Tides Turning

I have always been the type of writer that worries I'm not managing my time well. That often boils down to feeling guilty for writing anything that doesn't have an immediate payout. Oh, how the tides have turned...

This week is all upside down. I've managed to find quite a few freelance projects, and guess what? For the first time in my writing life, as I was working on these projects, I feel guilty for not spending the time writing my creative stuff. When did all this change?! I guess it's keeping me balanced. I'm pretty sure the guilt comes from the fact that half of the freelance work is on spec, so no guarantee that it will sell, and the other half is relatively low paying with a lot of technical issues to navigate. But that project is one of those perfectly mindless jobs with no actual writing--a dream if I wasn't spending fifty percent of the time getting tasks kicked back for no reason.

I have managed to sneak in a few moments of creative writing anyway. I also had one of my books included in a giveaway through Prolific Works. As of writing this, there have been 105 downloads. I can't wait to see those 105 reviews start rolling in...

... 🤣
... 🤣
... 🤣

Okay, I think I'm done laughing hysterically. If I get one review out of it, I'll be ecstatic.

That's it for this week. NaNo's getting closer and I've got an outline to finish...

Reassessing and New Pricing

I've always felt like I knew the value of my time, especially when we are talking about my skills as a professional. That being said, I've known for years that I'm accepting far less than my time is worth. It's imposter syndrome, plain and simple. As much as I know I deserve a certain price per hour, I get weirded out when people are willing to pay that much. It's something I'm always working on.

This has led me to to rethink my Fiverr gigs. I have been getting a lot of work from that platform lately, which in a way is good. I like working on the gigs I offer there. However, over the past three weeks I have had to put myself as away from the office more often than available to new customers. There are many reasons for this. First, I like my Saturdays and I always mark myself out of the office on this day. I already have to work six days a week, so Saturdays are my time. I've also had to do this when I keep getting gigs ten minutes before I go to bed. While it's true I have at least 24 hours to complete the work, it makes me too anxious that I won't get it done, and it ruins any chance of good sleep. If Fiverr would let me put my status as away for a specific number of hours instead of a minimum of a full day, it would be a different story.

The other issue is that the quality of the buyers is sometimes lacking. I (and every seller on the platform) would love to be able to work with customers who provide clear instructions tailored to complete the gig. But often I get 40 questions from someone who doesn't end up buying a gig, or little to no information from someone who has purchased a gig, and I have to drag it out of them. For the price I'm paid, that saddles me with a lot of extra work just trying to get the information I need to get started.

One of the many perks of being a freelancer is negotiating prices.

I'm also running into a new problem--the middle man (or woman, of course). I will admit to doing a lot of work for middle men, and that's fine as long as the situation is transparent. I know that some work I do I'm only getting paid 20% of what the customer pays for the work--and I manage my availability for these projects accordingly, knowing I'm being paid less when I take those jobs. On Fiverr, I have no idea if I'm working for a middle man unless they leave clues, and they have been. I still wouldn't mind doing the work, but through Fiverr no one has to tell me they are getting paid $100 for what they turn around and pay me $5 to do. I just want transparency about what I'm losing. If it's too much, I might as well slap "consultant" at the end of my name and become their direct competitor.

This has led me to reevaluate the prices I charge. This is everyone's official heads up about the changes coming to my Fiverr gigs on November 1. My blog editing gig is being removed completely--no one has purchased it, and it would be very time consuming at this point with all of the other projects and freelance jobs I have going on. My gig for social media posts will double in price. I actually still consider that a little low, but I don't want to lose every customer I have. My blog spotlight gig will continue to be offered at $5 for the cheapest option, but the price will be raised for the top two tiers to counteract the fees I'm charged.

Yes, I'm announcing these changes before I make them, but I'm pretty sure my Fiverr base and my Blogger base don't have too much overlap. Even if they do, it's fair warning to get the lower priced gigs while you can.

Getting Hired: What is a Freelance Writer?

This is the first installment of a series of posts for those looking to start a career as a freelance writer. For more posts in this series, please check out the Getting Hired as a Freelance Writer tab. 

What is a freelance writer?

