All Freelance Writing

Three Disjointed Thoughts of One Freelance Writer–Residuals, Content Mills & Fun

Yo Prinzel — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:30:22 +0000

Disjointed thought #1: Marketplace Reviews Update

Lately, I haven’t had any marketplace reviews for you, so I thought I’d at least let you know what’s going on with my research. Here are some future articles for that series and a little information about them:

The Associated Content Residual Earnings Test: Last week, I read an article by Jennifer Claerr about how she made $573.26 in one month on one article she wrote for Associated Content. She made the money through residual earnings, something I have spoken negatively about many times. One of the reasons I don’t like residual earnings is that I understand the time value of money and that dribs and drabs of change over a long period of time are less effective to your financial bottom line than one large upfront payment allowed to accrue interest or pay down debt (thereby reducing interest charged). But earning $573.26 within 30 days of writing an article is actually a good example for residual earnings, so I started experimenting with the process using Jennifer’s article as a guide. I’d hoped to have some results for you this week, but I don’t have enough data yet. But I can tell you a little something about it: I’m having fun.

Guru.com: Why won’t anyone accept my bids? Please tell me I do not need to pay for the membership in order to actually get something here.

GetAFreealncer.com: Yeah, .05 per word is really out of line. You are sooooo right.

Disjointed thought #2:

What is a Content Mill?

This week I read Carson Brackney’s article on his commandments about writing for content mills. In reading his article, I began to believe that his idea of a content mill and mine differ. I see Demand Studios, Textbroker, Break Studios and other sites that have pre-determined titles they want written and offer upfront pay as content mills. Having worked in a factory when I was young and supple, I get the concept of a mill. There are eight million widgets that you need to string onto metal bars, and that’s what you do all day. I see the title lists available on Demand Studios, Break Studios and Textbroker as the widgets coming at me on the conveyor belt. I’ve got my timer and my counter and I’m ready to string those widgets onto my bar, scrape off the metal flakes that don’t belong, hit my counter and start another. In the mill, I’ve gotta be fast in order to get paid.

I do not see sites like Associated Content, Examiner, Helium and other user-inspired content sites as content mills because they allow you to submit your own work on your own topics. While they do offer lists of titles like content mills do, they request them written either on spec or on a residual basis. To me, these sites are more like a flea market that a factory.

How do you define content mills?

Disjointed thought #3:

Try It–Maybe You’ll Like It

One of the readers who commented on Carson’s post mentioned that she had been avoiding content mills because of all the bad stuff she’s read about them (I’m paraphrasing here). This surprised me because I thought, “But what if you tried one and you liked it?” Don’t get me wrong, I love reading blog posts that caution me against something but reading those cautions do not often make me decide not to try something myself.

Think about your spouse for a minute. Your spouse has flaws, right? Your spouse isn’t perfect in everyone else’s eyes, correct? There are even some people who might’ve met your spouse and, based on that meeting, would tell you that you should not have married him or her. Should negative feedback about your spouse before you started dating have really stopped you from dating them or, eventually, marrying them? Of course not. You had to get in there and decide for yourself.

All Freelance Writing is a place for you to develop the habits you need in order to get a better career and meet your definition of success. It is not a pass/fail place. We are not Clinton and Stacy and we don’t develop fashion rules for you to follow. If you don’t do those things that the blog posts advise, you are not guaranteed to fail—and if you do do them, you are not guaranteed to pass. This is a place for the experience and opinions of people who have been where you are. That’s it.

So go out and have fun. Try a little bit of everything. Use a pen name if you think you are doing something that could impact your career negatively and then give feedback on blogs about your experience. The more dialog we have, the more informed we all get.

The Case for Blogging for Clients (and not Only Yourself)

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:59:16 +0000

Many freelance writers have their own blogs. I’m always surprised by how many blogging writers I know don’t blog for clients! Why not? More importantly, why should they consider it? Today let’s talk about blogging for others and why it might be one of the best things to happen to a Web writer (or someone wanting to become one).

Why Might Writers Prefer to Blog for Themselves?

I understand the lure of running your own blog. Hell, I run a lot of them. I get it. I really do. You figure it’s a better way to build exposure and branding to attract other clients. Or maybe you think you’ll “get rich” blogging for yourself but that clients will only pay you crap rates, making it unworthy of your time. Some writers I know avoid blogging for clients because they consider blogging to be a very personal thing. They’re afraid clients won’t let them be themselves.

What other things might cause you to avoid blogging for clients but choose to solely run your own blog? Give us some personal insight.

**Why you Should Consider Blogging for Others**

None of the reasons I gave above for blogging only for yourself are really good ones. They don’t reflect reality. The truth is that many writers can get more exposure and more money blogging for clients than they’ll ever see on their own blog. There are also many different types of blogging clients, and plenty who do want your personality to shine though. Let’s look at some of the benefits of client blogging in more depth:

More Exposure — Let’s face it. Most bloggers who blog for themselves are never going to get “famous” doing it. Most blogs never amount to much. However, writing for a well-funded blog with a good reach in your target audience can bring you a great deal of visibility — more than you’d get going solo.
Popular niche blogs are one of the best options for visibility (why do you think even relatively well-known bloggers are out there guest posting on them?). But don’t neglect blogs that you don’t think of as huge. You’d be surprised at the traffic levels of some blogs out there. They might seem a bit understated on the surface, but they could have an outstanding reach within the industry.

It’s all in who you’re targeting. Those targeting professionals inside an industry are going to look very different than those blatantly trying to attract a huge, more general, audience. They might connect you to more relevant client prospects too.
More Money — Blogging is a big money game these days, and it has a large amount of room for growth. Many companies still aren’t blogging — even big ones. Some never will. Others are just looking for the right person to guide them.
Even small businesses are often better funded than freelancers think. The highest paying clients I work with are almost always small businesses. Pitch a blog to one of them. Maybe it’s a local business needing an online presence to be found in local search. Perhaps it’s a company in China or India that wants to expand or improve their visibility among English-speaking audiences (and yes, clients in those countries also pay very well to reach those goals).

There is a lot of money to be made in blogging right now. No, you won’t get those gigs by only responding to job ads or turning to networks. You will get them if you go out there and pitch your blog ideas and network so you’ll hear when companies are looking for someone.

Keep your own blog going too — it makes you visible and serves as a dynamic portfolio piece! Here’s another tip for you: contact SEO and Internet marketing firms. They often need bloggers to help with multiple blogs. They essentially bring several clients to your doorstep at once.
More Flexibility — If you only blog for yourself, you might think it’s the more flexible option, but you’d be wrong. Whether you realize it or not, you get into certain habits or a certain style of writing on your own blog. That’s not a bad thing. It’s about branding your blog and being something readers are comfortable with. Blogging for clients allows you much more freedom because you can diversify your gigs (like anything else I’d strongly recommend against relying too heavily on a single blogging client).
You can write for multiple clients, meaning multiple styles. Some will be personality-driven and others might be more instructional posts for beginners in a niche. Some will be by-lined and some will be ghostwritten (giving you greater style freedom because you don’t have to worry about the writing conflicting with the style you’re already known for). It’s a very flexible job to have.

A Blogging Break-Down

Let’s look at an example to help break it down. Let’s say you’re a finance writer. You write about a broad spectrum of topics in that niche, but you prefer writing about business finance. For your own blog, you want to reach potential clients, showing them that you not only understand basic financial premises but also financial writing as the specialty area it is. So you launch a blog on finance writing.

Your Own Blog

Your blog is a great business tool. You post to it daily, Monday through Friday. It not only attracts clients wanting to learn more about what financial writers do (not to mention ranking well for related terms clients are searching for), but it also connects you to a network of other finance writers. These are people who might refer gigs to you because you’re fresh in their minds due to your blog when they get a gig offer they can’t take on. That’s great.

