All Freelance Writing » jennifer mattern

New Personal Hub and Blog Just Launched at JennMattern.com

Jennifer Mattern — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:21:19 +0000

I know I just launched SocialRealist.com, but I decided to launch yet another site this week. This new one — JennMattern.com — will serve as a personal hub and blog.

Unlike my niche blogs this one will cross all of those niches I publicly cover, and will provide news and commentary on projects in each. For example, while you might get All Freelance Writing news here, you would also get announcements about other unrelated sites and projects I launch (giving you a more comprehensive view of how I run my business).

I’ll also talk about things like the mystery novel series I’m planning, and you can learn about the new indie publishing site I’m launching as we go rather than just a quick “here it is!” post here when it goes live. The basic idea is to give me a place where I can be a bit more personal when talking about my overall business, and also to give my readers a more well-rounded look at who I am and what I do so hopefully you can pull new ideas from it to incorporate into your own business models. And we’ll have plenty of fun discussions along the way I’m sure — about indie publishing, Web publishing, blogging, marketing, writing books, managing the day-to-day aspects of running a business, and more.

I hope you’ll stop by and check it out!

The Dead Don't Write

Jennifer Mattern — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:10:50 +0000

Note: This post originally appeared at FreelanceTheater.com on October 30, 2009. The Freelance Theater audio play series is now a part of All Freelance Writing.

Have you ever had a “vampire client” — one who seems to suck the life out of you? Maybe they don’t pay enough so you push yourself to the edge of burning out regularly as you cram in countless projects. Perhaps they’re extremely picky or they’re the type who doesn’t know what they want until they see it, meaning you’re asked to do an unusually high number of revisions. You might even have the type of “vampire client” who constantly asks you for extra advice or guidance beyond the scope of your projects — consulting work you’re not being paid for.

These types of client-writer relationships are what we explore in our very first episode of the MadLance series, “The Dead Don’t Write.” See if you can relate to poor Kelly, trying to balance keeping her client happy while also staying sane.

Download “The Dead Don’t Write” (right-click and save the .mp3 file) or stream it now below.

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What would you do if you were in Kelly’s shoes? Would you have the nerve to lay down new ground rules with a client? Would you fire that client? Would you ride the situation out as long as possible? As a freelance writer it’s important to understand that sometimes you’ll have to make tough calls with clients. That might seem difficult to do, especially when you’re first starting out and you may only have a few clients lined up, but how you handle the client-contractor dynamic now can impact where you’ll be months from now.

Sometimes clients won’t even realize they’re putting an unusual burden on you (such as the ones who really do respect your opinions so they ask for advice constantly without realizing that time is money when you’re a service provider). Confronting those issues early on ensures you won’t feel taken advantage of later. Keep this in mind: if you start to resent your work because you didn’t put your foot down in a professional way early on, you aren’t doing anyone any good. You’ll be unhappy with your work, which means you’ll be less likely to give it your all (in turn meaning your client loses out too).

Closing thoughts: Set some ground rules in your freelance writing career. Let clients know when it’s okay (or not okay) to call you, and when you’re negotiating projects or signing contracts bring up issues like revisions up front. Let clients know how many revisions are included in your base rates, and how much you charge for further revisions (edit requests aren’t always a sign that you did something wrong, but sometimes the result of a client taking a different direction with a project they already approved — you should be compensated for those kinds of requests).

The same goes for consulting. If you’re a freelance copywriter for example, chances are good that you have some marketing expertise. If the client wants additional time to pick your brain about tactics for increasing conversions or something similar (beyond what’s covered in your initial contract) have an hourly consulting rate laid out from the start. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble, and your client some unpleasant surprises, by preparing for “vampire clients” before they have a chance to sink their teeth in.

If you would like to embed the player for this episode on your own website or blog, please use the embed code below to get the same player you see above in this post:

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New Getting Started Series – Interview Lineup

Jennifer Mattern — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:14:13 +0000

As you might remember, this weekend marked the launch of our new “Getting Started” series — a series of interviews with successful writers who talk about how you can get started in their specialty areas. We kicked things off with Anne Wayman talking about getting started in ghostwriting.

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. :)