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Chuck Wendig

Two Blogs You Should Be Reading for 2012

Two Blogs You Should Be Reading for 2012 Each year the website Write To Done comes up with the the top ten blogs for writers. Last year’s list of great writing blogs is here if you want to see it. This year they’ve got a new batch of movers and shakers in this crazy business …

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Social Marketing Category

Fiverr: Rising to the Top with Your New Gig

The busiest section of the Fiverr categories is Social Marketing. If you click on that category and sort them by rating you see most of the first few gigs have Top Rated Seller status and the sellers have sold thousands upon thousands of gigs. This category also has more gigs than any other Fiverr category. …

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Top Ten

The Top 10 Blogs for Writers

I came across this little gem the other day from writetodone.com and I wanted to pass this on to my readers. They’ve compiled a list of the the top ten blogs for writers. Each one mentioned has a wealth of information on them for you to mine. The websites range from freelance writing to blogging …

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How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store

The world of publishing is changing rapidly and there has never been a better time to learn how to be a writer on the Kindle Store. Of course, there are other platforms such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPad but the simple truth is in 2011 and 2012 – at least- Amazon’s Kindle …

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The Book Cover Archive

How Important Is A Cover When You Are Indie Publishing?

On average, indie authors are spending less on covers and cover design than their publishing house counterparts. How important is a cover when you are publishing in e-book format only? There are two schools of thought. 1) The cover is everything. It is a very important consideration when publishing your e-book.  It is what catches …

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Two Blogs You Should Be Reading for 2012 Fiverr: Rising to the Top with Your New Gig The Top 10 Blogs for Writers How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store How Important Is A Cover When You Are Indie Publishing?

Dec
24

Two Blogs You Should Be Reading for 2012

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Two Blogs You Should Be Reading for 2012

Each year the website Write To Done comes up with the the top ten blogs for writers. Last year’s list of great writing blogs is here if you want to see it. This year they’ve got a new batch of movers and shakers in this crazy business of writing. Write To Done comes up with 20 finalists based on reader suggestions and they narrow it down to the top ten. You can see the full list here on their blog. I would like to narrow this list down even further to my two personal favorites that are of interest to freelancers.

Terrible Minds

I have to switch to fangirl mode for a moment because I am a fan of Chuck Wendig. I’ll confess, I have most of his books and I put a lot of weight on his writing advice. He is a well-seasoned writer who has been around the block, twice and he has had writing gigs that some of us will only dream about. If you need someone to put you in the big girl/boy writing chair and tell you to get to work, no excuses, and cuss at you a little, it’s Chuck. A little Chuck goes a long way. His advice is solid all the time and it’s never, ever sugar coated. Did I mention he cusses a lot?

Chuck Wendig’s Terrible Minds

Chuck WendigThe Bookshelf Muse

The Bookshelf Muse is a website primarily geared towards fiction writers but when I am writing specialty articles to sell to clients in batches I often look here for inspiration. Here’s what I mean. Let’s say you’re writing a batch of Halloween related articles for a client to use on their website for promotional purposes. You want each article to be original and unique. Go to The Bookshelf Muse and click on their Setting Thesarus section. Look at the topics called Halloween Party, Haunted House and Graveyard. Bingo! You’ve got a list of fun words like howling, cackling, creaking, flickering lights and rats squeaking to weave in to your Halloween articles to make them shine.

The Bookshelf Muse

The Bookshelf Muse

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Nov
17

Fiverr: Rising to the Top with Your New Gig

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The busiest section of the Fiverr categories is Social Marketing. If you click on that category and sort them by rating you see most of the first few gigs have Top Rated Seller status and the sellers have sold thousands upon thousands of gigs. This category also has more gigs than any other Fiverr category. So what can you do to make your new social marketing gig stand out?

Specialize!

The best thing you can do when creating your social marketing gig is specialize. Across the top of the Social Marketing category are sections to help you do just that. What is going to be the focus of your gig?

See the categories?:  blog/review/twitter/facebook/followers/traffic/backlinks/friends/seo/website

Do you have thousands of Twitter followers? If so, you’ve got a gig renting out your Twitter updates for $5.

There are two things you can do to specialize your Twitter gig even further.

1) In your gig description mention that the majority of your followers are cooking enthusiasts, car buffs or book readers. Of course this only works if you have a specialized group of Twitter followers. Make sure you put those specialized key words in your gig description and add them to your picture/video tags when you set up your gig. That’s how the buyers looking for a targeted audience will find you.

2) Offer to tweet your buyers message or link several times over a period one week. This is something that most of the top sellers aren’t willing to do. They are looking to minimize their time spent on a gig, but with a new gig you need to go the extra mile to get noticed. Use a service like Social Oomph to schedule your tweets so your time is minimized as well.

