I’m depressed. Yes, yes, I know this isn’t LiveJournal but still…depressed. Huh? What? Tear myself away from this jelly doughnut and tell you my problems? Huh? …whatever…sure…

The Background

This week, as I explored writing markets to report them to you here, I tried to break into the market at Digital Point Forums (DPF). When I was a new online freelance writer working for the content mills, people used to stop by my blog and suggest I try to pick up clients in the Buy/ Sell/ Trade forum on DPF. I did and got some gigs that ranged in price from .01 per word to about .03 per word.

Of course, the underground market on DPF (as I think Jenn refers to it) is much more lucrative than the Buy/ Sell/ Trade (BST) forum. In the underground market, webmasters send you unsolicited private messages and offer you fantastic gigs because they’ve been watching you and liked your style. I’ve scored many ongoing clients this way, and made some good deals. But many people don’t have the patience to wait around for those super secret private messages to start coming in and instead apply for jobs in BST.

Since my goal in this series is to help you find variety and fulfillment in your career and start increasing the amount you get paid for your writing NOW while continuing to put food on your family, I decided to go to BST just like I thought you might.

And now I’m sitting here covered in jelly like a toddler eating her first birthday cake.

The Work?

So why am I so traumatized? Because they didn’t like me…they really didn’t like me. No, wait—don’t be angry. I tried everything, I swear. I bid sorta low…then sorta high. Then, out of complete desperation, I started offering to flash people if they at least let me write for them for free.

Nothing. No takers. Not. A. One.

I played by all the rules. I bid on only those gigs I was impressively qualified for. I tried to craft my responses so they sounded open and eager without feeling desperate and victimy. I double checked my spelling and didn’t use any of those made up words that often fill my blog posts (‘cause I’m trying to get style points). I did everything that a million condescending blog posts written by my very own fingers have told you to do. And now, instead of working, I’m licking jelly from my knees.

The Verdict…I Guess

So what’s the moral of the story?

The moral, I guess, is that everyone goes through hard times when trying to get gigs. Luckily for me, this is just an experiment. My cats aren’t going to start gnawing on their own paws as they fade away from starvation. But in the anxiety of trying to have something to write about for this series, I started to get a little desperate in my bids. I know how that desperation feels when it’s money you need not a story for a blog post and it’s not pretty. It’s almost impossible to focus, write well, be a good spouse and parent, feel calm, and have a good life when you are facing that kind of desperation—and that is the one good thing about the content mills. They are there for you when you just can’t seem to find anything else.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to look. If I were doing this to find work I needed, I would not lament my inability to get a job on DPF right now. I would not lament the fact that I had to suck up one more week with boring work or extremely low paying work. I would move on to another market. Period. Because, as Jenn mentions in this old-as-dirt post, there is not just one writing market that we are all corralled into–there are many.

New writers and inexperienced bloggers might try to convince you that all web content writers are sharing the same market–but they are really just showing their inexperience. Every topic, outlet, niche, sub-niche, type of website, type of client, type of content has it’s own little market in this big, fat world. Just as there are many different ways to monetize a website there are many different markets to approach–each with its own pay and protocol. The DPF market that advertises in the BST is not a barometer of all the markets out there–neither are the content mills, Elance, Craigslist…etc.

The Secret (no…not that Secret)

The secret is to find your market and write the hell out of it. Also, there is no Santa. Sorry folks but someone had to do it.

Here’s what she had to say:

On How She Started Writing for Magazines…

“I had always wanted to become a writer but ended up getting my Master’s degree in Slavic Linguistics. I decided I didn’t want to continue with the PhD program and thought I might like to get into publishing instead. I did informational interviews with several publishers and realized that working at a magazine or book publisher wasn’t for me…but wouldn’t my experience with informational interviewing make a great magazine article! I whipped up my very first query and sent it to a magazine I saw listed in Writer’s Market. A while later, I received an acceptance in the mail. This was in 1996. After that, I started pitching and writing for trade and smaller magazines, such as AKFCF Quarterly, the magazine for KFC franchisees. In 1997, I moved to Massachusetts and went full-time freelance, and in 1999 I started breaking into national magazines like Redbook and Family Circle.”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“No! As I mentioned, my Master’s degree was in Slavic Linguistics. I was always a good writer, but I had no formal education or even experience. I just took a chance, and my first query sold for $500! Also, I wrote for publications that were way outside of my ken…for example, I certainly don’t have any inherent knowledge of KFC issues. But through writing for a wide variety of magazines, I developed specialties in several areas, including business and health.”

