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I had lunch with the awesome Cindy Kuzma, an extremely talented and successful freelancer, yesterday and we were talking about the anxiety-producing nature of freelancing. When you're busy with (well-paying) work, it's all good. You may be anxious about meeting your deadlines, but you're not anxious about whether you're making enough money.
Then you hit a slowdown. And that anxiety starts ticking back up. That inner voice kicks in, muttering in my ear:
What were you thinking? Why didn't you market more last month? What if that book deal doesn't come through? Why haven't you signed another book deal yet? Why haven't you heard back from that client? How are you going to pay off your broken-arm bills? Why is your health insurance so shitty? What happens if your insurance rates climb even higher? How are you going to save for retirement? Are you even going to be able to retire? Geez, why did you get divorced? At least you had health insurance and money for retirement. Now it's all up to you. And your'e single...are you ever going to meet someone awesome again? Why are there so many weirdos online? Why didn't that guy from the Y ever ask you out? He probably thinks you're nuts. What are you going to do about your career? Maybe you shouldn't be self-employed anymore. What if you get sick? What if you break your arm again? Maybe you should get a full-time job. Yeah, then you'd have health insurance. But then you'd have to put on clothes and sit at a desk all day and what about the kids? Isn't freedom the biggest reason you decided to freelance anyway? Maybe your time as a freelancer is at an end. Accept it. There are worse things. Maybe you should go back to practicing law. But you hated being a lawyer...boy, you're screwed. Maybe you should go back to Trader Joe's. Remember, there's that 10 percent discount...and they'd let you wear overalls...
That inner voice is hard to quiet. (And by the way, I don't know about yours, but only rarely does my inner voice sing my proverbial praises. Sure, once in a while, my inner voice tells me I'm awesome. Usually it's more along the lines of "by the way, you suck.")
And while I've had work slowdowns before (it's part of freelancing), I'm finding that being slow feels very different now that I'm a single parent. When I was married, slowdowns still sucked. I worried about my the state (and future of) my career, and peripherally, about what I was making or not making. Now, with a 12-year-old and a 7-year-old and a mortgage and a cat and a puppy and a carnie goldfish that has survived for seven days against all odds and ridiculously high insurance premiums (and I'm healthy!), that money worry is no longer peripheral. It's right smack in my face. That drumbeat of "need money, need money, must make money" is a real thing.
It doesn't help that I am by nature anxious. What I thought for decades was "energy" was actually anxiety. I was an anxious little kid, an anxious teen, an anxious adult. So what did I do? I chose a career (self-employed writer) that is, by its very nature, anxiety-producing. Whether I am anxious about tackling an assignment for a new-to-me client or anxious about meeting a deadline or anxious about making enough money to pay my mortgage, feed my kids, and yeah, save for retirement, or anxious about everything else, it's pretty much a given that there will be some chronic, low-grade distress going on.
And you know what? That's okay. Because I still choose to freelance. I'd still rather have the freedom and the flexibility and the ability to be my own boss and yeah, the anxiety, than go "in-house" and work for someone else...at least right now. I am considering part-time work, and am staying open to all possibilities. But the biggest thing I'm doing is controlling what I can, and that means marketing.
So I harnessed that anxiety and spent yesterday afternoon sending out some LOIs and follow-ups. I have a whole slew of contacts to circle back with next week as well. And I finished two assignments this morning, and locked down an editing job for the next few weeks that relieves my money anxiety at least temporarily. I've been doing this long enough to accept anxiety is part of the business. Figuring out how to make it work for you is what makes you successful at it.
**New to the blog? Welcome! If you're serious about making your freelance writing business a money-maker, I suggest my freelance classic, Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition.
If you're more interested in getting into ghostwriting and content marketing, I suggest Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition.
If you're brand-new to freelancing, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets walks you through the process of launching your freelance career.
Finally, if you like your books full of shorter pieces, check out a different format--Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success is divided into five broad sections to help you make more money regardless of what kind of nonfiction writing you do.
What's your ideal freelance work mix? For me, it's to be working on a book for a ghostwriting client with a mix of shorter content (mostly health and fitness) for corporations and content agencies thrown in as well.
