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E-Writer Issue #22 1 August 2005 http://www.nickdaws.co.uk E-mail: ewriter-at-nickdaws.co.uk "Hints, tips and tricks for wired-up writers" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> In This Issue <<< 1. Editorial 2. Useful Resource: Freelance Work Exchange 3. Market Info: Miscellany 4. Article: Frequently Asked Questions 1. Editorial Hello again, and thank you for being a valued E-Writer subscriber! July was another busy month for me, though in the last week or so, with the start of the main holiday season here in Britain, things have quietened down a bit. Still, during July, as well as all my regular monthly commissions, I finished a TV quiz book for a large UK retailer and started a pub trivia quiz book for the US market. I've also written a mini-course on hypnotism, and updated a course on another subject (not writing-related) that I wrote a few years ago. Overall, then, I'm not too upset that things have turned a little quieter now! I'm still getting a lot of interest in my new course Quick Cash Writing, and I'm pleased to say that many E-Writer readers have now bought it. Here's one unsolicited testimonial, from Bruce Waller, which was sent direct to my publishers: <<Nick jammed this course with insider information that makes you cash quick. It’s succinct. It’s powerful. It’ll dump money in your pocket. How do I know this? I used his secrets and have three pieces in the works (two that I’ve been paid for already) right now. Thank you, Nick! I cannot wait to buy your next course!>> Many thanks for that, Bruce. You don't work in marketing by any chance, do you?! For the benefit of newcomers to E-Writer, Quick Cash Writing is a course aimed at people who want to start making money from writing as quickly as possible. It covers a wide range of shorter opportunities, from readers' letters to greeting cards, articles to short stories, contest slogans to movie ideas. You can read more about it at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm. The latter also has links to my publisher's sales page. Regular readers will know that I have been offering a free copy of my electronic tutorial Short Story Acumen to anyone buying QCW via a link on my website. I have decided to keep this offer open for just one more week - after that, it will definitely be gone. I will be adding a new bonus item for people buying via my website instead, but don't worry - if you have bought Quick Cash Writing via a link on my site, I will make sure you get the new bonus item as well as soon as it is ready. So...if you want to get your hands on Quick Cash Writing, plus Short Story Acumen, plus my idea-generating program The Mini- Inspiratron, plus eight other writing programs and demos, plus various other freebies as well - you have till Monday 8 August (that's my partner, Jayne's, birthday, by the way). After that, the SSA offer will be gone forever! To stake your claim, go to http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm, then click on one of the banner ads to go to my publisher's sales site. Once you've ordered your copy of QCW, forward a copy of the e-mail receipt to me and I'll e-mail you back with details of how you can access Short Story Acumen and your other 'mystery bonus'. But please make sure you do all this before the 8 August deadline! Other news: My article 'Don't Cook Your Computer' in the last E- Writer drew a lot of comment. As you may recall, in this article I emphasised the importance of keeping your PC cool, and recommended dusting it with the aid of a hoover attachment. My fellow Lichfield & District Writers member (and indeed Life President of the group) Cythia Castellan wrote to thank me for the advice, and revealed that she had achieved similar almost- miraculous results by dusting the back of her refrigerator! There is actually a coda to the story of my overheating PC. Although dusting inside and out corrected matters for a week or two, one day the temperature (as monitored using the free MBM program I recommended) suddenly shot up again and, as usual, the PC crashed. At the same time I was hearing worrying-sounding noises from inside the case. I decided it was time to call in the experts, and contacted my local, friendly-neighbourhood computer technician, Andrew. He quickly diagnosed a faulty cooling fan, and literally in the time it took me to make him a glass of squash (it was a hot day) he had whipped out the old fan and installed a new and better one. All is now working fine again - my PC is running quietly, it hardly ever crashes (well, this *is* Microsoft Windows we're talking about), and the temperature readout as I write is a cool 48 degrees. By the way, if you live anywhere near Lichfield and need a technician to service, repair or upgrade your PC, I highly recommend Andrew. His website is at www.startechcomputers.co.uk. Congratulations to EW reader Vic Knight. Vic saw the item about Freeway Publishing in EW20 ( http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/ew020.htm ) and sent in his application. The upshot was that he wrote a 15,000 word book on overcoming insomnia for them, and is now working on a new guide to betting exchanges. If any other EW readers have had work commissioned by Freeway, I would be interested to hear from them. Finally, EW reader Amina Mirza is writing a children's book using the method set out in my original WCCL course, 'Write Any Book in under 28 Days'. She would very much like to hear from any other EW readers who are using my '28 Days' method to write a children's book. If that sounds like you, please drop Amina a line at tulipsaki-at-yahoo.com. Nice email address, by the way :) OK, then, on with the show... ------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Can you draw as well as write? Then you may be interested in the new course from my publishers WCCL, DRAW CARTOONS TODAY. DRAW CARTOONS TODAY is written by the prolific American cartoonist, Lou Darvas. In his unique style, Lou reveals the secret techniques that can turn you into a professional, published cartoonist within just three months. And, Lou insists, it doesn't matter how good or bad your current drawings are. Lou's course shows you tricks that will guide you from amateur to pro in just twelve easy steps. It includes over 1,000 hand- drawn illustrations and 174 pages of quality content. DRAW CARTOONS TODAY is currently on special offer for just $19.95, or around £12 in UK money. It's an instant download, so if you order it now, within minutes you can be polishing and perfecting your cartooning skills. For full details, check out the website at http://tinyurl.com/5nn5r. ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Useful Resource: Freelance Work Exchange Freelance Work Exchange (FWE) is an up-and-coming freelance jobs site. It covers all types of freelance work, but writing and editorial seem particularly popular. The following shortcut URL should take you directly to the main information page: http://tinyurl.com/a37w8. As on Elance ( http://www.elance.com ), on FWE potential clients post details of projects for which they need freelance help, and freelances can bid for these jobs. The client then makes his choice from the bids received, taking into account not only the price quoted but also the freelance's track record. Many of the clients are US-based, but in most cases the work can be done electronically from anywhere in the world. FWE is perhaps a little more accessible than Elance for new freelances for two reasons. One is that Elance is a long- eastablished site and there is a core of highly experienced writers who - other things being equal - are most likely to obtain work there. And second, unlike Elance, on FWE you have to pay a membership fee before you can see most of the jobs on offer and apply for them. Obviously you could regard the latter as a drawback, but equally it does substantially reduce the amount of competition from other writers. The standard fee at FWE is $29.95 a month (that's around £18 in UK money), but it's possible to take out a seven-day trial membership for just $2.97 (around £1.60) to see whether joining might be beneficial to you. In the interests of researching this article - and providing a service to E-Writer readers - that's exactly what I decided to do. Joining FWE proved relatively straightforward. They accept various forms of payment including Paypal, but I chose to pay with my credit card. One thing that did confuse me slightly is that on the credit card form they ask you to enter a username and password. I wondered what they meant by this, then realised that they want you to provide these yourself, so you can use them to log in to the FWE site once your application has been accepted. So what do you get for your membership? There is actually quite a long list of things, but the two features which are likely to be of greatest interest to most freelances are Freelance Job Report and the Jobs Database. Freelance Jobs Report is basically a newsletter with articles such as How to Establish Client Relationships and Making It as a Freelancer. The articles are generally worth reading - though some may find them a little basic - and the Report also lists some current jobs from the Jobs Database. The Jobs Database is where all of FWE's current vacancies are listed. There are seven sections. The first is Writing, Editing and Proofreading, and the others are Design and Illustration, Programming, Software Development and Technical Consultancy, Photography, Administrative & Miscellaneous, and Work at Home. Jobs in each section are listed in date order. About 30 writing, editing and proofreading jobs were listed during July. Other jobs go back further, though I suspect that these are likely to have been filled by now. In general, the jobs did look interesting. There was only one I had seen listed elsewhere on the web, an opportunity for greeting card writers with Blue Mountain Cards. A few other listings from the site, to give you a flavour of what's on offer, are reproduced below: <<Ghostwrite a Screenplay - A ghostwriter is needed to write a screenplay treatment. You should have an interest in animation and Australia. Fee is negotiable in accordance to skills and experience and will be paid upon delivery of each stage of work. Please forward short samples of work. >> <<Write for a Car Magazine - Freelance writers are needed for a car magazine. This magazine is based around muscle cars. Articles needed will be how to articles, restoration, and performance upgrade articles. Articles should be written for American muscle cars from the 60's and 70's and some for newer American muscle cars. Please send a resume and ideas for articles. >> <<Perform Professional Editing - Professional editors are needed for marketing whitepapers. This will also involve professional marketing pieces. You will also need to have a talent in word smithing to improve the structure and effectiveness of a particular message. Must be extremely passionate about writing and to get it perfect. You also must be willing to be critiqued and humble enough to redo a project as many times as it takes to make it right if the need arises. >> <<Write DVD Scripts - A freelance writer is needed to write scripts for an instructional DVD. The topic will be a knitting and crochet series. Scripts will be based on written guides for each subject. Must be experienced in writing for television and available to start work immediately. Familiarity with fiber crafts a plus. >> All of these jobs are currently being advertised, but to apply you have to use the online application form provided on the FWE site. Please don't email me asking for further info, therefore, as I don't have any! Take out a trial membership yourself and you will then be able to view full details and submit your application. Overall, Freelance Work Exchange undoubtedly offers some great opportunities for freelances. If you're looking for more work, it's worth taking out a trial membership at least. I suspect that with many of these jobs US-based writers may have a slight advantage (as that's where most of the clients are), but there is nothing to stop writers from elsewhere in the world applying. Once again, my shortcut link to the main page is http://tinyurl.com/a37w8. -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Would you like to travel the world free of charge as a freelance travel writer? Then John Longford's Travel Writing Blueprints could be your passport! John has prepared not just one but two e-books on this exciting opportunity. 