As many of you know, I am moving in to the final stages of my forthcoming book, Moonlighting Manners. To make sure I cover the needs of employees who moonlight (or who are considering it out of financial or creative needs) and the businesses they work for, I need some help. Please share this post [...]
Do you have design skills? Do you wish you could market those skills? Or do you have a client who wants you to design their brochure or postcard — not just write it? The cost of buying a full suite of design tools for just one job might put you off and make you think [...]
One of the services I provide is email newsletters. In managing newsletters and lists for different clients, I have come across a variety of email addresses. Some are great, but some send a very unprofessional image. I get the desire for a cutesy handle. And I know that sometimes you create a personal email address [...]
Right now, you’re probably just thinking about how to get through the holidays. But, you’ve got a whole bright, shiny year looming just around the corner. Now is the time to set some annual goals to make 2013 the best year for your writing business. Start Big What is your dream income goal? $20K? $50K? [...]
Many news organizations seem to be waiting for “citizen journalism” to take over so that they no longer have to pay for content and its creators. Sorry, but unless we really decline to the levels seen in Idiocracy, it’s not going to happen. Candid video and photos will continue to play a role in news, [...]
On so many sites and writer forums, I see new freelancers expressing fear over calling sources to interview them for articles. I get it. I don’t always like to talk on the phone with people I don’t know. And email seems so easy when you are working across time zones, as I frequently do. But [...]
I spend a lot of time in the car. And I frequently listen to webinars and audiobooks which spark ideas. In the past, I have done things like grab a scrap of paper and a pen to write them before they left my head. I have even used my cell phone to text an idea [...]
My musical tastes tend to be somewhat limited. So I used to be amazed when I hear someone in my favorite genre listening to an artists like Eminem. Or when I hear a cover of a classic country song by a band I like. Later I learned that most musicians love music of all types. [...]
Last week, I talked about the importance of taking good care of your sources so that you can book higher-paying gigs through your extensive network and so that you can write faster because you don’t have to hunt down sources. Taking care of them is all fine and good, but you have to keep track [...]
We freelance writers talk a lot about keeping our editors and clients happy. But we don’t always think about taking care of the experts who give us the information and quotations we need to write articles, case studies, blog posts, and other expert-sourced copy. Our access to experts is one of the reasons we writers [...]
