In 2009, I started researching and experimenting with ways to work less and earn more with my writing. I started out by vowing to work only two days per week.

It worked — and I’ll tell you how in a bit.

Since 2009, my schedule has settled to 30 hours per week or less; more than before because now my son is in school all day, and I really do love what I do and find it hard to keep myself from writing. These days, I generally work from 9-2:30 daily, and often take Fridays off if I can.

And during it all, my freelancing income has gone up by 30%.

Want to know how I did it? Let’s start in 2009.

How I Cut My Work Hours & Still Kept Earning

My goal, when I started the two-day workweek in 2009, was to spend more time with my one-year-old son, have more fun, and do more volunteering. On my days off I would check e-mail just to make sure nothing came up, and if a source could schedule an interview only on one of my days off, I’d do it. But most weeks, I sat down at my desk and worked two days per week.

The first thing I did to cut my hours was quit a time-suck writer’s forum. I could spend hours on there every day because there were so many members that every time I clicked, there was a new message. One day I posted a question about freelancing, and was treated to snarky responses about how I should already know the answer.

Right then, I decided to quit. I had my husband change my password and promise not to reveal it to me. For a couple of days my fingers kept twitching towards the keys that would bring up the forum, but then the urge subsided.

Then, on a roll, I found a free site-blocker app and blocked the other sites I spent a lot of time on, like iCanHasCheezburger.com and Failblog.

Suddenly, I had a ton of free time.

I soon came to realize that a lot of what we freelancers do is busy work. For example, I was in the habit of sending out e-mails to sources or editors in the morning, and then spending the rest of the day alternately clicking on “check e-mail” and surfing the web. Then, at 5, I felt that I’d put in a full day’s work, even though I really only worked for a few minutes and then spent the rest of the day waiting for people to get back to me.

So I stopped doing that. If I sent out e-mails and couldn’t take action until I got a response, I would shut my laptop, go off and do what I wanted to do, and come back later to check. Exact same results, but much less time “working.”

One week I felt stressed about all I had to do: I had several writing assignments on the go and was insistent on working three days that week at the most to get it all done. I asked my life coach for tips, and she said that many of her clients feel they have too much to do, but then when they sit down and actually calculate the hours — or actually do the work — they realize it’s not so much after all. They had just built it up in their minds.

So my goal buddy and I set up what we called a “boot camp” day on one of my work days that week. On boot camp days, my Jennifer and I called each other every hour on the hour to tell each other what we did in the last hour and what we planned to do in the next hour. There were no repercussions if we don’t get the work done, but there’s something about telling someone else what you plan to do that lights a fire under your butt.

And guess what? That day, I got all the work I had been worrying about done in four hours. I didn’t even have to work that third day.

You CAN Set Your Own Hours

Those were some very, very valuable lessons, and after so many years of freelancing, I’ve really realized the full power of the freelance lifestyle — the power to set your own hours and be the master of your own time.

The eight-hour workday is so ingrained in us that it’s hard to envision working less and still earning the same income — but as Tim Ferriss said in The Four-Hour Workweek, isn’t it amazing that all over the world, no matter what job they do, every person needs exactly eight hours a day to get their work done?

We freelancers are not in jobs where we have to be present all the time, like in retail. We can “disappear” and, using the power of technology, still be reachable if a client has an emergency (which they rarely do).

Granted, when I started cutting my hours in 2009 I had already been freelancing for 12 years, so I was past the stage where I had to spend hours each week formulating ideas and pitching. I was in many magazines’ “stables” of writers, so it was easier for me to cut down my hours than it would be for someone just starting out.

But even new writers can probably use their time more efficiently. C’mon, fess up — when you should be writing a query or building your website or working on a book chapter, are you 100% focused on that task or are you taking frequent web-surfing breaks? Do you bang out that pitch or do you procrastinate, yet still feel “busy” because you’re sitting in front of your computer?

Do MORE of What You Love

So what did I do with all this extra time in 2009? Well, I started a local parents’ group that ended up with over 100 members, so I spent a lot of time hanging out with other parents and their babies. I read — a lot. I upped my weight training from two days per week to three. And I did more volunteering for animal welfare causes.

Isn’t that why so many of us decide to go freelance — so we can control our workloads and our hours, and have more time to spend on our families, hobbies, and causes?

Every day I have to pinch myself — I can’t believe that so many years later, I’m still working reduced hours and earning more than ever. I keep thinking that one day, my husband is going to say, “Uh, Linda…we’re broke.” But it hasn’t happened. I’m going to keep up this schedule as long as I can…and the more I do it, the easier it gets.

Your challenge today: Want to work less and earn more as a freelance writer? Find your top five time-wasting activities and find ways to ditch or delegate them.

This post originally ran in 2010 and has been updated to be more helpful to you.

This is an excerpt from Write Your Way Out of the Rat Race…And Step Into a Career You Love, which is Pay What It’s Worth (meaning YOU choose what to pay) in the Renegade Writer Store.

I just did a rough count, and what I have to tell you isn’t pretty:

Between 1996 and 2015 I sent out over 200 magazine queries — each one to multiple publications — and sold somewhere around 60 ideas. That’s a 30% success rate — or a 70% rejection rate. If I sent each query to four magazines, that means I received 480 rejections. (And that’s not even counting the untold number of informal ideas I sent to my editors via email once I became more established that were rejected, or the letters of introduction I sent to trade magazine editors that went nowhere.)

So how was it that I’ve been able to write for around 150 magazines, with most of them giving me multiple assignments over the years? Top magazines like Redbook, Health, USA Weekend, Parenting, and Writer’s Digest? How was I able to make a living—a good living—mainly writing for magazines?

It’s because I was too stubborn to give up.

Even when I was failing most of the time, I kept pitching. And every time I made a sale, I wowed the editor so she would give me more work.

So how can you get over the idea of rejection? Here’s the thing:

Rejection isn’t about you.

If your idea or writing are rejected by a prospect or editor, it’s a simple business decision: Your offering was not right for the prospect at this time.

When you’re approached by a salesperson at the supermarket asking if you want to sample a new brand of pita chips and you say No thanks, does that mean the salesperson personally sucks? Is it a judgment call on the actual person handing out the chips? Or even on the quality of the product? No. Your rejection of the offer means you’re full because you just had lunch, or you can’t eat gluten, or you’re not in the mood for a snack, or you’re a vegan and the chips have cheese powder on them.

The product doesn’t suck, and neither does the salesperson. It has nothing to do with them.

It’s the same with writing. If a prospect says no, it can mean anything from “We don’t need a freelance writer right now” to “I had a fight with my spouse this morning and I’m in a foul mood.”

If you let the mere thought of rejection keep you from writing, then you’ve already failed. You’ve pre-rejected yourself!

[TWEET THIS]

The best thing you can do when you’re starting your career as a writer is to develop a thick skin to rejection. The good news is that the more you pitch, the more immune to rejection you become. Sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true: When you have one magazine query out there, it’s your baby and a rejection can crush you. When you have 50 magazine queries and LOIs out there, a rejection on one of them means you still have 49 more chances.

Now…get out there and pitch today.

This post originally ran in August 2013, and I updated it to make it more useful to you.

This post originally ran as this week’s Monday Motivation for Writers email. If you’d like to get an email full of writing advice and insights in your inbox every Monday, plus two free e-books for writers, you can join here.

Also, this email generated a TON of great responses, and many of them had helpful insights that I hadn’t thought of myself…so I got the authors’ permission to include their comments with this post. (They’re at the bottom. Apparently there’s a limit to the length of a WordPress post so I couldn’t include all of them. However, I am opening the Comments on this post in case you have something you’d like to share! Thanks!)

Enjoy!

Why I killed my social media accounts (+ why you may want to too…and what to do instead)

You’ve probably read a lot of those “Why I Quit Social Media” posts all over the Internet, and the arguments usually run along the lines of “Twitter is a time-suck” and “Why is it that everyone on Facebook is madly in love with their spouses, taking amazing vacations, landing lucrative (and fun!) freelance writing jobs, and gazing for hours at their perfect, adorable children? I must be a huge loser.”

This post will be different. And it starts, ironically, with an amazing vacation. (Sorry!)

My family and I just spent two weeks traveling around Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, and France.

I decided this would be a non-working vacation — my first EVER since starting my freelance writing career in 1997. I can’t remember a single trip where I didn’t bring my laptop and stress out over the availability of public wifi. I was determined that this time would be different.

So, we visited old friends and a former exchange student, climbed the tallest church tower in The Netherlands, went to a genever festival and tried Belgian gin in chocolate cups (gin = yuck. chocolate = yum), toured an abbey that was founded in the 1100s, went on a food tour of Paris, and climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe at night.

I love my work and thought it would be damn near impossible to keep my mind off of email, the blog, the classes I teach, marketing, writing, and so on. But, shockingly, I felt ZERO urge to do any work for the entire two weeks. I didn’t even take notes, write a to-do list, or check email. That was…different.

In the middle of the trip, I noticed something funny: My Tourette’s tics had completely disappeared, and the persistent heartburn I had been suffering from for the last few months had vanished as well. Hell, I even LOOKED better. (See that photo of us at the Notre Dame? Guess how old I am. I’m not trying to brag…I’m trying to say I DON’T USUALLY LOOK LIKE THAT.) I felt amazing, my skin glowed, and I even lost weight. I wondered if this was the result of actually, you know, relaxing. (Which is kind of a foreign concept for me, no pun intended.)

Then It All Came Back…And Ended with Social Media Suicide

On the drive from Paris back to the Düsseldorf airport for the flight home, it was like some switch went off in my brain: The tics came back, the heartburn returned in full force, and the stress eczema I sometimes get on my feet cropped up. This all occurred DURING the 5-hour drive to the airport. I won’t fuel your nightmares with a photo of what I looked like at this point. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

As much as I enjoy what I do for a living, and have a wonderful home and family life, clearly something about returning home was stressing me out enough to cause strong physical symptoms. The body is sometimes so much smarter than the brain! But what was it telling me?

On the long plane trip back home, I did a lot of thinking and researching. (I had brought my iPad and paid for wifi on the plane.)

I normally work just six hours per day, Monday through Friday, which doesn’t seem like a lot…but I am such a productive Type-A person that I manage to get more done in my 30-hour workweek than most people can in 50 hours per week. (And I know this because they always tell me, “I work 50 hours per week and don’t get done half what you do!”)

However, I am also easily overwhelmed by the sheer number of things I should/could be doing. We business owners have to do it all!

I got to wondering — are there any activities in my work life that I don’t really need to be doing? Activities that are crowding out more important tasks that will have more of an impact?

An obvious one to look at was social media. It’s like a monster that you can never feed enough:

• “I should post on Facebook.”
• “I need to check Twitter in case someone sent me a DM.”
• “How can I get more followers?”
• “I better find some posts to fill my Buffer with.”
• “Oh my God, I haven’t checked LinkedIn in DAYS.”
• “I better respond to all those @replies!”

Social media takes only a few minutes per visit, but the overwhelm wasn’t about the amount of time I spent there — it was about the number of times I felt the need to stop what I was doing, check into one of the many social media platforms, respond to messages/add posts/share/etc….and then try to get back on track with my original activity.

Then there’s the matter of being at people’s beck and call in three more formats (outside of email). Not to mention feeling the need to learn about and implement every new social media marketing strategy some Internet guru comes up with. (Facebook ads! Tweet chats! LinkedIn posts! Twitter contests!)

I can’t sleep on planes, so on this lengthy Lufthansa flight, I started reading blog posts and articles from people who had quit social media, and ran across a post on the Forbes blog about how the author discovered that his tweets actually brought very little return in the form of clicks onto his articles.

Hmmm.

I checked analytics.twitter.com and noticed that while many of my tweets were shared, few were actually clicked on. Then I checked analytics.google.com and realized something much more shocking: Of the 15,000+ unique monthly visitors to the Renegade Writer Blog, just 200 of them come from Twitter. That’s about 1.3% of my visitors.

Then I remembered the last tweet chat I did, which was hosted by a large media company. My tweet chat was not only promoted by the company in social media and on their blog, but it was also splashed across a huge electronic sign in Times Square.

To prepare for the chat, I wrote questions for the host to ask me, and planned out my answers in 140-character increments. I dug up helpful posts from my blog that illustrated the points we were chatting about so participants could click to get more info. I promoted the chat in email and on social media. And I took an hour out of my already-short workday to actually do the chat.

I watched my Google Analytics during the chat…and noticed that during the hour-long event, a big THREE people followed the links in my tweets. Three total. It’s not that the host company did anything wrong — they were amazing and I love them. And I think I did a fine job preparing for and promoting the event. But for some reason, potential Renegade Writer readers were not interested in or motivated by the chat.

Okay, so I was pretty convinced that Twitter was not very useful for me, business-wise. But what about Facebook?

While Twitter is more of a marketing platform for me, Facebook is mostly personal. Lately, my experience on Facebook has been people with clearly fake names and photos sending friend requests; me scrolling endlessly through political rants, click-bait posts, and photos of abused animals every time I felt a modicum of boredom or was stuck on a word while writing a newsletter; and feeling anguish every time I received a friend request from a student or reader. (A year or so ago I trimmed my FB friends list to IRL friends, but still felt bad saying no to requests from writing acquaintances and clients.)

The people whose news and photos I really wanted to see, and who were interested in MY news and photos — we are connected by phone, email, or in real life. At the point when I was considering shutting down my account, I hadn’t posted in three weeks, and let me tell you — I was NOT inundated with messages from Facebook friends asking, “Where have you been? We miss your cat photos, brags about your son’s ballet performances, and musings on the writing life!”

Then, the kicker: There’s a woman who annoys the hell out of me on Facebook, and I came to realize that every time I posted a photo or update, I secretly hoped she would see it and be in awe about how great my life was going.

