becoming a freelance writer

6. Call Graphic Designers & Advertising Firms: Don’t tune out! Don’t cringe! This is easier than you think - and I’ll prove it by telling you exactly what to say. So you don’t think I’d tell you to do something I wouldn’t do myself. I picked up the phone and called 8 companies. I hadn’t had to do this in years — and when I did it was rare and I hated it. BUT after being in business so long (over 19 years in the publishing industry) and getting bolder with age there’s not much I won’t try to bring in the business. To digress a moment when you’re 25 or 30 stuff like this seems kinda scary if it’s not part of your nature — and selling was NEVER my strong suit. Once I hit 40. I have to tell ya my inhibitions went out the window! Things that used to scare the bejeezus out of me don’t even warrant a fly swat now. This is a double-edged sword but I have to say it is liberating. I guess I’m becoming my crotchety old aunt — and that’s just dandy with me. Okay enough about my aging. ‘Good afternoon my name is Yuwanda Black and I am a freelance writer. I’d like to send you some of my marketing materials for your files. Who is the appropriate party to address it to?’ Usually at this point they will give you a name and they may go on to inquire about the type of services you provide. Of course this is what you want. Tell them succintly and professionally what you do and THEN ask if they have any projects that they need help with RIGHT NOW. If they say no ask if they can refer you to some of their colleagues and/or clients who might. If they hesitate tell them to go to your website (which of course you have right?) to view samples of your work. The reason this method works is I didn’t give them a chance to say no and I wasn’t asking at least initially for work right now. I assumed that they use/have a need for freelance writers and I assumed that they would be happy to have my info on file for future use. Most will. Eventually you are going to run across one firm that needs your help like — YESTERDAY! I had one firm tell me that they just got a new account and were going to be hiring some freelance writers. Ask me how quickly I got my stuff to him (I always keep a snail mail and an email package ready to go)? Most clients will prefer email and most will assume that you have a website. So make sure you have this before you call because you don’t want to lose a potential client before you even get your foot in the door. 7. Write Resumes: Okay it’ s not glamorous. BUT it can be lucrative and it is an evergreen need. The wonderful thing about writing resumes is that it is an easy part of your business to build up and outsource if you don’t like to do it or don’t have the time to devote to it. At a super low price of $50 (I’ve been quoted rates of $250 just for a resume) doing only a couple a day can add up to a really nice full-time income. When I had an office in New York and clients could walk right in this was one of the most frequent requests. And you know what it was usually a quick turnaround time and clients almost always paid in cash. 8. Proofread/Edit Student Papers: Ahhh lovely broke. DESPERATE students. Many of them don’t have the time or quite frankly the skill level to edit their own work. And they will gladly pay someone to do it. This is one of the easiest markets to target because all you have to do is contact the Student Affairs office and ask to put up a notice on the student bulletin board. Or you could take out an ad in the college paper. Also flyers posted around the campus works well. Usually if a student uses you once they will always come back if they are satisfied with your services. The best part about this group? They have big mouths and they use them — to tell other students about your services. Students also need resumes bibliographies and grad school essays. There are a plethora of services you can offer them successfully. I can tell you from personal experience that they are a great paying lot and are extremely nice to work with — because they’re usually desperate and are just happy to find someone who can work within their deadlines (think. ‘I needed this yesterday!’). NOTE: I DO NOT advise outright writing papers for students. I think it is unethical. However proofreading editing suggestive rewrites — these are all services that I have provided quite successfully in the past. 9. Format Screenplays: Another starving lot — the playwright author writer etc. When these artists submit their work to official agencies producers guilds etc. they must be formatted a certain way. Screenplays have one format treatments* another manuscripts another. There is software for all of this. As a full-service editorial firm if you purchase the appropriate software you can market to a certain group and establish yourself as a go-to service for that industry. I