Freelance Writers - Five Reasons Why You Need A Website

By Sharon Hurley Hall

These days, if you're starting a career as a freelance writer, it's no longer enough to ring up a few editors and distribute a few business cards. Most of the people who want to hire you will ask if you have a website. If the answer is 'no', you could lose out on some valuable sources of income. Here are five reasons why you should have a web presence.

1. Developing the brand of you

As a writer, your name is your brand. People will like or hate your stuff, trust or distrust your opinions. Either way, they'll have positive or negative feelings every time they see an article with your name on it. So your job is to build editors' and readers' trust in that brand.

2. Writing is your business - you need to treat it like one

Every reputable business has a website that showcases its products and services. You should too. How else are people going to know what you have to offer? A website allows your potential clients the luxury of accessing your information in their own time. You should include a resume, references, services (types of writing), samples of work, links to where you're published on the net.

3. Efficiency

A website is a time saving way of showcasing your past and current work (an online portfolio or selection of clips). You can point editors to it as well - a time saver for you and them. No longer do you have to spend time selecting and printing your best work. Instead, upload examples to your site and link to other places where your work has been published.

4. Make your passion work for you

Some of the writing you do will be for love rather than money, but that's no reason why you can't make it work for you. Upload your short stories, poetry, novel chapters and so on to show how creative you are.

5. Skills development

If you do the web development yourself, you'll also be gaining another valuable skill. The discipline of editing your material for a website will be invaluable when you're trying to get a commission to write 40 web articles for a pittance (we all have to start somewhere).

So what are you waiting for? Get your stuff on the net and start building the brand of you.

Sharon Hurley Hall is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor. Sharon worked in publishing for 18 years, writing articles and editing and designing books and magazines. She has also lectured on journalism. For more information or to contact Sharon, visit doublehdesign.com. Read more of Sharon's writing at her blog

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_Hurley_Hall

writing, brand development, freelance writing

Freelance Writers - Five Reasons Why You Need A Website

Freelance Writers - Five Reasons Why You Need A Website
By Sharon Hurley Hall

These days, if you're starting a career as a freelance writer, it's no longer enough to ring up a few editors and distribute a few business cards. Most of the people who want to hire you will ask if you have a website. If the answer is 'no', you could lose out on some valuable sources of income. Here are five reasons why you should have a web presence.

1. Developing the brand of you

As a writer, your name is your brand. People will like or hate your stuff, trust or distrust your opinions. Either way, they'll have positive or negative feelings every time they see an article with your name on it. So your job is to build editors' and readers' trust in that brand.

2. Writing is your business - you need to treat it like one

Every reputable business has a website that showcases its products and services. You should too. How else are people going to know what you have to offer? A website allows your potential clients the luxury of accessing your information in their own time. You should include a resume, references, services (types of writing), samples of work, links to where you're published on the net.

3. Efficiency

A website is a time saving way of showcasing your past and current work (an online portfolio or selection of clips). You can point editors to it as well - a time saver for you and them. No longer do you have to spend time selecting and printing your best work. Instead, upload examples to your site and link to other places where your work has been published.

4. Make your passion work for you

Some of the writing you do will be for love rather than money, but that's no reason why you can't make it work for you. Upload your short stories, poetry, novel chapters and so on to show how creative you are.

5. Skills development

If you do the web development yourself, you'll also be gaining another valuable skill. The discipline of editing your material for a website will be invaluable when you're trying to get a commission to write 40 web articles for a pittance (we all have to start somewhere).

So what are you waiting for? Get your stuff on the net and start building the brand of you.

Sharon Hurley Hall is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor. Sharon worked in publishing for 18 years, writing articles and editing and designing books and magazines. She has also lectured on journalism. For more information or to contact Sharon, visit doublehdesign.com. Read more of Sharon's writing at her blog

Copyright Summary

As a freelance writer, you'll need to be aware of the legal protection your work enjoys so you don't sign away rights that you should retain. This is a guide to some key aspects of UK copyright law.


As a freelance writer, ideas are your bread and butter. Getting a commission means revealing your idea for a great article to an editor or someone else. There's no way around it, but how can you prevent people from ripping you off? Here's what you need to know about UK copyright law.

In the UK, copyright is an automatic and unregistered right. That means there's no need to apply specially or fill in any forms. Copyright takes effect as soon as certain works (this term applies to all copyright protected material) are created and there are nine types of work that enjoy this automatic protection. These are literary work (including newspaper articles), dramatic, musical, artistic (photos, drawings, diagrams, maps etc), sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes and published editions of works. All of these are known as intellectual property. Intellectual property is a bit like real estate - it can be bought, sold, transferred and inherited, though only with your written permission.

The key thing to remember as a writer is that ideas themselves are not protected but the way ideas are expressed is protected. So if you think of an idea for an article, that isn't protected; when you write it, it is. It's the information you select and the way you arrange that information that makes it unique.

