i’m moving

over to blogger. While there are a lot of things that I like about wordpress, I want to start monetarizing my blogs, and wp doesn’t allow it. I may eventually buy my own domain for blogging, but for now you can find me at http://inkwoes.blogspot.com

a quick tip

I had the chance a few days ago to review a really good ebook: “The 6-Figure Freelancer.” Since 2008 will be all about making money, upping profits and generating as much income as possible, I thought it would be good from time to time to review books that can help do just that. So this is a good example. From making the most of bidding sites to leverage opportunities to earning money from places you never thought about, the book offers tips for both beginners and established writers (including some novel ideas that I’ll be trying myself –and reporting about— over the next few months).

You don’t have to take my word for it, though. Take a look at their free report and learn more by visiting The 6-Figure Freelancer. It’s well worth it.

pushing along

February has been a strange month. When everybody was complaining about work slowing down during the holidays, I was up to my ears in assignments. Then mid-January hit and more than half of my clients disappeared in a matter of days. Some went on hiatus, others just closed shop. So as a result, February has been a month of searching for new openings and opportunities. While I never worry too much about work flow (things always seem to even out one way or the other), I realized this month that I need to expand my search. Rather than just concentrating on job boards, I need to start querying again, sending introductory letters to trade publications and even working on my own ebooks. That should give me enough variety to keep the money coming in even if some of the clients disappear into thin air.

december? … december??!!

Wow. Have I been a horrible blogger or what? No excuses this time. I could tell you I’ve been swamped with work (both in school and writing). Or that I’ve been stressing over a couple of assignments. Or that December is a difficult month for me, with the Holidays coming and me remembering –once again— that I have no real family to care about me during this time. Or that I really didn’t have the energy to blog about anything.

…

But instead, I’ll spare you and blog about something a little more useful than that.

This year, a group of us freelancers over at Absolute Write are doing a Secret Santa over the mail. One of the moderators “draw” names and we are supposed to put a package together and send it to the person whose name we got. I can’t give specifics in case the person I’m sending to reads this blog, but I’m actually quite excited about the whole thing. The prospect of sending (and getting) mail always makes me giddy. It’s a writer’s thing, I guess. I’ve always had penpals, and while the internet has changed the way I stay in touch with friends and colleagues, it certainly hasn’t changed my love for paper. Once the secret is out, I’ll come back and let you know what I sent and what I got.

Aside from the SS shopping, I actually only have two other presents to buy for the Holidays. Being in Siberia does make this (and only this) part easier.

For the last few weeks I’ve been in kind of a rut when it comes to writing. I think it’s due to the year ending and me reevaluating my goals and direction. I’ve accomplished a lot this year, but some of the things I really want still elude me. At the beginning of 2007, I decided I didn’t want to write an “official” goal list, although there were a few things I did want to achieve. I didn’t do so bad, but lacking a list made me feel kind of lost, so I’m going back to putting everything on paper. Still working on the final touches for 2008, but I’ll post here once the list is ready.

Am I the only one already thinking about next year?

is that story mine?

I had an interesting experience today. I’ve been working on a story for a print magazine for quite some time. I sold the story maybe six months ago, but the editor had so many requests for changes and add-ons that it wasn’t until two weeks ago that the piece was officially “finished.” Or so I thought. Today I get an email from the editor asking me to take a look at the final version of the story and mentioning he ended up interviewing the expert himself, which gave the story “a completely new spin.”

Hmmm…. Ok.

Turns out that was an understatement. The article was 100% different to the original one (you know, the one he made me rewrite about a thousand times). It was about double the length and while it was the same topic, it was written on a completely different angle. Maybe 10 percent (probably less) of what I originally wrote remains in the piece! As a result, he also added his name to the byline (so it’s now a co-authored piece).

I seriously debated what to do for quite some time. This is a big print magazine and I really want a byline there (it will look sooo good in my clip list), but the truth is that I didn’t write the article! (Even if I refuse the byline, I’m still getting paid good money for this piece, so it’s not like I am giving up a paycheck or anything).

In the end, I accepted the co-byline (is that a word?) and learned a good lesson about the importance of setting limits when it comes to your writing.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

I miss home today. Halloween is my favorite holiday for a lot of reasons (not only the obvious ones) and being in a country that doesn’t celebrate it reminds me of everything I miss from back home. So if you’re reading from the US or Canada, celebrate for me today!

where does work come from?

