If you have ever walked through a midway at a summer fair or a carnival, you will have noticed that you are constantly being invited to partake in one or more of the games available. Carnival workers refer to the process of trying to get a potential customer’s attention by shouting out to them as “working your joint.”

The concept of taking steps to promote your business and what you have to offer is not only confined to people working the fair circuit. If you don’t want the term “working writer” to be an oxymoron, you need to make some noise and let potential clients that you are here and ready to work with them.

There are many ways you can promote yourself, but today I want to focus on one of the basics: the business card. If you are serious about making money working as a freelance writer, I would suggest that you have some made up. They don’t have to be anything fancy; what you want is something with your name, your business name (if you have one or “Freelance Writer” if you don’t) and your preferred contact method. Go to a print shop or look into one of the free biz card templates available online and print them off on card stock.

Keep a supply of cards with you at all times and distribute them freely. Any time that you meet someone new, don’t just say your name, give the person your card, too. At the same time, be prepared to tell the person a little bit about yourself and what you do. Write a 30-second “elevator speech” that you can rhyme off any time you need to.

If you are not used to doing this, it may be uncomfortable at first. Over time, it will get easier. The idea here is to spread a big net out to make contacts. It may not happen overnight, but someone you gave your card to may turn out to be someone who can give you some work, or they may know someone who needs writing done.

What I want to convey here is the idea that we need to be constantly open to the possibility getting more (and better paying) jobs. I honestly believe that we have as many opportunities as we create for ourselves and if you want to get more business, you need to let the people know who you are and what you can do for them.

So get out there and start working your own joint…just stay away from the carnival games. (They can be won, but either there is a trick involved or the odds are highly slanted in the House’s favor.)

Update: E-mail Address has been Changed.

I received the following request for submissions for an upcoming book:

I am an Australian author and I am compiling a follow up to my recently released book, Naked – confessions of adultery and infidelity published by Allen & Unwin Australia which I edited with Kylie Ladd. The follow-up is in the same style – a collection of anonymous essays – but has a different subject. Those whose pieces are chosen for inclusion will receive a fee of between AUD $500-800 depending on the exchange rate at the time on acceptance of the work and dependent on the size of the publisher’s advance.

The subject of the new book is secrets, secret lives and the things we hide behind our facades. The object of the stories is not merely sensation but to examine the nature of secrets and what they do to our lives. Much more information is available to writers who request the guidelines. Full guidelines are available by emailing me at [email protected]

Monday markets seemed to go over well when Deb was doing them, and I thought I would bring them back for you. If you are successful in selling a piece or getting an assignment from one of these, please post and let everyone know. I’m sure other readers would appreciate it

Clarkesworld Magazine

From the Online Guidelines:

Clarkesworld Magazine is an online venue and chapbook series for short works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Each month, Clarkesworld will publish two pieces of fiction, one solicited from an author with one or more books published, and one chosen from the rolling open call for submissions below.

Clarkesworld Magazine pays 10¢ a word for works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. We have a firm word limit of 4000 words. Please do not query about word lengths. We will not consider stories longer than 4000 words or shorter than 1000 words. We claim first world electronic rights, first print rights for the production of signed/numbered limited edition chapbooks (author must be willing to sign 100+ chapbooks), and non-exclusive anthology rights.

Stories must be:

1. Well-written. Language is important. If your story is only a story because you didn’t have the funds to produce and direct a short film or a sufficiently large live audience for the telling of a fanciful anecdote, then I don’t want to see it. There is no distinction between “style” and “substance” or “story” and “writing” — stories are made out of words. If your story isn’t worth reading as a collection of words, sentences, and paragraphs, it isn’t worth experiencing in story form.
2. Convenient for on-screen reading. Very long paragraphs or typographical trickery may work against you.

Monday Magazine

From the Online Guidelines:

Monday Magazine is an award-winning alternative newspaper with a weekly circulation of 40,000. Monday concentrates on current events and the arts in Victoria, and specializes in in-depth commentary and reporting. A member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, Monday began in 1975 as an alternative to the mainstream press in the Greater Victoria area. We are a general interest magazine; our articles should engage our readers–Mr. and Ms. Victoria. We want stories written in a fresh, energetic magazine style with a beginning, middle and end. The writing should be polished so it sparkles, the ideas should be well-considered and engaging. The topics should be compelling, intriguing andunusual–and relevant to our educated, curious and passionate readership.

Querying an Editor
Monday is interested in freelance cover stories (1,500 to 3,000 words), feature articles (800 to 1,500 words) and arts stories (250 to 450 words). We also use CD reviews of up to 150 words and book reviews of either 150 words or 400 words.

Pay is $0.10 per word.

Backpacker Magazine

From the Online Guidelines:

Good BACKPACKER articles contain the following attributes

North American destinations: We only occasionally cover foreign locales. Our defined market is North American destinations.

