Writing as a Business

Articles in This Category

• Good writing is not technology, but technology may help: High-technology is about tools for writing; good writing is independent of technology.
• Dusting off manuscript, reworking for Kindle publication: I’m currently dusting off an old manuscript of mine (blowing off the virtual dust and debris from the shelf where it’s been shoved on my hard drive) and reworking it [...]
• New digital self-publishing explodes options for all writers: The new digital self-publishing world we’re moving into explodes the options available for all writers. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, short stories, short articles, or gigantic novels — the [...]
• Organization, self-discipline win the day for writers — or do they?: Careful organization combined with self-discipline are a must for successful writers, aren’t they? Or, are they really? Perhaps a better question would be: What works best for you when it [...]
• Stating the obvious for online writers: Without traffic you’re dead: If you’ve got a website, or you do blogging, or you simply do “direct-to-merchant” affiliate marketing, and you wonder why you’re seeing no results for the work you’re putting in, [...]
• How I would write about health issues, market health products online: I’ve been giving some thought — as you can tell from the last few articles I’ve published here — to how I would approach marketing health related products or giving [...]
• Can you make any real money writing online ‘reviews’?: I’m sure you’ve seen various pitches on various “make-money-online” websites telling you how you can make good money writing reviews for their website or other websites. So, what’s been YOUR [...]
• Any readers who write screenplays? How tough is the market?: I have a question for any readers out there who are screenwriters: What’s the market like right now? Tougher in recent years, or about the same as it has always [...]
• What are your best writing tools? Have you upgraded lately?: What are the best writing tools you have? From computers to printers to fine pens and pencils, and everything in between — what tools do you find valuable for your [...]
• Avoid overextending yourself on too many writing projects: After a few weeks or perhaps months of steady writing, especially if your writing involves work that you don’t truly love and have a passion about, you can easily find [...]
• Affiliate marketing works best if you enjoy, know about products: If you’re interested in trying affiliate marketing as a business model, or if you already are doing affiliate marketing, you need to think about what you’re “selling” as well as [...]
• If I were a rich writer, wow the gadgets I would own: Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a writer: I should be one of those guys who writes about all the electronics and high-tech gadgets on the market, the [...]
• Got the netbook, here’s my initial review: Not long ago, I wrote an article here about netbooks and my plan to buy a netbook. I did buy one. Here’s my initial reaction to using the one I [...]
• Good health insurance solutions for freelancers?: Insurance, especially health insurance, is a tough subject for most freelance writers (all types of freelancers, actually) to face. I’ve searched and found free insurance quotes both online and off [...]
• Good copy writers turn traditions into sales — think ‘Amish’: You’ve probably seen the newspaper and magazine ads for Amish fireplaces, Amish home builders, Amish demolition crews, Amish style cooking, and probably (although I haven’t seen them) you could even [...]
• Television makes great music box as I sit here writing: I’ve discovered the greatest feature about cable or satellite dish television is that it broadcasts digital music on literally dozens of channels, and I enjoy the music much more than [...]
• Do you ever write ‘how to’ books or articles? How?: Do you ever write “how to” books or articles? How do you go about structuring your material? Have you ever tackled something like this which required a lot of research? [...]
• Writing or just playing around with the tools, toolbox?: Some days I have to be honest — instead of writing something, I have more fun just playing around in the collection of “writing tools” I have in my writer’s [...]
• All you freelancers out there — any cheap insurance options?: This is sort of a question I ask periodically on my blogs, especially this blog since it relates to writers and writings more than my other blogs: Any tips for [...]
• Integrity means striving always to write your best: Writers need to learn a fundamental rule of integrity: Do the best you can do deliver what you promise. I was thinking about this because I’ve been disappointed with a [...]
• Opportunity to make money online with your writing: From time to time, I try to offer tips for how you might make some money online with your writing skills. Sometimes these are opportunities I’ve tried and sometimes they’re [...]
• Writing 1,000 articles in a month — Part 2 of 2: I hope you’ll get a chance to read the forum thread I referenced in part one of this two-part series regarding Internet writing and writing content for websites/blogs. For affiliate [...]
• Interesting forum discussion: Could you write 1,000 articles per month?: (EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is the first of two I plan on doing related to writing Internet articles for marketing. I cannot do the concept justice in even one or [...]
