freelance-zone.com

If you are trying to sell articles for print publication (as opposed to the web, naturally),  the accepted wisdom found in every book about freelance writing and how to get your articles published in magazines is pretty basic. Many publications want your Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s-themed pieces well in advance. Usually when there is still suntan lotion being passed around.

It’s pretty common in the magazine publishing world to have an editorial calendar worked up six months in advance, but those who are just now starting to think about writing seasonal stuff do have an option for writing and publishing now. Last year Catherine and I sold a holiday piece to an alternative news weekly only weeks away from the Thanksgiving holiday.

Alternative news weeklies are often starved for good material from local writers and you may find yourself able to sell your holiday stuff now if you act quickly. With Turkey day so close at the time of this writing, you’re better off trying to hit the December holidays now, but don’t hesitate to try out your local newsprint options and see what you come up with.

Some wise old sage out there has the answers I seek. Why, oh why does every public library stock Writer’s Market books from four years ago but not the most current version? Why do people write books claiming to help you with your writing or writing career that are filled with generalities rather than specific common-sense advice? Ever notice that all the magazines for writers are filled with plenty of encouragement but precious little info on critical issues like where you’re going to find your health insurance when you go fulltime?

I could complain about this stuff til I am blue in the face. Instead, I’m going to offer some suggesions that we writing bloggers and blog readers should take to heart to make our world a better place. I’ll direct these comments to myself and anyone who wants to jump on my bandwagon is welcome along for the ride: (more…)

Everybody has a few daily time-wasters built in to their freelance routines. I use mine mostly to stay sane, especially when I have a particularly frustrating morning. Clients who won’t get back to me on important details, checks that arrive late or not at all, part-time writers who abuse the apostrophe, when all this stuff gangs up to drive me mad, I turn to one of my glorious time-wasters to help me blow off steam.

What are YOUR time wasters? I find that Wired.com, Craigslist, and the new releases section of IMDB.com are all places I get lost in, but nowhere near as much of a time drain as the gadget pictured above and to the left.

The telephone is by far the biggest blow to my available time in any given day. Once I start commiserating with my fellow writers and editors about life, the universe, the preponderance of television ads about Mesothelioma lawyers, home loan foreclosures and other sundry topics, it’s easy to lose 30 minutes to an hour talking about everything and nothing.

What makes YOU lose track of the time? I’d love to see a dialog in this space about time wasters, productivity, and how you manage to get your lost time back. For me, I find Saturday mornings are usually the first casualty to the time wasting habits of the work week…what about you?

I am a freelance editor and writer. I don’t know how to write PHP, Javascript, or use Linux. So why am I reading a book on how to be a freelance computer consultant? One written ten years ago which is now hopelessly out of date, technology-wise?

Simple…I want to know how other freelancers do business and see if there are any “best practices” I can glean from their experience.

One of the best pieces of advice any freelancer will get about setting their rates is “never work hourly”. Sure enough, it’s true in the freelance computer consulting world, too, but I also got some great tips about dealing with hostile work environments, dealing with on-site freelance situations where hostile employees make your life difficult, and how to structure your payment schedule for long-term projects to make all parties happier with the arrangement.

I learned all this stuff for free, having checked out out the book from my local library. It’s surprising where you can learn cool stuff about the ins and outs of freelancing. I had a good laugh reading a ten-year-old book on marketing via the Internet. DId you know there are these great micro-publishing websites called “weblogs” (blogs for short)?  Ten years ago, people were convinced that television was DOOMED and that while “blogs” are amusing, they could never be taken all that seriously. After all, they’re so niche-driven, where’s the money in THAT? (Sarcasm alert. It makes me sad that I even have to put that in here, but there you go.)

The library is your friend…especially if they stock a copy of that book every new freelancer is tempted to buy, Writer’s Market. You do NOT need to purchase this book! Chances are the library has done it for you.

In the beginning of a career, freelancers often fail to realize they need to properly interpret job ads, calls for writers and other important communications designed to lure you into a life of making money in your pajamas. Fortunately, we’re here to help. Have a look at this handy vocabulary list and keep these definitions–assembled in no particular order– in mind when you read the next set of writer’s guidelines, a call for submissions or writing contest rules:

Freelancer: Someone with a large supply of alcohol and no steady employment.

