Jennifer Mattern So I’ve passed the 10% mark on my novel first draft. I know the writing is far from my best. And the further I go along, the more comfortable I am with that. For example, right now I have a lot of “he said” / “she said” stuff going on with my quotes. I know the bulk of them will be removed in the editing
As a blogger or content writer, chances are good that you’ll be contacted by readers from time to time. They may have questions about what you’ve written, or questions about your niche unrelated to your article or post. You probably try to be as helpful as you can–responding to comments, answering emails, giving advice when asked for it, and just generally trying to help your
“The client is always right.” You’ve probably heard that a million times. Well guess what–you’ve also been lied to a million times. Clients make mistakes. Worse, they can occasionally become abusive. I’ve been lucky in that these types of clients have been few and far between in my career thus far. However, two colleagues recently weren’t so lucky. What’s worse is that the client /
I’d like to explore the role of pen names in book marketing a little bit more today. We’ve already talked about whether pen names help or hurt marketing efforts, and I think we established that pseudonyms can in fact be beneficial in some marketing campaigns. Today I want to talk about how to actually choose pen names, keeping marketing considerations in mind. Here are some
I saw a writer’s comment on another blog yesterday where they mentioned that a client may have paid very little, but it was OK because the people there were nice (paraphrasing a bit). All I could think was “so what if they’re nice?” Look folks–it’s great when you have a good, nice client on board. Heck, I hope ALL of your clients are nice to
I was thinking about authors who write under pen names / pseudonyms when publishing their books, and how that choice might affect your marketing. Are they an added benefit? Do they make marketing more difficult for you? I’d love to have some authors share their thoughts here on why they chose to either write under their own name or a pen name, and looking back
One of my goals for 2009 is to take one of my three novel outlines and finish a full draft. I’ve chosen that book. I’ll be spending the New Year focused on writing a mystery that I outlined back around 2004. I’d say it’s been shelved long enough now. (This is one I outlined using the Marshall Plan, for anyone that followed my reviews of
Networking is important for any kind of professional, but especially so for freelance writers – where getting the unadvertised “good gigs” is often about who you know. You likely spend time networking whether intentially or not – keeping in touch with colleagues, posting on forums, commenting on blogs, joining social networks, etc. But have you bothered to set any networking objectives? In other words, you
Every year the New Year period comes and goes so quickly, and I always regret not using that time for a heavy push. This year, I finally setup an actual plan to heavily promote my freelance writing services, e-book, and blogs, specifically through the first quarter of 2009 (and with even more emphasis on January). Here are some of the things planned (the things that
Chris Bibey wrote a great post recently about upfront payments for freelance writers. I commented there with some of my own views, and I wanted to share those comments here and get some of your thoughts on how you bill freelance writing projects. I charge all of my new clients in full up front. Most of my repeat clients also pay up front, even for
I was digging through Craigslist earlier when doing job postings here, and was reminded of a bit of a pet peeve I have. On CL in particular, you’ll see a lot of unpaid writing jobs. While I don’t agree with taking unpaid work in the vast majority of situations, I’m really not bothered that the requests are there. What does annoy the hell out of
It’s almost inevitable – if you build a large content site or blog, at one time or another you’ll likely feel that there’s nothing left to talk about. Fortunately, unless you’ve chosen an incredibly limited niche, that’s not the case. There are always other topics to write about in your niche, or other angles to topics you’ve already covered in your articles or blog posts.
Everyone tells you where you can look to find decent freelance writing jobs or blogging jobs. But are there any places you should forget? I think so. While I know some others won’t agree, as far as I’m concerned the following are some of the worst possible places you can look for freelance writing gigs. The List Odesk – I’m not a fan of these
Earlier this month I posted a monthly challenge – to look back on this year’s work, your goals for this year and whether or not you reached them, and to start thinking about your freelance writing career goals for 2009. I hope you were able to make some time to think about next year’s goals, or that you do soon before getting too wrapped up
Writing articles for trade magazines can be fun. In some cases, those trade magazines can pay very well, but in others (generally with smaller audiences) the pay can be downright dismal. After seeing a complaint along those lines yesterday on a writing forum, I decided to share a quick tip for how you can write for those lower-paying trade publications, and make out much better
I don’t know about you, but I generally feel pretty darn good being a freelancer. I get to set my hours, choose my projects, set my own rates, and… ouch… what’s that pain in my neck? Must be from that two-hour phone conference craning my neck yesterday. And man… that headache! Must be from staring at a computer screen without a break for 10 hours.
