The Writing Coach Blog

How to Keep the Freelance Fire Going

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire." —Reggie Leach

by Maya Payne Smart

For years, that quotation was taped to the screen of the computer I used to hammer out articles that explained everything from the aluminum-market outlook to the best ways to organize your home. The legendary hockey player's words were a constant reminder that self-motivation is key to victory in the competitive field of freelance writing. Unlike staff reporters, who even on slow news days get paid just for showing up, freelancers must constantly hunt for new assignments and their next paychecks.

And boy can it be tiring!

Writing and reporting alone, often at the risk of rejection, can take a lot out of you. Throw sales, marketing, invoicing, collecting and business planning into the mix and burnout starts brewing. Setting yourself on fire occasionally is one thing; kindling your efforts daily is another. There are many days when my to-do list outweighs my motivation level — and the term "self-starter" feels more like a punishment than a redeeming quality. Like Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill only to have it roll back down, freelancing can feel laborious, tedious, even futile.

Given the inevitable ups and downs, how can writers keep their fire for storytelling alive? I heard some good answers to this question during "Can I Get a Witness? Writing for Social Change," a panel discussion that I moderated last week. Hosted by James River Writers, a Virginia nonprofit on whose board I serve, the two-hour event brought together Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams, historical novelist Linda Beatrice Brown and AOL News contributor Emily Troutman to discuss how they use journalism, fiction and commentary to give a voice to the voiceless.

The event wasn't focused on freelancing per se, but I couldn't help but make connections between their work and ours. Together the panelists gave a master class in tapping emotion, seeking truth, connecting with readers (and other writers) and finding balance. Here are their tips for refueling.

Write passionately.

It may sound counterintuitive, but sometimes you can get more pleasure out of your writing business by investing more of yourself into it, even when you're tired. Rather than conserving energy by doing the minimum required to interview a source or write an article, give it your all. Regardless of the subject, write as if the story matters, as if only you can tell it, as if every word counts.

For Williams, the writing process starts with emotion. "It starts when I'm cussing at the TV set or balling up my newspaper and tossing it across the room," he said.  "It all stems from the outrage that you feel. It's almost childlike — this isn't fair; this isn't right. When you feel that, it writes itself. By the time you sit down at your computer, it's just a matter of polishing it up."

The notion of letting something powerful and personal guide your work doesn't just apply to columnists. "At heart, if you're a good journalist and you're doing your job, we need to be advocating for something," Williams said. "Otherwise, we're just stenographers. I don't know too many journalists that go into this with the idea of just taking notes in rote fashion and putting them down in some kind of newspaper.  It's got to be about more than that; it's got to be about some kind of greater good."

Indeed, reconnecting with your initial passion for writing is a surefire strategy for staying excited about the work over time. Your stories must be about more than a word count or paycheck.

Show humanity.

As a freelance writer, Troutman has traveled to locations as far flung as Istanbul, Turkey, and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to offer "humanist perspectives on complex issues." She emphasizes the individual dignity of the people involved in the stories she covers as well as the worth and capacity for growth of her readers. 

"I've found that most of my experience in changing people's perspectives about a place or a problem is about them knowing me," she explained. "That's why there's power in writing fiction where you get to know a person or character, or in a columnist with a voice that people identify with. In my work, I try to tell the stories of real people who I meet so I interject that personhood into it."

She also connects on a human level with sources and readers through social media.  "It adjusts the way I talk about problems," she explained. "I know I'm going to post [stories] on Facebook or Twitter and the people on there aren't necessarily subscribers to the New York Times home edition; they are my friends from high school, my grandmother, my aunts and uncles. Social media has made me more aware of the potential audience-the real general public."

The conversation among readers who've been introduced to a new issue and sources who want to stay in touch minimizes energy-sapping feelings of isolation and plants writers within a community of learning, encouragement and support.

Be authentic.

It's certainly much easier to be passionate about your work and celebrate humanity when you are writing about subjects that you genuinely care about. Be selective about the work you pursue and the assignments you accept. 

Find a way to write what you love as opposed to psyching yourself into loving what you happen to be writing — or what you think has the best commercial prospects. Brown described a crossroads she reached in the '70s, when it became clear that the kind of books she wanted to write weren't likely to appeal to a wide audience.

