Why don't the salesmen ever have to fix their own mistakes

I'm a freelance writer. But I also hold down a full-time writing job as the editor of a trade magazine covering commercial real estate. It's a bit of a drag, but it's provided me a steady income, and insurance benefits, for more than 10 years now.

The problem is, we're operating with a skeleton staff these days. The company laid off 2/3 of our editorial and sales staff earlier this year thanks to the bad economy. Because of this, everyone's handling several jobs at once. Mistakes slip through.

For instance, in our most recent issue, our advertising staff forgot to include an ad that was already paid for. That's a no-no at any time, but it's especially bad when every dollar counts, as it does today. The advertising staff also put in the wrong contact information on a second ad. Another no-no.

And who has to clean up the mess? The few writers left on staff, of course. You know, the folks who had absolutely nothing to do with the mistakes that were made.

For instance, I now have to interview officials at both companies that the sales department screwed over. Then I have to figure out how to weave these interviews into the stories I'm already working on for the issue. Sounds like a great time, no?

What makes all this worse is that the reason we're operating with a skeleton staff is because our sales men and women haven't been selling enough ads. And now we're all doing extra work because these same people keep screwing things up.

Nice job, everyone.

Craigslist not all bad

I like to complain about the writing jobs I find on craigslist. So many of the people looking for writers for their blogs or Web sites expect to get one for free. Then, when someone complains, they bring up that whole "you should write for the love of writing" garbage. Sometimes, they'll boast that by writing for their site you'll gain valuable exposure.

That's nonsense, too, by the way. You won't get any exposure by writing for some lame, mistake-filled Web site.

That's a tangent, though. I really wanted to give some credit to craigslist. The site has actually helped me land a string of fairly well-paying jobs lately.

For instance, last month, I wrote my first story for a health magazine after responding to a craigslist ad. The story brought me $750. That's a whole lot of content stories.

This month, I'll start working on an anthology book of strange statistics and facts. Again, the pay is decent if not great -- $120 for 500-word stories that require no interviews and very basic research -- and I found this opportunity on craigslist.

The problem with craigslist, though, is that you have to wade through so much garbage to find the good posts. Here's a rule: Don't respond to any craigslist ad that's shorter than three sentences. And don't respond to any that don't even tell you what kind of stories you'll be writing.

Most importantly, don't ever provide fresh writing samples for free. When posters ask for this, they are usually scammers hoping to gain free content from gullible writers for their Web sites.

By the way, I'm in an unusually positive mood today because I received some wonderful comments on a trade-magazine story I wrote not just from the editor but from the magazine's publisher. This is good because I'd like to make this magazine -- which I've only recently started writing for -- one of my regular clients.

It's easy to forget sometimes, as we concentrate on pounding out as many stories as quickly as we can, that quality still counts. Sometimes, the only way to get good assignments is to turn in your best work on a consistent basis. Eventually, people notice.

Or at least that's the hope.

Write what you know: Advice that's never more important than in content writing

I can whip out a 400-word story on homeowners insurance in about 15 minutes. I can write a story about the gold Canadian Maple Leaf coin in about 30 minutes. Obviously, it makes more sense financially for me to write about homeowners insurance for any clients.

This is an important lesson to learn: When you are tackling content writing, when getting as many stories done as quickly as possible is the main way to earn money, you have to follow that old adage: Write what you know.

It's not because you'll write better stories. That really doesn't matter much in content writing, for better or for worse. But if you stick to subjects that you already understand, you won't waste valuable writing time researching. You'll get more stories written in a shorter period of time.

This doesn't mean that you can't ever challenge yourself as a freelance writer. By all means, tackle subjects that fascinate your. Write about something about which you have no clue.

But don't do this when you're writing content. Do it when you're taking on a story for a trade magazine or when you're covering a story for a newspaper or consumer magazine. Then you'll get paid decently for your hard work.

Content writing is a different ball game: Write whatever you can extremely fast. Leave the creativity, and the hard work, to better paying clients.

Today's challenge: Editors who want a story to say something that your sources aren't

Freelance writing sure does offer a lot of variety ... at least of problems.

Today's problem is a fun one: I'm working with an "editor" -- who, unfortunately, is actually a salesman -- who wants my story to say something that my sources did not say. In fact, the people I interviewed for the story have said something completely different from what my "editor" wants the story to say.

The problem is a simple one: My salesman/editor wants a story that's more positive than what my sources have been giving me. Now, this editor wants to to somehow write around what my sources have said to be more positive.

I've expressed my concerns. But my editor is worried that our advertisers won't like the story. And this, I'm afraid, is the heart of the problem.