Darren Rowse recently posted an article on ProBlogger about How to Get Media Coverage for Your Blog. Given that PR is my primary area of expertise, it’s a subject pretty near and dear to my heart – I’ve decided to expand upon it here. After reading one of the latest comments about someone doing a radio interview, giving their blog URL (www.IrishPolyglot.com) in the interview,
Earlier this month I mentioned that you should be putting together gift idea lists and related holiday posts. I realized I still hadn’t gotten around to mine, so it’s time. Here are my top ten gift ideas for freelance writers for the 2008 holiday season: Books – Sure, this is a given. Writers love books. More specifically, give them the gift of books that will
We’ve talked about book marketing here, but e-book marketing has been relatively neglected. So today, in honor of the recent launch of my own new e-book, I’d like to talk about e-book marketing after the launch phase. I’m the first to admit I didn’t put nearly enough effort into pre-launch marketing for my new release – the Web Writer’s Guide to Launching a Successful Freelance
We’ve been talking lately about additional revenue streams / income sources for freelance writers (beyond client projects). So far we’ve talked about making money through blogging and flipping websites. Today we’re going to talk about earning extra income by writing e-books and reports. I’m not going to go into the “how to” of writing e-books in this post. If you decide that e-books or reports
While I know today’s freelance writing challenge won’t apply to everyone, I think enough freelance writers are also bloggers to make this a worthwhile exercise. Today we’re going to evaluate our blogs – basically look at the factors that come into play when you want to sell a blog, and use that evaluation as a guide to see where we could improve our blog’s value
Now I work as a full-time, Web-based freelance business writer, but that wasn’t always the case. When I first went into business for myself, I specialized in music PR – writing on the Web was something I soon after started doing on the side. But how did I go from music PR to freelance Web writing? A reader emailed me yesterday asking me to share
As a part of our series on additional and residual revenue streams for freelance writers, today we’re going to talk about flipping websites. I’ve discussed flipping websites in a previous post here, explaining it in a very general sense and discussing some past sites I’ve flipped myself. Let’s go more into how flipping websites can earn you more money in freelance writing, and what you
The number of actual projects (or clients) I take on each month as a freelance writer can vary pretty greatly, and more clients doesn’t always mean more income (often the opposite). So I’m curious – do you seem to have a typical number of projects each month, or do you vary a lot with your freelance writing work too? In the past, I worked mostly
This is the first of a new monthly feature here at All Freelance Writing. Every month, we’ll talk about marketing things you should be thinking about during that time of the year (or if there’s not much “special” going on, we’ll cover some general marketing you can think about during that month). It’s October and, like it or not, it’s time to start thinking about
Today I’d like to follow-up on the topic of e-books; not on writing them, but on what comes after. More specifically, I’m going to share my new favorite PDF conversion tool, and we’ll chat about bonuses (for e-books you plan to sell). I hope you’ll share some of your own thoughts and experiences with e-book writing, publishing, and marketing! PDF Conversion We’ve talked about “types”
Let’s forget about “good” writers today – I want you to think about successful writers. Do you know what they tend to have in common? They’re strong marketers. Being a solid writer simply isn’t enough. Remember, freelance writing is a business – treat it like one, and you’ll improve your chances of reaching whatever goals you set for yourself. Unfortunately, sometimes even the best writers
What do you consider “success” when it comes to your freelance writing career? I mean, is the fact that you’re a full-time freelance writer enough to make you successful? Are you a success when you can pay the bills? Are you a successful writer as soon as you land your first paying gig? What makes you feel like a success (or what would make you
Lately my work days have been so much more enjoyable than before. I get a solid 7 hours of client work and administrative stuff out the way, I’m actually taking my lunch hour for myself instead of working through it, have the energy to put a few more hours into my own projects daily, and still have time to take care of housework, working out,
A chill runs down your spine. Your palms are getting sweaty. You’ve laid it all on the line. You’ve put yourself “out there.” You want them – bad. You share the same goals and ideals. You know you’d be a compatible match. But will they say yes? Or will they reject you? No, we’re not talking about that elusive “perfect man” (or woman). Then again,