LIFE IS TOO SHORT to spend time and psychic energy making spite-posts on Facebook.

As for LinkedIn, every time I thought to check it — which was once a week or less — I would have to sift through a load of messages from people I don’t know very well asking me to connect them to other people I don’t know very well. (Early on in LinkedIn, I accepted every connection request even if I didn’t know the person. I realize now that’s the wrong way to do it.) Not to mention mass messages from people asking me to buy, read, or do something that I was 100% not interested in. And InMails from PR reps pitching me clients in industries I have never written about in my life.

The upshot: While most other people on the flight from Germany to Chicago snoozed, watched movies, or drank booze — I made the crazy decision to kill my social media accounts.

I deactivated my Facebook account (not too drastic, since you can always re-activate it later). Shut down my Twitter account. And closed out my LinkedIn profile.

The Results So Far

It’s only been a few days since I killed my social media accounts, but I feel much more peaceful knowing there are three fewer things I need to think about. Much more than three, actually, because now I don’t have to worry about tweet chats, direct messages, friend requests, @messages, Buffering posts in advance, scrolling through my feed reader looking for posts to Buffer, social media marketing, learning about social media marketing, and much, much more.

And strangely, it’s a really nice feeling to do, see, or experience something amazing and not immediately think, “I should put this on Facebook.” Experiencing something in real life and not through the lens of a camera — ahhhh. It gives you a sense of quiet confidence, knowing you can do something cool and not need to show it off to the world. It feels…classy. Confident. Peaceful.

What About Marketing?

Most of my business these days is teaching classes; mentoring writers; and writing books, blog posts, and newsletters to help freelance writers succeed. The little writing I do these days for clients such as magazines and blogs…well, I have enough contacts in the industry at this point that they come to me offering gigs.

I’m no longer on the prowl for writing clients, and I’m not looking for a full-time job, so dinging clients on Twitter, networking on FB pages, and updating my LinkedIn profile are not the best forms of marketing for me.

I maintain an email list of about 7,000 writers, and have 15,000 monthly blog readers, and these people — the ones who trust me with their time, who come to me of their own volition seeking help and advice — are my priority. For them (you!) I write newsletters, blog posts, and books, teach classes, and create new products such as meditations and mugs (coming soon!). I simply focus on producing the best, most helpful content I can, and my lovely readers read and share. Creating amazing value for writers — that’s my marketing.

But I know that YOU, my reader, are looking for freelance writing jobs…and every writing guru on the Internet is imploring you to network with editors on Twitter, connect with corporate clients on LinkedIn, comment on magazines’ Facebook pages, and update your accounts daily with the freshest, wittiest posts to keep your lovely face top of mind with whatever potential clients happen to be online at that time.

But here’s the thing: When writers ask me what forms of marketing they should do, I always tell them to focus on the marketing technique they like enough that they’ll do a LOT of it.

For example, when I was starting out as a freelance writer, I really enjoyed writing and sending query letters and sales letters. So I wrote and sent out a ton of these things — like dozens every week. I didn’t do cold calls, or send emailed introductions, or go to networking events. I just sent queries and sales letters, over and over and over. Because I didn’t like those other things, but I liked this.

And it worked. I launched my freelance writing career in July 1997, and within a few months realized I would be earning 50% more than I had at my last office job. Three years in, I was earning $80,000 writing only for magazines and corporate clients — and my ONLY form of marketing was writing and sending queries and sales letters.

Eventually, as social media grew — and marketing gurus decided everyone absolutely, definitely needed to tweet, comment, post, and friend — I ventured onto Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. While I did get a few freelance writing jobs from these platforms, the vast majority of my gigs came from good old pitching. It’s one of those Pareto Principle things: 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities.

So in my experience, it’s better to pick ONE form of marketing you love and feel good at, and really work it. Maybe you:

• Make 50 cold calls per day.
• E-mail letters of introduction to dozens of prospects every week.
• Write and send queries until your fingertips bleed.
• Go to every networking event in your area, speak at as many of them as you can, and invite prospects and colleagues out for coffee every week.
• Work consistently to build a Twitter presence, hire someone to craft a beautiful background for your profile page, write and post many compelling tweets every day, and connect with prospects via DM and @replies.
• Really do your LinkedIn profile up right, spring for a Premium account and send InMails to prospects, write amazing posts, and become an expert presence in the Q&A forums.

So maybe your one thing is a social media platform. But maybe it’s not. Whatever the situation, you should NOT feel like you need to be proficient and active in every possible type of marketing in the known universe. That just dilutes your power. If you’re really good at networking and not as good at LinkedIn, you know which will be the more effective marketing tactic for you. Every minute you spend on your LinkedIn profile is a minute you’re not taking an editor out for coffee.

What About Staying Relevant?

I know…we writers fear that if we’re not visible in all the social media, the world will rush right by us and we’ll be seen as old fogeys without a clue.

But think of this: I’ve been on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for years, and I can’t think of a single time this fact gave me more cred with clients and prospects. One of my best friends writes for some big-name magazine and corporate clients and she has never been on ANY kind of social media.

If you think high-quality editors and copywriting clients are trolling around the Internet and judging your lack of a Facebook page, you’re madly overestimating how much time they have. These people barely have time to answer their email, much less wonder if you’re using Facebook effectively.

And consider this: I had 300+ FB friends, 500+ LinkedIn connections, and over 6,000 Twitter followers. I had not been on social media for weeks before I killed my accounts, and not one of these close to 7,000 people noticed.

We’re all busy. When you’re following hundreds of people on social media, it all becomes a blur, and you’re not likely to even notice when someone stops posting unless they’re power posters and you’re a hardcore fan.

We have enough to think and worry about in our freelance writing careers to spend time contemplating whether we’re no longer “relevant” because we’re not posting links to cat videos. Focus on your core values: Your writing skill, your compelling ideas, and your professionalism.

If you have a website, even a simple one, you’re good to go.

Should YOU Quit Social Media?

This is a highly personal decision. Many people get great pleasure from connecting with friends on Facebook, or land a quality freelance writing jobs through Twitter or LinkedIn. If that’s you, great!

Also, if your main complaint is that social media is a time-suck and you’re kinda-sorta addicted to it, you can always block your bête-noir sites with an app like anti-social.cc when you need to focus on a project.

I challenge you to think hard about what social media does for you. Does tweeting 20 times a day really help your writing career? Could your time be better used elsewhere? Do you truly enjoy being on Facebook, or does your blood pressure rise every time you scroll through the posts?

If you’re on the fence, try taking a social media sabbatical. Have your partner change your passwords and hide them away from you. Or try one of the social media-blocking apps.

Don’t announce it…just do it. Block or log off of the offending sites and see how that changes your productivity, your emotions, and your day. And consider: Has anyone noticed you’re gone? If so, are these people you really care to stay in touch with on a daily basis? Are you able to find another way of marketing your writing — one you feel good at, and like to do?

And if you discover you really don’t like social media, and you don’t need it, and you’re more productive in your writing without it — consider pulling the plug for good.

Do your research before taking the final step. You’ll learn, for example, that you can deactivate your Facebook account without actually deleting it, which could be a good intermediary step. And supposedly you can reactivate your Twitter account within 30 days, but I’ve heard that some things, like your favorited tweets, don’t come back.

I hope I’ve planted a seed in your brain that will help you get more out of your writing time, boost your freelance writing career, and create more peace in your life. If you enjoyed this Monday Motivation, please forward it along to your writing friends!

COMMENTS FROM SUBSCRIBERS:

From Dana:

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!!

This post is exactly what I needed at this stage of my freelance writing career. I am just starting out. My business is in the gestational stage with the birth coming soon. The thought of marketing on social media has been a huge obstacle for me in terms of just-getting-going.

I am happy to report that at 48 years of age I have finally figured out what I really want to do “when I grow up” and am thrilled to focus on getting paid for my writing — something I have always longed to do but have been too afraid to try — until now!

Then, bam! As I am tooling about getting my website ready, finishing a business plan, and brainstorming on marketing ideas and niches, I read all over the place about the importance of social media for marketing purposes. My heart sank into my stomach. My gut aches now as I type just thinking about having to spend time on these platforms. I really do not like social media, huh? And to admit that makes me feel old and out-of-date. And brings angst that I cannot be successful without these.

A year ago I took down my Facebook account because reading through endless posts made me dizzy and wanting to scream at myself for spending time on this or at others for sharing yet another bliss-filled day in their lives. I accepted LinkedIn requests from people I barely knew and never looked back. Great networking!

I realize I will need to venture back into this area at some point but simply knowing that I can focus my efforts on the marketing I enjoy and am good at brings a smile back to my face. And gives me a desire to place butt back in chair, fingers on keys, and get going!!!

As someone just starting out, I had the notion to ignore what my inner wisdom and knowledge about myself and how I operate (having had a different successful small business prior to embarking on this one) simply on the merit and drumbeats of the online gurus/masses.

So thank YOU for nudging me in a direction I know is best for me in this particular here and now.

Time to get this baby kicking!!

Keep up the great work! The Renegade Writer blog and site — what a find!

*****

From Barbara:

I love this, Linda. Experiencing life in real time? What a concept.

*****

From Kristy:

Just want to say thank you so much for your email today. (Why I killed my social media accounts …)

I am a freelance journalist from Kentucky. I now have so many story assignments that I have to pace myself. I haven’t taken any of your classes, but I HAVE gleaned from your emails and I have watched/listened to some of your podcasts. I am appreciative of your enthusiasm and your expertise. I lead a writers group and I routinely refer to your wisdom.

I am going on vacation on Friday and will have the chance to be unplugged (mostly) from social media for over a week. I have made a conscious decision to NOT work on work while I am at the beach. (We will see how the guilt works on that one!)

Anyway, thank you so much. I am a small voice from the Bluegrass, but let this small voice encourage you as well. You are doing good things and I am ever so glad.

*****

From Geniece:

Wow, Linda, this is such an enlightening post. I’m on five social media platforms but need to be as I do social media work for clients. This does serve as a great reminder for me to really focus more on the platform that actually brings me clients which is LinkedIn and I understand LinkedIn well and like networking there.

*****

From Justine:

Linda. This is so insightful! Actually, this morning, I realized I hadn’t logged into my Twitter account in awhile and started to feel “irrelevant” as you say. I quickly looked you up for an RT and found some old accounts of yours! I was thinking, IMPOSSIBLE.

Thanks for sharing. This is definitely something I need to think about!! I want to be a writer and not a slave to social media!

*****

From Steve:

WOW! My daughter, wife and I talked til 2 AM this morning about this very topic!

I told my daughter to stop staying up til 5 AM and tweeting and posting. Cease or at least seriously cut back.

She tells me that, in addition to wanting to be a writer — and she does have clients — she wants to act. I said, “Well, eliminate the tweets, FB, etc and take acting classes. Get rid of the negatives and add a positive.”

*****

From Kaitlin:

Fascinating, Linda! I actually went to look for your Twitter feed a few days ago, because the Pitch Clinic handout that goes over how to sniff out editor email addresses references being able to find yours via your Twitter feed, and I wanted to give it a shot. After a bit of digging, I noticed all your accounts were gone, and I wondered why!

I wish more people would make this decision. I run social media for clients, and I can’t tell you how often I’ve counseled people to give up all but one or two social accounts that they like or know they get engagement from. It’s just not sustainable to try to be on five, six — sometimes ten! — social media sites. And for some people, like you found out, it’s not worth it at all. Business and individuals would be a lot happier if they would stick with what really works for them, rather than trying to fit the mold of what “marketers” or “society at large” says you should do.

Anyway, hope you don’t mind me replying — this was a very inspiring post and congrats to you for pulling the plug for your personal peace! And hoorah for a wonderful vacation!

*****

From Christianna:

Thank you for this thoughtful and insightful post, Linda. As a writer with 15 years of experience and a decent career established, I still worried at night that my lack of a twitter account (not to mention my lack of interest in stalking people through their instagram photos!) was making me less relevant, that I was somehow missing out, even though my career didn’t seem to be lacking because of my lack of social media participation. This post made me feel better about my choice and confirmed things I’d often thought were true — in our busy world, nothing replaces beating the pavement with solid queries and/or choosing the method of marketing where you’ll be most effective.

*****

From Raspal:

Superb!

SO, I did the RIGHT thing!

I already kinda killed my social accounts a couple of months ago.

Well, didn’t delete Twitter and LinkedIn accounts but deleted the FB profile, completely.

BUT I never logged into any of the social accounts – so it’s like I killed them when I took an oath not to use any of them.

You may or may not be aware that in Europe and Asia, people use WhatsApp on their mobiles phones more than they use other social apps. I deleted that one last year after trying it for 2 months and it was eating my time.

I love my work and thought it would be damn near impossible to keep my mind off of email, the blog, the classes I teach, marketing, writing, and so on. But, shockingly, I felt ZERO urge to do any work for the entire two weeks. I didn’t even take notes, write a to-do list, or check email. That was…different.

I also usually can’t live off of e-mail and my computers and Internet, but when I’m doing spiritual service and am with my group, the happiness I get is so so much, that I forget everything else. At times, this can be a week or more. This last August, it was about a month. No internet and no e-mail checking at all. I didn’t have my lappy even.

Without any doubt, like you said, our diseases go away, we don’t know where. So, it’s like freelancing brings into us some diseases?

I hope you get better with your small/big ailments. But, please know one more thing – these things are also internal and at the sub-conscious level. You’re into yoga so I’m sure you’ll at least listen, even if not believe me. There are MANY diseases and ailments which go into the next births because they’re in the subconscious mind, mind is a part of us (us being souls).

If you would like more on the above, do let me know. I’ll be glad to give more info.

Thanks for the interesting post with your experiences and the tour. Seemed like I was with you on the tour, to those countries too. So, thanks a ton.

BTW, if you wish to know why I stopped using social media, it was a determined decision I made with about 3,000 other youths in a spiritual class, when we were asked whether social media wastes time and we all had raised our hands. I’m glad I’m very strong on the decision and won’t revert back or change it. No excuses at all.

Even though you had to research and read about how to stop using social media, you made a super wise decision and God’ll bless you for that too!

Thanks a TON and stay social-media-less forever, like me. I’m writing an article in my institution’s spiritual mag, in Hindi, though, to help my spiritual brethren stop using social media.

*****

From Patricia:

This newsletter of yours struck a chord with me. Social media’s great because, at its core, it helps you connect and reconnect with people you care about. It’s been morphing into more than that, however, and in a very stressful way. People you don’t know, people you just met once (and ever-so-briefly!), batch mates from your kindergarten class whom you don’t even remember and whom you know don’t even care if you don’t even remember… they all request to be Facebook friends. I tried to limit my network to those just nearest and dearest to me. Unfortunately, I failed miserably at that. It’s just hard to reject people, especially when it’s the likes of that co-worker who you see daily and who must be secretly wondering when you’d accept his friend request.

That’s partly why I’ve limited the frequency I check my Facebook feed from once a day to just once a week. It’s a huge time-suck. It also doesn’t make sense to check the posts of all your contacts when you’re not even close with half of them. It results in a disconnect on a platform that’s supposed to connect.

Wow. I should write a blog about the stresses brought about by social media relationships.

Anyway, re: your tip about focusing on that one thing you’re good at, marketing-wise, well… that’s given me food for thought as well. I have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. I also blog twice a week and manage my social media posts thrice a week. It’s a lot of work, and so far it’s not working so well. Most of my Twitter followers just favorite my tweets; they rarely retweet them. Most of my Facebook page followers just like my page because they like me, and not necessarily because they like what I advocate, which is wellness. Needless to say, I rarely get post likes there. It’s on Google Plus where I seem to have the most meaningful engagement, and it’s something that surprises me endlessly. I need to lessen the frequency of my posts elsewhere and just focus on that one marketing strategy and that one media platform that really works for me. I can’t give up social media, but I can work towards limiting my social media time whilst maximizing its benefits.

I’m very happy that you had a great European holiday! Europe is beautiful!

More power to The Renegade Writer!

*****

From K:

Thanks for writing this email. It’s refreshing to hear someone who is as well known online as you are say that social media is a waste of time. I did a lot of marketing on social media a few years ago for a software company and generated a lot of sales leads for them doing that. But since I went out on my own doing marketing consulting and freelance copywriting, I’ve been doing social media and seriously wondering if it is a waste of my time, as even though I have solely focused my content on marketing-related topics to attract VPs and directors of marketing (my main target audience), I appear to have a lot of followers who definitely aren’t my target audience. But I suppose that’s because everyone wants good info about marketing. However, the one exception is having a LinkedIn profile, which has been invaluable to me because I’ve already gotten two clients that way.

In addition, I have been wondering how realistic freelance copywriting is. I know there is plenty of work out there. But I do seem to be hearing a lot of stories about people who tried to make a go of freelance copywriting and failed. And since so much of what is written about freelance writing (not yours, but a lot of other content) is written in such a hype way (i.e., make a million dollars writing from home in your bare feet, and get rich working only one to two hours a day while you sit back and royalty checks roll in), it seems too good to be true/not believable.

But I’m still going to pursue it, because I do believe, being a marketer myself and working in companies where the marketing departments have been short on staff, that there is plenty of work out there. The key is identifying which companies you want to work with, finding out if they even work with freelancers (I’ve worked at some that do and some that don’t) and whether they meet your ideal client criteria (e.g., will pay you what you are worth, have ongoing work/projects, are easy to work with, etc.), and then proactively going after them. To me, the difference between those who succeed and those who fail in this business comes down to those who are willing to be a true business owner by working hard and wearing multiple hats at one time (e.g., the writing hat, the new business development hat, and the marketing hat) and those who aren’t. Those three things are the only true/real recipe that I’ve found for success anyway.

*****

More to add? Please leave a comment below!

I was so happy to be able to talk with Lori Deschene. As the founder of Tiny Buddha, she’s helped more than 1,200 people (including me!) share their stories and lessons with more than 60 million readers (as of June, 2015). She’s the author of Tiny Buddha: Simple Wisdom for Life’s Hard Questions, Tiny Buddha’s Guide to Loving Yourself, and her newest release: Tiny Buddha’s 365 Tiny Love Challenges.

Lori, I know you’ve written for girls’ magazines, and many of The Renegade Writer’s readers want to write for magazines themselves. How did you get into that?

I found my first magazine writing opportunity on Craigslist in the gigs section—something that doesn’t happen all that often! I didn’t actually have much professional writing experience at that time, but I did have the right experience.

The magazine was a new middle grade publication, for girls aged eight to twelve, and they were looking for witty, upbeat articles on friendship, self-esteem, and surviving embarrassing moments.

Prior to finding this opportunity, I’d worked in mobile marketing, taking promotional campaigns from city to city. My last tour was a walk across the country to promote a variety of health and fitness-related products. As the tour’s dog walker, I wrote a “dog blog” that chronicled my canine companion’s adventure.

These were all light, funny posts that fit the exact tone the magazine was looking for. They loved my writing samples and hired me to write an article for the first issue, which led to more than a dozen more.

Eventually, I submitted some of those articles to a bigger, more established middle-grade magazine and went on to contribute over fifty articles and quizzes.

I also wrote for a real estate magazine briefly that, once again, I found on Craigslist. It was also a new magazine, and I don’t actually know much about real estate. But I was looking to build a body of work, and I was open to any opportunities I could find!

In retrospect, I realize I could have been more proactive and targeted. I could have identified more magazines that I wanted to write for instead of taking any writing gig I could find on Craigslist (including a job writing travel guides for $6/hour).

But I think there’s something to be said for being hungry, and being willing to take whatever you can get to hone your craft and build your resume.

Then you started the Tiny Buddha site. What inspired you to do that?

Prior to starting the site, I’d spent more than a decade struggling with depression, bulimia, shame, and self-loathing. For years I felt alone with my challenges—like no one knew me, and no one would love me if they did.

After making tremendous progress with my personal struggles, I wanted to create a place where people could share what they’ve been through and what they’ve learned, to help themselves and others.

My hope was that this would help readers feel less alone with their challenges and more empowered to overcome them. And though I didn’t realize this at the time, I eventually recognized that starting Tiny Buddha was a big part of my own healing journey.

There’s something cathartic about leveraging your pain for something useful and valuable—and there’s little more valuable than making a positive difference in someone else’s life.

How has the Tiny Buddha blog helped your career? Do you earn money from the blog through ads, selling books…?

I earn money from a combination of:

• Banner ads
• Book/eBook sales
• eCourse sales
• Affiliate marketing

I’m also planning to launch some products soon, including journals, gratitude journals, and calendars.

I launched my first eBook roughly a year after the site launched, and it sold regularly, but I was still working another full-time online writing job. I also dabbled with blog coaching and blog review reports—something I didn’t really love and only did briefly.

It really wasn’t until the three-year mark that I felt comfortable depending solely on Tiny Buddha for my livelihood. In retrospect, I’m glad I never felt pressure to earn a specific amount from the site. If I had felt that pressure, I may have said yes to opportunities that didn’t feel right for me.

There are a lot of ways to make money online, or to leverage your online presence to make money. Not all are good for each of us individually — or for our brands.

I also see you have a forum, a widget that lets people post quotes from the site on their websites, and much more. You accept guest posts, do blog tours… that all sounds like a lot of work! How difficult is it really to start and run a successful blog? I think so many writers believe they can just start a WordPress site and start posting their thoughts, and the readers (and money) will come flying in.

It is a lot of work! And I’ve been feeling that a lot more lately, as I don’t have an assistant or any employees. That being said, it wasn’t always a lot of work.

When I first got started, I devoted just a few hours each day to running the site. At the time, it was just a quote and blog feed, and I wrote very short posts (some of which, I now realize, weren’t all that compelling).

If I’d thought to myself back then, “I have to build a site with forums, daily guest contributors, a fun & inspiring section, multiple books, a widget, an eCourse…” I likely would have felt too overwhelmed to start. But I’ve added layers to the site over time.

I think the most important thing is that you show up each day and do something. You remain consistent and keep learning.

This guarantees that you’ll keep growing, slowly, bit by bit, over time.

Writers are always asking me, “I want to start a blog, but I don’t know what to write about.” I think you’re living proof that you don’t decide to start a blog and then cast about for a topic…you have something burning in you that you want to share so much that it can sustain thousands of posts and years of work. Do you agree?

Yes, absolutely! This comes back to what I wrote before, about having a mission. You have to have a compelling “why” behind your blog—some reason you have to explore this topic. Otherwise, you likely won’t have a reason to stick with it if and when progress seems slow. And you’re absolutely right—you likely won’t be able to write for years on the topic.

Every now and then, someone submits a post to Tiny Buddha starting with “I wasn’t sure what to write about this week…” Those are usually the least compelling posts because it’s clear the writer was looking for something to say, as opposed to having something to say.

If you don’t have something you have to say, readers won’t feel compelled to listen.

What are your top three tips for writers on how to build a successful blog?

1. Consistently publish value-packed, personally relatable posts.

I believe you need all three to build and maintain an audience—you need to deliver with consistency, solve problems readers are facing, and reveal your own humanity in doing so.

2. Foster a sense of community.

We all want to be part of something larger than ourselves, and we want to be where other people are congregating and connecting.

The first step in building a community is to have a compelling reason for its existence. People can “hang out” on any site—why yours specifically? What’s the movement they’re joining?

Is it a group of people committed to changing the world through meaningful work? Is it a group committed to sharing themselves vulnerably and learning from each other? When you have a strong mission for your site, community engagement becomes more than comments on isolated posts. It becomes about people supporting each other in working toward a common goal.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to end posts with questions. And if you can involve the community in a post in any way, that always helps.

Formerly, I asked questions on Facebook (such as “How do you help people who won’t help themselves?”) and then incorporated the responses into posts. I’ve also asked readers to submit pictures and videos for different purposes. An involved community is an engaged community!

3. Focus on building relationships.

Behind the most popular blogs you’ll find people who weren’t afraid to reach out to more established bloggers to learn from them, and to other new bloggers to work with them.

This might mean asking to guest post on a larger site to introduce new readers to your blog. It might mean working on a product with another blogger to launch to both of your communities simultaneously. It might mean building a blog support network with lots of bloggers in the same niche.

The more people you connect with, the greater the odds your blog will grow. And the more people you help, the more people will want to help you.

And you’re the author of three traditionally published books too! How did you get into writing books? Did you find an agent, or were you approached by one? Did you have to write a proposal?

I first started working on a proposal a year after I launched the site, and I sent that to an agent who’d reached out to me. He wasn’t thrilled with my idea, but he gave me some feedback that helped me come up with a new one. Shortly after, a small publisher contacted me after seeing me speak at a conference.

I published two books with them, without an agent. And then for my most recent book, Tiny Buddha’s 365 Tiny Love Challenges, I got an agent and attracted a larger publisher.

The most helpful advice I got when writing my first proposal was to ask myself, “Why would readers buy this book from me specifically?” My first idea was something anyone could have written, and I didn’t have anything in my background that would have positioned me as an authority on this topic.

Each of my three books makes sense from me specifically, because they’re all extensions of Tiny Buddha, including both my own personal experience and insights from the community.

So you’ve written for magazines, and you run a blog AND write books. Do you find there’s some value for writers in diversifying? If so, what is it?

I’ve enjoyed the variety because I find it more stimulating—and challenging. Whereas I could write a blog post in a couple hours, a book is clearly a long-term project. And it’s something that’s far more involved, especially when you’re working with dozens of contributors, like I do.

There’s also a certain level of satisfaction that comes from stretching yourself and trying to do something new. Especially if you’re writing about the same topic every day or every other day, it can help tremendously to mix things up.

What are your top two tips for writers who would like to write traditionally published books?

Aside from answering the question “Why me for this book?”:

Get an agent with success in your niche.

While you could send your proposal to smaller publishers without representation, an agent knows what makes a strong proposal, and which publishers would be best for your book. As I mentioned before, I’ve gotten a book deal with and without one, and the latter was a far superior experience, on every level, and totally worth the money.

Create a solid marketing plan for your proposal.

Publishers are looking to work with authors who can sell books. If you have an established platform, great! If not, do you know any other high-profile bloggers who will help promote your book? Are you willing to invest your money in a book trailer, a blog tour, or a publicist? Do you have any ideas for creative social media campaigns?

Since the Tiny Buddha blog is all about topics like happiness, motivation, inspiration, and letting go…I’d like to talk about two emotions writers feel a lot — fear and stress. Do you have any advice for writers on getting over their fears of rejection, failure, and even success so they can start pitching and writing?

As someone who’s pursued both theater and writing—two incredibly competitive industries—I know all about rejection! Three things that have helped me are:

Not taking rejection personally.

It can be tough to do this when you put your heart into your writing. But agents and publishers aren’t rejecting you. They’re rejecting the idea—and at that specific time.

There are plenty of times when contributors submit posts to Tiny Buddha and they’re very similar to posts I’ve recently accepted. That actually means they’re strong posts, but my job as a site editor is to offer variety and look for varied themes and perspectives.

I always encourage writers to submit again. Not all editors do this, but submit again anyways.

Think of it as a numbers game.

When I worked as a telemarketer, I knew that every twenty calls would likely lead to one sale. Knowing this made it easier to face those nineteen rejections because I knew I was getting closer to closing a deal.

