Writers and Editors

(thriving as a creative entrepreneur)

I've been freelance most of my career (after several years as an editor in book publishing), so I know it's possible to make a living this way. Eventually I'll provide more advice here about how to do it. Right now I'm concentrating on getting the bones of this website in place and providing links that serve as a gateway to the information and resources you will need to do the same yourself.

Freelancing doesn't suit everyone. I happen to prefer working alone because it helps me concentrate, and being selectively gregarious I go out when I need the company--but don't need to be working around people all day. The loneliness gets to some freelancers, as do the serious problems with cash flow (because even if you have enough work, payments are sometimes slow in coming). Many people say they want the security of a job, but when job security became an issue for many people, a few years back, my comfort level with not knowing what I would be doing a year later served me well. You need to be able to market yourself, but that doesn't mean you have to be a salesperson so much as you have to let people know you are there, are dependable, and can and will do the work you're being hired to do. There is a learning curve, but there are places to learn and books to learn from. More on those later.

I'm adding some items on telecommuting, because with gas prices going up, I'm getting lots of queries from people who can't afford to keep their jobs, and for some telecommuting may be a good alternative. To the extent that I can post links to advice on how to make that work, I will do so. I will also post links on how to run a small business, because that is essentially what a freelancer is doing. Some present themselves as a company. I haven't done so only because I have been more interested in the work than in managing other people doing the work--although of course I do subcontract parts of my work. (On a book, for example, I always hire an editor; even though I edit, I can't edit myself effectively; nobody can.)

Alternative Income Sources for Writers, Norman Bauman's summary of an ASJA meeting on the subject in 2002, may be helpful, and be sure to see the material he added to his website: Catherine E. Oliver's on what's required for technical writing. Norman's other reports include How to find and price medical writing jobs (1999). For more such summaries, including an interesting piece on text retrieval and search engines, go to Bauman's website, Medical Writing in New York.

And Now, the Tricky Part: Naming Your Business (Emily Maltby, WSJ, 6-29-10) and Name Choices Spark Lawsuits (Emily Maltby, "Start-Ups Can Get Mired in Costly Trademark Scuffles With Bigger Firms," WSJ, 6-24-10)

The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model by Daniel Roth (Wired, 10-19-09). With "content" replacing "writing," the only participants who lose out in this model are the writers. Amy Green continues the conversation in an SPJ blog: The dilemma of Demand Studios.

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"Brevity may be the soul of wit, or lingerie, or texting, or quail eggs, but all subjects are not the same. Efficiency of expression is in some realms a virtue and in some realms a vice. Brevity is certainly not the soul of news, if by news you mean more than information. 'The point' is not always easy. There is not always a 'takeaway.'"
~ Leon Wieselter, on the impoverishment of writers providing "content" for the new media, in Washington Diarist: Writers Have Become the New Proles in The New Republic

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Consider gigs as a virtual assistant. According to the International Virtual Assistants Association (IVAA), a virtual assistant is an independent contractor who (from a remote location, usually a home office) supports multiple clients in a variety of industries by providing administrative, creative, and technical services. AssistU provides advice on becoming or hiring a virtual assistant. This is a fast-growing category of home-based businesses. Services the IVAA lists include association management,coaching support, graphic design and editing, transcription services, author assistance, desktop publishing, multimedia presentations, social media services, and website design.

Freelancer Directories
Many writers and journalists organizations have begun offering freelance directories, so if you're looking for a freelancer in a special field, that's one place to look, and if you're freelance, make sure you're listed in the directory of organizations to which you belong. Here are some directories. I'll list more as you make me aware of them:

• Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ's list of independent journalists)
• Editorial Freelancers Association (search by state, skill, specialty, hardware, software)
• Find a personal historian (Association of Personal Historians, to help Mom and Pop write their memoirs)
• Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (freelancers in an organization that traditionally attracts staff journalists)

Getting Started as a Freelance Writer, expanded edition, by Robert Bly

Liability insurance, or media liability insurance. WriteInsure media perils insurance, available through Axis Pro. The Authors Guild has entered into an agreement with Axis Pro, the world's leading underwriter of media liability insurance, to offer Guild members professional liability insurance. Coverage is available under WriteInsure for book authorship, freelance writing and blogging. I don't think you have to be a member of AG to get it; I don't know if the cost or terms are different if you buy it individually. If anyone else does, or if other writers organizations are also making it available, please let me know!

“Mothers: Don’t let your babies grow up to be freelancers,” cracks one journalist, freelancing after leaving a staff job, as quoted by Rebecca Rosen Lum in California Progress Report story
Freelance Journalists Suffering in Second Wave of News Media Collapse 6-23-10

Pay the Writer, Harlan Ellison getting mad at people expecting freebies
Click here for readings and film clips starring Harlan Ellison (writer of "speculative fiction"),a series of Sundance "digital shorts." BEGINNING WRITERS: In particular watch this one: Pay the Writer
http:/​/​www.sundancechannel.com/​digital-shorts/​#/​series/​20958611001/​20972302001

Per diem rates, U.S. Department of State. If you're estimating travel costs abroad, these might help.The foreign travel per diem allowances (which vary by country and within a country) provide for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses when an employee is on temporary duty overseas.

The Power of Personal Passion: How entrepreneurs can turn what they love doing into successful businesses (Eileen Gittins, creator and CEO of Blurb, for Forbes 5-26-10)

Prompt payment for freelancers (contractors, suppliers), with discount! Gawker reports that Time Inc. will pay you promptly, if you pay them for the service. And NBC Universal has a different version of the payday loan scam for freelancers.

Secrets of a Freelance Writer:How to Make $100,000 a Year or More by Robert Bly (third edition), how to make the big bucks writing ads, annual reports, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, direct mail, Web pages, CD-ROMs, press releases, and other projects for corporations, small businesses, associations, nonprofit organizations, the government, and other commercial clients.

Social Security. Several possibly helpful articles: Collect now, or later? Timing your Social Security benefits (Tara Siegel Bernard, NYTimes, Your Money, 7-10-09), Continuing a conversation on Social Security (Tara Siegel Bernard, NYTimes, 7-16-09), A boot camp to prepare for retirement (also by Bernard, 7-24-09)

Trading a Pink Slip for a Passion by Carrie Sloan (Elle, 4-7-10). How an untimely layoff led four women to a whole new career--including Jennifer Campbell's shift from public television to personal history work.

The Wealthy Freelancer (blog, Steve Slaunwhite, Ed Gandia, and Pete Savage), co-authors of the book The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle, available by Kindle (so you can read it while flying to a meeting with a client).

The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less by Peter Bowerman, and The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds

WhichDraft.com (the blog) and WhichDraft.com (the forms), a self-directed legal resource (not legal advice!), for those who can't afford legal advice and can take advantage of this contract assembly web site (with multiple version tracking, comparison red lining, and online collaboration tools). We haven't tested it. Let us know if it works for you!