freelance-zone.com

Ken Foster is a writer who seems to have cornered his market. Foster loves dogs, and as the author of The Dogs Who Found Me and other titles he proves you can use plenty of ink on subjects which seem to be written to death. If you have a passion for the topic combined with strong writing, you can definitely rise above your peers in a niche littered with inferior material.

Foster is obviously in love with his subject matter. He started the Sula Foundation to encourage responsible pit bull ownership, and he wrote the forward for the dog-themed photo essay book The Dog Who Loved Cheerios and Other Tales of Excess.

For Ken Foster, dogs are much more than cutesy subject matter. He seems to be writing on dogs full-time, and while frustrated in my early-morning search for an About Me section on his various sites, his blog posts indicate seemingly round-the-clock coverage of all things dog-related. He writes and blogs about court cases involving dogs, guests on talk radio programs. . .Foster has the dog beat fully covered.

He is a shining example of someone who has found inventive ways to keep himself getting paid to write about his passions. For new and struggling writers, Foster’s sites could be considered required reading. Here’s an author who maintains multiple websites on the same general topics, working with tireless devotion to both his craft and his subjects. His writing is inspirational because it’s proof that any topic, when covered with skill and ingenuity, can become a major source of material if you have the right level of dedication. I strongly recommend a long look at these sites if you are interested in carving out your own niche in a specialty topic.

And some of us will linger a lot longer over those dog photos than we should, but that’s one of the occupational hazards in this business…you’ll just have to ditch that third coffee break in favor of those doggy faces.

Yes, we should be at the end of our technical problems today (with a little luck) and Sarah will be posting under her own login soon. In the meantime, check out her take on personal branding…she indirectly raises an issue I’ll have a go at in my own editorial next week–the value of using content sites such as Associated Content to raise your Google clout, as opposed to the dubious practice using it to build a list of writing credits. I got the idea after following the link Sara provides in the article, so cheers to both her and Tina Samules for inspiring more content on FZ! In the meantime, check out Sarah Skerrett on Personal Branding. Once again, welcome aboard, Sarah…

The most challenging personal aspect of securing freelance projects is tooting your own horn. There is a fine line between honest self-promotion with the intention of highlighting your credentials and sounding like a pompous, know-it-all jerk who can do anything. There is also a fine line between taking a long shot on a project because you think you have the aptitude and knowledge to complete it successfully and wasting a client’s time because you think you can “quickly acquire” technical terminology needed for an HVAC manual for a heating and air company. (more…)

No, we won’t be prefacing all of Sarah’s headlines with her name, we’re just slow getting her set up with her own Freelance-Zone login due to a technical problem. This is Sarah’s first full-fledged FZ post…welcome aboard, Sarah!

I recently got half-way through setting up an account with Elance (www.elance.com), an eBay-style job auction site for freelancers. Divided into “industries,” Writing & Translation is the second-largest pool of jobs (Web & Programming took the first place trophy, with Admin Support rounding out the top three), however some of these jobs are cross-disciplinary and can fall in multiple categories. When I heard from a colleague about Elance and its business model, I immediately checked it out and was only further intrigued when I saw, “15,000+ projects posted in the last 30 days.”

I’ve also been intrigued by Goobers (a peanut butter-and-jelly-combo in a jar) for several years. Same for commemorative plates, mechanical pencils, and audio cards. As with these products, after the initial excitement, a “too-good-to-be-true” feeling set in. (more…)

Internet marketing consultant Todd Malicoat, better known in the SEO community as Stuntdubl, had quite a lot to say about the ins and outs of linkbait in a recent interview at VKI Studios. Stuntdubl is a site dedicated to helping SEO writers and marketers find jobs, learn the trade and discover a few secrets about search engine optimization. I find this site quite useful for writers–even fiction and trade mag writers who have little to do with SEO on a daily basis.

What? You don’t know what SEO or “linkbait” is and you’re pissed off that I didn’t spell it out for you? Shame on you, writer. You need to know how your career can be affected by Google, search engine optimization, and building traffic through linkbait. A writing blog or resume site needs to be optimized with these things in mind or risk being left in the dust by more savvy writers.

