Jennifer Mattern One of the biggest complaints I hear from new freelance writers is that clients don’t seem willing to pay professional rates. Prospects are tempted by bottom-of-the-barrel offers from hobbyists, scrapers, and people who do little more than regurgitate other people’s articles. The prospect gets more content for their site for less money. The “writer” gets paid. And professionals get screwed in the deal. Let’s emphasize
There are some days when I really don’t feel like writing. But the work has to be finished anyway. Sometimes I plug away and get through the day on sheer will. Sometimes it’s more of a struggle and all I can think about is making it to quitting time. Fortunately these long, exhausting days aren’t the norm. Maybe I committed to too much because a
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.
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
Your freelance writing business involves more than research, writing, and editing. There’s the whole “business” side of the equation too. And an important part of running the business behind your freelance writing is managing client relationships. Let’s explore a few things you should keep in mind as a freelance writer when it comes to building and maintaining relationships with clients and prospects. The Client Isn’t
I have a habit of taking on quite a few writing-related projects at once. I’m a blogger and freelance business writer for my clients. I run numerous websites and blogs of my own. And I write books and e-books. There never seems to be enough time in my work days, and lately I’ve found myself putting in extra hours far too often — something I
Do you ever feel like your freelance writing career is going nowhere fast? Do you try to take things up a notch, but they never seem to improve, or at least not by much? You might be making one of these common mistakes that freelance writers mistake. Here are five reasons why your writing career might be going absolutely nowhere: 1. You’re not improving your
It’s time for my first quarterly evaluation for my business. While I evaluate my progress on specific goals more frequently, I use my quarterly evaluations to review my longer-term plans and resolutions. So far things are going pretty well. But, as usual, I need to make some changes. Progress So Far Here are some of the things I can check off my yearly to-do list:
The post below was originally published on my small business blog after a friend asked me some basic questions about how he could begin to make money blogging. I’ve since shared it here as a way to help freelance writers build an additional revenue stream (originally on October 16, 2008). And I’ve now updated it for All Freelance Writing readers with even more blog revenue streams
Have you considered getting into business writing as your specialty, but you aren’t sure that it’s for you? Business writing is such a broad area for freelancers that you’re bound to find some projects you’d be interested in. You don’t have to offer every business writing service out there to be a successful business writer. For example, I don’t write long pushy sales copy that
I’m a big fan of any tool that can help me get more work finished in less time. One tool freelance writers might not think to use is a word count tracker. But word count trackers are more for authors, right? Sure. They’re great for tracking your progress on a book. But there are also plenty of ways you can use them with typical freelance
In a recent post I talked about why indie authors should never pay for book reviews. In the comments, the topic of book review websites came up — more specifically the fact that there are other ways for these sites to make money without directly charging the authors whose books they review. (And if you’re looking for reasons why you shouldn’t charge for book reviews,
It’s one thing to enjoy the freedom freelance writing offers. But sometimes we still get overwhelmed. Deadlines loom, payments might seem to take forever, and our to-do lists could occupy a mile-long scroll. Fortunately there are some things you can do to make yourself more productive than ever, and even happier in your freelance writing work. Here are five tips to help you become a
Inspiration can strike anywhere and anytime for a writer. So I look for ways to take my work with me. I also look for ways to work more productively given that I balance writing books, publishing dozens of websites and blogs, and writing for clients. Lately my best tool on both of these fronts has been my Android phone. You can find a wide variety
If you’re anything like me, you love to write. If you didn’t, you probably wouldn’t have chosen a career in freelance writing. But it’s not enough to love the writing. You also have to love the work. No freelance writing business will succeed on writing alone. You have to network, market your services, maintain a website or portfolio, and handle basic administrative and financial tasks on a
Your freelance writing website is an important tool that can attract new clients. It’s how they find you when searching for writers. And it’s where they go to learn more if they come across you via social media channels or after receiving a pitch from you. If that professional website isn’t up to date or portrays a negative image, it could cost you great freelance
