Being a Writer

Conducting Interviews as a Freelance Writer

Photo Credit: FOTOCROMO

If you want to make a living as a freelance writer you must learn the art of conducting interviews with experts, witnesses, and others who can shed light on your chosen subject.

But learning such an art can be terrifying for some writers, even such freelance writing pros as Jenna Glatzer.

In her book, Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments, Glatzer writers, “[o]ne of the reasons I write is because typing doesn’t make me blush. Speaking, however, does.”

I think that the same can be said for a lot of writers. In general, writers are a quiet, introspective bunch. These traits can make the prospect of conducting interviews with--gulp--strangers a terrifying prospect.

It was definitely a terrifying prospect for me. Even though I have a BA in Communications and am a pretty good public speaker, the idea of conducting interviews (in person or on the phone) has always intimidated me. (By “intimidate” I mean it scares me to death).

Well, yesterday I confronted my fear head on. Yep, I conducted my first interviews--by phone--with three different witnesses for an article that I am writing for Seed.com. My heart was really pounding as I picked up the phone to make my first call for an interview, though.

However, before making that call, I followed some of Glatzer’s advice in Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer:

1.   I wrote out a brief introductory paragraph telling them who I was, what I was writing, and how I hoped that their experiences could help me with my research. (I wrote this out so that I wouldn’t become tongue-tied when they answered the phone).

2.   I wrote out a list of questions that I wanted to ask them. (Per Glatzer’s instructions, I made sure that most of my questions were open-ended, ones that could not be answered simply with a “yes” or a “no” answer.) Glatzer says that asking open-ended questions not only leads to good quotes but also can leads to the interview subject revealing information that you never thought of asking about.

3.   I wrote a closing paragraph thanking them for their time. (Again, so I wouldn’t get tongue-tied at the close of the interview). 

4.   Throughout the interviews, I asked for clarification (when necessary) and typed their answers as fast as I could, and…

Guess what?

My first stab at conducting interviews went great. (Thank you Jenna Glatzer!!!) I felt confident and in charge yet still let my personality shine.

It seems that Glatzer was right when she wrote, “[i]f I can conduct interviews (and I do, all the time), then you sure as heck can, too.”

Yes, interviewing is a skill that must be learned by constant practice, but I think that I am well on my way. At least, the ice has been broken in the “conducting interviews” arena--for me.

Do you have any stories or advice that you would like to share about conducting interviews?

 

Writing for Seed

 

 
Image by abel leemans

 

ASSIGNMENT TYPE: ONE TO ONE You have been individually selected for this assignment by the editor.

I love the sound of that. I came across the above notice as I was scanning through the open assignments on AOL’s Seed.com.

This is the strange thing--I have never written for Seed.com. (I only just registered as a writer with them a couple of weeks ago.) Yet they selected me to write a 700-word, well researched article--an article that requires me to interview experts--for ParentDish.com.

How did they select me to write this article?

I’ve given that a lot of thought. There are two ways that I may have come to their attention, in fact.

1.    Google Search. If they Googled my name, they would have found out my educational background (a BA in Communications) and my professional credentials of having written more than 200 online articles.

2.    My Email: I recently emailed them with this suggestion for a tagline, or slogan, for Seed.com “Don’t Write for Peanuts: Write for Seed.” In my email, I told them that I was a professional freelance article writer and a freelance slogan writer for getaslogan.com. Though I haven’t heard back from them as to what they think of my slogan, it’s possible that my email spurred them to Google my name which led them to review my educational and professional background enough to determine that I was qualified to write this article for them.

Regardless of why they selected me to write this article, I consider it to be a great opportunity for my writing career. The article is titled: Mean Girls: Bullying Among Girls. If I successfully complete this article and they like it, they will pay me $200. I am in the process of setting up interviews with experts right now.

I will let you know how it goes.

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

 

By Celeste Stewart

Part 3

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling freelance writers at Constant-Content. Here she shares some of the secrets of her astounding success in writing for them. Follow these techniques and watch your sales increase at Constant-Content.) 

The "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy

That said, the "Sell it Over and Over" Strategy does work for some. With this strategy, articles are often offered only for usage. Unique and full rights licenses may not even be possible. For example, let’s say you wrote a blog post for your personal blog or an article for your personal newsletter and realized that it would make a great article to sell on Constant-Content.com. You can submit the article for usage rights only. Since you have already written the article, it doesn’t take but a few minutes to upload it to Constant-Content.com. Even if the article sells for a low price, that’s extra money for work that you already did and already benefitted from. Now, what if this same article sells again? Nice! And again? Really nice!

This strategy can get even sweeter. What if you also take that original article and post it on other sites such as Associated Content or Bukisa using a non-exclusive or display only license? Now you can earn a few additional dollars based on page views.

While I’m not a fan of writing original content and selling it on Constant-Content.com for usage rights, I do see the value of selling articles that you’ve already created and used for usage rights and then spreading the article around on other sites for additional income.

Another part of the "Sell it Over and Over" strategy kicks in when an article that you have posted for sale for usage, unique, or full rights ends up selling for usage rights only. When this happens, the article can never be sold for unique or full rights as it is no longer "unique." When one of your articles sells for usage, go ahead and post it on one, or more, of the revenue share sites. If you have other uses for the article, such as in your personal ezine or newsletter, by all means, use it.

The "Best of Both Worlds" Strategy

Take another look at the Contant-Content.com screenshots. Do you see any writers who are selling a mix of usage and full rights articles? Sure you do. These writers are taking advantage of the "Best of Both Worlds" strategy. This strategy may or may not be a conscious strategy. My guess is that the usage sales just happened rather than being targeted. Or perhaps the writers with a nice mix of sales also put up a mix of license types. For example, I can imagine submitting

several original articles each week as well as one or two recycled articles for usage. With this strategy, you’re getting the best of both worlds. You’re getting your money right away when your original content sells for full price as well as earning residual income on usage articles that you have repurposed for Constant-Content.

These four strategies do work. Of course, other nuances come into play including pricing, word count, topic, and even whether a full or partial sample of the article is displayed. Take some time to explore the profiles of each of the writers listed in the Freelancers Hall of Fame to get a better idea of what they are doing. However, don’t limit your exploration to these writers only. Pay attention to fresh submissions and current sales. Other writers are regularly submitting and selling articles. Watch and learn and join us as we all find success on Constant-Content.com!

Did you find this report useful? Want to spend more time with Celeste Stewart and learn more about how to succeed on Constant-Content.com? Check out her 39-page eBook,

Celeste Stewart’s Secrets to Success on Constant-Content.com. Reasonably priced and loaded with advice from a successful writer on the site, you can’t go wrong.  

Click here to view more details

Coming soon! A writer’s workshop for beginning online writers. Check Celeste’s Web site for details and availability.

Would you like more freelance writing tips? Click here to visit Celeste Stewart.

Want to buy Celeste’s eBook for your Kindle? By it at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00359FD3M

Sign up to be a writer at:

Constant-Content.com

Freelance Writing Jobs for June 7, 2010

Here are today's freelance writing jobs that you might want to pursue. Most of them look really good!

Blogging

Shopping Blogger

Blogger needed to write about legal issues

Blogger needed for leading online healthy food and lifestyle magazine.- Culver City, CA

Copywriting

Copy writer/Copy Editor - All levels of experience

Copywriter for email campaigns.

Freelance Senior Copywriter - San Francisco Bay Area

Advertising copywriter needed - Miami

Magazine Writing

Freelance article writers needed for new magazine in St. Louis, Missouri

Miscellaneous Freelance Writing Jobs

Writer/Instructor for KSUEF eLearning Community

Comedy sketch writers needed for new web series - New York

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

By Celeste Stewart

Part 2

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling writers on Constant-Content. She has generously agreed to share four of the strategies that she has used to get to the top. Follow these strategies and watch your sales increase on Constant-Content!) 

The "Write it and Customers will Buy it" Strategy

Remember the movie

A Field of Dreams and its famous line of "Build it and they will come"? Constant-Content.com is a marketplace of dreams and the strategy of "write it and customers will buy it" is the one universal strategy used by every writer listed in those screenshots as well as many other writers doing well on the site.

We all know that there are no guarantees that any article will sell at all. Just as you can’t expect baseball fans to flock to your cornfield, you can’t count on every word you write being a winner. However, articles DO sell all the time.

In 2009, Constant-Content.com did a detailed analysis of sales. David Kool, manager of Constant-Content.com, announced the findings in the Constant-Content.com forum saying, "Perhaps the most important stat that we discovered in our analysis was that accepted articles on the site have a statistical average of selling 70% of the time. If you submit five or more articles you have a 97% chance of making at least one sale! Now obviously this isn't as earth shattering as say the invention of cooked food, but it certainly is a buoy to those who work hard on articles and worry about all that work being for naught. If you write it, they will buy it. And if you write lots they will almost CERTAINLY buy it."

I keep a spreadsheet tracking all of my submissions and sales and my own experiences are similar to Mr. Kool’s 70 percent figure. In fact, here are my sales percentages from the past four years:

Private Requests – 100%

Public Requests – 74%

Non-Requested Articles – 58%

Using my past sales experiences, I know that if I write it, customers will buy it. If I write 100 articles, I’ll sell at least 58 of them. Granted, these articles aren’t necessarily going to sell overnight, but if I keep writing articles and adding to my inventory, I’ll keep selling. I also know that public request articles have a higher likelihood of selling in general as well as a greater chance of selling quickly (because there’s a customer interested in this topic right now). Even articles that the public requester declines eventually sell to other customers. Regularly writing articles for public requests is a strategy that works. It works for me 74 percent of the time and it works for the general pool of Constant-Content.com writers at a similar level. Write it and they will buy it

The "Get the Money Upfront" Strategy

In addition to being prolific, I also use the "Get the Money Upfront" strategy. As you can see from my sales numbers, my focus is on full rights sales. I rarely sell articles for usage rights. Why? Part of this has to do with my opinion that it’s rare to sell a single article on Constant-Content multiple times and that it’s just as hard to sell an article for usage as it is to sell it for full rights. In both cases, you need a customer wanting that particular article. This takes time. In the case of a usage article, not only do you need one customer, you need many of them. I’d rather find one customer than five.

For example, usage articles are generally priced dramatically lower than full rights articles. Let’s say you are offering an article for sale for $20 usage and $60 full rights. If you sell it for usage, you’ll need to sell it two more times to get your $60 price. Since the majority of customers buying content on Constant-Content.com are looking for full rights licenses, you have a much smaller pool of potential customers looking for a usage license. I find it’s easier to sell a $60 full rights license once than it is to sell a single $20 usage article (much less two additional sales to break even).

Sure, it’s possible that the article could sell several times beyond my full rights price. In fact, this has happened to me a few times, but not often. The "Get the Money Upfront" strategy means that you sell your article for its face value and be done with it. You won’t earn "residual income" but you won’t have to wait for the article to sell several times over just to break even and "possibly" sell a few more times.

Because I prefer to sell my articles for full rights, I price my usage rates high. I often price them at the same rate as my full rights license. This ensures that my articles aren’t sold for usage once, never to be sold again.

To be continued

This Week's Writing Prompt Challenge

This week's writing prompt challenge, due Sunday June 13, 2010 is:

Start your story with this quote:

“He’s the cutest little boy. Makes it that much sadder, doesn’t it?”

Don't forget to enter. Remember...when you're finished writing your story based on this writing prompt, post it to your blog and then come back to this page and leave a comment along with a link to your story so that others can appreciate your talents and perhaps offer you some constructive criticism.

Good luck and I can't wait to see what you come up with! Happy writing.

All writer's prompts come from The Writer's Book of Matches.

Four Constant-Content.com Strategies that Work

 

By Celeste Stewart

(Celeste Stewart is one of the top selling freelance writers for Constant-Content, and she has generously agreed to share four of the strategies that put her at the top. Follow these steps and watch your sales increase at Contant-Content.)  

Summary:

Constant-Content.com is an online marketplace where writers sell their articles to webmasters and publishers. This unique site allows writers to submit articles, set their own prices, and work with customers on both public and private requests. With so many options, a variety of strategies exist. Celeste Stewart, one of the site’s top-selling writers, explains four Constant-Content.com strategies that work.

Introduction

As one of Constant-Content.com’s top-selling writers, I’ve found a strategy that works well for me. However, my strategy may not be the right strategy for you. In fact, it may not even appeal to you. For example, what if you don’t want to write five hours a day, five days per week? What if you don’t want to be told what to write about from clients expecting regular content on topics of their choice? What if you don’t want to offer full rights to your articles? While my strategy works for me, I realize that it’s not the only strategy available.

Looking at the list of top-selling writers on the site, it’s apparent that there are many ways to find success on Constant-Content.com. With that in mind, let’s explore the different strategies that have been used by other writers on the Constant-Content.com site. If you look at the top ten lists found in Constant-Content.com’s Freelancers Hall of Fame, you’ll see two different "top ten" categories (most prolific writers and top selling writers) along with different sales figures representing numbers of sales by license type.

Each writer listed has been recognized for finding success on Constant-Content.com. However

Each writer listed has been recognized for finding success on Constant-Content.com. However, when you look at the numbers, it’s clear that many of the top writers have chosen different paths to the top. By analyzing the strategies used by others, you may be able to replicate their successes. On the other hand, you might want to use bits and pieces of each strategy to come up with your own unique way to get the most out of selling your articles on Constant-Content.com. 

Another option is to just do your own thing and create a strategy that’s unlike any we’ve seen so far! Who knows, maybe someday someone will be analyzing your success?

Take a look at the screenshots below.

Most Prolific Freelance Writers

Author	documents	Viewable	Sold and Archived
1. beconrad	3787	1785	2002
2. Dr. Kristie	3769	3688	81
3. Word Gypsy	3760	989	2771
4. Celeste Stewart	2881	174	2707
5. J. A. Young	1248	167	1081
6. Mary M. Alward	1044	426	618
7. audrabianca	851	489	362
8. nichewriter	725	318	407
9. candicep	520	272	248
10. JD	478	249	229

Top Selling Freelance Writers

Author	Usage	Unique	Full Rights	Total
1. Word Gypsy	464	78	2640	3182
2. Celeste Stewart	82	22	2600	2705
3. beconrad	543	196	1819	2558
4. Dr. Kristie	1821	12	71	1905
5. J. A. Young	105	106	968	1179
6. Mary M. Alward	174	285	330	789
7. audrabianca	182	16	347	545
8. nichewriter	42	24	383	449
9. mattsterrr	34	56	293	383
10. candicep	128	82	166	376

You’ll notice that the top-sellers have one thing in common: They are prolific, each with sales numbering in the hundreds or thousands of articles.

Now look at how the numbers vary by license type. If you look at my numbers in the second screenshot, you’ll see that I sell very few usage and unique licenses. Most of my sales are for full rights articles. In contrast, another writer sells very few full rights articles but has sold over 1500 usage articles. In theory, these 1500 sales can happen over and over again. Both strategies are valid, but they are completely different.

Before we dig deeper, take a few minutes to think about your expectations. Are you looking for extra spending money? Do you want to earn as much as possible? Are you looking for residual income rather than immediate cash flow? How much time do you plan on spending?

Next, realize that while the "top ten" lists are neat and show you how the site’s top performers are doing, they aren’t the sole measurement of success. If your goal is to sell ten articles per year on Constant-Content.com, you’ll never be recognized on these lists; however, if you meet your personal goal, then you’re no less successful than these individuals. Decide what you want to get out of the site, employ a strategy that will help you reach your goal, and enjoy your successes!

To be continued.

The Right Way to Handle Criticism of your Writing

 

I bet you decided to read this post because you have trouble handling criticism of your writing and you thought that I could help you. Well, sorry to disappoint you. The truth is, I really don’t know how to handle such criticism myself.  

Like most writers, I am a very sensitive soul. As such, I tend to feel that any criticism of me--in my writing or in any other aspect on my life--is a direct attack on my worth as a person. I really don’t understand the concept of how criticism isn’t personal. If you’re talking to me or about me, it’s personal.

Especially if you are discussing any of my fiction.

Since I was a little girl, I have wanted to write short stories and novels. But fiction writing doesn’t come as easily to me as does my nonfiction writing projects. I struggle with the setting, dialogue, character development--just about every aspect of every piece of fiction that I write. Perhaps because of this struggle, I particularly do not handle criticism of my fictional creations very well.

Case in point…

Creative Writing Class

When I was in college, I took a creative writing class. During the semester, we had to write two short stories. After writing them, we had to email our stories to our classmates for their critiques. As if that wasn’t hard enough on my fragile writer’s ego, we had round table discussions where our stories were read out loud and each student--one by one--would verbally critique our work.

I had panic attacks every week. It was awful. Up to that point, I had never read anything about the right way to handle criticism of your writing--nor did I care to learn. I’m ashamed to admit this, but though I had a few more opportunities to take creative writing classes from that professor, I refused to sign up. I regret my cowardice now, because I missed an opportunity to really develop my fiction writing skills.

…or maybe not.

After making several changes to my short story--changes suggested by the group critique and by the professor--I entered it in the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition…and won nothing. But a couple of years earlier, long before I took this or any other fiction writing class, I entered one of my short stories into this same contest and won an Honorable Mention.

Go figure.

Any Suggestions for me?

Since I have no words of wisdom on the right way to handle criticism of your writing, I was hoping that you might like to contribute some of your own tips to this post. Maybe you can teach me a thing or two.

 

Freelance Writing Jobs for Friday, June 4, 2010

Here are some great freelance writing jobs that I came across this week:

Review Writers

Bizpocket is in need of website reviewers. They pay $25 for your 250 to 300 word review articles.

Fastscope also needs website reviewers. They pay $10 for for your 200-300 word website reviews.

Blogger needed to write reviews of Google Apps. add-ons. $25 per reveiw or $60 per review if you create a screencast of the app to post along with it.

e-Book Writers

HaxNet needs a medical writer to write an e-Book on Diabetes.

Resume Writers

Freelance resume writersneeded. This Austin, Texas will pay you 60 percent of the compensation.

Guidebook Writer

North Country Trail Association needs a freelancer to write a guidebook about hiking in the North Country National Scenic Trail.

Grant Writer

Blankets 4 Kids, Inc. needs an experience grant writer to help them to fund their charity. They offer a commission-based pay rate.

Copywriter

Copywriter needed to write about health, science, or medical-related subjects. This will be an ongoing freelance writing gig for the write person.

Razorfish needs freelance copywriters for their interactive digital advertising agency.

Journalist

Independant reporter needed for investigative reporting on the food industry

The Kitsap Sun needs freelance writers to report on community news.

Enzyme Media needs news and feature reporters for its internet news organization.

Don’t Write for Peanuts, Write for Seed

 

 
Image by abel leemans

 

One of the more recent freelance writing venues is Seed.com. Though Seed is a content mill, it actually shows some promise for the often underpaid and often unheralded freelance writer.

AOL (yes, the AOL) launched Seed.com in December of 2009 with the goal of, according to their website, “provid[ing] creators like you with a place to submit quality content. To us, it’s simply about connecting community to content.”

And AOL has a lot of connections to the community in which you can showcase your talent. Moreover, these connections can give you respect, money, and the chance to be discovered as a top freelance writer.

Respect as a Freelance Writer

AOL owns more than 80 websites. When you are a freelance writer for Seed.com, your content will be published on some popular and highly-trafficked websites. Here are just a few of the websites that AOL owns:

· Daily Finance

· AOL Horoscopes

· Patch

· Spinner

· Wow.com

· That’s fit

· AOL News

· AOL Health

· Emurse

· Politics Daily

…and more than 70 others. You can earn almost immediate respect as a freelance writer by writing for AOL-owned websites.

Making Money as a Freelance Writer

Making money as a freelance writer is easier at Seed.com than it is at many other content mills. In their list of current writing assignments, I saw fees that ranged from $10 (for 100 words or less) to $50 (for 500 words). Last week, I saw an open assignment for something like $150.

You should know, however, that just because you accept a $40 or $50 assignment is no guarantee that your content will be published or that you will be paid for it. Rather, the editors will select the best submission or submissions and publish it (or them). If your article is not selected, it will not be published and you will not receive payment. In this respect, submitting some content to Seed.com is like a writing contest where the best article wins. But I look at it this way--if they don’t accept your article for publication, you have a completed and hopefully well-written article which you are free to submit elsewhere. (Fortunately, not all of their assignments pit you against other writers, but all of your submitted content must pass editorial review and may be rejected if your content does not meet the stated writer’s guidelines.)

After Seed.com accepts your content for publication, you have two payment options:

-    You can accept the original listed price for the assignment in return for granting Seed.com an exclusive license to publish that content

or

-   You can accept a share of the profits that your content generates in return for granting Seed.com a limited exclusive license.

You can also choose how you wish to be paid--either through PayPal, check, or direct deposit into your bank account.

The Chance to Be Discovered as a Top Freelance Writer

Because AOL is…well…AOL, they employ some of the top creative professionals in the world. According to the Seed.com website, their “staff and freelance contributors include Pulitzer Prize winners and top name writers and editors.  

Many of these top writing and editing professionals will be reading, editing, and analyzing your work. This could be your chance to be discovered as a top freelance writer.

That said, I have no actual experience writing for Seed.com yet. When I finally stop procrastinating and submit some content to them, I will let you know of my experience. In the meantime, if you have any freelance writing experience with Seed.com, I would love to hear about it.