By Carol Tice

I’ve noticed something about my freelance writing income. It often goes to crap in January.

Does this happen to you?

I’ve developed a theory about why the first month of the year is often a loser.

My theory: Income sucks in January because marketing tends to slack off in December.

After all, it’s the holidays! Everyone’s on vacation, editors are out, you’re busy with family. The next thing you know, it’s January 3, there you are in the office, looking at an empty assignment calendar.

When you’re trying to earn big in freelance writing, having a “down” month is a problem. We need to find ways to keep the income flowing consistently.

Two ways to beat the January low-income blues

I was talking to my longtime Seattle writer-friend Sharon Baker and we got to discussing the January-revenue problem. She shared a great strategy she’s using to make sure her January schedule is full:

1) Call existing clients and drum up work. Sharon’s been calling around to her clients to put a bug in their ear about what they might want from her next year. This is a great way to start the year with assignments, and Sharon had already found an assignment or two for January this way. (After she reminded me about this, I placed a couple calls to existing clients of mine about work for next year!)

Many companies set their marketing budgets for 2011 now, so it’s the perfect moment to check in. It doesn’t have to be anything pushy, just, “Hi, I’m starting to look at my plans for January, and I’m wondering what I can learn about your needs for next year.”

This is also a good move because if you’ve been fantasizing that an ongoing client is going to keep rolling into 2011, but in reality they’re done with you, now’s the time to find that out. Getting the word early gives you more time to market and find a replacement gig if one of your clients is headed into the sunset.

Personally, I’ve been mostly using another strategy to try to fill up my 2011 calendar:

2) Push projects into January. I’ve gotten several calls from new prospects in the past couple weeks. Since my December is already as full as I want it (because I’m taking the last week of the year off), I made them each this pitch: “Wow, your project sounds interesting and I’d love to work on it, but we’re kind of headed into the holidays. Could I start your project first thing in January?” I’ve already got two projects I lined up this way.

It’s a pretty easy pitch to make — December is a fairly unproductive month for many people, who want to head out on vacations. I ask if we can have a quick phone meeting this month to firm up details, and then start after New Year’s.

By Susannah Noel

Here’s the story of why I hired Carol Tice to be my writing-business mentor:

I need a job that’s flexible and can also pull down a solid income.

A couple years ago, I decided this job could be copywriting. Not anything literary, of course — but business writing, for websites, newsletters, and blogs.

In the spring of 2010, I was lucky to land a 9-to-5 position as a marketing manager for a website developer. Now I write all day, and I’ve learned a ton. But I still need to edit books in the evenings and on the weekends to make ends meet.

Because my job is an hour away, I have very little time to spend with my kids. So as much as I like my 9-to-5 gig, something has to change.

I’ve decided I need to go freelance full-time.

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Becoming a well-paid freelancer is a great goal — but how do I take the first step?

Maybe a Mentor?

A few weeks ago, in one of my furtive, late-night surfing sessions, I came across Carol’s article, How I Make $5,000 a Month as a Paid Blogger.

To be honest, it made me a little sick with envy. I blog at my 9-to-5 job, not unlike what Carol does — but even with additional freelance editing on the side, I don’t make nearly as much. But at the same time, I was exhilarated. If someone else can do it, I thought, maybe I can, too.

Then I noticed Carol’s page on mentoring. And my little puff of exhilaration grew into a gale-force wind. I had a plan.

I wrote a quick blog post on my new idea to hire a writing mentor — Carol very kindly posted a comment — and suddenly, I was being mentored. Just like that.

Carol Delivers

After I gathered my samples and sent Carol a list of my interests, she and I got on the phone for a delicious two-hour-long phone call.

