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  • Writing Fiction? 10 Common Writing Errors That Make You Look Like a Newbie

    Writing Fiction? 10 Common Writing Errors That Make You Look Like a Newbie

    You’re about to work on your first big writing project. Whether it’s a novel, memoir, or short story, you don’t want everyone to know it’s your first (even if you’re shaking in your boots, just a little).

    Many first-time writers fall into traps that can decrease the quality of their piece, and these newbie blunders can diminish their credibility.

    New writers fall into these habits for all kinds of reasons: putting pressure on themselves to write something enormous and profound, attempts to mimic other authors, and probably in the most common occurrence, a bad case of writer’s block during their first big project of their career.

    The pressure is on and your brain has gone into panic mode, resorting to comfortable cliched phrases.

    Not to worry: these writing pitfalls can be easily sidestepped with some awareness.

    Here are 10 of the most common writing errors that new authors should strive to avoid.

    1. Including too many cliches

    Just because it’s the most popular phrase doesn’t mean it’s the most effective. Consider your personal experiences before plunking down a common saying or phrase — those unique reactions are what give you an edge as a writer.

    Even when writing fiction, use your own perspective to your advantage as you play with metaphors and other ways of developing your story.

    2. Writing inauthentic dialogue

    Suspending disbelief is easy when the dialogue in your story universe sounds natural. Dialogue is extremely hard to do well, but can also make or break your story.

    Listen to conversations around you; take note of verbal ticks or idiosyncrasies that appear in normal human speech.

    3. Rushing the plot

    Getting your characters from Point A to Point B is certainly important, but not so much as providing a solid foundation for these transitions.

    Whether you decide as you go or map out your character’s story beforehand, ask your editors or critique group if they can name the cause and effect of each major event. DIY MFA’s mapping technique can help you organize the interwoven events that take place over the course of your story.

    4. Choosing a cop-out ending

    “And then he woke up” is a perfect example of a cop-out: an ending that negates all other given information that the readers have been led to believe is useful in analyzing the plot, characters, and ending.

    After fully engaging with the universe you’ve created, your readers don’t want to feel tricked!

    5. Abandoning or using your characters

    If a character suddenly makes an “exciting” choice that makes no sense with his or her aforementioned stable traits, your readers will instantly question your motivation for inserting that choice into your story.

    To avoid this pitfall, take special consideration when choosing your point of view. An event in your character’s life that might read as mundane in a typical third-person scenario might come across as more significant in a first-person voice.

    6. Repeating syntax

    An entire paragraph — let alone an entire novel — of “The [adjective] [noun] [verb-ed] the [adjective] [noun]” sentences will not hold the attention of your audience, no matter the reading level.

    If you’re cranking out a first draft, don’t spend too much time worrying about this. But if you’re ready to have a colleague review your work, scan each page for this predictable repetition.

    7. Not trusting your audience

    Over-explanation can be just as harmful to your work as under-explanation. As mentioned earlier, your audience does not like to feel deceived, and they certainly do not like to feel belittled, either.

    Much of the joy of reading is discovering your connection to the author’s writing. Remember to let your readers dig into your story independently.

    8. Changing the setting excessively

    Unless constant shifts in space and time are essential to your piece, you need not create pauses after every event. Connecting to a piece of writing is challenging when there isn’t at least some sense of fluidity.

    While there can be many settings, timelines, or universes — and creating an unusual format is always an interesting feat — consider whether every shift is a necessary one.

    9. Not doing your research

    Even if you “write what you know,” it’s critical to verify your information for factuality, especially if your story is heavily based in realism.

    Say that your story’s villain is a world-renowned scientist; you’ll lose your readers with the first innacurate algorithm. No one is scared of a mad scientist that can’t even do the math for his own experiments.

    Figure out how to access the databases at your local public or university library to locate journals, documents, and other research to support your story.

    10. Forgetting your audience

    “You can’t win ‘em all,” they say, but you can win over the hearts of your particular demographic. Know who you’re writing for and who you plan to reach, or you risk reaching nobody. If you’re in love with your historical fiction piece, don’t write to please the romance enthusiasts.

    If you find a couple of cliches or other common errors after your first draft, don’t sweat it!

    We’ve all come across at least one of these holes in our own writing. In the end, a good portion of creating fresh, interesting work relies on trusting your own instincts.

    Keep an eye out, use good judgement, and most importantly, write from your own experiences and your own heart.

  • How to Become a Columnist: The Importance of Persistence and Practice

    How to Become a Columnist: The Importance of Persistence and Practice

    Do you dream of being a columnist? Have you already started writing columns for local publications or your favorite online magazine?

    Column-writers know there is simply no truth to the persistent and romanticized image of the columnist: standing on a balcony in his bathrobe, a glass of whiskey in one hand, reminiscing and awaiting the godly spark to come to him. Once the spark is there, the column reveals itself and he writes it in one breath.

    In 15 years writing columns, I’ve learned that it’s more about blood, sweat and tears than about making contact with the muse.

    In fact, column writing is very much like a good marriage: it’s hard work.

    Writing a good piece of all-in-one-shot text once isn’t that difficult. Writing a great column every week, year after year, is.

    Great columnists have one thing in common: perseverance.

    I want you to have that, too.

    I want you to go on where other columnists stop. Those other columnists come to a point where they consider their column finished. They are done with it.

    OK, the text could have been a little sharper here and there, but hey, the point was made, wasn’t it? This is what the reader is going to get.

    But if a columnist is easily satisfied with his own work, laziness and sloth will soon take over.

    And that’s good news for you! Be happy with such competitors. Where they would typically stop, you will press forward.

    You will keep on scraping and polishing your column. Staring at it, re-reading it, striving to discover that tiny part of text that can still be improved. You do that because you have discipline and an eye for perfection.

    A good columnist always puts 10 percent more effort into his work than his colleagues do.

    So invest in your columns, with both time and effort. Do you really want to get published? If so, you’ll just have to give everything.

    In the end, that extra effort will truly pay itself back. I guarantee it.

    No one is a born columnist — but you can learn

    Writing columns is far more a skill than an art. It is 10 percent talent but 90 percent learnable craft.

    I always compare it to the profession of a cabinet maker. With sufficient devotion and a good mentor, everyone can produce a beautiful piece of furniture in the end.

    Nobody is a born carpenter. Nobody is a born master of art or a virtuoso musician. And nobody is a born writer or columnist.

    Don’t believe the myth of sudden success popping up out of the blue. What really pays off will take a while. Look at mother nature. It takes a lot more than one day for a sunflower to grow from a little seed to an impressive seven-foot high stalk.

    Writing columns — and gaining competence and proficiency — is a matter of patience and perseverance. I’ve been writing professional columns since 1998 and I’m still learning more about it every day.

    Many columnists literally typed text into their computers night after night for more than ten years before they finally found success.

    Column-writing practice begets perseverance

    How do those stellar columnists persevere? Easy: by loving what they do.

    You must want it, be eager. You should want nothing more than to write columns. Search for subjects, scrape and shape your texts — do these things simply because your work can always be a little bit better. The only way to persist is to like what you’re doing.

    Writing columns requires practice. Training. Experience. Ira Glass has talked about this, insisting that time (years, not just months) and experience are required to develop a body of work that makes you proud.

    Reading reveals writing tactics that work

    You’ll have to read a lot. Reading other columns is always a good thing. Learn from the columnists you admire, from the ones that write in a way you like. Pay attention to their use of language.

    Try to find out what it is exactly that makes their columns so good. How did they structure the text? Where is the humor hidden? Is the magic in the details, or in the approach, or in something else?

    You can learn a lot from such an analysis. You’ll get familiar with style forms and in due time, you’ll develop your own writing style, which the reader will then recognize.

    Feeling motivated now? Get ready to practice your best column-writing.

    If you’re exploring other writing careers, check out this article, where you’ll find more options to get paid as a writer.

    Perhaps this quiz can help you decide.