Freelance Writer: Someone with a large supply of alcohol, no steady employment, and a website.

Submission Guidelines: A list of Byzantine rules designed to weed out lazy writers, chumps, and noobs. Any disregard for the arcane demands of the guidelines are quickly round-filed with a low, evil laugh.

Exposure: Editor-speak for “no pay”.

Coffee: A performance-enhancing drug.

Writing Instructor: A freelance writer who has enough clients or good paying gigs to turn down paying assignments to hold court for little or no pay.

Zombie: A freelance writer who stops working for the evening.

Writers Wanted: An incomplete sentence which should be fully rendered thus: “Writers wanted for low pay.”

Objectivity: A term sometimes used by magazine editors, roughly translated as “matching viewpoints”.

College degree preferred: A term commonly found in job posts by high-profile media companies such as NPR, CBS, NBC, etc. When found in less prestigious publications, websites or media companies, should be rendered “Writer sought by people who don’t understand the business of writing.”

Multi-tasking: A learned skill. The ability to tell several lies at once about the status of multiple projects.

Telecommuting: The act of working until 7PM without showering or brushing one’s teeth.

Cell Phone: A tool used to enslave creative people to their cruel masters.

Sleep: A five-hour vacation from freelance work.

Freelancers and those who employ them often run into situations where judgement calls need to be made. Are you a freelance writer dealing with a difficult situation with an editor? Are you an editor trying to sort out issues with your freelancers? Here’s a handy do-and-don’t list to help you regardless of which side of the desk you find yourself;

10. Re-evaluate your relationship with any publication that makes excuses for not paying you. Editors, do the same for any freelancer who makes frequent excuses for not delivering the goods as per your arrangement. You don’t have to terminate the relationship right away, but letting the other party know the issue is on your radar is a good thing in any case.

9. Don’t backdoor your writer or editor. If there is a situation that needs to be discussed, TALK about it. Don’t let your writer or editor know after the fact that there was something that needed urgent attention.  This can include everything from telling your writer you found major errors in fact in a pending article to letting your editor know that your interviewee was hostile and might be a source of trouble in the future.

8. Freelance writers should know the terms of their relationship with the editor in full including payment dates and conditions, fact checking needs, the urgency of deadlines and what happens if either party needs more time to deliver according to the terms of their arrangement. Sometimes companies get in financial trouble and have to delay payment by a few days or weeks. Sometimes freelancers get bogged down and can’t deliver the articles strictly on deadline. Each side should understand how to proceed when these issues occur. (more…)

FreelanceSwitch.com scores big with this amazing Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites. Folks, this is why we at Freelance-Zone.com don’t even bother TRYING to run a set of job resources; FreelanceSwitch has cornered the market with this staggeringly huge collection of links. If you can’t find a paying gig with at least ONE of the sites listed, I’ll eat my laptop. Kudos to FreelanceSwitch for this excellent resource.

WARNING: The following contains EVIL HUMOR and is not for the easily alarmed. It’s Friday, I’ve had too much caffeine, and in my current state of mind I think things have been far too serious round here as of late–not that there’s anything WRONG with that, but it’s time to lighten up a bit. So without any additional fanfare, read and learn.

What follows is a fictitious example of a bad query letter taken from the thousands of real e-mails I’ve gotten in the last few years…the EVIL HUMOR comes in because what I put in italics are the ACTUAL THOUGHTS of editors who read this crap. Not all editors are as EVIL as I am, but many share my penchant for EVIL HUMOR and feel the same way I do when they read the following: (more…)

Paul Lima cuts right through the crap in his Six Figure Freelancing blog. Do you want to earn six figures? Lima gives some sound advice; pick up the telephone. One of the recurring themes in ALL blogs I’ve read on high-dollar freelancing is the connection of two words that makes even the most hard-core fulltime freelancer cringe: cold calling.

Lima is absolutely correct. My own personal foray to the outer edges of five-figure work has included cold calling, but not nearly as much as Lima wants YOU to do. The reason I don’t do much cold calling in my line of work has nothing to do with me being a total badass freelance genius–it is purely circumstantial. But the fact of the matter is, if I want to break the glass ceiling and actually MAKE six figures next year (as opposed to the high fives I earn now) I WILL have to make more cold calls. Yes, it’s been on my mind a lot lately for obvious reasons. When you’re that close to hitting the holy grail figure for the first time, you really want to GO FOR IT, know what I mean?