It was like drinking a tall glass of water, after years of only sipping it by the teaspoonful. I finally got the nuts and bolts information I needed — not from a book or an online article, but from a real writer, talking only to me and my situation. Here’s what we talked about:

• Potential markets that make sense for me, and how and to whom to pitch my ideas
• How to improve my website, including what focus I could give to my blog
• Creative ways I can network locally
• The possibility of adding additional services to my repertoire, in addition to writing and editing
• What I need to do financially to make a freelance business succeed — the rates I should charge and the amount of money I should save before I launch out on my own

Even before we hung up, she’d sent me several lists with resources, tips for how to find writing gigs online, and a list of action items. I suddenly had pages and pages of ideas on how to move forward. Here are the ones that most intrigued me:

Potential markets. For a year I’ve written newsletter copy for a local arts college. Carol suggested I build on that and develop college communications as one of my niches. We also discussed how I could parlay my experience writing copy for an accountant-focused Web developer into business-finance blogging.

Networking. I live in Vermont, a small state with fewer networking opportunities than elsewhere. But Carol had the brilliant idea that I could host a Mediabistro party. I love the way this busts through limitations and makes its own rules. No networking event? So make your own!

Improve my website. Over at my Vermont copywriter website, I had slapped some pages together without too much thought, figuring it was better to have something than nothing. Carol agreed — but she also suggested several easy updates that would instantly make the site more professional.

For example, she pointed out that my landing page would benefit from a professional tone and approach, and I could move the more casual, personal details to an About page. She also thought I could shift the focus of my blog from writerly thoughts to SEO discussion, given that I do SEO work at my full-time job.

The Power of Speaking It

But perhaps even more helpful, Carol directly addressed my disbelief that I could actually do this, actually become a full-time writer with enough money in the bank.

She told me about the Jewish Baruch She’amar prayer:

Blessed is the one who spoke, and the world came into being, blessed is He.

“This prayer is about how God created this world by speaking. We’re created in God’s image, and we speak our reality into being also,” said Carol. “The more you tell people you are making this transition to full-time freelancing, the more it will become real.”

I’m not religious, but this resonated with me. I felt a shift in my mind-set — from wishing, to deciding.

Here I Go…

Of course, for my freelance career to take flight, I need to do more than get my positive attitude on. I need to start marketing, pitching, and, most of all, writing.

So that’s what I’m doing — step by step. This week, I sent Carol my to-do list for December. I’m going to work on my website, research companies and people to pitch, and take a training course on writing for B2B copywriting.

It’s one tiny move forward at a time — but, finally, it’s my reality.

Susannah Noel is a Vermont-based business and marketing copywriter delivering meticulous SEO copy that drives traffic and boosts sales.

By Carol Tice

Here’s a story about negotiating from new freelance writer (and Den member) Oscar Halpert. He emailed me and told me he’d recently plunged into freelance writing after being laid off.

He got referred to a possible writing client by someone he met at an in-person networking event. Oscar’s new contact thought this CEO might need a writer. The client call didn’t go so well, though, Oscar reported:

“We spoke for 90 minutes, during which time I asked a lot of questions about her business and its problems and needs.

I agreed to a followup call in nine days. [Then] looked closely at the company web site and realized:

a. The CEO has no marketing plan and no marketing strategy. They’ve done one press release in four years.

b. She wanted me to devise a strategy to get her company leads. I told her that’s a marketing function, not a writing function. She suggested a win/win: I produce a YouTube video that goes viral and bingo-bango, we both benefit.

c. She had a limited budget.

d. She had me sign a nondisclosure agreement.

So, now I have a CEO who was referred to me by her trusted ally. I backed out.
He looks like an idiot and she still needs her problem solved.
And, I’m still working on finding my first portfolio items.
Did I mess this up?”

To answer that last question first: Maybe. It depends. But I think you bungled it less than you think.

First off, I try to keep initial discussions with prospects to half an hour, or an hour at most, especially if I haven’t had a chance to size them up. Try to get them to move quickly from initial pleasantries and blathering about their company’s greatness to defining the writing project they want to assign.

To your points:

a. Put on the blinders. Ah yes, the company without a plan. There are herds of these ungainly beasts roaming the business world. They often want to hire freelance writers in a desperate stab at doing something about their marketing problem.

In this situation, you’ve got two choices. You can point out the obvious: Writing this one thing will not change the underlying lack-of-marketing problem. Or you can look at this initial writing offer as an opportunity for the company to begin solving their marketing problem — and for you to get an ongoing series of assignments.

They haven’t done a press release in four years? What an opportunity for a freelance writer.

