If you have particular skills and expertise in a certain area, then follow that tracks through. I loved education, so it still remains my major proofing interest. I made up flyers and placed them in universities or city writing centres, anything was worth a try.
freelance writing
Freelance Writer Tips – How to Create an Effective Web Site and Blog
If you want to be a successful freelance writer, there are many things you will need to know. One of the most important steps you can take to taking your writing seriously and encouraging others to do the same is to create an effective Web site and/or blog.
Freelance Writers – A Dozen Ways to Stay Focused on Your Writing
Schedule your writing for YOUR most productive time of the day. For example, don’t leave your writing for the very last thing at night if you’re an early bird who is most productive in the mornings yet tends to get worn out by 9:00 p.m.
Freelance Writers – How to Package Services So Clients Will Be Clamoring to Buy Them From You
Many freelance writers don’t realize it, but the skills they possess are literally worth thousands of dollars. They are uniquely positioned to take the marketing knowledge they possess and turn it into a cash-generating machine. Following is how and why.
Freelance Writing – A Medium to Generate Income
There are many freelance writers writing for various newspapers, magazines and other editorials. One can really make a sound income
Freelance Writing and Copywriting – Every Writer Needs a Bio
You’re a writer: do you have a bio? Every freelance writer and copywriter needs a bio, because people need to know who you are before they’ll hire you. Discover how to write a killer bio today.
Top 10 Things You Should Do to Win a Freelance Writing Bid
While many freelancers have already taken or are seriously thinking to take on freelance writing as their profession, many professional writers too, are joining them seeing the enormous money-making potential of the market. Read on for the
Freelance Writing For Ad Agencies Can Make You Rich
If you land a gig with an ad agency as a freelance copywriter, you can expect excellent pay and repeat work if you do a good job. Read the following article for tips on how to secure these exciting positions.
Freelance Writing For Environmental Publications
The earth matters. Our planet is in danger. Many of our world’s species are under threat of extinction. As people are becoming more aware of the current threats to our environment, more publications are emerging to update and inform readers of the latest environmental news and trends.
Freelance Writing For Magazines
Writing for magazines is a great place to freelance because you can earn a good paycheck writing cover stories, features, how-to articles, interview pieces, product or travel destination reviews, and other types of articles. Here’s how you can create a successful career in magazine writing.
Freelance Writing For Trade Magazines
Breaking into trade magazines as a freelance writer can be tricky. Many editors of trade magazines choose not to list their writer’s guidelines
Making Freelance Writing Niche Types Fit: A Few Niche Types by Definition and Description
We must make freelance niche types fit our needs, wants, values and lifestyles, and we also must make ourselves fit freelance niche types.
Writing Vividly: the Power of Description
The literary market always has a demand for descriptive articles and short stories. A writer’s success in any line of literary work depends largely upon his power of description. It pays to have the skills to describe well, to paint vividly and accurately in words, any scene from memory or imagination.
Finding Success in Writing – The Beginning
With the success of many authors, poets and creative writers, many teachers continue to stress the importance of writing
Five Golden Rules for Writers
Regardless of what sort of writer you are and how much you love to write, there are probably days when you’d rather clean ditches than face another blank page.
The Five Myths of Freelance Writing Explained
There are other people who imagine that while people can earn some money via freelance writing, it will never be enough to quit their day job. In fact, historically freelance writers have had the reputation
Five Quick Tips for Aspiring Copywriters
So, as long as copywriters are going to keep popping up like breakfast treats, it seems appropriate for us white-haired communicators to share what we know with those who will carry our torches when we’re gone.
Practical Advice on Writing the Biographical Novel
Many nonfiction writers aspire to write a biographical novel about a person who fascinates them. The research and writing process are always challenging. In fact, many biographies, no matter how well-planned, never see daylight.
Writing Sports Stories of Interest
During the summer I teach a course on sports writing. When I ask my students to cover a sporting event and write a sports story (with no further instructions), 9 out of 10 students watch a sporting event on TV or attend a baseball game and rehash on paper what they have observed.
