Writing-World - the site for freelance writers

Do you know who's commenting on your blog?

My very first pro-blogging job was for a TV blog. Because it was my first-ever blogging gig, I was particularly keen to do well and make a good impression, so when I started receiving some particularly vicious, and very personal, comments on some of my posts, I was naturally pretty upset about it.

What upset me most of all was the fact that the comments were coming from lots of different people - some anonymous, some not - who all voiced the same set of complaints about me and my work. I was devastated. Everyone hated me! I was the worst blogger in the history of blogging! I was so bad that the blog's readers, who rarely ever felt moved to leave a comment (although it was a fairly high-profile site, it didn't receive a lot of comments at the time, which made the negativity I seemed to generate all the more remarkable), they were more than happy to make an exception for me - and nothing that they said was complimentary.

I decided that I would quit pro-blogging. It obviously wasn't for me, and given the highly negative reactions I was inspiring in the blog's readers, it was clearly only a matter of time before I was fired, anyway.

Before I handed in my resignation, though, I decided to do a little bit of investigation.

Ramdom tips for Entrepreneurs: People like sucessful people

It’s true. I’m not advocating that you tell lies here, but there is nothing more attractive than success. Think about it. If you were hiring a professional service provider, would you rather hire someone who seemed to be doing well, or someone on the verge of bankruptcy who insisted on putting themselves down?

If you want your business to do well, it’s important to at least give the appearance of success. That means exuding an air of confidence, maintaining a “can do” attitude, and never, but never, admitting that you’re struggling. (Not to your clients, anyway).

This may seem so obvious that it's hardly even worth mentioning, but trust me: it needs to be said. I’ve seen freelance writers apply for projects with the words, “I’ve never actually done this before, and I’m not sure I can do it, but I’ll give it a try anyway because I need the money.” I’ve received job applications from people who've said, “I know my price probably seems really low, but I can’t seem to get any work.” I've even had speculative emails from freelancers who've opened with a long, self-pitying rant about how no one will employ them and they just don't understand why, so could I please give them a job?

Needless to say, I’ve never actually employed any of these people, because the first thing that comes to my mind is that if no one wants to employ them, there's got to be a good reason for that: and there usually is. Sure, it may be true that you’re struggling. But you don’t want your prospective clients to know it. The employer isn't going to think, “Poor chap, I’ll give him a break.” He’s going to think, “If you can’t get people to pay you, you must not be very good,” and then move straight to the next candidate.

I repeat: I'm not advocating that you tell lies about your ability. If you genuinely doubt that you can do a particular job, and do it well, then you have no business applying for it. Instead, focus on building your skills in that area until you have confidence in your own ability, and in the meantime, look for jobs that you know you'll be able to handle.

Above all: never, ever put yourself down to clients. No good can come of it.

How much should you charge for proofreading? The jury's still out...

I let this particular poll run for a couple of extra days because every time I looked at it the results were split equally three ways, and I wanted to be able to give you some kind of definitive "answer", if such a thing exists (I suspect it doesn't). Well, close but no cigar: when I finally closed the poll today we'd lost the three-way-slot, but were left with a two-way tie instead. It seems that most of you would charge anything between $30 - $100 to proofread a 500-word page of text, with 17.9% opting for $10 or less.

(Note: 3.6% of you also said you'd charge $300 or more, but the image was too long to fit that result in the space!)

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this result. I had expected it to reveal proofreading as one of the poorest-paid freelance writing jobs, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Of course, I was basing that assumption on the sheer number of emails I receive from people telling me that they're "really good at spelling" and "always notice mistakes in the newspaper", and who have decided that they'd make excellent proofreaders.

Of course, I'm not saying that they wouldn't. But having attended professional proofreading training, I know that proofreading is a far more time-consuming job than many people seem to think, and it requires a considerable amount of skill and patience. In addition to the emails from would-be proofreaders, I've also had my fair share from would-be clients asking me to proofread text, either for free or for close to free, because "it's only a couple of pages, it'll take you five minutes." Er, no. It won't. Or not if I do it properly, anyway...

This week we're taking a break from our What to Charge polls and you'll find a completely different poll in the right hand sidebar, so please go ahead and place your vote!

Work from Home Freelance Writing Jobs Roundup

Music blogger
Tech blogger
Marketing Copywriter for Assisted Living/Memory Care
Business writers needed
Need a children's book editor
Website content editing
SEO technical writers
Need proofreader/editor for onjoing jobs
Blogger - fashion related
Freelance copy editor needed
Army of Moms blogger/content writer

Freelance workers: Do you work during the holidays?

Happy Easter! Yes, yes, I know Easter will already be but a distant memory by the time you read this, but I still get to say it anyway, because I'm actually writing this on Good Friday, to be published next week.

No, there is no such thing as a public holiday for the freelance writer. Or there is, but in order to actually have a holiday, I have to be prepared to work twice as hard to prepare for it - to the extent that I sometimes wonder if the holiday itself is actually worth what I have to go through to get it.

In order to have some "proper" time off over the next three days, for instance, I'm having to do the work I'd normally do over the weekend today - Good Friday. And yes, I normally work on the weekends: not all weekend, to be fair, but for a couple of hours each day. I tell myself that this is a temporary situation, that I need to put up with while I build up my blogging business, but sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to just sit back and put my feet up without thinking, "Hmmm, I really could be doing some more work on the blogs..."

