What’s the worst thing you can do as a freelance writer?
While each of us can think of different horror stories, we can all agree that sending content to a client with technical gaffes and sloppy writing is the best way to ensure you will not be invited back for another gig. But unless you have an editor to review everything you write – which we can’t all afford to have – how can you be sure you’re catching it all?
Here’s where editing tools can make a dramatic difference. [Read more…]
As a freelance writer, how comfortable are you with editing your own work? A certain amount of self-editing is part of preparing an assignment for submission to a client. Even if your client has editors who will review your work prior to it being published in whatever medium it will be used, you want to be sure that you are sending in something that shows your best work.
In college you learn to abide by AP style, write in neat paragraphs and an academic tone. In the traditional writing format, these rules transferred nicely. However, when it comes to modern mediums, otherwise known as web writing, these rules generally don’t apply. While grammar should still be pristine, it’s more about the content than anything else. As an editor, it’s important that you have an eye for these key differences. [Read more…]
If there’s one thing lacking in the publishing and journalism industries these days, it’s certainty. The world of writing and publishing is changing day-by-day, and no longer can you be a successful writer — whether your craft is journalism or novel writing, whether you’re writing for print or digital — merely by virtue of being talented. There are entirely new skill sets required for the modern successful writer, and whatever kind of writer you are, you’re going to find that these skills are a must.
You want to be a 21st Century writer? Here are three hats you must wear in addition to being a strong writer. [Read more…]
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 it because you’ve got to wolf it down between edits. Sound familiar? If it doesn’t, it will soon. Too much success can kill your career.
While it’s nice to be popular, if you have too many projects you cannot pay due diligence to each one and you’re going to make mistakes. Silly mistakes you would have caught had you not been so busy. Or you’ll miss deadlines – the ultimate career killer.
As a successful freelance writer you need to strike the balance between the feast and famine seasons. It’s against a freelancer’s genetic make-up to turn down work. Yet, the word ‘no‘ must be reinserted into your vocabulary.
Do you have time to complete a 2,000 word article in two hours?
“No.”
See? Easy! Be realistic with time. It doesn’t stop or rewind. Being the crack, go-to-writer for last minute stories is a great way to earn a reputation. What kind of reputation is up to you. If you know you would need two days to turn in a large piece, don’t commit to a tight deadline. This keeps you from making yourself crazy and ticking off an editor who counted on you to get the job done.
For pieces that have a little more lead time, no doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation. Insert a comma after your “no.” Sometimes it’s possible to negotiate deadlines – but do so in the beginning. Waiting until two days after your piece is due is a big no-no.
By now some of my intrepid freelancers are wondering how in the world are they supposed know what they have time to do. Honestly, it just takes knowing your writing style. Unfortunately, it takes time to get to know yourself as a writer. A simple tool can help you develop a good feel for your writing time needs.
Yes, I know, this horse is pretty much dead. I beat it often. It has personally begged me to stop, however I cannot stress the importance of having and MAINTAINING an editorial calendar. Simply putting due dates on a wall calendar is not maintaining a calendar. Jotting everything down dutifully once month and then never looking at it again is not maintaining a calendar. Regularly logging in due dates, carving out writing, editing, revising and “marinating” time for each article or project and noting when pieces are finished is maintaining a proper editorial calendar.
Planning for success means not just listing what you’ll do with all the money flowing in – it means planning for all the work as well. Establish a system now, so when the wave hits, you’ll be ready.
5. How do you write a great lede?The lede is one of the most important components of an article. It hooks the reader, tells them what the article is about and encourages them to continue reading. Before writing the lede, ask yourself “What is this article about?” Go through your research and find the information, statistic or anecdote that best represents the article’s information and formulate your lede around it. Also check out “Driving Rules for Getting to the Point with Your Lede” and “Lede On, Hook Your Readers Every Time”
A good article has a great lede, satisfying conclusion, smooth transitions and an interesting angle. The ideas presented have solid supporting facts obtained from thorough research. A good article also has expert or anectdotal quotes and tight editing. Not to mention you get that satisfied-high-five-yourself-feeling after it’s completed.
Sources are everywhere – your neighborhood, local colleges and universities, Google, social media. Sources can be found through asking sources you already have “Is there anyone else you think I should talk to?” Professional organizations can also point you to sources, take care to anticipate bias from certain trade/professional organizations. The key to a great piece is compiling and utilizing a diverse mix.
Essentially, an interview is simply asking a source questions and waiting for their response. As people have become more media savvy it has become difficult for interviewers to break through the barriers PR folks or media weary subjects set up. “How to Lose Control of an Interview,” “Email Interviews vs. Phone Interviews part one and two and “The Art of a Yes/No Question in Interviews” are handy references to look at the subject more in depth.
The old freelance writing catch 22. You need clips to get gigs, but without gigs you can’t get clips. You could always go the “write for exposure route,” but you risk writing for a less than stellar publication that may not last long enough to give you the clips you need. Instead, if you’re going to write for free, write for yourself. Create articles in your niche, with real interviews, real sources to showcase your writing. These are writing samples. They don’t count as clips as they are not published, but they will help you land a gig so you can begin to build a clip file.
Got a writing question for me? Post it below!
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:
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 an interesting angle to the piece. Make an outline and be sure to include references (and locations if you’re smart) of source material. Decide on a format, create that all important lede (lead), then develop the article. Let it marinate for a day or so, then edit it with a fine tooth comb.