In order for material to have copyright protection it has to result from independent intellectual effort. In other words, you must have put some work into it. You'll need to be able to prove this if challenged, so although it's not obligatory, you can protect yourself by sending a copy of your work to yourself by recorded delivery and leaving it unopened. Recorded delivery post is date stamped so you'll be able to prove that your work existed on a particular date.

Copyright lasts for the duration of the author’s life plus 70 years for literary, dramatic or musical works. Different periods apply for films (70 years after the last to die of the director, screenplay authors and musical director), sound recordings (50 years) and published editions (25 years). People are allowed to publish excerpts from your copyrighted work for the purpose of news, review or criticism. This is known as fair dealing. Works used in this way should be properly acknowledged.

When you give someone the right to publish your work, you are assigning that right temporarily (a bit like renting out your house). As a writer, you'll want to avoid signing away any of your rights permanently. Instead, be clear on what rights you are assigning. First serial rights are normal. This gives the publisher the right to publish your material first in whatever country or region (for example, the UK or US) the rights apply to. Once the material has been published, all rights revert to you. Some publishers will also request online rights and the right to keep your work in an online archive. You'll want to make sure these rights are for a limited period or are non-exclusive, so you can make the most of your material.

A key term to be aware of is moral right. This is the right to be credited as the author (have a byline) and to object to alterations or errors which might damage your reputation (known as derogatory treatment of your work). It also includes the right not to have work falsely attributed to you. In other words, no one should say you wrote something if you didn't.

So what do you do if someone tries to pass off something you've written as their own work? If your copyright has been breached you can take the infringer to court but beware. There are two things that could damage your case. The first is if the person commits innocent infringement, which means the person genuinely didn't know you owned the copyright; the second is if you have previously allowed someone to use copyrighted work without complaint. This is known as acquiescence.

Summary
So there you have it: the lowdown on UK copyright law. In essence, freelance writers need to be aware that their written work enjoys automatic copyright protection, that they are entitled to be credited as the author of any work they right, that they should only assign limited rights to their work and that they have the right to sue if their copyright is infringed.












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Get Paid MORE to Write - PageRank

wrote a series of articles at DivaNetworking on page rank. The three page ariticle in the blogging 101 section is designed to help bloggers and work at home professionals learn how to build inbound links - and how to network - to increase their pagerank.

Increasing pagerank increases both traffic and the amount you make from Google AdSense clicks. The diva networking program does work well, but most people do not understand how important it is to network between good websites and pull up the page rank.

Take a look at the series and let me know what you think?


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You Can Become a Famous Writer

It always amazes me how people appreaciate good writing, whether it appears on a blog, in an article, or in a novel. The thing is, anyone can write well. You can write something that receives hundreds, even thousands of views. You can write a novel that sells thousands of copies. The secret is to write something that people want to read, by writing about life.

Take a look at two blog posts I wrote that received top hits, despite the fact they are on a blog community, www.communati.com, that has hundreds of great writers on the site.

My first article received almost 500 views in less than a few hours. Within 4 hours of being written, it was on the ‘most popular list.’ Gladiolas, Dahlias, Pear Trees and The Secrets of Life . This is nothing more than a look at a quiet summer afternoon that I spent with my family, and how it touched me, and also touched my readers. The writing is not literary and flowery. There is nothing poetic about it. I just wrote it in a way that made readers look into their own lives. This is the secret of great writing, making people look at their own lives instead of forcing them to see life through your eyes.

The second is a tutorial on saving time. I did not tell people to save time. Instead, I showed them how I save time. There is a big difference between talking about what to do and how to do. The world is full of tutorials that tell people what to do, but never gives them the tools to help them do it. How Much $$ Does Multitasking Costing You?
You’ll also notice that I made some great titles. Are titles important? Yes. They are so important that I have even returned to my blogs and changed titles. In some cases, the hits increased.

So, next time you write, don’t just put words on paper. Think about your readers. “Take care of your readers and they will take care of you.”



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Freelance Writing: Get Started PT2

The desire to write is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it taps some of our most creative resources and forces us to find a way to express ourselves in the symbols we call words.

It’s a curse because getting it right, or even close, can be agony. Ah, but when it works, its sheer bliss, no matter how we get there.

Writing is also a blessing because it gives us the opportunity to share our ideas with others - potentially thousands, even millions of others. Not many ever get the chance to inform, influence and entertain that many people. Of course, that’s part of the curse too, because we have to find and reach our audience.

We all want an easier, softer way to write, and to get published and to earn money through our writing.

Sound obvious? Good. It should be obvious. Or were you expecting some magic? Some get rich quick scheme? Not here. Let's explore a bit and see where the truth is.

Write

Nothing can happen if you don't sit down and write. There's no escape; if you want to be a successful freelancer you must get words on paper. The trick is to write and to write regularly, whatever that works out to be for you. It might be every day, or three days a week; it might be X number of words a day or even a complete chapter a day. The nature of the schedule you evolve - and it will change over time - isn’t nearly as important as writing consistently.

Rewrite

Once you’ve written, you’ve got to rewrite. Okay], rewriting is usually no fun at all. But it’s essential. Rewriting is where clarity and conciseness appear. It's in the rewriting that our personal style begins to shine through, setting us apart from others and making our work salable.

Rewriting may actually be part of your writing or it may be a separate activity done before or after generating something new. It may be done in bits and pieces or you may sit down to a marathon editing session. However you do it, rewriting must be done.

By the way, it’s worth noting that some of your pieces will need more rewriting than other pieces. The more we practice writing, the better we get at turning out clean copy, at least most of the time. Even when you’ve been writing successfully for years, however, some of your writing will need major rewriting. It’s a fact of the writing life.

Market

The need to market is the bane of every writer's existence, but it's an absolute must if we are to be successful. Peter Bowerman, in his excellent The Well-Fed Writer, says, “The bad news: marketing yourself is a continuous process.” He also says that if you market yourself consistently (emphasis mine) we’ll be something like 95% ahead of the competition. My own experience confirms this and I like to spend at least a third of my time marketing me.

Part of marketing is researching potential markets, but that doesn’t count if you’re not out there contacting the publishers or others who may buy your material.

You just must find a way to become your own best sales person. Bowerman suggests cold calling potential clients, which can work if you’re looking for corporate, non-profit or business writing. If you want to be published in magazines, you must send queries or even articles on spec. Putting together book proposals counts if you get them in the mail.

It takes a while to get all three elements of successful freelancing working well together. But once you do, you’ll find you are well on your way to becoming a successful freelance writer.

Write well and often!

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Freelance Writing: Getting STarted

The life of a writer appears to have many perks. The uninitiated envisions us working in our pajamas while writing fluff about far away places, beautiful people, and spectacular adventures. After chuckling, we patiently explain how many hours it can take to research an article, or the number of times an article is submitted before it sells.

We possess an intangible element, which prevents us from taking the well-worn route. A regular paycheck with benefits is attractive. I even tried it once, and almost died inside. Face it, we are not free to enjoy an easy life while others toil, writers must write.

The life of a freelance writer is burdened with unpaid bills, deadlines, and rejection letters. But, there are a few blessings outweigh the heaviest burdens, like the joy of being published in a national magazine, studying a truly fascinating topic for a client, or enjoying the spiritual journey only a writer can understand.

Still, it is nice to be paid.

The initial lack of income is where most new writers give up. They soon believe the desire to write is a prank their muse is playing on them. It doesn’t have to be this way.

View the world of freelance writing as a forest. On one side is the writer; on the other is a client willing to pay to have something written. All a writer needs to do is climb through the scrub and deadwood to find the elusive client. It isn’t hard, it just takes a different method of thinking, and a little caution.

The number of companies intent on ripping writers off is daunting. There is no way to avoid every scam. Writers sign with organizations that promise to locate work, only to find they must pay and bid against other writers. We all signed up for at least one newsletter that promised to help us earn a living, only to learn it is only a clever marketing tool to sell products.

Making a living shouldn’t be this frustrating. There are paying jobs out there. There are clients willing, even eager, to pay a professional writer. It just takes a little skill to find them.

Make a Client

This can be fun. There is only one rule, never confess what you write. Many small businesses are more than willing to pay a writer for a good press release, especially if the writer submits it to the newspaper too, but only if the business is named as author.

Each writer can find their own niche’. Some writers find untapped potential as speechwriters, others as copywriters, and still others as business plan writers. It may not be as fun as writing fiction, or magazine articles, but it does pay the bills.

Web Marketing is a booming business. This creates a vast wealth of work for writers. Web designers can make a good website, but they are not good writers. This causes a problem, because search engines want to see text content. A clever writer can convince webmasters to hire them to add articles.

Research Clients

I spend two hours a week looking for work. This results in one new client a month. This may seem discouraging, but good clients are repeat clients. The easiest way to find work is to surf the web. Most of the communities and periodicals listed are scams, but there are dozens of legitimate sites that work hard to promote their writers. But, there is a catch 22 with these groups. The good sites cannot have amateur, unmotivated, writers swamp their clients so they are usually harder to find, and harder to join.

Advertise

A freelance writer is a self-employed professional. No one would expect a lawyer to sit at home and wait for work to drop into their lap. They advertise, promote, and network, without thinking of advertising as a waste of time or money. It is just another part of business. Successful writers share a similar professional mindset. They love their lifestyle and are willing to fight for it, no matter what.


I love being a freelance writer. True, I accept some jobs to pay the bills, but then one request arrives that seems to be custom made for me. The prospect of landing that one assignment keeps me writing late into the night. And, the excitement of opening my PayPal account, or inbox, gets me out of bed in the morning.

Yes, there are downsides to freelance writing, but face it, true freelance writers will never surrender their passion for any other job - at any salary.








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