Research

Way back when I did a BA - in modern languages as it happens. I don’t use them much unless I travel, but I did learn something from that process that helps me every day - how to research. Researching is not just about finding information, but about sifting it and triangulating it. (Triangulation is a fancy way of saying you should check things from multiple sources so you can make sure there’s a common core of information that’s likely to be right.) Good research is also about checking that your sources are reliable. I’m more likely to trust health information from the Department of Health than from someone who’s trying to sell me something. Although I research more on the web than in books, the skills I learned then have stood me in good stead now.

Organization

If you’re planning a writing career, then organization is key, and the skills you need are not specific to writing. In any job you have done, you will have had a list of tasks to complete and a way of keeping track of them. That’s a good starting point when it comes to managing your writing business. If you’re managing your own business, you need to know when work comes in, who it’s for, when it’s due out and what pay you will receive. Subbing work out makes it even more complex, as I’ve discovered in the past. Think about whether you have used any organizational systems that will help you streamline your writing career. If you think of any, let me know, as I’m always open to new ideas.

What skills do you use in your writing career that you learned in other places?

(Photo: somadjinn)

It all started with a blog. Seriously. And not even my blog. That was part of the process.

Nor did it hurt that I knew I could write. I knew that because a bit over a decade ago I sold more than enough sf/fantasy short stories to qualify for SFWA, and one had even sold a second time as a reprint. I had also sold a couple of articles on journal-keeping, and even one on e-learning

However, knowing how to write and knowing how to get work writing are two entirely different skills. In fact, the largest reason I didn’t get to find out I could cut it as a writer until shortly after my 40th birthday was that I had no idea about how to sell my work. I didn’t find out how to do that until I became friendly, through a now-defunct chat room, with some sf/fantasy writers, and they mentored me through my first few sales.

I learned a lot from them that still works for me as a writer, by the way. Gordon Dixon’s dictum about short story writing holds just as true for articles and blog posts:

Fan to Dixon: “What makes a short story work?”

Dixon to fan: “The time bomb you have set to go off on the last page.”

The Best Writing Advice

And there are no better rules for writing anywhere than Robert Heinlein’s:

1. You must write.
2. You must finish what you write.
3. You must never rewrite, except to the editor’s/publisher’s specs.
4. You must submit what you write a market.
5. You must keep submitting it until it sells.

Still, sf/fantasy is not where my heart was, so I knew that there was no way I would be able to make a living at it. I shelved that dream and turned back to what I had always done: being a super-capable administrative assistant. (This is not bragging…I really was good at pulling rabbits out of hats and making things happen with little or no warning.)

Based on promises of promotion into the non-support side of the firm I was working for, I went back to college – online – which was a beneficial experience, though expensive and ultimately fruitless, as the unit I was working in was pretty much disbanded via a reorganization. After being out of work for just under a year, I took the only thing I could get: school aide in an inner city high school that has had a bad reputation since I was in high school.

Book Talk

Don’t get me wrong…I love the job. Not only can I go to work in tee-shirts and jeans, but I basically get paid to yell at teenagers all day. The kids soon discovered that I was a bit different from the other aides: I talked to them about books, and decision-making, and learning to choose their battles. And when they told me about a book, I went and read it and got back to them about it, even if it was something I would never have picked up on my own. In turn, I found that when I recommended a book to them, I would find copies sticking out of backpacks, purses, etc. Once or twice, the kids (and some of the teachers) were startled by the fact that I would read what they would consider to be a black people’s book, but I just calmly pointed out that, as far as I could see, there were good books and not so good books, and the ethnicity of the author or protagonist was not what I used as criteria. I also learned that I no longer even wanted to be a part of corporate America.

Now, some of the above may look like wandering off to you, but it’s not. it’s all part of what has kept me learning new things and using, as Mom would have put it, “the brain that God gave me.” It kept me in contact with what is going on in the world outside my own little circle, and gave me lots of practice in talking about things I believed in.

Next Steps

At this point, the next crucial step happened. A friend of mine decided to clean up his finances. He was in nothing like the mess I was in, but his decision, and his keeping a small circle of friends updated on his progress via LiveJournal got me moving. I started working on my financial mess, and to keep myself encouraged when the going got tough, I started reading personal finance blogs. And, again, I got lucky. The blogs I stumbled on are some of the top blogs in the niche. And reading them, I realized that there were some gaps, and that I could fill them with things I had learned. So in March I took the first plunge. I started my own blog.

That has been an amazing experience. Among other things, I got to find where my writi9ng heart lies. I met some amazing folks online and found some wonderful mentors (and yes, Sharon IS one of them). One of my mentors suggested, after reading some of my posts, that it was time I started looking for opportunities to do guest posts. She also suggested I submit some posts to blog carnivals. Again, luck popped up…one of my favorite writers was going on vacation and put a call for guest posts on his blog. I emailed him, offering, and was accepted (even though I had honestly pointed out that I was just baby blogger). He liked my post and published it, and seconded the opinion that I should be applying to blog carnivals. Another mentor suggested that I become familiar with some of the social bookmarking and networking tools that are fast becoming one conduit for the kind of networking I needed to do to get my name out in the blogosphere. I started to learn a whole new skill set.

