As you continue to attend networking events and attempt to spread the word about your business, you are sure to run into many unique situations. Along with this, you are going to make mistakes along the way. Time and time again, I hear people (not just freelance writers) apologize as they “work a room” and talk to others about their business. This is something you
The more you network the more job opportunities you will come across. As a freelance writer, it is important for you to consider all potential gigs. At the same time, you must know when to say “no.” Early in my freelance writing career I struggled with this. If you asked to work with me I said yes – no questions asked. While there is nothing wrong
We recently looked at some of the reasons many author websites suck and I shared a few good author website designs with you as inspiration. Today let’s move on to some tools and resources that can help you improve the author website you already have or build a beautiful new site to promote your books. [box type=”info”] Note that the information below is for those
We already looked some of the reasons many author websites suck. And I promised I’d highlight a few decent examples that would inspire you to improve your own Web designs (or at least finally set up a site — I’m amazed by how many indie authors neglect them altogether). This post was supposed to be that list. But let me tell you, it wasn’t easy
Authors are notorious for having poorly-designed websites. That’s not to say all authors have dated, crappy sites littering the Web. But more in this group do than most others I’ve come across. Sometimes author site designs are downright frightening, looking like someone formatted some text in Word and slapped it on the Web in the mid to late-90s, never to update it again. The saddest
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of either content mills or extremely low-paying private clients (like the webmasters on bidding sites willing to pay a whopping $1-5 per article). As far as I’m concerned it’s an irresponsible business move to take on these kinds of gigs without pursuing something better early on (and an irresponsible move I made myself back in the day —
You have many jobs as a freelance writer. One of the most important is marketing. You want everybody to know what you do. The more people you tell the better chance you have of landing new clients and making more money. Over the past couple of years, I have handed out hundreds upon hundreds of business cards. Are you doing the same? There is a
I made the mistake on Twitter yesterday of searching for “freelance writing” to see what people in the community were talking about. Wow. Just wow. I can’t remember the last time I saw so much spam and so many crap freelance writing jobs in one place. So it got me thinking about finding jobs on Twitter — more specifically finding good freelance writing jobs while
Do you ever get low-balled offers for your freelance writing services? Does it piss you off when you see countless other content producers offering to write for a penny per word while you try to make ends meet by charging professional rates? Do you feel like others are holding you back? They’re not. You are. Remember, no one owes you a living as a freelance
One of the best ways to land new clients and make more money is to ask for referrals. Believe it or not, your current clients may be able to send a lot of new business your way – if you play your cards right. Freelance Writing Referral Tips 1. Don’t jump the gun. Your client is not going to pass your name around to others
Book marketing and book publicity aren’t afterthoughts to writing your book or e-book. You should be thinking about book marketing before you even sit down and begin writing. While pre-launch book marketing efforts are important for all authors, they’re especially vital to indie authors. Because indie publishing means you’re going into business and bringing your own product to market, you can’t afford to neglect the
[dropcap style=”font-size: 37px; margin-top:-2px; margin-bottom:-10px; margin-right:2px; color: #9b9b9b;”]D[/dropcap]o you want to publish a book in print? Do you really need the backing and validation of a traditional publisher, or can you go it alone? Indie publishing is actually a balance more than the antithesis of a traditional publishing contract. [quote] You choose the best people for your project…. [/quote]You don’t do everything entirely on your
Let’s go over some common components of the author (or book) media kit. While most of these will work for a hard copy media kit / press kit, let’s focus on online author media kits (those in newsroom formats on your website or downloadable .pdf files). Author Media Kit Components – Essential Author bio Published book list (titles, cover images, brief summary, ISBN, etc.) Media
Are you looking to get in touch with potential clients from your local area? If so, you may want to think about joining at least one chamber of commerce. This may sound like a lot of work, but once you know what you are doing it can bring in new business on a regular basis. Here are three chamber of commerce networking tips: 1. Choose
Let’s face it, most writers aren’t the type to “hard sell” their services. For this reason, face to face networking can often times be a difficult task. There was a day when I felt the same way. Fortunately, I overcame this soon enough. Nowadays, I love getting out there, talking with others, and making new contacts. Tips to Ease the Tension 1. Dress for success.
