Freelance Writing Blog

How Can My Freelance Writing Business Survive the Coronavirus Pandemic? [Reader Question]

Today’s reader question comes from Christian Simmons, one of several writers to reach out to me as the current coronavirus pandemic hit their freelance writing businesses. A common theme is freelancers wondering if they should start specializing in pandemic-related content for the time being. Now, in Christian’s case, he’s a health writer who might have interview contacts that would make this feasible. But that’s not

Review: Find Your Freelance Writing Niches from John Soares

This is a review of Find Your Freelance Writing Niches, a course from John Soares of ProductiveWriters.com. As I do in any review, I’ll share an overview with you followed by highlights, suggestions, and my overall verdict. For full disclosure, while this is not an affiliate review, John did provide me with access to the course materials for review. Let’s start by taking a look at how

Introducing Freelance Writing Pros

Over the past 13 years, All Freelance Writing has published over 3000 posts. There are still about 1500 in the archives after post merges, purges, and some being split off onto other sites. But it’s still a lot of content and doesn’t even include things like the podcast and numerous tools and downloadable resources. The vast majority of that content was written with beginner freelance writers in

Websites & Blogs that Pay Writers $500 or More

One of the more popular posts here at All Freelance Writing is my auto-updated list of websites and blogs that pay $100 or more per article. But $100 per post isn’t the great rate some newer freelancers think it is. That’s a low rate on the professional scale, though thankfully those gigs are advertised more often these days than even just a few years ago.

Poetry Writers’ Markets Paying $50 (and more!)

  Most freelance writing markets promoted here revolve around nonfiction writing. But plenty of outlets are interested in your more creative writing as well — such as poetry. These poetry writers’ markets can pay $50, and sometimes much more, for accepted poems. Like other market lists at All Freelance Writing, be sure to check this one often if you’re looking to become a published poet.

Updates & Improvements to the Job Board, Writer Directory, and More

In my last update here I let you know that the All Freelance Writing blog would no longer be updated regularly but that the site as a whole would continue to serve as a resource through more frequent updates to the freelance writing job board and writers’ market database, as well as the freelance writer directory. And I’ll also be updating older content in the

Freelance Writing Markets Paying $1000 Per Article or More

With the newly re-launched writers’ markets directory here at All Freelance Writing, I have the ability to create and share specialized markets with you that will automatically update when markets are added, removed, or changed in the database. For example, if you’re looking for freelance writing assignments in magazines or higher-competition online publications, this is an updated list of markets that pay $1000 (and more) for

Freelance Writing Away From Home (& Mini Writing Retreats)

If you work from a home office most of the time, things can start to feel a bit dull before long. There might come a time when you want to work on freelance writing projects pretty much anywhere else just for a change of scenery. You could take the traditional routes of office-sharing, working in cafes, or writing from your local library (a great option

The Problem with Pay Based on Location in Freelance Writing

Every week I curate ads for the freelance writing job board here at All Freelance Writing. That means digging through a lot of garbage to find a few gems. And one type of ad I sometimes see deserves a bit of attention — those with pay based on location. What do I mean exactly? These are the ads that either outright say your pay as

First Quarter Freelance Writing Check-in: 2018

Every year I try to share my business and writing goals with you here on the blog. And every quarter I post updates about what’s going well (and what’s not). My hope is that it will inspire some of you to focus more on planning and reflection in your own freelance writing businesses. It’s that time again. If nothing else, know this: Sometimes things go

Freelance Writer Blogs: An Introduction

We’ve been talking recently about freelance writer websites and how they can help you attract prospects and convert them into clients. Today let’s focus on a particular element of professional sites — freelance writer blogs. Now, I’m not talking about freelance writing blogs, where you write about freelance writing itself, and where your content is for other writers. The vast majority of freelancers don’t need those, and

Why You Should Publish Your Freelance Writing Rates

In my review of David Rodeck’s professional website, one of the things I suggested was to publish his freelance writing rates (or, at the very least, remove the Rates page that really only had payment terms). I’ve long advocated making your rates public. I’ve never had a newer writer I worked with tell me they regret adding rates to their site after I’ve prompted them

How to Prepare Your Professional Website for a Break

Do you ever feel overwhelmed, and you just need to step away and take some time to yourself? Maybe you still intend to work, but you just want some quiet time away from other people while you do so you can recharge and clear your head a bit. When that happens, what should you do with your professional website? You might be inclined to leave

Freelance Writer Website Review – David Rodeck

Earlier this week, we went through my professional site to show you the kinds of plans you might make after conducting a content audit. Yesterday we took a look at Yolander Prinzel’s freelance writer website. And today I’d like to follow up with one more site review, for David Rodeck. David Rodeck is a business and financial writer similar to Yolander, so this is a

Freelance Writer Website Review – Yolander Prinzel

When we looked at 5 freelance writer websites done well, I critiqued some professional writer websites to give you ideas about how to improve your own. I also opened it up for review requests for others who wanted public site reviews here on the blog. Yolander Prinzel was the first writer to take me up on that. Yolander is a freelance financial writer, and back

Improving My Freelance Writer Website (& How You Can Improve Yours)

No freelance writer website is perfect. I pointed that out when we looked at five freelance writer websites done well. That includes my own site, ProBusinessWriter.com. And today I’d like to use it as an example to show you the kinds of things you might want to change by picking it apart a bit here on the blog. About a year ago I updated the

What to Include on Your Freelance Writer Website

In looking at freelance writer websites done well, you might have noticed some common themes and site elements to give you ideas about what to include in (or add to) your own. But what if you’re building a fresh freelance writer website from scratch? Where should you start? What pages should you include in your site? What features should a new freelance writing website have?

