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Ready, Write, Clips!

By Angus Shaw on May 3, 2013. Leave a Comment

A former student of mine graduated with a degree in theater and set off to Hollywood to make her way in her chosen world. She soon learned an interesting twist about the requirements of Hollywood: in order to land a part you need a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) card. But in order to have the coveted SAG card, you must have acted in a legitimate production. So in the logic of the glittery world of movies, you can’t get a card until you’ve had a role, and you can’t get a role without having a card first. It’s a vicious [Read more…]

When to Follow Up with a Prospective Client

By ali on March 16, 2011. 2 Comments

Dear Jodee, What is an appropriate time to wait before following up with a potential client? I’ve made a pitch and had a good initial discussion with the client but haven’t heard anything further. I don’t want to appear too pushy, but I also don’t want to let this opportunity get away from me. Martin Dear Martin, I can appreciate that if you have had a positive response from a prospective client you want to get the project firmed up right away. Even if a client is receptive to your pitch, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she will [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing Advice Column Tags: Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Advice Column, freelance writing tips

Freelance Writing Jobs Blog – The Best of January

By ali on January 31, 2011. 1 Comment

Every month, the bloggers at FWJ work hard to provide quality and helpful content. Hardworking freelance writers click through looking for great leads and info, but let’s face it, some posts may slip by in the daily hustle and bustle. Here’s some great posts you may have missed: Writing From Home: Warnings & Tips on How to Survive When You Have No Office by Robin Parrish Robin captures the writing from home experience perfectly. My favorite: Get Out of the House. As important as it is to guard your at-home work time, sometimes you just have to get away from [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Freelance Writing, Good Stuff, Tools for Freelancer Writers Tags: article writing, Blogging, freelance, freelance writing tips, Jodee Redmond Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

What Writers Can Learn from Ted Williams

By ali on January 6, 2011. 5 Comments

If you haven’t heard of Ted Williams by now, you must have been working really hard! Ted Williams was homeless, asking for change by the highway in Columbus, Ohio. He has an incredible voice perfect for voice-overs, radio work, etc. In fact, before addiction took hold, Williams worked in radio. A videographer for the Columbus Dispatch newspaper captured his voice and story, published the piece and it went viral. Soon, calls and job offers began pouring in for the man with the “golden voice.” There’s a lot to be said about the heartwarming story – the power of social media, [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Freelance Writing, Writing Tips Tags: article writing, first freelance writing jobs, freelance writing tips

25 Tips to Become a Successful Freelance Writer

By ali on October 28, 2010. 5 Comments

Today is my last day as part of the Freelance Writing Jobs team. Time constraints and other obligations have made it difficult for me to give this community the care it needs, but I leave you in the very capable hands of Franky Branckaute and the Splashpress Media team. If you’ve been following my branding series and want to read more about branding and social media marketing, you can follow the link to read a free bonus chapter from my new book, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, and if you’ve been following my copywriting series and want to learn more, you [Read more…]

Categories: Announcements, Freelance Business Tips, Freelance Writing Tags: freelance writing business tips, freelance writing tips, paid freelance writing tips Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

Freelance Writing Business Tips from Richard Branson

By ali on October 26, 2010. 4 Comments

Richard Branson is the founder of Virgin Group, a highly successful company with customers around the globe in multiple lines of business. He’s also a serial entrepreneur — he just pursues his entrepreneurial spirit through his larger company (and on the occasional extreme sporting trip). Today, Richard Branson published a post on his blog called How to Succeed at Failure. That post leads readers to a question and answer series that he participates in, which is published on the American Express Open Forum. In this particular question and answer post, Branson responded to questions about failure, and his answers can [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Business Tips Tags: freelance business tips, freelance writing business tips, freelance writing tips, richard branson

