Today, I’m answering a freelance writing question that one of the writers on my writing team didn’t quite get around to asking. The situation was that I had written some articles for a client based on original research. The client needed rewrites which I didn’t have time to do, so I asked a writer to do them. When they came back, some of the articles were so different that they were practically new articles, and that wasn’t what the client was looking for. I realised then that it can be difficult for writers to know what clients want when they ask for rewrites.

Here are some of the types of rewrites I’ve been asked to do in the past:

1. Rewrites where the titles and subheads are based on the same keywords, but are different, and where the first and last paragraph and one of the middle paragraphs is different.
2. Rewrites where each individual sentence must be rewritten so it means the same thing but says it in different words, but using the same keywords.
3. Rewrites where you put the same information in the same order as the original.
4. Rewrites where you put the same information in a different order from the original.
5. Rewrites where you have to change sentences AND substitute keywords.

It’s no wonder that people get confused. As usual, the thing to do before you start is to clarify the brief, so that you can deliver what the client wants first time. Rewrites rarely pay well and if you have to make revisions, then you generally end up out of pocket. And watch out for No 5. I did this once, and went back to the client and argued for a rate increase, because I was effectively writing brand new articles.

Although I wouldn’t want to spend all day doing rewrites, doing simple rewrites (such as No 3) can be a great way to boost your income if you have done the original research and are a fast writer. It’s not creative, but it can help to pay the bills.

There’s one final point about rewrites. Some clients think nothing of asking writers to rewrite other people’s content for their sites. All I’m going to say is that using several sources is research; stealing from a single source is plagiarism. Nuff said!

Technorati Tags: writing,get paid to write,freelance writing,help me write

• Will Content Kill the Web?

‘PLR content drives down the market value of web content. Why buy pricier work when nearly-free (and sometimes free) is right there for the taking?’

• Handling Your Perfectionism

‘One of the biggest problems perfectionists have is setting realistic goals. I never realized I set the bar too high for myself. Halfway through whatever I was working on achieving, when nothing went according to my vision, I would give up in frustration.’

• What a Camera Can Teach You About Customer Service

Sorry, you’ll just have to read this one. No excerpt would do it justice.

There is so much good stuff in there it’s hard to give you a flavour of it. The blog focuses on blogging, business, design and writing, and currently has a great series on fiction writing. Just to round out the list, here are some posts with great titles that made me stop and look:

• Bloggers That Fake It
• Don’t Be Efficient if You Want a Successful Business
• Knitters Never Comment!

Over the past year, posts from this blog, and its predecessor, have turned up regularly in my links roundups, which shows how consistently readable it is. If you haven’t done so, check it out.

Technorati Tags: writing,blogging,reviews

I don’t mean to sound like a know-it-all, but I can tell you from my own experience that the more I write, the better I get at writing. One of my former students, SB, a mature student of around 50 looking for a new career, said that telling him to write was the best advice I’d given him in two years of teaching him journalism.

There’s a lot you can learn from journalism courses about techniques and approaches, but that’s only a complement to your own writing skill - and the only way to develop that is to write.

Getting Started

So, how do you get started? First of all, don’t worry when you start about whether your writing is any good or not. The important thing is to have an idea and follow through by getting something down on paper. You may throw it away, but psychologically you will have taken a big step.

Find a publication that you want to write for and study it (I’ll talk more about that in another post). This will help you to identify important elements about the content and style. Then try to write something again.

Finding A Critical Friend

One thing many beginning writers need is a critical friend. That means someone who can critique your work in a constructive way, but who has your best interests at heart. When I started out, my editor was critical, though not my friend. Other people have given work the thumbs up because they are friends, but have not been critical. The trick is to find someone who will strike the balance between being encouraging and helping you to improve.

This was what I did for SB and for all my students. I was thrilled when he got his first paid writing commission, and within six months or so, he didn’t need my help as often. You can do that too. Your critical friend might be a member of your local writing group or a forum. Ideally, this person should have a bit more experience, so that you can ask specific questions about the writing process and particular skills. Don’t worry if you can’t find such a person, you can always ask me - and I’ll be happy to answer.