It’s not quite the same with writing, but it can help tremendously to think of every “no” as one step closer to a “yes.” Challenge the belief that “no” is proof you’re not good enough. If you need a reason to believe you can still succeed, despite rejection, check out this article or this one or this one.

Realize you have far more options now than writers once did.

If you have something to say, you can find a way to put it out there. You can start a blog. You can write an eBook. You can self-publish a print book. And if you do self-publish a print book, you could then leverage that to get a deal with a traditional publisher. (I know several authors who’ve done this!)

We’re fortunate to have so many options available us writers today. Knowing this somehow takes the sting out of rejection because you know that no isolated rejection can crush your dream, or prevent you from honing your craft and getting your work out there.

I absolutely hate sending rejection emails because I’m both sensitive and empathetic, and I never want anyone to think I don’t admire and respect both them and their work. If I’ve rejected posts from the same writer a few times, I might offer extra feedback and end the email with “I hope I’m not discouraging you!”

Not too long ago, a writer responded, “No worries—you’re not! I have a whole list of sites I submit to, so I’ll just submit this to one of them.”

It’s something I’ll remember next time I’m feeling rejected. There are other sites. There are other magazines. There are lots of other ways to get my work out there.

And stress…we writers feel that a lot! We’re running our butts off pitching, interviewing, networking, writing. We have tons of deadlines, client demands, and other stressors. How can writers become more calm and centered so they can work more productively?

The best advice I can offer any writer is to get out of your head. There were many times in the past when I sat at my computer for ten+ hours, when on a deadline, with only short breaks to eat or use the restroom. This was a surefire path to stress and burnout!

I used to think taking a break for a walk or a quick meditation was wasting time, but I’ve since learned than fifteen to thirty rejuvenating minutes are actually huge time savers. I come back to my work refreshed, recharged—and in some cases, particularly if I’ve been in nature, inspired.

Then I have much calmer, and much more positive energy, to bring to my work.

Some ways to clear your head:

• Meditation/listening to guided meditations (you can find a ton of free ones on YouTube) [Note from Linda: Or the Positive Thinking for Writers guided meditation, which is Pay What It’s Worth in the Renegade Writer Store?]
• Yoga or Tai Chi
• Deep breathing
• Taking a walk outside
• Doing something childlike, like hopping on a swing
• Dancing to your favorite music and releasing pent up energy

Tell us about your latest book, Tiny Buddha’s 365 Tiny Love Challenges. What inspired you to write it, and where can readers buy the book?

As someone who’s felt alone at various points in my life, I understand the value of strong relationships. I also know we’re living in an increasingly disconnected world, despite being more connected than ever.

We all need to feel seen, valued, appreciated, and loved. We’re social creatures, and we need to feel like we belong, like people get us and will be there for us. We also need to know people trust us and depend on us to be there for them.

Of course, these things are far more easily said than done. Tiny Buddha’s 365 Tiny Love Challenges can help.

The book offers a year’s worth of simple daily challenges to help people give more love in their relationships, treat themselves more lovingly, and put more love into the world.

Some of the challenges are active, some are reflective, some involve having conversations with other people, and some are writing exercises.

Each month has a different theme, including:

• Kindness and Thoughtfulness
• Compassion and Understanding
• Authenticity and Vulnerability
• Releasing Anger and Forgiving
• Attention and Listening
• Honesty and Trust
• Kindness and Thoughtfulness
• Acceptance and Non-Judgment
• Releasing Comparisons and Competition
• Support and Encouragement
• Admiration and Appreciation
• Giving and Receiving

And every week starts with a relevant story or two from members of the Tiny Buddha community, illustrating the power of applying these principles in daily life.

The challenges are all little things, and some might seem simple, but the simplest things are often the hardest to do consistently—like putting your phone down and giving someone your full attention, or looking a stranger in the eye and smiling.

Relationships have never been my strong suit, but I feel much closer to people, and much better equipped to give them the love they deserve, since incorporating these tiny actions into my daily life.

Readers can learn more about the book at http://tinybuddha.com/love-book.

A subliminal message about how much you would like to pay for each book. :)

A week ago, Diana and I decided to try an experiment: All the e-books in the Renegade Writer Store (except one) would become Pay What You Want, meaning you, the reader, decide what to pay for each one.

The minimum price was $1 because that’s the minimum my order processor allows. (And they do charge me for each download!)

The deal was this: We would try this experiment for one week, and if we liked how it turned out, we would keep this pricing structure.

Here are the results:

• Around 330 writers took advantage of the Pay What You Want offer.
• The average order was $6.50.
• Sometimes an order was for a single book, but mostly they were for multiple products.
• Many, many people scooped up every book we have at $1 apiece. (Now you need to READ them all, LOL!)
• The lowest order amount was $1. The highest order amount was $30 (for multiple books). (That was pretty exciting!)
• Most writers paid below retail for the books…but some paid around retail, and just a few paid higher! (And this is not a judgement in any way…readers paid what they could afford or according to how much value they thought the books would bring.)
• We got orders from all over the world, including Canada, the U.S., Serbia, and Nigeria! (Discovered one reader from Serbia went to the same high school as our Serbian exchange student!)
• Several writers emailed me to say they hope to make sales based on what they learned in our books, so they can come back and pay more for them. Aw! (I’m actually thinking about creating a way for writers to come back and add more to their payments if they feel they’ve gotten a ton of value from the books. )

So what’s the verdict?

Of course we, the authors, feel we deserve to be compensated well for the value we provide in our books. We worked hard on them, and they cost us beaucoup cash for design, editing and so on. I also pay the order processor, and need to pay for tech help—for example, I paid $500 to have the books pages set up, and another $500 to get them converted to PWYW.

And of course, these books are meant to get writers gigs and change their lives! We think that’s worth at LEAST the $5-10 most of the books were originally priced at.

On the other hand, once we eat the sunk costs, it costs us very little to provide these e-books.

AND…since our mission is to help as many writers as possible reach their freelancing dreams, having 330 people get their hands on our books is excellent news! We want to reach EVERYONE—including those who can’t yet afford to hire help, take classes, or buy full-priced books.

So…drumroll…we decided to keep the PWYW pricing structure!

That means from now on, YOU choose what to pay for each book, e-course book, and checklist…including Write Your Way Out of the Rat Race…And Step Into a Career You Love, which comes with a boatload of downloads (originally $9.99), The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (also $9.99), and the Write for Magazines E-Course book (originally $29).

(And soon, very soon, I’ll be posting a meditation I created called Positive Thinking for Writers as a PWYW product. I wrote the meditation and it was produced and voiced by a former public radio reporter! It has everything…soothing music, nature sounds…IT’S AWESOME.)

Yep, you can get all these goodies for as little as a buck each.

Don’t have much cash? Pay the minimum. You’re rich? Pay more than retail and reap the karma that comes from covering a less advantaged writer.

Here’s where you can do that:

http://www.therenegadewriter.com/store/

Please do spread the word to all your writing friends! You can post it on forums, share it on Facebook and Twitter, and let your writing groups know they can now get these helpful, valuable books for a minimum of $1 each. (BTW, we reserve the right to change our minds in the future…but for now we don’t foresee getting rid of PWYW.)

Here’s a tweet you can use if you like:

Renegade Writer e-books are now Pay What You Want…permanently! That means YOU choose what to pay! http://www.therenegadewriter.com/store/

Thank you, thank you for helping us make this experiment a success! We’re so excited to get our books into as many hands as possible!

I’m VERY excited that actress-turned-podcaster Yin Chang interviewed me for her iTunes “New & Noteworthy” podcast 88 Cups of Tea!

Tune in to learn:

• The big differences between query letters for freelance writers VS. authors
• I share exactly how to pitch a query letter and advise what to include in it
• Why it’s crucial to avoid content mills
• How I earned $40,000-$60,000 worth of writing gigs just from referrals
• How being a professional “class-taker” can ironically hold you back from achieving your goals
• Why it’s crucial to start pitching even if you feel like you’re not ready to
• How diversifying my work helped me cope with moments of burn-out
• How having your own website as a freelance writer can help your career and the important things to showcase
• Why you should break the hard and fast rules in freelance writing
• How to determine your own pay rate 

You can listen in here:

http://88cupsoftea.com/podcast/lindaformichelli/

Enjoy!

P.S. All the e-books for writers in the Renegade Writer Store (except one) are Pay What You Want until Friday…this is an experiment, and if we like the way it goes, we’ll make this a permanent change. That means, at least for right now, YOU choose how much you’d like to pay for each book (with a minimum of $1 each). SO far we’ve had about 300 orders, most containing multiple books. Some writers are picking up EVERY book at $1 each, some are buying just a couple at a higher price, and some are in between. Have fun!

As you’ve probably guessed by the name of this blog, and the book it stems from, here at The Renegade Writer we’re all about doing what works for us. Experimenting. Trying new things. Bucking the status quo.

My personal life is the same way…yes, I LIVE what I preach. I’m proud of my freelance writer/board game designer husband; ballet-dancing Montessori-going son; and two lovely exchange students, from Serbia and Indonesia. (See the gratuitous photo of my three adorable kids to the left.) In October the nuclear fam and I are going to Europe, and in November we’re hitting Tokyo—because Eric and I can work on the road. (And if we time our trips to hubby’s business travel, he gets a free ticket, which is kind of key.

I tell you, we love not being normal…and I want to help others who want to be as weird as we are!

So: While most normal, status quo-type business owners want to squeeze every penny they can out of their customers, that’s not what we’re all about here at The Renegade Writer. Yes, I like money. However, I’m also passionate about helping writers earn a living doing what they love most. And, I’m someone who loves experimenting to figure out what works best for myself and for the writers I help—instead of always going with what’s expected and normal.

All that leads to this:

Not everyone who wants to become a writer has the means to get quality help—good e-books can cost $10 and more, and coaching can exceed $350 per hour!—so now, almost every e-book in the Renegade Writer Store is now Pay What You Want, with a minimum of just $1. I want to get the helpful info in these books into as many hands as possible, no matter what their situation.

That means YOU choose how much the books are worth to you. Yes, even the Write for Magazines e-course book that retails at $29 (and is based on a $267 course), and books like The Renegade Writer, Commit, and Write Your Way Out of the Rat Race—which retail at $9.99!

You can pay less than retail…or if you’re rich you can pay more and reap some good karma because you’re covering someone who can’t afford as much. (But $1 is the minimum my shopping cart service will accept for each book…probably because they charge ME 75 cents for every book I sell!)

HOWEVER…this is an experiment. I’ll be offering the books as PWYW for just one week—until Friday, September 18—and will then take stock of how it went. If we here at The Renegade Writer are happy, and our readers are happy, we can keep the PWYW pricing. If for some reason it just doesn’t seem to be working out…the books go back to retail prices.

Want to gather up a virtual armload of books that can help you write killer query letters, quit your day job to write, reach your goals through massive action, write faster, build confidence as a writer—and generally live and love the freelance life—all at a price YOU choose? Here’s the Renegade Writer Store, where every book but one is now PWYW. (The one that isn’t is only available on Amazon…and speaking of Amazon, our books will remain full price on that site.)

http://www.therenegadewriter.com/store

Have fun loading up on books…I think you’ll dig everything we have! I hope this helps many, many aspiring writers make their freelancing dreams a reality.

My 6-year-old son is a dancer: He takes several ballet classes and a jazz class every week, and has done tap as well. (That’s him at the Nutcracker rehearsal last year…sorry, I couldn’t resist!) So when a local Irish dance studio did a demo at T’s school and he asked to take lessons, I raced to sign him up. Encouraging his passions, and all that.

A weekly class costs $45 per month, but one month I had a brain fart and dropped off a check for $40. The next day, I got a polite reminder from the studio owner that I had sent in the wrong amount — fair enough — and I responded that I would drop off the $5 at T’s next lesson.

But at that very point, T decided Irish dance wasn’t for him. (I have to say I was relieved…driving T to dance five days a week and then sitting in a waiting room with 3-year-old copies of Dance Magazine is not my idea of a good time.) He had taken only one session at the beginning of the month, and after that I just stopped taking him.

A few weeks later, the studio owner emailed to ask where T had been, and I said he decided to stop taking classes, but perhaps one day he would change his mind.

She responded, “Okay, we hope to see him again…and by the way, you still owe me $5.”

I was taken aback: We had paid $40 and T had taken one lesson that month. I responded, “I think the $40 I paid covers the one 30-minute class T took!”

To which she replied: “Sorry, we don’t prorate for classes not attended.”

Now, of course, she was right. In fact, I’m sure I signed a contract agreeing to this very thing. But…seriously?

My husband and I joked for a while about sending the dance school a box of 500 pennies, or mailing five one-dollar bills a week apart, but finally I said, “Just send her a check for the five dollars and be done with it. I never want to deal with this school again.”

So the business owner got her five dollars — win! — but she lost potential future business, not to mention word of mouth. Because if anyone ever asks me to recommend a good place for dance classes, you can be certain I won’t be suggesting that school.

Penny Wise…

Ever hear the expression “penny wise but pound foolish”? This usually refers to people who cut costs unwisely and end up paying more in the long run. But it also applies to writers who are SO invested in coming off as professional, and so hyper-vigilant about not getting ripped off, that they turn off clients.

For example, one student of mine who had been attempting unsuccessfully to get good-paying clients for over a year asked, “A prospect wants me to come in for a meeting. My time costs money! So how much should I charge them?”

Wha-wha-whaaaaa?

I understand the thought behind this: You want to look like a hard-bitten pro, and it’s true — your time IS worth money.

But is it really smart, when you’re desperate for work and someone shows an interest in hiring you, to go all hardcore and demand payment for an exploratory get-to-know-you meeting?

