21 Nov 09 Freelance Writing – How to Fix Your Rate

Are you getting paid what you deserve for the writing services you offer to you client? This is a tricky question, and not many people feel confident while answering this question because most of the freelancers do not know if they are well paid, under paid, or over paid, which at times become very, very frustrating. In this short blog post, I will tell you how to fix rate for your freelance writing, but before I do that, let me tell you that your rate should not be influenced by what others are charging because everyone else is not you and nor their requirements are yours.

Fixing a freelance writing rate

Step 1: How much money do you need?

The first step in the process is to ask yourself how much money you need every month. Some of you must be thinking, what the client has to do with this, and why does it matter to them. Well, it does not matter to your client or anybody in this world, but still you need to figure this bit out because you are working to pay your bills, and if your work cannot make you pay your bill then things will get a little complicated. It will come down to your basic need for survival. Hence, first realistically figure out how much money do you need in a month or a year.

Step 2: What are the business expenses?

Now, it is time to right down your business expenses. Write everything down on a piece of paper, do not leave anything. This heading will include the electricity bill, business telephone bill, stationary costs, printer’s ink cost, any equipment that you will buy, etc.

Step 3: How much work can you do in a month?

None of us are superman, so there is only so much work we can complete in a day or month, and there are only so many clients we can take. Be realistic in finding your limitation. Do not sell yourself short, and also do not overrate your ability. Count this in hour.

Step 4: Do the math

Now, as you know the number of projects you can take in a month, your monthly expenses, and how many hours you can work in a month. Add the expected monthly sum and the expenses and divided by the work you can do. This will give you the rate you need to survive, but what about the future savings? You need to adjust your rate for that as well. Add expected per year savings, to the sum and then take out your per hour rate.

In order to fix a rate for the fixed price work like per article or per week, you will have to first figure out how much time do you need to write one article, and then find out how many you can write in a month. Divide the equation with this instead of total number of hours, and you will get your rate for one article.

Tags: Business Expenses, Business Telephone, Electricity Bill, Freelance Writing, Freelancers, Heading, How Much Money, Math, Monthly Expenses, Pay Bills, Piece Of Paper, Rate Step, Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Superman, SURVIVAL, Telephone Bill, Tricky Question, Writing Services

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02 Aug 09 10 Everyday Tips to Increase your freelance Earnings

Do not get mislead by the title, I am not going to share any magic tips or rather there is no magic tips, tricks or shortcuts. Nothing can substitute hard work, but if the work is done in a proper way, and in the right direction then the magnitude of the return will make the effort look less strenuous.

In this article, I will share some tips that will help freelance writer in increasing his or her earning potential.

Tip 1

Introduce yourself: No one will know who you are until you will tell them who you are, and the best way to do that for a freelance writer is to write a compelling introductory paragraph that can be sent to prospects.

Tip 2

Article marketing: If you are a freelance writer, chances are you must have written many articles for your clients, which you or the client posted on various article directories to promote his business. Why can’t you do it, and why don’t you do it to market your writing services?

Tips 3

Burbling: Do not get confused. I want you to write powerful blurbs for every service that you offer.

Tips 4

Contact your past clients: Prepare a list of clients with whom you have worked in the past, but haven’t contacted for last six months or since the work got over, and send them a personal e-mail. This will remind them of you and your services, and they may get back to you with some work. Always remember, out of sight is out of mind.

Tips 5

A client a day contact program: Contact one existing, past or prospective client every day.

Tips 6

Hire a guru (mentor): Freelance writing is one profession in which to succeed you need a continuous flow of new and exciting ideas. Befriend with a person who keeps himself up-to-date with the latest happening. Leverage his expertise to build your writing career.

Tips 7

Start multiple Blogs: Categorize your writing services, and start one blog each for each category of services. For example, you can put blogging and article writing into one category, and article marketing and social media submission in another. Make a list of writing services you provide and categorize them.

Tips 8

Chart the uncharted water: Read the magazines, books and periodical that you have never read before. This will infuse new ideas and bring variety to your writing.

Tips 9

Write an e-book: Prepare your own information product. Start today and prepare an outline of two e-books that you should write.

Tips 10

Stay Positive: I know, you are thinking whatever, but this is as important as any other tips written above.

Tags: Article Marketing, Blurbs, Burbling, Career Tips, Continuous Flow, E Mail, Guru, Introductory Paragraph, Leverage, Magic Tips, Magnitude, Mentor, Out Of Sight, Profession, Prospective Client, Prospects, Right Direction, Shortcuts, Six Months, Writing Services

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17 Jun 09 Twitter for Writers

Everyone is talking about 140-character revolution, and everyone is learning to convey the message in 140 characters. Thanks to twitter and other micro blogging services (like plurk), people at large are learning to say everything in 140 characters; to be more precise, everyone is learning to power-pack the 140 characters available to us.

For a writer, twitter can be useful in more ways than you think, and how you will use twitter depends upon the kind of writer you are. If you are a freelance writer who is just looking for some freelance writing assignments then twitter can not only help you promote your writing services. You can use twitter to remain constantly in touch with your existing clients or your ex-clients as well. It can also help you in getting new clients. Twitter can also be helpful for a writer who wants to get published. You can get the up-to-date information on the different publishing houses and what kind of novels they are planning to publish in the coming years. It will give you a fair idea about what clicks with a certain publishing house, and what gets thrown into trash bin. If you are a newbie then you can use the links shared on twitter to develop or polish your writing skills.

For a freelance writer or blogger who is finding it hard to get ideas for writing on a daily basis, twitter can work as a source for cracking ideas to write on. You can use twitter to see what people are talking about, and what is gaining popularity in your niche. If you are interested in using twitter as a writing idea generator then follow the following steps:

Follow people working in your or any related niche.
Find the articles from the links shared by people whom you follow.
Scan the articles to estimate its worth.
Shortlist the article or articles you want to read.
Read the article shared
Do a preliminary research on the topic discussed in the article to get a deeper understanding of the subject.
Write down the main points you want to elaborate in your article or articles.
Arrange the bullet points in the order in which they should appear in the final article or articles.
Write the article.
Proofread it.
Publish it.
Make a bit.ly link (like http://bit.ly/kdHRb)
Tweet it.

Tags: Arti, Blogger, Cracking, Daily Basis, Deeper Understanding, Freelance Writer, Freelance Writing, Newbie, Niche, Novels, Popularity, Preliminary Research, Publishing House, Publishing Houses, Trash Bin, Twitter, Writing Assignments, Writing Services, Writing Skills