Today in our “Getting Started” series, we’ll hear from novelist, literary agent, and nonfiction author Evan Marshall. If you’d like writing fiction to be a part of your future, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better brain to pick on the topic. I’ve personally been a big fan of his Marshall Plan for Novel Writing for years (a book, workbook, and software package are all
There are a lot of myths and misconceptions when it comes to writing online — specifically Web content writing. Many of these misconceptions come from the print writing side of the fence, where (while things have improved dramatically over the last few years) there’s still occasionally a feeling that Web writing just doesn’t measure up. That sentiment definitely played a role in what I’d consider
I know. It’s one of the last things you want to read about, but it’s one of the most crucial parts of freelance success. Don’t worry, you won’t read anything about cash flow statements, balance sheets, or profit/loss statements – they’re complete overkill for the average freelancer. Instead, I’m going to give you some easy-to-follow tips on managing your records throughout the month so it
Today in our “Getting Started” series, we’ll hear from Anne Wayman, a freelance ghostwriter. If you’ve considered ghostwriting books as an option for your own career, you can learn a lot from Anne. This interview is designed to serve as a starting point to tell you how she got started and offer a few tips from a pro to those of you interested in following
One of the best (and worst) things about being a freelance writer is that our schedules are our own. It’s wonderful when we get to choose when to work. It’s not so wonderful when we realize how easy it is to sometimes get sucked into distractions. Those distractions can be complete sanity-slayers when they start to interfere either with our work itself or simply our
In the many categories society assigns to mothers, the freelancing mommies have the envy of other mothers for the supposed flexibility of their schedules. Yet those envied work at home moms have another story to tell – especially when there are young children involved. Being a working mother of any caliber is tough, but when the balancing act of working at home is a free-for-all,
No doubt you’ve stumbled across a competitor at some point and thought “how is this person even in business?” Their credentials aren’t as solid as yours. Their samples are terrible (or they don’t seem to have any to speak of). Their professional site is so dated that it needed to retire a decade ago. Given those things, why are they ranking #1 in the search
Do you know that you need to work harder at marketing your freelance writing services, but maybe you’re not sure where to start? Well, we’re all about the business and marketing side of freelance writing here at AFW, and moving forward I’ll be offering Monday marketing tips to bring you new ideas each week for promoting your services. To kick us off today though, I
I haven’t had a “real” vacation in about 12 years. After college it was just about not having the money to go (nonprofit work at the time paid far from well). Then I was going through the startup phase in my business (PR firm them), so there simply wasn’t time. Then it was client issues — when you’re on retainer as a consultant, you have
Where do you draw the ethical line when it comes to taking freelance writing jobs from other writers? When do you take the gig and say “it’s just business” and when do you make a financial sacrifice for someone else? What is “Stealing” a Gig or Client? First let’s be clear about what I mean by “stealing.” I’m not talking about two writers who happen
We’re getting into the time of year (the final quarter) where I like to start looking back over the current year to set some goals for the following one. You now have enough time behind you to see the trends. Are your 2009 goals working out for you? Are things a bit sluggish? Are they better than expected? Should you tweak anything between now and