can do the same.

What Chris Does

To kick things off, I wanted to know exactly what kind of freelance writer Chris is. He covers a variety of types of projects, noting recently on his blog that the bulk of his work falls within three categories: feature articles, corporate blogging, and keyword articles.

Upon asking if he takes on any other types of freelance writing gigs, Chris said “I have written more sales letters than I can remember. Some of these are used for online “landing pages” and others in direct mail packages. To go along with this, I am asked for an occasional press release, but this is not an area that I concentrate a lot of my time.”

Feature Articles

Let’s face it - “feature article” can mean a lot of things. Does Chris ghostwrite, or does he stick to bylined work? Does he generally write Web features or does he write for print publications. In fact, he likes to mix it up. Here’s what he had to say:

“To answer your first question, I would say that it is about 50/50 as of late. Some publications only publish the articles online, others only in print, and some do both. Although I like to get a byline where possible, a lot of times this is not always the case. Check out [this link] for a feature that appeared both online and in print!”

Keyword Articles

Chris also mentioned that he writes keyword / SEO articles. These are the types of articles that tend to give Web writers a bad name. You know the ones I mean - the “I’ll pay you $5 to write an incoherent 500 words on something you know nothing about, even if you can’t speak English, just as long as you throw these keywords in there at this density level,” types of gigs.

But not all keyword articles are poorly paid. Some are well written. Some clients even combine feature articles with SEO articles. Honestly, I love this type of work when it pays well. I usually get these clients through my freelance writing site or referrals, but I know a lot of writers pick up SEO writing gigs solely from answering ads. Let’s see where Chris finds his keyword article gigs:

“Most of my new clients find me in one way, shape, or form. Some come from blog, others from referrals. I will respond to ads, but as I have become more established, I am definitely more selective when doing so.”

Corporate Blogging

I have to admit, I don’t do as much blogging for others as I’d like to, but when I do, they’re some of the best gigs out there (for private clients - not talking about blog networks here). They’re also some of the least-advertised positions, so you often have to be more aggressive in finding and getting corporate blogging gigs (which can pay very well by the way). Chris shared his thoughts on corporate blogging and tells you how he gets the gigs:

“Corporate blogging has quickly become one of my favorite writing activities. I love working with these clients because the projects are fun, and I can learn quite a bit along the way. Most of these projects come from referrals. For instance, a past client of mine sent my name to several “partner” companies and several of them hired me within a couple of weeks. If you do good work, your clients are definitely going to pass your name along to others; you don’t even have to ask in most cases.”

In the Money

OK. I know what you really want to know - what about that $9k?? How long did it take Chris to reach that income level? What’s different between his writing career now and when he was still a newbie? Well, I asked him:

“I have been a full-time freelance writer for three years or so, but worked on “side projects” well before that. Within three months of going full-time I was earning a full-time income, and from there I continued to build my business to this current level of income.

The biggest difference between my career now and when I started was the clients that I work with. I am still the same person, but I have learned that there are high paying clients out there and it is important to seek them out.”

I know Chris doesn’t like to share too many details on specific clients, but I’m nosy. So I wanted to know, if he won’t tell us who he’s working for now, what his favorite gig was (to give you a more specific example of the kind of work he’s doing).

“As a huge sports fan, anything that has to do with this topic is always exciting. Perhaps my favorite gig was my most recent book, Open your Hearth with Basketball. When writing this book I had the opportunity to interview many of the biggest names in the basketball world. The completed project was approximately 150 pages, and to tell you the truth, it was one of the most difficult tasks of my career. Writing a book can take up a lot of time; and this one wasn’t even that long. The nice thing about this book was that I earned a small advance, over $1k, and I also earn royalties every quarter.”

How NOT to Earn Like Chris

Are you content not earning as much as you could be from your freelance writing? Probably not. Here’s what Chris thinks your biggest mistake may be if you’re not at an income level you’re happy with yet:

“The biggest mistake in my mind is that freelance writers are content working for low wages and staying in this rut year in and year out. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with getting your feet wet; even if the rates are a bit low. But this is not something that freelancers should get used to. In order to reach a higher level of income you need to find clients that pay better; it is that simple!”