Propose a plan to write 12 in the next year, or even six, to start getting their name out there again. Charge even $300 apiece for them — I shoot for $500 personally — and that’s a sweet $1,800-$3,600 gig that pays you a bit each month. You get in, you write a little, you slay them with your amazing wordcraft wizardry, and make yourself indispensable.

Then, you might help them see the need to create a media kit, new Web content, new product descriptions, a regular weekly blog post, ghosted guest-blogs on industry sites, a Facebook fan page, a monthly e-newsletter, a white-paper series. Soon, they’ve got enough puzzle pieces to do some real marketing.

When you’re starting out freelancing, every writing assignment may not be a big success for the client, because these first-rung sort of clients are often too dysfunctional. But in the meanwhile, you got paid and got a clip. If you need work bad, you just take what they offer and hope to build the relationship from there.

b. Time for a referral. If you don’t feel qualified to advise on marketing strategy, the best option is to refer the CEO to a marketer from your network. That way she gets needed advice, and the grateful marketing strategist keeps you on the team for writing.

If her idea is “make a YouTube video” but you don’t do that sort of thing, you simply say so. Then, refer them to a digital video specialist, where you’d write the script and they’d execute it. (And then there’d also be someone else to point the finger at if her video doesn’t “go viral.”)

c. No budget: Dealbreaker. You don’t really define how limited of a budget you’re talking about, but it’s possible the game ended here. If she doesn’t have the money to hire a freelance writer to do even an initial small project such as a few press releases, then she can keep dreaming about more sales. Some CEOs are dumb this way. Don’t expend energy trying to convince them of your value. They don’t get it.

However, if her “limited budget” is $10,000, or even $1,500, there’s room in there for some writing fees. I say, do what you can with the resources they got.

d. NDAs…a non-issue. Not sure why the nondisclosure agreement matters. I’ve signed NDAs, reviewed proposals, and then passed. Just don’t tell the world their finances or trade secrets, and you’re good.

Planning a graceful dismount. Finally, you seem like you’re covered in shame because you declined to work for this woman. I think you can hold your head up, as long as you conducted yourself professionally.

When you say you “backed out” — did you promise this woman something? Sign a contract? String her along for months?

If not, then you were referred to a possible writing job you investigated, and then declined. I get referred for weird stuff on a regular basis that I pass on. You’re under no obligation to take every gig you get told about.

Also, you had known the person who referred you for 10 minutes. It’s pretty minor collateral damage there. He doesn’t really look like an idiot. He merely suggested you two might be able to meet each others’ needs. Didn’t turn out that way. No biggie. Happens all the time.

Be sure to send your referrer a thank-you note or email for thinking of you. You can let him know she didn’t really have a budget, or it wasn’t a fit for you. And you’re still looking for writing gigs. Be a pro about it, and they’ll refer you again.

Finally, send the CEO a thank-you for considering you. If you do this artfully enough, they might call you back some day when they’ve got more budget and a better idea what they want to do with marketing.

By Carol Tice

I ran it by a writer friend with ghostwriting experience. She did not encourage me.

As I suspected she would say, she told me she does not write entire chapters as a tryout. I agreed that it was too much work to do on spec. “Say you’ll write five pages as a sample,” she told me.

How can a freelance writer kick the content-mill habit and move up to better-paying clients?

One reader of my post about Demand Studios’ IPO was concerned about the revelation that DS doesn’t make a profit, which puts them at risk for going bust. Mike writes:

I’ve been working for Demand Studios since 2009. Almost exclusively. I live in Thailand and because the cost of living where I am is cheap, I can pay the bills simply by writing DS articles. My only other income comes from occasionally writing articles for similar content mills that pay half of what DS does. Prior to 2009, I have no experience in writing anything other than regular letters to my grandma.

I am here on a tourist visa and therefore can’t legally work. If the [DS] job goes, I go. Since I am newish to writing I can’t say I know that much about what a logical next step would entail. Though I don’t think DS is going out of business tomorrow, it reminds me that I must look ahead.

I want to begin formulating a plan for more meaningful mid- and long-term goals.