Getting A Rep

So I was slowly beginning to grow a reputation. My blog didn’t always get scads of comments, but the ones I did get were about how my articles made people think, and were well-written. And the social thing began to pay off. I was talking with other freelancers, who were very willing to share how they got started, how they found work, how they organized themselves, balanced their writing with their families and day jobs, and just about any other question a beginner could come up with. When a co-worker asked me how I was spending my summer, I told her I would be concentrating on my blog and on getting some paying writing work.

And luck reared its head again. Someone on one of my social networks was venting about something that had happened, and I offered to help out, if needed. It wasn’t needed, thankfully, but when something did come up that was entry-level, I was given the opportunity to try it. So I took my biggest plunge to date.

While I am nowhere near the level it would take to support myself, I am starting to have small successes. More importantly, I’m having fun again. Even when a challenge is frustrating, it’s great to be able to have something to pit my abilities against.

So, back to the beginning. In two years, my job is going away. The school, which I love, is one of the schools being phased out by the City, and the only thing that will remain is the building and – maybe – a name. It will be replaced by a number of the smaller schools that the City seems to favor these days. (It’s a shame, too. The folks who have been there for the four years that I have (or longer) are some of the most dedicated folks I have ever met. They really turned the school around from someplace parents fought to keep their kids out of to a place where parents were starting to fight to get kids into.)

It is my goal that, when my job is gone, I will be in a position to take the biggest plunge of my life. There is – no question about it – still a lot I have to learn before that point, both about the work and the business side of things. But, at the age of 55, I have hope of achieving one of my lifelong dreams, even if it’s not necessarily the way I envisioned doing it. It’s the way that is right for the me that is now, not the me that was thirty years ago. It’s the light in my eyes when I get up in the morning and turn the computer on. It’s how good I feel when I pull off a challenging assignment. It’s feeling alive, even when I am dog-tired from pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline. And it is, without doubt, one of the best feelings in the world, and I intend to keep reaching for it.

Otherdeb (Deb Wunder) is a 55-year-old writer who lives in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to her writing (she is a published short story writer, and has a blog called The Dangling Conversation), she makes beaded jewelry and knits (and takes commissions for both), reads anything she can get her hands on, and gets paid to keep a high school cafeteria under control ten months a year. She is between half and three quarters of the way to becoming debt-free.

Photo: bluekdesign

This is a difficult area for many writers, especially those who are juggling multiple commitments. In the past, I’ve done the ‘work till you drop’ thing, but it’s not good for me personally, nor is it good for family life. To create the life that I want while keeping my writing career going, I’ve had to accept that I can’t do it all. So what does that mean in terms of getting organized?

Key Tasks For Writers

There are several key tasks that writers have to do to manage their writing careers successfully. Only one of these is the writing. However, getting work in and attracting new clients are also important, so it’s essential to set some time aside for these tasks. When you work at home, you may need to get some human interaction from time to time. That’s where social networking, forums and online chats come in. These are not timewasters, but essential parts of keeping yourself healthy and balanced.

Maxmising Productivity

One of the advantages of the freelance lifestyle is the ability to adapt to changing priorities. Generally, I take a disciplined approach to my work. I usually start writing by 8am. Before that, I have already checked and responded to urgent email and spent some time with my friends online. Ideally, the next task should be bidding for work, but since I write best in the morning, I usually leave any simple bids till the afternoon. This means that I use my time productively.

I write until lunchtime, take a short break, and continue writing (including bidding for new work) till it’s time to pick my daughter up from school. Then it’s family time until she goes to bed at 7pm.  I usually do another email check and spend some time with my friends online. Depending on whether I’m expecting anything urgent, I may do another check before going to bed.

Marketing And Promotion

There are also lots of tasks that I slot in when I need a change of pace or have some down time. These include promotional tasks such as updating my online portfolio, doing some article marketing, changing profiles on sites, submitting blog posts through the social media, entering blog carnivals, writing guest posts for blogs and much more.

Achieving Balance

Is this the most efficient way of organising my time? Who knows? It allows me to write at my best writing time, slot other tasks around that and still spend time socialising online. I get to spend time with my family too. I’m not claiming to be the best organised writer in the world, far from it, but I think I’ve achieved a reasonable balance.

Photo: mconnors

Konstantino: How did you decide on your career path?

After I left university, my first job was as a journalist, but I hadn’t decided on it as a career path then. It was just luck that that job came through before the tour rep job with Air Canada that I had been going for. It wasn’t till later, after doing something else for a while, that I realised that this was the career for me.

coqui2008: If you were not a writer what would you be?

It’s hard to imagine not writing now, but I’m a language buff, and when I was at school I thought seriously about studying to be an interpreter or translator.

Rammi: Do you prefer writing for British or American audiences?

I don’t have a preference. I’m British and British English and style of writing come naturally, but I write a lot of content for Americans, so I’m just as comfortable doing that.

beaman: Who first inspired you to write?

Hard to say, really. My mother tells me I had a vivid imagination as a child, but I don’t really remember making up stories till I was in high school. I wouldn’t say that my first high school English teacher encouraged me, but I learned a lot all the same. However, I have been an avid reader since I was very young, and I’m sure that has something to do with my love of writing.

