Did you have a favorite Dr. Seuss book growing up? I sure did. It was Green Eggs and Ham. I could read that book over and over and never get tired of it.

But beyond the “Whos” and “Thing-a-ma-Jiggers” is an author with more advice relevant to freelancing than most.

Known by Dr. Seuss for his delightful and whimsical children’s books, Theodor Seuss Geisel was also an advertising ace – spending his early career in the advertising industry.

Urging us to keep moving forward, to learn a lot, and not to worry – here are just a few of the fun and insightful quotes from the poet behind classics like, The Cat in the Hat and Horton Hears a Who. Continue Reading

Are you unhappy with the amount of freelance writing income you’re bringing in? The check account is looking bare, and the bills are piling up.

You need more gigs — and you need them now.

Fortunately, there are many basic steps you can take quickly to help you land new assignments at better rates. Here are 10 strategies for growing your writing income fast:

1. Ask for referrals from existing clients. Do all your current clients know you’re looking to add another client or two? If not, be sure to let them know you would appreciate their referrals. They won’t be offended — I promise.
2. Find former clients on LinkedIn. Do you know where every former editor of yours is now? If not, reconnect, catch up…and let them know you’d be interested to work with them again, or to receive their referrals if they hear of anything. Another great way to reconnect — ask for a testimonial. You’ll be surprised how often that leads to a new assignment.

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Remember the good old days before 2008, when freelance writing gigs seemed to just fall out of the trees at you? It’s been a long slog through a tough economy since then, and there’s still no end in sight.

But here’s the thing: you are free to ignore the bad economy and continue to earn a good living.

How do I know? I’ve earned more as a freelance writer each year since 2006. That’s right — straight through the downturn.

While the overall freelance writing market may have shrunk in the crummy economy, if you are that rare freelance writer who is aggressively markets your business, you can still find plenty of work. In the great big world of all freelance writing assignments, there’s enough work left in there for one little ol’ you.

If you know where to look.

How can you use your skills to write your way to a good income despite the lousy economy? Here are my five best strategies: Continue Reading

Are you sick of seeing job ads for blogging that only offer $20 a post or less? Scanning the online job boards, you might think there are no good-paying blogging gigs.

But there are. I know because I’ve earned as much as $300 a blog post, and often get north of $100 a post.

What makes the difference? It’s all in the type of client you’re blogging for, and the type of business they have.

What sort of clients pay more for blog posts? Here is my guide for sleuthing out a better class of blogging client:

Ad-Click Model vs Lead-Generation Model

Most low-paid blogging offers come from online-only companies or content mills. These businesses all have the same way of making money: ad clicks.

The problem? This model doesn’t work well for most of the people who try it. So they don’t have a lot of money to spend. Even when the sites are able to attract big traffic, the strategy may not be profitable.

Instead, look for companies that sell a real product or service, usually in the physical world.

Their model is also reliant on throwing a ton of quickie, keyword-loaded content on their site, to drive traffic and create lots of pages for the ads. Because they need large numbers of posts with this strategy, each post can’t pay much.

Instead, look for companies that sell a real product or service, usually in the physical world. For instance, they sell cars, or insurance, or in-person consulting services. They are looking for blog posts that will draw in new leads and get them to join their email list, so they can sell to them later and turn them into customers.

Companies that pay for various forms of lead generation understand the value of a sophisticated, well-written blog post. When there’s a direct correlation between your blogging and their ability to build their marketing list and generate new revenue, companies are happy to pay a decent wage.

How can you connect with successful companies? Target companies you’d love to blog for and scan their company job board online for openings. Or reach out to them directly with a phone call or marketing email introducing yourself. Continue Reading

Have you been wondering if you could be a freelance writer?

Well, despite all the rah-rah you hear on many freelance sites about just going for it, and all the excitement about the pluses of the freelance life — no boss, set your own hours, a variety of work — the plain fact is that not everybody can hack this lifestyle.

How do you know if it’s not for you? I’ve mentored a lot of writers, and at this point I have a pretty clear sense of who is going to make it and who will end up throwing in the towel and finding a day job again.

Here are my seven warning signs that you’re not cut out to be a freelance writer, and suggestions on how to overcome each of these obstacles:

1. You’re insecure. Deep down, you need to have confidence that you possess writing talent and will be able to find gigs. If you don’t really think you’ve got something to offer, neither will anyone else. If needed, work to build up your confidence. Look over past writing you’ve done and see what you’ve accomplished. Surround yourself with people who are bullish on your writing efforts. Look in the mirror every morning and say, “Damn, I’m good.” Repeat until you mean it.
2. You’re not self-disciplined. If you were home all day with no one looking over your shoulder, would you do your writing assignments and market your business — or would you stuff most of the contents of your fridge down your gullet, yack on Facebook IM, and watch reruns of Dancing with the Stars? When you’re a freelancer, you need the inner resolve to haul yourself into the chair, turn on the computer, and write. So meditate, do yoga…whatever it takes to develop some discipline, get some inner calm, and start to focus on what matters.