  • Writing Your First Book: 5 Tasks to Focus on Besides Writing

    Writing Your First Book: 5 Tasks to Focus on Besides Writing

    Writing a book has always been at the top of my bucket list. On more than one occasion I’ve been known to say the words aloud: “I’m going to write a book someday.”

    I was a banker with a business degree, yet English had always been my thing. As a young student, I never grasped the point of solving for “x”, but I applauded subject verb agreement and diagrammed sentences with the ease most seventh grade girls turned cartwheels. How hard could it be?       

    Ha.       

    For those of us passionate about reworking a sentence until it melts in the mouth like hand-churned vanilla ice cream, the writing part is fun. But the publishing? The publishing part is throw-in-the towel and run-to-the-market-for-pints-of ice-cream tough.

    Publishing is an entirely different animal than writing.

    During my writing journey, the surprising thing I’ve learned is that writing is so much more than writing. Whether your goal is to self-publish, work with an independent press, or attract a large publishing house, to successfully publish, you must do all the things.

    All. The. Things.

    And you need to start well before you finish your manuscript — like last year, or three years ago.

    While you’re writing and researching and editing the next great American novel, work on these five things today to make publishing easier tomorrow.

    Plus, these five things will provide an often-needed break in routine, a way to keep ideas fresh and to stave off burnout. Let’s be honest, no one can write all the time.

    1. Network

    When I exited the banking arena, I thought my networking days were over. Bye-bye cold calls.

    I was so wrong.

    Networking is more important to me now than ever before. As a bank officer, customers came to me to request loans. With the exception of my mother, no one has knocked on my door begging me to publish a book or write an article.

    Sometimes it really is about the connections you make, who you know, and how hard you promote yourself.

    A common networking problem for writers is that many of us are introverts, including myself. I’d rather sit at my desk for three days rewriting a paragraph than chitchatting with people I don’t know, but putting myself out there is necessary.

    One thing to note — our world is social and immediate and networking is available in multiple formats. Find a local writer meetup to join, attend conferences, participate in virtual book launches via Instagram, join writing communities on Google+ and Twitter and become active.

    The good news? I’ve found networking to be enjoyable because writers, bloggers, editors, publishers, and readers all share a common passion for the written word. Passion makes all the difference.

    2. Build a platform

    Been in a bookstore lately? Millions of books are published each year, but sales are declining. Publishing is competitive business. Your platform is like networking on steroids.

    No matter how well-written your story, it’s about you. The whole package. A social media presence is essential. Unless you’re famous (or infamous), you need to build an audience through articles in magazines and newspapers, and guest blog posts.

    Although it isn’t necessary to be plastered across every social media outlet, choose two or three that best fit your story and consistently share posts that reflect your brand. Be choosy about what you share and always professional. If a publisher googles your name, what will the search reveal? Why should a publisher invest its limited resources in you?

    3. Be a voracious reader

    If we have to talk about reading, you probably aren’t a writer. This seems a given, yet I often hear wannabe writers say, “I don’t have time to read.” What!?

    Reading should be like breathing or blinking. Something automatic. Something you do with every spare sliver of time.

    I grew up surrounded by books, saving all my spare change for the school book fair and spending hot summer days at the public library. As an adult, no matter how busy my career or hectic my kids’ schedules, reading has always been part of my routine.

    Today, when I need to recharge from writing, disappearing into a good book replenishes me. Reading is also research. A writer must be familiar with the market and the competition. Of the famous protagonists, who is yours most like? What makes your story unique?

    4. Find your tribe

    Writing is solitary. We work from home or the local coffee shop. We read aloud to our faithful pets that desperately paw for attention. Social escape often takes place online. While the quiet, peaceful, flow of ideas from pen to paper is one of the beauties of writing, as English poet John Donne so eloquently said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.”

    Other writers provide encouragement and support and, yes, much needed critique. Synergic energy happens when you spend time with your tribe.

    I have several tribes, including a group of blogger friends and two small writing groups. We meet periodically for writing-related events as well as pure social fun. These are the folks who will never roll their eyes when I talk nonstop about my writing.

    My tribe helps keep me going when I feel like shredding my manuscript and using it to compost the flowerbed.

    5. Improve your craft

    There’s always room for improvement.

    Join classes, read articles, listen to podcasts, attend seminars at the library. Change your perspective. Find ways to keep fresh ideas churning. A few tricks that work for me: going for a walk, listening to music, reading, trying out a new recipe.

    Learn to write an excellent query letter. Work on your elevator pitch. Study how the great writers write — Anne Lamont, Stephen King, Robert Olen Butler — they’ve written engaging books on the craft of writing.

    You’ve heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect.” It’s true for writing, too. Choose a time and create a writing schedule. Treat it as your business, because it is. I’m an early morning person. My routine begins with a pot of coffee, a blank page in my journal and freewriting.

    Writing leads to better writing — publishable writing.

    Have you written a book? What must-do tips would you add to this list?

  • Take Your Writing Outdoors: 9 Tips for Successfully Working Outside

    Take Your Writing Outdoors: 9 Tips for Successfully Working Outside

    Ah, the freelance life.

    Half the appeal of location-independent work is you can work from anywhere and everywhere.

    Since there are still a few weeks of summer left, many freelancers are longing to flock outdoors to meet their deadlines.

    But working outside isn’t all fun and games. Instagrammers leave out the parts about the merciless biting horseflies, the noisy neighbor kids, and the never-ending screen glare. What’s a freelancer to do?

    Follow these nine tips to maximize your outdoor experience and get some work done.

    1. It’s all about the chair

    As much as I adore my hammock, it’s not a place to get any work done. It’s hard to do much more than read a book or snooze while swinging back and forth in the breeze.

    If you have work to get done, make sure you have a comfortable chair that will get you in a productive mood — and not tempt you to take a midday nap when you’re on deadline.

    Some freelancers prefer working at an outdoor desk, small table, or even a lap desk. Experiment with a few options until you find a set-up that works for you.

    2. Select your equipment with the outdoors in mind

    From an unexpected sprinkler mishap to a gust of wind throwing leaves (or maybe even your coffee) all over your laptop, working outside is not the most hazard-free environment for electronics. For this reason, I don’t bring my regular work computer outside.

    Instead, I have a small, inexpensive laptop that I use for travel and outdoor work. I got the machine for a steal, and I’d be pretty bummed if something happened to it — but not nearly as upset as if a cloudburst destroyed my main work machine.

    In case you need another reminder: back up your work frequently.

    3. Organize your workflow

    While some may be able to work outside all day long, I’m not one of those people.

    When I venture out for some fresh air and work time, I always bring specific projects with me. I organize my workflow so I can tackle one project at a time, typically for an hour or two, before going back inside to check in on email and regroup.

    Everyone finds different ways to work, I prefer my outdoor time to be free of the distractions of email Having a travel laptop actually helps with this: the small screen isn’t great for toggling between open windows and other online tasks.

    4. Fight the glare

    Glare is the arch-nemesis of the outdoor-loving freelancer. As much as you want to work outside, sometimes it’s tough to see your computer screen.

    One option is to face towards the sun and reduce glare on your screen. Another option is just moving to the shade, whether it’s under a tree or umbrella or even in the shade of a building.

    Be sure to tinker with your screen settings and the brightness and contrast levels. Increasing these will likely make it easier to see the screen. Or consider buying a laptop hood or sunscreen — or make your own out of an Ikea storage box.

    5. Go old-school

    You don’t need to haul your laptop outside to get work done. Spending time outdoors can boost your creativity and inspiration, and that’s why it’s a great time for brainstorming, outlining, and other tasks that don’t require being glued to a monitor.

    Grab your Moleskin and head outside to dive into your projects.

    6. Skip the beach

    Despite what location-independent Instagrammers will lead you to believe, the beach is not a great place to get work done.

    Never mind the distractions of surf, sand, sun, and swimsuits. While those are a fun combination, they’re the enemy of your electronics. No matter how careful you are, it seems like sand and water have their way of getting everywhere.

