Words on the Page

Writers Worth Two: Are You A Flasher?

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Even though I'm writing this before I head out, I know by now we'll be in the car driving toward the Canadian Rockies. The plan is to stay in Jasper, AB for a few days, then down near Banff and Lake Louise before hightailing it back to Seattle for our flight home. I promise to bore you with the sights and tales when I return.

What a great two weeks it has been! And what a great way to round out this week's posts - Devon Ellington takes on the "exposure" scenario in one of the funniest ways possible. If you don't know Devon, you've not been paying attention. She's one of the most prolific writers I know, holding what seems like a gazillion pen names and working in more genres than I have shoes, and I have a lot of shoes. She makes hard work look easy, but this woman devotes a ton of time to her craft, and it shows.

Thank you, Devon. The celebration would not have been complete without your words of wisdom! I appreciate your friendship and support. Big virtual hugs. :)

You’re Not a Flasher, Are You?

By Devon Ellington

Before you wonder why I asked you about your personal life, think a moment: How often have you been offered “exposure” in lieu of money for your writing?

Cultures leave unwanted babies out in the wild for exposure, and it’s not because they treasure them.

Flashers need exposure. Film needs exposure. We need cash, the same way the plumber and the doctor and the accountant need it. “Exposure” doesn’t pay the bills. Nor does “pay per click after 500 clicks”. You expect me to put my time and effort into writing a good piece? I need to know what you’re paying. Up front. Not maybe-someday, depending on the leg work I do to drive traffic to YOUR site. This is my business, not my hobby. This is how I pay the bills. If you’re not going to participate in a fair exchange for time and skill spent, I will work with someone who will.

No one is going to respect your worth until you do. If you believe that you are only worth $1 an article instead of $1 word, no one else has the reason to believe you are worth more, either. This is not a business that rewards false modesty. If you’ve bothered to learn the craft and added that special magic called “talent” - -you’re worth a living wage.

Everyone thinks they can write. How many people have you met who claim they’d write a book “if they had the time”? Some of them might start one, someday. Then, lo and behold, when they discover there’s actually work involved, they stop. Most people think “anyone” can write a newsletter or a brochure. Then why aren’t they writing the materials for their own business, if it’s so easy. Time? If it “only takes a few minutes”, they can forego a few minutes of Angry Birds and do it. But they don’t -- because they can’t. No matter how they justify it to themselves, it’s not about time. It’s about skill.

Well-written materials connect the consumer to the business. The writing makes the consumer feel he matters -- matters beyond simply opening his wallet, but that his needs and his interests matter to the business. If I have a choice between a business that knows my name and greets me with a smile when I come in, and one where the employee is far too busy on his cell phone to bother with me, which do you think I will patronize? The one that makes me feel welcome.

Good writing makes the reader feel welcome.

It’s a skill. It deserves fair compensation. Not mere exposure.

Devon Ellington publishes under a half a dozen names in both fiction and non-fiction. Her romantic suspense novel ASSUMPTION OF RIGHT (as Annabel Aidan) was named a “hot book for cold Cape Cod nights”. HEX BREAKER will release shortly from Solstice Publishing. Her plays are produced in New York, London, Edinburgh, and Australia. She’s published over 200 articles and short stories in a variety of publications, and writes newsletters, event scripts, press releases, speeches, and more for business clients all over the world. She teaches writing to individuals, groups, and businesses throughout the country, both online and in person. Visit her website www.devonellingtonwork.com and her blog on the writing life, Ink in My Coffee: http://devonellington.wordpress.com.

Writers Worth Two: Freelance Writer's Dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Day Nine of the Fifth Writers Worth movement! Today's our last day in Vancouver, and my last chance to check in, assuming I'm able to wrestle the laptop from my husband (he may need it for the conference) and secure decent WiFi.

Know what the best part of asking you to share your thoughts on what worth means to you and your business? It's knowing that people like Cathy Miller will come up with something fantastic to share. Cathy is what I call quiet genius -- she's unassuming in her personality, yet her words are packed with wisdom and been-there-done-that experience. She's one of my favorite people I've never met, and I'm thrilled to have her guest posting. You will be, too. Her posts are always worth remembering.

She's done it again. Cathy's post is one we need to print out and nail to our walls above the work space.

Thank you, Cathy. Love!

The Freelance Writer's Dictionary Worth Reading

By Cathy Miller

You may have freelanced for years. Or felt pushed there when you could not find work. Or you could have slammed the phone down on a room full of executives and quit your day job on the spot.

Yes, that last crazed scenario describes my entrance into freelancing. I wasn't particularly proud of the loss of control, but it did signal that I waited too long to start my freelance writing business. Why do we do that? Why do we put our dreams on hold?

We let others define what makes us worthwhile. I know I did.

· I charged less than my writing was worth

· I did work from my corporate days I did not like

· I got talked into exchanging work for referrals (that never happened)

Why would a reasonably intelligent, professional writer sell herself short like that? Because we think we are not worthy to follow our dreams. We need to be more practical. Well, how practical is it to let others define what we should and should not do?

It's time we created our own freelance writers' dictionary.

Worth it From A to Z

A - Attitude - Adopt the attitude that you are worth it - however you define that.
B - Bold - Be bold and believe in yourself – two Bs for the price of one.
C - Confidence - Confidence in your writing and your business is your calling card to success.
D - Deserving - You are deserving of praise.
E - Escape - Escape the limits you put on yourself.
F - Freedom - You have the freedom to go after your dream and make it real.
G - Gift - Your writing is a gift - be thankful.
H - Honorable - Your profession is an honorable one where you belong.
I - Inspiring - You have the power to inspire and influence others.
J - Justified - Your belief in yourself is justified.
K - Knowledge - The knowledge you share is priceless.
L - Limitless - You have limitless opportunities to shape your future.
M - Merit - Belief in yourself has enormous merits.
N - Noteworthy - Believe what you have to say is noteworthy.
O - Open - Open yourself to the possibilities.
P - Praiseworthy - When you feel worthy, praise will follow.
Q - Quiet - Quiet the doubt and use the silence for bigger dreams.
R - Reflections - Reflections are the building blocks of creativity.
S - Sacred - Self-worth is a sacred right.
T - Trust - Trust in yourself and others will do the same.
U - Ultimate - Success is the ultimate reward for believing in yourself.
V-Vision – Open your eyes to the vision of your success.
W - Worthy - Tape the word worthy to your dreams and awaken your soul.
X - Xanadu - Create your own Xanadu of success.
Y - You - You are the builder of dreams - make it happen.
Z - Zeal - Finish each day with zeal for who you are.

The author of this quote is unknown, but it nails the sentiment.

"If you really put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price."

Write your own destiny.

================

Cathy has a business writing blog at Simply stated business, a health care blog at Simply stated health care and her personal bog, millercathy: A Baby Boomer's Second Life.

Writers Worth Two: What You Don't Deserve

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I'm still in Vancouver, one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. I'm still hit-and-miss with the WiFi, I imagine (writing this ahead of time), but the Writers Worth continues on in earnest!

Another day, another fantastic post! Again, many thanks to all who contributed their thoughts and experiences. You've helped writers in ways you couldn't possibly imagine.

Today's arse-kicking comes from Peter Bowerman, the Well-Fed Writer guru and coach whose every word I'd follow if I were you (and I do sort of resemble you all, don't I?). And an arse-kicking it is! Peter felt a bit hesitant when he sent it over, thinking it was too blunt. In my mind, there's no such thing as too blunt when you're telling someone something they need to hear in order to better their career. I love what Peter's said here; it's common sense applied liberally. No matter which side of the low-paying fence you're on, he has a wake-up call for you.

Thank you, Peter. I love what you've written. Amazing insight.

Why Writers Don’t “Deserve” to Make More than $5 to $10 an Article…

By Peter Bowerman

Question: Do you consider yourself to be a smart shopper? When buying something big or small – flat-screen TV or a loaf of bread – do you try to get the best price (i.e., watching the sales in the case of the TV or clipping a coupon for the bread)? If you’re like most people, of course you do, right? Okay, file that away for a moment…

Over the past few years, I’ve seen any number of articles and blog posts attacking people who posted ridiculously low-paying writing gigs on online job sites. Yet, as I read these pieces, and the ensuing comments, I’ve been a bit troubled – and perplexed – by the stance taken by some. No, these pathetically low-paying job listings aren’t a positive thing, but they don’t happen in a vacuum. The target of the anger and frustration (i.e., those listing these sorry offers) was the wrong one.

One commenter (Mike) hit the nail on the head when he said, “If you don’t like the terms, then don’t apply – simple. You see these ads over and over for one reason and one reason only – they work. I don’t like them either, but I simply ignore them. No amount of complaining is going to stop them.” But alas, his voice of reason has been all but buried under a mountain of righteous, if misplaced, indignation. How dare they? How can a writer make a living? Who do they think they are?

It all smacks of victimhood. In blaming the job posters themselves, who are highly unlikely to change their tune any time soon (and we’ll get to why in a moment), you give up control of your financial future and put it in their hands. Imploring them to change their evil ways assumes writers play no part in this unfolding drama. Wrong.

Say you were looking for writers to crank out some writing (whether for a content mill or even any one-off project someone needs to have written). And say you didn’t know what to offer said writers. What next? You’d go to some job sites and see, 1) what your fellow posters were offering, and 2) more importantly, what writers were accepting. And when you see listings offering $5 or 10 an article and a long scrolling list of writers responding with various and sundry versions of “Me! Pick Me! I’ll do it for that! I’ll do it for less!” well, you’ve got your answer.

If that same poster went to a bunch of sites, and found nothing but writers saying, in essence, “I won’t write your 500-word, keyword-rich article for anything less than $250,” again, he’d know the going rate. And in that case, think he’d dare post a job offering $5 or $10 for that same article? Not bloody likely. The cyber-hills would echo with laughter.

Of course, that $250 response is a fantasy; it’ll never happen on job sites like these. When supply (writers) outstrips demand (jobs), the reality of competition driving rates down to nothing is as predictable as the sunrise. Econ 101.

But, let’s use the argument many make: that this is even driving down rates respectable entities are willing to pay. Maybe, but here’s what’ll happen. All excited that now they can get the writing that used to cost them a LOT more done for peanuts, they hire some of these writers. And soon discover they can’t cut it. If you pay a bargain-basement writer, and then have to hire another writer to redo what they couldn’t do, it’s no bargain.

