Tag Archives: freelance writing

This must be done to achieve book writing success

Posted on by

By Denise Turney
Your new book is scheduled to hit the market in three months. Last night, you sat at your kitchen table reviewing the final page proofs, before shipping the manuscript off to your publisher with a few final changes. You’re excited, full of enthusiasm.

When your book publisher ask you about steps you’re going to take to get the word about your new book – the one you hope turns into a bestselling novel –  you rattle off a laundry list of activities, everything from attending book festivals to speaking at public events to upgrading your website to scheduling interviews. Fortunately, you won’t have to leave the comforts of your home to find and schedule dozens of the above events.

Follow through is more important than you think

Yet, scheduling book events (starting something) isn’t enough. If you hope to achieve success as a book writer, you have to follow through. It’s not enough just to add an event like a book conference or book signing to your schedule.

For example, if you schedule radio interviews, you can draft at least five sample questions to give to radio  hosts, making their job easier. You can also create a media page about your books at your website, so newspaper, radio and television interviewers can grab quick information about you to include in articles and interviews they do on you. And, of course, be sure to send the hosts your media kit.

What to do as interview dates get closer

One week before your interviews, contact radio hosts and let them know that you are ready for the interviews. Include the dates and times of the interviews in your correspondence to hosts. This way, hosts can reach out to you should the dates or times of interviews have changed.

Most importantly, show up for interviews at least 3 to 5 minutes early. Some hosts may ask you to show up 10 minutes early. Get in the habit of showing up for interviews late or not showing up at all, and you might earn yourself a bad reputation. Years from now, that reputation could make it very hard for you to land interviews which, in turn, could impact you ability to generate book sales.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in my new book, Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

How to sustain a freelance writing career

Posted on by

By Denise Turney
Freelance writing offers a range of rewards, including the chance to work from home, set your own hours, travel and give yourself salary increases two or more times a year. Salary increases come for freelance writers when they market their skills and land jobs with higher paying clients. Freelance writers can also give themselves salary increases by working longer hours or taking on more projects.

Developing a successful freelance writing career

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, writers, including freelance writers and authors, earned a median annual salary of $55,940 in 2012. Sustaining a successful freelance writing career calls for tenacity, resilience and assertiveness. Assertiveness is crucial because rare are the instances when corporations and small business reach out to freelance writers, especially new freelance writers, asking them to create content for them.

This means, writers have to build winning portfolios that highlight key projects (i.e. website content, headlines, product reviews, advertorials, white papers) they’ve worked on. In addition to publishing their portfolios on the Internet, to land more higher paying clients, freelance writers research the market and contact companies they’re interested in writing for. They do this at least one day a week. It helps to keep their name in front of quality employers.

Continuing to grow a freelance writing portfolio

To keep themselves honest, successful freelance writers may keep a spreadsheet or database that details the names of prospective clients they reach out to, the date they contacted a prospect and the results of the contact. Should initial contacts not prove fruitful, freelancers schedule a date to follow p with those prospects. That’s right. Earning a living as a freelance writer requires these creative workers to perform sales work, and regularly, again – at least once a week. Rather than getting comfortable working for one to two clients who provide them lots of writing work, successful freelancers continuously market themselves.

In fact, some freelance writers don’t rest until they land 10-12 writing clients. It goes without saying that successful writers value each word they use. They work to get out in front of a story. Rather than copying work from other writers, they’re original, innovative. To stay sharp, they also complete certifications and continue learning.

When work is low, successful freelance writers contact clients they haven’t received work from in several weeks, asking if they have content they need created. They value these relationships and keep in touch with all of their clients throughout the year.

Get your copy of “Love Pour Over Me” Now at – http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

Funding the Early Stages of a Writing Career

Posted on by

By Denise Turney
Your dreams of striking it big as a writer might take a few months, or years, to manifest. Before your dreams manifest, sitting in front of a computer screen, creating cliff hanging scenes, may not generate enough income for you to pay all your expenses. To keep moving forward, you’re going to have to find a way to fund your writing career.

Ways to Generate Income as a Fiction Writer

Some obvious ways you can fund the early stages of your writing career include getting a full-time or part-time job or starting an online business and selling digital products or services. If you want to have enough time to continue developing interesting novel plots, unforgettable characters and engaging dialogue, consider getting a part-time job. You could also start freelance writing for business clients, people who are looking for professional writers to help them market and sell their products and services.