Cold calling is absolutely vital, and not just for the kinds of freelance writing Lima does. There is huge money in corporate writing, but there is just as much in other sectors…but you will have to let your fingers do the walking, as the old telephone book ad used to say. A freelancer like me, with a strong background in interviewing, being live on camera and behind the mic, and chasing stories has no trouble picking up the phone. But if you don’t have that killer instinct for telephone calls, you need to learn it. Wanna know how? Here are a few hints to developing those ninja phone skills:

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What’s a noob? A Noob is a newbie. A newcomer. Someone who hasn’t quite learned the basics yet. What’s wrong with being a noob? Nothing. What’s wrong with letting an editor THINK you’re a noob? EVERYTHING. You may be new, but you don’t have to make the mistakes your fellow newcomers will.

Be more competitive and edge out those other so-and-sos but taking heed to these five freelance writing noob mistakes. Some are so common you’ll want to bite your thumbs off in embarrassment for even coming CLOSE to making them. Only one directly pertains to dealing with editors, but at least one other one will give you a serious competitive edge in your writing. Many noobs fail to heed this advice to their peril. Don’t be one of them;

5. Admitting up front “I have no experience.” Never lead off a query letter by saying you have no publication experience. If you don’t have any experience, just DON’T MENTION IT. If the editor ASKS you for clips, THEN address the issue. If your query letter has caught someone’s eye, you have a much better chance if you let them ask rather than wave a big, red flag.

4. Spending a lot of money on writer’s market books. Books that have market information can be a GREAT help, and don’t think I am saying NOT to buy them. I am saying that you should make your purchases carefully and try to save your money. Use the library, do your research online and spend wisely. You will learn many things from all kinds of books. Don’t invest in resources to find markets until you know the game well enough to understand what size markets are right for you at this point in your career. Here’s THE SECRET about writer’s markets: If everybody knows about a particular market and it’s well represented in the writer’s market guides online and in print, how many thousands of queries do you think those poor editors get in a single day? That’s right, enough to paper the San Fernando Valley.

3. NOT buying a copy of the AP Style Guide and The Elements of Style. I have been writing since 1987, I am very nearly to the point of bringing in six figures a year from my writing and editing work and I train and mentor new/intermediate writers. And I still use these two books regularly. They are THE resources you need to improve your work no matter how long you’ve been playing the game. These two books are cheap and short, full of the best knowledge you can get about the actual mechanics of good writing. (more…)

Jennifer Mattern has some sage advice for writers who want to branch out as professional bloggers. Do you want to start earning money from your own blog? Mattern’s article is a great place to begin, but even if you’ve been in the blogging game for a while, check out her Make Money Blogging post and have a look. You’ll find some good advice I think gets overlooked in the rush to sign up for affiliate marketing programs and Google Ads; there is plenty of money to be made with e-books and digital downloads.

Of course, you have to have something to say in those e-books and downloads, but that’s another issue for another post. The real value of this article is in the common-sense approach it takes. No, not all bloggers are going to earn big money from their work. Mattern points out that many people just don’t know how to market a blog effectively. But those who take the time to learn the ropes and follow the advice laid out in the article stand a much greater chance of getting those paychecks.

I love AllFreelanceWriting.com for its BS-free writing and a complete refusal to claim that ANYBODY can do this stuff. The advice is great, the attitude is much appreciated, and if you need a good kick in the pants motivationally speaking, this site is the place. Recommended.

I used to write and talk in analogies…a LOT. Now, analogies feel like a pretty tired as a way of explaining things, but I’ll resort to one here because Dave Navarro’s Rock Your Day really does feel like a quad espresso injected directly into a vein.

This motivational site has a LOT going for it, and in particular Navarro’s willingness to buy and try books by other freelancers with sensational-sounding claims and try them out to see if they give the results they claim.  Check out The Freelance Smackdown and see what I mean. You will feel at least slightly more caffeinated just reading this blog, or I’ll eat my hat.