"It was at that point that I decided that I was either going to be authentic or I was not going to write, because you can be a sleazy, non-truth-telling fiction writer very easily and make lots of money," she explained. "I thought, ‘You're either going to be who you are or there's no point in doing this. It's too hard.'"

Three novels and several poems, plays, short stories and essays later, Brown continues to tell her own truth. "For me, it is a spiritual thing.  I was put here on earth to use the gift of the word, and if I don't do that, I don't feel good. The energy is there because you love what you're doing."

Freelance Writing: Budgeting the Easy Way

Every freelance writer needs a plan for saving, spending and cash management, but too few take the time to craft a formal budget. Sometimes it's because they don't recognize a budget's power to express priorities, offer a reality check or guide business decisions. In other instances, they know its worth but are so busy trying to make ends meet that they never get around to it.

That's too bad. A little spending discipline can go a long way toward improving the profits and enjoyment they get from writing. Don't miss your chance to take your business to a new level! Here's an easy, step-by-step guide to crafting a budget, plus a template to help you get started.

1. Gather information.

This process is all about operating in reality and seeing exactly how much it costs to conduct business. The first step is to collect all of your financial documents for the past 12 months. Bank, credit card and PayPal statements will provide insight into exactly how much you've spent and received, while invoices and bills will give you an indication of future costs and expenses. I recommend gathering a year's worth of information so that you can see seasonal variations in spending and receipts.

If you've been at this for a while and have already synthesized this raw information into income statements (also known as a profit and loss statements), refer to that instead of the individual monthly statements.

If you're new to freelancing, put your reporting skills to work by conducting online price research and interviewing other freelancers about their start-up costs, from office supplies and business cards to websites and conference attendance. The more realistic your budget is, the better off you'll be.

2. Project sales.

Now that you have your financial data handy, add up your sales. This may be as simple as totaling all of the deposits and credits on your last 12 bank statements or logging into your online banking system and pulling a deposit/credit report. Be careful to observe the different sources of money, such as sales, interest income and transfers from savings.

When budgeting, it's important to start with sales projections, rather than cost estimates, because that shows you the constraints you must work within. A common mistake freelancers make is saying, "I need this amount in order to market myself. I need to do a website, buy business cards, and do X, Y and Z." That may true, but you can do those at different levels depending upon your financial reality. Don't psyche yourself out of going into business by exaggerating its costs. In other words, you could do a $10,000 website, a $1,000 website, or a $100 website, depending on what your cash flow dictates. You don't want to set yourself up for failure by overspending or relying too heavily on credit card or other debt.

But your work isn't over when you've tallied previous revenue. You can't just assume that you'll make the same amount of money from those clients going forward. You have to temper your estimates with your understanding of new circumstances. Have any of those clients gone out of business? Have you noticed that their page counts are shrinking because they've lost advertisers? Has the editor that you worked with left the business (or gone to another publication)? Are there any other indications that you may not make as much money from a particular client in the future as you did in the past?

On the flipside, you want to look for opportunities. Do you have cause to believe you'll make more from certain clients for some reason? Again, because budgets are reality-driven documents, you want to weigh more heavily things that are certain or close to it. If you've signed a contract that says you're going to be getting $2,000 a month from a custom publication for writing a feature an issue and you don't have plans to breach it, then go ahead and factor that into your anticipated income.

Don't base income projections on wishful thinking. Force yourself to justify every number with reference to past experience or pertinent research. Your budget needs to be conservative in order to help you weather the inevitable storms of the freelance life. Sometimes, reality will tell you that your income isn't where it needs to be, and that can motivate you to do some additional marketing or offer new services.

3. Estimate expenses.

After you've projected your monthly revenue, it's time to tally monthly expenditures, which include the direct costs of producing your goods and services, which vary given production levels, and the fixed and variable overhead expenses that go along with conducting business. Beyond the basics of office supplies and Internet access, there's a whole range of other expenditures — taxes, health insurance, emergency fund — that you should budget for as a responsible business owner who aims to be doing this long-term.            

It's the variable expenditures that you look to first when it's time to adjust your spending to come in below your sales. For example, if I anticipate a dip in revenue in June because I'm firing a difficult client, then I need to adjust variable expenses, such as office supplies or marketing outreach, that month to stay on track.  Fixed expenses like the rent for my office can't be adjusted as easily because I've signed a 12-month lease that doesn't end until October. 