Plagiarism will get you fired, inspiration will bring you fans. When you use someone else’s ideas, quote or material you must cite the source. Even on informal blogs. Inspiration gives you ideas on where you can take the material further. It inspires you to think of how you can enhance it, change it or develop it for a different market.
How long do you have for me to explain it? All jokes aside, the time it take to craft a piece really depends on the writer, length of article and complexity of assignment. I’ve had articles I sat down and birthed in an hour, while others have taken days of writing, editing, sulking, rewriting, etc. Really, the question should be, how long does it take to write a good article. It’s the quality of the piece that is important.
You should really ask them. Check the publication’s material for writers and/or send them a quick email asking a specific question about the work they accept. Whatever you do, don’t ask: “What kind of stuff do you like?” In general, editors are looking for fresh angles on evergreen pieces, fresh ideas in general, timely pieces and material that appeals to their target audience. Remember, many publications especially print magazines create an editorial calendar that operates several months ahead. Editors love writers who take the time to get to know their publication.
Again, it’s a good idea to ask your editor. When you receive an assignment, it likely comes with a good amount of instructions. Editors want pieces that match the tone of the publication, follow the specific instructions given with the assignment and have a good number of cited, well researched sources. They love a clean copy so fix the easy mistakes i.e., spelling and grammar. Pay attention to the more abstract ideals such as tight writing and flow.
Stay tuned for Popular Writing Questions 5 – 1 coming up on Friday!
Got a writing question for me? Post it below!
I’d been thinking about writing this post for next week, but today I was reading through Deb’s job posting for the day and came across an article she linked to: “Driving Rules for Getting to the Point with Your Lede” and thought, “Hmm, that’s a good topic, interesting headline, I wonder who in the network wrote that one…” I clicked the link and realized it was my work. Oops.
Self-flattery aside, I realize I have fallen into a pattern of writing, editing, publishing and forgetting my work. When you first become a professional writer, once you get past the “Whoo hooo!” of seeing your byline, you read and re-read every article, noting every opportunity for improvement. Once you get the hang of it, you start skimming and finally when you have tons of work coming in and going out you scan for obvious errors.
I’m not saying writing for Freelance Writing Jobs is ordinary – it certainly isn’t unless writing for the number website for freelance writers is normal, I’m confessing to falling into a routine that can leave you high-fiving a piece before recognizing it as your own. When’s the last time you’ve read your own work?
Re-reading a piece after it’s been published is important for your self-reflection as a writer. It’s not just about what you can improve on, it’s also useful to discover what you do well. I’m great at adding humor and personality to a piece, which helps people relate to what I’m writing. Knowing my strengths helps me steer toward particular assignments and also helps me recognize when to turn that off because the piece I’m working on needs less personality and straight journalism.
And what about the times you discover the editing process has rendered your piece unrecognizable or worse, wrong? It happens and has happened to me fairly recently. If you don’t check up on your work who is going to tell the editor something’s up? A reader? Yikes!
After you hit send or publish, go back and check it out. You may discover new things about yourself (like you’re a better writer than you thought) and you may find a problem before someone else does!
Is there anything more fun than typos that are both hilarious and ones you personally didn’t make? Huffpost has some doozies that I’d like to share with you:
This is for the sixth grader in you.
Wow. I bet his wife was either really amused or really ticked.
I can see why she may be a bit upset.
Regret the Error is another great sight site that’ll help you get you’re your editorial giggle on, but be careful – get two too cocky and you’re bound to end up on it yourself!
While creating an outline is an important part of the article writing process, it doesn’t have to be your 6th grade English version of an outline. Outlines can be made to fit your style including as many details as you’d like, however there are some parts of an outline that you must include in order for it to really work as a framework from which you can base your article:
When outlining your article, it’s best to formulate your lede (lead) paragraph. The lede paragraph, depending on the type of article, can tell the readers what they’ll learn from the article, how the article’s information will affect them, or share an anecdote that relates to the information that follows. Creating this paragraph will tell you how to formulate the rest of your outline.
The conclusion is usually not chronologically created after the lede, however it is second in importance only to the lede. The mark of a good article is a great beginning and a strong ending. The lede and the conclusion are often the sections on which writers spend the most time. Ask yourself, what do you want to leave the readers thinking about from the piece? Whether the reader comes away feeling satisfied that they’ve read good information or they are left with an action prompt, the one thing is to never leave them wondering what happened or worse, looking for whether the article continues on the other page.
An outline is designed to keep you and the article on task. List the points you want to cover chronologically with sub-sections. Every section of an outline can be complete sentences or fragments that serve as writing prompts for each paragraph/section.
The article’s body should be outlined to include source information, especially professional titles and quotes. It shaves time off writing if you have Dr. Snuffilumps, chief medical yogi and OTRA certified’ practitioner’s info right there on the same sheet. It helps the writer decide whether some information will be used as a pull out quote or clarified in shorter, easy to understand bullet points.
Outlines and their formats allow you to play with your article to enhance flow and accuracy awithout reworking an article repeatedly. Play around with the style that works best for you. List every detail or coordinate general ideas. This tool is also helpful in addressing any concerns your editors may have about your piece and vice versa. When an anxious editor wants to see your progress they can see the direction your piece is taking by viewing your outline.
It can also help protect a writer from writer’s block. Plugging information into an outline is like completing a jigsaw puzzle, there’s no pressure like there is when you finally start writing the article.
Here are some great article structure resources:
