Freelance Writing Jobs–My Secret Weapon

Have you noticed a trend on the freelance writing jobs scraper sites?

So many freelance writing gigs listed on the freelance writing sites scraped from Craigslist have something in common that could help an observant freelancer find a job or a freelance project without having to spend all that time wading through Craigslist or the scraper sites.

The growing trend on Craigslist ads and consequently the scraper sites is easy to spot once you know what to look for. Usually in the opening two sentences or so you’ll see wording along the lines of “Our client is looking for…”

What does this mean?

… Continue Reading

Travel, Freelancing, and Six Lessons Learned

by Joe Wallace

I’ve been back from my Chicago to NYC trip for a while now, looking back over the journey and adding up the lessons I learned about freelancing on the road.

To recap–I went on a blogging road trip to New York and decided to experiment with my freelance work–could I maintain my existing clients while traveling? Make all my deadlines?

In the end, the answer was yes, but there were a few things I will do better next time. Looking back, here’s a list of things that went well and things that could have gone better with a bit of extra preparation.

THREE THINGS I DID RIGHT WHILE FREELANCING ON THE ROAD:

• I let my clients know in advance that I’d be traveling and that some deliverables might come in at odd hours, but still on deadline.
• I worked ahead where possible to pre-position some of my freelance writing and blogging. This wasn’t possible in many cases because of time-sensitive material, but some of the evergreen content I did manage to write in advance.
• I got up early and put in freelance hours before hitting the road, then hit the freelance writing trail again over lunch and dinner. This gave me an advantage over simply trying to cram it all in after stopping for the day, tired from driving and reviewing record stores, restaurants and hotels.

THREE THINGS I COULD DO BETTER NEXT TIME:

• Buy into the iPhone tethering option rather than hoping to find a Starbucks for free wi-fi. “Tethering” lets you get an Internet connection by hooking your iPhone to your laptop, in case you didn’t know.
• Planning my overnight stays better–I spent more money than I needed to because I didn’t book ANY of my hotels ahead. On a trip that requires as much spontaneity as this one did, that was a necessary evil, but having a few well-researched oasis-style stops with wi-fi and known amenities would have been a big help–even if I didn’t end up actually using them due to time issues.
• Posting more from the road–I was doing a lot of blogging about the trip, but I really could have saved myself some additional work post-journey if I had found a bit more time to squeeze in a few extra blog posts, reviews and other details while still on the road. Also, I should have archived the 1000 + photos I took on the road as I went instead of doing it only twice, 500 images at a time, spending too much time sorting and sifting.

Travel writing, blogging, and managing freelance clients at the same time is NOT impossible from the road. It does require you to be a bit of a “type A” personality, but that’s the nature of the beast. … Continue Reading

Interview With…Jason Demant

Today we have an interview to share with Freelance-Zone readers. Jason Demant is a writer and traveler who has recently founded UnAnchor, a travel itenerary site. Enjoy!                          - Catherine 

Jason Demant

1. What is your background in writing and travel?

My background in writing is little to none to be honest. It’s been an interesting experience the last year realizing how much time I now spend writing. To my surprise though, I’ve really enjoyed it. In addition to blogging, I’ve started writing occasionally for other blogs and writing travel itineraries as well.

In terms of travel, I’ve spent the last 10 months on the road across Asia. I’m starting to have a passport that I’m really proud of. Before this big trip though, I did the standard American corporate-life vacation thing. Once a year, I took off one to two weeks (two, only if I was lucky) and saw as many cities and countries as possible. Always returning more exhausted than when I left. I was able to visit the Middle East, South America and Europe twice.

2. What is UnAnchor and how did the idea for it come about?

UnAnchor is a site to find specific, do-it-yourself travel itineraries. I like to think of it as an “app store” for travel itineraries. However, UnAnchor is also quite new. So, while that’s the eventual goal, right now a lot of my focus with UnAnchor is finding the experts to write itineraries. All itinerary writers set their own price on the itinerary (starting at $0.99) and keep 75% from each one they sale. However, for the first 50 itineraries written, we’re jumping that to 90%.

The idea initially came from a previous co-worker, now friend, of mine and has been further refined through my own travel experiences. It’s been frustrating figuring out how to use public transportation, how to do an activity without joining an expensive tour, and choosing what to do in a city with hundreds of tourist options. The idea is that a detailed itinerary will solve all of these frustrations. It will explain how to use public transportation and give you a detailed map to show you how to drive or walk to a destination. If you only have 1, 2, or 3 days in a city, it will tell you the things you absolutely must see.

