Archives for August 2010

An Old Fashioned Writing Challenge

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I’ve got a challenge for you.  An old fashioned writing challenge.

Write with Pencil and Paper

We spend so much time in the digital world, I’m waiting for that scary world portrayed in 1984 where we just think and the computers hear us.  (No more carpal tunnel?)  I think our brains can use a good refreshing with some non-digital time.  I know the Sundays where I stay in bed and do nothing but read and write in my journal is remarkably energizing for my creative energy and productivity.

Many of you will be familiar with Julia Cameron’s morning pages – starting out every day by dumping out all of that crap in your head into a journal.  Not a digital one, but a written one.  It’s a powerful exercise, but

Why Paper?

One of Deb’s 40 lessons learned from 5 years of blogging is to keep pen and paper nearby.  Yes, you could just write down ideas in your smartphone, but sometimes I think that drawing a picture or connecting the dots and lines is useful. When I do new website idea designs these days, or new business models, I draw them on paper before putting them in Powerpoint, with a follow-up word document if I need it.

Deb also says that writing on paper makes writing less of a chore.  I’d agree – you can get worn down into a grind with posts, pages, word counts and spell checks.  Paper is a blank space to be filled as your pencil or pen feels fit.  It won’t crash or freezeup, losing your work.

Insert dramatic pause here:

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.  ~Norbet Platt

Your Challenge

So, I’d like to challenge you for your next blog post, sales page, book chapter, or website copywriting tasks, close your laptop, go sit in  a cafe or somewhere comfortable, and write.  Reflect on the process start-to-finish:

  • Do you find it easier to get started without those shiny distractions of Twitter, Facebook, or Email?
  • Does the act of pen on paper give you a new perspective on your creative process?
  • Can you enjoy the freedom and constraints of making edits, drawing arrows, or the ultimate satisfaction of scrunching up the paper and starting a new sheet?
  • Does the process take longer or shorter than normal?  Any idea why?
  • Do you feel your creative output was better than usual, or worse?  Again, any idea why?

I’ll join you for this tasks by writing my next FWJ post on paper first.  Let’s meet back here at FWJ and compare notes?

Photo by quacktaculous

Poetry Contest with $500 Prize and Manuscript Publication

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The Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Prize offers a $500 prize, publication of the winning poetry manuscript, ten copies of that published manuscript, and a reading at Lake Tahoe.

The entry fee is $20 and the deadline to enter is August 31, 2010.

Following are the guidelines from the Bona Fide Books website:

  • Submit a previously unpublished, full-length poetry manuscript of between 48 and 100 pages.
  • Include two cover pages: one with the title of the manuscript only, the other with title of manuscript, name, address, telephone number, and email address.
  • Include a table of contents and, if applicable, an acknowledgments page for prior publications.
  • Simultaneous submissions are permitted; please let us know right away if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. (Refunds will not be issued.)
  • A reading fee of $20 (US) by check or PayPal must accompany each submission. Multiple submissions are accepted; each requires a $20 entry fee.
  • More than one manuscript may be chosen for publication.
  • Submit via email or post.

Be sure to read all of the submission details on the Bona Fide Books website.  More than one manuscript might be chosen as a winner.

You can email your entry to [email protected] and send the $20 entry fee to the same email address via PayPal or snail mail it with a $20 check made out to Bona Fide Books Inc. to: Bona Fide Books, PO Box 550278, South Lake Tahoe, CA 96155.

Good luck aspiring poets!

How to Translate Previous Work Experience onto a Writer's Resume

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Our own Susan Gunelius wrote a very thoughtful post entitled, 10 Skills Freelance Writers Must Have if They Want to Succeed. I want to expand on her idea and address the subject of people who have work experience in other areas but who aren’t sure that it can be transferred to freelance writing work.