After you've estimated all of the different revenue sources and listed the various business expenses you're likely to incur, you'll want to plug these figures into an Excel spreadsheet or a Google Documents budget template. Here's a sample.

Why Every Freelance Writer Needs a Budget

by Maya Payne Smart

Many freelance writers work without a formal budget. They run extremely lean operations, spending money on little more than office supplies, phone calls, and Internet access and considering the leftover money as profit. Keeping overhead low is their lone strategy for staying in the black, and they see no need to complicate a checkbook-and-calculator operation with spreadsheets and income and expense projections. But by operating without a budget, they're missing an important opportunity to evaluate their performance, examine their priorities, and identify new opportunities.

Freelance writer Julie Sturgeon says that having a strong grasp of her historical income motivates her to pursue premium clients and keep her spending in check. "I know what my expenses are on a monthly basis, and I've been in this long enough to build a pattern of extra expenses," she explains.

For instance, Sturgeon doles out $700 for tax preparation every February, $250 for business insurance in September, and $1,000 for a conference each June or July. "This builds a framework of what my cash flow needs to look like. Roughly, I need $4,000 a month for utilities, supplies, services, insurance, 401k contributions, advertising, payroll (it's just me, but still, I have to pay my salary!) and taxes, plus those extra expenses. Everything above that I label ‘profit,' that extra income to pay for the wants in my life, not the needs."

Keeping tabs on expenditures — such as her own research, writing and editing labor, plus support services like transcription and scheduling — helped her set her ideal hourly rate ($75). Now she categorizes her clients as "premium," "steady" or "gap filler" based on where they fall with respect to that rate. She always says "yes" when premium clients call, even if it means all-nighters and weekend work, she accepts work from steady clients if it doesn't cut into her personal time, and she turns to gap fillers when the pipeline runs thin.

"Budgets strike most of us as limiting, the killjoy that keeps us from doing what we want to do," she says. "In my experience, it's been just the opposite. I've said 'yes' to some fun projects that fell into the gap-filler category because I knew I could afford it. And I've survived a few nightmare projects because every time I sat down at my desk, the [premium client] folders reminded me that this would take care of July's budget needs, making the other folders my profit money that month."

But the budget only works if you do. Sturgeon revisits her financial action plan monthly to see where she stands. "As I pay my bills, I run reports with Quicken to make sure my monthly estimates are on track, and not trending upward," she says. "Utility costs rise, the price of goods goes up, and you need to stay on top of that."

Budgets also put your priorities on display. For instance, comparing your expenditure on marketing vs. research or on outsourcing vs. your own salary gives an indication of the kind of business you're building. Heavy reliance on independent contractors suggests that you're building a virtual team vs. in-house capacity.

In my case, I'm spending more on technology, graphic design and freelancers than I'm paying myself during the first half of the year because my business is in growth mode. It requires more sales, marketing and accounting support than it did when I was just selling articles to a dozen magazines and websites. Now that I'm marketing and selling information directly to hundreds of individual consumers, I need a larger team to meet the demand. I'm betting that investing in people now will help me earn more down the line.

A budget's real strength is underscoring opportunities for improvement. If your selling, general and administrative costs are high relative to your sales, you may need to control costs better. If your sales are continually exceeding expectations, maybe it's time to fund a new project, up your 401k contributions or give yourself a raise. The bottom line is: Following the money is the price of admission for business owners.

Do you have a formal budget for your business? What have you learned about your work or yourself as a result?

Freelancers: Use Your Friends and Family Network

by Maya Payne Smart

Sometimes freelance writers make the task of drumming up new business harder than it needs to be by overlooking the resources right in front of them. Before you spend a lot of time chasing editors you've never met, why not tell the most trusted people you already know that you're looking for work? That's right: Talk to your friends and family.

You don't have to be Rupert Murdoch's next of kin or Arianna Huffington's BFF to use personal connections to your professional advantage. Your inner circle may not include any media moguls, but one of your friends or family members may know someone — or know someone who knows someone — who needs a story you're ready and willing to write.

Explain what it means to be a "freelance writer."

We tend to view friends and relatives as the people we hang out with when we're not at work. But as freelancers, we have to bring our networking A-game all the time. This includes casual and recreational situations. Start by clearly explaining your work, goals and interests. It's shocking how easily the uninitiated can equate "freelance writer" with "slacker."