On How Writers can get Started in Magazine Writing…

“When I was first starting out in 1996, I had a 1,200-baud modem and as far as I know there weren’t any groups for writers online. Now, I advise new writers to take advantage of the wealth of support out there, from writers’ forums to online classes to online magazine directories like tradepub.com and writersmarket.com.

I started writing for print magazines, but now there are a lot of online options as well, such as online magazines and blogs. Just be sure that wherever you pitch, the market looks professional and has credibility. You won’t get much benefit out of writing for those sites that pay $4 per article and anyone and their dog can post pieces.”

On Things Prospective Freelance Magazine Writers Should Know…

“1. Be persistent! This is so important. So many writers send out one query, don’t get a reply or get a rejection, and give up. You need to get as many queries and letters of intro out there as you can. It’s a numbers game. Eventually, you’ll be more well-known in the industry, will be in a number of magazines’ ‘stables,’ and won’t have to pitch so much.

2. Value your skills. Many writers brag that they’re making hundreds per month on sites like Associated Content…but when you look, you see they’ve posted something like 1,200 articles. Your time and skill are worth more than that. Pitch places that pay, whether they be online or print. And don’t forget that everything is negotiable. If an editor approaches you with a puny rate, ask for more.

3. Be confident. Fear holds so many writers back. What if the editor hates my article? What if the editor thinks I’m stalking him if I follow up? And so on. Instead, think: What if the editor loves my article? What if I follow up at just the right time and land a assignment? (This just happened to me!) Also, don’t let the fear of making a mistake hold you back. An imperfect query in the hands of an editor has an infinitely higher chance at acceptance than one that sits on your hard drive forever as you “perfect” it. One of the assignments in my Get Unstuck! for Freelancers course is to send out a query with a typo in it. One of my students did this, by accident as it turns out, and the editor wrote back within an hour expressing an interest in her idea.”

On Linda Formichelli…

Linda Formichelli is the co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success and The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock, and has written for more than 120 magazines, including Redbook, Health, USA Weekend, Writer’s Digest, and Woman’s Day. She teaches an e-course called “Write for Magazines,” about how to write a killer query, and one called “Get Unstuck! for Freelancers,” which is about boosting your motivation and productivity. The next session of both starts on January 11, 2010; you can get more info at http://www.writeformagazines.com.
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I started my online career with Helium, moved up to Associated Content, went on to Textbroker, then added Demand Studios and Bright Hub to the roster. I got gigs with webmasters advertising on Digital Point Forums, bid at GetaFreelancer, and had a blog on Today.com that, in retrospect, is so cutely naive I almost want to vomit. Of course, by the time I was done with that blog I had gone from making .01 per word to .10 per word, so it is an interesting progression to watch.

With the help of Joe Wallace of The Freelance-Zone and Jenn’s e-book I realized that all those great business skills I had in the corporate world could transfer over to the online writing world. In fact, every skill I used to run an insurance office I needed to run my freelance writing business. Finding leads, networking marketing–all the same things I’d been doing for years I now needed for my own business. I also realized that I had been a writer long before I discovered I was one. All the training manuals I’d written, PowerPoint presentations I had developed, sales brochures I created and business plans I wrote were, in fact, writing and proved that I had a talent–even if I had no college degree to back me up.

One year later and my career is in a completely different place. I’m working for myself on a full time basis and supporting my husband and kitties on my income alone. I don’t work crazy hours and often enjoy short, 20 hour work weeks. My business is still in its infancy and I sometimes have holes in my schedule that I need to fill, but I am enjoying a relatively low-stress career (low-stress until I spook myself and suffer those little crisis of confidences) with a handful of great paying clients and fun and challenging writing assignments. I get most of my work through networking but that’s not always an exact science and is something that writers trying to get out of the full time content mill and penny-per-word habit have to stick with and cultivate.

Of course, cultivation doesn’t make money now and that’s why I’m exploring many different markets that freelance writers new to online work are often exposed to. I won’t be relying on just my old experiences with these markets, I’ll be applying for and taking on these gigs right now and giving you a play-by-play. In this series I’ll share what it’s like to get gigs on webmaster forums, content mills, residual income sites, bidding sites and more. I’ll give you tips to increase your success and let you know how the work feels. And while these may not be my traditional methods for getting gigs, I will treat every one with respect and care while I am executing them–after all, a paying client is a paying client. It’s not up to me to place a sliding scale value on their money.

As a final note, it is important to remember that these posts are not meant to opine on whether or not you should or shouldn’t use any of these sources. I don’t know your business model so I don’t know if one penny a word is a step up or down for you. My hope is that, at some point in the series, you’ll find a resource that you can use as your stepping stone toward creating the freelance writing business you want, not the one some random blogger tells you to be happy with.

Here’s what she had to say:

On How She Started Writing for Trade Publications…

“I started freelancing in 2001, after I realized I didn’t want my career to be in tech support! I had been a Law Enforcement Explorer (a Boy Scouts of America program) in high school and college, and as I contemplated becoming a writer, I realized police work was probably what I was best qualified to write about.

At the time, prior to 9/11, the big topic was school security. So I pitched an article about school resource officers in small towns. It ran in October — the month after 9/11 — and not too long after, I got a bunch of contracts through 2002.”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“Nothing formal. My degree is in Economics, but policy doesn’t figure too much into street-level police work! I had a good understanding of the fundamental issues police officers and departments were facing, so I let that drive my “6 questions” during interviews.”

On How Writers can get Started in Writing for Trades…

“Most trade magazines are struggling along with everyone else in the publishing industry, so I don’t think writers should expect to be immediately successful. However, I do think the time-tested strong, relevant query still counts for a lot. My first query had four positive responses because it was relevant to an important topic of the day, and it formed a basic outline of what I planned to cover.

If writers can/should be doing anything differently, it’s developing relationships with sources and editors via social media. I joined a law enforcement listserv when I started — now there are Ning groups like CopsOnline and Police Pulse. It’s also possible to get to know editors, sources and PR people via tools like LinkedIn and Facebook. (Trade magazines are often advertiser-driven, so the advertisers’ PR people are important to get to know.)”

On Things Prospective Trade Writers Should Know…

“1) It’s about the relationships. With editors, with sources and PR people. These are the people who will support your career, who help build your reputation. Stick especially with those you “bond” with. They bring the best opportunities, whether in the form of other sources or great stories.

2) Relationships take time to build. Starting out, I found it hard at times to work in a vacuum of no feedback. But I kept getting contracts, and not long after that, I found sources who talked to me because they liked what I was writing. I would say it took a good year to start building a strong reputation.

3) Be prepared for life contingencies. When I was pregnant with my first child, I figured I’d jump back into freelancing 6 or 8 weeks after his birth. I’d do interviews during his naps and type one-handed while holding him. Easy, right? Well, I never anticipated he would have severe acid reflux (try working on a computer around that!). I was more like 6 months out of work.

With my second, I took closer to a year off because I had them both at home full time. And neither one of them was ever a great sleeper, so I actually took on more editing during that time. I think that flexibility was key — it kept me sane, improved my writing skills, and kept me earning, even if it wasn’t my ideal work.”

On Christa Miller…

A freelance writer for the past eight and a half years, Christa M. Miller specializes in public safety. She now divides her time between freelancing, and consulting as a content and social media strategist for law enforcement agencies and vendors. You can follow her on Twitter @christammiller.

