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.
You’ll see me talk a lot about building a writer platform here at QueryFreeFreelancer.com, but what exactly is a platform? Your writer platform is basically a collection of tools and tactics that allow you to build and maintain both visibility and demand for your freelance writing services. Think of it as your built-in audience. The idea is to build an audience that will benefit your
Let’s kick things off by explaining what I mean when I say “query-free freelancing.” Basically, you attract freelance writing clients without mailing query letters, without sending email queries, and without cold calling just to pitch an idea and “sell yourself” to a potential client (or editor). Is Query-Free Freelancing for Everyone? Absolutely not. There are many types of freelance writers, and there are many approaches
I received an email this morning from another writer. In short, they were pitching me on their own writing services, asking me to outsource client projects to them. I let them know I don’t do that. Do you? I think it’s a topic worth discussing. The Ethics of Subcontracting First let me be clear: I don’t think there is anything inherently “wrong” with subcontracting client
Not only am I a freelance writer, but I’m also a client to other freelancers from time to time. Most of my clients are billed up front for my work. As a provider, I get to set the terms I work under and decide if or when to negotiate or make exceptions. Obviously there are benefits to being paid up front. As a client though,
I’ve been a part of an interesting conversation on freelance writing (specifically on the Web) at the DigitalPoint forums recently, and I think it’s a topic worth talking about here. In short, it started with a member asking why buyers always seem to be looking for “cheap content” there instead of quality. Then came calls for us on the forum staff to implement rules or
As a freelance writer, no one truly has the power to give you a raise but yourself. When we work for employers, we know what to do if we want a raise in the future–respect authority figures, work hard, show up on time, be “present” with the boss so they take notice, be innovative, etc. But how do you know you deserve a raise as
Today let’s very briefly go over some common components of the author (or book) media kit – in other words, what you should include. While most of these will work for a hard copy media kit / press kit, let’s focus on online author media kits (those in newsroom formats on your website or downloadable .pdf files). Author Media Kit Components – Essential An author
You know how I personally feel about broadening horizons as freelance writers–that you need to diversify to really find the best overall business practices for yourself. There are many ways you can diversify your work and income streams. We’ve talked about releasing e-books. We’ve talked about launching blogs. Another option is to offer online courses. Since that is something I’ve never pursued personally, I asked
If you’ve noticed anything here at All Freelance Writing, I hope it’s my effort to show writers that they can, and should, charge what they’re worth to earn a livable wage (and then some). I’ve also on more than one occasion poo-pooed the type of “client” who asks for free work (or who offers pay so low it might as well be free work). It’s
We’ve discussed the benefits of specialization and how that can lead to higher earnings as a freelance Web writer. However, the real key to earning a decent income freelance writing online is proving your value to your clients. Specialization plays a major role (if you’re offering a certain amount of depth or understanding others can’t, you’re providing more value). Today let’s talk about other things
One of the best things you can do as a freelance Web writer is diversify your income streams by creating, and selling, informational products. I would hazard a guess that the most common informational products for freelance writers to be selling would be e-books or reports (you also might sell membership to premium content on a website though). Now I’ve tried a few different services
One thing you’ll learn in The Web Writer’s Guide to Launching a Successful Freelance Web Writing Career is that being a Web writer can be about much more than taking on articles, copywriting, or other writing projects from clients. Something I like to talk about when I’m chatting with new writers is moving beyond that client work and writing “for yourself.” What is “Writing for
One bit of advice I see commonly given to new Web writers (or any type of writers) is that they have to either do free projects for normally-paying clients or take on work at ridiculously low rates (like $5.00 per article) when they’re new just to build a portfolio or get references. That’s a load of garbage. If you’re really cut out to be a
Let’s talk specifically about Web content writers today, and the rights they give up when they sell their work. In many cases, when a client purchases Web content from you, their primary objective is to target search terms for traffic or online readers. Most have no use for your content beyond their websites or blogs, leaving potential non-competing reprint markets available as an additional income
After you’ve decided what type of Web writer you want to be (as in specialties and / or niches), you need to decide if you’d like to freelance in Web writing or look for a more permanent full-time Web writing job. Here are some of the benefits of each to help you decide what’s right for you: Benefits of Full-Time Web Writing as an Employee
We’ve recently completed the first two months of 2009, so I think it’s a good time to see where we all stand on our goals. What have we accomplished so far? What would we like to make more progress on in the coming month? Here’s where I stand: I’ve completed over 10,000 words of the novel – not nearly as far along as I’d like
I received the following reader question from Nina Lewis, and wanted to address it to everyone, as it’s an excellent question: “In your e-book, do you explain what kind of clients need web content? You see that is what I want to specialize in however, I am not too fond of those low-paying job boards. And I may sound naive, but established businesses already have
Whether you’re a Web content writer or a Web copywriter, specialization can be one of the biggest factors in earning a higher income from your writing. Here’s why: More Money The most important point is that most clients will pay more for a specialist than a generalist. You can specialize in niches (such as for content writers) or even in types of writing if you’re
I’m a freelance business writer, who just happens to focus on Web writing. It has its perks – perks I’ve seen echoed by quite a few other freelance writers in the same boat. But first: What are “Business Clients?” When I talk about business clients (sometimes “corporate clients” depending on your target market), I basically mean any client that’s not a “publisher client.” A publishing-focused
One of the most common questions and misunderstandings I come across with new Web writers is about Web content versus Web copy. If you want to write for the Web, it’s important to figure out what type of writer you want to be. Understanding the difference between content writing and copywriting will get you off to a good start. I’m going to over-simplify for the
In response to one of my guest posts on my blog tour last week, (pretty sure that’s where it was) someone mentioned wanting to set up a professional website to move their service listings off of their blog. In other cases, I’ve seen writers inquiring about how to take an existing static site and add a blog to it. In short, a combination of the
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years talking to freelance writers earning $.01 per word or even less, trying to encourage them to raise their rates and get out of their rut–the one where they want to raise rates but can’t, because there’s no time to market to a new client base when you’re cramming tons of articles into your week
Whether you’re a freelance writer or blogger, you’ve probably had to choose niches to write about at one time or another–perhaps a niche for your new blog or e-book, or choosing what topics to specialize in for client work. There are millions of niches out there that you can write about or blog about, so it always baffled me that people have a hard time
In one community I’m very active in, there’s a particular member who always gives me a good laugh (unintentionally). He repeatedly claims that the rates professional writers charge are “highway robbery,” essentially because he feels articles are easy and / or quick to write. Originally I figured he was probably just burned by a lousy writer in the past, or jealous because he can’t command
“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 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
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
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