The same goes for writers who go into a frenzy when a client asks for a revise, or when an editor asks for 200 more words or a photo caption that wasn’t included in the contract. You need to consider whether it’s worth doing a bit of extra work for free to keep a good client.

(Of course, if this is an abusive client, one who pays pennies, or one who consistently asks for extra goodies with no compensation — you’re well within your rights to put your foot down…and hopefully ditch the client for good.)

Think about the last time you were at a café and you dropped your drink. (This happened to me just last week!) In 100% of the cases this happens, the barista will offer to replace the drink for free.

Now, the café owner is certainly justified in making you pay for the new drink. After all, is it HIS fault you had case of butterfingers? And drinks cost money, so he’s losing five bucks by offering you a free replacement!

But if he’s smart, the business owner understands that the cost of the free replacement drink is eclipsed by the goodwill created when he offers it to you. You’ll keep coming back and ordering more coffees, ad you’ll tell your friends about it too. That’s five bucks well spant.

Give to Get

Not only should you think hard about demanding money when a good client asks for a little extra here and there — but you should make it a point to offer little freebies even when the client doesn’t ask:

• An extra sidebar you create with research you couldn’t fit into the article.
• An introduction to someone who can help your client.
• Some tweets and Facebook posts to promote an article or blog post you wrote for a client.
• The occasional little gift just to say “Thank you,” such as an e-book or a box of candy.
• Ten minutes of consulting time to help the client with a question or problem you happen to have the expertise to solve.

Yes, you’re spending your valuable time, and sometimes your hard-earned cash as well — but it’s worth it to foster loyalty in your good clients. As they say in Big Business, it costs much more to get a new client than it does to keep an old one.

Don’t Be a Sucker

I know you don’t want to be taken advantage of — and you definitely don’t want to come across as a doormat.

The trick is, when you agree to do free work, convey how much it’s worth and that you’re doing the client a favor.

For example: “I had some extra materials I couldn’t fit into the article, so I created an extra sidebar, no charge. I hope you can use it!”

Or: “I normally charge $X for that kind of work, but you’re such a good client I’d like to offer it to you gratis.”

This way, you graciously offer something of value to your client — but you also get across the concept that there is indeed worth to your offering, making the favor even more valuable in your client’s eyes.

At the same time, you keep the requests for freebies to a minimum because you’ve made it clear that these are things you normally charge for. And if the client DOES ask for more, they won’t be shocked when you say, “Sure, I can do that — how does $X sound?”

Remember, don’t be a stingy Irish dance teacher…you may get your five dollars, but you’ll lose a client. [LF]

P.S.Two new (awesome!) classes coming up that you can register for now: (1) Write Big: A Fear-Busting Bootcamp Experience: Practical exercises, live coaching, a challenge, and bonus goodies to help you overcome the fears that are keeping you from writing, pitching—and succeeding. (2) Freelance Writer’s Pitch Clinic: A class on how to write killer queries & LOIs. Your homework will be critiqued, and your questions answered, by editors from Redbook, Forbes, and Writer’s Digest/Print Magazine. And…you have the chance to get a full refund on the course fee!

So this week I ran another Twitter game. (You may remember that last week I did #killaqueryin5words.) This one was #sourcefromhellin5words, and the idea was that we writers would give five-word phrases that would make us want to never interview a source. Like:

• How much will you pay?
• Who else are you interviewing?
• Can I see the article?
• Is the article out yet?
• Sorry, I forgot the interview.
• I’m the foremost expert!
• We’re creating a new paradigm!
• You should mention my book.
• I could talk all day!

What was really cool was that ProfNet and HelpAReporter, the two biggest source-finding services for journalists, got in on the action, so we had a ton of submissions…and also, expert sources who use those services got a lesson in what NOT to do when working with a writer. Not only that, but ProfNet did a post about the contest where they featured their favorite contributions!

As with last week’s game, some tweets were just so AWESOME that I decided to offer prizes to my favorites. And they are:

@anngol: “Oh you’re not from Redbook?” #sourcefromhellin5words [This was hands-down my favorite! The snobby source…ugh.]

@write4income: (In response to everything you ask): “That question is too personal.” #sourcefromhellin5words @LFormichelli [Persnickety sources don’t get called back!]

@lilbusgirl: How’s 10pm your time sound? #sourcefromhellin5words [Yeah, because we writers don’t have a life!]

@CaroleeNoury: Answers are in my book. #sourcefromhellin5words @LFormichelli [Hint: We journalists need to get quotes straight from the source; we can’t just pull quotes from books.]

@RobinDarling: “I read it on Wikipedia” #sourcefromhellin5words @LFormichelli [And you call yourself an expert?]

@danielcasciato: “Get a quote from PR” @LFormichelli #sourcefromhellin5words [Yes, we writers LOVE sanitized PR-speak!]

@RAHolloway: “I will need final approval. @LFormichelli #sourcefromhellin5words [Now THAT’S good journalism!]

?@rebekah_olsen: It all started in 1965…(when you only need one quick quote about their work) @LFormichelli #sourcefromhellin5words [I hope you took a bathroom break before this interview!]

Winning tweeters, I’d love to offer you a free book, course, or checklist from the Renegade Writer Store. Please choose your favorite and email me at [email protected] with your selection! (FYI, I’m out of town because my grandma passed away. So please be patient and I’ll send you your book next week for sure. Thanks!)

Thanks so much to everyone who played #sourcefromhellin5words. It was a blast!

On Monday morning I’ll be launching a new Twitter game called #editororgasmin5words. I think you can tell what we’re looking for here! Some examples I’ll have on my Twitter feed include:

• Yes, I’ll write for free! (Yes, we can get snarky in this game!
• I created an extra sidebar.
• I fact-checked all stats.
• Pynchon agreed to an interview.
• Can I file this early?

The game will start Monday at around 8 am ET (New York time) and run all day. (Please wait until then to start posting, and I’ll retweet your contributions!) Just add the hashtag #editororgasmin5words to your post, and feel free to tag me at @lformichelli!

If you want to get announcements when I hold a new Twitter games like these, please join the Renegade Writer email list! You’ll also get a free e-book and checklist for writers, plus my Monday Motivations for Writers emails!

Where are you working right now?

Is it at your dining room table, surrounded by dirty breakfast dishes? At your local Starbucks? In a well-appointed home office?

Wherever you’re working as a freelance writer…the space needs to work for you.

And your home office is about more than physical space—you also need to think about your phone service (and voicemail message), your equipment and supplies, your working hours, your mailing address, and more.

To help you create a home office that improves your focus, creativity, and professionalism, I interviewed Dr. Joe Webb, the co-author of The Home Office That Works: Make Working at Home a Success—A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Telecommuters. (He’s also someone I used to do karate with in Rhode Island!)

During this interview, Joe reveals:

• The importance of a door that closes. (And it’s not just to keep people out!)
• Why you shouldn’t use your home address as your mailing address.
• Options for home office space if you don’t have an extra room.
• Why you need to project professionalism to the outside world…even if people never set foot in your office.
• How to adapt your work hours to the pace of the day.
• The most important item in your office. (Don’t skimp on this!)
• What to do if you share a phone line with your family.
• How to communicate your work hours with clients without going all TMI.
• How to deal with loneliness when you work by yourself at home.
• The professionals you really need to hire.
• And more!

Listen to the interview. (MP3)

Download the PDF transcript.

Enjoy!

No big fanfare here since my mentoring usually fills up pretty quick: I wanted to give you a heads-up that I have a new monthly mentoring package that includes three Skype calls, query and website critiques, email support, and a load of goodies.

I’ll be accepting five writers in September…and actually I already have one writer signed up so there are just four spaces left!

(Yes, I will be doing this throughout the year, and the “month” starts the day you sign up so it doesn’t have to be the first of the month; however, FYI, I’ll be away for two weeks in October.)

Looking for solid information, motivation, and accountability—to help you move up and earn more as a freelance writer? I work with new, mid-career, and advanced writers…so check out my mentoring page and touch base at [email protected] if you would like to set something up!

Thanks so much, and I look forward to working with you…

Linda Formichelli
The Renegade Writer
UsefulWritingCourses.com

So the other day my husband Eric, who’s the news editor over at BoardGameGeek, told me about a board game publisher that created fun Twitter games like #BoardGameBand, where tweeters would come up with fun mashups of board game titles and band names — like “Frankie Goes to Hollywood Blockbuster” or “Dungeon Petzshop Boys.”

“Why don’t you do that?” Eric said.

Ding ding ding!

Together we came up with the hashtag #killaqueryin5words, and the premise was simple: I wanted writers to offer up five-word phrases that would cause an editor to trash their magazine query.

I launched the game on Monday morning, seeding my feed with such 5-word screw-ups as “I never read your magazine,” “You don’t publish poetry, but…” and “Google says you like chocolate.”

#killaqueryin5words took off! Writers around the web got a good laugh reading hilarious (but sadly common) query snafus. (In fact, contributions are still rolling in!)

Then I had another brainstorm: Why not pick my favorite #killaqueryin5words tweeters and offer prizes?

The #killaqueryin5words Winners

Here are my top picks. If you’re listed as a winner, please choose any e-book from the Renegade Writer Store that you’d like to receive for free (yes, even the $29.99 one!) and email me your choice at [email protected].

Most Prolific

I have to give props to @GiulianoDebra because she contributed more posts than anyone! (I think someone was procrastinating on their work yesterday. ) Congrats, Debra!

Most Creative

Next, I was super impressed that @NewJerseyWriter created the graphic you see at the top of this post just for the game. She used morguefile to find the photo and Canva to create the image. She also gave me permission to use her graphic on the blog. Thank you, and please choose your prize!

Most Insightful

Another winner is @justinrbannon for his insightful tweet about the game: “Perhaps the most concerning thing about #killaqueryin5words is that it’s provided more than one actual tip.”

Most Hilarious (But Sadly True)

Finally, I had trouble choosing just one most awesome #killaqueryin5words tweet, so we have five winners:

1. @danielcasciato: I’m giving you first dibs. #killaqueryin5words @LFormichelli

2. @BretteSember: “you’re probably not interested but…”

3. @sharonnaylorwed: #killaqueryin5words “my writing group loved it!”

4. @RitaMailheau: #killaqueryin5words To Whom It May Concern

5. @BillDavisWords: I’m here in your lobby #killaqueryin5words

These tweets showcase five fatal query flaws:

1. Arrogance.
2. Under-confidence
3. Unprofessionalism
4. Laziness and lack of research, not to mention a stiff writing style!
5. Stalkerishness

Congrats to the five of you…please choose your prize!

One thing I discovered is that Twitter doesn’t seem to save hashtagged tweets for long, so if you want to check out the funny feed, do it now! It’s at https://twitter.com/hashtag/killaqueryin5words

I have a great idea for a new writer Twitter game for next week…stay tuned!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the #killaqueryin5words game. It’s been a blast!

This blog post is from today’s Monday Motivations for Writers email. Want to get insights like this in your inbox every week…plus a free e-book and checklist for writers? Subscribe today!

I hear it from a lot of writers I mentor and teach: There are no good markets for me! WHO am I supposed to PIIIITTTTTCCCCCHHHHH???

One of my most popular Renegade Writer posts is called A Hidden Market for Freelance Writers, and it’s all about trade magazines — B-to-B publications that cover all aspects of running a business in a particular industry, such as foodservice, printing, or retail.

You can usually find a trade that caters to some business you have personal experience in…which makes it easier to break in without clips, because you can say, “I have 10 years’ experience working in foodservice industry and boast the know-how — and industry contacts — to help your readers with this topic.”

Also: If you look beyond the newsstand, you’ll find magazines targeting just about every hobby and interest you can think of. Are you clipless? Find a magazine catering to your hobby and pitch there, using your experience as your creds.

But a lot of writers try to catch me out by saying, “I’ve been a sheep farmer for the last 20 years. Who am I supposed to write for? Huh? Huh?”

Let me call B.S. on the skepticism. Here’s a list of magazines I found within about two minutes using the Google:

• Portable Restroom Operator
• Miniature Donkey Talk
• Fencepost (The Official Magazine of the American Fence Association)
• American Funeral Director
• Private Islands (If this magazine is on your nightstand, why are you here? And can I come for a visit?)
• Elevator World
• Guns of the Old West

Still think you can’t find a market that’s perfect for YOU to pitch? (Correct answer: No.)

Oh, and for that skeptical sheep farmer: Here are a few just for you.

• Sheep! (My husband wrote for this one…no joke!)
• The Shepherd Magazine
• Sheep Farmer Magazine
• Banner Sheep Magazine
• Sheep Canada
• Graze Magazine
• Practical Sheep, Goats & Alpacas
• Ranch & Rural Living (Has a breed directory, too.)
• Modern Farmer (They have Sheep Week!)

If the idea that there are no markets for you is getting you down…buck up, figure out your interests, do a 5-minute Google search—and start pitching!

Are You a Writing Fangirl…Or a REAL Writer? 7 Ways to Tell

We writers can spend hours every day thinking, dreaming, talking, and ruminating about writing. We love what we do!

But when we use these activities (and I’m loathe to even call them “activities”) as substitutes for actually writing…that’s a problem. We leave the realm of serious writer and enter the realm of — fanfolk.

And it’s a sneaky problem, because geeking out over all things writing feels like we’re being productive. We call it brainstorming, networking, getting motivated, whatever. But what it is not, is WRITING. Oh yeah, and MARKETING. And otherwise getting off our butts and going after, and completing, paying writing assignments.

