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Archives for April 2009
Are you finished with that article or just finished?
Deb had a great post this week: Freelance Writing: You’re Only Competing Against Yourself. It got me thinking about how often we can sabotage our success. One area writers can set themselves up for failure is ‘just finishing’ an article.
Just finishing is getting an article in just under deadline, under duress and under your standards. Procrastination is usually the right hand man to just finishing. The root causes of procrastination are as varied as the writer – poor time management, fear of tackling the piece, cockiness that you will get it in on time and it’ll be fab because you’re just that good, etc.
The consequences of just finishing show up in a variety of ways. When you have set the standard that you will likely be the last writer to get their piece in, an editor knows you are the worst person to call with a rush piece. This cuts down not only on your ability to get more of the juicy last minute gigs and the rush fees that may accompany them, it will make your services less valuable to the editor. There’s no competition between a writer that will work hard, get things in before deadline and deliver tight work, versus one that will squeak in under the deadline with an obviously rushed piece and a sheepish emoticon grin.
Another possible scenario – if you have set yourself up as a stellar writer who turns in great work before deadline and you start down the path of last minute, your editor is going to notice. Editors and teachers can tell when something has been written last minute. It, at times, reeks of desperation. The article will likely need more tightening/editing than any of your previous pieces and if seen repeatedly the editor/publication will begin to wonder if you are still passionate about working for them. That’s never a great conversation – trust me.
Now let’s be real, everyone has off days and even months. There are times when things don’t click, won’t click and can’t be persuaded to click. Editors understand, they are people too and are more likely to give their favorite writers the benefit of the doubt. Don’t take advantage of their humanity and avoid being in that position if you have just started establishing a reputation and a career. Getting comfortable with ‘just finishing’ is like cozying up to mediocre – it will just hold you back.
Don't Abandon Your Job Search When the Weather Heats Up
I’ve been following a discussion on a message board where freelancers are talking about their plans for the summer and cutting back on their work load. I do think it’s important to take some time so that you can rest and regroup, I don’t think that you should take the summer off as far as looking for freelance writing work is concerned.
Posts You May Have Missed
Freelance Writing Jobs is a network of seven blogs, including this job leads blog. Since most folks come for the leads only, I like to turn them on to what else is going on in our network since our other bloggers all have great tips and advice. Here are some posts you may have missed.
From the home page at Freelance Writing Jobs by Deborah Ng:
- 10 Reasons You’re Not Receiving a Good Response to Your Freelance Writing Job Ad
- 15 People and Places to Follow on Twitter to Find Freelance Writing Jobs
- 5 Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs Using Twitter
From Article Writing Tips by Terreece Clarke
- Finishing Strong: How to Wrap Up an Article
- Are You Communicating with or Stalking an Editor
- How to Lose Control of an Interview
- The Art of Yes/No Questions in an Interview
From Job Hunting Tips by Jodee Redmond
- You Know More Than You Think You Do: How to Find a Niche
- 7 Tips to Turn a One Time Assignment into Repeat Business
- Do You Treat All Your Clients Equally?
- Don’t Judge a Job Ad by the Way it is Written
From Business Tips for Writers by James Chartrand:
- The Outsourcing Lifestyle for Writers: a Bad Thing?
- Are You Ready to Get into Freelancing?
- How to Answer Why You Want to Work
- Are You Scared of Spending Money?
Enjoy!
You might also have noticed some tweaks to this particular blog. Notice more tweaks and better navigation for all our blogs in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully FWJ is becoming a more user friendly experience for all!
Follow me on Twitter @debng and for FWJ updates @freelancewj
Click here to search for jobs in your area on SnagAJob.com
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Are you thinking about Christmas yet? You should be…
If you are thinking about pitches for magazines you need to be several months ahead of the curve. I know the last thing anyone wants to think about right now is snow, cold weather and roasting chestnuts, but thinking ahead is a great way to get your pitch approved.
When everyone else is thinking about decking the halls, editors are looking to spring fashions and top summer vacation spots. Thinking and working on magazine editors’ schedules will help in getting your work to the top of the heap.
When thinking ahead, writers need to balance general with specific. Editors take risks looking to trends and future happenings and if you think you have a good beeline on a trend, go ahead and pitch it. Be prepared with great sources or a record of being an expert in the field to back up your pitch.
