WritingThoughts

©Laura Spencer

For the next few weeks, I’ll be focusing on spending time with friends and family. I’m looking forward to the rest.

But I don’t want to take the break without first leaving you with some good reading material.

So, I’ve sifted through the posts to find some of the best and most relevant posts for you to read.

Here are ten classic WritingThoughts posts that you might have missed. Feel free to comment on or share any of these posts. (Or use the comments here to list your own favorite WritingThoughts posts.)

Enjoy! I’ll see you in 2015.

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Most freelance writers don’t come from a business background. That can hurt you because when you freelance you’re basically running a business.

Even if you do come from a business background, chances are good that you don’t know what you need to know about running a business. I have a business degree, and I still had a lot to learn when I started freelancing.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a resource designed to offer the information that freelancers need to know?

Well, now there is. In this post, I take a closer look at Freelance Business Bootcamp – The eBook (Affiliate link, I receive a small fee for each purchase) by Carol Tice and Neil Tortorella.

Disclosures: I am an affiliate for the Freelance Writer’s Den and the ebook. This post has affiliate links. I received a copy of this ebook through my membership in the Freelance Writer’s Den. I was not paid to write this post and the post reflects my honest opinion. I have previously worked on an ebook and webinar with Carol Tice.

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©iStock.com/ayagiz

They think we’re all the same. Our clients, I mean. Many of them think that freelance writers are interchangeable.

That’s the real reason why so many clients and would-be clients haggle with us on prices and treat us badly.

They believe one freelance writer is pretty much the same as another.

Of course, they’re wrong. But it’s up to us to prove that.

To overcome the challenges freelance writers face, you must show your clients how you’re different from the rest. In this post, I give you four ways to stand out.

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©Laura Spencer

We freelancer writers are known for self-examination. To succeed, we must learn to make the best of our strengths and overcome our weaknesses.

We must also persist in the face of likely rejection of our writing. And in the face of uncertainty.

Nothing less than total honesty about one’s self and one’s abilities helps a freelance writer to get ahead.

But no self-examination list is truly complete without adding an inventory of the good things in our lives. Yet, we often forget about the good things, especially when things are tough.

There are plenty of good things about freelance writing. That’s why I’m sharing them today. Feel free to add your own list of why you’re thankful for freelance writing in the comments.

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©iStock.com/Ralwel Ralwel

When you picture the life of a freelance writer, what do you picture?

Do you imagine waking up late, taking a few calls from your editor in the comfort of your own home office, and wrapping work by 4:00 p.m.?

That’s the way some movies and books depict the writing life. If you’ve never written professionally, you may have the wrong idea about freelance writing.

The movies can make freelance writing look easy–glamorous even.

The reality is quite different for most freelance writers. At its roots, freelance writing is about making decisions. Hard decisions.

In this post, I list 21 hard decisions that freelance writers face. To get the most use from this post, skim through the list and answer these questions for yourself.

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©Laura Spencer

The Internet is filled with horror stories about bad freelance writing clients. If you read freelance writing blogs and forums, as I do, you may start to think that almost every client is a bad one.

You’ll read about:

• Clients who never pay.
• Clients who contact you at all times of the day and night.
• Clients who are never satisfied.
• Clients whose projects never end.
• Clients who disappear.

And these are just a few of the horror stories out there. If you’ve been a freelance writer for any length of time, you probably have your own freelance client horror stories.

Good clients do exist. There are some easy steps you can take to drastically reduce the number of bad freelance clients you accept. In this post, I’ll explain what to do.

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©iStock.com/jurgenfr

Should you be writing longer blog posts?

As I explained in an earlier post, longer blog posts often attract more page views and social media attention. For that reason, many blog owners are asking for them. Don’t be surprised if you get a client request for a longer post.

Writers need to know the difference between writing an effective longer blog post and writing a short blog post. Most of all, writers need to understand that simply adding more words to blog post doesn’t make always make it better.

In this post, I’ll discuss longer blog posts and explain some pitfalls you may run into when writing a longer post. I’ll also discuss some techniques to help you write an effective longer post.

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© Laura Spencer

Feedback.

For many freelance writers, the very thought of hearing from a client after a project is complete is enough to make them cringe in fear.

Yet feedback is exactly what you need if you are to improve as a writer.

In this post, I discuss how feedback helps writers and explain why clients often don’t provide feedback.  I also list some techniques that you can use to encourage your clients to give you feedback.

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©iStock.com/MohamedMaaz

If you write blog posts for pay, you know how important social sharing is. For bloggers, social shares are like television ratings–the higher, the better.

To get your post in front a lot of people, there are some steps you need to take.

As someone who has created blog posts for pay for over seven years, I’ve had many posts that received hundreds of social shares. In this post, I’ll share what makes a blog post popular and what writers must consider before they agree to write a viral post.

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© Laura Spencer

Are you sometimes overwhelmed by the number of writers who accept writing projects for just a few dollars?

If you feel overwhelmed by writers willing to work for practically nothing, you’re not alone.

I’m still shocked that writers respond to project postings that will wind up paying less than minimum wage.

I find myself wondering how those writers can afford those jobs and whether there are any writing jobs left that pay a living wage. Also, in my weak moments, I sometimes wonder whether I can compete with those cheap competitors.

The good news is that I can compete successfully with those cheap writing competitors and so can you. It’s just a matter of knowing where to look for projects and how to present yourself.

If you liked this post, you may also like WritingThoughts Versus The Five Minute Article Writers.

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