How To Take Your Freelance Writing Chances

by: Niall Cinneide
Your initial freelance writing assignments are the best way to present yourself to your client for repeated work. If you provide for them a good product, at a good price, they are likely to come back time and time again. The goal of any career, particularly as a freelancer, is to have steady business. Instead of continually needing new clients or another job to fill your day, why not utilize repeat business? When you make the most of your freelancing time you are helping yourself to gain more business and maintain that which you already have.

For many people getting that first job is the key to success. It is the hardest part of working because more and more people want quality providers and want to use someone who is proven and worth the risk. You cannot get these jobs if you are new. But look at it another way. When you do get to that point, it is important to make the most out of all assignments so that you get return business from that client. This could be any number of things, but should always focus on maintaining a strong working relationship with the client. Providing them with good work, timely work, and listening and meeting their needs will have them coming back to you time and time again.

There is another, even more important, reason to build your business like this. That is referrals. When you do an outstanding job for people, they return time and time again with more business. But, they also tell people about your talents. This can be an outstanding way to use the jobs you get to create more jobs for yourself.

Now, that is not to say that you can not search for new writing job vacancies in other realms as well. But, you must strive to maintain the employment that you already have. By building strong relationships with your clients, you can help them continuously meet their needs while building your business.

About The Author

Niall Cinneide

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How to Multiply Your Freelance Writing Work

by: Brian Konradt
You can turn your $200 fee to write a press release into $2,000 to carry out an entire PR campaign simply by convincing clients to invest in campaigns, instead of individual assignments. Campaigns achieve better results and cost less in the long-term for clients, compared to individual assignments. And, of course, as the freelancer, you get paid much more for turning out a succession of assignments that assimilate a successful campaign.

Here’s how to multiply your writing sales by convincing clients to invest in long-term campaigns, instead of short-term individual assignments.

• Know the short-term and long-term results. A client approaches you to write a brochure. He may or may not know that his product can also benefit from other types of promotional pieces, such as ads, direct mail, news releases, websites, and so on, to sell his product or service. Your job is to educate the client. The brochure may be the first promotional piece in a consortium of promotional pieces. Here, you must know the short-term and long-term view results of the brochure.

The short-term results are the results the brochure will achieve for the client; and the long-term results are the results the brochure will achieve/contribute for the entire campaign. It answers the questions, “How do the results of this brochure fit into the entire campaign?” and “How can these results be strengthened with other forms of promotional materials?”

Show the client how a campaign, that’s comprised of a succession of assignments, can achieve — and exceed — his expectations and outsell and outdo the performance of a single assignment.

• Use “tie-in” services. Whenever a client approaches you with a single assignment, ask yourself what tie-in services can supplement the single assignment. A news release achieves better results when it’s accompanied with a photo. And a press kit — complete with press releases, photos, brochures, and company information — can achieve better results than a single press release. All of these extra tie-in services can turn writing a single press release into multiple writing sales.

• Offer the “concept to completion” benefit. Instead of pitching yourself as a freelancer who can write newsletter copy, pitch yourself as a freelancer who produces newsletters, from copy to completion. You multiply your income by outsourcing parts of the job and delivering a finished product, not a piece of the product. You also can extend your “concept to completion” services by pitching yourself as a marketing consultant, in which you make recommendations to the client as to the best way to market the newsletter.

• Develop strong consultative skills. Besides selling your freelance services, also offer consulting services. Clients pay you to explain ideas, concepts, recommendations and turnkey solutions as to the best way to achieve the results they desire. Consulting with clients can lead to securing freelance work, since clients realize you have the skills and expertise to undertake the task.

• Know the future needs of clients. Clients come with present needs — and future needs. A client may hire you to write a newsletter now, but they’ll also consider you for future work if you know what their future needs are and how to fulfill them. The company may be ushering in a new product line, creating a new division within the company, sponsoring a charity event, or creating a website. All of these future events need a freelancer to do promotional writing and freelance work. That’s you. Your job is to show clients how you’ll address their future needs with solutions that’ll increase their profitability and/or productivity. This is usually accomplished with a proposal through which you pitch yourself as the freelancer who has the solutions to undertake the future tasks.

• Use proposals to secure work. Proposals are an inclusive persuasion tool to convince prospects that you can increase their profitability and/or productivity with your freelance services. Proposals specifically show the client how you intend to achieve the desired results, the time and costs involved, and why you and your solutions are the best choices to boost the company’s profits.

