Since I published my 900 word short story Dad’s Tomatoes in Chicken Soup for the Soul, I’ve been on live television, interviewed by news networks, had book signings and been offered speaking opportunities at expensive writers’ conferences
Freelance Industry
3 Quick and Easy Ways to Know Your Freelance Writing Market
Knowing your market means knowing who your customers are, who their customers are (age, gender, usage habits and values they hold dear), and what needs they are trying to satisfy. It also means knowing if their business is expanding or declining, where they get their funding from, how large a subscriber base they have, what current industry trends are and what their competition is doing.
How to Make Your Article SEO-Friendly Before Selling It to an Editor
Tired of getting your magazine submissions rejected, or worse, ignored, with no response? Learn to make every article SEO-friendly and well-researched with quotations and statistics that would pass the scrutiny of even the toughest fact checkers and you are likely to see more of your articles published.
Freelance Writing: How to Handle Clients Who Hate Your Work
Most clients are willing to work with you to remedy problems or inconsistencies, while some clients expect too much and become irate. So how do you handle different clients with different attitudes, moods, and tolerances? Here are a few tips to make clients work with you instead of against you.
How to Kill a Writing Career
Learning to be a successful writer is kind of like being a gold miner back then. Most writers won’t make a ton of money with their writing. The people who do make the money are the ones who sell the endless ebooks and online courses that tell people how to – wait for it – make money with their writing.
How Not to Fall Prey to Writing Job Scams on CraigsList
Many freelance writers have a love-hate relationship with CraigsList: they love using the free service to find legitimate work, and they hate using it when they inadvertently run into scams. I’ve been using CraigsList to find freelance gigs
How Freelance Writers Can Generate More Assignments from Past Editors
Connecting with editors from your past leaves the door open for future assignments and referrals to other publications. Learn these top tips on how to reconnect with past editors.
Freelancing Full-Time for the First Time: Is a Writing Career in Your Future?
Is a writing career in your future? In my first month as a full-time freelance writer, I’ve learned to strike a balance between writing articles that editors have asked me to write, pitching my work to new publications, and working on my own fiction manuscripts.
Freelance Writing for the Christian Market
Do you write only for secular publications but are looking for new markets to tap into? The more markets you have to write the better your income can be. Writing for the Christian market may be just what you are looking for.
How Introverted Freelance Writers Can Ask For Referrals
It’s common knowledge that referrals are an effective way for freelancers to get new business. After all, it’s easier to sell your services to a potential client if they know someone who is already satisfied with your work. Clients who come to us via referrals tend to be easier to close than those we approach through cold emails and job applications.
A Writer’s Viewpoint about Freelance Writing at Elance.com (and where to make more money elsewhere)
In a nutshell, Elance connects freelance writers with employers from all around the world. As a writer, you can bid on different projects. After you’ve submitted your work, your payment is released through a secure payment system called Escrow. Sounds good enough? It’s not.
Freelance Writing Clients: The Good vs. the Bad
I think most freelancers have some conception of what a bad client looks like – those of you who aren’t yet freelancers, imagine one. It probably exists. But what about the good ones?
Finding Your Writing Niche: How I Became an Expert Freelance Science Writer
Before going into freelance writing full time, I spent a number of years as a research biologist. I originally started on that path because brilliant science writers like Stephen Jay Gould and Carl Zimmer had opened up the world of the natural sciences to me with creativity and wit.
A Specialty in Freelance Real Estate Writing
National real estate writing and editing has been my specialty for nearly 10 years, but I have years of experience as a real estate agent and property manager that made a complete package for editors and content managers. I have written an ebook and hundreds of blogs
Making the Grade as a Freelance Educational Writer
Although the nonfiction genres are often popular amongst freelance writers, many don’t consider educational writing as a possibility for generating income. Educational writing takes a special set of skills and some well honed writing techniques, but it can be a lucrative and satisfying field
A Freelance Writer’s Point-of-View: Writing for Publications vs. Writing for Corporations
Because I’m always interested in building my skillset and gaining more practice, I’ve been taking on corporate writing jobs in addition to my work that gets featured in a publication. Writing for a company has various
How to Create Your Own Freelance Project Contract
The first thing to consider when formulating a contract for a new freelance client is to make sure that the contract can be defended in a court of law. There are six criteria that the contract must meet according to the United States legal system.
Avoid These 10 Common Freelancing Traps to Run a More Successful Writing Business
The delightful Carol Tice and I conducted a bootcamp titled, Freelance Business Bootcamp, several months ago. In preparing the bootcamp, we put together a list of the top ten ways writers (and many freelancers) tend to get bamboozled, nailed, hammered and generally screwed. These top ten are all too common
Copy Editors: Use These 4 Tips to Communicate with Clients
While client education isn’t technically part of a copy editor’s job, working with clients who have a firm grasp of the scope of work, and the value of that work, tends to translate into projects that don’t raise my blood pressure and that do blossom into repeat assignments
Breaking into the SEO Writing Industry
Many writers have freelance success by finding the right niche. If you haven’t considered your own writing niche yet, one modern industry to consider is SEO writing. Search engine optimization is crucial to any website’s presence, visibility, and outreach
Powerful Pointers on Becoming a Better Freelance Writer
To choose freelance writing for a profession, you should have the literary temperament and some ideas of business methods on which to base your hopes. Let your inward impulse for expression help you overcome the many obstacles that will try to stop you.
