Like you, my August is already full. I've no idea how I'm going to get it all done. Work harder and longer, I suppose!

I really appreciate that you share this info, so here's mine.

July was decent. Not great, but decent. But August will be a bear, so I'm not stressing.

That said, I agree with the idea that summer's a slower time. So hard for me to get sources who are free–so many are vacationing. And editors do that, too.

Just a suggestion on the idea of a mailer landing right after Labor Day. Love it, but I'd give people a few days to get back into a groove. Maybe get it there the Monday after the post-Labor day work week? Just my two cents.

Keep us posted on the eByline stuff, Paula. That's intriguing. And congrats on a good month!

Eileen, I haven't come close to running out of prospects. The industry is pretty big, and there are a ton of specialty areas and supporting industries to tap into. Plus I'm starting to expand into another specialty area (albeit slowly — must learn the ropes and jargon first!).

In June my income was only about $400 shy of my monthly goal, but the largest check was one that was a couple weeks late (Instead of arriving the first week of the month, it arrived at the end of the month.)

July was busier, but the income was less than half my monthly goal.

Queries – In June I sent two batches of queries (one landed me a series of assignments) and two individual queries (one was assigned). In July I sent three queries, getting a solid "maybe" for an evergreen idea I sent Favorite Editor, and the others went to new-to-me markets.

LOIs – In June I sent three and followed up on a another. One of the three came back undelivered – snail mail. Followed up on other LOIs in July.

Social Media – I'm still not really tracking it, but I gained quite a few new Twitter followers last month. In June I tracked down a former client and asked him to write a LinkedIn recommendation – it's big to me, since it's someone I did ghostwriting for.

Listings – I answered five each month. One replied saying they knew their 20¢/word pay rates were too low for me, but to check back in a few months. If advertising picks up they plan to raise their rates.

Existing clients: In June I turned in five columns, three articles and three copywriting projects to four different clients. In July I turned in four columns and three articles, and started on four new assignments from three clients. And yesterday another client asked if I could take on a new project.

New clients: I joined Ebyline on the advice of a friend. The first two "pitches" I replied to fell flat (odd, since they were writing about TV), but the third one landed an article that's due today. The pay is decent and the client is well known. Fingers crossed it leads to more work.

Bottom line: As busy as I've been, I really need some of these payments to come in soon!

I had a prospect who cancelled 8 minutes before a scheduled call and although he assures me he is still interested in moving forward, he has gone silent for weeks. It has been nearly a month since a new client was billed for a deposit and he keeps promising to get me the contact info. for a subject matter expert. And nothing.

A long-time client tells me she'll get in touch in late Fall regarding blog posts that are supposed to be monthly. At least with that one the Agreement is to bill monthly (which I reminded her) but I am anticipating a dump of backed-up posts. *Sigh*

Other prospects have also gone silent (again despite assurances that they are interested). I think it's the summertime blues when it is so hard to nail people down.

I usually target 10 LOIs a week/30 a month (gives me a little wiggle room to find some new prospects) with that many follow-up notes, too. My goal is 30 LOIs in a month and at least that many followups. If I get to 40, great. Thirty seems to be my magic number.

I was wondering how that was going! Ten percent is great! I think you're right — eventually, that approach is going to hit home. Boy, you've got it absolutely spot on about July. Trough is a good word for it.