The following list of skills formed part of a recent ad for a freelance writer:

  • Computer use
  • Continuous learning
  • Critical thinking
  • Decision making
  • Document use
  • Finding information
  • Job task planning and organizing
  • Oral communication
  • Problem solving
  • Reading text
  • Significant use of memory
  • Working with others

This list of skills apply to a number of other jobs that a person who is interested in freelance writing may have held in the past. When you are creating a writing resume and you are looking for ways to describe your previous employment, accenting these types of duties is a way to show the prospective client that you are a good fit for the freelance writing gig.
You can also accent these skills in your cover letter when applying for a freelance writing gig. Just because you are working remotely, it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to show that you work well with others, and the ability to solve problems may be even more important in this type of work arrangement. The client is relying on you to remember the instructions you have been given and to use good judgment when implementing them.

You also need to be able to demonstrate that you can use a computer properly and that you have good communication skills. Being organized and able to prioritize tasks is another skill that successful freelance writers have.

To translate your previous jobs into skills that will benefit you as a freelance writer, start by breaking down each one into tasks that you performed on the job. Then consider how each one relates to the kinds of things you will need to do as a freelance writer.

This type of work involves a lot more than composition, and if you keep that fact in mind, you will be able to present yourself to a prospective client more effectively.

How the iPad Might Help Freelance Writers

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Everyone knows the print magazine industry is struggling with publications shutting their doors one after the other.  Many freelance writers depended on income from print magazines for many years before digital content usurped the print publishing industry.  What’s a freelancer to do when print publications are reducing the amount of articles they freelance and paying the freelancers they do accept content from lower amounts than ever?

According to John Lettice from The Register, Apple’s iPad might just be coming to the rescue for magazines and freelance writers who depend on those magazines as income sources.  Lettice explains that the iPad version of Wired is available with a monthly price tag of $4.99, significantly higher than the printed version.  Interestingly, the iPad version of Wired (which includes ads, although many aren’t clickable ads) has outsold the printed version.

It’s important to point out that the target market for Wired is probably also the target market for early iPad adopters, but it’s also probably safe to assume that finding ways to offer print content in the wireless reading device format through iPad, Kindle, and the multitude of other devices coming our way, is an interesting idea.  The question is what will be the differentiator between the ereader version of those publications and the free content people can access online.  Of course, that’s the marketer in me speculating though.

The point is this — while the print publishing industry is struggling simply to stay afloat for another month, week or day, new tools to consume content, like the iPad, offer new opportunities for those publications.  And with new opportunities for publications to connect with readers, all might not be lost for freelance writers.

However, with news like we got on Monday when The Washington Post announced it sold Newsweek (after a half decade of ownership) to Sidney Harman of Harman International, another once thriving print publication succumbed to massive debt from falling sales.  As reported by Newsweek, Harman was asked why he wanted to purchase the failing publication.  In response, “Harman, in a brief interview, said he saw it as an ‘opportunity to synthesize all of that experience [in industry, education, and government]. I couldn’t pass it up.'”  We’ll have to wait and see what becomes of Newsweek under Harman’s ownership.

How do you feel about the struggling and constantly changing landscape of print media as a freelance writer?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Julian Stallabrass via Flickr

10 Skills Freelance Writers Must Have if They Want to Succeed

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Since there are a lot of aspiring freelance writers in the Freelance Writing Jobs community, I thought it would be a good idea to go over some of the most important skills that freelance writers must have if they want to have a chance at being successful.

In other words, if you want to get paid for your writing, you need to make sure you can do the things in the list below.

1. Spell

If you can’t spell and you choose not to use a dictionary or effective spell-checking tool, then you won’t get far as a freelance writer.

2. Follow Grammar Rules

If you don’t know where to put commas and when to capitalize, then you need to learn how — quickly!

3. Proofread

As you write, you need to be aware of spelling and grammar, but it doesn’t end there.  You also need to proofread your work.  Keep in mind, proofreading your own work is never full-proof, but you should try to catch and fix as many errors and inconsistencies as possible.

