In this issue:
Five Ways To Make Down Time Work For You
How Freelance Writing For Free Pays
Getting The Writing Done
So You Wanna Be A Problogger? 
How To Create A Successful Blog 
Diary Of A Working Writer February 2008

Five Ways To Make Down Time Work For You

by Sharon Hurley Hall

Freelance writing work can be seasonal, which means that there are times when you just don’t have enough work. However, instead of worrying about this, you can use that time productively to help your writing career. Here are a few suggestions for what to do with down time.

Tidy Up Your Resume

When you’re busy every day, it can be hard to remember to add all the great stuff that you’ve done to your resume. But adding it will make you even more marketable, so it’s an investment in your career to do it. When writing work goes quiet, take a critical look at your resume and see if you can improve on it. Add some recent links to your work so that potential clients can see more of a range.

Improve Your Website Or Blog

At the same time, improve your site or blog by updating your online resume and adding some testimonials from satisfied clients. I always ask for testimonials when clients are happy and have added a few new ones to my site recently. Another’s on the way. Again, this is a good way to position yourself to take advantage of new opportunities. You can also spend some time adding your best posts or pages to the social sites. It’s an easy way to promote yourself.

Meet Other Writers

Now’s the time to join some writing forums, subscribe to some blogs and start talking to other writers. You can find out a lot about good and bad clients, ways of managing your writing career, and job opportunities just by doing this. You will also build a support network. Just because you work at home, you don’t have to be alone.

Read the rest of How To Make Down Time Work For You

How Freelance Writing For Free Pays

By Sharon Hurley Hall

Freelance writing is not an easy job. You have to spend time writing things you are not interested in because you’re getting paid, and you are always worrying about where the next gig is coming from, at least at the start. And if you’re ghostwriting, you don’t even get the credit for your writing. That’s why promotion is so important for freelance writers. It keeps your name out there and keeps the freelance writing work coming in. I’m always saying that writing for free isn’t writing for free if you get something out of it - and now I have a concrete example to show you.

Freelance Writing History

When I started freelance writing, I wrote an article called Freelance Writers - Five Reasons Why You Need A Website.  I didn’t get a dime for this article. It was picked up by Freelancewriting.com and has been read by more than 3,000 people. It also resulted in 120 visitors to my site in just one year.

Freelance Writing Promotion

That’s one freelance writing article. I know that’s not a lot on its own, but I have about 50 articles out there, at least 33 of them unique and all with links back to my site. That’s potentially a lot of traffic and may be part of the reason that I’m now getting thousands of unique visitors a month to my freelance writing sites. I am also getting Adsense money because some of those visitors like what they see.  My point is this, one free article has made a big difference to my profile and to the money I make from freelance writing. Why not try it yourself?

Getting The Writing Done

By Sue Jeffels

If you are anything like me, and a number of other writers that I know, then the transition from blogging to freelancing began with small steps. You might for example have started expanding your blogging experience by writing sponsored posts, which is what I did. Getting the odd $5 or $10 in your paypal account for something that you have written can be a very satisfying feeling – such satisfaction does not last for long as you end up wanting more.

Many bloggers write for sites such as Helium knowledge when they are trying to break into the freelance market. Here and elsewhere bloggers discover that there are such things as freelance bidding sites and writers’ forums where they can find work. It’s a great feeling when you get your first assignment, but also a bit daunting when you suddenly realise that you have made a commitment to write for someone.

Read the rest of Getting The Writing Done

So You Wanna Be A Problogger

By Sharon Hurley Hall

I don't know about you but the idea of blogging for a living really appeals to me. That was the inspiration for a post on Pureblogging. Here's an excerpt.

I’ve been studying some of the great bloggers with the aim of putting the lessons I learn into practice. Here’s what I think I need to do:

1. Start Small

Every problogger starts with a single blog. You can too. You need to start with one blog and see if you really like blogging, and if you’d be happy to do it every day forever (or for as long as you keep enjoying it).

2. Experiment

I don’t know about you, but I have tried several blogs. I’ve run some on my own sites, and I’ve blogged on community sites. Some of those blogs have lasted, while others never really got started. This process helped me to find my blogging voice, and to identify the topics that I most liked blogging about. It also enabled me to connect with other bloggers.

Part of the experimentation process is finding a niche that you can write about forever - or almost forever. Like any other business, you need to offer something unique. Perhaps you have expertise in an area, or a particular way of expressing yourself. These will help you to stand out from the crowd.

Read the rest of So You Wanna Be A Problogger?

Want To Drop One On Me?

By Sharon Hurley Hall

This is an excerpt from a guest post on Mixed Market Arts, outlining four strategies for blogging success. Here are my thoughts on content:

Once you’ve got your blog set up, it’s time to post good content that’s relevant to your main theme. If you want readers to keep coming back, they have to know what to expect. This doesn’t mean that you have to stick to a single topic. It really depends on the blog. I have a niche blog for freelance writers where I cover topics such as skills, promotion, resources and so on. On that blog, I generally stay on-topic. On my other blogs, I feel freer to explore a bit, but it’s the niche blog that is most successful.

Coming up with good content every day can be difficult, but you don’t have to write it all yourself. Try a mix of a couple of posts written yourself, a couple of contributions from other bloggers (getting guest posters is a great way to vary the content and take the pressure off you) and a couple of posts pointing to relevant posts by other bloggers. You’ll soon get a good posting rhythm going.

Read the rest of How To Create A Successful Blog.

Diary Of A Working Writer - February 2008

January was a great month for me. I decided to enter the Inkthinker Query Challenge to encourage myself to do more bidding. I racked up 30 plus bids in January, and have got work from at least two of those. As usual, I've done some writing for Daily Writing Tips (check out Positions, Please) and PiggyBankPie (blogging oomph, anyone? I also kicked off my series of posts answering freelance writing questions with a post on setting rates. Last week, I wrote a post on the importance of blog archives for Pureblogging.

Coming up in the next month, I can look forward to steady work from a new site, as well as getting to grips with some new writing courses. It should be a busy month!