Of course we can't always have our ideal. At the moment, my work funnel is nearly empty. (That means the coming week's priorities are marketing, marketing, and marketing.) Part of the issue is that I've had several potential book projects die on the vine. So I was excited to learn about a possible gig. It's the type of ghostwriting I do; I like the potential client; this particular book has lots of potential; and my calendar is looking empty at the moment.
However.
What's being offered, and what I charge to ghostwrite a book proposal--at the moment at least--are way too far apart to go forward. And I'm frustrated. I'd love the project, and I know I'm a good fit for it. And did I mention that work funnelI?
As a new freelancer, I would probably just sucked it up and taken the gig. But that's not how I work today.
Here's a look at my thought process:
1. I know what I charge for a book proposal--typically between $5,000 and $8,000 (though I've charged as much as $15,000 for one that grew to 100+ pages and took more than six months to write).
2. I know what a well-written book proposal is worth. (At least to the clients I work for.) And that, not surprisingly, is between $5,000 and $8,000. See how that works out?
3. The potential client has tried, and can't write the proposal on his or her own. Which means the client has to hire a ghost to make the book go forward.
4. I know from reviewing the material that it will take some time and work (probably four to six weeks) to create a compelling, giant-advance-grabbing book proposal. And while I'm willing to make that happen, that stretch of time means I can't take on another proposal or any other big projects. That's opportunity cost, which is factored into deciding whether to take on a big project.
5. Finally, and just as important, what I do as a ghost (and what we all do as freelancers) has value. If a potential client doesn't value the work I do, that doesn't set the stage for mutual respect and a positive working relationship. And when you ghostwrite a book for a client, those elements are essential.
Sure, it's hard to turn down work, especially when there's backend potential. But as a freelancer, you have to know your value, and be willing to say "no" if you and your client can't agree on it.
So if you're a new freelancer, think about what you charge. Know your bottom line--and know why that's your bottom line. Be prepared to back it up. It will make you a better negotiator, and help you make more money in the meantime.
**New to the blog? Welcome! If you're serious about making your freelance writing business a money-maker, I suggest my freelance classic, Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition.
If you're more interested in getting into ghostwriting and content marketing, I suggest Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition.
If you're brand-new to freelancing, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets walks you through the process of launching your freelance career.
Finally, if you like your books full of shorter pieces, check out a different format--Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success is divided into five broad sections to help you make more money regardless of what kind of nonfiction writing you do.
I started my freelance career two decades ago writing for women's magazines. My first sale was to Cosmopolitan; after that, I wrote for publications including Woman's Day, Family Circle, Self, Shape, Redbook, Fitness, Fit, and Woman's World.
I had several reasons for doing so. First off, I was familiar with some of the publications already. I'd been reading mags like Cosmo and Shape for years before I pitched them. I knew what topics the magazines covered and what kind of stories that editors were likely to be interested in.
But even more important, these magazines paid well, and used plenty of freelance material. While some sections of the mags might be produced in-house, the majority of them relied on freelancers for short FOB (front-of-the-book) pieces, departments, and longer features.
While a lot has changed in 20 years, some things haven't. Women's magazines still work with lots of freelancers, and while some of their contracts request all rights, they pay in the $2/word range. Plus, there's still some cachet to writing for these big publications, and they make impressive clips when you're starting out.
Best news of all? There's any easy way to crack these markets, even when you're short on clips. That was the message I heard from editors from Family Circle, Woman's Day, and First for Women when I moderated a panel on women's magazines at this year's annual ASJA writer's conference.
The answer? Pitch "real women" stories. Editors from all three magazines said they're always looking for compelling pieces about real-life women, and these stories are often difficult to find.
So, what sells? When pitching a "real woman" piece to a woman's magazine, keep these factors in mind:
- The woman you profile should fit within the magazine's readers' demographics.
- The woman should have a compelling story to share. Consider the challenge she faced, how she overcame it, and the takeaway for the reader.
- Even if the story is sad, there should be some kind of positive or uplifting aspect to it. (Generally speaking, women's magazine readers aren't looking for depressing reads.)