On The Path To Success

You can become a successful writer. My student, SB, who had not written or published a piece of journalism when I met him, was writing and publishing in several magazines in his chosen niche within a year, and also did some PR work in a government department. So while you’re waiting for the next instalment, start writing and you’ll have taken the first step in achieving freelance writing success.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing,writing,get paid to write,help me write

When you get an assignment that involves ten of the same keyword or twenty or more,it can feel like a bottomless pit at the start. How on earth can I write 10 keyword articles about a common word such as Google with a 1.5% keyword density?

Dana doesn’t just ask the question, she provides the answer and it’s easy to implement. If you’ve ever flagged when writing keyword articles, Write Really Great Keyword Articleswill help you.

Three Quick Ways To Create Freelance Writing Clips

As a new freelance writer, it is often difficult to provide freelance writing clips when applying for writing jobs. Writing clients want to see examples of your work before they hire you, but if you are new to the writing business, you may not have any published work. Here are three quick ways to create freelance writing clips to show prospective clients.

As a freelance writer, you have to be ready to alter your style when the job demands it. This is not only about grammatical style, but also about matching the writing to the subject matter. Academic writing is different from feature writing is different from web content writing and so on.

What I’ve found, though, is that you have to pay attention. I did two jobs for the same client. One of them was virtually perfect, lulling me into a false sense of security. The other one had a few extra clauses, which I am now ruthlessly excising.

There are three ways that you can adapt your writing to any circumstance:

First, know what your writing style is. If you can identify the things that make you you, then you can cut some of those out to make your writing more suitable for others.

Second, identify the style that the client likes. Sometimes they tell you exactly what they want, or give you examples of writing they like. Study these examples and mimic them, letting a small bit of your style creep in - just enough to make it different, but not enough to scare the client.

Third, pretend you are someone else. If you are a ghostwriter, then you are probably already doing this every day. As ghostwriters, our job is to write in our clients’ voice, whatever our own personal style.

I’d love to hear from you about your take on writing style.

How to have infringing contents removed from the search engines on SixFigureWriters.com

Networking within your blog niche from DoshDosh

Make your blog posts readable from BlogTutorials

Are you in love with your own writing from Copyblogger

Web writing: your top five money making skills from Fab Web Writers

Putting Together Ghostwriting Proposals from the Golden Pencil

Contracts and Agreements from AllBusiness.com

Enjoy!

As a freelance writer, you may well end up having to interview sources and you will need a way of keeping track of the information. I always travel with a recording device, spare batteries, a power cable and a notebook. I’m not talking about a laptop, but an old fashioned notebook with lines in it that you write in with a pen.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First of all the technology might fail, so having notes is a good backup and one I have had to use more than once when my editor was breathing down my neck for a story that had been chewed up by the Dictaphone or simply not recorded.

The second is that writing things down helps to fix them in your memory. As a journalist I would sit on the train on the way back from an interview and start to sketch out my story with the aid of my notes. Very often, I would not need to listen to the tape much, except to check that my quotes were right.

Now, the thing about interviews is that they are not tidy. Yes, you may have a neat list of questions but an interview is a conversation, which mean you may start out one place and end up another. This can get very confusing when you are taking notes, as you may find that you are putting pieces in all over the place, or correcting or clarifying previous information.

However, there is a simple technique that can help you to make sense of the chaos, and it’s this. Write on every other line. In other words, leave a blank line between each line of notes. When something comes up that’s related to an earlier note, you have space to write it. If something needs to be clarified, you have space to write it. And when you’re done you’ll still be able to read all your notes. Try it; I promise it works – even for my terrible writing.

Recommended reads:
Talking The Talk: Secrets Of Interviewing Success

Taking The Free Out Of Freelance

Freelance writing is like any other business - you have to set goals to make it a success. When I went freelance a year or so ago, my goal was to make enough money working from home to replace my former salary as a part time lecturer. It was five months before I made any money at all. In that time, I concentrated on creating my website, writing a few children’s stories, entering writing competitions (only two, neither of which I won) and writing free articles so I would have some up-to-date examples of what I could do. This helped me to polish my writing skills.