Avoid this (and other frustrating situations) by providing examples of what you do — and don't do. Want to meet Lucy Lou who runs the pet daycare and needs someone to put together her Web site? No. Tell people what you specialize in, who your ideal clients are and which types of sources you like to cultivate. Help your friends and family help you.

By letting everyone know how hard we work, what exactly it is that we do and what we're looking for in terms of jobs, we enable them to share that information with others. Then, if they know or meet people who may be helpful to us, our names come to mind. The best part: Our new connection comes with a personal reference.

Keep everyone in the loop.

Once your friends and family know what you're up to, remind them again later. The easiest way to do this is to send them links to new stories periodically. The people who support you like to see what you're up to. If you belong to Facebook or another social network, post the link there, too. Encourage loved ones to forward or repost your work.

When my husband and I relocated to South Carolina several years ago, he told a local beat reporter he met that I was a writer, too. The reporter's wife happened to be an editor, and she got in touch with me when she was seeking writers for the launch of G Magazine, a lifestyle publication in Greenville. The connection led me to some interesting assignments, such as profiles of local celebrities, including bluesman Mac Arnold and Tour de France veteran George Hincapie.

Pursue leads — and follow up on them.

Recently, I was sitting next to a friend of a friend at a basketball game. He asked me what I do and I told him, very specifically, that I was a freelance writer who specializes in covering business topics for print and online media. As it turned out, he had a good friend who was the publisher of a national business magazine and said he would introduce us.

I sent the acquaintance a letter of introduction (for more on these, check out First Impressions: The Letter of Introduction), which he forwarded to his publisher friend. By the end of the month, I had a freelance assignment for the magazine.

Laid Off? Reassess Before You Start Fresh as a Freelancer

by Maya Payne Smart

Since 2005, newspapers and magazines have laid off nearly 130,000 journalists. Many are seeking a fresh start as freelancers. But, without the structure, competition or camaraderie of the newsroom, it can be easy to feel lost. Sound familiar? The good news: With a little self-assessment, you'll be headed in the right direction, toward a lucrative freelance career as your own boss, in no time.

First, you need to step back, reflect and take an inventory of everything that you bring to the table. In moments of change, especially when economic times are tough, people tend to focus on what they've lost — the job they used to have or the title that they used to hold. Instead, concentrate on what you have to offer.

Make a list, onscreen or on paper, of everything positive you can offer freelance clients. Note your educational background, including any special certifications you have, and the reporting or other expertise you've developed over the years. As you list, point by point, your knowledge and experience, you'll likely start to see some patterns. Use them to consider offering yourself up as an authority in a given topic, area or field.

Now that you've established your skills, make another list of everyone you know who may provide some professional support. As someone who's already worked as a journalist, you have an advantage over other a freelancers: your network. Who you know really does help to determine your net worth in this business. Start with colleagues, from every relevant job you've ever had. Then list professors from journalism school with whom you're still in touch, or even professors in other subject areas. Include friends or family members who are editors or who work at publications. 

You also want to write down any writers you know. Other freelancers who are successful in their careers will become assets as you go forward. Once you've written down all the names, look for any relationships between your skills and your network. All of these people can become resources for you as you develop your freelance writing business.

Finally, make a third list of the tasks you enjoy and your general interests. Of all the things that you've done, professionally and voluntarily, what subjects and activities do you have a natural affinity, enthusiasm or passion for that you may be able to turn into great writing?

Freelance writing, particularly journalistic writing, can be a difficult way to make a living. You have to sit at your desk, just as you would if you were back in your old newsroom, and produce story after story — often without anyone to bounce ideas off of or to light a fire under you. In order to sustain the constant, rapid pace of development that you'll need to make a good living, you really need to (mostly) enjoy what you're doing.

After all, you don't want to create just another job for yourself. As a freelancer, you can shape and mold your career into whatever you want it to be.  Why not create your dream job?

Be a linchpin, not a cog, in the content-creation system

Freelance writers can shape their careers to the extent that their talents and motivation allow. Why choose to be depersonalized, devalued and disrespected?

by Maya Payne Smart

In his new book "Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?" entrepreneur Seth Godin describes a multigenerational American conspiracy in which schools, governments and social contracts led us to trading genius and artistry for presumed corporate safety nets. Work hard, keep your head down and collect your pension were the rules of the game — until they weren't. The layoffs, furloughs and other cuts prompted by recession show a system breaking under its own weight. Yet many of us keep toiling as if old bargains still hold when a new approach to work is needed.

