So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Part 4: Advice from the Pros

In this final installment in the freelance writing series, you’ll find lots of advice from freelance writing pros.

Getting Started

How I Launched My Freelance Writing Career - These are the steps that Melissa Donovan followed to start her business.

Make Money from Writing - Debbie Dragon offers freelance writing advice. You have to give your name and e-mail address, and you will receive e-mails that include solicitations for her coaching service along with some good advice.

Going freelance in a down economy - Susan Johnston tells why she chose to start her freelance business during a slow economy and why it might be the best time to go freelance.

Putting a Price on Your Capabilities: How to Set Your Fees as a Freelance Writer – This advice from Debra Jason will help you set your fees for freelance writing.

Building Your Business

Five Paramount Principles for Freelance Writing Success - Bob Younce reminds us that freelance writing is a business and shares five principles essential to success.

Five Step Plan for Setting and Achieving Goals for Your Freelance Writing Career - This plan from Jennifer Mattern gives you an outline to build your business. 

Tips for Slowly Building a Freelance Writing Career - Chris Bibey reminds us that business growth doesn’t have to be fast and furious.

Learn from the Best

Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2007/2008 – The list of winners in Michael Stelzner’s second annual contest includes some blogs not listed elsewhere in this series.

Top 60 Blogs for Freelance Writers - The category divisions in this list of 60 blogs compiled by Chad  will lead to blogs in your specialty.

Promoting Your Business

Why Every Freelance Writer Must Have a Blog - Ashwin explains why freelancers need to have blogs.

Setting up a Website or Blog: My Favorite Resources - Jennifer Mattern and I share only one favorite resource – WordPress – but the resources she recommends may be perfect for your needs.

5 Tips for Marketing Your Freelance Writing Business -  Colin Galbraith offers marketing advice for freelancers.

10 Ways to Promote Your Freelance Writing  – These tips from Michelle Vranizan Rafter are covered in other articles listed here but are organized into a single neat list. 

Ways to Market and Promote Yourself and Your Writing - Look through this collection of articles at About.com: Freelance Writing for articles of interest to you.

Paying Taxes as a Freelancer (added 6/4/08 as a result of a question in comments from Renae):

Taxes and Freelancing – Tax professional William Perez gives advice on taxes in a series of five articles

If you’re a beginning freelance writer, I hope you have found this series helpful. If you’re an experienced freelancer, please share your advice or links to other resources in comments.

So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Part 3: Finding Gigs

 You’ve decided to start a freelance writing business and have considered the kind of writing and the niche(s) you want to pursue.

If you’re like most freelancers, you’ll probably work from home. Although you won’t need to do many of the items in setting up a self-publishing company, you may want to review the list for things that apply, such as getting a business checking account and phone line and setting up a bookkeeping system.

You’ll also need to determine your freelance writing rates. You will find excellent advice on setting rates on some of the sites mentioned in Parts 1 and 2 of this series. When you’re new to freelance writing, you can’t expect to charge the same as someone with many years of experience. However, you need to determine what you’re worth and charge accordingly.

You’re eager to get started … but where do you find jobs? Remember, you can find work both offline and online.

If you want to write for publications such as magazines, Writers Market is a valuable resource, though it does require a subscription.  I recommend the online edition as it is continually updated, and the print edition is published only once a year.

Tips for finding freelance writing jobs offline:

• Use your contacts and let everyone in your circle of influence know about your new business. You might be surprised to learn that someone you know works for a company looking for a freelance writer.
• Let the people you do business with know you’re a freelance writer. Your vet or the dry cleaner may be planning a brochure or an ad campaign.
• Network in your community. The next person you meet at your local civic group could become your best client.
• Volunteer for organizations and causes you believe in. Although I don’t usually recommend writers give their work away, I advocate pro bono writing for charities you support. You are likely to meet people who can help you build your business – either by hiring you themselves or by referring you to others, and you can use the work you’ve done as clips for paying jobs. And you’re contributing to a worthy cause while you build your business.
• Advertise in free or inexpensive venues – a classified ad in your neighborhood newspaper, flyers on public bulletin boards, or a listing on craigslist.
• Cold call businesses in your niche. You can make contacts by telephone, letter, or e-mail. Few people enjoy cold calling, but some writers find it effective in finding unadvertised work. Keep the contact brief and professional. Be prepared for a lot of rejection but remember that every “no” is just one step closer to a “yes.”