DavidBridger: Pros and cons of living in the two places - what swung your decision to settle where you are - and do you think you’ll stay for good now?

Where I live now has a great climate and is a wonderful place for my daughter to grow up. Many of my relatives are here, too. However, I miss the choice you get in bigger places, though regular travel solves that issue. I never say never, David, so there’s always the possibility that somewhere else might tempt me one day. For now, though, I’m happy.

Rammi : Do you have cookies? If so, can I have them?

No cookies, sorry, though I love any cookies with chocolate.

danaprince: What has been your most difficult writing assignment so far?

It’s funny how you put those out of your head as soon as they are completed, Dana. I’ve had some tough assignments, such as creating a client’s fictional ebook out of thin air, and having to write hundreds of articles on an aspect of UK finance that I didn’t find that interesting. I do love the variety of freelancing, though. For every tough job, there are many others that are easy or fun.

kohuether: How long did it take to build up a steady income with writing?

Define steady. I started making money from writing within a few months of going freelance, though for the first four months I supplemented my income with teaching. It took about a year to replace my previous income. Freelancing income is never fixed, though, so I am always thinking of new ways to get a bit of security without sacrificing my freedom.

Hope Wilbanks: What motivates you to continue on your path as a writer every day?

I love the freedom of freelancing and the variety of topics I’m able to cover. I don’t need much more motivation than that.

Becca L-Smith: What influences have ‘mentors’ had as you’ve developed your career and who do you think you’re most influential mentors have been?

Mentors and inspiration come in all sorts of guises. My mother is a strong woman who made me believe that I could achieve anything if I was prepared to put some effort in. My last high school English teacher loved the written word and made sure that we did too. My husband has worked for himself for years and provided advice on going out on my own. My friend, Suzanne James, taught me a lot about online writing and SEO, and all of my writer friends inspire me every day. All of these people have had an influence on me at different times, and have provided advice and support when I’ve needed it.

deafmom: What are you most proud of accomplishing?

Developing my freelancing career into a viable business. As my sister puts it: ‘You said you were going to work from home as a writer, and you just went and did it.’ Although it looks simple, creating an online presence and a client base took work - and still does.

Anklebuster: What would you do if you could no longer write?

Arrrggghhh! I find it hard to imagine not being able to write, but let me try. My second love is teaching, so perhaps I would focus on inspiring others to write.

If you have questions to add, feel free to add them in the comments section. I’ll answer truthfully, but reserve the right to keep personal info to myself.

I’m now doing the job that I want to do, but there are still things that I dream of achieving. Things like:

• finally publishing my children’s stories or poetry
• finishing a novel and becoming a bestselling author who remains in the background
• finishing my ebooks
• finding a way to keep writing income coming in while being semi-retired

What are your dreams for your writing career? What would you like to have achieved in the next year, five years or ten years?

writing skills aren’t all you need. In fact, a lack of secondary skills is what sets many freelance writers on the road to failure instead of success.

This is a must-read post, so what are you waiting for? Head over to Poewar and check it out!

Here’s a recent example. A friend of mine had a beach picnic for her birthday, right in the middle of my workday. Because I set my own hours, I was able to go, even though I’m usually very disciplined about observing a work day. That was the freedom part. However, the responsibility part kicked in before I went and after I returned. Since I knew I was going to be away for part of the work day, I sat up the night before to complete work for a key job. Then on the day of the picnic, I got up early and worked at my computer till the last minute. Finally, I finished up my day’s work when I returned from the picnic, working through the evening.

When I worked in an office, there was always a boss who could tell the minions to get on with work. Now, I do that on my own. I have times when I am less productive, when I might indulge in some tweeting, stumbling, blog reading or surfing. But after I’ve done that for a while, I give myself a stern talking-to and get back to work. Here’s why:

If I abuse the freedom that my profession gives me, I might have a great time, but I will find it harder to meet deadlines. This will affect my client relationships and my earning potential. If, on the other hand, I set times to get on with my work, my clients will be happy and I will make money from something that I love.

For me, cracking my own whip means setting a schedule where I work for a set time every day, but where I have a lit tle bit of time to goof off. Everyone needs that relaxation, and it makes me a more productive writer. How do you handle the freedom and responsibility of being a freelance writer?

I have to admit that this doesn’t happen to me often. That’s because I keep a paper diary for tracking weekly client tasks, and still use my online calendar for repeat tasks. However, today I realised that I hadn’t set up reminders for all the tasks. The result of that was that I missed one of my self-imposed deadlines by a day. This was not for a client (I never miss those deadlines; must be some instinct for career preservation) but a job that I wanted to do for myself. (Side note: all work at home parents probably experience this, as they tend to be last on the priority list.)

In some ways, it was OK. No-one else noticed and I was able to quickly get the job done, only a few hours late. But when a system isn’t working, you have to be prepared to change it. I now need to see why the reminders I set didn’t work and to make sure that I don’t let it happen again. You never know, next time it could be crucial.