One comment read: “This vile writing segment gives professional writing a bad name.” Why should it give professional writing a bad name? Does McDonald's give the Four Seasons (or substitute any top-tier restaurant here) a bad name? Does the No-Tell Motel give Marriott a bad name? Within many industries, there are different levels of practitioners, serving different client segments and for different rates. If it’s not your segment and not where you make your money, then what do you care what they do?

So, let me address a writer outraged by the folks placing these listings. I realize there are more issues than just price, but that seems to be the biggie, so I’ll focus on that. So, you believe you deserve to be paid more than $5-10 an article, right? Okay, fine. Question: Why do you think that? As I see it, and correct me if I’m wrong, there are only two possible answers to this question and only one with real-world validity:

1) Writers deserve to be paid a fair wage, and $5 - $10 isn’t a fair wage.

2) I deserve to be paid more because my skills are worth more than $5 or $10 an article.

#1? Sorry to say, but no writer deserves to be paid any more than the going market rate for a particular skill set, and that rate is determined by a back-and-forth process between buyers and sellers over time. Pretty much like anything else that’s bought and sold on the open market – anywhere, any time, any place.

And the key here is “a particular skill set.” Which leads to #2: that your skills are worth more than $5 or $10 an article. Well, in the case of those running content mills, they only need a certain level of writing – and no better. And guess what? Thousands upon thousands of writers have the skills to write at that modest level.

Translation? That level of writing has been “commoditized.” Think gasoline. Or milk. Or sirloin steak in the supermarket. There’s so much supply, and so little difference between one brand or another, so assuming it’s not some special variety (organic milk, grass-fed beef, etc.), prices will all be about the same. Same with this level of writing.

That being the case, if those job listers have literally hundreds of writers lining up to bid on their projects at those rates, then why on earth would they need to pay any more than that? They don’t. And they won’t.

And please don’t say, “Because it’s the right thing to do.” That sounds really nice, and warm and fuzzy and all, but you don’t really believe that. Not if you indeed agreed earlier that you were a smart shopper. With rare exceptions, you won’t pay any more for something you want than you have to, and will often take time to ferret out a lower price on a particular item. Why should you expect different behavior from these job listers?

Here’s a serviceable analogy: McDonald's, again. Okay, so McDonald’s pays burger-flippers, say, eight bucks an hour. And given the relatively low complexity of that task, there are tons of folks out there who can do an admirable job at it. Now, clearly hypothetically, let’s say a world-class chef strolls into McD’s one day and says, “I’d a like a job flipping burgers, but given my formidable culinary skills, I deserve to make $80 an hour, not eight.”

To which, the hiring manager at McD’s is likely to reply: “Well, Chef Pascal or Luigi, I’m sure your skills are amazing, but the fact is, I only need $8/hour-burger-flipping skills. I’m happy to have you – geez, times must be tough, huh? – and I’m really sorry about this, but I can only pay you eight an hour.”

Same thing here. Content mill operators don’t need anything more than $5-10/article-writing skills. So, if you think you’re a world-class chef of writing, or at least a mid-talent short-order cook of writing, then stop applying at the McD’s of writing outlets, and instead go where the work pays far better, so your skills will, deservedly, be rewarded commensurately (like the commercial field, for starters).

And as many have accurately pointed out in their comments, those higher paying gigs are almost never advertised or posted online. You have to dig them out, which is why they pay far better. And those freelancers making the highest wages out there are usually those with a special skill or niche. In another words, there are far fewer writers out there with comparable skills. Just like our world-class chef.

If you decide not to bother seeking out better work (and it’s tough to retool your business, no question), thanks to inertia, uncertainty about next steps, or, let’s say it, laziness, that’s perfectly okay. But then stop complaining that these evil job listers won’t recognize and appropriately reward your stellar wordsmithing skills – skills which, like that McD’s hiring manager, they’re happy to have (heck, why not?) but don’t need, and hence, will be unwilling to pay for.

Oh, and as for other crazy conditions some of these listers ask for (e.g., free samples, on on-call 24/7, etc.) can you blame them? Given that writers, in droves, have already established their willingness – heck, eagerness – to be abused financially, it’s only natural to assume they’ll happily prostrate themselves again and again.

Not, that’s not exactly enlightened behavior on their part, but they’re simply reacting to the prevailing reality. In other words, in this scenario – no one abuses you. You allow yourself to be abused. And frankly, the sooner you realize and internalize that, the sooner you’ll be making the money you feel you truly “deserve” to make.

Yes, I know there’s been “rate fallout” in better-paying segments of writing, but I hear daily from writers having great years, some their best ever, and getting rates well above $100 an hour (and even more getting $75+). Not trying to be snarky, but if you want to believe the whole industry is in the toilet, it’s your right to do so, but it’s not the truth.

Adjusting my helmet, and settling into my freshly dug bunker, I await the inevitable “incoming”… ;)

*******************

Love to write, but hate to starve? Check out the free report “Why Commercial Writing?” at http://www.wellfedwriter.com/, home of the award-winning Well-Fed Writer titles by Peter Bowerman, on lucrative ($50-125/hour) commercial freelancing. He chronicled his self-publishing success (a full-time living since 2001) in the award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. http://www.wellfedsp.com/. A popular speaker on writing and publishing, he is a professional coach for commercial freelancing and self-publishing ventures.

Writers Worth Two: Confidence

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Yes, it's another day of Writers Worth celebration! Thanks again to all who contributed. To those of us reading, we appreciate the words of wisdom. And if you're new to the blog, you're seeing some great stuff from some impressive people.

I'm still lurking, but not for much longer. We'll be in the wilds of the Rockies by Friday, and completely disconnected (I hope). Nothing says "vacation" like a technology-free week!

Today Kimberly Ben, our Avid Writer blogger, shows us not only that we have confidence inside us, but how to show that to the client world. Kim is someone whose blog has morphed into this amazing gem of a place filled with fantastic advice and great insight. And that I think she's one of the nicest people on the planet is gravy. You'll love her. I do! And bookmark her site. You'll be glad you did.

Kim, thank you. Teaching confidence is tough, but if anyone can, you can!

Flexing Your Confidence Muscle

by Kimberly Ben

Having the guts to try your hand at earning a living as a freelance writer doesn’t mean you come automatically equipped with confidence in your ability. Some writers can command respect as highly qualified professionals from the gate, while the rest of us awkwardly fumble our way through those first client interactions and projects. We second guess our skill, qualifications, rates and whether or not we can really hold our own against so many other freelancers out there competing for the same jobs.

With confidence, you believe in your ability to provide clients with the best value, service and solutions. Thankfully confidence is something you can work on and build over time. Here are some suggestions to help speed the process along:

1. Get a Few Jobs Under Your Belt

One of the best ways to overcome nervousness, doubts about your writing skills and the ability to make a living as a freelancer, is to secure a few projects. The first step can be the toughest, so successfully completing writing projects can motivate you to keep going.

2. Focus Your Business On What You Already Know

One of the best ways to set yourself apart from the competition is to focus on a specific niche or specialty. For example, someone with an extensive career background as a paralegal has instant credibility as a legal writer that writers who classify themselves as generalists may not have. They understand legal terminology, culture, etc. The same goes for an IT specialist looking to break into writing technical manuals

3. Keep Learning

Knowledge is power. Books/ebooks, blogs, websites, free and paid courses and webinars are just a few ways to stay on top of emerging trends in freelancing and specialized niches/industries. There are several free resources available, but understand that you’ll need to continuously hone your craft to remain competitive. Think of continuing education as an investment.

4. Charge What Your Work Is Worth

Rates can be a source of contention among writers, but it’s so important to charge what you’re worth. First, when you set your rates too low, you spend more time working hard to earn what you need. Also, charging very low rates can cause a potential client may question the quality of services you provide.

5. Network with Other Freelancers

When you work for yourself, it’s important to have a network of support you can turn to for encouragement, professional feedback, mentoring/guidance and general camaraderie. You can begin building valuable relationships with other writers by commenting regularly on their blogs, interacting on writer and professional association forums and social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+). You can get to know writers who have already established themselves as successful freelance writers and gain valuable direction from those relationships.

6. Work on Projects and with Clients You Like

Happy freelance writers make a habit of working with clients on projects they enjoy. It keeps them passionate about what they do, and ensures that they produce a top notch project. Some freelance writers feel like they absolutely must take on any and every project that comes their way. This is a mistake because working on projects you don’t enjoy can le ad to unnecessary stress and anxiety. When you enjoy what you do, your confidence grows naturally.

7. Ask for Testimonials

Compliments can work wonders to affirm your ability to build a successful freelance business and increase confidence. When you complete a project, ask the client for feedback. If it’s positive, request a testimonial. Keep a list of client testimonials handy for pending marketing collateral and for whenever you’re having a bad day and doubt starts creeping in. It really helps to read all the nice things clients have to say about your work.

Kimberly Ben is a versatile freelance writer with over 10 years’ experience in business communications and B2B content marketing strategies. She blogs about her own freelance writing ~~misadventures~~ journey at Avid Writer.

Writers Worth Two: Finding Niches

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Week Two of Writers Worth, er.... Weeks!

I'm not here. If I'm online, I'm lurking from a WiFi spot in Vancouver. That doesn't mean the fun has to stop. I know you'll make each guest poster feel welcome and engage them in conversation. And thank you in advance.

Thanks also to Allena Tapia of About's Freelance Writing. Allena has been a source of information and of friendship for some time. I'm grateful that she answered the call for guest posts because her advice is spot on! If you've ever said, "But what do I write about? I don't have any experience!" listen up. You're about to have that question answered.

Thank you, Allena!

Boost Your Worth By Finding Your Niche

by Allena Tapia

When I teach classes about freelance writing at my local community college, I tell my students that every single one of them has a niche. And, without fail, I always have a student stay after to argue the point:

"But I'm just a secretary."

"But I've been a mother and housewife for the last ten years."

"But I just graduated from college."