Am I alone in this? I have a sneaky feeling I'm not: most of the other self-employed people I know admit to working much longer hours than they ever did when they were employed by other people - and to finding it difficult to "switch off" for weekends and holidays.

What about you? Did you have some time off over the Easter break, or was it business as usual?

Work from Home freelance writing jobs roundup

Ghostwriter wanted for new investment website
Calling all creative writers
Golf business writers wanted (UK)
Writer for travel and telecom business
Press release writer
Website copywriter needed
Reliable freelance writers needed
Interviewer needed to write magazine article
Freelance celebrity interviewer needed
Experienced bloggers and content managers needed

One hour's copywriting: $60 - $100?

The results of our latest freelance writing poll are in, and it would seem that the majority of our readers are charging somewhere between $60 - $100 per hour for sales based copywriting, with 25% saying they'd charge $20 - £40, and just 3.6% charging $150 - $200. No said they'd charge higher than that, and thankfully no-one said they'd charge less than $10 either, so copywriting appears to be worth more to most of you than press release writing or article writing.

Our latest poll, on proofreading, is now live in the right hand side bar. I know many people seem to view proofreading as an "easy" option for freelancers, so I'll be interested to see whether that's reflected in the rates you say you'll charge for it!

Six Things PRs Hate About Journalists

I've already written about Why Journalists Hate PRs, but having worked in both fields, I know that it works the other way too, and PRs have their fair share of gripes about us journos. I can't speak for all PR professionals, of course, but during my brief time in the field, these are the things that used to annoy me the most...

1. They've been working on the story since 10am that morning, but they wait until five minutes before their deadline to call you for a quote...

...and you have a sneaking suspicion that they did it in the hope that you won't have time to get back to them, allowing them to ignore your client's side of the story altogether.

2. They copy and paste your press release...

...but put their byline on it.

3. They promise faithfully to come along to the press conference/other event you've spent weeks organising...

...and then don't turn up.

4. But they still expect you to give them a full and thorough briefing on what happened.

5. Which they don't use.

6. They never seem to have the slightest idea when the story they're writing will be published - and they never want to discuss the reasons why it got spiked.
(In fairness, there are lots of different reasons why this is the case, and the "When will it be published?/Why didn't it get published?" question is one that journalists get sick of hearing, but I know it's something that can annoy PRs, whose clients are clamouring for the information.)

Nor all of these complaints are totally justified, of course, but I thought it was only fair to give the PRs their say, too. 

Do you work in PR? What gripes do you have about the journalists you have to deal with?

Pet Peeves: 'Ima'

No, it's not a hybrid car, it's a hybrid word - and I hate it.

"Ima go to the store now," for instance, means, "I'm going to go to the store now."

"Ima have lunch," means "I'm going to have lunch."

And "Ima lazy so-and-so who can't be bothered writing out the words 'going to,'" means... well, you can probably work that one out for yourself.

"Ima" crops up more and more often these days in the language of people who think they are "being cute" by turning four words into one. These are, without a doubt, the same people who use the word "prolly" and think that "ppl" is an acceptable way to write "people", even in a business email.

Granted, the use of 'Ima' does conjure up a certain type of dialect, and may be useful to fiction writers who want to make their characters sound a bit more "real", but in everyday writing? No. Please, no. Make it stop, someone?

The best thing about being a self-employed writer

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an actress when I grew up.

When I did grow up, and entered the world of employment, I achieved my ambition. Oh, I wasn't paid to act - or not literally, anyway. I was paid to be a newspaper journalist, a press officer, even a call centre operator, but as far as I was concerned, no matter what my official job title was, most of my time was spent acting.

I would arrive at work in the morning and act like I was happy to be there.

I would act like the early mornings didn't bother me, although I am far from being a morning person, and don't generally feel human until at least 10am, and the second mug of coffee.

I would pretend to like and respect people I actually couldn't stand.

I would say I didn't mind staying late to finish that urgent press release, when really I wanted was to go home and get to be myself again.

I would sit in endless, pointless meetings and act like there was nowhere I'd rather be.

I would grit my teeth and smile when my boss asked me to work through my lunch break - again.

I would pretend to find my work interesting and stimulating, even when it involved answering the same questions over and over again, or covering the dullest committee meetings known to man.

In general, I made a living out of pretending to be someone I most definitely was not: a happy little worker bee who lived for the job and could think of no better way to spend her time than trapped in a windowless, airless office, earning money for someone else.*

These days? I don't do a whole lot of acting.

Oh, there are bits and pieces of pretense scattered throughout my weeks. Not being overly-fond of the phone, for instance, I have to pretend to be pleased every time someone decided to call me, or ask me to call them. And there's the odd difficult client or advertiser who I have to pretend not to be frustrated by, but for the most part, I wake up every morning and don't have to act like anyone other my myself. There's an honesty to my working life that was sadly lacking before, and it's perhaps the biggest reason why I'd never want to go back to office life. Well, that an the early mornings, of course.

I guess acting really wasn't for me, after all.

*It had its good points, too.