lwidmer | Words on the Page

Writers Worth: Starting Out Fearless

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Welcome to Writers Worth Month 2018! Since 2008, we’ve been gathering here to share encouragement and kicks in the ass about taking ourselves seriously and accepting that our skills have value. We’ve shared it all — encouragement, our journeys, our roadblocks, you name it. What we haven’t shared perhaps often enough: our fears. That’s about…

The Freelance Writer’s Waiting Game (and how to stop it right now)

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What I’m listening to: The Waiting by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers The waiting is the hardest part… It’s rare when the song I’m listening to coincides with the theme of my post. Today, it’s intentional. I saw a disturbing series of exchanges recently that made me realize just how stuck we freelance writers can…

Coming May 1st ….

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The 10th annual Writers Worth Month Bookmark this page and come back each weekday for advice and strategies to help you gain the confidence and skill you need to boost your freelance writing career. This year, we have all-new content, great guest posts, and plenty of activities designed to get you on the right track….

Building the Come-to-Me Freelance Model

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What I’m reading: The Lewis Man by Peter May What I’m listening to: LOVE by Kendrick Lamar (feat. Zacari) Today I’m off to meet with a new client at his office. Normally, I don’t travel to see clients, but he wanted me to meet his team. You can’t pass that up. So I’m choking back…

Marketing Monday: Your (Non)Formula for Success

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Late start for me today — my apologies. The weekend was just too glorious to stay inside writing. When it comes to marketing, we writers tend to think if we build it, they will come (they being the clients). That’s not necessarily true. While it works when your marketing approach meshes with their needs, it…

Breaking Out of Your Writing Rut

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What I’m listening to: We’re Going To Be Friends by White Stripes I don’t need to tell most of you that a successful freelance writing career means you have to be part chameleon. Today you’re writing nothing but blogs. Tomorrow, you’re inundated with magazine work. A month from now, you might be writing website content…

Marketing Monday: You’re Doing It Wrong

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What I’m listening to: Hardliners by Holcombe Waller The best ideas for marketing often come from seeing it done incorrectly. Let me preface what I’m about to say with a caveat — if you’re attempting marketing, you’re more than likely doing it okay. But there are ways a freelance writer — or anyone — can…

4 Marketing Fails: Are You Guilty?

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Did you ever get one of those emails that’s apparently trying to sell you something? I say “apparently” because it’s so badly written or presented that you really can’t tell what the heck is going on? Welcome to my in box. The email two weeks ago was from a marketing firm. It started off with…

The Return of the Freelance Leech (and how to protect yourself against one)

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It happened again. I was on a social media site a while back and I accepted a connection request. “Hi Lori! Thanks for accepting my connection! Hey, I have a website and I really need someone to critique it…” Seriously. On first contact. It’s like being proposed to on the first date. No, wait. It’s…

Casting a Narrower Freelance Net

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What I’m listening to: Love My Way by Psychedelic Furs Show of hands: how many of you have a specialty? (just tell me in the comments — I really can’t see your hand) For every one of you who has a hand up, there’s more than likely that many ways in which you got there….

Joy Drohan

I specialize in environmental and agricultural science, both writing and editing. That happened because I had a master’s degree in the area and fell into a part-time writing job at a university. I didn’t feel very well qualified to do anything on the ground with my degrees.

To begin my freelance career, I initially hung signs around campus offering my editing services for a pittance to supplement the part-time work. For my first freelance client I did ESL editing in electrical engineering. I’m glad I didn’t let that experience sour me on editing, but it surely wasn’t my favorite.

I picked up more freelance clients working on topics of greater interest to me, worked the part-time job into a full-time job, and kept freelancing as well. We moved and I became full-time freelance.
Over the years (~23) the level of pay I’m willing to work for has steadily increased as I’ve made more contacts and learned what kinds of organizations can offer work I enjoy at a price that’s appealing.

