Contently: a resource for freelance writers

Contently.com has a portal called "The Freelancer" full of great writing, and a weekly digest. You can create your own profile to promote your freelance writing, to "see and be seen" beyond your desktop and notebooks of great writing.
Read more here.

Today, the Contently magazine has a terrific article by Michael J. Berens of the Seattle Times on investigative reporting, something we should all be doing in our writing, no matter the topic. In the article, Berens discusses the plight of freelancers wanting to get hired to write for editors. He seems to have a clear recollection of the path to success, and offers candid suggestions for freelancers. as we develop expertise in various areas, and discusses ways to stand out in the very crowded world of publication.

Here is a link to the full story, and it includes Berens' notes on what matters most in writing: Finding the Story. You'll see it mentioned in the piece on Contently and also at his site: Watchdog Reporter, along with other resources. Keep in mind, this is from a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, sharing this information with us.

Here's more good news:  You can create your own profile at Contently -Here is a snapshot of mine: Gallagher Ink

Do you measure up online?

We used to measure our popularity and successful relationships by the number of friends we had; those who exchanged birthday cards, met for lunch, sat on the front porch on a summer night. now, though, our friends are measured by the activity in our social media sites.

We measure our business success perhaps by a fully booked calendar, making large bank deposits from speaking gigs and book sales, or signing contracts for lucrative freelance writing.

Who knew that today's mark of "Success" is defined instead by social media? How many followers are enough to make you popular? If you have more social media traffic, are you inclined to make more frequent posts?? Is it an effective way for you to keep in touch with close friends?

A recent Writer's Digest article posted counts for notable pageviews for writers trying to prove they have a decent following for their work.

Notable numbers are high, starting with:

Blog page views: 20,000/month 
Twitter followers: 5,000 followers or newsletter subscribers
Speaking appearances to 1,000 people per year
Book sales total:  4,000 for self-published nonfiction, 2,000 for fiction


By those standards, most of us are lurkers - reading just the blogs and Facebook/twitter feeds we can scan in a few minutes.

Don't take it too seriously though. It's summer, and we know where our real friends are - out on the porch, reading a good book.

The "slow" move to better online content

We've seen a resurgence and new respect for long-form journalism, after a few years of tweets and status updates that don't add anything lasting to our literary world. Now comes a call for "Slow Media." 

"Every person with an Internet connection now has a place to go to find news as it breaks. We are only just beginning, however, to realize the Internet’s power as a promoter of longform content, a recognition that is helping to drive the rise of micropublishing, a movement that emphasizes the quality of the publishing environment over timeliness, and one that eschews the primacy of the pageview. We are just starting to see the emergence of startup publications that are seeing opportunity beyond the blog format. Included among the most prominent proponents of the written form are Medium, Atavist, Byliner, Longform, and Longreads."

For us, it means more quality reading, more places to write, and an appreciation for our good writing.

Read more here at Pando.

Make a good impression in 2013

Start the new year with an aggressive approach to earning new freelance assignments

Besides finding markets, crafting a clever pitch, what's the best thing you can do to get noticed?

The answer is "Wow 'em with yur clips."  Until now, this was an ugly project for most writers. Either send them a link to your site or links to the original articles on magazine sites. Of course, you hope those links remain fresh, but we know that's not always the case. Besides bad links, you can send PDFs or JPGs that may not make the best impression.

So the solution is:  Pressfolios where you can manage an online portfolio of your work. You add a link, whether clips are stored on your site or elsewhere, organize them, and use the one simple link to let editors view your work. You can choose the photo to accompany each article's link, refer editors to the permanent link, and be proud of your queries with smart clips.

Spend an hour this holiday weekend to get started, and you'll put your best clips forward for greater success in 2013.

If you have a book on Amazon, make sure you use your free Author Page

Amazon Author Pages   (courtesy of Amazon)

Amazon Author Pages are a great way to keep your readers up to date about you and your work. You can create your Author Pages on Amazon.com and many of its European websites though Amazon Author Central. You must create a separate Author Page on each of the websites you want to appear. You can sign up for your Amazon Author Pages at each of the following sites:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.de
• Amazon.fr

On your Author Pages, provide a concise and meaningful author biography to help your readers get to know you. You can also upload a photograph and videos, add your Twitter handle, and even highlight events you may be attending. Author Pages also bring together all of your work as an author in one place, which helps customers discover more of your books. Use Amazon Author Pages to make a direct connection with your audience.

My author page is nothing special, but you can view it here if you want a sample:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002BMFK78

Helen Gallagher

Show us your bio...

I have a new post on Freelance-Zone.com today on the importance of using a strong bio for yourself as a writer. When you write an article, pitch an idea to an editor, or create an author bio, it follows you everywhere. Make sure yours has some zing. Click here to read the full post at Freelance-Zone. Learn how to go beyond the ordinary, and even post your bio in the Comments section for a little free PR.

Know your audience

At a workshop in Geneva, IL yesterday, I mentioned writing to your target reader, and even on your blog, knowing your readers. You are already aware of the number of readers who visit and return to your blog because they like your work and enjoy reading what you have to say.

But have you really identified your ideal target market? Is it people eager to learn time-saving solutions? Or is it young moms, reading on the run, and looking for advice on taming tantrums? My ideal reader is a man or woman eager to get their writing noticed - to use a blog or to write articles to get their voice heard, and build a following for their work. So my niche is easy because my blog is built to please and inform this market segment.

For your target reader, the more you narrow your blog or book niche the more you can deliver what they expect. As you can see, the puzzle is in figuring out. The reward is having a growing audience of people who look forward to reading more of your work.

Good bloggers succeed

We blog to get people to read our work, and it takes time to build a following. You have something to say, and a free platform with a blog, which writers never had even a few years ago. As a blogger, you start by starting - create a blog, and share it.

If your writing is good and you're consistent, people will visit and return to your blog. You need only to provide compelling posts on your topic and keep up the momentum so visitors are rewarded when they return to see what's new. Then use that momentum to move you forward in wider circles.

As a result of my book and blog here at Release Your Writing, I now share advice for writers on the Freelance-Zone blog.

Several major magazines, including Health Magazine and Cooking Light, have been featuring good bloggers in their print magazine, and sending a wide audience to read the work of these people. Big print media is singling out bloggers who show talent and, promoting their blogs. This is a remarkable opportunity for writers who want to move to well-paying magazine markets. In fact, if you want magazine freelance work, the first place editors look for your writing samples is your own blog.


Another success story is Lois Roelofs, a member of Off-Campus Writers Workshop (OCWW). Based loosely on her book Caring Lessons, her  blog is the strongest part of her platform. Now she has added to her visibility with a blog book tour at WOW! Women on Writing in addition to maintaining her blog. She grew into this step-by-step-by-step, starting as she says, because she heard about: "WOW through SheWrites, and SheWrites from Helen at OCWW!" And, Lois says she would not have started her blog without my encouragement.

Can I urge you to do the same? Put enough effort into your blog that you begin to see it as a communication tool, a place to showcase your writing, and to increase your visibility. Link it to your other social media outlets, and good things will happen...

Helen

The true steps to self-pub success detailed here

Jane Friedman, as many of you know, continues to evolve after her long career with Writer's Digest. 
In one of her blog posts she advises a writer about whether to update a book with the current publisher, or because of her following, issue it on her own, for far greater royalties on sales.

Read the full piece here if you wish, but note these salient points made by Jane. These illustrate exactly what you need for publishing success, especially if you plan to self-publish:

• A strong e-mail list with a good open rate (25%+)
• Well-established social media network that can help spread word of mouth
• The right contacts to help place guest articles/posts on the right sites/blogs that target the book’s target audience
• An existing website that can be quickly adjusted on the fly to focus on the re-release
• A nice backlog of content connected to the book—or re-purposed from the book—that can be excerpted across sites/blogs interested in your work
• Resources to hire a good publicist for the first 3 months of relaunch
• Resources to hire a good cover designer

I know you’re business savvy enough to do this on your own and earn quite a bit of money doing it. The big questions for me would be:

1. Do you have the time & energy to spend on it?
2. Do you have the resources to hire help as needed?
   

"Platform" continues to be the operative word in success for writers

I stress the importance of platform when speaking with writers, especially those trying to attract the attention of an agent and publisher. A strong, polished presence on Facebook, a good blog, and lots of friends on Twitter and now also Google+ seems t be the minimum requirement for the foundation of a solid platform.

