Everything You Wanted to Know about Freelance Writing

The Conquest of Kong (short story from Rebel in the Back Seat)

The Conquest of Kong is short story from Rebel in the Back Seat, my new collection of short stories.

The Conquest of Kong

By Paul Lima

It was on the congested fair grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition that Father conquered the world-famous ape. The huge, stuffed, glassy-eyed creature, wearing a New York Yankee baseball cap, glared down at the midway masses from his perch in the Strike Out tent. I sometimes wonder how we must have appeared from King Kong’s vantage point—my brawny father with premature flecks of grey dotting slicked-back waves and his scrawny kid with the bristled brush cut. Above the crowd the titanic brute, the most coveted prize at the CNE, seemed unconquerable.

* * *

I had never been to the Ex with my father. Although stuffed snakes, poodles, giraffes and bears populated our cramped flat, I had only heard about his midway triumphs from Ted McMaster, who owns the auto repair garage where Father works. Ted told me that my father had once been addicted to midway games.

“You should’ve seen him, Joshua. Your pa would hear the carny’s pitch and, next thing you know, he’d be firing balls an’ winning stuffed junk for your ma,” Ted said. “The winning wouldn’t stop ’til the carny flashed the sign what reads, ‘We reserve the right to limit players.’”

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Use W5 to help you communicate effectively

Whether you are writing or talking, communicating effectively is important. To demonstrate the point, I often tell the story of the golf course groundskeeper who hired a young trainee. The day the trainee showed up, the groundskeeper said, “See those bundles of sod on the truck? I want you to re-sod the areas that I’ve staked out around the 18 flags on the golf course. I’ll be back at the end of the day to check on your progress.”

With that, the groundskeeper went off to have a few beers with his buddies. When he returned, he found the greens were dirt-brown around the first hole. Same with holes two, three and four. He caught up with the trainee at hole five. “What the heck have you been doing?” the groundskeeper shouted. “You’ve placed the sod upside down!”

The trainee looked at the lump of sod in his hands and sputtered, “But … you didn’t tell me ‘green side up’!”

The point of the story? When you are communicating, you have to be as explicit as possible. While not all communications involves delegating, when you communicate with someone verbally or in writing you are most often asking the person to take action. If you are not explicit, you could end up with the opposite of what you wanted.

How do you figure out what to say or write if you want to communicate effectively? Start by answering the 5 Ws—who, what, where, when and why. Sometimes it also helps to answer a sixth W—hoW. Before you speak or write, think about and jot down answers to the following:

Who? Who am I? Who am I talking to? This helps you determine the tone of your message.

What? What do I want the person to do? What do I need done so I can do whatever I have to do? This clarifies what has to happen and who has to do it.

Where? Where does the person I am communicating with have to do what I need done or send it? If you don’t say where, it may not get there.

When? When do you want the what done? Be specific. If you say ASAP you might mean by the end of the day; however, as soon as possible for the person you are communicating with might mean “in a couple of days.” If you want it done by Tuesday morning, say so.

Why? Why do I, or why does the organization, need this done? In other words, communicate your purpose, even if you are the CEO communicating with a worker bee. If you want someone to get something done, give that person a reason why so they do it with an understanding of the purpose of their actions.

How? Does the person you are communicating with know how to do what you want done? If you are not sure, ask. If you have to give instructions, be explicit—green side up! Ask the person you are communicating with to demonstrate understanding by giving you feedback. In other words, ask the person to repeat what you said to demonstrate that he or she has heard you.

Finally, if required, close the communication loop. For instance, if you need the person to let you know that he or she has done what you want, where and when you want it, ask to be kept informed. If you don’t ask, you may not hear back. And if you don’t hear back, you may not know when or if the job is done.

If you think going through this process – answering these simple questions – will take too much time, ask yourself this: What are the consequences of not getting done what I need done, when I need it done? How much time will it take me to correct a job that is not done well?

If there are no consequences to a job done poorly, or if you have time to fix a botched job, then there is no need to communicate effectively. However, if having a job done well and having it done on time is important—even if you are only asking someone to send you some information—then communicate effectively using the five Ws.

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Paul Lima is a freelance writer and business writing instructor. He is also the author of several books on business writing, creative writing, and the business of freelance writing, including Harness the Business Writing Process, (re)Discover the Joy of Creative Writing, How To Write A Non-Fiction Book in 60 Days, and Everything You Wanted To Know About Freelance Writing.