did this for those who wrote screenplays. I purchased the software FinalDraft and took out an ad in BackStage an industry newspaper for artists (actors dancers musicians etc.). My first client paid for the software. This was in 1997 and I think I paid about $230 for the software. But the first job I did for this type of client netted me $375 (that I definitely remember!). The great thing about soliciting this type of client is that they always need revisions updates extra copies etc. I charged for all of this of course. NOTE: I always told clients that I would store the most recent version of their work for them for free. This made them feel really secure and grateful. Why? I found many artists to be forgetful and a bit unorganized. By offering this ‘FREE’ service they knew that if ever they couldn’t find the most recent version or their computer crashed that all they had to do was call me. This built customer loyalty — and led to immeasureable amounts of business over the years. The fun part about working with artists is that you get to see the creative process in motion. I had two clients who worked on the same screenplay for over five years. They must have paid me a few thousand dollars over this time as they made changes sent copies to different agencies etc. *Treatments: Treatments are one-page summaries of scripts submitted to studios for consideration. Most often an artist will submit a treatment. If the studio likes the treatment they will request the full (or a partial) script. The reason for treatments? Simple time. Studios are bombarded and they simply can’t read through everything submitted. This method gives them an idea of what a script is about without having to slog through the whole thing. So in essence what studios buy is an ‘idea’ not a full-fledged script. This is also why what the author envisioned is often not what it turns out to be. 10. Write on a Timely Topic & Sell It: Daily news sources (eg newspapers news websites etc are always looking for timely well-written articles) — and they will usually pay for them — if they are thoroughly researched and you give them exclusives to the piece. This will fly in the face of conventional wisdom but it has worked beautifully for me over the years. Instead of sending a query write a piece (eg mortgage fraud and its effect on the economy. ‘white collar prostitution’ etc.) research it well and offer it to daily news outlets. I would send the piece to no more than one outlet at a time and give them a deadline by which to respond. Let them know that as it is a time-sensitive piece you will give them ‘x’ amount of time to respond (I usually offered 2-3 days) before offering it to another outlet. a. Select a timely topic: Watch the news and see what stories are making every headline. Eg hurricane season is here and the anniversary of Katrina just passed. Think of a topic around hurricanes and/or hurricane season and give it a different slant (the effects of hurricanes on kids under 12 is hurricane insurance for the masses or the elite? etc.). b. Research thoroughly: Whatever topic you select make sure you reference 2-4 well-known sources. For example if you were going to write about hurricanes call the National Weather Service and get a quote from an official there. Official news sources don’t like to use unreferenced material; they want to say. ‘According to Bill Smith the chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service. .’ BONUS TIP THAT WORKS ALMOST 100% OF THE TIME! Call old clients. It is an old business axiom that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. So call your old steadies. Ask them if they have anything or if they can refer you to someone who might need your services. I?ve found that the best way to go about this is to upsell something. For example if you just finished a sales letter for a client ask them if they need a brochure postcard or newsletter to supplement that. Professionals realize that advertising and marketing is not a one-hit wonder. So many are open to using more than one method to reach clients. In fact many use one method to reach clients (eg a sales letter) and another to stay in touch (eg a weekly newsletter). However it may not occur to them to implement these procedures via one provider (you!). So it?s up to you to make them realize the value you provide. And by thinking proactively you look super sharp professional and forward-thinking ? which only means more work for you! May be reprinted with the following in full: Yuwanda Black is the publisher of InkwellEditorial com: THE business portal for and about the editorial and creative industries. First-hand freelance success stories e-courses job postings resume tips advice on the business of freelancing and more! Launch a profitable freelance writing career in 30 days or less — guaranteed! Log on to to learn how.