Do I carry a scarlet letter for the rest of my life for writing eHow, Trails and Livestrong articles?

In spite of what good DS might do for me, there have been times when I’ve been so frustrated by the process that I’ve imagined jettisoning my laptop right through the window and listening with satisfaction as it crashes on the rooftop five stories below. In other words, I don’t want to believe that DS is my only hope for employment as a new writer.

Thanks for the information and clear-headed advice.

To get the easy stuff out of the way first: You’ll only be branded a mill writer forever if you put DS on your resume. Leave it off, and no one will know. End of stigma.

Here’s the nut of my answer to your main question about kicking mills and getting paid more: To move up, you’ll need to actively market your writing business. That’s the gist of it. Getting better pay involves getting off your tushy, and looking for better clients.

There are some basic ways to do that — plus one I’ll throw in that’s unique to your being an expat living in an exotic locale. Here are seven ways to break in to better markets:

1. Create a writer Web site and SEO it. If you don’t have a site that promotes your writing, create one as soon as possible. Make sure you use key words about the types of writing you want to do in your header and home-page copy. Put up some clips — yes, for now they’ll be from DS sites, but replace those as soon as you can with others. This will allow some prospective clients to find you. So once you’ve done the active work of creating and properly optimizing your site, you can passively snag clients with it. I’d put in “American expat in Thailand” somewhere, if I were you.
2. Create a personal blog. You can make a strong audition piece — especially if you’d like to blog for pay for others — by starting your own blog on your writer site. Don’t doodle on there — write each entry as if your career depended on it. It does. This technique paid off for me huge, and now some months I make half or more of my income from paid blogging.
3. Direct-mail or email prospects. Identify a type of publication or business where you know something about their subject matter, and then do some online research. Create a list of prospective publications or companies. Contact their editor, marketing manager, communications director or other likely target. Since you’re overseas I’m betting mail or email will be the way to go rather than cold-calling on the phone. Introduce yourself in your mail or email piece and simply ask if they use freelance writers. This has a low response rate, but you will usually get some clients.
4. Seek out guest-post opportunities. If you’ve written for DS, there are probably blogs where you could guest post. Subscribe to Blogger Linkup and respond to sites seeking guest bloggers. Yes, it’s usually for free, but it’s a valuable form of marketing for you. Being seen on high-traffic blogs can get you clients — and it gets you clips from places that aren’t from DS sites. Try to spend some time on these guest posts and really make them strong. You’re auditioning for better-paying clients. The bigger-viewership site you can appear on, the better.
5. Network online. I’d ordinarily recommend getting out to some in-person networking events, but since you’re in Thailand, it’s probably hard to drop by a big-American-city Chamber of Commerce networking event. But you can meet and connect with lots of people on LinkedIn groups, and networking sites such as Biznik. The latter is another good place to create strong articles that could serve as example clips.
6. Leverage your locale. OMG,  you’re living in Thailand! I bet you’ve visited plenty of interesting tourist spots there. You could write a query letter to all sorts of travel magazines offering to share those. You could also hit all the simple-living mags and Web sites with your “how to live in Thailand on $1 a day” ideas. You’ll need to learn to write query letters, but it’s not that hard, and well worth it for the money you could make. You can read a book about querying if you need to learn more. You can resell your Thailand-travel story angles umpty-dozen times. You might start with tourism companies that need brochure copy or marketing letters, and work your way up to calling on airlines that fly to Thailand and pitching their in-flight magazines (these are usually top payers). Find editors online or in the Writer’s Market.
7. Apply for jobs you see online. Start diversifying where you write for — even if it’s at DS rates — by answering online job ads. You should be able to gradually increase your rates as you acquire non-mill clients. Problogger often runs ads for bloggers at rates at or a little more than what you’re making, and the work may make for stronger clips for moving up.

By Carol Tice

I know many writers who are agonizing over how to get a Web site or blog up, so they can start promoting their writing services in social media, and have a place to organize their clips to show prospective clients.

Here are five ways you can get at least a basic Web presence right away — this week.