Here’s what Sussan had to say:

On How She Started in Screenwriting / Writing for Television …

“I had a day job working for the story editor / producer on an animated series as his writer’s assistant. As soon as I found out there were freelance slots open, I went in with 10 premises and pitched to him. I sold three in the room, wrote them, and got into the Writer’s Guild. It seems so simple when I read how it happened to me, but those three sentences took 5 years of plugging away, working for pennies on the dollar, skimping and starving to achieve my goal. But, ultimately, I did and when I saw my name up there, when I held my WGA card in my hand, it was all totally worth it. “

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“I went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Dramatic Writing Program, and I graduated with a dual BFA in Television and Screenwriting. When I first graduated from NYU, it seemed like that was enough. “Oh, she must be great, she went to NYU…” but it turned out that where I went to school was really of little relevance. NYU had me believing that “they” (the producers of the world) were handing out sit-coms at LAX to every New York transplant. That just wasn’t true.

While being an NYU grad helped people recognize I had some worth and an excellent education, the only thing that really mattered, as far as my screenwriting was concerned, was what was on the page. And if my samples weren’t impressive, the door was closed to me.

The only education that really helped me progress was doing. By producing an indie film in 1999, I learned I knew nothing. I didn’t know my ass from my elbow, but when you’re in charge of a 20 person crew and they’re all looking to you for the answers, you learn on the job. Screenwriting is the same. You don’t get to be a better writer by only doing it once. It takes years to develop a voice, a style, a concise and inventive way to tell a story that is both marketable and innovative. That comes with practice.”

On How Writers can get Started in Screenwriting & Writing for Television…

“How I started was a total accident and something that couldn’t be repeated again one in a thousand times in a lab. I moved to LA from NYC with $2500, a dog and two suitcases, and didn’t realize that my plan for Hollywood greatness was completely filled with flaws. I had no plan, which was the problem. I had three contacts, some basic street smarts and an NYU Screenwriting BFA. It didn’t occur to me I would need more, not being the progeny of a well-connected picture family. But I did.

I had many weird jobs; I sold shoes, was a phone psychic (I was actually pretty good), and then I got a production job as a receptionist on a television series. I met a writer’s assistant who told me that she temped when things were slow. She gave me the name of her temp lady. The show was cancelled two weeks later and three weeks after that I was temping at Saban Entertainment. I got my first “writing” job there, writing kids’ jokes for a game they were marketing. I was paid $500 for 1000 jokes, that plus my salary. I felt like a millionaire.

I went on to temp for a brief time at Universal in marketing, but they weren’t quite about me. I then went to Warner Bros. TV Animation to fill in because a writer’s assistant had become a writer and they needed someone who could “type under pressure.” My one week assignment turned into the start of my career. I got an agent while working at Warner Bros, I got a writing partner, I got many opportunities to pitch and be mentored, and when the time was right, I got my first job. But it was, what I like to call “a confluence of positivity;” a fancy way of saying “right place at the right time.”

But if I were to do it over again, I’d probably do it the same. I’m not a good planner. I’m sort of “It’ll work out” kind of gal, a fly by the seat of her pants life adventurer. If you are looking to not live every moment on the edge and want something more stable, then I would think things through. You have to make a living to support your writing habit. It’s going to take a while for you to break in and start making money, if you ever even get to. So, figure out what you can do and do it, all while plugging away to make sure you achieve your dream. Tenacity is the biggest hurdle for the new LA screenwriter. If you can keep going, even through the lean times, and still have to tell stories just to scratch that burning itch to communicate, then you’ll make it.”

On Things Prospective Screenwriters & TV Writers Should Know…

“You are you and you’re not anyone else. I know that sounds like “high talk” but it’s serious. Wanting to be a Hollywood screenwriter means that you no longer can measure your life based on someone else’s yardstick. I don’t care about your mother’s friend’s daughter Susie who is a lawyer now, with 2.5 kids, a house with a yard and is making $150 K a year. Susie isn’t a screenwriter. Her life’s achievements are ticked off differently than ours. My parents can’t understand why it’s still so hard for me to get work, when I’ve already been produced. I explain to them, it’s not for lack of effort. I do something everyone in the world wants to do and thinks they can do better. If I had put this much effort into being a NASA scientist, I’d have colonized Mars by now. But there’s only so many shows, and there are so many writers, writers better than me, writers worse than me, writers better connected than me. You’re most likely not always going to get the job. When you get the job it’s great. You need to decide what matters to you, find your own path and get it done. It’s not a lifestyle for everyone, but if it’s for you, then you can’t care what other people think. Just do your best writing every day, strive to improve, never give up and you’ve already succeeded.