This should be an easy question to answer, but for some, it's not. Do you have to write novels to be considered a writer? Do you have to be earning a good living to be a writer? Does a notable list of clients make you a writer?

The truth is the only thing that makes you a writer is that you write. Maybe not every day, but you write. And you find some joy in the writing process. Maybe it's a diary that no one in the world will ever see. Maybe you write epic poems and burn them in the fireplace once they are complete. I don't care what you write—you are a writer.

And when you add freelancing to the word writer, you are saying you want to earn a living from something you love doing. This is a concept we are all taught—do what you love! But as most of us figured out when adulthood smacked us in the face for the first time, it's not always the easiest choice. Sometimes you feel like you don't have a choice to work at doing something you love. All of those disgruntled miserable people who couldn't find their own happiness will tell you to keep it as a cute hobby, but you'll never make a dime from it. They are dream squashers. Avoid those wretches at all costs.

But enough unqualified psych-talk. Want to be a freelance writer? Tell someone you are a freelance writer. Go ahead. I'll wait.

…

Did you tell them? How did they react? Let me guess—they didn't know exactly what that meant. They equated it to artistic endeavors (which for most people that looks like: artistic = poor) such as acting or being an artist. Or they said, "That's cool. Can I pick your brain?"

WARNING: Some people you know will try to get you to do work for free. They will not appreciate the fact that you have skills worthy to meet a basic standard of living—but we will cover that topic in another post.

Again, their reactions don't matter. You want to be a freelance writer? —POOF!— you are a freelance writer. Give yourself permission to seek out all that comes with the territory. It's not easy, and not every part of it is fun, but as long as there is still a spark every time you sit down to write, you've found something you love to do.

Congrats—a lot of people never get that far.

Back to the Blog and Standing Still

I skipped posting last week mostly because of that old saying: "If you don't have anything nice to say..." Well, you know the rest. I really didn't have anything nice to say about anyone or anything. I probably still don't, but I don't fee like putting a cork in it anymore.

The first thing that made me back up and give the blog some space was the flow of project messages into my inbox. If you have ever worked with Guru, Elance or similar sites, you know that this doesn't mean you have been awarded a project. Most of the time, the potential client uses it to ask you for additional information as sort of an interview process before they decide who they will award the project to. So, it's something you can get a little excited about, but not too much.

That's all changed for me. No longer will I jump out of my seat for any emails labeled this way. Why? Because every job I applied for last week decided that they would rub it in when I didn't get the job by sending out a project note to each loser who didn't get the job. Now, many people may consider this a courtesy and a nice thing to do, but I think the false hope aspect of it definitely trumps the courteous form letter starting with "There were so many great candidates to choose from, and unfortunately you weren't it." Then, especially if it is a book project, they go into blatantly promoting their project. Enough of that.

So, I've be scouring the far corners of the Internet for new leads on jobs. Last Friday, I was lucky to find four new leads. On Saturday, I came down from that temporary euphoria. Two of the leads were oDesk and People Per Hour --  websites essentially like Elance and Guru -- lots of work, but lots of competition as well. Don't get me wrong, they are all solid sites. I would have no hesitation using them to hire someone, but it's really hard to get hired, whether you have great feedback from previous clients or not.

The two other leads were a bit out of the traditional writing zone. One was a job posting on message boards. This job seemed great at the time I signed up. I qualified for permission to start posting quickly, but then I found out that it pays on average $0.10 per post. That wouldn't be problem, except posts on each board are limited to 5 or 6 a day. There are many boards to choose from, but most are too techie for my tastes and I wouldn't be able to provide the quality posts they expect. Out of the boards I'm currently posting on, one board isn't even counting the posts I write, so I'm having to get to the bottom of that as well.

The last lead seems fun, but again is very low paying. It is a job rating music at Slice the Pie. I already do that at HitPredictor and get paid in points/gift cards that only add up to about $10 a month. This new site lets me rate music for anywhere between $0.07.-$0.10 per song (with a minimum of 90 seconds of listening time). I think the rate is based on how many words are included in your review, but I'm not 100% sure about that. I've also noticed that rating the song poorly doesn't get you anywhere either, though they do ask for honest reviews so... anyway. It's still a job that's going into the "can't you smell the desperation?" pile.