Tools For Success

Of course, that wasn’t all I had to take to make my trip a success (in work terms, at least). Although my laptop is my main computer, I use an external ergonomic keyboard and mouse to save my wrists. I don’t want to bring about a repeat of having to work one handed, so those had to go in the case.  Since I sometimes have to speak to clients abroad, I also needed a VOIP phone. To round out the package I added a USB flash drive (with a backup of my files just in case) and my paper diary. I was all set for a working holiday.

Working Holiday?

When I was employed, I never had a working holiday. I was either at work or I was on holiday. Now things are different. With enough notice, I can usually juggle my own deadlines so that I have light days and days off. However, since I also work with other writers, I need to check email, and sometimes check and forward work. It’s difficult to get away completely. Not that I’m complaining. I am far happier now than I ever was as a journalist or journalism teacher.

Who Needs To Know?

Many people wonder whether they should tell clients that they are going on holiday. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. If I am working with a client who is used to updates from me several times a day, then I say that I may be less available for a while. With occasional clients who are used to hearing from me intermittently, I say nothing. The same goes for the writers I work with. I tell those who are in the middle of jobs that I’ll be online less often; those who aren’t doing anything don’t really need to know.

Telling The World

I also make use of the vacation message. If you’ve ever emailed me in the middle of a site upgrade or hosting move, then you’ll know that I use that message for all kinds of things. Vacation messages aren’t just for vacations. They are an easy way to let everyone know that there’s an issue. I usually say what the issue is (e.g. I am working off site, temporarily unavailable or something similar), say when the situation will end and give alternatives for contacting me (if there are any). Using the vacation message means that clients and others know that their email has arrived and that they will get a response.

And here’s something I learned from another self employed person I know. Sometimes clients panic if they think that you won’t be available. If you are travelling on a Friday, you don’t need to enable your vacation message till the Monday. Most people don’t expect instant responses over the weekend. And you can remove the vacation message before you travel back, too.

Keeping On Track

So, what else do you need for a successful working holiday? The most difficult thing to find is discipline, especially if you are holidaying with others. When I visited Orlando last year, I took my WiFi enabled PDA with me so that I could check email for anything urgent before heading out for the day. I even managed to type a few responses, though it wasn’t ideal. On the way back from an outing, I would stop in at the computer room so I could do another check.

A little bit of forward planning means that you can keep your writing business on track and still have a great time. What works for you when planning a working holiday?

Technorati Tags: writing career,work at home,get paid to write,freelance writing,writing

Friend: Have you heard about … {social networking, teenage obesity, roofing materials}?

Me: Yes, I wrote an article about it.

As a web content writer, I get to research all kinds of interesting things. Although they don’t always match my own interests, I always learn something from my research. So, although I’m not necessarily an expert in the new areas, I know more than enough to get by. Here are a couple of questions to show where I’m going with this.

• What do you list as your main topics of expertise on your resume?
• What have you learned in the last six months that you could add?

We have to research what we write, and so we are always learning. In the last three months, I have written about:

• blogging
• broadband
• business education
• conservatories
• consumer finance
• employment law
• fertility treatments
• freelance writing
• marine biology
• mobile phones
• post traumatic stress
• property sales
• psychics
• real estate
• salsa
• self catering holidays
• teenage obesity
• travel
• writing careers

Some of those topics, such as writing and consumer finance, I knew about before. Others I learned about as I did the research. I’m not claiming I’m an expert in everything, but my knowledge of employment law has definitely expanded.

So here’s my challenge. Make a list of everything that you have written about recently. What have you learned enough about to qualify as an expert? If you’re wondering what counts as expertise, consider whether you would still need to do research to write an introductory article on the subject. I’m not saying that you’ll never have to do research again. After all, statistics and facts should always be checked and updated. However, the chances are that you will know more about your subject of expertise than the average person. Now, add those areas to your resume and any public profiles that you use for attracting clients. See what happens. Who knows, you might get some new business because of it.

When you start writing, you often don’t think past getting those first few jobs. If you do, perhaps you think about getting to the point where you’ve got a fairly reliable income coming in across the year, even if there are peaks and troughs. But what about getting beyond that time?

Making Dreams Into Reality

Let’s face it, we’re all going to get older. When our office bound peers are thinking about retiring to Florida, do we still want to be chasing every writing commission? I think not. That’s why it’s important to have some sort of long term plan for your writing career. What this might look like will depend on the individual, but here’s mine. It may have an element of fantasy about it, but there’s no reason why I can’t make it reality.

Spreading My Wings

My long term plan involves diversifying so that I am less dependent on the income I produce with my own flying fingers. I’m sure I’ll want to slow down at some time, and I’ve already had a couple of wake up calls about how illness can throw your writing career into disarray. My first step in diversification came last year, when I started working with a small team of writers. Not only do I get the satisfaction of helping other writers with career development, but I also have a group of reliable writers who can help me out in a pinch. One person I know who did this now does very little writing herself, concentrating on editing others’ writing. While this won’t suit every writer, as a former editor, I might not mind making this part of my daily routine.

Writing For Myself

The second option is to write not just for clients, but for myself. I’ve already started doing this, and if I can get my act together, I’ll soon have a couple of new ebooks to add to my list. Writing something that might also transfer to print increases the options for this strategy. Creating information products that can sell means a reduction in the daily grind. (It’s not really a grind yet, but will I feel the same in ten years’ time?) I will have to update them from time to time, but that’s a manageable task.

