Welcome to Writing Lab News. Every issue of this monthly newsletter contains useful articles to help freelance writers learn to improve their writing skills. There are also pointers to useful resources that help writers manage and promote their writing careers.
This month, I'm focusing on careers - planning your career, promoting yourself, valuing your time and finding markets. Guest articles this month come from Dana Prince and Dana Hinders. Next edition: August 1st.
How To Plan Your Freelance Writing Career
By Sharon Hurley Hall
Freelance writers need to decide what they want to get out of writing. It is important to have a plan to keep their writing career on track. This is the best way to get paid for writing and get published. Here are some areas for freelance writers to consider.
How Much Time Can You Spend On Writing?
Writers need to start by deciding how much of their time is available for writing. This will depend on their circumstances. Some people work or run a home full-time and writing is a spare-time activity. Others are able to devote all their time to writing. Once writers have decided how much time is available for writing, it will be easier to decide how to use that time.
Example: Joe has a full-time job but wants to become a freelance writer. He decides that he can spend two hours on writing every evening. He signs up with a freelance work website, but he only bids for projects that he can complete within 10 hours a week. Other projects will have to wait until he can spend more time on writing.
Read the rest of How To Plan Your Freelance Writing Career, then read Part 2
Communati of Writers
Communati is continuing to grow. Not only do you get free information on writing, blogging and publishing, but you get to talk to other writers who are going through the same issues. It's a great sharing community for writers and bloggers.
How to Promote Your Way
to Freelance Writing Success
by Sharon Hurley Hall
As a freelance writer there are two key elements of success. One of those is your freelance writing skill. The other is letting people know you are there, through promotion. This article will tell you why it's important for a freelance writer to have a web presence and will show how you can get one quickly.
Getting on the net is not a luxury for today's freelance writer. It's a necessity. The Internet is one of the first places people look for information and it's where they will expect to find you. They will look for work with your name on and they will look for a website. Why? Because freelance writing is a service and it's your business. And like any modern business you need to promote yourself through a web showcase.
Read the rest of How to Promote Your Way to Freelance Writing Success
The Net Value Of A Writing Assignment
by Dana Prince
Dana's contributed to Writing Lab News before and she's always got something worth reading on her blog. This post is thought provoking.
For many months now, I've been trying to trade up to better paying jobs. I've learned some things in the process.
A writing job isn't just about how much it pays, it's also about how much effort and job satisfaction accompanies earning that money. I have learned to judge jobs by more than just how much they pay. Here are a few things to take into consideration when accepting an assignment.
-How much does the job pay per word?
-How much research is involved?
-How many revisions or re-writes does this particular client usually expect?
-How much time will you have to complete the task?
-How enjoyable will the work be?
-How long will it take to get paid?
A job that pays .05 per word may take ten times longer to do than a job that pays .01 per word so consider how much you can make overall when deciding on a job. It could take you a month to prep a single article for $500.00 or you could write enough to earn $2,000.00 in the same month although you've written 20000 words.
Read the rest of The Net Value Of A Writing Assignment
Diary Of A Working Writer - July 2007
This has been a busy month, but the big news is that I moved my Get Paid To Write blog from Blogger to its own domain. It's now called Get Paid To Write Online, and I am very happy with it so far. Posts of note include Writers, You Need To Get Out More and Adapting Your Writing Style.
Over on Communati, I have been tracking the process of moving the GPTW blog, and I've done a list of all the posts on my Writing Lab blog. I've also put a list of all the previous content of this newsletter on this page.
As we move into summer, those of us with children turn our thoughts to the thorny issue of managing writing careers and demanding children. I expect to have some posts on that in the near future. Have a great month.
How Can I Find Markets For
Freelance Web Content Writers?
by Dana Hinders
Looking for new writing markets? Dana Hinders has done some of the hard work for you.
Finding markets for freelance web content writers is never an easy task, especially if you’re trying to avoid copywriting work. I’m very fortunate to have several regular gigs, but I do try to keep an eye out for available opportunities. I check Craig’s List and other classified sites, chat with writing friends, and do my own web searches to keep a running list of opportunities.
To the best of my knowledge, all of the following markets are legitimate businesses that regularly pay writers and editors for their contributions. However, please use common sense before accepting any assignment of your own.
Read the rest of How Can I Find Markets For Freelance Web Content Writers?
Writer's Bookshelf
Freelance Writing for Greeting Card Companies by Patrisha Stauss
Six-Figure Freelancing by Kelly James-Enger
Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer by Jenna Glatzer