Our newsletters
are delivered via Aweber.com, a reliable, spam-free newsletter service. If you
are considering a new newsletter host, please click above, and tell them Hope
sent you.
VistaPrint is the supplier of
FundsforWriters business cards and postcards. Very simple and inexpensive for
quality products. use this link to order and receive a discount offer.
Your ad placed here. See the
Ad Rates page for both
the web site and newsletter rates.
Contests, grants, markets that
pay writers may list at no charge. Send to
Hope.
| |
How to go from $200 per assignment to $2,000 per assignment
By Mridu Khullar
If you write 4 articles per month at $200 per assignment, you
make $9,600 a year, I wrote on my blog a few days ago. If you
write the same four articles at $2,000 per assignment, you make
$96,000.
(See blog entry:
http://www.mridukhullar.com/journal/2008/03/18/numbers/)
The trick is, a reader commented, to go from that $200 to $2,000.
How do you do it? Here are some tips:
1. Pitch to bigger markets. You'd think this would be obvious.
But the freelancer thinking usually goes like this: "Glamour
would love this. It's also perfect for Reader's Digest. That
would be such a long wait though. Hmm... maybe I'll just send
to the small magazine that always accepts my stuff." Instant
acceptance is great, but have a little patience and try the
higher-ups first.
2. Take up topics you don't necessarily love. This might mean
doing a few service pieces, or it could mean taking that one
monthly assignment from a trade magazine. But it also means
freedom from a day job, and less income-related worries that
detract you from work that you do love.
3. Create relationships. One-time assignments are great for the
clips and experience, but if you're in this for the long run,
you need to think in terms of relationships with editors. Editors
who've worked with you over the years will be much more eager to
give you more assignments and trust you with different styles, not
to mention increase your rates. Editors need writers they can rely
on. Become such a writer, and you can practically command good
rates.
4. Set realistic income goals. You really do have to think about
money and plan around it. My mindset has usually been of the "I
don't work for money" variety, and I have a very undemanding
lifestyle—I don't even own a television. However, every year that
I have failed to plan financially is a year that I've had trouble
making rent. You may not care much about money either, or maybe
you have a supportive spouse or a full-time job. Writing is my
full-time occupation, and no rich guy has offered to marry me yet,
so I set goals. And I put them in writing. It always helps.
5. I mentioned that you need to write four articles a month. I
kept the number the same, but increased the rates of the
assignments to show how a few hundred dollars can make such a
difference. But in order to do that, you actually need four
stable clients who will buy from you monthly. That is probably
the biggest challenge of freelancing. So your first goal is to
get those four clients (even if they're low-payers) and reach
the level where you have four assignments a month. Then, when
you’ve proven your worth, you ask for a raise.
6. Sometimes, you'll get a raise. Sometimes, you won't. Always
remember to keep replacing your low-paying clients with new
higher-paying ones. Replace one at a time and don't burn bridges,
but keep climbing up that ladder. This doesn't mean that you can't
write for low-paying clients if you enjoy that work. It simply
means that you also need to focus on attracting higher-paying
clients and making the time for the work they bring in.
7. Network with people who're more successful than you. Associate
with people who know what they're talking about and can back their
claims with solid credentials. There are hundreds of writing
communities online and if you're still taking advice from the
pay-per-click writers, you're doing yourself a huge disservice.
Join professional organizations that require you to pay for
membership, talk to serious professionals who make a living with
their work, and be wary of people who hide behind anonymity.
8. Offer what others can't. I specialize in women's issues. Broad
enough so that a couple hundred other writers do as well. I write
about women's issues in developing countries. Better. I write about
projects by or for women in developing countries that are making
a tangible difference in people's lives. That's my specialty, by
the way. I also claim to have extensive knowledge and contacts on
two other topics: Tibet and disabilities. More specifically,
Tibetan exiles and disability employment.
9. If you've been writing and selling for more than three years,
make a list of all your clients in an Excel sheet. Delete the ones
you no longer want to work with. Of the remaining, next to each,
write down the number of assignments you've done for them and
categorize them as less than 3, 3-5, 5-10, and 10+. The less than
three assignment clients are either one-timers or people you should
be pitching again. The 10+ are your regular clients. But look
closely at the 3-10 range, and figure out how to turn them into
editors who give you work regularly.
10. And finally, the oft-advised, infrequently-taken advice:
negotiate. Be willing to walk away. I've received thousands of
dollars in assignments from an editor who in our first
correspondence said she wanted me to write the first article for
free. Not only did I walk away, I told her precisely why that was
offensive to me. She offered me a $1,000 assignment, and I'm
now one of her regular writers. Respect your work. Only when
you do that, will others too.
BIO:
Mridu Khullar, 26, is a freelance journalist currently working
in Accra, Ghana. She writes for Time, Marie Claire, Elle, Ms.,
Parade.com, Women's eNews, and Writer's Digest, among others.
Visit her at http://www.mridukhullar.com.
| |
|
The Shy Writer: An
Introvert's Guide to Writing Success - trade paperback and ebook - ISBN
1-59113-583-4 - receive TOTAL FFW subscription with paperback purchase
of SHY |
|
Hope's Blog!
Not too long with a
paying opportunity and a tiny smidge of news and opinion. One of the
most concise yet informative blogs for writers on the web. Voted one of
Maria Schneider's 20/20 Blogs in 2007!
|
|
High Hope for the Freelance Writer