Finding Freelance Writing Jobs

I also looked at many of the sites that listed freelance writing jobs and started applying. That was a difficult time, because bidding is hard work for little reward. I learned a couple of things about bidding, while I was doing it:

First, I learned to have some text ready that I could cut, paste and change around to suit any job with only minor editing. This included a paragraph about the job and my proposal, a paragraph about my relevant experience, a paragraph with links to examples of my work and a paragraph with contact details. That’s enough for most bids (and too much for some - some people only want the figures). That didn’t help me much with winning bids, but it did help with learning to blow my own trumpet and promote.

Second, I learned that if you’re competing with people who will write for peanuts, you will never earn what you think you’re worth. So I swallowed my pride, dropped my prices and vowed that one day I would get better paid writing jobs.

Freelance Writing: The First Job

My first freelance writing job (paid) came from one of my former students. I suspect it gave him a thrill to be in the driving seat, but I didn’t care. He was pleasant, polite and paid on time - everything you want from a writing client. The next big job came from someone who wanted to take advantage of my experience as a teacher. The job was ghostwriting a lesson. Again, done and paid promptly.

At the same time, I was writing for a new venture that I first heard about here on this site - the revamped InspiredAuthor. Over the course of four months or so, I wrote 75 articles for two new topics I was managing, one of them on freelance writing. I was able to use these as examples of my web writing and that suddenly put me in a whole different league where writing jobs were concerned.

The next thing I knew I was writing for a whole slew of sites on a variety of topics and 10 months after I went freelance, I had achieved my first goal. I was pleased about it, because I was doing it part-time, fitting it around childcare and other family responsibilities. I now have a couple of regular writing clients who pay above the minimum, though I still take the ‘peanuts’ jobs as well. If I write fast enough, I can make enough from the job to make it worth my while.

Freelance Writing Goals

It has to be said that I managed that first freelance writing goal with only a minimal amount of planning and quite a lot of learning, from people on this site and others. What I have learned in the process is that unless you turn your ideas into goals they may never happen. That means prioritising and detailing the steps that need to be taken to achieve those goals.

For example, I know that in 10 years’ time, I don’t want to be scrabbling around for 1 cent a word jobs, so I have to raise my profile further and do some writing that will bring in residual income. I can also use my teaching experience to do the same thing. So my plan for the next year is to try to find a few more of those higher paying jobs, and to convert my offline journalism courses to online courses. I’ve also got a few plans for books. I’ll let you know how it goes. If you’re a writer (or in another business), I’d love to hear about your process for setting goals and how you’ve done with achieving them.

Now that I’m a freelance writer, I’m happy doing what I’ve always wanted to do, but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. For the first time in a long time (and I mean LONG), I had a piece of work returned to me for revision. It’s a research job, looking for additional information to accompany articles. The irony is that I’m the one who set the standard for this particular type of work, so you’d think I’d know how to do it right. Not necessarily - and here’s why.

The Writing Brief

As a freelance writer, the writing brief is the most important part of your job. After all, how else are you to know what to do? But briefs aren’t always clear and when you’re working through an intermediary (as in this case) you don’t speak to the person giving the brief. So it’s a bit like pin the tail on the donkey. You might get it right, but you have an even greater chance of missing the mark completely. (By the way, this isn’t the intermediary’s fault, but if the client doesn’t brief the middleperson correctly, then the middleperson can’t brief the writer correctly.)

Now, don’t feel depressed by this. Once you’re an experienced writer, or you have experience with certain types of writing, your chances of getting the job right first time increase. But this job is an example of being lulled into a false sense of security. See, I did the sample topics, found lots of info and links, but what I didn’t realise is that I was tapping into the client’s unspoken criteria. And those are the ones that bite you in the butt.

Some clients know what they want and give a clear brief, but they are in the minority. Others have an idea of what they want which becomes more defined when they don’t get it. In this case, the client wanted a certain number of links in a certain number of categories, but this had never been put in writing or articulated. The upshot of that was that I submitted one article (that I couldn’t find a lot of links for) and had it bumped back to me.

