Deb had a great post today from the Freelance Writing Jobs mailbox: FWJ Mailbox: What is a Citizen Journalist? tackling what defines a citizen journalist, is there money in the field and the types of citizen journalist gigs available. It got me, a journalist by trade and education, thinking about how writers can engage in responsible citizen journalism through article writing. There is a serious debate going on right now about all things journalism. When it comes to citizen journalists, those in media circles debate the effectiveness and reliability of these writers. In fact, many are simply stuck on whether [Read more…]
And the Winner of the Freelance Writing Jobs Photo Contest Is…
September 30, 2009. 4 Comments
At the end of August we announced a photo contest to find a new image for the Freelance Writing Jobs home page. We received many beautiful entries, it was hard to make a decision. So we put it to a vote. It was really no contest: So who was the winner? Image number 7 taken by D.K. Fortney. Congrats, D.K. your image will grace the home page and you’ll receive $200 in payment!
Freelance Writing Jobs for September 30, 2009
September 30, 2009. 3 Comments
It’s the last day of the month so I imagine many of you are fulfilling all your end of the month quotas and obligations. After being away for much of the last week I thought I might stay up late working last night. I changed my mind and decided to unplug early – before dinner, even. No regrets. I may be up until 3:00 a.m. tonight but the family time and relaxation was so worth it. I even slept through my alarm this morning, but I don’t recommend that. When was the last time you blew off work and unplugged? [Read more…]
10 Marketing Tips for Freelance Writers
September 30, 2009. 12 Comments
I was scheduled to give a talk last week about marketing for freelance writers. The other presentations ran overtime, so I didn’t get a chance to speak after all. However, I still spent a lot of time during meals and recreation discussing the various ways freelance writers can market themselves. I learned marketing means different things to different people. For some it’s becoming a famous name on the web, for others, it’s about getting more work and landing lucrative contracts. Either way, it takes a lot of effort and shameless self promotion. If you want your career to take off [Read more…]
Blogger Wanted for Flower Site in UK
September 30, 2009. 1 Comment
We are about to launch a site to sell flowers in the UK and we need a creative writer with passion for flowers and plants. I need writer who can passionately write about flower, bunches, receiving flowers, sending flowers, etc. This is more ad hoc writing job and we would like to have one blog entry per week. Remuneration negotiable. Peter Bakker, peter.bakker@alumni.insead.edu The site will be called Blossom & Twigs
Creative Writer Wanted – UK
September 30, 2009. Leave a Comment
We are about to launch a site to sell flowers in the UK and we need a creative writer with passion for flowers and plants. First we need someone who can write caption, and descriptions about the bunches we’re going to sell. I’ll send pictures and a global description and you make it beautiful, appealing and nice. This job will pay per word and we have to negotiate the price. We think it will generate work for the coming 2 years for a few hours per week, although the first burst will be more intensive. The site will be called [Read more…]
FWJ Mailbox: What is a Citizen Journalist?
September 30, 2009. 10 Comments
Deb’s note: I’m so bad about responding to email lately. To tell you I receive thousands of pieces of mail each week is an understatement. I’m going to try something new – responding to some frequently asked questions. We see the words “citizen journalist” or “citizen journalism” often on user generated content sites. A citizen journalist is someone who reports news, but isn’t a traditional journalist and has no formal training. Many bloggers are considered citizen journalists when they discuss and analyze the news. Just because the word “journalist” is in the title, doesn’t mean a piece is well-written or [Read more…]
Choosing Your Freelance Writing Business Structure: Corporations and LLCs
September 29, 2009. 4 Comments
Last time, we took a look at two of the most common business structures for a freelance writing business: the sole proprietorship and the partnership. That post has had several comments, and there’s a good discussion going on about the merits of each of these structures. Feel free to read that post, and to jump in to the discussions if you’re so inclined. My approach in that post, as well as this one, is to give you the big picture on the types of structures available to you in your freelance writing business, to point out some of the pros [Read more…]
Freelance Writing Jobs for September 29, 2009
September 29, 2009. 4 Comments