Once you’ve completed several gigs and you have a 100% feedback rating, you can change your gig description to offer less tweets in a shorter period of time. At that point your good feedback will be getting you more gig sales.

 

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Oct
05

The Top 10 Blogs for Writers

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I came across this little gem the other day from writetodone.com and I wanted to pass this on to my readers.

They’ve compiled a list of the the top ten blogs for writers. Each one mentioned has a wealth of information on them for you to mine. The websites range from freelance writing to blogging to novel writing and they’re all inspiring, interesting reads for any writer. Enjoy! The Top Ten Blogs For Writers.

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Oct
04

How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store

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The world of publishing is changing rapidly and there has never been a better time to learn how to be a writer on the Kindle Store. Of course, there are other platforms such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPad but the simple truth is in 2011 and 2012 – at least- Amazon’s Kindle Store is the proverbial 800-lb gorilla of ebook publishing.

Knowing that, if you want to be an ebook author and make good money you need to know how to be a writer on the Kindle Store. I think people generally fall into two categories in this regard, either,

1) People who have heard that indie publishing is growing fast and want to be authors for the first time and therefore want to know how to be a writer on the Kindle Store. (BTW, your first book might be easier than you think.)

2) People who are already authors are beginning to understand how lucrative indie publishing is. They are also learning  how much more intimate it is in terms of communicating with their readers. They need to know how to be a writer on the Kindle Store.

Three Resources: How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store

 

How to be a Writer on the Kindle StoreIf you fall into the first category and are relatively new to writing and publishing you might want to look at the excellent book by J.A. Konrath, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing. Konrath is a treasure-trove of indie publishing knowledge, not least because he knows both sides of the fence, having been published by traditional publishers. This title contains inspiration for writing and for publishing. This e-book is a steal at $2.99.

 

 

 

 

 

How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store

 

If you fall into the second category and perhaps already have books you would like to put in the Kindle Store I recommend Scott Nicholson’s ebook, The Indie Journey: Secrets to Writing Success it contains success stories from indie writers. This ebook covers more about entrepreneurship and the writing business. Again, worth far more than its price.

 

 

 

 

How to be a Writer on the Kindle Store

 

Likewise, Zoe Winters’ ebook, Smart Self-Publishing: Becoming an Indie Author gives you the path to indie publishing. Winters highlights her failures and successes to show you the quickest path to being published. This ebook also contains more technical information such as formatting for different platforms including how to be a writer on the Kindle Store.

 

 

Together these three excellent titles can be had for under 10 bucks! (I’d say this info is worth at least $100) And that is a perfect example of why indie publishing is taking off and why so many people want to learn how to be a writer on the Kindle Store; it’s win/win for both authors and the readers.

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Oct
04

How Important Is A Cover When You Are Indie Publishing?

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On average, indie authors are spending less on covers and cover design than their publishing house counterparts. How important is a cover when you are publishing in e-book format only?

There are two schools of thought.

1) The cover is everything. It is a very important consideration when publishing your e-book.  It is what catches the reader’s eye if they are looking at several book covers. It can distinguish you from those do-it-yourselfers who won’t even plunk down five dollars for a cover on Fiverr.com and instead make their e-book cover in Microsoft Word. By contrast, a potential buyer sees your excellent cover and assumes if you spent so much time making a fantastic cover, the book itself must be great.

2) Covers don’t matter – it’s word of mouth, reviews and superb marketing skills that sell your book and even if it has a mediocre cover the potential buyer will still want it because everyone else says it’s great. You can never judge a book by its cover.

I agree with both points. I think indie authors, especially in the beginning, need to focus on putting out a quality writing product, garner five star reviews and learn how to leverage those things to sell their book regardless of the cover. At the same time, to compete with big budgets of publishing houses, indie e-book covers should look like some effort has been made to make them compelling and attractive. Then let your writing, reviews and marketing skills take it from there. I don’t think there is any good argument for a cheesy cover.

Note: If you have covers made using stock photos or art and you intend to have a print book made at some point buy the highest quality photo you can when having your cover designed. This will save you from having to redo your design when the time comes. For an e-book only, you do not need the highest resolution.

Two popular and affordable sites for stock photos are iStockphoto and 123RF.

Not all writers are artistically inclined. For inspiration, have a look at The Book Cover Archive.

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Sep
29

Your Name Is Your Online Reputation

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I have a lot of questions for you today. They’re all about you.

Have you Googled yourself lately?

Go ahead and do it. Put your name in quotes at Google and see what comes up. If you have a distinctive name, the entire first page might be about you!

Here’s my name on Google. There are links to many social media profiles for my name. I frequently post comments on The Huffington Post so that shows up as well. My website, The Moonlighter’s Guide, shows up near the bottom of the page.