Working Through Rejection

I’m only human. I don’t like having work returned. It wasted my time, because I had to spend time redoing work that I thought I had finished. That stopped me from doing other jobs. As a professional, though, I have to be prepared to revise work if it’s not right. If I do it quickly and without complaining (except to you), then I’ll continue to get work from that source.

The good thing is that now I know what the criteria are. That means I can work more efficiently. And I hope I won’t get any more work returned for this particular job.

The moral of the story:

1. Try to find out as much as possible about what is required (it never occurred to me to ask how many links the client wanted).
2. Where possible, deal directly with the client (middlepeople sometimes make for misunderstandings)
3. If you have to do a rewrite or revision, don’t complain or argue, just do it (freelance writers need thick skins).
4. Even an experienced writer can have work returned

Have you had work returned for revision? How do you deal with the knockbacks?

I’ve been equally ferocious about backing up. First I used floppies, then CDs, then DVDs. If nothing was handy I used a virtual backup drive by emailing my work from one email address to another. I never lost anything. That was the old days. If you read my previous post you’ll know that my laptop died and I lost a couple days’ work. So how could this happen to someone who’s usually so well organised?

Well, there are a couple of reasons. I’m much less well organised since I had a child. Simply put, there’s much less leftover brain power to apply to keeping my life ticking over. I wouldn’t have it any other way, but this wouldn’t have happened to the old paranoid me three years ago. I’m stretched thin and suddenly very busy. The result of that is that when I managed to do 25 tips for LifeTips (I finished them on Wednesday when my daughter was napping), I forgot to back them up. Most of the time you can let things slip for a little while, and there’s no danger. Not this time - and there was no warning. At 5.15 my laptop was working. At 6.15 it was dead.

What this has taught me is that it’s important to have a plan B when you make your living with a computer. Until recently my plan B was my husband’s computer, but he’s on the road more, so I can’t relay on having access to it. The library doesn’t open at hours that suit the rest of my life. I quite often work late at night after my daughter’s gone to bed and my local library closes at 5.

While I was facing the loss of two days’ work and the prospect of 10 days without a computer (and I admit, shedding a few tears of annoyance), I thought of a plan. My hubby had a tablet pc he had never used so maybe I could use that as a backup. We bought a USB keyboard and then tried to get it connected to our wireless network. Nothing. I fiddled around with settings, still nothing. Eventually I discovered that Microsoft’s tablet software does not support WSP-PSK or whatever it is, so it’s not going to happen. So I dug out an Ethernet cable and finally got online.

All of my work at the moment has to be researched on line so doing without a net connection is not an option if I’m to meet my deadlines. Now I’ve got to figure out how to prop the tablet up so I can type and see the screen at the same time.

Meanwhile I am missing my favourite programs:
- Firefox - I will install this soon
- Thunderbird
- Performancing - my blog editor of choice (by the way, that’s why there are no links or fancy formatting in this post. I’ll go back and fix it once I’ve got my laptop back).

I have lost
- 21 lifetips
- a new poem
- my WritingUp backup
- my invoice template
- this week’s writing jobs - most of which I had submitted

The lesson I’m getting to is that you need to have a plan B. So, I’ve now got a few.

First, I’m moving everything that I can online. I already use blinklist and Google calendar. Now I’ll use my gmail account for backing up my work in progress. That way I can access it wherever I am.

Second, as soon as I can afford it, I’ll get a cheap desktop pc as a backup.

Third, I’ll replace my 80GB external hard drive with something that I can keep permanently attached to my laptop, so I can backup as I go.

Fourth, I’ll put a reminder in my diary so that I always do it.

Fifth, my new laptop will come with an international next day onsite warranty.

Apart from the social deprivation of being without a reliable internet connection (regular writnguppers will know what I’m talking about), this incident has very real consequences for my writing. I’m going to have to make up a couple of days’ work over what is already a busy week. I won’t get caught this way again.

How have you done with disaster preparedness? Do you have a plan B?

