VOLUME 20, ISSUE 6 – JUNE 2021
THIS MONTH’S MENU:
I. APPETIZER: LISTENING TO LAST-MINUTE IDEAS?
Pay Attention to Gems that Come AFTER Your Work Is “Done”
II. “FIELD” GREENS: 3 EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
Demonstrate Professionalism, Detail-Orientation, Clarity and User-Friendliness
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: GOT “GHOST BLOGGING”?
PR Writing Pro: Don’t Miss These “Hidden” High-$ Blogging Jobs
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
Successful Multi-Niche Writer: What Experience Could You Leverage?
I. APPETIZER: LISTENING TO LAST-MINUTE IDEAS?
Pay Attention to Gems that Come AFTER Your Work Is “Done”
I recently did a book title for an author (seriously fun work), and had to smile at the one she chose. It was one I’d come up with after I thought I was done.
Whenever I’m “done” with any project, I always review the document one more time, to make sure I haven’t missed anything. And, in the case of book titling, to see if any final ideas occur to me after filling my head—and field of vision—with the ideas I’ve already come up with.
And, one more did bubble up, so I added it, and that ended up being her choice.
This has happened any number of times over the years, where, on a short-copy project (name, tagline, book title), or a project where I was brainstorming different concepts for the theme of a larger piece, the client went with something that’d occurred to me spontaneously, organically and effortlessly, after I had “finished” my work.
No, this isn’t an argument to ignore the hard-won work you do in favor of your precious last-minute neural firings. Fact is, most of the time, that “grind-it-out” work will contain the ideas that win the day. Rather, it’s just a reminder to keep your mind open even after you think you’re done.
It’s not surprising. We’ve all heard of the similar dynamic at work: stories of problems that were confounding scientists, artists or other “creatives”—problems that had defied resolution when the person focused on them intentionally.
But, when they let go of the problem and focused their attention elsewhere, the solution presented itself.
Was reading a novel the other day, and the main protagonist, despite being exhausted, is hot on the trail of a killer. When asked if he was going to get some rest, he replied, “Miles to go before I sleep.”
He was, of course, invoking the final lines from Robert Frost’s iconic poem, “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
As I am wont to do, I did a search for the poem, and found, on Wikipedia, this interesting little tidbit about the creation of the piece (this is why I do these searches…):
Frost wrote the poem in June 1922 at his house in Shaftsbury, Vermont. He had been up the entire night writing the long poem “New Hampshire” and had finally finished when he realized morning had come.
He went out to view the sunrise and suddenly got the idea for “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” He wrote the new poem “about the snowy evening and the little horse as if I’d had a hallucination” in just “a few minutes without strain.”
Who besides serious Robert Frost aficionados remembers “New Hampshire”? Yet, what even reasonably cultured reader doesn’t know this “afterthought” work? On that “after-gold” note, let’s eat!
II. “FIELD” GREENS: 3 EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
Demonstrate Professionalism, Detail-Orientation, Clarity and User-Friendliness
1) PROOF ALL EMAIL: In the “goes-without-saying” category, always proof ANY business email you send. When a prospect/client consistently gets well written, error-free, and “text-shorthand-free” notes from you, it DOES make an impression.
But, I go one step further, and proof any email I send to anyone—friend, client, prospect, family, etc.
Sure, friends/family would be okay with more casual emails, but, it’s far more about a habit of excellence I want to build, so that when I’m reaching out to business contacts, I’ve conditioned myself to craft perfect email.
Given how much text-style shorthand makes its way into emails, and how that casual mode of communication has become acceptable, almost to the point of being the norm, when people receive pristine communication from you, those emails will stand out.
FYI, virtually all email from my best clients show up perfect, so doing the same just becomes a baseline expectation. And as writers, we’d better be buttoned-up!
2) INCLUDE THE “THREAD”: When responding to an email (especially business), always include the thread of the current exchange, and let them know you’re doing so with a, “Per our earlier discussion (below)…” note (or similar).
Seems so obvious, but I routinely get standalone replies to emails sent 3, 4, 7, 10 days earlier, that have left me scratching my head—and digging through my Sent folder—to divine their meaning. I know you can relate.
This is crucial when communicating with clients. The more obstacles we put in front of clients, the harder we make it for them to work with us, the more likely they are to go elsewhere.
Communicating with us should be easy, clear and hassle-free, and clients remember service providers who deliver such experiences.
3) INCLUDE YOUR NUMBER (optional, but recommended): Ever needed to discuss something with someone, and at the end of an email from them, there’s a phone number? And you decide to just pick up the phone, and cut to the chase? (I realize I’m dating myself here, since younger generations are far more phone-averse than we…ahem…mature folk…).
This may be largely moot, as most businesspeople have email signatures with a phone number. But, if you don’t, remember: clients and prospects are just like you, so include your phone number at the bottom of emails.
If they see a phone number right there, and were thinking of reaching out to you at some point, that point might just be now.
Won’t always happen, but unless you have a really good reason NOT to include it, do so. You’ve just made it that much easier to connect with you.
III. MAIN “MEAT” COURSE: GOT “GHOST BLOGGING”?
PR Writing Pro: Don’t Miss These “Hidden” High-$ Blogging Jobs
Another great piece from PA FLCW (and regular EPUB contributor), Jennifer Mattern—PR writer and founder of the acclaimed All Freelance Writing site.