5 Freelance Writer Websites Done Well

Are you happy with your freelance writer website? Does your professional site do enough as a marketing tool to attract prospects and help you convert them into clients? Do you even have a website yet? As strange as it sounds, this post has been a few years in the making. For quite some time I’ve wanted to do a round-up to showcase quality freelance writer websites to

3 Freelance Writing Templates & Worksheets

In the last couple of posts we talked about learning new types of freelance writing projects. And I promised I’d release a few new free downloads this month to help you with that. Today I have three of them for you. Below you’ll find links to download a free press release template, and worksheets to help you outline case studies and white papers. These are

Reader Question: Learning New Freelance Writing Projects Quickly

This post contains an affiliate link to Peter Bowerman’s Well-Fed Craft course. For new freelance writers, one of the most common challenges I hear about is the fear that sets in when a client asks them to take on a freelance writing project they’ve never done before. For example, perhaps they usually write web copy, and a client asks them to write a case study.

Your Freelance Writing Bucket List

With this month’s focus being on getting started as a freelance writer or revamping your freelance writing business, let’s talk about long-term goals and aspirations. Namely, let’s talk about your freelance writing bucket list. If you’re a planner (and I highly recommend always having a plan to guide you), you probably set yearly goals. They give you direction when tweaking your quarterly, monthly, weekly, and

Bullshit Freelance Writing Advice (Why Writers Believe It & What You Really Need to Know)

Especially after this past year, I am left with precisely zero bullshit tolerance. That goes double when you spew nonsense advice in the direction of new freelance writers. They hear so much garbage, half-assed advice it’s a small miracle some of them survive even a year in business. So bring your BS my way, and I’ll leave you shoveling shit while I set you straight. What if

Reader Question: How Can Freelance Writers Sell Poetry & Fiction?

The type of freelance writing most often discussed here is business writing — anything from copywriting to freelance blogging. But there are paying markets for just about any type of writing you can think of — including creative writing like poetry and fiction. That’s what Daniel Cowick wanted to talk about when he submitted this question on freelance writing markets: I write poetry, prose, lyrics,

Reader Question: Will Being a Weekend Warrior Turn Off Freelance Writing Clients?

If you’re still toying with the idea of starting a freelance writing career, but you can’t work normal business hours, this one’s for you. Christian Simmons wanted to start freelancing, but with only weekends free for freelance writing work, they had concerns. Here’s Christian’s situation: How can I have a freelance writing business when the weekends are all I’ve got to write and see clients?

Reader Question: How to Estimate Project Time When Quoting Freelance Writing Jobs

A lot of time has been spent on this blog talking about the basics of setting your freelance writing rates — figuring out how much you need to earn, figuring out how much that means you need to charge per hour, converting those hourly rate goals into project rates, etc. But what happens if you’re still new to freelancing and you have no idea how

Getting Started (or Starting Over): 3 Simple Tasks for Freelance Writers

Are you thinking about jumping into freelance writing for the first time in the New Year? Or are you thinking about starting over or making major changes in your freelance business? In either case, you still have a bit of time to get prepared so you don’t kick off 2018 feeling overwhelmed. I definitely fall in the latter group this year. To say nothing has

Freelance Writing Goals – Why You Need Them & How to Reach Them

It happened. Again. I opened my feed reader this morning and saw yet another blog post telling readers to stop making goals and resolutions for the New Year. This one happened to be about health-related goals, though I’ve seen plenty specific to freelance writing goals too. But guess what… This is terrible advice for freelance writers. I get where it comes from. When you don’t

Lies, Letting Go, & Building the Writing Life You Want

The end of any year can be a bittersweet time. You take stock of what you’ve done and how far you’ve come. Maybe you exceeded your expectations and you’re inspired to do even more in the New Year. Or maybe you fell short and you’re feeling discouraged. Whichever is the case for you, the New Year brings the same thing to everyone – an opportunity

Setting 2018 Writing Goals (& Getting Your Priorities Straight)

When 2017 started, I was feeling ambitious – rebellious even. You see, 2016 was an awful year in pretty much every way for me, and I was determined for 2017 to be different. But it wasn’t. If anything, 2017 was much worse. The politics have had me even more stressed – something I didn’t think was possible at the time. I don’t feel any less

The Sitting / Standing Desk Combo That Eases My Back and Neck Pain

When you work long hours at a desk, it can be more than uncomfortable. It can be downright painful. Hunching forward to see your screen better… always looking down at your monitor… simply sitting too long. None of that is good for you. And it used to leave me with constant back and neck pain. The solution for me was one part yoga and one