Advertisers are hard to find these days for print magazines. This makes salesmen more apt to jump through hoops to keep them as happy as possible, even when it doesn't serve the interest of the readers.

This has long been an issue with one of the trade magazines for which I write. It's just gotten worse as the economy has tanked.

I've pretty much excused myself, as much as possible, from the rest of this story. I expressed my concern and told my "editor" that I don't want to put false words in the mouths of my sources.

This hasn't made me especially popular today. But then again, when is a freelance writer ever that popular? It's seems like it's been a long time, at least for me.

Juggling "real" writing and content writing

Content writing isn't real journalism. I don't care what anyone says: Content writing is pretty much the a weekly shopper while real journalism is the New York Times.

That being said, I have no problem contributing to that shopper. Content writing is making me some nice side money, especially during these trying economic times when print publications are struggling mightily.

But it's not work I'm proud of.

Now I'm facing a different sort of problem with content writing. I've gotten so many assignments from small publishers -- nickel-and-dime stuff that I don't want to turn down in this economy -- that I'm struggling to get my "real" journalism done.

For this month, this "real" writing includes a story for the jobs section of a major newspaper, a story for a medical trade magazine and two stories for an environmental publisher. These stories take real effort and thought: I have to interview people. I have to research facts and studies.

Of course, they pay well, too.

It's hard to get this work done, though, when I'm spending my daytime hours pounding out 15 short posts on visiting New York City or playing Bakugan. (Yes, Bakugan. I'm a grown man writing about Bakugan. Sigh.)

How do you juggle all your writing assignments? How do you make the time when you also want to spend time with your family? Does the arrival of summer vacation -- which started here yesterday -- through off your routine?

Let me know your thoughts.

How to get that freelance writing job

Do you have to be a good writer to make it as a freelance writer? Probably. But sometimes you can get that freelance writing job simply by being persistent.

There are a lot of writers out there who are merely serviceable when it comes to stringing together sentences and paragraphs. There is no poetry in what they write. But they're successful,and you see their byline all over the Web.

How do they do it? They probably bug their editors for story ideas all the time. Persistence is the real key to success in landing all those writing jobs.

Last week, I got a good freelance writing job through this approach. One of the trade magazines that I've long written for is going through tough times now thanks to the economy. Ad sales are down, so the space available for freelancers has shrunk.

I'd still been getting fairly regular assignments from my editor until 2009 rolled around. Suddenly, I was getting nothing.

So I went to work being a bit of a pain. I made sure to contact my editor at the magazine every other week. Sometimes it'd just be a quick reminder that I was interested in freelance stories if the editor had any to pass out. Other times, I'd pitch specific story ideas.

Things weren't going well with this approach until Friday. This time, I sent another specific story idea. And, wonders of wonders, my editor responded and said that she'd like to see the story.

Best of all, this isn't some rinky dink $12 content article. This is a real freelance assignment, one that requires interviews, research and critical thinking. And it pays $1,000. And that's $1,00 that I desperately need these days.

So there's an example of the power of persistence. I used to take silence from editors as "no." Today, though, I can no longer afford to do so. Today I keep banging away at my editors until I do finally get that "no." And sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get that "yes" instead.

Would you take this job?

Maybe I can make this a regular feature. I present you with a freelance job opportunity that I've found on the Internet. You can tell me if you'd accept this job.

Here's one I found today. An "editor" wants 20 stories -- ranging from 150- to 250-word stories to press releases -- and is willing to pay from $30 to $250. You can see the job here at GetAFreelancer.com.

When I checked, the average bid was $30.

Amazing. Someone would accept $30 for 20 stories. That's not even $2 a story. No wonder the online writing world is filled with such insulting offers.

Here's the question: How desperate would you have to be for work to take this offer. Even if you were paid $250, that's still only $12.50 a story. That's pretty insulting.

By the way, even as I've been trying to build up my online writing portfolio, I've also been concentrating on reconnecting with old print-magazine clients in the hopes of notching more lucrative assignments with them.

So far, it's been frustrating. Most of my old clients just don't have as much of a freelance budget these days. But I did have some success today. A real estate trade magazine assigned me a feature story. I'll be getting paid $750 for 1,500 words.

This makes the days of frustration worth it. Think of how much online content writing I'd have to do to get $750.

The lesson here? Keep working on the online stuff. It's important, even if it's not always particularly lucrative. But don't forget "old" media, too. That's still where most of the money for freelance writers is at.

When the new editor doesn't seem to like you that much

I had a great working relationship with an editor at a trade magazine devoted to those goofball temporary shops you see at malls. You know the type: They set up in kiosks in the middle of the mall floor and sell everything from hermit crabs to remote-controlled airplanes.

