Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Quick Copy! Tips for Freelance Writers to Increase Income & Output (Part II of II)

The following is a continuation of the six tips I outline for increasing freelancing writing income and output in yesterday's post. Without further ado:

4. Series: As in, split longer articles into Part I, Part II, etc. I like writing series for two reasons: i) I get more legs out of one subject; ii) I sell more, which can lead to more work from a publication.

After all, if a publisher likes your work enough to buy a series from you, they'll probably be open to working with you on a more regular basis. This works well for publishers in some instances because, like a cliffhanger on a TV series, it keeps their readers coming back.

POST CONTINUED BELOW
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5. Write What You Don't Know (In Bits): Eventually, you are going to run short on topics you know about - especially if you are in the habit of producing a certain volume of work.

Writing about what you don't know broadens your body of work and your knowledge base. Researching a piece will usually lead to ideas for more articles.

NOTE: Writing about what you don't know is going to take more time than writing about what you know. So, you will be producing less. To counteract this, write about what you don't know in pieces. Eg, research it over a few days so as not to take away from your output too severely.

6. Write Tech: This type of writing usually pays more. The reason I single out this genre, rather than say, medicine, is that most use technology. We just don't think about it because it is so commonplace.

You'd be amazed at how many people don't know simple things you may take for granted. Eg, adding a signature to your email, saving pictures from a digital camera onto a computer, downloading songs into an iPod, etc.

I was listening to Z100, a popular radio station in Atlanta, a few weeks ago and I heard the host of the show, Bert, say that he had no clue how to download songs from the Internet. You'd think that if anyone would know this, it would be someone like him.

I got an iPod for Christmas, and I'm clueless as to how to download songs into (onto?) it? See, I don't even know which phrase fits. Until my 13-year-old nephew gets time in his busy schedule for his Auntie, that's just going to have to wait.

My point, you just never know who needs the information you take for granted. So, don't take the tech knowledge you do have for granted. Make it pay - and do the rest of us a favor. "Loading Your iPod" - article anyone?
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How hard is it to load songs onto your iPod? They're the simplest MP3 player to use by far. You might find a papery thing with the word "Instructions" on it somewhere in the box it came in. Try taking that out, bracing yourself for the effort, and READING.

Seriously, as a writer, how can you justify not reading the instructions?! Apple's instructions are some of the best there are for tech products, so think of it as research if you can't justify it any other way.

But don't brag about how ignorant you are of a very simple process in the same article you tell people how easy it is to write about tech subjects!

Yuwanda Black said...

Anonymous, if I WANTED to write about tech, I would. BUT, I don't want to; hence, no need to justify anything.

As for my gadget ignorance, nowhere do I brag about it, I simply embrace it.

And "seriously, as a writer, how can you justify" not having the cojones to sign your name. Lighten up dude/dudette!

Yuwanda Black, Publisher
InkwellEditorial.com
InkwellEditorial.blogspot.com