And, despite the fact that I'm anticipating an ice cold Strongbow at home, I always manage to muster the patience from deep down inside of me to walk these students through their life decisions, extracurricular activities, and interests. Without fail, we always find something that

1) Elicits great passion from the student, or

2) They know an awful lot about.

And I'm willing to do this and go there for one reason, and one reason only: I believe your niche is your secret to writing success.

So, my Writer's Worth Week advice is to mine that niche! Find it, name it, and mine the heck out of it. And I say this for several reasons:

1) Writing can be soul-crushing, both when you start out, and at odd times along the way (example: burn out). Writing within your expertise tempers this a bit.

2) There are a whole lotta people out there who can string sentences together. You need something more than that.

3) Research is a time-killer, and often contributes to the low wages of newbies. Working within your niche saves time, and drives up your hourly rate.

Finding your niche is as easy as walking yourself through your employment, hobbies, and hot-button issues. What do you write about when you're not paid to write? What do you read? What news stories are you sharing on Facebook or Google+? What do you do at your day job?

I was once a secretary who answered phones for my state department of agriculture. I would tell people how many feet deep that had to bury their dead horse (not kidding), and how often their chickens should be tested for pullorum (it's a disease). Being able to interpret verbose state laws garnered me work with a crop pesticide company in my first year of freelance writing.

I once counseled a student who has worked at the JC Penney jewelry counter since she was 17. She wanted to edit and proofread, but insisted she had no experience to even begin selling herself. When I walked her through her job duties, she mentioned the fact that she has to match the manifests and packing slips on over 500 diamonds per week. This was the exact kind of detail work that landed her a job proofreading a 20,000 line Excel spreadsheet for a tech manufacturer later that year.

Now, if you follow me at all, either at About.com (http://www.freelancewrite.about.com), Twitter (@allenat), or via my personal blog (http://www.gardenwallpublications.com/blog), you know that I no longer write about chicken diseases or dead horses. Naming and marketing your niche doesn't limit you at all! It's simply a stepping stone to a better wage. It's one of the first steps in establishing your true worth as a writer.

How about you? What's your niche? Have a funny niche story to share? Leave it in the comments below.

Writers Worth Week: Deciding Your Own Worth

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

It's been a great week of sharing worth and inspiring others. Don't forget there's more next week!

Today's post comes from someone I've admired and watched for some time. I was fortunate enough to connect to Sharon Hurley Hall via Google+. In fact, I'd say becoming friends with Sharon was the best benefit I've ever received from Google+. Her blog is outstanding, as those of you who read it well know.

I'm thrilled to have today's post come from Sharon, who talks about how she learned to accept her worth long before she started freelancing.

What are You Worth? You Decide!
by Sharon Hurley Hall

Before you can accept your worth as a writer, you first have to accept your worth as a person. That's something only you can decide. I learned that the hard way while going through one of the toughest periods of my life - confronting racism when I was far away from home.

In my very early 20s I spent a year living in the South of France and for the first time I came face to face with people who made judgments about me based on something I had no control over - the color of my skin. Some were subtle about it; others were obvious.

I won't go into detail on all the many experiences of that year, but suffice it to say it was tough. In deciding how I was going to deal with the issue I could have turned the hatred back on the haters. But I didn't. Instead, I chose to shine a light on the ignorance and dispel some of the misconceptions.

I could also have allowed the haters' view of me to define how I saw myself. But I didn't. Even back then I knew my own value as a pretty decent human being - and I wasn't prepared to let anyone convince me otherwise, even if they didn't agree.

The thing is, you don't have to believe about yourself what others believe about you. You're better than that.

A Writer with Attitude
Bringing it back to the writing life, that attitude has carried through.

When I decided to go freelance, there were both supporters and detractors. I basked in the support and ignored the detractors - I knew that I could make a success of what I was doing.
When I got my first gig for a paltry sum, I never NEVER thought that all I was worth was 1c a word. I gave the same value that I give all my clients. They soon learned to value me as well, and that was reflected in earnings.
When clients disagreed with my approach, I explained where I was coming from and why what I was doing made sense.
When people looked at my photo online and made a snap decision that I wasn't the right person for them, I said 'their loss' and moved on.

Beyond Rejection
At no time did I allow rejection or ignorance to define my opinion of myself.
So my lesson is: it's not only about where you are now, it's about having a plan for where you are going. It's about knowing that you have the writing ability. It's about trading up whenever you can till you get to where you are comfy. And it's about continuing to do this throughout your life while remaining happy with what you have achieved so far.

Sharon Hurley Hall has been a professional writer for more than 20 years. She is passionate about helping other writers succeed through her Get Paid to Write Online blog.

Writers Worth Week: More Than You Realize

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

I love it when a writer takes a personal experience and turns it into a teaching moment. Paula Hendrickson,

whose comments and interactions with others have endeared her to the writing community, shows us through her own frustration how she defines her own worth even as she's being challenged on that thought. Paula, I hope by the time this hits the bandwidth you will have cleared up the mess and the client will be a distant memory in the making.

Many thanks for your words of wisdom, Paula. I appreciate it!

Writers Are Worth More Than We Realize

By Paula Hendrickson

What’s wrong with this picture: It’s May, and a slow-paying client still owes me for work I did in February and another client won’t pay for my April work until late May, yet I have to pay the local handyman for his labor the same day he does it, and the guy who mows my lawn expects to be paid by the time he’s packed his mower back into his truck.

What do the handyman and lawn guy know that professional writers don’t know?

They know what they’re worth.

Think about it. How many other professions routinely wait two, three or more months to be paid for their services?

Sure, some clients pay 2-4 weeks after invoice, but too many clients try to stretch payments out. When I agreed to work for the slow-payer, I understood his terms weren’t what I was used to. Most magazines pay a within a month of acceptance, some pay immediately upon publication. This guy stipulated 30 days after publication. (He tried to make it sound like a good deal by saying he paid whichever was more - the assigned rate or based on the published word count.) His terms break down to about 60 days after acceptance. Fine. Whatever. That’s okay as long as I know when I’ll be paid.

Apparently the slow payer can’t count. It is now 40 days after publication and I’m still unpaid. He’s pulled this before, so I wasn’t surprised. I sent a polite note, saying I assumed payment was already on its way, and asking him to confirm that the check has been mailed so we can avoid the whole Past Due Notice and requisite late fee. He hasn’t bothered to reply (or even acknowledge the invoice I sent him a month ago). I’m done being polite.

As professionals, we can’t afford to be polite when it comes to collecting outstanding invoices. Whether you charge $50 or $5,000 per article, if a client fails to fulfill his or her contractual obligations – and in the case of the slow payer, meet his own terms – in a timely manner, it’s up to us to demand payment.

Be cordial but firm. Something that’s worked for me is offering to set up a payment plan. The client may take offense, but if they’re not paying their bills on time, do they really expect you to believe their business is doing well?

If that fails, politely remind them of the terms they agreed to and give them a week to pay up. If the week passes with no payment, send a Past Due Notice clearly stating a late fee will be assessed if the invoice isn’t paid immediately. In full.

On rare occasions, they’ll still stall. No matter what excuses they offer – illness in the family, their own clients haven’t paid them, slow ad sales – make it clear that their cash flow issues are not your problem; you’re not in business to subsidize their company. Set a deadline and make it clear you will resort to alternate means of collection if necessary. Let them wonder if that means you’re turning things over to a collection agency, an attorney, or your burly uncle with his very hungry Rottweiler.

When clients realize you’re not a pushover, they should move you up on their priority list.

While some clients really are short of cash, the dirty little secret is some of the slowest payers have the funds to pay you, but stashed them in a 90-day CD or another account to earn a little interest before paying their debts. If you make it clear it could cost more for them to delay payment than they’ll make with a short-term investment, you’ve increased your odds of being paid on time.

Writing is just a small part of our job. Setting rates and negotiating terms help determine our worth, but holding clients responsible for meeting their obligations is how we reinforce our true value. If we all insist on being paid a fair amount in a timely manner, sooner or later writers will be recognized as the valued professionals we are.

What are some successful methods you've used to collect outstanding invoices?

Paula Hendrickson is a regular contributor to several national consumer and trade publications, ranging from EMMY MAGAZINE and VARIETY to AMERICAN BUNGALOW and PRODUCE BUSINESS, and blogs about her creative endeavors at www.createfromscratch.wordpress.com

Writers Worth Week: When the Safety Net is Gone

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Today's guest post is from a reluctant poster. Nancy Oliver reached out to me through LinkedIn not long ago, and we formed an instant, decadent email friendship. She's proven herself to be someone with incredible wit, hilarious insight, and the uncanny ability to spot phony marketing in lightning speed.

She came to me with her story of working with Demand as an editor. It was clear from the first note that Nancy was too talented to have lasted with them for very long (and she's long gone from DS). She found the courage to leave behind her sole source of recessionary income at a time when she could least afford to. It wasn't until this post that I realized the full extent of Nancy's courage --and talent.

Nancy, thank you for overcoming your reluctance and sharing this incredible story.

When the Safety Net is Gone

by Nancy Oliver

In 1994, I started my freelance life – writing and editing – with a built-in safety net, my husband. We were a silly, mid-life pairing. When we married, he was 46; I was 36. He was tall and thin; I was short and thin. I was trapped in a well-paying but-oh-so-boring technical writing job and worked many hours “on the side,” cramming words into novels and short stories. The tech writing money was so delicious, though, I felt I could never leave it behind.

My husband loved my writing as much as he loved me. He was the best beta reader I’ve ever had. On our honeymoon, he began to whisper those magic words to me. “You can be your own boss. Write your novel. You can do it! You know your characters need you more than …”

I was too scared to consider it. Didn’t I need the structure that going to an office provided? Didn’t I need that instant feedback when my computer documentation was approved with no changes? Didn’t I need that fabulous paycheck?

After about a year of waffling, I caved, but my sense of impending failure was great. My plan was to take a few technical writing jobs and work on my fiction as much as I could. I was in my late-30s, an experienced writer and editor. Unfortunately, I was still gullible.

My first freelance project was to work with Sandra, an engineer who had scored a contract with a major computer company to provide documentation. We agreed on a written contract, and we were off. But Sandra, although much respected by her client, was not respectful of her subs. She would tell me she couldn’t afford to pay me because she hadn’t been paid. She would tell me her electricity had been cut off because she couldn’t afford to pay both her electricity and me, and that she had chosen to pay me. She would tell me that her children were eating peanut butter sandwiches because she had chosen to pay me. She would tell me her furniture had been repossessed because she had chosen to pay me. It was endless. I swear she spent most of her days coming up with new reasons to make me feel guilty.

