New book on freelance writing says success is still possible – with hard work

Hard work and realism are the keys to unlocking a successful freelance writing career according to a new book offering straight-talking advice on sustaining a profitable income.

Author and journalist Linda Jones has written Freelance Writing, Straightforward Advice from a Woman who Knows, five years after an earlier book met critical acclaim and was dubbed ‘the freelancers’ bible’ by one reviewer.

Those years have seen turbulent times for freelance writers, with lucrative markets shrinking as publications continue to close or freeze freelance budgets. For many, the best advice for wannabe freelance writers may be ‘don’t bother.’

But according to Freelance Writing, it’s still possible to carve out a successful living in freelance writing, so long as you have a strong work ethic, businesslike approach, can deliver and are willing to adapt.

In her introduction, Linda says: “I’d also say don’t bother – don’t bother that is unless you are prepared to work hard, market yourself and set yourself apart from the competition, learning new skills along the way. If you are good at what you do, meet deadlines, supply excellent copy and build strong relationships with your editors, then you still have a chance.

“You need an endless supply of timely ideas, an old fashioned nose for a story and a strong work ethic. You also need to be ready to adapt and continue to learn, be inspired by innovative writers and editors, fully exploring the potential of newer media practises and new ways of investigating, reporting and reading.”

Media coach Joanne Mallon says in her foreword: “It’s not all bad, the huge explosion in online publishing has meant that there are now more outlets for your writing than ever before. And a writer can find themselves doing jobs that didn’t even exist ten years ago, such as writing a blog for a client or getting hired to tweet.”

Freelance Writing, Straightforward Advice From a Woman Who Knows includes advice on social media writers from Linda, herself an award-winning blogger, as well as influential online commentators.

Sound guidance on pitching editors comes from regular contributors to national newspapers and magazines and detailed pointers on how to win and keep commercial writing work comes from award-winning businesswoman Carol Garrington, Linda’s fellow director at Midlands agency, The Marketing Room.

Established writers and freelance journalists offering their advice in the
book include:

• Alex Gazzola: Health journalist, author and writing tutor.
• Anne Wollenberg: Freelance journalist and sub editor
• Kelly Rose Bradford: Contributing editor, freelance journalist and short story author
• Nick Daws: Author, freelance writer and tutor
• Tara Cain Leading UK blogger and former features editor

Chapters included are:

• Getting Started
• Advice from the Professionals
• The Business of Freelancing
• Writing for Newspapers and Magazines
• Real Life Stories and Travel Writing
• Research and Interview Skills
• Writing for the Internet
• Social Media for Writers
• Other Types of Writing
• Commercial Writing Work
• Doing Your Own PR

About Freelance Writing, Straightforward Advice from a Woman Who Knows
Published by Greatest Guides

Foreword by media coach Joanne Mallon

256 pages, 11 chapters, ISBN 978-1-907906-20-6, Price £9.99

Available from all good bookshops including: Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smiths
http://www.greatestguides.com/


FACTFILE:
Linda Jones (Married name Linda Aitchison)
Linda is an agency director, freelance journalist, author and trainer based in the West Midlands. These days she spends much of her time training and mentoring writers. She began her career at the Wolverhampton Express & Star in 1990 and has since worked as an editor in Russia, news editor on UK regional newspapers, online editor and regular contributor to national, regional and specialist titles. She blogs at http://www.freelancewritingtips.com.

Praise for Linda Jones’ first book on freelance writing:
"Newcomers to the trade of professional writing would be wise to invest in this book if only to avoid some of the more common pitfalls that can happen to the inexperienced. But even the most seasoned hacks should find enough in here to inspire them, remind them or encourage them." Louise Bolotin

The author has tips not just on magazine and newspaper markets, but also on Internet and commercial opportunities, and even has advice on the gentle art of getting paid. She says that her book aims to ‘offer realistic advice to those at the start of a freelance writing career’. It certainly does that. Richard Bell, Writing magazine

Linda is generous with her advice, but at the same time she doesn't mollycoddle and that's what I liked the most about this book. Yes, it's encouraging and enlightening, but it's also realistic about your chances of making it as a freelancer, which, as I know from experience, will be vastly increased by learning from Linda." Keris Stainton, Trashionista "

The Return of the Fountain Pen!

“Let us go forward together”- Winston Churchill.

