Freelance Writing Advice From CD Baby

Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby, offers great advice for musicians at his personal site. Most of his topics are aimed squarely at musicians, but I’ve found the benefit of his experience translates quite well into the world of freelance writing.

I’ve got two albums for sale on CD Baby, so I may be a bit biased–but his piece “Never Have a Limit on Your Income” has some great words of wisdom for writers. The major drawback to being a freelancer is that you are only one person and can only take on as much work as you are physically capable of handling in a day, a week, a month.

Seasoned writers know about the power of reprints to bring in what Derek Sivers calls “mailbox money”. Any additional income you don’t have to do additional work to get is an important source of income. New writers are at a serious disadvantage because they don’t have an archive of published clips they can submit as reprints, and the challenge of hanging on to your rights to sell them later can be daunting when you don’t understand the industry well. (We’ll cover THAT topic later).

Are reprints the only way to get mailbox money? Check out what Derek Sivers has to say and you’ll find some fascinating ideas. Not all of them are appropriate for freelance writing, but they can certainly inspire some notions of your own. He certainly has MY wheels turning this morning…