4. Write Well

If you can’t write well, you won’t get quality writing assignments that can truly grow your career and business.  Make sure you get feedback on your writing by joining a writer’s group or taking some courses.  You can also pursue self-study online or through books about writing to ensure you can actually craft clear, compelling, and well-written content.

5. Market Yourself

You can’t be modest when you’re trying to get work as a freelance writer.  Instead, you need to turn into a marketer and really sell yourself as the person for every gig!  It takes a while to learn how to market yourself, so be prepared to spend time on this part of your business.

6. Research and Fact Check

In order to write, you’ll often need to do research, double check that facts used in your writing are accurate, cite sources, and make sure you can backup your claims.  If research bores you, then freelance writing might not be right for you.

7. Learn New Things

The worlds of publishing and media are changing so fast that writers need to be prepared to write for a wider variety of media and to learn new skills applicable to new media.  For example, writing for the web often requires a knowledge of search engine optimization writing techniques.  Today’s freelance writers are constantly learning new things.

8. Think Like a Business Owner

Freelance writers who work for themselves are small business owners.  They need to manage expenses, pay taxes, invoice clients, collect payments, and more.  These are all business-related tasks that take up time but can’t be avoided.

9. Be Thick-Skinned

Freelance writers need to be able to handle rejection and criticism.  If you’re easily offended when someone tells you they don’t like something you wrote, then freelance writing is probably not the best career choice for you.

10. Be Professional and Communicative

Freelance writers have to communicate with clients, editors, and more on a daily basis.  You need to remain professional at all times.  While the worlds of publishing and media are changing, they’re still proverbially small worlds — which means your reputation is at stake with every interaction because word travels fast within both worlds.

Image: stock.xchng

Do Project Management Tools Help Freelance Writers?

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When I started out freelancing, I had a Word document that held all the details for my projects, like due dates. I’ve seen plenty of other freelancers working with system they’ve created to keep track of client details that range from paper files to complex spreadsheets. But there are project management tools out there that make creative projects much easier and, since I’ve been using them, my productivity has gone up.

There’s an instinctive reaction from some freelance writers that project management tools simply aren’t necessary — it’s just one person working on a few writing projects, after all. Why bother with a fancy system? The other factor that seems to contribute to reluctance is the price tag: even relatively simply software can seem pricey when you consider that one of the benefits of freelance writing is that you don’t need much more beyond a word processor to get started.

Understanding the Value of the Right Tools

There are big, fancy project management tools geared towards companies with big teams. They have big price tags to accompany them. And if you think that’s all that is out there in terms of project management tools, it’s no wonder that it’s impossible to justify using them. But there are new applications coming out every day, including many geared towards freelancers. Both the prices and the tools were set with a freelancer in mind. But they offer big benefits.

There are the obvious features: notifications of deadlines, ways to keep research organized in the same place that you’ve put all the details of the project, even built-in invoicing tools in some cases. Beyond keeping you organized in a way that you don’t have to think about or devote time to maintaining, you can also protect yourself from anything happening to your notes and system. With web-based applications like Basecamp, you don’t even have to mess with backing up your data — even if something horrible happens to your computer, you can just sit down at another computer with internet access and be back in business.

There’s an added benefit that comes with investing in the right tools for freelancing: when you’re ready to pay even a few dollars for software that will make you more efficient, you’re reinforcing that you’re working on a real business. You’re building the mindset that you’re going to continue to move forward and expand your business. It doesn’t hurt that the right tools can free up some more time to devote to earning money, either.

Building Your Freelance Writing Brand – Part 5

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Part 5 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand Series here on Freelance Writing Jobs is all about online reputation management and search engine reputation management (SERM).  It’s a direct follow-up to Part 4, which dealt with manipulating search engine results and handling negative conversations about your brand online.  You can get links to all previous parts of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series at the end of this post.

Online reputation management deals not just with responding to negative conversations but also monitoring what is being said about your brand across the social web on an ongoing basis.  When you know what is being published about your brand, you can decide which tactic described in Part 4 is the right one for you to pursue in different situations.