When pitching the general, look back at the last two years or more of seasonal information. This is a lot easier now with magazines putting much of their information online. A magazine isn’t going to put out the same topics every year at every holiday season. Even if summer articles always talk about sun safety, there’s something new offered each time, new products, latest research, etc. Think about a new angle, perspective or product debut you can add to your pitch.
Baby Talk magazine had a great article this month on sun safety for moms and talked to several moms who found out they had skin cancer. They talked to one mother about how she didn’t think she could get it because of her olive skin tone. The stories took a tried and true topic and made it interesting again.
There are many components to be a great freelance writer. Being able to anticipate is one of them. What trends are you recognizing in your niche or in an area you’re interested? What magazines would be receptive and why? How timely will the information be in six months? Answer these questions in your pitch and you may have yourself a winner!
Monday Markets for April 27, 2009
For the last installment of Monday Markets for April, I have a variety of magazines. Notre Dame Magazine is distributed to alumni of that school. Texas Ride is a regional publication for motorcycle enthusiasts, and Firehouse Magazine is geared to firefighters, both volunteer and paid.
From the web site:
Notre Dame Magazine is published quarterly by the University of Notre Dame for more than 150,000 readers, most of whom are graduates of the university. The magazine reports on alumni activities, covers institutional events, people and trends, and examines a broad spectrum of cultural issues reflecting the university’s wide-ranging discussion of science and the arts, society and its structures, the spiritual and the human. Because a large proportion of its readers are Catholic, the magazine often addresses topics of interest to a Catholic audience.
Most of the magazine’s editorial content is freelance-written. This is especially true of the CrossCurrents and Features sections. For FEATURES, the editors require a QUERY LETTER with clips of published articles. Less experienced writers may be asked to write on speculation. For CrossCurrents, it is appropriate to submit complete manuscripts. We buy first serial and electronic rights. Payment (comparable to fees paid by some national publications) is made upon acceptance. All copy is subjected to rigorous editing.
You Know More Than You Think You Do…How to Find a Niche
One of our readers recently brought up an interesting subject in the comments recently. They were wondering how someone who is currently a full-time parent can market themselves as being knowledgeable about a specific niche topic. The good news is that you know more than you think you do, and there are several topics that you would be quite comfortable writing about, if you give it a bit of thought.
Finishing Strong – How to wrap up an article
Every writer knows creating a great lead (lede) is key to a great article. It piques an audience’s interest and pulls them in for you to deliver the goods. What some writers fail to realize is a good ending or conclusion is just as important.
We’ve all been there – one minute you’re reading a piece, zooming right along and then it just trails off… An article is not a novel, it shouldn’t have a cliffhanger.
When writing a newspaper article, there are a few set standards for finishing up a conclusion, such as a final quote. Features have more room for creativity. Unlike a news article (particularly with inverted pyramid style), the ending is not in danger of getting cut off by a copy editor because of space issues. Depending on the type of feature you’ve written, you need to decide what you want readers to take away from the piece.
Do you want to leave them with a thoughtful quote? What about the end of the story – what happens? What is likely to happen next? Is there an opportunity to provide an update or give them information to take action? Blogs will often end with a question to spur readers into commenting.
An article shouldn’t end simply because there is no more information. An article needs to end when the ‘W’s’ of writing are satisfied. The conclusion should leave the reader with something to think about and a sense of finality – as far as the article is concerned. They shouldn’t look at the bottom of the page for the next page arrow or a note on where the rest of the article picks up.
Is this article finished? Why or why not? If not, write a conclusion for it below! Got any tips on creating a great conclusion? Tell us below.
The Outsourcing Lifestyle for Writers: A Bad Thing?
I recently wrote a post challenging writers to ask themselves if they’re scared of spending money. If you read that post and the ensuing debate in the comment section, you’ll have noticed that Jennifer Mattern of AllFreelanceWriting was quite the champion and had strong opinions on the subject.
While well written (though a touch assumptive of my personal views) and also off topic from my original post (which was to spend on self- and business improvement, such as advertising or courses), Jennifer’s post discusses some dangerous presumptions that could be damaging to writers enjoying a better life.
I’d like to address them here:
[Read more…]
7 Tips to Turn a One-time Assignment into Repeat Business
When you are working as a freelance writer, ideally you want to have a number of clients that you work with on a regular, or at least semi-regular basis. It helps to smooth out the financial ups and downs that go with the territory. Many clients would rather go back to a freelancer they have worked with successfully in the past for their future needs rather than hiring someone new for each project. How can you increase your chances of being the go-to person for future work? Here are some tips:
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