Profitable Freelancing

ohonestly: i’ve been a fan of austin kleon’s work for a few...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:21:19 -0400

i’ve been a fan of austin kleon’s work for a few years now, and i was eager to get my hands on his latest book, “steal like an artist”. billed as a “manifesto for creativity in the digital age”, it’s chock full of great quotes, illustrations, and advice on how to follow your interests and embrace your influences. and though the title says “artist”, the material inside is applicable to any medium. it’s perfect for creatively-frustrated creative types (which i know many of you are), and i loved it so much that i want to give you a copy!

what you’ll get

your very own copy of austin kleon’s “steal like an artist”, shipped anywhere in the world, at no cost to you.

the rules

you have until may 1st to enter.
every reblog is considered one entry (likes don’t count, nor do replies).
i’ll use random.org to choose three winners.
keep your inbox open so i can notify you if you win. if a winner doesn’t respond within 48 hours, a new one will be chosen.

good luck!

p.s. if giveaways aren’t your thing, you can always pick up a copy on amazon.
p.p.s. this giveaway is not affiliated with or endorsed by tumblr or my employer, new york media.

Popcorn Content - How to write short-form content for social...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:43:49 -0400

Popcorn Content - How to write short-form content for social media.

"People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing."

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:51:56 -0400

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

- Carnegie, Dale (via shevonne)

Freelancers - stay focused!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:28:05 -0400

How Connect with Prospective Clients Using LinkedIn.

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:23:00 -0400

Most business professionals realize the value of having a LinkedIn account. However, that’s not true for most freelancers. While many know they should use social media as part of their marketing plan, they often overlook the value of LinkedIn.

With more than 150 million professionals using LinkedIn in the first quarter of 2012 and an estimated 7,610 searches per minute (according to Social Jumpstart), it’s not a platform freelancers can afford to ignore.

I’ll show you how easy it is to connect with prospective clients on LinkedIn.

Read the full article here…

Found at FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

Popcorn Content: The craft of writing short-form content for social media.

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:38:39 -0400

I just published my first Kindle Single!

Yes, that means it’s short - about 10,000 words - inexpensive at just $3.45, and available for your Kindle, or on your computer or smartphone via the Kindle App.

What’s it about?

Popcorn Content is about writing short-form social media content that hooks, compels and engages - and asks and answers questions – whether you are writing a tweet, an update intro for Facebook, a post headline for Google+, a comment for Pinterest, or a title for a YouTube video…and so on.

Read the full post here…

Found at nickusborne.com

To take charge of your freelance business, you have to love promoting it.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 09:44:52 -0400

A few days ago one of my coaching clients told me, “I don’t feel in charge.”

And I know she isn’t alone in feeling that way.

As a freelancer it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling you are simply at the beck and call of your clients. It’s easy to feel powerless when negotiating with prospective clients. It’s easy to feel you have no choice when clients impose crazy deadlines.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Read the full post here…

Found at nickusborne.com

Believe in your gift as a writer, and don’t let anyone take it away.

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 08:43:52 -0400

My gift is that I can write.

Looking back, this has been evident since I was about 10 years old. But the first time I truly believed in this gift was when I was 22 and started working as a trainee copywriter at an ad agency in London, England.

After a few weeks working there the Creative Director told me I was truly gifted as a writer. Soon after that, I received a big pay rise to dissuade me from moving to another agency.

I was lucky. I really was. Many people have a gift, but never have it validated in the way I did. As a result, they are never quite sure, and never fully believe in the gift they have.

Read the full post here…

Found at nickusborne.com

"Writing is excessive drudgery. It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and..."

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:44:52 -0400

“Writing is excessive drudgery. It crooks your back, it dims your sight, it twists your stomach and your sides.”

- Complaints medieval monks scribbled in the margins of Illuminated manuscripts (via explore-blog)

How to LOVE marketing your freelance business [VIDEO]

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:40:09 -0400

I know a lot of freelancers, and I think it is fair to say that most of them don’t much like marketing themselves.

They enjoy their craft – writing or copywriting. But they don’t like promoting their services to prospective clients. In fact, the whole process of finding prospects and then trying to turn them into paying clients is the part of being a freelancer they like least.

I get that.

A few freelancers are natural salespeople. Many of these are extroverts, and happy to jump in front of a prospect and start selling.

But what about the rest of us? How can we get over our discomfort with marketing our services? Would it be possible to actually get to a stage where we enjoyed marketing?

Read the full post,and watch the video, here…

Found at nickusborne.com

5 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:13:26 -0400

As a freelancer, the benefits of blogging are vast. Not only does blogging keep you up to date on relevant things in your industry, it also helps to position you as an expert in your field.

But, what’s the point of having a blog if it’s not attracting a lot of traffic?