Also, I did learn that all the best networking in the world isn’t going to make money come through the door, if your script isn’t spectacular. I feel the work is the most important thing. Do no write checks your ass can’t cash. You can’t talk yourself up as the greatest screenwriting talent in the world and not have a single sample to show someone. You should have a sample in every genre, because people are weird and they might need to see something specific. For example, my portfolio has some multi-purpose specs, but I wrote one for almost every hit show (Entourage, Two and a Half Men, My Name is Earl, Drawn Together, The Office) my first sample was a Mad About You. I found it recently when I moved. I cringed fearing it was terrible, but it was typo free and showed promise! I was pleased. It read like them and that felt good. So, just keep in mind that while you might love Entourage and your Entourage spec, someone needing a sample might hate Entourage, but love Drawn Together, so best to be prepared. Oh, a little tip, a 22-minute adult animated spec can count for two, both a half hour sample and an animation sample. Getting double out of your spec buck, is a good thing. You only get one chance to make a good first impression, do that by actually having a script ready, better yet a library, so whomever you deal with knows you’re serious and have the capacity to churn out the pages. Make sure it’s not only excellent, but it’s polished, professional and as typo free as humanly possible.”

On Xandy Sussan…

Xandy Sussan is a professional, produced screenwriter with a 10-year long track record of success. Xandy also runs a full service story analysis company. She provides services for screenwriters and novelists including standard coverage, editing, formatting, development services, ghostwriting, rewriting, novel adaptations, and basic consultations. She has read over 1500 scripts and 750 novels since opening her doors in 1999 and continues to be the most trusted voice in script development with a client list including Warner Bros., Miramax, Handprint Entertainment, and Jennifer Lopez, along with many independent writers who have gone on to win contests and sell their scripts successfully. You can learn more about Xandy at http://CoverMyScript.com or follow her on Twitter @CoverMyScript.

Here’s what Angela had to say:

On How She Started in Copywriting…

“By accident. In the early 1980s I was writing romance novels for a British publisher (MacDonald Futura) and running a business as well. I considered myself a novelist. When I was growing up, I thought that all “real” writers wrote books, so I wasn’t interested in other forms of writing. The happiest day of my life was when I received a phone call to tell me that my first book had been accepted.

So I was happily writing novels, and running this business; it was a dog training operation. We were spending way too much money on straight advertising. I decided we needed publicity, and wrote some press releases, which brought in lots of customers. From then on, business colleagues and acquaintances asked me to write their publicity and advertising, and my copywriting career was launched.

For many years, all my copywriting clients came to me by word of mouth. Looking back, this was a good thing, because I knew the people, knew what they sold, and knew their businesses. This made writing copy easy; doing research before I wrote was automatic; I just talked to my clients. That became an excellent habit. Many new copywriters skimp on the research phase and write copy before they know the product they’re selling, and the copy suffers for it.”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“Formal education-wise, the best thing I ever did was to take a marketing course. It took a couple of years of evening classes.

Experience-wise, for many years, the only copywriting I did for others was copywriting I was doing for myself. In the early years (1980s), I wrote advertising and press releases; I was doing it for the business anyway, and did it for others too.

This helped me to get very comfortable writing copy and testing it.”

On How Writers can get Started in Copywriting…

“Start off by working out what kinds of copy you want to write. Copywriting is a huge field. I begin my “Seven Days Copywriting” product by saying that copy is all around us, from the time we wake in the morning (spots on the radio, commercials on TV and the Internet, product labels on toothpaste, copy on cereal boxes…) until we fall into bed at night. Therefore, a new freelance copywriter needs to work out what kinds of copy he wants to write.

Once you know what you want to write, you can get an education in that. If someone who wants to freelance as a copywriter is already a writer, that’s a big help. Then you can write your own copy (as I did and have always done), and once you’re happy that you know what you’re doing, you can write copy for others.