You also monetize your own blog directly with affiliate ads, a product of your own, and contextual ads. I’ve seen what it takes to take a blog in a similar niche to $2000 monthly in a pretty short period of time, and I know it’s doable. I also know it’s more than most bloggers make. But if we want to give blogging for yourself a fair shake in the comparison, we need to assume you’re capable of being one of the exceptions to the rule (yes, yes, I know I always say never assume you’re the exception to the rule — but we’re being hypothetical today to debunk the “blogging for yourself is the best way to get rich and famous myth”). Using that data from ProBlogger as a guide, let’s say you’re one of the 19% of bloggers earning at least $1500 per month.

In reality you might have to run several blogs to earn that much per month, but you’re a super star. You do it with one. Not too bad, right? If you truly are one of the few bloggers who’s going to earn a full-time income at it alongside great visibility, is there any benefit at all in still blogging for clients? You betcha!

Client Blogging

Now let’s say you also do some finance blogging for clients. For clients you charge around $75 per post (this is very achievable and actually on the very low end of the massive amount of private gigs out there right now). That assumes you’ll receive a by-line. You charge a premium if the client wants something ghostwritten because you won’t get the exposure. For those you charge $100 (also a very achievable rate for professional blogging for other companies).

Your own blog does its job and attracts new clients. You decide to blog for them too. You pick up four regular blogging gigs (and if you can’t get at least four regular gigs at your current rates, you’re not marketing yourself effectively — you really can do it). Here are those gigs:

You write a weekly by-lined column for client A on business credit issues. (At four weeks per month that’s $300 per month for four posts.)
You write a 10 posts per month (by-lined) for a financial firm’s blog, connecting them to their own customers or clients. (That’s $750 per month.)
You ghostwrite three posts per week for a personal finance blog managed by a debt consolidation company. Normally you focus on business finance, but since it’s ghostwritten you don’t mind being more flexible. (At four weeks per month that’s $1200.)
Another client likes the tone and style on your own blog, so they hire you to write by-lined opinion pieces twice per week (they want to get a piece of your authority status in the niche credited to their site). This is a large small business blog. They have you post twice per week by taking news stories and posting your opinions / feedback on them. (At four weeks per month that’s $600 per month.)

Much of this kind of blogging work you can do in an hour per post or less. They don’t involve conducting interviews. They don’t involve getting extensive background from the company itself (like if you were managing a PR-driven blog for image maintenance and more in-depth audience interaction).

Let’s see what it all works out to. Over the course of the month you earn $1500 from your own blog, posting 20 posts per month (one per day, M-F, figuring a flat four weeks per month). During that same time frame you earn $2850 from your four blogging clients, writing a total of 34 posts per month.

That means you basically earn $75 per post on average when you blog for yourself. You earn $83.82 per post on average when you blog for other people.

Delving Deeper Into Blogging Income

I know what you’re probably thinking — “That’s not a big difference, so why wouldn’t I only blog for myself and ignore all of the deadlines that come with client work?” Because those numbers don’t tell the entire truth.

Yes, your own blog might pay you $75 per post if you’re one of those rare bloggers who can monetize their own blog fairly effectively (and consistently). However, you need to break it down into hourly rates. When you blog for yourself, you have to factor in all of the administrative work (design changes and development, upgrades, problem-solving, managing and responding to comments, etc.) and all of the marketing time that goes into the blog (commenting elsewhere to get links, evaluating stats so you can improve your position, guest posting elsewhere, taking part in social media to get the word out about the blog, etc.).

Your hourly rate for managing your blog would likely go way down. Yes, you can outsource some of these tasks. In that case you have to decrease earnings by the corresponding expenses to see what you’re really earning from your blog. It still would go way down.

But don’t you have to do some of these things for client blogs too? Perhaps. Here’s the big difference though. You should be getting paid for all of the “extras” you do for client blogs. It’s one thing to be paid to write. If they want you managing all comments, promoting the blog via social media, etc., then you can negotiate a fixed monthly rate for those services on top of your writing rates.

Many clients don’t require that of their writers at all — they prefer to handle it themselves or they have other contractors dealing with some elements of it, like social media promotion. Yes, there’s also some administrative time involved. But I’ve found that private blogging clients ask for edits almost never — definitely less than things like content networks — and the time you’ll take getting post topics approved or dealing with a few clients via email or calls probably won’t come close to the time you’ll put into administering and marketing your own blog. You come out ahead.

Here’s another consideration. While you might be able to get to the $1500 per month point, that does not mean you’ll be able to double that income on a single blog within a reasonable amount of time (depending on how big your niche is, and what types of monetization streams are available to you, it might be nearly impossible to turn that business blog of yours into a $3k+ per month money-maker). So don’t assume that single blog could make up the difference between a lack of client work.

Some people might think “well, that’s okay, I’ll just start other blogs!” You can. In fact I find diversifying (within reasonable limits so you don’t spread yourself too thin) can lead to more blogging income than a single blog ever could. Once you’ve learned how to successfully manage a high-earning blog, you have the ability to take those skills and experiences and apply them to other niches you know will monetize well. However, with every new blog comes more administrative and marketing time, and during the first few months you’ll probably sink in a lot of time and / or money with little return while it gets off the ground.

I gave blogging for yourself every chance here to compete with a modest client schedule. I used low rates for the client projects (based on professional blogging rates in related niches) and if anything I overestimated the earning potential of someone’s individual blog since most won’t ever hit that $1500 per month level. In the end, client blogging has the potential to pay significantly more for the time invested. If you target medium to high profile clients about launching or maintaining their blogs, you also have more exposure potential than most bloggers will hit with their own blogs. It’s a good deal all around.

By all means I’m not suggesting that anyone quit their own blogs, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t launch blogs of your own. I’m a huge fan of running your own blogs. I know how lucrative they can be from experience. And I know how fun they can be to manage and write for. I also know they can do a great job of attracting new freelance writing clients. All I’m saying is this — if some of those clients it attracts want you to blog for them, don’t dismiss the idea just because you think you’ll get “rich and famous” blogging for yourself and just be another worker bee for someone else. That’s short-sighted, and it’s downright wrong.

5 Freelance Productivity Tips

Clint Osterholz — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:16:31 +0000

A lot of people email me. They are like, “Clint. You should probably pay your credit card bill.” They’re unprofessional emails, and I refuse to deal with a bank that can’t personally call me and ask me nicely if I’d like to give them money as a gift since they’re having a tough time this month.

But those aren’t the emails I want to talk about. I also get a lot of emails from people who are just starting out freelancing. They want to know how to stay on task and get their stuff done. It’s tough being your own boss. So here’s a few ideas on how to keep yourself motivated and working.

Keep the TV on in the background. There is nothing like sitting on your laptop slamming out an article while distracting things happen in the background. Sometimes, I get so productive with this method that my jaw goes slack with my brilliance. Sometimes, I will produce up to a quarter of an article per day with this clever little tip. Additionally, you should put on your favorite movie. I find it motivating.
Take frequent breaks every five to ten minutes. I suggest the following sites: Gawker, Facebook, Wikipedia, TV Tropes, or any given webcomic that has been online for longer than five years. If you take a break every five to ten minutes, then you keep your brain fresh. Be sure to take a break that is at least 30 minutes long. You need the rest!
Leave the chat programs on. You may have a 5 PM deadline today, but you don’t want to sacrifice your social life. That’s why it’s always a good time to fire up AIM, GChat, and Skype so that you can stay in the loop with all your buds. Remember, you may not have left your house in six months, but there’s no reason why you can’t have a shallow and brief conversation with each of your friends who happen to be online at work. This is known as networking because you are on a network.
Multitask with involved chores. While you’re writing, there is no reason why you cannot do a little sprucing up of the homestead. I’m not talking about amateur errands like laundry or groceries either–you ought to spend time on intensive projects like scrubbing the grout in your bathroom, refinishing your floors by hand, producing an intricate mosaic tile pattern in your kitchen, or adding a rec room to your house. Personally, I am a fan of custom-making wooden furniture for my house. These are all projects you can do as a quick little break from your ever-increasing stack of projects to complete.
Surf the web mindlessly. If you have something really important to do, here’s what I would suggest you do. Look at your email inbox, sigh sadly, then turn to your browser (Firefox is best, but you can easily make do with Internet Explorer or Safari). Type in random phrases or try to find a website you visited once seven years ago. Please note that this is different from tip #2 because I needed to come up with five tips but then it turns out I hadn’t seen the latest episode of Caprica so I put that on first, and now I am making a quality article.