During a time of austerity, openly embracing nostalgia and all it brings may save our nation from misery. Having become a cold, technological age gave us what? Teenagers spending every waking moment locked to social media, the importance of office stationery shrinking as an increasing number of business decisions are made over email and the good old fashioned catch up with family and friends slowly morphing into instant messaging and web chats…since when did a nation renowned for its fighting spirit and after dinner politics turn into robots?

We were once people who embraced the face to face chatter, the meetings of old and new minds and the written letter crafted with fountain pens which, connected us so beautifully to our loved ones but where has that all gone?

The Great British nation has lost its spirit and its camaraderie!
The fountain pen was once the ultimate symbol of communication, providing a unique personal touch to correspondence however; Tablet PCs and smart phones have now taken away the beauty of personal communication…a beauty that can only return if it’s out with the new and in with the old. Researchers revealed that reminiscing is great for mental health so why shouldn’t, in a time of struggle, our nation bring back the simpler times? Put the theory to the test; bring back personal communication and return the character and strength to our land.

The rise in sales of the fountain pen proves that during a time where emails, instant messaging and social media seem to conquer our way of life; the appreciation of the personal touch is still there. Not all of us wish to hide behind machines.

The fountain pen is a classic symbol of communication yet, it soon disappeared into the background becoming nothing but an unneeded work tool, however; during a time of severe strain now is the time for the return of the written letter. The personal touch, whatever the business; provides a sense of ease and comfort during a time of austerity…the power of the pen has never been stronger.

“The resurgence of the fountain pen is yet another instance of our increasing appetite for nostalgia. The march of technology can be quite alienating and it is not surprising that some of us want to connect to a simpler past which the fountain pen seems to embody.” Ed Beerbohm. Paperstone.

The UK is struggling economically; it is time to return to the good old days and bring back our fighting spirit. The paperless office will not succeed and the constant electronic communication will not suffice. We are a nation proud to hold the pen!

Survey of Authors Reveals Widespread Dissastisfaction with Publishing Industry

A survey of professional authors has revealed serious levels of dissatisfaction with traditional publishers. One third of authors report that they were not consulted about marketing plans. Asked about marketing campaigns, 38.7% of authors chose the answer, ‘What marketing campaign? I never noticed one.’ Almost one-half of authors (45.8%) say that their publisher has never asked them for feedback.

When asked, ‘With your next book, if some other publisher offered you the same advance as your current one, would you move to the new house or stay where you are?’, just 37.3% of authors chose, ‘I’d stay.’ That implies about two-thirds of authors would prefer to move to a new publisher - or think hard about doing so.

The survey was commissioned by The Writers’ Workshop, an editorial consultancy. 323 authors responded. Those authors were generally much-published, typically by major publishing houses. The survey benefitted from the assistance of the Society of Authors, the Crime Writers Association, the Romantic Novelists Association and many others. We believe it to the the largest recent survey of its kind.

Harry Bingham, head of The Writers’ Workshop and himself an author, commented, ‘These results don’t surprise me, but they are sad. Authors want to love their publishers but there are key respects in which publishers are making that hard. Authors are underwhelmed by marketing that is too often ineffective. And standards of communication are miserable right across the industry.’

‘The problem with marketing is perhaps that publishers have not yet successfully migrated their marketing efforts to an increasingly digital world. As for the lack of communication, there is simply no excuse available. Publishers should seek to find out if their authors are happy and, if they’re not, they should seek to fix any problems. At the moment, our survey shows that only 1 in 5 authors is properly consulted.’

Other key stats included the following. Authors generally rated publishers excellent (43.9%) or good (30.5%) on editorial matters and either excellent (47.4%) or good (33.4%) on copyediting and proofreading. Still on the positive end of things, authors were generally highly (57.5%) or somewhat (35.5%) satisfied with cover design. Only 41% of authors achieved advances in excess of GBP5,000 (a finding which confirms the picture of a 2007 ALCS study).

Asked about whether their publisher consulted with them on marketing, only 19.7% of authors said that they had been ‘closely involved’. The other responses included ‘I was consulted, but my involvement was marginal’ (31.3%), and ‘There was no attempt at consultation’ (33%).

Asked whether they would ever consider cutting out their publisher altogether in favour of e-publishing, only 26.0% of authors responded, ‘No, I would always want a publisher to guide me.’

The full dataset, and a longer commentary from Harry Bingham, has been released on The Writers’ Workshop’s blog.

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How I wrote a story

The story "No Lips to Scream With" is a Science Fiction story I wrote.