PS. If I’m a bit slower than usual responding to comments you’ll know the reason why. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

I started a newsletter in April. Why? Because I thought I ought to. All the site building, traffic building material says you should have a way to communicate with visitors to your site. This makes you a real person, builds a relationship and keeps people coming back to the site. So I did. I found a site called ConstantContact.com, which allows you to create and send a newsletter free of charge up to 50 subscribers. I thought this would be a good place to get started. Of course, now that I’ve got a few subscribers, I’m wondering if I should have gone with another option, but that’s another story. Here are the contents of my first three issues:

April 2006

• So You Want To Be A Freelance Writer?
• How To Write Copy That Pays The Bills
• Article Secrets For Writers
• Resources For Writers

May 2006

• Freelance Writers - Four Reasons To Get On The Net
• Turn One Moment Into One Hundred Years
• Diary Of A Working Writer
• Free Resources For Writers
• How I Get Paid To Blog

June 2006

• Copyright Law: A Quick Guide For Freelance Writers
• Article Secrets For Writers (this is different from the April one)
• Diary Of A Working Writer - June 2006
• Free Resources For Writers
• Guru and Elance: Are They Worth It For Writers?

Now that I’m preparing my fourth issue, I’ve got a format. I try to have one article I’ve written, two articles by someone else, a diary entry, a roundup of my best blog posts of the month and some free resources, if I’ve found any. I also have links to products I recommend (so far only to things I’ve used).

I’ve also started archiving my posts on sharonhurleyhall.com. That way, when subscribers sign up mid-month, I can send an email out pointing them to the previous issue. I follow up mid-month anyway (thanks, Mitch) with a a short letter highlighting the archived copy and something new, like a blog post, article or resource. I’ve had good feedback on it so far.

My only niggles are with the ConstantContact templates. The links are ugly and the interface a bit clunky. However, I still think it’s a great place for the novice newsletter producer. Once my subscriber base grows a bit, I’ll be exploring other options. I’ll let you know what I’ve found out.

Subscribe to Writing Lab News, my FREE writing newsletter

Update: The site has changed a lot since then, so click on the link and browse around. New index coming soon.

I’m on a bit of a roll now. I’ve been doing some writing for Lifetips on fruit, video chat and Spanish (more about that in another post), while trying to keep up with my blogs. The schedule is hectic, partly my own fault for doing some really bad writing late at night. The result was that I had to redo it, which annoyed me. I’d have been better off sleeping and then writing in the morning. (end of rant).

Here are a couple of the things I’ve written recently:

Inspired Author

It’s In The Bag: How Writers Can Take Their Work With Them
Record Keeping For Writers: Tracking Writing Income And Expenses

Sharon’s Writing Lab

German Weekend
German Weekend 2 - The Hotel

WritingLife

Writing Blog Review - gracepub
The Writing Parent

BloggerParty

Sometimes Parenthood Sucks!

As a freelance writer, it’s your job to keep editors and publishers happy. Aside from the issue of professional integrity, it’s a good way to make sure you’re asked to write for a publication again. One of the best ways of doing this is to be clear on exactly what a commission entails. To do this there are five questions that writers should get the answers to before starting work.

1. What Should I Write?

It is important to get a brief from an editor about the piece of writing you are being commissioned to write. At the very least, the brief should cover how long the article should be and what the article needs to cover. If the commission has resulted from a query, then you may already know these things. However, it is always best to make sure both you and the editor are on the same page. Writers should also find out whether editors will require additional material (such as photos and sidebars) to illustrate the article.

2. When Do You Want It?

Establishing a deadline is essential for keeping the professional relationship running smoothly. Having a deadline means that writers can plan their writing time well. Meeting a deadline will make an editor love you and is likely to result in repeat commissions.

3. What Credit Will I Get?

Writers usually get a byline for their writing and some publications even allow a brief bio. If you find out which the editor prefers, you can include this when submitting you article instead of having to write a bio in a panic at the last minute. Make sure you ask for a copy of the magazine, too. This will help to build your portfolio.