These tips will make you ultimately more productive. Hammer away at these five points (which are totally five points and not four stretched out to be five) until you’re a successful freelancer. Shower me with praise via email.

Thoughts on Blog Comment Etiquette

Jennifer Mattern — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:16:49 +0000

Today I’d like to talk about blog comment etiquette — some dos and don’ts I guess you could say when it comes to commenting on others’ blogs. This issue comes to mind periodically regarding over-linking, but I never considered it worth its own post. Lately though, I’ve been seeing more commenters on various blogs of mine getting flagged as spam by default, so maybe it’s time to visit the issue.

When I say “etiquette,” I’m not talking about being sweet as pie to everyone when you comment. I couldn’t care less if commenters have strong words as long as they’re not entirely on the attack. By all means disagree or even fight when it’s called for. But blog comment etiquette isn’t just about being nice. It’s about respecting the platform and what amounts to the “virtual home” of another blogger. With that in mind, here are a few dos and don’ts when it comes to commenting on blogs — at least when commenting on mine.

Keep the linking to a minimum. — The biggest reason I see people get flagged for spam when they’re trying to comment is that they’re putting too many links in their comment. Wordpress, for example (or maybe specifially Akismet — I can’t remember), has a default setting of any more than two links being flagged as spam. If a blogger gets a lot of spam (*raises hand*) they might not always even sort through all of it comment by comment. You might just find your comments deleted. Try to stick to linking policies that are pretty widely accepted in the blogosphere — that includes not littering your comments with links.
Don’t add manual link signatures. — Adding links to the end of your comments is not a good thing. It’s spammy. In fact, it’s what many spammers quite blatantly do. Blog comments already come with a built-in place for your link (if and when the blog owner chooses to allow it). It’s your username. Blog comments are not designed for you to stuff your anchor text links in. They’re designed for conversation. If the links are solely self-promotional, they’re not appropriate for the body of the comment. Keep it to your name. If they don’t add something relevant within the context of your comment, they’re also inappropriate. Save your signature links for forums and email where they belong, or only include them if you know for a fact that the blog owner is okay with it. I occasionally let it slide if someone actually adds value to the discussion, but it’s still somewhat annoying (and readers occasionally point it out to me too, so I’m not the only one who’s bothered by it).
On that note, add value! — Don’t post useless drivel like “I agree,” or “great post.” No one cares. You might be trying to kiss the blogger’s ass for some inexplicable reason, but don’t. A) You look silly when you do. B) You force people interested in the real conversation to scroll through a bunch of crap to get back to business. And C) if you really want to show appreciation for a post, the blogger would quite possibly rather that you contribute than simply flatter. That’s not to say that some people don’t have a constant need for validation and a constant craving for the oohs and ahhs. Plenty do — just not this blogger.
Sign comments with your real name or a very recognizable handle. – There is rarely a good excuse to comment on a blog anonymously. If you aren’t willing to take credit for your words, you should probably just keep your virtual mouth shut since you clearly don’t value your point that much. Stuffing the author field with a keyword phrase? That’s just asking to have comments deleted or banned as spam. If you must include your site name, do it in addition to your real name.

Clearly not everyone will agree with me here. That’s fine. The important thing to remember is that it doesn’t matter what you personally consider appropriate and inappropriate blog comment etiquette. What matters is how the blog owners of the blogs you comment on feel about it. Don’t assume that because Blogger A loves the warm and fuzzy “Oh my god, you’re so great!” crap that Blogger B is going to be okay with it. Just because one person is cool with you linking all over the place, don’t take it as a license to do it everywhere you go. Get to know the bloggers you follow as well as their usual community members and get a feel for the blog comment culture of that site before jumping in with any assumptions. Just my $.02.

All Freelance Writing Design Update Preview

Jennifer Mattern — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:13:28 +0000

The designer and I finally finished up the design side of the AFW update I mentioned previously. The PSDs are off to the coder, and hopefully we’ll have them ready to live on the site in the next week or so. I wanted to give you an early preview so there are no surprises when it happens.

As you can see in the preview below (click it to view it full-size), the new design is based on the current design’s structure. Everything should be accessible from the same place, so there shouldn’t be any confusion in navigating. I know it’s a somewhat drastic change stylewise, but I like it and I hope you will too (or that you’ll at least get used to it!). The logo is also being updated — I finally have one I really like for this site, and I think it works well with the new theme.

Freelance Writing Jobs – March 16th, 2010

Clint Osterholz — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:34:52 +0000

You know what? I like talking about the weather. It’s beautiful outside. Hopefully some of you full-time freelancers out there remembered to spring forward since you didn’t have a bunch of annoying bosses and coworkers to sit around and complain about it! Personally, I gave myself an extra hour of sleep. Now, on to the freelance writing jobs!

The Freelance Writing Jobs

Food Writer – Chef’s Tango Magazine, a new online publication, is seeking writers with food and restaurant experience to help make their new site a star. This is a high-gloss upscale magazine that is aimed at the intersection of the food producer and the food consumer. To apply, I would recommend pitching a few proposals for articles and sending some of your best clips. This freelance writing job pays $100 per 600-word article.
Product Review Blogger – are you a gadget geek? Can you put together awesome reviews for tons of products? If so, this is right up your alley. MetaEfficient.com is looking for a good writer to make awesome reviews. To apply, send in a demo write up with a photo. This freelance writing job pays $100-200 per article.
Content Writer – this one is a bit short on the details so it’s likely they’re a first-time buyer. It is your job to make sure that they understand a fair rate of compensation. From what I can surmise, you’ll be creating content for a local apartment rental site. Bid strong! This buyer looks like they have realistic compensation expectations. This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000 depending on the Elance bid.
Ghost Blogger – Microscan, a company that makes bar code readers and vision systems, is looking for a ghost blogger to produce one article and one interview per week, which will be paid on a per article basis. In this case, it’s the same as the previous posting. Bid competitively! This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000 depending on the Elance bid.
SEO Content Writer/Editor – an SEO hotshot editor/writer is needed to finish this awesome project. You’ll be going over about 8,000 words to make sure that they’re pitch perfect for the web. Submit a kickass proposal with previous examples of your work and bid strong. This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000 depending on the Elance bid.

Freelance Writing Job Tip of the Week

Beware of ads that ask you to have passion. I know that might sound a little odd because of course, as a writer, you are going to have passion for a topic. The only issue with that is many employers take advantage of people they view as hobbyists and pay them a much lower rate because they’re already passionate about a topic. I’m not telling you not to bid on projects that excite you, because you should by all means! But if an employer posts a job asking you to be passionate about a topic, they are about to pay you $.001 a word. I will guarantee it.

Worst Freelance Writing Job of the Week

looking for strong business writers or writer with a english major that can write business related topic or history topics . 2 years of college min. Must know APA and MLA formats. Pay is 300 a week for 5 days a week , min 7 pages a day or we can do less days a week the pay would be reduced based on days that you could work.

Weekly salaries
300.00 week 5 days a week
120 week for 2 days min 7 pages a day
500 week full time writer 5 days week min 10 pages a day. Must be good at writing almost on any topic.