3. Can you share any savvy travel tips with readers? … Continue Reading

Looking In/Looking Out – Taking Criticism

By Amanda Smyth Connor

Constructive criticism is equally as helpful as it can be hurtful. Being able to take criticism and apply it to your craft is one of the toughest lessons to learn, and for those who are new to the freelance business (or any business for that matter) taking criticism from an editor, boss or even a coworker can plant the seed of doubt in your mind and can create insecurity instead of fostering growth.

There are two ways to handle constructive criticism.

1. The Good Way: Let’s say your boss comes to you with a list of ways in which your writing needs work. Hopefully, you have a great editor who has tact and can approach the situation with a fair balance of what you do well coupled with what needs improving. The best way to approach this situation is with gratitude. If your editor didn’t care, they wouldn’t be passing along their assessment. … Continue Reading

It’s Only a Game

by Mike O’Mary

When I was younger, I coached a girls’ softball team for several years. It was a gratifying experience. I started with first and second graders, and we mainly covered the basic skills of hitting, running, fielding and throwing. We also talked about the rules of the game itself. Balls and strikes. Outs. Foul balls. Fair balls. And where to run if you actually happened to hit a fair ball.

In subsequent seasons, the girls got the basics down pat and learned other things like bunting, stealing and how to play team defense. By the time they got to age 11 or 12, they had found a nice balance–a place where they seemed to enjoy winning, but didn’t get terribly upset if they lost. As a matter of fact, when I got a little down on myself after a loss one season, our catcher (who also happened to be my daughter) took me aside and helped me put things back in perspective. “Dad,” she said, “it’s only a game.”

It was a timely reminder. There are more important things in life than winning or losing a softball game–more important things in life than winning or losing a contract or a job. And so it was that from time to time as a coach, I was tempted to go to a practice and say, “Okay girls, gather ‘round in a circle and sit down on your gloves…today, we’re going to talk about life and love and your hopes and dreams.” But I never got around to doing that. I imagine the girls would have preferred wind sprints to discussing such topics with their coach. Besides, it wasn’t really my place to teach them about life and love and hopes and dreams anyway. I left that to their parents. Instead, I focused on teaching them how to slide without getting hurt–which is, after all, a pretty important thing to know.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 13 topics, including an anthology titled It’s Only a Game: Lessons Learned from Playing and Coaching Sports.

Philly Bloggers Are Hopping Mad

by Joe Wallace

When I was freelancing in Philadelphia last week, I had no idea of the controversy that was about to smack my Philly-based freelance colleagues right in the face. According to several reports including this Associated Press story run on Stars and Stripes. It seems that local bloggers are being classified as business people, regardless of how much actual income a blog generates. According to  AP writer Joann Loviglio’s story, bloggers in Philadelphia are required to apply for a business license. “The city’s so-called business privilege license costs $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime. If a blog takes money for advertising, or sells photographs or other goods, it’s a business and must pay for a license – no matter how little it makes – plus taxes on profits.”

This is not a new idea, to be sure, but it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of a city ordinance being applied to people who barely make the cost to apply for the license, let alone enough money to supplement an income earned elsewhere. But Philadelphia local government–like many others–is desperate for cash and figures they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of a previously untapped demographic.

Reportage on this issue is a bit spotty–I could swear I saw at least one story that claimed the tax was $300 instead of the AP’s reported $50. That $50 is for one year, but Philly does, according to the AP article, offer you the option to pay $300 for a lifetime permit.

Le’s be realistic here–$50 a year isn’t screamingly unfair for some. It IS a write-off and if you live in Philly you could possibly get a bit of extra mileage with local clients by waving your Philly licensure around as a form of street cred. By the same token, the people who think it’s not so bad are the ones who are actually making money from their blogs. The majority of those affected by this are probably hobby bloggers and trying to scrape a few extra coins together to pay for their hosting and connectivity expenses. It’s these people who shouldn’t be taxed as a business; you might as well try to tax a yard sale or a kid’s lemonade stand—who, let’s face it, probably make more in one summer than some newbie bloggers do.

