Peter BowermanPB Note: Gordon Graham is the reigning guru of white papers, and he sent me this great overview of the craft (and its exceptionally promising potential). Seriously consider picking up his brand-new new book, “White Papers for Dummies,” an excellent soup-to-nuts primer that’s been called a “must-read that contains priceless information you just can’t find … Read more
I went to a networking function recently, and struck up a conversation with a middle-aged gentleman who’d recently moved to Atlanta from Minneapolis. He offered event-production services including light/sound design, DJ’ing, and more. Since his business often involved subcontracting—especially his DJ business—we got to talking about his experiences hiring people in Atlanta versus the upper … Read more
PB Note: Great guest post from freelance medical writer and author Laurie Lewis. I must confess, I have been less than rigorous in always keeping track of my time. But, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that getting a handle on exactly how your time gets split up between different project-related tasks could … Read more
Recently, high-profile house Simon & Schuster, Inc. launched a “self-publishing division,” partnering with the true Dark Star mother ship of POD (print-on-demand) companies, Author Solutions (AS). Not familiar with AS? A few years back, four members of the “rogues gallery” of POD companies—AuthorHouse, iUniverse, Trafford, Xlibris— joined together to form AS. And Penguin actually bought … Read more
So, I’ve been working on an interesting commercial freelancing project lately, one that doesn’t fit the typical list I (and others) rattle off to explain the kinds of things we commercial writers do: “marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters, web content, direct mail, case studies, etc.” Here’s the deal… Every year, a group of folks from … Read more
Great guest post from fellow commercial freelancer (and fellow Atlantan), Don Sadler. Don’s carved out quite a lucrative niche in his area of specialty, and how it all came about is a good story. I hope it can serve as a good discussion catalyst, and can spur others who’ve either been there as well (or … Read more
In the last post, erstwhile copywriter/now graphic designer, Mike Klassen, on whom I can always depend for wisdom, shared this comment: When I started out, I hated the thought of losing any potential copywriting client. Now, I do little things to weed out the potential problem clients. One thing I will no longer do is … Read more
(The original version of this article—adapted and augmented here—was published in the IBPA Independent in November 2011) I attended college at the University of Virginia, one of a relatively small group of schools (including all the military academies) with an honor code, and one of the very few whose code is totally student-administered. The terms … Read more
I got an email from a commercial writer recently voicing a common concern: The one sticking point I keep running into is not knowing how many hours a project will take me to complete (and the obvious quoting struggle related to that). Do you know any resources where I can find that information? By trolling … Read more
If you listen to the news media, we’re living in “tough economic times” right now. But, if you keep listening to the same outlets, when aren’t we (according to them)? You however, and of course your writing business, don’t have to suffer through the “tough times” the media prescribes. In fact, you should completely ignore … Read more