Category Archives: Business

advice, editorial, Marketing yourself, social networking

Tasks Every Writer Should Do

Catherine L. Tullyby Catherine L. Tully

If you write for a living you are already aware of the fact that not all of your time is spent writing. Marketing, paperwork and upkeep are all a part of the gig. There are certain tasks you should be spending time on regularly to make sure you keep up. Here’s my own personal short-list:

+ Marketing- marketing these days for me is mostly social media related. I spend time cultivating relationships (and having fun!) on Twitter and Facebook. I also keep my LinkedIn profile up-to-date and periodically ask people for recommendations.

+ Computer stuff- This is crucial. You have to de-fragment your computer, back up your data and make sure your virus scan and updates are all current. If your machine goes down, you’re in big trouble. Set up a maintenance schedule and stick to it!

+ Filing and organizing paper- If you get behind here it can turn into a nightmare of confusion. Keep your contracts on file, make sure your business bank statements are in order and pitch the junk.

+ Deal with your e-mail- Again, this can get messy if you don’t deal. If you use Outlook, create folders for e-mails so you can find them. I do mine by client. Use sub-folders so you can find things quickly. Don’t let too much stack up in your inbox.

+ Check your online presence- Google yourself periodically and see what comes up. Keep an eye out for places that have used your writing without your permission. Save links to articles you have online before they are hard to find. See what’s out there with your name on it. Your reputation is at stake.

These are a few of the things I do on a weekly (or daily)  basis. Do you have any to share? Drop us a comment…

advice, Business, Marketing yourself

Freelance portfolio theory

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ugly dogBy Jake Poinier

“Modern portfolio theory” is a Wall Street expression about maximizing your returns on stocks. A freelance graphic designer friend and I long ago came up with a freelance portfolio theory. It, too, is designed to maximize your returns (in attracting and finding new clients instead of winning stocks), and it runs something like this:

You reserve the right to *not* put crappy samples in your portfolio.

We came up with this concept out of frustration. You’ve written a knockout headline…which gets changed to something mundane. You’ve designed a clever ad layout…that the client thinks is a little too racy for their audience. You edited a whitepaper…and the author STETs their original gobbledegook. You’ve shot original photography…and the client decides they want to use a dopey stock image of two people shaking hands. It’s as bad as the irony Alanis Morissette famously whined about a few years back…don’t ya think?

But you can’t get mad, and you usually aren’t well served by trying to change a client’s mind once it’s set. So this theory allows you to take a step back, refocus, and say to yourself:

  • It’s a bummer that this didn’t come out as cool as I thought it would, but I’m still going to get my check.
  • If I don’t disclose the fact that I was involved in this project, no one will ever know.
  • Aw heck, it just doesn’t matter in the long run. What’s my next project?

Let’s be real: When you’re starting out, you’ll take what you can get. I know this will make me sound ancient, but my first portfolio for job hunting in the magazine industry was a hideous, baby-blue binder with yellowed clips from my hometown newspaper. (Mercifully, the internet has made portfolio presentation a lot slicker.)

Once you have a critical mass of good stuff, however, it’s time to start getting choosy rather than going for sheer volume. Five hundred samples shows that you’ve done a lot of work, but no one wants to slog through everything. If they want more samples in a given industry, they’ll ask.

In the end, prospective clients will judge you on your best work, but an ugly sample might also have them questioning your judgment — in an “Ugh, why is *she* dating *him*?” sort of way. Dump the dogs, and stick with your best in show.

Have you ever had a client that turned a sure-fire portfolio masterpiece into a disaster you’d never admit to? Share your horror stories in the comments!

Contributing writer Jake Poinier also dispenses freelancing advice at DoctorFreelance.com a few times a week, and you can follow him on Twitter: @DrFreelance…and he promises he’ll follow you back!

Business, Interviews

Interview With Kim White, Web Design For Writers

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Kim White Web Design For WritersKim White is the owner of Web Design for Writers. She started the business in  2003 after watching other design firms nickel and dime their clients to death (see her comments about “scope creep!”) and having friends come to her wondering where to start with their website ambitions. Freelance-Zone.com asked her about the business and what it takes  to make it work on both sides of the equation.

Freelance-Zone.com: What’s the history of WebDesignForWriters? Every good online business has a story–something that pushed the founders over the edge and made them want to fill a particular need. What’s yours?

Kim White: I was working as a webmaster and web project manager. Within a few weeks three writers, who were friends of mine, asked for my advice about building a web site. They were overwhelmed with all the choices, weren’t very technical, and couldn’t afford big design firm prices.

After sending all of them elsewhere I thought, wait a minute! Why can’t I help these people? I’m a Web professional, but I’m also a writer and an artist. I understand the unique needs and challenges of being a creative person.

How does Web Design For Writers meet the need? You offer ala carte services which is a pretty valuable option for the stereotypical starving writer. Did that come about from client feedback or did the company get started knowing that was the most realistic option for people who need web design and hosting but don’t have an unlimited budget?

I offer all my services ala carte so that writers pay only for what they need and use.  This allows a client to grow their Web site presence as they are comfortable.  As a creative person turned entrepreneur this distinction was very important to me.

During my 12 year web career, I’ve seen a lot of design companies who bleed their clients dry with scope creep and hidden fees. I couldn’t do that to any writer. My goal is to help writers get their work out there. I also wanted to offer my services so that they could focus on writing and not have to buy software, learn web design, or worse sign up for a do-it-yourself site.

One of your options is web hosting. Behind the scenes, what does it take to pull off this kind of service?After all, writers and authors live and die by their presence on the web–it must be challenging to handle the technical challenges related to uptime, preventing or mitigating data loss if the server crashes or gets hung up, suffers a denial of-service hacker issue, etc. What do you do to keep that end of the business running?

Providing good hosting service isn’t the challenge it used to be. I partner with various hosting vendors, all with excellent uptime. Lately, I’ve been trying out more green companies, companies who reinvest in clean energy. Also,  I live in hurricane territory, so keeping servers locally would be too risky.

Give us a reality check when it comes to a writer or other creative person trying to purchase services like yours for the first time. What are realistic vs. unrealistic expectations?

Well, what the writer won’t get is a 50 page data-base driven Web site with Flash animation and unlimited updates for a year, hosting and a domain name for under $300. That’s not realistic, but it’s a number I hear a lot.

Writers should expect to pay for Web services the same as any other professional marketing service and they should take care to find someone who truly is a professional.  It’s very much a ‘get what you pay for’ situation.

I have spent more than a decade honing my skills and gaining knowledge on large sites, small sites, for global companies and non-profits, and a variety of artists and writers. I offer not only Web design skill, but search engine optimization knowledge, social media savvy, and a lot of real world experience in terms of what works and what doesn’t.

Web Design for Writers can create a very professional, personalized Web site within a few weeks and cost less than $1000. The average site starts at around $500, but it really depends on what the writer needs. I always provide a free phone consultation and a written Statement of Work that includes a cost estimate before there is any obligation.

You have a section of the site dedicated to your design philosophy. Tell us about it and why a new client should understand that about what you do.

Web Design for Writers design philosophy is really ‘It takes two, baby’ meaning that the creation of a site is a partnership. I rely on the client to articulate as much as possible about what they need, want, like, and dislike. The better I understand them and their writing goals the better chance I have to create a site that really reflects the writer and not just a standard design style or template I apply to everyone.

Also, the Web Design for Writers design philosophy is really focused on process. I have created one page sites and thousand page sites during my career, and no matter what the size or subject, this is the process that leads to the best product. It starts with an analysis of the client’s needs and ends with testing and proofreading before the site goes up.  And now, keeping a site fresh, adding video and other social media is extremely important.

Web Design For Writers is a new Freelance-Zone.com sponsor. We welcome Kim to these pages and invite you to check out her services. Freelance-Zone.com is selective about our clients and sponsors, learn more about our transparency policy and how we scrutinize potential clients and advertisers.

advice, Business, editorial, lifestyle

Do You Mean Business?

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by Catherine L. Tully

Are you in this field because you want to make a living?

If so, you need to treat it like a business, not a hobby.

Catherine L. Tully
Catherine L. Tully

I have recently seen a bunch of articles on this subject, and I have to say, it’s true. A lot of freelance writers simply throw up their hands and lament the fact that they don’t have business skills, rather than taking the time to get qualified. I read a great post on this subject at Redhead Ranting (Warning: if you are offended by strong language/swearing, skip it. If not, you’ll enjoy this very much!) that let freelancers have it for their lack of business savvy.

Here are a few tips for thinking like a pro: Continue reading Do You Mean Business? →

advice, client relationships

Losing a loyal client

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losing a clientBy Jake Poinier

One of the inevitable pass-the-Tums moments as a freelancer is losing a loyal client or editor to a new job. It’s one thing to fire a client, to do a one-off freelance assignment, or even just not being a good match. But clients and editors resign and get fired, too. What you do when that happens can make the difference between a short-term setback and a long-term drag on your income.

I received an email yesterday from a woman, let’s call her Jen, who’s been my primary contact for about 18 months at a large company that I’ve done work for since I got started in the business in ’99. She’s leaving the company at the end of the month. My heart sank.

As I reflect on the past 11 years, I’ve probably done work for a dozen different people within the company. And, over the course of the same time period, all but a few of those people have moved on to different positions or left the organization altogether. Some hired full-time writing staff, while others simply had their freelance budgets cut. I still have a few occasional users of my services, but Jen was my main source—a healthy, five-figure annual client who gave me a steady stream of assignments.

After the initial shock of losing my primary contact at the company, my optimistic side took hold. This isn’t about me, it’s about her. And I did what I always do:

  • I enthusiastically congratulated Jen on her new position, and asked what it is and what she’s going to be doing.
  • I (humorously but sincerely) expressed my personal sadness that she’s leaving her job, because I’ve enjoyed working with her.
  • I offered to write her a letter of recommendation, anytime, anywhere, for anything.
  • I asked her if she’d please facilitate a contact, at her earliest convenience, with the new person in her job.

Not surprisingly, she wrote right back, and her response made me feel considerably better. As it turns out, she’s taking a corporate communications position with another large company in town. Not only do they use freelancers, they happen to be a former client of mine from my old custom magazine editing days. And within 10 minutes after that, she’d already cc’d me on a glowing email to the new person in her department who’ll be handling her duties, so I have a warm if not hot contact. We’ll see if we click.

My next step is to contact Jen once she’s settled in at her new job and schedule to take her to lunch. But that’s another story for another day.

Jake offers blogs regularly about freelancing at DoctorFreelance.com.

blogging, Business, editorial

Freelance Writing Jobs–My Secret Weapon

freelance jobs how to lose a freelance jobHave 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 Freelance Writing Jobs–My Secret Weapon →