But how do you find out what people are saying about you online?

Fortunately, there are some tools that can make it easier for you to keep track of ongoing conversations and content published about your brand.  While these tools are far from perfect, they can help you find conversations happening on diverse websites, and they can save you a lot of time.

Following are several free and easy-to-use tools that can help you monitor your online brand reputation:

1. Google Search

Take a few moments each day to conduct an Advanced Google Search to find any mentions of your brand in the past 24 hours.  There is no better way to manage your search engine reputation than to do a search everyday for your brand just like potential clients would.  You can also conduct searches for your top keyword phrases where you want your business to appear in the results to see how your content is faring in search rankings.

2. Google Alerts

Set up Google Alerts for your brand name and related terms, so you’ll receive emails when content with those terms is indexed by Google.

3. Twitter Alerts

Use a tool like TweetBeep or Twilert to set up alerts, so you’ll receive emails when tweets using your selected keywords (including your brand name) are published.

4. Monitter

You can use Monitter to watch real-time Twitter conversations related to keywords of your choice.

5. Twitter Search

An Advanced Twitter Search can help you find tweets that mention your brand or keywords of you choice.

There are other tools that you can use to monitor social media mentions, but they leave a lot to be desired and can give you an inaccurate portrayal of your online reputation.  If you’d like to try some, popular options include Social Mention, Samepoint, and WhosTalkin.

Stay tuned for Part 6 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series where you’ll learn about search engine optimization tips to boost your brand’s online presence and help people find the content about your brand that you want them to find.

Read Parts 1-4 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand Series

Monday Markets for August 2, 2010

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Road & Travel Magazine

From the Web Site:

ROAD & TRAVEL Magazine is an online, in-market, consumer magazine and resource specializing in automotive, travel, and personal safety topics aimed at upscale consumers, with a slant towards women, 29-59.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES & REQUIREMENTS

Feature articles should be approximately 1000-1200 words. Columns approximately 500 words. Writers are contacted upon acceptance only which could take up to 3 months. RTM works on a 3-month lead time.

Blog articles must be 200-300 words only and include one clear web quality jpeg to accompany the article.

SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED VIA EMAIL ONLY: Once we have received your acceptance of RTM Writer Guidelines, your query and/or manuscript should be saved as an attachment in a word document and be sent to the email provided. Please do not include articles in the body of your email. RTM editors no longer type in author articles however we reserve the right to edit writer content for spelling, grammar, style and format.

ORIGINAL WORK: All articles submitted to RTM must be the original work of the submitting author. Permission to run your article on RTM and in its content partner publications must include your guarantee that the article you are submitting is your original work and images. If writer submits articles for use in RTM with written permission and said article(s) are not original work, writer is subject to legal consequences and damages.

PHOTO REQUIREMENTS

Website photos: Good clear web quality photos must accompany your article. RTM accepts photos via email saved in gif or jpeg formats. They must be attached with your article. Please submit jpegs no larger than 2X3 inches. Large photo files that require long download times will not be accepted. Only web quality photos are accepted. As an online magazine RTM no longer accepts photos by mail.

Photos that accompany articles must be owned by and authorized for use by author. Authors must provide written guarantee that the art they provide belongs to them or that they have full authority to use art in association with their articles. If art is from a third party photographer or website, writer must provide permission in writing from the source that authorizes the writer and RTM to use said art. Writer’s who submit art for use in RTM that do not have proper authority to use said art will be subject to legal damages.

PAYMENT & BYLINE POLICY
Assigned articles range from byline only up to $100 for automotive reviews only, an amount to be negotiated and agreed upon in writing by author and publisher before publication of article. Acceptance and payment of article depends on quality and content.

Unsolicited articles that are professionally written and submitted as full manuscripts receive priority consideration, but only when accompanied by acceptance of RTM’s Writer Guideline policy.