But Sandra seemed to have forgotten that we were living in a small university town.

Beth, a friend of mine, was a volunteer in my husband’s department. Beth also happened to be Sandra’s neighbor, although the two women didn’t know each other. Beth saw lights on in Sandra’s house at night. Beth saw Domino’s make deliveries. Beth saw the new leather furniture being delivered. Beth saw two late-model BMWs in the driveway at the end of every work day.

Lesson #1: You might have a contract, but people might still try to take advantage of you.

For a few years, I was able to get paid work without this level of hassle. The most reliable, stress-free work came when I would work directly with the client, not subbing. Being located where there were so many universities was also a help.

The fiction, on the other hand, went pitifully. My characters struggled on the page. My plots flopped. Nothing seemed to be working right. I was disgusted with the way things were going. My husband would ask: “Why are the novels not pouring out of those fingers? You can do it!” I meditated. I prayed. I decided that maybe it was the fact that I was spending so much time in the technical writing world that all my creative juices had been killed or, at the very least, mortally wounded.

Lesson #2: A writer (or an editor) needs time to be creative as well as time to be regimented.

With that in mind, I decided to finish my current jobs and then devote myself full-time to my fiction. I filled journal after journal. No fiction, mind you. Just thousands of words about this ongoing inner struggle I had. Why were these characters so stuck inside my head? Why were these plots not bouncing along? Nothing seemed to be working. I couldn’t get to the root, but I always had the comfort of my safety net.

The safety net’s voice was ever in my ear, encouraging me. “It’s just because you have all this time now; you drove yourself so hard for so long.” Well, that was true. And he always added, “You can do it.”

Lesson #3: Cut yourself some slack.

Just as quickly as he had dropped into my life, he dropped out of it. In fact, he just dropped dead – right in front of me. We were doing a minor home repair. He turned around, took three steps to me, and asked, “Did you say 7 3/4?” And that was it. He dropped down like his bones had been lifted straight out of his clothes. His first heart attack at 54 was his last. We had just celebrated our 8^th wedding anniversary five days earlier. My sweet-talking safety net was gone.

After the memorial service, I began to stay in bed most of the day. After the first three weeks, our weimaraner stopped standing sentry at the front door, waiting for her preferred owner to come home. I cried so much I lost my voice. I lost 15 pounds. I thought to myself: “Can I go on? Can I?”

Lesson #4: You need a plan when the safety net gives out.

I won’t lie. It was six months before I could smile again. I was in a perpetual state of feeling like I was holding my breath. One midnight, as I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, it occurred to me that I was going to get bed sores if I didn’t stop spending so much time in the “horizontal hold” position, as my husband used to call it.

I opened the nightstand drawer and pulled out a journal. I hadn’t written anything since Ed’s death because now all my words were stuck in the ether, not just the fiction-related ones. I started making a list -- a list of five things I would make myself do every day. Number 1 on that list was “Get out of bed.”

Lesson #5: Even small steps count big when you’re low.

At first, I second-guessed myself endlessly. Did I want to take that 20-hour a week communications job? Did I want to get back into the world of office politics? The answer to both was “No.” But I did it. Sometimes, just getting out into the world is better than spinning endlessly in your own, alone.

After two years, I was ready to return to freelancing. It was slow going, at first. I would get a migraine or a nervous stomach before I met with clients. I found, though, that one client happily recommended me to another. Word-of-mouth referrals became gold in the bank. I took writing classes and workshops and kept expanding my repertoire of skills. I became flexible and daring. I would actually cold call people and ask if they needed a brochure put together or a proofreader for their newsletter.

It’s been 10 years now since Ed died. I’m still freelancing. When the economy went belly-up a few years back, several clients tightened their belts so much I was squeezed right out, and I had to work at one of the content mills for a while. My self-esteem took a nosedive. I didn’t know if I could take it – the humiliation of working so many hours for so little money. I never stopped trying to find new clients, even when I was at the content mill. I was working 12-hour days, but I was still trying to make a new job contact every single day. But I did it. I had a mortgage to feed. The economy began to improve and so did my list of clients who were willing to pay what a professional writer and editor should be making. One day, I was feeling particularly morose about working so hard and earning so little. I went to the bookshelf and absent-mindedly picked up a novel that I had been reading when my husband died. My bookmarker? A little sticky note with only four words on it, written by my husband. “You can DO IT!” I took it out and taped it to the wall near my computer monitor. I doubled up my daily efforts and had my first client post-content mill in about four weeks.

Sometimes, a new safety net just needs a little boost to get off the ground.

Nancy Oliver is a writer, editor, and public speaker in North Carolina where she spends a lot of time in Wi-Fi cafes. When she's not asking complete strangers if they've considered working to improve the SEO content of their LinkedIn profiles, she's renovating her family home place.

Writers Worth Week: Why Your Per Word Rate Isn't All That

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Day two of Writers Worth Week, and you're in for a treat. Urban Muse Susan Johnston is someone I remember "meeting" at the start of her career (and pretty close to the start of my own freelancing career). Here was someone who was going to rock the writing world. And rock it she has. Susan has a phenomenal blog, a book I highly recommend (LinkedIn and Lovin' It), and speaks at various industry conferences. Plus she's just so darned nice.

Here, Susan's tackled the topic of the per-word rate. She's changed my thinking - I bet she changes yours, too.

Why Your Per Word Rate Matters Less Than You Think

By Susan Johnston

Ask most writers and they'll tell you they'd rather earn $1.50 per word than $.50 per word. After all, the latter is three times as much money, right?

Not necessarily.

Time is money so you also need to factor in the time and hassle it takes to complete the assignment, not just how much you're earning per word. Although most publications pay by the word instead of by the hour, it's a good idea to estimate the amount of work involved and make sure the assignment is actually worth your time.

Say you were assigned an 800-word feature article for a national magazine that pays $1.50 per word. That's $1,200, which sounds like a tidy sum of money. But if your editor asks you to interview two "real people" sources and two experts, you'll easily spend several hours (if not days) finding "real people" who meet her criteria and cajoling them to talk.

Once you've completed the interviews and written the article, let's say your editor drops one of your sources because the source refuses to sign the photo release form or maybe the art director doesn't find the source very photogenic. Then you spend several more hours finding and interviewing a new source. By now, you've easily sunk 20 hours into the assignment.

After you file a revision, your editor sends the article to her boss, who chimes in with a dozen questions that require you to re-interview one of the real people and both experts. Another two days playing phone tag and revising your article so the article is (finally) accepted and you can submit your invoice.

But wait! Two months later, you still haven't gotten paid, so you send a follow-up email, which goes ignored. The next week, you call accounts payable and they ask you to resend your invoice.

Five months after starting the assignment, you receive a check for $1,200, but you realize you've easily spent two full weeks reporting and writing, then re-porting and rewriting your article, not to mention the time you spent begging to be paid. At roughly 40 hours a week x 2, that's 80 hours. Divide $1,200 by 80 hours and you've earned a measly $15 per hour, which is even less after taxes.

But what if you accepted a different assignment at $.50 per word? Perhaps a trade magazine offers you $400 for an 800-word article that requires three experts (all provided by your editor so there are no approval issues and no "real people" to wrangle). If you schedule the three interviews in an afternoon, you could spend an hour brainstorming questions and reading background information (you've covered the topic before so you just need a quick refresher, not a crash course), then a half hour on the phone with each source.

The next day, you spend two hours writing the article and a half hour proofreading and verifying the stats you included. Your editor emails you back right away with a few minor questions and zaps your invoice over to accounts payable. A few weeks later, you get paid via direct deposit. All told, you've spent a little over five hours on the assignment, which equates to between $75 and $80 an hour. Even if it took a little longer, you'd still earn a lot more money per hour than the other example and you'd keep your schedule open so that you could accept other projects, too.

Now, you may have non-monetary reasons for accepting Assignment A (prestige, the personal satisfaction of seeing your byline in a magazine your mother-in-law reads). But if you consistently under-value your time, then you're stunting your earning potential.

A few years into freelancing, I decided that I'd rather work with low-maintenance clients and earn a decent hourly rate than kill myself trying to please big-name clients and earning close to minimum wage. The handful of high-prestige, low-paying assignments I do tackle are balanced out by assignments for publications with a lower headache factor and higher pay.

Need help figuring out how much you should be earning per hour? Katherine Lewis of CurrentMom has an excellent post on calculating your freelance rate and the Editorial Freelancers Association lists common editorial rates.

Susan Johnston blogs at The Urban Muse and Ebyline. Her articles have appeared in Bankrate.com, The Boston Globe, DailyCandy.com, US News & World Report, and many other publications. Follow her on Twitter at @UrbanMuseWriter.

Writers Worth Week: Using Your Time Wisely

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

It's the fifth anniversary of Writers Worth Week! For those of you new to this blog, I started a movement five years ago borne out of a rant -- Writers Worth Day. Tired of watching writers take lousy-paying gigs and justifying it as the way things are, I grew hoarse trying to convince job posters to stop devaluing writers. Instead, I turned my attention to writers. If you can't plug the holes in the boat, you can at least show the passengers how to swim.

Every year since I've been posting "worthy tips" randomly throughout the year and guest posting on other blogs to get the word out. If we get one more writer to expect more from his or her career, then it's worth the effort.

This year I turned the tables. I've said about as much as one person can say about trusting in your own worth. So I asked you -- my readers -- to tell me in your own way what worth is, how you find it, where your search for it has taken you, or what you've learned from it. And boy, did you deliver.

I'm proud to announce that this year, Writers Worth is not just a week, but two weeks and counting! The posts are still rolling in from those of you who want to share with others your ideas of worth, your experiences, your advice. As long as you keep sending the posts, I'll keep putting them up, so don't be shy! Email me with your post - help a fellow writer improve his or her career.

Let's kick off this year's Writers Worth Week with the words of my chum, Ashley Festa. A recent college graduate, Ashley has been steadfast in her quest to build a career the right way. For her, that means holding down a full-time job while she shapes her future career. Her words inspired me. I know they'll do the same for you.

