Three Key Words: Always Be Closing

As a freelance writer, there is more to your success than producing high quality content. Even though you may not enjoy the sales and marketing process, it is a big part of achieving your goals. With this in mind, these three words should always be close to your heart: always be closing. In other words, you should always be ready to close a deal. You

The Rules of the Sneaky Serial Comma

If there was ever a piece of punctuation to give us all fits, it’s the comma. When do you use it? When are you using it too much? Do I need a comma there? Correct comma usage causes endless questions simply because there are so many rules. Let’s worry about one comma in particular – the serial, or Oxford, comma. It’s the most controversial of

Where to Find Freelance Blogging Clients

Have you thought about getting into freelance blogging? Are you already a freelance blogger, but you’re struggling to find new clients? Blogging is one of my favorite projects to take on as a freelance writer. Finding clients was easy for me early on because the client base I was working with on PR writing projects also happened to have a strong need for blogging services.

3 Online Writing Jobs for Local Businesses

One of the biggest benefits of writing for the Web is that it gives freelance writers the ability to work with clients all over the world. These days everything can be done online from invoicing to delivery. But that doesn’t mean you have to work with clients outside of your area. Some writers are more comfortable working with local clients, and that’s perfectly fine as long as

How to Be Better With Your Freelance Writing Income

Too bad we’re not born knowing how to deal with money. If you had a financial literacy class in high school, you were pretty lucky. For many of us, much of what we know about personal finance we learned from our parents or our own mistakes. It’s not too late to learn those critical lessons you may have missed. Here are some tips on being

When is the Best Time to Make Cold Calls

Lately, we have been discussing cold calling as a marketing method quite a bit. For example, my last post touched on how to discuss freelance pricing during a cold call. This time around, I want to take a closer look at when you should be making cold calls. If you are going to spend time on the phone, you might as well give yourself the

3 Things I Don’t Want To Hear When Hiring Writers

If you read my previous blog post, you’ll know that over the past few years I’ve gone from being a part time freelance writer, regularly pitching for projects, to working in a full time role, hiring freelance writers for content production on an array of different topics. When I was freelance writing myself full time, I thought I had a good idea of just what

From Struggling Writer to Solid Writer and Beyond

As an English teacher, I have a strategy that usually works for struggling and reluctant writers. If they claim to not be able to write something, I ask them to tell me the story or response to address the prompt. Then, after they tell me a sentence or two, I repeat it back to a student and tell him to write it down. Kid says,

Print Writing: Improving Your Voice

Writing for print is tricky in a number of ways, but one of the most important–and the most difficult–is having a strong voice and being able to adapt it to the style of the publication you are querying. Some writers may already have a voice that they use and are comfortable with. That’s a great thing, but there is typically one problem that goes along

Managing Freelance Writing Income and Regular Income

For most people transitioning into full-time freelance writing or freelance writing on the side for awhile, there will undoubtedly be a period of time that you’re managing two kinds of income: income from freelance writing and income from a regular job. Or if you’re a writer who’s married to or cohabitating with someone who earns a regular income, the two of you may also face

Writers: Why You’re Losing Clients and Money As a Generalist

Who really loves your business? Of course you do, but you don’t count. A better question is: which portion of the public out there really loves your freelance writing business? You’d like to think everyone who has the need for a writer loves your business, but that’s simply not the truth. Not everyone is going to love your business nor will they be able to