Posted in Business Training, Business Writing, Published Articles | 1 Comment »

One Writer’s Tale of Self-Publishing

A Tale of Self-Publishing
From an article written for the Writers’ Union of Canada

By Paul Lima

In 2009, 76% of all books released were self-published, according to Publishers Weekly. Since then, the industry has all but stopped keeping stats. The number of self-published print and e-books continue to grow exponentially while the number of books issued by traditional publishers declines.

This trend is being fostered by both independent authors and the new wave of print on demand (POD) publishers who publish books for would-be authors lacking the technical skills to otherwise self-publish. POD publishers charge aspiring authors modest fees and pay no advances. They print books one at a time, when they are ordered by consumers or authors, and ship e-books as they are ordered. They only pay royalties when books sell and leave almost all of the marketing up to the authors.

I’ve been self-publishing since 2006 and have self-published 10 books on business writing, copywriting, how to write a non-fiction book, the business of freelance writing and several other topics through Lulu.com, a POD company. On March 1, I used Lulu to release my first collection of short stories.
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Interview: What motivates you to write?

I was interviewed by Nate Hendley on motivation and freelance writing for his blog on artistic motivation — www.motivatetocreate.com.

Here is a bit of the interview. It continues on Nate’s blog:

What motivates you to write? Is it the promise of money, fame, power, recognition, self-fulfillment or something else?

I was seven years old when I published my first magazine. Using a stubby pencil, I meticulously printed articles about members of my family and illustrated the articles with crayon art. I produced only one copy of the magazine, but my entire family read “The Lima News”. I had great fun doing it and words have been an important part of my life ever since. There is no denying it: there was both a recognition factor and a self-fulfillment factor involved. But I also learned, since that first foray into writing, that I could make a living doing something I enjoy, and that’s cool too. Recently, though, I published my first collection of short stories, Rebel in the Back Seat. You don’t publish short stories for the money, so I guess I’m back to trying to gain a bit of recognition and self-fulfillment, while having fun with fiction.

Do you have any “tricks of the trade” that help you kick-start the creative process?

Darn good question. I know a lot of writers who admit they procrastinate. I can’t afford to do so. I’ve been earning my living as a fulltime freelance writer and writing trainer for over 20 years. If I want to get paid, I have to work and meet my deadlines. That keeps me motivated! At the same time, there are some mornings when I have to find ways to kick start my engine. I sometimes start work before I have breakfast. The deal is that I don’t eat until I accomplish a particular goal. Don’t know if it’s healthy, but it works for me—because I love to eat!

The interview continues on Nate’s blog …

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Review: Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers

Mini review: Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, by Nate Hendley

Over the past several years, Nate Hendley has vacillated between full-time staff writer at media outlets and freelance writing. In addition, he has written 10 non-fiction books. In other words, Nate is one heck of a motivated writer.

While motivation clearly is important for both staff writers and freelancers, it’s an absolute necessity for the freelancers because nobody is going to give you a paycheck unless you are are writing, and you won’t be writing unless you find the motivation to look for work and write when you land a gig. That’s where Nate Hendley’s easy-to-read and inspirational book, Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, comes in.

Nate breaks the book down into 10 intriguing chapters: Inspiration; What motivates people?; A peculiar breed; Additional motivators; Motivational tips for novices; More motivators; De-motivators (a particularly important chapter if you are suffering from self-sabotage); Motivation exercises; Other voices; and Resources.

While there are some not very practical books on motivation out there, Nate’s book is not one of them. He offers straightforward and practical advice–simple steps writers can take to motivate themselves when they feel their inspiration, energy or adrenaline waning, as it sometimes does (especially when you are trying to get started or, unfortunately, the closer one gets to a deadline).

If you wonder why you have a trepidation about deadlines, an anecdote Nate recounts might explain it. Evidently, the term deadline came from the U.S. Civil War. Confederate prison camps had strict rules about where prisoners could stand in the prison yard. If prisoners stepped over a line near the fence, they would be shot dead by a guard. Hence the term, deadline!

In addition to great motivational hints, tips, techniques and advice, the book is populated with quotes from writers who earn either a part-time or a full-time income writing. The practical quotes explain what these writers do to get motivated and keep themselves writing. In other words, a motivational drain, and overcoming it, is not a problem that simply plagues the novice writer. It is something almost any writer has to deal with. And if you aspire to write, write intermittently and/or want to keep on writing, Motivate to Create can get you started and keep you going.

***************
Motivate to Create: A Guide for Writers, by Nate Hendley.

The book works well in concert with Everything You Wanted to Know About Freelance Writing by Paul Lima.

