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Steven Pressfield (the author of The War of Art) speaks about the difficulty of pushing through and reaching THE END of whatever you are writing. It could be a poetry chapbook. It could be a memoir. It could be fiction of any genre or any word count. It could be a how-to on cabinetmaking or a children’s picture […]

As writers, we tend to carve out a niche for ourselves and stick to writing what we know best. We get comfortable writing in our genre. It fits us much like a pair of old pajamas. Even if the money isn’t coming in like we’d hoped, we don’t want to take those flannel pants off, […]

I just saw another crowdfunding campaign where the author is asking for money to be able to do what they love to do…write. These types of campaigns are usually not successful, and this is why: 1) Everyone has a dream. Why should the world pay for your dream? 2) A lot of people, millions as […]

There are almost 31 million small businesses in the United States, and a freelance writer who understands how to serve and communicate with small businesses—and their special needs and restrictions—can open up a whole new world of opportunities, relationships, and steady income. As a small business owner, advocate, and consultant, someone who has worked on […]

I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.   ~James Joyce I grinned at this quote. Do you remember in English Lit class when the teacher spent days dissecting a novel on […]

As a teacher, I know firsthand the value of using visuals to catch my students’ attention and move them from the printed word to a higher level of engagement. Therefore, as I pondered ways to attract potential buyers of my debut novel, The Bottle House, it occurred to me that brief videos could interest and […]

Most of you will say both, but that is not true. You may not even realize it’s not true. Truth is, we all start writing with a purpose in mind. . . to either make money writing, or to have our work loved. And whether you admit it or not, you favor one mindset over […]

Access to TV/film producers and directors has never been easier through direct access pitching. It is made possible through a variety of online venues (below) that have sprouted up over the years in an effort to bridge the gap between screenwriter and TV/film decision-makers, with the prospect of getting it produced. While traditionally securing a […]

The publishing industry is never going to settle into a norm. Frankly, it never has, it’s just we, as members of different generations, enter the business at different times, with different books, in different genres, with different styles of publishing, and with different concepts of marketing, and as a result we establish our own sense […]

It’s difficult providing estimates and proposals for creative writing services. As writers, we often sound vague when walking the client through the scope of our writing work. It seems sketchy to tell them that we curate, create, collate, read, mull over, write, rewrite a million times, edit vigorously and then only reluctantly submit. While reality […]

Work every day. No matter what has happened the day or night before, get up and bite on the nail. ~Ernest Hemingway For months, maybe years, you write on a project. Then you publish it. We won’t get into the pros and cons of self-publishing versus traditional, but let’s just say you have some say-so […]

Your freelance writing business works well offering one-off services and monthly retainers, but your earnings haven’t changed. Of the many techniques I’ve used in my business, the best results came from adding a few additional lines to my proposals. This effortless technique is what I call the art of the upsell. 1—The Deadline Upsell   […]