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Tag: freelance writing clients

  • 3 Simple Tips for Better Communication With Your Writing Clients

    3 Simple Tips for Better Communication With Your Writing Clients

    Anyone who’s been in the freelance-writing game for any length of time has a horror story or two (or 10) about a client.

    Maybe it’s multiple revision requests from some wayward editor who doesn’t know what they want, or perhaps it’s 30+ days post wrap-up and you’re still waiting to get paid. These debacles can often be prevented with some good old-fashioned communication.

    I’ve played on both teams. By day I’m managing editor of the ClearVoice blog; by night and weekend, I’m in the trenches with y’all, making a little extra money to keep the dog in Alpo. Here’s my advice on how to improve communication with your editors and clients and, in turn, get fewer revision requests and more work.  

    1. Never assume anything

    Is it OK to write in the first person, or will only third person do? Do they want you to include images with your copy, or will they pull those themselves? Are they paying extra for you to promote it in your social channels, or is that rolled into the assignment price?

    Don’t guess. Ask.

    Get clarity on everything before you begin, and get it in writing. If you get hired with a phone call or meeting, send an email summarizing the scope of the project and ask for confirmation. Nail down such details as:

    • The type of content they want produced and the minimum/maximum word count
    • Who the audience is
    • Any links or keywords to include
    • Deadline, price, and how and when payment will be made
    • Tone and voice
    • Any brand and project guidelines
    • Will the content be ghostwritten or bylined?
    • Who the editor is (this is who you’ll work with the most) and how they prefer to communicate (email, phone, IM/Slack)
    • Any relevant resources/marketing materials that will help you better understand the subject matter
    • How many rounds of revisions are included in the price (two is industry standard)
    • Are you expected to promote the content on social?
    • And of course, make sure you understand what they want covered, including whether you’re expected to find an expert source

    2. Ask for feedback (and give it in return)

    Reasonable people want to know how and where they can improve. So if you’re a reasonable person, ask for feedback — and be a good sport when it arrives.

    The more information you have about what you’re getting right and what you’re missing, the quicker you’ll learn exactly what the client wants. Editors love working with writers who can hit the mark on the first try. Once they’ve invested time in you and see you “get it,” the’ll likely want to use you on future projects.

    Try not to be defensive or argumentative when the feedback rolls in, either. Take it graciously and ask questions, but don’t argue (unless it’s a ridiculous request, in which case, you have bigger problems).

    Similarly, if you’re working with reasonable people and you have insight about how they could improve something on their end, don’t be afraid to give them honest (but tactful) feedback. But if you’re unsure about how your feedback would be received or if you’re overstepping your bounds in giving it, hold off.

    3. Be yourself (just be smart about it)

    Yes, you want to be professional. But you can be professional and have a personality. When I finally took off my “board room” face and was just me, it was like breathing a huge sigh of relief. My clients responded in kind, and it helped us form a relationship.

    You know there’s a caveat, right? Here it is: Be you, but be you within the confines of good taste. If the real you curses like a trucker or doesn’t like to wear a bra, may I suggest you skip this tip. But if the real you sticks an emoji at the bottom of an email, why not? Everyone appreciates authenticity.

    Ditto for disclosing personal things about yourself. Appropriate self-disclosure strengthens bonds with clients — so if you’ll be back online after you pick up your kid from softball practice, say so. Again, “decorum” is the key word here. People want to work with people they like and view as genuine.

    How have you formed relationships with your freelance-writing clients?

  • When Freelance Writing Looks Like a Job: July Income Report from Nicole Dieker

    When Freelance Writing Looks Like a Job: July Income Report from Nicole Dieker

    Freelancers with multiple clients know that they can continue earning money even after a client relationship ends.

    When most of your income comes from one or two clients, however, you need to be prepared for what might happen if you no longer have those income sources.

    First, my numbers for July:

    Completed pieces: 55

    Work billed: $6,424.13

    Income received: $8,530.55

    I wrote 36,300 words this July, which is not only fewer words than usual but also significantly fewer words than the 53,600 I wrote in July 2015. I also earned more money: $6,424 compared to July 2015’s $5,034. My career — and my earnings — continue to move forward.

    Booked through the end of the year

    On the subject of moving forward: right now, I have freelance work fully booked through the end of 2016. There will still be opportunities for me to take on the occasional small project if one comes up, but for all intents and purposes, my calendar is full.

    How did I get to this point? By building long-term relationships with clients who, in turn, offer me recurring work or long-term projects.

    When I started out as a freelancer, I booked my writing work one day at a time.

    As I continued pitching and building client relationships, I began to book work two weeks ahead. It took until my third year of freelancing before I was able to book work one month ahead — that is, to have a full month of work booked before that month began.

    In 2016, I started being able to book work two months ahead, and now I’m looking at five months of fully-booked work.

    The drawback, of course, is that this limits my ability to take on new projects or develop new client relationships. I have enough room in my schedule for maybe one additional piece per month, if the piece is something I really want to work on.

    However, if someone asked me to take on a dream project — let’s say an editor asked me if I could fly to London and spend a week with the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child — I’d have to say no. Or “could we do that in 2017?”