4. What Rights Am I Selling?

When an article is commissioned, the magazine is buying the right to use it. However, you still own the copyright. It is important to decide what rights are being offered. It is normal to offer the right to be the first to publish a piece of writing in a magazine in a particular country. This is known as ‘first serial rights’. Online rights are often requested, but writers should make sure that any exclusive period is for a limited time so they can republish the article elsewhere after the rights have expired.

5. What About Payment?

Payment for writing varies widely from country to country and publication to publication. There are several organizations that give price guides, such as the National Writers’ Union in the US (members only) and the National Union of Journalists in the UK. Other resources for setting prices include writers.ca and Writers’s Market. However, small or startup magazines may not be able to pay even the minimum price. The best thing to do is to negotiate a price you’re happy with.

Once you’ve established the details of the commission, deadline, rights and payment, it’s time to get to work and get paid to write. Happy writing!

More information and examples here.

Here’s a bit of fun for a rainy day (at least, it’s raining here). There’s a new vote in town. Novel Writer magazine is running a poll on which is the best online writer’s school. This got me to thinking about the value of writing courses.

I’m probably old fashioned. I learned to write by having a job which forced me to write, so I have not had any formal training. However, for 13 or so years, I wrote every day. I wrote news stories, feature articles, reviews and much more. When I started teaching, I wrote courses and exercises for students and spent a lot of time critiquing writing. At the same time, I did a spot of freelancing to keep my hand in.

Now, I’m a reader, so when I want to know something, I turn to the books. I have about 20 books on different aspects of writing, because I want to make sure I’ve got the info on any kind of writing I want to do. Almost all the books on writing recommend that you attend a writing course to improve your writing. I have also attended a couple of one day workshops on different aspects of writing, all within the last year. In fact, there’s a new one in town next week that I’m thinking of going to.

And now I have the option of studying online. There are so many online writing schools that it’s difficult to decide which is best. Does anyone have an opinion on this? If you do, why don’t you head over to the poll, cast your vote and leave me a comment about whether writing schools are useful and which one you think is best. I really want to know.

What Do I Want To Earn?

Some writers write in their spare time and have full time jobs elsewhere. These writers may not need to earn as much as those who rely on writing for their income. Whatever their situation, writers should consider how much money they need to earn to eat, pay the bills and maybe have a little fun from time to time. It’s nice to think that you can catch a movie or go to a gig once in a while.

Writers also need to think about the taxman. Depending on where writers live, any where from 22% to 35% or more (if you’re really successful) will be gobbled up by the government. For example, in the UK, tax and National Insurance takes over 30% of your income (after allowances). So writers need to add this figure to the amount they want to earn.

How Much Writing Will I Do?

Full-time writers will spend the equivalent of a working week on writing. That’s more than 2,000 hours a year. However, take out all the time you spend making cups of coffee, filing, blogging as well as sick days and holidays and there will probably be about 1800 hours left.

Writers also need to think about the cost of consumables. Pens, paper and print cartridges all cost money and this should be added to what writers want to earn.

So What’s My Hourly Rate?

Once writers have calculated the number of hours they will work and the full amount they need to earn, working out an hourly rate is simple. Just divide the amount you need to earn by the number of hours you plan to work, and you’ve got a your hourly rate. Once writers have worked out what they need to earn, they have a figure to aim for.

I have to admit that although I have a target hourly rate, I don’t let that get in the way of bidding for jobs at a lower rate. I do have to eat, after all. Writers always have to decide whether it is worth some short term swallowing of pride for the long term gain of having a better portfolio. I don’t work for nothing and I try not to work for peanuts. Brazil nuts - now that’s a different matter.

To see examples of working out an hourly rate, see Freelance Writing: What’s The Job Worth?

It’s intended for first time authors and asks and answers writers’ questions on:

• the commissioning process
• choosing a publisher
• making money
• whether writers need agents
• writing a proposal
• contract negotiations
• working with publishers
• dealing with rejection

This book is clearly written and full of useful case studies. It is probably the best book on publishing I’ve read all year.

Read a more detailed review here or see it on Amazon.

For more on writing and publishing, check out the Inspired Author blog.