Now today, I saw an ad for freelance writer/bloggers for a health/fitness site, and their platform request went beyond the basics to this:

"... Send us 3 pithy, information-packed sentences about yourself, along with your CV (cut and paste, no attachments), 3-5 links to your best published work, and at least 2 links to your social profiles
(Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon etc.) "

The hiring firm produces an organic healthy food and lifestyle magazine. By requiring you to prove the strength of your social media connections, you can see they want you to have an audience, so you can not only blog for them, but publicize it everywhere, not just in your online portfolio at Facebook and your own blog. Making money online starts with the sites attracting readers, which pays for advertising. If you can bring the readers, you're ahead of other writers who apply.

If you want the specifics on the above job listing, email me at Helen@releaseyourwriting.com.

IndieReader now promoting self-published bestsellers.

Use it as a way to size up the competition, and look up some of the authors to see how they have been marketing to reach best-seller status. Also note, although we always say non-fiction sells best when self-published, the top seller is fiction:

"Writer John Locke claims the #1 spot on this week’s list with his novel Saving Vegas. Here’s more from the site: “Three of the books on the List were written by the same author, John Locke.  Locke’s book, Saving Rachel, was the first Indie book in history to hit #1 on Amazon/Kindle. In total, he has sold more than 875,000 downloads since January.”

Helen Gallagher

"How to Write a Book Proposal," by Michael Larsen: My review on Seattle PI

Again: Self-publishing trumps traditional...

Jane Friedman at Writer's Digest has a splendid and generous post about people choosing self-publishing instead of a book contract with a traditional publisher.  Read more here.

If you don't have time, return to the post later and learn from the most successful self-publisher I know of: JA Konrath, who says:

A virtual shelf, like Amazon or Smashwords, carries all my titles, all the time. And I don't have to compete with a NYT bestseller who has 400 copies of their latest hit on the shelf, while I only have one copy of mine. We each take up one virtual space per title. … Virtual shelf life is forever. In a bookstore, you have anywhere form a few weeks to a few months to sell your title, and then it gets returned. This is a big waste of money, and no incentive at all for the bookseller to move the book.

Susan Orlean on publishing today

Susan Orlean, one of my favorite authors, has a "Free Range" blog at The New Yorker. It includes a great post about finishing a book that she worked on for six years. She details the process of publishing a book and how it has changed. Read the full delightful post at her blog.

She cleverly describes the old way:
1. Think of a book topic.
2. Find a publisher who likes the idea.
3. Write the book.... and so on.

And the new way, which begins with:

1. Think of a book topic.
2. See if the domain name for your title is available. If not, consider changing the topic.
3. Does the book title/topic morph easily into a Twitter hashtag? If not, consider changing the topic.
4. Set up the Facebook page for the book and a fan page for yourself as Joe Blow, Author; send out an e-mail blast to your entire contact list asking people to “like” your fan and book pages.

You get the idea.... go read the rest at
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2011/01/publish-or-perish.html#ixzz1BhA7w3T2

Sound familiar?  It's the PLATFORM discussion I've been having with you for a year now. Only Susan Orlean is much funnier than I am. Enjoy,

Helen Gallagher

It's 2011: Do You Know Where YOUR Platform Is?

Writers need visibility online, and in every workshop I give, the subject of platform surfaces. I draw charts, give examples, explain the foundation, yet most writers and authors make a minor, confused effort, groping around in social media without results.

While the state of online media is relatively stable now, use this time to jump in or update your existing presence online. The outreach you can do with the internet costs very little, and is a tremendous benefit in building your platform. In return for greater visibility, your job is to find five or ten sites to set up a profile, keep track of your log-in and passwords, and return frequently to be part of the community.

Here are a few good resources to get you started:

1. authorcentral.amazon.com
2. facebook
3. linkedin.in writing groups
4. mediabistro.com and avantguild (fee)
5. redroom.com
6. shewrites.com

and most important:  YOUR BLOG or WEBSITE..

Publisher's Weekly related article.