1. Put links in your LinkedIn profile. If you’ve got a few clips online, you can put several in on LinkedIn, and there’s a portfolio plug-in you can add that lets you put in more. Presto: Send people your LinkedIn URL.
2. Take control of your free ZoomInfo profile. I limped along on that for a couple of years back in 2005-6. Zoominfo automatically compiles stuff about people online…and you can sculpt it into something pretty useful with a little bit of time.
3. Make a graphical portfolio on Labels.io. This is a new site in beta that lets you create a portfolio with labels that are sized according to how much time you spent at each gig.
4. Join NAIWE and get a hosted blog and writer site. If you join the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE), you get a personal Web site with a WordPress blog already installed! (Yep, I like this one so much that’s my affiliate link.)
5. Use a free insta-blog site. I’ve seen writers in the Den use free, templated platforms such as Tumblr or Flavors.me to create a quick site. There are some real limitations here, including ending up with .tumblr or similar added to your URL. It won’t look super-professional and will be a headache whenever you want to transfer it to a better platform, but is certainly miles better than not having any website.

I joined NAIWE for other reasons, since I already have a site. But I put my NAIWE site up, because I thought, “Why not?” and I can report it’s terrific. Take a quick WordPress tutorial online, and you’re ready to roll. Or don’t even bother — it’s a pretty intuitive tool.

It didn’t take me an hour to organize my stuff. And now I have another place to post about my most recent Make a Living Writing blog posts. It even puts your desired site name first in the URL.

Couple marketing pluses here: Your blog posts appear in NAIWE’s blogroll, visible to all members and visitors to NAIWE’s site. You can also tweet your post link with the tag #NAIWE and group head Janice Campbell may well retweet it.

Whatever way you do it, know that you need a writer website to be competitive and appear professional. Don’t obsess too much about how to do it — put something up, and improve from there.

By Carol Tice

By James Patterson

After nine months of being a freelance writer, I’ve decided that marketing my business is like doing the dishes; I absolutely can’t stand doing it, but I feel so much better when it’s done.

I jumped into freelancing head first back in February, leaving my stifling full-time job to see if I could cut it on my own as a health and wellness writer.

I set up a Web site, found some steady writing work and had a few decent months, replacing my former Corporate America salary. Things were great for quite a few months, but I fell into a trap of complacency and a bit of neglect at marketing my business due to a busy summer schedule.

When I started to notice my revenue dipping in the fall, I decided it was time to start marketing myself again. I tried the age-old methods of pitching magazines and scouring the job boards, but with zero results.

Thanks to some great advice from Carol Tice, who I hired as my freelancing mentor back in the early summer, I decided to finally take a different approach. I set a goal to try two new freelance marketing tactics and see if they would work.

Boy, did they ever.

Tactic #1: My existing LinkedIn network. Carol challenged me to contact my LinkedIn connections, whether or not they were an editor or potential client, and pitch myself. If nothing else, it’s good practice, she said. So when I sent out 20 or so LinkedIn messages one day, I didn’t think anything would really come of it.

About a month after my LinkedIn blitz, I got a phone call from a former friend and colleague who’s in sales, now with a different company than when we worked together. Turns out he was in a staff meeting when someone mentioned needing a health writer.

He told me later over the phone his ears perked up because of my LinkedIn message, which I had sent him just a few weeks before. He spoke up, said he had someone he could talk to and BAM, a few weeks later I’m getting steady work from a new client who meets almost every one of Carol’s criteria for lucrative writing clients. I’m about to close the books on my best month of freelancing ever.

Tactic #2: Cold calling. After months of pitching organizations and editors with zero results, I was fed up. I told Carol of my pitching woes, expecting to get at least a measure of sympathy. Instead, Carol gave me a virtual slap upside the head and said, “Email isn’t working. So what? You have a phone, don’t you?”

Reluctantly, I made another goal: To make 20 cold calls to hospitals in my region asking a simple question: “Could you use a freelance writer?”

A funny thing happened. My first phone call was a no. My second phone call was a no. My third phone call was a no.

I was about to give up. For some reason, seeing ‘no’ on a computer screen is much more palatable for me than hearing it over the phone.

But I decided to give it one more try. I picked up the phone and dialed the next number.

That call resulted in a referral to the marketing director for a large Intermountain west hospital chain. As I type this, we’re hammering out details for me to come on board and help lighten the load of their current freelance writer.

Good things happen when you try new approaches. Sometimes, you just have to roll up your sleeves and do the dishes.

It may not be fun for you to get on the phone and hear a few people tell you “no.” It may feel like a waste of time to contact former friends and colleagues. But you really never know under which rock your next client is lurking. Why not turn over every one?

When he’s not obsessing over college basketball, James Patterson is a freelance health writer and public relations consultant at OnPoint Writing and Communications. His past clients include the National Institutes of Health, the President’s Cancer Panel and the National Diabetes Education Program.

Photo via Flickr user zieak

By Carol Tice

Sarah Palin just keeps grabbing headlines, doesn’t she? Most recently, it was her pronouncement that she could beat President Barack Obama in 2012.

Whether you think that’s unreal hubris or that’s totally gonna happen, there’s a lot freelance writers can learn from Palin. To my mind, the former Alaska governor has some personality traits that freelancers often lack. Develop these traits, and you could really rocket your writing career forward.

What am I talking about? Here’s what Sarah Palin’s got that could help you succeed as a freelance writer:

• She’s bold. Say what you want about Palin, this woman is utterly fearless. She makes gaffe after gaffe, and just keeps on sucking it up and rolling on. Tina Fey made a cottage industry out of making her out to be an idiot (see the video below). Personally, I think that would make me crawl under a rock and die, and I consider myself pretty self-confident! So many freelance writers I’ve worked with in my mentoring program are held back by fears and insecurity. A Palin injection might be a life-changer.
• She seeks the limelight. Palin is not afraid to promote herself. She’s everywhere, still, with the election far behind us. She lives by the law of publicity — that is, all publicity (negative or positive) is good publicity. By contrast, many freelance writers feel too insecure to even show up at their local Chamber of Commerce mixer.
• She is not easily embarrassed. Yes, her daughter had a baby out of wedlock while she was running for national office, pretty highly embarrassing for a Republican-conservative candidate. But on she rolls, like the mighty Columbia. Do you think Palin would let one rejection letter bug her? Or be devastated by one editor who dropped her? No chance.
• Setbacks do not faze her. OK, she is not the vice president of the United States. She tried for that one and bombed. But clearly, she sees that as just one battle in her war. She’s not going to curl up in a ball and mope, like so many freelance writers do when they don’t get a “yes” on a query letter.
• She’s got a plan. As you could tell by that Obama comment she recently made, she has no plans to be one of those people who’s famous for 15 minutes and then vanishes into obscurity. She’s still workin’ it. You may not like her plan, but she’s got one. A freelance writer needs a plan too, or life just happens, you wake up next year, and you’re just treading water, writing for the same low-paying clients.
• She’s a climber. Sarah Palin could have gone on being the governor of Alaska. A lot of women would have been real happy with that achievement. But to her, it’s just a stepping stone. She got to that plateau, looked around, and went, “What’s next?” When the Republican Party came knocking, she could have played it safe and said “no.” But she’s always thinking about how she can take it to the next level, an attitude successful freelance writers need.
• She’s different. Think what you want about Palin, but one thing’s for sure — there’s never been a female politician quite like her. She reminds me of freelancers who have an unusual niche they write about, or a very unique writing style. They always seem to earn the most.
• She’s memorable. From her “I can see Russia from my house” cracks to her trademark bun, Palin knows how to brand herself and make an impression.

Sarah Palin sort of reminds me of this guy I met at a networking event recently. He had turned his name tag into a gigantic, two-foot-wide laminated board he wore around his neck. What a laugh! And a great way to say “Hey, I’m a pro networker, and a fun person.”

By Anne Wayman

I’ve been ghostwriting successfully for years now. Freelance writers often ask questions about how I got there and how I manage my ghostwriting business. Here are the 11 most frequent questions I get, and their answers.

1. How did you learn to ghostwrite?

I didn’t, not exactly. A semi-famous minister asked me to finish ghosting her book and I said yes. It turned out well and I tried it again. That worked too. A career was born.

2. Doesn’t the term ghostwriting also include articles?

I suppose there’s always been some ghostwriting of articles. Today, however, article ghostwriting often means getting poorly paid to write articles aimed at search engine optimization (SEO). When I talk about ghostwriting I’m almost always talking about books.

3.     Ghostwriting books seems unfair to me. People should either write their own books or if they hire a writer that writer should get credit. Do you agree with me?

No, not particularly. As a ghostwriter I know I’ll be well paid and that the author will get the credit. Usually the authors are people who hate to write or simply don’t have the time. Since I get their thoughts and ideas into a book for them, I have no trouble giving them the credit.

Besides, the client has to be really involved with the book. They have to work to get the info into my head, and spend serious time with the manuscript making changes, corrections, and helping me get their voice just right. It’s truly a joint effort.

4. What skills do I need to be a ghostwriter?

I think, in addition to being a decent writer, the most needed skill might be called the ability to listen deeply. Somehow, when I listen extra carefully, and with my own ideas out of the way, I’m able to do ghostwriting in the author’s voice, not mine. I’m able to listen without anticipating what I want to say or thinking that what they are saying is right or wrong. It’s through the listening that I’m able to get myself out of the way.

5. How can you demonstrate your experience since the book is in the name of the author?

Fortunately some of my clients allow me to disclose, discretely, that I’ve done ghostwriting for them. My resume simply states that I’ve ghostwritten for so-and-so. Several others are happy to give me recommendations if a prospective client calls them. This kind of credit may be negotiated up front and made a part of the contract. Often, however, I wait until we’re almost done and then I just ask if I can tell possible clients about my ghostwriting the book. They rarely say no. If they do I honor that.

6. What do you do if a client doesn’t do the work they need to do?

One of the things that’s surprised me is the number of people who hire a ghostwriter then quit half way through the project. With one exception, they’ve all had reasons that seemed to have nothing to do with me. Several have said they have just gotten to busy with their business. One had a death in the family and decided they didn’t want to write a book after all. Another worked with her therapist and together they decided it wasn’t time for a book. My contracts are written recognizing that wheels come off projects and we’d mostly parted friends.

7. What happened with that one exception?

I agreed to write a book for someone when I was feeling broke – my first mistake. If I’d been feeling strong I probably would have recognized the client had a real potential to be a problem for me. I normally make sure a potential client has some pretty specific idea about the book they want written – I didn’t do that. Nothing I wrote was satisfactory. Finally the client got angry and wrote the book without me and published it through Lulu. It was full of errors, but it was done. I kept the deposit.

8. How do you market yourself?

I’ve had a website with ghostwriting as keywords forever it seems. Most of my clients find me that way. My business card says I’m a ghostwriter and once and awhile a client will develop from a conversation around my card. Referrals, of course, are gold. I ask for referrals and remind past clients from time-to-time that I’m around.

9. How do you handle contracts? Do you use a lawyer?

I can write my own contracts, although I call them letters of agreement. You can find details at Ghostwriting — 9 Elements of My Contracts or Letters of Agreement. My goal is to establish a professional working relationship with a clear enough specification so we don’t have to go to court to figure out what we were trying to do.

10. How do you charge?

I work out a flat fee based on my hourly rate. Then divide that by the number of months I expect the project to take. I’ve done enough ghostwriting to be pretty good at estimating what’s required. Other ghostwriters charge by the page or by the hour or by the chapter.

11. Will you take a percentage instead of pay?

No, I won’t take a percentage instead of pay. The exception would be an author with a big contract and even then I’d want a significant amount up front.

And I no longer reduce my rate for a percentage. What I do now is ask for my normal rate and a percentage in addition to that – usually 5 or 10 percent. Some of my authors are glad to have my involved this way, thinking, perhaps rightly, I’ll work a bit harder if I think I’m also creating residual income for myself.

Ghostwriting books has been good to me. It’s allowed me to earn a good living and get at least some of the writing I want to do for myself done.

Anne Wayman is a ghostwriter, freelance writer and blogger. Her blog about writing is AboutFreelanceWriting.com