5 Steps to Increase Your Writing Income this Year: Learn to find and retain long-term writing partnerships
How many times have you landed a writing gig but the project turns out to be a one-time deal? You deliver well-written content on deadline, and cross your fingers hoping this gig will lead to more work. While your client is grateful and pays timely
Writing Historical Fiction: The Forgotten Golden Egg of Writing
Writing is hard work; it’s not for the faint of heart. Writing historical fiction is even harder, as it is more than just crafting an intriguing plotline. There’s the laborious task of researching the history that drives the story. Any authentic historical reference that I used in the book, I researched at least three times
Freelance Writing in Uncomfortable Niches … Is It Worth It?
As a freelance writer, you can do business in many different niches, and it is inevitable that some of them are going to be much less comfortable than others.
Freelance Writing Opportunities in Writing for the Trade Press
Trade publications attract writers from two primary sources. Trade editors actively seek out tradesmen and women and turn them into writers; and/or editors invite freelance writers to pitch query letters and articles make them familiar with the trade. Since the former option is the easiest and simplest, most trade editors prefer to work with freelance writers.
How to Write Gripping Subheadings to Add More Value to Your Article
Well-written subheadings help the reader understand at a glance what your article is about and what he/she can gain from each paragraph. Added to this, subheadings make your work easier to read because they organize it.
Writing Your Ecological Autobiography
People write memoirs or autobiographies for a number of reasons, but one thing we can expect as we go through the process is a deeper understanding of ourselves. As we recall and record our life stories, we learn a great deal about who we are and how we came to be the persons we are
Writing E-mails to Editors: How to Pitch, Correspond, and Present Yourself Professionally
Just because you’re working in a freelance creative profession instead of a corporate field, it doesn’t mean your e-mails should be sloppy or casual. E-mail messages should display your professionalism and build relationships with editors who will publish your work.
Freelance Writing: Writing for Automotive Trade Journals
One requisite to break into this market is you must write with accuracy. Editors demand accuracy in all technical contributions. Most, if not all, freelance submissions go through a peer-to-peer review and, if deemed necessary, the editorial board or engineering staff will scrutinize every detail in your article.
Writing About Video Games? How to Break into this Fun Freelance Market
Have you ever dreamed of getting paid to write about video games? As a freelance writer, it’s not hard to spin your favorite hobby into a source of income by writing articles, but those of you out there who love gaming are particularly in luck.
How to Get Clients in Less than an Hour for Your Writing Business
Are you looking forward to taking your freelance writing business to the next level by landing big time corporate clients? One of the most disturbing truths that block such aspiration is that prospects do not realize they need people who do not just write�but those who write effectively.
Freelance Writing Advice: Writing Descriptive Articles for Editors
The effectiveness of descriptive writing depends largely on the right choice of words. It is not enough to depict the memorable points of the subject tersely and vigorously: you must do this attractively, picturesquely.
The Benefits of Writing about Charities
As a freelance writer for more than eight years now, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to write about a wide variety of topics. One area in which I have focused a bit of my freelance writing on in the past few years is charities
Writing Your First Freelance Video Game Review
Writing a video game review is about more than just listing what’s good and what’s bad about a game. It’s an opportunity to delve in and express your thoughts through a medium that can reach millions of Internet users worldwide.
How to Write the Perfect Article Pitch
Submitting your article ideas to an editor might feel like an overwhelming task. I like to simplify it by thinking that writing is similar to selling a product. You’ve just got to know how to market it! If that feels overwhelming, don’t worry. Here are some tips on how to write article summaries
A Freelance Writer’s Guide to Using Public Speaking as a Marketing Tool
Public speaking is easily one of the most anxiety and fear-inducing activities a person can do. Just the thought of speaking in front of a group can be the cause of sweaty palms, the knocking of knees and a gut-wrenching case of nausea.