Rather than remaining cogs in a broken industrial machine, Godin argues that we should shrug off the thinking that's brought us here and use our strength and creativity to instead become linchpins, the indispensable individuals who hold organizations together and propel them forward. Although his message is largely intended for employees who cling to outmoded expectations of their employers and themselves, his insights are valuable for freelance writers, too. In a sense, freelancers are even more vulnerable than full-time staffers because we work with few guarantees and are all too often underpaid and under-insured.

Moreover, in the media industry, content farms and even some legacy media companies are applying the old industrial model to further commoditize journalism. Like the pin-making factory in Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations," they've broken down the content creation process into tiny tasks undertaken by low-paid workers to produce much more copy than a skilled artisan working alone ever could. But as freelance writers who work without corporate paychecks, benefits and backing, we have even less reason to take the bait than the manual laborers of yesteryear.

The way forward as freelance writers is not to push ourselves to become more efficient and productive parts of some insatiable content machine. We'll never be fairly compensated in a system in which our primary value is being compliant and interchangeable with the next writer. So let's not play that game. Instead, we must embolden ourselves to stand out, speak up and chart our own courses amid unpredictable circumstances. Our expertise, our ethics, and even our quirks (ahem, style) will fuel greater success in this new economy that's reeling from changes wrought by globalization and technological change. The way forward is indeed to become linchpins, people who bring insight, experience, flexibility and concern to our work - and are indispensable as a result.

"Indispensable freelancer" sounds like an oxymoron. We're contract workers after all. Our work is short-term and unattached by definition. We labor outside of the newsroom on our own time and without close supervision. Why should we harbor any illusions that what we do is crucial, that who we are matters? Because all writers are not created equal — each of us brings something unique to the table, and we should strive to further differentiate ourselves from the next guy as much as possible. Otherwise, we'll soon be replaced by other nameless, faceless contributors. As a freelancer, you have the freedom to shape and mold your career to the extent that your talents and motivation allow. Why would you choose to be depersonalized, devalued and disrespected?

Increasingly, being remarkable is the only way to profit. You have to believe in the work you're doing — you have to connect with it, your clients and your colleagues. You have to be an artist and produce work that inspires people. You have to push past fear and lean into challenges. You have to seek out clients who appreciate and compensate your hard work and talents. And you have to say no to jobs that steal time and enthusiasm from your dreams. "In a world that relentlessly races to the bottom, you lose if you also race to the bottom," Godin reminds us. "The only way to win is to race to the top." 

Ready. Set. Go!

Membership Pays: Tips for Turning Group Associations Into Writing Assignments

by Maya Payne Smart

Many writers pay to join professional organizations, yet never actively participate in the groups. Perhaps they just want the tax write-off — but why stop there? By simply seizing the opportunity to meet colleagues (think: potential clients) a modest investment in membership dues could bring a boon to your freelance business.

First, choose an organization that best suits your interests, needs and business pursuits. Groups operate on local, regional and national levels, and cater to different ethnicities, beats and experience levels. The American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Editorial Freelancers Association, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers are good examples.

Next, get involved in the group's activities. Attend events, introduce yourself to other members, and volunteer your expertise. Use your membership to expand your knowledge, your presence, and your list of contacts. Work to make yourself stand out from the crowd, so that other members seek you out when opportunities arise.

I belong to two of the organizations that I mentioned above. I participate in each one differently. I began participating in SPJ by attending its national conference. Prior to that, I submitted a proposal to be a speaker, which was accepted. I gave a presentation titled "The Truth About Freelancing" that greatly increased my visibility among attendees. Afterward, numerous people approached me and said they'd learned a lot from what I had to say. In essence, my speech was a conversation starter that led to connections and opportunities I'd never anticipated. This October, I'll play a larger role at the national convention by presenting a half-day freelancing boot camp and hosting a booth in the exhibition hall. (I hope to see some of you there.)  

I also participate in local SPJ activities through the Virginia Pro chapter. At my very first local gathering, I made connections that led to freelance assignments with Virginia Business, a monthly magazine. Next month, I'll moderate a panel on writing for social change in conjunction with the chapter and James River Writers, another group I belong to.

