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  November 2007

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In honor of this being the 100th post for this blog (I like to celebrate the little victories), I’ve put together this list of 100 posts and articles I feel are worthy of a little link love. I recommend bookmarking these for sometime when you have 12 (or so) hours worth of reading time to kill…

1. 3 Ways to Immediately Improve Your Networking Skills
2. 5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang
3. 7 Deadly Mistakes That Cost You Money And Assignments
4. 7 Important Distinctions When Writing To Businesses
5. 10 Tips For Making Money With E-Books
6. 10 Tips On How To Cultivate Relationships With Editors
7. 10 Ways To Get More Done In Less Time
8. 10 Ways to Kill the Kudzu and Get Your Blogging Mojo Back
9. 10 Ways To Make A Six-Figure Income As A Freelance Copywriter
10. 10 Ways to Make Editors Hate You Before They Even Know You
11. 10 Ways to Make Deadbeats Pay up…Fast!
12. 11 Tips for Getting Your Comments Noticed on a Popular Blog
13. 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them
14. 13 Breeds Of Freelancer And How To Up Your Game
15. 20 Essential Blog Directories to Submit Your Blog To
16. 23 Places to find freelance writing jobs and freelance blogging jobs
17. 40 Fabulous Faults of Freelance Failures
18. 41 Reasons Why Your Blog Probably Sucks
19. 100 Notable Books of 2007 (New York Times list)
20. 101 Best Websites for Writers (Writers Digest list)
21. 101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work and Generate New Client Leads
22. 150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively
23. Are You Writing Content That Attract Links?
24. Bargains for Writers
25. Blogging Tips for Beginners
26. Breaking Into Job Hunting And Career Magazines
27. Breaking Into Local Newspapers and Magazines
28. Creating a Writer’s Resume
29. Eight Things that Can Go Wrong for a Freelance Writer (And What to Do About Them)
30. Elaine Grant Talks About Magazine Writing Basics
31. Everything You Need to Know About Writing Successfully - in Ten Minutes, by Stephen King
32. Five Secret Tips To Help You To Write Creatively And Have Fun Writing
33. Freelance Writers Need To Stay Organized
34. Freelance Writing From Home - The Drawbacks
35. Freelance Writing: Not Everyone Can Do It
36. Freelancing & Living the Life You Want
37. Get Anyone to Read Every Word You Write With These 7 Steps
38. Getting the Best of Your Writer’s Block
39. How and Why You Should Transition to Online Freelancing
40. How I Make Money Blogging
41. How Serious is Your New Prospective Client? Four Easy Questions Help You Figure It Out.
42. How To Be A Starving Writer: Write for Pay-Per-Click Sites!
43. How to Create a Writing Portfolio
44. How to Get Clients to Come to You
45. How to Get on an Editor’s PITA List in Three Easy Steps
46. How to Find Readers for Your Blog
47. How To Market Your Blog in 2007
48. How to Outgrow “Write What You Know”
49. How To Rewrite and Edit Your Own Writing
50. How to Say No to Clients You Want to Keep
51. How to Write an Email Query
52. How to Write for Pet Magazines
53. How to Write Great Blog Content
54. Increase Your Freelance Income Through Stock Photography
55. Increasing Your Writing Income
56. Keys to Being a Full-time Writer
57. Lessons I’ve Learnt About Blogging
58. Letters of Introduction - A Profitable Alternative to Queries
59. Making Money Writing Fillers
60. Networking Techniques That Work Fast and Pay Off Big!
61. Nine Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price
62. Offline versus Online Writing - Which is More Profitable?
63. On Deadlines and Self Examination
64. One Article, Many Checks: Selling Reprints
65. Portfolio Tips for Freelance Writers
66. Questions & Quandaries
67. SEO for Bloggers
68. Setting Freelance Writing Rates the Right Way
69. Seven Editing Tips for Professional and Nonprofessional Writers
70. Seven Holiday Gifts for Writer Mamas
71. Should You Reduce Your Rates?
72. Smells Like Something’s Burning
73. So You Want to Write for a Newspaper
74. State Magazines: Ten Tips for Landing Great Features in Your Home Area
75. Successful Stringing
76. Tax Tips for Freelancers
77. Ten Essential Tools for the Freelance Writer
78. Ten Great Reasons (Plus One) to Attend a Writers’ Conference
79. Ten Tips on Beating the Writing Blues
80. The Beginner’s Guide To Freelance Writing
81. The Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites
82. The Power of the Pre-Write: 5 Things to Do Before You Create Your Freelance Business Website
83. Top 5 Free Ways to Promote Your Writing Business
84. Top 55 Reference Websites
85. Top Dos and Don’ts For Freelancers
86. Top Ten Christmas Gifts for Writers
87. Top Ten Questions About Copyright Permissions
88. Top Ten Signs You May Be Charging Too Little
89. User Generated Content and the Threat to Journalism
90. What to Do When Clients Don’t Pay
91. When it’s OK to Fire a Client
92. When You’ve Been Violated: What To Do When Someone Steals Your Ideas or Articles
93. Why Giving Away Your Services For Free Will Get You Business
94. Work-For-Hire Assignments
95. Write Engaging Headlines: Use the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer
96. Write Off That Income
97. Write Query Letters that Sell
98. Writing For Children’s Magazines
99. Writing Personal Essays for Profit
100. You Get What You Pay For - Investing in Your Writing Career

