Freelance Writing Blog

Identifying Your Ideal Writing Client

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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…

Detox Weekends

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What’s on the iPod: Overjoyed by Bastille So how do you recover from two weddings in two weeks, a huge rehearsal dinner, and guests to entertain? You run away. That’s just what we did. It was my birthday gift from my husband, and it fit like it was made for me. We cut our workday…

The Evolving Writing Career

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What’s on the iPod: Yes I Would by Frightened Rabbit After all the nuptial hubbub this month, I’m finally settling back down into work routines. I’m lining up interviews for an article assignment and I’m doing some prelim work on a query I intend to send out today. Plus, the marketing and LOIs continue in…

4 responses to “The Evolving Writing Career”

Jennifer Mattern

June 26, 2014

It's not so much that writer platforms didn't exist then. They were still a big deal for many nonfiction authors (especially in business niches). They just weren't talked about much, especially in terms of fiction.

You still had to build a platform. But the only way many authors did so was by publishing books. Your platform couldn't help you sell books until you'd already been published, often with multiple books. Now authors are simply figuring out that it's better to have some kind of visibility and audience up front to help even your earliest books sell. And publishers now expect it because they don't have the budgets and staff to do the kind of marketing they might have in the past.

While I know some writers in the "I just want to write" crowd don't like this, I see it as a great thing. It means authors are more empowered than ever to control the success of their own books when they have full (or almost full) control over how it's promoted.

At the same time, it's a "tough cookies" reality check scenario for those who don't think they should have to deal with the business side of things. If you want to succeed in business, you have to put the work in, and that work doesn't stop with creation. Pretty much every author is in business, whether they want to think of themselves that way or not (and whether they contract with a traditional publisher or not).
Lori Widmer

June 26, 2014

Jenn, thanks for the clarification. I remember a few of my favorite authors at the time were required to write one or more titles per year. Is that what you mean?

I see the platform as just an extension of the creative process. You've created a product. Great. But the real trick is to create a persona, a following, and a buzz. I find that almost more exciting than the initial writing part.
Cathy Miller

June 26, 2014

Great point by Jenn on dealing with the business side of things. Whether that's as an author of books or business writing or any kind of writing for compensation, the business side is what makes it reality.

The great thing is you have more options today. From doing it all yourself to hiring professionals for various tasks, the choice is yours.

I understand the I don't want to deal with that aspect. But that means finding someone else who will and not just ignoring what you don't want to do.
Paula

June 26, 2014

I didn't know you also wrote children's books, Lori. You're always full of surprises! I've long had an idea for a series of kids' books, and even wrote a few drafts, but can't envision the stories being illustrated by anyone but my dad…and he's long gone.

One wonderful side effect of the whole "writers need a platform" business is discovering how supportive other writers are. Follow a writer on social media, and they're very likely to follow you back. And the side effect of the side effect? Getting to know and be inspired by those other writers.

I've been freelancing since everything was done by mail, phone, or when we got really high tech, fax.

It's hard to imagine how we got anything accomplished back then! We had to mail a large, postage-paid, self-addressed envelop to get a sample issue. Each query was mailed and required a SASE. Only maybe 10-20% of those SASEs ever came back. (I often pictured editors peeling stamps off my SASEs to use on their outgoing mail.) I absolutely love that email is the new standard for queries.

BTW, I still have one corded phone in the house for phone interviews. My recorder connects between the base and the handset, which you can't do with cordless phones, and landlines still provide better, clearer connections than cell phones, which makes playback a lot easier.