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Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern is a professional blogger, freelance business writer, and indie author. She runs numerous websites & blogs including All Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Pros, BizAmmo, NakedPR, and Kiss My Biz. Jenn has over 20 years' experience writing for others, 16 years of experience in blogging, and around 14 years' experience as an e-book author and indie publisher. She is also an Active member of the Horror Writers Association. Subscribe to the All Freelance Writing newsletter to get personal updates from Jenn in your inbox.

The Importance of Writer Portfolios

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If you want to be as successful as you can be as a freelance writer, you should take the time to build an effective writer portfolio. Your writer portfolio is a showcase of your abilities, and it offers potential clients a snapshot of the quality of your work. Here are a few tips when it comes to building writer portfolios: 1. Don’t link to something … read more

Writer Warning: Suite101

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OK. No one can say that I didn’t go above and beyond in promoting Suite to writers. If anything I was one of their strongest advocates before I quit Suite101 earlier this month. I can’t even count how many writers I brought into the network whether directly in my role as editor, or indirectly bringing writers into other sections, who I had met through this … read more

Going Local: Leaving Behind the Web Jungle for the Clients Next Door

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I’ve been threatening to “go local” for quite some time, but it never seems to stay a priority. It might not this time either…. Anyway, I’ve been considering doing some offline pitching of my PR writing and copywriting services to local companies (and maybe some nonprofits, since it’s been a while since I’ve played the nonprofit PR game). Should I do it? Why I’d Like … read more

Find Legitimate Freelance Writing Jobs: 3 Tips

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Many freelance writers are no stranger to work at home job scams. When searching for freelance writing jobs, it’s not uncommon to stumble across things like programs being offered to teach you how to start a freelance writing career (usually for a pretty penny) to transcription and typing work at home job scams. Here are a few tips to help you avoid work at home … read more

Suite101: A Freelance Writer’s Playground

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Update: Please note that after further experience with this network and others, my feelings on the subject have changed. I strongly recommend against signing up with any content network (also now known as “content mills”). There are far better ways to kick off your career. You can browse our blog for more up to date information on content mills and better options for your freelance writing career, or … read more

What Makes a Professional Writer?

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I came across a blog post by Denise (of the SFC) asking what people consider when determining the difference between a "professional" writer and just an amateur or hobby writer. I hear this question a lot, especially from people who try to say you can't determine what makes a "professional" writer, because it's entirely subjective. As far as I'm concerned, if you say something like that is too subjective, it's not that you can't look at it objectively but rather that you're probably just to lazy to put the thought into it. There are definitely common misconceptions of what makes someone a "professional" writer, and some very basic things that professional writers have in common.

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Standardizing Freelance Writing Rates

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There’s been a lot of buzz about standardizing freelance writing rates lately, between the freelance writers’ manifesto, Yuwanda Black’s Should Writers Earn a Minimum Wage?, and some commentary on the Content Done Better blog. It’s an interesting topic for anyone in the freelance writing field, and I’d meant to comment on it previously. I think there are a few good points, and a few bad, … read more

How to Avoid Freelance Job Scams

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We’ve all seen them, and we’ve all secretly been tempted to try them. You know … those ads for work from home freelance jobs that promise you can make $1000-2000 a week working part-time. Don’t fall sucker to ads that promise the world. I’m going to expose some common freelance job scams, show you the warning signs to look out for, teach you how to … read more

Writers: Network for Referrals

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One of the most important things you can do as a freelance writer (whether you work predominantly online or off) is networking with other writers. Many of the best freelance writing gigs are never published, but can be passed along by writers in your network who have come across it through their contacts. A strong network can also lead to referrals. All writers will occasionally … read more

Writers: You're Worth More Than $5!

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As a freelance writer, don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. If you can produce even reasonably high quality Web content, you can be doing much better for yourself than “selling out” to the hoards of webmasters expecting the world from their writers, for nearly no pay. Are there any good excuses for writing free or cheap content for webmasters? Sure. Here are a few: … read more