Steps to follow for the successful freelance writer

In order to be successful in freelance writing, new writers should be aware of the many miscues and pitfalls that abound in becoming established and marketable.

If you’ve read my other articles on freelance writing, you’ll undoubtedly notice a repetitive theme: write what you know, find your niche, be consistent, and mind the basics of spell checking and proofreading.

Following these guidelines will greatly increase your success rate and help you to focus on transitioning writing as a hobby to writing as a job.

Write what you know

This point cannot be emphasized enough…there are a few things any writer can bring to publishers, the marketplace and readers alike…and one of those things is credibility.

A publisher is not likely to respond to an article or book query on an esoteric subject like non-linear equations or string theory pitched by a performance artist. Look to your professional and personal life and experiences. Hobbies are also a great place from which to draw knowledge and experience to incorporate into your writing.

For instance, if you’re a mechanical engineer by trade, there are surplus of car enthusiast magazines, websites, and e-zines. Those are media you should be looking to. If you’re a stay-at-home mom or you race sail boats as a hobby, then look to publications that feature things so related.

Find your niche

The last two examples aren’t enough to concentrate on, because like any other subject being a parent or sail boating is too broad – which means you’ll have to carve out a niche. This doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t be able to write over the broader subject, that will be intrinsic when writing over any subject, but to stand out and you’ll have to be a source of information or insight in a forte within that subject.

For instance, when I wrote Cyclopedia Music Theory I began game planning the book, I looked at other theory books, not for their content, but what their content was missing. I found a couple of things: one was that musicology wasn’t addressed and another was illustrations weren’t always formatted from left to right and also, there wasn’t any explanation of different instruments or percussion theory. Consequently, I wrote the book with those things included.

Be consistent and persistent

Stay with what you know but don’t be afraid to spread your wings. By this I mean once you’ve found your niche and have consistently written within it, beginning to branch out is not only natural and can indeed benefit your writing. There is a small caution here is not to overreach – should you branch out too far, you’ll begin to lose focus not only in your niche, but you’ll not be able to find a balance.

It is therefore critical that you be consistent not only in your niche writing, but writing altogether. Contributing a piece here and there randomly doesn’t set well with publishers and it won’t set well with whatever readership you garner.

If are writing and contributing regularly, moreover querying regularly, you’ll get a lot of rejections and in between, hear crickets. Publishers are flush with queries and that’s why they’re so selective. Even if your piece is turned down, don't be afraid to rework it and resubmit it. It could be you didn’t hit the nail on the head or another writer was earlier to make the same point.

Prioritize

I’ll use a personal example here: after I wake, get ready and have breakfast; after which, I check my email, take a glance at the days projects, then I do one or two household chores. I do this for good reason: one, chores need be done and two, after reading email and looking forward to the day, not sitting in front of the keyboard and engaging in something entirely different which allows me to brainstorm.

When I get to writing, I typically publish my Balance for Dads blog (which I wrote a day or so before), and then onto the writing gigs I’ve landed.

Next I try to spend my time productively, working on the task(s) at hand and move on. If I encounter a snag (e.g. website goes down or writer’s block), I’ll take a short break to do another chore or two and then refocus.

The next-to-last order of my “workday” is spent search for gigs and networking. And I close shop by writing a piece for my own blog to post the following day.

Build your value and reputation

As a writer, your reputation is invaluable. And to raise your value, you should make your writing not only informative and interesting, but comprehensible. Don't be pedantic…no matter the subject; keep your writing accessible to all readers.

It’s not advisable to waste your time working on projects that won't be beneficial either to your value and reputation or financially.

Writing what you know and carving a niche aren’t to mean that you’re stuck on certain subjects forever. You can increase your value by expanding, but writers shouldn’t be chasing money by writing pieces they have no experience or interest in as it will show in their work.

Be mindful of the basics

Spell check

Proofread carefully or have someone else proofread

Honor guidelines and deadlines

Keep a notepad with you as much as possible to jot down notes/thoughts

How to get writing gigs during a recession

Getting writing jobs are difficult enough under normal circumstances, but getting published during a recession requires a fresh yet well planned approach.

Take a multi-tiered approach:

Because the internet is part of our professional, social and personal lives, we can use it in a number of different facets. And when looking for a writing job, it’s typically one of the firsts places (if not the only place) we look. But during an economic downturn, the internet is simply not going to be enough.

You’ll have to go the passé route of combing through the newspaper (not just the want ads as there are often local news pieces that provide information about a community business expanding or being opened, et cetera).

Likewise, in an age of digital communication, phone and face-to-face communications are seen as not only professional but portray those who are willing to actually take the time to take the time to get noticed.

This doesn’t mean that email and internet aren’t necessary, they are necessary for information but they won’t help a jobseeker nearly as much as personal communication.

Network:

As during normal economic circumstances, you’ll want to use your social circles and previous coworkers to network. Also, you can network among your alumni groups, at your church, your children's school, your fellow hobbyists. I continually network for my business, Retail Consulting Solutions in these circles. (But you must do so in a polite and respectful manner, you don’t have to stress how much you need a job when unemployment is nearly 10%.)

Don’t forget to keep notes on who’ve you spoke to and about what. You can use those notes to schedule a time for following up. Not only that, but it will help you to focus your job seeking efforts instead of chasing your tail.

Present yourself professionally:

Make your resume, query letter and thank you notes professional. Don’t just dig out your old publication lists and add the latest in your last gig. While previous publication show you are marketable and responsible and just listing publications don’t show enthusiasm. Where you’ve wowed the publisher or gotten great reader feedback are entries any publication is looking for, particularly during challenging economic times.

