Another Writer Resource...

According to their website:

Reporter's Source is a free service, linking journalists and other members of the media with businesses and individuals for stories, shows, and more.

How it works for sources:
If you are interested in potentially becoming a source for a journalist, please subscribe to our newsletter below. Every day we will send out an email containing inquiries from members of the media. If you have information pertaining to their inquiry, you can send over a brief synopsis of information that we will forward to the journalist. If they use it, you may gain publicity for your business or self.

Font Freebie!

According to their website:

Fawnt is a font resource for designers, developers, and anyone that appreciates the web's highest quality fonts.

There are 10,000 fonts to choose from. And they're all free!

Vendor/Client Relationships

This YouTube clip cracked me up. Very similar to the Writer/Client relationship. See if you can relate!

Entrepreneurs CAN change the world...

This YouTube video was brought to my attention by Peter Shankman at HARO. Very inspirational! Great music too! Take a look and listen when you're feeling like you need a boost.

Show respect for fellow freelancers

James Chartrand, a writer on Deb Ng's The Freelance Writing Jobs Network (a great place to search for freelance jobs and great tips, by the way), wrote a post titled: How Friendly are You with Other Freelancers? He says:

The friendly, hardworking, open-minded writer is typically always going to get ahead more with both potential clients and with peers than the writer who puts sticks in wheels, takes people down a peg, and gives them a hard time.

I got the biggest kick out of reading that paragraph! How true, right? And, though Chartrand is ultimately talking about blogging issues between freelancers in the rest of the article, he makes a great point. It helps to be nice to peers.

But, I'd go a step further.

Though it is a good rule of thumb to treat everyone you come in contact with with the utmost respect (no matter who they are), I think, as independent contractors, it's imperative to do this. After all, you never know, as a freelancer, who'll be responsible for cutting your next paycheck!

What do you think? Is it ever a good idea to alienate another freelance writer?

Writer Resources: The Virtual Water Cooler

• As a freelance writer, sometimes working alone can, well, get a little lonely. Fortunately, I like a little solitude--or a lot on some days--but there's generally a time or two during the day when I wish that there were "co-workers" to talk to (especially when I need a little break from deadlines, querying and LOIs--Letters of Introduction). Well, fortunately, for me (and you) there are plenty of virtual "water coolers" to visit. A few of my favorites include:
  
  Facebook - Usually once or twice a day, I visit Facebook to see what friends, family and fellow writers are up to. Though I try not to spend too much time on the site, it's easy to get sucked in if you're not careful. Put a time limit on yourself, and practice using the site for a little business as well as pleasure. This might include posting links to articles you've written or articles from others that you like.
  
  Twitter - I'm not much of a Twitterer yet, and I'm not sure that I will be. I don't quite get it. I do check in on the site often, and Tweet a bit here and there, but I haven't quite gotten the concept down of why I "should" be there--and why people decide to follow me. If you're curious about what other writers have to say about Twitter, there's plenty of information out there. Just google "Writers who Twitter" and you'll get more info than you need.
  
  Freelance Success - This is a "water cooler" that I pay money to visit. It costs $99 per year, but I have personally garnered so much information about writing and freelancing there, that it's well worth the price of admission--not to mention the money that I've made as a freelancer by using the advice posted there!
  
  Various Blogs - Probably my favorite form of finding out what's on the mind of other writers is through the various blogs that I read. Though I read other types of blogs, too, some of my favorite writing blogs include:
  
  Ask Allison
  
  Editor Unleashed
  
  The Urban Muse
  
  Men with Pens
  
  Erik Sherman's WriterBiz
  
  The Writer Mama Riffs
  
  Michael Stelzner's Writing White Papers
  
  Remarkablogger
  
  The Copywriter Underground
  
  Serenity for the Self-Employed
  
  
  What virtual "water coolers" do you like to visit? Are they a help or hindrance? Do they make you feel connected to other writers?
  

