Churchill’s dentures fetch nearly $24,000
(Reuters)
Reuters – A partial set of British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s gold-mounted dentures has fetched 15,200 pounds ($23,770) at auction, over three times the estimate.
5 Strategies For Success As A Freelance Writer
Freelance writing is a great career for many, partly because of the freedom that you will enjoy. Among other things, you now have control over your success, rather than having a boss determine it for you. Be aware though, with that freedom also comes responsibility. Management becomes critical, not just for what you do, but when you do it. Here are some success tips:
1. Organization. This is one place where even established professionals fall short. It’s critical to keep your working space organized. As a freelance writer you’re almost certainly going to be dealing with a lot of paper, so it’s important to keep it categorized.
It’s really important to categorize the information and put it in folders where it’s readily accessible. Likewise on your computer. In addition, you’ll want to safeguard your data by backing it up. There are several ways that you can do that, by using external hard drives and by taking advantage of online storage. Whichever solution(s) you use, it’s wise to do backups once a week.
2. The 80/20 Rule of Marketing. More than anything else, marketing is the one thing that will make or break you as a freelance writer. It has to be done consistently, every day. To put this in perspective, at the beginning of your career, you’ll probably find you’ll be spending 80% of your time marketing and 20% writing. This is necessary, partly because you won’t have too many clients and you’ll need to spend time finding them, making pitches, etc. Over time, you’ll find this formula will shift in your favor and you’ll be spending 80% of your time writing, which is what you want.
3. Never Write on Spec. This is one of the worst mistakes a writer can make. This is where the article is written in advance, then you try to pitch the article to an editor. The problem is if the editor(s) don’t like your articles, you’ve wasted your time.
A better strategy is to write a short paragraph that describes what you have in mind. Here’s an example from one of my query letters: “How to Optimize Your Images for the Web. This article will address methods of compressing images, including JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Other options covered will be weighted optimization and selective use of color palettes.”
4. Never design HTML pages in MS Word. MS Word inserts a huge amount of extra characters into the code. The result is a nightmare for the editor on the other end and a guarantee that your work will be rejected. Save yourself the grief. Use a dedicated web editing program such as Notetab or Dreamweaver which will give you good results.
5. Creating a Following. When building a business, be aware that it will take time to generate a client base. Assuming you have a solid marketing plan, you need to stick to it and work it every day, every week. Success comes as a result of cumulative consistent effort. It’s important to keep chipping away at it, even when you’re tired or would rather be doing something else. Your business is a discipline and needs ongoing effort. Working sporadically, or only when you feel like it will set the stage for failure.
The occupation of freelance writing creates many opportunities. Using these tips will help guide you in the right direction, now and for the future.
Get high paying Freelance Writing jobs online. Get a *free* chapter from the link above and find out how to achieve writing success online.
Hamas targets women’s underwear in modesty drive
(Reuters)
Reuters – The Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip have ordered lingerie shops to display more modesty.
Fur farm foxes trained to combat rat plague
(Reuters)
Reuters – Authorities in China’s far west have bred and trained “an army” of silver foxes bought from a fur farm to fight a plague of rats threatening a huge expanse of grasslands, state media said on Wednesday.
Former top diplomat Rice opts for Mozart concerto
(Reuters)
Reuters – Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice abandoned international affairs for a Mozart piano concerto on Tuesday, teaming up with Soul legend Aretha Franklin to perform at a charity concert.