Final Thoughts

And you know I have to go all stereotypical on you and ask the classic question: what advice does Chris have to share with all of you newer writers (or established writers feeling that they’re in a rut) out there?

“New freelance writers should concentrate on offering high quality content and pleasing every client. Money is good, but if you are only working for the pay it is going to show in the work that you complete.

Established freelance writers who are struggling to progress their career should do three things: network, network, network. While that is really only one thing, it is very important in my eyes. If you want to grow without having to market your services day in and day out, there is no better way of doing this than networking which will in turn lead to more work and referrals.”

Now - it’s time to go check out ChrisBlogging for yourself.

Tags: chris bibey, chrisblogging, corporate blogging, feature articles, freelance writers, freelance writing, interview, keyword articles, sales letters, seo articles

Posted in Interviews | 2 Comments »

Freelance Friday: June 20, 2008

Wow. Can you believe it’s Friday again already? Where did this week go? Anyway, here are some blog posts related to freelance writing that you may find interesting if you have some time to read them this weekend, including a few from other blogs of mine that happen to be relevant. Enjoy!

• Freelance Writing Routine
• The Most Important Marketing Tip for Web Writers
• The Importance of Testing Web Copy
• PC Vitals for Every Freelance Writer
• When You Should Just Say “No” to New Projects
• The Five Most Common Mistakes of Female Freelancers
• The Five Most Common Mistakes of Male Freelancers
• Seven Powerful Tips for Maximizing Your Freelance Writing Business
• 6 Simple Steps for Starting Your Freelance Writing Blog
• 10 Network Blogging Survival Tips
• Freelance Writing: How Thin Should You Spread Yourself?

Posted in Writers' Resources | No Comments »

How to Get Decent Freelance Writing Gigs from Forums

A common marketing / networking tool for new freelance writers is the forum. You can join forums in just about any niche - sometimes they’re stand-alone sites and sometimes they’re an add-on community to another resource. But how can you use forums to get decent freelance writing gigs? Here are a few tips that I use regularly to get high-paying gigs from online forums:

• Join more than just writing forums. While they’re great for networking with other writers, they won’t necessarily put you in front of large numbers of your target client base.
• On that note, join communities frequented by your target market. For example, if you want to write Web marketing copy for online businesses, look for forums that cater to the webpreneur crowd. If you want to publish only in a specific niche, look into forums based on that niche.
• Join forums that allow you to include a signature (sig) link below your posts. Add a link to your professional site that details your services, and make it clear in your signature that you write on the subjects of interest to that audience.
• Don’t spam. Do I really have to say more about that? If a forum has specific rules about who can advertise, where, and when, follow them.
• Post a lot - and don’t only post to advertise or to respond to ads. The more active and helpful you are within the forum itself, the more likely people will know who you are, care about what you can do or have to say, and the better your overall reputation will be. For example, I post a lot about using press releases effectively, because my primary market is people wanting professional press releases written. I get a lot of clients willing to pay my rates (which can be more than four times as much as some writers on the same forum), because they can see from my informational posts that I really know what I’m talking about. Demonstrating knowledge in your subject matter or type of writing specialty builds trust amongst potential clients. I easily get more gigs this way than from posting ads or replying to them.

It all seems like common sense, but every day I see hoards of newer freelance writers going about it the wrong way, subjecting themselves either to fewer gigs than they could otherwise get or to lower pay than they could otherwise earn for the same work.

Posted in Publicity / Marketing, Writing Tips | No Comments »

Why I Prefer Freelance Writing for the Web

You’ve probably come across the freelance writing debate of writing for the Web versus writing for print markets before. Some people still look down on Web writers, and think if we don’t write for print markets, we’re not “real” or “professional” writers. I think those views still exist solely out of ignorance. What do you think?

