In this issue:

• Why Guest Posting Is Good For Writers
• The Writing Brief: Questions To Ask
• Break It Up: How To Write A Good Ending
• How To Find Blogging Success
• How To Build A Portfolio That Gets You The Job
• Diary Of A Working Writer November 2007

Why Guest Posting Is Good For Writers

by Sharon Hurley Hall

As a freelance writer, the more you write, the better you get - and sometimes it's nice to spread your wings and write for a different audience, even if you're writing about a subject that you know well. This is one reason why it's good to write guest posts on other wrtiers' blogs. Writing guest posts is a great way to connect with a new audience and to spur yourself to fresh thinking. It's a great promotional tool, too. When you write a guest post, you get a link back to your blog or site. If people read and like your post, then they'll click on that link for more. I've seen this happen with a few of my recent posting gigs.

Guest posting is also great for building up your portfolio. In most cases, you can write what you like as long as it's suitable for that blog's audience, so there are no creative constraints. You have the freedom to experiment and to write something unique that will serve as a good example of your writing ability.

If you own a blog, then it's worth your while to get people to write guest posts. If you can get  A-list bloggers to bring their audience to your blog, then that will be good for traffic, your blog's reputation and your profile. But even if the guest poster is just someone whose style you like, you can add value for your blog's readers and you can learn more about the issues that interest them. Guest posting is a win-win situation - why not give it a try?

The Writing Brief: Questions To Ask

By Sharon Hurley Hall

For freelance writers, the key to a successful working relationship with editors is to give editors what they ask for. Keep an editor happy and you will be certain to get repeat commissions. Sometimes the best way to do this is to ask questions to make sure you both know what you will be writing. Here are five questions I ask whenever I'm dealing with a new writing client.

What Should I Write?

As a freelance writer, I need to have clear idea of an editor's expectations if I want to get paid to write and get published. That means getting a clear brief which includes:   1. the length of the article required.   2. where it will go in the publication   3. what it needs to cover.Most editors like you to stick pretty closely to the word count, as they use this to plan their publication. If you need to go over or are likely to be under, it's best to check that that's OK before submitting an article. 

It's also important to know what should be covered, rather than assuming. If you are writing about oranges for a health magazine and a food magazine, then you will take a different writing slant for each publication.

Read the rest of The Writing Brief: Questions To Ask

Break It Up: How To Write A Good Ending

By Sharon Hurley Hall

Writers need to know where they are going with an article so that writers are not disappointed when they reach the end. Here are some tips to help freelance writers learn to write a good ending for their articles.

Advice to freelance writers often concentrates on style and structure. Some writing tips may even talk about the importance of headlines and titles. But there is one aspect of writing an article that can receive very little attention: the end. The key thing for writers to remember is that endings should not just be left to happen.

What this means is that a writer's article or story should have a point. When a person gets into a car and starts the engine, s/he usually has a destination in mind. Writers should remember this when writing an article or story. Both writers and readers should know the direction of the story. Well structured articles will satisfy readers and make them want to read other writing by a skilled writer.

Read the rest of Break It Up: How To Write A Good Ending

How To Find Blogging Success

By Sharon Hurley Hall

There must be something you care about enough to write about it almost every day. It might be something in your own experience (like parenting) or something that helps you to make money (like providing information about a particular disease or condition). You get to choose, but you also have to do some work.

When you decide what you want to blog about, find some keywords that describe your topic. You’ll see the words that I chose in the name of my blog. These are the words that will help people to find your blog.

Once you’ve found a topic to blog about, then stay on topic most of the time. I get the most reads on my blog when I write about something related to freelance writing. Readership is even better if it’s a substantial post of 300 words or more. My take on this is that readers like to get their teeth into a post; giving them just a link to something else is not enough.

Read the rest of How To Find Blogging Success

How To Build A Portfolio That Gets You The Job

By Lisa Hurley Downer

Freelancing is tough. What’s even tougher? Finding that perfect job on craigslist…and then realizing you have no samples to send. So do yourself a favor, build a portfolio. Here are my top 5 tips for showcasing your clips:

1.The First Shall Be First

Lead with your strongest work. One killer campaign is better than hundreds of mediocre efforts.

2. Poll The Audience

Not sure which are your best pieces? Ask. Canvas qualified industry contacts, fellow-writers, former professors…they’ll be happy to help. Every piece should be a blockbuster.

Read the rest of How To Build A Portfolio That Gets You The Job

Diary Of A Working Writer - November 2007

Last month was the month where I started to work on increasing my blogging profile, with posts at PiggyBankPie and Writing White Papers, in addition to my usual gig on Daily Writing Tips.

I've continued to experiment with Blogrush and have found that it's bringing a little bit of extra traffic to the site. Once Blogrush phase 2 is up and running, I plan to review it again.

I'm still carrying on with my ebook writing, though my ten week project was a bit ambitious. Still, the important thing is to keep on writing, so that's just what I'm doing. I'll let you know when the first one's finished.

My new Get Paid To Write Online blog continues to do well. It's gone from PR0 to PR3 in only a few months, and it's ranking well in Technorati and on Google. It looks like my SEO tips are working well.

Finally, Writing Lab News readers got a sneak peek at the Linky Love Army last months. I've now published my full review, so check it out. See you next month.