Full time writer needed 500 week needs to be able to do 10 pages min a day 5 days a week.

Looking for Ethics writer as well. Philosophy writer needed as well.

If you think that you’re going to get a full-time writer to pump out at least 200 pages a month for $2,000 (that is way below $.01 per word, by the way), you definitely might need input from an ethics writer too. It’s pretty clear that the rate of compensation on this job is terrible. Here’s what bugs me most about it though. Notice that they change the duration of time when talking about certain things. They talk about the rate of compensation per week, but then discuss the daily output of work necessary. See that? They don’t want you to figure out that you’d be working your ass off for around $100 a day. Not very mathy? Get a friend who is. These gigs very commonly ensnare newbie writers because they’re so vague on terms.

If you’d like to look through longer aggregated lists of freelance writing jobs to help you save time in your job search, All Freelance Writing recommends Anne Wayman’s freelance writing jobs at AboutFreelanceWriting.com.

The Organized Writing Process Resource Post

Jessie Haynes — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:53:55 +0000

There’s been a lot of talk about accountability on All Freelance Writing recently, and that’s important to any aspect of the freelance writing business. I’m bringing you a post today about something very basic, but in that, integral to a freelance writer, and I want you to think about accountability as you read this.

I recently fired a mentee. I said that, until he would invest real time and work in their business, he wouldn’t be receiving my help. I wanted him to be accountable in the way I’m sharing the writing process today, among other things I wanted from him…but the point in mentioning him is saying that I had to stress this again and again:

“Amateur writers are the ones that simply pop off a draft and send it to a client. Professionals organize their work, rewrite for their best work, and proofread for errors.”

Even small, simple projects require at least some outlining and proofreading…it will only take a few more minutes and you’ll be sending a more professional piece of work in, rather than something sloppy. Yes, as professionals, we can “get away” with rushing some things or taking a few short cuts, but if we held ourselves accountable, would we? I think that when someone pays you to perform the core competencies of your business for them, you should provide your best work possible. After all, you should be asking for fair compensation for your work, so how about doing the work you’re being paid for!

Okay, here endeth my rant. Here beginneth the organized writing process post…

The writing process is five steps: prewriting, research, outlining, drafting, and editing. In The Freelance Writer’s Guide to Project Management, I mentioned having contextual to-do lists for these actions. To maintain my writing process workflow, I use folders with each of these contexts labeled and move the project documents from one folder to the next. Because I work with paper, I have a final folder called Data Entry, but as you could easily use this workflow on a computer, you could simply have an Email or Wordpress or similar folder for publishing / sending your work to publishing.

However you decide to organize your writing process workflow, you need to have tools to maintain said organization and to keep you productive. I’ll be walking through each of the five steps with you, and providing some free .pdf documents for reference in creating your own or for printing and using.

1. Prewriting

Prewriting includes mindmapping, drawing correlations, and finding informational needs of a market and developing one or more ideas to publish in that market. During the prewriting process, you’ll need to organize ideas so that you can develop an idea to research, write, and edit.

This often involves a great deal of asking questions, reading around, and sketching and scribbling across paper. The best tool to keep this all organized is an idea inventory. I’ve created an idea inventory index and an idea inventory detail page .pdf so that you can print them out and organize your ideas. You may want to use them as a guide to creating a notebook or digital files to organize your ideas.

Tip: In the table column of the idea inventory index that asks if the idea is active or archived, write an “A” for active when you’re working on the idea and haven’t developed a piece from it. When it is completed, write an “r” so that you have “Ar” for archived.

Freebies:

2. Research

All research for freelance writing projects comes from three sources: other written material, observation / surveys / experiments, and your preexisting knowledge and experience. I use a research plan template to figure out exactly what questions I’m seeking the answers to in order to complete a writing project. The classic reporter’s questions / 5 W’s and H serve as a good guide for what you’ll need to research and learn about a topic. Determine what the question would be for each of these topics, such as the “how” question for an article could be “how can Web writers use a keyword density tool to keep from keyword stuffing an article?”and so on. I also add spaces for follow-up questions to those questions, such as “how can you tell you’re article is keyword stuffed?” for that sample question.

I find working with a research plan template helps me to discover all the questions that need to be asked to fully write a draft. After compiling the questions I search for references and take notes from what I already know, numbering each question with a small, circled number above it on my research plan and answering it and adding the corresponding number to my notes.

Tip: Also ask the question, “What’s the point?” to be sure that you’re developing an idea that matters to editors, publishers, clients, and readers. If you can’t answer that question, there’s no reason to work with what you have. Revisit your idea and your questions to be sure you’re looking for something worth finding.

Freebies:

Research Plan Template

3. Outline

Outlines: best friends to some writers, bane of their existence for others. All an outline needs to do is organize the information you have into something that can become a cohesive draft. Whether you love or love to hate outlines, using my outline template you can quickly and efficiently organize your piece.

Tip: Write notes for your introduction and conclusion last, after you’ve determined the body content of the article, and only touch on important points. Introductions and conclusions are something that will need to be polished throughout the drafting and editing process.

Freebies:

Outline Template

4. Draft
I like to write one draft, after doing steps one through three, without referring to any of the notes and research and outlining. I like to see what kind of writing will come from this first draft, and it frees me up to get the best turns-of-phrase and unique ideas into a project I know I will organize more thoroughly later.

If you don’t have time to do this, however, simply begin writing from the top of your outline to your bottom. This means writing the introduction and the conclusion last. Which one of those you do first is up to you, but I think writing the introduction immediately upon finishing a draft can add immediate pertinence to the introduction, and writing the conclusion as the very last item in drafting leads to the most cohesive conclusions.

Tip: Unless the project is especially large, try to complete a first draft in a single sitting. If you complete the more extemporaneous first draft I suggest, do write it one sitting to capture the freshest ideas within your mind. If you only do the follow-the-outline draft, try to do it as well to get the most coherent depiction of the ideas in your outline.

5. Edit
The editing stage of the writing process involves rewriting and proofreading. Initially, your editing should focus on the big picture-how well you stuck to your outline. After you’ve gone through this initial phase, look at your writing more in pieces: first a full walk through of the paragraphs, and then of sentences. The do a proofreading to check for spelling errors and grammatical inconsistencies that remain in your work.

Tip: Try to create some space between a draft and editing by waiting-whether it be thirty minutes or three days, and between the stages of editing, so that you’ll have fresher eyes to focus on the material. Being too close to your rough draft could compromise your ability to see errors.

Here’s my spin on the writing process. I hope I’ve given you some tools to make this process more organized, and that I’ve not gone too basic this month in the topic.

Tell me more about your writing process, and how you keep it organized.

Take Ownership of Your Finances

LaToya Irby — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:55:52 +0000

Reading Yo’s last post about accountability really got me to thinking, “Are people having financial trouble because they failed to take ownership of their finances?” Could that one word – ownership – have prevented the entire mortgage meltdown and subsequent recession?

Taking ownership of your freelance finances means charging a rate you can live on. It means managing the money you have and storing the excess for times you don’t have as much.

When you take ownership of something, you think and plan for the long term. You make sacrifices today so you’ll have something to look forward to tomorrow. Can you make it as a freelance writer if you never take ownership of your finances? I don’t think so.

If you never take ownership of your finances you may:

Accept jobs that pay an unacceptable rate.
Build your freelance career solely on content mills and other low-paying work.
Spend more money than you can afford to.
Mismanage your money and ignore the importance of budgeting.
Take a head in the sand approach to your checking and savings account balances.
Drain your savings and use debt to make ends meet.
Fail to set aside money for taxes and end up with an IRS collection.
Take out a loan you can’t afford because the bank says you qualify.
Spend the extra money you make during “feast” months rather than save it for a famine.
Market your freelance services only when you’re broke.

“How do I take ownership of my finances?”