I think one of the biggest problems the print-only advocates have is that they look at one type of Web writing (such as SEO Web content writing that you’ll see people doing for peanuts, and without any semblance of quality), and they equate it to all Web writers. What they often miss or neglect is the fact that most, if not all, of those print publications they write for actually have online versions. Those publications also hire equally-qualified writers to create unique articles for their online presence.

Personally, I prefer writing for the Web (although I have no problem with print markets, and actually wish I had more time to pitch a few). Here’s why:

• Your work is published far more quickly.
• Your work is more easily accessible to more eyes (and it’s easier for you to share it with people you want to see it - just link to it, email a link to someone, etc. - this also makes them easier portfolio pieces for clients wanting quick samples).
• Contrary to popular belief, you can earn just as much money writing for the Web as you can writing for print markets (if you don’t want crap rates, you simply reject those gigs just as you’d reject one of the many print publications that doesn’t want to pay you your rates - personally I rarely work for less than $.20 / word and have worked for well over $1.00 per word entirely online - equal to what print publications in my niches are generally paying).
• You often get paid more quickly writing for the Web. I believe I only have one client that is currently paying by check, where there’s a delay after delivery. All other clients pay online before I start on the work, or with the payment due right away - there’s no processing time to deal with in most cases. For larger publications, you may still have to wait for payments though, so check on their policies (or make your own clear) before working with someone new. Then you won’t have any surprises.
• Writing for reputable Web publications can do just as much (if not more) for your credibility as print publishing (lets face it… I’m more likely to recognize a name of a reputable niche blogger these days than some “expert writer” who freelanced for some magazine, no matter how big the magazine is).

So what do you prefer? Print writing or Web writing, and why?  Why do you think some people still look down on Web writers, and do you think they’re justified? Do you see any other perks in Web writing that you feel I’ve missed?

Posted in Freelance Writing Careers, Web Writing | 3 Comments »

Successfully Managing Multiple Blogs

I mentioned in a recent post that I’m a bit of a blog addict. I have my ups and downs - times where all or most of my blogs are updated regularly (like now) and times where they start to slip a bit. All of those “up” times have something in common though - the planning and organization I put into my blog postings. I thought I’d share the simple process I follow that helps to keep me on track when managing multiple blogs today:

Post Lists

Some of my blogs are more evergreen than others (they don’t need newsy or time-sensitive content). For these blogs (all actually - for others I mix news content with evergreen posts), I keep a running list of blog post ideas whenever I have them.

I used to keep a large master list in a text file, but found that when the lists became too large I would sometimes feel overwhelmed. So now I keep a large index card for each blog that I’m currently trying to keep updated, and I list my blog post ideas that way. It forces me to not look beyond a week or two - allowing me to plan without putting too much on my plate.

Weekly Blog Chart

This incredibly simple chart is really the key, whether or not I have specific blog post ideas laid out for the blogs. I used to do this on a white board, but lately they’re filled with other things, so again I use a large index card.

I simply create a chart with eight columns - one where I list each blog and then one for each day of the week - simple, right?

I decide how often I want to post on each individual blog, and I come up with a post schedule that I’d like to stick to for that week. For some it might be daily. For others it might be daily, but with weekends off. For others still, it may only be three days a week. Let’s use that as an example.

Let’s say I want to update one of my blogs three days this week. I may decide that Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would make the most sense for me. I’ll then go to my chart and “X” out any days where I don’t plan to post - so everything but Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here.

Then I sit down and start writing blog posts for the coming week (I try to get as much of this done in a sitting or two as possible, so I’m not constantly facing my own blog deadlines all week). As I complete a post and set it to drip on its post date, I check off that day for that blog on my chart.

Again, pretty simple stuff, but it really does keep me on track when I can see the “big picture” of how many posts I need to do and on what topics.

Do you manage several blogs? How do you keep them updated, keep yourself organized, and most importantly keep yourself sane?