It’s easy to follow the herd, but do that on typical blogging gigs, and it’ll be a “race to the bottom” on fees. But not if you follow Jenn’s great advice.
If you only look for freelance blogging gigs on job boards, or if you focus too much on bylines, you might miss out on some of the highest-paying blogging jobs around – ghost-blogging gigs.
To learn if ghost-blogging is for you, let’s look at what ghost-blogging gigs require, how much they can pay, and how you can find them.
What is Ghost Blogging?
Ghost blogging is when you blog for others without getting a byline or public credit for your writing. Your job as a ghost blogger is to work with the client or their team’s subject matter experts (a.k.a. SMEs) to create content they don’t have time to write themselves.
How Much Can Ghost Blogging Gigs Pay?
For professional ghost blogging gigs, $500 per post is the lower end of what you should expect. But these gigs frequently go into four-figures per post.
How to Land High-Paying Ghost Blogging Gigs
You’ll rarely find pro-level ghost blogging jobs advertised publicly. Instead, there are two basic approaches to landing them:
- Pitch prospects.
This can mean anything from email pitches to cold calling. Peter offers great advice on this in The Well-Fed Writer.
- Attract prospects.
This is where you use PR and inbound marketing (i.e., blogging, search-engine optimization, thought-leadership publication, etc.) to build a professional platform and visibility to lure clients rather than seeking them out directly.
Go with the strategy you’re most comfortable with. Or you can combine the two in whatever way suits your schedule and style.
Skills of Successful Freelance Ghost Bloggers
If freelance ghost blogging sounds appealing, here are some skills clients are willing to pay more for, and ones that help you stand out:
- Marketing or PR Background: Unlike publication-style blogging (think news blogs or digital magazines), most ghost-blogging gigs involve writing for marketing or PR purposes. Having a good grasp on these fundamentals is a strong selling point.
- Interview Skills: Most business-oriented ghost-blogging gigs involve writing in your client’s voice and writing from their expertise. You not only have to know what information to pull out of them, but how to get clients to share the insights you need.
This can be less about traditional Q&A-style interviewing and more about the ongoing relationship you’ll build and conversations you’ll have with them around company news and industry issues.
- Subject-Matter Expertise: While ghost-blogging gigs rely more on the clients’ expertise, being a subject matter expert (SME) yourself is a bonus. That allows you to have more informed conversations with your clients, helping you dig deeper into areas other bloggers might never think to explore.
- SEO Knowledge: As with any kind of freelance blogging work, if you want top dollar you must understand search-engine optimization (SEO). This affects everything from content strategy to post structure, ensuring you give your clients’ readers what they’re looking for while helping clients improve their visibility via search.
In helping others shine, freelance ghost blogging can be a lucrative freelance writing specialty, if you’re willing to forgo bylines and you know where to look.
IV. DESSERT: COMBO SUCCESS STORY & TIP
Successful Multi-Niche Writer: What Experience Could You Leverage?
Got this great account of a most interesting and inspirational writing journey, from Carmel, IN FLCW Sally Rushmore. Talk about using everything you have to build an amazing writing career!
Sally shared her success with her canine niche in the October 2020 E-PUB. Thanks, Sally, and who knows where else writing will take you?
In 2006 I began to bid on jobs on Elance (now Upwork). While there are many jobs on such sites, for most, the pay is low. But, I’ve been quite selective with my bids, and I had some niches few others had: I was a dog trainer, a former science teacher and had worked in the medical field.
My very first bid resulted in work I am still doing today—helping people have a better-behaved dog. Using my knowledge of over 200 breeds, I have written books, online training, blogs and articles; recorded videos and podcasts; and I answer questions online and in scheduled one-on-one phone calls.
And I get paid for all of it.
One of the most fun jobs I landed was ghostwriting a book about catapults. The client wanted someone who understood the physics of catapults, and could provide instructions (with pictures) for building various types/sizes.
My three grown children came over one day and we had a catapult-building-and-launching day! We built catapults that launched miniature marshmallows, big marshmallows, tennis balls and pumpkins. While we didn’t build any that launched refrigerators or cars, I found pictures of ones that could, for the book!
Because of my science background, I was able to write content and sample test questions for the military to use in various college-science-course testing. For several years, I wrote content and study questions for a company that published study guides to help teachers pass certification exams.
I worked on various biology and chemistry guides, eventually not only writing content and questions, but also content-editing all the chemistry guides for all states (37 states use one guide and the others each use their own).
I wrote chemistry content and experiments for the online chemistry course offered by the Gates Foundation through the online school being used in many states. I also wrote basic math and algebra online courses for Universal Class.
They were so happy with my work, they paid me more than we’d agreed on!
The variety of things I’ve written has been amazing. I wrote regular articles for a medical newsletter, edited a newsletter for doctors, wrote advertising for a software company and a storm sewer manufacturer, and white papers for a number of companies including a Norwegian education firm.
I’ve had a wonderfully rich (in more ways than one!) and varied career as a writer, and it’s all because I’ve put my past life experience to work. What past experience could you leverage into paid writing?