All of these disappointments have led to one good thing. The more frustrated I get with this failed entrepreneur/nearly unemployed situation, the more exercise I am able to complete. I just finished a great bike ride this morning, and I'm sure I'll get one in every day this week. It doesn't hurt that the weather is so mild either. 

And while I'm rambling on, I'll continue with my sad update about Camp Nanowrimo -- it's not going to happen. The 25,000 word goal... I'm not even halfway there. And believe me, there's not enough caffeine on this planet to finish by Thursday. However, through the month-long process I did find out more about my story -- mostly that it will take way more than 25,000 words to finish. My kooky little characters -- they decided to sneak up on me with a few plot twists I didn't even expect.

 Today is the day for change, so I'll still look for more leads, but the freelancing world seems to be pushing me out my front door inch by inch.

**For anyone who actually made it to the end of the post, thanks for listening. I need to vent to people who know what it's like being in this business -- friends and family just stare at me like I'm an idiot when I try to explain how freelancing really works. 

Where I Stand Today

I'm really trying to avoid throwing my hands up in the air and screaming. The reason I was in such a mood yesterday (if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you definitely saw it) was because the last significant writing client has left me. This client praised me on my work and always gave me good feedback, so the ending of the relationship so abruptly came out of nowhere. It also took 98% of my weekly income away.

Technically, this client and I only know each other as seven digit numbers through a job brokering service, though I am well aware of what website I was writing for, but still -- it's a shock to log in one day and see that you are suddenly blacklisted by the client (the broker company actually uses that word) and you get the dreaded "this client does not accept articles from you" message. Only last week I was promised by this client that I would be getting some more work soon. This is why it just doesn't make sense. And I cannot get an explanation even if I wanted one -- blacklisting prevents messages from being sent or received.

This is what I ran into all weekend:

To be fair, I still have royalties from past work plus a few great clients who are easy to work with and I work hard to do a good job for them. I just can't pay everything with those jobs.

So I spent yesterday looking for the usual writing jobs online only run into a wall of scams. These scammers are not even trying to be subtle anymore. What frustrates me the most is that it's been less that 48 hours since I stopped getting any work and everyone around me is jumping to the "quit and get a real job" speech. Usually they hold off a couple of weeks before that comes up. Not this time. I'm not taking it lightly either. I know that if I take what they consider to be a stable, decent job that I will never pick up my pen again. I would be done with writing permanently because it would be a waste of time. I would have real work to do. Which means I would constantly be frustrated because I would have all these stories that need to get out. If they thought I was unpleasant before... I don't think they would like the full-time employed me.

This situation is putting a damper on working with Camp Nanowrimo for the second half of the novel. I'm not inspired, even though I have an outline to follow. I don't really feel like it's a priority anymore, which I guess is proving a lot of people right that I need something more than what I have now. I just don't know how to get it.

What does this all mean? All of the stuff above was just ranting to get it all out. I'm NOT giving up on writing (I don't realistically think I ever could), I may have to move up my release date for the novel, and I am open to part-time work that's not writing related -- it just can't consume my life. It would also be great if that part-time work didn't involve pets or people. I'm allergic to both. ☺

The Rules of Freelancing #10: Don't Fear the Question

Along with following up on your tasks, being bold enough to ask the questions you need to know is vital to each and every project you complete. If you are not willing to ask questions, you may end up doing the project all wrong and have to spend more time fixing it than the project budget was worth. You also don't want to end up in a position where the client does not think you can handle the project, therefore gives it to someone else.


Like anything else, there is a fine line to asking questions. You want to make sure you do the work and read all of the project outline before asking questions. I know from experience. For example, clients don't want to hire you when you give them a roundabout estimate on a project that clearly lists the page count/word count—especially when that information is in the title. I bet that you have already guessed that job was not awarded to me. It was silly of me to ask how many pages when the information was clearly there.

However, if something is unclear, it is important to question it politely. In most cases, clients are more than willing to give further explanation. After all, they are paying you for a specific job—they want to get the most bang for their buck.