    And what happens when you’re getting too hot on the beach and want to jump in the water for a quick dip? Or if you need a bathroom break? Unless you have someone there with you to watch over your things, it’s a huge hassle to safeguard your business-essential valuables when you step away for a minute.

    7. Pick a spot that’s not social

    In some neighborhoods, if you plop yourself on your porch, people will soon come over to chat. While friendly neighborhoods are great for socializing, they’re not the best spots to get work done outside.

    When you’re selecting your spot to work outdoors, be sure to keep the distraction factor in mind. If your sweet next door neighbor just can’t leave you alone (even after you kindly ask them to come back after working hours), consider bringing your outdoor office to a local park or other place where you can work uninterrupted.

    8. Plan with connectivity in mind

    Internet and electricity are two of the most important things to freelancers. Select your work spot with these needs in mind.

    If you’re outside your own home, you may be able to have easy access to both by moving your router closer to where you’re working and running an extension cord. But if those aren’t options, consider turning your phone into a WiFi hotspot or bringing a spare battery for your laptop.

    9. Don’t forget the sunscreen

    Just because you’re outside working doesn’t mean you’re immune to the inconveniences of being outside. Be sure to slather on the sunscreen, don a hat, and grab the bug spray if the critters are biting. Don’t forget to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, be sure to take breaks and follow other healthy freelancer habits.

  • How To Make Digital Products to Boost Your Freelance Income

    How To Make Digital Products to Boost Your Freelance Income

    Did you know you can sell a single piece of work over and over in perpetuity? Without a book deal or contract?

    We’ve talked about recurring revenue, but this strategy isn’t just for business-minded folk. It’s for you.

    When I was a baby freelancer, I got a bit of publicity around my non-traditional job hunt, and received a million emails from job seekers wanting to know how they, too, could get a job using social media. Inspired by online courses I’d taken, I created a three-part video series on this very topic. Five years later and I still make a couple hundred bucks per year from the videos while doing zero upkeep work.

    Spending a few weeks creating this course rounded out my income while positioning me as an expert in new-age job-hunting. But before you yell that you need a billion Twitter followers or a bunch of speaking engagements to get people to sign up for a digital course, hold your horses.

    I talked to a group of writers who created amazing digital products to find out how they did it.

    How digital products can help your writing career

    If done right, products — which most often are in the form of ebooks or online courses — can help you create regular income without the constant, and often exhausting, pitch mentality.

    Products give you a platform. They bring in new clients and help position you when pitching pieces.

    Say you’re a travel writer, but have only written for a few smaller publications. Creating an e-course for freelancers called, “How to Pitch Government PR Agencies to Finance Your Travels” means you’ve suddenly expanded your platform. (Not to mention the benefit of interviewing publicists for said course — that’s just clever networking.)

    Products are also easy entry points into larger services like coaching, workshops, public speaking and traditional book deals, and if you execute them well, they will feed clients right into your sales funnel.

    Amber Adrian, a blogger who’s shopping a book of short stories, created the Guide to Freelance Writing through Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Guides empire. It helps pay the bills while she pursues projects she’s passionate about.

    Danny Margulies turned his success as a freelance writer on Elance into a course that helps others do the same. “I believe in the power of the individual to do great work, make an impact on the world, and most importantly control their own destiny,” Margulies says. “My course is a reflection of that belief.”

    While this approach worked for these two writers, it can be difficult when you’re preparing to create your first digital product to decide what to offer. So we asked a few product creators how they came up with their idea.

    What digital product should you create?

    What questions do people send you emails or tweets about? What were you confused about at one point in your career? The topics that come up over and over can help you decide what kind of digital product to create.

    Gina Horkey worried, “Who am I to create a product so soon?” when she decided to launch a product just six months into her freelance career. But she was actually in a prime position to create a guide targeted towards writers who were about to embark on the same journey.

    Margulies had managed to do what many would scoff at: earn more than $100,000 on Elance in one year. It was those two points (the scoffing and the earnings) that lead him to believe freelancing sites were misunderstood. “All of the ‘expertise’ I’d find came from someone with no track record,” he said. “I felt that it was my responsibility to help others with the approaches I know to be successful.”

    Carrie Smith, a writer who created a course on solopreneur finances, was prompted by a collaboration with several other entrepreneurs, who offered to help edit and design her first course. Smith had been an accountant for 10 years, so creating a finance course was the perfect fit.

    “I knew I could shed some light on what it takes to run a business, do the bookkeeping, organize the taxes, and outsource work on a budget — all without being boring or taking a lot of time,” she said.

    Writing retreat-lover Alicia de los Reyes created both an ebook and course on how writers can DIY their own mini-retreats. “I do better with external motivation,” she said, “and I wanted to create that same motivation for other writers. Plus, who says writing retreats have to be expensive, serious and stuffy? Why can’t they be fun? Why can’t there be camp crafts?”

    These writers have created compelling products using their unique blend of gifts and experiences. And you can too! Spend some time with a notebook and a Sharpie (my favorite brainstorming method) and write down every question anyone has ever asked you, every struggle you’ve had and overcome, and see what you come up with.

    How to find time to create your product

    Now that you have the idea, it’s time to create. This part is both hard and fun, requiring time and commitment.

    How have other people done it? I’m glad you asked.

    Horkey wrote one to two lessons of “30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success” every morning. “It’s like eating an elephant, one bite at a time!” she said. “Client work was always the first priority, but a goal and a deadline kept me on track.”

    Adrian was in a slow freelancing period, so she opted to focus solely on writing the best guide possible. “I took six weeks and devoted it to writing and editing and rewriting and polishing. The benefit was that I could really dig in and focus. The downside was, of course, halted income for that period.”

    Reyes, predictably, created a mini-writing retreat. She set aside an entire day to expand and reformat previous content and make the lessons user-friendly and flexible. “Once I got into a rhythm, it became easier to format,” she recalled. “In the end, it took me a few days to write, edit, and upload the content and worksheets, and then a few more weeks to share it with friends and test it.”

    It’s really up to you and how you work best. Yapping dogs and screaming children might make it hard to take a whole day, or you might work best at 3 a.m. for exactly 53 minutes. I want to say “find a balance,” but that’s easier said than done.

    Margulies admitted the difficulty of finding balance while creating a product. “I slept less than I was used to for a few months while creating the course, especially since all of my income came from clients,” he said.

    Once the course was finished and started to bring in revenue, he was able to take on client work again — but needed to fewer clients since he had another form of revenue. ”But even when there was no balance, I was fueled and focused by my mission to help create a world with more well-paid freelancers.”

    Selling your product

    I could write an entire ebook on this topic alone!

    But the short answer is that to sell your content, you need a platform. If I had a dollar for every time someone sang the praises of a “platform,” I wouldn’t need to freelance at all. No one’s going to buy your product if they don’t know it’s out there — or why you’re qualified to advise anyone else’s career.

    But what you might not know is it’s not the end of the world if you don’t have a platform yet. Many larger websites (like this one!) will advertise your product for you if you set up an affiliate program and create a great product they’re proud to promote.

    You might also follow Adrian’s lead and create your product under someone else’s umbrella. If you’re up for making a video series, sites like Udemy and Skillshare allow anyone to create classes, and their community gives you a built-in audience.

    Or, like Smith, you could partner with colleagues to create a super-platform. “The great part about collaborating with other solopreneurs is that the entire weight of the project isn’t on your shoulders,” she said.

    Post-product life

    Skip ahead a bit: your product is done. It’s live. It’s obviously selling like hotcakes. How much work does it take to keep up with this thing you’ve created?

    Horkey’s product hasn’t been a set-it-and-forget-it type of deal. “I’ve revised the course a couple of times and recently launched a new sales page. I continue to invest time and energy in hopes of making it better for future students.” She has also launched a Facebook group for students, which means she spends time every day facilitating discussion and answering questions. “It takes as much or as little time and as much or as little money as I choose to invest,” she said.

    Adrian relaxed and watched the money roll in. Sort of. “Because Chris has such an impressive audience, my portion of the book’s proceeds provide recurring income each month,” Adrian said. “Not enough to jet off to Bali and watch handsome men do yoga, but enough to pay a few bills.”

    Reyes spends her time sharing her work with people who might like it and asking them to share it with friends and readers. “I plan to spend money on affiliate marketing,” she said. “Marketing is always more work than I bargain for, but it’s the only way to get my work in front of readers.”

    And for Margulies? The results have been so impressive he’s actually thinking about making the course his full-time job. “I answer lots of emails, work on promoting the course, customer service, technical stuff, you name it,” he said. “I’m wearing all the hats right now.”

    But, he adds, “I’ve done more copywriting than ever these past couple of months, it’s just that my only client has been me!”

    The moral of the story: You can make your product as big or as small as you want and spend as much time on it as you choose.

    You want to create a $3 PDF with 100 different writing exercises? Sounds awesome. Or maybe a $1,000 year-long private mentoring group? “If you have information that might help others, share it,” said Adrian. “Even if your brain kicks up a fuss and lists everyone else in the world who would be better at this than you.”

    Whatever it is, here’s our permission: get started.

    Have you thought about creating a digital product of your own? What would it cover?

    This post contains affiliate links. That means if you purchase through our links, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thank you for that!

  • Tracking Freelance Earnings: July Income Report From Nicole Dieker

    Tracking Freelance Earnings: July Income Report From Nicole Dieker

    Hi! If you’re new to this column: I track my freelance income every month and share it with all of you. This is my third year of public income tracking, and my first year sharing my income with The Write Life.

    Do you ever think about your writing legacy? What you want to give the world, in addition to all of your paid freelancing assignments?

    This month, I took a look at my goals and started using Patreon to help me achieve a personal writing dream.

    But first, the monthly roundup:

    Completed Pieces: 72

    Work Billed: $5,034.50

    Earnings Received: $5,239.17

    Last month, I got a big new client and earned $5,808. This month wasn’t quite as profitable as the last. I earned $800 less than I did in June, writing 53,600 words with an average per-piece earning of $69.

    The one big gain that carried over from June was my new dollar-a-word client. This meant that although July’s lowest-paying piece was still $35, the highest-paying piece was $882.

    I also have a confession to make: in June, I reported writing 50 pieces, because that was the number that appeared at the bottom of my freelancing spreadsheet (which I describe in more detail in April’s income report). When I add new work to my freelancing spreadsheet, I hit “insert row” and, usually, the sum function in the cell below adds this row to its tally. However, there was an error in the function and several rows weren’t included in the sum. The actual June writing count is 76 pieces.

    I have now added “double-check all spreadsheet sum functions” to my end-of-month processes. I have a lot of these types of checks written for myself to help me improve my work, from “double-check all name spellings” to “AP style update: write out state names.” I often put a sticky note right on my laptop, if I make the same error repeatedly.

    What about you? Do you have a system for tracking your mistakes and preventing them in the future?

    Freelancing is not a roller coaster that only goes up

    In John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Augustus Waters quips, “I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up.” The joke, of course, is that no roller coaster (or life) only goes up; at some point, you have to go down again.

    Freelancing is the same way. You have to be prepared for down months, even if your freelance career has an overall upward trajectory.

    One of the reasons I earned less in July was because I took a week “off” to travel to Los Angeles and San Diego and put on a show with some of my friends. I read short fiction, there was music and I got to do a live interview with Bobak Ferdowsi (aka NASA’s “Mohawk Guy”).

    I put the word “off” in quotes because I continued to complete freelance work as I traveled, but I focused my efforts on shorter posts that did not require a lot of research and could be completed in an hour. And yes, that showed up in my earnings. Traveling always means taking an income hit, even if you work on the plane.

    I’m going to take some more time “off” in August, to be a guest at a convention called Intervention that focuses on online creativity and collaboration. This is the sixth year I’ve been an Intervention guest, and every year I grow my career by attending the convention — and, I hope, help other people grow theirs.

    Attending this event also means that I only expect to earn a little over $5,000 in August. Even though I’ll be turning in freelance pieces as I travel, I know I’ll lose money because of this trip. I’ve already had to turn down one assignment because I knew I couldn’t complete it while attending the convention. That won’t affect my relationship with this client — I’ve never had a client react negatively to my turning down an assignment — but it will affect my bottom line.

    However, experiences like Intervention tend to open up opportunities I could never get by staying home. I was introduced to Boing Boing founder Mark Frauenfelder at Intervention 2013, for example, and began writing for Boing Boing soon afterwards. That type of connection is worth much more than any single freelance writing assignment.

    Borrowing from the roller-coaster metaphor again: I am happy to take occasional income hits if it means getting to meet new editors or interview NASA engineers in front of a packed audience. The income line may go down, but the opportunities give my career the momentum it needs to climb the next hill.

    Working fewer hours, but keeping Overflow Night

    In March, I tracked my freelance hours for all of you and discovered that I had a 50-hour workweek.

    In July, I tracked my hours again; this time, I had a 40-hour workweek. This has been pretty consistent for the past month, and I am very happy to get my evenings back.

    What’s changed? Well, last month I wrote about tweaking my routine to get up — and out of my pajamas — earlier. Waking up earlier makes me more efficient throughout the day, and it also helps me end my workday earlier.

    I bet you night owls are shaking your heads right now, so let me just say this: it isn’t about when you wake up. It’s about figuring out what schedule works for you, and removing the roadblocks from your workday.

    In my case, I needed to remove the huge roadblock of staying in my pajamas until 1 or 2 p.m. and then stopping my workflow to take care of the business of showering and getting dressed. Now, I get to use that time for writing.

    Lastly, just so you don’t think I am a magic freelancer who always quits working at 5:30 p.m.: I still have the occasional “Overflow Night” where I sit down with all of my unfinished tasks and power through until 10 or 11 p.m. It’s inescapable, no matter how efficient I am. How about you?

    Thinking about my writing legacy, and starting a Patreon

    I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing legacy — that is, the body of work I hope to complete over the course of my career.

    Since I write primarily for online news sites and blogs, nearly everything I write is designed to be read and digested quickly. According to my Contently profile, I’ve written over 900 stories for 32 different publications — and only a small percentage of those stories are still read today.

    So I decided to write a bigger story. At the end of July, I launched a Patreon to fund the writing of my novel The Biographies of Ordinary People.

    This is a novel I’ve been thinking about and drafting for years. You can read the first three chapters, and I’m making the entire novel available for free online as I write it. The crowdfunding part helps pay for the cost of writing the novel, since every hour I spend on the book is an hour I can’t spend on freelance client work, and to see if there’s an audience to support this story.

    After all, writing is about sharing stories with a supportive and interested audience, whether you’re writing books or blog posts. I hope that people connect with this novel, and that it becomes something I can include as part of my long-term body of written work.

    What about you? At the end of your career, what do you hope to have completed? Are you taking steps to get there? I look forward to reading your thoughts and stories in the comments.

    What are your long-term writing goals? What do you do when you have a down month, and how do you keep moving forward? How do you identify — and fix — mistakes and roadblocks?

     

  • 11 Ways to Ask for Writing Advice (And 10 Major Mistakes to Avoid)

    11 Ways to Ask for Writing Advice (And 10 Major Mistakes to Avoid)

    An aspiring writer I’ll call Bob recently sent me a random “I love your blog; please read my work!” email — and about two dozen other bloggers also received the exact same message.

    I know this because he addressed it to us by regular carbon copy, which meant we could all clearly see we’d been hit by a copy-and-paste spammer.

    Several of us run in the same writerly circles, and we wound up talking among ourselves about Bob in particular, and how much we hate cold emails in general. We debated whether the people who commit these faux pas are simply well-meaning but naive, or nothing but outright trolls. We discussed whether such emails warrant a response — and, if so, how patient or harsh that response should be.

