Weekend Reading: Freelance Writing Project Tutorials

Earlier this week I answered a reader's question about how you should respond when a client asks you to take on a freelance writing project you have no experience with. They specifically wanted to know how you could learn a new project type quickly.

I promised to follow up with a collection of tutorials, templates, and worksheets that could help you learn how to tackle freelance writing projects you haven't tried yet. So let's jump right in. Some of these are from my own sites, one is a post I wrote for a client's site, and the rest are third party resources that should serve as decent beginners' guides.

1. How to Write a White Paper

at DirJournal.com 

In this post I wrote for one of my old clients, I run through the basic elements of a traditional marketing white paper. While these can be formatted in any number of ways (sometimes looking more like long articles or e-books), I cover traditional formatting here as well. And once you know the elements, you can get much more creative with the writing style itself.

2. Press Releases Made Easy

at ProBusinessWriter.com 

This is an old short free e-book of mine that's been a great client-magnet over the years. But it can also help you learn the basics of press release writing for your own freelance writing clients.

3.  Learn From My Case Study Fatal Flaw

by Cathy Miller for Simply StatedBusiness

In this post Cathy Miller talks about a learning experience she had as a freelance case study writer. She explains the basics of what case studies are and where your focus needs to be when writing them for your clients.

4. The Only Online B2B Case Study Template You'll Ever Need

by Jack Simpson for Econsultancy

This post gives you a rundown of the basic elements of a traditional B2B case study. This will help you piece together the kind of client story Cathy talked about in the previous post.

5. 17 Tips for Writing Email Marketing Copy that Converts

by Sharon Hurley Hall for OptinMonster

If you're new to writing email marketing copy, this collection of tips from Sharon Hurley Hall will point you in the right direction from knowing your goal for each email to using consumer psychology in crafting your message.

6. The Secret to Writing Stronger Feature Articles

by Scott Atkinson for WritersDigest.com

This post explains the key to writing effective feature articles as opposed to standard news stories. The main takeaway? As with many types of freelance writing projects, it's all about finding and telling the story.

7. Inverted Pyramid Style (for News Writing)

by Jana Brech for Web Wise Wording

This post introduces you to something called the "inverted pyramid style" of writing. This is used both by journalists in their news writing, but also by press release writers (because it can make journalists' jobs easier when PR reps are pitching stories).

8. 25 Blog Post Templates to Make Blogging Faster

for SearchEnginePeople.com

I'm not a big fan of using third party templates for blogging. It's far better to create your own style (and even your own templates for various post types). But this round-up points you to quite a few examples you might want to test out if you're still new to blogging. You'll find your own style best through practice anyway.

That should give you somewhere to start for some new types of freelance writing projects you might not have tried before. Are there other projects you're unfamiliar with? Leave a comment here, and I'll see if I can find a resource to add to the list for you.