How to Use Your Writing Time Wisely

by Ashley Festa

I’m a three-quarter-time writer.

By day, I’m a full-time marketing communicator. By night (and lunch break and weekend), I’m a part-time freelancer. It’s fair to say I spend a lot of time writing. And I’m dedicated this Writer’s Worth Week to using that time wisely.

I stay in my full-time job because I feel accomplished and appreciated. My co-workers and managers value my skill. I also have the good fortune of working with a creative director who has loads of practice collaborating with copywriters. He knows how to brainstorm and work through snags in the copy.

It’s generally a pretty good gig. And the steady income doesn’t hurt either.

But there’s one person at this job who’s pretty difficult to work with. She’s a communicator, too, but focuses on a different type of writing. Instead of respecting what I can do as a copywriter to accomplish her advertising goals, she gets hung up on her own words, words she’s written to solicit donors. That’s not copywriting. Good luck telling her that.

Unfortunately, I can’t get rid of her. But because of my steady income, I do have the luxury of being able to pick and choose my freelance clients. And during this Writer’s Worth Week, I need to pass out pink slips to those clients who don’t value my work.

Sometimes firing a client is easy. You know the ones I mean. The double-whammy: They haggle over price, then nit-pick and argue when the work is finished. These clients are demoralizing in every way, so I hold up my end of the contract and get rid of them as soon as the project is complete.

The ones who pay well but don’t appreciate the work are hard to fire. I have to ask myself: Is it worth being miserable every time I see that client’s name in my inbox? This kind of client is like the other writer at my full-time job. Sure, I can take on her projects, but I know in the end she’s going to hate what I write because they aren’t her words (and even when I use her exact words, she’s still not happy because they’re in a different order. Go figure.) With these types, you can’t win. If it were up to me, I’d fire her, so why should I hesitate to fire these types of clients?

A third type of client is the one who takes advantage of my skill. They like what I write. They can count on me to meet deadlines. They know working with me will make their life easier because I do it right the first time. And overall, I feel appreciated by them. But compliments don’t keep the lights on (or support my office supply store addiction).

For me, these are the hardest clients to fire because I truly feel valued. But they just don’t pay enough for the time I put into producing a quality product. For most of these clients, the budget is out of their control. I knew the pay rate they were able to offer when taking on the assignments, and I knew it wasn’t enough. But when you feel like you’re really helping someone, it’s hard to say no.

I have to get over that.

Here’s why: There’s a fourth kind of client. My highest paying client has also been the easiest to work with. He appreciates my skill and understands the collaborative nature of editing. He is satisfied with the product. He paid the final invoice before I’d even finished the work, for heaven’s sake. Why can’t they all be this perfect?

So instead of doing favors, I’m going to use my limited freelance time working for clients who appreciate my talent and pay for it.

After all, don’t we all have a limited amount of time for freelancing, whether we do it part time or full time? So make sure you dedicate that time to clients (or finding clients) who believe you’re the worthy writer that you are. And who’ll pay you as such.

Do you have any clients you need to fire this week?

Ashley Festa is a freelance writer with more than 10 years of writing and editing experience. She specializes in creative marketing materials and blogging - for pleasure and for businesses. She also writes magazine features, newspaper articles, advertising and brochure copy, grocery lists, and sometimes on the back of her hand. Find her online at www.ashleyfesta.com or on Twitter as @ashley_festa. Follow her personal improvement blog at GiveUpTheGood.com.

Friday Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: I Felt Like Jesus by Chuck Prophet

No work today. Instead, I'll be on my way to Portland, Maine for the stepdaughter's college graduation. Very much looking forward to it. She's worked so hard to get to this point, and she's already seeing a payoff. She is the only one of three college graduates in the family who is graduating with a great job already in hand. Amen!

I was handed yet another project yesterday -- the annual Big One. Super that they need it by June 1. Not super that I won't be here. We're off to Vancouver next weekend, and while I do intend to work the first week, the second week will be spent in the Rockies and very much disconnected. Still, the client promised to work around my schedule, so I'm hoping to get at least an extra week on the deadline.

Since it's Friday and we should all be dancing, I'll leave you with this video. The song is one of my favorites, but the kid dancing is just the epitome of free expression. Stick around for the one-handed handstand.

Happy weekend, everyone. And Happy Mother's Day to all moms, even those whose children are of the four-legged variety.

The Importance of Contracts

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere by Counting Crows

Another busy one yesterday. I started a new client project almost at the same time the contract came in. I was eager to get going on this one as it's a new client I located at the conference.

I waited for the contract. Not that I don't trust the client - I don't trust that the "limmerance" phase we're in now where we're on the same page and happy and smitten with expectations. Things can go wrong. Projects can go south too quickly for all sorts of reasons. I could have had that project half done, but I've learned not to move without a signature. It's that important.

You've worked without one at least once, haven't you? We all have. It happens that you just start in on a project and forget that all-important piece of paper. In my early days, I sure did. And it bit me hard too many times. Here are some examples of why you shouldn't lift a finger without protection:

Avoidance. Think some clients don't try to avoid payment? Tell me if this has ever happened to you - you do the work, send the invoice, then wait. You follow up with another invoice a month later. Nothing. A third invoice goes out. Nothing. You mention you're thinking of turning to a collection agency or you escalate the problem some other way. It's then that you hear from them, and it comes like so: "We were very unhappy with your work and we aren't paying." Often they won't even say they aren't paying; they'll just hit you with a litany of problems you've injected into their world. They're avoiding payment, for they had three months to complain, yet they waited until you pushed. Contracts avoid the uncertainty of whether you'll ever get payment. You will. Legally.

Friends and other experts. The client decided to let his friends edit his work - you know, that work you just spent a week or so editing. Now their fingerprints are smudging your copy and muddying his message. Does he care? No, because they're his friends and he trusts them! And now they have him doubting your abilities. He wants to fire you. If you have no contract, you don't have much chance of collecting. However, if you have a contract and you're fired, he owes you per the terms of the agreement. And a court will back you up on it.

Sudden money woes. It's amazing how many clients become hard up for cash the minute you're in the middle of or have just finished a project. Large bills do hit companies, but if it happens at the frequency with which writers are reporting, I'm afraid for corporate America. At any rate, their money problems are as much concern to you as yours are to them. The contract locks them in to paying you.

The "trust me" client. I'll admit he was a rarity, but there he was, saying he didn't work with contracts because they were "fussy." This was as he was rounding down the words-per-document he'd pay me for, as he put it. And saying he'd pay for "the content I use." So if I wrote a 2,000-word story and he paid me for 200 words? He refused the contract and I refused his business. That was one loss I've never regretted. As our priest used to say, Trust in God, but ladies, take your purses with you when you leave the pew."

The "I really wanted this project" switch. You think you're writing a brochure and a newsletter because hey, that's what he said he wanted. But now your client is saying "No, I really wanted you to update the website, too. I did tell you!" A contract spells out what he really told you and makes sure he's not adding to the list without properly compensating you.

Fee switcheroo. "No, I didn't agree to pay that - you told me it was this!" Don't ever put yourself in a position for someone to deny ever knowing what you are charging. Spell it out in writing and get a signature from the client. Even an emailed confirmation of your terms is better than nothing.

What have contracts helped you avoid?

Client Lessons: What the Dog Whisperer Has Taught Me

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Somebody That I Used to Know by Walk Off the Earth

Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the fly. Yesterday, I played the part of the fly as a few of my project drafts hit the windshield with definitive splats. In one case, it was a matter of changing up a few things and we were back on the road. In another, it was more a case of too many hands on a project and not enough input from the decision maker. I suspect the modification will be better because now I know from the decision maker what is expected. That's a huge help.

My husband remarked that my reaction this time was rather neutral. Actually, he said "Why aren't you flipping out like you usually do?"

Because stuff happens.

Maybe I had a little too much of the Cesar de Mayo Dog Whisperer marathon Saturday, but I was feeling all calm and assertive when the separate client notes came in. Or maybe that was exhausted and spent from planning a vacation. I'd like to think Cesar Millan's training of dog owners is rubbing off on me (I don't own a dog after losing my life dog years ago). But his lessons aren't just for dog owners. They're great lessons we can apply to every human interaction we have, especially in business. Here's what Cesar has taught me:

Remain calm and assertive. Freaking out never got anyone anywhere other than that quick trip to Stress Town. Instead, breathe. Pull those shoulders back, stick the chin up, and smile as you attempt to solve the problem or talk with your clients. Emit the energy you want your clients to react to. It's amazing how your attitude can influence the outcome of your communications.

Be the pack leader. You could cower in a corner or get nervous every time a client gets upset or has a problem. Or you can take charge of an unruly situation with confidence, and of course with that calm/assertive attitude. Guess which one leaves a better impression?

Let it go once it's over. Cesar says dogs live in the now, not in the past. Oh, to be like that! Why not? You can't move forward, as Cesar says, if you're still living in the past. If your client corrected you on something you don't feel is a mistake or something that clearly is, fix it to their liking and move on. It no longer exists.

Create balance. If you have a client who's a huge fan of drama or fits of hysteria, find ways to temper that reaction. In one case, I figured out that giving the client very specific information and only what she needed to hear worked best. Because she skimmed emails instead of reading them through, she'd react with panic thinking I'd missed something. I started using bulleted lists -- the panic attacks disappeared. Find out what it takes to create balance with your client, and apply it liberally.

What Dog Whisperer or other behavioral training advice applies to your interactions with clients?

Five Things Hockey Teaches You About Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:12:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Strange Girl by The Airborne Toxic Event

For a Monday, it was pretty busy yesterday. I had a list waiting from a client, and I managed all but one item, which isn't back from the client's client yet. I'm hoping to wrap that up today. I'm also in a holding pattern: a new client hasn't returned the contract yet. When they do, I can begin. Until then, I market for other clients.

As I watched my beloved Penguins fold like a house of cards a few weeks back, I didn't consider then how much hockey can teach us about marketing. Turns out there's plenty about the sport that can be used to improve marketing. For example:

The more pucks shot on the net, the higher the likelihood of a goal. This one is rather obvious. If you market consistently, your odds of securing clients and projects increase. You can send out one note a day or a dozen in a week -- it's that you repeat your efforts the following week and the week after that and so on that makes the difference.

