Giving Content Divas a shot

I'm constantly looking for new content-writing work these days. That's because it's getting more and more difficult to earn steady writing assignments at print magazines and newspapers. These clients still make up the majority of my freelance-writing income, but content writing has steadily accounted for a growing percentage these days.

I've built up a nice base of reliable content-writing clients. But I always need more. That's because a lot of content-writing clients need only enough writing to fill up a certain number of niche sites. Once they get that writing, they disappear for a month or two until they need some fresh copy.

This is partly why I applied last week to Content Divas. Much like AdAstra Traffic, which I've written about recently, Content Divas is a company that links freelance content-writers with content projects.

This evening, I heard back from Content Divas -- just two days after I sent in my application -- that I've been hired on as a writer. Now, the pay, as with most content-writing jobs, isn't stellar. But the service promises fairly steady work. And right now, with the struggles that the economy is suffering through, I appreciate any work that's steady and reliable.

I've heard from other writers, and read on other blogs, that Content Divas pays its writers on time. It has a unique set-up, too. Writers are hired to write keyword articles, blog posts, press releases or e-book material. Projects last a certain number of days, and writers are expected to turn in 1,000 words each day. If projects are short, and only last a few days, writers receive payment at the end of the project. If they're long, they receive partial part upfront, the rest when they finish the job.

I'm a fast writer, so I'm hoping that this will work to my advantage with Content Divas.

Meanwhile, today was an interesting day. A comic book biography I've written on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was officially announced at a number of comic-book sites today. The comic, published by BlueWater Productions, will hit comic stores in January. At the same time, I've been hired by BlueWater to write another comic biography -- I can't say who yet, but it's for the companies music-themed line and will focus on a very popular female musician -- that will be released in 2010.

Content writing is a supplement to your freelance writing; don't let it overwhelm you

Content writing is a nice way to make some extra freelance-writing income. You'd have to work yourself to death, though, to make a living at it. The wages are just too low.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself of this. It might be tempting to take on those two or three extra content-writing gigs to make a bit of extra money this month. But if those jobs get in the way of your more lucrative print-magazine work, then that's a problem.

I'm juggling a bit right now because I did take on too many content jobs this month. This last week or so of the month has been extremely hectic as I've tried to fit these extra jobs in around my print work. It's made me a bit stressed, I have to say.

So remember where content writing fits: It should provide a bit of a financial boost to your monthly writing income. It shouldn't prevent you from getting your more important -- make that, profitable -- work done.

Sometimes you have to slow it down

I'm a list person. I start each morning by jotting down the writing tasks I want to accomplish during the day. And because I get up at 5 a.m. most mornings -- Thanks, 2-year-old son! -- I have a lot of time to think about those things on my list.

Not only am I a list person, I'm also someone who really enjoys checking items off a list. It gives me great satisfaction to cross something off as done.

Problem is, sometimes I want to get things off my list -- which on some days stretches to nearly 30 items -- so badly, I'll half-ass some of my projects.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is showing. It's one thing to half-ass my content-writing duties. Even at 50-percent effort, I can still string together coherent sentences into coherent paragraphs. My content-writing clients still love me, as long as I turn my stuff in on time. Of course, sometimes I wonder if my content publishers even read what I send them before they slap the content on the Web.

But when it comes to pitching ideas to print-magazine clients, or when it's time to actually write a story for a newspaper or trade magazine, I have to force myself to slow down. Otherwise, the results are horrible.

This week, I wanted to pitch some real estate story ideas to the Washington Post. I'm working with a new editor at the paper -- the one I'd worked with for more then seven years retired from the paper earlier this year, and is now traveling around the world -- and am still working on establishing a good rapport with her. So instead of rushing through this item on my work checklist, I took a deep breath and ... it was painful, but necessary -- worked slowly.

I thought carefully about the real estate stories that the Post had run recently. I didn't want to duplicate them. I also considered what I could realistically cover for them; I don't live in the D.C. area, after all. It doesn't pay to shoot too high and then not be able to find all those "real people" sources the Post needs.

In all, it took me about an hour to come up with three good ideas, write coherent paragraphs pitching each one and send it to my editor. Normally, I'd try to do this job in about 20 minutes.

Fortunately, my slow-and-steady pace paid off. The editor accepted one of my ideas. I now have a new $500 assignment to show for my willingness to slow down.

It's easy to get overwhelmed with tasks that need to be completed, especially when you're working for yourself. But don't forget to slow down once in a while. There are certain projects you have to give 100-percent effort to.

A goal without a plan is a wish

Roadside signs usually don't inspire me that much. Well, unless they're advertising a fast-food sandwich I'd really like. But otherwise? I just ignore them.

Except this weekend. I was driving my 2-year-old son back from a quick trip to the grocery store. I was a bit down. The stories I've been writing lately have seen so meaningless. Content writing will do that to you. You're turning in copy that not even the people who are paying you read all that closely.

Here's what I want to do: I want to write comic book scripts. To be more accurate: I want to be paid to write them. And I want to write my own stories, not something a publisher asks me to take on.

Getting paid is tough in freelance writing. Getting paid scripting work is nearly impossible in the world of comic books. Writers who want to break into comics are common. Unless you're a big name, no one needs to pay you. There are plenty of writers who will turn in scripts for free.

Anyway, I've been writing my own graphic novel script for a while now. I like it. A lot. (Of course, I'm biased.) But there's a stumbling block: To get it published, it'll need to be drawn. I can't draw, at all. I can try to find an artist who'll work for free, but that never ends well. Trust me on this. I've tried it.

You have to pay if you want a good, quality artist. Sequential art -- which is what comics is -- is nothing if not challenging. Top artists can charge a good penny for it. And I want a top artist on my comic.