Make a budget. There are budget worksheets all over the internet. Don’t mull over them for days trying to figure out which one will work for you. Just print a few, try them out, and tweak one until it works for you.

Evaluate your rates, often. Get in the habit of looking at your rates often to determine if they’re high enough to maintain your lifestyle. When you have a baby, buy a house, get married, or get a divorce, look at your rates to make sure you can continue to live on your current rate.

Stop making excuses. “I don’t make enough money to start an emergency fund.” “I can’t afford to pay my taxes.” Any rebuttal to taking ownership of your finances is an excuse. It’s as simple as that. With proper planning, I’m sure you can afford to take the steps you need to have complete ownership of your finances.

Realize that financial success is key to your freelance success. It doesn’t matter how well you write or market, if you’re not getting paid or you’re mismanaging your money, you won’t be a freelance writer for long.

I know the economy is bad and all that jazz, but I wholeheartedly believe that if you take ownership of your finances, you can make it. It may mean sacrificing. It may mean increasing your rate. It may even mean supplementing your income with some content mill work. If you take ownership of your finances, you’ll figure out a way to make it work.

Experience Writer Needed

Ads — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:18:15 +0000

Name (Full Name or Company Name): JACK LEO

Your Website: http://freelancer.com

Compensation: 500

I need a writer who can always write more than 3 topic Articles a week. I do present this to some Orphanage homes every Week. Please do let me know if you can do this while i will need you to make the Article on 3 pages for each topic . Am will to offer you $500 weekly as you will always write this for me Every week. I need you to write me an Article on FOOD / NUTRITION and if you have any other interesting topic, please do let me know.

Email me for more details as you to to send a message to my email jack.leo1313@gmail.com

You are to reply to my email pls.

Note : I Only want Writers from USA.

I hope to read from you soon.
Regards.

Could Accountability be The Key to A Successful Freelance Writing Career?

Yo Prinzel — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 12:43:01 +0000

I’m on a diet. Have been for, oh, about 7 weeks now. I’ve lost 7 pounds. Yeah, no, trust me, I’m going somewhere with this.

The reason I’m on a diet is because I have an accountability problem when it comes to food. Generally when I want to eat something bad I come up with some kind of reason that I should eat it.

“I worked hard today”

“I did laundry.”

“I had a difficult phone call.”

“It’s raining.”

You name the situation and I can turn it into an excuse to eat something terrible. But for the last 7 weeks, I haven’t been doing that anymore. Instead, I’ve been holding myself accountable. I’ve realized that the decision to eat stuff I shouldn’t is a decision that I make, not a decision dictated by the day’s events. That gets me out of the excuses thought process and helps me commit to eating properly.

My dieting dilemma reminds me a lot of the blog posts and forum ramblings I see of many freelancers. Every day the same questions appear:

“How do you find clients?”

“How do you find high-paying clients?”

“Are there any high-paying gigs anymore?”

“How do you get clients who pay?”

It’s not that having questions is bad, it’s that all of these questions are answered in about 8 million different free blog posts all over the Internet. This makes me begin to wonder if the real problem is that the writers asking these questions aren’t holding themselves accountable for their careers. It’s just like Rebecca mentioned in her post earlier this week. If someone has to hold your hand and personally escort you down the fanciful freelancing lane, then you probably are not capable of doing it yourself. Not for lack of talent, not for lack of business acumen and not for lack of smarts–for lack of accountability.

So what do you think? If you went out, read all the advice out there on blogs and tried some of it yourself, do you think you would become as successful as you want to be? If you decided to send 10 marketing emails out to potential clients each week–and you made yourself do it–do you think you would get the kind of business you want? If you developed a strategy for making yourself more visible within your specialty and then carried it out, do you think you could become a query free freelancer?

I bet you could.

Hopefully next week I’ll be back with another freelance writing marketplace review. But hell, maybe by then you won’t need it.

InBloom: Free Wordpress Theme

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:54:03 +0000

We haven’t released a theme from Chris Hennis recently, but here’s his latest. Again, this is a free Wordpress theme available exclusively through All Freelance Writing! It’s ideal both for blogs and professional sites. If you use it, feel free to share a link to your site in the comments so we can see how you’re using it to promote your freelance writing business. Please read the information below before downloading.

What’s Included

The coded theme
.psd files for various theme elements so you can easily change the look of the design

Terms

Please remember that all free Web templates and free Wordpress themes from All Freelance Writing are made available under the following terms: You’re free to use it on your own sites (and you do not have to include a credit link), but you may NOT distribute this template to others in any way. You cannot forward the files to someone via email. You cannot post the files for download on your own site. You cannot link directly to the download file on this site. If someone else wants it, they must visit this page and download it directly from this site. Also, derivative works made from the template may not be released (in other words, you can’t change the design and then distribute it to others – it’s for use on your own sites only).

Screenshot

InBloom: Free Wordpress Theme

Notes

Remember that I do not offer technical support for the downloads. If you have simple questions, please post them as a comment on this post (do not email me about them), and if I can help I will. This way when I can’t help, maybe another member can. I don’t make any guarantees regarding these templates and themes, and I don’t have most of them up on demo sites yet.
You can find more free Wordpress themes and Web templates for freelance writers released exclusively through All Freelance Writing by browsing our full list of free stuff for writers.

To Download

Click the download link below.
Save the file to your hard drive.
Unzip / decompress the file (in Windows, right-click the file name and go to “extract all.”
That will save it to a decompressed folder.

Once you have the folder decompressed, you can upload the theme into your Wordpress installation and activate it by clicking the “themes” link under “Appearance” from your Wordpress admin. You can edit your theme files by visiting the “editor” link from the same menu.

Don’t be a Victim. Stop Content Thieves Dead in Their Tracks

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:51:18 +0000

If you blog, you’ll likely come across at least one content thief in the process. They’ll take your articles (usually in full) and they’ll publish them on their own sites so they can either monetize your work or use it to build their own false authority. As someone who makes a living from writing, I find content theft infuriating. I’m also the wrong person to steal from, because while many people won’t bother pursuing the issue, I’ll go after a thief and hit them where it hurts (and then hit them again).

My Recent Experience With Content Thieves

In the last week or two, I came across two content thieves stealing material from my PR blog — NakedPR.com. Even though that blog is retired, it brings in a good amount of income, so I really don’t need people swiping the content and dilluting what’s offered there. In one case, a reader discovered the theft and reported it to me. In the other instance, it was a Google alert that turned up the stolen material.

One of the sites promptly removed my material on threat of further action. The other (MarketingTypo.com — which apparently does nothing but aggregate full content, including comments, from other sites under the guise of “fair use”) is still publishing my content illegally. They obviously don’t understand the concept of fair use. That site has already been reported as per my steps below, and is awaiting review by search engines and advertisers.

These two situations weren’t my first in dealing with thieves. In fact, I have the “deal with them” process down to a bit of an art — quick, efficient, and highly successful. Not once have I had to waste my time suing someone over their theft in order to get what I wanted (but I wouldn’t hesitate to do that — being willing to go all out is key, because if you’re not why should they bother doing as you ask when they know they’ll ultimately get away with it?).

Today I want to share the pre-legal route I take when tackling content theft, so you can put it to use should you ever need to.

How to Discover Content Theft

Before we can get into taking on content thieves, you have to be able to identify the theft. I used to do this monthly. Sadly I’ve rarely done this over the last year or so, and it’s tracking I need to get more aggressive about again in the future. Here are a few ways you can identify instances of theft:

Set up a Google or Yahoo alert for your name. If they just copy / paste, your name might still be included as the author. Some thieves think that as long as they credit you, it’s legal to steal and publish your work. It’s not. A by-line does not replace permission.
Set up a Google or Yahoo alert for your site’s URL / domain. In this case, some people think that as long as they link to you it’s okay to steal your content. Again, that’s not true. Be careful though. These will return partial hits too (such as people just publishing short excerpts with a link — which might indeed fall under fair use).
Run title searches. When people copy your content, they often don’t change the title. Search for some of your more popular posts and see if anyone’s ripped them off.

