The WMF Archives: 7 Ways to Find Better Writer Pay -- Right Now

Thursday, August 26, 2010

7 Ways to Find Better Writer Pay -- Right Now

6:22 AM

As the recession drags on, many writers are wondering: Where are the good-paying jobs hiding?

I've written on how to earn more and move up before, here and on my own site, where this week I'm telling people how to find good-paying Web-content clients and how to deliver killer content once you find them.

But clearly, it's not enough. Writers need more information on where the good-paying jobs are!

In a recent discussion of Demand Studios' IPO filing, one DS writer asked me to stop criticizing DS's business model and instead, "Lead the people to high paying, lucrative writing assignments. I couldn't find them." She detailed how work she did off bidding sites led to her being stiffed for several hundred dollars by loser clients. How she needed to keep writing for DS to earn a pittance.

This made me sad. I want writers to earn a good living, not get stiffed.

So today, I'm going to tell you how to speed up the process and find better-paying clients this very month.

It will require radical action on your part. But if you do it, you are highly likely to change your situation and start earning a better hourly rate.

First, think about where have you been looking for writing work -- on online job boards? On bidding sites? On content-mill dashboards? On some combination of these three? (Or, substitute whatever it is you've been doing to find writing gigs that hasn't translated to earning well.)

OK. Here is the experiment to try if you want to find better-paying clients: Never look for work in those places. For a whole month, don't ever go on those sites, for a single minute.

I can hear you freaking out from here. What will I do? I won't have any money!

And maybe for one month, you won't. (If you don't have one month's reserves to use in advancing your writing career, read this.) But if you want to put more money in the bank between now and the end of the year, it's time to change how you look for clients.

At the risk of stating the obvious, if you keep doing what you've been doing to market your writing business, you will probably keep getting the same result.

I believe the above modes of finding writing work become an addictive crutch for many. They're the low-hanging fruit of job-hunting. It's so easy to just sit at your computer and browse these sites, so they're really common forms of job-seeking. So everyone's doing it. So the customers placing those ads don't have to pay much! They know they have a huge pool of desperate writers to select from.

If you are not earning well, acknowledge that the methods you've been using for finding writing jobs are not leading you to the prosperity you want.

Next, try something else. Try new, more active ways of marketing your writing. Go where fewer writers are looking.

My commenter couldn't find the good-paying writing assignments on job boards, DS or bidding sites because for the most part, great clients don't appear there. They find writers through referrals, or on natural search, or by being contacted proactively by smart writers with great story ideas or an apt analysis of how a company could improve its marketing. They're not interested in paying the least they can -- they're interested in getting writing work done that's amazing.

Once the time-wasting of checking job boards and bidding site proposals and $15 article assignments is gone, you'll have a lot of free time you can use to try new job-finding methods. Here are seven other, proven ways to consider for finding good-paying writing work:

1. SEO your writer Web site. I recently had a Fortune 500 company hire me at $2 a word after finding me through a Google search for "Seattle freelance writer." (Go ahead, do that and see what happens. I'll wait. Interesting, huh?) More and more major companies are simply letting their fingers do the Web searching when they need a local writer. Learn more about how to get found online here.

2. Pick up the phone. Make a list of companies in your city that you know are doing well, take a look at their existing marketing materials, come up with an idea for a marketing piece they could use in addition to those (white papers? a brochure? case studies? a blog?), and just call them. Ask for the owner at a smaller company, the marketing manager at a larger one. Introduce yourself, and ask if they use freelance writers. Everyone I know who does this says that somewhere in 20-30 calls, they get at least one client, at professional rates.

3. Meet live humans. Leave your desk and go to networking events. Go to one daily if you can find that many. Meet many people and describe the type of writing work you are looking for. Making in-person connections is a powerful way to find good clients. I've rarely attended a networking event without coming away with at least one good new job lead.