1. lwidmer
  
  What a good beginning though, Joy! That you were able to market locally is a nice plus. I love how you describe your rise in pay and your expansion into other organizations. Smart move on your part!
Krista O'Connell

I consider myself highly specialized: 6-12 math, science, ELA assessment writing. Aside from a bit of a slow period last year, I’ve had as much work as I can handle for several years now. I still love it. The type of work remains the same, but the topics, approaches, etc. are always changing! I “kind of” stumbled into it as I started out doing everything, but this is the area that best fit my education background and paid the best.

1. lwidmer
  
  Aren’t those happy accidents the best, Krista? And a full work schedule never hurts! Sounds like you’ve found a niche where few freelancers exist, too. Even better!
Devon Ellington

I definitely don’t call myself a “generalist.” I find it has a negative connotation. It’s vague, like you can’t do anything well. My “brand” so to speak, is that I do MANY things well, and I take on clients whose work/passion/mission interest me. I jokingly call myself a “Renaissance Writer” (I even wrote an article for WOW-Women on Writing about that); as far as I’m concerned, if people think that means I only write about the Renaissance, we’re not the right fit anyway. I also call myself the “Anti-Niche.”

I do have what I call “Areas of Specialized Knowledge” that are always expanding, and tend to be the type of clients to which I’m drawn and who are drawn to me: anything in the arts, music, alternative medicine, health/wellness/yoga/meditation, cooking, gardening, history, textiles, clothing, sports, environmental issues, global issues, social justice issues.

Client base and focus changes depending on where I want and need to put my energy, and which interesting businesses I come across in my research. I have LOIs and pitch packages that are easy to put together, and portfolio packets skewed to different areas that I can pull up and send off pretty quickly.

The newly designed websites have helped a lot, too. Plus, people I’m meeting through political activism are growing my client base; we are from many different areas of knowledge, but we are working toward a common good. In my case, being politically vocal on social media has helped my business writing, rather than hurt it.

1. Paula Hendrickson
  
  So you have separate websites for each area of knowledge? If so, is there some overlap?
2. lwidmer
  
  She has a number of websites, Paula. It’s impressive how Devon can keep it all straight let alone profitable!
3. Devon Ellington
  
  I have a business writing website, http://fearlessink.com (which now even has a business writing blog, called “Ink-Dipped Advice”). I have the main Devon Ellington site, and the different series I write each have their own site, but the templates and the look of the sites are similar and tie them together. I have another website for the tarot, meditation, etc. I have too many email addresses. 😉 But moving hosts, redesigning everything on the WordPress platforms have been a huge help.
4. lwidmer
  
  Oh, I’d never call you a generalist either, Devon. You have plenty of specialized areas, and you do them all remarkably well.
5. Devon Ellington
  
  Thank you. That means a lot, coming from you.
Paula Hendrickson

I guess I fall somewhere between Joy & Krista and Devon. My main area of interest is writing about the television industry (as opposed to TV reviews or “showbiz news”), but that came about due to a huge overlap with the business, marketing and promotion coverage I initially did. I also have smaller niches involving knitting/crafts, pets, and cooking. I’m always looking for topics where two or more of my favorite things merge—and it’s amazing how often that happens!

I’ve also written about college and career planning, but that client has moved most of the work in-house. I’m not actively seeking to replace that client, which tells me I wasn’t really excited by the subject matter anymore.

1. lwidmer
  
  I like all your niches, Paula. They’re so different, yet they all speak to who you are. I think it’s great that you nurture them all. I think we all should nurture multiple sides of our personality.
2. Devon Ellington
  
  I have a business writing website, http://fearlessink.com (which now even has a business writing blog, called “Ink-Dipped Advice”). I have the main Devon Ellington site, and the different series I write each have their own site, but the templates and the look of the sites are similar and tie them together. I have another website for the tarot, meditation, etc. I have too many email addresses. 😉 But moving hosts, redesigning everything on the WordPress platforms have been a huge help.