PR Newswire Launches ProfNet Connect

By ali on October 21, 2010. 5 Comments

PR Newswire’s ProfNet service has been around since 1992 and made it easy for writers to find expert sources for quotes, interviews, and more. Now, ProfNet Connect has launched and replaces the ProfNets Expert Database. It’s still free to join (either as a writer seeking sources or as an expert), and offers a more interactive approach to connecting experts and journalists. With ProfNet Connect, you can search for experts and communicate directly with them through messages, forum posts, and blogs. Expert profiles include a lot more information than they did during the ProfNets Expert Database days. For example, a profile [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, Networking, Reviews & Resources, Tools for Freelancer Writers Tags: find experts, freelance writing sources, freelance writing tips, prnewswire, profnet, profnet connect Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

How to Be a Paid Writer – Lesson 2

By ali on September 27, 2010. 2 Comments

In the first lesson of the How to Be a Paid Writer series, you learned why it’s essential that you take the time to polish your writing skills before you venture into the world of paid writing. In lesson 2, you’ll learn how to set realistic expectations for your freelance writing business and earnings. First, keep in mind that every writer has an opinion based on his own experiences. However, if a suggestion related to how much you’ll be able to make as a freelance writer seems too good to be true — it probably is. The amount of money [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, How to Be a Paid Writer Tags: freelance writing tips, how to be a freelance writer, how to be a writer, how to find writing jobs, paid writing

The Importance of Ditching Your Schedule

By Jeffrey Reyes on September 22, 2010. 3 Comments

Being a freelancer means that you make your own schedule. It’s important to make and maintain one, but you’re not taking advantage of your situation if you don’t take a day or two just to relax and loosen up that tie a bit. After all, isn’t that the reason you became a freelancer to begin with? The other day was a bit rough. Between deadlines, client meetings, and a 7-month-old baby who didn’t let me sleep the night before, I was exhausted. According to my usual routine, the following day is about focusing on two of my clients specifically. But [Read more…]

Categories: Guest Posts Tags: freelance writing schedule, freelance writing tips, writing schedule Writing Jobs | Blogger Jobs | Online Content Jobs

I Don’t Live in the United States – Can I Apply for U.S. Freelance Writing Jobs?

By ali on September 16, 2010. 6 Comments

I receive a lot of emails and comments on Freelance Writing Jobs posts asking the same question: I don’t live in the United States. Can I apply for U.S.-based freelance writing jobs? Since it’s such a common question, I want to provide an answer publicly. Here goes… Can you apply? Yes. The hiring manager will determine whether or not they’re willing to work with a writer outside of the United States. You’ll never know if they’re willing to do so if you don’t apply. When it comes to freelance writing, you’re not an employee. You’ll either be paid as a [Read more…]

Categories: Preparing for Freelancing, Tax Tips for Freelance Writers Tags: applying for writing jobs, Freelance Writing Business, freelance writing payments, freelance writing taxes, freelance writing tips

Do’s and Don’ts of Hot Topic Writing

By ali on September 7, 2010. 1 Comment

I love a good hot topic article. It’s hip, current and tells me all I need to know on whatever everyone is talking, blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking and Googling about at that particular time. Unfortunately, there are often more bad hot topic articles than good. To tell the truth, some writers/publications wake up, check Google or Twitter trends and start writing on whatever subject that’s moving up the interest boards. In an hour or two, they’ve got their piece up there alongside everyone else’s and it stinks. They hit every “Don’t” of hot topic writing: Don’t Simply Rehash What Everyone Already [Read more…]

Categories: Article Writing, Sources/Inspiration Tags: article pitches, article writing, blog writing, freelance writing tips

What do Freelancers Write for Fun?

By ali on September 6, 2010. 4 Comments

Most freelance writers are very busy. As freelancers, we’re small business owners, which means we do a lot more than write. We have to be marketers, accountants, sales people, supply managers, customer service representatives, and so much more! All of those tasks doesn’t leave much time for writing for pleasure. However, it’s important that you take some time once a week or even once a month (more often if you can) to sit down at your keyboard or with pen and paper in hand and just write for no other reason than to have fun. There is a reason why [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing Tags: freelance writing exercises, freelance writing tips, writing for fun, writing for pleasure