    Needless to say, none of us actually read Bob’s work, although Lauren Tharp of LittleZotz Writing (one of the writers CC’d on the grievous mass email) did offer him a response that was a delightful balance between constructive advice and BS-calling. She said it was OK to share with you:

    Hi, Bob!

    I was excited about your subject line at first (It’s always nice to get “fan mail”), but then I saw you were spam mailing me along with several other writers. Boo. That sucks. 🙁

    If you decide to spam writers again with a message like this, you should probably use the BCC function on your e-mail so they don’t know that you did this and end up talking to each other about you.

    Of course, it would be even better if you didn’t do that at all. It’s not a good way to treat a fellow writer: https://littlezotz.com/2014/02/how-not-to-treat-a-fellow-freelance-writer

    I’m trying not to be TOO hard on you since I get a lot of messages from younger writers who are too “new” to the scene to know any better, but… come on, dude. You can do better than this.

    As for advice (other than “Don’t ask writers who get PAID for mentoring — https://littlezotz.com/ — for free advice”), I would recommend you try submitting your poetry — or essays or articles or whatever else you feel you excel at! — to actual publications/editors rather than fellow writers. 🙂

    Good luck! And have a great week.

    –Lauren

    The lesson? Don’t be like Bob.

    Connecting with other writers — who are at your experience level or above it — is a great way to learn, grow and expand your career. Whether you’re just starting out or have some experience under your belt, a network of fellow writers in your corner is an invaluable asset. You can bounce ideas off each other, work through issues you’re both encountering, pass along job leads and offer introductions.

    But to make these super-useful connections with other writers, you first need to get them to read your email — and want to respond to it positively.

    If you don’t want to receive a message like poor old Bob received — or, worse yet, receive radio silence — we surveyed a number of writers for their biggest cold-emailer pet peeves and put together a list of some definite dos and don’ts to keep in mind when reaching out to writers you admire.

    10 things that will guarantee your email gets marked as spam


    1. Send an obvious cut-and-paste job

    If you think writers can’t tell your email was also sent to a dozen other writers, think again.

    Working with words is what writers do, remember. Even if you address it to them personally or use the “BCC” function properly, they can spot canned, generic language from a mile away, and it will turn them off instantly.

    If you can’t take the time to craft a few personalized sentences when you write to someone, why would they feel inspired to take the time to respond?

    2. Send without proofing

    In addition to spotting spam a mile away, writers are also notoriously good at catching everything from small typos to massively glaring errors.

    So take that extra minute to read over your message and double-check everything, including hyperlinks, to make sure you haven’t goofed up. Even a genuinely personal message can look cheap and spammy if it has too many mistakes.

    Jessica Manuszak, blogger at The Brazen Bible, says, “Hands down, my favorite way to be pitched is to receive a form email that still has the last recipient’s name in the greeting: ‘Dear Angelique, I’m writing today…’ As much as I wish I had an exotic name like Angelique? Making me feel like one tiny insignificant person in a vast sea of inquiries is not the way to my heart.”

    3. Use a vague subject line

    Your subject line is your first (and sometimes last) chance to entice someone to read what you have to say. Blow this, and you can blow the whole outreach.

    Subject lines I have actually received (and promptly ignored) include:

    • Hi!
    • hey there
    • Okay, so…
    • Help!
    • blogging
    • question
    • [no subject at all]

    Imagine you’re sending a pitch to the editor of a site you want to write for. Would you dash it off with a subject line like “here” or “stuff I wrote?” (Please, please tell me you wouldn’t.) So take the time to craft something attention-grabbing — it could be the difference between your email getting read or immediately sent to the trash.

    4. Spill your life story

    Writers are not counselors, therapists or personal coaches — and if they do offer coaching as one of their services, they get paid good money for it. This person you admire isn’t likely to spend their free time wading through the origin story you’ve sent them in the hopes of forging a deep personal connection.

    I once received an email from a reader that contained roughly 17 solid-brick paragraphs of what I can only describe as stream of unconscious rambling. It started out with a foray into her childhood dreams and demons, touched momentarily on writing and what she liked about my blog, took a detour into something she’d just discovered on Facebook that had distracted her attention momentarily (which she came back from by actually typing the words, “Sorry, I’m back now” as if it were a live IM conversation)… and then I stopped following along because it had ceased being a mildly amusing bunch of nonsense and simply become tedious.

    A cold email is not a first interview, a first date or a monologue in a one-person play. Don’t try to sell yourself or explain your every interior motive for everything you’ve ever done. Ain’t no writer got time for that. Keep it simple.

    5. Fail to explain who you are and what you want

    On the flip side, too many cold emailers commit the sin not of TMI, but NEI (not enough information).

    Maybe they think they’re keeping it simple by dashing off a couple quick lines like, “Hey, I dig your work! Here’s mine. Would love to hear your thoughts.” But all the recipient sees is someone who’s either terribly boring, terribly rude or wasn’t willing to put forth a minimal amount of effort. None of which result in a positive response.

    “Context is key,” says blogger and TWL contributor Marian Schembari. “I recently got an email from someone saying, ‘I have a great idea for a social media app and I love your blog. Can I send you the idea?’ What the hell does that even mean? Why does he think I have time for this?”

    6. Ask to “pick their brain”

    It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard to most writers, as more often than not, “pick your brain” is code for “I want to get as much advice from you as I can but I’m not willing to pay for like it like your other clients and customers do.”

    Writers are business people, and their time is valuable.

    If you have a specific question to ask that can be answered in a few lines, feel free to send it over. If you’re just fishing for free advice or your issue is too big to distill into a single, brief question, you’re in need of the sort of services that come with a price tag attached.

    7. Ask them “take a look at” your work and “tell you what they think”

    Your fellow writers, whether they’re on the same level as you or several rungs higher, are not advice-dispensing machines, writing teachers or personal editors. Expecting them to set aside a portion of their day to read and provide free feedback to a total stranger is both offensive and more than a little misguided.

    If you want to know what a writer thinks of your work, see if they list coaching or review services on their “work with me” page — and be prepared to pay the rate they’re asking for. If they don’t, look for someone who does.

    8. Ask them for job/project/client leads

    Most writers are wonderfully generous when it comes to sharing job leads and making introductions among people in their network. When a project comes my way that I’m not the best fit for, or my calendar is booked, I make a point to refer the client to other writers I know personally who might be interested and whose skills would be a good match.

    I’ve had the same done for me. The online writing and blogging community, on the whole, is pretty awesome about having each other’s backs.

    But that’s only true when they know who on earth you are and whether you’re worth sending leads to in the first place. I can’t tell you the number of complete strangers who’ve asked me to “keep them in mind” if I hear of any opportunities or “send some leads their way” when I have no idea who this person is, what their skill level is or even what topics they normally write about.

    Your fellow writers are not job placement agencies or recruiters. We’re not sitting on stacks of potentially lucrative gigs, waiting to dole them to whoever has the moxie to ask for them. We’re actually competing for the some of the same jobs you probably are, and if we’re going to share the good leads with anyone, it will be with people we already know, like and trust.

    9. Get overly personal

    I’m pretty open on my blog. I let my readers see the good, the bad and the ugly in my life, and I want them to feel like they know me on a somewhat personal level — at least as much as you can know a stranger whose thoughts you read online. Because of that, I’m totally cool if a reader sends me a note that’s a bit more familiar and casual. In fact, I prefer it.

    But there is a world of difference between casual and just plain creepy.

    I’ve had people open emails with lines like, “Hey lovely lady” and “I’m in Buffalo, too! Where exactly are you located?” If anything in your email sounds like it could be an excerpt from an online dating site message, nix it.

    10. Think they own any site that shows their byline

    So many people have sent me writing contests they sponsor hoping I’ll write a special feature on them since I wrote about free writing contests for The Write Life. Ditto for people who send me employment infographics or study findings they’re hoping will be featured on Brazen Careerist, another site I’ve contributed to.

    If you admire a writer’s work on a certain site or in a certain publication, make sure to read their byline to see what role they play in that organization.

