Writing Lab News Freelance writing advice from Sharon Hurley Hall Issue 18 - September 2007 |
In this issue |
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's articles deal with managing your career. This includes setting priorities for the writing jobs you have, creating the perfect working environment, promoting yourself and focusing on your client. And there's a bit of fun at the end. Next edition: October 2nd. Setting Priorities For Writing Work By Sharon Hurley Hall As a freelance writer, it can be tempting to say yes to too many projects when you’re not busy. You can have a wildly unrealistic idea about how much you will be able to achieve in a given period. Once you’ve said yes to a project, then you have to deliver. But in order to do that, you need to set some priorities for your writing. Here are some of the questions I ask when deciding which work comes first. 1. Is this an existing client? Repeat work is money in the bank for any writer - or any business. If a client has come back to offer work several times, then that client is valuable and I will try to meet their delivery requirements. Of course, if you have a great track record with an existing client, you may be able to negotiate wiggle room on a deadline. It never hurts to ask, and I have found that most people are reasonable if you have a good reason. Read the rest of Setting Priorities For Writing Work Money Making Tip One of the ways I make money from my site is through Text Link Ads. I signed up with them a long time ago and I had just about given up when the money started coming through. It's not big money yet, but it's a nice addition to the monthly income. All you do is install a plugin or paste some code and the links appear, as if by magic. And you can also sell links in your RSS feed. If you have a blog, there's no harm in grabbing the code and putting it on your site. As your blog becomes better known, you'll get some links and make money with Text Link Ads. What Are You Offering Your Client? by Sharon Hurley Hall As freelance writers, we often think about what our clients can do for us. However, if we think about what we can do for them, we are much more likely to get long term work. I've been talking to a new client. When he first approached me, I had no idea whether this would turn into a job or not. Some enquiries don't, and that's just part of the job. Anyway, he had lots of questions and over three lengthy emails I answered them all, giving my honest opinion about what services would work best for him at what time. It can be tempting to try to sell a big package of services up front, but that's not right for every client. In this case, I broke it down into things he needed to do now, things he needed to do after his site was running, and things that would add value to the site later. I said which ones I could do and which I couldn't but put no pressure on him to buy. The result is that he feels happy because I have spoken to him frankly, and he's already planning for the add-ons which will boost his site and my bottom line. And, in case you're wondering, the client found the avenues that I use to promote myself and already knew what I could do before he approached me. More proof that promotion works. Read more of my freelance writing articles on Inspired Author. How Have You Promoted Your Writing Today? by Sharon Hurley Hall As a freelance writer, it’s not enough to set up a website and leave it alone. It’s not enough to set up a blog and post sporadically. With both websites and blogs, you need to keep them up to date. Even more important, you need to promote them. Promoting your website or blog is the only way that people will be able to find you. I have seen it work for me. I promote in a variety of ways on a number of sites. Sometimes people tell me how they found me. They say:
These are all things that have really happened to me and have really brought me work. This means two things for freelance writers. First, time spent on promotion is not wasted time. As writers, we often feel guilty when we’re not writing. But think about it this way. Successful companies with international brand names still promote aggressively, trying to get new people to use their products or to keep old ones from going elsewhere. If it works for Coca Cola, why not for us? Promoting gets new people interested in our work and keeps our existing clients happy that they are with the best writer for them. Read the rest of How Have You Promoted Your Writing Today? How To Create The Ultimate Home Office For Writing by Sharon Hurley Hall Freelance writing is the ultimate portable job. You can work from anywhere, but sometimes it's nice to have a space to call your own. Here's a guide to what you need to set up a great home office for a freelance writer. Choose Your Writing SpaceNot every work at home freelance writer has an empty room to use as a writing office. If you do, that's great, but if not, even a small space will be enough. Try to find a space that you can block off with a screen, curtain, or partition, so that everyone at home will know you are working when you are in there. Read the rest of How To Create The Ultimate Home Office For WritingDiary Of A Working Writer - September 2007 Things have been slow in the last month, but not because of the traditional August slowdown. Instead, it's because I've been trying to balance my life as a writing WAHM, with more success on some days than others. I've been very involved in the relaunch of Inspired Author which has free information to help part time writers turn their hobby into dollars and cents. I've continued my series of paid to blog reviews by looking at PayPerPost, Loudlaunch and ReviewMe - and there are a couple more reviews on the cards for next month. Over at the Writing Lab, I've been privileged to launch the poems of my sister Lisa Hurley Downer, who is seeking a publisher for her first book. And I'll be hosting Nikki Leigh as part of her blog book tour in just under a week. As school starts, many of us are getting our work back on track, and I'm no exception. I expect September to be busy - see you next month. Sharon You Know You're A Freelancer ... Here's a bit of fun I penned one day. Do any of these sound like you? You know you're a freelancer when ....
Read more on the freelance writing lifestyle. Writer's Bookshelf Make Good Money Writing & Ghostwriting Books and Ebooks by Suzanne James Six-Figure Freelancing by Kelly James-Enger Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer by Jenna Glatzer |