What to do? The only thing you CAN do is be the squeaky wheel, but this might be a case of not being able to fight City Hall. What do YOU think? We’d love to get some comments or even a guest blog post or three from people directly affected by this Philly business tax issue.
… Continue Reading

Interview With Stacey C. Tobin

Stacey C. Tobin

Today we have an interview with writer Stacey C. Tobin to share with FZ readers….enjoy!      

-Catherine

1. Can you tell readers a bit about the road you took to become a writer?

I was always into science – biology specifically – but I ended up going to a liberal arts college in Atlanta, Oglethorpe University, where I was bitten with the writing bug. At the time, I wasn’t even aware that there was a way to combine science and writing, and since I loved research, I continued to make my way through a master’s degree and then a PhD in molecular physiology. When I was nearing graduation, I knew that academia wasn’t for me, and I started looking into ways to use my writing skills but still stay connected to the science world. My first job out of graduate school was as a staff medical writer at a continuing medical education agency, and I continued to do some side jobs as a freelance writer and editor for academic and clinical researchers.

2. What are you doing now in the field?

Right now, I have two careers. I work part time at a healthcare advertising and communications agency, mostly doing the larger medical education projects that are more content-heavy or technical. The other half of my day is dedicated to my freelance business, which provides writing and editing support services for researchers – helping them with abstracts, posters, manuscripts, and grant applications. Many of my clients are non-native English speakers, and they often know the science but struggle with how to communicate it.

3. What is the best advice you can give to other writers? … Continue Reading

What do you call yourself, freelancer?

By Jake Poinier

What’s in a name? When it comes to freelancing, I’d argue: A lot.

What to call ourselves is a matter of frequent and sometimes heated debate on LinkedIn, as Planet Word brought up in a post today, “Are you a consultant or a freelancer?” My first recognition that “freelancer” isn’t always the best word to use was back when I first read Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer back in 2001. He uses “commercial writer,” which is a useful distinction, particularly for those of us who focus on business writing rather than exclusively writing for publications.

The problem is, “freelance” can carry some negative connotations—fly-by-night, can’t get a real job, in-between-jobs—and I’ve learned over the years that there’s a benefit to using the right phrase at the right time. Here’s how my thought process has evolved:

• Freelancer (or freelance writer and editor) is reserved for when I’m talking to people within the industry: graphic designers, web designers, ad agencies, magazine editors and other people who are hip to the concept. It’s useful shorthand, and immediately implies “I’m for hire.”
• I’ll use commercial writer or corporate copywriter if I’m talking to someone who’s in a business field. For example, a marketing director or business owner that I’m confident has some experience in marketing/advertising, but might be wary of (i.e., may have had a bad experience with) freelancers.
• Finally, when I’m talking to someone who might not be familiar with the creative industry, lately I’ve been using a complete phrase: “I run an editorial services firm.” I find that it puffs things up a bit, and will usually provoke a follow-up question.
• Personally, I never use consultant. I suppose there might be a circumstance I’d use it someday, but I haven’t come across it yet.

So….what’s your favorite term for describing what you do? Please share your ideas in the comments!

Jake dispenses business prescriptions for freelancers at DearDrFreelance.com—no matter what you want to call yourself.

Social Media With Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan

by Catherine L. Tully

 

If you are trying to get the hang of social media but are tired of all the same old information, check out Chris Brogan for some enlightenment. Well known as a social media guru, Brogan gives advice on his site in a “best of” section that hits some pretty good highlights. Learn “50 Ways To Take Your Blog To The Next Level” or read “Framing Your Social Media Efforts”.

Social media has pretty much become a must for the writer, so if you have yet to dip your toe in the pool, there is no time like the present. Brogan also offers advice for those who have been around a while and are looking to maximize their presence on the web.

You can also sign up for his newsletter.

Freelance Travel and the Perils of Being a Road Warrior

I’m sitting in a hotel room in Pennsylvania watching a news report about a situation I just missed–the bomb squad was called out in Pittsburgh after a suspicious package was discovered somewhere in the city. I shudder to think of what might have happened to my deadlines if I had gotten caught in a horrific traffic snarl that probably followed. But that’s not among the perils of being a freelance road warrior I’m thinking of…

I knew this week that the second I pulled out of the driveway to go on my Chicago to New York City road trip, I’d get hit six ways from Sunday with things I had hoped to avoid dealing with until I got back. Freelance-Zone.com got several requests from potential sponsors for rate cards and other information, an interview I’d been waiting on finally came in from the cold, and I even got an offer for some additional freelance work writing copy for one of my previous clients.