I spent most of yesterday trying to get into a gmail account which, for some reason, wouldn’t allow me in. Frustration. Thanks for your patience, by the way. I’m still catching up from my trip and there are a lot of leads to go through. I’m sure I’ll be posting earlier as my workload gets back to normal. Some news: If you’ve been considering attending the Copywriting Success Summit, please note October 1 is the last day you can take advantage of the $100 discount. After that all tickets will be full price. Here’s my original post regarding the summit, [Read more…]
4 Tips for Approaching Freelance Writing With an Open Mind
September 29, 2009. 9 Comments
Recently, I wrote about how times have changed for freelance writers. It’s not my place to say everyone has to embrace or even accept these changes. However, I feel I’m being realistic when I say things have changed drastically for writers in the past 20 years. We can waste a lot of time and energy fighting change, or we can figure out the ways to make it work to our benefit. One thing that hasn’t changed in the past 20 years is how there are still poor, decent, good and really great opportunities. Holding out for one type of opportunity [Read more…]
Monday Markets for September 28, 2009
September 28, 2009. Leave a Comment
Funny Times From the Web Site: First, thanks for thinking of us. We are always looking to expose our readers…. to hilarious new material. Everything we publish is funny, so please don’t send in something that isn’t. We only publish cartoons and funny stories. Cartoons should be “scannable” (good quality photocopies are fine) and stories should be about 500-700 words. There is no limit to our scope and we cover just about everything that can be funny including politics, news, relationships, food, technology, pets, work, death, environmental issues, business, religion, seasonal events and everything else relating to the general human [Read more…]
Your Freelance Resume: Focus on Experience
September 28, 2009. 8 Comments
One of our readers has recently started working for a new client and is wondering how soon to list that experience on a freelance writer’s resume. Here’s my take on it: Working as a freelance writer is not the same thing as being an employer. When you are preparing a resume for a job using a chronological format, you list the names of your previous employers and the dates when you worked there. When you are preparing a freelance writer’s resume, keep in mind that you are working for yourself, and the way you tell a prospective client about your [Read more…]
Freelance Writing Jobs for September 28, 2009
September 28, 2009. 6 Comments
…and so life returns to normal. I’m so happy for last week’s opportunity, but even happier to be back home. It’s amazing how much there is to catch up on after only a few days away. Once I catch up, it’ll be time to head over to BlogWorld. As tired as I am, I swear by conferences as an important networking tool and wouldn’t miss them for the world. Here’s what’s going on around the Freelance Writing Jobs network: Postcards from LAX: More Notes from the Demands Studios Creator Conference More Ways to Interact with the FWJ Community 85 Hacks [Read more…]
On Taking Swipes at Other Bloggers
September 27, 2009. 16 Comments
Writers often ask each other about their “passion”. Passion is what leads us to write about what we love every single day. Passion is what makes us good at what we do. Passion makes us who we are. My passion is blogging. It’s an addiction. I wake up and all I want to do is blog. That may sound silly to some, but it’s what I love and what I hope to do forever. What makes me not so passionate is all the “I’m so not like you so I’m going to do everything I can to trash you and [Read more…]
85 Hacks to Help Your Freelance Writing Career
September 27, 2009. 9 Comments
In blogging years, FWJ has been around a long time – about four and a half years. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of tips. As I was thinking about the evolution of this blog, I thought it might be handy to combine a lot of the advice given out here over the years, and present it on one page. Whether you call them “tips”, “hacks” or “productivity tools” here are some little bits of wisdom to ensure your success. 85 Hacks to Help Your Freelance Writing Career Research – Before you begin writing, do some research. Learn [Read more…]
More Ways to Interact with the FWJ Community
September 27, 2009. Leave a Comment
Many people have written in to ask when we’re going to put the forum back up. Sadly, that was lost in the great server crash of 2009. However, we’re working on a new and improved forum, one that should be up shortly. In the mean time, stop by our Freelance Writing Jobs social network on Ning. We started it several months ago as a way for the community to interact beyond the usual comment fodder. I also started a Facebook page today. We hope you’ll get involved there as well. Thanks for being a part of the FWJ community. Even [Read more…]
Freelance Scriptwriter – Request for Quote
September 27, 2009. Leave a Comment
