The Tough Writing Gigs

Writing for a living is a tough gig -- I don't think I will get any arguments with that. And like all other professions, there are just some things that annoy the working writer to no end. I happened to run into some of my biggest annoyances all at once this week. Anyone who has written online for money can probably relate. So here's just a taste of the long list of things that annoy my professional self:

Purposely adding grammatical errors: If you want something written by a professional, why do you insist that I maintain a certain amount of grammatical errors? Working too much on this type of work can get writers into bad habits they have a hard time breaking.

Writing About... Shady Topics: I get it. You want to sell your products online and make a profit just like anyone else. When that product is illegal or misleading, it's another issue entirely. When I see a legal notice blocking your website, I'm just going to back away and say, "No, thank you."

Tell me my work isn't good -- then not telling me why: Did I misuse a colon? Was it a misspelling of your company's name? Do you just not like me and/or my writing style? If you don't tell me what I did wrong, I can't improve your article and my writing skills.

I try not to whine, but I'm putting these annoyances out there so that maybe I can reverse some type of Internet writing karma. Better instructions and better communication between client and writers can make us all work harder and more efficiently.

New Articles:
Key Terms for Capital Costs

The All-Important Impending Decision

I've been writing on this blog for some years now. About two or three years ago, I made the choice to clean out my archive, taking out uneventful posts, random ramblings, and one unfortunate paid post where I was advertising for something connected to Glenn Beck before I knew who he was. The impending decision now is whether I should do the same with my online articles?

I started freelancing in January of 2008. In the past 3 years or so, I cannot begin to tell you how much I have learned about the business. I started out giving away my precious words for $5 here and there. I unknowingly did some article ghostwriting, thinking I was getting a byline or some type of recognition the whole time. I have even sold full rights to articles that (in my now well-informed opinion) were not worth the purchase price. There are probably 200 articles online right now that I have the rights to do with what I want and maybe 20 of them are still worthy to been seen by the general public. Should I lighten my load and get them out of the way?

Payment is no longer an issue. I think last month I made a total of $0.81 in royalties. That's not even $12 a year. It's equivalent to about one new book a year. Mass market paperback--not even enough for a hardcover. I think I can give up one. But just one. ;)

Unfortunately, I know there are still some pretty bad pieces of writing out there with my byline that I can't do anything about. I sold out. I guess the best I can ask is that people NOT look at them... I mean, to me it feels just like when your mother insists on showing your boyfriend your naked baby pictures. It's there, it's done, but you just aren't the same person anymore.

But I'll see what I can do... these companies can have the bad writing they bought. Just don't give me any credit for it!

Index of Online Articles

This post is an alphabetical index of the articles I've written and published online. Click on any of the links and you'll be taken directly to the article (and supporting my page views!). If you want to check on new articles, be sure to bookmark this post. I will be updating it on a regular basis.

A
B
C
Calling Out to Daddy (poem)
Carved in Stone (poem)
D
Dark Night (poem)
E
F
G
H
I
I Am Free (poem)
I Am From... (poem)
If I (poem)
J
K
L
Leap of Faith (poem)
Leaving (poem)
M
N
Natural Remedies for Crohn's Disease
Nobody (poem)
Not Who We Are (poem)
O
Ooh You (poem)
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Advice for Starting to Write Online

I have been working as a freelance writer since January of 2008. Since that time, I have had many friends and family wonder how I got started, how I find my jobs, and (sometimes) how they can get in on the game too. Trust me, it isn't easy. Once you get the hang of it though, you will be able to earn a decent monthly income.

There are no set rules to start writing online. Most people choose to do it for free—they write on social media sites, blogs and post comments on other people's work. If you want to make money from it thought, you may have to dig a little deeper to find the paying gigs.

First, look for reputable freelance writing resources. There are dozens of message board and websites that provide leads for jobs. If you want to maximize your time searching for these jobs, remember that you should never have to pay for job leads! If someone wants a skilled online writer, they won't make you pay for the job.

If you like the thrill of the chase, finding jobs may be simple. It's finding the right jobs that will keep you busy and successful. It's hard to price most jobs when you are just beginning, but if you don't end up with at least a half a cent per word, skip to the next job offer. Many people will try to entice you with endless work, but $1 per 500 words will not pay the bills (unless you have 23 hours in the day to work!).

Another tip that I have found helpful is to do at least some work where you can retain the rights or have a byline. Having a byline will get your name out there so that others looking for writers can easily see your previous work. If you are lucky enough to retain full rights to your articles, you can spin new articles out of the originals by branching off on different topics or aspects of the same general subject.

One last piece of advice—every online writer needs a home. This can be a site that takes all kinds of articles (like Triond, for example) or a blog to showcase your writing. This is a great way to get additional hits for articles that earn residual income from pageviews.