One of the top tenets of the sales world is “ask for the job.” So I took this idea to the social networking world last week. There’s something to this asking stuff. Within hours of my Twitter post about being available to “rock your insurance articles” I was approached by a new client to write…
Can You Hear Me Now? Hello?
It happened again. Right in the middle of negotiations with a new client, smack dab at the intersection of “I like this person” and “Here’s my fee” – silence. Cold, echoing silence at the mere mention of what I’d charge for this project. My price was fair. It may even have been negotiable. But it’s…
Me and My Gang
Their gang colors were powder blue – not exactly fear-inducing garb. There were plenty of them, but we felt safe because this gang consisted of some of today’s best and brightest creatives. At Columbia’s School of the Arts graduation Wednesday, the message delivered was this – stick with your gang. Jerry Saltz, art critic with…
Judging Journalism – by a Non-Journalist
I was all prepared to write this nice post today about what I’d heard and learned at my stepson’s graduation from Columbia yesterday. That is, until Sid sent me a link to an article by a Swedish professor of media economics, posted in the Christian Science Monitor. It would seem the good professor thinks journalists…
A Catnip Person
Have you ever come across someone whose appeal is instant, whose manner is so easy or so charming that you can’t help but want to know them? I had that experience this week. The client was calling me to go over changes, normally a tense situation for both client and writer, for one or the…
The Ultimate Hangover
Never fails that after a really cool party, you end up with either a headache or a hangover, right? Yesterday was no exception. Still high on the fumes of a Friday full of surprises, I got a rude awakening. One of my regular clients – an association magazine – has lost its freelance budget. No…
After the Party
Know that feeling you get just after the last guest goes home and you start picking up plates and glasses? You’re tired, you’re reliving conversations and moments, and you’re happy that your friends are indeed the best. Yes. It’s like that today. Thank you to every one of you for helping make the Second Annual…
The Second Annual Writers Worth Day
It’s here! It’s here! At the risk of my having a “phone book moment” like Steve Martin in The Jerk, the long-awaited Second Annual Writers Worth Day is here! Today is our day, writers, editors, and freelance creatives of all sorts. Today is the day we as an industry proclaim to our peers and to…
Writers Worth Tip #6: It’s Not About the Money
Oh, you didn’t see that one coming, did you? What’s she smoking, eh? Hasn’t this woman been preaching endlessly about valuing yourself enough to demand the fees you deserve? I have and I still do. But I still say it’s not about the money. Here’s what I mean – too many writers go into each…
Can You Tell Them the Truth?
There are two days left before the Second Annual Writers Worth Day! If you’re posting something on that day or you’re putting up the widget, Twittering, or Facebook-ing it, let me know in the comments section here, send me an email, send a pigeon gram… just let me know and you’ll be entered in the…