Posted in Blogging | 4 Comments »

Taking Your Fingers for Granted

I learned not to take my feet for granted after breaking an ankle in five places as a teenager and then breaking my other foot (also in five place oddly enough) a few years back. But apparently I was taking my fingers for granted, given how much of my work revolves around typing - you just don’t think about them, you know?

So last night I’m not sure what happened, but as I was about to turn my lights out for the evening, I noticed I was bleeding (more than a little) from the tip of my right middle finger. The “funny” thing was that I didn’t feel anything at all, so I have no idea exactly when I did the damage.

Unfortunately it wasn’t just a paper cut or something - somehow I managed to carve out a nice little chunk of my finger, and rather deep. Kind of freaked me out.

I washed it off, bandaged it up, and went to bed. I tried typing this morning (bandage on), and it sucked to say the least. Now I have to keep the bandage off to type at all, and that makes it hurt a heck of a lot. Lovely.

Look. I’ve been bumped and bruised a lot. I’m anything but a dainty little girly girl type - I can take a lot worse. But it made me realize that I really do neglect my hands, which is terrible considering how vital they are to my work (at least until they finally perfect voice recognition software - but I won’t hold my breath on that being up to my standards any time soon).

And it made me wonder… do you do the same? Are you, as a writer, guilty of taking your hands for granted? What kinds of thoughts would be running through your mind if you suddenly couldn’t type for a day or more?

All I know is that I’m extremely happy that I got much of this week’s blogging (other than suffering though this post of course) finished yesterday, so it cut down the amount of typing I have ahead of me this week. Yay for being able to drip blog posts!

Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Oldies But Goodies - Past Freelance Writing Posts Still Worth a Visit

Given the time-oriented nature of blogs, sometimes some of our better posts seem almost lost and forgotten on the blog itself (even if not in search engines). So today I’d like to highlight a few of the older posts here at All Freelance Writing that are still relatively popular, and perhaps worth a look (especially if you’re new to the blog):

• How to Get High Paying Freelance Writing Jobs
• Setting Freelance Writing Rates the Right Way
• 5 Reasons Your Writing Career is Going Nowhere
• When to Turn Down a Writing Gig
• 14 Day E-book Writing Challenge
• My Number One Marketing Tip for Writers

Posted in General | No Comments »

Freelance Friday - June 13, 2008

And it’s time for another Freelance Friday collection of blog posts for freelance writers! Yay for the end of the work week! Let’s go meet some new faces and say hello to some of our favorite bloggers. Here’s what’s going on lately in the blogosphere on freelance writing:

• Freelance Writing: Becoming a Commentary Writer
• New Ways to Earn More Money as a Writer
• How to Start Blogging for Money
• The 5 Habits of Highly Successful Freelancers
• 4 Steps to Create a Great Pitch and Sell Your Writing
• How Batch Processing Made Me 10 Times More Productive
• The Cost of Starting a Freelance Writing Career
• Social Media, Karma, and Coffee Breaks in the Business of Freelance Writing
• Freelance Writing: Sales Letters
• The Mistake a Web Content Writer Should Never Make
• On Rates and New Clients: Does it Ever Make Sense to Accept a ‘Starting’ Rate?
• How to Get Blog Jobs: You Need a Plan
• What Makes a Successful Blogger Successful?
• Tough Decisions in Freelance Writing
• What Can Writers Do in a Down Economy?
• Here is How Most Authors Approach Publicity
• How do You Tell People You’re a Writer?
• 100 Useful Web Tools for Writers
• Interview with Self Publishing Guru Peter Bowerman
• Want to be a Freelance Writer? Get Ready for Business!
• Magazine ‘Lead Times’
• Free Report: The Great Copywriting Conspiracy
• Get Your Headline Mojo Moving: 52 Idea Starters, No Excuses

Tags: Copywriting, freelance writers, freelance writing, writing, writing blogs

Posted in Writers' Resources | 10 Comments »