Freelance Writing Back to School

By ali on September 1, 2010. 1 Comment

I wrote a post today over at Performancing.com called Blogging Back to School, and I thought it was a good topic to talk about here on Freelance Writing Jobs, too. With all the kids heading back into the halls of learning at this time of year, many freelancer writers have a bit more time each day to work and catch up on all the things we had to push down on the list of priorities while our kids were home on summer vacation. It’s also a good time to think about writing basics! The English language has taken on a [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, Writing Tips Tags: freelance writing basics, freelance writing tips, writing rules

The Importance of Keeping a Schedule

By ali on August 13, 2010. 3 Comments

This is a Guest Post by Kevin Whipps (you can learn more about Kevin at the end of this post) When I first started out as a freelancer, I had dreams of waking up at noon, getting my work done by 2:00, and spending the rest of my days playing in fields of daisies. When that didn’t quite pan out, I started to realize that many of the things that people consider to be an advantage as a freelancer are really hindrances, and can really stop productivity in its tracks. Because of that, I developed a system that works well [Read more…]

Categories: Guest Posts, Productivity Tips Tags: freelance writing tips, Productivity Tips, time management tips, writing productivity, writing schedules

Don’t Forget the Old School: Say hello to the library

By ali on August 11, 2010. 4 Comments

There’s this place with books and periodicals, a staff that has an acute expertise for researching just about every subject and best of all it’s free! It’s the public library. This installment of “Don’t Forget the Old School” will take on why visiting the library is important to writing. Ambiance It’s the library’s mystique – the rows of books, the smell of the pages, the weird looks from that one guy who appears to be talking to his toes… Technically, writing and researching in a library won’t increase your I.Q. immediately, but it will be a more productive place to [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a great writer, career advice, freelance writing tips, magazine writing

Introducing the New Freelance Writing Advice Column and a Call for Submissions

By ali on August 6, 2010. 13 Comments

I’m very happy to announce that Freelance Writing Jobs is launching a new weekly column called Freelance Writing Advice. Think of it as the Dear Abby of the freelance writing world, and our “Abby” will be none other than Freelance Writing Jobs veteran contributor Jodee Redmond! Jodee currently writes in the job hunting tips section of Freelance Writing Jobs where she covers topics like developing good relationships with clients, how to know when to say goodbye to a client, and much more. Do you have a freelance writing question? Jodee’s new Freelance Writing Advice column will debut on Wednesday, August [Read more…]

Categories: Announcements, Freelance Writing Advice Column Tags: freelance writer advice, freelance writing advice, freelance writing tips, freelancing advice

10 Skills Freelance Writers Must Have if They Want to Succeed

By ali on August 3, 2010. 21 Comments

Since there are a lot of aspiring freelance writers in the Freelance Writing Jobs community, I thought it would be a good idea to go over some of the most important skills that freelance writers must have if they want to have a chance at being successful. In other words, if you want to get paid for your writing, you need to make sure you can do the things in the list below. 1. Spell If you can’t spell and you choose not to use a dictionary or effective spell-checking tool, then you won’t get far as a freelance writer. [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Business Tips, Freelance Writing, Freelance Writing Business, Freelance Writing for Beginners Tags: beginner freelance writing, freelance writing skills, freelance writing tips, how to be a freelance writer

Building Your Freelance Writing Brand – Part 4

By ali on July 28, 2010. Leave a Comment

It’s time for Part 4 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series here on Freelance Writing Jobs, and today, you’ll learn about manipulating search engine results and how to handle negative conversations about your brand online. You can find links to Parts 1-3 of the series at the end of this post. First, it’s important to understand that this is not a lesson in search engine optimization, although some of the suggestions in Part 3 and Part 4 of the Building Your Freelance Writing Brand series certainly do apply to SEO as well. With that said, here we go… [Read more…]

Categories: Branding, Freelance Writing, Marketing Tags: freelance writing brand, Freelance Writing Business, freelance writing tips

Getting through the Summer Writing Blues

By ali on July 26, 2010. 7 Comments

As the summer is winding down here in the northern half of the world, it’s easy to feel frustrated. Writers have a tendency to lock ourselves in our offices sitting behind our computers and getting lost in our own minds. Let’s face it. Even if we’re writing from the beach, we’re still trapped behind our laptops and usually lost in our own minds. With just a few weeks left before children head back to school and we lose yet another sunny day, let’s take a few minutes to remember that writing can be addictive, but it’s important for our mental [Read more…]