My involvement with the Society of American Business Editors and Writers developed differently. I learned about SABEW when I was a graduate student at Medill, attending the National Association of Black Journalists' annual convention in Atlanta. A couple of SABEW members gave a great presentation on finding the red flags in financial statements. I applied for membership the following year while I was the online reporter for Crain's Cleveland Business, but I didn't become active until I began freelancing full time. I signed up for SABEW's fall conference in 2007 and attended a business-reporting boot camp held beforehand at the University of North Carolina.

I stood out as one of the few freelancers at the fall conference. So, when SABEW board members began looking for people to help develop member services for that demographic, my name came to mind. By volunteering to create programming for freelancers within that organization, I gained visibility. Last year, I became the first freelancer to be elected to the board of governors. Through SABEW, my work caught the attention of editors who have since hired me for other projects, including writing for CNNMoney.com and BusinessJournalism.org.

You never know where the connections you make through a professional organization will lead, and — if you're willing to put in a little effort — it's hard to imagine a scenario in which your freelance business won't benefit from the investment.

Want to know more about how to get the most out of attending group events? Check out my recent post, "How Freelancers Can Make Conferences Pay."

Getting Started: Resources for Finding Freelance Work

by Maya Payne Smart

Starting a freelance writing business can seem daunting, even for veteran writers. You've got your resume, letter of introduction, and clips in order. You know what you'd like to write about, but you're not sure whom you'd like to write it for. Maybe you don't have any former employers to hit up for assignments — or you want to cast a much wider, more lucrative net. Where do you start? One option is the Internet, where you'll find a slew of resources to help you hit the ground running. Here are four Web sites that I use and highly recommend.

FreelanceDaily

FreelanceDaily.net is kind of like a Craigslist for freelancers. The site rounds up writing leads from various online sources, including classified ad posts, and breaks them down into categories for easy scanning. These categories include travel and food, medical health, copywriting, scriptwriting, and more. Sometimes dozens of new posts appear daily. 

Of course, much in the same way you would test-drive a car before buying one via Craigslist, you should check out potential clients before agreeing to work for them. Some of the posts on FreelanceDaily are dubious. As a freelancer, it's your responsibility to do due diligence: Ask questions, vet contracts, and clarify your terms to make sure that you can collect the fees you have agreed upon for services rendered. Always trust your gut instincts. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Protect yourself from flaky clients by declining work when necessary.

FreelanceSuccess

This members-only site costs about $99 a year to join, which is a small price to pay for the access to valuable resources you'll get in return. My favorite FreelanceSuccess feature is its in-depth weekly newsletter, which provides detailed guides to specific markets. FreelanceSuccess staffers often base their information on actual interviews with editors at the publications profiled, which tend to be those that pay at least 50 cents per word for articles. This gives freelance writers a chance to get inside editors' heads to see what they need, what kinds of writers they're looking for and what deadlines they're working with. Plus, the editors frequently discuss how writers can be most successful in pitching to them. Armed with this knowledge, you can tailor your pitch letters to meet their needs.

FreelanceSuccess also offers:

• A strong community of freelance writers
• In-depth market guides
• News about editorial staffing changes at publications
• A forum for freelancers to exchange ideas and tips
• Subscriber database that helps link editors with writers

Mediabistro

This popular site for media professionals offers all sorts of helpful tools. However, its job listings section isn't always the best place for freelancers to find work. Instead, you may consider trying out its Freelance Marketplace, which costs about $150 a year. In the marketplace, Mediabistro allows members to post profiles of themselves that include contact information, work history, links or attachments of writing samples and other details for editors who are looking for freelance writers.

If 150 bucks sounds steep, it's been worth the investment for me: Editors from publications I'd never thought to approach, including Small Business Banking News and Black MBA magazine, contacted me through its directory. For more on how to succeed with Mediabistro's Freelance Marketplace, check out "Get Found on Mediabistro's Freelance Marketplace" and "Convert Mediabistro Freelance Marketplace Profile Views to Sales."

Mediabistro also recently launched a program called Freelance Connect. This forum has a bidding system that operates sort of like Elance.com. An editor with a particular assignment in mind details it on the site, and then writers bid on the job. In general, I don't like bidding sites, which too often create a race to the bottom. If you're going to bid, present yourself as a better, stronger option rather than low-balling yourself and decreasing the value of your work.