Passive Income

Passive income is the third plank in my strategy. You hear a lot about making money online, and at least some people must actually be doing it. I am already making money online, but it’s not enough to retire on. However, if I add some new sites, or increase the options on my existing ones, and promote some products that I believe in, maybe I can get a share of that ‘untold wealth’ that seems to be knocking around. I’m not looking to be a millionaire, but to have enough for my needs and savings to handle any emergencies.

As time goes on, I’m sure I’ll think of different things that I can do to secure my future. Maybe I’ll get around to finishing one of my novels and will become a runaway success. Maybe not. In the meantime, I am starting my career planning with the things that I can do now, knowing that the plan is likely to evolve. How have you planned for your career as a writer?

Good planning is the bedrock of a successful freelance writing career. In contrast, running your career in panic mode will leave you overworked and stressed out - and probably earning less than you think.

The Panic Mode Scenario

When you run your writing career in panic mode, you start to worry every time you don’t see a steady flow of work. If you happen to be the main breadwinner, then this panic can escalate to paralysing levels. You’re so busy thinking about the absence of a bottom line that you end up doing something that will make your working life even harder.

Grab Any Job That Moves

Once you start to panic, then you feel compelled to take any job that comes along., even if the pay is low. After all, earning something is always better than earning nothing, isn’t it? I’ll come back to that question later. You only start to relax when you see a pleasingly full diary in front of you. Now all you have to do is do the work.

Overbooked And Underpaid

I’ll give you an example that happened to me a couple of years ago. Once, in this same situation, I took on a couple of jobs that I knew would bring in some funds. They were below my usual rate but they were bulk jobs, and I figured I needed the money.

My wake up call came when I put all the jobs into my diary, allocating a time slot for each of them. What I found was that I had booked up most of each working day with jobs that would only bring in half the money I needed. This was the direct result of panicking about an empty diary. Worse still, I had to spend so much time writing that I had less time for bidding and promoting. So, what could I have done instead?

An Alternative To Panic

Well, my strategy of taking a job below my usual rates was only half wrong. What I should have done is only take ONE of those jobs, not several. That would have given me:

• some basic income coming in so I wouldn’t need to panic
• time to bid on other, more lucrative jobs
• time to promote my writing services

In the long run, promoting myself and bidding on better paid writing jobs would have been a better move. So that’s my advice. The next time there’s a shortage of writing work, redouble your promotional efforts and put your bidding on steroids. You’ll soon ride out the slump and put your freelance writing career back on track.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing career,get paid to write

I’ll say up front that I’m not speaking as a bidding expert. In the days when I used to apply for jobs, I used to have a near 100% success rate with landing interviews. Bidding is much harder, in part because the competition is even stiffer. Still, although I get a lot of my work from my other promotional efforts, I’ve managed to win bids when it has really counted. Here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Choose Your Targets Wisely

OK; I’ll admit that the more you bid, the more chance you have of getting a few wins, but there’s no point in bidding for things that you are not qualified for. My most successful bids have been those where I have been able to bid with confidence because:

• I have done that type of work before
• I have published clips I can show
• I know the field well
• I know where to find relevant information

Here’s a recent example. I happened to see a project on GetAFreelancer for someone to write some financial articles. It happened that I had written on this subject for other clients, knew the terminology and knew the sites that would make good sources. That meant that I matched the client’s requirements; all I had to do was prove it.

2. Make A Match

In this instance, the client had a list of points that he needed bidders to address. They related to the subject matter, the keyword requirements, the type of English (UK) and the deadline. My bid addressed all of these issues. Here’s what I said:

I am an expert keyword article writer. I have ghostwritten more than 150 articles on rent back, quick house sales and repossession and I understand both the legal process and how to stop repossession with a quick house sale.

I will provide error free, Copyscape proof rewrites in UK English within the specified deadline. Please see my website (http://sharonhurleyhall.com) for further examples of my work and testimonials from my clients.

My bid is based on a rate of $xx per article, which reflects my expertise in the topic. I look forward to working with you. My rewrite sample is pasted below.

As you can see, my bidding letter was very short. I highlighted:

• my expertise
• my knowledge of the client’s target subject
• his requirements
• additional reasons to hire me
• the rate I required

My bid was a combination of selling myself generally as a writer (establishing my expertise and providing testimonials to support this) and showing how I could meet the client’s needs.

3. Show What You Can Do

Sometimes clients want proof that you can do the job they plan to hire you for. It’s true that sometimes this is a scam, but at other times it’s on the level. You’ll learn to distinguish between the real cases and the BS. I’ve had to provide two samples recently. One was for the bid above; the other was for another site, which said that I would not be paid for the sample, but that I would own the copyright. Under those circumstances, I had no hesitation in writing the sample required. I saw it as an investment, which matured quickly when I got a paying gig.