• Yet another ‘manufactured’ website, I’ll bet — but better software: I don’t mean to obsess over this “auto generated” website design and copy topic, but I just ran onto a site which was done with much better software. It almost [...]
• What’s your writing business worth? How do you put numbers on the value of your writing?: How do you know what your blog or website is worth? How do you value your entire writing “business”? Have you ever thought about putting a price tag on your [...]
• Telling my secrets: I always wanted to be a travel writer: Just between you and me: One of my secret fantasies as a writer was to be a successful travel writer. Of course, at one time or another I “always wanted [...]
• If you’re writing for money, here’s a question for you — what are you willing to write?: I’ve met some very successful novelists who started out writing “soft porn,” and in some cases not-so-soft porn, and moved into mainstream or genre success. I could name a couple [...]
• Another example of terrible writing software … stay away, please: I went through an Internet marketing period when I wanted to create hundreds, even thousands, of WordPress blogs to attract traffic to gain paid clicks on AdSense ads — thus [...]
• Don’t be a ‘grammar cop’; make communication your writing priority: I’ve touched on the importance of correct grammar and usage in many of my posts here, and I will do my best to use and to advocate good grammar wherever [...]
• Do you use WordPress? I just reviewed an upcoming ebook about WordPress: (Editor’s Note: This is another “recycled” post, one of the “golden oldies” of the blog which I’m bringing back to the top of the blog to feature their content again [...]
• Any technical writers out there? Tell us about your job: I’ve always been amazed at the wide variety of jobs and specializations that are available for writers and editors. As a freelancer myself, I’ve taken on a number of writing [...]
• Writers communicate; copywriters may face toughest communications tasks: It’s a “given,” I think, that writers communicate. Not just writers, but speakers; anyone who uses language as their stock in trade specializes in communications. I’ve often thought that copywriters [...]
• This just in: Spanish company to put tiny solar powered ‘netbook’ on market: All right, for all you computer geeks and mini-geeks out there, I just read a newsletter article about “Gyy,” perhaps a pioneer in the next generation of laptop and other [...]
• Here’s my answer to the freelance opportunity quiz I posted yesterday: I posted yesterday about a freelance article writing offer for which I received email. You can reread that post. In summary, the appeal was for someone who would write 10 [...]
• Here’s a real-life quiz about doing freelance article writing for the Internet: (EDITOR’S NOTE: This original post, made before the website crash I reference elsewhere, generated some interesting detailed comments. Unfortunately, I was not able to salvage the original comments, so I [...]
• This is for all you ‘Well-Fed’ writers out there — take a look: This post is for all you “Well-Fed” writers out there — and I hope you’ll take a good look at “The Well-Fed Writer” website I just linked to in this [...]
• What ‘day jobs’ produce the best conditions for writers?: Have you ever thought about what “day jobs,” i.e., full-time work and/or careers, produce the best conditions for writers? If you look at best-selling fiction writers, you’ll easily see that [...]
• Insurance remains major problem for many freelancers: I was reminded again today of the major problem many freelancers face regarding insurance. I’m a case in point, as I probably mentioned before. Although my wife has decent health [...]
• Enjoy this clip of an interview with writer John Grisham: I saw this interview with John Grisham on “Today” yesterday and I thought you’d enjoy a look yourself. There were some interesting things about Grisham’s writing and his creative process. [...]
• Winter challenges writers to be prepared for weather, power woes: For most of us, winter time means a time to be prepared for weather problems, power outages, and other seasonal woes. (Maybe you live in a land without winter, but [...]
• Question to all you bloggers: Do you use WordPress?: Open question to all of you bloggers who are reading this: Do you use WordPress? If not, what blogging/website building software DO you use? If you’ve been blogging or building [...]
• Starting a new business through Squidoo — wanna buy a lens?: All right. I’m ready to make a sort of “preliminary” public announcement here: I’m writing my fingers down to little stubs this week and hope by next week to offer [...]
• Affiliate marketer? You understand the need for holiday planning: If your writing involves writing content for a website, and especially if it involves writing content for an affiliate marketing website, I assume you understand the need for early planning [...]
• Are you good at following directions? How about writing out directions?: I’m pretty good at following directions, I think. My wife could probably judge that better than I, but I really don’t believe I fit that old stereotype of men who [...]