Finally, you may also want to check out Mediabistro's Fishbowl sites, which sometimes contain news about career moves within various publications. Say you've got the perfect story about climate change and you see that a major magazine just lost its best environmental reporter. Now may be the perfect time to send a pitch letter. (Note: You can subscribe to a daily feed, so that you get all of the day's posts in one tidy e-mail.)

Writer's Market

You're probably familiar with Writer's Market, which since 1921 has published a book of opportunities for freelancers to sell their writing. Its newer Web site can be equally helpful. Writersmarket.com primarily supplies information about magazines and book publishers. The site allows you to manage your submissions with various record-keeping tools — if you don't yet have a system for tracking those sorts of things — and helps you stay abreast of the latest publishing industry news.

You can glean additional information from its Q&As with some of its publishing experts. And its pay-rate chart will give you an idea of what to charge for certain kinds of freelance gigs, particularly those that don't use a standard per-word rate.

For Freelance Writers, Client Correspondence Means Business

Some advice for making sure your e-mails and other docs don't read like news or feature stories.

by Maya Payne Smart

I recently attended a daylong course on effective business writing for salespeople, ostensibly to give its teacher, Mary Ruth Burton, an outsider's perspective on its content and delivery. As it turns out, I got more out of the seminar than I gave back. The goal of the course was to teach two-dozen professionals how to write easily, accurately and responsibly. As a seasoned freelance writer, my takeaway was a deeper understanding of how important it is to craft routine business correspondence with care, because communiqués as simple as follow-up e-mails have the power to strengthen — or hamper — relationships.

What's more, communicating effectively saves time and money by preventing a string of subsequent queries (and, heaven forbid, in-box clogging "reply alls") to clarify matters. It also bolsters your credibility: A flawless portfolio can be marred by a flip e-mail or flighty status report. To steer clear of pitfalls, here are some guiding principles for corresponding with clients and colleagues.

Form should follow function.

People like us who work with words tend to think that we have it all figured out when it comes to written communication.  But the truth is: Communication conventions that work in one setting may be ill suited to another. Don't approach your client correspondence (or other business documents) as if you're writing a news or feature story. Instead, structure your writing so that it's courteous, concise, and easily digestible for busy people who are already inundated with information.

For example, as part of my role in a professional organization, I recently received a bunch of committee reports from fellow journalists. Many of these reports were written as narratives: The authors talked about their committee work as if they were filing news dispatches from the field, complete with colorful anecdotes and telling details. Although they were enjoyable reads, many didn't clearly convey what progress had been made toward specific milestones — or why the work was initiated in the first place. Using bullet points, headings and other formatting tools to highlight key topics, to provide context and to emphasize any further actions required would have been more effective than storytelling.

Don't bury the lead.

Burton's business-writing course offered a four-tiered structure for workplace correspondence, ranging from e-mails and memos to PowerPoint presentations and spreadsheets. She advocated leading with a statement of the document's purpose, then providing background information, listing recommendations or benefits, and summarizing conclusions and next steps. Although the specifics of how to communicate this information will vary by document type, the order will not. (For example, a spreadsheet encapsulates its purpose in the title while a memo details the same in the first paragraph.)

Each of the four components is important, but the purpose is indispensable. When you bury the lead — a request, a suggestion, a directive — you reduce the odds of getting what you need. Yet think of how often writers do just that, hiding appeals and other calls to action beneath a sea of pleasantries, details and other distractions. People are busy. They may not grasp the relevance or urgency of your request unless you cut to the chase. They may not even recognize it as a request if they have to scroll five paragraphs deep on a smart phone while stopped at a red light between meetings to find it. Get my drift?

Along similar lines, declare your intent with a specific e-mail subject line. I do a decent job of this, but a quick scan of my Sent Mail folder reveals several messages with vague headlines, such as "Quick question," or replies in which I haven't tweaked the subject line to reflect the thread's current focus. Putting the reader first would lead to a more descriptive subject, like "Quick question re: April editing course." Detail helps recipients prioritize, boosts the likelihood of a reply and makes it easier to find the message later, as needed. 

Imagine what a difference it would make in your day if every e-mail you received clearly outlined its point in the first paragraph. Extend that courtesy to your clients and colleagues. Hopefully, what goes around comes around!

Avoid the funny stuff.