You can certainly do more. These are just some ideas to get you started, and they’ll turn up the bulk of directly-ripped content.

How to Deal With Content Thieves

Make sure you follow these steps in order. I’ll explain why that’s important at the end.

Find the content thief’s contact information. – Sometimes this is available right on the site. Sometimes you have to dig for it. You might need to look up the Whois information for their domain name. If they didn’t go with private registration you can find a name and / or company name, plus a phone number and email address there.
Send the thief a 48-hour cease and desist notice. – I find that 48 hours is more than adequate time to check your email and get my content off your site. If you’re too generous in your time window, you come across as a pushover from the start. You need to be firm and have a “take no sh*t” approach during the entire process. This notice should provide your name, a note that you are the copyright holder of said content, and a mention of where the content was stolen from. Obviously, also tell them which content you’re claiming is infringing on your rights. The person getting your email might not be the same person who published it. In this notice, reiterate that they do not have your permission to publish your content or any derivative work. In many cases, this notice will be enough to have the infringing content removed if you’re firm enough. I like to forewarn them about what I’ll do if they don’t remove the content too. That seems to light a fire under some folks’ asses (see below).
Take note of their advertisers. – Advertisers and ad networks generally don’t want to be associated with content theft. They don’t want to be used to monetize that stolen material. Track down all advertisers associated with the thief’s site and contact them with the details of the original content and the infringing material. The thief almost always loses ad contracts. More importantly, they can be banned entirely from ad networks — meaning not only would they lose Adsense (as an example) sitewide on the infringing site, but also on every other site they use it on. You just hit them where it hurts — in the wallet. But hold on. It gets better.
Report them to the major search engines. – File DMCA notices with all of the major search engines if the infringing content is indexed (it usually is). You’ll need to give them the URLs of all infringing material, as well as the URLs of your original material. The SEs will look into the claims, and when they find the infringement is indeed happening, that content will generally be de-indexed. Ouch. Now you hit what’s likely a primary traffic source for that thief.
Report them to their host. – Only after you’ve done the two previous things should you send a DMCA notice to the thief’s Web hosting company. That’s because you need the infringing material to be live on the site still when the SEs and advertisers review your claims. Basically the idea here is to put their hosting account at risk — even on the rare case where the content isn’t removed by now, they probably don’t want to lose their hosting account and have to move everything to another server because they violated the terms (not to mention the law). Are they hosted somewhere other than the US? Don’t worry. Send a notice anyway. Some thieves think hiding in offshore accounts is enough to protect them. It’s not. Many hosting companies worldwide still will put them on notice or ban their accounts for violating the company’s own terms of use.

How to Find a Content Thief’s Hosting Company

Not sure how to find a site’s Web host? Sometimes this is difficult. However, the following tricks and resources will help you out in many cases:

Visit DomainTools.com and conduct a WhoIs search.
Towards the bottom of the WhoIs results, you’ll see something called domain servers (nsX.hostname.com is the format). Look at the “hostname.com” part of it. Look up AllFreelanceWriting.com as an example, and you’ll see ns29.hostgator.com and ns30.hostgator.com — HostGator.com is the Web hosting company for this website. If you get the actual host, you can stop and contact them. No need to follow the other steps below.
Nameservers from WhoIs Record
Sometimes the domain listed in the nameservers isn’t the actual host. Let’s use my little content thief MarketingTypo.com as an example. You’ll see their nameservers are listed with DomainControl.com. Try to visit that site. Drat! Nothing comes up to tell you what host uses that domain for their name servers. Time to move on.
Pull up your favorite search engine and search for “DomainControl.com” to learn more about it. You’ll discover that it’s used by GoDaddy.com. Oh goodie — the Vietnamese thief is using a US host, which will make my life a wee bit easier later if they don’t remove the content based on the SE and advertiser reports. (How do I know they’re Vietnamese? Check their WhoIs record again.)
If this still doesn’t work, you can try the tool at WhoIsHostingThis.com. Try both AllFreelanceWriting.com and MarketingTypo.com. When you search for this site, you get The Planet as the probable host. But wait. Didn’t I say I used HostGator.com? Yep. The Planet is HostGator’s data center. In that case, the WhoIs lookup was a quicker route to the right answer. Now search for MarketingTypo.com and you’ll see they give you GoDaddy as the hosting company right away. In that case, their tool would save you time, because you wouldn’t have to look up who owns DomainControl.com from the nameserver information.
WhoIsHostingThis.com Results

That’s all there is to it! It sounds like a long process, but it’s really not. Once you do it a few times you’ll get the hang of it. Save your notices and requests as templates for future use, and the process will be a breeze.

Remember, it’s one thing if you grant people permission to republish your material (such as through article marketing). But when you let people get away with stealing your work, as a writer you do yourself a real disservice. After all, if people know they can get away with stealing and republishing your writing for free, why on earth would they pay you to write anything new?

The only way to deter these kinds of thieves is to be strong and take them on as you find them. When they stop thinking all bloggers and writers are suckers who will just let them slide, then maybe the rate of theft will finally settle down. This is one of those situations where if you aren’t a part of the solution, you really are a part of the much larger problem.

Burning Questions Asked of a Freelancing Mama – Will You Show Me How?

Rebecca Garland — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:36:16 +0000

To continue in my (very short) series of common questions asked of a freelancing mom, I’ll now reveal my true personality. It’s not very pretty – really, I know that. But this mom isn’t really that soft and gentle when she’s not dealing with her own children.

It’s the most common question asked of freelance writers around the world that gets under my skin.

“Will you show me how to do what you do?”

Answer: Probably not.

Why? Because, quite simply, if I have to show you how to do it, you probably won’t end up doing it. There. I said it.

Granted, there are plenty of tricks to the trade and I can help you build a business if you’re really serious about getting started, but it’s my experience that about 95% of the people, stay-at-home moms included, who ask me to show them the way don’t really mean it, don’t have the business sense to make it work or think it’s just a fun little hobby that happens to pay pretty well. They don’t even blog. They’ve never posted a comment. Some have no clue what a forum or blog is. And I just don’t have time to keep telling the world how to do what to do if they aren’t going to actually do it.

If you’re the 5% that’s huffing and offended right now, I commend you for being serious about this. And for that 5%, I’ll give you some real tips from one mama to another.

Plenty of mothers, especially those that stay home, are looking for ways to earn a few extra bucks without sacrificing time with their children. This is why the WAHM forums are full of moms working for pennies on projects here and there. They just want a bit more spending money. Pocket money is one thing, but a full-blown career is something else. Getting from one point to the next is not a matter of landing better gigs – it’s a full mentality shift.

When another person asks me how to get started or how to get her daughter or son started writing online, I used to try to give everyone tips and pointers. I’ve written tomes of emails that rival some ebooks and tried to point out the dos and don’ts of getting started online. Now, for the most part, I’ve given up doing all of that. When someone asks me to teach them what I do, I just give them my email address and ask them to email me when they want to talk about setting up a professional online presence and building a portfolio. Of the dozens of emails I’ve given out, I’ve gotten exactly NO inquiries. Go figure.

That being said – I’ve helped more than a few budding writers over IM strangely enough. Maybe that’s the litmus test I need for finding someone serious about writing online. If they have IM, or PM, for that matter, they are far enough along to need help – not a career coach.

Building a writing career is not simple. There are wonderful ways to write as a hobby online and plenty of moms (and others) do exactly that. But regardless of offspring, there only seem to be a handful of people who are serious about building a career in writing. The minute someone serious comes along, this work-at-home (and work-away-from-home) mama will certainly help, especially another mom who’s looking for a way to afford staying home with her kids during the day. Hey, I’m certainly not heartless. I’m just tired of shelling out my career secrets for someone who struggles to pull up Internet Explorer for something other than Facebook games.