Thing is, like most freelance writers, money is exceedingly tight. Many, many of my former magazine clients have gone out of business. I'm relying on content writers, and on pumping out stories faster than ever, to help make up the difference. But I'm realistic enough to know that there aren't enough content stories out there to make up for all the print-magazine money that I won't be making this year.

So without money, how can I ever afford a good artist to illustrate my script?

So back to that roadside sign. It said, "A goal without a plan is a wish."

That's not too deep, I know. I'm sure I've heard it many, many times before. But this weekend, it really hit me. I'm wishing to not only break into comics, but to make a living at it. But that's all it is, a wish. I don't have a plan.

So I'm working on it. It may involve taking a lousy, part-time, non-writing related job to make a bit of extra cash, money I can save to pay an artist. Or it may mean finding an extra content-writing client who gives out regular work and saving all the money I make from this particular client for my graphic novel.

Step one, though, is to commit to writing at least two pages a day, probably in the evening after my "real" work is done. Step two is to edit those pages like mad. Step three is finally figure out how to get the money to pay for an artist. I figure I'll start earning that money -- however I decided to do it -- while I'm editing.

Finally, I'll print my graphic novel on the Web. I certainly can't afford to pay printing costs.

Yes, I'll make no money if I put it on the Web. But I might draw a following. And at the every least, I'll have a graphic novel that I did on my own, not one that some publisher screwed up or some editor ruined with a weird-ass suggestion, to show other publishers.

And that might be the very first step to transforming myself from a paid content writer to a paid comic book writer.

Persistence pays off: Publisher coughs up missing money

It's a sad fact: It's harder to get paying jobs these days thanks to the dismal economy. There's pretty fierce competition from freelance writers for even some of the lousier writing jobs.

What's even worse, though, is that it's getting more difficult to force deadbeat publishers to cough up the money they actually owe freelancers.

This happened to me earlier this month, when a publisher seemed to disappear after I turned in a short writing assignment for him. I bugged him a few times by e-mail, didn't hear anything and decided to give up. It wasn't worth my time, I figured.

Then I changed my mind. The money wasn't a lot. But I did do the work. I deserved to get paid. So I started bugging the publisher again. This time, I heard back. And, amazingly enough, the payment showed up in my Paypal account.

Of course, I don't expect I'll get any more work from this guy. His message back to me was a bit on the ticked-off side. But so what? I don't want to write for people who I have to constantly pester to get paid.

On the down side, I have two other clients -- print publications that actually pay significantly more -- that are late on a total of $1,750. Again, that's not a ton of money, but it's enough when the assignments are so hard to come by. Come Monday, I'll be bugging these editors and publishers, too.

It's a bit of a shame, really. Freelance writers want to write. They don't want to run their own collection agencies.

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.

Another client cutting back

My mood swings are getting more severe these days. One minute -- a publisher is interested in my script for a graphic novel! -- I'm thrilled. The next -- another client has gone out of business! -- I'm gloomy as hell.

Today's one of those dark-cloud days.

My favorite print-magazine publisher sent an e-mail message this morning to all his freelance writers. Not surprisingly, the publisher is going through some tough financial times. In his message, he stated that all of the publishing company's employees have taken 10 percent pay cuts.

He then asked us freelancers if we'd be willing to take the same 10 percent cuts on our freelance stories. If we said "no," we wouldn't be getting any new story assignments.

I said "yes." Of course. My options aren't exactly unlimited. This publisher is one of my top-paying ones. It would be economic suicide to walk away.

So, get out your umbrellas. It's another stormy day in the world of freelance writing.

Be careful: Content writing encourages bad prose

We all know that content writing isn't exactly art. The goal is to write as many stories as quickly as possible. The pay just isn't high enough to justify artfully written pieces.

(Some content writers might disagree. But let's be honest: The stuff we're writing isn't meant to be read. It's meant to get people to specific Web sites. If we write pure gibberish, but it brings in the traffic, we've done our jobs.)

Writers just have to be careful that they don't take their bad content-writing habits with them when they're working on legitimate magazine or newspaper writing.

When writing content stories, the goal is to get to that required word count. That leads writers to produce sentences that are far longer than they need to be. Here's an example from my own work, a content piece about shopping for big screen TVs: "Shopping for the right big screen TV can prove to be a challenging task."

Now, that sentence isn't great. But it has a good amount of words in it. That's all I wanted. If I was writing that same thought for a real magazine, though, it'd go something like "Shopping for big-screen TVs can be challenging."

The first sentence has 14 words. The second has eight. The second is also a better sentence: It gets to the point quickly. That's what we're supposed to do in journalism.

But content writing, of course, is not journalism. It's filling space. Just remember to change your approach when you're writing anything else.

Is content writing insane?

So I'm giving content writing a try. It's an experiment. But I'm finding that it's an experiment that is slowly gobbling up all my writing time.

Here's the problem: I've been struggling for months to nab assignments from print magazines. Even my regular clients are stingy these days with the work. (Thanks, crappy economy.) The content-writing folks I've written for, though, love me. They're sending me more work than I can sanely handle.

It's little wonder why. These guys pay low. They, therefore, work with some of the worst "professional" writers around. One content-writing client sent me three stories written by another content writer, to see if I could save them. The stories he sent me looked like they were assembled by randomly hitting a keyboard. None of the sentences linked together. Each paragraph seemed like it belonged in a different story.

Yes, it was a mess.

I turn my stories in on time. And they're readable. That's more than what these content publishers are used to.

Problem is, I'm a sucker for kind words. Tell me you like my writing, and I'll take as much work from you as you can dish out, even if your pay rates stink.

So that's where I'm at now. I'm working late again, trying this time to finish three posts about liposculpture surgery, a procedure I know next to nothing about.

Yep, I can't wait for this recession to end. Come back to me, print-magazine clients!