How I came to write this story is different to how I write most of my fictional pieces.

An idea came to me for the end of a story: "...He tried to scream, but his lips fell off."

That made me laugh. I mean... how could that be? How could someone's lips fall off?

What if it was a dreadful alien disease for which there was no cure? A disease that made parts of the body (lips, nose, fingers, etc.) quickly start to fall off, once the infection had set in?

But how did the disease get out into the wild?

What if a kindly, gentle race was experimenting with a universal vaccine? What if this vaccine had somehow caused a plague that killed everyone it came into contact with? Then I thought that the world phage seemeds more deadly than plague, so the disease became a phage.

OK, then? What was this race called? Revilians. And they tried to stop the disease from spreading at home bgy sending out plague barge ships crammed with the sick and dying, spreading the disease far and wide.

A survey ship finds an Earth ship that was 500 years old. The crew had been killed by a virus, perhaps a variation of the Martian strain of flu that had killed the second Mars expedition, as theorised by the survey ship's doctor?

However, the doctor is certain that the Universal Mega Vaccine -developed in the meantime- would protect them. The only thing the Universal Mega Vaccine could not cure was the Revilian Phage, but as the symptoms of the disease were nothing like Revilian Phage, they knew it could not be that.


However, they realise that the 500-year-old ship had come into contact with a Revilian plague barge.


The ship's doctor was able to theorise that in its 'natural' state, Revilian Phage caused the deadly flu-like ailment, but with the addition of Universal Mega Vaccine it transmuted into the current form of the disease.


Readers will note that as the world is far into the future I took a guess on what the language would be like. If you do read it, please check at those words!
 No Lips to Scream With

International Travel Writer Award Winners Announced

Four international travel journalists recently captured top honors in the 2012 International Pow Wow Travel Writer Awards competition. The awards were announced on April 23 during a media reception at the 2012 International Pow Wow (IPW) convention in Los Angeles. 

Best International Pow Wow Host City (San Francisco) Article — Gary Dickson, editor at large for New Zealand’s bimonthly Let’s Travel magazine, took top honours in this category. Dickson who associates every city he visits with a song, jumped at the chance to explore San Francisco via the Magic Bus Tour, a 90-minute journey focusing on the city’s musical history. His article, “Flowers in My Hair,” highlights this aspect of San Francisco’s quirky personality.

Best U.S. Travel Destination Article — For the first time, two winners were chosen for this category. Reporter Alicia Boy won for her story “Una Aventura Invernal” (A Winter Adventure), which appeared in Mexico’s Bon Voyage — Excelsior. The article focused on the experience of ice fishing in the Great Lakes of Minnesota and detailed Boy’s understanding of what fishing is all about: friendship, relaxation, and having the right equipment. 

Also honoured in the Best U.S. Travel Destination Article category was reporter Marco Berchi of Italy. His award-winning story “Dal cielo — Se gli States sono da prendere al volo” (From the sky — take flight in the States) was published by La Repubblica Viaggi newspaper. Berchi’s story detailed his experience with the emerging concept of “air cruising,” a new style of group tour that trades roads for sky.

Best Trade Publication — “USA News” was chosen to receive the award for Best Trade Publication. Reporter Milton Gonzalez authors this monthly column, which appears in the Mexican travel trade publication Publitur. Gonzalez created the column, whose sole purpose is to educate Mexican travel agents on the highlights of various U.S. destinations, allowing them to better inform their clients on these experiences and travel options.

Sponsored by the U.S. Travel Association and CityPASS, the 2012 International Pow Wow Travel Writer Awards received more than 100 entries from travel journalists and editors who attended IPW 2012. Each of the winning writers received $1,000 and an award certificate.

During their evaluation of the entries, the judges looked for articles that featured original ideas and exceptional storytelling skills, as well as prose that would inspire readers to travel to the United States.

The U.S. Travel Association is a national, nonprofit organisation representing all components of the travel industry that generates $1.8 trillion in economic output and supports 14 million jobs. U.S. Travel’s mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. For more information, visit www.ustravel.org.

For 15 years, CityPASS has been the premier product for travelers who want to visit a destination’s top attractions while enjoying significant savings of up to 50 percent. CityPASS, which has a 99 percent customer approval rating, contains prepaid admission to the most popular attractions in 11 North American destinations: New York City, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Toronto. For more information on CityPASS and its partner cities and attractions, visit www.CityPASS.com.

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