• Adaptations. Any of your freelance writing services can be adapted for websites, turning a single assignment into two assignments. Get paid to write a press release or brochure, and then get paid again to adapt the copy digitally.

• Add-on services, such as desktop publishing services, marketing consulting, compiling and selling media lists, and project coordinating can help multiply your work and your income. Brian Konradt is a former freelance copywriter and graphic designer, and founder of FreelanceWriting.com (http://www.freelancewriting.com), a free website dedicated to help writers master the business and creative sides of freelance writing.

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This article may be freely reprinted, online and offline, without permission as long as no text is altered.

About The Author

Brian Konradt is a former freelance copywriter and graphic designer, and founder of FreelanceWriting.com (http://www.freelancewriting.com), a free website dedicated to help writers master the business and creative sides of freelance writing.

How to Have an Effective Writing Group

by: Stephen Earley Jordan, II
The works you’ve written are numerous, ranging from short stories to even the novel, hidden in a storage bin (under the bed) collecting dust. But there comes a time when you must wipe away that dust, regain your pride, and prepare your babies for publication! But, how do you get such a critical, unbiased eye to analyze your works, offering both praise and criticism?

It’s simple—start a writing group!

Creating a writing group is the easy part, but creating a functioning and beneficial writing group can be quite a task.

Writing groups are age-old sessions where writers obtain helpful evaluations for their works. Nowadays, though, writing groups seem to be a fad, and for many a status symbol reassuring them of their writerdom. Don’t create a writing group simply for the sake of saying, “I belong to a writing group”. Create or join a group because of the numerous benefits that come along with them.

Keep Number of Members Limited. You don’t want just one other person in this group. So shoot for 3 or more members. On the other hand, you don’t want to have 30 people in the group either. Try approximately 8-10 members. If one person leaves the group, replace that person with a new recruit. Keep the same standards for all members. Make it standard that members can only join by an invite. Allowing your group to be very exclusive brings the group more pride.

Select Randomly. It’s okay to have a friend in this group, but you chose to create this writing group for unbiased opinions. So don’t allow ALL the members to be your best friends in which you see on a daily basis. Perhaps one member is 18 yrs old, while the other is 35. Keeping age, sex, ethnicity, and educational levels of your group will allow a diverse critique—which is ultimately what you’re seeking. A diverse group will only make you and the group much stronger.

Meetings. We’re all struggling writers, so most often the other members of the group will have jobs to attend. So finding an appropriate time for a meeting is crucial. I’ve found that one Sunday per month, after 2 p.m. is great. Make it an odd time. Creating times such as 2:07 p.m. will stand out and allow members to remember. Where are these meetings held? Keep switching locations. Allow the members to rotate the location to each of their homes. If homes are not available, then a select person should discuss where they choose the next meeting should be held. This is the reason membership should be limited to a few members. It’s much easier to meet with just a few people.

Text. Focus your group on either poetry or prose—try not to mingle the two. If the text is prose, and the writer wants his novel critiqued, suggest that the novel be submitted on a “per chapter” (or two) basis. Don’t overwhelm the members with too much to read at one time—or you’ll end up with no members. The month before your work is critiqued, each writer should submit photocopies of their manuscript to each member.

Know your intentions. Make sure that, for the most part, members have similar goals: to be published or for sheer enjoyment of writing. This will eliminate time wasted if you know this upfront.

Critiquing. When critiquing the text, encourage the members to speak as if the writer isn’t present. In the meanwhile, the author can sit back, take notes, and write down questions the critics may have posed. Encourage the critics to write on their versions of the text before meeting. Allow approximately 20 minutes to discuss each member’s work. Upon completion of the critique, critics should give the author their “corrected” versions. Complete the critique by allowing the author to explain any unanswered questions and to thank the critics.
If members can’t keep up with reading that much work per month, then divide it up. Four writers submit one month, while the remaining four submit the following month. Above all, writing groups should be a relaxed environment—away from your significant other, your children, and your job. Let this be a time where you hone your writing skills with the assistance of others who simply seek the same thing.

About The Author

Stephen Jordan has five years experience within the educational publishing industry. Stephen was a freelance editor with such educational foundations as Princeton Review, The College Board, New York University, and Columbia University. Away from the office, Stephen promotes his creative writing with his home-freelance business OutStretch Publications and his artwork. Stephen holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees in writing and literature from Alderson-Broaddus College of Philippi, West Virginia Available for reprint. Please contact author so he can keep track of where his articles are being used.
Editor@OutStretch.net