Category Archives: resources

freelance jobs

Who’s Hiring?

By Amanda Smyth Connor1362732_happy_friends

In this crap economy, is anyone still hiring freelance writers?

Yes! Squee! Oh for joy, some wonderful companies are still hiring! And you might be surprised to hear which companies are in need of fabulous writers like yourself.

1. Gaming companies. Game development companies like Zynga and EA are in a state of fast growth and are pumping out games for various platforms faster that you can say “Alec Baldwin playing Words with Friends.” Look for jobs like “community manager” for social media positions and “content developers” for freelance writing positions.

2. Political campaigns. I’m not talking about writing speeches for Obama (although if you can get that gig, I’d ask that you put in a good word for me.) I’m talking about offering your services up to local politicians in need of bloggers, content managers and social media assistants. Just beware the skeletons in the closet.

3. Start-Ups! Keep a close eye on any start-up that you hear about. It may mean short-term gigs because funds are tight, but start-up companies notoriously need content created in large quantities very quickly as they work to build SEO and marketing campaigns. This will mean flexibility on your part when it comes to tight turnaround and jumping from one project to the next, but if you can get in good on the ground floor of a good start-up, you can position yourself for loads of steady freelance work. ps. Etsy is hiring bloggers right now. FYI.

4. Hit up my favorite industry job board – Mediabistro.com. They have full-time, part-time and freelance job listings for the writing, editing and social media industries. Check it out.

Amanda Smyth Connor is a social media manager for a major publishing company, owns her own wedding planning business and has managed online communities and content development for many start-up and Fortune 500 companies.  She has been a professional editor for more years than she can remember.

client relationships, Freelance Forecast survey

Take the Freelance Forecast 2012 survey

freelance forecastBy Jake Poinier

Heading into the holiday stretch, it’s time for FREELANCE FORECAST 2012, Boomvang Creative Group’s fourth annual survey of creative freelancers and the clients who use their services. It digs into the details of best practices, where freelancers find clients, why clients hire freelancers, and a bunch of juicy details about rates and expectations for the coming year.

As in past years, there are two versions of the survey:

  • The Freelancer Perspectives version of the survey is located at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Freelancer2012
  • The Client Perspectives version of the survey is located at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Client2012

IMPORTANT! Freelance Forecast is the only survey I’m aware of that takes an annual pulse check from freelance clients, and the more clients we have sharing their insights, the better. Please consider forwarding the client survey link to one or more of the folks who’ve hired you in the past year and to business associates who use freelancers.

All participants will receive a copy of the 2012 survey results (including both client-side *and* freelancer responses). You’ll also be entered into a drawing for a $100 iTunes, OfficeMax or STAPLES gift certificate. Your privacy is paramount—all contact information will be kept 100% confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than the survey.

If you’d like to see reports from past years, please visit this link.

The surveys will close on January 14, 2012. Thanks in advance for participating, and for sharing the links with fellow freelancers and clients.

advice, Business, gear

Google Docs Vs. Hard Drive Storage For Book Manuscripts

book and script editor for hire Joe Wallaceby Joe Wallace

I’ve been trying an experiment in the last eight weeks as I work on my book manuscript for WTF Records: The Turntabling.net Guide To Weird and Wonderful Vinyl.

Instead of doing what I used to do, which was writing and editing directly in Word, I’ve been using Google Docs to do first drafts, then save them to the hard drive at the end of the session using the Download As feature.

I’ve got several chapters I’m working on at once because the book, whichWTF-RECORDS-COVER-E-BOOK-by-joe-wallace-e1319727695223 is a collection of reviews of bizarre and strange vinyl records, has a variety of categories. I put on the records and re-orient myself with them as I’m writing and the pile always crosses several categories, so it’s not quite a linear book writing experience–definitely one that is assembled from its various components.

In other words, FRANKENBOOK!

The experiment is going well–the most valuable thing in Google Docs when working this way is the ability to download several documents all at once as a zipped file. I find that when I’m off in a coffee shop somewhere or on the road and want to do a quick revision on a section I wrote earlier, having it all in Google Docs is a major convenience. Also, it eliminates the worries about hard drive crashes and the like since I always have a copy backed up online.

Of course, if Google Docs crashes AND my hard drive dies, I’m stuck–but that’s a good argument for using a zip drive to backup the backup.

So far, so good.

advice, Business, resources

How Much Does It Cost To Print A Book? Doing My Self-Publishing Homework

1 Comment

book and script editor for hire Joe Wallaceby Joe Wallace

People aren’t going to like this. Especially some blogs on self-publishing, print-on-demand, and etc. And while what I am about to relate is based on preliminary research only, it does beg a couple of important questions about cost vs. convenience. Do I have the answers to those questions yet? No.

As some readers here already know, I run Turntabling.net, a blog about vinyl records, record collecting, the “vinyl lifestyle” and related topics. Recently I started a book project about strange, obscure and really weird LPs and found myself facing a dilemma. Self-publish or find a publisher?

Self-publishing these days implies an e-book. But I need hard copies to sell at conventions, record fairs and the like. In my case, knowing my potential audience well enough to know hard copies are the bigger draw, I can’t avoid the printed page.

I’m halfway finished with the book project at the time of this writing, and it occurred to me that perhaps I should look into starting an imprint for this project rather than approach a print-on-demand service. I started researching printing press companies rather than P.O.D. companies or “publish your book” websites. I looked up “printing services” on Google, and “printing presses”.

It’s true that submitting a book to a printing press requires more technical know-how and care than submitting to a middleman who you pay to help you with your book project. But I know I can handle that technical stuff–it’s about margins, PDF files and images formatted correctly. It does not seem THAT difficult with a bit of persistence and stubbornness.