'Travel Writing That Sells' sets out the nuts and bolts of what it takes to write a saleable travel article, while 'Travel the World for Free as a Published Travel Writer' explains exactly how you can cash in on your travel writing skills, get invited on press trips, and so on.You can buy each report separately, or get both and enjoy a $10 discount. Check out http://tinyurl.com/d7rn6 for full details! -------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Market Info - Miscellany Here are a few more potential markets for you, starting with another opportunity from the publishers of my '28 Days' and Quick Cash Writing courses... White Cliff Computing Limited (WCCL) is looking for writers to create a series of non-fiction scripts. WCCL has a database of facts, such as the world's hundred greatest artists and Shakespeare's greatest plays, which requires rewording in order to make the facts flow. All the data is ready; you will simply need to creatively re-word and edit. Preference will be given to UK writers. If interested, please send your details to james.dunn-at-whitecliff.net as soon as possible. A small educational publishing company based in London's Covent Garden is looking for a full-time experienced journalist with an interest in the education market to work on a magazine, books and range of teaching resources. They are looking for editorial skills combined with copywriting flair. They are also seeking freelance journalists to write case study material, and for feature work. To apply, send your CV/resume by email to: judithbloor-at-rapportgroup.com with details of availability. No deadline stated. Paper Rose Limited is a UK greeting card company seeking freelance writers to supply verses and ideas for them. They prefer email submissions, which should be sent to marieedlin-at-paperrose.co.uk. Before writing, though, take a look at their website at http://www.paperrose.co.uk to check out their ranges and get an idea of the type of material that may find favour with them. To borrow a phrase from a popular TV advertising campaign here in Britain, Sex-Writer.com is a website which does exactly what it says on the tin. The site, which (surprise, surprise) is aimed at erotic fiction writers has recently been relaunched, and to celebrate that fact is hosting a new fiction contest. The theme is "Heat" and there's a five hundred word limit. You can see the details here: http://www.sex-writer.com. On a similar note, Loose-Id is a small but growing electronic publisher currently seeking sensual romantic fiction. They want cross-genre love stories such as romantic suspense, science fiction romance and paranormal romance, all with a high degree of sexual tension and eroticism. Stories must, however, have engaging plots and characters. Minimum length is 20,000 words. They ask for electronic rights for a term of two years, and pay 35% of gross sales on stand-alone stories. For more information, see the (highly detailed) guidelines at http://www.loose-id.com (scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Submissions). Finally, here are two new publishers who are aiming to combine the new world of the Internet with the traditional world of books. The first, Hambly Web Literature, specialises in books which would not be possible in any other medium. This might be through the use of hyperlinks, audio or video extracts, or the use of virtual tours. They say that they intend to source books from authors who understand the concept of web literature and can use the opportunities the Internet offers to communicate in a new, interactive way with readers. They do not pay an advance, but offer a royalty rate of 30%. For more information, see http://www.web-lit.com (click on Notes for Authors). The Friday Project has a slightly different angle. They intend to specialise in turning the Internet’s best-known brands into high-quality books. The company will publish its first two titles 'The Holy Moly! Rules Of Modern Life' and 'London by London: The Insiders’ Guide' in October 2005. A full schedule of 16 titles will be published in 2006. They say they would like to hear from you if you have a website which could make the basis for an interesting book. You don't have to run a mega-site such as Amazon, though. An off-beat blog, especially if it has developed a 'cult' following, could work just as well. For more info, see http://www.thefridayproject.co.uk or, if you have a project already in mind, email your proposal to Clare Christian at clare-at-thefridayproject.co.uk. -------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Are you interested in writing for children? Then a brand new e- book by children's author Robyn Opie could be just the resource you need. Opie has written 55 published children's books, and in this new guide she reveals the secrets of her success. You will learn why children's fiction is different from other fiction, how to create believable characters, how to write realistic dialogue, how to ensure your reader is 'hooked' after the first two pages, and much, much more. You'll even get a free copy of Opie's children's book 'Black Baron' - all for just $19.95 (around £12). Visit http://tinyurl.com/bs86n now for full information! -------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Article: Frequently Asked Questions As a working freelance writer with a reasonably high-profile web presence, I am regularly contacted by aspiring writers asking for advice. I thought I would therefore take this opportunity to list some of the questions I am asked most often, and my answers to them. In future, I may simply refer people asking any similar questions to this article ;-) Q. How did you decide you wanted to write? A. I always wanted to be a writer, starting from my school days. However, I didn't really see it as a viable career choice when I was younger. For one