Writing contests can sound appealing sometimes, right? You can do something you love, pit yourself against your colleagues or peers, maybe win a prize of some sort for the effort, and get a little bit of attention in the process. Then again, that sounds a lot like work when you think about it. I’m not a huge fan of writing contests. That’s not to say
I took most of this week off from client projects to devote time to my own, and I’d like to talk today about why you should consider it too – investing in your freelance writing future. We’re not talking about investing money (at least not much). We’re just talking about time – your most valuable asset as a service provider. Why should you reserve some
I was doing a bit of blog reading this morning, and came across this quote in regards to freelance writers bidding low on writing jobs when they’re new: “A novice copywriter can start with a low price at first. Companies will eventually increase the pay of a copywriter who always submits quality work.” I see this being said to new writers of all varieties all
We’ve talked a lot here about why writers should blog, from using blogs as a marketing tool for your freelance writing services to blogging as an added income stream. Now let’s talk about how you can get more from your blog by moving beyond the blog itself. Here are additional income streams / outlets that blogging can potentially lead to if you levereage it right:
A lot of freelance writers have their own blogs. Do those blogs have to be “perfect,” though? I’ve seen comments on both sides of this issue, and I’d like to know what you think? Personally, I think there are a few considerations: Blog Purpose Is the blog just a personal blog? If so, I’d not worry so much about the occasional typo or poorly-constructed sentence.
I recently posted about virtual publicity tours, and how authors can use various online promotional strategies to promote a new book. But virtual publicity tours are for more than authors – freelance writers (as well as anyone with something to promote) can also make use of them. Focusing on virtual blog tours specifically, it’s really nothing more than basic blogger relations. Blogger Relations for Freelance
When you work as a freelance writer, you generally have a lot of control over your own schedule. That may sound great, but what it often means is that we’re prone to procrastination and distractions – it’s too easy to say “Well, I can always just work extra hours later tonight to finish this up.” It doesn’t have to be hard to be more productive
With new businesses launched all the time, and new websites launched every day, there’s a huge demand for freelance copywriting services. I’m talking about marketing copy – copy that sells or persuades a reader or visitor to do something (from clicking a link to requesting a quote to signing up for an email newsletter subscription). Do you think you have what it takes to succeed
Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging.com recently had an interesting post that I’d like to expand upon: Can Freelance Writers Work 7 Days a Week? I doubt anyone would say you “can’t” work seven days per week as a freelance writer – the real question (and one that Chris addresses regarding burnout potential) is “should you?” My view is this: No. Most people should not try to
I nearly always prefer bylined projects when it comes to writing content. At the same time, I do quite a bit of ghostwriting as a freelance writer. Today I want to talk a little bit about ghostwriting, why I sometimes avoid it, and why I occasionally love it. Problems with Ghostwriting The obvious drawback to ghostwriting is that you get no public credit. If you
If you frequent freelance writing blogs, you may have come across ChrisBlogging.com. The blog is run by Chris Bibey, and it’s one of very few blogs I try to check in on regularly. While Chris shares good advice on everything from the day-to-day life of a freelance writer to specific types of writing work available, he’s probably best known for being the blogger who shares
A common marketing / networking tool for new freelance writers is the forum. You can join forums in just about any niche – sometimes they’re stand-alone sites and sometimes they’re an add-on community to another resource. But how can you use forums to get decent freelance writing gigs? Here are a few tips that I use regularly to get high-paying gigs from online forums: Join
You’ve probably come across the freelance writing debate of writing for the Web versus writing for print markets before. Some people still look down on Web writers, and think if we don’t write for print markets, we’re not “real” or “professional” writers. I think those views still exist solely out of ignorance. What do you think? I think one of the biggest problems the print-only
As a freelance writer, you have a free marketing tool at your disposal – your ability to write. When marketing your freelance writing services, how can you leverage your ability to write in order to attract more clients? Try these writing-related marketing tips to showcase your writing ability while bringing in more work: Start a Blog By setting up your own blog, you get to
Coming from a marketing / PR background, I understand the importance of marketing plans, and consider them vital for any kind of business or independent professional. Yet as a freelancer, I can also understand the reluctance in writing a marketing plan that’s too formal and detailed. Some writers simply don’t know where to start or how to plan their yearly marketing strategies. Others don’t know
