Welcome to WordCount
WordCount: Freelancing in the Digital Age gives you the information you need to run a freelance writing business in the age of blogging, content aggregators and Twitter. I also cover what’s happening in freelance markets such as newspapers, magazines and online publications. If you like what you see, subscribe to my RSS feed through the button on your right. Feel free to contact me at michellerafter (at) comcast (dot) net, or find me on Twitter, @michellerafter.
Put down that BlackBerry
How’s your thumb?
Is it sore? Have you been spending more time than usual on Twitter checking out news from Iran or what people are saying in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death?
Is your idea of winding down after a long day at the keyboard picking up your BlackBerry to text all your friends?
If it is, you could be headed for trouble, thumb trouble. Too much typing and texting is leading people to complain of sore thumbs, aching fingers and “iPhone elbow.” Therapists compare today’s era of Twitter-crazed texters with the advent of office computers, which ushered in a major increase in cases of work-related carpal tunnel syndrome and RSI.
It is possible to text to your heart’s content and avoid major injury. Stretching, correct posture and frequent breaks are key. Read all about it in my story just out on IncTechnology.com.
WordCount Q&A: Making new money from old queries
Teri Cettina was frustrated by the vagaries of freelance life – assignments coming in one month but not the next, checks arriving whenever a publisher decides to send them. There’s got to be something I can do to help even things out, the Portland freelance writer thought.
Not long after, Cettina met up with two other freelancer friends at a writer’s conference who’d had similar thoughts. Coincidentally, all three wrote for parenting magazines. What, they asked each other, if we pooled our resources and came up with a money-making venture we could do together.
With that, the idea for Cash in on Your Kids: Parenting Queries that Worked was born. The e-book, written by Cettina, Kris Bordessa and Jeannette Moninger is a collection of 16 queries that landed the three assignments with national magazines such as Real Simple, Parenting, Parents and Redbook.
In addition to queries, the 61-page e-book includes information on getting started in freelancing and other tricks of the trade aspiring parenting writers might find helpful.
Currently, the three writers are busy marketing the $14.95 e-book through a website and other channels.
WordCount talked to Cettina, a long-time freelancer based in Portland, Oregon, recently about how the e-book came together, working with co-authors and more. Read on:
How did you connect with your partners on this project?
We were in a query challenge group where we’d email each other every day, then we created a Google group and then we met in person at the Freelance Success conference last October in Florida. We hit it off in person.
How did you come up with the idea of re-selling your queries?
I’ve downloaded query packets from places like Renegade Writer, which shares a packet of actual queries they sold to publications. Six or seven years ago, I bought a packet of queries from an editor who had compiled queries from five or six nationally known magazine writers. That was a way to get inside information on how much detail they put into their queries, how they’d gotten theirs ideas, and how much money they made. I thought, why can’t I do this for parenting markets? I could pitch queries to newbie mom writers, woman who were mommy bloggers and thinking about moving into querying magazines.
What made you decide to do this as an e-book through Lulu.com, the print on demand publisher?
Kris had done some e-books and she said it sounded like something we could do as an e-book. She’s worked with Lulu.com. It’s a great low-risk way to try your idea. You don’t pay anything to have the product up, only when you sell, they take a percentage.
How did you decide which queries to include?
We pulled our queries together, shared the ones we thought were best and made sure we have diversity of markets and topics. We included queries for short and long assignments, and then came up with the queries we wanted to offer. We decided we needed to add some introductory information on how to get started as a freelance parenting writer and what a query is.
What information is included?
The e-book has 16 queries that netted us up to $3,600 a piece, some were shorts where we maybe made $300 and a lot were features. We shared what we made on each, which is part of the draw for people, understanding that they could make decent money at this. We shared a little about how we came up with the idea, changes we made and how we found sources.
How long did it take?
It took a few months to put the whole thing together, learn about working together and how to create a .pdf. We hired a graphic designer to do a cover. It’s been out 6 or 8 weeks and now we’re figuring out how to market it. Just by word of mouth we’ve sold copies, less than 100, but we’re just getting started and haven’t done intensive marketing yet.
What are your marketing plans?
We started with simple stuff, like the website. We’ve added our e-book reference to our email signatures, which seems like a small thing but we’ve gotten a few people who’ve noticed it from that. We’re mentioning it on writer’s websites and mommy blog websites. We’re doing a mass mailing of free tips from our book to regional parenting publications. I’ve also been playing around with doing a Google AdWords campaign. One thing I learned from a friend in the computer business, if you can get on Craigslist it boosts your Google search results, so we put the e-book on in a couple markets to see what would happen. But Craigslist people don’t like e-books, they don’t feel they’re tangible products, so we got complaints that it wasn’t the right place. And it was hard to place. I was putting it under babies and kids items for sale, but that wasn’t an exact fit. We’re just learning about marketing, none of us have done direct marketing before.
How do you split the proceeds on Lulu.com?
One person is the banker and they pay expenses, like the graphic designer, and distribute money to the others. So far that’s worked out fine. It’s not like we’re making money yet, but we’re figuring out how we’ll do it on an ongoing basis. We hope it will be successful so you have to figure out how it’ll be managed. Probably we’ll do a partnership agreement and the partnership will get the proceeds and then we’ll do a distribution once a quarter.
What’s the investment been on your part?
Time only. The queries were written. It took a little time to find them because some of them were a couple years old. Creating the intro and the materials took time. But we were re-purposing what we had, so it was worth a try.
It pays freelancers to find wiggle room in exclusivity clauses
Given what’s happening in the media business, freelancers can’t afford to cultivate an exclusive relationship with one newspaper or magazine.
Actually, an exclusive relationship would be sweet – think of all those letters of introduction you’d avoid having to do and the time you’d save.
But unless you’re under contract at The New Yorker – and even that doesn’t work out so well for everybody - a single publication doesn’t have enough work to keep someone busy 100 percent of the time, leaving writers to cobble together a livelihood by taking assignments from any number of sources.
That can be a problem when publications have policies over what writing on similar topics freelancers they work with can or can’t do for competing publications.
Writers, of course, want the opportunity to pursue as many markets as possible: the bigger the pool, the more likely someone will bite.
Publications on the other hand, don’t want a freelancer they work with to do a killer story on a topic said writer usually covers for them for their arch rival.
Publications address this in different ways. Some put “category exclusivity” clauses in contracts barring a freelancer from writing anything else on the same topic for any of their major competitors for a specified period, often 60 or 90 days. Many category exclusivity contracts list the competitors, so everyone’s clear on who’s off limits. Here’s the exclusivity clause included in the contract Inc. uses:
Notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, Author shall not permit the Work to be published in any other business, financial, or new economy magazine, including, without limitation, Fortune, Forbes, Business Week, Wired, Portfolio, or Harvard Business Review, or on any business, financial, or new economy Web site not owned in whole or in substantial part, or operated by or on behalf of, Publisher.
If a magazine or Website likes a writer enough, they may sign them to a contributing writer contract and pay them a retainer for filing a set number of words or stories per month. I’ve had such arrangements before, and if anybody wants to work out the same kind of deal with me again, please call. All joking aside, such arrangements commonly include a list of competing magazines the contributor agrees not to pitch while under contract.
Some magazines take a less formal approach, relying on a writer’s word that while they’re writing for the publication they aren’t going to simultaneously work on a story on the same topic for the publication’s biggest rival. I’m a contributing editor at one trade magazine and have discussed with the editor which magazines they view as direct competitors so I could avoid pitching anything to them. While I’m not bound by a contract, I value my relationship with this publication too much to do anything to mess with it, especially since they’re by far the best written, best edited, and best run, title in their industry.
Some magazine’s exclusivity clauses are pretty onerous, especially if you specialize on a certain topic. But just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s set in stone. I’ve successfully negotiated very broad contract language regarding category exclusivity, changing it to specify a certain take on the story I’m doing for the publication, not on the topic in general.
I’ve also successfully negotiated changes to contract language that would have restricted my ability to blog about topics I also write about. One of the reasons I got into blogging in the first place was to get up to speed on topics I want to write about, so I’m not going to agree to limit what I can blog about for anybody.
You’d think that with things as bad as they are for magazines and newspapers, publishers would be less heavy-handed when it comes to category exclusivity clauses in contracts. Even they have to see freelancers can’t make it writing for one publication alone. Until they do, don’t be intimated by what’s on the printed page. You can negotiate better deals for yourself.
Once a source, always a source
“Don’t worry, you’ll never have to talk to them again.”
That line’s been stuck in my head ever since an editor said it last summer – and it’s 100 percent wrong.
The editor and I were talking about a story I’d done, a case study involving some relatively new and complicated technology. I’d finished writing and, at her request, sent the draft to one of my sources – I know, bad editorial practice but totally not my call – to check that the convoluted tech stuff was factually accurate.
Only when I emailed the story to the source, I’d forgotten to remove some notes at the top that I’d written to the editor, notes that included some less than flattering comments about the source – nothing defamatory, nothing horrible, but embarrassing nonetheless.
That’s what prompted the editor’s comment to relax and forget about it because I’d never be talking to that person again.
It’s advice I promptly ignored.
Maybe that’s the way she does business. But it’s not how I operate.
To make a proper go of it as a freelancer, you’ve got to be a beat reporter, keeping up on the latest news and events in fields you cover. That means keeping in touch with a ever widening circle of contacts, because you never know when you’ll need to talk to someone or ask for a referral to someone they might know.
Over the years, I’ve prided myself in my source list. A friend and former co-worker still talks about the extensive list of contacts I left when she took over my newspaper beat while I went on maternity leave.
These days I use LinkedIn, Twitter and Google Desktop to keep tabs on sources and manage contact information online and within my computer files.
Sources are my pot of gold, my secret weapon. They’re the reason I can take 500-word assignments that only pays 50 cents a word, because I can tap into my source list to turn a story around in less than a day, making it financially feasible when calculating the work on an hourly basis.
I may treasure my sources, but I’m no pushover. The only times I’d let a source see quotes before they’re published, go off the record or talk anonymously is if the editor asked or the circumstances warranted it. And asking tough questions is par for the course.
After I realized what I’d done and called the editor, I picked up the phone again and called my source. Even from across the the country, I’m sure they could tell my face was red. Luckily for me, they were pretty good about the whole thing and there were no lasting repercussions.
Moral of the story: Never, ever, include notes on a story that you wouldn’t want the world to see. And whatever you do, be good to your sources.
A little something on the side
Is it just me, or does it seem like these days everybody’s got a job and a little something on the side?
Here in Portland, examples are everywhere:
- A local PR guy moonlights as the Silicon Florist, chronicler of the city’s tech start up scene.
- A photographer is helping organize WordCamp Portland, the annual gathering of local WordPress users that happens in September.
- The head of an interactive marketing agency runs an indie music blog.
- A freelance magazine writer is pitching an ebook.
- Another local writer and (ultra hip) mommy blogger runs Backfence Portland, a live storytelling series.
- The editor of a neighborhood newspaper is working to get a non-profit media lab off the ground.
I’ve got a couple side projects going too:
- This blog and the annual blogathon connected with it
- Helping with the above-mentioned media lab project
- Writing website copy and other materials for a local church’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebration
- A monthly Cub Scout pack newsletter
- A high school auction catalog
The popularity of side projects could be an outgrowth of the Gig Economy Tina Brown so famously wrote about.
I think there’s more to it. People – including writers – take on side jobs or volunteer projects if they’re just starting out or want to switch careers as a way to get experience before a boss or editor would chance a paycheck on them. It’s a good way to put energy into something you’re passionate about but don’t make money from, or not enough to live on just yet.
I’ve used side projects to keep writing during a protracted hiatus from paid work, get myself back up once I started writing again full time and get to know the local writing scene. I’ve also used them to help my kids’ schools and other groups that require a certain number of volunteer hours a year; if I have to do something, I might as well do something I like and am good at, right?
Besides adding to what you know and possibly increasing your income, side projects can expand your work and social circles. As much as we all love Facebook and Twitter, it’s still nice to meet new people face to face.
So what’s your little something on the side?
The reckoning
How bad are times for freelance writers?
At the risk of over sharing, and after spending some time calculating my own revenue for the first half of 2009, my conclusions are: bad, but not as bad as they could be.
Bad, because old clients don’t have as much money to spend. Not as bad as they could be because there are – surprise, surprise – publications of various shapes and sizes out there with money to spend.
Before I get to the numbers, a brief explanation of my writing business. I practice what I call the contributing writer model of freelance writing. For just about as long as I’ve worked as an independent writer, my preferred business model has been to write for a handful of publications – wire services, newspapers, trade magazines and websites – on a regular if not monthly basis. As a former newspaper staff writer it’s what I’m most comfortable with. And it doesn’t require as much marketing effort as constantly sending out letters of introduction and queries to editors I don’t know.
This business model still worked for me in 2008, when my top two clients accounted for 72 percent of my work.
Not so in 2009. In the first six months of the year, work from my two biggest clients fell 39 percent and 71 percent respectively. Ouch and double ouch. Work for a few other regulars stayed steady or increased slightly.
My saving grace: work from new clients, a handful of publications I hadn’t worked for before, which increased 89 percent during the first six months of the year. It wasn’t enough to completely make up the difference, leaving me with a 15 percent decline in revenue for the first half of the year. Not great, but compared to GM, none too shabby either.
Until I did these calculations I didn’t realize how much I needed to innovate and beat the bushes for new relationships. Although it takes me out of my comfort zone – and really, who likes that? – it’s obviously something I must do, and in fact, have already begun. In the past several weeks, I’ve nabbed my first assignment from a national writers’ magazine, and am waiting to hear back from an organization that could throw some interesting work my way.
There’s an upside to pushing beyond the familiar. If and when things get better and work picks up from my old standbys, I’ll have my pick of assignments. If it doesn’t, I’ve cultivated a crop of what I hope will be my new regulars.
What have you learned about your own freelance business this year?
The revolution on Twitter
Twitter is revolutionizing the way people gather and disseminate news, and today there’s no better example of that than what’s happening in Iran.
After Friday’s hotted contested presidential elections saw the apparent re-election of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a landslide, supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets in what looks to be the biggest rioting and protests since the 1979 Iranian revolution.
In the past 72 hours, Iranian citizens and traditional news organizations have taken to Twitter, blogs and other social networks to share what’s happening with the world. Through short reports on the social network, photos on Flickr and newspaper websites, live blog updates and video feeds, activists and observers are recording what is happening in the country, which has shut down other forms of communication.
Other quick take aways from what’s happening:
** As foreign press are being threatened and asked to leave the country, lines between trained journalists and citizen journalists are blurring. Man-on-the-street reports, photos and video of what’s happening are coming from a variety of sources, making it more critical than ever that news gathering organizations use their experience and professional standards to act as curators and pull together multimedia packages from various information sources and make sure people know what those sources are.
** In a Twitter world, people want constant coverage and complain when they don’t get it. When CNN and other networks didn’t provide the kind of 24/7 coverage U.S. viewers wanted they took their protests to Twitter. In fact, Twitter’s become so important to the news, when the company announced a service interruption for scheduled maintenance at what would have been Tuesday morning in Iran, subscribers made such a stink the work was rescheduled to occur at 1:30 a.m. Tehran time.
** For a well-curated sample of what’s happening in Tehran, plus continuing commentary of how mainstream media and other are covering it, check out Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish column at TheAtlantic.com.
