Start a Writing Career With Information You Can Use

Article by Wendy McCance

I started my day by unsubscribing to a few writing advice sites.  I was getting tired of getting bombarded almost daily with what sounded like a good topic, only to read through and discover a badly hidden call to action.  It seems that some of these writer sites will email me way too many times a week and provide no information unless you sign up for a course.

Back when I began writing, these were the sites I looked up to.  I wanted to be one of the “popular writers who blogged” who seemed to know all of the other popular writers who blogged.  These were the people who I thought had figured out how to make unlimited incomes and knew all the ins and outs to becoming a freelance writer. I’m sure they are just that, but I didn’t like the idea of making most of my money by selling the information I had learned.

It took a ton of reading and picking through many sites to get at the good information that would really help me achieve a life as a writer.  It didn’t take long before I was worn out from the pop-up’s, the signing up for emails to get a free information packet full of writing advice and the onslaught of courses offered to me straight to my email box.

Sadly, I found very little solid information in the “free” packets and the longer I looked at some of these sites, the more frustrated I got.  There was that same regurgitated information with a bright bow and shiny new title.  Although the titles were always compelling, I would get to the end of an article without the answers that were supposedly going to be provided.

 

If , for instance, I was looking to find out how much freelance writers were charging, I wanted to know actual numbers and not a wishy-washy answer like, how much do you want to make and charge what you feel you are worth.

Here is a list of the actual fees I charge: http://www.searchingforthehappiness.com/pricing-chart/

 

If I wanted writing advice on how to write an email to a person seeking a writing assignment, I wanted an actual template, not a sign up form where I could pay for a course.

Here is an article with a template like the one I use: 
http://www.searchingforthehappiness.com/using-linkedin-to-find-freelance-writing-assignments/

 

If I was searching for a way to set up my business and find clients without using an online content mill, I wanted some good advice, not just a general piece on how I should just write to a company that interests me.  I wanted a little more hand-holding so that my confidence was up when I took a chance and wrote to them.

Here is a free 3 week course I put together to help you take you step by step: 
http://www.searchingforthehappiness.com/jump-start-writing-career/

 

If you have any questions that aren’t covered here, type in the word writer or writing in the search bar and I guarantee you will find several topics to choose from.  If you still don’t have the answer you are looking for, ask it in the comment section.  I will either guide you to an article about it, answer it (if the answer is short) or I will write an article about it (I have done this many times).

I hope you enjoy this blog and get all of your writing advice questions answered.  I will never make you sign up just to get a free guide, you won’t deal with pop-ups, and I won’t charge you a fee just to help you get off the ground in your own career.