Categories: Freelance Writing, Work/Life Balance Tags: freelance writing schedule, freelance writing time management, freelance writing tips

Clips 'n Things

By ali on July 17, 2010. 1 Comment

This week my family is moving some things around and one of the places I dreaded attacking was my clip file. Wait, I should call it my clip bin, like one of those storage bins people store knick-knacks or winter clothes, etc… I have a bin full of clips. I’m not saying this to brag, because there are multiple copies of each piece. Largely because my husband hordes my work. He picks up at least five copies and only because I begged him to stop picking up 10. To be honest I don’t go through them often enough. So in [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article sources, becoming a better writer, career advice, clips, freelance writing tips

Too Many Articles Killed the Freelance Writing Star

By ali on June 11, 2010. 3 Comments

Success is going to happen. As a freelance writer, if you keep plugging away, success will happen for you. Sometimes it will hit all of the sudden. A deluge of articles, projects and client meetings suddenly appear in your email box. In between giddy high fives to yourself, you quickly say yes to everything and get to work. Other times it builds slowly, like a tide coming in and you suddenly find yourself surrounded by work. Soon you’re slogging away frantically trying to meet all your deadlines and while steak for dinner is nice, you don’t really get to enjoy [Read more…]

Categories: Writing Tips Tags: article writing, blog posts, editing, editorial calendar, freelance writing tips, magazine writing, organization tips, web articles

10 Popular Article Writing Questions – Answered!

By ali on May 20, 2010. 1 Comment

The FWJ mailbag is always pretty full and there are a few questions that pop up regularly. Deb reposted her super popular Frequently Asked Questions and made me think about the most popular questions I receive over here at the Article Writing blog. So here they are in no particular order: 10. How do you write an article? It’s true, I get this one pretty often and it’s kind of like asking someone how to cook – there’s a lot to it. So in pretty general terms: start with a topic, research the topic and based on your research find [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: article writing, becoming a better writer, blog posts, career advice, editing, editorial calendar, freelance writing tips

Why are you writing that article?

By ali on April 24, 2010. 3 Comments

Is it because the rent’s due? You like to see your name in print? It’s a part of a bigger plan of total world domination? You’d anything not to go back to a corporate job? Think about it, we write article after article here at FWJ discussing the best way to write an article, interview techniques, source cultivating, how to make money at the craft, the pros and cons of freelance writing, etc. Today I ask, “What is your motivation?” Some of us are adrift. We write the articles, we send the invoices, we look for more work. A lot [Read more…]

Categories: Sources/Inspiration Tags: career advice, freelance writer, freelance writing tips, inspiration, sparking creativity

Outline Your Way to A Better Article

By ali on February 19, 2010. 1 Comment

All great works start with good foundations and articles are no different. An outline is a great tool to give your article solid support and using one has many benefits: Faster Writing Many writers think taking the time to write an outline adds one more time consuming step to the writing process. The truth is, having an outline speeds up the writing process by giving writers a road map to their article. It is much harder to write a clear, focused and coherent article off the cuff. If you tend to write your articles straight from your head, how many [Read more…]

Categories: Writing Tips Tags: article writing, freelance writing tips, Ledes, magazine writing, organization tips

Day 5: Update Your Reading, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills

By ali on February 14, 2010. Leave a Comment

There’s nothing like finding a blog you love or a columnist that says exactly what you’re thinking. Often at FWJ we are accused of being mind readers and though I’d love to have all the readers of Freelance Writing Jobs spend $9.99 a minute to call in so I can read their writing tea leaves, we are actually just writing about what we live and questions we have had or have been asked. We try to evolve here, meet our readers needs, etc. and your other daily, weekly reading favorites should do the same. When’s the last time you looked [Read more…]

Categories: Writing Tips Tags: becoming a better writer, becoming a great writer, Freelance Writing, freelance writing tips

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