Browse the All Freelance Writing collection of freelance business articles below.
This section covers the business side of freelance writing, from finding better clients and choosing a specialty to setting rates, growing income, and making smarter decisions about how you work.
Whether you’re just getting started or trying to strengthen an established business, these posts focus on practical realities, not vague freelance motivation.
When you begin trying to turn an idea into an article, part of the process involves determining what publication you will pitch. With all of the magazines out there, how can you choose the right one? Actually, early in my career I heard a great piece of advice that I would like to pass along to you…start with magazines that you already read. If you have a
It’s secret time! It’s been my experience that we all have a few dirty little secrets stashed away, and working from behind a computer screen lets us get away with a few harmless fibs every now and then – not that I would lie. I really do still look like that picture I posted from ten years ago…before two c-section deliveries…really, I’m still that hot!
Every office needs a coffee table. Whether it’s to hold meetings with clients around, spread out potential magazines for querying on or to simply have somewhere to rest your feet during your mid-morning break, a coffee table has a variety of uses. Unlike my previous two posts (how to build a desk and a bookcase), I haven’t actually made this coffee table myself. I drew
A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Bright Hub (a content mill I used to write for) inviting me to help them write some 60 titles for a private client commission for about $20 a pop. Another content mill, Demand Studios, recently partnered with USA Today to start providing travel tips for their website. To some writers, these partnerships and commissions
In this series, we personally test traditional online freelance marketplaces to share first-hand experiences and honest assessments of marketplaces and resulting jobs, as many freelance writers turn to these outlets to find writing gigs. You can read all the posts in the series here. I have a very short update this week. Very short. So short that I am going to fill much of it
My fellow WAHM, have you ever noticed just how ridiculous certain aspects of our life can be? I, for one, rode around today with my youngest’s chocolate pudding cup in the front of my truck next to a plastic container full of worms my oldest determinedly collected yesterday. But this pales in comparison to the other pieces of my WAHM life that just slap me
You know that here at All Freelance Writing we’re incredibly picky about what we will and won’t promote. For example, we won’t sell out to content mills that exploit writers, and we won’t send you to job leads at marketplaces we consider shady. Speaking of freelance marketplaces, there was actually only one we were willing to openly support — Elance. I’m sad to say that’s
Today I am having surgery. It’s the first surgery I’ve ever had, so I’m a little nervous. I’m not a real fan of doctors and I’ve never broken a bone or had a disease, so all of this medical poking and prodding has been new to me and has made me a bit paranoid about my own longevity. I mean, I actually believe I might
I’m fully convinced that the most hilarious, deep-seated irony of the universe revolves around freedom of choice. Think of those teenage years when you struggled, fought, threatened, snuck out and wore horrible clothing to express yourself and gain true independence from the overbearing monsters we call parents. For most of us, now that we have free will, we live with gusto. We stay out all
Today marks the start of our new Freelance Fitness series here on All Freelance Writing. This is where I’ll be sharing some of my own workout-related updates to show you that you’re not alone in trying to beat the bad health habits freelancing can sometimes lead to. Once per month we’ll talk about workouts tailored to freelance writers, and once per month we’ll share recipes
In this series, we personally test traditional online freelance marketplaces to share first-hand experiences and honest assessments of marketplaces and resulting jobs, as many freelance writers turn to these outlets to find writing gigs. You can read all the posts in the series here. A couple of weeks ago I told you about an experiment I was trying with Associated Content’s residual earnings plan. I
In last month’s post, I explained how to build an L-shaped desk based on a project I carried out several years ago. The reason I built my own desk, apart from the fact that I needed a separate writing space was that I was in the same boat as a lot of new freelancers and money wasn’t as flush as it could have been. Not
I haven’t logged into TurboTax since the beginning of February, when that big red $1,254 showed up on the screen. I knew I would have a tax bill this year and set aside some money for it every month. I’m not ready to give up that much money yet so I’m holding out as long as possible. But for the sake of argument, let’s talk
For quite some time, I’ve planned to cut down my work schedule to a four-day work week. I never seem to get around to it though. Whenever I free up the time, either I have a new project to work on during those hours or a client wants to start on a big contract that I suddenly have some free hours for. So the schedule
