May 2008

3

I’ve found a lot of great posts on writing this month. Here are a few that I’d like to share. Let me start with blogging. Chris Garrett gave some valuable (pardon the pun) advice on how to get more value from your site, citing the importance of building relationships in ...

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2

It’s always nice to be recognized, so it was a nice surprise yesterday when I found that Get Paid To Write Online had been named as one of ProFreelancing’s Top 60 Blogs For Writers. We’re in at number 8, which is pretty good considering the company we’re keeping. The list ...

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5

Believe it or not, this started as a tweet, after a particularly good day. I was having one of those moments when I was in love with the freelance writing life, and I started thinking about what made it special. Putting that into 140 characters didn’t seem quite enough, so ...

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8

Today’s guest blogger is Chris Bibey of ChrisBlogging, which I reviewed on this blog last year. If you are interested in becoming a freelance writer, you should keep in mind that slow and steady is just as good as fast and furious. In other words, you do not have to ...

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12

Today, I’m happy to welcome Kerrie Spencer as a guest blogger. I’ve worked with Kerrie for a couple of years, and lately she’s been finding success with Elance, something that has eluded me despite success on other bidding sites. I asked her to share her secrets. I’ve talked to a ...

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8

It happens to all freelance writers at some time. Since writers always have to plan ahead to manage their workload, they may find that a rush job comes in to disturb their well organised schedule. For example, an established client may need something in a hurry, and you may not ...

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3

If you’re working as a freelance writer, then you should be promoting yourself. You might wonder whether you have the time and money to undertake promotional activity, and whether there’s any point. I can tell you, from my own experience, that there IS a point. Promoting yourself will help you ...

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40

This may turn into a rant. Yesterday, I submitted a bid for some work. I took my time over it, addressing all the points in the client’s project outline. The client wanted a blogger to produce posts of a certain length, and I quoted him my normal rate for that. ...

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3

The other day, I came across a piece of software that is an article spinner and rewriter – online. Did I feel threatened? Did I heck. No piece of software can replace a real writer. Here’s what real writers do that pieces of software don’t: They read, so they are ...

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2

I love it when my writing clients are happy. Usually I know because they send me effusive emails saying that I have captured exactly what they needed. I get a lot of those. (Lest you think I’m big headed, I also have several clients who simply pay up without comment.) ...

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4

Last night, a client I hadn’t heard from in just over a year emailed me to ask about rates for a new job. This is not the first time this has happened. I get a lot of repeat business from old clients and a few referrals as well. This is ...

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3

I love discovering new freelance writing blogs and one of the blogs I’ve discovered recently is Quiet Rebel Writer. The rebel writer is Amy Lillard, who says: Writers have to be rebels. We have to take the idea of normal and turn it on its head. We have to examine ...

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2

I was chatting to someone on Twitter the other day. One of the topics of conversation was motivating yourself to keep on working. I made the point that when you work for yourself you have to crack your own whip. I immediately began to think about what that actually meant. ...

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4

You can file this under ‘things I didn’t do when I should have’. I heard about RSSHugger months ago and somehow I never got around to signing up. The premise is simple. For the price of a review on your blog, you get a page where you can promote your ...

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3

Does this ever happen to you? Sometimes you are confidently going along, thinking that everything is under control, when all of a sudden an unwelcome thought snakes its way to the forefront of your consciousness. Although you don’t really want to believe it, you suddenly realise that you have forgotten ...

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28

I must admit to being intrigued the first time I saw an ad for WhiteSmoke software. The idea was simple – this was a piece of software that would improve your written work. Now, you all know how I feel about Microsoft Word – the spelling and grammar check just ...

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10

Many of us try to balance our home lives with our freelance writing careers and most of the time we succeed. We manage to get breakfast for children and get them off to school, talk to clients, meet deadlines, collect children, supervise homework and tuck them up in bed. All ...

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