Any technique you can learn as a writer to increase traffic to your own site is an important tool of your trade. If you aren’t a restless self-promoter, you are behind your game. For every one of us who doesn’t bother to seek the cutting edge for their resume sites, blogs and other promotional tools, there are five writers who ARE hip to these things and they will beat you to the next gig. No writer should ever be caught saying “I don’t understand the Internet.”

I know I’ve got much to catch up on with regard to SEO, linkbait and other tools–Todd Malicoat’s blog is one way I try to keep up with the times. I just wish I’d found this one sooner.

Listen to the interview here.

Tonight, I watched an episode of a local news program called Chicago Tonight. One segment included a discussion with three guests about the future of newspapers. One of those guests was an editor from the venerable Tribune, another was a former writer for the Chicago Sun-Times. Needless to say, between these two gents the experience level was high.

The discussion was fairly gloomy–people in charge at the Tribune are desperate to save the paper from certain death, and have been brainstorming a variety of ideas on how to prevent its demise. Between the editor at the Trib and the former writer for the Sun-Times, I got the distinct impression that nobody in charge of one of Chicago’s most respected daily papers really understands why newspapers are getting slaughtered.

The worst example of this came when the editor at the Chicago Tribune stated quite clearly that he is “not Internet savvy”. I said out loud to the television, ‘And that’s why the Chicago Tribune is going to fold.”

The Internet is not killing newspapers–they are doing a fine job of committing suicide all by themselves. Any editor who does not understand and respect the ‘net is doomed just as surely as a woolly mammoth sinking into the La Brea tar pits. Bleat all you want, big fellah. You’re still going down.

But why?

I would love to pimp myself out to these newspapers as a consultant–or better yet as a new media ombudsman–and command a hefty fee to show them how NOT to get murdered in the age of the Internet. Since no offers are currently forthcoming, I’ll share a few “secrets” here. (more…)

Beth Morrow’s Writer In Progress blog tagline makes it clear she has the same attitude as Freelance-Zone, but Beth is MUCH nicer about it. I can’t remember if we’ve covered Beth’s work before and I’m too busy to search through the archives (read: too lazy). Regardless, I am really enjoying the site. Especially the links section as I am constantly on the prowl for new writer sites to look at. My favorite part of a list of links as extensive as Beth’s is rediscovering sites I looked at earlier in the year, then forgot all about as looming deadlines obscure all else.

One aspect of Writer In Progress that caught my eye is a little widget on her page from Feedjit. This displays the activity of visitors to her site in real time. I know I’m too busy to keep up with all the improvements and new developments in blogging tech, but that one surprised me enough to think I should keep more regular tabs on the geekier side of blogging so I can add a few new bells & whistles of my own. Cheers to Beth for prodding me to take a more active interest in page design.

Writer In Progress is definitely worth a look. Drop by and stay a while..

Dave Allen’s Pampelmoose blog hipped me to this long, interesting article on social media. Worthwhile reading.

A week or so ago, I posted my top five productivity enhancers for when I am feeling the need for a major boost to hit that rapidly approaching deadline or kick out yet another round of queries to my favorite editors. Now I present my favorite time-killers– those web sites I visit when I need a mental break from the writing game. Beware, these sites WILL sap valuable time from your day and are too much fun not to explore in depth. The way I see it, the time I spend on these sites is the time I would spend in the car doing a commute if I was slaving away in an office somewhere. It all balances out, right? 

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Phillip Kaplan’s Ask Pud blog is one I come back to from time to time for no other reason than it’s amusing and gives me a break from writing-related stuff for a few minutes. I ran across an interesting post recently that definitely applies to writers.

Just take out the phrases “professional musician” and “rock stars,”  insert the word “freelancer” or “writer” and you’ve got the gist. You can safely ignore the snarky bit about heroin–that’s a musician thing, not a writer thing. Besides, what freelancer has time for THAT nonsense? What follows is quoted from Ask Pud:

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Harry Miller’s blog does what I think all writing blogs (including ours) should do–a podcast. Actually, this site seems to be “all podcasts all the time”, relying on them more heavily than print pieces. I am a big believer in the podcast format for many reasons–when they are done right, they are engaging visitor magnets that add a lot of value to a website or blog.

