This month's newsletter features good advice on presenting yourself as a writer, and getting started in blogging. If you are already a seasoned blogger, stop by and add your tips. There's also news of the first ebook linked to this newsletter and a new project that I'll be working on over the next few months - if not for life! Finally, check out this month's cartoon on recession.

In this issue:

• How To Put Your Best Foot Forward As A Writer
• The Ebook Has Landed!
• The Location Independent Writer
• Getting Started In Blogging
• Writing Talk: Recession Woes
• Diary Of A Working Writer May 2009

How To Put Your Best Foot Forward As A Writer

by Sharon Hurley Hall

This is a subscriber exclusive. It hasn't appeared anywhere else yet.

The way you present yourself to clients can have as much to do with winning writing commissions as your skill level. Clients will never find out how good you are at writing if your initial presentation is offputting. So how can you put your best foot forward as a writer? Here are some tips.

Organize Your Website

Make it easy for clients to find the information they want on your site. Most clients want to see examples of work, rates, testimonials and contact details. Make sure these feature prominently on your site.

Be Responsive

When clients contact you, respond as soon as you can. Even if you are responding to say that you can't speak right away, acknowledging the client makes them feel that you are on the case and that they can trust you.

Do Your Research

Even before you speak to or email a client, you can check them out online. Google is your best friend, as you can use it to see what the client's business is about so that you can tailor your conversation and samples so that they meet the client's needs.

Be Meticulous

Once you have got a commission, do what you promised. Meet the brief and deliver on time. If you are unsure about anything, ask questions early so you can still meet your deadline. Clients don't mind answering questions if it improves the final product.

The Ebook Has Landed!

by Sharon Hurley Hall

I've been talking about putting together an ebook for months now, and I've finally done it. It's called Write Your Way To Freelance Success and it's absolutely free. In fact, Writing Lab News subscribers are getting the first shot at downloading it, because I haven't even posted about it on the blog yet. So what's inside and why should you get it? Write Your Way To Freelance Success collects the best articles from the first year of this newsletter and bundles them into one handy package which you can read at your leisure. If you're a recent subscriber, you will find articles you have missed, but there's also something for all subscribers - a list of resources related to the writing life. Download it and browse at your leisure - and look out for another free ebook in the series later this year.

The Location Independent Writer

One of the new projects I've taken on this month is working as a team leader for the freelancing community for the Location Independent blog. I've been living this lifestyle for some time, taking my first steps when I began working from home occasionally when I was a university lecturer. It was then that I realised that I didn't have to be tied to one place to do my job, an epiphany that led to my move to full time freelancing a few years later.

What does this mean for newsletter and blog readers? I will still be writing about ways to boost your freelance writing career, but I will also feature more posts on creating your location independent lifestyle as a freelance writer. I will also be promoting an excellent course about creating your location independent lifestyle, which is available from this site. I've also got a couple of great ideas for a project which you will enjoy and which will provide some useful resources - more on that on the blog later this week.

Getting Started In Blogging

by Sharon Hurley Hall

I believe that all writers should blog. It's good for practicing skills, it's good for promotion, it's good for connecting with other writers. But how do you begin to blog, when you don't have a clue about it? I suggest some of the issues you have to face in a new series on PiggyBankPie. Here's what's been published so far:

• Getting Started In Blogging: Hosting
• Getting Started In Blogging: Platform Choices
• Getting Started In Blogging: Free Themes
• Getting Started In Blogging: Customization

On completion the series will have more than ten posts, with topics to come including promotion, link building, stats, monetization and many others.

Writing Talk - Recession Woes

Here's another strip, this time about the recession. The others are here.

Diary Of A Working Writer - May 2009

How has your month been? The best news for me this month is that Get Paid To Write Online was featured as one of Odesk's top 100 freelancing blogs.  What an honour!

This month I've been continuing my usual projects for Canmaking News, Manufacturing World News, PiggybankPie and the Taking Off Travel blog. I also had a fun time participating in Problogger's 31 Days to Build A Better Blog project. That led me to publish some different types of posts on my blog, including updating an old post on promotion. I chose to do this with a brand new post, called How I Put My Site On Steroids - Again. The project also led me to exchange guest posts with George Angus of Tumblemoose Writing Services, and I hope we will do that again soon.

In the next month, I put my location independent lifestyle to the test as I'll be working from at least three different cities. Don't you just love being a freelance writer? See you next month.