Writer Resources: Where to Look for Freelance Writing Jobs

Most new writers don't like to market themselves and most aren't very consistent at job hunting, which is a shame. Marketing and job hunting--both necessary activities for becoming a successful writer--are best done on a regular basis, EVEN when you're busy. No, especially when you're busy!

It's too easy to put off your marketing strategies when you have projects at hand and deadlines looming. The problem is, though, if you don't keep up with the marketing and job hunting, you'll find yourself--at the end of your projects--without anything to do. Then you panic!

Been there, done that, but have learned my lesson.

My strategy, today, is to spend every Monday marketing, job hunting, sending out LOIs (Letters of Introduction) and submitting queries. I spend the whole day doing these activities, and for the most part, they've helped to keep the assignments rolling in.

Here is a list of resources for job hunting, submitting queries and sending out LOIs:

Craigslist...Some crappy jobs here, but some good ones too.

Freelance Writing Jobs for Web and Print...This is a blog with good info and job postings from different job boards.

ProBlogger... This is a blogging job board.

mediabistro.com...Lots of info here, plus jobs. Lots of free stuff, but if you want full access, pay for membership.

Freelance Writing Jobs...Lots of great info here too.

Writer's Market...I use this resource online, though you can buy a hard copy in the book store. This is a good tool for finding trade magazines to send LOIs to and for finding magazines that you can pitch article ideas to.

What are some of your favorite resources for finding work?

Words can be ugly or pretty according to survey

As writers, we know that words can elicite all types of emotion, but did you know that words could be ugly or pretty? According to Robert E. Wolverton Sr., a Mississippi State University classics professor, they can.

You can read the whole Newswise article here.

Writer Resources: Where to Find Sources for your Articles

Whether you're researching a query or writing an assigned article, you always need sources. And whether you need expert sources or "everyday people", there are a few good places to find them.

My favorite is HARO (Help a Reporter Out) compiled by Peter Shankman. I've used HARO on several occassions and have never been disappointed.

Another good place to find them, according to Susan Johnston, is Gorkana. She talks about them in this month's newsletter, The Urban Museletter. She says:

I discovered Gorkana and immediately signed up. It looks a little like HARO or Profnet in that you can submit requests for sources, but Gorkana also lists journalism jobs and personnel updates (as in who's moving around the masthead or freelancing) in their daily email alert.

Another resource that I've yet to use is ProfNet. I hear that it can be a good source of sources, as well.

Where do you find your sources? Share them in the comments!

Best Books for Writers

Maria Schneider at Editor Unleashed created a top-ten list of the Best Books for Writers. Check it out here.

I've read/own some of these, but there are certainly others on the list that I want to check out. For example,I've never read Stephen King's On Writing but I've always wanted to--and will (one of these days soon).

I have read Bird by Bird from Anne Lamott and absolutely loved it! I blogged about it here.

What are your favorite books for writers? Tell me about them in the comments.

Christina Katz: Writers on the Rise Blog & Newsletter

As I stated in the last post, when I find a book, blog, article, newsletter, or whatever that I particularly like from another writer, I like to share it. Today, I received my monthly edition of "Writers on the Rise" newsletter from Christina Katz, and I realized that it's a resource that I should share.

Really, there's something in it for everyone!

You can read the blog here and sign up for the newsletter on the link up in the right-hand corner.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

What other blogs, websites or newsletters do you enjoy? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Writer's Blogs that I Love

Today, I thought I'd share some of my favorite blogs. Most are ones that I've been using since I started freelance writing, and they've been a tremendous help to me, and others I've started reading as I've progressed in my writing career. All are packed with great information, and the writers are terrific people.

• My favorite blog when I first started freelancing, and one that I still frequent almost daily, is Ask Allison by Allison Winn Scotch. Since I started reading her blog a couple of years ago, she has written and published two books and is writing a third. Prior to that (and still, I think) she wrote for several magazines, and her website archives have a ton of info for anyone aspiring to write for magazines. You could spend a month there!


• Another blog that I love is The Urban Muse. The writer, Susan Johnston, has recently moved to full-time freelancing, but has been writing for a living for a long time.


