Free Freelance Writing eBook: Learn how to turn your writing into a business and make more money

Seriously, who doesn't want more money for their writing?

I sure do. And I've made more since reading "Managing a Freelance Writing Business: A Writer's Guide to Building a Strong Business," by Angie Mohr, CA, CMA. I still refer to the tips in this book today. That's why I'm so excited to let you know this ebook is free on Amazon today and tomorrow.

I bought the book and found it to be invaluable. Now you can benefit from it for free.

No, thinking about the business end of our craft isn't what typically drags us to the keyboard, but "Managing a Freelance Writing Business" is filled with tantalizing tips on how to turn one idea--even one article--into multiple revenue streams. More money? Now that's inspiration!

Cowboy Up: Find a home for those rejections

Writers get rejections. It's inevitable and what you do after receiving these disheartening emails often decides whether you can make a living as a writer or not.

What do working writers do? They cowboy/girl up and get creative.

Because we have bills to pay.

You probably do too, so take a look at the rejection and decide if the piece is salvageable. Give it an honest once over and decide if it is publishable. Is it out of date? Have too many errors? Need fixed?

Is it worth fixing?

Yes? Then look for other--preferably paying--avenues of publication. Find websites, blogs, trade magazines, newspapers, contests, etc that accept that type of content and send it off

Infographic: Top 5 Twitter Mistakes Writers Make

Fail whale moments for freelancers.

Freelancing Fail Whale

What writer doesn't look back on their first few days of tweets and cringe? I sure do. Here's a chance to look back and laugh at the mistakes we made before getting the hang of the Twitterverse. For new tweeps, take this as an opportunity to shorten your learning curve.

*Infographic after the article.

5. Irrelevance & Obscurity

Twitter isn't the social network to go to the artsy outfield. If you aren't tweeting something relevant or current, you aren't going to be relevant to the medium. Attention spans are short and no one is going to follow your storyline 140 characters at a time. There could be 50 tweets in between each one. Who could keep up with that? So save your novel excerpts for your blog or website, where they'll be

Late Nights, QuarkXPress & Conquering Evil Macs: College newspapers are freelancing bootcamps

Huge boxing gloves + deadline = true story

Throwback Thursday

I know, I know. You're thinking writing for a college newspaper is an obvious way to prepare for a freelance writing career. Of course it is--but not in the ways you think. The skills you gain go beyond learning how to write a lede, interview sources or design a page. What is really going on is on-the-fly training that will help you learn to take only the work you want, what elements are important and how to handle difficult clients.

What do you really want to write?

Eagerness is the bane of many budding journalists. It's nothing to agree to cover a concert, interview the student body president and profile the basketball team's star player--all for the next issue. The problem is finding the time to cover everything and turn in a quality article.

The paper has to be put to bed, whether you've gotten any sleep or not. A deadline is a deadline. So those hours you spent at the student union watching jumbo boxing instead of

Taking My Advice on AC Upfronts:

An Honest Warning

Here's my confession:  I haven't submitted an article to Associated Content for upfront pay consideration, since April 20, 2009. That's the same month I signed up. It's not intentional and I didn't even realize it until tonight. Now it's majorly bothering me.

I'm not counting anything claimed through the Assignment Desk or anything submitted through the News Desk - when they offered a flat upfront rate. News no longer pays for unrequested submissions.

I have a small love affair with the Assignment Desk, because the requested articles are often on topics I'm thinking about at the moment or have experience with. That makes them quick to write and a fast output can be a blessing to a freelance writer trying to pay the bills.

Also a big fan of publishing through News. The page view love is awesome - and page views = $. And money is part of the reason I do this whole freelancer thing. There is also the benefit of writing about events that I'm searching to satisfy my own curiosity about.

Why does this matter? Every so often, someone will ask what is the best way to submit articles on Associated Content. The advice I give (and other AC Contributors) is to try a variety of options. Try Display Only for content not eligible for upfront pay (poetry, video game reviews) or something time sensitive (news, television reviews). Any news accepted through the News Desk can benefit by going on Google News. Assignments are great, if you're out of topic ideas.

Submitting for non-exclusive upfronts is often the best solution. If your topic isn't going to garner tens of thousands of views in the first week, then there isn't much harm letting it sit in the queue. In my experience, hot news stories are the only ones that take off that quick. In that case it should probably be published through news or put up DO.

If your article is turned down and misses out on a thousand views, you're only out $1.50 to $2.00 (depending on clout level). If you receive an upfront offer equal to that, you haven't lost anything. An offer more than $2.00 means that you are ahead!

See that? I'm pretty opinionated about/in favor of a submission option that I haven't tried in over nine months. Even realizing that, I still think my arguments are sound. As a freelance writer, especially an online freelance writer, your income will often be made up of small payments. Hopefully they are more than a few bucks, but it seems like bad business to turn down money for something you intend to publish anyways. Especially if it turns out your the quality of writer they will gladly pay higher upfronts to.

The conspiracy theorist in me is also whispering that sites will stop paying for content they can get for free. Just a thought.

Oh, and my point? I'm going to submit some articles for upfront this week. It's long past time I do.

Photo credit: hattie mahatma / flickr.com