What’s your favorite blog post or article on the web? Have a favorite writing blog or website? I’d love to know where the gems are.

I get a lot of emails with questions from people who want to know how long they should wait before they quit their jobs. There’s no easy answer to this, as everyone’s experience is different. We’re all in the same proverbial boat, but we’ve all got different waters surrounding us.

Maybe you’ve just started freelancing, and you’re wondering how long it will take before you can fire your boss and focus on living a full-time freelance life. Or, maybe you started freelancing on the side with the goal of quitting your day job within a year. Now, a year has passed, and you’re stuck in a rut feeling like you’re really working two jobs (because you are!). How do you know when it’s time to quit your day job to focus on freelancing?

A. You’re financially secure enough to go without your day job’s salary for at least six months (possibly a year) while you get your freelance business established.

OR

B. You already have enough steady freelance work to turn it into a full-time profession.

Take into account the expenses you’ll incur in self-employment taxes, health insurance costs, personal expenses (mortgage/rent, car, utilities, food). Then, factor in that you won’t actually be doing billable work anywhere from one-third to one-half of the time. Can you truly afford to quit your day job? If so, go for it!

When did you know it was time to take the plunge? What gave you the confidence to do it?

Although there are plenty of freelance writing jobs to be found online, the competition is fierce. The high number of applicants and competing bids can mean losing out on work or working for lower pay. Better opportunities often exist where no one else is looking — your own back yard. But how can you find local clients who need your freelance writing services?

Get to Know Your Neighbors

Tell your neighbors about your line of work. Your neighbors might not need to hire a freelance writer, but they might know people who do. I’ve gotten a few gigs through neighbors referring me to their bosses.

Frequent Local Businesses

A wealth of freelance writing business can come from chatting with local entrepreneurs and business owners. Every place you go, from the doctor’s office to the farmers’ market, can be a place to connect with potential clients. I scored a gig writing for my local cell phone distributor this way.

Contact Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Your Chamber of Commerce exists to serve local businesses and can provide a list of contact information, including websites and email addresses. For a fee, you can become a member of your local Chamber of Commerce and have your freelance business listed, so new clients can come to you. I’m not a member of mine (it’s too expensive), but I’ve made a few business-buddies through the contact list, and those contacts have paved the way for projects.

Do you work for local clients? How did you go about scoring your local gigs?

The Christmas aisles have already turned up at the department stores to remind us that the holidays are approaching sooner than we’d probably like. The holidays can bring a decrease in workload for many freelancers, so why not start early in preparing to fill up those slow days?

Here are a few ways to increase business around the holidays:

Plan to launch a holiday card marketing campaign.

Your cold calls might go unanswered. Your sales letters might go unread. But most everyone opens holiday cards! Purchase some cards ahead of time and plan to fill them with an invitation to try your freelance services. A discount coupon always makes a nice holiday gift and an added incentive for a prospective client to try you out.

Take advantage of goals for the new year.

A new year means new financial goals for businesses. Tap into that 2008 budget by letting prospective clients know how you can help them save money or otherwise reach their goals for the coming year.

How’s your workload this holiday season? If you need to find more work, how are you going about it?

When applying for freelance writing jobs, think quality over quantity. Most freelance writers approach finding work with the attitude of “the more jobs I apply for, the more work I’ll get.” This couldn’t be more untrue.

The biggest key to scoring freelance writing jobs is to think like an employer.

If you were hiring for a job, and someone sent you a boilerplate cover letter which reflected absolutely no creative thought and offered no convincing argument on why you should hire that person, would you hire them? Of course not.

Employers want to see that you’ve (at the very least) fully read and comprehended their job ad, and that (hopefully) you are honestly interested in and (even better) qualified for the job.

Sending out the same cover letter and resume for every job you apply to only shows potential employers that you’re lazy.

Tweak every cover letter and resume you send out to accommodate the requirements of each job, and your time spent doing so will pay off in paychecks.

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• About Amy Derby

  Formerly a corporate paralegal, I ditched the pantyhose to begin freelancing in 2004. I enjoy long walks to the coffee maker, never setting an alarm clock, and not wearing a bra to the (home) office. I can be reached at amy.derby (at) gmail.com.