You know, the stuff that's not good enough to be sold from a real store.

Anyway, I could count on regular assignments from the magazine, and praise from its editor 99 percent of the time. Nice, right?

Unfortunately, the editor left the magazine earlier this year. I've been trying since to get some work from the new editor. But nothing. I do get return e-mails when I send over a quick message asking for work. But so far, it's only been "I'll keep you in mind."

What happened? Does the new editor not like my writing style? Maybe.

Unfortunately, there's not much a writer can do in a situation like this. I suppose I could ask to speak to the new editor by phone, but begging so hard for assignments makes me feel a bit creepy.

So, I'll probably wash my hands off this new editor for now. Maybe she really is keeping me in mind for stories. I doubt it, but you never know.

In the meantime, it's back to looking for more work from more print publications. You never know what you might turn up if you keep chipping away.

A reality check: Content writing doesn't bring enough of them (checks,that is)

I got a big wake-up call yesterday. During much of this year, I've been losing print clients, some big, some small. Many of them simply went out of business thanks to declining ad sales. Others became online only publications. And still others eliminated their freelance-writing budgets entirely.

This has been nerve-wracking. But I've been holding things together. It helps that I also have a full-time, part-time magazine-editing job that pays my mortgage.

Then yesterday, my top freelance client gave me the news I'd been dreading: This trade magazine, too, was cutting back. I'll still get freelance assignments from them. But instead of two a month, I'll probably end up with one every other month. That's a huge, painful drop.

It's sent me back to the world of pitching again. Yesterday I had some success: A real estate agent is interested in having me ghostwrite his blog for him. A newspaper chain may have me write a weekly real estate column for them. And a book publisher might hire me out to write a chapter or two in one of its trivia books.

I felt better at the end of the day, though still nervous. There's no guarantee that any of the above three projects will come to fruition.

What I didn't do yesterday was any content writing for Suite 101, Examiner.com, Demand Studios or any of my niche blogs. When faced with the loss of some very real dollars, the content writing just didn't seem worth it. The payoff is too low.

It reminds me that while experimenting with content writing is OK, relying on it for any serious money is a mistake. When things get tight, it's time to go back to the basics of pitching stories to new publications and reconnecting with editors you've worked with in the past. It's the only way to recover when you've lost a well-paying regular client.

The great niche blog experiment

I've been obsessing a bit about blogging these past few weeks. Not sure why. I've always pledged that the only blogging I'd do is pay-per-post. I have some business clients that I blog for, on a flat monthly fee. I like that; I'm guaranteed fairly good money for that kind of blogging, at least in the blogging world.

But this blog directly violates that pay-per-post pledge. I have Adsense set up on it, but so far, I've only made 67 cents for that. That's not even enough for a can of pop at most vending machines.

But I've been debating the idea of creating a handful of niche blogs and equipping them all with Adsense to see what happens. Might I stumble upon a niche that actually generates decent traffic and, even more importantly, a high click rate?

The key here, of course, is to create niche blogs about subjects I'm truly passionate about. That way, I'll actually enjoy writing for them. And -- this is very important -- I'll already know my subject matter. I'll be able to write the posts quickly, and still have them contain useful information. There'll be a reason for people to read them.

Problem is, I'm not sure if the subjects I'd like to write about are the ones that people would like to read. I could, for instance, write a blog about avoiding home foreclosures. There are few topics hotter today. And because I've covered residential real estate news for newspapers and trade magazines for more than a decade, I do know the subject fairly well. But, quite honestly, I'm really tired about writing about real estate. I already write real estate blogs for two business clients. I still write real estate stories for the Washington Post. And I'm the managing editor of a real estate trade magazine in Chicago. I'm burned out on real estate, and even though a foreclosure blog might draw hits and clicks, I'm not sure I could summon the needed passion to update it on a regular enough basis.

What do I like enough to blog about? Comic books and graphic novels, for one thing. I even write a bit for the comics industry already. So it's a perfect niche topic for me. But is it one that will generate enough readers and enough clicks to make it worthwhile?

Then there's old horror movies, the black-and-white kind that I can watch with my 10-year-old son. I love those movies, and I love the cheesy horror hosts -- here in Chicago we have Svengoolie -- that play games with them. Again, a fun topic, but will it bring in enough click revenue?

There's only one way to find out, I suppose: Give it a try. My goal is to have at least five niche blogs, all updated on a regular schedule so I don't fill some with too much content too fast and others with not enough, running at once, all equipped with Adsense. Will it bring in enough content to make it worthwhile? Who knows?