Marketing your freelance writing services through your network can lead to new business, month after month. While some of the projects you receive from your network will be right up your alley, others may be new to you. Over the past couple of months I have heard the phrase “can you do that for me” too many times! People who have trusted you to do
We talk a lot about how to market freelance writing services effectively. But how do you know when there’s a problem with your existing marketing and it’s time for a change? Here are five signs that your current freelance marketing sucks and that your marketing plan is overdue for a visit. You only attract low-paying clients — those unable to pay the freelance writing rates
Do you offer bulk discounts if clients order a large number of articles at once? Have you ever had a client or prospect pressure you to offer these kinds of discounts, saying they’ll order more if you lower the per-article rate? Many freelancers fall into the trap of offering bulk discounts because they think it will lead to more work. And it might. The problem
Time and time again I have talked about how to network your way to another freelance writing gig. While this is something that I strongly believe in, keep this in mind: you must be willing to return the favor. In other words, you cannot consistently look for the next job while never wanting to help anybody else out. During the last week of 2010 I
Some freelance writers make the mistake of putting their marketing plan on the backburner during the holiday season. While there is no denying that you want to spend time with your family and friends, this is one time of the year when networking should come naturally. Do you really want to pass up this opportunity? Here are three ways to connect with your network, as
Some of my best freelance writing gigs have come from people in my network. These are not necessarily people I have worked with in the past. Rather, they are professionals I have met and kept in touch with over the years. Here are three tips to successfully grow your network: Ask your closest clients and business partners for introductions. If you can get five people
Many freelance writers get into the rut of doing nothing more than sending query letters in hopes of obtaining new clients. While there is nothing wrong with this, at some point you need to leave your office and get into the “real world.” Over the past few months I have spent a lot of time networking with other professionals in person and over the phone.
Today’s post was inspired by a reader suggestion on Twitter. We’ll talk about how you can replicate the social “water cooler” experience with colleagues in a freelance setting, when you’re not all together working in the same office. The timing is perfect too. I just met fellow freelancer, Lori Widmer, for lunch last week. And yesterday morning I finished drafting the chapter in The Query-Free
Landing gigs by sending query letters is nothing new. Thousands of freelance writers send these letters to editors on a daily basis. With so much competition, it is essential that you do something to set yourself apart. Just recently, I decide to follow-up on a few queries with a quick phone call. While this takes a lot of guts, it is something that has paid
You have a fairly packed freelance writing schedule. You have client orders lined up for the next several weeks, and things look good. But then something happens. A project is cancelled. A client suddenly becomes non-responsive. You get a request to postpone something. Whatever the reason, you suddenly find yourself with a hole in your schedule — one that needs to be filled now at
It is one thing to send a query letter. It is another entirely to receive an answer – good or bad. Remember this: just because you send a query does not mean the editor has to respond to you. Here are three things you can do to increase your query letter response rate: 1. Address your letter to the right person. This is the number
How many times per week do you receive direct mail (post cards, sales letters, brochures, etc.) from local businesses? If you are like me, the answer is a lot! I am not the type of consumer that responds well to direct mail, but that’s just me. There are many people out there, including businesses of all sizes, that take a close look at every piece
As home-sitting, coffee-swilling, glasses and pajama-wearing writer types, we have to be super serious about our marketing efforts or our businesses will cease to be. Mostly this is because the people that we see everyday—our pets, children and spouses—make horrible clients. This compels writers embrace all sorts of different ways to market their business both aggressively and passively. Some examples include: Guest posting on blogs
Should you merge two of your blogs into one? How about combining your professional site and niche blog that are currently on different domains? Is it time to simply change the domain of your site for branding reasons? I’ve gone through a lot of site mergers and re-branding efforts over the years, and I’m going through another one right now. Today let’s talk about making
I just spent more than thirty minutes looking for an example to use in this post. The original plan was to take a comment or sales thread from a popular internet forum and point out some areas where the English phrasing could be improved to make this series a bit more “real-world”. I’ve abandoned that plan for the moment because I noticed a bigger problem