Newsletter November 08- Writing Out Loud

Newsletter Issue #2

November 2008

Editorial

Deborah Sutton

Hi,

I've been flirting around the freelance writing job boards a bit this past month and one thing I've noticed is the rather disturbing trend of advertising for writers who are willing to write articles for a dollar or two each.

I can hardly believe that any writer would waste their time on this kind of writing, but it seems there's no shortage of writers who will. And these writers are not just from low-paid countries where maybe a dollar is worth more than a pittance for so much work. There are, apparently, plenty of American and European writers who're willing to slave for so little.

What I can't understand is, why don't those writers who're turning out web-content articles put their skills to better use by running their own websites? Lack of technical skills isn't necessarily the answer because there are plenty of places out there who will host a site for you, at no cost, and give you a control panel that works just like a word processor. All you do is decide the subject of the website, choose your template, then write articles to fill it up. Okay, that's a really simple overview and I know it never works quite like that in practice, but with just a little bit of time and effort it's not beyond the abilities of most people who already use a word processor and surf the net..

The featured article this month explains the benefits of writing articles for self-publicity, as well as giving a few hints and tips as to how to go about it and a few places to submit the articles to once you've written them.

If you're at all interested in furthering your writing career, spreading your name and talents around a little, and at the same time building up a good supply of clips and samples, Cheryl Wright has some good suggestions.

If you're interested in building your own website for nothing, I recommend Synthasite. There are several really nice templates that can be customised to your own needs, you can have a free sub-domain or you can point your own domain name to your synthesite site. I have a site with them at deborahsutton.co.uk so I speak from first hand knowledge.

I, for one, would much rather spend my time writing to promote myself than sell my work for a dollar. In fact, if I'm honest, I'd rather give my work away than sell it for so little. There are plenty of writers who argue against writing for free, but at least writing for free is ethical, and in some ways charitable if you're supporting a favourite small press or ezine. It can even be profitable if it helps to launch a writing career.

Writing 500 words for a dollar or two is sweat-shop slave labour, devalues the writing profession, and I really do urge all writers to stop doing it. You know your time and skill is worth far more.

With a little time and effort it's not that hard to get published and paid the going rate. Given that you still need to bid for and win the low-paying gigs, and that often involves putting together a proposal and writing samples, why not pitch to a buyer who'll pay properly and respect your writing skills?

The eBook advertised this month, Writing for Profit: Break into Magazines, will teach you how to do it if you're not sure where to start. You can read my review of this book here.

Have you got an opinion on this subject? You can air it by emailing me at deb @ writingoutloud.co.uk.

Deb.

Writing Articles for Publicity

If you’re looking for an easy but effective way to garner publicity, try writing articles.

There are gazillions of ezines and websites looking for content; good, solid, well written content. And in my experience, most of them are happy to accept reprints.

But how do you write articles, and go about getting your articles known?

Firstly, you need to write about something that people are interested in. Pick a subject (or subjects) that you are knowledgeable in, but more importantly, the subject should be related to a book you have written and are currently selling.

I generally write about techniques used in writing. The reason is that it helps to spread the word about my ebooks for writers and the Writer2Writer.com website.

This gives me a lot of scope since there are a variety of writing related subjects to write about, and most are within my areas of expertise.

I’ve recently released a new book on fiction writing, so I’ve simultaneously released articles on specific areas of fiction writing, and they’ve been snapped up. (My affiliates are always the first to be notified of the release of articles, but later they become free-for-all.)

Sure, I’m not getting paid for them, but the sales that have resulted are worth much more than the lost income from selling the articles.

So how do you go about this lucrative form of publicity?