If a mom or anyone else isn’t willing to take the first step, she just isn’t serious enough for me. Working at home might seem frivolous to the outside observer, but when there are twenty-four hours in a day and you’re working your not-so-little butt off all but seven of them, you just don’t waste time on those who don’t have the stamina or risk-taking nature to give it a real go.

Will I help someone serious about learning to write professionally? Absolutely! Will I hold their hand and give them an illustrated guide to how the world of web writing works? Probably – but only if they are savvy and dedicated enough to take the first step. Email me if I give you my address. Research the topic the same way you research how to make salt dough ornaments. Google it for goodness sake! If you can’t do that – you’ll never have the chops to make it.

Now I’m off to write loving notes to tuck into the lunchboxes of my little angels.

Writer for Bionic Turtle

Ads — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:01:43 +0000

Name (Full Name or Company Name): Bionic Turtle

Your Website: http://www.bionicturtle.com

Compensation: .10/word (negotiable)

bionicturtle.com looking for educational writer (financial certifications) We are looking for a careful writer (i.e., blogger with pro research skills) to add content to our new Career Guide service. Your focus will be researching and blogging helpful information to visitors who are evaluating various certification/designation options (e.g., CFA, FRM, CFP). Interest in professional finance is desirable (deep experience/expertise not necessary, curiosity and diligence is more important). There is growth opportunity for the writer; e.g., opportunity to help develop leading edge video content and learning spreadsheets.

Please provide compensation requirements and writing sample(s).

Email for additional details! (suzanne@bionicturtle.com

Freelance Writing Jobs – March 9th, 2010

Clint Osterholz — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:59:03 +0000

I can’t believe that last week I was asking you about blizzards, and now this week I’m running around outside with a t-shirt on! Why do I keep talking about the weather like an old man? Maybe I ought to stick to posting freelance writing jobs instead of trying to make conversation…

The Freelance Writing Jobs

Academic Writer – if you’re currently enrolled in college, then this would be a great job for you. It’s a lot of odd jobs–expanding content, creating new content, editing, and researching. To apply, send in your resume as well as a phone number where you can be contacted. This freelance writing job pays $100 – $500 depending on the assignment. Be sure to ask about wordcount to ensure that your compensation is fair.
Real Estate Writer – a real estate website needs someone to produce content for the site as well as work on an ongoing basis for their blog. For the project, however, you will be compensated for the content alone. To apply, send in a resume and writing sample. This freelance writing job pays $500 – $1,000.
Software Tips Writer – love Lifehacker? If you want to work for a blog that does something similar but focusing on software, then this would be great for you! This is an Elance job with long-term potential and the buyer looks to be setting their budget high, so I would recommend submitting a strong sample and then asking a per article rate. This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000.
Ecommerce Blogger – if you’ve got a strong background in PR and you have a history of turning blog traffic up from a 4 to a 10, then you should apply for this job. It’s on Elance, so like the last gig, be sure that you set a per article rate that is fair for you. This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000.
Computer Accessories Blogger – do you have a flair for fashion as well as gadgets? A site that creates reviews of computer bags and Blackberry accessories needs a blogger. Like the other Elance projects, be sure to set a per article rate that’s fair. The AFW standard is a minimum of $.10 per word, so be sure to bid accordingly. This freelance writing job pays a minimum of $1,000.

Freelance Writing Job Tip of the Week

Are you still struggling with setting a fair rate of compensation? Money isn’t always easy for people to envision. Instead of using naked dollar amounts, try attaching the dollar amount to something you like to buy. I like to use cups of coffee or a week’s worth of groceries, but you use what you feel like. When I take a job, I ask myself if what I’m working for is going to be worth it. An article, for me, is a week of groceries. Or maybe it’s 10 Starbucks lattes. When you think of stuff that’s somewhat abstract (like dollar amounts) and figure it in terms of something concrete (like your electric bill) all of a sudden, it makes sense. And all of a sudden, those crappy $.01 per word rates seem awful.

Worst Freelance Writing Job of the Week

I screencapped this one after Brian Orelli sent it to me. I don’t know if it’s still up for bid on Elance, but, well, take a look.

I’m assuming that you already know what’s wrong with this posting (just about everything) but just in case you received a concussion and are currently running around in a state of amnesia, let me break it down. You are meant to write articles under what I would term to be Orwellian conditions for $5. If you do not meet this person’s draconian standards, you will not be given enough compensation for a cup of coffee. This person doesn’t want to correct your grammar, but clearly doesn’t have a firm grasp on it. This is a nightmare boss and you’d be working for a pittance.

What to do if your Marketing Plan Fails

Chris Bibey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:49:42 +0000

Imagine this: you have been relying on the same marketing plan for several months or longer. Everything you do, for the most part, has been working. But out of nowhere you hit a snag and now nothing is breaking your way. What are you going to do?

If your marketing plan begins to fail, don’t panic. Instead, follow these steps:

1. Don’t abort what has worked in the past. The first thing you may feel like doing is overhauling your plan and forgetting what has gotten you this far. While there is nothing wrong with trying something new, you don’t want to totally give up on a plan that has worked so well.

2. Try something new. This goes along with tip number one. While you are working to get your old plan back on track, mix in something new that you have never tried before. For instance, if you usually send query letters and cold emails you should continue with this. But at the same time, why not throw in some cold calls to see if this can jumpstart your business? Once everything settles down you will have another marketing method that you are comfortable relying on.

3. Don’t give up. This may sound cliché, but it is entirely true. No matter what happens, recognize that your marketing plan has worked in the past and it will begin to payoff again in the future. The last thing you want to do is panic, make major changes, and find yourself in a worse position.

Final tip: just because you hit a slow period does not mean that your marketing plan suddenly turned bad. Remember, a lot of sales and marketing has to do with luck. You should expect to go through dry spells from time to time.

It would be nice if your marketing plan turned up new clients day after day. And while you may have a lot of success for an extended period of time, realize that this will probably turn 180 degrees sometime in the future.

An Introduction To Writing For Print

catherine — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 11:00:52 +0000

First let me take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Catherine–and the plan is for me to share some information with you about my experience with writing for print. I have been a full-time writer for many years, and have had my writing published in national, regional and trade magazines, as well as newspapers, books and custom publications. I have also written text for calenders and planners.

If it’s one thing I love it’s helping writers avoid making some of the mistakes that I did along the way.

So why should you listen to me? I’ll give you three reasons:

I have made piles of money writing for print publications.
I have broken into some big mags–examples include American Style, AAA Living, Boys’ Life and American Fitness, to name a few.
I am willing to share some of the secrets about writing for print. You will find that not too many print writers want to give away their resources.

So with that…why don’t we start this journey by taking a closer look at some of the opportunities out there for getting published on paper. Here are some of the possibilities:

Magazines. Don’t just think about the publications at your local bookstore–there are plenty of magazines out there that are mailed direct to the customer or are written specifically for a particular trade. I write for a publisher that puts together a lifestyle magazine for a very well-known client, and I have penned many a piece for trade magazines out there as well. Hospitals, associations and non-profits are other places to look for magazine writing opportunities. The pay rate range varies a great deal for this type of writing.
Newspapers. There are all kinds of different ways to approach writing for a newspaper. You can get in touch with your local paper to see if they will pay for freelance work or you can write a travel piece for a big city publication. Pay for newspapers tends to be on the low side, but it is a great place to get some published clips if you can find a good angle.
Catalogues. This market is not as large as it used to be, but there are still some jobs writing copy in print these days. Many tend to be employee positions, but sometimes you can find a temp spot as a freelancer. Pay varies.
Greeting Cards. Create text for birthday cards, thank you cards and sympathy cards and make a little money in the process. You won’t get rich off of this one–but it is a fun writing job that doesn’t eat up too much time.
Calendars and planners. Most of these gigs are on a per-project basis, but they can turn into an ongoing job if you impress the client.
Books. You don’t have to write an entire book to get published in one. Other opportunities in this arena include travel guidebooks or anthologies. Many will pay in copies or pay writers a nominal fee, but the prestige can be huge. Some will pay a decent stipend, and fewer still will share royalties with the writer.