There’s a HUGE market for copywriting, but most business people have a limited understanding of copywriting — many aren’t even aware that they can hire people to write their marketing collateral.

The Internet means that just about anyone can get hired to write copy, so it’s just a matter of learning, and you can earn while you learn.

As well as being a huge market for direct-response kinds of traditional copywriting, the Internet’s throwing up new opportunities all the time, especially in the audio-visual field — you can get hired to write video and audio scripts, as well as to maintain pages on social media sites like Facebook.

Learn and earn — that’s the best advice I could give anyone who’s thinking about taking up freelance copywriting.”

On Things Prospective Copywriters Should Know…

“Firstly, get comfortable selling. I’ve always found this easy, because when I started, I was focused on something else — the business I was running. I knew we provided a great services, and was focused on telling people about it. Selling came easily. Then I was focused on helping other small businesses and writing copy for them — and again, it was easy, because I could see that their products/ services were brilliant, and I loved getting the word out.

So being comfortable selling [is] vital, but it’s easier said than done. I know this from my own experience. I’ve always been great at marketing for others, but for most of my career fought shy of marketing myself. I didn’t have to do it — until around 2001, I was always too busy (writing books, magazine articles and writing for my copywriting clients) to worry about it.

Then the tech wreck happened, and suddenly many of my magazine clients vanished. I decided I’d make up the difference in income with copywriting clients, and that meant marketing, but it was hard — I had a visceral disgust about saying to people “I’m a great copywriter, hire me!” Which was funny, in a way; I was happy to market others, but very reluctant to do it for myself. So I forced myself to do it, and do it, and finally it became fun.

That’s the secret: if you love writing and want to write copy, but hate selling, just face it, and do it anyway. I promise that it WILL become fun for you, and you won’t look back.

Secondly, realize that your clients NEED you, and that they’re intimidated by you. This is a revelation to most new copywriters. They’re comfortable with words, and don’t think it’s a big deal, but most business people are not comfortable with words. They struggle even to produce a brief, let alone write copy. So if you’re a new copywriter, realize that your clients can’t do what you do, and moreover, they’re leery of you. They think skill with words is spooky — it’s witchcraft. New copywriters get lots of confidence when they realize that their clients need them.

Thirdly, be honest. When you’re new to copywriting, admit it. People will help you. You should always be honest in your copy too — if you think a product stinks, don’t take the gig. If you’re lying in your copy, people will know. This is the reason people talk about “hard sell” and “cheesy” copywriting. They know that the copywriter’s lying. Real copy vanishes — it’s completely transparent. If people read your copy, and feel uncomfortable, it means that the copy is lousy. Your own discomfort shines through. Be honest — there’s no other way to write good copy.”

On Angela Booth…

Angela Booth is a top copywriter, writing teacher and author. She’s been writing copy for around 30 years. Her writing blog at http://www.angelabooth.biz/ discusses copywriting and other forms of writing. If you’re a writer, and would like to begin a freelance copywriting career, Angela can help you to do that, in just seven days, at http://abmagic.com/Copywriting/copywriting.html

In the meantime, here’s what Marshall had to say about how he became an author and what you should keep in mind if you’d like to do the same:

On How he Became a Novelist…

“I started writing novels when I was eleven, but it wasn’t until years later that it finally dawned on me that I was creating novels only for myself and wasn’t truly thinking about publishers’ and readers’ needs. So I started from scratch, cold-bloodedly studied the market, targeted a genre in which editors were aggressively buying, and came up with a fresh angle. These were my Jane Stuart and Winky mysteries–cozies featuring an amateur sleuth no one had done before: a literary agent. I created a proposal and within a month had a three-book contract. I’m currently at work on my tenth novel, which will be published in late 2010.”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“I’m constantly reading cozy mysteries to see what’s being done and what isn’t. That’s the most important kind of education–knowing the market inside and out. Experience helps, of course (I based my first series on my own experience as an agent), but thorough research can take the place of experience. My current series, the Hidden Manhattan Mysteries, feature a New York Sanitation Department supervisor. I’ve had a ball researching–touring SDNY garages, interviewing personnel, and so on.”