• What’s the most interesting writing job you’ve ever held?: What’s the most interesting writing or writing related job you’ve ever held? What’s the worst or the least interesting writing or writing related job you’ve ever held? I ask those [...]
• Not sure how to spell ‘copy editor,’ but I was one and here’s some of what they do …: If you think of bad writing, sloppy writing, careless writing — whatever — as the blemish on the face of the publishing world, then copy editors would be the “acne [...]
• The power of words and their meaning shape our perceptions: You cannot watch television, read a magazine, do ANYTHING on the Internet, or even just take a walk around most towns without being bombarded by words and their meanings — [...]
• Ah, the drama and excitement of the writing lifestyle — or not: I haven’t posted as often as I would like in recent weeks. I’ve been preoccupied with a flurry of luxurious European cruises, when I haven’t been too busy enjoying my [...]
• Specialized forms of writing take special skills: I’ve mentioned some time back that I spent about three years at a job that involved transcribing about 30-50 dictated letters a day. It was for an insurance company. It [...]
• Two kinds of writing — ‘wanna write’ stuff and ‘gotta write’ stuff: How often to you get to write what you want to write? Are you often forced to write what your job requires instead of writing what you want to write? [...]
• Government study projects 100% cure for anorexia in adults by 2048: According to a government funded scientific study released recently, if present trends in American health and lifestyle continue, “86 percent of American adults will be overweight by 2030, with an [...]
• Don’t ignore seasonal writing opportunities, seasonal deadlines: I’m reminded of that Bible passage in Ecclesiastes: “To everything there is a season.” One of the basic facts of writing, whether online or offline, is that readers enjoy seasonal [...]
• Have you tried ‘Conduit Method’ for building websites? It’s worth a look: I NEVER plug “easy way to make money” offers on my websites, because, frankly, there are no “easy” ways to make money online, really, there’s only hard work and perhaps [...]
• Any technical writers out there? Tell us about your career, what you do, what you don’t do: I’ve been intrigued lately with some things I’ve been reading about technical writing and technical writers. As far as I understand the job, you could almost think of it as [...]
• Useful tips for using AdSense on your website: One of the ways you can make at least a bit of money through your Internet writing and blogging work is to use Google AdSense on your site. If you [...]
• ChaCha — another online income possibility for ambitious writers: I’ve written here from time to time about how difficult it can be to really make any money writing for the Internet. I’ve touched on the outrageously poor pay many [...]
• The difficulty of living in the ‘in-between’ world of freelance writers: When I was in high school, I read a journalism textbook specifically about those who wanted to become “freelance writers,” and decided that was what I wanted to be when [...]
• How’s your summer? I’m working on some old book manuscripts myself: Let me be very honest about this: I am not a published novelist. I read a lot of novels. I have some friends and personal acquaintances who are published novelists. [...]
• Any travel writers out there? Anyone who writes travel guides? Care to share?: I’ve always thought being a freelance travel writer would be a wonderful gig. How could you not like going to interesting places, meeting interesting people — then getting paid to [...]
• One of the NOT so joyous parts of freelancing — health insurance is tough: In my last post, I pointed out the joyous flexibility we have as freelance writers thanks to the high-tech world we’re living in. But one of the biggest downsides of [...]
• One of the joys of writing these days: Your office can be almost anywhere: I’m writing this sitting in a recliner in my 102-year-old home in Springfield, Missouri. Where are you reading it? The beauty of being a writer in our age is that [...]
• How much research is enough research before you start writing?: How do you decide when you’ve done enough research on a project and you’ve reached the point when you’re ready to write? Or is there a distinct threshold or starting [...]
• Writing seasonal stories? Deadlines make this whatever season you need it to be: When I look out the windows on a snowy street scene in mid- to late-December, I find it easy to think and write about Christmas. I’m sure you do, too. [...]
• My Western blog project has been reborn — have a look, but be gentle: I posted here a couple of days ago regarding a writing project I felt compelled to abandon because of possible copyright problems. I “killed” the “Tales of the Old West” [...]
• Killing a writing project can be like murdering an old friend: I love reading and writing about the “Old West,” that part of American history related to westward expansion, settlement, and “rip roarin’” cowboys and the whole works. You’ll remember from [...]
• Speaking of copy writing — I’ve always found putting new ‘spins’ on old products a tough job: I’ve only had one “professional” copy writing job in my writing career, and that was many years ago. But I do copy writing almost daily for much of the content [...]