Resources for finding freelance jobs:

Note: not every site will be appropriate for every writer. Visit the various sites and see which ones post jobs appropriate for your specialty, niche, and skill set.

6 Ways to Find Writing Markets - creative ideas for sources of writing markets

All Freelance Writing Jobs - job board and regular freelance job listings

Freelance Writing.com - jobs posted online and in a weekly newsletter

Freelance Writing Jobs - daily job postings and plenty of excellent advice for freelancers

The Golden Pencil - jobs posted several times a week

Life of a Writer - jobs posted weekly

Poewar: Writer’s Resource Center – jobs by state and jobs by category

Sunoasis - job board for writing and journalism jobs with a special section for freelance jobs

Top 10 Freelance Writing Job Sites and 10 More Freelance Writing Job Sites – Listings of job sites (some of which are included elsewhere on this list plus several that are not)

Worldwide Freelance Writer - databases of markets categorized by topic; free database has fewer and lower-paying markets than subscription database

Writer’s Weekly - freelance writing e-zine with new jobs and markets listed weekly

Writing Career - career site for writers with a section for freelance jobs

You can also look into some of the bidding job sites. However, I haven’t used any of these sites in years; my experience with them was not favorable; and I’ve heard a lot of negative reports about the very low prices of most jobs offered. If you’re just starting out in business, give them a try if you choose and make up your own mind. Concentrate on free listings, though, and beware of paying high fees just to access jobs that may or may not be suitable for you.

Strategies for success in finding freelance projects:

Establish a “looking for freelance work” routine. Market yourself even when you have plenty of work.

Build long-term client relationships. Spend less time marketing and more time earning with repeat business.

Where are your favorite places to find freelance writing gigs? Please share with us in comments.

[tags]freelance writing jobs[/tags]

Memorial Day

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

Related Posts:

Memorial Day: In Memory of Those Who Gave Their Lives for Our Freedom
Memorial Day Videos
Veterans Day
A New Patriotic Tradition

So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Part 2: Choosing What You will Do

You want to become a freelance writer – but what kind? And do you want to limit your freelance business to writing?

You can be a generalist or specialize in a specific kind of writing or niche. You don’t have to limit your specialty or your niche to only one-you may have several specialties.

Some popular freelance writing (and writing-related) specialties include:

• Article writing for magazines, newsletters, or the Internet
• Blogging
• Book consulting
• Business/commercial writing
• Copywriting
• Editing
• Ghostwriting
• PR consulting and writing, including press release writing
• Research
• Technical writing
• Travel writing
• Virtual assisting
• Web content writing, including SEO writing
• White paper/report writing

Though the above list includes some of the most popular freelance specialties, many more exist. Even if your favorite kind of writing isn’t included, look into the possibilities of making a career of what you like.

Pros and cons of being a generalist:

• You have more jobs available to you, but you have more competition also.
• You don’t need any special knowledge or experience beyond good research and writing skills, but you will have to spend time researching and learning about the field for new projects.
• You will be involved in a variety of projects; whether that is a pro or con depends on your temperament. If you are bored easily, you might like the variety; however, if you are easily distracted, you may find the variety overwhelming.

Pros and cons of being a specialist:

• You have fewer jobs available to you, but you have less competition.
• You need to have some knowledge about the specialty or the niche, but if you have experience, you can build on what you already know.
• You run the risk of becoming bored if you thrive on variety; however, if you like routine, you will probably be comfortable with a specialty or a niche.

The best of both worlds: Choose several specialties or niches. You will reduce the risk of being bored while still enjoying the benefits of being a specialist.

For example, I specialize in working with self-publishing authors with a variety of services: consulting on publishing, helping with research and manuscript development, editing the manuscript, formatting the book for printing, finding a cover designer and printer, creating and maintaining the author’s Web site, editing and posting blog entries, writing news releases and other promotional materials, sending out review copies …

For writers who pursue traditional publishing, I help with query letters and proposals.

I also write, edit, and perform virtual assistant duties for business clients.

Some freelancers like to write for many different clients. I prefer to offer a wide range of services to a few clients. You have to decide how you prefer to work.

Choosing a specialty or niche:

• Consider the skills and knowledge you have already.
• Consider skills and knowledge you would like to learn.
• Consider how interested you are in the kind of the writing or the niche and how long you can maintain that interest.
• Consider the demand to ensure people want or need the service you plan to offer.

Read more advice from successful freelancers:

How to Choose a Specialty as a Freelance Writer

Recipe for Freelancing

Next, we’ll talk about finding freelance jobs.