The more you practice, the better you become. Wayne Gretzky didn't become a superb hockey player because he was born with the ability to play. He had to work at it. If you market every day, you develop and refine your message.

Home ice advantage is a real advantage. You just play better in your own comfort zone. Likewise your writing -- your strength lies in trusting your own skills and allowing yourself to propose projects and meet prospective clients as an equal. If you trust in your own abilities, you can face your client with more confidence.

Penalties are real disadvantages. Not that you'd body slam a client or hit them with a high stick, but you can fail to follow through on marketing -- not following up, letting too much time pass between communications, forgetting to present your best pitch, etc. And just imagine how much you've been penalized by inertia.

The Stanley Cup is heavy to lift, but no one ever complains. Sure, marketing is going to be challenging, and it may even cause you to take risks you wouldn't normally take. But the prize -- whether it be opening up a new area of specialization or securing that article assignment from the magazine of your dreams, etc.-- is so worth it.

What else can hockey -- or any sport -- teach you about your marketing?

Writers Worth - Here it Comes....

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:23:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Yeah! by Usher

How was the weekend? I spent mine outdoors, first at an early-morning wedding (and Jenn looked radiant) then most of Saturday afternoon digging out around the rhubarb and moving plants. I moved a bunch of rudbekia, some daisies, and rerouted the forget-me-nots, which were leaping all over the front garden. I'm really pleased with that flower this year -- they've tripled in abundance since last year. Pretty soon I'll be ripping them out and tossing them like I've started to do with the rudbekia.

I bought another poppy, too. The two I have are thriving and putting out huge numbers of blooms, so I wanted to create a space just for them. That meant digging up and moving (and even tossing) some of the daisies. The garden is telling me what it wants, and I'm doing what I can to listen.

Two weeks. That's how long before the fifth annual Writers Worth Week begins. I'm mixing it up this year. You've heard me go on enough about valuing yourself and embracing your own worth. So this year, it's your turn.

It's your turn to be the inspiration for the new writers and those writers who find themselves locked in low-paying purgatory. Write a post telling others how you found worth, what worth has meant for your career, your struggles with valuing yourself, how you overcame low-paying gigs and being under-appreciated…. whatever your story is. You get the byline. You get the chance to inspire someone, share an idea that can change someone’s roadblock into opportunity, and create an inner dialogue in someone that helps them grow professionally.

Beginning writers stories welcome, too! Tell us what you’re facing and what your struggles are to value yourself and build a business.

If you write it and it's directly related to worth in any way, I'll post it. (If you're advertising, save your breath.) Email your post to me by this Friday. I promise to post all guest posts, for in my mind there is no end to discovering your worth.

What will your lesson to others be?

How was your weekend?

Marketing Ploys That No One Tells You Are Bad: Until Now

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Hypocritical Kiss by Jack White

I have never bought anything from any offer coming in over my fax line. There. I've said it. Now stop faxing me.

In fact, there are any number of marketing tactics that are, for the most part, annoying as hell. Not exactly the best impression to leave with your potential customers, is it? And oddly enough, it's not always the way in which you're reaching people that leaves a sour taste; some of the most useful marketing tools can become part of the worst marketing you've ever done.

Here are my top peeves in marketing:

Faxed offers. Nothing says "I'm dying to ring into your office line, tie up your phone but not by calling you directly, and send you something without asking that eats into your paper and ink supply" more than the impersonal fax. I'd much rather you called me or emailed me so I can ignore those "Cruise Sale!" offers properly.

Twitter promotions. What's that, you say? Aren't we supposed to promote on Twitter? Yes. However, promoting on Twitter doesn't mean that's all you do on Twitter. I've had follow requests from Twitter accounts (I can't even call them people for they feel too robotic) that repeat the same message or send off the same link with different wording on and on and on.... If you can't mingle and converse with people, stay the hell off Twitter.

Subscriber emails. Ten emails in two weeks to tell me about one one-hour webinar that your followers have already signed up for? I don't know what marketing book or blog you're following that gives you that killer advice, but I suggest you either burn the book or lose the URL. If you treat your followers like they're flaming idiots who can't remember your webinar after maybe three messages, congratulations. You've just offended them.

Brochures or sales letters with errors. More than just the lack of proofreading or general editorial oversight, some marketing copy comes in with message containing the wrong facts or fail to cite sources.

Screaming intentions. Shout all you want -- just make sure it's the right way to send your message. For example, if you overload your copy with BOLD CAPS or strings of !!!!!!!!!!, I've just lost all confidence that what you have to say isn't embellished beyond actual reality. Stop using tricks and font changes to get attention and start beefing up your actual message.

What marketing ploys fall flat with you?

Open Thread: Getting Them to Yes

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Simple Song by The Shins

Hop on over to Jenn Mattern's All Freelance Writing blog where I'm guest posting today. Give Jenn some comment love.

I'm making progress. Yesterday I spent a good bit of time framing in and researching an article. I felt like I was at it all day. In actual fact, I was at it a total of two hours. There were other projects that had to be handled, so the interruptions made it feel like I was at it longer.

I did some post-show marketing. I'm still working my way through the stack of business cards. The problem is without clear notes, you start to wonder "Did I meet these people or did I just pick up their cards at the booth?" If it hadn't been such a busy show, I'd have been jotting notes on the back of every card. This year I just couldn't. I was running (in one case literally) between meetings.

I have a few clients I'm still in talks with, and I hope to get something nailed down this week or next from them. I need to know May is going to have plenty of work so that I can start planning June and July. I'm talking with a client today to work out a retainer arrangement.

I get the dragging of the feet -- for some clients, this is a new area for them. They may not be used to working with contractors or writers, nor will they always know what they're going to need when it comes to writing.

So how do you get the clients from maybe to yes?

Do the thinking for them. Sometimes it's more a matter of "I don't have time to deal with it let alone plan it." In that case, I usually provide some sort of game plan based on what they've told me they're thinking of doing. They're then free to add, subtract, or change it entirely. Sometimes they just want someone to get the ball rolling.

Price it a la carte. One of the proposals I sent last month included a breakdown of each project and the price for each. If clients aren't sure about the entire proposal, they can opt for something small to start.

Show them you're invested in them. Here's where social media can be a great help. Tweet their news, share with them things that could benefit their business, give them an occasional public pat on the back for something they've shared or accomplished. Be genuine about it and don't bombard them with tweet "love."

Share other client recommendations. If others are saying nice things about you, make sure to include those things in your portfolio or proposal. Also, offer to connect them with one of your clients for direct feedback.

How do you get them to "yes"?

The Efficient Freelancer

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: I'm Shakin' by Jack White

It was one of those days yesterday where the plans to get work done were trumped by other things. Phone calls and emails to clear up details ruled, so I just went with it. I have one hard deadline this week, so there's still time.

I was talking with a freelancer yesterday and the topic of working smarter came up. She wondered aloud if she were working as efficiently as she could be. Listening to her process, I think she is. But it's a great question, and it's one we should probably be asking ourselves more often. I don't ask it often enough of myself.

I thought of some of the ways in which I do work efficiently. Here's what works for me:

Plan the article at the query stage. This is my favorite way to save time. My questions are my article subheads. Sure, that can change, but if I set up the questions to reflect the information I want to convey, I've got my outline already. For example, one article was on how life insurance agents could increase sales in a dwindling market. The questions were:

Are insurers going to cut more products/coverage in the future?
How will that affect agents meeting their sales targets?
How can agents maintain or increase business in this market?

Each area was then easy to fill with input from the industry experts and with my research. Time saved: about two to three hours.

Transcribe as you interview. I'm one of those weird creatures who tapes conversations and takes notes simultaneously. I have this habit of jotting down quotes that stand out in the conversation and quickly looking at the tape counter so I can find it faster later. If the interview is particularly full of great info, I'll listen to the entire tape, but with most interviews I can find great input without having to transcribe the entire conversation. I just upload the digital file to the computer for safekeeping should anyone question a quote. Time saved: four to six hours.

Let email rest. Right now I probably have 40 emails in Outlook unread (some of it actual email and not junk). I look at email at the beginning of my day, somewhere around 10 am, noon, and again in the afternoon. On slower days I'll check it as it comes in, but when I'm on deadline, I'm not going to go there. I know my propensity to answer every email immediately and to have my attention diverted. Time saved: two hours that should have gone to a project.

Schedule it, but don't schedule every minute. If you plan it, you'll do it. I don't have to hand this article in for quite a while, but I schedule most projects like this in advance in case something comes up. Things come up. Plan for it. Expect something more pressing to interrupt, for personal stuff to get in the way, for clients to appear with the project needing quick turnaround.

Plus, I like to leave room in the day for emails, Twitter, and client projects that come in unexpectedly. Yesterday, for example, I was working on an article with a longer deadline, but was able to drop that when a smaller client project with a shorter deadline appeared. I'm still able to get the larger one done in time, and I have the time available for the "need it yesterday" stuff. Time saved: more like evenings and weekends saved.

Have your blurb written. I send out a ton of letters of introduction, each one personalized to the company and person I'm reaching out to. What I don't do is reinvent the wheel -- I include the same small blurb about my experience in each one. The samples may be different, as will the sentence describing those samples, but it's not cheating to tell them what you tell everyone else about yourself. It gets you used to thinking of yourself in those terms. Also, the first sentence, and possibly the last, are the same for each letter. I personalize it with company information and how I could fit with what they're doing/need to be doing. Time saved: fifteen minutes per letter.

Make a list. If I'm working on more than two things, you bet there's a list involved. Too many things could get dropped or overlooked otherwise. I think I'll remember, but I know how I get when I'm concentrating on one project. This week, I've made notes about sending invoices, work to be done for one client, things to send to two other clients, emails to send back to yet another client. I have a sticky notes app on my desktop, and I use it daily. Time saved: more like butt saved, but probably a few hours.

Ignore the pseudo-offers. Ever since I put a contact form on my website, I've been getting a fair number of offers that are more than questionable in nature. Too many offers to blog on a blog they've never read, offers for gigs that mention "ad revenue" for pay, you name it. I don't go there. Ignoring it and deleting is the best response, anyway. Time saved: countless hours of engaging unnecessarily.