On How Writers can get Started in Novel Writing…

“At any given time it’s important to find out the genres in which editors are currently actively buying. Of course, the genre also needs to appeal to you. Right now, for example, paranormal is huge, so fresh ideas in this genre are welcome.”

On Things Prospective Novelists Should Know Up Front…

“1. You will probably not be able to make a living solely from your writing any time soon, if ever.

2. It takes a while to build a readership, so you must be patient and keep at it.

3. There may be times when you have to change course–start a new series, change your name, change publishers. It’s how this business goes.”

On Evan Marshall…

Evan Marshall is the author of a number of popular mystery novels; recently released in his Hidden Manhattan mystery series are Death is Disposable and Evil Justice; coming in March 2010 is Dark Alley. Learn more about Evan’s mysteries at http://www.evanmarshallmysteries.com. He is president of the Evan Marshall Agency, a literary management firm specializing in fiction, and is a former book editor and packager. Evan is also the author of the bestselling Marshall Plan® writers’ guides. Recently he and coauthor Martha Jewett released The Marshall Plan® Novel Writing Software, based on this series. Visit http://www.writeanovelfast.com and download Evan’s free 77-page Fiction Makeover guide, packed with tips and ideas for writing a great novel.

I have several other interviews confirmed, so I’d like to announce those interviewees so you have an idea of what’s coming up:

• Freelance Blogging – The corporate blogging authority, Debbie Weil
• Copywriting – The always-awesome Angela Booth
• Magazine Writing – Coming back for her second AFW interview, Linda Formichelli
• Playwriting – The not-so-one-and-only Jennifer Mattern (What can I say? If you want to be a writer, apparently it’s a good name to have!)
• Fiction / Novel Writing – The Marshall Plan creator Evan Marshall (soon to release his 10th novel!)
• Screenwriting / Writing for Television - Xandy Sussan, who has written for television shows for Disney, the WB, and Cartoon Network, stops by to talk about writing for the big (or small) screen
• Trade Publication Writing - Christa Miller will be sharing some thoughts on getting started writing for trade publications

I also have feelers out to folks for interviews covering Web content writing and technical writing. I’ll update this list (rather than posting another) as confirmations come in. I’m still looking for a freelance medical writer to chat with. If you know someone, please ask them to shoot me an email at jenn@allfreelancewriting.com.

If there are other types of writing you’d like to see covered in this series (they don’t have to be specifically freelance-related), leave a comment and let me know. I’ll do my best to track down a writer in the field to come and share some of their thoughts for you. :)

Here’s what Anne had to say:

On How She Became a Ghostwriter…

“It was by accident. I was working for a well known new age minister doing her magazine. She came to me one day and asked if I could complete her book because the ghost the publisher had found just wasn’t working out. I gulped and said ‘yes.’”

On Needing Specialized Education or Experience Before Starting…

“No, although being widely read and learning how to listen and enjoying people is necessary.”

On How New Writers Can Get Started as a Ghostwriter…

“Right place right time is always good — I wouldn’t change anything [about how I started], but that won’t work for everyone. I think I’d suggest trying some smaller projects first, like ghosting ebooks and growing from there. Or being willing to do a chapter or two on spec the first time.”

On Things Prospective Ghostwriters Should Know Up Front…

“You’ve got to have some confidence in your own writing ability and your ability to listen so you can write what your client wants. You’ve got to be willing to let any ego go because your name won’t show up anywhere. You’ve also got to be able to help your clients set and meet goals, like how many chapters in how much time — or be willing to learn how to do that.”

On Anne Wayman…

Anne Wayman is a ghostwriter and writing coach. She blogs about freelance writing at AboutFreelanceWriting.com and her credits and more on her professional background can be found at AnneWayman.com.

The “Getting Started” series will revolve around short interviews with writers about how they got started in their specialty areas and how you can too!

We’ll be kicking off the new series today with “Getting Started in Ghostwriting” with our guest Anne Wayman.