Burton's course also reminded me that humor rarely translates well in written business documents. When communicating face-to-face, your tone and body language helps colleagues make sense of what you're saying. But when text alone has to do the heavy lifting, misunderstandings are bound to happen — and it's best to set jokes aside. 

The warning about humor, sarcasm and opinion and other ambiguous communication in this particular course was prompted by the company's work in a particularly litigious sector. But even as freelance writers (who are less likely to be prosecuted for inappropriate notes), it's important to resist the urge to joke with clients or collaborators via e-mail. Ask yourself: Is it worth the risk of confusion? Does it cross the line between collegial and familiar? Generally, it's best to keep your written conversations entirely professional.

Beware of Sending Out Duplicate Pitches

by Rebecca Smith Hurd 

Q: Is it unprofessional to pitch the same story to more than one publication at a time, or should you wait for a response before moving on?

A: With freelance pay rates on the decline, most writers can't afford not to have multiple pitches in the offing at any given time. After all, the more stories you pitch, the more likely you are to receive assignments and, ultimately, get paid. But sending duplicate pitch letters — or offering up a single story, told from the same angle — to two or more editors at once is generally frowned upon.

"I think a freelance writer would starve to death if he or she always sent pitches out one at a time, so I don't think it is unprofessional to send out multiple article pitches," says Catherine Craddock-Carrillo, a commissioning editor for Lonely Planet. "What is unprofessional, and a surefire way to either be ignored or rejected, is to send out identical letters to each place, not tailoring your pitch to the particular needs of each publication."

Before you send story ideas to an editor, Craddock-Carrillo adds, make sure you get to know the publication you're pitching. Familiarize yourself with its contents, voice, and audience by reading a few issues (or articles on its Web site). Check out its submission and editorial guidelines for insight into how its editors prefer to receive pitches. Try to find out what the publication's lead times and deadlines are, too. Most editors plan days, weeks, and even months in advance. Armed with this information, present yourself and your ideas accordingly.

Keep in mind that publishing is a competitive business. One reason you shouldn't pitch the same story to multiple editors is that many publications take pride in offering original content. Alex Heard, editorial director for Outside magazine, says that the only real excuse for submitting an article idea to multiple editors at the same time is when your idea is so timely that you can't afford to wait an extra moment. For example, perhaps your pitch involves breaking news or an exclusive interview with an elusive yet sought-after source.

"If you (the writer) really feel this is the case, go ahead and multi-submit, but announce that you're doing so. Reaction to this will vary, depending on your clout and the temperament of the editors you're dealing with," Heard says. "If you're a young writer on your way up, it's likely to irritate people. Editors don't like to be told they need to ‘hurry' and make a decision, so they're likely to just blow you off. If you're Michael Lewis, they may say, ‘Hey, we better hurry and give Michael an answer.'"

Heard stresses that, if you're going to two-time editors, never forgo telling them so and merely hope for the best. "If you get accepted by Magazine A today, and then Magazine B three days later, the editors at Magazine B are going to hate you forever, or at least until they're all laid off and there's a new regime at B who doesn't know about it. But journalism is a relatively small world. Word is likely to get around."

This fear has kept Jenna Wortham, a reporter for The New York Times, from ever attempting the practice. "I've never pitched the same piece to multiple publications, largely because I never worked out what I'd do if that piece was accepted by both places simultaneously," says Wortham, who freelanced for Bust, Frommer's and Wired before joining the NYT staff. "Would I withdraw a pitch and risk burning a freshly forged contact? Or hope I possessed enough creativity to spin the pieces in different enough directions that the stories would be fundamentally different? It always felt too risky to attempt."

Once you've crafted and submitted an original pitch to a publication, wait for a reply before taking your business elsewhere. How long you wait, however, is really up to you. Give editors at least a few days — and no more than three weeks — to respond. "Editors usually can't tell you right away if they can use your story, but I think they should acknowledge receipt of your pitch within a week, even less time," says Craddock-Carrillo. "Writers really need to play this by ear."

Of course, you may never get a response. "If three weeks go by and you don't hear anything, you have a right to assume that the answer is no and you're being blown off, which happens all the time," Heard says. "Obviously, it's OK to re-pitch then. If you want to be extra-courteous about it, let the editor you originally pitched know what's up, in a non-crabby way. ...In my opinion, you can also skip this step and not consider yourself a war criminal."

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