My previous post got me thinking about finding writing jobs and opportunities. Three years ago, most of my clips were a result of queries. Now, maybe one percent are. So where does the bulk of my work come from? I answer ads. Lots of them. Mostly from Deb’s blog, but also from random places I find online, ezines I get in my mailbox and posts I read in writing communities I belong to. I have a standard letter I use to respond to these ads. I tweak the letter for each email, of course, but it basically says the same thing over and over. So far, it seems to be working.

I don’t know how many jobs I apply for on an average week, but I can tell you I usually land 2-3 ongoing gigs in any given week. I could probably take on more, but I’ve been somewhat lazy. Many of my jobs are supposed to be a one-time deal but turn out bringing repeat work. At the beginning of the month, I ghostwrote an ebook on bodybuilding for a company that sells supplements. They said thanks, paid the bill quickly (love that!) and went on their way. Last week I get an email from the same company asking me to “revamp” four of their current ebooks and asking “how much you want for that?” I quoted a high price in hopes of being able to negotiate to an acceptable level, but they agreed to my initial number (there’s another lesson there, by the way: never underprice yourself). I haven’t been looking for more work this week because I’m just swamped right now.

So I’m wondering… how do others find their writing jobs? Do you use Writer’s Market? Query magazines? Write on spec? Answer ads and posts?

back to real life

Came back from Japan to a TON of work. My original idea was to avoid email at all while I was away, but after two days without Gmail, I finally gave in. I had 24 emails waiting for me, including four assignments, two requests from editors and a few answers from companies I’m reviewing products for. How does anybody ever get away from it all?! So I said yes to everything and now I have an incredible amount of work due before November 5^th, including three more ebooks for the same company I just finished one for (I loved repeat customers!), 6 articles for a website and a ton of SEO articles. This will be a good thing, believe me. I need to make back the fortune I spent in Tokyo (It was so worth it, though!).

The whole situation led me to the thought that I haven’t written a magazine query in over a year. At one point I thought that was basically the only way to make a living writing. Now I pretty much keep busy by scoring writing jobs through job banks, databases and ads. Is that how most freelancers do it? It’s certainly easier than sending off queries and then waiting months for an answer (one that may very well be “no”). That said, I miss the print market. I regularly write for two “real” magazines. They pay well and give me a lot of freedom with length/topic/experts, but I’m getting bored of seeing the same name over and over (besides, how good can that be for my resume?). I’ve been toying with the idea of targeting in-flight magazines. This came out after I realize the two articles in English in my Aeroflot Airlines magazine were just plain painful. Mediocre at best. I definitively can do better than that! So that’s my goal. To break into this market before my birthday next march (yeah, I’m giving myself some room because I really do have a lot of work pending and more on the way).

Anybody else have a specific goal for their writing career?

a picture break

Here’s a view from my balcony this morning

Yes, that is snow. In October. And I love it.

bartering your words

Do you work for anything other than money? Have you ever? I never really thought about this until recently and only because two opportunities opened up one right after the other. The first thing was a chance to review books. I should remind you that I live in Siberia, where there is no fresh supply of English-language books (and the shipping for books bought online truly costs a fortune). When I ran across an opportunity to review books, I jumped at it. The deal? I get 3-4 free books a month (many hardbacks, just-released bestsellers) and all I have to do is write a 300-word, very informal review in return. Is it worth it? Totally.

The second opportunity was even better. Free round trip tickets (for two people) to Tokyo + hotel expenses in exchange for a 1200-word story on Disney Sea (a high-tech adults-oriented Disney Park that only exists in Japan). I think it took me about a second to say yes (ok, half a second). The company doesn’t pay me to write the story and they also won’t cover living expenses while I’m in Tokyo (this is all non-negotiable), but you know what? I don’t really care. Even if they told me I had to pay for the hotel, I would’ve still said yes (it’s a good thing they don’t read this blog). I get a desperately-needed almost-free vacation to a place I always wanted to go and besides… Who else gets to spend a day in Disneyworld and call the whole thing “research”?

I would honestly love to get more chances to barter. I wonder if there’s some forum somewhere where you can get in touch with people looking to exchange their skills. Craigslist sounds like it could work, but in my case I could only barter for things that can be delivered via the internet, so maybe I’m out of luck. Any ideas or success stories?