Who, You? Five Ways to Develop your Voice (and Make you Stand out)

One of the biggest challenges of ghostwriting is the challenge of capturing your client's voice. When you ghost, what you write should sound like your client, not you. So you may be surprised to learn that I do believe in having a unique voice as a writer, regardless of the type of work you do.

But how do you develop a unique voice? How can you make your voice stronger? And what is voice, anyway? I'm frequently asked about voice, especially by newer writers who want their work to stand out from the crowd—and there's nothing wrong with that. But voice isn't something that can be forced. It develops over time, gradually announcing itself in your choice of phrase, your rhythm, your style.

Every writer has a voice. If you're still trying to identify yours, or make it more compelling, try these five techniques:

Write for a variety of markets. When you write for different markets, you must be able to analyze the magazine's voice and perspective—and duplicate it, or at least conform your work to it. Articles I've written for a magazine aimed at 20-something women sound quite different than those I write for markets aimed at an older audience, or for men, for that matter. Writing for different audiences is one of the easiest ways to play with different voices and see which feel most natural and comfortable to you.

Write for yourself. Of course, if you're always worried about pleasing your editor, your own voice may slip through the cracks. That's why I recommend personal writing, whether it's blogging, writing letters, or keeping a journal. When you write for yourself, you may find your voice begins to assert itself. Make a habit of this kind of "selfish" writing—it will improve your craft and help you develop a unique style.

Compare before and after. After a story is edited, compare your original version to the version your editor produced. How did the story change? Did it affect your voice? Are you happy with the edit? Why or why not? Even small changes to a piece can have a dramatic impact, and becoming aware of those changes (especially when introduced by another writer) can help your own writing in the future.

Read widely. Don’t limit yourself to one genre, one subject matter, or one author. I read everything from popular nonfiction to novels to The Star (hey, I've got to keep up on my celeb gossip.) The broader your base of reading, the deeper your "language well" will be, and you'll notice a difference in your writing.

Be yourself. At the same time, don't strive to be the next Hemingway or Atwood or Clancy or Morrison. Imitation may be a form of flattery, but it won't help your writing. Instead of trying to be like someone else, focus on your perspective—that's something that no else can duplicate. I don't read fiction when I'm working on a new novel because I don’t want to be influenced (even unconsciously) by another author. I want the voice in my book to be authentic. I want it to be mine.

Whether you ghostwrite or freelance for different markets, you’ve got to be able to capture the voice that your client or editing is looking for. Just don’t forget that you have your own, too—and strive to develop a strong one. It will make you more marketable, and more memorable, as a self-employed writer.

Upcoming Webinar: Make Money NOW Writing Freelance Articles

I started my freelance career fifteen years ago, pitching and selling articles to magazines including Cosmopolitan, Brides, Good Housekeeping, and Complete Woman. I'd never taken a journalism class in college and knew nothing about writing queries (believe me, my first ones were terrible!) or articles. As a result, I made a lot of mistakes that wasted my time and effort. Fortunately, you can avoid those mistakes and learn the secrets of successful magazine freelancing in my first webinar with Writer's Digest on Thursday, October 27, 2011.

In Make Money NOW Writing Freelance Articles, you'll learn:

• How to analyze a potential market.
• How to make your query stand out from the competition.
• How to locate and interview sources for articles.
• How to reslant article ideas and make more money in less time.
• How to get your first assignment when you have no clips.

You'll also get a free query critique by me, and have a chance to ask questions during the webinar. If you're a new freelancer or already have some experience but want to have more success and make more money from their work. I hope to "see" many of you at the webinar, and please spread the news about it to other writers!

Above Average: Straight Talk about POD Sales

After nearly a decade of working with traditional publishers, last year I opted for a POD publisher for Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: The Writer's Guide to Making Money Ghostwriting and Coauthoring Books. At the time, I didn't know that the average POD author sells about 150 copies of his/her book. (Considering the relative success of a small number of POD authors, the median number of sales is probably significantly lower. That's sobering news for would-be POD authors.)

Because I believe in talking about money, I've shared my actual sales figures for the first six months before. Now let's look at the entire year's worth of sales. Since October, 2010, I've sold:

• 159 print copies through CreateSpace (including expanded distribution);
• 50 e-books;
• 50 copies through a special sale; and
• 36 copies as "hand-sales," or copies I sell at speaking gigs, writers' conferences, or directly to readers who want a signed copy, etc. (If you do--or want to buy a copy as a gift for a writer, shoot me an email at kelly at becomebodywise dot com.)

That's a total of 295 copies, which means I've already doubled the "average" number of POD sales. But what does this figure mean in real dollars? To determine that, I have to know what I make per-book on each type of sale:

For each print copy sold through amazon.com or Createspace.com, I make a "royalty" (though it's not a true royalty) of $5.32.

For each print copy sold through what CreateSpace calls "expanded distribution" (e.g., your local brick-and-mortar bookstore), I make a royalty of $2.33.

For each Kindle edition sold in the US, UK, or Canada, I make 70% of the cover price, which is $9.99--that's a royalty of $6.95.

For a Kindle edition sold outside of those three countries, I made 35% of the Kindle price of $9.99, or $3.49.

For hand-sales, I purchase copies of the book directly from CreateSpace for $3.65 each, plus shipping. At a cover price of $14.95, I net about $11.30/book, less if I mail copies to purchasers myself.

For special sales, I can set my own price (and do give discounts on bulk purchases. That's a good deal for me and for buyers. For special sales, I average a profit of $4-5/book.

Bottom line? The first six months, I made $587 in book sales. After 12 months, I've made (drumroll, please): $1703.

This number isn't nearly as high as I'd like. However, Goodbye Byline continues to sell steadily, has gotten good reviews, and has little competition. That means that I should continue to see steady (if not stellar) book sales and encourages me to continue to promote and market the book.

And there have been other benefits as well. The book has led to other work, including a feature in Writer's Digest on ghostwriting, and speaking gigs at writers' conferences on (surprise, surprise) ghostwriting. I'll be teaching a class through Writer's Digest University on ghostwriting, and my book is a useful calling card for potential ghostwriting clients and helps build my platform as a ghostwriter/collaborator.

The bottom line? If you're going POD to make money, be realistic about what you may make--and make sure you read your contracts carefully so you'll know exactly what you make on every version of your book.

Readers, what do you think? Are you surprised by the different amounts you make on POD books versus ebooks, and how "expanded distribution" royalties are so much lower? Have you learned something from this post? Please let me know. :)

Criticism Can be a Good Thing: A Four-Step Process to Make it Work for You

When you freelance, you take a critical step from writing for yourself and writing for others—editors, clients, and readers. That means you can sell and get paid (hopefully well!) for your work, but it also means that you’re subject to criticism. The way you respond to it can impact your success as a freelancer.

How you respond to criticism depends on a on a variety of factors, including who’s making the comment, your relationship with that person, what’s said or communicated, and how it’s communicated.

Consider an editor who tells you she loves your approach to a topic but wants you to add a couple more anecdotes to the piece. If you have a good working relationship with your editor, you’re likely to accept the criticism as fair (especially if you know her market tends to use anecdote-heavy stories), and make the requested changes. If the same comment comes from an editor you’ve had trouble with in the past, your reaction may be anger or annoyance--and you may be less willing to make the requested edits.

In a perfect world, every article, blog post, book, and book proposal I write would be accepted "as is," and I’d never have to rewrite anything, ever. But that’s not the case, nor will it be for you.

Here’s my four-step method for handling criticism:

1. Consider the source. If the criticism is from a client or editor, I pay attention. If it’s from someone like the person who just posted a nasty (and untrue) review about Goodbye, Byline, I try to let it go. (Obviously I'm not always successful as my ire resulted in this blog post.)

2. Consider the criticism. Several years ago, an editor took me to task for using the phrase “read on” too often. A quick check of the stories I’d written for her revealed that she was right. I was encouraging readers to "read on" constantly. (I also had been overusing pet phrases like “you’re not alone,” “fear not,” and “good news/bad news” comparisons. Oops!)

3. Consider how you can address it. Often with a client or editor, it’s as simple as reworking a piece. That's part of freelancing. But if you get a nasty email (almost certainly anonymous) from a reader who hates your latest piece on Huffington post or find someone trashing your book on Amazon, you can’t do much. Do you really want get into a toxic email exchange with a scary stranger? If you have seven glowing reviews (several from people you don’t even know!), should one negative one make you question the value of your book? I think not.