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What is a freelance grant writer? These individuals undergo a lot of cater in their hands. When they work for companies they are essentially trying to help obtain free money for that company to help the company expand do research or to stay in business. These individuals ordain use a detailed knowledge of the environment to create the best piece of work they can. Freelance give writers hold a lot of populate’s jobs within their hands. For those looking to become a grant writer there are a wide be of choices out there. For example you can get jobs within the medical fields where you back up to write to increase money for medical investigate. Here you could be showing the importance of why the investigate is vital to creating a vaccine or to developing a cure. Or you may be working with a company developing new technology to grow. In any inspect most people who hold these jobs ordain need experience and a lot of training and schooling to prepare quality work that delivers these companies the results they need. The chances of employment in these fields is good. As more and more companies expand more and more writers also are needed. But while there are vacancies in the field it is difficult to sight a great job alter off the bat. Instead individuals ordain start with writing of displace importance and work up to writing for the 'big guys'. It is through experience that you can learn the methods needed to succeed. Still it is essential to keep striving for the next level up as you alter your portfolio with impressive work. The field is expected to grow as more and more companies assay for the grant money that they each believe should be theirs. You will back up determine if it will be or if it ordain go to another company.

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What I find interesting about these authors is that they undergo pretty different views of where writing for articles fits into the plan of becoming a successful writer. Some think it is essential. The first thing you do is go buy and then go away writing and proposing. But for others writing articles is only helpful in that it distracts other capable writers from competing in the ad copy business. Articles are book for PR and self-promotion but they pay far too little to be pursued as a real source of income. For myself. I did buy a copy of in a fit of hysteria but after looking at it. I couldn’t understand why I did so. The pay is way too low the time between acceptance and payment way too desire and you are supposed to be motivated enough to bring home the bacon on a proposal without knowing for certain that you have a customer. Maybe some people are able to do this often and fast enough to create a business but my sense of things is that you would be far exceed off finding a couple of populate who will let you write a brochure for them (for free if necessary) so that you can alter a portfolio and try to get some business clients. I talked to a publisher of a news magazine recently who was an editor about fifteen years ago when I did a few stories and book reviews for his publication. I asked him casually if he still did any journalistic assignments as he did back when I worked for him. His answer didn’t surprise me. “Writing is for young people.” The people who create verbally for those rates are those for whom writing is still somehow romantic as an activity. For those of us who are trying to make a living it simply doesn’t make sense. Of cover. I’m sharing my opinion on the premise that I began a writing business earlier this year–that I am a “beginning writer” as of 2007. But I got my first job based on previous bring home the bacon I did part-time while a aviate pastor. And I got that bring home the bacon based on relationships I built up before seminary when I did that low low paying work. So I can’t deny that a history of writing can help–including a history of writing articles. It all depends on your needs. If you have an income and can do some bring home the bacon on the side move time for awhile then it might be worth investing a year of barely-worth-it writing so you can get a portfolio going (”Here are my two most recent projects,” is always technically adjust). My strong advice is to do some non-controversial pieces on health or technology or something that might be perceived as translatable into sales writing. For the record. I personally found all of the above books worthwhile even if I disagreed with a couple of them about the usefulness of writing articles for magazines.

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I found this on YouTube a little while approve and wanted to show it to you here. I’m not sure I agree with this all though it is good advice. Except the move where he and she are verbs. analyse your English manual again dude. Yeah tip 2 doesn’t really ring my attach. Using lots of adverbage and flowery language to inflate writing tends to make me evaluate amateur and not fantastic. Weird. On Tip #1 and #2. I actually thought the simpler declare was better. And where did “slowly” come from in final Tip? I usually like to cozen around when I create verbally (unless the assignment calls strictly for dull sentences). A good friend of mine once accused me of “skipping along the yellow brick road to my conclusions” (she read one of my philosophy papers critiquing one of Descartes’s Meditations) which is probably my favorite comment of all measure. Nonetheless there is a difference between fooling around and well fooling around. My #1 piece of advice for people (particularly students) is: stop trying to use big conceive of words. We can see right through you. We know when you pulled up Dictionary com to search in the thesaurus. Here’s a solid rule: Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. Saad -I do evaluate brevity is key. If you can get the job done with fewer words by all means. I’m not a fan of long meandering sentences that act the scenic despatch when getting to the inform. (Though I’ve been known to tell from time to time.) I accept with Melissa. Most of my writing is in magazines and newpapers where lay is at a premium. Even when doing PR. I avoid transitional words unless absolutely necessary because they waste my measure and that of the reader. Yet there are some times when they do aid in circumscribe flow. Then Joe and all your mission - should you decide to evaluate it - is to find all the errors and discuss. One of the reasons I put it up here was because I thought you guys would have a field day with all the transitional words and other items. Hmmmm… I think I’ve seen the bring home the bacon of some “writers” who have taken this video to heart. Did anyone surprise the grammatical error with the second example sentence on tip 2? “Clearly. I like cats however I also like dogs.” “Clearly. I like cats. However. I also like dogs.” Either way though it reads desire a grade school kid wrote it. Random thoughts: If I wrote it with my left hand it would be like a grade school kid wrote it too… XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote have in mind=""> <label> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

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Woolworth department store declines comment on 1,650 job cuts in Forbes - FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Woolworth department hold on declined to comment on a inform by Rheinische Post that it wants to cut 1,650 jobs in Germany. ‘We will not change state stores in the country,’ a spokesman told the German news agency DPA obtain: www forbes com 4imprint Wins B2B ‘Best-Places-to-Work’ Honors for Third measure in Six Forbes - Another employee benefit: mentors who back up new hires ease into new jobs. New hires are matched with ‘buddies,’ the seasoned veterans with whom they can eat lunch and ask questions as they learn to navigate the corporate grow. “When you start a new Source: www forbes com The fight for one town’s soulSan Francisco Gate - Others say it’s a 1960s-concept suburban development that will attract low-end jobs offered at a time when Benicia needs a compact energy efficient plan that preserves the topography and anticipates the future. The development should attract obtain: www sfgate com Stocks go on More ascribe WritedownsNewsday - NEW YORK - protect Street extended its slide in early trading Friday after Wachovia Corp warned it will take quarterly loan Search jobsSource: www newsday com Is It Vindication or Is It Revenge?Forbes - An AIG spokesman counters tersely that Sullivan “is not Irish but English” and says while Sullivan didn’t have from college he spent 34 years in many jobs at AIG. Greenberg is feeling cocky on the legal front as come up. In the days after obtain: www forbes com

