Jennifer Mattern As freelance writers, it’s not uncommon to have our work referred to potential clients from past clients or from other writers (or other publishing professionals in our networks). But too many writers stop there, when referral possibilities can seem practically endless if you really put some thought into it. Business cards are just the tool to help you improve your referral network. Here’s how: Online
Sure, you could browse through the latest edition of the Writers Market looking for outlets to query. But then you’re just querying the same outlets that all of your competition already knows about. This week I want you to forget about your typical go-to sources for writers’ markets and your more well-known niche publications. I want you to step a bit outside of your comfort
Many writers dream of writing and publishing a novel someday. If you’ve caught the novel writing bug, or are already a published novelist looking to improve your craft or technique, here are some novel writing resources that you may find useful: Sites on Novel Writing Fiction Factor Advanced Fiction Writing National Novel Writing Month About Fiction Writing Articles on Writing a Novel Writing Your First
People are always asking what the “best” marketing tool or tactic is. While marketing tactics can’t be the same for everyone and every purpose, there’s one surefire marketing rule that any writer would benefit from, no matter their style, level, or niche: Do something to market your writing every single day! Yes, seven days a week. Even on your days “off,” there’s no excuse not
I just read a post on Julia Temlyn’s blog about her removing the no-follow attribute on her blog comments, encouraging others to do the same. Personally, I think that’s a really bad idea, and would encourage just the opposite. Here’s my response, posted to her blog: It’s a nice thought in a general sense, but is missing a few points: 1. Having no follow on
If you’re the type of freelance writer that accepts every writing job that you’re offered, you’re very likely dooming your writing career. The best writers are always choosy in who they work with. They set standards such as: The types of clients (or industry / niche of clients) that they’ll work with. This allows them to develop a reputation as an expert writer in a
If you’re interested in becoming an author, you have a few publishing options: most notably working with a publisher or self-publishing either through a vanity press or print-on-demand (POD) publisher (like Lulu.com). One of the biggest problems writers face when deciding to self-publish a book is the lack of “legitimacy” they still often face in the eyes of buyers. Starting your own small publishing company
It’s no secret that business networking is vital to the careers of many successful freelance writers. Networking is simply the act of connecting with colleagues, potential clients, or others in your industry, and those connections have a tendency to lead to freelance writing gigs; including unpublished ones. How My Network Gets Me Gigs Personally, I get the majority of my clients (both in writing and
I’m not going to go into too much detail here, but today I hit a milestone: $2000 for the month of June from one of my blogs (if you know me and what I’ve been promoting lately, you may know which one I’m talking about). It’s in the business niche. I don’t blog because I expect them to be big earners… I earn the majority
It’s so easy to steal content on the Web these days that it feels like “everyone” is doing it sometimes. Whether it’s through publishing your blog content from an RSS feed without consent (a debatable issue in and of itself) to blatantly ripping content from a site, what can you do to protect your rights when someone steals your work? Here are a few tips
The following is a brief review of a new e-book, The Publishing Primer: A Blueprint for an Author’s Success, by Dee Power and Brian Hill (the authors of The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents, and Booksellers Behind Them, as well as several other nonfiction books and the novel, Over Time): When Dee first mentioned the title of this
I received this note from the Editor-in-Chief of Suite101 today. I was quite content leaving it at my last post, b/c it was a simple solution to avoid the regular emails nagging me about why I was leaving. But apparently it wasn’t enough. And since I’m under no contractual obligation to keep any such correspondence confidential as it was offered after my contract termination, I’m
It’s not as hard as many writers think it is to get high paying freelance writing jobs. The fact is that many writers, especially new freelance writers, sabotage themselves from the start. Do you? Let’s more specifically talk about freelance Web writing. We’ll explore how you can earn more, and what might be holding you back if you’ve been trying to earn more unsuccessfully. Why
Every day I look around the Web for freelance writing jobs to post to AllFreelanceWritingJobs.com. I usually find a few that baffle me, and a few that amuse me… especially when the hiring party is particularly clueless. I ran into a good example of that today. Here’s more on what I came across, and some tips to help you decide when to turn down a
If you’re working as a freelance writer, you should be well aware that there are a wide variety of rights attached to all of your work. When deciding where and how to sell your writing, you get to decide what kinds of rights you want to offer your clients (unless you choose to apply for gigs where demands for rights are already laid out… then
If you want to be as successful as you can be as a freelance writer, you should take the time to build an effective writer portfolio. Your writer portfolio is a showcase of your abilities, and it offers potential clients a snapshot of the quality of your work. Here are a few tips when it comes to building writer portfolios: 1. Don’t link to something
OK. No one can say that I didn’t go above and beyond in promoting Suite to writers. If anything I was one of their strongest advocates before I quit Suite101 earlier this month. I can’t even count how many writers I brought into the network whether directly in my role as editor, or indirectly bringing writers into other sections, who I had met through this
I’ve been threatening to “go local” for quite some time, but it never seems to stay a priority. It might not this time either…. Anyway, I’ve been considering doing some offline pitching of my PR writing and copywriting services to local companies (and maybe some nonprofits, since it’s been a while since I’ve played the nonprofit PR game). Should I do it? Why I’d Like
Many freelance writers are no stranger to work at home job scams. When searching for freelance writing jobs, it’s not uncommon to stumble across things like programs being offered to teach you how to start a freelance writing career (usually for a pretty penny) to transcription and typing work at home job scams. Here are a few tips to help you avoid work at home
Update: Please note that after further experience with this network and others, my feelings on the subject have changed. I strongly recommend against signing up with any content network (also now known as “content mills”). There are far better ways to kick off your career. You can browse our blog for more up to date information on content mills and better options for your freelance writing career, or
I came across a blog post by Denise asking what people consider when determining the difference between a “professional” writer and just an amateur or hobby writer. I hear this question a lot, especially from people who try to say you can’t determine what makes a “professional” writer, because it’s entirely subjective. As far as I’m concerned, if you say something like that is too
There’s been a lot of buzz about standardizing freelance writing rates lately, between the freelance writers’ manifesto, Yuwanda Black’s Should Writers Earn a Minimum Wage?, and some commentary on the Content Done Better blog. It’s an interesting topic for anyone in the freelance writing field, and I’d meant to comment on it previously. I think there are a few good points, and a few bad,
We’ve all seen them, and we’ve all secretly been tempted to try them. You know … those ads for work from home freelance writing jobs that promise you can make $1000-2000 a week working part-time. Don’t fall sucker to ads that promise the world. I’m going to expose some common freelance job scams, show you the warning signs to look out for, teach you how
One of the most important things you can do as a freelance writer (whether you work predominantly online or off) is networking with other writers. Many of the best freelance writing gigs are never published, but can be passed along by writers in your network who have come across it through their contacts. A strong network can also lead to referrals. All writers will occasionally
As a freelance writer, don’t ever let anyone tell you differently. If you can produce even reasonably high quality Web content, you can be doing much better for yourself than “selling out” to the hoards of webmasters expecting the world from their writers, for nearly no pay. Are there any good excuses for writing free or cheap content for webmasters? Sure. Here are a few: