Rollcall!

There are a couple of nice threads going now for new writers and a professional summary of expertise, but I thought we might have a little meet and greet for the new year. Who are the writer's on DP these days? What do you specialize in? Anything interesting to share?

I'm Rebecca aka InternetAuthor. I've written for DP clients a few years now and love the webmaster community. I specialize in home related topics such as parenting and pregnancy, education, and some business. I prefer to focus on articles and content writing rather than sales oriented pieces as articles are more fun, even if they are not as profitable.

I have a BBA in Engineering and Business, five different teaching certifications, and a masters in Library Science.

Normally, I teach 8th graders, but have taken this year off to be home with my sons, one of whom was born in July.

Anyone else care to share?

 

Hello,

I'm Marcie and I have been on DP for almost a week now. I have already learned so much about my business and marketing. I have met some great people and hope to continue to learn and share with you all.

I am a website content writer and specialize in relationships, psychology and self-improvement. I will write on just about anything I can research though. I enjoy writing and it's more than just my job, it's my hobby.

I have a MS in Education specializing in counseling and a BA in Psychology.

Look forward to learning more about everyone here!

 

I'm Dana and I'm a freelance writer (Hi Marce! Nice to see you here). I have been a member of DP for ages but only hang out once in a while. I run a busy little freelancing business where I write plenty of content for several clients in the US, Canada and the UK and I have 8-10 writers who work on my team.

I write about just about everything but enjoy writing most about: alternative health, self-improvement, internet marketing and writer mentoring.

Happy New Year!
Cheers,
Dana

 

I'm Sally and I've been freelancing for a year. My areas of interest are travel, history, nature, and things to do. In addition to writing I offer research services. I worked for years in the field of archives and history which helped me get writing jobs right away. Living in a resort area helps too because there are lots of publications geared to visitors.

I have an MLS too!!!

 

I'm Vanessa and I've been freelance writing for about 6 months now. I've written for years, just not in the professional aspect. I specialize in home matters - parenting, home decor, pets, weight loss - and women's issues, particularly hysterectomy and menopause as well as a few online business topics.

I've written for DP members now for a few months and have to say that while some are hesitant to offer decent rates, I have found several long term clients that are more than happy to up the standard.

I write strictly web content and articles (not much experience in writing sales copy) and am working on an idea for a novel that may be published within 10 years or so

 

internetauthor, I had to laugh. Enough degrees. 17 is plenty! I have one and one only, a BA in Journalism from UNC. (Go Tar Heels). But I'm an advertising "ho". I do write articles but I can't write one without a slant or purpose. I never was good at the research paper because I'd cave and interject my opinion which is not something that is supposed to be in a research paper.

I've been writing my whole life, professionally for over 20 years. I started at the age of 5 so that would put me at 25. I feel sure you all believe that, right?

Congrats on the young ones, internetauthor. Mine are 15 and 13. Amazing for a 25-year-old. Clearly, I was very precocious.

 

Um... I'm Techman (gotta love my pen name). I write a lot of sales copy for both offline and online clients, and feature articles for print mags and websites. My favorite topics are health, entertainment, internet, philosophy and satire.

I've written for a few good DP members already (ones that'll pay for quality) but I'm thinking of conducting this wild "$0.01-a-word article fest" on the BST forums for like a week just to see how it feels.

I don't have kids and I don't want to either I'm also the first male writer to post in this thread.

Cheers

 

I've been around here for a while, but for those who don't know me:

I'm Jenn. I'm addicted to working.

I've been a freelance writer for 9 years, and I've been specializing in writing for the Web since late 2004.

My degree is in Public Relations, and I run a small PR firm (where I focus on online PR for creative and independent professionals like musicians, authors, webmasters, and small business owners). That's my primary work. Freelance writing is something I do on a part-time basis. Most of that is centered around copywriting rather than content writing.