Advice for improving the backcountry experience: Our readers want to know how to, when to, where to, and with what. Every BACKPACKER article incorporates one or more of these things. We write not merely to inspire our readers to do something, but to help them identify and research new places to go, techniques and skills to use, or the gear to take.

While a portion of BACKPACKER is written by staff and regular contributors, we encourage freelance authors to submit query emails for features and departments. Approximately 50 percent of our features and more than half of our departments are written by freelancers. Please note that it’s rare for a writer new to BACKPACKER to break into the magazine with a feature assignment. Direct your efforts toward establishing a working relationship with us via department assignments first.

All BACKPACKER assignments are made in writing, and require a signed contract with you, the freelance author, in order to be valid. The contract will specify payment amount, payment terms, and rights purchased. In general, we pay on acceptance and buy all rights. We pay $.60 to more than $1.00 per word, depending upon the complexity and demands of the article, as well as the proven experience of the writer.

Military Officers Association of America

From the Online Guidelines:

Audience: Commissioned and warrant officers, families, and surviving spouses of the seven uniformed services: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — to include members of the National Guard and Reserve — actively serving as well as retired.

Circulation: 353,000 monthly (ABC audited). Sample magazines are available on request with 9×12 SASE. You also may view a digital edition of Military Officer magazine.

Style: Active voice, non-technical, with direct quotes. Optimistic, upbeat theme. Use The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.

Length: Features, between 1,000 and 2,000 words.

Payment: Features, 80 cents/word. Payment on acceptance.

When I first started looking for work online, I thought the Internet was a pretty anonymous place. Now I’m amazed at how many people I “know” online and the number of them who know each other. It really is a small world, and this is one more reason to mind your manners when you are posting things online.

I have no problem going on the record to say that rudeness is one of my pet peeves. I just don’t see any reason for it. Part of the reason that I take time to think about what I am saying (and posting) before I let it fly is because I have a terrible temper. (Have you ever seen the Hulk? Well, you really wouldn’t like me when I’m angry….)

Once the words are out of your mouth or you press “Send,” you can’t take them back. I’ve seen a couple of employers who posted jobs on another board recently be on the receiving end of some snarky comments about the rates they are offering to start. Both people mentioned that they had tried to hire writers in the past and either not received the work they ordered or received work of very poor quality.

I appreciate the “Once bitten, twice shy” thing. These employers are willing to increase the rates they pay once they find someone reliable, and there is nothing wrong with that. They may be new business owners and as their business grows and becomes more successful, they will be able to offer higher rates.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t think writers should get paid a fair wage. I do. But if I see an ad where rates are lower than I would find acceptable, I move on. I don’t have the time or the inclination to take a swipe at someone like that.

For every person who posts on a board, there are a number who are lurkers. Some of them may be in a position to hire you at some point and if they have a choice between someone who conducts themselves in a respectful manner and someone flips out all over them about rates, who do you think is going to get the gig?

Just a little food for thought this Saturday morning. Have a good one.

Since rates are such a hot topic around here and I don’t have a problem getting out a stick and taking a swat at the hornets’ nest every now and then, I wanted to bring up the topic of rates and new clients.

I have seen several ads where the employer offers a certain rate to start and states that if the relationship goes well that they are prepared to offer a higher rate for subsequent work. Now, just for the record, I don’t have a problem with this as long as the initial rate being quoted is a reasonable one.

I figure that the employer doesn’t know me (yet) and if I have a choice between working and not working that working should win out. (See my comment above about not accepting insulting rates above….) So far, this strategy has worked out well. Not only do I have steady work from a number of regular clients, but over time I have been offered better rates and different kinds of work other than web content.

If I didn’t agree to write the initial articles at $X per, I may not have been given the opportunity to write autoresponders, ebooks, and branch out into a bit of copywriting. All of these opportunities came because someone I had done work for gave me a shot. It’s all good experience that I have been able to put on my resume.

It might be a bit old fashioned but I believe in giving the person who hires me the best work that I can do every time and the amount I’m being paid to do the work doesn’t enter into it. I’m not doing them a favor by accepting their work; they are helping me to provide for my family by hiring me. Offering a certain wage to start and then reviewing compensation after a certain amount of time is common in the brick and mortar world, so why shouldn’t the same thing happen when employers who hire freelancers are looking to develop an ongoing relationship with someone?

Just for a minute, I want us to consider what it’s like to be in the employer’s seat when it comes time to put out an ad for a new freelancer (or several of them). I know that we talk a lot here about what the freelancing world is like from the point of view of the people looking for work, and I think it’s only fair to look at what it may be like from the opposite side of the desk.

Here we go: You have been magically transformed into the employer instead of the freelancer. You prepare an ad outlining what you are looking for, including the type of writing you need, what qualifications would dazzle you, and possibly how much you are prepared to pay.