Your Name Is Your Online Reputation

Your Name Is Your Online Reputation

Are you pleased with what shows up under your name? When you click on “images only”, are the pictures consistent and professional looking? Will they hinder or help you get a job? Are those college drinking photos from your friend’s Facebook page resurfacing yet again? You can’t control what other people say or write about you, but at least on Facebook you can “untag” yourself so the photo won’t appear when people are searching for you.

Oh! That party.

Oh! That party.

Social Media

Choose your words carefully when using social media. Everything you do or say on the web is tracked. You know that, right? That snarky comment you made about that other writer on that “members only” board that you thought was private, is there for all to see if they dig.

Those tweets never completely go away. That’s the truth. You need to act as though everything you write from a tweet to a comment to a book is accessible by everyone. A bad comment on a blog may come back to haunt you. Your wild weekend on your “private” Facebook page may not be in line with your online writing persona. All it takes is one wrong click and you can make everything available to the masses.

Keeping Your Good Name

Buy your name as a domain if it’s available. (www.YourName.com) Even if you don’t intend to put up a website using your name, at least it will be unavailable for others to do so. Later on, when you’re a rock star, you’ll be glad you did.

If you do choose to put up a website, please remember your website is a reflection of you. Not all of us have webmaster skills, but if you have silly moving GIF files on your site from 1997. Take them off. Have a clean, professional looking website.

I visited an author website once that was so fantastic it made me buy her book. The book was mediocre. I wasn’t a repeat customer, but she got the first sale by having a great looking website.

Your Bio and Photo

Update your bio, photo and professional experience across the web as your writing experience changes. Try to have some personal information in your bio too.  What is your favorite city on the planet? Does someone or something inspire you? Who and why?

Take a few minutes to read the professional bios of other writers you admire. What makes you like them? Incorporate those concepts and ideas into your own bio.

Professional Portrait

Professional Portrait

Photos Of You

When someone reads your bio, they look at your photo first. They try to imagine you doing all of the the things you stated in your bio.  If you are a travel writer it’s a great idea to have a photo of you standing in front of the Eiffel Tower or some other recognizable background. If you write comedy by all means have a funny picture. If you write brooding mystery and noir, black and white photos are all the rage. If you are a freelance writing professional, look like one. You may write in a robe and bunny slippers but clients don’t need to see them.

Your name is associated with your writing. One of the easiest ways to keep tabs on your name is to set up a Google Alert. Google will notify you by email when your name or any other search term you choose shows up on a new webpage.

Take the time to protect your online reputation and your good name.

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Aug
17

Protecting Yourself As A Freelance Content Writer

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Protecting yourselfWhen you work as an independent contractor for websites like Textbroker or Demand Media you are financially protected. The client pays the company for content writing services, the company acts as a broker, holding the funds temporarily while you complete the writing job. When the client accepts the article you’ve written, you receive your payment. When you start searching for private clients online you lose that protection and run the risk of being scammed. You could write a batch of 20 articles for a private client, they could accept the articles and choose not to pay you. Pick your clients carefully. You are a professional with a reputation to protect, and you should expect the same from them.

Is The Client Reliable?

Put effort in to looking for a client. In order to find quality writing jobs you have to know what to look for. Look at the client’s ad. Is it well-constructed and clear? Does the potential client list a website or other means of contact besides email? If so, check out the website and contact them. If they don’t email you back they probably won’t pay you.
Strut your stuff but not too much.

All freelancer writers need to have writing samples. Does the client require a resume and writing samples from you? If it is a legitimate job, they should care enough to hire a trained writer. Are they asking for more than three or four writing samples? You should be suspicious at four unless you know the job requires you to do varying styles of writing like travel writing, how-to or technical writing.

Getting Paid

If the rate of pay seems too high, it is probably a scam. Freelance writers for Esquire Magazine earn $1 or more per word but freelance content writers don’t. On the other hand, if you are an experienced content writer don’t devalue yourself. Set your rate of pay and be firm. If the client wants to negotiate a much lower rate of pay, let it go. There are other clients. Another way to protect yourself is to have a business contract in place with anyone you work for as an independent contractor. Never pay money to write for a client even if they promise ongoing work. They are supposed to pay you!

For more information on making a living as a content writer, check out my book, The Moonlighter’s Guide To Online Writing For Immediate Income on Amazon.com.

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Aug
14

Filling in the freelance $$ gaps with Fiverr

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Filling in the freelance gap with Fiverr.

Fiverr.comWhen you’re between freelance gigs and you want to keep the funds coming in, try listing some gigs with Fiverr.com. There are quite a few ways to make money on Fiverr.com if you are a writer. While some people actually make a living as a micro-entrepreneur, many writers use websites like Fiverr to bring in extra income between other writing projects. I did some research and an experiment of my own with Fiverr.com to see which gigs were the best for writers on Fiverr.