Story ideas are not considered at this time.

Syndicated Writers: RTM will consider automotive and travel syndicated writer’s work for monthly placement for $25.00 per article. Syndicated writers must agree to and accept the $25 fee when submitting their work to RTM. Accepted writers will be notified by email from editor within 3 months of submission.

Cat Fancy

From the Web Site:

Thank you for your interest in CAT FANCY, a consumer magazine dedicated to cat care for the responsible owner. Before submitting any materials, read several issues to acquaint yourself with the type of material we use. Our magazine is available at many pet stores, bookstores and other places magazines are sold. Do not send unsolicited manuscripts. We will return them (if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope) or discard them unread. If you have an idea for an article, please send a written query with a SASE.

Feature Articles
We assign most feature articles to regular contributors, but we occasionally accept a feature from a new contributor.

Each month, we try to provide our readers a mix of informative articles dealing with feline health, nutrition, grooming, behavior and training, as well as special interest articles on cat-related events, hobbies, entertainment or crafts. Breeders, cat-show judges and other experts write our monthly breed profiles, which we assign well in advance. We assign medical features to veterinarians or other health experts. Length: 1,200-1,500 words. Payment: $200-$400.

Departments and Columns
Regular contributors write most of our monthly departments and columns. Exceptions include:
· Kids for Cats. Puzzles, games and how-to pieces for our younger readers. Payment: $20-$75
· Flights of Fancy. Short fiction, poetry or other creative expressions of feeling for cats. Length: 650-800 words. Payment: 2 complimentary copies of the issue in which your story appears.

Queries
Your typewritten, single-page query should include the following:
· The topic of your proposed article, expressed in one or two sentences.
· Why this topic will interest our readers.
· Key points you will cover in your article
· Sources you will interview.
· How you will present this topic in a fresh, appealing way.

If possible, include one or two previously published samples of your best writing. Mail your query to the Features Editor, or e-mail it to [email protected] Include your telephone number and e-mail address. We do not accept phone or fax queries. We may take six weeks to respond.

Terms
CAT FANCY pays following publication and buys first North American Serial Rights on an exclusive basis; the nonexclusive right to use the article and/or artwork in electronic media; and the nonexclusive right to use the article and/or artwork as well as your name, image and biographical data in advertising and promotion. We cannot assume responsibility for materials you submit, but we assure you that we will take all reasonable care in handling your work.

Family Business

From the Web Site:

Your audience consists primarily of owners and managers of family-owned businesses. Their various needs are covered by many publications; only Family Business focuses on the family aspect of businesses, and the business aspect of families. For example: Succession, estate planning, sibling rivalries, cousin jealousies, attracting and holding non-family talent, compensating family members vs. non-family employees, raising capital without giving up control. Make these “family business” concerns paramount.

In a family business, many problems that appear to be financial or technical actually stem from emotional roots. Try to delve beneath the surface and get your subjects to talk candidly and introspectively about the human side of the business.

Your readers are busy people. You must entice them to read your story with a compelling lead. Thereafter, you must hold their attention. Any one of the following devices will probably suffice:

Dramatize your subject. Ask yourself: What’s the problem here? How was it solved—or, conversely, how was it fumbled?
Humanize. Wherever possible, illustrate your general points with specific examples, either from your own research or from business news or history. Pseudonymous examples are better than none, but real people are preferable. That’s what readers can relate to.
Paint word pictures. Visual words and images stick to people’s minds. Ask yourself: Would you rather attend a lecture or a movie?
Your article must have a compelling point. Before you plunge too far into the details of your story, ask yourself, “So what?”—and answer that question in your text.

E-mail is the preferred method for submitting queries. Freelance writers are encouraged to propose article ideas. Identify the family business owners you plan to interview.

Have a question? Contact:

Barbara Spector, Editor-in-Chief, Family Business
1845 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: (215) 405-6084. Fax: (215) 405-6078
e-mail: [email protected]

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