Business

Why, Yes, I Have a Company

Thumbnail image for Why, Yes, I Have a Company

For over a year, the business cards I hand out have said, Hyper Modern Consulting on them. It’s been part of my transition from ‘Thursday Bram, freelance writer to the stars’ to ‘Thursday Bram, business owner extraordinaire.’ That’s not the whole picture of my company: I established an LLC early last year to protect myself [...]

Read the full article

4 Ways to Let Chris Guillebeau Rock Your World

Thumbnail image for 4 Ways to Let Chris Guillebeau Rock Your World

I’ve been a Chris Guillebeau fan for what seems like forever. I’m continually impressed by his abilities as a writer. He’s visited places I’ve only dreamed about. He hangs out with tigers (and the tigers seem to like his book). Those reasons are definitely enough to win me over, but I think that he may [...]

Read the full article

Should Freelancers Remain Freelancers?

Thumbnail image for Should Freelancers Remain Freelancers?

For a long time, I’ve thought of myself — more than anything else — as a freelance writer. But I’ve made a conscious decision that I’m not going to refer to myself as a freelancer anymore. I’m a business owner, maybe an entrepreneur, and, of course, a writer. It’s just a name, but that name [...]

Read the full article

Ask Me Anything: Health Insurance and Memberships

Mary Jo Campbell asks, What are the best options for health insurance for family? As a writer, insurance can be harder to come by. Personally, I’m in the lucky position of being able to use the insurance my husband gets through his employer, but I haven’t always been so lucky. Before we were married, I [...]

Read the full article

Conference Sponsorships: Begging Won’t Help Your Cause

Thumbnail image for Conference Sponsorships: Begging Won’t Help Your Cause

I’ve been seeing a trend among some of the bloggers I follow lately: more than a few people are asking for sponsors to help them attend some conference or another. I consider that the general approach of posting a plea on one’s blog, Twitter account or elsewhere in public to be problematic. In fact, if [...]

Read the full article

Are You Backing Up Your Computer?

A computer that isn’t regularly backed up is a problem waiting to happen — especially when you’re a freelancer and every bit of your professional life is on that laptop or desktop. IT pro Robert Granholm has put together resources for getting the best back up systems in place for entrepreneurs, freelancers and the rest [...]

Read the full article

Review Copies: What to Do With Them After You’ve Written the Review

One of the perks of writing articles for various publications is that you can wind up with review products. If you write about cooking, you can wind up with pots and pans. If you write about technology, you can wind up with software. And if you write about anything, well… through review copies, I’ve learned [...]

Read the full article

Ask Me Anything: Payment for Blogging Gigs

An anonymous writer asks, I was recommended for this blogging gig for a brand-new site (it launched about 2 weeks ago). I finally talked to the company president last week to discuss content, focus, all of those things. I asked him about pay. He said they’re still working on the best way to go about [...]

Read the full article

Literary Agent Secrets — Query Letter Do’s and Don’ts from Laura Cross

Today, we have a guest post from Laura Cross, the author behind The Complete Guide to Hiring a Literary Agent. Agents review thousands of queries each year searching for talented writers and material to present to publishers. Yet agents say they reject 99% of the pitches they receive because the writers fail to: Show the [...]

Read the full article

Are You Tracking Your Time? 5 Reasons Every Writer Should

I think in terms of how much I make per article or per word most of the time, rather than about how much I make per hour. That can prove to be a problem, though. Since most articles aren’t automatically a matter of working a certain number of hours to complete, it’s very easy to [...]

Read the full article

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →