Branding yourself as a freelance writer

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Your Web site (and/ or blog) can create dozens of freelance opportunities for you, if you remember to brand yourself.

What’s branding? It’s carving out your niche. Almost 20 years ago I wanted to brand myself as a tech journalist, so I started to send out queries about PIMs (Personal Information Managers). That got me gigs writing about shareware, and I’m still happily working in this niche today.

Essentially, branding yourself is establishing your expertise in a particular area. I’ve branded myself in the “Internet for business” niche, the “SOHO (small office home office)” niche and many others. Once you brand yourself in a particular niche you can keep working that niche forever if you choose to. I wrote a home office book a decade ago, and I’m still receiving interview requests from journalists about this area, although I haven’t written about that niche for at least eight years.

How to get a brand and establish yourself as an expert

You can do this by: creating a Web site/ bog devoted to the niche; writing a book in the area; or by writing numerous articles about the area.

Let’s take a fictional scenario to see how this might work for you. You’re Tessa BrandMe, a new freelance writer. You’re working in a humdrum job, so you want to moonlight as a freelancer until you can afford to go full-time. You decide to choose a niche that you know a lot about — child care. You begin sending out queries to parenting magazines, and within a few months, you’ve published several articles. You’ve now established yourself in this particular niche — you’ve branded yourself. You add a section to your Web site for the latest child care info, and with each child care article you write, your brand grows.

You know you’ve nailed your child care brand when you get an Associate Editor gig on a parenting magazine, and are asked to contribute to a book.

It’s easy to establish a brand, and it’s a shortcut to a great freelance writing career.

Brand Yourself as a Writer: Charge the Rates you Deserve

Are you charging enough?

Many excellent writers are charging pitiful rates.

You can charge more, when you discover the secrets of branding and marketing yourself as a brand.

“You CAN Sell Your Writing Now: Marketing Skills For Writers” ensures that you charge the rates you deserve.

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