As a freelance writer, excellent communication skills are par for the course. Most of us prefer email and text to telephone conversations but many companies want to discuss potential content voice-to-voice, meaning it’s essential to develop effective contract call skills: how do you know what a client really wants? Through experience and the (occasional) mistake,… Read more
Posts Tagged: freelance writing
The Right Words
On vacation last week, I came across a community billboard at a local gas station. Hidden among the ads for music lessons and used cars was an offer for ‘Designing Destiny’, a workshop taught by horses. But here’s the best part: It was all about ‘in-powerment’. Now look, I’m not heartless. I could forgive ‘impowerment’,… Read more
The Freelance Introvert?
A year ago, I decided to make a career change and start writing full-time. Aside from the obvious ‘will I have enough money to feed my family’ worries, I was also concerned about going stir-crazy while working from home. A comic by Internet funny man The Oatmeal does a great job of capturing the good… Read more
‘Nontent’ Marketing
I’ll admit it—I’m a fan of online comic Penny Arcade. If you’ve never read it, the (often NSFW) comic is a bastion of game culture and the once niche site is quickly becoming a powerhouse as all things game become more mainstream. In 2010, for example, it’s creators made the TIME 100 list of worldwide… Read more
Application Denied!
I’ve been looking for more freelance work lately. This website is part of that process, of course, a way to increase search rankings and showcase my content to prospective clients. But I’ve also been searching out other job opportunities—the evolving freelance market has quite a few companies looking to hire virtual talent for blogging, social… Read more
Fiction and Freelancers—Three Tips from a Novelist
I consider myself a freelance writer and a novelist. It was always going to be novel writing first and freelance to pay the bills until my breakout work hit bookstores everywhere and then a poorly-cast movie bastardizing my famous book made me rich. Five years later, with three completed novels (one self-published) and a realization… Read more
Hollowman: Gatsby on Web Content
Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation of The Great Gatsby is what you’d expect from the director: Lavish, over-the-top and just this side of believable. But in the context of Fitzgerald’s novel this kind of direction works, gives a sort of fiendishly colored edge to the entire film, a sense of vibrant desperation. Last night the film… Read more
The Freelancer’s Dilemma: Dollars or Sense?
Five years ago, I was doing regular work for a content farm. They paid well enough for a relative newcomer to the industry and had a variety of jobs available, though most fell into the “write about auto insurance” or “create sales copy for this new vacuum” categories. But then an interesting piece appeared. At… Read more