Although this isn’t an exhaustive list of places that you can get published in print, it can help you focus in on an area that you may find interesting. Whether you have been writing for the web or are just getting started on a writing career, print can be a little bit intimidating. Luckily there are plenty of ways to get going.

If you have yet to go into a Borders and pick up a magazine with your byline in it–perhaps it’s time to add that to your list of accomplishments. I’ll see if I can’t help you do just that.

I’m here to tell you–it feels pretty amazing.

VI Magazine: Free Wordpress Theme

Jennifer Mattern — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:25:02 +0000

Here’s another neutral styled free Wordpress theme for freelance writers looking to launch their own professional site or blog on the Wordpress platform. Like the last free theme released here, this one was purchased with full rights from the designer for exclusive release here on All Freelance Writing. If you use it, feel free to share a link to your site in the comments so we can see how you’re using it to promote your freelance writing business. Please read the information below before downloading.

What’s Included

The coded theme

Terms

Screenshot

VI Magazine: Free Wordpress Theme

Notes

Remember that I do not offer technical support for the downloads. If you have simple questions, please post them as a comment on this post (do not email me about them), and if I can help I will. This way when I can’t help, maybe another member can. I don’t make any guarantees regarding these templates and themes, and I don’t have most of them up on demo sites yet.

To Download

Click the download link below.
Save the file to your hard drive.
Unzip / decompress the file (in Windows, right-click the file name and go to “extract all.”
That will save it to a decompressed folder.

More on our Free Keyword Density Analyzer

Jennifer Mattern — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:11:13 +0000

You might have already seen our free keyword density analyzer — the latest free online tool for freelance writers. Today I want to talk about some of the quirks and offer some tips on how to use it.

Word Counts

If you use the tool to track your word count, there are a few things you should know:

You get to choose the number of characters that counts as a word. You can choose a minimum character count of 2, 3, or 4 characters. That lets you opt to weed out words like a, an, the, etc. I had it coded with this option to give you a bit of flexibility. I know some clients have their own rules on character counts when it comes to the word counts they order, so this should be adaptable to most projects.
Numbers do not get included in the word count. While this might not be ideal if you’re doing a lot of stats-heavy writing, I felt this was a better option for most content writers who are tracking keyword density. The problem is that if we let numbers through in one sense, they’d also count for things like numbered lists (so if you have a numbered list with 10 items, you’d have 10 extra words in your word count).
We had some issues with symbols being included in the word count, namely the en dash and em dash (- and –). Those were then removed. They shouldn’t affect the count anymore, nor should other standalone symbols. If you come across any that do influence the count, please let me know so I can have the coder take a look.
Please include the article text; not a marked up html version.

Keyword Density Calculations

There are many keyword density analyzers out there, and they can calculate keyword density if different ways. Here’s how this tool calculates it:

# instances of keyword (or phrase) ÷ word count = keyword density percentage

We tried to go a little bit beyond giving you just the keyword density percentage with this tool. For example, next to that you’ll see the total keyword count for your choice keyword or phrase. That makes it a bit easier for you to do a manual check or comparison if something doesn’t look quite right. We also offer highlighting to let you track keyword distribution (not just density), so you can improve the readability of your articles.

Keyword Distribution / Highlighting

You get to choose up to 3 keywords or phrases at a time using this tool. Rather than just show the percentage for the keyword density, we also let you highlight the keywords, so you can track the distribution — where the keywords are in relation to each other. This is to help you spread them out so you’re not using the same phrase or word too many times too closely together, which could make the article more difficult for readers to stomach.

You can use this tool by entering your text to be analyzed, and then entering up to three keyword phrases. Then click the “show text” button below those fields. A preview of your text will appear below, with your keyword phrases highlighted.

Ideally, when using this tool try to avoid overlap. For example, don’t search for “freelance” and “freelance writing” at the same time because it will cause issues with the highlighting as the colors overlap. If you do insist on running these keywords through the keyword density analyzer at the same time, put the longer phrase first. The shorter phrase will still be highlighted over the longer one that way. If you search for the shorter one first, only the shorter one will be highlighted.

If you make changes, it’s pretty easy to see them quickly with this tool. We made the word count and keyword density aspects “live” meaning they change immediately as you type (such as removing a keyword and entering another one). The only thing you’ll have to change yourself is the highlighting. To get the new terms highlighted, just click the “hide text” button to minimize that preview, and then click “show text” again. Your changed text and keyword highlighting will then appear.

If you run into any quirks while using the tool that haven’t been covered here, please let me know and I’ll have someone look into it.

Elitists, Haters, Negativity and Anger—Oh My!

Yo Prinzel — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:00:04 +0000

WARNING: This post is very negative because I was an angry elitist when I wrote it so I fully expect a bunch of haters to come out of the woodwork and say negative things about me, thereby showing what negative, angry elitists they are themselves.

Did the warning above sound kinda circular in its logic when you first read it? Okay, good—it should. If you make your rounds in the freelance blogging community, chances are you’ve seen the words: Elitist, Hater, Negative and Angry come up time and time again on blog posts and in blog comments. They generally come up in two instances:

1. One blogger said something that another blogger or reader does not agree with.

2. Oh, wait, that’s the only time these words seem to come up. Huh. Interesting.

The Problem

So what is the real problem here? Is it the fact that everyone in the freelance writing community doesn’t agree with each other all the time like we live in a freakin’ hippie commune or the fact that it’s difficult for some people to just stand by their convictions using logic and reason alone and not resort to disparaging labels that make them feel safer?

The Example

In my experience, if a blogger thinks that—

writing for content mills full time is a lousy career choice for a writer,
working for a residual income by using Associated Content or Hubpages is a fool’s errand,
print writing is more “legitimate” than web writing,
the marketing tactics of some content mills are shameful,
writing for pennies is not sustainable and is unnecessary,
self-publishing is worthless,
writing on spec is a huge mistake

—then suddenly they are a negative hater or an angry elitist.

How in the world could someone come to that conclusion? If I absolutely despise the thought of eating ham and you like it—does that make either of us elitists, haters, negative or angry? If I love cats and don’t like dogs and you love dogs and don’t like cats, does that make either of us elitists, haters, negative or angry? Of course not.

And guess what? If a blogger writes a general post that happens to disparage the way you decide to run your career, before you tweet about how negative they are or write a comment or email about how they’re such a negative hater who must be angry, you should stop to consider the fact that the post is not about you. It’s about the author and their opinion. You make it about you when you get all weepy and defensive while reading it.

The Solution

So go forth writers and remember—disagreeing with someone, voicing a negative opinion about a gig or process, and standing up for freelancers in whatever way you see fit does not make you negative, hate-filled, angry or elitist—no matter how often you do it or who agrees with you.

And readers, you don’t have to like any of the things that bloggers “say” to you with their posts—but you should remember that if you take it personally or have a strong emotional reaction to it, it’s no one’s fault but your own. Own your feelings and either move on or do your cause or belief a favor and construct a vehement argument that doesn’t attempt to debase the blogger you disagree with because when you do, you’re the one who is a negative and angry hater.

The Disclaimer

Oh, and before you read this post and think it was about you, let me tell you that it wasn’t. Now, I’m not going to go all Carly Simon on you and never tell you who this post was about–well, actually, I am–because it’s not about any one blogger. These words are everywhere. The straw that broke the camel’s back, however, was this.

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