Top 5 Tips to Write An Interesting Narrative for Any Story
WRITING NARRATION – You can discover numerous ways of crafting an intriguing narrative. Some narrative methods are so refined that a skilled writer has trouble describing them; they are simply proof of a genuine storyteller.
Hopeful Freelancing: Write Because You Have Something to Say
A writer who seeks money first, will get little, unless he accidentally develops unique skills and talents. The writer who seeks fame regardless of pay, will win neither fame nor money. The hopeful writer should patiently research what publications demand his writing
How to Write Better Copy by Observing Amazon’s Marketplace
When I need help structuring a piece of copy, I’ll visit Amazon to observe the social habits of people–what they buy, sell, and discuss. Let me show you how.
7 Reasons Why Editors Reject Excellent Articles
Sometimes the acceptance of a manuscript or an article seems a question of editorial accident and not a circumstance of clever salesmanship. Let’s suppose you’ve written an excellent story and sent it to an editor. The odds of acceptance are threatened by a variety of factors.
Thinking About Quitting Freelance Writing? Here are 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t
Writing can be a horrible profession for those depending on it for a living. Unless you are one of the few who have risen, through merit or birth, above the masses you might have better odds aspiring to be an astronaut or an actor.
Write a Better News Story with the Paragraphing Technique
Paragraphing is an important technique in journalistic writing, perhaps more important than in other forms of writing. The purpose of paragraphs is to break up an article into its logical divisions so that readers can easily grasp the structure and thought.
What Editors Really Want: 10 Tips for Freelance Writers and Book Authors
Have you ever tried repeatedly to get into that one elusive publisher or magazine only to get rejected over and over again? Ever wonder what makes the editor tick? What exactly is it that they want from you? You’re not alone.
When Words Meet Pictures: How to Use Text and Images to Create Striking Articles for Readers
The thought of worrying about pictures for your articles might not make sense: you’re a writer, after all. However, in today’s web copy world images are essential to create stronger articles that grab reader attention.
An Introduction to Using Point of View in Your Story
Point of view is telling a story from a pre-determined vantage point. It is an essential formula for writing stories. If we were to exclude point of view from our stories, every story would be hopelessly confused, an entanglement of incoherent scenes
Top 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Make Yourself an Unpopular Freelance Writer
Every once in a while, though, editors get a query that forces them to tear out their hair and abandon the air of restraint to vent their long-suffering emotions. This kind of query comes from the writer who quickly becomes the Unpopular Freelancer.
The Option Clause in a Book Contract: A Trap for the Unwary Author
Reputable publishers almost always will drop or modify the option clause. Vanity presses are notorious for tying up your next book. And many smaller or start-up publishers that don’t want to pay for legal services
Titles that Talk: How to Create a Title for Your Article or Manuscript
The first words of a manuscript that catch the editorial eye are those of the title. Anytime you submit a manuscript or article, you should make your title strong and attractive. A compelling title is more likely to prompt an editor to start reading the opening paragraph.
Top 5 Irritating Habits of Editors and how freelance writers can handle them!
Freelance writers must know how to handle difficult editors of magazines and websites so they don’t get trumped over. Editors are as varied as the rejection notes they write. But like them or loathe them, editors will be around as long as there are writers. So it is handy to develop a satchel of tricks on how to best deal with their quirks.
The Epistolary Novel, a Creative Writing Style for Novelists
Evoking a certain dramatic mood is only one of the reasons why authors might use letters or diary entries in their novels. The most obvious benefit is character development, and allowing your protagonist or supporting cast
How to Condense Your Thoughts and Words to Write Better Articles
The hardest lesson aspiring writers need to learn is how to condense their writing– to not be afraid of leaving things out. Our thoughts and the language that we use to clothe them seem exceedingly important to us.
