Author and Book Media Kit Components – What Should You Include?

Today let’s very briefly go over some common components of the author (or book) media kit – in other words, what you should include. While most of these will work for a hard copy media kit / press kit, let’s focus on online author media kits (those in newsroom formats on your website or downloadable .pdf files). Author Media Kit Components – Essential An author

Authors Exemplify Good Blogger Relations

Most authors and publishers these days understand that online book promotion is important, whether for a new release or encouraging sales of existing titles. Blogger relations can play a significant role in the success, or lack thereof, of your online book marketing efforts. Blogger relations is a topic somewhat regularly discussed among PR and social media types, but it’s something I’ve very rarely seen brought

Chris Bibey on Offering Online Courses

You know how I personally feel about broadening horizons as freelance writers–that you need to diversify to really find the best overall business practices for yourself. There are many ways you can diversify your work and income streams. We’ve talked about releasing e-books. We’ve talked about launching blogs. Another option is to offer online courses. Since that is something I’ve never pursued personally, I asked

How to Create a Marketing Plan and Marketing Campaign

Angela Booth had a great post recently that you should check out: Sell Your Writing: Create a Marketing Campaign. She tackles marketing in a way I really love, because I think it addresses the fears many freelance writers have about the actual act of selling their writing services. She offers a reminder that marketing doesn’t mean you have to make cold calls. It doesn’t mean

Will Google Adsense Breed Distrust in Your Blog's Readers?

Yesterday we talked about Clickbank Ads and how they can be used to monetize a blog or website. Ironically, this morning an email went out to Adsense publishers regarding changes to the types of ads they’ll be showing. You can read parts of that email below: We’re writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising…. Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to

Why I Recently Broke My "No Free Work" Rule

If you’ve noticed anything here at All Freelance Writing, I hope it’s my effort to show writers that they can, and should, charge what they’re worth to earn a livable wage (and then some). I’ve also on more than one occasion poo-pooed the type of “client” who asks for free work (or who offers pay so low it might as well be free work). It’s

Proving Your Value to Prospective Writing Clients

We’ve discussed the benefits of specialization and how that can lead to higher earnings as a freelance Web writer. However, the real key to earning a decent income freelance writing online is proving your value to your clients. Specialization plays a major role (if you’re offering a certain amount of depth or understanding others can’t, you’re providing more value). Today let’s talk about other things

Sell Your Own Information Products with E-junkie

One of the best things you can do as a freelance Web writer is diversify your income streams by creating, and selling, informational products. I would hazard a guess that the most common informational products for freelance writers to be selling would be e-books or reports (you also might sell membership to premium content on a website though). Now I’ve tried a few different services

Your Best Web Writing Client is… You!

One thing you’ll learn in The Web Writer’s Guide to Launching a Successful Freelance Web Writing Career is that being a Web writer can be about much more than taking on articles, copywriting, or other writing projects from clients. Something I like to talk about when I’m chatting with new writers is moving beyond that client work and writing “for yourself.” What is “Writing for

How to Build a Freelance Writing Portfolio

One bit of advice I see commonly given to new Web writers (or any type of writers) is that they have to either do free projects for normally-paying clients or take on work at ridiculously low rates (like $5.00 per article) when they’re new just to build a portfolio or get references. That’s a load of garbage. If you’re really cut out to be a

Content Marketing and the Soft Sell

Chris Bibey wrote an interesting post over at ChrisBlogging.com on selling your writing services, and how marketing / selling makes some freelance writers uncomfortable. His post got me thinking about hard-sell versus soft-sell and why, when it comes to “selling yourself” to clients, people seem to automatically picture hard-sell tactics. First things first – what’s the difference? When you hard-sell, you essentially scream “buy from

Should You Hold Onto Print Rights?

Let’s talk specifically about Web content writers today, and the rights they give up when they sell their work. In many cases, when a client purchases Web content from you, their primary objective is to target search terms for traffic or online readers. Most have no use for your content beyond their websites or blogs, leaving potential non-competing reprint markets available as an additional income

Should You be a Full-Time or Freelance Web Writer?

After you’ve decided what type of Web writer you want to be (as in specialties and / or niches), you need to decide if you’d like to freelance in Web writing or look for a more permanent full-time Web writing job. Here are some of the benefits of each to help you decide what’s right for you: Benefits of Full-Time Web Writing as an Employee

2009 Goal Check-in: How are YOU Doing?

We’ve recently completed the first two months of 2009, so I think it’s a good time to see where we all stand on our goals. What have we accomplished so far? What would we like to make more progress on in the coming month? Here’s where I stand: I’ve completed over 10,000 words of the novel – not nearly as far along as I’d like

Do Established Businesses Really Need Web Content?

I received the following reader question from Nina Lewis, and wanted to address it to everyone, as it’s an excellent question: “In your e-book, do you explain what kind of clients need web content? You see that is what I want to specialize in however, I am not too fond of those low-paying job boards. And I may sound naive, but established businesses already have

Proofreading Tips for Web Writers

One of the biggest benefits of writing for the Web is the ease of publishing – you can write and publish almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, this instant gratification can lead to publishing in haste, errors unchecked. Therefore, when writing for the Web, it’s essential that you pay a bit of extra attention to proofreading – especially with client projects. Here are a few tips that won’t

Benefits of Specialization as a Web Writer

Whether you’re a Web content writer or a Web copywriter, specialization can be one of the biggest factors in earning a higher income from your writing. Here’s why: More Money The most important point is that most clients will pay more for a specialist than a generalist. You can specialize in niches (such as for content writers) or even in types of writing if you’re

Perks of Freelance Web Writing for Business Clients

I’m a freelance business writer, who just happens to focus on Web writing. It has its perks – perks I’ve seen echoed by quite a few other freelance writers in the same boat. But first: What are “Business Clients?” When I talk about business clients (sometimes “corporate clients” depending on your target market), I basically mean any client that’s not a “publisher client.” A publishing-focused