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Author: lwidmer

4 Freelance Writing Truths for Beginners

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down by The Mavericks What a productive week so far — I’ve finished two magazine articles and started on four more website articles. I’m a little toasted (and it’s only Wednesday), but I’m determined to get 16 articles to the two clients I’m working…

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This Job Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Songs About Roses by Owl John I finished the week strong and start the week even stronger. There are lots of projects on the desk, and all of them are begging for attention. Right now, the focus is to get one more article out the door by tomorrow so I can…

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Turning Conversation into Client Relationships

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: In One Person by John Irving What’s on the iPod: Wild Angels by Martin Sexton Not long ago, a couple came to our door. They were Jehovah’s Witness followers, and since I have known some followers, I invited them in. I served them tea and we started chatting. The husband/wife team were…

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Insurance and the Freelance Writer

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Racketeer by John Grisham What’s on the iPod: Would You Fight for My Love? by Jack White A good day yesterday — one project draft done and another started. Plus I nailed down an interview that took weeks to get. It was worth the wait. There’s been a lot of talk…

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When Do You Let Go of Prospective Writing Clients?

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Dearly Departed by Shakey Graves Tuesday was a great day off. The music was the best I’ve ever remembered it. I was glad to get back here, though. While it’s always a good time on St. Patrick’s Day, it’s equally nice to come home and relax before heading off to bed….

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Brogues, Begorrah, and Blog-versaries

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m listening to: Irish bands. All day. Derrintaggart Stone Circle,  County Cork Eight years. That’s a long time to be blogging. Yet here I am, still wondering how I can be so lucky to have you all reading here every day. How ironic that I started this blog on my favorite holiday ever. I…

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Free Advice Friday: 4 Fairly Foolproof Ways to Market Your Writing

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Carrickfergus by Loudon Wainwright III Yesterday was one of those days where I was afraid to go near anything electronic. It started when I turned on The Weather Channel  (TWC) in the morning only to find it wasn’t there. Anywhere. Verizon FiOS, with their infinitely awful customer service habits, yanked the…

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Sealing Writing Deals: The Golden Bridge

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Quiet Little Voices by We Were Promised Jetpacks A new poll this week — take a look over on the right side of this page. Don’t forget to cast your vote! Happy birthday to Devon Ellington! I hope you have a lovely day, my dear. May it be a relaxing, stress-free…

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Writers, Budgets, and Samples

Posted on by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Racketeer by John Grisham What’s on the iPod: A View that Almost Kills by We Invented Paris I was talking with a writer friend last week about work. Things are going well for both of us at the moment, but we’re used to the tenuous nature of the job. What takes…

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Monthly Assessment: February 2015

Posted on by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Unbelievers by Vampire Weekend So far, a really productive week. I’m writing this Wednesday afternoon as we wait for our “first significant snowfall” of the season, as they call it on the Weather Channel. I’m staring out at snow, which has been the case since what feels like January, so I’m…

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  1. Emily Fowler Avatar
    Emily Fowler

    Queries: Two sent out, responses zero. Boo!

    LOIs: Following on from my pathetic three in Jan, I sent out a whopping thirteen this month. I'm targeting the pet industry a lot more, and that's really working for me. Although nothing signed and sealed yet, I'm talking to a number of vets who are interested in what I have to offer.

    Social media: After your tip about sending a message when people follow/connect Lori, I've got one meeting with a local potential client this month, and have been chatting with a number of others who *may* need me in the future.

    Existing clients: I'm now writing two articles a month for a national cat magazine, and I have four regulars who I write for weekly/monthly.

    New clients: A couple of fab new clients, I'm ghostwriting a business blog for one but they're promoting me personally on Twitter/LinkedIn, which is really nice! Another came from my finance background, and at £1 a word for website/newsletter articles I'm hoping they're going to stick around!

    Referrals:Two referrals from a writer friend in a similar niche – she's happy writing about dogs but when her clients want a cat writer she sends them my way. I've also helped her out with her workload this month because she's in the middle of a huge project.

    So all in all, I'm happy with the way things are progressing! I've re-written my website slightly to concentrate on the pet niche, and my marketing is all geared up towards that as well. Onwards and upwards! ;o)

    Reply
  2. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer

    Emily, that's great progress! Wonderful to hear. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Emily Fowler Avatar
    Emily Fowler

    Thanks Lori :o) I didn't think that pets could be a niche (silly me!), but I'm so glad I'm going in that direction. Going to a pet trade show later on in the year, which will be a big step for me.

    Reply
  4. Emily Fowler Avatar
    Emily Fowler

    In fact, I'm just reading through a blog post of yours from 2011 about trade show marketing, and making copious notes, so thank you x

    Reply
  5. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    You're really working it, Emily!

    I had a couple odd issues arise, so this will be long.

    Queries: Sent five ideas to two editors. One was assigned. Another was perfectly timed since the editorial staff had just discussed the need to cover what I'd pitched.

    LOIs: Sent one LOI on Monday so I haven't had a reply yet. Followed up on two others.