How to Get Tantalizing Testimonials from Your Clients
One of the most important marketing tools, especially for freelance writers, is the mighty testimonial. Why? Before the project begins, and often well into it, there are few, if any tangibles. That spells high anxiety for your prospects before signing on the dotted line
How to Find Great Subject-Matter Experts for Your Articles
Journalists and nonfiction writers often need subject-matter experts (SMEs) to lend credibility to their content. I have interviewed experts as far ranging as principals, teachers, fire fighters, real estate agents, lenders and nurses for a variety of published pieces. The information gleaned from these experts
Surviving the First Six Months of Freelance Writing
In reality, anyone with writing skills can make it as a freelance writer, but it does take some time to learn the nature of the industry. Ultimately, being a freelance writer means the writer is in charge of his or her own career, and that means having to find steady employment.
Taking Your Freelance Writing on the Road
It may seem like every writer’s dream, but taking your writing skills on a road trip is a little harder than you might first think! After completing an 11 000 kilometer road trip around Australia, education author Anne Vize shares some tips for taking your writing on the road.
6 Essential Job Boards for Any Freelance Writer
From traditional journalism to freelance blogging, there has never been a better time to be a freelance writer. The ease of finding jobs online makes this the best time to start a writing business. But you have to be able to find the jobs.
The Realities of Selling Your Article to a Magazine or Website
Suppose you submit your article or query letter directly by e-mail or by postal mail. What happens to it? Who actually reads it first, if not the editor? The size of the magazine and editorial staff may dictate who reads your query letter or submission first. If not the editor, then the managing editor or an editorial staff member.
Resume Writing as a Freelance Service
If you are looking to venture into new freelance writing territory, you should consider developing your skills in resume writing. Writers charge between $50 and $500 per resume depending on their credentials and expertise.
Retirement Planning for Freelance Writers
Here’s a chilling, hardcore reality. If you don’t plan for retirement, odds are you’ll end up working until you depart this Earth. And here’s a not-so-fun factoid to go with it. An astounding 76 percent of Los Angeles-area freelance journalists have nothing saved toward retirement. Odds are, the numbers for other freelancers, including writers, are similar.
Writers’ Notebooks: Your Secret Writing Weapon!
In my first eighteen years as a writer I feel like I made almost every mistake an author can make. I’ve been ripped off by vanity publishers, have paid more than I should for sub-par editing, and spent many years working hard without making any real progress. This all changed for me
10 Hacks To Simplify Your Freelance Writing Business
It’s surprising how many freelance writers complicate the way they run their writing businesses. While many writers struggle with handling several tasks at once, other writers have come up with their own life hacks for maximizing their profit and productivity
Have Pen Will Travel: Incentives for Freelance Writers to Earn as They Learn
Writing doesn’t have to be a lonely, solitary pursuit, holed away in the confines of your study. It can be an adventure ripe with exotic backdrops perfect for inspiring that next great novel. Getting there is a matter of creativity worthy of your brilliant story.
Keep It Simple, Stupid! How to write about a complex subject in a simple way
Whether you’re writing about the latest scientific advancement, or unveiling secrets of great historical pith and moment, or even jousting around different political perspectives, your audience has to be able to understand what they’re reading. And this means keeping things simple
How to Write Authority Content for You and Your Clients
Your article’s purpose may be to inform, educate, convince, or simply entertain. Crafting authority content helps you, your clients, and your audience.
How to Write Web Copy that Sells!
You want to write web copy that grabs the reader’s attention and sells something, whether that is a product or an idea, right? To achieve this, it could be a good idea to see how web content differs from articles that appear in print, especially if you are accustomed to writing for print media.
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.
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.
A Writing Opportunity: Creating Custom Templates for Clients
For freelance technical writers or writers who have experience with business contracts, creating custom templates for clients could provide a lucrative source of income. Although many websites offer free templates of all kinds, they are generalized, mostly used for common tasks. More sophisticated uses need more specialized templates.
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
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.
Become a Freelance Writer and Get Paid for Every Article You Write!
You can make several thousand dollars each month by becoming a freelance writer. Of course, you won’t make that in your first month alone, but with practice, you can work up to that point.