4. Clarify The Brief

I find it useful to ask a lot of questions up front. Some things may seem small, but in my experience, the more you find out at the start of a project, the more likely it is that you will be able to deliver it successfully. In the GetAFreelancer project, I realised half way through that I would be short one article, so I asked the client if there were any keywords he wanted me to reuse. In fact, I communicated with him throughout the project, whenever I needed clarification. This kept things ticking over smoothly and he was happy at the end.

5. Deliver

Once you’ve followed those four steps, it’s really up to the client. As writers, we are no longer in control. However, once you clinch the deal, then it’s up to you to make it work for you. Deliver what was promised when it was promised and you will get good feedback, referrals and even more work. You’ll also gain the confidence to make more successful bids.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing business,bidding

Three Freelance Writing Scams

Here are some of the potential scams:

• The ’sample’ scam
• The ‘this is urgent, so work with me’ scam
• The ‘I’ve got plenty of work and you’ll get a better rate later scam’.

1. The Free Samples Scam

The free sample scam is one of the most common. If you apply for work through a bidding site or Craigslist, then this is the one that might affect you most. I often see job postings that say that applications without a sample won’t be considered. If someone asks you to provide a sample, you might feel like you have no choice, especially if you’re new to the game.

Some ‘clients’ ask several writers for one free sample each. This is a way for them to get all the articles they want free of charge. Frankly, it stinks! If you want quality writing, then you should be prepared to pay for it.

2. The Urgent Work Scam

I’ve fallen victim to the second scam before. My bad. The client approached me via my website, gave a payscale that wasn’t great but was acceptable, and gave a time within which I would be paid. So I wrote the article. (Note to self: you KNOW better. ALWAYS ask for a deposit.) I don’t know why I broke my own rule, but I didn’t get paid for that one.

3. The Wait For Rates Scam

The third one is where clients try to persuade you to write 100 articles for $100 (or less!) with the promise that there will be more, better paid work later. Don’t hold your breath. They will move on to find someone equally gullible for the next batch of articles.

Avoiding Freelance Writing Scams

So what do you do to avoid falling victim to a scam and ending up out of pocket?First of all, beware of the client who wants you to write a large batch of articles without payment. If you are going to do a lot of work, you should get paid.

My policy is to ask for a 50 per cent deposit up front. Clients who are not willing to pay this usually melt away. I might lose out on a job, but it separates the clients who value my work from those who don’t. Once a client becomes a regular, then I can afford to be a bit more flexible.

However, clients are within their rights to ask for proof that you can do the job. I approach this in one of two ways. Either I use something that I have already written and mention that it has already been sold, or I write a fresh sample and post it on my blog. That way I can use it to promote myself, even if I don’t get paid. (Incidentally, that’s what I plan to do with the last article I didn’t get paid for.

Sending In The Heavies

No matter what you do, there’s always the odd client who manages to escape your ‘con artist antenna’. If you fall prey to one of these people, then you have a couple of options. You can chalk it up to experience, you can report the client to Preditors and Editors, or you can ask Angela Hoy, who publishes Whispers and Warnings, to help you. This is the writing equivalent of calling in the muscle. Angela wrote to a client who owed me last year and he paid up straight away, so I’m a big fan.

Last Word: It’s Not All Bad

One final note. If you’re a newbie, you may be worried that there’s a scammer around every corner. I don’t think so. In the last three years, I have only lost out on payment for two articles, and only one of those payments is still outstanding. With a bit of care, you can avoid most of the scammers. And remember, if a job posting raises your BS antenna, then listen to your intuition and avoid it. Anyone care to chip in with their tips on avoiding freelance writing scams?

Note: This may look familiar to Writing Lab News subscribers, who got a sneak preview of a much shorter version in the January issue.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,scam,writing business,writing career,get paid to write

That seemed to fit well with a post on Skellie’s new Anywired blog about leveraging a blog. This post is all about adding value - and making money while you do it.

Freelance writers are often overworked, so I was interested to read a post on FreelanceSwitch about the work life balance. The post gives 12 tips to help writers get themselves back on an even keel.

One of the suggestions in that post is to learn to say no. If you’re wondering how to do it, then the Web Content Copywriting blog has a whole post on this topic. Meanwhile, Dana Prince advises us not to let our manners get in the way of getting paid to write.

Finally, here are two useful resources to round out the list. The first is a list of other freelance writing job sites. It’s no secret that Freelance Writing Gigs is my top choice, but it never hurts to have alternatives. (Thanks to Freelancing Journey for the tip.)

And there’s something for all the non-US writers who are looking for the right paperwork to fill out. Sometimes companies ask you to fill out a tax form. If you don’t pay taxes in the US, then they may still ask for a form to meet their reporting requirements. The form you need is a W8-BEN - and here’s how to fill it out. The instructions are for the UK, but they work for everywhere.

Technorati Tags: writing,writing career,writing business,resources,blogging

Planning does not have to be elaborate, but for me it’s a necessary part of the writing process. If you’ve ever taken a novel writing or creative writing course, then you’ll know that they teach you how to create an outline that makes the final writing process almost intuitive. This discipline works well for non fiction writing as well.

Starting To Plan

I often begin the planning process by writing down what I know about the topic. Rather than a brain dump, a mind mapping approach works well, so that you link up related concepts as soon as you think of them. That also helps you to identify what might be missing.