• My other favorite blogs include The Renegade Writer (they offer classes too), Men with Pens, Serenity for the Self-Employed and Inkthinker.


• One that I recently started reading is The Writer Mama Riffs by Christina Katz. Here I'm learning a lot about building a writing platform. Christina also offers some great classes.

Conficker Virus Apparently No Joke

Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years according to Christopher Null: The Working Guy in an article titled, "Beware Conficker worm come April 1." The malicious program is thought to have already infected between 5 million and 10 million computers, and is such a great threat that there's a $250,000 bounty from Microsoft for anyone who catches the program's author.

In an article titled, "No joke in April Fool's Day computer worm," by John D. Sutter, one quick way to tell if your computer may have been infected is to check to see if you've gotten automatic updates from Windows in March. If so, your computer is probably fine. If not, you should go to http://safety.live.com/.

If you use antivirus software, you should check to see that you've received their latest updates as well. These programs may have also been disabled by Conficker C.

Remember, your best line of defense against computer crashes of any kind is to regularly back up all of your data.

Scared of Social Media Marketing? Don't Be!

So you'd like to delve into the social media marketing scene, but you're afraid... well, maybe not afraid, but you don't have the first clue where to start. I think you're in the boat with a lot of freelancers who haven't gotten their feet wet in the social media pool yet.

Because social media marketing seems so complicated--with a huge learning curve--a lot of people feel like it's a waste of their time to become informed. I beg to differ and so does Michael A. Stelzner. He's so commited to making people comfortable with Social Media Marketing, that he's written a report, AND he's giving it away for free!

In his report titled "SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INDUSTRY REPORT, How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses" (March 2009), Michael has spent a lot of time and energy sharing the results of this industry report. He says,

If you're in charge of marketing your business, you'll want to closely examine what's on the following pages. My team turned over every rock, looking for the "not so obvious" findings among this content-rich data.

We set out to uncover the "who, what, where, when and why " of social media marketing with this report. Nearly 900 of your peers provided the kind of insight that previously has not existed.

If you're pondering starting social media marketing, it's my hope that these findings will help push you over the edge. If you're already onboard, feel free to examine what the really experienced marketers are doing (and use this study to persuade others.

Check out Michael's report. It's my hope that you'll begin to see that Social Media Marketing will be a great marketing avenue for your freelance writing career.

Writers: Use Cheap Ink!

As writers, we tend to use a lot of ink. My business expense for ink and paper alone is probably about 70 - 80 percent of my budget. Well, there's good news. PCWorld did an extensive study, and they say that it's safe to go "cheap" on your ink expense.

In their article, "Cheap Ink: Will It Cost You?", PCWorld found that inexpensive third-party or remanufactured printer ink cartridges may be worth the savings. An added bonus? They sometimes yield more prints than their new, branded counterparts too! From the article:

PC World teamed up with the Rochester Institute of Technology, a respected research university known for its top-notch laboratory for testing imaging products. Using popular ink jet printers from Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and Lexmark, we ran side-by-side tests of brand-name and third-party inks to compare image quality and fade resistance. We also tracked how many pages each cartridge churned out before running dry.

Our tests show that all of the third-party inks in our test group yielded more prints per cartridge--on top of costing less--but that, with some notable exceptions, the printer manufacturers' ink we evaluated usually produced better-quality prints and proved more resistant to fading. Of course, our conclusions apply only to the printers we tested. We couldn't test all of the printers that are available (partly because you can't get third-party ink for all of them), so we picked a set of mainstream inkjet printers from recognized brands as a way of taking a snapshot view of the ink market.

If you print photos, the cheap ink may not work for you because it is less resistant to fading, but if you're primarily print text, PCWorld says there's every reason to choose the cheap stuff. Your estimated savings? $30 on a black-ink replacement cartridge compatible with an HP 45 inkjet printer according to PCWorld.

What other ways have you saved on business expenses?

FedEx is offering free resume printing...

