Tag Archives: writing advice

advice, resources

Five Years Later…

Angela Hoy is responsible for WritersWeekly.com, a site I visit quite often. As part of her services to writers, she offers a collection of articles on the freelance game available for bloggers to reprint on their own websites, gratis. I love the idea, but even though I prefer to write my own content, I can’t resist linking to Hoy’s great article on pay-by-click content sites.

Folks, this article is FIVE YEARS OLD. The scary thing is, it’s all still just as relevant today as it was the day it hit her website. This business model should have died the death ages ago, but the sad fact of the matter is–it’s OUR FAULT these sites still exist. And when I say that, I am talking about the writing community. None of these sites would be running today if there weren’t writers willing to work under such conditions. We’ve all done it in the early days of our career, and some of us still use such sites to our advantage in sneaky, underhanded ways never intended by the creators.

In fact, that’s the only thing that keeps some of them going, near as I can tell. Read Angela Hoy’s Article on How To Be A Starving Writer and marvel along with me that half a decade later, she’s still hitting the nail directly on the head. Angela, you rock, and shame on the rest of us for helping to keep this drivel alive and well. I know most noobs don’t know any better, but that’s not really the issue for me…read the article to get my drift.

editorial, resources

Chris Bibey Says You Too Can Earn 9K per Month as a Freelancer

You have to admire the cajones of a freelancer who lists his monthly earnings on his blog, especially when those earnings are near 10K in a single month. Chris Bibey’s ChrisBlogging.com is an inspiration even to this jaded old hack. I am sorely tempted to pay homage to Bibey by listing my own freelance income for this month, but it would be a shameless grab for credibility on my part (I’m not accusing Bibey of the same thing, mind you) even though I WAS surprised to see someone actively blogging about my tax bracket as a writer.

Now that last bit was totally disingenuous, wasn’t it? On one side of my mouth I say I won’t brag, on the other I let slip that I have a peer in the high income bracket. Pathetic. Ahh, well. If you can’t beat ’em, join em. For the record though, nobody EVER knows how long that gravy train will last, and you constantly judge your game by higher and higher standards. If I miss an apostrophe in this blog, or repeat the word “probably”, I’m giving myself a mental curb-stomping.

Back to Bibey. His blog has some serious advice for beginners in this game of ours, and I am happy to say that a sharp writer will notice a few advanced tricks on display that, while Bibey doesn’t WRITE about them, you can deduce WTF is going on just by paying attention. Don’t worry, Chris, I won’t give the game away–but I will say that using Associated Content as you have is a brilliant move. For those who can look at Bibey’s site and sort it out, marvel at his marketing genius. For those who can’t, well…that’s your tough luck. One day you’ll figure it out for yourself, and give it a shot.

See, kids–in spite of our altrusitc blogging on sites like these, there are some secrets that freelancers hang on to for themselves. Those in the know are already chuckling, those who don’t get it are wondering why we’re such utter bastards for holding out. Trust me, when you get your own little bag of tricks going you won’t be so quick to share all your hard work, either. But Bibey makes with the sage advice in many ways a new freelancer really should take to heart. This is a great site and my new favorite recommendation to newcomers.

advice, editorial, lifestyle

Confessions of an Editor, Part Two

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Since I took my recent editing gig at an Internet publication and e-commerce site I won’t name here, I’ve jumped into the hiring game headfirst. I put out a recent call for writers and as expected, I was flooded with responses.

Regular readers of this site may recall me complaining in my last Confessions entry about a good 50% of the replies, which are totally useless. I won’t be responding to any of them because of a simple inability to follow directions. I won’t even send a mean-spirited note to say, “Drop dead!”

A disturbingly large portion of the responses–with or without my automatic dismissal based on the above–also had shoddy grammar in the cover letter, and writing samples riddled with errors. Folks, here’s a FREE WRITING SECRET for you straight from the desk of yours truly; Continue reading Confessions of an Editor, Part Two →

advice, editorial

Even More Warning Signs For Writers

I debated on whether to name this piece “Not Getting Paid, Part XIVXXIV”, or “Clown Company Part Deux” or some other clever, pithy title. In the end it boils down to the same thing; writer beware. Some regular readers of this blog have already noticed that of the two contributors here (Catherine L. Tully and yours truly,) I am the one who tends to post in a more reactionary style. Which is to say that when I am going through something particularly vexing as a writer, I tend to rant about it here. I try to stay professional about it, not naming names or giving traceable details.

Some might criticize me for doing this, saying that by not naming names I leave the door open for other writers to find the people I grouse about and become entangled in their shoddy business practices. To these readers I simply offer this; I haven’t got the money for a legal team.

That’s why I write about my experiences in the way I do–if you can spot the telltale signs of a clown company, a bad editor, a shoddy publishing house, you don’t NEED me to name names. You’ll be onto the game quickly enough and can steer clear of these buffoons for future reference. And warn all your friends.

And with that over-long intro, let’s get to my current gripes–er, advice.

Continue reading Even More Warning Signs For Writers →

advice, editorial

How Ignorance Will Make You Sick

Danger–rant ahead.

I’ve just finished watching a segment on WGN TV that’s pissed me off so badly I can’t see straight. WillItBlend.com is a gimmick marketing website for the Blendtec Total Blender. If you haven’t herd of this one, chances are you’ve been living in a cave as they seem to be everywhere lately. Will It Blend? features video clips of a variety of gadgets and household items being pulverized by the Total Blender. The videos are a YouTube hit, and a favorite of guy blogs such as GearCrave.com.

When the WillItBlend.com crew showed up on WGN’s morning news program today, I watched a cell phone blended to dust along with a coffee cup and a working flashlight.

Pretty harmless, right? Until you remember that cell phones, cell phone batteries and ordinary flashlight batteries have toxic chemicals and heavy metals in them. The WillItBlend demonstrators released toxic particulate matter from these blending stunts into the air when they unceremoniously dumped the results of the blending out onto the table in the WGN studios. Neither the host or the guys working the blender wore any kind of face mask to protect themselves from the toxic contents of cell phone and flashlight batteries. Continue reading How Ignorance Will Make You Sick →

editorial

The Music Industry Vs. The Freelance Writing Game

In recent times there is a great emphasis on radical transparency for websites and blogs, so I feel it’s only fair to point out that today’s headline is completely sensationalized and downright misleading. It did what headlines are meant to do though, it got you to read what comes next.

As some regular readers here may remember from my earlier screeds, I’m a fan of Dave Allen’s music blog, Pampelmoose.com. A recent post reprinting the words of Todd Berry of Greyday Records discusses some practices in the music biz that drive the value of a musician’s work down.

What does any of that have to do with freelance writing?

Continue reading The Music Industry Vs. The Freelance Writing Game →