Where Are You Going?

When planning, think about the end point. You will take your reader on a journey, and just like a real life journey, you should have some idea of your destination when you begin. I decide what my main point is, based on what I already know, or what I think I ought to include. Then it’s time to consider how to get there.

What’s Missing?

At this stage, I make a list. The early part of the planning process has given me a number of points to cover. I try to arrange these in logical order and to group related points. When I have my initial outline, I think about what my readers might want to know. It’s essential to put yourself in their place - or in the place of someone who has no idea what you’re talking about.

Where Should You Put It?

Once you’ve thought about the gaps, identify where that information will fit into your plan. By now, you should have an outline that you’ll be able to work to. That’s only the first part of the process, though, because this is the plan you make before you complete your research. Once you have researched the topic, you will need to revise the plan to take account of any new information.

Starting To Write

Then it’s time to start writing. I find that the plan is a good guide to how to write the body and the conclusion of a piece. However, it’s up to me to craft the lead in a way that will draw readers in. If I know where I’m headed, that’s quite easy.

That planning process works well for most types of writing. If you write a lot, you can also create a template based on a structure that works well. Article templates are great for writing dozens of articles on the same topic. How to make them different? Well, that will be the subject of another post.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing career,writing business,get paid to write

Yes, the system had some advantages. I could access my calendars wherever I went. However, since I work at home and carry my laptop with when I leave home, this was not quite as useful as it seemed.

As the year went on, I found that I needed to supplement the information on the calendar with little paper notes. Google Calendar is not a good to do list. Pieces of paper would blow away or get lost and that wasn’t very satisfactory. And if the calendar crashed while I was updating, the information wasn’t always up to date. It just didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

So for all those reasons, I decided to go back to a desk diary for my writing work. When a job comes in I note it in my spreadsheet, then I write the deadline in my desk diary. I also write a reminder for two days before - for most projects that’s enough time for me to play catch up if I have to.

So far, it has worked well. I can see the week’s work at a glance, and it’s easy to tell if I am fully booked on a particular day. There’s space for me to make notes and list tasks as well, and it’s easy to cross them off when I’ve done them. Best of all, I no longer have lots of loose paper on my desk.

I still use my online calendar, but I only use it for personal appointments now - and I’ve amended my holiday calendar to show all the major holidays in the places where my clients are located. But for freelance writing, the paper diary looks set to stay.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing business,writing career

I’m pleased to welcome Lori Chance to the blog today. She’s a writing life coach and has recently published a book aimed a stressed out, overworked moms. It’s called Who Am I?

Hi Lori. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Well, I’m a mom, an entrepreneur, a writing coach and a professional networker. In everything I do, I love to support people in reaching their most meaningful goals. In my ‘spare’ time, I enjoy reading all kinds of books, hiking and I try to crochet from time to time.

Your title is intriguing. How did you come up with it?

Knowing who we are – not just what we do each day, but the part of us that always was and always will be no matter what activities life has us handling – defines the choices we make. And it’s the choices we make that determine how satisfied with our lives we are.

I’ll use myself as an example. I spent 10 years working in an industry I hated thinking I was doing the right thing. In fact, I was doing what my parents had told me I needed to do – get a job that paid the bills and plan to wait until I retire to do anything I might enjoy. I chose the job I took. And I chose to stay in it for 10 years. When I finally began to really look at myself – what made me happy, what I really wanted to do with my life, who I really was inside – my choices began to change. One of the choices I changed was the job I held. I decided to pursue something I loved. If you can answer that one single question for yourself, Who Am I?, you’ll naturally start living a life that’s meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling.

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

When my 2nd child was only 12 days old, my then 49-year-old mother had a brain aneurysm rupture. It was a surprise. She was seemingly healthy one day, and fighting for her life the next. I remember looking in the mirror and realizing that anything could happen at any time and it made me wonder, “Would I be proud of my life if something were to happen to me today?” I was stunned when the only answer I could think of was, “No.” It was that day that I decided to really take a look at myself and my life. Although it was quite a process to get through, the one question that guided every step was my constantly wondering, “Who am I? If I could get past all the familial ‘shoulds’ I’d been handed down, if I could get past all the cultural ‘boxes’ I’d grown up in, if I could get beyond all the limitations I’d created for myself, Who am I at that level?”

As I learned about myself, I began to realize I wasn’t the only one asking these types of questions or longing for something ‘more’ from life. It was such a challenging journey for me that I wanted to find a way to create something that would help others make it through that chaotic, confusing maze a little easier. I also wanted to make such a resource as accessible as possible – not everyone can afford to pay for counselling, coaching or seminars, but they still have the same questions to answer. This book was the result of both my journey, and my desire to help others.

What’s the main message of Who Am I?

You can. You should. You deserve to be happy too.

I believe everyone has the ability to live a meaningful and fulfilling life, and deserves to live that life – whatever it might look like for them.

I know you work as a life coach for writers. How has that contributed to the approach you take in Who Am I?