• Odd brand name? Unusual jargon? Obscure ‘bureaucratize’? Somewhere a writer is responsible: Writers can work magic. Or, sometimes, they just write down words and the magic doesn’t come. In most cases, technical writers and/or copy writers get stuck with the “non-magic” sorts [...]
• How would you explain the difference between memoir and autobiography?: I’m sort of shooting from the hip here, as I’ve never made a study of various writing “genres,” nor had any formal training about the distinction between a memoir and [...]
• Anyone still making money with blogs through Adsense?: I was reading today about some changes to Google’s Adsense “rules and regs” that a friend tipped me to. It seems to me their latest requirement about Adsense placement in [...]
• Published a book? ‘Self-published’ perhaps? Tell us about your experience: It’s truly amazing to see the way the Internet has changed and is changing the world of publishing. There are numerous legitimate (and I suppose a LOT of not legitimate) [...]
• You can make money writing for one of the biggest Internet sites — and it’s probably not what you think: What if I told you that you could write two or three paragraph “briefs” for a website that is one of the biggest “retail stores” on the Internet? This site [...]
• All dressed up in my ‘pretty clothes’ for job hunting today: I got a “hot tip” on a possible part-time job that would add some needed cash flow to my Internet blogging adventures. A local non-profit is looking for someone for [...]
• Just discovered a helpful website about publishing and the law: What are the standards you need to follow if you’re going to write parody or satire? I mean, assuming you want to stay out of legal trouble and avoid such [...]
• How do you maintain a professional perspective on writing you don’t enjoy doing?: I’m working on some ad copy for a prestigious land and housing development in Branson, Missouri. These Branson lots, from what I’ve seen of the developer’s plans and website, are [...]
• Does fear ever hinder your writing? How do you deal with fear?: I was reading my issue of “The Morning Nudge” this morning, that really encouraging, useful email newsletter published by our writer friend Suzanne Lieurance of The Working Writer’s Coach, and [...]
• Tell us about some of the difficult writing assignments you’ve had to do: Those of you who write for a living, either wholly or in part, probably remember a time when you had to write something on assignment or as part of your [...]
• Back to the basics again: Get organized, schedule your time and writing wisely: In a recent post, we discussed the importance of organization and scheduling your writing efforts. I came up with a revolutionary way that works for me. It’s called a pocket [...]
• Transcribing and captioning — specialized writing skills that don’t get enough credit: Do you do transcription? Are you involved with any kind of professional captioning service? If you do either — or both — you know what I mean when I say [...]
• For you ad writers out there: Where do you draw the line between marketing and taking advantage of people?: I think I’ve addressed this issue before, but it’s been awhile. If you write ad copy for a living, as a freelancer part-time, or in any capacity — where do [...]
• Any writers out there in Las Vegas? Do you ever write in a casino?: I realize the title of this post seems a bit odd, but I have a reason for the question. I’ll explain. In addition to blogging and other tortuous forms of [...]
• Formerly striking writers learning again the joys of deadlines: I’m sure all of the Hollywood and television writers are happy their strike ended and they’re able to get back to work. I’m equally sure many of them continued to [...]
• Sites to avoid if you want to make money writing for the Internet: I see by some of the comments we’re getting that many of you reading this blog have had experience writing for the Internet and/or blogging for money. Those of you [...]
• Did you see that interesting interview with John Grisham on ‘Today’?: Through the marvel of working at home and with a little help from our DVR, I get to see some interesting interviews with writers. Yesterday’s “Today Show” interview with John [...]
• Some of the problems with website content and article directories: I made a post yesterday pointing you to ezinearticles.com as a good source of content and ideas for your writing. I discussed in that post some of the ways people [...]
• Are you having fun writing? Tell us about your most unusual writing-for-money gig: What’s the oddest writing you’ve ever done for money? Can you think of something particularly unusual, or is all your writing pretty humdrum? The range of paid writing available is [...]
• How do you understand ‘integrity’ as it relates to your writing?: I posted last week about this subject, sort of. In that post, I told you of a paid blog opportunity I had which I turned down because I wasn’t willing [...]
• Looking for a webhost? Explore this directory of web hosting companies: Trust me on this: Shop around carefully when you make a decision on the company that will host your website. Here’s a great website, “Web Hosting Choice: Your Guide to [...]