    Guest writers, staff writers and contributors don’t control the content of the sites they write for, and they won’t be terribly flattered if you tell them what a great job you’ve done putting said sites together.

    11 ways to get a response from writers you admire

    1. Research the person you’re contacting

    I’ve been cold-contacted to review people’s poetry, help them decide how to tell their parents they don’t want to become a doctor, and help a woman market the Downton Abbey-inspired Christmas novel she’d written but had no idea how to pitch to traditional publishers. Anyone who takes five minutes browsing my blog archives, “Start Here” page or LinkedIn profile would know I am not the person to hit up for advice on any of these topics.

    Writers and bloggers specialize. Know what the person you’re reaching out to does and tailor your message accordingly. You would think this should go without saying, but I and plenty of other writers can attest that, sadly, it still needs to be said.

    2. Toss them a (genuine) compliment or two

    Flattery never hurts, especially when you’re reaching out to a basic stranger in the hopes of getting something (advice, networking, a virtual high-five) in return.

    “I get a lot of ‘I really love your site!’ comments from people who have clearly never read anything on my blog in the slightest,” Tharp says. “It’s sleazy. Like when a guy tells you he thinks you’re smart and funny when all he really wants to do is touch your boobs… However, when someone comes to me with a sincere compliment — and they mention something very specific about a piece that I’ve done — and don’t ask for a favor right off the bat; that catches my attention. (Yeah, maybe deep down they still wanna grope me for free advice, but at least they’re willing to put in the time to get to know me first!)”

    3. Create an awesome subject line

    Half the battle is getting someone to simply open your email. Employ some standard marketing techniques by crafting a subject line that intrigues, creates urgency or otherwise grabs the recipient’s attention.

    Some of my personal favorites from cold emails I’ve received include:

    • Here’s the windup… and the pitch!
    • You’re my hero
    • I agree: damn the man
    • Pandas forever!

    Each of these subjects showed the person took the time to think of something creative, mention something they knew I liked or try to pique my interest. I could tell they’d made a real effort, and I was happy to see what they had to say.

    4. Personalize your message

    Let the writer know why you’re reaching out to them in particular. Did a certain piece of theirs move you? Are they in a niche you long to break into? Do you love the vibe of their site and want to know how they developed their voice?

    Also let them know if you have anything noteworthy in common. Are you a friend of a friend? Did you graduate from their alma mater? Do you struggle with an issue they mentioned in a recent blog post?

    These little touches are what create genuine connection points and make a writer more interested in responding to you.

    “When [someone has] clearly taken the time to pinpoint what they like about my writing and maybe even link to their favorite blog post,” Manuszak says, “I’m writing back with way too many exclamation points faster than you can say, ‘HI! I LOVE YOU, TOO. LET’S JUST BE BEST FRIENDS, OKAY?!’”

    5. Keep it short, sweet and to the point

    Within the first few lines, the recipient should know 1) who you are, 2) why you’re reaching out to them and 3) why it’s worth their time to respond to you.

    Imagine your first email to a writer as your first message to someone on a dating site. You want to drop a few pertinent pieces of information to get them interested and let them know you’re someone worth talking to (e.g. “I’m an aspiring personal finance writer who’s followed your blog for years”), then leave it at that.

    If they’re interested and you strike up a dialogue, there will be plenty of time down the road to talk about how your mother never encouraged your dreams or your recent divorce was rocky but you’ve emerged from it a stronger and more spiritual person. But now is not that time.

    6. Ask a specific question

    “I want to be a writer; how do I get started?” is impossible to answer unless the person you’re asking knows the specifics of your personal situation (which they shouldn’t — see “Don’t” #4 above).

    Even if they try to answer in general terms, a writer could spend hours scratching the surface, and they probably get paid mucho dinero for blog posts, books, courses and coaching to help people work through these things.

    If you’re going to ask a question (which is totally okay), keep it super-specific and make it something that can be answered in no more than a few lines.

    For instance: “Which sites do you recommend I follow to learn more about becoming a paid freelancer?” or “Where would you recommend a new writer in your niche submit their first few pitches?” Writers do like helping other writers out, if you keep your request within reason.

    7. Set a time limit

    While “pick your brain” requests are, by and large, a bad idea, there is one way you can couch them that gives you the best chance of receiving a positive response: be crystal-clear about what advice you’re looking for, and let the writer know you’ll respect their time if they’re willing to give it to you.

    Bad request: I want to become a freelance writer. Can we hop on the phone for a quick chat?

    Better request: As a new writer, I’d love to know what I can do to make my guest post proposals more effective. I would be grateful if you could spare 10 minutes on Skype to answer some specific questions I have about how to do this. If so, please let me know when is convenient for you; I am flexible and would really appreciate it.

    There’s still a very real chance the writer you’re asking won’t have the time or inclination to offer you a free Q&A session, but your odds are much better if you phrase your request the second way.

    8. Tell them what’s in it for them

    While most writers like to try to “pay it forward” whenever they can — after all, kindness from others likely helped them on their own career path — that doesn’t mean they have the time or mental bandwidth to be everything to everyone. Let them know you’re not just reaching out for your own sake, but that you can bring something to table for them, too.

    “Offer something in return,” says Schembari. When she reaches out to a writer she admires, she’ll says, she usually writes something like, “‘I loved your essay about x, y, z. I see you live in my area and I’d love to take you out for coffee. I really admire your work and while I’m not nearly as established as you are, I’ve worked in marketing for years and would be happy to impart any knowledge on book marketing, seeing as you have an upcoming novel release.’”

    9. Acknowledge how busy they are

    You’d be amazed how much it helps to include a simple statement like, “I’m sure you get umpteen million emails like this each day” or “I know you’re super busy, so I’ll keep this brief.”

    In a sea of messages from strangers vying their attention, you earn definite brownie points by acknowledging that, although a writer doesn’t know you from Adam, you’d be grateful if they’d spare a few moments for you.

    It’s a simple little thing, but it can make a big difference.

    10. Inject some personality!

    You’re not interviewing for a CEO position or issuing a statement to the United Nations, so loosen up a little and let your personality shine.

    If you’re naturally snarky, be snarky. If you have a goofy sense of humor, crack a joke or two. People are more likely to respond to cold emails when they’re clearly written by living, breathing human beings.

    J. Money of the hit site Budgets Are Sexy lists “boring” among his least-favorite sins committed by cold emailers. “Please, for the love of God, make it fun or funny,” he advises. “You get me to smile, and you’re already on my good list.”

    11. Thank them

    When a writer does take the time to respond to your email, know that you’re likely one of a very small percentage of people they’ve done this for, and let them know you appreciate it. It costs nothing to you and can make their day — and make them more likely to want to continue helping people in the future.

    “I used to respond, thoroughly, every time I got an email from another blogger or a recent grad. And then nothing,” Schembari says. “They wouldn’t even say thank you. So that’s my biggest advice: if someone responds to you, you absolutely have to respond immediately with gushing thanks.”

    Then, take your thanks a step further. “Bonus points if you can do something for them in return — be a beta reader for something they’re writing, leave them a book review on Amazon, leave a nice comment on their blog or social media,” Schembari says. “Even if you can’t offer the same level of support or advice that you want from them, you have value to offer in return. And you should.”

    Writers, have you ever received a really good (or really bad) cold email? What dos and don’ts would you add to this list?

  • Don’t Give Up: 5 Motivating Tips for New Freelance Writers

    Don’t Give Up: 5 Motivating Tips for New Freelance Writers

    It’s almost like having a baby — you understand that the first few months are difficult. You just don’t understand quite how difficult until you’re desperately trying to keep your head above water while you learn on the fly.

    Yes, I’m talking about the freelancing career you’ve just begun.

    You heard that it takes months to land a job. That you barely make anything for the first year (or more!). You understand that you’ll be facing rejection or, worse, complete silence from the publications on your wish list.

