Some freelance writers make the mistake of putting their marketing plan on the backburner during the holiday season. While there is no denying that you want to spend time with your family and friends, this is one time of the year when networking should come naturally. Do you really want to pass up this opportunity? Here are three ways to connect with your network, as
It’s Christmas! If you’re reading this the day it’s posted, I strongly advise you to go and find your favorite Christmas movie to watch before you have to pack it all up for next year. This post will be here tomorrow. Of course, I’m writing this a few days ahead of time so that I have plenty of time to watch all of my favorite
Everyone who’s been freelancing for a while knows that there are ups and downs in a freelancer’s income. Though I don’t like the decrease in cash flow, I sometimes appreciate the downs because it means I get a bit of a break from working so much. Fortunately, even my “down” months bring in enough income to cover all my expenses, so I’m never depressed about
Remember the days of the five-paragraph essay? We started in elementary school learning about topic sentences and then main ideas. We threw in some supporting details, restated that topic statement and rounded that paper out. It was clean, it was simple, and yet it is fast becoming a relic we need to bring back! When you’re learning to write in a different language or looking
How much do you charge per word? How much should you charge per word? Really, it doesn’t matter. When it comes to freelance writing rates all that matters is your hourly rate and whether or not it’s enough to help you reach your financial goals. Why Per Word Rates Don’t Matter Per word rates aren’t a good tool for comparing writers or gigs for one
Whether you’ve already set your freelance writing goals for the New Year or you’re still deciding what they should be, let’s focus on the big ones today. When you set major goals for your business, how can you keep yourself focused and working toward them all year long? One of my favorite tactics is to take baby steps. I’ll break down a large goal into
Some of my best freelance writing gigs have come from people in my network. These are not necessarily people I have worked with in the past. Rather, they are professionals I have met and kept in touch with over the years. Here are three tips to successfully grow your network: Ask your closest clients and business partners for introductions. If you can get five people
As regulars might know, I’m a work-at-home mom and a work-away-from-home mom, too. I normally teach during the day and then get two boys to bed before settling down for three or four hours of writing most nights at the computer. It makes for a full day, but it’s so nicely organized and routine now it works for me. Today though, in honor of my
I’ll tell you this–you won’t get rich quick writing for print magazines. However, if you are patient and creative, you can build yourself quite a business. You just have to think outside the box a bit. Trying to come up with new ideas all the time can be draining, and sometimes the pay isn’t great per word, or per article. Still, there are some smart
At lunch the other day, a group of English teachers were laughing about some of the things we find funny in student papers. Note that we weren’t laughing at students, but at how often we see the same mistakes, and one of the funniest is that we often have no idea who is writing a paper. I fully understand why this would only be funny
Over the last several years I’ve heard a constant complaint from Web writers — that the digital / global economy makes it hard for them to make a living because overseas writers drive rates down. Now I don’t want to spend time again on the myth of the “global market” in freelance writing, but let’s look at the digital economy in general. Is it really
Earlier this week on my PR blog I shared some thoughts on how social media supports liars, giving some examples of how even colleagues in the freelance writing industry have gotten caught up in it. Commenter J. Toman brought up the concept of “fake it ’til you make it.” I’m sure you’ve heard that before. It comes up now and again in the freelance writing