Networking for Writers

There are a lot of copywriters and content writers here on DP. In another thread (and in many threads), the issue of rates was being discussed, as to what professional rates are, whether online clients actually pay them, etc.

My personal experience is that yes, they do pay professional rates (in my case that's $.35-.50/word; some make significantly more than that). It's just a matter of knowing how to network to find those kinds of clients, because they're not the kinds of positions you'll generally find in forums or posted to freelance job sites.

So... let's talk a little bit about networking for writers to get the higher paying jobs. I know we'll all consider different things to be "professional" rates and "high paying". Let's say a minimum of $.20/word. How would you, or do you, get those gigs? Who do you network with? How do you find out about them?

Here's what I generally do:

1. I participate in small discussion groups filled with writers who work at the same levels, but who specialize in different niches. If something comes to us outside of our niche, we refer work to each other. If something comes up where a client is looking for other writers, we share that info with each other as well.

2. I browse listings on two particular sites - www.mediabistro.com and www.journalismjobs.com. Both seem to get more print listings, but every once in a blue moon there's a gem in there. It wasn't that long ago that I picked up a project from one of them that amounted to 2K for just a few hours of writing (I'd say 8-10 hours for the whole project, and that may be on the high side). So good opportunities are certainly out there, even if you have to dig a bit. As it turned out, this company was looking for multiple writers, so I passed the info along to other writers in my network, and a few were hired as well.

3. I search for the clients myself. You can't expect them to just track you down and offer you a lot of money for your writing. Subscribing to www.writersmarket.com is inexpensive, and certainly worthwhile. If I have a slow period with my PR work, and I want to do more writing on the side, I look for potential clients there. Most list their going rates, so you can see up front whether it's in an acceptable range for you or not. If I'm unfamiliar with the publication, I ask around in my network to see if others have worked with them. Sometimes I take a chance on one no one's worked with, but generally I stick to ones where I can trust their feedback.

So what do you do? What are some options? In general I find that smaller groups when networking can be more effective, because there's less competition amongst yourselves. Do you have similar experiences?

Just for fun, I've decided to set up a Google Group for professional freelance writers. The group is private, and I'd like to keep it relatively small, because, like I said, I find that to be the best environment for networking with higher paying clients. If you charge professional rates for your writing (and again, we're going to consider that $.20/word and up) and you'd like to have somewhere to network with other writers in the same boat to discuss your rates, finding clients, or anything related to freelance writing, you're more than welcome to request to join at http://groups.google.com/group/writersnetwork

Jenn

 

Thanks Jenn,

Your advice serves as guideline to follow, much appreciated indeed.

 

Am I allowed to join to spam the group

 

If I were you, I wouldn't.... just because you live close enough that I could hunt you down if you gave me too much grief. j/k

 

Thank you, Jenn! Another insightful post, once again. I always enjoy reading what you have to say -- it helps me out quite a bit, believe it or not.

 

Networking is always good.

You might consider joining your local chamber of commerce to increase exposure to businesses in your area.

 

Thanks, Jenn, for the great info! You always manage to tell me something I need to know.

Rebecca

 

Sounds good Jenn, I'm a freelance Entertainment writer and would love to get involved. I'm looking to expand my business over the next couple of years so any information you can provide will always be a big help!

Becky.

 

I thank you for the time and sincere effort that you have taken to post your valuable content.

 

I'm assuming you're one of the ones I just approved Becky.

We've gotten our initial 10 members, and I'm going to be closing off membership for now, with no exceptions. I may re-open it down the road, and I'll post here or in another thread if/when we're accepting new members.

 

I am indeed, thanks. Just posted an introduction over there. Looking forward to getting involved.

 

I think that freelance writing and the rates one charges is purely relative. For instance, I've held editor positions at small print publications, written hundreds of articles for well-established company-owned niche blogs, and performed freelance work for several large newspapers.

Yet I have offered my services on DP for less than .02 per word. Why would I do that? Because I am confident enough in my work that I can give another webmaster better content than he could write himself in a fraction of the time with a bit of research and a lot of finesse. It keeps me sharp and has helped me make a few new friends that possess skills that I never will (programming, graphic design, etc.).

I keep these areas completely separate, however. I would never let anyone in the "real world" know that I am selling words for that price, but I don't mind doing it here for a little while. Where I am sacrificing a large amount per word, I am gaining other, more valuable benefits than money.

Other than on DP, I would never accept a job paying .20, .35, or even .50 per word. Those rates are not what a "professional writer" with an adequate portfolio would accept. However, the tone of your post comes off as a bit elitist when you exclude writers by saying, "If you charge professional rates for your writing (and again, we're going to consider that $.20/word and up)."

I'm not making an attempt to cause a stir. I'm just pointing out the fact that there can be varied reasons for someone to charge what they do for their work and that the fee that they ask may not reflect their talent, experience, or past compensation.

 

I don't think Jen's intention was to sound elitist. Many writers I've talked to charge such pitiful rates because they don't know any better, and I think the group aims to show writers that they can begin to charge what they are worth. I have no doubt that many intelligent and talented writers may take side jobs from time to time where they charge rates well below what they normally do for their services.

However, it's important for emerging writers to realize that pennies per word is not the industry standard.

 

I would agree with you that she may have meant to "show writers that they can begin to charge what they are worth" if she didn't put the weird exclusion in there that immediately disallows anyone that *isn't* charging what she believes to be "professional rates." If she means to show writers what they are worth, then wouldn't the opposite be true? That LESSER paid writers would be able to join and network?

But, like I said, I'm not posting to cause grief. I just happened upon the thread and figured I'd chime in and add that there are always exceptions to the rule - such as someone writing for benefits other than money.

 

Sent you a message. Not a PM.

Regards,

Col

 

I understand you are not posting to cause trouble. As a matter of fact, there are a few lesser paid writers that were able to join the group.

 

Well, it wasn't meant to sound elitist, but yes, it's meant to be exclusionary. Otherwise, there would be no point in having a private and limited group, which is the best way for writers to network at this level from my experience. In all honesty, I personally consider $.20/word far too low. If I were setting up the group sheerly for my own benefit, I wouldn't have opened it to DP members at all; I would have kept it to writers charging $.50/word and up only, b/c I know plenty of them and it would have meant higher quality job referrals coming through for my own use.

Any way you cut it, there's a difference between professional writers and paid writers. Making money isn't enough. And with the primary purpose of the group being to share higher than average quality job leads, I'm not going to ask writers who are charging professional rates, or close to them and trying to move up (of which I did accept several members) to have to compete with people who are willing to write for $5 or less per article. Writers in that group have plenty of opportunities, and I'm also not going to ask them to hold someone's hand from that low of a level into professional writing. There would be no benefit in a ten-member group for those trying to crack into the higher rate range, or those already there, to opening it up across the board. They need to be able to learn from other writers doing the same thing (b/c believe me, they're not always easy to find, and there aren't a lot of places to network with other writers, w/o having to compete with amateurs constantly for gigs).

Do I think all writers charging low rates are amateurs? No. But the fact is that most who do simply don't produce the same quality of work as some of the writers that I did accept into the group (I'm only aware of a few of their specific writing samples). And if they do produce high quality work, then they're not valuing their efforts very highly, and that's another class of writer that I'm not going ask them to compete with. When high quality job leads come in, I'm more than willing to refer people who are quality writers and who generally charge that rate range. I'm not willing to simply hand them off to writers who aren't already making the effort on their own to find higher paying clients. Networking by nature is a give and receive relationship, and I want to make sure the writers in the level I specified, or those close to it, aren't going to be put in a position where they reap no benefit, b/c others simply don't have any job leads to share or constantly underbid them for ridiculously low rates.

Other than to help writers in this grouping find more paying gigs (and we will occasionally have lower-paying listings that still pay enough to make them decent "filler" gigs in between larger ones), and helping writers learn how to get to those levels if they're not too far off right now, I'm also doing this to guage what this group of writers is interested in, from job types, to niches, to the business aspect of freelance writing, because I'm considering developing it into a full site eventually. The plan is to create a membership-based site or organization (membership-based solely for the sake of keeping it a bit limited still, to ease the competition factor). When that happens, the group members (current members and any I may let in in the future) will certainly have free access to move to the site from the email group, and then it will open to the public. A massive email group just wouldn't be manageable for the purpose of this particular group right now.

Hopefully, if nothing else, that explains things a little bit. Any way you look at it, there had to be some kind of division or requirement to get in due to the group's limited nature. I chose a basic price range, b/c in general it truly does prove to separate professional writers from beginners, whether there are exceptions or not. And I think I've already demonstrated that I understand exceptions do exist, by choosing to allow the specific members that I did to join the group. Hopefully it will prove to be at least somewhat of a benefit to them. If so, in another week or two, we may let another 5-10 people in. But for now, I just want to see where it goes.

 

Jenn, thanks for the reply. Like I said, I didn't want to give you grief or anything. I guess I just didn't see the "big picture" that you had in mind from the context of your original post. Now that you explained what you are intending to do I can see your rationale.

I wish you the best of luck with it.

 

That's fine. I didn't realize which thread this was, or I just would have saved myself the novel-length post and pointed to to the separate thread where I discussed it a bit more.

 

From a different angle: most times the payee isn't looking for a paid writer or a professional writer... they desire a professional that can write.

I would gladly paid Neil Armstrong $50/word (or more) for a exclusive work on what it was actually like "to stroll on the moon"... than being handed 100 different versions of paid or professional writers for the same total fee where they can only imagine what it 'might have been like'.

Your greatest work, most valued work is found (and priced) by those topics that you have the greatest passions in (which suggests personal experience)... and you are absolutely correct - spending money isn't enough.

The "real thing" is always worth more than a researched imitation.