    You’ll feel demoralized. Your courage will take a knock, as will your self-esteem. You’ll have moments of incredible self-doubt. There will be days when you’re positive you don’t have what it takes to be a freelance writer and you’ll want to give it all up.

    But don’t. Really! You have to keep going and you can succeed as a freelancer — there’s no reason to abandon your dream.

    Here are five tips to help you keep going when the going gets rough:

    1. Put the voices into a box (and lock the lid)

    You know those voices in your head, the ones screaming horribly malicious words at you? Those voices that keep telling you that you’re a bad writer and you need to quit? Those are all just thoughts in your head and the best thing to do is pack those voices in a box and lock the lid tightly. Almost everyone believes their doubtful internal voice every now and then.

    Here’s a meditation trick: turn your discouraging thoughts into clouds in the sky. Watch them as they drift by. They don’t have any bearing on your actual being (or writing) because they’re just thoughts. It’ll take practice, but the imagery can help.

    2. Read new sources

    Stuck in a rut? Have you written article after article, sent out pitch letter after pitch letter only to be rejected, or worse, hear nothing at all? Try seeking new resources.

    Read books and blogs, look through websites, download eBooks, and browse your local bookstore or Amazon.com. Seek out the self-help section as your local library. Learn more about methods to approach editors successfully. You can even search the continuing education classes at your local college or university. You’ll discover new information that will help you craft a successful method of approaching editors and clients alike.

    3. Take a deep breath

    Really. Right now. Take a deep breath. Take another one. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Breathing helps you take a step back. It allows you to step out of your current head space so you’re not so lost in your thoughts, the details, and your emotions.

    Sometimes all you need is perspective to keep the dark thoughts at bay and keep writing.

    4. Write every day

    It’s easy to let lack of success steal your inspiration. Low spirits dry out your will to write.

    But you’ll need to keep your creativity flowing to be in top writing form when you do start finding jobs. So write a little every day.

    Write for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, even to a specific number of words. Free write, write on topics that interest you, or write something that could be useful down the road. But just write!

    5. Just keep going

    Really. When all else fails, just keep going. It’s true what they say — creating a successful freelance career takes a lot of work and a lot of time. You’ll hit bumps along the road and there will be many times when you feel like giving up. Even though it may not seem like it, you’ll get there. Every “yes” gets you closer to your goal.

    Beginning a freelance career can be scary, especially when you have bills to pay. It’s also completely worth it to free your creative passion on a daily basis. Keep going—you’ll get there!

    What tips would you add to encourage a new freelancer?

  • Getting Paid By the Pageview: Good or Bad for Freelance Writers?

    Getting Paid By the Pageview: Good or Bad for Freelance Writers?

    So you’re in the process of landing a new freelance writing gig, and during the discussion of duties and compensation, the editor mentions that the publication offers pageview bonuses.

    The more views your article gets, the more money you’ll receive.

    It’s an increasingly common scenario. But is this type of compensation good for writers? Does it motivate writers to do their best work, or encourage us to write solely for pageviews?

    Most importantly, is it a fair method of payment?

    While some pageview bonus programs do benefit writers, others try to substitute bonus money for a fair upfront rate.

    I’ve written for pageview bonuses, but since every program is different, I wanted to know more about how they work and which red flags to watch out for. So I asked freelance writers Laura Shin, Kelly Clay and Kelly Gurnett to share what writers should look for in a pageview bonus plan, how to write for high pageviews, and what you can do to track engagement if your clients offer pageview bonuses but don’t share those metrics.

    How website traffic bonus plans work

    Every publication’s pageview bonus program is a bit different, and publications may change and adjust their bonus programs over time. But we’ve got a few examples to help you understand how pageview bonus plans generally work.

    Some programs pay writers a flat fee upfront, then layer bonuses on top when posts perform well. Performance can be measured with a variety of metrics: pageviews, unique visitors, social shares or whatever the publication considers its main goal.

    The Penny Hoarder, for example, offers a tiered bonus plan: when a piece hits 50,000 pageviews, the writer receives a $100 bonus; the writer receives another $200 when the post hits 100,000 pageviews and another $500 at 250,000 pageviews. Those bonuses are paid in addition to the flat rate writers are paid for posts.

    Forbes offered bonuses for both new visitors and repeat visitors when Clay wrote for them in 2014, on top of a per-post rate. “Every month I’d receive .005 cents for a new visitor and .10 cents for a repeat visitor,” Clay said. “This meant the more a single person viewed my blog per month, the more money I’d make. This number was reset to 0 every month.” Forbes now uses a different traffic bonus program, but they wouldn’t reveal details.

    This bonus system turned out to be profitable for Clay, who wrote about two articles a week for Forbes. “I’ve earned anywhere from $1,000-$4,000 a month. It really depended on how many pageviews I got that month (such as if I wrote an extremely viral piece) and how long I had been writing,” she said. “The longer an article that ranked highly on Google gathered new visitors, the more money I made every month.”

    The lesson: If you have the opportunity to write for a publication that allows you to earn significant bonus money for good work, it can be worth your while.

    Hearst’s contributor network The Mix — a program we’ve written about that invites writers to contribute personal essays on spec for the opportunity to have their stories published in major outlets like Cosmopolitan or Seventeen — also offers traffic bonuses. If your story gets selected, you receive a base payment as well as $.0025 for every pageview over 40,000 views. (At least, the last we heard. We emailed The Mix with a fact-checking request, but they didn’t get back to us.)

    That means if your story sees 50,000 views, you’d earn an additional $25. If it gets 100,000 views, you’d earn an additional $150. The Mix’s pageview incentive system might be great if your story lands on a high-traffic site like Good Housekeeping, but that’s not going to happen for every post you write.

    So what should you look for in a traffic bonus plan, and how should you determine whether it’s worth writing for that outlet?

    Let’s let the writers explain what you should look for before signing on to a publication that offers this kind of compensation.

    What to look for in a website traffic bonus plan

    First, make sure the publication offers base pay. As Shin put it: “Even if your story gets zero views, you still get something.”

    Base pay is important because although you can use certain techniques to help improve your article’s pageview performance — and we’ll look at those in a minute — you can’t control how many views your article gets, and you still deserve to be paid for your work.

    Gurnett explained, “Since I never know how much I’ll be getting each quarter, I can’t rely on [pageview bonuses] as part of my regular income. I count them solely as a bonus.”

    I treat pageview bonuses the same way; I’m happy when I receive a bonus, but I don’t factor potential pageview bonuses into my monthly freelance income goals.

    You also need to look at whether the publication already has an audience.

    Why is this important? Shin listed the reasons: “For both platforms for which I’ve been paid by pageviews, they already had audiences and weren’t using me to build their own. That meant that they promoted my stories on their sites and on social media, and so as long as I did a good job with my stories, [they would get lots of views and] I could make good money.”

    Also beware of the publication that asks you to bring in your own following, Shin said. Most of us have our own fans who follow us on social media and read our articles, but a few thousand social media followers isn’t enough to get significant pageviews — and it definitely isn’t enough to get those bonuses.

    How to write for high pageviews

    Once you’ve started working with a publication that offers a pageview incentive plan, how can you write stories that will earn bonuses? Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

    “Some stories take off because they’re riding a newswave,” Shin said. “If you see something in your beat that you think is going to be hot on Google News, then you jump on it.” Keeping track of news and current events and bringing an interesting perspective to those stories is a great way to rack up pageviews.

    When J.Crew announced layoffs this June, for example, I did some research and wrote “How a Single Sweater Lead to J.Crew Layoffs” for The Billfold. That article is still at the top of Google search results for “J.Crew layoffs,” probably because it provides a quirky, human-interest perspective on what would otherwise be an ordinary hiring-and-firing story.

    “With Forbes, the bonus encouraged me to write time-sensitive articles,” Clay explained. “My top posts were always about a company trending that day — a post about GoDaddy, written the day a scandal broke out about its CEO, is still one of my top posts.” If you write for a site that allows you to draft and publish articles quickly, it’s to your benefit to follow news trends and write timely pieces that attract attention to a breaking story.

