Category Archives: Rules of Profitable Writing

Events and Conferences

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I want to tell you a story…

In 2008, I pitched an article to a magazine. It was immediately accepted.

  • In January 2010, it continued to languish in the slush pile awaiting actual publication.
  • In March 2010, I got an email saying the magazine was cutting down on its number of articles per issue…meaning I would wait even longer.
  • In May 2010, I went to a training event and met a guy who knew the editor of that magazine.
  • In December 2010, I edited an article for that guy I met — an assignment for the magazine.
  • The next day I got a note that my article would get published in the next issue.
  • In August 2010, I went to the same training event. The editor also attended and we had a chance to talk.
  • Since then, I’ve gotten an average of an assignment a month from that editor.

Since 2009 I’ve been sending pitches to a regional travel magazine with not much in the way of responses. At a recent conference I sat with the editor and he asked me to pitch him some ideas we spitballed.

The moral of this story is events and conferences will jumpstart your freelancing career. You should go to them as often as your budget allows. 

I’ve identified four kinds of events that can help you advance your freelancing business:

Conferences

These are industry events where writers, editors and vendors get together for a few days to talk shop. Activities include lectures, panels, intensive trainings, and often chances for formal networking such as one-on-one pitch sessions. They tend to be pricey, but are probably the most effective career event.

Conventions

Get-togethers for fans of a specific activity, genre or hobby, these don’t focus on writers — but writers about a related topic can get some good attention and sell a few books. You’re also likely to meet editors and business owners who can buy your work after a good chat.

Trainings

Some hobbies (including martial arts — my other hobby) have a culture of getting together to learn more about the hobby. These are like conventions, only with a strong focus on learning rather than entertainment or socializing. They’re a great way to meet enthusiasts and professionals in a field where you have expertise.

Mixers

Never underestimate the power of a party. In your 20s, you went to meet members of the opposite gender (or whatever gender you prefer). As you begin your career, go to meet people who might want your services. Don’t be a jerk about it, but always keep your antennae up while you’re at these.

 

What are your experiences with conferences and events? 

Photo courtesy of Tobias Wolter

The Seven Habits of High-Earning Freelancers (Part Three)

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See Part One and Part Two for earlier installments of this series. Today we’ll talk about a habit observed by almost none of the freelancers I’ve spoken with.

 

 

HABIT THREE: USING METRICS

We all have “goals” for our writing, whether it’s making $150k a year or getting that novel in the bureau drawer published. Thing is, most of us don’t make those desires real goals.

A real goal is measurable and has a time limit. Otherwise, it’s just a dream with little chance of success.

By measurable, I mean it’s tied to a number or other “victory condition” that makes it possible to know when you’re finished — and how close you are to completion.

A time limit is a date by which you’ve promised yourself you’ll reach the victory condition. You can divide long-term goals into benchmarks, keeping you on track for the final product.

Metrics are ways of measuring your progress to keep yourself on track for reaching your goals by the time you’ve set. I learned about metrics during my time running a martial arts studio. With over 100 students and a staff of more than 20 employees and volunteers, I had a lot of metrics to track. In my simpler life as a freelance writer, I track only a few:

  • How much money I’ve earned by writing.
  • How much money I’ve been paid for my writing (sadly, not always the same as number 1.
  • How many posts for my blog I’ve put in the hopper.
  • How many “action items” — for example, writing a scene or editing a chapter — I’ve completed on my book projects.
  • How many pitches I’ve sent to potential new clients.
  • How many “acts of marketing” I’ve performed.
  • Whether or not I’ve completed my weekly administrative tasks.
I hold myself to specific standards for each week, and plan my weeks to make sure I reach the numbers I’ve committed to. The specific numbers are tied to my needs and those of my clients. Over time, these individual pieces add up to completing my major writing projects. 

Do you use metrics? If so, what metrics do you hold yourself to, and how do you track them? Leave some comments about your own process.

Thanks for listening.

 

photo credit: onomotomedia

The Seven Habits of High-Earning Freelancers (Part Two)

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Part One of this series looked at professional appearance, both in person and online. Today, we’ll look at another facet of professionalism in freelancing.

HABIT TWO: PROFESSIONAL BEHAVIOR

This one is true of freelancers and entrepreneurs in other fields. It’s so common that Michael Gerber built a consulting empire out of teaching people how to fix this common problem.