Naturally all this stuff came in when I was in no-signal areas, doing my travel reviews of record stores and restaurants, or trying to write up material to make deadline for the clients that I did NOT put on hold during all of this travel and discovery.

23 record stores later, I am still trying to catch up with all the e-mails and requests for my time. And I’m STILL on the road!

The perils of freelancing from the road range from the mundane–trying to get a seat in a coffee shop next to an outlet so you can deal with a dying laptop battery and make deadline…to the serious–trying to avoid having my travel budget dinged by gotcha charges, excessive fees and highway tolls and other expenses.

Lessons learned?

Essential road warrior gear for freelancers should include a wireless headset for your cell phone, a spare battery for your laptop, and a cell phone capable of using Google Maps with the Location Services feature. I can’t tell you how many times I would have gotten hopelessly lost without the Location Services function of the iPhone displaying the little blue dot telling me exactly where I was on both my route AND in terms of the directions I had gotten from Google Maps. On or off track, the little blue dot tells all and it shows you in SECONDS whether you’ve zigged when you should have zagged.

I’ll do a complete post on essential freelance travel gear later, but for now, suffice it to say that you should always expect your battery to die when you need it most, you should always count on getting lost just when you NEED to be in a certain town on time, and never make plans to stay longer than absolutely necessary—you’ll find a way to need to be someplace else on that day you were planning to sleep in. … Continue Reading

The Rewards of Doing Nothing

by Mike O’Mary

More than 20 years ago, Marsha Sinetar wrote a book called Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow. It’s a nice idea, but I’m not sure the premise bears out. Perhaps it worked for the author—assuming, of course, that she “loved” writing a how-to book and making lots of money. But what if you “love” hanging out at coffee shops or eating donuts or taking long naps in the afternoon? It’s hard to see how the money is going to follow you to any of those places.

Or what if you love something but aren’t very good at it? I know lots of people who play golf, for instance, but most of them could never make a living at it. But then again, making a living at golf doesn’t necessarily have to mean making millions of dollars on the professional tour. Every course in the country has a golf pro or two or three to run the pro shop and give lessons. There are also people who sell equipment and organize tournaments and arrange trips for people who want to go to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head for a golfing vacation. So I suppose you could stretch things a bit to say those people are all doing things that they love—although you don’t have to stray too far from the main subject before it starts to sound less like something you love and more like work.

So in the end, I guess I don’t buy the notion that you can do what you love and the money will follow. I think it’s usually the other way around: You usually end up paying money in order to do what you love. So I think I’m going to write a book called How to Find Out Where the Money Is and Do Something to Get It So You Can Turn Around and Spend It to Do Things You Love. But that’s a pretty long title and writing it sounds like a lot of work. Maybe the best thing is to just forget about the money altogether. You don’t need that much to hang out at a coffee shop anyway.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, a book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 14 topics, including an anthology titled “Cubicle Stories: Life in the Modern Workplace.”

Freelance Travel–Beware The “Gotcha” Clause

by Joe Wallace

I am still freelancing on the road–I’m filing reports this week from all over the place. Yesterday was New York, today it’s Pittsburgh, tomorrow, who knows? It all depends on the road and how good it is to me. Today I had trouble getting my clients their daily dose of freelance deliverables because of another unexpected wrinkle–did you know Starbucks in those truck driver rest stop areas don’t always carry wi-fi? I thought the whole idea behind the success of Starbucks was standardization…but apparently not.

All was well that ended well, as I managed to meet my deadlines by stopping off in a local bar and grill in Pittsburgh before time ran out, but there’s another assumption that’s not safe to make as a road warrior–even the most (recently) dependable sources of free wi-fi can’t be depended upon for one reason or another.

But there’s a much more important issue I want to discuss today–the detestable business practice known as the “gotcha” fee. What’s a gotcha fee? Glad you asked… … Continue Reading

Cleveland Ohio: Freelancer-Friendly

by Joe Wallace

I’ve been traveling across the U.S. in the last seven days, blogging about independent record stores and trying to maintain my regular freelance clients at the same time. It’s been a tricky journey in spots; the closer I got to NYC, the more difficult it became to find wi-fi hotspots along the way so I could meet my deadlines while staying the course on the long drives to and from the indie record stores I’m writing about.