Here are 5 ways to help you increase your blog traffic…

Read the full article here…

Found at FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

Freelance Freedom #250: Big Choices

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:28:31 -0400

Found at freelanceswitch.com

The Secret to Attracting More Followers on Twitter

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:21:58 -0400

A good social media campaign focuses on quality over quantity. This doesn’t just mean the content you post, but also quality vs quantity of your followers.

It does go without saying, however, that if you’re going to go to the trouble of tweeting, you want your tweets to go out to as many followers as possible.

The key is attracting more quality followers.

Here are 4 secrets to help you attract those quality followers on Twitter.

Read the full article here…

Found at freelancewritingsuccess.com

The power of the human touch in web copy and content.

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:14:49 -0400

Some copywriters know that adding a human touch to their copy can help their readers relate to the product or service they are trying to sell.

Some consultants and coaches insert elements from their personal lives in their business writing, because it helps prospective clients get to know them as real people.

Some hard-core business-to-business writers know that interviews and case studies can help humanize the “corporation”.

But only some.

Most of the time, when I read content online, in the form or articles or posts, that human touch is missing.

Why? My guess is there are a couple of reasons.

Read the full article here…

Found at nickusborne.com

AUSTIN KLEON: Orwell’s “dos” vs. Orwell’s “don’ts”

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:48:30 -0400

AUSTIN KLEON: Orwell’s “dos” vs. Orwell’s “don’ts”:

austinkleon:

Shaun at Lists of Note recently posted George Orwell’s “Rules for Writers” from his incredible “Politics and the English Language”:

Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it…

4 Ways You Can Use Social Media to Reach Prospective Clients

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:26:38 -0400

Social media – everyone’s heard of it. Most freelancers use it. Chances are you do too. But, how can you use it to reach prospective clients?

That’s a question that plagues many freelancers and business owners today. In this article I’ll provide you with four simple answers. So read on. But more importantly, do these things and watch your prospect list grow.

Read the full article here…

Found at FreelanceWritingSuccess.com

austinkleon: Stanley Fish, How to Write a Sentence: And How to...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:15:08 -0500

austinkleon:

Stanley Fish, How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One

Louis Menand, writing about Donald Barthelme: “The visual artist can deal with almost every kind of material, even sound, but the writer deals with only one kind of material: sentences.”

Fish’s approach is the same: sentences are the writer’s material, and if we pay close attention to the sentences of other writers, if we analyze them and imitate them, we will see that sentences are just different forms that we can plug our own content into:

Form, form, form, and only form is the road to what the classical theorists called “invention,” the art of coming up with something to say….[You can use forms] not simply to arrange thoughts but also to create thoughts. Creativity is often contrasted with forms to the latter’s detriment, but the thrush is that forms are the engines of creativity….This then, is my theology: You shall tie yourself to forms and the forms shall set you free.

What I like most about this book is its emphasis on reading, copying, and constraint as the ways towards creativity. It would be nicely bundled with Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer and Virginia Tufte’s Artful Sentences, maybe even Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences.

I really liked the beginning of this book and took copious notes, then I mostly skimmed through the rest. (I’ve noticed that the Kindle makes it very easy to do that.)

PS: Looking back through my archives, I noticed that a lot of the material in this book probably sprang from this blog post by Fish on teaching writing: “The Game of Writing Sentences.”

Filed under: sentences + my reading year 2012

austinkleon: 3eanuts: November 13, 1981 — see The Complete...

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:28:22 -0500

austinkleon:

3eanuts: November 13, 1981 — see The Complete Peanuts 1979-1982

"Copy out things that you really love. Any book. Put the quotation marks around it, put the date that..."

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:41:21 -0500

“Copy out things that you really love. Any book. Put the quotation marks around it, put the date that you’re doing the copying out, and then copy it out. You’ll find that you just soak into that prose, and you’ll find that the comma means something, that it’s there for a reason, and that that adjective is there for a reason, because the copying out, the handwriting, the becoming an apprentice—or in a way, a servant—to that passage in the book makes you see things in it that you wouldn’t see if you just moved your eyes over it, or even if you typed it. If your verbal mind isn’t working, then stop trying to make it work by pushing, and instead, open that spiral notebook, find a book that you like, and copy out a couple paragraphs.”

- Nicholson Baker on copying out passages of your favorite books by hand (via austinkleon)

7 Headline approaches that will hook your readers and keep them reading.

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:39:51 -0500

Writing powerful headlines for web content is a forgotten craft.

I don’t mean the craft itself is forgotten. I mean we simply forget to use it.

Somewhere in our minds we know the headline is important. We know it’s what hooks the reader, or not. And we know it has a big impact on whether or not our content is shared through social media.

So how come we keep grinding out boring and unenticing headlines for our content pages?

I don’t know what your excuse it, but for myself I sometimes publish content with boring headlines simply because I have forgotten to rework the placeholder headline I started out with.

This is a side-effect of the way I write any page or post. I throw down a placeholder headline as an anchor to get myself started. It’s often simply a short description of what I plan to write about.

The trouble is…

Read the full post here…

Found at nickusborne.com