In what ways have you become more efficient?

Four Teaching Moments

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Tue, 01 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

I shouldn't be surprised that my forearms are hurting. I spent seven hours this weekend in the garden, trimming the marjoram into submission, losing the onion grass (and all those buried nodules), buttercups 9and their nodules), vetch (and those miles of roots), and moving sedum, daisies, coreopsis, coneflower, you name it. I even found a baby plume poppy. Cool. But the marjoram bit me --last year's stems scratched my forearms like kitten scratches. Every time I rested my forearms on my keyboard tray, I remembered the marjoram. Maybe that's its revenge for the haircut I gave it.

The garden tells me what it wants to look like every year. I've learned to let the plants direct me. The strongest ones determine where the others will be grouped. Each year, the view from the kitchen window shifts as the plants move into new places and show me where "home" is for them. I kind of love that.

I had a client interaction in which I was educating the client in an unfamiliar-to-them process. Sometimes that's just part of the job. In this case, I gave the client all the facts and stepped back. Their decision to hire me has to be based on knowing all there is to know about what they're attempting to do. I suspect I'll get the job at some point, but only after they've reconciled internally what to do with this new information.

There will be projects that surprise and clients who don't always know what is entailed in seeing the project through to the end. That's where we come in. I think the best salesperson is the one who becomes the partner, the trusted consultant (paid, of course) who helps the client understand (without condescension) how to navigate these little mysteries. They're also a great way to secure more business by gaining that trust. Here are four examples of teaching moments:

Learning social media. For every one client who has harnessed social media there are at least five who haven't. Gain your client's confidence by showing them what they're dying to know but are afraid to ask. Put together a newsletter or client info sheet that explains one or more social media tools. Then follow up with a conversation to clear up any questions privately.

Building the writer/client working relationship. I used to get so many questions about "How do I get my book published" that I wrote a primer for new ghostwriting clients explaining what was included (and not included) in our working relationship. You can very easily tell clients without being combative that publishing is not within your scope of work. I did, and I gave them definitions of each type of publishing option so they were better informed on their choices.

The same goes for any project with a new client. It's a good idea -- and a great way to ease your clients into the project -- to give clients a "What to expect next" document outlining your process, deadlines, their deadlines, and how you'll work best together. It's a great chance to stress teamwork.

Conveying your expertise. Show them how much you know by extending beyond the project and into those new-to-them areas. For example, I gave my newest client a primer on how publishing and reprint rights would affect their projects. They didn't know because publishing is not their industry. That information saved them tons of money later when they would have inadvertently breached copyright laws had they printed out "their" article verbatim without publisher permission. They didn't know, nor should they have. They do now, and they're smarter for it.

Delivering comprehensive proposals. Your proposal doesn't just outline the work ahead of you -- it also helps your clients see gaps in their own expertise, and it's a chance for them to discover the answers on their own or come back to you for guidance, changes, etc. It also teaches them how professional writers approach projects, removing the doubt or any notion of low-balling your fee.

Writers, what teaching moments have you had with your clients?

Monthly Assessment: April 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Blunderbuss by Jack White

How was your weekend?

I finished last week feeling rather proud of myself. I worked on not one, but four client projects Friday alone. One is a client article, so that work is just beginning, but I did a little research and studied the company's previous newsletters to make sure I would present it as they're expecting it.

I received also an offer. Of employment. It came from a conference contact I'd made at last year's conference. And it came out of the blue. I was shocked. I spent the weekend mulling it over, too. The universe has sent a total of three offers this month. I'm starting to think there's a message there.

While I get that they want a full-time contract person, I think I can handle the job without a 40-hour-per-week commitment. I have so much other work I've cultivated that I can't give them 40 hours a week if I wanted. What I do have to give them are the very hours they need me. I'm about to propose to them why that's more cost-effective for them.

It's that time again. Time to examine the hows and whys of the career and marketing. Let's just say it was a slow month. Too much of it was spent ramping up for the conference, but given the immediate results already, I'm not going to hang my head in shame over it. In fact, I'm going to love reporting May's activity.

But for now, we're still in April. So here's the deal:

Queries:
I sent a few to magazines, but not many, and none have netted anything yet. I knew it would be nuts pre- and post-show.

LOIs:
Just a handful -- maybe six. I'd sent so many in March that by the time April got here, my dance card was full.

Existing clients:
I reached out to one client whose project is due to come in. I got the timing, so I know what my next few weeks will look like.

New clients:
This was my best category this month. Post-show I've heard from five clients wanting either immediate projects or proposals/further conversations about upcoming projects. Plus I got a note from the contact I'd made at the previous conference.

Referrals:
None this month.

Earnings:
Slim, but it's what I expected. The companies and publications I work with were busy getting ready for the conference, which is the biggest one in the industry. My usual article ideas are still sitting on the desks of two editors.

I'm below half my target this month. Since I did so well the first three months of the year, I'm not worried at all. I had a lot saved that my IRA ate, but I've no immediate expenses to handle.

Bottom line:
There was no way to hit the marketing as hard as I did and get work in prior to the show. I wouldn't change a thing because the long-term payoff promises to help me exceed my monthly goal for a number of months to come.

What about you? What did your efforts net this month?

Beginning the Career

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Summer Sun by Jukebox the Ghost

Good day yesterday. I conducted one interview, one client marketing materials critique and follow-up discussion, and pounded out a customer case study. I love being busy. LOVE it. Today, I'm continuing with the case studies, putting together a proposal for some new client projects, and starting an article for another new client. The conference has netted three new clients in as many days. It was a good business decision!

Yesterday's comments about overcoming the Catch 22 (the no experience/ no opportunities without experience dilemma) were fantastic. It made me think that perhaps new writers --and those longing to leave content-mill work behind -- would like to see some of the what-to-do-first items when launching (or relaunching) the career. Some of the things I wish I'd have known at the beginning or would have done would be these:

Accept that you're now a business owner. If you're a writer working for yourself, you're also a business. Every negotiation, project decision, and client communication should go first through the business filter -- Is this good for my business? Conversely, none of those decisions should go through an emotional filter -- What if my rate's too high? What if they don't like me? I'd say the only emotional filter should be the one that decides if the project or client business practices pass muster with your own moral code.

Make your own samples. Cathy said it. I've said it. Devon's said it. Hell, anyone in the career for any length of time has said it. Don't work for free, don't work for "exposure" (that's not happening), and don't work for peanuts. Work for free for yourself. Create sample brochures, newsletters, articles, etc. Put them on your site. Use them as samples to get you the better-paying stuff.

Figure out your hourly rate. I've posted how a few times, as has Jenn Mattern on All Freelance Writing. If you know what you need to make and what you want to make beyond that need, you'll come to your hourly rate. Without it, you should even think of conducting business. Seriously.

Never work without a contract. Ever. The contract protects you from deadbeat clients, scope creep, and miscommunication that could double your work. Every job should have a contract. Period.

Expect to market. That's the part many of us didn't get at first, but it's essential to business survival. You should be reaching out to potential clients every day. Don't let that concept scare you; reaching out by email, Twitter, LinkedIn, phone, and Facebook all count. Get in front of potential clients and chat them up. Send a letter of introduction convincing them, as Devon often puts it, that they can't live without you. Spend a few minutes every day (more in the beginning -- it will take up most of your time at first) researching client companies and finding out where your ideal clients hang out.

Know what you want to do. Sounds simple, but if you don't have even a basic idea of the direction you'd like to take -- press releases, articles, resumes, newsletters -- you're going to be approaching your marketing in the same way you'd throw darts at a dartboard while spinning in circles. It's going to be too random for anything to stick. Pick something that interests you: a few article ideas, copy writing gigs, proofreading jobs, etc. Then go out and research clients who would need whatever it is you're selling.

Grow a business backbone. This is something I wish I'd had at the beginning. The sooner you learn to stand up for your business, your rates, and yourself, the sooner you'll gain the confidence it takes to handle the most difficult clients.

Embrace your own worth. Your work has value. Your skills aren't shared by everyone, which makes you, the writer, a commodity. Don't settle for less than your hourly rate without a fair negotiation and having the client give something too, like an upfront payment or an agreement for more than one project.

Writers, what do you wish you'd known at the beginning?

Overcoming the Catch 22

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Bittersweet by Feist

Yesterday was an interesting mix of marketing, communications gone awry, and paying out what I don't have. A few marketing notes back to conference attendees confused the recipients. Can't go into detail, but let's just say in one case, my attempt to repeat back a humorous exchange failed when the client forgot he'd even said it. Daughter's car needed fixing. She's working as a waitress, so when the $1,600 bill came in, I was tapped to help. Had I not just paid taxes...

Anyway, Daughter came home from yet one more interview in which she was told she needed experience before she'd be hired. What steams me about this particular interview -- it was with a temp agency specializing in placing college grads into entry-level positions. Someone somewhere sucks at sticking to the company's core focus. Clearly, the person telling her this has no real clue what the job market is like for college grads. Shameful, if you ask me, since it's their entire business model.

There she is in a Catch 22. She can't advance in any career because she can't find anyone who will hire her and give her experience. Yet she's over-qualified (or so she's been told) for positions that could get her in the door. This from the internship company she worked with -- he said he was doing her a favor because she was too smart and talented for the receptionist job (he's right-- she's smart, talented and driven). My daughter is probably wondering why she spent so much money to get a piece of paper that's proving to be the biggest barrier to her career. She wants to prove herself at something, yet no one will give her the opportunity. Unless, of course, she wants to be in sales. There's no shortage of low-paying sales jobs.

Sounds a bit like freelancing, doesn't it? When we're first starting out, we can't find decent work. Clients who would pay what we're worth won't because they're not seeing the beefy portfolio to back it up. The jobs open to us seem to be nothing but content mills, free-exposure gigs, and work that pays less than you'd tip a waitress. In other words, garbage.

So how do any of us overcome the Catch 22 career rut?

Build samples. Please don't take this to mean "Work for free" or "Take to the content mills." No way you should do either. I know some people say it's fine to work for free. I say if the person you're working for makes money off your work, so should you. The exception -- nonprofits, and only those you choose to volunteer your skills toward.

