What a Way to Be PissedClient: By the way, I’m really pissed at you.Me: Yea? Why?Client: I couldn’t find a damn thing wrong with that article you sent. I had nothing to edit!Me: I hope I piss you off more often. It feels good when you finally synch with someone. That’s all it is. I…
Tag: client advice
Supposably Better Then Them GuysOne of my biggest peeves is the misuse of commonly used words. What irks me is the recent upward trend of the abuse. I’ve heard seemingly intelligent people spewing out (or writing out) misspellings left and right. Here’s my list, with the correct terms in parentheses. Feel free to add your…
Calling in SickIt happens – you get sick right about the time your big deadline hits. And unless you’re sporting super-human powers, you just can’t work with a fever/flu/cold/etc. Yet there’s that work, waiting for you. More often than not, the deadline is something you’ve carefully budgeted time for – given a healthy constitution. There…
Not Raining, but PouringNDAs and TestsI don’t know what let loose this past week, but I’m now sporting four new clients (and possibly a fifth), and most of it is ongoing work. That’s a good thing, for the two ongoing gigs I had already have waned and become stuck in approval/budget cycles. Thank God for…
The Price is RightWrapping Up the Beginner’s SeriesIt all comes down to money – whether we write because we love it or we write because we can, we also expect to be paid for it. In the coming years of your freelance career, you will continuously face the question of price. For you as a…
Query Writing: The Follow Up
The Follow Up Thanks again to Nikki for providing today’s topic in our Beginner’s Series – how to follow up on those queries you’re now crafting with ease. Once you’ve waited your requisite amount of time (I admit – this is an arbitrary decision – despite what I said earlier, sometimes you just know when…
The Sound of SilenceBack among the working again. The vacation was great! Perfect weather, too. Daughter and I had a blast. I’m taking a small breather from the Beginner’s Series to answer a terrific question posed by Nikki. She asked what we should do when queries go unanswered or worse, ask for your rates. Here’s…
Query Writing Series: The Query Letter, Part Two
The Query Letter, Part Two The Meat of the Matter Once you’ve hooked your editor/client (who, by the way, is also your first reader), you need to deliver the goods. It’s not enough to hit them with a great first paragraph and then say “What do you think?” You need to convey two more things…
Query Writing Series: The Query Letter, Part One
The Query Letter, Part One Get Creative! It amazes me how many creative writers churn out boring, unimaginative query letters. I once received a query letter from a writer who wrote – “I saw your ad. Here’s my resume. Call me.” Did I call? Hell no! If that writer couldn’t be bothered to sell himself…
Lost in TranslationStill sporting the itch this afternoon, so no posts about queries. Tomorrow… What You Won’t Read About in the Ads: – The more paperwork and legal loops a freelancer must jump through, the less the pay will be. – The more emails that pass between you without any mention of pay, the smaller…