Sigh. (insert large exhale here)
A writer friend alerted me to a few posts and tweets seen recently that offer “writing tips” from freelancers that can help nearly any writer find more work this year.
I guess the word “freelancer” is pretty loosely defined these days.
I’m not saying only veteran writers have great advice — writers at nearly any stage of their careers have something to share.
I’m saying that what some writers choose to share can range from sketchy to downright scary. Doubly so, in fact. Why? Because other freelancers may follow this advice verbatim.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it to the point it should be a bumper sticker — no one writer has all the answers, and sometimes, the advice just doesn’t fit.
[bctt tweet=”Every #freelancer should be adapting advice to fit their own needs and personalities.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
Alas, there is also advice that should be forgotten immediately, for it doesn’t pass the sniff test.
Here are some of the more dangerous tips that are circulating:
Stick with the clients you have and focus on keeping them happy.
Right, because every client stays forever, don’t they? While I agree with the notion that we need to keep current clients happy, we need to realize too that their situations are fluid. Projects get pulled, budgets slashed, people fired, new bosses hired. If you have three really good clients and one or two disappear, no amount of keeping them happy is going to change the reasons why they left.
Anyone who knows me well knows I hate absolutes. But there is one that I think we all need to be sticking to — Market always. How you market is your business, be it in the form of networking, social media, phone, or anything that gets you in front of potential clients. But keeping your name out there, making connections and being that writer who’s top of mind is the key to getting more freelance work in 2021, not putting yourself in a small silo and expecting it to sustain you.
Stay within one or two specialty areas.
Okay, so I write about risk management and insurance. That means I’ve topped out, in this writer’s opinion. I shouldn’t be getting all “expandy” and going after related industry business, should I? I shouldn’t write about environmental, construction, finance, none of it. It relates, but I’ve just been told to stay in my lane.
Right. That’s not happening. Because most of your business growth comes from expanding into related areas, often to your own surprise. I never knew I’d be writing about gender disparity or cybersecurity or even cannabis, but here I am. Turning down work because you’re stuck in a rut (or two ruts) is foolish.
Let someone else find the clients for you.
Yes, I saw this “tip” and thought, Wait, is she suggesting working for someone else? Why yes indeed, this writer was. Let someone else find the work, you do it, and you don’t have to bother with all that relationship-building nonsense that will sustain you years into the future. Why do that when you can work right now?
Because that sounds like a winning idea, right? Wrong. There are no shortcuts worth taking. None. If there were, there would be millions of wealthy freelancers right now, and you’d not have to read these sorts of tips from relative unknowns.
Trade writing for good reviews.
That feeling that just crept down your spine — that’s the feeling when you know something unethical is taking place. So the premise of this bit of advice is that a writer would trade a guest post for a glowing review, thus impressing potential clients.
How many things are wrong with this? There’s not enough bandwidth to answer that question. But know this — if you’re basically bartering for reviews, you’re lying to both your potential clients and yourself. Instead, ask current or even past clients for reviews.
Ask for work on social media.
I’m fine with the occasional tweet promoting oneself, but this advice was specific: ask within a specific community if anyone has any writing leads.
That’s lazy. It’s like saying “Does anyone know where I might find a date?” and waiting for someone to say “Yes! The perfect person is …”
Back in the genesis of Twitter, a “cold tweet” might net you something, as we were all getting our virtual sea legs. I did land a client with a tweet saying I was ready to rock the next insurance-related project, but today, that would fall flat as hell.
Better would be a tweet that outlined what you just finished for a client, and announcing that you’re available for new clients. That tells them what you do, at least. Better yet would be to build relationships before you go begging on social media for work.
Work for free.
I have never seen anyone work for free and benefit from it. Well, I take that back — they benefit when it’s free samples for their own website.
Don’t. Any legitimate company, person or publication will pay you even a small amount for those clips you want so badly. Really, it’s not necessary ever to work for free. I never did, and I was still able to build a good portfolio. So can you.
Writers, what are some of the worst tips you’ve seen?
How do you vet your advice? What should other writers do to determine if advice fits them?
11 responses to “All Freelance Advice is Not Created Equal”
Trade writing for good reviews———Ugh. I don’t even know what to say.
I’m so tired of today’s growing trend of anything goes, ethics are for chumps. Perhaps I’m saying this because yesterday, a friend told me that she got her first vaccine because a friend worked at a medical facility and forwarded an email that said “do not forward” to friends so they could sign up for the vaccine intended for health care workers. And this is a friend who’s so supposedly ethical in all kinds of other areas of her life.
Tired. I’m so tired of this.
And it’s related to your last point, too: Working for free. Those people asking you to work for free? They’re not ethical. It’s just not ethical to build your brand/business on the backs of others without compensating them.
To. This. Day. I won’t read HuffPo for that reason. Arianna sold it for more than $300 million after all those people wrote for the site for free–which at the time I kept telling people was stupid!
OK, rant over. Thanks for this Lori. You really are a gem.
Preach it, sister!
I’m tired of it, too. I’m tired of the entitled feeling a growing number of beginning freelancers have about what’s owed them. I’m tired of the same chumps you mention bending the rules to benefit them (at the expense of someone else, almost always). I’m tired of shitty advice being doled out like poisoned candy. I’m tired of writers thinking there’s this magic formula that allows them to circumnavigate the work part of building a writing business.
I’m tired right next to you, Gabriella.
And I refuse to read HuffPo for the same reason. That woman made fortunes off the backs of writers who thought this was their golden ticket. No, it just showed other leech-like companies that there are enough stupid people out there willing to work for nothing, so why should we pay?
On this point, your rant — and mine — will never be over.
I also don’t read HuffPo, but started not reading before Arianna sold it. I’d just heard so many horror stories from people who’d written for it that I couldn’t in good conscience click any links to that site.
Paula, same. If the link comes up in a search, I’ll go to the next one. I won’t promote a site that devalues its talent.
Lori, same here! If a HuffPo link comes up, I search for the same words and just find a different outlet reporting on the same thing! We’re quite determined when we want!
The decline of ethics really is disgusting. Just today I got a request to join my LinkedIn group from a freelancer who works for a “Christian author and editor” who markets her services to writers who are “struggling with producing God’s vision.” Her primary credential is 18 years of teaching language arts in middle school–and her offerings include editing school essays, which I failed to realize was work in service of God’s vision. Lori, thanks for calling out bad practice and those who engage in it!
Randy, I simply don’t understand some of the claims people make about their background. Maybe she taught in a religious school? But even still, editing is not writing. Editing K-12 work doesn’t require the same skills as editing the work of the corporate world (well, in most cases).
Claiming the skills you have is fine. Claiming ones you wish you had is lying.
LOL. You rock!
All of this. I’m just damn tired. Do good work, treat people well, market, market, market. Don’t work for free. I even wrote a contract for project-specific samples. Those who demand free work find it horrifying, and that’s the point. Read my samples. If you lack critical reading skills, that’s on you. Otherwise, you’re trying to get free labor and I’ll never get anything out of it. No, thanks.
That’s it in a nutshell, Devon. Sigh. It’s so tiring having to shoot down the same old BS every year.
AMEN.
I love the idea of a contract for samples. It’s brilliant!