FedEx is offering free resume printing today, March 10, 2009. From their press release:

FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinko’s), an operating company of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX), today announced plans to offer its printing services in an effort to help job seekers across the nation. The company will host "FedEx Office Free Resume Printing Day" on March 10, 2009, offering to print up to 25 copies of each customer’s resume for free.

As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor, the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent and the number of unemployed persons increased to 11.6 million in January 2009. With so many people looking to get their printed resumes in the hands of recruiters and hiring managers, FedEx Office is prepared to help.

The company invites customers to take advantage of this one-day event by visiting any of its 1,600+ FedEx Office Print and Ship Centers in the United States during regular business hours. This offer is good for 25 black-and-white resume copies per customer and is only valid for orders placed and picked up in-store. Customers may place orders by submitting their resume in printed format or as a digital file, and the copies will be printed single-sided on resume-quality paper.

"We understand that the economy has affected many people in a very profound way, and we want to help," said Brian Philips, president and CEO of FedEx Office. "Printing resumes is one small way we can use our resources to help those who need it."

To find the nearest FedEx Office Print and Ship Center, visit www.fedex.com or call 1-800-Go-FedEx (1-800-463-3339).

Go out and get your free resumes!

Economic stability...We can all use some of that!

A blogger friend of mine just spilled the beans today that he isn't being paid for his blog posts. He had been posting quite intermittently and it was becoming apparent that something was wrong, but there were no real explanations...until today.

The really sad part? The company that he blogs for is very well known by writers (think magazine)--and it's really a shame. Seriously, this company knows full well that writers don't eat if they don't get paid.

If nothing else, they should have told him that they were struggling financially--that they weren't going to be able to pay him any longer and let him go on his way. He'll probably do that at this point anyway, but they should have been up front with him.

This story is nothing new to writers these days. There are new instances daily of writers who aren't being paid for work that they've done. Plus, with the current economy--and magazines closing left and right--the pool of freelance writers just keeps getting larger and larger. What's a writer to do to stay calm? Make a plan and get creative!

One way to start planning--with some calm--is to check out Heather Boerner's new 30-day challenge at Serenity for the Self-Employed. Her new series is called the 30-Day Economic Stability Challenge. Check out today's post here.

I plan on following Heather's blog throughout the month, and I hope to learn a lot! Thanks for such a timely challenge, Heather!

Cleaning out your freelance "closet"

Jenny Cromie wrote a great post today over at The Golden Pencil called, "Clean Out the Cobwebs In Your Freelance Closet." Her post caught me at just the right time. With the unseasonably warm (finally!) weather that we had the other day, I find that I'm experiencing a bit of Spring Fever. And with Spring Fever--for me--comes the need to clean. If it does for you, take a look at Jenny's post. She has some terrific ideas for cleaning out your freelance "closet"!

Marcia Layton Turner's Six-Figure Writer Newsletter

Marcia Layton Turner's newsletter "Become a Six-Figure Writer" is a great resource for writers who aren't content with making the average of $5,000 per year. Packed with great information--about once-a-month--Marcia's newsletter is a great read for anyone aspiring to make a GOOD living as a writer. Visit http://www.becomeasixfigurewriter.com/ to sign up to receive this great resource.

Randy Pausch- Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Though I'm probably one of the last people to watch this YouTube video, I'm glad that I took the time to view it. The video is a talk given by Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch (on Sept. 18, 2007)--who was dying of pancreatic cancer--titled, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." In his talk, Pausch spoke about the lessons he's learned and offered advice on how others can achieve their own career and personal goals.

Pausch says, "Almost all of us have childhood dreams; for example, being an astronaut, or making movies or video games for a living. Sadly, most people don’t achieve theirs, and I think that’s a shame. I had several specific childhood dreams, and I’ve actually achieved most of them."

More importantly, Pausch says, "I have found ways...of helping many young people actually achieve their [own] childhood dreams"--a gift that he feels is very important.

This video will lift you up and get you thinking about what an adventure life is.

Gladys Hardy on Ellen Show

This has got to be the funniest YouTube video that I've seen in awhile. If you need a good laugh, check it out.