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Savvy freelance editors often have a preternatural ability to zero in on dream clients and to steer clear from troublesome ones.

Ideal clients are those that are effortless to work with, straightforward and clear, and earn you the most money in a short period of time.

In contrast, challenging clients are usually those that ask you to work below your standard rate, demand a lot of changes mid-project, request frequent meetings, and seek to micromanage the way you work.

As a freelance editor, there are client situations you don’t want to find yourself in. When you sense a prospective client is going to be problematic, swerve quickly to avoid them.

1. Your client asks for unreasonable discounts.

If your client tries to talk you down from your standard rate, it can be fair to consider offering a discount if you think the project is interesting or could be an excellent addition to your portfolio.

But if you agree to an hourly rate and the client tries to undercut the proposed number of hours to pay you less, it demonstrates that he or she doesn’t understand the investment that is required on your part. Instead of offering an hourly rate, charge by the service or project. If the prospective client continues to balk during negotiations, it’s time to walk away. Learn a few pricing and client intake strategies to help you filter your client list. Continue Reading

I was listening to the recording of The Renegade Writer’s Become a Confident Writer Teleclass and they mentioned that adage: “Editors are just people.”

Now, I know from experience that they’re lying—but I’ll get to that in a second.

First I think it’s important to note that one of the prerequisites to being a writer seems to be a tendency toward perfectionism. We tend to be our own worse critics and are quick to note anything anyone says that seems to agree with that inner voice. Sometimes we’re right, and sometimes we’re wrong.

Back to my first point: editors aren’t just people; they’re overworked, over stressed magicians who put out fire after fire in such a way you never even see the sings on the page when you receive the magazine. But sometimes it seems as though they are talking a different language—especially when they send you comments on a recent piece.

As someone who used to sit on the other side of the screen, here are five translations for comment revision requests. Continue Reading

Marketing is integral to the success of any freelancer, and the difference between mediocre freelancers and professional ones is often how smart they are at marketing.

As a freelancer, you also need to realize that marketing isn’t all about working hard, it is about working smart. The main thing you want is to get paid, and your marketing should only be a means to this; you wouldn’t want to spend your time and effort marketing yourself only to have little time for your projects.

Writing is one of the simplest ways to market yourself. Some of its major advantages are:

• Literally anybody can do it.
• People don’t have to see your face, so you have nothing to be afraid of.
• It doesn’t take as much time and resources as other forms of marketing; you only need to know how to type and how to edit, and you’re good to go.

One thing about writing, though, is that its advantages are its disadvantages, and the fact that it can be done by anyone means you should be smart with your approach. This article will be sharing 7 smart ways you can use your writing to grow your freelance business; some of these tactics will only take a few hours, but they can contribute immensely to your freelance business. Continue Reading

Do you have this dream? You go down to your nearest big newsstand one day and check out all those big, glossy magazines. You flip one of your favorites open…and there’s your byline.

You’ve cracked the competitive world of writing for national magazines.

The good news is, this is not a pipe dream. You can do this.

There are no real qualifications for writing for magazines. I know people who have broken into major national magazines with no journalism-school degree, no newspaper reporting experience, and no previously published articles.

Despite what you’ve heard about the impending death of print media, national magazines continue to thrive, and many pay well — $1 a word and more.

And yet, the vast majority of writers who try to query or submit articles to magazines get nowhere.

How can you get your articles published in magazines? Here is my 15-step guide: Continue Reading

Irrespective of what niche you write in, there are major industry events that you need to be aware of. Reading about them is a terrific way to get ideas for new topics.

In addition, when you are well informed about your niche, you will be able to generate new ideas and base your writing on solid facts, as opposed to opinion alone. It is not just the major events that you should concern yourself with – it significantly helps to keep up to date on your niche in all aspects.

If you are able to blog about an event early in its life-cycle, you can gain several advantages as a blogger, which may not be as apparent at first. Continue Reading

Thinking of pursuing a career as a freelance writer? Congratulations. It’s a great lifestyle, where you control your own schedule, set your own rates, and work for a variety of clients.

That is, if you can figure out how to earn enough money from your writing to keep from starving.

Many new writers end up writing for content mills such as Demand Studios or Constant Content. In my experience mentoring hundreds of writers, this type of writing gig rarely works out to pay a living wage.

To earn a decent living as a freelance writer, you’ll need to proactively go out and find good-paying clients, whether they be print or online publications, or businesses.

Here is a primer on how to get your freelance writing business up and going, and bringing in real money. Continue Reading

It must be a wonderful thing to be one of those chefs in the TV cooking competitions, able to take a stack of surprise ingredients and instantly whip up beautiful, tasty dishes from them.

For most of us, if that’s what we had to do every day, it would just be overwhelming. Particularly when we are first learning to cook, startling creativity is not what we are after.

We just want good results from reasonable effort. After all, those flamboyant chefs spent a long time, years at least, faithfully following recipes until they developed the understanding and the skills they needed to pull off those creative miracles later in their careers. Continue Reading