As a blogger, you’re probably well-versed in content writing. After all, that’s what you do every time you write a blog post for your readers. Content is designed to inform, educate, or entertain. But it isn’t the only type of writing that you might pursue. There is also copywriting. This is writing designed to sell, persuade, or otherwise influence readers. Is copywriting important for bloggers
When we talk about freelance writing jobs, we usually focus on nonfiction writing like magazine features or business documents. We talk about that side of freelance writing more for two reasons. First, it’s where most of the jobs are. It’s also where most of the money will come from for the bulk of us. But there’s another side of freelance writing — writing fiction on
This morning I woke up to a beautiful sight. I live in a wooded community, and we had snow last night. This morning the snow was still sticking to the trees. That’s rare. It gets windy up here, so snow usually blows off the trees right away. The view made me think about how this environment sometimes impacts my writing. The view this morning outside
It can be easy to get comfortable in a routine as a freelance writer. And sometimes that means we don’t continue to market our services as much as we should — something we should do even when our schedules are full. So today let’s look at some signs that you should seek out new freelance writing opportunities. Some are signs that you’ve waited too long
As a blogger, it’s important that you continuously strive to improve your writing skills. While no one is expected to be perfect all the time, you’ll want to focus on a few key things including: decreasing spelling and grammatical errors; making sure your writing style and language choices are appropriate for your audience; keeping your blog posts clear and concise. It’s true that some bloggers
I’m a big fan of what I like to call “query-free freelancing.” That means I don’t generally pursue freelance writing jobs. I do things that attract clients to me instead. For example, I run blogs that keep me fresh in prospects’ minds and I make sure my business site is well-optimized for search engines so I’m one of the first writers prospects find when they search for
Sometimes everyday life gets in the way of writing (and sometimes writing is that everyday life). But in the former case, one of my favorite things to do is go somewhere else — plan a mini writer’s retreat of sorts. I’m doing that with my husband this weekend. We’re heading to a B&B called Sayre Mansion, about an hour from where we live. We stay in a
As a blogger, you’re already used to creating content on a regular basis. That makes content marketing an ideal option for promoting your blog, increasing traffic, and growing your readership. Today let’s talk about the two different kinds of content marketing — inbound content marketing and outbound content marketing — and which makes more sense for blog promotion. Outbound vs Inbound Content Marketing Outbound content
There are many types of freelance writing success, and only you can determine what exactly that means for you. But no matter what your definition of success is, there are plenty of ways to get there. And it’s important to know that you don’t have sell out to make that happen. What Does it Mean for a Freelance Writer to Sell Out? Selling out is
My hubby recently decided that we should upgrade our phones, and we both went the Android route. I’ve spent a good bit of time setting things up for both personal and business use, and in the process I’ve come across some great apps that should improve my productivity. Here are five of my favorite Android apps so far (all free) that might be of interest
Previously we’ve talked about what blog content audits are and how you can create a simple blog content audit spreadsheet to make the process easier. But why would you want to take on this potentially huge project in the first place? Let’s look at three good reasons you might choose to conduct your own blog content audit. A content audit lets you: 1. Fix problems
My nonfiction book, The Query-Free Freelancer, has been moving along in an extraordinarily slow fashion. That’s due to a variety of things (from several months of illness where I focused my limited work time on clients to simply shelving the project for a while for a fresher perspective). Now that I’m moving forward with that first draft again (my own edits to the manuscript before sending it
Have you ever written a guest post for someone’s blog? Have you considered turning that marketing strategy into paid freelance blogging opportunities? If so, you might find inspiration in Ruan Ooosthuizen — a blogger who successfully made that transition. You already know that we’re big fans of sharing personal experiences here at All Freelance Writing. We share our successes and failures with you on a
Social media marketing is a great way to promote your blog. And when you think about social media, you might think of networking and community as the most important aspects. If so, you would be right. That said, good writers will always have an edge in professional social networking and social media marketing. That’s because so much of social media these days still involves the