[tags]freelance writing[/tags]

What I Learned From … Mashing It Up

Robert Hruzek has given us a challenge in this month’s What I Learned From … group writing project. Instead of giving us one subject, he’s given us enough topics to cover a year and a half. So I’m mashing it up with 18 topics in this post.

I fell in love with both reading and writing when I was in high school. The teacher read my humorous story to the students and got real laughs from the children (okay, they were really teenagers, but they weren’t adults … so that should count as children). While other kids were watching television or going to the movies, my recreation was reading. The characters in books became my friends and my heroes. I didn’t need to travel in automobiles, trains, or planes. I could travel anywhere – to the beach, to the mountains, to the city or the country – even to outer space - just by opening a book. I could learn about technology, discover exotic food, and experience amazing adventures. When I was engrossed in a story, I lost track of time and ignored relatives and pets. The story became my world.

I learned that I loved the written word. I learned that words can entertain, inspire, and educate. I learned that I wanted my words to become a reader’s world.

[tags]What I Learned From[/tags]

Writer’s Worth Day

Lori Widmer at Words on the Page has declared today as Writer’s Worth Day to encourage writers to expect and get decent wages for their work.

I haven’t looked at any of the bidding sites in a very long time, but I’ve read other bloggers talk about the ridiculous prices that some projects pay. Often beginning writers have no idea what a fair price is for their work, and they’re excited to have an opportunity to write and get paid for it.  They accept low pay because they think they have to do so to get started.

I’ll talk more about setting rates in a future installment of my series-in-progress on starting a freelance writing business. This post is just a reminder that freelance writing is a business, even if you’re doing it part-time. Businesses have to earn enough money to pay expenses and make a profit. As a freelance writer, you don’t have an employer providing insurance, vacation, holidays, and other benefits. You are responsible for the full amount of your Social Security tax; as an employee, your employer contributes half of it. You have to pay for your own computer, phone, and Internet. And your time is worth something!

Think about those things when you’re tempted to write an article for $1. If you want to give away your work, volunteer to write for a worthy cause as a charitable contribution. Start your own blog and write posts to your heart’s content. But if you put yourself into the market as a professional writer … expect to be paid like one.

The Most Basic Human Right: Life

Bloggers are uniting today for basic human rights. There so many topics to write about: humanitarian aid to Myanmar, atrocities in Darfur, sex slavery around the world, religious persecution …

These and more are terrible violations of human rights, and I pray for all of them.

The most basic human right of all is life. People are dying from atrocities committed by governments and criminals and from starvation and diseases because humanitarian aid is denied. Most people acknowledge these are horrific human rights violations, and many people contribute, volunteer, work, and pray for an end to these evils.

However, there is one human rights violation that many people accept as good and right: the murder of millions of innocent babies before they even take their first breath.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform quotes statistics compiled from The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood. Approximately 126,000 abortions occur every day worldwide (about 3,700 of those in the US). The worldwide lifetime average is one abortion per woman!

You can find more information at Abortion Facts.

National Right to Life reports that there have been nearly 50 million abortions in the US since 1973, when Roe v Wade made abortion legal.

Star Parker writes on Townhall.com:

… a third of which {abortions} were black babies.

I wrote in an earlier post that slavery and abortion are moral relatives. My guess is that abortion has killed more black Americans than slavery did, though slavery certainly did a lot of physical and emotional damage that didn’t necessarily cause death.

The Bible says:

For you {God} created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ~ Psalm 139:13-14 (NIV)

As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all. ~ Ecclesiastes 11:5 (KJV)

This is what the LORD says—

  your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

  I am the LORD,

  who has made all things,

  who alone stretched out the heavens,

  who spread out the earth by myself. ~ Isaiah 44:24 (NIV)

Before I {God} formed you in the womb I knew you ~ Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV)

Thou shalt not kill. ~ Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

In 1869, One of the earliest feminists, Susan B. Anthony, said:

I deplore the horrible crime of child murder. No matter what the motive-love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent-the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed.

On the 34th anniversary of Roe v Wade, I wrote a post that linked to this powerful message: Think of Me Turning 34 Today.

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust calls abortion “the evil of our generation.” This Christian pro-life activist organization says:

If you were born after 1972, we challenge you to consider yourself a Survivor of the Abortion Holocaust. 1/3 of your generation has been killed by abortion in America!

We must not continue to murder 1/3 of our children, children created by God in His image.