You get a ton of responses and you weed through them to find the freelancers who seem like the best fit for your project. But before you get to that point, you need to go through people who:

• Didn’t follow instructions properly and include a resume and samples

• Decided to rake you over the coals about your business, the project, and/or the rate of pay

• Didn’t have the level of experience you specified in your ad

• Filled your e-mail box with spam

Once you find the people you are interested in working with, you contact them and give them the specifications of the project. Depending on the freelancer’s policies and yours, you may pay a deposit up front to get work started.

Now The Fun Begins

• You may get work back that is not of the same quality as the samples you were given.

• You may get work back that doesn’t look anything like what you ordered.

• You may never hear from the freelancer again.

Or you might be pleasantly surprised that you get the work you ordered back

• On Time

• The Correct Length

• On Topic

• Written by Someone who Takes Pride in Their Work

The next time you need work done, which type of freelancer are you going to hire?
More to the point, which type of freelancer are you?

We do take a chance when we start working for a new client, but the flip side to that is that they take a chance when they hire us too. If we do our work well, chances are very good that instead of placing another ad, the next time they need work done they will go back to the freelancers they had a good working relationship with.

One of the keys to success in this business is about building good relationships with your clients. Give them your best effort, and they will remember you long after the initial project ends.

by Annie Mueller

I’m serving my daughter stale crackers and some cubes of cheddar for lunch because I’ve been too busy pushing through another article to go buy groceries. She munches away, but I feel the eyes of the world peering in my large front window, hear their voices saying, “What is she thinking?”

Some days I’m clear. I’m set. I’m confident. Other days I think I must be ruining my children, damaging their psyches, sending them unalterable signals that will make them question my love. I comfort myself in these times by thinking back to my own childhood and realizing how much I don’t remember.

I don’t remember ever feeling unloved, even though my Mom was busy over the years heading up local and state organizations and running a variety of small business ventures. Sometimes my questions had to wait because she was on a phone call. Sometimes we spent Saturday afternoon helping her stuff mailers for a state-wide convention.

I don’t remember every feeling neglected, though we ate out-of-the-freezer fish sticks or chicken pot pies or canned tomato soup for lunch many days. I don’t remember feeling unimportant, even when Mom was too busy for an hour of coloring with me.

What I do remember gives me a clue for my own life. I remember a busy, happy Mom with plates spinning and heart racing, who enjoyed the adventure of keeping it all together, who relished both the adrenaline and the relaxation. Sure, she messed up on some stuff. She probably made bad decisions sometimes. Maybe there were even entire weeks when she was just off balance on key areas of life. But I didn’t know that then, and I can’t feel any negative effects from it now.

That’s what I think about as I wipe the cracker crumbs off my daughter’s hands and off my laptop. My son gurgles at me from the floor and continues to chew on the book corner. Their childhood won’t be perfect, but that’s okay. They won’t remember it wasn’t perfect; they’ll remember that I was here, with a whole lot of imperfect love. And someday they’ll forgive me for using them as content.

Annie Mueller feeds her kids with one hand and scrolls through websites with the other. Her children have survived so far. She writes about working at home, writing, reading, and building a better life at www.SisterWisdom.com.

As writers, words are our stock in trade and we are expected to know how to use them effectively in our work, so when I came across this bit of 411, it made me think about the number and types of words that I use. Out of the 600,000 words in the English language 99 percent of what we say is made up of 1,500-2,000 words. If this figure is right, then we are only using a very small portion of the words available to us. This seems like a real shame to me. Words are wonderful things, to my way of thinking. Look at all the things they can do:

• Inform

• Educate

• Amuse

• Titillate

• Attract

• Repulse

The right words can cause us rally around a cause or think about things in an entirely different manner. They can comfort us, or they can be used as a sword. Words are part of our important life events (think wedding vows and the eulogy delivered at a funeral). Think of all the greeting cards we buy to tell someone that we are thinking of them – using someone else’s words – at that. The right combination of words delivered by an impassioned speaker can change the world – whether that person actually composed the speech or not. All of these things can be accomplished by something that Dictionary.com defines as “a unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning.” As writers, we owe it to ourselves to take advantage of all the tools at our disposal, including adding more words to our respective vocabularies. Instead of using the same words and word patterns that we have grown used to using, why don’t we take a fresh look at our writing: Are we using the right words to convey what we want to say? We need to open our minds to more possibilities by:

• Not only reading what other writers have written, but by considering why they chose to use the words they did

• Reaching for a thesaurus more often, or using one of the online versions available

• Instead of skimming over unfamiliar words when we are reading something, stop to look them up in a dictionary. That new word may be something you can incorporate into your own writing.

Since the English language is constantly growing through the introduction of new words and phrases (Brangelina, anyone?), some people must think that we don’t have enough words to express ourselves as it is. Do you have any strategies you use to increase your vocabulary or do you feel comfortable with the number (and quality) of words you currently use in your writing?