Fab Freelance Writing Blog

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In this week’s Fab Freelance Writing Ezine we focus on making your articles profitable.

Here’s an excerpt from the Editorial, Spinning Articles - Sell Them Over And Over Again:

I’ve noticed however that many writers fail to make the most of the articles they write, so that’s the theme of this week’s ezine - getting everything you can out of the articles you write. I hope you find the article “Articles Are The Foundation Of Your Career In Print And Online - Make Them Profitable For You” useful.

You should also maximize all the research that you put into articles: you can use your research again and again, by spinning articles - writing many times on the same topics, with different slants.

Spinning article topics: always think in terms of MANY articles, not just one

I was chatting with a freelancing colleague, and she made this point: “You’ve got to spin your article topics, so that you get all the value you can out of the research that you do.”

The ezine is sent to subscribers each week in easy-to-read PDF format. Subscribe today, and develop a highly profitable freelance writing career.

Read this week’s issue on the ezine’s archives site.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, articles, make money writing, content, Web, writers, writing, how to write

Public relations writing can be a lucrative sideline for your writing career.

If you have any visibility at all, either via your byline in print publications, or via your Web writing efforts, you will be asked to write press releases.

(Writing PR is a form of copywriting - I cover PR extensively in my Seven Days To Copywriting Success ebook.)

Writing a press release is relatively simple. Here’s a template for a release.

Standard press releases versus online press releases - the keyword difference

A standard press release is around 300 words in length, and is focused on news of some kind. It’s not advertising, and if your client treats it like advertising, then resist, because newspapers and magazines have clear divisions between editorial and advertising. So in a standard press release, treat it like news and you’re set.

The online press release however, has an additional function, and that is to get traffic to your client’s Web site. This means that you need to include keywords so that the press release will be found online.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, PR, public relations

Specializing has benefits for your freelance writing career. As a specialist you become known as an expert in the area you’ve chosen, so when an editor needs someone with your expertise, you get hired. And, as with doctors, specialist freelance writers are usually paid more.

You can specialize in any area which appeals to you, or in which you have experience - health, technology, travel, finance. Many writers become specialists by default: they write an article on a topic, and are then contracted to write more articles, or a book.

Authority: the major benefit of specialization

You can’t fake authority, and authority is highly prized by editors. Authority is one of the major benefits of specialization: you know an area well, and it shows in your writing.

So, how do you become a specialist writer?

Here are some steps you could follow:

* Choose a topic for which you have enthusiasm

* Start writing articles on that topic, and get them published, both in print, and online

* Start a blog on the topic

Before you know it, you’ll be a specialist. Editors will come to you. You’ll also attracting copywriting clients - when you write copy, your clients appreciate the fact that you’re a specialist, and they’ll approach you to write copy for them.

In a nutshell, specialization means you get paid more, and editors and clients come to you.

Resources

* Freelance Writing: Marketing And Selling – Learn To Pitch reveals the secrets of highly paid freelance writers: pitches that work;

* Blogging For Dollars - become a pro blogger;

* Seven Days To Easy Money: Copywriting Success, new 2007 edition - become a highly paid copywriter.

Technorati Tags: freelance writing, writing, specialist, blogging, copywriting