4. Consider how it can help you. In the case of my editor’s comment about my “fear not” overuse, I focused on eliminating my go-to phrases from my work. It made my writing stronger, and meant fewer edits, too! If a ghostwriting client complains that a chapter doesn’t sound like his voice, I make sure I do a better job with that, not only with him but with other ghosting clients as well. In other words, instead of tuning out well-founded criticism, I use the negative feedback as an opportunity to improve my work.

No writer enjoys being criticized, but instead of ignoring it or getting angry, turn it into a positive thing for your writing. Consider whether it’s legit, and if it is, let it spur you to take your work up a notch. And if you know it isn't legit. let it slide...and move on.

Readers, do you agree with this four-step analysis? How do you react to criticism? Do you find it a helpful tool for stronger writing?

***The book cover at the top of this post is the one for my new book, Writer for Hire, which will be released in April, 2012 but you can preorder it on Amazon already.

What Every Writer Should Know about Copyright

As a freelancer, you make a living from your words. That’s why I’m always so surprised at how few writers actually understand what copyright is--and how to protect it.

No, copyright isn't sexy. But if you take a few moments to read this post, you'll come away with a working knowledge of what it means for writers. Ready? Let's do it!

Here’s the least you must know about copyright:

1. When you write an article, book proposal, or book on your own, you automatically own the copyright to it.

2. You retain copyright, or ownership, of the work unless and until you sell, transfer, or grant the copyright to someone else.

That’s it! But let’s talk about what copyright actually is. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “copyright” is a form of protection provided by U.S. law to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual rights. Copyright means that the author of the work has the exclusive right to do what he wishes with his work and to authorize others to do the same.

So as the copyright owner, you (and only you) can do whatever you want with the work you’ve created—until and unless you sell, transfer, or assign those rights to someone else, like a publisher. That’s copyright law in a nutshell.

New writers often think they have to register their work with the Library of Congress to create copyright. That’s not true. Copyright protection is created concurrently with the work—as you get the words down on the page (what the law refers to as “in fixed form”), it’s automatically copyrighted. But it’s got to be “in fixed form.” An idea is not is fixed form, and so isn’t protected by copyright law.

The Work-for-hire Exception

Of course there is an exception to every rule. With copyright, the exception is when you are an employee, creating work for an employer. Then, the company you work for owns the copyright to anything you create at work under what’s called the “work-for-hire” doctrine. In that case, your employer, not you, automatically owns the writing you do at work. (Some freelance contracts also have work-for-hire provisions; legally speaking, though, a work-for-hire can only exist between an employer and an employee, not a freelancer and a client.)

Making Sense of Copyright Notice

Simple enough. So then what’s with the copyright symbol (©)? Why do people stick that on written work? The reason has to do with something called the “innocent infringement” doctrine.

Copyright notice simply lets everyday people (i.e. those who know nothing about publishing law) that this work is someone’s property. If there’s no copyright notice on a piece of writing and someone copies or uses it for their own purposes (assuming in good faith that it’s okay to do so—what the courts call an “innocent infringer”), that person may not be liable for damages. That’s why notice is required—to let would-be innocent infringers know that they can’t use your work.

The notice required is the copyright symbol ©, followed by the date the work was first published, and the author’s name—for example, © 2011, Kelly James-Enger. That’s why books have a copyright page—to help protect the work from no-longer-innocent infringers. Just keep in mind that if you’re sending work out to anyone in the publishing biz—agents, editors, or publishers—you needn’t stick a copyright notice on your work. They know it’s copyrighted—and it looks amateurish.

For More Effective Protection...

There’s one last thing about copyright that freelancers should keep in mind. Yes, your work is automatically protected by copyright simply by writing it. But if you want effective protection, you should register it with the Library of Congress. To pursue a copyright infringement case, it’s easier and more lucrative if you have registered your work “in a timely fashion” (within three months of publication) with the LOC.

The copyright statute provides that if you prevail, you can get attorneys’ fees (which can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars) and statutory damages—in other words, monetary damages set out by law. (Contrast this to having to prove your damages in court, which is much more difficult.) If you’ve registered your copyright, you can introduce that fact at trial to prove you’re the legal copyright owner. That’s big. If you don’t register your work within three months after it’s published, you may still have a cause of action for infringement, but you’re limited to injunctive relief and/or actual damages—that is, the amount of money you have lost because of the violator’s actions, which may be impossible to conclusively prove.

Registering Work

So, once your work is published, you have three months to register it. (Registering is retroactive, which means that registering within those three months protects you back to the publication date.) Current fees to register with the Copyright Office are:

$35 to register work online;
$50 to register work via paper registration; and
$65 to register a group of articles or other work for periodicals or database updates.

