3 Things That Are Wrong with Content Mills, and 3 That Might Just Be Right

I don’t write for content mills (or sites that I consider to be on par with content mills). That means sites that just crank out content on every imaginable subject, typically hoping to make some money by putting ads next to articles that have been optimized for certain keywords. I did write for such sites [...]

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Review: The Wealthy Freelancer

When I first received a review copy of The Wealthy Freelancer, by Ed Gandia, Pete Savage and Steve Slaunwhite, I have to admit that I could have been a little more excited. I’ve seen plenty of ‘get rich quick’ schemes targeted at freelance writers and the book’s cover made me wonder a little bit: it’s [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Academic Samples

Clare K. R. Miller asks, What if you’re just starting out? Are academic samples appropriate, or should you write some things to use as samples even if they’re not published? In general, using academic samples can be a way to get around not having any published samples that you can use in terms of work [...]

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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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Ask Me Anything: Work Samples

Laura Renegar asks, If asked for work samples, how many should you send? My standard number for sending out work samples is to send three top-notch pieces, along with a link to my portfolio so that if a client wants to browse through and look at more of my work, he can. I try to [...]

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Constructively Productive: Teaming Up With Other Freelancers

As you might have guessed from my recent ebook, I launch projects of my own every so often. Sometimes, I have the opportunity to work on a particularly cool project with another freelance writer. I’m launching just such a project today, with the incredible Ali Hale. Ali is a freelance writer and operates her own [...]

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Why No Negative Reviews?

Not too long ago, I was asked why I didn’t seem to ever post a negative review here. As a matter of fact, very few of the reviews I write are negative, no matter where they appear. The reason why I don’t seem to write negative reviews is simple: it’s because I actually don’t write [...]

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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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The Glamorous Life of a Freelance Writer

My little sister thinks I’m just like a character out of Sex in the City, based on the fact that I’m a writer. Apparently she thinks I drink a lot of martinis, write when the mood strikes me and generally have quite the glamorous life. I may have snorted the water I was drinking out [...]

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My Writing Bucket List: The 5 Goals that Make Up My List

As a writer, I’ve set myself some goals over the course of my career. Some I’ve accomplished, some I’m still looking forward to. These aren’t always goals that I can just get out there and achieve, of course. Several of them are steps that I have to work my way up to in steps while [...]

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