My initial research results weren’t promising. I need full color pages for 101 album covers, so my costs are considerably higher than a non-graphics intensive black & white book. The stateside companies I contacted quoted me a whopping $7000 for TWO HUNDRED LOUSY COPIES! Doing the math…well, I didn’t bother. I can’t afford 7K. Print-on-demand sites weren’t much better. In some cases my full color needs were THE stumbling block.

Then I started researching offshore printing presses, and guess what? I got a $3000 quote for full color inside and out…for TWO THOUSAND COPIES. That’s 250 pages, full color, quality paper.

Imagine, fiction writers and non-fiction counterparts, how much your smaller, non-color book would cost if you had it PRINTED overseas rather than going through a stateside POD publisher. The economics of a black-n-white paperback book with standard paper? Potentially astounding.

I can’t vouch for the quality, reliability or safety of doing an overseas print order. But what I DID do was to take a few of my favorite books and see who/where they were printed. I found that books similar in format or audience to mine, done independently and in small runs, were all printed in China.

Again, I cannot vouch for any of these companies I’ve examined. Yet. But I am SERIOUSLY looking into offshoring my book to China. It’s a simple case of economic survival and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. But I have a book project that needs printing, and I know two printers who will give me two thousand books for roughly three to four thousand dollars.

What would YOU do?

resources

Freelance-Zone.com Intern Wanted

It’s been a while since we had an intern position open, but we do once more and would be happy to hear from you about it after you’ve read the description below.  The Freelance-Zone.com internship is an unpaid position, but there are perks. FZ interns get:

  • A full page bio/photo listing on the site, along with links to your blog, website and social media accounts.
  • Experience and training in areas you are interested in learning about. We need assistance with social media, PR, community management, writing and editing, and marketing.
  • Professional references based on your work with us. That’s right–we’re only too happy to recommend our interns!

Please take a look at the list of duties we are looking to find a match for your interests. Ideally we’re looking for a time commitment of 1 to 2 hours per week–we don’t expect anyone to do all of the things on this list.

After reading the list, please get in touch and be sure to let us know which parts of the list interest you. Please include a resume and a few paragraphs about yourself as a freelancer or future freelancer so that we may fully consider your participation. If you have any writing samples, we’d love to see them.

Please know that if you have interest in a certain area but no experience at all, we’re more than happy to train you–and feel free to suggest additional areas if you do not see them covered below. Thanks for your consideration, we’re looking forward to hearing from you. Here’s the list:

  • Social media/Twitter. Duties include tweeting, Follow Friday posts and outreach.
  • Social media/Facebook. Duties include posting interesting news or YouTube videos on our Facebook page and outreach.
  • Link building. Reaching out to other freelance-related sites to request a link swap with FZ
  • Research. Scouting out new freelance blogs to network with. Other duties as assigned.
  • Interview assistance. Duties include contacting interview subjects on the behalf of FZ, sending questions via e-mail and formatting interviews for the blog.
  • Press list. Compilation of e-mail press list from a variety of sources
  • Video research. Finding and posting relevant videos from YouTube and other sources. Reviewing DVDs and other video material.
  • Book research. Finding, reviewing freelance publishers, authors, books and periodicals.
  • Reviews. Reviews can be for any freelance-related product assigned.
  • Posts. Interns may suggest post topics to write or be assigned topics by the editor.

Please send your list of desired areas and bio/resume/writing sample to:

editor(at) freelance-zone (dot) com

Place “Intern” in the subject line. Thank you.

We will make our selections for new interns by December 1st. Only those who are being asked to join us at this time will be contacted–all other other resumes will be kept on file in case we need someone in the future. Thanks for your interest.

advice, Business, client relationships, Freelance Forecast survey, freelance money, resources

A Client’s-Eye View of Freelancers

Bfreelance clientsy Jake Poinier

If you haven’t already seen it, the results of the 2011 Freelance Forecast survey (pdf download at the link) have been published. I’ve done this research for three years now, and while I find the freelancer responses interesting, what’s most useful for my business is what clients have to say about what they like…or hate.

The adjacent word cloud above gives a visual perspective on “the ONE most important quality in a freelancer.” If you’ve been at this game for any length of time, the answers shouldn’t come as a surprise: reliability/dependability, talent/quality of work, and hitting deadlines.

But this year, I also asked for some follow-up data: “Name ONE thing you wish every freelancer would do when working with you.” You’ll find all of the responses on pages 16 and 17 of the survey; many of the respondents simply said “communicate” or “ask good questions,” but the devil—as usual—is in the details. Here are three of the client comments, and my thoughts reading between the lines:

  • “As minor as it sounds, [a freelancer should] acknowledge receipt of the assignment. I don’t like guessing whether they’ve received it and understand it. What I dislike even more is reaching out to them to make sure they got it.” Takeaway: This isn’t minor! Always take a moment to write an email to the client and, most important, say “thank you for the assignment.”
  • Some responses were in conflict with each other. For example, “Keep me posted that progress is being made through the course of a project and that the deadline will be hit without any problems” versus “Contact me only when there’s a problem with an assignment.” Takeaway: Again, this comes down to knowing the client. The best way to know their communication style is to simply ask their preference.
  • “I want freelancers to tell me when there is a better way to do something than what I have told them to do. Sometimes I do it, sometimes I don’t, but I always want to hear the reasoning behind their choices. I want their expertise.” Takeaway: Tread carefully here. Some clients are ready for the unadulterated truth, others may say they are…but will react poorly to someone calling their baby ugly. Make certain of which type of client you’re dealing with before being too abrupt.

Resourceful clients have a lot of options when it comes to choosing a freelancer. Many of their common complaints—or things they love—are completely under your control. So, do what you can to “wow” them, and you’re well on your way to Referral Street.

Jake Poinier runs Boomvang Creative Group and blogs as Dr. Freelance.