No matter how good your resume, you can blow it by not living up to it. You don’t want to go beyond what you’ve said in writing you can or have been. In order to be convincing (and appear professional) everything should “line-up”. That is, your resume and query letter, your thank you note and interview – consistency is key.

Be prepared:

Your communication skills will have to be a cut-above as so many applicants are seeking the same position. It won’t be enough to be dressed professionally and speak well; you’ll have to sell yourself.

Treat “no” as one step closer to finding the next gig:

It may be counterintuitive, but getting a “no” or “we’ve found someone who’s a better fit” can be a positive thing. Take it as a chance you had to sharpen your interview skills. And remember, it isn’t impolite to inquire as to why you didn’t get the job.

How to Protect What You Write, Understanding Publication Rights...a quick guide to publication rights and what they mean

“Rights” simply mean how a publisher is allowed to use your work. And rights aren’t the same thing as compensation or purchase. Furthermore, rights are not regarding copyright…the copyright to your copy (writing) are permanently yours.

First Rights

First Rights are used once your writing has been publish in any medium (whether it been print or electronic: a magazine, blog, newspaper, journal); so first rights are just that, the very first time your piece is published.

First rights are causing some perplexity among publishers and writers alike because of the Internet. Because the traditional relationship between publisher/writer has been altered as more writers self-publish on their own blog or website, first rights are more difficult to determine as to whether blogging qualifies as the first publication. In other words, if a writer posts an original piece on their blog, technically, it has been published for the first time – making that particular piece unacceptable to publishers. Evidence of this can be found on a number of user-contributed websites such as eHow, Helium, HubPages, and Associated Content.

Another thing you should know about first rights is that whether or not you’re paid for your work, first rights have been given once a publisher runs a piece. Thereafter, your work is no longer original (or exclusive) and both writers and publishers value first rights highly.

Exclusive Rights

Exclusive rights have practically the same meaning as journalists use regarding interviews (a Eye Witness News Exclusive) means they are the only organization with the story or interview, the only media outlet where you’ll find said story or interview. When you sell your piece under exclusive rights, you are excluding any other publisher and yourself from publishing that particular work.

Some publishers will try to buy an author’s work under exclusive rights and claim it is the same publishing rights as first-time rights. First rights are sold just one time and are literally the first time a piece is published, whereas exclusive rights are sold over and over (by the publisher, and after their exclusivity expires, by you).

Exclusive rights is giving a publisher the right to publish your work exclusively for a set period of time; during that period, you cannot sell that particular writing to anyone else, nor can you self-publish it on your own website or blog. Once the time period has expired you are free to resell that work to someone else. In regard to the same time period, it is critical that you cross-reference the submission guidelines against the publication rights as they should be uniform. Remember, when a publisher has exclusive rights they may sell that work over and over while the author has given that right away temporarily – so the more money it will earn the publisher, the more money they ought to be offering you for those exclusive rights.

As an examples, for my company, Retail Consulting Solutions, I write all of the press releases and contributing articles to the practices website, therefore I maintain all the rights. For my textbook, Cyclopedia Music Theory, I self-publish and print-on-demand – basically, I maintain exclusive rights on both because those works are not published by any other party.

Non-Exclusive Rights

These rights are, as you probably can guess, are the opposite of exclusive rights; if a publisher agrees to non-exclusive rights, the author is free to sell that piece elsewhere and there are no time limits.

One-Time Rights and Perpetual Rights

One time rights are the right to publish your work once and only once (these rights are usually found in journals, magazines and newspapers); whereas perpetual rights are the right to publish your work over and over, for an indefinite period.

Here again, as with first time rights, the Internet posses a conundrum as many websites offer one-time rights, yet websites are not print, they are electronic and have as much space to “print” as their server will allow. Magazines and other print mediums have a finite amount of space, meaning two things: they can only print so much each issue and two, there is no where to catalogue/archive past publications in future publications. Yet another way to put it is a website has no bottom, a webpage can run on-and-on-and-on.

Basically, this translates into a question of one-time versus perpetual rights. If a website publishes a piece based on one-time rights, they must then remove it from the site (including their archives) otherwise, they are using perpetual rights. This means that if you sell your work to a website with one-time rights, make sure it includes a time limit before your piece(s) is removed – a week, fortnight, or month at most.

One-time rights can be sold by the author repeatedly, and simultaneously, consequently, these are the rights syndicated columnists use so they may sell a single piece to different publishers at the same time. Perpetual rights (as their name implies) last indefinitely, so work you’ve sold under perpetual rights effectively becomes the legal property of the publisher.

Electronic and Print Rights

Electronic rights are a publisher’s right to place your work in any electronic format, while print rights are a publisher’s right to place your work in ink. The great thing about these rights in the current publishing climate – nearly every print publication has an online publication. This means publishers with both ink and web publications that buy your work must purchase both electronic and print rights from the author.

First and Second Serial Rights

First serial rights are rights sold a periodical (a newspaper or magazine), to publish your work one time, a with first-time rights you are affirming that the work has never been published before. Second serial rights refer to a reprint of your writing after someone else has already published it.

A writer should carefully review first serial contracts to make certain there is not a provision/clause that also grants second serial rights – second serial rights are those rights bought by a publisher to print your work after initial publication and like one-time rights, second serial rights may be sold over and over again and concurrently.

Subsidiary RightsSubsidiary rights apply to anything other than book publication, this is where people like Steven King live. If you were to write a novel like The Hunt for Red October, and wanted to pitch it as a theatrical movie, then you would be selling subsidiary rights to the production company.

Any form of electronic audio or visual media is based on subsidiary rights. Because of their complexity, you would definitely need an agent to negotiate the terms so not to burn yourself. Moreover, they will get a far better return on your work