    Thinking of freelancing like a job

    Last month, I wrote that the majority of my income came from two big clients. I’m being very careful to ensure that I keep writing for a handful of additional clients, first to make sure my byline is being seen in multiple publications (and by multiple groups of readers), and also to ensure that I’ll have at least some income if something happens to one of my two big clients.

    Freelancers often say that one of the benefits of freelancing is being able to diversify your income sources. If you lose a client — and I have lost more than one client, over the course of my freelancing career — you still have other clients and other work.

    This equation changes slightly when the bulk of your income comes from one or two sources. I’ve always thought of freelancing as a job, but now I’m thinking of it in the so-called “traditional job” sense:

    I need to be prepared for the possibility that I might “lose my job,” or lose one of my primary clients, and I need to be able to spend at least two months living off my savings while I look for a new large client (or, potentially, a group of smaller clients).

    In the past, ending a client relationship meant, at most, losing 25 percent of my freelancing income. Now that the majority of my income comes from two clients, I’m beginning to think about what might happen if I lose 50 percent or more of my income.

    I’m very close to having a three-month emergency fund, but I want to continue adding to my savings account as my own form of “unemployment insurance.” That, and continue to stay active in the freelancing community and build as many relationships as possible — even though I won’t be able to take on a new big writing project until 2017.

    How do you diversify your income sources? Do you have one client that provides the majority of your income? Do you have a plan for what you’ll do if that client relationship ends?

  • How Writing for More Clients Helps Your Freelance Writing Career

    How Writing for More Clients Helps Your Freelance Writing Career

    A good freelancer knows when it’s time to say goodbye to a client in order to take on a bigger opportunity — but a good freelancer also knows that putting all of your eggs into one large client basket isn’t necessarily the best idea.

    Do you always have to drop a client when you start working for a new one?

    This month, I explain why keeping a few of my favorite clients helps my career.

    Here are my numbers for June:

    Completed pieces: 58

    Work billed: $5,586.47

    Income received: $4,119.11

    Here’s a fun fact: I wrote just about 40,000 words in June — the same number of words that I wrote in June of last year. I wrote 58 pieces this June, and 54 pieces last June. I also billed $5,805 in June 2015, which is slightly more money than I billed in June 2016.

    The difference is that in June 2015, my year-to-date billings totaled $30,515. This year, they’re $34,288. My earnings continue to grow, year over year.

    The other difference is that in June 2015, I wrote for eleven different clients. In June 2016, I wrote for seven clients. Adding higher-paying clients to your portfolio means needing fewer clients to hit your monthly income goal.

    I could probably reduce my client load even further, but I don’t want to. Let’s look at why.

    Keeping my byline in the conversation

    At this point, the majority of my income — and the majority of my workload — comes from two clients. My other clients take up less than 25 percent of my writing time. They also bring in less than 25 percent of my income.

    Why do I keep writing for these additional clients? First, because I’ve been working for each of them for years now and I have a good relationship with their editors. Second, because I can complete their assignments quickly and easily; these no-stress gigs are fun to write.

    Most importantly, however, I keep writing for these clients because they keep my byline in the conversation.

    Having bylines in two publications is great. Having bylines in six or seven publications is better.

    My readers don’t know how long it took me to write a piece or how much I got paid to write it. All they know is that they read something worth commenting on or sharing on social media.

    The more writing I do for high-quality publications with strong readerships, the more my work is shared and discussed — and more people have the chance to see my byline and become familiar with my writing.

    I also like writing for multiple publications because it gives me more opportunities for referrals.

    The more editors I work with, the more people I have to recommend me or connect me to gigs — and because I have a larger chance of another editor reading something of mine, liking it and offering me a job.

    I know that my two biggest clients won’t last forever. When it’s time for me to start looking for a new client, I’ll have a larger pool of resources to draw from.

    I’ll also continue earning income even if one of my big clients goes away.

    A year of routine

    In last June’s Tracking Freelance Earnings, I wrote about wanting to change my writing routine to make more time for exercise and breaks — and to make sure I got up and got out of my pajamas right away, instead of working in my PJs until noon.

    I’m happy to inform you that this new routine stuck. I’m still working off the same basic schedule and work plan that I built for myself last year, and giving myself time to wake up, have breakfast, do my yoga practice and get dressed before I start my workday.

    I’m also giving myself a lunch break, which has evolved into a lunch-and-half-hour-walk break. It’s great to spend that half hour outdoors, away from my computer.

    Sure, there’s the occasional day that I wake up to an email that has to be answered right away, or a revision request that a client wants ASAP, but I’d say I get to keep this routine at least 90 percent of the time.

    I’m still doing pretty well with keeping regular hours, too; I rarely write in the evenings anymore, although I still end up doing a little bit of work over the weekend.

    I’d love to see where I am a year from now. Ideally, I’d like to be pretty much where I am today: writing for clients I really like, earning more money than I did the year before and sticking to a routine that keeps me healthy and productive.

    What about you?

    How does your freelance career compare to where it was last year? Where would you like to see it grow next year?