Before getting into PR, I spent some time studying engineering and automotive technology. I'd love to get into some writing on that front if I ever have the time, but for now I focus on business writing for the most part. My first three years of freelance writing were actually for science-related pieces (generally related to astronomy). Again, that's something I enjoyed, but I don't know if I would have the time to ever pursue it again.

I'm a big advocate of "writing for yourself" and diversifying your income streams as a writer, and I'm mildly obsessed with helping newer writers learn how to earn what they're worth (and I try to offer tips when I can at my freelance writing blog). Most of my client writing is focused on press releases and other PR writing through my PR firm or copywriting now. Most of my "content writing" is reserved for my own sites (of which I have about a dozen live at the moment - some of the bigger ones are AllFreelanceWriting.com, BizAmmo.com, AllBookMarketing.com, NakedPR.com, and AudioXposure.com). I did launch new business content writing services for this year though, and blog somewhat regularly for one particular client at the moment.

I also write e-books. I published my first, Press Releases Made Easy in 2007, and have several in the works for this year (at least three definitely being published). I'm also running a 14-Day E-book Writing Challenge for those who haven't heard about it yet.

Thanks Rebecca for organizing the rollcall.

 

godofwriting- You may be the first male to publish in this thread but I can assure you that copywriting is still a male-dominated field. I worked at ad agencies for almost 10 years and in all that time only worked with one other female copywriter. I was CopyWench to the guys and when I was promoted they called me CopyHo.

This is a good thread to find referrals. So I'm bookmarking this in case clients want something other than what I provide. There are all different kinds of writers and I don't take on projects I'm not suited for.

 

Some of us have been trying to drive that very point home here on DP for what seems like ages! So thanks for supporting the referral concept. New writers really do need to learn that specialization is important, and that referring work to other writers in their network can actually help their careers. A lot are simply too afraid to turn down work. In reality, you get what you give. If you refer work to qualified people when you're not qualified, or if you don't have time, the clients often remember that and come back if they have something more related to your specialty, and other writers remember that and do the same for you.

 

Wonder why more guys haven't jumped in yet!

Anyway, I am a writer with exactly a year's experience. I have certification in Montessori teaching, and am a former preschool teacher. My areas of specialization are preschool education, parenting, and travel. I have little to none experience writing sales copy, my most enjoyable current assignment involves travel blogging and my favorite color is blue.

 

I have been writing professionally only since May '07. Started with web content, dabbled in sales and brochure copy and finally found my niche in blogging. I'm a tech and gadget problogger as of current and I won't have it any other way.

 

LOL - I list the degrees for a few reasons:

1. They show how very intelligent I am.
2. They give you some idea of schema (background knowledge) and
3. I just like to brag.

Ironically, I finished my first degree in three years and claimed I would NEVER go back to school. Then I kept changing my mind about what I wanted to be when I grew up and ended up with five more years of school under my belt. Now I'm thinking I might just have to go back for a doctorate in educational technology just to round things out.

Thanks for the congrats on the kiddos. It's amazing how fast they age - it wasn't until my oldest turned two that I realized I'd aged two years since he was born, too. It was most shocking. Now time just keeps speeding up! LOL

Glad to see so many writers on the thread!

Rebecca

 

I like to read these threads more than I reply to them, but seeing as how the guys are losing the gender battle, I'll make my voice heard.

I don't have any degree or certifications yet, although I've had a lot of experience. I do intend to get CET, CCNA, Network+, A+, and Security+ certified as soon as I find $300-$400 to fund all of that. I am enrolled for a CIS degree as of now, and intend on majoring in computer science once I get out of community college hell.

As far as my work goes, you could say I made a fortune from nothing with journalism. And while I do enjoy working and writing for clients, I recently started writing for myself. And as Jenn mentioned, you'll find that the long term benefits are much more rewarding.

Recurring income will always beat one-time income on a large enough time scale. Every single time.

Just keep that in mind

 

My turn...
Im Christine and Ive been 'working' as a writer for just over ten years. For some of that time Ive worked as a staff writer, and now Im a freelancer. Im an Open University addict. Ive got a BA in English Language, and one in English Literature, and apparently I have enough credits to claim another one, but to be honest, I just enjoy studying! I began writing for print magazines, and write fiction and non-fiction.

The areas I like to specialise in are: Alternative Health, Emotional & Physical Wellbeing, Religion & Spirituality, and Womens Interest in general. I also write for a recycling/green issues blog.

My goal for this year is to write more of what I enjoy

I also teach bellydance!

I will apologise in advance for any typos etc., as Ive written this without my glasses!

All the best to everyone for 2008

Christine

 

I am male and relatively new to freelance writing. I started writing for the web about 2 years ago when I decided I wanted to look at earning a full-time income from web based activities.

To date, the majority of my written work has been for personal projects and experiments in different niche sites. However, I have undertaken some freelance work for a handful of DP Publishers.

My specialist area will become more focussed around business to business networking and website content (articles, newsletters etc). I am simultaneously working on 3 ideas that are somewhat related but could also be treated as 3 totally separate entities.

The primary objective for this year is to focus on tying in the ideas to be a viable full-time business. This will involve working with other authors at some stage and I have bookmarked this thread for future reference.

 

Very interesting, indeed. I have developed my liking for writing purely out of lots of reading I did as a high schooler (novels, comics, scifis, auto/biographies and what not!) I guess most of you here will vouch for your liking for reading. (Looking back, I think I must have enjoyed critiquing bits of whatever I used to read.)

I am a graduate in engineering and masters in marketing which gave me 15 years of employment and some exposure to business. I write articles for web publishers and I don't think I will get into writing sales letters similar to those high pitched, repetitive ones we see on the internet.

My education in business administration and the experience of having owned a business lets me write on subjects related to businesses. And as for technical subjects, Okay, I am completely at ease with them regardless of how complex they are.

I do a bit of off line networking with my old friends and business contacts. I have lots of plans for the new year and hope they will come true.

 

Oh well, a bit late to jump in the bandwagon, but here is a description of my glorious career so far.

I'm a copywriter in the traditional sense of the word, which means that I'm specialized in writing sales copy for sales letters, landing pages, squeeze pages, autoresponders, affiliate ads and obviously copy for plain product websites. Lately I have also begun experimenting with online marketing to complement my portfolio.

I don't usually use DP to attract customers, but rather to check on the pulse of the online business. I managed to build a relatively stable customer base and I'm also involved in a few JV's.

As for my degrees, oh well, not much to go on there, but then again the stuff I do is not taught anywhere. With more than 150 completed projects under my belt however, I feel myself fairly experienced.

Best regards, George

 

I'm in marketing and property sales and just discovered DP about a month ago. I write mainly about the property market and Cyprus, all aspects of living, vacationing or retiring to Cyprus. I post on E-zine and just started blogging, restaurant reviews and other fun facts about Cyprus mainly for SEO. My wife has a BA in English (non-fiction writing and editing) so I try to get her to write and edit, but she is busy with our two young boys (a 2 year old and a 4 month old) plus I think she lacks confidence in her ability. I think she is pretty good.

I personally enjoy writing poetry and story telling, but don't have time for that now between constant SEO and the kids (I work from home).

 

I'm LaToya I've been around DP for awhile, at least a year.

I have a Bachelor's in Business Administration and currently work full-time in corporate America while freelancing part-time. I've been in the corporate world since I graduated college two and a half years ago.

I've been the About.com Guide to Credit/Debt Management for 9 months and I absolutely love it.

I started out as an article miller about two years ago writing just about any and everything literally for pennies per word (and sometimes less).

Since I started out, I've become a lot smarter about my freelance writing business. I've honed my skills in the personal finance niche, which is where I prefer to write. It's an area that I'm extremely passionate about and do particularly well in, if I must say so myself.

Welcome to all the people who are new to freelance. I'm definitely open to helping anyone who wants to get out of the article milling business.