Posted in Freelance Writing - General | 3 Comments »

Triangulate your rate before you quote

When it comes to writing and editing services, there is no ‘one rate fits all’ rate. Yet many clients want cost certainty–and I don’t blame them–so you have to give them a quote. Unfortunately, too many writers and editors are blind-folded and playing pin the quote on the client – hoping to hit a quote that is worthwhile — to them and the client!

How do you come up with a quote for writing or editing services?

If quoting on an editing job, I suggest you make sure you look at the copy you have to edit first, and then triangulate. If writing, define the scope of the project, then triangulate — come up with a maximum, mid, and minimum rate. (Click on the link and scroll down to “Estimating a writing job” for more information.)

So how do we triangulate?
When quoting on an editing job, you look the copy first (or a good chunk of the copy) to determine how difficult the editing job will be. The difficulty does not have an impact on your hourly rate, but it will have an impact on how long it will take you to do the job. It will also have an impact on your per word and per page rates, which you need to come up with to triangulate. So with that in mind, you need an hourly rate, a per page rate, and a per word rate to triangulate.

Step 1: Estimate the number of hours the job will take and then multiply that by your hourly rate.

Step 2: Multiply your per word rate by the number of words.

Step 3: Count the number of pages (or consider 400 words a page) and multiply that by your per page rate.

You now have three figures. Pick one, or come up with what you feel if the best/fairest/most accurate rate base on your three estimates and that becomes your quote.

To estimate a corporate writing job, I suggest you go to “Everything You Wanted to Know about Freelance Writing” and reach Chapter 38: How Much to Charge? and Chapter 39: Accurately Pricing Services. In Chapter 39, you will see how to define the scope of a project and triangulate your quote.

Bottom line: Before you issue a quote, you have to feel the quote is fair – to you! If the client balks, move on. If the client offers you much less than you want, move on. Otherwise you end up doing a job at a rate that you feel is way too low. This tends to make one resentful.

Rather than take on a job at less than ‘my’ rate, I’ll spend time looking for clients who are more likely to pay what I consider a fair rate for the services I provide.

If you look for clients who are going to pay you $100,000 to write or edit an article or a few website pages, you may never work as a freelancer! So you want to set a rate that makes sense to the nature of this business called freelancing. But you don’t want to lowball your rates, or let the client pull you down into the rate gutter either!

Knowing what you want to charge per hour, and then triangulating, will help you come up with fair and reasonable quotes for editing jobs. Knowing what you want to charge per hour, and then defining the scope of the job will help you triangulate (max., mid, and min.) rates for writing jobs so you can come up with fair and reasonable quotes for such jobs. Otherwise, you are blind-folded and playing pin the quote on the client – hoping to hit a quote that is worthwhile — to you and the client!

Posted in Freelance Writing - Corporate, Freelance Writing - General, Pricing Corporate Assignments | No Comments »

Guest Post: Think Proofreading Isn’t Important? Think Again…

By Greg Walker

Proofreading. The word alone is enough to bore the socks off most writers. After going through the whole creative process and editing your work down to a work of art bordering on the sublime, you’re presented with the wearisome process of taking a magnifying glass to your sentences and going on a hunt for misplaced commas.

And yet… misplaced commas can be very costly indeed. About as costly as futile full stops, pointless paragraph breaks, and using grandiose-sounding words in completely the wrong places (which can be spectacularly embarrassing—I speak from experience).

They are costly because mistakes get noticed, especially by eagle-eyed clients who are only too happy to point out each tiny error you make (you know the sort). That might lead to nothing more than a bruised ego but, egos aside, the cumulative effect of too many trivial errors can be devastating.

No matter how small the mistake, if the client decides that they would not have made the same error then they inevitably begin to question why they are paying someone to write for them in the first place.

But if you had any doubt about the seriousness of proofreading, here are some of my all-time favorite mistakes where even the most basic of final checks would have been enough to prevent monumental embarrassment.

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Anatomy of landing a client on the Web

About 70% of my new training and writing gigs come to me through my website. (The rest are from referrals or my marketing.) Recently, I wrote a business letter for a client in Russia who is trying to land distribution deal with an American company. Other writers have asked me how a client from Russian found me. My answer: no differently than how a company down the block found me.