For more information about copyright registration procedures, visit www.copyright.gov.

***Want to learn more about legal, business, and tax issues that impact freelancers? Check out Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, which is still available as an ebook. If you're interested in adding ghostwriting to your freelance repertoire, you'll want to read Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks: The Writer's Guide to Making Money Ghostwriting and Coauthoring Books (Kindle edition).

Readers, what do you think? Did this post make copyright understandable for you? Let me know!

Five Ways to Build a Better Blog: Advice from Jane Boursaw

Got a blog? Thinking about starting one? You're not alone. Seems like everyone I know has a blog, but that doesn't mean you should, too. In fact, I suggest freelancers blog with purpose--whether it's to make money, to sell books, to build your platform, to attract clients, or a combination of all of these.

I came late to the blog-o-sphere, but freelancer Jane Boursaw was blogging, and making money for it, long before most of us considered trying to master the form. Boursaw, who writes about entertainment, started her blog to accompany her main website, ReelLifeWithJane.com. Today, her blog still serves as a "moving picture show" to her site, which holds clips, testimonials, syndication info for editors, a list of syndication partners, links to her social media networks, full-length movie reviews, and other related info--but it makes money has well, and has attracted the interest of advertisers and sponsors.

Sounds great, huh? But it’s not as simple as just deciding to blog and then watching the cash roll in. You need passion--and some kind of plan--before you launch a successful blog. Identify the purpose(s) for your blog, your audience, and what topic(s) you'll cover before you launch yours. I played with the idea of blogging for several years (and took Boursaw’s excellent blogging e-class), considering and discarding potential topics before I settled on one that stuck. This blog was created for four primary reasons:

• To sell copies of my (then) new book on ghostwriting, Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks, once it was published;
• To continue to sell copies of my earlier freelance-related books;
• To attract potential ghostwriting and collaborating clients; and
• To continue to build my platform as a freelancing expert.

The tagline of my blog is “helping nonfiction freelancers make more money in less time.” That identifies both the purpose and audience of my blog. While I occasionally stray from the strictest interpretation of this phrase, my blog posts always relate to the challenges and benefits of freelancing. My readers know what to expect every time they visit it.

So make sure you’ve identified the your audience and your purpose before you jump in. There’s nothing wrong with blogging because you’d like to write and sell a book--that’s becoming a common way to nab a publishing deal, especially when your platform is still "in progress." My friend Polly Campbell started her imperfect spirituality blog, to help build a readership, and sell her book of the same name--and a traditional publisher picked it up. Freelancer Denise Schipani’s blog, Confessions of a Mean Mommy, http://www.confessionsofameanmommy.com, got her noticed and led to her first book deal, too.

Ready to blog for bucks? Follow Boursaw's five keys to successful blogging:

1. Pick a topic you love;

2. Create a business where your blog blends well or is the foundation for the rest of your business;

3. Have faith in your abilities and your message, whatever that may be;

4. Always, always, always provide quality content on your blog, no matter whether the post is short or long. Great writing is what sets the professional blogs apart from the rest of the pack; and

5. Network with other bloggers and people in your niche as much as possible. Spend time on Twitter and Facebook and join groups with like-minded bloggers. If there isn’t a group for your niche, start one.

Boursaw has found that the more she blogs, the more readers she draws, and the more advertisers and syndicators she gets. She offers a variety of blogging classes for both new and experienced bloggers.

While you may not have as much success with your blog as Boursaw has, I suggest your blog for more than pleasure. Your time as a freelancer is limited and finite, remember? That's why I believe your should, at the minimum, attract new clients and build your platform--and hopefully much more.

**Readers, do you blog for passion, profit, or a mix of both? Have you found work through your blog, and if so, how has it helped you build your business?

Turn your Kids into Money-Makers, Take 2

When I teach magazine writing, at least half of my students are stay-at-home parents (usually moms) who are looking for work that they can do from home. Freelancing--regardless of whether you write books, articles, blogs, newsletters, web copy, ads, you name it--it a great choice for parents. You've got to get creative about blending parenting and freelancing (and having a baby-sitter certainly helps), but plenty of moms and dads make it work.

You can write about anything and everything, but a lot of parents start out covering child care topics. Why not? After all, you're spending much of your time surrounded by little idea factories--a/k/a your kids. (I've posted before about writing for parenting markets (and it's one of the writing specialties I devote a chapter to in Ready, Aim, Specialize).