Actually, my clients taught me a lot about how to write the book. I’ll be boldly honest and admit that the form in which it’s being published now, isn’t the way it was originally written. When I wrote it the first time, I made ALL the rookie mistakes! I wrote it for me and forgot about what my reader might need. Needless to say, it bombed! I knew the journey, the coaching and the writing pieces, but I still had some learning to do about publishing. In working with my clients, and connecting with the writing and publishing world in general, I was able to rewrite the book so that my message can still get out, but it will also sell. What good is a message that no one receives? It’s not. I had to learn to balance the selling with my message. Now, that’s one of the first lessons I teach clients who’ve never published before so that they can avoid making the same mistakes.

Do you plan a follow up?

I’m a writer at heart so of course, there will be something. I’ll share a little secret with you that I haven’t had the guts to share with too many people yet: I’m writing a memoir about that journey I mentioned earlier. It’s in the very beginning stages, but I’m in the process of arranging my schedule for 2008 so that I can focus on it and see what happens. It’s exciting, and a little scary, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

What is your writing process and what inspires you to write?

My process is a lot like making a home-made stew. I get an idea and let it ‘simmer’ in the back of my mind. If after a while it hasn’t gone away and I’m still interested in pursuing it, I’ll get out paper and a pen. I keep a lot of spiral notebooks around in which I scratch ideas out. This scratching process is like tasting the stew as it’s simmering – I’m finding out what else I need to add, what might work, what won’t and whether or not I want to continue with it. This can go one for 5 minutes, or it can go on for years, it depends on the size of the project I have in mind. At some point though I just know it’s time to really start writing it. To me, this is like finally getting to take the stew off the stove and savouring every bite. I’ll share drafts with a couple of close friends I trust, but I’ll keep trying and re-trying the recipe for a while until I “get it.”. When I’ve changed the same comma 5 times and the only other editing I’m doing is replacing the same word with synonyms over and over again, I know I’m done and it’s time to let it go out into the world.

As for what inspires me? Life itself. I have one main motivation and it’s in the form of a question I ask myself constantly: How can I make the biggest, most positive impact on the most number of people in a way that is equally supportive to me? I want to fulfil who I am by helping others fulfil who they are. As I focus on that question, ideas come.

What’s the best advice you have received about writing or publishing?

You can’t be successful in a vacuum. You’ve got to find a supportive community in which you can learn, grow, and share the process. And my personal recommendation: try to find a community in which everyone else knows more than you do – you’ll learn even faster (and hopefully avoid more mistakes)!

Tell us one thing about yourself that you haven’t yet revealed in an interview.

I love my kids’ perspective on things. So far, there’s only one question they’ve asked me that I haven’t been able to find an answer for: “Mama, why are houses outside?” Of course, my kids are 4 and 7, so I’m sure they’ll be coming up with more tough questions soon, but that’s my favourite so far!

Visit the Who Am I? website to find out more about the book.

Technorati Tags: writing,coaching,empowerment,wahm

When Not To Write For Free

Ok, so those are the times when writing for free pays off for you. However, there are some cases to avoid like the plague. The free sample scam is used on many freelancing sites. The client asks for a free sample with your application and gets the required content free. Don’t fall for it. Most reputable clients will be happy with samples of existing work, so publish those samples on your blog, or include them in your portfolio and send the prospective client a link to the work.

However, there are some occasions when writing for free can be a good career development move. Here are some examples:

Creating A Portfolio

When you start out as a freelance writer, writing for free may be the quickest way to build up a portfolio of written work that you can show to prospective clients. There are many ways to approach this. You could:

• write some pieces for your local newspaper (try to get a byline)
• write for online magazines and blogs
• write some articles for free article distribution sites
• start a blog of your own

Any or all of these strategies will help you to get a wide range of written work to start you off in your search for the perfect freelance writing gig. For me, this is a case of giving writing away in the hope of securing even bigger writing commissions. It’s a calculated risk, which has paid off for many freelance writers I know.

Honing Skills

While you’re doing all this free writing, you are also developing your writing skills. You learn to work to a brief and to think about what your readers need. This is a great time to be writing, because you probably have more creative freedom than you will ever have at any time in your writing career. My advice is to use it - write about anything you like in any style you like. Anything you can’t publish on other sites can be used on your own blog. This will show your versatility as a writer.

Raising Your Profile

Even when you’re a full time freelance writer, there are still some occasions when writing for free can pay off. For example, guest blogging gives you the chance to write for new audiences and get new readers for your stuff. It creates more links to your work that can enhance your portfolio and raise your profile. When clients come looking for a freelance writer, one factor that will attract them is visibility, and you can raise this quickly by contributing to others’ sites and blogs. It’s worked well for me. Although I still write some posts for free, I also have several paid blogging gigs, which is one of my dream jobs.

My Own Experience

When I started freelancing, I had plenty of experience of writing. However, since I’d been teaching journalism for a few years, I didn’t have a lot of recent clips. I created a portfolio site and blog, and used article marketing to showcase my work and drive traffic to my blog. I also used those articles to get other work, which led to several clients who became regulars. Although earning from freelancing is no longer a problem, I still do some writing for free, mainly for profile raising and to get the chance to write for new audiences, which is good for my writing skills. Do you ever write for free?

Technorati Tags: writing,writing career,get paid to write