Today’s reader question comes from Leigh Schrom: “Where do you locate publications that accept freelance work? Is the “Writer’s Market” the best source?” Writer’s Market is a source, and certainly a place you can start. But while it looks extensive as far as writer’s market directories go, the markets there still only represent a small portion of publications that work with freelance writers. And because most writers are
The latest episode of the writing podcast is up. This episode is all about branding for writers. It covers: Basic branding tips for writers Copyright concerns over sharing excerpts to your book to generate reader interest A tool to help you come up with better, brandable domain names for your professional website or blog View the show notes or listen below.
Many bloggers set up a single sidebar and then include that sidebar on every page of their blogs. But what happens if you have categories that would benefit from different sidebar content, or pages on your blog where you’d like a custom sidebar? Maybe you want to place hand-picked affiliate ads, or you want to promote different books on different sections of your blog. Whatever
We have an interesting question for authors this week from an anonymous reader who created a soundtrack for their upcoming book. This is a topic that’s been on my mind recently as I was looking into BookTrack and also happened across an Amazon Prime music playlist featuring classical music for reading. While I’ve used soundtracks to help me write stories, listening to soundtracks or reading-specific playlists while I
Earlier this week we looked at ways you can write a better book launch press release. But what you do with that finished release is just as important as how it’s written. So today I’d like to share a few press release distribution tips for authors — things you can do to help your announcement get more attention, without being immediately dismissed. Here are three distribution tips
I’ve been a customer of Elegant Themes for years, using their themes on several of my smaller sites and blogs. I loved their recent social media plugin, Monarch, which I use on my small business blog. And I was rather excited about their launch this week of Bloom, their new email opt-in plugin. While I was excited to test it out on a few of
If there’s one public relations tool that authors (and just about everyone else for that matter) gets wrong, it’s the press release. I see ignorant bloggers claiming “the press release is dead” all the time. They’re usually the ones who have used them wrong for years. In some circles they’ve become synonymous with “spam.” But thankfully the press release isn’t dead. And if you learn
Here’s a fun one — I’m writing an article at the moment on a specific topic — very specific. The editor called me with the assignment, and he gave me direction in where he’d like to go. He gave some names and a little direction on whom I should be calling, or at least attempting to reach (the editor is a laid-back guy who’s just
When you’re just getting started as a freelance writer, the issue of rates can be a tricky one. How much should you charge? Should you bill hourly, per word, per project, or under some other rate structure? Should rates vary depending on the type of project? Today’s reader question is along these lines. This new freelancer, who asked not to be named so we’ll simply
Be sure to check out Episode 10 of the All Freelance Writing Podcast which was just released. You can listen below or read the show notes for the short version (and to get any recommended links from the show). This episode covers: Author blogging (why you need an author blog, how you can keep your blog from being too much of a time-suck, why you
Maybe “nobody” is a bit of a stretch. But here’s a harsh truth for authors: most people really do not care that you wrote a book. You just published a book. You’re excited. You want to shout it from the rooftops. I get it. So tell your friends and family. Share the news with your writer’s group. Mention it on your personal blog even. But
When you work as a freelancer, sometimes you’ll struggle to reach your goals. But one of the most destructive things you can do when that happens is make excuses. Yet freelance writers makes excuses all the time to justify their lack of success in one area or another. After all, that’s easier than taking responsibility and making changes. Today let’s look at some of those
As an indie author, you’ll find plenty of people and companies that would happily try to part you from your money, all in the name of book marketing or publicity. But, again as an indie, you might have a limited book marketing budget to work with. So where should you spend it? This topic came up here previously, starting off with a discussion about writing contests,
Did you know that you can turn your old blog posts into a .pdf e-book you can sell or give away to help build your email list? Right within WordPress? At least with the Anthologize plugin you can. This plugin lets you choose key blog posts and then group them into e-book sections before exporting. Now, it’s not a perfect solution. You’re supposed to be
This week’s quick tip comes from a question I received from Cathy Miller (my most recent guest co-host for the freelance writing podcast). Cathy’s thinking about making the move to Scrivener for freelance writing projects. But she’d heard from another writer that Scrivener projects don’t convert to Word well, especially when tables are involved. And most clients expect projects delivered in Word format, so that’s
It’s no secret to experienced freelance writers that having a specialty can simplify marketing and lead to much higher paying gigs. Clients are willing to pay you a premium for industry or niche expertise, especially those in higher-end pro level markets. It’s your specialized knowledge that lets them help clients brand themselves as authorities in their fields. Now some freelance pros specialize in types of writing rather
Recently you might have noticed that I’ve been adding audio versions to some All Freelance Writing blog posts. One example is “Gamification: Make Freelance Writing More Fun.” Not only can new visitors read the original post, but they can choose to listen if that’s what they prefer. And now they have another option: a condensed version in a SlideShare presentation. Why would you want to