Not only is it hard for people to articulate what I do, but they often don’t believe it’s a worthwhile undertaking. I’m a freelance copywriter – a “real job” by most people’s standards once they know what it actually is, but it’s often referred to as “that writing thing you do.” Whatever. I can handle the confusion, but for every person who can’t seem to
I’ve mentioned before that middlemen clients — SEO firms, marketing firms, etc. — are some of my favorite types of clients to work for. They bring a group of their own clients to your door which saves on marketing time for you, and they tend to bring in bigger orders than most single clients. They also often go for regular monthly work rather than short-term
Disjointed thought #1: Marketplace Reviews Update Lately, I haven’t had any marketplace reviews for you, so I thought I’d at least let you know what’s going on with my research. Here are some future articles for that series and a little information about them: The Associated Content Residual Earnings Test: Last week, I read an article by Jennifer Claerr about how she made $573.26 in
I’m on a diet. Have been for, oh, about 7 weeks now. I’ve lost 7 pounds. Yeah, no, trust me, I’m going somewhere with this. The reason I’m on a diet is because I have an accountability problem when it comes to food. Generally when I want to eat something bad I come up with some kind of reason that I should eat it. “I
To continue in my (very short) series of common questions asked of a freelancing mom, I’ll now reveal my true personality. It’s not very pretty – really, I know that. But this mom isn’t really that soft and gentle when she’s not dealing with her own children. It’s the most common question asked of freelance writers around the world that gets under my skin. “Will
First let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Catherine–and the plan is for me to share some information with you about my experience with writing for print. I have been a full-time writer for many years, and have had my writing published in national, regional and trade magazines, as well as newspapers, books and custom publications. I have also written text for calenders and
You might have already seen our free keyword density analyzer — the latest free online tool for freelance writers. Today I want to talk about some of the quirks and offer some tips on how to use it. Word Counts If you use the tool to track your word count, there are a few things you should know: You get to choose the number of
WARNING: This post is very negative because I was an angry elitist when I wrote it so I fully expect a bunch of haters to come out of the woodwork and say negative things about me, thereby showing what negative, angry elitists they are themselves. Did the warning above sound kinda circular in its logic when you first read it? Okay, good—it should. If you
Slow paying clients are a PITA and the wallet. Fortunately, all of my current clients pay promptly, but I have had clients who were slow to follow up on invoices. It’s annoying when your bills are coming due in a few days. It’s infuriating when your bills were due last week. It’s critical to keep the money coming in on a steady basis and to
When I first started freelancing, I realised that my productivity decreased if I were working from my laptop in a room where there were distractions of some sort. Whether it was the TV, radio, girlfriend or cats, I found that I was producing more work on a quicker basis when I was alone. So, mixing my passion for DIY with my need for a separate
In this series, we personally test traditional online freelance marketplaces to share first-hand experiences and honest assessments of marketplaces and resulting jobs, as many freelance writers turn to these outlets to find writing gigs. You can read all the posts in the series here. When I was eight, I frequently wore a single, sequined glove and I took break dancing lessons. I was in love
Diversify, diversify, diversify! If you haven’t gotten that message here over the years, it might never sink in, but I’m going to say it again anyway. DIVERSIFY! Normally we talk about diversifying your freelance writing business in a specific way, by creating your own residual revenue streams such as money-making blogs and e-books. We even give you tools to help you accomplish those goals like
It has been my experience that as soon as “regular” people, or those that don’t have their own online businesses, find out what I do, they always want to know two things: “How do you do it all?” -and- “Can you show me how to do what you do?” Usually the second question is accompanied by some information about how great he was at writing
In this series, we personally test traditional online freelance marketplaces to share first-hand experiences and honest assessments of marketplaces and resulting jobs, as many freelance writers turn to these outlets to find writing gigs. You can read all the posts in the series here. This week I played around with AOL’s new beta content mill SEED.While I would love to tell you that I felt
I’ve mentioned before that I don’t often take on new clients because my schedule is consistently full and I’m swamped with my own projects on top of that. A potential client (Robert Schierenberg of Superior Appeals — a company dealing with property tax appeals) changed my mind about that the other day. It was the first time I stopped, thought it over, and said I’d
If you’ve been freelancing for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed that work seems to come in spurts. There are certain stretches of time when you’re completely booked up and then there are times that it seems like there are no jobs out there. If your work comes in such varying cycles, your money will come in on the same cycle. There will be