Associated Content – The Key to Starting a Freelance Writing Career
You don’t have to be an excellent writer to begin a career as a freelancer. You can be a terrible writer and still make a nice living as a freelance writer.
The Basics of Ghostwriting and Finding a Ghostwriter
In most cases, ghostwriters are hired by people who have neither the time nor the ability to write their own book or novella.
3 Steps to Becoming a Successful Freelance Writer
Have you ever wondered what it is that makes everyone so successful in the freelance writing business? Here are 3 secrets.
Breaking Into International Magazines is Not That Easy!
Any aspiring writer, who hails from a country other than US or Canada, who wishes to become a freelancer and contribute articles to Suite101, is invariably rejected citing the reasons
Writing For Profit – Breaking Into the Magazine World Can Break Out Some Serious Cash
Never send a magazine a complete unsolicited article; most editors simply do not have enough time to wade through them and there is also the possibility they may publish it thinking it is from a prepaid source.
Budgeting With Freelance Pay
Freelancers have to be amazing money people. There is never any way to guarantee that the money they are suppose to earn each month will be in the bank during that month.
Freelance Writing – The Importance of Building a Professional Writing Portfolio
As a freelance writer, part of your job is to sell your services. After all, if you really want to be a full-time freelance writer you need be paid. No money means no job. Starving artists are not freelancers. There is a difference.
Can You Earn a Living As a Freelance Writer?
If you could have any career you wanted, what would it be? Think for a moment and don’t worry how you would achieve it. Just Imagine a magic wand being waved and immediately, you have that new occupation
Career Switch From Journalism to Public Relations – Research, Communication Skills Transfer Smoothly
Characterizing journalists as rigidly objective and solitary doesn’t describe professionals accustomed to flexibility, point-of-view narratives and teamwork. While balanced fairness is the goal, journalism requires subjective decisions
How to Partner with your Competition to Increase Freelancing Revenue
Freelance writing is an unstable occupation sometimes. We already have to struggle with dividing our time between marketing our skills
How to Pitch Your Story Idea or Script to Hollywood
Have a completed script or story idea you’d like to pitch? The best method is by calling the producers production office.
3 Reasons Freelance Writers are Underpaid, and What to Do About It
If you’re a freelance writer, then you are probably dismayed by the rates offered nowadays – especially for web content. Here’s how to fix that.
The Seven Secrets of Successful Freelance Writers
Think you’ve got what it takes to become a freelance writer? Before you get started, perhaps I could share some secrets with you…
5 Steps to Take if your Clients Don’t Pay
Didn’t get paid? Since you probably don’t have an attorney on retainer, you must seek alternative methods for collecting payment. Here are 5 to use.
Are you missing the mark with your queries and cover letters?
If you want to be a busy working freelance writer, you can’t continually miss the mark with your queries. Here are some tips for hitting the target.
How to Write a Perfect Cover/Query Letter
The recipe for creating the perfect cover/query letter is simple: give editors and agents what they want, no more and no less. Read how inside.
Freelance Writers: Don’t Waste Your Time with Query Letters
Virtually everything ever written about freelance writing and getting published says that you need to write query letters. It’s a waste of time, nowadays.
10 Free or Cheap Ways to Market Your Writing Business
These 10 strategies cost nothing, or close to it. They’ll save you money, and put money in your bank account, too!
How to Co-Write a Memoir in 5 Steps, and Why
Chances are, the subjects of many intense stories don’t realize the potency of their tales. So what to do? You co-write their memoirs.
A Day in the Life of a Copywriter
This article discusses 10 daily rituals involved with running a freelance website copywriting or advertising copywriting business (other than writing).
6 Freelance Writing Niches That Are Often Overlooked
Learn about six common and not-so-common writing niches. This author explains writing gigs such as grant writing, writing resumes and cover letters to unemployed workers, and writing employer handbooks and other business-type documents.
The Genesis of Boomer Literature: A Brief History
Why is there the expectation that boomer lit will become a major genre? This is a simple matter of demographics. The same generation that made the success of YA lit will be responsible for the success of boomer lit. In that sense, boomer lit or BB novels are a true
5 Industries That Will Hire Freelance Writers
You may not believe that tourism is increasing but it is thanks to baby boomers. This group won’t give up travel. They have the funds to travel wherever and whenever and like to get a good deal. If you’re interested in travel writing, now is the time to get started
5 Realities of Freelance Copywriting
I’ve lost track of the projects I’ve seen where the wage was $1 per article. People routinely undermine the worth of writing and editorial skills by offering slave labor wages.
5 Tips to Help Launch Your Writing Career
Launching a career in writing is not an easy feat. However, today’s technology certainly makes it much easier to access the tools required to get started.