(Caveat: I’m not saying we’re not allowed to have fun, kill time, and kibitz on writers’ forums. It’s when these time-wasters placate us into feeling productive — or we’re more interested in the trappings of a writer than in writing itself — that there’s a problem. )

Seven Signs You’re a Writing Fanboy/Girl:

1. You wear your Grammar Police badge with pride.

Writing forums, email discussion boards for writers, and blog comments are full of posts like these:

• My client just sent me an email where he used ‘their’ instead of ‘they’re’! *headdesk*
• Look at the typo in this newspaper headline! What is journalism coming to these days?
• Hey, blogger…you call yourself a writer? There’s a word missing in the second paragraph.

Pointing out/kvetching about other writers’ grammar mistakes make you FEEL good because hey, you don’t make mistakes like that so clearly you’re a superior writer. But is it getting you more gigs? Is it getting more writing out of you? Or is it simply wasting energy you could be using to get more assignments?

The person who made the typo is writing. What are YOU doing?

I have a guest post on the MakeaLivingWriting.com blog that goes into much, much more details on why you want to pit away your Grammar Police badge. (With 177 comments…clearly a hot button topic!)

2. You give a crap that The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare’s shortest play. (And you know that it has 1,787 words.)

Look on almost any writers’ forum and you’ll see long threads where writers discuss their favorite pen (who writes in pen anymore?), post interesting factoids about Shakespeare, share motivational quotes from Hemingway, and hash out the details of the latest plagiarism/book banning/angry-author-screwed-by-publisher case.

I call these “fanboy writer posts.” These writer trivia posts show you’re a big fan of all things writing…but do they actually count as writing?

3. You’re a member of 10 writing organizations.

Here’s your email sig line:

Jane Smith, Wordsmith Extraordinaire

Member of:

National Writers Union
Science Writers of America
Mystery Writers Association
Medial Journalists’ Society
East Podunk Stitch & Bitch Writing Club
Romance Writers of America
[Add five more here]

Guess what? Editors and potential clients do not look at this list and say, “Wow. She must be a serious writer. Let’s hire her!”

Being a member of (most) writers’ associations does not prove that you are a writer. If you shell out your $150, you can get in. Even if you’ve never written a word in your life!

Join the organizations that pertain to the exact type of writing you’re actually doing. Not the genres you wish you were in, or the ones you think will impress people. And only join if you plan to be active in the group (which includes — wait for it — writing.)

4. You are the proud owner of a vast collection of quill pens.

Many writers love the trappings of writing more than the actual act of writing itself. So we see aspiring writers posting photos of their collection of mugs with writerly sayings; getting/talking about/comparing/sharing on social media their tattoos of Remington typewriters; collecting recycled-paper, leather-bound journals (just for looking at, natch); and strolling the aisles of Office Depot coveting the fancy pens.

Anyone looking at you, with your exclamation point tattoo and “Writer at Work” doorknob hanger, would think you are a writer. But…are you actually writing? Don’t delude yourself: A collection of quill pens does not a writer make.

5. You take writing classes you don’t need.

Wait a minute…did I just say that? Maybe I’m shooting myself in the foot because I teach a ton of classes for writers here—but seen too many writers take class after class in order to avoid having to actually pitch and write.

(Many instructors LOVE students like that…they pay good money, don’t do the work, and the instructor gets something for nothing.)

A multitude of certificates from writing classes is the sign of an insecure writer who always thinks she needs to know more before getting started — or the sign of fanfolk who love showing off their creds more than they do actually writing.

Yes, take a class to learn the skills you’re lacking, whether it’s writing the perfect pitch, running a writing business, or crafting an article that will sell. Then…go out and do that thing. That’s what makes you a real writer. If you come to a a roadblock because you need more skills, THEN you can take more classes.

This goes for free classes, too. Just about everyone with something to sell online offers a free class/instructional webinar/training call to get people on their email lists. It’s tempting to try them all! But unless you need that exact skill right now, you can hold off until you do.

6. You love books.

Writers love spending lots of time on Goodreads reviewing books. And weighing in on the latest literary controversies (is The Goldfinch crap or not?) And discussing On Writing and Writing Down the Bones and The Artist’s Way. And bragging about how many books they have in their homes. (I have over 1,000 books! Oh yeah? Well, I have 1,500. Here’s a photo to prove it!)

But the fact that you have a library overflowing with books, a shelf full of writing manuals, and 500 Goodreads reviews (especially of those writing manuals!) does not show you’re a writer. You talk a good game, but do you have the ass-in-seat-time to prove it? Serious writers with limited time use their time to — write.

7. You call yourself a “scribe” or “wordsmith” on your business card.

You are not a scribe, and you’re not a wordsmith. These terms bring to mind unpaid writers jotting down poems for the love of it — or monks copying Bible passages. (My editor at a writing magazine kept changing the word “writer” to “scribe” in my articles and it drove me batshit crazy…as much as I loved this editor!)

You are a serious, well-paid businessperson who offers writing as a valuable service. Right?

So: Are you a fanboy/girl or REAL writer? And if you say you’re a real writer: Prove it today by shutting down the forums, putting away the writing manuals, resisting the urge for one more class or one more writing group membership…and writing.

Stephen Guise is the author of the new book How to Be an Imperfectionist, and I was excited to be able to interview him for The Renegade Writer…because we writers often let perfectionism keep us from getting out work out there.

In this interview, you’ll learn:

• The difference between chance and failure
• How confidence = comfort
• Why quantity is more important than quality
• The perceived benefits of perfectionism
• How setting the bar low can actually help you get more freelance writing jobs
• Why partial success is still success
• What’s better…thinking or acting?
• Much more!

You can download the PDF transcript here and download the sound file here (which has my awesome new intro music!).

Also…when I asked Stephen for a “cover image,” he misunderstood and sent me a headshot. I decided I’m totally going to include it as eye candy for the ladies!

Enjoy — and feel free to pass these files around to your writer friends!

P.S. Carol Tice and I are offering the audit version of our 4-Week J-School RIGHT NOW! Cart closes on July 30, which is two days from today. Want to gain the skills and confidence to land — and write — lucrative article assignments? Check out the success stories from our previous students on the J-School page. Work at your own pace…your access never ends!

Ethics is in the air!

(I can see you right now saying, “Um, what?”)

By that I mean Carol Tice’s and my 4-Week J-School Audit is on sale until July 30 (a BIG welcome to the 80 of you who have signed on so far!) — and we have a whole lesson on journalism ethics. And because we’re talking so much about ethics in our marketing materials, we’ve been getting a lot of questions from readers.

One awesome writer sent in this question:

I was surprised to read, in your post about mistakes you have made, that it is not okay to reuse ANYTHING from a previous article, not even a phrase or a quote. I’ve never heard that before. In fact, I seem to remember you or Carol encouraging us to reslant and resell our stories as a way to get double duty from our work. If we can’t reuse our quotes, that doesn’t seem like it saves us anything. I’ve been planning to try and spin a couple of my stories in different ways for different markets. Comments?

Great question!

Stealing from your own previously published work is called self-plagiarism, and it is a big problem. In fact, as you’ll see in the post I linked to above, I was once fired for it before I knew any better.

While it’s not technically illegal to reuse portions of your own work (unless you signed a contract forbidding it), and some debate whether or not it is unethical, according to this article on Slate, it’s all about the expectations of the audience. So, for example, when I compile blog posts into a book and make it clear in the subtitle that the book is made up of previously-run blog posts, no one seems to mind. As long as the information is new and helpful to the audience, it is likely not a problem.

But when you write for magazines or online publications, your first audience is your editor. You need to ask yourself: How would your editor feel if she saw another article that had the same quotes or phrases as the one you just turned in — especially when she bought first rights or all rights to your piece? I’d wager she wouldn’t like it very much.

And that’s all that matters if you want to keep getting freelance writing jobs. You can debate the ethics of self-plagiarism with her until your face turns a lovely shade of blue…but if she thinks it’s unacceptable — which I assure you she will — then it’s a no-no for you. (And with Copyscape, you certainly won’t get away with it.)

But take heart! When developing a new pitch/article, you can still reuse:

• Your idea (Reslanted for a non-competing publication; for example, I once wrote a diet article for Oxygen and then reslanted it for Men’s Fitness.)
• The knowledge you gained writing the original article, which will make your research much faster.
• Your sources. (Though you would need to re-interview them or use quotes you didn’t use in the original article.)

Journalism ethics is a sticky topic — you need to know not only about self-plagiarism but also libel, using proper citations, quoting sources, fair use laws, and other practices that can keep you from getting sued (or at the very least, in trouble with your editor).

If you’re not up to speed on these topics, consider joining the 4-Week J-School Audit today. You’ll not only learn the ins and outs of journalism ethics, but also get the scoop on generating salable ideas, writing pitches that sell, and crafting compelling articles. The class is self-paced, and you get access to the materials (including the tasty bonuses) forever. And we offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee! Go to the class page to check out the testimonials from happy students who have gotten freelance writing jobs after taking our class.

Jordan Rosenfeld is the author of the new book A Writer’s Guide to Persistence: How to a Create a Lasting and Productive Writing Practice, and I was excited to be able to spend 30 minutes with her discussing:

• How editors and agents want to be seduced — they WANT to say yes! — and how many writers muff it up by talking down about themselves.
• How to banish distraction — both the home kind and the Internet kind.
• Why you need a Writer’s Code, and how to create one.
• What it means to “go where you’re welcome” in your writing, and how it can help you get more freelance writing jobs.
• The biggest problem that keeps writers from succeeding.
• How to handle critiques without wanting to curl up into a fetal ball and cry.
• And much more!

You can download the PDF transcript here and download the podcast sound file here. Feel free to share these with your writer friends, and please do share on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn!

Enjoy!

This post is from this week’s Monday Motivations for Writers email. To get these emails in your inbox, plus a free e-book and checklist for writers, you can sign up here.

Ever send a query to an editor and realize — too late — that you had a typo in the lede? Or accidentally hit “Reply All” on a sensitive work email?

Wonderful Renegade reader Cherese Cobb let me know about a solution: unSend.it.

unSend.it is a free service that lets you track email opens, edit emails and attachments AFTER they’re sent, and steal back emails you wish you’d never sent.

I tried it out with a couple Gmail accounts of mine. Sign-up was super easy thanks to a slideshow that covers every step.

If you choose the unSend.it mode where you’re able to edit emails after they’ve been sent — and even after they’ve been opened — the email is converted to a graphic on unSend.it’s servers. I have to say, that looks a little wonky to the recipient. For example, when I tried emailing myself with this option, as the recipient I wasn’t able to copy the e-mail’s contents since it was a graphic, not text.

Something else that’s a little strange: If you unsend an email, according to the site, “unSend.it removes all content from the body of the email (including any attachments) you sent. The email itself will always remain in your recipient’s inbox along with the subject line—however, all email message content will be removed.” But…guess having your editor see a blank email is better than having her see one you meant to send to your best friend venting about said editor!

You can also opt for the mode where you can only unsend emails and edit attachments, in which case your email comes through as regular text.

There’s also a tracking-only mode, and you can choose to have unSend.it email you when recipients open your messages.

A cool perk is that you can change modes for individual emails as you send them out by using shortcode such as [att] for “attachments,” which means you have control over that particular email’s attachments even after you send it.

Hope you can use this cool tool to take the worry out of pitching! (Thanks, Cherese!)

By the way, I love sharing tips from my readers. If you have a good one and I can use it, I’m happy to send you an e-book gratis as a thank you!

Happy writing,

Linda Formichelli

P.S. Have you seen my new Writing Assignment Checklist, which I’m selling for just $1.49?

A couple weeks ago I created a Query Writing Checklist, and it flew off the virtual shelves!

Then, while on a road trip (I do my best thinking while driving), I was like—Duh, Linda! Now writers will need a checklist to use when they’re working on a writing assignment! (You know, the assignment they got using the query checklist.)

Whether you’re writing for a magazine, a website, or a paying blog—there’s so much to think about and remember when you’re working on an assignment:

• Did I get a contract…and did I sign it and send it back?
• What are the payment terms?
• What was it the client wanted from me, again? Did she want a sidebar?
• Who am I interviewing?
• Oh man, what was that source’s email address?
• Did I include a source list with my assignment?
• When did I follow up with the interviewee?
• Did I remember to proof the article?
• Is each fact in the article backed up by an outside source?
• Did I write a compelling lede? A great kicker?
• Did I remember to thank the client?

So I did it…I created a fillable PDF Writing Assignment Checklist that covers:

Stage 1: Assignment Details
Stage 2: Sources & Research
Stage 3: Proofing the Article
Stage 4: Turning in the Assignment & Onward

Wherever possible, I also included links to websites and blog posts that will deepen your understanding of that particular element—from finding expert sources to creating a source list to writing an amazing kicker.

The Writing Assignment Checklist is a fillable checklist, meaning you can fill in the blanks and check off action items right on your computer.

Download the checklist and create a duplicate copy for each query idea…you can use the Writing Assignment Checklist over and over!

And even better—you can get this helpful checklist for just $1.49. I know…super cheap, right?

If you’d like a copy of a checklist that will help you track assignments and turn out great articles (and blog posts, and case studies…)–here’s where you can get it.

(And if you missed the Query Tracker Worksheet, that’s here!)

Enjoy!

Linda

P.S. If you get the checklist, please download it to your hard drive and make duplicates before you start filling it out. That way you’ll have enough checklists for all your pitches, and will be able to save and print them. (Do not open and fill out the PDF in your browser or you will not be able to save and print!)

P.P.S. Did you know Carol Tice’s and my new e-course Escape the Content Mills is on sale this week? Sale ends Sunday…check it out here!

I received such a wonderful response to last week’s post Why You Should Charge What You Like & Not Feel Bad About It. Thank you!

After doing more considering on the issue of how much writers (and other freelancers/entrepreneurs) should charge for their products and services, I have a few more thoughts I’d like to share.

1. What Can Your Prospect Afford?

To that question I say: It doesn’t matter.

Too many writers get a reach-out from a prospect asking for a price for a blog post, article, or newsletter — and then wring their hands trying to figure out how much the prospect can afford to pay.

The writers say, “I don’t want to go too low and screw myself, but I also don’t want to go too high and not get the gig!”

The thing is this: Sometimes people won’t be able to afford you — and THAT’S OKAY. There are plenty of prospects who can afford to pay what you charge.

Set your hourly rates based on what you need to earn to cover your expenses and make a good living — and when someone asks what you’ll charge for a blog post, article, or web copy, you simply figure out how many hours the project will take (pad it a little!), multiply it by your hourly rate, and propose a flat fee.

If your fee is close to what the prospect can afford, and they believe the value you provide will be worth the price, they’ll say Yes. If your fee is a little high for them, they’ll try to negotiate. But if you aren’t even in the ballpark — say you would charge $500 for an article and they were thinking more along the lines of $50 — then you say goodbye. They are not a client for you.

[Tweet This] Remember, you are under no obligation to make sure everyone who wants or needs your product or service can afford it. If that were the case, you would be charging zero.

I occasionally get an email from a writer complaining that they can’t afford one of my products, services, or classes, because, well, they’re writers, and writers don’t earn much money as a rule. (Not true!) But all I can do is charge what the thing is worth, and let the customer sort it out for themselves. I’ve had writers tell me they can’t afford a $2.99 e-book, so if I felt I needed to price everything at an amount everyone could afford, I would just be giving everything away.

And that’s no way to run a sustainable business that can serve people for years to come.

This leads to the second point, which is…

2. You’d Be Surprised What People Can Afford

I’ll bet you’ve had this experience: You ask a friend to join you to watch that new blockbuster movie, and she says she can’t afford it. But a week later, she rolls up in a brand new Mercedes and starts bragging about her ski trip.

What people can afford is entirely subjective. Often when someone says they can’t afford something, what they mean is it’s not a priority for them.

A business coach once told me that other people’s finances are none of my business. I may think, “Oh, I shouldn’t charge this much because poor so-and-so would never be able to afford it.” But you just never know. Maybe poor so-and-so just cashed in a winning lottery ticket. Maybe he inherited a gob of cash. Maybe he just got a raise.

Not only that, but charging less (or not offering a certain product to a certain person) because you think they can’t afford it infantilizes your customer. Adults are perfectly capable of determining which products can services they want and need, and how to pay for them.

Instead of getting all up in your customers’ financial grille, just charge what you need to and let HIM figure out how he’ll pay for it. You don’t know what’s going on with him financially, so it’s best to just not worry about it.

You’d be surprised at how fast people will come up with the money if they really want something.

So when you’re trying to figure out what a writing client can afford, well, just don’t. Set your prices based on how much you need to earn to hit your target income, to be compensated fairly for your skills, and to cover your overhead and expenses. If someone can’t afford your writing, that’s okay.

You’ll find there are plenty of clients out there who are HAPPY to pay your going rate.

Whether you’re pitching your idea to a magazine, a website, or a blog — there’s so much to think about and remember when you write and send a query letter:

• Is my idea timely?
• Is my idea relevant to enough of the pub’s readers?
• What sources should I approach about a pre-interview?
• Oh man, what was that source’s email address again?
• Could I offer this idea as a chunky format with lots of box outs…or a chart…or a quiz?
• Did I nail the magazine’s style?
• Do I have an enticing headline (and how do I create one of those, anyway?)?
• Wait, did I follow up with editor X?

And even if you remember everything you need to so — inevitably, just as your query email to your dream publication zaps off the screen, you notice…a typo.

Ugh!

I had a HUGE brainstorm: How about a checklist that writers can use with every pitch they send, to make sure it has all the elements that will entice an editor to say Yes?

So I did it…I created a fillable PDF Query Letter Checklist that covers:

Stage 1: Developing the Query
Stage 2: Proofing the Query
Stage 3: Sending the Query
Stage 4: Tracking Your Query

Wherever possible, I also included links to websites and blog posts that will deepen your understanding of that particular query element — from developing a story idea that sells, to learning about the nut graf, to finding expert sources.

The Query Letter Checklist is a fillable checklist, meaning you can fill in the blanks and check off action items on your computer.

Download the checklist, and create a duplicate copy for each query idea…you can use the Query Letter Checklist over and over!

And even better — you can get this helpful checklist for just $1.49. I know…super cheap, right?

If you’d like a copy of a checklist that will help you develop, send, and track killer query letters — so you can get more assignments — here’s where you can get it.

Enjoy!

Drawing by Dawn Witzke.

Right now we’re in the middle of a session of my Write for Magazines class, and I’m getting these questions/statements a lot from students:

How much should I research a magazine before I know it’s a good market for my idea? Right now it’s taking me hours.

I want to pitch this publication, but I can’t find their writer guidelines so I don’t know if they use freelancers.

I researched this magazine to see if my idea is a good fit, but they don’t have a good department for it/they’ve never run anything like it/Mercury is in retrograde — so I think I won’t pitch them.

I just want to tell all the writers out there:

When in doubt, pitch.

If you have even the slightest inkling that your idea would fit in a particular magazine, go ahead and send it.

As you know, I recommend sending simultaneous queries. (If you didn’t know that, you can read all about it here.)

That means you’re writing one query that you’ll be sending, tweaking as necessary, to multiple publications at the same time.

If you already have your query written, then it’s no skin off your nose to send it to one more magazine. It will take you only a few extra minutes to research the editor’s contact information and tweak the query as needed. If it ends up the pub doesn’t use freelancers, or doesn’t have the space for your idea, or doesn’t pay, then you’ve only wasted a few minutes — and your query is still under consideration by a group of other editors.

No problem, right?

And get this: If your idea is even a somewhat close match for the magazine (which it is, right?), you’re probably ahead of 90% of the pitches they get. I once heard a Family Circle editor tell writers that they shouldn’t pitch her articles on the sex life of frogs. She said that because people do it.

Let the editor say Yes.

You need to research a magazine only enough that you can be reasonably sure your idea will fit in it.

What you don’t need to do is spend hours poring over back issues and guidelines trying to figure out why your idea won’t work. Why spend all that time and effort thinking of reasons not to send a query?

Instead, give the editor a say. Editors are smart. They know a lot more than you do about their magazine and their audience.

And only the editor can know if, say, he’s about to start a new department where your pitch would fit perfectly, or he was just wishing he had an article on X (with X being your idea), or one of his freelancers just flaked and he needs another good writer pronto.

Or maybe your pitch will be so wonderful that the editor will make an exception for you. Carol Tice and I had one student in our recent Pitch Clinic class who sent a Letter of Introduction to a business she wanted to blog for. Here’s part of the response she got.

Ordinarily we do not accept guest posts, as they are almost always short and shallow. We receive numerous requests daily, but only post two or three per year. However, your email is better than most and touches on a few points that interest me.

We pay our writers and they work on assignment. Our top writer is off on baby leave so I’m looking for a backup. A few candidates are in the wings, but I’d like to try an article from you, if our terms are suitable to you.

This can only happen to you if you go ahead and pitch.

You don’t necessarily want to sell your idea.

Guess what? The goal of a pitch is not necessarily to get an assignment.

Well, of COURSE you would like to get an assignment. But what often happens is that your query or LOI doesn’t quite make the cut — say, the publication already has a similar article in the works — but the editor is so impressed by your pitch that she invites you to pitch again, or even assigns you a different article.

The goal of a pitch is to start building a relationship with a client.

If you hold off on pitching because you’re not fully, absolutely, 100% sure your ideas are a good match, then you’re missing out on the opportunity to start a conversation with an editor who may want to hire you down the road.

Your pitch shows what you can do. It shows you have great ideas, can write well, and are professional. Even if it’s not a perfect match, it can lead to assignments.

So the next time you find yourself spending hours researching magazines looking for excuses cut yourself out of the running, stop.

Just send that pitch.

P.S. Are you looking to leave your day job to become a full-time freelance writer? Then you’ll love my e-book Write Your Way Out of the Rat Race…And Step Into a Career You Love, which has 36 five-star (and 9 four-star) reviews on Amazon! It’s available in Kindle and PDF.

A couple weeks ago I sent an email to my Renegade Writer subscribers letting them know I’m thinking about offering a four-week Pitch Challenge where writers would need to send out eight unique queries in four weeks to be eligible for prizes. And I mentioned I was thinking of a price of $150.

A very nice writer emailed me a very valid question:

“If you’re only entering names into a database, why are you charging $150?”

This question is important because it reflects why so many writers are getting paid less than they’re worth.

More Than Components

My husband works in the boardgame industry, and you’ll sometimes see avid boardgamers on forums posting things like, “Why does this game cost $50? I went to the Chinese component manufacturer’s website and priced out all the pieces, and the components are worth only $11.”

I always want to offer to send them a game for $11, and then mail them a blank box filled with blank components.

What are you really buying when you buy a game? Beyond the bare components, you’re purchasing enjoyment. Fun. Excitement. The ability to impress your buddies on game night. Not to mention everything that goes into creating and delivering a game you would want to play, from the idea to the artwork to the distribution.

When you buy a book, are you just paying for the paper and the ink that goes into printing it? Judging by the people who complain about the prices of e-books because “They’re cheaper to produce than print books,” you may think that. But if that were the case, you could just get book with a blank cover and the word “and” printed in it a few thousand times.

But in fact, you’re buying the author’s ideas and skills and hard work. The cover art that enticed you to pick up the book. The agent that brought the book to the attention of the publisher. The marketing that let you know about the book in the first place. The infrastructure that hosts and delivers the book, such as the bookstore or website. And most important, the main value you’re paying for is adventure, excitement, action, inspiration, knowledge, romance.

In the same way, what are you really buying when you buy a class like the Pitch Challenge I’m considering doing? Are you buying the minutes the instructor spends entering pitches into a database? No…you’re buying the entire infrastructure that makes this class exist. But more importantly, you’re buying confidence. New skills. The ability to earn more.

Carol Tice and I recently ran a pitch challenge as part of our Pitch Clinic class. Of the 36 people who completed the challenge, around 20 received assignments from publications and businesses within those four weeks. A couple of these assignments paid over $1,000. A few writers landed multiple assignments. Two were offered full-time writing jobs (which they turned down). And one writer started with nothing, and 6 weeks later is earning $2,000 per week.

What do you think that was worth to them, to get the skills and confidence, the motivation, the accountability, to pitch like crazy and get work? To start new careers as writers?

Behind the Curtain

I think entrepreneurs (yes, that’s what you are!) who are new to running a business have a skewed idea of what it takes to create something people want. That’s why they underprice themselves — they think, “What does it cost me to write 500 words? Just a few keystrokes and an hour of my time.”

But there’s so much more that goes into creating something other people want to buy — and that will help, entertain, or inform them.

The last e-book I wrote cost hundreds in cover design, layout, professional editing, business coaching (to get advice on marketing the book) and more.

The last class I built with Carol Tice over at UsefulWritingCourses.com cost us $24,000 to create, market, and put on. No, there is not an extra zero there. (And that does not even count the cost of our time and skills in creating the actual course materials — webinars, handouts, recordings, and so on!)

We have a team of four freelancers who create our logos, banners, and web design; do our coding; handle IT; and man the helpdesk to field students’ technical problems. We had to build and design a sales page, course modules, forums. We hired editors to critique students’ assignments in the forums (and paid them a rate that would entice them to work with us!). Class recordings needed to be transcribed. We gave free webinars, which required building special sales pages to capture email addresses where we could send the webinar details.

It took months for a team of six people (including Carol and me) to build that class. And it was freaking expensive.

Do you wonder why we charged $500 for that class?

The same thing happens when you write something for a client. You may not have need employees or web design to write an article or a blog post, but there are indeed costs that need to be accounted for in your pricing. More on that below…

What is a Word Worth?

If you’re writing for a magazine that pays $1 per word, does that mean the word “the” is worth one dollar?

No. Clients aren’t paying for words, otherwise you could just write the word “the” one thousand times and collect a thousand bucks.

First, your payment compensates you for the things that cost you money that are required to run your business:

• Your education (J school, writing classes, writing books, writing magazines, an English degree — or even the School of Life, if that’s where you got your education)
• Your overhead (The fixed costs of doing business: Your rent, heat, health insurance, self employment taxes, etc.)
• Your expenses (Laptop, Internet, paperclips, printer ink, scanner, advertising, coaches, etc.)

And even more important, your client is paying you for these intangibles:

• Your skills and creativity
• The value your words bring to their publication in terms of attracting readers and advertisers
• The actual profit you help bring into the company
• The loyalty your words help create in the company’s customers/readers
• Your ability to generate great ideas that help them profit

So: If you write a 500-word sales page for a client’s website and it brings them $500,000 in sales, what are those words worth? Would it be fair for you to charge $5,000 — just one percent of the value you create? I think so. What if your sales page brings them 100 new loyal customers who in turn each bring your client a handful of new customers through word of mouth? Or what if your writing helps the client win an award that garners them great PR?

(And for myself, I can say: If you put on a class the helps people get new careers they love, gain confidence and ability, and earn lots of money, should you feel bad charging a premium?)

When you feel guilty charging a high rate because it’s “only words” or “only minutes,” you’re shortchanging yourself.

Pricing your services can feel very fuzzy, because you can’t put a price on a lot of these things you bring your clients: New customers. Confidence. Skills. New careers. Good PR. Awards. Happy-fuzzy feelings.

So all you can do is go with your heart. I read an excerpt of the book Unveiling the Heart of Your Business by Mark Silver — the excerpt was on heart-centered pricing and you can find it free here — and it really resonated with me, because it’s how I’ve always set my prices. I know the range of what’s being changed out there, and I choose my place in that range based on what feels right in my gut.

You know, in your heart, the value you offer your clients. You know, in your brain, how much it costs you, financially, to offer that value. Let those insights direct how much you charge, or your minimum rate for taking on an assignment — and don’t feel bad about it for even a second.

I’m a big fan of Laura Vanderkam’s books, so I was excited to get an advance copy of I Know How She Does It : How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time (which is now available!), and especially to get a chance to interview Laura for The Renegade Writer.

In I Know How She Does It, Laura interviewed and analyzed the time logs of over 140 women who have kids and earn at least 6 figures — women many consider as “having it all” — to offer advice on how we can fit a full, fun, busy life with work and kids into 168 hours per week. This is especially relevant to aspiring freelance writers who may have kids and a day job, and who are having trouble fitting writing and business-building in among all their other obligations.

By the way, if you’d like to keep your own time log, you can sign up for one free here.

Can you talk a bit about how you view the hours in our lives as a mosaic?

Laura: Many people look at their time log and just see these cells on a grid. I said, well, let’s change that. Let’s view it as a mosaic — and you are the artist, you are the mosaic maker, designing what your hours are going to look like and moving things around to

I think this mosaic image is also profound because we have a tendency to tell our lives in stories and to construct memories as stories — and probably your Renegade Writer readers do that, especially because we are storytellers. And the format of a story tends to be: Here are three points of evidence that lead us to an epiphany that we must make some change.

With life it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking: These stressful things happened — I had this horrible day at work, this bad night of sleep, this issue with my kid. Therefore, life is crazy and unsustainable and I must change.

But what if you view life more as a mosaic and say, well, we had those three stressful moments, but we had all these other moments too? Those moments count as well. We can choose to see those three stressful moments as this evidence leading toward our epiphany or we can say, well, life is stressful AND life is wonderful. There really is no contradiction here. We don’t have to construct a story out of it. We can simply view of the whole mosaic for what it is. So that’s why I like that image.

Can we talk about the 24-hour trap and how writers can avoid it?

Laura: The 24-hour trap is that we have a tendency to think that things need to happen daily in order to count in our lives.

Obviously, it is good to have daily habits — and when we want to add something into our lives, we first ask ourselves, where can I put this into my life every day? The problem is that if you have a busy life, often you can’t put something in at the same time every day — but that does not mean it can’t happen.

I see this especially with things like exercise. Many people will say, “Laura, I’d love to exercise, but I am just not the kind of person who can leave for an hour at lunch every day” or “I want to get home and see my kids so I can’t go to the gym after work every day” or “I recognize mornings might be a great time to exercise, but I just can’t stomach the thought of setting my alarm for 5:30 every day.”

And it’s like, “Okay, well, don’t set your alarm for 5:30 every day.” Here’s an idea: Maybe one day a week you could get up half an hour early and do something; maybe one night a week you and your partner trade off who has the kids and you can go exercise during that time; maybe you do something on weekend mornings before the family has gotten up; and maybe you run around the track by your kid’s soccer game on Sunday. Then you’ve already fit in four exercise stints per week.

That was not daily, but four times a week is pretty good.

I think the 24 hour trap keeps us from seeing the whole picture. If you look at the whole 168 hours of the week, often things will fit. You can’t hold to everything fitting into 24 hours.

And I think writers especially fall into that trap because they think, “I need a special writing time every single day.” But even if you got it in three times a week, that’s better than nothing.

Laura: Yeah, and the problem especially is when people don’t do it because they can’t do it daily. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

Sometimes it’s really easy to hold onto these stories we tell ourselves, like “I have a full-time job and a family, and therefore I can’t write.” Instead you could say, “Okay, I can’t write for three hours daily, but I could wake up early twice during the week and do it then, or I could stop watching one television show and just get something down on paper, and maybe I’ll be so inspired by what I’m doing that I’ll keep going.”

We have a tendency not to try those things because then we have to actually confront what we are doing and what we are not, and we have to look at our output and judge it — and often it is just easier not to do it and tell ourselves the story that it is impossible.

I notice that you often recommend outsourcing so that you have more time to do the things that are more important to you — but how can writers do this, especially if they are new and aren’t making a lot of money, and they can’t afford to hire much help? Do you have any tips for them? Maybe they need to just relax their standards?

Laura: Yes. When you don’t think something is the best use of your time, you have three options: You can ignore it, you can minimize it, or you can outsource it.

And obviously the outsourcing part costs money, but it does not cost anything to lower your standards — so that is a first line of offense if you are trying to make more time in your life.

I was just reading a comment on somebody else’s blog from this woman who was all excited about how she would get the kids into bed at night, and then do three hours of housework. I think she wanted everyone to think about how diligent she was or some such. I don’t know what point she was trying to make, but my first thought was “Why on earth are you doing that? Why does it require three hours at night to do all this? If you really feel the need to clean, set a timer for half an hour and then be done with it — and if it did not happen, it did not happen.”

So that’s certainly an option for people: Just let it go. Borrow that theme song from Frozen and let it go. It really does not matter. You will never get that time back, so use it first for the things that are important to you and let other things fill in around the edges.

There are a lot of writers who think, “I have kids at home, so I can do freelance writing from home and it will all work out.” And then they realize it does not work out because the kid isn’t napping on their schedule, or they need things while you’re on an interview. So I was wondering what are some of the creative ways that women you interviewed handle childcare.

Laura: Well, this is the thing: There are very few good ways to meet the needs of a client and a baby simultaneously. And, yes, there is inevitably the day you have a phone call with your biggest client at 1:30 p.m. that your child who naps religiously at 1:00 p.m. elects not to.

The only real way around this is to have childcare when you need it. When you’re doing something that you cannot do with kids’ noise or kids’ distractions, then you need somebody else to be responsible so you can focus on your work.

And there are many ways you can pull that off that might not be as expensive as hiring full-time childcare. For example, you can be efficient about pushing phone calls into a certain set of hours per day and have childcare for those hours, and then maybe do some more of the writing work after the kids go to bed. Or you could do the writing work when your partner can be with the kids, for instance, if you have a partner.

That’s a way you could pull it off without needing to pay for 40 hours of childcare. But it is very difficult to work without childcare. I had one woman in my study who was managing to run a small business without much childcare. But the way she was trading that off was by sleeping less, and it seemed to work for her because she did not need much sleep. But if you are not the kind of person who can function on six hours of sleep, and most of us aren’t, then you’re going to have to come up with something else.

A lot of writers think they are at the mercy of the client’s schedule. But what I realized is that if you actually tell people when you are available and suggest times, you can get them all into the one block of time where you have childcare.

Laura: Yes. Be very strategic about that and plan to have a few hours where you really attempt to push calls. I try to save mornings for writing and then do phone calls in either the late morning or the afternoon when I’m ready to interact with the world. You can express preferences. Sometimes you’re interviewing an A-list celebrity, and you’re going to have to do it when she needs to do it. But in other cases, people may have a bit more flexibility.

And people are actually happy for you to suggest a time. “Are you available at 10:00 or 10:30? If not, let me know.” They like not having to think about all the options.

Laura: Yes, it is actually not that helpful to send an e-mail to someone saying, “Can we do an interview in the next week?” Because then they’re looking at their whole schedule, and inevitably the first thing they suggest is not going to work for you. So it helps to just throw a few free times out there. If none of those work, then you can go from there, but the odds of at least one of those three working are decent.

You’re a successful writer — what are some of the things you think new freelance writers can drop to make time for what’s important? What are they doing that makes them feel productive that they don’t really need to be doing?

Laura: Well, the way I approach this question is that it’s not so much about dropping things. It’s about making sure that you first put in time in your life for the things that you need to be doing.

If you’re building a business there are certain things that are important for you to do. You need to have some of your work out there, so building your web site with examples of your work is a top priority. You need to be reaching out to potential clients. That is a top priority. You have actual assignments you need to get done. Those are top priorities.

Do those things first and then this magical thing happens where the other stuff that you don’t actually need to be doing starts taking less time. For example, generally people spend more time in their inboxes than they need to because they’re checking it too frequently, and they’re just working from the top down. Whatever happens to be on the top of your inbox is not necessarily your top work priority, so probably it does not need to be the first thing you tackle when you start approaching work.

But the beautiful thing about filling your time first with the things that you need to be doing is that then you figure out for yourself the other things that can give, and they will naturally give because there are only 24 hours in a day — so try that first.

What’s the most surprising thing you learned about balancing work, family, and everything else when you were analyzing these women’s time logs?

Laura: I think one of the best approaches — and I’m not saying this is done consciously, I think it was more just because these people had fuller lives — is that they did not watch as much TV as the average American.

It’s not that people didn’t watch any TV. There was certainly a reasonable amount of TV on logs, but the average per week was about 4.4 hours — if you think about it that’s like watching a handful of sitcoms and two or three longer shows, so it’s really not nothing. Four and a half hours a week is more than a half hour a day, so TV can be in your life — but it’s not 20 hours a week, it’s not 30 hours a week, which are some numbers that have come out of surveys of American life.

So I think that is an instructive difference because the women in my study were working longer hours than the average American works. They were spending time with their families, they were exercising for the most part, they were getting enough sleep. What had to give? Well, it was not really anything of that much importance. That, in and of itself, is a great way to balance your life in the sense of actually making time for things that matter.

You don’t have to cut TV out of your life, but make sure that you’re watching the shows that matter the most to you, the ones that really get you excited, that you’re taping, that you want to talk about with your friends. That’s great, it’s a fun thing to do, it’s a great way to blow off steam — but don’t just turn it on and leave it on. Don’t automatically turn the TV on after the kids go to bed and see what’s on. If you and your partner want to hang out, there are other things you can do than sit on the couch watching TV. There are other things that are much more exciting, for instance, than sitting on the couch watching TV that you can do together, so don’t automatically think TV first.

What’s the one piece of advice you picked up from your research that you think would resonate most with freelance writers who have kids and possibly a day job?

Laura: Daily rituals are great. There has been a lot written lately about the daily rituals of artists and how they make time to write or do whatever they do.

And again, that’s great if it works, but it doesn’t always work — and so what you need to do is look at your whole calendar and say, “Here are some blocks I have for writing. I am going to make sure those work one way or the other. If it’s asking my partner to take the kids for a certain amount of time. If it’s choosing to come into work half an hour late because I have that flexibility. If it’s that I just go sit in your car with my laptop during lunch once a week and write during that time.”

Do whatever it takes, but make sure that those blocks are in there — look at the whole of the week because probably you will be able to find the time.

The numbers I use for people is if you are working 40 hours a week and you’re sleeping eight hours a night for 56 hours a week, that leaves 72 hours for other things. 72 hours is a lot of time. You definitely have time to hang out with your family, to exercise, and to maybe spend 15 hours a week launching your business.

Laura’s book I Know How She Does It : How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time was just released…here’s where you can check it out!

P.S. The Freelance Writers Den is opening its doors to members of the waitlist tomorrow (Thursday, June 11, 2015) ONLY. Carol Tice opens the Den only a few times per year, so if you want to take advantage of the goodies, now’s the time! Interested? Here’s where you can join the waitlist.

The editor said she was going to assign this idea, and two weeks later I still haven’t heard back about an assignment. Should I ding her?

Will I be a pest if I nag the editor about a payment that’s 30 days past due?

The magazine wants me to write a 1,500-word feature that will require six interviews, tons of research, and photos — but they can only pay $75. I’m afraid if I say no I won’t get any work at all. What should I do?

Should I ask for a First North American Serial Rights contract instead of All Rights? I’m scared!

Freelance writers are always posting to forums and email lists with questions like these. And I find a good way to answer many of them is with this acronym: WWYED?

What Would Your Editor Do?

(You know, kind of like WWJD, except Jesus probably never negotiated terms with a magazine editor.)

• For example, if you’re asking “Should I go ahead and write this article because the deadline is looming near, even though I don’t know yet what the payment is?” — would your editor work even a single day at her job without knowing what she would be getting paid?
• If you want to know, “Will I be a pest if I nag the editor about a payment that’s 30 days past due?” — what do you think your editor would do if his paycheck were even one day late, much less a whole month?
• You’re worried about asking for a FNASR contract? Well, your editor wasn’t afraid to ask YOU to give up all your rights, in all media, in perpetuity, for 25 cents a word.
• You’re offered an assignment for a heavily-researched and interviewed feature, including photos — a week’s worth of work — for $75. Would your editor work for $75 per week?
• You don’t want to be a nag, but the editor told you two weeks ago she was going to assign you this idea, and it’s been radio silence since then. What would the editor do if her boss were interested in an idea of hers and then forgot all about it?

WWYED?

You Are Not a Supplicant

It’s appalling the way writers are treated sometimes, but even more appalling is the way writers often let themselves be treated.

You are not a supplicant. You are providing a valuable service — the very writing people pick up a publication to read! The ideas that give magazines their enticing coverlines! The research that brings credibility to a publication!

Writers assume that because they’re doing work that many perceive as fun, or passion work, they don’t deserve good pay or good treatment. So they’re afraid to ask to be treated with respect.

But as much fun as you may be having as a writer, the publication is profiting from your work. The fact that writing an article is fun doesn’t discount the fact that it brings in clicks (for which the publication is being paid) or readers (who advertisers pay to reach).

Writing is a business. No matter how fun it is, no matter how passionate you are about writing, it is a business. You are an entrepreneur. A business owner.

You’re in a business just like your editor is. So if you’re ever wondering whether you should stand up to shoddy treatment or push for what you need, just as yourself:

WWYED?

P.S. The next Write for Magazines e-course starts on Monday, June 8! Want to join the class that’s helped writers break into magazines like Woman’s Day, Writer’s Digest, and E: The Environmental Magazine? Here’s where you can check it out.