Marketing

3 Things a Nine-Hour Drive Taught Me About Writing

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Over the weekend, I went to Fan Expo in Toronto, which required a nine-hour drive up from Maryland. The drive wasn’t bad and, over the course of the weekend, I made some observations about writing that are going to be worthwhile. They Did It First, We Do It Better We drove through Buffalo, New York, [...]

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I’m Writing an Article on Spec: Why I’m Not Scared

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I used to absolutely refuse to ever write articles on spec. If I didn’t have a contract in my hands, I wasn’t going to write the article. This is not uncommon: many freelance writers have gotten this advice from on high (freelance writing blogs, forums and so on). I’m not really at a point where [...]

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Pitching Magazine Editors on Twitter, Plus 80+ Editors on Twitter

Over the past couple of months, I’ve made a point of friending the editors of publications I’d like to write for on Twitter. I’ve landed several assignments through Twitter, including a few where the editor sought me out, rather than the other way around. That’s because Twitter is an ideal tool for building connections: when [...]

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Keeping Your Last Name: Can Freelancers Afford to Change Names?

When I married my husband, I didn’t even think about changing my last name. He asked once or twice, just to make sure we were on the same page, but it was a non-issue for both of us. Of course, both my family and his address all my mail to Mrs. Swenson, but no one [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Building a Portfolio

Isao asks, To build our writing portfolio, is it more important to write in places other than our own blog (and write many) or to pick a place with reputation (and keep the standard high)? Writing somewhere other than your own blog is critical to building a portfolio that will interest clients and editors: they [...]

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Is Your Name Holding You Back?

I know my name makes me stand out. In general, I think that’s a good thing: I’ve had lots of clients choose me because I stand out in a crowd. I’ve also had more than a few clients think they were working with a man and were very surprised to find otherwise. It has occasionally [...]

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Advertising Writing Services: Does It Make Sense?

When you need more work, it seems like all ideas are on the table. Cold-calling, offering a free ebook, networking… but what about advertising? Most freelancers don’t advertise their services in the traditional manner. Most of us just don’t have an ad budget big enough to take out even a square inch in the local [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Beyond Elance

Jennie asks, My question is about the value of Elance.com and other freelance hiring sites. I accepted a project from an Elance client which will be completed in January 2010. After I complete the project, I am not sure what I will do with my Elance account. Do you believe, as Robert Bly does, that [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Protecting Online Content

I had the chance to talk to a group of writers about promoting themselves online using blogs and other online tools. Katy Berube asks a follow up question, I am sold on doing many of these things online. My concern is what happens to my content if these websites fail. I saw what happened to [...]

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Marketing Is More Than Landing Clients For Freelance Writers

Marketing is more than landing clients. It’s more than who will ask you to work on a project — it affects who YOU can ask to work on a project. Today, I had a milestone in my writing career: I’ve been writing for some decently well-known websites for quite a while, including one which occasionally [...]

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