Miller’s podcast is fully produced, with intro music, interviews, and commentary. He does quite a professional presentation and is definitely doing it right, at least for my money. If you want to learn more about the business of technical writing, Harry Miller’s site is worth the time investment. The sad thing about this site is that it hasn’t been updated since August of 2007–a shame since the potential for this blog is endless. The content on the site is archived for two years so you can glean a lot about technical writing.

For some, Harry Miller’s Technical Writing Blog probably loses some points for being in limbo, but in my mind that’s offset by the large volume of information available. I feel safe in recommending this since you can learn a great deal from what’s there now.

According to a Freelance Switch survey, only 15% of surveyed freelancers write a blog. To the 85% of you who are not writing blogs, I say a hearty thank you. Thank you for making my quest for more paying gigs that much easier by taking yourselves out of the race. Self-promotion is one of the most important parts of this crazy business of ours, and by not promoting yourself, your expertise, and years of experience in the game you seriously cut down the competition for yours truly. You guys are awesome.

When I read that 15% factoid as reported in Mike Gunderloy’s post at Web Worker Daily, I admit I was fairly surprised. I would assume a much higher figure. Any freelancer who wants to get paid should be taking a serious look at how they market their number one asset–themselves. If you aren’t pushing your skills, you sell yourself short. Doing a blog is not going to drive employers to your virtual doorstep in droves, they won’t be beating down your door just because you have your shingle out. But any time you apply for a new gig, you should use every tool at your disposal, every advantage over that other 85%.

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This great blog got my attention today thanks to a fantastic list of links, resources and advice by Skellie called Your Home Office Library: 45+ Home Office Tips, Hacks and How-Tos. This piece is packed with info on setting up, organizing, and working at home. Anywired is a blog for anyone who wants to make money online, but in this case that phrase does NOT apply to “work at home” scams or other dodgy programs.

Skellie writes for freelancers, telecommuters, web business owners, anybody currently earning a buck with a net connection. I am seriously loving this blog. I get a lot of satisfaction from any blog that knows enough about the game to put “making money” and “finding work” in two separate categories. Cheers, Skellie–you’ve got new fans here. Anywired is tops with us.

Tunnel vision. That mode you go into when you’ve got your head buried in five deadlines at once, money on the line and probably your professional reputation too if you don’t deliver the goods. It happens to all of us in one form or another and for me, it usually takes something awful to snap myself out of it. I got snapped out of mine in a major way by two big news stories this week. One made national headlines, the other is all over the news in Chicago.

The national one you already know; the death of Heath Ledger. Everybody was shocked over the passing of this talented 28-year old who seemed to have everything going for him. So shocked that some in our business couldn’t resist connecting the dots to the worst possible explanations with nothing more than a few scraps of information. No surprise there, really.

Folio blogger Dylan Stableford’s two cents on all this pretty much sum it up for me, and while I normally nod my head, agree quietly and let things go, another blog entry made me passionate enough to blog about the whole thing. Stableford laments the shoddy journalism connected to Ledger’s death, the haste which some in the media took rumor and partial information, tying them together however it seemed to fit best.

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Deborah Ng’s FreelanceWritingGigs.com is one of our favorite resource sites. There is a good mix of traditional gigs with blogger opportunities, and the presentation is top notch. One of my personal compaints about some writer’s sites with job listings is inherent user-unfriendliness. Not so with FreelanceWritingGigs.com.

For new writers, this site is a treasure trove. Jennifer Chait’s “So What” should be required reading for anyone who presumes to put up a blog about…anything. I am also a big fan of “writer beware” articles, and the piece warning about a content site called Giant Wow made me about as happy as I can get without a “paid on acceptance” check involved.

As a full-time writer, I find FreelanceWritingGigs.com quite useful in a number of areas. Anyone who doesn’t scour a fellow writer’s links section is cheating themselves out of gigs and networking opportunities. It’s also the chance to meet new people in the same boat–all still waiting for paychecks due two months ago, hunting high and low for another chance to throw some words together for money and make them stick. Your friends might not understand your job, and your family may still think you’re on some kind of extended vacation, but your fellow writers understand.

If you aren’t familiar with this excellent resource, hop on over and get acquainted with FreelanceWritingGigs.com. Highly recommended.