The Top Four Writing Gigs On Fiverr.com.

1. 500 word (or less) articles

Experienced content writers WILL find work on Fiverr.  And the good writers stand out, even in their ads. If you are a native English speaker you definitely have an advantage here. If not, and your location puts you outside an English speaking country you will have to rely on your reviews to garner you more Fiverr work.  As an experiment I put up a new Fiverr ad stating I was a freelance writer and would write articles on any subject. I had 4 orders in less than an hour. That was with a gig and an ID that had absolutely no ratings. Here is  an example of one of the more popular Fiverr content writing gigs.

2. Press Release

This is a great gig if you are an experienced press release writer. If you’re not, you’ll probably be too slow to make this Fiverr gig worth your while. Remember, you only get paid $4 per gig. Fiverr keeps that extra buck. Publicity Insider has a great tutorial on how to write press releases if you need a refresher course.

3. Research

All freelance writers are well versed on how to research. Some people don’t want to take the time to do research and will pay you via Fiverr to do it. Keep in mind that the range of research could be simple subject research to extremely difficult research work. Most of the people who offer this gig on Fiverr state they will  do research for a certain amount of time thus limiting the research no matter the subject.

Research at Fiverr.com

 4. Scriptwriting And Testimonials

This is another great Fiverr gig if you have experience writing short scripts or testimonials. Many businesses use YouTube for video testimonials. You can get paid on Fiverr to write the script for those videos. They’re usually short and should only take a few minutes to write. Other website owners are looking for product testimonials for their site. These product testimonials are usually written in the first person and conform to the 500 words or less rule.

Microjobs like the ones on Fiverr are just that, small, short jobs. They should take you 15-20 minutes to accomplish. So assess your own skills before you put up a writing gig. Take a few minutes to check out the competition before you place your gig on Fiverr. See which writing gigs are selling well and why. Is their ad copy compelling? Are their qualifications stated? Do they have continued, positive feed back?  Mimic their style and you’ll be off to a great start.

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Aug
13

The #1 Bestselling Freelance Writing Book In The Kindle Store

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#1 Freelance Writing

I’m happy to report that The Moonlighter’s Guide To Online Writing For Immediate Income is now the # 1 bestselling freelance writing book in the Amazon Kindle store. The impetus for writing this book was a desire to share the knowledge I had gained as a freelance content writer with new freelance writers. I make money as a content writer and I want others to do the same. Writing content for the web is a recession-proof job that is not going away and as much as I am pleased that this is a bestselling book the ability to give people a tool to better their financial situation is the real motivation.

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Aug
11

Becoming A Writer: Your First Book Is Already Written

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Becoming a writer

Becoming a writer is an easier task for some than for others. When you are starting out as a new writer you are tasked with producing quality content for your readers and honing your craft at the same time. You may be reading about writing and experimenting with different writing styles like essays, content writing or blogging. Becoming a writer is a great way to make a living if you know how to monetize your writing.

Becoming A Writer: If you’ve got a blog, you’ve got a book.

If you are a blogger, you are blogging on a topic you are familiar with and you are trying to impart knowledge to your reader one post at a time.  Many blogs have informative and specific info that could easily be made into an eBook.  This is not only a great way to monetize the information in your blog it doesn’t count as duplicate content on Google and won’t affect your search engine ranking. I’m not suggesting that you just take each post, compile it into one document and throw it up as a Kindle book on Amazon.com, but if you have valuable, concise information on your blog, you could sell this in an edited eBook format. A person might want to read the info on your blog for free but they could also download it onto their Kindle and it would save them from fishing through a lot of posts to find what they want.

Let’s say for example, you have a blog about parenting and infant care, and one section of your blog is devoted to healthy food choices and recipes for infants and children. You could compile the recipes and instructions for making homemade baby food into an eBook that you sell for 99 cents on Amazon.com. People who have never heard of you or your blog will buy and download your recipe book. You will have made some extra money and brought more followers to your blog. The information is the same info that is on your website, it’s just conveniently compiled and edited into book form for the reader.

If you have a health and fitness blog you could compile all of the exercises, charts and graphs into an eBook for quick reference. Again, this info is readily available for free on your website but only if some one is specifically searching for it on the web and your website ranks high enough on Google for them to find you. Becoming a writer and monetizing your writing is no easy task, but why not increase your audience or make it  more convenient for your current audience to access your valuable information? People will pay for convenience.

Becoming a writer takes work but you are an authority on your blog and you have the ability to be a published author as well. It will take some editing skills to piece together a book from blog posts, but it will be worth it and your readers will appreciate the convenience. You can advertise your Kindle book on your blog for readers to buy. You can also advertise your blog on your Amazon.com author page with your book. Suddenly you’re not only a blogger, you are an author with a blog.  Share the love, share the info and make money with your writing.

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