Other steps you could take to fund the early stages of your writing career are:

  • Blogging (setting up your own blog using platforms like WordPress, Bravehost, etc. and adding affiliate ads to your blog so you can start earning money)
  • Teaching writing courses (you could teach a writing course at a local community college or you could start your own online writing course, asking attendees to pay a fee to attend webinars, etc. you lead)
  • Advertising business products (if you start your own radio show, you could reach out to businesses and establish marketing arrangements with them where they pay you a certain amount of money a month to advertise their products or services on your radio show)
  • Writing non-fiction articles and feature interviews for magazines, newspapers and journals (resources like Writer’s Digest, The Writer’s Market, Literary Market Place, Media Bistro, Journalism Jobs, etc. post writing job openings)
  • Edit other novelists’ manuscripts (I know of a few people who have earned money doing  this; it’s another way to stay close to writing while you earn an income)

Each of these steps does more than help you start generating additional income. The steps also allow you to continue to use and sharpen your writing skills. For example, if you worked as a copywriter, you could earn $50 an hour, developing banner ads, print ads, brochures and blog posts for clients. As you complete your writing assignments, you could also learn new ways to work with editors and strengthen your time management skills so you always meet deadlines. You could also discover new ways to market your novels, something that will definitely benefit you as you continue to move your writing career forward.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

 

10 Must Haves to be a Successful Freelance Writer

Posted on by

Absolutely! Successful freelance writers have a lively, energetic imagination.  It’s the heartbeat of the very work that creative writers design.  However, that isn’t the only element that freelance writers need to be successful. In fact, imagination alone could find writers struggling to build ways to transfer the many ideas filling their head onto paper (or onto a computer screen).

Without these other 10 “must haves,” freelance writers could also spends weeks or months (dare I say . . . years) trying to land quality clients (who doesn’t want their savings to grow?), sharpen their craft or grow their readership. Absent a few of these “must haves,” freelance writers could also start feeling frustrated and (oh, no!) quit.

So, without further ado, here’s the 10 “must haves”. How many of them do you already possess?

Determination – Freelance writing isn’t always easy, especially at the start of a career. By being determined, you can hang in there when client work has dropped off, novel sales are sluggish or you find yourself racing to catch up to lightning fast technology advances.

Open Mind – No one knows everything about anything.  An open mind makes it easier for you to receive new ideas, continue to learn and accept reader feedback without losing focus of your writing goals.

Solid Skills – Okay. You don’t have to be an English professor to enjoy phenomenal success as a freelance writer. But, you do need to have a good handle on grammar basics. If you feel you have room for improvement in this area, consider enrolling in an online or offline course so you can get up to speed.


Marketing Drive – Whether you work as a copywriter, technical writer, medical writer, etc. or as a book writer (fiction or non-fiction), you’re going to need to market your work to pull in more clients or readers. Participating in marketing discussion forums is one way you could start learning about tricks you could use to attract a larger audience for your work.

Financial Acumen – There really isn’t much sense in working hard to make money if you’re only going to waste every cent you earn. A budget (as well as sticking to a budget) could keep you on track, helping you to grow savings.

Courage – Should this one be Number 1?  Okay. These “must haves” aren’t in any particular order. But, that said, courage is HUGE. Without courage, you might avoid contacting interview subjects (i.e. CEOs, celebrities) so you can land freelance writing gigs. You might also steer away from reaching out to book club presidents, readers, etc. to gain reviews for your latest novel. In fact, courage probably impacts everything you’ll do as a freelance writer.

Humor – Despite your best efforts, there’s no guarantee that you’ll always get the winning results you seek. It’s also highly unlikely that you’ll never make a mistake. Learning to laugh and take all that comes with freelance writing in stride could save you lots of frustration, disappointment and anger. Try it!

Appreciation – Although we writers often work alone,  our lives don’t unfold in a vacuum (and, who would want that?). Appreciation for other people can help you remember what’s primary as a writer (regardless of the type of writing you do) — readers . . . aka “other people”.  By focusing on writing to improve other people’s lives, you could really start to win as a freelancer. This cannot be overstated.

Great Editors – Sure. You can edit your own writings. In fact, it’s a great idea to do so. However, if you want to truly improve as a writer, moving closer and closer toward ongoing  success, there’s a huge chance that you’re going to have to work with editors — great editors. The better the editors you work with, the better your writing will likely be.

Vision – That’s right. Imagination alone may not be enough. You need to “see” what you want, including how you want a story to unfold, what you want to achieve as a freelance writer each day, week, month and year. It’s this inner vision that can help you to know which choices to make (i.e. what to say “yes” or “no” to).

Resilience is another ingredient that can propel you to the top as a freelance writer. After all, down times might come, but if you are determined and resilient, you can stay the course, holding on for more and more writing success.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com ($3.03 – lowest price I’ve found so far) and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.