Writing-World - the site for freelance writers

Why humour isn't the best way to get freelance writing gigs*

See the post below this one? The one about its/it's confusion, in which I used the example of an error made by a major publishing house as an example of how even the "best" of us get it wrong, sometimes?

You all understood that the "major publishing house" wasn't me, didn't you? I mean, I thought I'd made it pretty clear that the advertisement containing the rogue apostrophe was an example someone had sent me, and not a mistake I'd made myself, but apparently not because today I received an email from someone berating me for "my" mistake, and telling me I desperately needed an editor, and should hire them.

The person went on to tell me all about their writing experience and all of the "high points" in their freelance writing career, presumably to covince me they were the right person for the (non-existent) job. Sadly, the email they sent me wasn't one of those "high points": it was written entirely in lower case, and the writing quality was poor to say the least. So, not only had the person completely misunderstood my post (always a bad sign for someone who wants to be an editor), they'd also insulted me with their rudeness and displayed the writing skills of a young child.

Clearly, none of this would make me want to employ someone, and I replied to tell them so. It's OK, though, folks, because, guess what? The person was just joking! Yes, that's right, they were being "funny", and had done it in order to "get my attention".

Well, they got it alright - but not in a good way. When I told them this, though, they replied to say that I have no sense of humour.

Right. Got it. It's my fault. I just need to get a sense of humour! Whew!

5 Tips for Writing Short Articles Successfully

(A guest post by Kelly Kilpatrick)

Writing content for the internet can be a fun, rewarding, and lucrative endeavor if you play your cards right as a writer.  There are so many different things to consider, but getting some basics down is important to getting your writing out there and in the public eye.

The internet is full of content for readers from all walks of life, who are constantly looking for information related to a wide variety of topics.  Finding your niche or your area of expertise is the first step in growing a regular readership.  The next step is being able to put out content often enough to grow and maintain that readership.

Take a look at the following tips and start incorporating them into your articles if you feel you are ready to begin writing web content regularly.

1. Have a good title.  The title should be brief and relevant to exactly what your article is going to be about.  Remember, people use search engines when looking for information, so it is important to use titles that incorporate keywords and have a high level of specificity.

Freelance Tees - helping freelance writers get hired. Maybe.

How far would you go in a bid to find freelance writing for work? Would you, for instance, walk around with an advert for your services plastered on your back? Or on your front, for that matter?

The people at Blackbird Tees think you would. Their t-shirts for freelance writers (and freelancers in other disciplines, too) come with your entire resume printed on the back, and one of the slogans above printed on the front. Don't like the slogan? That's OK, you can write one of your own - after all, you are a writer, aren't you?

These are $20 each and you can buy them here. I'm interested to hear what you think of them, though. Is this something you'd consider doing?

How becoming an expert can help your freelance writing career

Many of the freelance writers who send me speculative applications asking for jobs tell me they can write about "anything".  You'd think this would be a good thing, right? These are clearly talented, well-rounded writers who know how to do their research. Who wouldn't want to employ writers like that?

Well, I wouldn't for starters.

The thing is, you see, I don't want to employ people to write about "everything".* Actually, come to think of it, I don't want to employ writers at all right now, but if I did, I'd want them to write about fashion or beauty, because those are the topics my sites cover. And I'd want my writers to be passionate about those topics. I'd want them to be the kind of people who'd be interested in fashion even if they weren't trying to get a job on a fashion blog. I'd want them to be true enthusiasts - people who knew their subject inside out, and who were genuinely interested in the things they'd be writing about.

The "I can write about anything" brigade just don't have that going for them.

How Not to Get a Freelance Writing Job, Part 2

A couple of days ago, I received the following email:

"I wish to apply as a writer for your company. i am a nigerian and a graduate of the <college name removed. It was typed all in lower case, though.>.By the grace of God almighty i am knowledgeable in my field. this includes such courses as < insert a long list of subjects bearing no relation to anything our blogs cover> please i would want to be involved in articles, term papers and projects partaining to the above areas either to develop and sell or to be paid for writing. thank you."

Now, what did capital letters do to this guy, do you think, to make him ignore them so thoroughly? And what on earth made him think that we'd be looking for freelancers who write almost entirely in lower case?

(I should probably add here that every time I post something like this, I get comments from people who have trawled through my own sites in order to find typos and point them out to me. Yes, I know I make errors too. Show me the writer who has never, ever made a mistake and... well, I probably won't believe you. So, when I post these items, I'm not trying to say that I am perfect, or that no one is ever allowed to make a mistake. The fact is, these things happen. Even the very best writers out there are guilty of making the odd typo. I'm just pointing out that when you're applying for a job as a writer, it's particularly important to make sure that you are, at the very least, writing in standard English.)

The type of email I don't answer...

Received this morning:

Hello,

I have been in the XXXXXXXXXX field for about 10years now and is working on my second book, XXXXXXXXXXXX If you need someone to blogs sometimes for Doll Face, please contact me.

Thanks & Smles

I is working on my second book?
If you need someone to blogs

Smles? SMLES?

And this, my friends, is why so many would-be freelance writers never hear back from the editors they send speculative emails to...

(Note: I used to email people like this back, gently pointing out why I wouldn't be hiring them. I thought I was being helpful - and I did try to be as gentle as possible - but all too often I'd just get back a stream of abuse, so these days I don't bother. My policy now is that if you can't be bothered to take the time to write proper English in your email to me, I can't be bothered to reply. Harsh, I know, but sometimes necessary.)

"So, how much do you actually make from this 'blogging' thing, then?"

It always goes the exact same way.

"So, you're still working from home, then?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Hmmm. Still doing that 'blogging' thing?"

"I am, yes."

* Pause *

"And you actually make money from that then?"

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. 

Freelance Writing Poll: How much do you charge for one hour of sales-based copywriting?

This week's freelance writing poll is now up - you can see it in the sidebar to the right of this post, and as you can see, this week we're continuing with our quest to find out what the "average" rate is for various freelance writing projects by asking the question, "What do you charge for one hour of sales-based copywriting?"

Now, I realise that this may be a particularly tricky question for some of you to answer, because clearly not everyone charges by the hour, with some writers preferring to charge by the word or project for this type of work.

For the sake of the poll, though, I'm going to ask you to imagine that you do charge by the hour. How much is an hour of your time worth when you're working on a piece of sales-based copywriting? The project could be a web page, a leaflet, a brochure - it could be anything you like. Just imagine you've been asked to write text designed to inspire people to buy something, and you've worked out that the work will take you one hour.

What would you charge?

Why low rates don't always win the clients

One of the things our last poll on freelance writing rates showed us is that there are still a number of writers out there who are charging what seems like an incredibly low rate for the job - we're talking less than $5 for a 500 word article, here, which is pretty amazing to many of us.

Of course, there are lots of reasons why a writer may decide to pitch their rates low, but I'm willing to bet that the overriding one is that they think it helps them win clients.

Here's the thing, though: it doesn't.

When you value yourself low, you encourage other people to do likewise. You may win some clients - you'll get lots of attention from the type of people who advertise on Craigslist looking for people to work for nothing, or close to nothing, for instance - but perhaps not as many as you'd think. And for every $2 article client you win, there's a high-paying potential client lost. Here's why:

1. Charging very low rates makes you look like an amateur

Quite simply, professional writers don't charge less than $5 for a 500 word article: in fact, they don't charge anything close to that amount. By charging at this kind of level, you're clearly marking yourself out as an amateur, and high paying clients don't want to work with amateurs.