ask me anything

Ask Me Anything: Responding to Referrals

Mel asks, What’s the etiquette on responses when a friend recommends you to one of their clients and CC’s you on the e-mail? Do I say hi, say anything? They sent along my web site url, so they know where to find my work, not sure how I can reach out and make friends. Following [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Higher Paying Blogging Gigs

Karen Kefauver asks, Can you suggest where more seasoned writers like me may look for these higher end markets($100 a post? )? What URLS do you find these posts at? Or are they all word of mouth? I mentioned recently that I receive $100 or more a post for most of my blogging work, despite [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Compiling Letters

Christiana Aretta asks, How about some advice for someone compiling a journal of old letters? Licensing, copyright issues, etc. The big question when publishing a letter is whether or not you have permission: if you wrote or received the letter, the situation is very different than if the letters aren’t yours. The best option is [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Organizing Teams

Julie Rains asks, How to organize teams with social media and technical expertise? As freelancers, we often work on teams. It’s not out of the question that we’ll wind up putting together and leading our own teams. As a writer, it’s not uncommon to have a client bring you a project that may need some [...]

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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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Ask Me Anything: When Clients Delay Projects

An anonymous freelance writer asks, I’ve been writing for a website for over a year (technically). At the end of last year the site was being overhauled and apparently there was a huge hiccup that still hasn’t been resolved. I typically sent my articles in batches, and the site hasn’t been updated in several months. [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Errors & Omissions Insurance and Looking for Work

Ashley Festa asks, how to begin looking for work as a freelancer. Three words: marketing, marketing, marketing. Depending on the types of freelance projects you’re looking for, the shape of your marketing efforts can vary. There are plenty of options — in fact, there are at least 31 days worth of marketing projects you can [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Rates, Cold-Calling and Contracts

Ashley Festa asks, What are the must-haves in your writing contracts? While I’m pretty flexible about contracts with my clients (I generally use a letter of agreement), there are a couple of things that I find especially important to have in writing with my clients: The money: It may seem a little obvious that I [...]

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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 [...]

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Ask Me Anything: Getting Started and Copyright

Mike Dougherty asks, How does one get started? Meredith Eaton asks, How do you get established as a freelancer? Do you start by contacting publications or writing articles? I’m answering Meredith and Mike’s questions together — I hope you two don’t mind! The first thing you should do if you’re considering becoming a freelance writer [...]

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