You do have a personal get-work-I-love strategy, right? If you just flinched (or you know a writer who’s new to freelancing) take a look at what’s on offer Aug. 28 at ASJA’s day-long, mini-conference in Washington D.C.
I’m putting together the “freelancer writer’s tool kit” chunk of the program, and moderating the “9 Keys to Freelance Success” panel. Think of this track as a highly caffeinated Freelancing 101, appropriate for those feeling their way into the new marketplace, staff writers turned freelance, and writers seeking an entry into different venues for their work.
Or put it this way. If your career’s been sagging a bit and you need a jump-start, time for our new, accelerated, back-to-basics.
There’s a lot of work to be had in Washington. So, logically, the other half of our mini-conference programming focuses on breaking into places you probably didn’t know hired content providers, aka writers. Trade associations and their magazines, government agencies, international outfits like the World Bank, the National Institutes of Health….
In our “Keys” session we’ll talk about finding ideas that sell in these times, when to query and when to send a letter of introduction. Contract clauses that can blow up on you. What to do when your money is late in coming. How to figure out whom to approach when there’s no masthead spelling out who is making assignments.
I’d like to say I came up with the “9 Keys…” title because I listed everything I wish somebody had told me, back when, and boiled it all down. Nope. The number in the title is pure marketing. The years I put in writing for parenting and consumer magazines taught me that people love lists, and any title with a number in it has an increased chance of selling.
More numbers. I’ve observed that being able to prosper (not just survive) as a freelancer/content provider depends on three skills and two personality traits.
The latter first. It helps if you possess a goodly dose of grit, which is a nice way of saying you’re stubborn as hell sometimes, and therefore not easily defeated. Another plus is a certain ease, and interest in, ideas and people new to you.
The skills needed are an ability to research accurately, writing well-enough for the task at hand, and consistent, savvy marketing.
Most of us do fine with the research and the writing, although we may like doing one more than the other. Almost all of us like marketing ourselves less than we do writing or researching, so we tend to give it short shrift. We may put it off until we’re tiptoeing up on desperate, even though we know better. Even though we tell ourselves we won’t get lost in a project and forget to pitch and make new contacts, ever again.
The folks who think about the kind of writing they want to do, then make a coherent plan to get themselves doing it, are the writers who happily succeed. That’s why a preponderance of those “Keys to Success” we’ll be talking about – however many there are – will address the various ways to hunt down prospects, and then get work.
If you can’t make it to Washington, remember there are many tips about marketing, contracts, contacting editors – the works – found on this website. If you haven’t yet joined ASJA, two places to start are the problem-solving topics you’ll find addressed when you click on the “For Writers” button at the top of this page, and the archives of past The Word blogs.
And if you’re a member, check out the archives of The ASJA Magazine. You’ll find sound advice on just about any writing-related topic you can mention, a lot of which is evergreen. Market Reports give the low-down on various publications.
We also have a goldmine benefit in our ShopTalk podcasts, which members can hear anytime, free. Two I particularly like: Carol Tice’s Turn Your Knowledge into a Money-making e-Course, and Marcia Layton Turner’s Getting Ghost-writing Gigs.