thing, I mainly wanted to write fiction, and that seemed to be a very tough way of making a living. I made the decision to go full time in my late twenties, when I was in a job I hated and seemed to have no other options. At the time it was a leap into the unknown, and there were more than a few hairy moments along the way, but now I think it's the best thing I could have done. I have ended up writing mainly non- fiction though! Q. What kind of education did you need to get in order to get where you are today? A. I went all through the UK educational system and eventually came out with an honours degree in Psychology. This was only peripherally relevant to becoming a writer, though. I'm not sure you need *any* particular educational qualifications to become a freelance writer, just the ability to string a few words together. However, it definitely helps to know something about a wide range of subjects. Given that, you can soon research anything else you need to know - with the help of the Internet, of course. Q. What are the pros and cons of being a full-time freelance writer? A. On the plus side, I love the freedom being a freelance writer gives me, and the opportunity to explore my various interests in depth and get paid for it. I enjoy not having a boss looking over my shoulder all the time - though, of course, as a working freelance providing a professional service, in a way I have many different 'bosses'. Working from home also has many attractions, from being at home when tradesmen call to saving on travel costs. One minus side is that occasionally writing can be a lonely business, and I do sometimes miss the camaraderie of working in a friendly office (not all offices are friendly, of course). It can also be an uncertain way of making a living when you first start out, though hopefully as the years go by you will have a growing source of regular income from royalties, permissions, library lending rights, and so on. Writing is also not a very healthy occupation, so I try to balance it every day by doing something physical as well. But overall, I wouldn't want to do any other job. Q. Would you still write if you couldn't make a living from it? A. I'd like to think the answer is yes, but it might depend a bit on the job I was doing instead. If it left me absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, I can't really imagine coming home, switching on my PC, and starting work on an article or short story. The trouble is, writing is a mentally demanding task, and you have to be somewhere near your peak (I do anyway) to do it well. I really admire people who fit in writing a novel around a demanding day job. I'm not sure if I could do it myself. Q. How do you get new clients? A. Various ways. Sometimes by replying to ads. Sometimes by writing 'on spec' to publishers and other businesses I think could use my services. Quite often, also, through networking. That is to say, other writers and editors I have worked with in the past have recommended me to their colleagues (and I do the same for them). This happens a lot in the writing world. And sometimes, of course, clients approach me, perhaps after discovering my website. Q. What would be your number one piece of advice for someone wanting to become a professional freelance writer? A. Naturally, you should buy my courses! Quick Cash Writing - http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/qcw.htm - is aimed at anyone wanting to start making money from writing quickly. 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days' - http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm - is aimed at those who would like to write a full-length book, fiction or non-fiction, again in the shortest possible time. Other than that, though, I would say that if you hope to write for a living, bear in mind that there is a lot to be said for being (or becoming) an 'expert' in one or more fields. There are many people who want to write, but if you can offer a combination of writing skills plus expertise in a particular field, you will find it much easier to get a publisher or editor interested in commissioning you. And remember, being an 'expert' doesn't necessarily mean you have to do years of training. In many fields, being an expert simply means knowing a little more about your subject than the 'man in the street'. I write regularly about gambling, for example, but I don't have any qualifications or work-related experience in this subject. I fell into writing about gambling almost by accident, and have simply built up my expertise over the years, through reading up on the topic and talking to people who really *are* experts! This is a subject I will try to return to in a future E-Writer issue. That's it for this issue. I do hope you've enjoyed reading it and found something that may be useful to you. E-Writer will be back again in a few weeks' time. All good wishes, Nick ---------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement Nick Daws' CD-based course 'Write Any Book In Under 28 Days' takes you through every stage of writing a book, from getting the original idea through to editing the completed manuscript, all in the shortest possible time. Read a lengthy extract from the course at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk/writeany.htm, then click through to the publisher's website to read some of the many testimonials! * New! See the latest independent review of 'Write Any Book in Under 28 Days' at http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/articles/realresults.htm. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Info Except where specifically stated, material in E-Writer is protected by copyright of Nick Daws, 2005. Material from the newsletter may, however, be reproduced in other online or off- line publications so long as (a) the text (including any URLs and e-mail addresses) is not altered in any way, and (b) the souce is acknowledged and a link or text reference is provided to my website at http://www.nickdaws.co.uk. Notifying me is not essential but would be appreciated - please use the e- mail address above or the link on my site. Many thanks! |