    Job Postings: Replied to three that felt like good fits.

    Existing Clients: Finished two articles for Favorite Editor, am working on a third; sent in ~34 entries for a huge list; wrote an education article. Checked in with two editors I hadn't heard from in a while; one asked for some pitches.

    Bad news about my column: I sent my editor a time-sensitive column. No reply. It didn't run in print. I emailed to see if it would run online, reminding him that it needed to run by a certain day. No reply. A week later someone replied saying my (associate) editor no longer there and he was the replacement. He said readers love the column and they want to keep it.

    I had the prior editor's contact info, so I checked in. Seems the executive editor cleaned house and brought in all new people. The executive editor has a reputation of being impossible to work for, so the new people probably won't last long.

    A few days later the new guy sent me a press release about a film screening at SXSW this month, saying the editor wanted me to cover it because the filmmaker ias from our area. Um…#1 my column is about TV, not movies; #2 they have staffers for things like that; #3 they pay next to nothing so I only write about things requiring minimal research and interviews, are things I really want to write about, or let me use material and quotes leftover from my real work. Worse yet? They misspelled my name in my byline and removed my bio blurb.

    New Clients: My first assignment for a new market fell through when the key source bailed. It was a single-source story about an HR initiative the guy started. The publicist said the exec wanted to do the interview but he'll be traveling around the world (he runs a major hotel chain) for several weeks ahead of some big summer push. So they were hoping we could postpone it to Q3. I let the editor know – and he asked for more ideas.

    Something promising balanced the scales. In December I applied to write a series of short articles. The editor assigned it and he said he needed copy by January 2. I contacted him to explain that deadline was impossible, especially since it would require celebrity interviews. No response. In January I replied to two more pitches, only to realize they were for the same editor. I thought I'd blown any chance of working there. In late January I was told the pieces from December had been reassigned. A couple weeks later another message said they'd been reassigned yet again, then another said the project had been canceled. A few days later I had an email from a different editor there saying the first guy had left, but he'd keep me in mind for future assignments.

    Earnings: Pathetic, if you could tanglible income. But if you count invoices (whether paid yet or not), then I'm $300 above my monthly goal.

    Bottom Line: I need to get those pitches out!

    Reply
  6. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer

    Emily, glad the info is helping! I'm happy to share specifics with you, if it helps.

    Paula, wow. Sounds like publishing is going through some pretty awful growing pains. Truth is they probably don't pay enough to keep good people.

    And yes, invoices count. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    If invoices count, I sure wish the gaps and power companies would accept them as payment? 😉

    At this point, if they give me any grief or start making demands about to column I'll tell them to pay up or I'll take it elsewhere. Since starting it I've developed a working relationship with a larger local paper that's part of a small syndication group, so perhaps there's a chance to earn more per column…but the parent company seems more interested in profits over quality, so it could be trading a less-than-ideal situation for a worse one.

    Reply
  8. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    Gas. I means the gas and power companies. But you knew that, right?

    Reply
  9. Cathy Miller Avatar
    Cathy Miller

    You mean I have to remember what happened in February when I struggle to remember yesterday? 😉 We'll give it a shot.

    Existing Clients: I start with the positive. I have never been so buried in projects. That's the good news. The bad news is they all keep shifting around and seem to forget I have other projects I'm working on. But if that's the worst that happens, I'm a happy camper.

    Currently, I have an ongoing monthly ghostblogging gig, a ghostwritten article for a trade pub, 3 new resource documents, and 4 updates of old white papers.

    New clients: Spoke with two prospects and sent proposals. Speaking for the 2nd time with one today and the other has been traveling and assured me she has not blown off my proposal.

    Industry stuff: Existing client is hosting a Wellness Symposium (like they did last year). I will be attending to cover on their behalf but it also a great networking opportunity.

    Marketing: I sent out 10 postcard mailings that I will be following up on this week. Emails sent as well but without having it in front of me I don't remember how many.

    Earnings: The delayed checks from January helped. Second highest earnings month since I started freelancing.

    Bottom line…very busy. 🙂

    Reply
  10. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer

    I knew that, Paula. 🙂

    How are things going with the postcards in general, Cathy? Sounds like you're buried in work — AMEN!

    Reply
  11. Irreverent Freelancer Avatar
    Irreverent Freelancer

    So glad you keep doing this column, Lori. 2014, in general, was a weak year for me. Partly that stemmed from my cutting back on major projects to focus on the MFA but a bigger chunk of it resulted from the educational projects drying up.

    I'm happy to report that 2015 has been a complete turnaround. I've already picked up two educational projects and have been in contact about a few more. Better still is that I met my earnings goal in both January and February. And the best news of all? My deadbeats claim the final installment of my one-YEAR-old invoice is in the mail. I'll believe it when I see it. In the meantime, fingers crossed my current trend continues!

    Reply
  12. Lori Widmer Avatar
    Lori Widmer

    Kathy, that's fantastic! One year later sucks, but payment! Yes!

    I've seen the same thing –2015 is definitely busier.

    Reply
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