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As a move measure freelance writer I’m available for hire directly. My standard rush is £15/$30 per hour rounded to the nearest 15 minutes. Alternatively you can furnish me a specification and I can provide a remove quote for the bring home the bacon up lie before agreeing on the terms. Genres I have undergo writing for are: IT (Web/Programming/Databases/Content & Technical Documentation). Entertainment Reviews (Books/Film/TV etc). Health & Self Help. Journal/Blogs and Science Fiction. I would be willing to discuss other topics on request. See and my for more details. Please communicate me with your enquires. XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <touch> <strong>

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Going to see ; I'm looking forward to it and hope we get a good audience. Don't know about the be of you but I've open audience behaviour getting worse over the years. Or maybe I'm just turning all crotchety as I get older. - Sticky floors. Sticky with pop. I anticipate; I try to avoid considering other possibilities. - Overpriced concession items. If I evaluate I'm going to be hungry. I smuggle in food (unwrapped ahead of time to avoid becoming someone else's pet peeve). populate WHO communicate THROUGH THE MOVIE. In particular those who communicate in a normal conversational tone of voice as if they're in their own living rooms instead of a public venue where OTHER populate ARE TRYING TO FOCUS ON THE MOVIE. Whisperers are also bad though usually because they anticipate that just because they're whispering no one can hear them. Sometimes I say something but often I don't because I sight it often makes things worse especially when a assort of kids act it on as a challenge to argue their image of coolness and rebellious independence. Jeff and I undergo changed seats in the theatre in some situations. I posted about in blogTO yesterday for those interested. The photo above was taken at Mikado. I'll be posting something soon (either in Blatherings or blogTO) about soon; Jeff and I went there with his sister and her husband earlier this week. It was our Christmas present to them but between everyone's schedules our enable had to be delayed.

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accept to my work in progress! This is my creative outlet but I also hope to make it a tool whereby college students majoring in journalism and/or public relations can find valuable information and job/internship opportunities. If you undergo suggestions for information you'd like to see on here email me! Lately when I tell friends how I made the leap from PR/Journalism professional to becoming my own impress as a freelance writer they want to know how I did it. There are lots of technical issues to starting your own business that I ordain blog about later if it is requested. But today I want to overlap the basics on freelance writing. First and foremost if you be to be a freelance writer. I feel it is imperative that you acquire use and learn like the back of your transfer The Associated touch Stylebook. This is a writer's Bible. If you're going to create verbally for a printed publication specifically a local newspaper or a magazine particularly in the southeast. AP style is the fail call for these publications. Secondarily. I evaluate it's not a bad idea to drop in a write of The Chicago Manual of Style. This appears to be the style of choice with many Web circumscribe and promotional material writers. Finding a GigHow do you find a publication willing to let you write for them? This can be a daunting assign to those just getting started. But don't let fear keep you. My greatest success has come from starting locally and broadening my search from there. label your local newspaper and ask them if they hire freelancers (commonly called "stringers" at newspapers). furnish to send them a writing sample. Once they see that you are a good writer they will tend to call you each time they need a stringer. If you don't undergo a lot of writing experience and you live in a big county with several smaller "hometown" papers and one large daily hit the hometown papers first. You may not get paid for these gigs but you will get the all-important by-line. This helps you create your portfolio and translates to paying gigs down the road. Contact local magazines. Let's approach it. There are a million of them out there. From the local woman-to-woman magazine to the free publications of local nightlife and music these give a great launching inform. Again the pay may not be great but the by-lines are what you should go after as much as the paycheck. I'll write more on this topic in the future as there are many aspects of getting started. Send me your feedback and share the specific information you are seeking and we will get some good dialog started on the issue.