    What about evergreen pieces? These types of posts get pageviews when they’re published, but also get traffic over time as people continue to search for that topic or question and use your story to learn more about the answer.

    To come up with evergreen ideas, start with topics you find interesting, Shin suggested. What types of stories would you like to read, and what types of evergreen questions are still unanswered? Shin notes that you should always check your competition: “Is there a good story out there, or is this something that people would be searching for?”

    Then there’s trying to go viral. “This is what most people think about when they think about writing for pageviews,” Shin said, “but you have to be careful with this category.”

    If you write stories with clickbait headlines and no substance, you might get an initial spike in pageviews, but your reputation — and your publication’s reputation — will likely slowly erode over time.

    How to track performance metrics for your posts

    So do most writers know how many pageviews they bring in?

    That depends. While some outlets do allow you to log into a dashboard to see your stats, none of my clients give me that option. I do track social shares through my Contently profile, which tallies shares of individual pieces and also provides an aggregate total. My articles have been liked over 84,000 times on Facebook, for example.

    Gurnett has a similar experience. “I can see the number of social shares as well as how many comments each post has received, but that’s it,” she said. “I wish I could see pageviews but I’d probably be checking them obsessively if I could!”

    Some of Shin’s clients have provided pageview information not only for her articles, but also for other writers’ work. She likes this method because “we could see what does well on the site, and we could learn from that.”

    I’ve worked with clients who regularly share the week’s top performing articles, which also helps me understand what does well on the site, but these performance roundups don’t include pageview numbers.

    If your client does not offer pageview numbers, tracking social shares is one way of understanding how your articles perform with readers. If your article receives a lot of likes and tweets, chances are it also receives a lot of pageviews.

    Likewise, if you notice certain topics or types of pieces perform better socially, you can structure future pieces in the hopes of receiving similar engagement.

    Are pageview bonuses good for writers?

    So what’s the verdict?

    When pageview bonuses are administered fairly, they can be lucrative for writers — so long as it’s not the only compensation.

    I have a client who offers a pageview bonus system, and I’m happy with it. I receive a competitive base pay and occasional bonus money if my articles perform exceptionally well.

    And a pageview bonus plan that’s good for writers can be good for publications, too, Gurnett said. “If Client A (who does give me a bonus) has a project for me the same week as Client B (who doesn’t), and I only have time to work on one of their projects, I’m going to go with Client A, all other things being equal, because of the potential for the bonus.”

    Yet the biggest reason pageview bonuses can be good for writers doesn’t have anything to do with money, Shin said — it’s about the insight they provide. “You can see how well your stories are resonating with readers.”

    In the publishing world, writing stories that readers enjoy and share is the most important part of your job. After all, publications don’t just want pageviews; they want a loyal audience who keeps coming back.

    And writers don’t just want pageviews; you want to know your work is being read and appreciated. A good pageview bonus will provide that gratification — and throw in a little extra cash as a reward.

    Do you work for clients who offer pageview bonuses? Do you think the pageview bonus system is effective? Does it affect the types of pieces you pitch and write?

  • Could Morning Pages Help You Balance Personal and Paid Writing Work?

    Could Morning Pages Help You Balance Personal and Paid Writing Work?

    By a show of hands, how many of you try to balance paid writing with writing you love? Am I the only one burning out before I even get to my personal work?

    A few months ago I brought this up with a group of creative friends. Almost simultaneously they asked, “Have you read The Artist’s Way?”

    Of course I have. Sort of. I mean, I bought and skimmed it. Does that count?

    They told me, under no uncertain terms, that I must immediately read the section on “morning pages,” buy a notebook and start the practice.

    So I did. And this is what happened.

    What are morning pages?

    The Artist’s Way is a well-loved book by Julia Cameron, originally published in 1992. It presents weekly exercises to unfetter your creative self. I’ve only tried a few, but Cameron calls morning pages “nonnegotiable.”

    Morning pages are the daily practice of writing three free-form, longhand pages every morning. You don’t need anything except a notebook, pen and 15 to 30 uninterrupted minutes as soon as you wake up.

    That’s it. Write about the whatever springs to mind: your headache, your spouse, your snoring chihuahua.

    Morning pages are your writing warm-up

    While “morning pages” are specific to Cameron, the idea of writing practice isn’t new. Natalie Goldberg says in Writing Down the Bones, “It is good to go off and write a novel, but don’t stop doing writing practice. It is what keeps you in tune, like a dancer who does warm-ups before dancing or a runner who does stretches before running.”

    My morning pages are my writing warm-up. If I woke up and went straight into my work for the day, that writing wouldn’t be any good. Hammering out a few pages of dribble beforehand is like blowing the dust off my brain.

    That doesn’t make them easy though. Half the time I don’t want to do morning pages. You’ll probably feel this way too.

    Bring it back to the fitness comparison: health coaches often advise that instead of expecting yourself to work out for an hour every day, you should put on sneakers and tell yourself you’ll run for “just five minutes.” The idea is that by the time you’ve done five minutes you’ll be in the groove and excited to keep going.

    It’s the same with morning pages. Many of my entries start with, “I don’t know what to write. I haven’t had my coffee and I hate everything.”

    But once I get going I’m caught in the flow and find myself not only finished, but halfway through a personal project before I even glance at the clock.

    Morning pages create balance

    Morning pages are an incredibly useful tool. “All that angry, whiny, petty stuff that you write down in the morning stands between you and your creativity,” writes Cameron in her book.

    And she’s spot-on. Once I’ve dislodged a layer of emotional noise, I suddenly have the headspace to tackle more complex issues in my writing. The simple act of putting pen to paper often solves so many tiny problems. I’ve never found this to be the case with typing.

    By day, I write for a wide range of publications and company blogs. It’s a fantastic job that allows me freedom and growth.

    But it’s not my life’s ambition. I have a half dozen personal projects going at once, from an anthology submission to a blog rebrand. It’s tough to switch gears and give my passions the time they deserve. Once I’ve expended my energy and creativity for the day on client work, I have nothing left to give my passion projects.

    Which is why we need to rethink our priorities.

    One afternoon I was watching this amazing video with business coach Marie Forleo. She references Stephen Pressfield in the War of Art: “I’m keenly aware of the Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what’s important first. What’s important is the work.”

    According to Forleo, “The urgent stuff is always gonna get done because it has to.”

    By remembering this concept and practicing morning pages, I’ve changed how I tackle my work. The new rule: personal projects come first first.

    I want to give my best work to the writing I love. Because I discovered that me at 80 percent is good enough for my clients, but I want to bleed 100 percent into my own work.

    Morning pages have allowed me to do this. To give my best work to the work that matters.

    Morning pages with a twist: write about your work

    Sometimes I forget to to do my pages. When that happens, I turn to afternoon transitional pages. After I’ve sat with an essay for two hours, I find it hard to move from flowery writing about feelings to website copy for a client.

    Transitional pages are my weird adaptation of morning pages where I essentially just write a page or two about my client work. What do I need to accomplish today? What am I finding finding tricky?

    Like Goldberg says in Bones, a popular book for writers about creativity as spirituality. “Handwriting is more connected to the movement of the heart.” Because of this, I find it easier to process client work — which is often in “brand voice” — if I can write about it in my personal voice. Here’s an example:

    Okay. So today I need to hammer out this headline. I need 20 ideas by the end of today. I’m having trouble balancing professionalism with our “quirky” brand. Are headlines with questions still a thing? We’re trying to say that this app is the easiest app in existence. But legally we can’t say that. Maybe it’s so easy your grandma could use it? Your dog? You could do it in your sleep?

    And on and on it goes.

    Note the poor writing and weird sentence structure. I try to do this without censorship or judgement, just like “real” morning pages. Sometimes I’m able to solve a problem, sometimes I can’t. Either way, I’m able to transition from my personal work to my paid work without hating everyone or burning out.

    How do you balance client work with your personal writing? Are you a morning pages fanatic?

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