O GOD, merciful and compassionate, who art ever ready to hear the prayers of those who put their trust in thee; Graciously hearken to us who call upon thee, and grant us thy help in this our need; end the evil of abortion and let the children live. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

So You Want to Become a Freelance Writer? Part 1: Learning about the Business

Some time ago, I received an e-mail from a reader who asked:

I would love any advice that you could give me, or someone like me, for getting started on a career in writing after many years of doing other things.

Recently, a mutual acquaintance referred a lady who wants to start a freelance writing business to me.

I responded to the first person in e-mail and spoke to the second on the phone. However, other readers may be trying to start a writing career and others are new to freelancing so I’m sharing my advice in this series.

First, learn something about the world of freelancing. You shouldn’t wait until you know everything – that will never happen. But it’s a good idea to read what other freelancers have to say as well as to look into options for finding work.

In this first installment in the series, I will list a number of resources for freelancers. If you have other recommendations, please let me know in comments so I can add them to the list. Note that these are resources that offer a significant amount of advice and information on freelancing as a business, not those primarily offering wrting and publishing advice. Freelance job sites will be listed in a future post.

In future installments, I’ll talk about deciding what kind of freelancing you will do, using a blog to build your business, and finding freelance jobs. If you have questions you would like covered or suggestions of ideas and sites to include, please comment.

To read posts on my blog that relate to freelancing, go to the Series and Related Posts page and read posts in the following categories depending on the kind of writing or editing you would like to do:

• Client Relationships
• Editing
• Freelance Writing and Editing Rates
• News Releases
• Resources for Writers
• Sources of Freelance Business
• Writing and Self-Editing

Blogs and Web sites by and for Freelancers:

• All Freelance Writing
• The Article Writer
• Beyond the Rhetoric
• Catalyst Blogger
• ChrisBlogging
• Copyblogger
• Crayon Writer
• Creative Freelancing
• Dana Prince’s Blog
• Fab Freelance Writing Blog
• Freelance Folder
• Freelance Switch
• Freelance Writing: About.com
• Freelance Writing: Absolute Write
• Freelancing Journey
• Get Paid to Write Online
• Grow Your Writing Business
• InkThinker
• Inkwell Editorial Blog
• Men with Pens
• Pearl Writing Services Blog
• Poe War: Writer’s Resource Center
• ProFreelancing
• The Well-Fed Writer Blog
• Words on the Page
• Write from Home
• Write Now
• The Writer’s Manifesto
• Writer’s Notes
• Writing the Cyber Highway
• The Writing Journey
• WritingThoughts

In the next installment, we’ll look at your freelance options.

[tags]freelancing[/tags]

Global Day of Prayer

Today, Pentecost Sunday, is the Global Day of Prayer.

The Global Day of Prayer is a world-wide celebration centered around Pentecost Sunday. The mission of this celebration is to unite the global body of Christ, to seek God for revival, intercede on behalf of our world, and collaborate for the blessing and transformation of our cultures. It is preceded by ten days of prayer (Acts 1:14); celebrated in public venues on Pentecost (Acts 2:1) and followed by “90 Days of Blessing” on communities after Pentecost (Acts 2:42).

Please join me and millions of other Christians around the world in prayer for the peoples and nations of the earth.

O God, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the whole earth, and didst send thy blessed Son to preach peace to them that are far off and to them that are nigh; Grant that all men everywhere may seek after thee and find thee. Bring the nations into thy fold, pour out thy Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten thy kingdom; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[tags]Global Day of Prayer[/tags]

Writing and Publishing Q&A

I recently discovered Paperback Writer, the blog of Lynn Viehl, who has written 38 novels in 5 genres using 4 pseudonyms in the last 10 years.

Apparently Lynn has posted more than 60 sessions of questions and answers about writing and publishing on her blog.

She has now created an index to all the questions with links to the answers. The questions are categorized: Agents, Blogging, Characters, Conferences, Copyright, Cover Art, Creativity, Dialogue, Editing, Educational, Financial, Genre, Inspiration, Miscellaneous, Novels, Pitching, Plotting, Promotion, Publishing, Series Writing, SF/F, Software, Titles, Web Sites, Writer for Hire, Writing, and Writing LIfe.

While  much of the advice is geared toward novelists (especially writers of science fiction/fantasy) seeking traditional publication, there is plenty of valuable advice for writers of all kinds.

[tags]writing advice, writers resources[/tags]

Next Page »