Name of business or contact person: Majestic Eagle Productions, LLC Full description of job’s duties: Research Write both audio and video segments of corporate video 5 – 10 minutes in length to be used as a sales /informational tool. A video similar to “how it’s made” Client will provide the marketing material for research The final, approved DVD has to be delivered by the end of October. If interested in this project, please provide a quote for scriptwriting. We will have four locations to shoot to cover the process from beginning to end (2 office locations, 2 delivery locations). They [Read more…]
E-Book Writer Wanted – $10/Page
September 27, 2009. Leave a Comment
I am looking for a content writer that can create short about 20 pages ebook for http://wpjobboard.net i am willing to pay $10 per page. The ebook i want to create will be heavily focused on successfully starting and promoting job board that is a part of the blog (like http://jobs.problogger.net/). What i would like to have covered is: – how to bring in job seekers (the fact that blog is established does not mean that people there are interested in job offers, which i found out myself ) – how to bring in job posters that are willing to [Read more…]
More "Funny" Stuff
September 26, 2009. 1 Comment
We’ve extended our trip by a week, so updates will be from sunny (scorching, sticky, humid, sweltering) Florida. It turns out that my grandma gets the large-print edition of the Reader’s Digest, and I just happen to come across a recommendation to check out what is billed as The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks. I looked it up and immediately knew that you had to see it, too. I admit that most people aren’t as snooty, snobby, stuck up, and self important as I am when it comes to punctuation, so it did my heart good to see that not [Read more…]
Postcards from LAX: More Notes from the Demand Studios Creator Conference
September 26, 2009. 12 Comments
I’m sitting at LAX right now with roughly an hour left to wait before I fly. As I go through my email I’m blown away by how many Demand Studios contributors and community members are eager for news from this week’s Creator Conference. At first I wondered if it would seem too spammy to blog about the details of this very unique event. However, in the past I’ve blogged from The BlogWorld and New Media Expo and South by Southwest. It seems only fitting I cover the Demand Studios event as well. I’m not going to go into too much [Read more…]
Freelance Writing Jobs for September 25, 2009
September 25, 2009. 4 Comments
I’m still in Santa Monica, so another abbreviated list today. Life will be back to normal on Monday. As I mentioned earlier, I’m attending the Demand Studios Creator Conference and it’s so far been a powerful and positive experience. I wrote a little about it on the main blog, Greetings from the Demand Studios Creators Conference, and will continue to report on it in the upcoming week. Speaking of Demand, Creators will be happy to learn they’re moving to twice weekly payments! Hope you have a great weekend! Only a few leads today. Thanks for your understanding! MMORPG Reviewers Part [Read more…]
Greetings from the Demand Studios Creator Conference
September 25, 2009. 32 Comments
This is NOT a sponsored post. No one is paying to write this post, I’m speaking from the heart. I’m writing this from Santa Monica, where I’m attending a very unique event, the Demand Studios Creator Conference. I was invited to attend to learn more about Demand Studios, talk with the team, and meet the writers. I can’t even begin tell you what a powerful experience this has been. To say that the folks who are part of the Demand Studios team are passionate about what they do is an understatement. Though they make no bones about wanting to grow [Read more…]
When Friends Hook-Up (For Writing Favors)
September 24, 2009. Leave a Comment
Balancing business with personal relationships is important and essential to freelance writing success. As discussed in the last column, asking people for a professional hook-up has it’s issues. Asking for one from a friend is no different. In fact if done incorrectly, it has the potential to harm the relationship.
A Three Hour Tour, A Three Hour Tour
September 24, 2009. 1 Comment
I have learned a couple of things about staying with the extremely aged: 1. No one so much as bats an eye if you announce in the middle of the afternoon that you’re going to go take a nap. 2. If you buy applesauce and pudding for the baby, you’d better keep an eye on it. see more Lol Celebs OK, first of all, why don’t “hour” and “tour” rhyme? It never occurred to me before just now, but shouldn’t they rhyme? Totally not the point of this post, though. On September 15th, I loaded my 1 1/2 year old [Read more…]
Freelance Writing Jobs for September 24, 2009
September 24, 2009. 4 Comments
Greetings from Sunny California! I’m totally digging Santa Monica. I have a view of the Pier from my hotel window and met a friend for dinner at the 3rd Street Promenade last night. I’m here to attend the Demand Studios Creator Conference. I’m honored to be meeting Demand’s top contributors from around the country and speak to them today about marketing for freelance writers. I’m working on a slide show of the event so I hope to have some cool pictures for you later. And don’t forget, if you’re a member of the Demand Studios community and you live in [Read more…]