Instead, you should be creating samples to put on your own website. Clients want to see how you'd write that press release, brochure, article, etc. That's the only free writing I advocate -- writing for yourself in order to advance your career.

Find a friend. In my daughter's case, she has a mother who's asking around and trying to help her find someone who can give her a leg up.This company she'd just interviewed with was one of those contacts. This may still work out for my daughter (this was the company manager who condescended to her, not the recruiter). Meanwhile, she's still reaching out to anyone who will listen.

For you, ask within your circle of friends and family, and also within your writing community. Where are some good starting points? Who has had luck with what starter opportunities? Who needs someone to collaborate on a project so you can get a clip?

Find alternative ways to get the experience. My daughter has just become my intern (a paid one). I'll have her work with me and for me to help her build her resume. There are more ways to skin a cat, I say. If it's experience they think she needs, she'll get it right here at home. Plus I have marketing friends she can shadow for a day or two to answer any more questions.

For you, try blogging or guest posting for some of the blogs you frequent. Please, make sure they are ones you frequent -- if you're not a regular or even semi-regular, you've no right to ask to speak to the blogger's audience. You don't know it.

How about creating and posting an e-newsletter? Or start your own blog on your topic area? Use social media tools to get the word out (but don't be obnoxious about it). Grow it organically and use the content as proof you can write.

Those starter opportunities. My daughter has been offered countless internships -- unpaid, of course. Instead, she chose to muck it out at the restaurant and stick to her plan to find a decent-paying entry-level job with a company smart enough to hire a bright young woman. I applaud her choice, because I think the unpaid internship has become the real-world version of our infamous "free exposure" gig. Companies have figured out how to get free labor, and I think it's slimy. However, I digress...

For you, you don't need to take the slimy free-exposure gigs, either. Here are some great places to start -- local newspapers, regional magazines, resume companies, local charities (if you're okay with donating some time in exchange for the clip, but do check to see if they're willing to pay), overflow work from writers you know who are busy... the list goes on. No matter where you are, there's someone needing help who can pay a decent rate for it.

Writers, how did you overcome the Catch 22?
New writers, what seems to be your biggest obstacle right now?

What They Don't Teach You in J School

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford & Sons

That's more like it -- I spent yesterday actually getting out some portfolios to my conference contacts. The morning was nuts; we had a meditation monk staying over and the check-engine light on his car was flashing like mad. Luckily, it was a $70 issue caused by squirrels (would you believe walnut shells in the spark plug compartment?) and not an expensive transmission issue. That took most of my morning, as I had to get breakfast on the table, take him and his car to the mechanic, answer emails, prepare lunch, then take him back. But all was well by 1 pm and I was able to get back to mailing out portfolios.

With the portfolios, I'm doing things slightly differently. I created an electronic portfolio (nothing more than a PowerPoint slide show with clickable links) and sent it rather than killing trees and creating more waste with the portfolio booklets I usually use. And I have my first client thanks to the show -- we're talking specifics today.

I was thinking back to my first courses in journalism. We're taught how to put together the news story (who/what/when/where/how/why), how to interview sources, how to stick to certain journalistic ethics.... but there are some things that J school doesn't teach you:

Someone somewhere is going to want to bend the rules. I've had people ask me to rewrite existing content (not mine or theirs) to create "new" content. I've been asked to write term papers, write articles that featured clients (and not tell the editors? Are you nuts?), lift copyrighted images, or blatantly blast competitors by name. None of which I will ever agree to. I've heard "But it's not journalism -- it's marketing." It's still wrong. They will ask -- you already know your answer.

Sometimes being right is still wrong. File this under "the customer is always right even when he's not." Sometimes you can do the job exactly as discussed only to find it's not acceptable. I remember a client once telling me exactly what she wanted. I delivered it to the letter. Nope, not right. So we discussed it on the phone and again I delivered what she asked for. Apparently, two strikes and you're out for she didn't like it and didn't want to try again. I was her fourth writer. The problem wasn't necessarily that I was wrong, but that perhaps she didn't know what she wanted.

Not everyone thinks you're worth being paid properly. That's true in a full-time job too, but no more true than at the freelance level. Most of your clients, if you choose wisely, will appreciate your skill and will compensate you fairly for it. However, there are still those "employers" who think paying you with ad revenue or giving you free exposure is all you deserve.

There's opportunity in every contact. I learned about interviewing sources. What I learned later was that those sources could be, for any writer, a great contact for future stories or future work. So far in my shortish freelance career, I have worked with no fewer than a dozen interview subjects who became clients (some are still clients seven years later). I can't tell you how many interview subjects gave me countless ideas for more articles. Treat every person you talk to as a colleague and a business friend.

What are some things you've learned along the way that no school could have taught you?

How To Lose Yourself in Four Easy Steps

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:08:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: Incomplete and Insecure by The Avett Brothers

What a day. I couldn't have done any more that had nothing to do with marketing or contacting conference people if I'd intended to. I had a few minor client emergencies, a few interviews, and an impromptu meeting that completely threw me off kilter. It wasn't until 3 pm before I got to responding to conference people.

I was talking with another freelancer, who was asking about following the advice of others. I'm an advocate for listening, but heeding your own internal voice. However, I've seen writers -- some of them quite successful on the surface -- start to sink. In a few cases, I'd be willing to bet that sudden decline is because as these writers were following the best advice they thought they could find, they were ignoring something major -- themselves.

Not sure if you're losing yourself? If any of these examples fit, the answer could be yes.

Follow blindly. I've had other writers preach to me (and to their other friends) that you have to market a certain way, blog a certain way, mimic the "experts" to a tee, etc. That works at first, but guess what? What works for Fred may not work for Wilma. Maybe that's what Robbie Burns meant about best laid plans.

Forget your own personality. As you're busy following that super-special expert, are you remembering to tailor that message to fit your style, not hers? If you expect your audience to find one ounce of sincerity in your message, you need to tweak that message to reflect who you are.

Rely on gimmicks. I've stopped reading blogs that have those screaming headlines, empty promises, failure to deliver on the promised message, etc. Why? Because the content wasn't really content -- it was just shouting and fancy fonts. Stop listening to someone else's idea of what makes a great blog post. Just write from your heart. And God help you if you're using that same tactic to attract clients.

Over-promotion. I've seen plenty of people get this one wrong. Some are friends who have no idea I started -- or stopped -- following. If you send me more than one message a week that's attempting to part me from my money, I'm done listening. My freelancer friend said in one case, she was hit with five messages in 24 hours. Why? Because she'd signed up for a webinar. I had to laugh -- I'd read the same marketing piece that said people have to be told time and again about the webinar. No. No, they really don't. I don't need one more signup that badly that I'll risk offending everyone else.

How do you see writers losing themselves?

Points of Contact

noreply@blogger.com (Lori) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:40:00 +0000

What's on the iPod: 1983 by Neon Trees

Do all Mondays come with little surprises that need more brain power than humans are capable of at the start of the week? Logging in here today proved interesting. Blogger, where this blog is hosted, now has a completely new format and is no longer compatible with my browser of choice: IE8. Don't say I need to upgrade to IE9 as it's not compatible with plenty of websites. I'm not a fan of Google Chrome. However, Google is now forcing me to use it in order to access my blog. Or I can upgrade to one I hate or use Firefox, which is okay but not great.

Time for me to evolve, I guess.

The weekend was meh. I got into the garden Saturday and struggled to get the weeds out. It hadn't rained in close to two months, so the ground was hard, cracked, and impossible to dig through. It's bad when the onion grass dies! I had to rescue my daughter, too. Her beloved Jetta developed a mechanical "head cold" and started coughing as she drove home from work. It's something minor, the mechanic assured us, so she should have it back today. Neither of us can complain about its performance -- at 207K miles, it's been fantastic. I can count on one hand the number of repairs I've put in it since it was new. She can do better. She's owned it three years and put just $90 into a new coil pack that we changed out ourselves. Volkswagens can be great little cars.

Then there was hockey. Friday was a great game, but yesterday's game was sluggish. The teams were worn out and frankly, the ice didn't look "fast." My team lost, which didn't exactly thrill me, but I'd have been less depressed had it been a good game to watch. It was just plain boring. However, congratulations to Flyers fans -- well fought series otherwise, and a great series to watch and be part of.

Then the rain came. Oh, did the rain come! It started Saturday night with a heavy downpour that blew in for about 30 minutes, then disappeared. However, that was the precursor. Yesterday was an all-day rain, the one we've been needing. Right now it's overcast and in the 40s, but hopefully more rain will come tonight. I'd be quite happy with a four-day rain as some areas around me are getting (it's a Nor'easter), but we're expected to see sun maybe today and certainly tomorrow. This again could be worse -- my parents, who live on the other side of PA, are expecting 6 to 12 inches of snow. Having grown up there, I know that April is unpredictable in general. Never trust that first warm day to last!

Today's to-do list includes finishing up and sending out my portfolio to conference contacts. I've decided to go electronic this year. However, I intend to send written thank-you notes accompanied by my business card and a brochure. I want to send them something they can hold physically. Handwritten notes leave a good impression.

So how many points of contact to make with potential clients? Here are my points:

Initial email. The introduction letter goes out this way. I send it this way because it's less formal for me. I can get a little more personal, slightly casual (but never overly so), and talk to clients instead of present to them.

Follow-up email. If they've responded or not, I will follow up. Usually I give them a month before trying again. If they respond, I try to get something scheduled as soon as possible.

Initial meeting. Sometimes in person, most often on the phone, I'll talk with them. Even putting a voice to a name helps sometimes.

Next follow-up email. That quick thank-you note often includes the things we've talked about, along with mention of any additional materials or clips they've requested. If I can't attach them, I'll mail them.

The mailed thank-you note. I just like to add this for the personal touch. It's also going to accompany any materials I'm sending.

Still another follow-up email. If I've mailed it, I've made an excuse to follow up on it. "Did you receive the materials? Do you have any questions?"

I can't end the points of contact list here because the list doesn't really end. Once I've established contact or built a rapport, I'll check in regularly. I like to wait about 6 to 8 weeks before checking back. There are clients I know who have said, "Check back after January" or "Give us a call in about three weeks." Those I put on my calendar right away.

How many points of contact do you have with your clients and potential clients? What's worked for you?