So I was intrigued by Kerrie McLoughlin's ebook, Get Published in Parenting and Family Magazines. Kerrie is a homeschooling writer mom of 5 and wife of 1 living in Kansas City. She has written for over 70 regional parenting magazines (RPMs) since 2009. She's got great advice for parents who want to launch their own freelance careers:

You've written for a slew of regional parenting mags. How did you get started, and then how did you branch out to others?

I started with a magazine I found at the library, Mother and Child Reunion. I wrote a piece about how moms can make money with their kids in tow, and the editor wanted it to be a regular piece. I wrote a few more (for online only) before I realized I hadn’t even asked about getting paid, but that I probably wasn’t going to get any money for doing it. I quit that and remembered how a mom friend told me she went grocery shopping nearly every day. I couldn’t imagine dragging my own three kids to the store all the time and quickly wrote my first (and honestly, mediocre!) piece for my local parenting magazine, Kansas City Parent. I was shocked when it was accepted. Around the same time, an essay I wrote for La Leche League’s New Beginnings magazine was also accepted.

I was hooked but had no clue where to go with my writing, especially since I didn’t have Internet access at home. At the library one day I stumbled upon the Parenting Publications of America website I started getting sample copies of RPMs from all over the country and snail mailing editors, but that yielded zilch. It was only after I collected all the email addresses and writer’s guidelines and editorial calendars I could get my hands on that I started blind-submitting pieces all over the place. It’s taken close to three years, but I’m on track to have close to 90 publishing credits by the end of 2011 and am slowly sending queries to nationals.

Do you write original stories for regional parenting mags and sell reprints, or a mix of both?

If I write something on assignment, I generally wait until that piece has printed and then sell it everywhere else as a reprint. Most of my work is articles and essays I come up with on my own and then I just submit them to around 300 RPMs each time. It’s a crapshoot … some pieces do well and some don’t. I sell those as “reprints” because it’s likely that several RPMs will be using it in the same month, so I don’t feel right calling something an “original” that might be printed 10 places in October, for instance.

If you sell reprints, do you "tweak" the stories for the new markets? How so?

No tweaking because it takes too long. If an RPM wants a piece and needs it localized or tweaked, I’m happy to do so, but I can’t try to read minds and put in hours of work that might lead to nothing. Believe it or not, my initial crapshoot method works pretty well (especially on seasonal pieces)!

What types of topics tend to be your biggest sellers?

Seasonal pieces (Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Father’s Day, etc.)! The bonus is that they can be resold year after year to different markets. So now I try to come up with SEASONAL things I wish I had known when I was starting out as a mom. “Trendy” stuff sells well, too, like homeschooling and putting a “green” twist on topics.

I've blogged before about "turning your kids into money-makers." Do you get a lot of ideas from your own kids?

Like crazy! Birthdays, fundraisers, lemonade stands, pets, saving money, making money are all topics I could not have written about with authority 10 years ago. And the ideas don’t just come from my kids, but from my husband and from family members (grandparent pieces, how to deal with relatives during the holidays, being a travel widow).

As a mom and a freelancer, how do you manage your time and stay productive, writing-wise?

It’s a constant struggle! I do research and send quote requests when my kids are sleeping. I write outlines and the meat of articles during the day when the kids are having their “quiet time.” Sometimes I can get away for a couple of hours to go to a coffeehouse with my laptop and pound out some pieces and queries then. To attempt to stay productive, I keep an Excel spreadsheet where I try to do something writing-related every day, like send a query to a national magazine, find a new regional market, send my reprint list (monthly) or send a completed article to an RPM. Sometimes I get behind and have to catch up a week’s worth of stuff all in one day, but at least I see some progress.

What made you decide to write your e-book? What does it include?

I realized I had dug up a lot of great markets that were not on the PPA site and was using the information with success, so I added writing advice and a bonus section to help other newbies. I wish I had a resource like Get Published in Parenting and Family Magazines when I was starting out, especially since it’s updated every year and sent out free to previous buyers! There are so many writers who write solely for their local publication and have no idea they can be reselling their pieces again and again for money that really adds up, as well as valuable publishing credits that bring you more work.

***Thanks so much to Kerrie for sharing her advice; if you're a parent who wants to freelance, I suggest you check out her book!