- Send a photo of the person along with the pitch.
- Look for people who haven't been covered in national media (local media is usually fine).
- If pitching a story about more than one woman--say four women who have successfully started their own at-home businesses--strive for diversity in terms of age, race, geographic location, etc.
- Tell your friends and family members you're looking for possible story ideas. The bigger the net you cast, the more likely you are to find possible stories.
- If one market doesn't say "yes," try another. I pitched a story about a woman whose doctors didn't believe she was sick for years--until she was finally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and successfully treated--to nine women's magazines and finally the ninth one assigned the story!
I hope you find these tips helpful to pitching, and selling to, women's magazines. Good luck with your pitches!
**New to the blog? Welcome! If you're serious about making your freelance writing business a money-maker, I suggest my freelance classic, Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition.
If you're more interested in getting into ghostwriting and content marketing, I suggest Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition.
If you're brand-new to freelancing, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets walks you through the process of launching your freelance career.
Finally, if you like your books full of shorter pieces, check out a different format--Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success is divided into five broad sections to help you make more money regardless of what kind of nonfiction writing you do.
At a panel on developing a lucrative side hustle at ASJA (moderated by the awesome Damon Brown), I talked about the importance of using your experience to set yourself apart from other writers. Book authors know we're talking about something called "platform," which in short can be described as '"who are you and how will you sell this book so that the publisher can make money with it".
Platform matters for writers of shorter content, too, whether you're pitching an article to a national magazine or sending an LOI to a content company. See, competition is stiff. You're competing against hundreds of thousands (more likely, millions) of other freelancers to get work. Oh no! Before you give up, though, consider that you're not competing against all of these writers at the same time, or for the same markets. Feel a little better? Good.
The fact remains, though, that you're still competing against a fair number of them if you're writing for a market that pays well (or even decently). How do you stand out, especially as a new writer? By thinking about something that makes you unique...and something that has value to your potential client or editor.
Here's what I mean. I'm a certified personal trainer. I have been since 2007. And I've trained clients as a lucrative (okay, not really) side gig. Hence my presence on the panel. But I am not training clients right this second. Fact is, I haven't trained a client for almost two years.
But do I confess this in LOIs, or to editors or agents I meet with? Hell to the no! (I also don't mention that my street slang is typically about five years' behind what people actually say.) I point out that I'm an ACE-certified personal trainer, with a fairly deep background in fitness. Guess what? Most freelancers don't have that qualification. So it sets me apart from the mobs of writers who want to cover fitness.
Better yet, most trainers aren't writers. So, who is an editor going to think of when he or she needs a writer to cover something fitness related? Hopefully me.
Now if an editor point-blank asks me about whether I'm training clients currently, I'll fess up. I won't lie to get a gig. But it's okay to make an impression that helps you stand out in a very competitive field. You don't have to be doing something full-time, or part-time, or even occasionally to "claim" it.
As I said at the panel, "Am I training now? No. But can I say, 'I'm a trainer'? Of course. Hell, I can say I'm a vegetarian. Because right this minute, I am a vegetarian."
"Well, we're ALL vegetarians!" added Damon.
To which I responded, "Yeah, we're all vegetarians...until the burgers arrive."
Mmmmmm....burgers.
Oops, I digress. My point isn't to sway the vegetarians to eat burgers. (Though they are delicious once in a while. The burgers, not the veggies.) It's to claim something about your background, experience, or credentials that helps set you apart. That's what I call being unique qualified. It helps you nail assignments and makes you memorable. And most of the time, being memorable is good.
**A big welcome to my new readers. If you're serious about making your freelance writing business a money-maker, I suggest my freelance classic, Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition.
If you're more interested in getting into ghostwriting and content marketing, I suggest Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: Make Money Ghostwriting Books, Articles, Blogs and More, Second Edition.
If you're brand-new to freelancing, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets walks you through the process of launching your freelance career.
Finally, if you like your books full of shorter pieces, check out a different format--Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets to Freelance Success is divided into five broad sections to help you make more money regardless of what kind of nonfiction writing you do.
