Quote: (11-05-2013 12:25 AM)2014 Wrote:
How can I make myself seem more valuable in the writing business?
I am an English teacher. I hold a BA in International Relations and an MA in Linguistics with specialism in Teaching English. I have a TEFL, a CELTA and a Diploma in English language and literature. Are these valuable for my resume as a writer?
Your credentials might help a little but in the online world they're not that important. In fact they can work against you, because online the idea is to write in layman's terms for a non-technical audience. I facepalm hard when I work with writers who think that writing a stuffy, vocabulary ridden, essay-style article is somehow equivalent to good writing. It isn't.
Online, it's about engaging your audience, solving their problems, and communicating with them conversationally, not talking at them. I'm not saying this is how YOU write, just something to think about...
Much more important is your reputation, social proof, good word of mouth and quality of your writing. And also, getting gigs with companies and corporations who have budgets, instead of wading through the nickel and dimin' solopreneur crowd.
Quote:Quote:
I'd love to write articles for a living. I can type at around 70 words a minute so that would mean I could do a 500 word article in around 10 minutes, + 10 minutes for editing and 40 minutes for researching, therefore I'm fairly confident that I could write a 500 word article on almost anything within an hour. The problem is my current hourly rate is $40-$50 for my regular location dependent job. Is it possible to hit $50 or more per 500 word article on a consistent basis (I'm talking 4+ articles a day at this point in time)?
It would take you a while to get those kinds of rates. And if and when you did, you can count on longer research times than 40 minutes per 500 words. I don't actually recommend writing articles as a long term business.
With what your current gig is paying, I'd stick with it,
and take your free time to create content that you can SELL.
In another words, write a few Kindle books. Create some eBooks. These are business assets with the potential to bring in long term, passive(ish) income.
The beauty of writing is that any time you sit down and put pen to paper, you're creating something that you could potentially sell. Every word you write is a business asset. To me, that's why writing is so damn magical.
To wit: for no reason at all, one morning as I was having coffee and doing my morning hour or so of writing, I started writing about productivity. Fast forward a month and 30 cups of coffee later, and I'm about to hit publish on my new productivity book on Kindle. You dig?
So you can use your skills to build up
passive income without having to take a pay cut and trade your time for money. Nor do you have to corrupt your love of something fun because you have to write shit you don't care about to pay the bills.
Quote:Quote:
Thanks for your continued input!
My pleasure, brother! Good luck!