Uncategorized | Words on the Page

Writer Wednesday: The Great Compromise

Posted on July 30, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Revelation Blues by The Tallest Man on Earth If you want to get anything done, just put a vacation on your radar. So far this week I’ve written two articles and I’m talking with two client prospects on various project possibilities. And I’m probably going to be revising content on the…

5 Ways to Kill Your Writing Career

Posted on July 28, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Peace Sign by We Were Promised Jetpacks Without a house project going on all the time, I’ve come away from my weekends feeling positively bored by Sunday night. I think that’s good — I’m eager to get back to work, and I’ve managed to read a lot more than I have…

Identifying Your Ideal Writing Client

Posted on July 24, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Safe by The Airborne Toxic Event It’s been a fruitful week so far. I’ve made good progress on two articles and I hope to have one in to the editor today. The other won’t be far behind. That means Lori gets a much-deserved vacation soon. This week has also been fruitful…

Tactical Tuesday: 6 Step Marketing

Posted on July 22, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Skinny Love by Birdy I can’t believe it’s Tuesday and I’m just now getting around to telling you about my weekend. That’s a good sign, believe me. Saturday I don’t even remember. I know it was slow and it involved reading. It always involves the farmers market, so I know we…

Free Advice Friday: 10 Money-Saving Resources for Writers

Posted on July 18, 2014 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz What’s on the iPod: Alone in My Home by Jack White Some days, you just know you’re about to have a good day. I sat down at this desk yesterday with purpose; I had a plan. Allotting time to three separate projects,…

8 Places to Find Article Ideas

Posted on July 15, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Think Out Loud by Ed Sheeran Once more, we were without AC for a little bit. The repair man was fast in getting to me — within an hour of the call — but the part had to be ordered. It was hot outside — 88 degrees F — but it…

Free Advice Friday: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on July 11, 2014 by lwidmer

What I’m reading: The Liars Club by Mary Karr (second reading) What’s on the iPod: Leading Me Now by The Tallest Man on Earth This has been one weird week. On Tuesday evening, a storm blew through. It wasn’t all that — some wind, a little rain, but nothing to write home about. Even stranger…

8 Ways to Know You’ll Fail at Freelance Writing

Posted on July 9, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Better Together by Jack Johnson We started the week with no air conditioning and temperatures that went over 90 degrees (F). Luckily, what we’d thought was cause for a new central air unit turned out to be just a disconnected wire. How it became disconnected is anyone’s guess, but it was…

The Cyclical Freelance Life

Posted on July 7, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Neon Moon by Brooks & Dunn After June’s wedding marathon month, we were, finally, able to have a weekend of doing nothing. The kids are all back from their respective honeymoons and moving on with their new lives. We enjoyed a nice long weekend with no plans other than to see…

Wednesday Wisdom: Finding Writing Advice That Fits

Posted on July 2, 2014 by lwidmer

What’s on the iPod: Laundry Room by The Avett Brothers Yesterday was interesting. Instead of working on projects, I spent much of my day chasing the trash company. Our usual pickup time is Friday, yet Sunday the trash was still here (and not pleasant to be around). We called first thing Monday morning and were…

Cathy Miller

July 2, 2014

When I take on a new client, I invest a large part of my time getting to know the company, its products/services, client base, etc. I call it doing my homework so I can meet their specific needs with my services.

I would bet most professionals do the same. So why would I take the advice of someone who says you MUST do this and not that when that person knows absolutely zilch about my business?

That kind of advice delivers the message that they can build us into Stepford wives because who wants unique or different?

If all our businesses are exactly the same, I guess we don't have to worry any more about marketing. 😉

Jennifer Mattern

July 2, 2014

Amen Lori!

The $100k one frequently rubs me the wrong way because the ones who shout about their income the loudest are almost always the ones with all the caveats you listed.

What many also neglect to tell newbies up front (when throwing around numbers to impress them and sell them on something) is that they're usually talking about gross numbers, not net.

In one of the worst examples I've seen in the last few years, a freelancer was bragging about hitting the $100k mark. Yay!

But if you stuck around and kept reading their posts for a few weeks you would have stumbled across some enlightening information. They didn't make that money as a freelance writer. They made most of it by owning a "content firm" where nearly 60% of that $100k was paid out to their subcontractors. Well big friggin' difference!

Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not! But it's misleading and dishonest to call it freelance writing income, especially when trying to teach other freelancers how to do the same.

And then of course we have the "do as I say, not as I do crowd" — the ones who say not to write for content mills while they do, or they say don't write for revenue share while they continue to, or they discourage certain types of self promotion while they spam others' blogs with their crappy sales pitches and links all the time.

I get that people tend to do what they think they can get away with. What I don't understand is why so many new writers don't see through the BS. But I guess it comes down to what Cathy said — you have to do your homework, and when that isn't the easiest way out, a lot of people don't want to bother.

Paula

July 2, 2014

Maybe I was born with a good BS monitor, but it's always been easy for me to see through those types of "experts." It's also why I'm a salesperson's worst nightmare, and why one of my friends drives herself crazy fruitlessly trying to impress me by bragging, exaggerating and flat out lying.

(We've known each other since high school, you'd think she'd catch on, but last night she called and tried her unsubtle version of subtlety by dangling information she thought would intrigue me enough to ask more. It didn't.)

I might not eat meat, but to me, louder the sizzle the tougher the steak.

Lori Widmer

July 2, 2014

Cathy, you make an excellent point. Every client, every situation, is going to be different. The same advice is not going to fit any more than the same query letter is going to fit six different publications.

Jenn, I've read similar claims. And like you saw, I saw claims revealed to be a tad exaggerated after the fact. Like you say, it's fine if you get your income from multiple sources, but not cool to claim it all from one source. Honesty always.

Paula, sometimes it's just so dang easy, isn't it? Love the saying! I'm going to use that. 🙂