Let’s take a look at the anatomy of landing clients on the Web. This is a short blog post, but a fair amount of work goes into making it all come together. Call this the tip of the iceberg, if you will …

So let’s look at what happened:

• A business person in Russia had a business need or problem
• In looking for a solution, he converted the problem into a search term–one that would help him find someone who could satisfy his need/solve his problem
• He entered that search term into Google
• My website is optimized for that term, i.e., Search Engine Optimization (SEO)* brought him to my site
• Within seconds of landing on my website, he saw a link (in this case copywriter) on my home page related to his search term (which, as we recall, was meant to help him solve his problem)
• He may have scanned my home page a bit, but within seconds he clicked on the link
• The writing on my copywriting page, I must assume, convinced him I could do the job (or he would not have contacted me)
• He easily found how to contact me on my website; didn’t have to look hard for contact information
• My stellar personality (after he emailed me, we set up a phone meeting) reinforced his web-based impression that I could do the job
• My quote sealed the deal

If he did not have a business problem he would not have searched the web. If my website was not optimized for search terms related to business writing and copywriting, he would not have found me. If my website was optimized, but filled with nothing but keywords, i.e., the writing on my site was not compelling, he would not have clicked on the link. If he could not easily find a link to the services he was looking for, he would have gone elsewhere.

Yes, we still had to chat (that is not always the case with some clients). And yes, my quote had to meet his budget. But if I did not get him to land on my website initially, nothing would have happened. In short …

SEO + solid website writing = opportunity.

Is your website as well written as it could be? Is it optimized for key search terms related to your services or products? If not, you have some work to do. If so, all the best in landing clients who land on your website.

* As detailed in Do you Know Where Your Website Ranks? How to Optimize Your Website for the Best Possible Search Engine Results

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Hockey Night on Ossington Avenue

If you are a die-hard fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs, you might remember a time when the team actually won the Stanley Cup every now and then … and if you remember the last time, 40+ years ago, you might remember how you emulated your favorite Leafs player and aspired to be him … With another losing season having come and gone, I give you Hockey Night on Ossington Avenue, a short story from Rebel in the Back Seat, my new collection of short stories.

Hockey Night on Ossington Avenue

By Paul Lima

Johnny Bower was my hero. He led the Leafs to victory.
In 1967, the year he turned forty-three, the craggy-faced goaltender backstopped the Toronto Maple Leafs to their third straight Stanley Cup triumph. Watching him on the CBC, I cheered as he hoisted the silver trophy above his head and I laughed when the cameras caught him in the dressing room after the game, wearing nothing but a toothless grin and champagne-soaked underwear.

Throughout the 1960s, I dreamt of being Bower, of stopping pucks for the Leafs, of being named first star on Hockey Night in Canada, of skating around Maple Leaf Gardens with Lord Stanley’s mug held high.

In 1967, the year I turned eight, I got to wear skates for the very first time …

* * *
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Reviews for “Rebel in the Back Seat”

I’ve received two mini reviews for Rebel in the Back Seat, my recently released collection of short stories.

“Rebel in the Back Seat is about fathers, sons, brothers and hockey … Lima draws a powerful yet gentle picture of coming of age, family and memory. Beautifully written stories with subtlety, humor and lasting power … One of the joys of reading this book is the pleasure of discovering a new and clear voice in fiction. Highly recommended.” – Tony Levelle

“Lima’s Rebel in the Back Seat is truly a coming of age set of stories reminiscent of Stephen King’s Stand By Me tale. The title story is riveting, powerful with original lines that easily captivate” – Rusti L Lehay

Rebel In The Back Seat, a collection of coming of age, no matter the age, short stories includes:

• Hockey Night on Ossington Avenue
• The Conquest of Kong
• The Winter of Whisky
• A Whiter Shade of Pale
• L’Ascenseur
• The Visit
• The Last Bang
• Beaujolais Nouveau
• The Cattle Were Lowing
• The Nuncles
• Rebel In The Back Seat

Sometimes tragic. Often hilarious. Frequently poignant. And always uplifting. Rebel In The Back Seat will make you smile, make you laugh, make you feel and just might cause you to reflect on growing up — the good, the not always good, and the painful … And yes, even the funny moments too.

Buy Rebel online at the following locations:

• Amazon.com Kindle: $4.95 (US)*
• Amazon.com print: 12.95 (US)
• Amazon.ca print: $12.45 (CND)
• Chapters-Indigo print: from $15.60 (CND)
• Barnes&Noble print: $12.45 (US)
• Amazon UK print: 8.15 pnd
• Amazon UK Kindle: 3.15 pnd
• Lulu ePub:$5.95 (US)
• Lulu PDF: $5.95 (US)

* Prices subject to change by retailers

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