Freelance writing advice | Words on the Page

How Far You’ve Come, Freelancer

Posted on by lwidmer

Unlike the rest of humanity, who is busy trying to piece together some resolutions they’ll forget in a week, today isn’t about looking forward. It’s about looking back at your own freelance writing journey. A number of years ago, I was talking with a cousin, who happened to be hoeing her garden. I mentioned how…

How to Be a Freelance Writing Failure (and how to change)

Posted on by lwidmer

Typically, I don’t get frustrated when another writer asks for help. But sometimes, the situation is far from typical. In a recent exchange, the writer expressed a level of angst that was troubling. Nothing in this writer’s marketing was working. Things weren’t coming easy anymore. The work wasn’t paying off. Been there. Haven’t you? I…

Putting Action Back in Your Freelance Action Plan

Posted on by lwidmer

I saw you. You made that fantastic marketing/networking/business-building plan, complete with steps on how you’re going to succeed and when. Then what? Then nothing. It sat there. When it came to mapping it all out, you read all the blog posts and articles and culled the advice that fit your business. Then you did nothing….

The Freelance Saboteur

Posted on by lwidmer

Sometimes you can’t find freelance work to save your soul. Sometimes it’s there, but either the timing is off or you’re missing some of the must-haves the client is looking for. Or the client and you are not a good match. Sometimes everything that could possibly align in the right way does. And you still…

Freelance Files: How You Appear to Clients

Posted on by lwidmer

Thanks to a few recent interactions, I’ve come to realize that some freelance writers aren’t really presenting ourselves as freelancers. In public-facing situations, there are some pretty major missteps that some freelancers are making that could be causing potential clients to look the other way. Maybe you’re doing it too and don’t realize it. Let…

What Freelance Writing Has Taught Me

Posted on by lwidmer

It’s Friday, and I’m traveling. So let’s keep it lighter. I was witnessing an acquaintance’s meltdown recently over a minor (seriously minor) issue. Instead of just getting it together (there was a slight snafu in their presentation), they became flustered. Then more flustered. Then they declared it was “such a disaster.” It wasn’t. It was…

How Freelance Writers Get Sucked into Low-paying Work (and how to stop it)

Posted on by lwidmer

Imagine getting this email: Hi (your name): Just wanted to let you know I’ve moved to a new company, and we’re looking for writers. I recommended you since we’d worked together when I was at the last company. Do you have time to chat on the phone? So you call. The conversation goes something like…

The Cynical Side of Freelance Writing

Posted on by lwidmer

Call me cynical. Actually, don’t. I’m not cynical, not when it comes to my job. I love my freelance writing career. Sure, there are shitty parts, like content mills disguised as actual clients, job boards that cause freelancers to fight for the lowest possible rate, scary-bad job postings that are either completely clueless (and low-paying)…

Professional Jealousy and the Freelance Writer

Posted on by lwidmer

A number of decades ago, I had an interaction with a new person in our writers’ group. We had posted a notice in the library announcing our group and welcoming interested writers to join. One person answered the call — a writer who had a monthly column in the local paper. We greeted him warmly, and…

Avoiding the Freelance Niche Fad

Posted on by lwidmer

I love fresh perspectives. That’s why I search for freelance blogs pretty regularly. Unfortunately, I rarely come across a freelance blog. Instead, I see the same advice: How to Start Freelance Writing 10 Tips for New Freelancers How to Start Making Money Freelance Writing How to Launch Your Freelance Writing Career The obvious keyword stuffing…

Joy Drohan

I’ve only ever worked in the environmental science/agricultural science field. I specialized in this without thinking about it because it was what interested me back more than 20 years ago when I started freelancing. I’ve always had a very clear idea of what I did and didn’t want to write about. I took what I knew, and who I knew, and ran with it, and I’ve never regretted it. It turns out that having this specialty is more profitable every year and still very satisfying to my soul. I feel like I’m fighting for the environment every day, and that’s critical for me.

1. lwidmer
  
  Joy, your niche is also broad and, in my opinion too, interesting. You’re running a smart business that I imagine challenges you as much as it rewards your soul.
  
  I agree. Our environment trumps every other thing we tend to concern ourselves with. Without a healthy environment, there’s no point.
Nichole Smith

I’m currently reading a book that suggests you get narrow with your niche because some niches are simply too broad. I can see both sides of this (what you’re saying vs the book’s advice). I’m on the fence as to whether or not to narrow down or go broad. I suppose there is still a place for both. The other advice the book gives is when you can marry two niches together in the same article as it can create clips for two different niches. I’ve never specialized in one thing over the other but I don’t think it will hurt me to pick a focus or two.

1. lwidmer
  
  Hi Nikki! Good seeing you.
  
  I can see both sides, too. Some niches ARE too broad. I know a writer who bills themselves as a “business” writer, yet they do the “4 Things Businesses Can Do to Buy Insurance” kind of articles. Not exactly the same as something like “Solving Supply Chain Disruption by Using On-time Delivery” type of thing.
  
  On whether to go narrow or broad, why not both? If you’re having success in the broader focus, you can maybe narrow your focus on occasion. You know, test the waters and see just how lucrative that can be for you.
  
  The book you’re reading sounds interesting! I might like to read that. The idea of marrying two niche areas is a good one — Like marrying benefits consulting writing with insurance writing. That became a mini-niche for me for a few years.
  
  The beauty of what we do is that we can do whatever interests us. Niche today, general tomorrow. 🙂
2. Paula Hendrickson
  
  Even if you can’t “marry” two niches for the long haul, look for places your niche or niches overlapp with other areas. Each one is an opportunity to break into a new niche. That’s how I wound up writing about the TV industry.