I smell that post coming. 🙂 Thanks for the idea.

I think I need to work on the confidence aspect of my work. I'm a really good writer, and I know it. So why am I so scared of telling other people that? I think I'm just scared to fail. Maybe that's a good topic for another post — how did you build confidence in yourself? Maybe that's a given with some people, but some of us are more timid than others! 🙂

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/06/how-to-save-the-news/8095 is an article in The Atlantic Monthly about google and news… interesting and maybe hopeful stuff.

The paper I'm contributing to may be a rare exception. They actually have encouraged me to re-sell my column elsewhere, ala self-syndication. I tried that, but when the economy tanked, so many small papers folded and budgets shrank that I had zero bites from the hundreds of packets I sent out.

I'm thinking of approaching a mid-size company that published several hundred daily and weekly papers. Perhaps a package deal for them? The combined circulation would make it easier to get exclusive interviews – right now my column recycles unused quotes from previous articles. Negotiating a decent rate would also allow me to put more time into each column.

Another option might be turning it into a blog. The current paper is really getting into the on-line side of publishing. I could ad short updates instead of trying to write a longer thematic column each week. I could charge them a flat fee per week or per month.

I'm just think out loud here (and sorry for hijacking the thread, Lori…but there are many brains worth picking around here!). Suggestions are more than welcome.

Back on topic: I've already sent three marketing-related e-mails this morning. Two asking editors if they need ideas for some specific sections they have coming up, the other to a publicist about a possible feature article idea I may be uniquely positioned to write, depending on the publicist's reply.

I loved having that column. I loved getting recognized when I was out shopping. I was really invested in it emotionally, but intellectual property rights theft is the line in the sand for me. So I quit, cried over it, mourned and moped for weeks, and finally snapped out of it. What's funny is that as soon as I let it go, much more lucrative writing opportunities came my way. Sometimes we clench what little we have so tightly in our hand there's no room for something else to land gently in our open palm.

My first writing job was when I was 15, over (gulp) 30 years ago. I was paid $15 to write a brief article about a feminist bookstore in my town. And ya know what? Even that's more than a content mill article would pay!

Or perhaps, Paula, it's time to ask for a raise…. try it. You lose nothing. You're already willing to walk away.

Joseph, great approach. My rate is my rate. Take it or leave it. I'm running a business, not a free-for-all.

Anyway, let's stop talking about freelancing as a career for a moment, because I think this is where all that sticky shit starts creating a problem. Instead, let's think of it as a BUSINESS. When you take the "career" out, and you de-personalize what you are doing to think of it as a business it's a lot easier to see where you are going wrong. Would any business just settle on a certain customer because everyone else ignores them? No. You see it time and time again with businesses that succeed and businesses that are about to fail. They run ads, they have sales, they hire someone to do SN, they have press release written, they guest on a radio or TV show, they put fliers on all the doors in the neighborhood–see? That is what we need more of.

And honestly, even if you switch your thinking to that of a business instead of a career girl or guy, you still might fail–but at least you know you didn't settle and ignore the possibility of everything you could have been.