I found this site courtesy of Freelance Folder, where Navarro has a guest post called Three Uncomfortable Ways to Make More Money as a Freelancer. Nice work…

Freelancers with big paydays have many things in common, the least of which is the business savvy to know those paychecks don’t always come as often as they should. In 2008 I moved out of the low-to-mid 30s into a much higher income bracket thanks to respecting most if not all of the things you’ll find on this list. Not everything on the list is true for everybody, but some of this will be true for EVERYBODY who tries to earn a full-time living working from home whether you are a freelance writer, voice talent, any career path you choose.

10. Highly paid freelancers aren’t highly paid all the time. This is Rule One and should be the cornerstone of all financial planning. This leads us to the next rule.

9. Highly paid freelancers are forward thinking and plan for the worst. Never assume that the fat pile of cash you make today is going to last even until next week. You should have something better than a rainy day fund; highly paid freelancers have a “The Sky Is Falling” fund.

8. Freelancers don’t start off being highly paid, but if they persist, hone their writing/marketing skills and don’t give up, their business will expand over time. 50% of your competition will drop out before you get discouraged enough to think about quitting. Don’t join them.

7. Highly paid freelancers get many assignments from editors they already know. This comes after a lot of networking and making contacts in the business. You don’t start out with those contacts overnight—much of developing these relationships is about trust building. Be trustworthy and your relationships will develop.

6. Highly paid freelancers share what they know. If you aren’t volunteering to help struggling freelancers on the career rung below yours, you could be doing yourself a disservice. Get involved in the writing community. Insulated, homebody writers look at their yearly earnings and wonder why they can’t get to the next stage in their careers. Reference this with #7 and see if you notice a pattern of advice forming here.

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Ever get so bogged down with work you feel like your freelance writing game is seriously slipping? Maybe you’re taking on too much at once and spotting the danger signs, or maybe you’re ABOUT to…take a look at this list of bad habits and ask yourself, “Is that ME?” Stop the overwork trainwreck before it begins if you can, or at least get into damage control mode and work on digging yourself out.

Bad Habit #1: Taking on gigs without checking your deadlines on existing work. The fastest way to bury yourself is to accept projects in direct conflict with your already pressing deadlines. Before you know it, you’ll be burning the midnight oil and playing catch up…with important existing editors or clients. Don’t do it!

Bad Habit #2: Giving your existing editors or clients the short shrift in favor of a newcomer. Each of your paid projects deserves your full attention. Are you phoning it in with your favorite source of work so you can impress the new client or editor? You might be able to get away with it for a short time, but in the end you hurt your chances for more work if you can’t give value for the money paid.

Bad Habit #3: Taking on work that’s beneath you. Are you struggling to keep up with good paying, quality gigs because you’re doing too many low-paying blog entries or other writing that eats too much time for not enough pay? Learn to weed out the time wasters and stick to your high-value clients and editors.

Bad Habit #4: Turning in material past deadline or just in the nick of time. Are those timewaster gigs hurting your ability to stay on target with the good gigs? Time for a serious look at the problem and a Dear John letter to your lowest-paying clients.

Bad Habit #5: Working nonstop. Are you getting out of bed, hitting the keyboard, and working until bedtime? That’s a sure sign you’ve taken on far too much. This practice should not become part of your lifestyle. If it does, you miss the whole reason to go freelance in the first place—freedom! You may as well work in an office with a set schedule if you’re going to kill yourself at home. Schedule some YOU time. Your writing will improve as a result.

The reason I know so much about these five bad habits is that I’ve done them all myself. Especially the working around the clock thing. Avoid these pitfalls by any means necessary…at some point in a freelance writing career, everybody will make these mistakes; keep them to a minimum and you’ll live much better regardless of income.

I’ve had great volumes to say about what to do and what NOT to do as a freelance writer or editor. I’ve been called bitter, caustic, angry and generally too stern when talking about how to avoid the kinds of freelance writing mistakes common to noobs and pros alike. I’ve given the benefit of my experience, I’ve ranted, I’ve made fun of the goofballs in the industry, I’ve posted some dead-on predictions and some posts that were off the mark.

But one thing I’ve NEVER done up to now is write anything directly critical of writing blogs or bloggers. Why should I? We’re all in the same boat, trying to help each other out. Why bite the hand that feeds?

Because I’ve suddenly discovered that writing blogs are missing the boat in a very important area. Not ALL writing blogs are completely at sea, a couple of shining examples come to mind of how we could be closer to doing it right. But for the most part, we’ve lost the plot. Why? (more…)