Freelancers have only themselves to make sure they do their jobs. Unfortunately, most freelancers are pretty bad at doing that — if they were good at it, they’d be fine working a regular job with regular hours and solid benefits.

Result: a host of obstacles between you and the freelance income you deserve. Do any of these sound familiar?

  • Turning in assignments late
  • Working until 2 in the morning to turn in an assignment on time
  • Having no clear budget
  • Not sticking to the budget you set up
  • Slow or frustrating communication with clients
  • Constant worry about if you’re forgetting something
  • Constant worry about money
  • Disorganized time, finances and/or workspace

Don’t judge yourself too harshly if you resemble the above remarks. They’re epidemic among freelancers and consultants. Most of us are constitutionally challenged when it comes to professionalism and organization — which makes it all the more important that we use tools to stay on top of our work. Here are a few systems I use to keep it together.

Schedule your time and work — even if it’s just blocking out a few hours of uninterrupted work. This not only keeps your work on track. It also protects your “me time” by marking it as not time to go to work.

Have “meetings” with yourself. I spend ten minutes each morning going over my tasks for the day, and another ten each night laying out my plan. Once a week, I schedule major events and ongoing projects using a monthly calendar.

Find an accountability buddy: somebody who will ask you if you’re on schedule and give you a verbal spanking if you’re not. For some people, a spouse is the best candidate. For others, that would be a disaster.

Set a response timeline, meaning you promise yourself you’ll respond to all business communication within a certain window. I use 24 hours. Similarly, set another “hard limit” for letting clients know about problems. Setbacks are unavoidable, but letting people know well before it’s a problem will buy you plenty of grace.

These are just four of many tools that help me. What are some of your systems and tools?

 

photo credit: onomotomedia

Sharpening the Saw

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“If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax.”

— Abraham Lincoln

Stephen Covey later adapted that idea by adding a “sharpening the saw” task to every executive’s daily things to do list. The idea is simple: without rest and preparation, you can’t be effective and successful.

I learned this the hard way recently.

This past month has been phase one of a big remodeling project in my house. This means writing about twice as much as usual to afford the project. And spending a few hours a day tearing things apart with a sledgehammer, crowbar and my work-gloved hands.

After two weeks, I was already feeling pre-carpal in my forearms and elbows. And then I went to a capoeira workshop. Four days of this:

Alert observers will notice this activity gets hard on the wrists, forearms and elbows. And thus I’ve been pretty much unable to type for a few days. Light duty for the next few, then things should be back to normal.

The point here isn’t making excuses for not posting in a almost a week. The point is I wasn’t sharpening my saw. I wasn’t resting. I wasn’t planning my work or stockpiling work to post during an unforeseen gap in productivity.

I could have avoided this problem in a dozen ways. Since I make some of my living giving advice to freelancers and small business owners, I should have avoided it.

What things do all of you do to keep from burning out/overworking yourselves/getting carpal tunnel from too much of an obscure Brazilian martial art? I look forward to your comments.

 

Photo courtesy of Tim Vickers. Used with permission.

6 Ways to Share Your Work (Part Two)

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A few weeks back, I talked about the importance of submitting and sharing your work if you want to move into professional freelancing. I mentioned blogging, nonfiction magazines and social media as places to start getting your work into the world. Here are three more markets open to beginning writers.

 

 

4. Commercial Websites

Hundreds of thousands of small businesses have websites, and only a few dozen of those contain effective copy. Talk to the businesses you frequent, and your friends who own or work in small businesses. This can be a great way of getting a bit of a paycheck while building your resume. Once you’ve done a few of these, you can move up to the larger companies — and the bigger bucks.

5. Local Magazines

These don’t pay great individually — often less than $100 for a short article — but you can sell the same article to several different publications. Write a good article on Halloween Safety, for example, and you can sell it for $50 bucks to parenting magazines in 50 different metro areas. Not bad for a thousand words. Even if you only sell to your local area mag, these are usually hungry for good material and eminently open to freelance contribution.

6. Guest Posting

Know somebody who has a blog? Offer to write a post or two for them. Like a blog but don’t know the writer? Introduce yourself, the offer to write a post or two for them. Not all blogs pay guest posters — although any blogs that make money should — but this is a fantastic way to get used to the idea of people reading your work.

 

It’s been a few weeks since I posted part one of this. What have you all done to get your work out in the mean time?