So we talked about how to install WordPress on your own domain if you want to set up a new blog to showcase your writing. There Latoya asked a good question – how can you install a new theme / design to change the look (see my past post on how I choose WordPress themes and site templates)? The process is actually very easy, and
Yesterday someone asked me how they would set up a WordPress blog at their own domain. The simple answer is: Register a domain name. Set up a Web hosting account. Install WordPress (from WordPress.org or through your host). I won’t walk you through the process of setting up a hosting account or registering a domain name. Your host can help you with that, and the
If there’s one thing that successful freelance writers have in common, it’s confidence. It’s tough to succeed on your own in any line of work if you don’t. Here’s why: If you’re not confident in your abilities, you’ll struggle to “sell yourself” to clients. If you’re not confident in your work, it’s unlikely that you’ll charge what you’re worth, raise your rates when you want
I’ve mentioned repeatedly in the past that I think all freelance writers could benefit from having their own professional website and / or blog to showcase their writing and niche expertise. Today I’m going to share my own favorite resources – the tools and services I use repeatedly when setting up new sites or blogs, and why I use them. Web Hosting I have hosting
We all like to talk about goals at the end of the year, when we’re figuring out what we want to change in our writing careers – we want to earn more, take on more clients, take on different types of clients, launch a blog, write a book or e-book, etc. But how can a freelance writer set realistically attainable goals for their freelance writing
Do you want to improve your Web content writing skills or learn how to become a Web content writer, branching out from other types of freelance writing? I was recently asked how a writer could learn more about Web content writing, from someone previously more involved with print formats. If you’re in a similar boat, here’s what I suggest: Read Web Content When you’re learning
We talked the other day about an example of an editor personally connecting with a buyer (in this case, me) after a purchase. It was an excellent example of relationship building with your target market for your book. So today I want to ask you… how else can authors build a relationship with their audience, whether one-on-one or not? I’ll kick it off with a
First of all, let me apologize for my long absence from All Book Marketing. Today seemed like a good day to get things back on track after a particularly pleasant exchange with an editor who demonstrated an important element of book PR: building a relationship with your audience. It’s no secret that I’m a big advocate of author blogging to promote books and interact with
Stop believing in freelance writing myths says Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging – he recently exposed some common myths on his blog. All I can say is “Shhhhh Chris!!! The more people believe that crap, the better it is for the rest of us!” 😉 I’m just kidding of course. Chris makes some good points. I’d like to add one. Chris says: “It takes too long
Should freelance writers share information about their freelance writing income publicly? Some writers do so regularly on their writing blogs. Others refuse to ever share details about how much they make, and how they do it. What’s right for you? Let’s explore the issue. Is Talking About Money Really Taboo? I’d argue that disclosing income information hasn’t been “taboo” in the freelance writing profession for
Today’s topic on building blogs and professional sites as a freelance writer comes from Zac Schuessler. Zac points out that you don’t necessarily have to create one or the other. If you like working on a blog platform, you can use one to run a more basic site (or a combination professional site / blog). In particular, Zac brings up the subject of magazine-style (or
Being a freelance writer can be stressful at times. That stress may be because you have a lot of work going on at once, or because work is slow and you’re stressing while you try to find new clients. No matter what the reason is, you have to deal with the stress before it completely consumes you. I’ve been particularly stressed with work lately. It’s
I recently asked you to come up with questions about setting up your own professional site or blog as a freelance writer. Today I’m going to address Kristi Holl’s question about moving a site from one blog platform to another. Question: I have heard a lot of talk about moving your blog from something like blogspot to your own website, using a free service like
Many writers markets are listed in online collections, from paid writers market listings to various free listings on blogs and freelance writing sites. The only problems with those sources are that they often feature the same writers markets, and they’re frequented by large numbers of freelance writers, meaning more competition for the writing gigs. I f you’re tired of coming across the same writers markets,
If you write content for the Web, you probably already know about certain Web writing basics, like using short paragraphs, bold sub-headings, and lists to help make your articles “scannable” to readers browsing them for something specific. If you’re writing for clients, and they ask to have you write in plain text with HTML, do you know how to do those things? Here are a