4. Find high-exposure writing opportunities. Get your work onto the highest-traffic, most popular, well-regarded sites you can, even if it's for free. I get a lot of clients who call me after reading high-visibility articles and blogs I've written previously. Write quality, and you can find yourself on the front page of big Web sites. When that happens, prospects will call.

5. Query. I know -- it's so old school! But you know what? Query letters get writers really good-paying assignments in both on- and offline publications. In the past couple of weeks, I got four article assignments worth nearly $7,000 off queries. Study your targets, and send them story ideas that are perfect for their audience. If you're not getting results, learn more about how to write great queries.

6. Build your online networks. OK, here's one thing you can do online -- use your social networks to actively put the word out about the kind of clients you're seeking. Make new connections and chat them up about what they do and who they know. Find every editor you have ever worked with and learn what they're doing now. Search on LinkedIn for publishers and companies you want to target. Contact them through LI with InMail, through connections, or just by giving them a call. DM people on Twitter. I've met two new editors on there recently that have given me assignments.

Just as I was writing this, I got a friendly message on LI from a Seattle writer-friend -- he said he'd had a project fall through and was looking for fill-in work, had I heard about any jobs that I didn't want? Nothing pushy, just a shout-out that listed his expertise areas. I don't know of anything this instant, but I thought he was so smart to proactively put that out there. I'm fully booked, so I might well hear of something I'd pass on and could refer him. Bet he gets a gig through that great outreach!

7. Write and market your own products. I'm prepping an e-book for sale, and most smart writers I know are doing the same. If you hate pitching editors, spend your free time creating products that could be an ongoing source of passive income for you.

If you aren't earning well, maybe it's time to break out of your old habits. Reach out in new ways. Change your marketing strategy. Find what works for you and brings you the writing work you really want, the kind that pays a real, living wage.

Try it, and maybe a month from now, you'll find you don't need to go back to your old prospecting habits, because you have better-paying work.

What forms of marketing are finding you good-paying writing jobs? Leave a comment and let us know.

Photo via Flickr user AMagill

Labels: better pay, bidding sites, Carol Tice, online job ads, online writing gigs, web content writing

6 comments:

N. Strauss said...: Great advice, Carol. So true that when old habits aren't bringing the desired results, it's time to change those habits.; August 26, 2010 11:37 AM
Shannon Polson said...: Terrific post, thank you! Each time I think I'm going to unsubscribe, something like this comes along. Thank you for your thoughtful advice, insight and recommendations.; August 26, 2010 4:07 PM
Rebecca Dienger said...: As always, thanks for concrete, professional advice and the knowledge you share. I get ideas, inspiration and encouragement from your posts every time :); August 27, 2010 8:12 AM
Rebecca said...: Thanks Carol! This is the "kick in the pants" advice I've been looking for and it can be applied to any "freelancer" or entrepreneur.

I've been doing the same thing and expecting different results. It's time for a major shift and change! I'll give it one month ... stay tuned!; August 27, 2010 8:43 AM
Carol Tice said...: Thanks Rebeccas, Shannon and N! Feel free to report back here on strategies you tried that worked out for you. I purposely provided a variety of both passive (SEO your site) and active types of marketing, because everybody finds their own angle that works. I have one mentee who gets all his assignments through phone calls to editors, for instance.

For me I seem to need to do a variety of marketing things to end up with a full slate...so I have a multi-pronged strategy. When I analyzed my recent wins, it was like -- 1 from SEO, 1 from reaching out on full-time job ads to ask if they also used freelancers, 1 from Twitter reachout, 1 from sending a query,.and so on.; August 27, 2010 1:27 PM
Rebecca said...: Will do!

You can develop a strategy that involves marketing to the industry or industries you want to write for. That's what I'm doing.

BTW: I'm happy to report that I'm chapter 5 of my book for teens. I'll either self-publish or write up a proposal for a publishing company. And, my teleplay is being read by a script consultant ... Stay tuned!; August 27, 2010 4:03 PM

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