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PUBLISHER NOTE: If you are a regular reader of this blog then you experience about the upcoming freelance writing seminar in October. . Many undergo inquired about what ordain be discussed at the seminar. So in order to say your questions and to get you prepared for what to evaluate. I've started a series of posts entitled "40 Days to a Successful Freelance Writing Career."To start at the beginning click. And accept to the communicate. Now on to today’s post. *********In we discussed how to design effective marketing material keeping your aim market’s psychographics in mind. But you may be thinking. “I don’t undergo a target merchandise. So how do I know what to keep in mind?”Glad you asked! Today we’ll move our attention to figuring out how to target a market – a lucrative one. NOTE: The following is excerpted from Part V of the e-course. TARGETING A NICHE: Why Targeting a Niche is Important to the Success of Your do work CareerI think this is important to every freelancer’s success but particularly to new freelancers because it allows you to focus: your attention your message your marketing and your time. desire a martial artists who act what to most are unimaginable feats the cater of focus harnesses all of your energy and can break drink/go through almost any barrier in your way. The Power of Focus: It’s easy to get overwhelmed especially when you are first starting your freelance go because it’s easy to hurry from one ad to the next trying your hand at this that and the other. And while this can be great over measure. RIGHT NOW you are trying to lay a foundation for a business. This takes cerebrate. Everything that you do in the beginning of your freelance writing career is critical. So choose a niche and build a reputation in that sector first. THEN later on you can grow out if you want to. The Power of cerebrate: Talking to one group allows you to sharpen your message. You get to experience their wants needs problems and desires (their psychographic makeup) much more intimately than if you served a broad sector. The more you experience your aim market the better you can serve them. AND the more money you make. The cater of cerebrate: In business measure is money. And when what you alter is directly related to what you create time is money in the bank. Targeting a niche allows you to quickly gain credentials create samples do investigate find sources etc. Eg if you can create a newsletter in two hours because you know the industry desire the back of your transfer that means more hours for other projects. POST CONTINUED BELOW**************************************************be to hit the books exactly what to do to earn $100. $150. $200/day or more as a freelance writer editor and/or copy editor? Inkwell Editorial's upcoming do work Writing Seminar will tell you how. It's a go anyone who can construe and write can start -- with the right information.**************************************************If a new realtor hires me to do her newsletter (I bring home the bacon with a lot of realtors and mortgage brokers). I can produce ideas samples testimonials etc. from a myriad of other projects I’ve worked on. This cuts down on research brainstorming sessions and set-up time – measure that can be put to better INCOME-PRODUCING use. There are millions of them. Why not displace yourself from the pack by becoming a specialist (a niche writer)?The more you specialize the less competition you have. The less competition you undergo the more valuable you change state (the less replaceable you are). And the more valuable you are the less clients are likely to squabble about price because after all you’re a specialist alter?A really insightful bind which highlights several different professionals across a range of disciplines lays out how effective niche marketing can be. The bind. " Niching yourself makes sense--no be which niches you choose. While breaking into a niche may be difficult once you are established as the go-to expert for that particular group you can rely on word of mouth supplemented by traditional but targeted marketing activities such as ads client/look dinners participation at key charitable events focused networking and PR tactics. The beat article can be open. Okay you’ve convinced me that I need to “niche it,” but how do I go about it? I’m glad you asked. It's actually relatively easy and can be done in three easy steps. NOTE: The following is excerpted from the bind. Why? Because the first step in developing a niche is to go with your strengths. change surface if you have no professional experience in an area if you desire it chances are you will bring home the bacon to change state proficient in it. For example in my professional life. I've been a real estate agent a give officer a credit counselor a recruiter and a legal write editor (among a few other things -- but we'll just stop here). bequeath this is just professionally. My hobbies are running real estate investing reading.

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About a year ago. I asked for input from an acquaintance about my becoming a freelance writer. He is a magazine publisher and I wanted to experience his thoughts about how I should best pay my measure while getting started in this endeavor. Should I spend measure doing "spec" writing? Should I process my resume and go away composing cover letters? Should I spend time meeting people and send lots and lots of queries?Without a hint of hesitation he said "go away writing a communicate.""A blog?". I questioned. I wanted to make sure that I had heard him correctly." A blog" he answered again just before taking a sip of his coffee. Having spent several years as a communicate administrator and technology trainer. I was not inexperienced in the realm of technology. What I did conclude was a skepticism about blogs in command. How would an online "diary" help make me a freelance writer? Why would people want to construe about my kids and my pets and my laundry?More out of curiosity than anything else. I asked my advisor. "Why a communicate?" Again without hesitation he said "It will make you write regularly and it will act power out of the hands of the gatekeepers."After that meeting. I decided to investigate the world of blogging for myself. Before I knew it. I had registered myself and created my own blog. As a way to learn. I spent lots of time looking at blogs reading blogs and reading about blogs. The blogging world that I open was so amazingly different than the one I had envisioned and I was hooked. Not only did I find blogging to be fun. I open it to be just what my advisor had told me! It was (and is) a place and a way and a cerebrate for me to write on a regular basis. As I undergo slowly begun to develop my writing portfolio it is also a place - my place - for others to construe my writing. Earlier this week. I read a touch channel about a If you be to see all the results visit the link above. Here are some of the numbers that made an impression on me.

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