One of the most freelancer-friendly cities I’ve visited so far has to be Cleveland, Ohio. More specifically, my experiences were in Cleveland Heights–which I’m not sure is an actual township outside Cleveland proper or a district of Cleveland.

I am a new Cleveland fan now for several reasons–for starters, it wasn’t hard to find a place to connect (for free) and post my work. There were plenty of inexpensive hotels to choose from, and everyone I met there was super-friendly–offering plenty of help for my blogging work. Record store owners even told me where the competition is located in Cleveland so I could make a more complete report!

But hands down, the most impressive thing for a hungry, road-weary freelancer is the quality of the food in any place where the vehicle gets parked for the night. Cleveland wins first prize in this categoy. ALL the restaurants I enjoyed there had big menus priced under ten dollars and were so massive that I got two, even three meals out of the bargain. And make no mistake–this was GOOD food, not barely adequate crap.

My hat is off to Tommy’s Restaurant (awesome breakfasts), to the Winking Lizard Tavern (great dinner), and Phoenix Coffee, all located along the same stretch of Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights. You might notice that I only list two actual restaurants–that’s because the previously mentioned food portions were so massive I didn’t NEED to eat anywhere else.

As a city, Cleveland has a lot to offer a music journalist and record store lover like me…as a freelancer it also is an easy place to work.

Writers Groups By State On Freelance-Zone

by Catherine L. Tully

Well we’ve taken on a few ambitious projects lately–one of which we’d appreciate your help with. Freelance-Zone is attempting to put together the monster list of all the writers groups by state that we can find. Naturally, this is a bit of a challenge. There are tons of groups out there…some small, some large. We’d like to include them all!

That’s where you come in. If you have a minute to check out your state and let us know if we’ve missed a group — we’d really appreciate it! Just send an e-mail with the info (Group name, state, web addy and a short description) to editor (at) freelance-zone.com and we’ll load it up. If we haven’t gotten to your state yet–keep an eye out–we will soon…

In the coming months there will be some other new resources added to the site, so keep your eye out for fresh content. Aspiring travel writers might want to take a peek at our new “travel” tab, which will be updated frequently with information you can use to learn more, find work and get published.

Being a Freelance Road Warrior: Musings on Travel, Writing

by Joe Wallace

Like the pic? It’s from a Cleveland night spot adjacent to the hotel I stayed in on the first leg of my current 12-day road trip from Chicago to NYC. I’m blogging at Turntabling.net about indie record stores between the two points, and making copious notes of my experiences to share with you here.

A prolonged stretch of travel writing has its own challenges. When I did this last year from Chicago to San Antonio, Texas, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I had the luxury of not worrying about servicing freelance clients while on the road. This time I decided to add that challenge to the mix and see what happens.

My plan was to use the new free-for-all wi-fi service at Starbucks, since the coffee chain seems to be everywhere. I figured at the very very least I might have to drive or walk to the nearest coffee shop to get connectivity and post away.

That strategy worked for a while. In Cleveland, which is quite possibly one of THE most freelancer-friendly cities in the U.S. it was child’s play to get a connection and file my work for my clients. Ditto for Pittsburgh, which had plenty of free wi-fi to go around.

Not so much once I got closer to the East Coast. In Allentown I had trouble connecting to the hotel’s TWO wi-fi servers, and when I hit Newark, I learned that not only does Starbucks seem to be quite scarce here (at least in the vicinity where I am staying near Penn Station) but there’s no Panera Bread, either. And the hotel I’m in is quite happy to charge me to connect in addition to the room fee.

I bit the bullet and paid the extra usury for wireless Internet in order to keep current with my clients, but I have to say, it’s a bad idea to depend on that free wi-fi service on a road trip unless you’ve done your homework first–what I should have done was check each city on my itinerary via Yelp.com or some other restaurant reviewer site to see if I’d be able to depend on the free stuff for the entire trip. I’d have saved myself some extra hotel charges and a lot of headaches trying to find an office-away-from-the-office. It was via Yelp that I learned that Newark is short on the free wi-fi near where I’m staying, and via Yelp that I found plenty of places in Greenwich Village to connect instead. A 2o minute train ride into NYC was the cure for many of my problems…

In my next report, a list of the freelancer-friendly places I’ve been so far. … Continue Reading