Become an Article Content Writer Via Magazine & Internet Services
Magazines that do not follow the staff system depend largely or entirely on contributors. Every editor daily receives many manuscripts submitted by writers on their own initiative. From these he selects the material best adapted to his publication.
Blogging and Freelance Writing – Viable Work at Home Income Sources
There is more of a demand for writers on the Internet today than there ever was. Many home workers are making a nice income for themselves just from writing, whether it be blogging or freelance writing in general.
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
Crafting the Perfect Pitch – Query Letters that Kill
If you are reading this then you are either looking for information on how to write a query letter, or your curiosity has been exited by the heading.
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 Bible: The Source of all Copywriting Secrets
Simply put, every copywriting strategy can be found FIRST in the Bible. Think that’s a strong statement? See the proof inside.
The Freelance Writer’s A-Z Glossary for Success
Here’s a list of 26 ways, from A-Z, you can improve your freelance writing game, earn more money, and achieve success. Read more inside.
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.
Word Frequency Analysis: A Method to Improve Your Writing
A word frequency analysis is a tool with several uses, that can help you improve as a writer, and help you to edit your pieces for clarity and richness.
5 Tips for Writing a Good Narrative Essay
Writing a narrative essay is an essential talent for field research. It presents your experience and allows audiences to draw their own conclusions.
Are You Good Enough to Be a Freelance Writer?
If you’ve ever wondered if you’re good enough to be a freelance writer, here are two ways to tell.
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!
Improve Document Searches with Great Technical Writing
People use the words that they know when they speak, write, or search. It’s folly to try to force the Reader to use the writer’s terminology.
Tag, You’re It! (Or, How To Write Slogans)
Taglines summarize in a very few words the essence of the thing they are promoting. They communicate a good, positive feeling or relationship to the product.
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).
7 Ways to Increase Your Writing Range and Raise Your Income
Here are seven strategies you can use to increase your writing range and boost your income potential in the process.
10 Lessons That Star Trek Can Teach You About Writing
Star Trek has a lot to teach about writing. We’ve taken 10 lessons you can learn from the crew of the Starship Enterprise.
Eleven Unusual Cures for Writer’s Block That Actually Worked
Take a cue from famous and uncelebrated writers alike in adopting one of these unusual cures for writer’s block that do actually work.
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.
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.
Parenting / Lifestyle Magazine Sample Query Letter
QUERY TYPE: E-mail query PITCHED TO: Editor SOLD TO: Parenting/lifestyle magazine and website AUDIENCE: Parents, women TYPE OF PITCH: Full article, 1,500+ words COMPENSATION OF SOLD ARTICLE: $575 (US); $20/photo (estimated price) 1. Parenting / Lifestyle Magazine Sample Query Letter JoAnne Campbell, freelance writer P.O. Box 2222 New York, NY 10012 Phone: 212-000-0000 E-mail: [email protected] August… Read more →
Sample Query Letter: Music Magazine
QUERY TYPE: E-mail query PITCHED TO: Editor SOLD TO: Music Website selling classic music CDs AUDIENCE: Classic music enthusiasts TYPE OF PITCH: Full article, 750 words COMPENSATION OF SOLD ARTICLE: $115.00 (US) 1. Music Magazine Sample Query Letter —–Original Message—– From: Jack Campbell [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, December 01, 20XX 4:54 PM To: ‘[email protected]’ Subject: To Nancy… Read more →
Sample Query Letter: Parenting Magazine
QUERY TYPE: E-mail query PITCHED TO: Editor SOLD TO: Parenting magazine AUDIENCE: Parents TYPE OF PITCH: Full article, 1,800+ words COMPENSATION OF SOLD ARTICLE: $2,000+ (US) (estimated price) 1. Parenting Magazine Sample Query Letter From: Rosemary Campbell, writer [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, December 01, 20XX 3:54 PM To: ‘[email protected]’ Subject: To Nancy Williams, Editor : Exclusive interview… Read more →