31. December 2008 by Jennifer Dunn Saunders.

I’m recovering from the flu, so while I’m stuck in bed I decided to go through and subscribe to RSS feeds of every major American and Canadian Craig’s List “Writing/Editing” jobs section. It remains to be seen whether this will help me pounce on jobs faster. More likely, this level of connectivity will simply drive me crazy. I’ll report back!

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26. December 2008 by Jennifer Dunn Saunders.

Often, I’ll see a freelance writing job posted, know that I would be great at it, and wish I could just write “Hey, check me out, I can do this. Let’s get started!” Unfortunately, unless you have a Senate seat to give away, the business of getting business has never worked that way for anybody, especially not for the self-employed writer.

I got into freelance writing because I love the “writing” part of my job title, but any freelance writer who has been in the business longer than it takes to type up an invoice knows that a successful freelancer spends almost as much time researching and landing jobs as she does writing.

To be honest, if I took the time to calculate it (which I likely won’t, because I am, of course, a writer and not a numbers person), I would find that a disappointingly high proportion of my proposals go unanswered. Yet, though that percentage would probably make the business manager in me pack up the laptop and go home, I do well when it comes to getting work and staying busy.  The same is true for most freelancers I know, and that fact is a testament to just how many great freelance writers there are out there, and how hard they are hustling to get those jobs.  

So, you have your shiny and diverse portfolio prepared, you’ve found an ad for a perfect gig, and you are, of course, an expert writer. How do beat out 500 other expert freelance writers who also have a spectacular portfolio and are at this moment furiously typing up proposal letters for the exact same ad you are salivating over?

Stand Out From the Crowd – Read the advertisement. Think you are perfect for the job? Opening your email? Typing? Stop right there! Now read the ad again. Slowly.  Jot down some notes on just why you should be the person to write marketing collateral for an international ice cream manufacturer. And don’t be afraid to dig deep. Have you written similar copy for other ice cream manufacturers? Did you work in an ice cream shop in high school? Do you just love ice cream?  Though experience and a portfolio similar to what the client is looking for will always be a major deciding factor, anything you can bring up that sets you apart from  those other 500 writers has already made you stand out from the crowd.

The Devil is in the Details – We’ve all written it. Maybe we were in a hurry, or we did not know much about the job. Perhaps the job is with a stuffy finance company and we wanted to sound like we would toe the line like good little vendors.

Dear Sir or Madam,

Blah blah, blah…. I think my five years of experience writing web copy would make me perfect for the position you posted on Craig’s List…. Blah blah blah.

We’re professional writers! There is no excuse for such a vague and forgettable sentence, not to mention a whole letter stuffed with bland platitudes like this. You’ve already read the ad thoroughly; now include the details that would make you perfect for the job. You don’t just have five years writing web copy, you have five years writing web copy for a Fortune 50 company. Then, unless they did not ask for it, include a link or sample of what you wrote.  Take the ice cream marketing job above. Maybe everybody wrote in and proclaimed their favorite flavor. But only you have written copy in the food industry before.  That detail could mean the difference between starting a job next week and consoling yourself with a pint of Cherry Garcia.

Follow Directions – If the ad asks for samples pasted directly into the body of the email, that means you.  If they ask for samples of sales letters you have written, don’t send technical writing and hope for the best. If they only want submissions via snail mail, invest in a book of stamps.  You are trying to woo the job poster here. Not following her directions is the equivalent of bringing a date a bouquet of flowers to which he or she is deathly allergic. In both cases, you’ll probably never hear from them again.

Include a Link to Your Website or Blog – Though this is technically another way to stand out from the crowd, it warrants its own mention simply because of the number of times I’ve received compliments from clients on my site. Adding a link to a site or blog personalizes you. No longer are you the ad respondent who wrote some intriguing words about all her years writing about ice cream, now you are the ad respondent with the experience and the fancy website.

Don’t Overshare –You might want the job so much that you advertise yourself as the veritable Wal-Mart of freelance writers – you can get it done tomorrow and for half as cheap as all your competitors. There are very few cases in which you should give explicit details about deadlines and, to a lesser extent, pricing. The proposal is an introduction. Just like you wouldn’t meet someone and immediately invite yourself over to their house for tapas, neither should you jump the gun on negotiations. There will be time once you are in the door to negotiate a deadline and final payment terms. Also, most clients do not post all the details of the job on the ad, making it impossible to determine pricing and deadlines without further conversation.

Now there is a caveat on this one: if the client asks for pricing and a deadline, by all means, give it to them.  But keep in mind that serious clients want the right writer, not the cheapest writer, so expressing your qualifications and standing out will always be more important than undercutting the competitors.

Wrap it Up – Just because those other 500 writers couldn’t possibly be as awesome as you are doesn’t mean that the client is not going to consider their applications, too. Respect their time and refrain from writing a 1,000 word treatise on why that time you dressed up as an ice cream cone for Halloween makes you the ice cream marketing collateral master.  Keep it short, sweet, and to the point. …Kind of like an ice cream cone.

By no means is this meant to be a comprehensive overview of how to write a great proposal letter, but I do hope it helps those up and coming freelance writers out there stand out from the crowd.  Remember, being in business for yourself is not as easy as having a 9 to 5 job, but it can also be infinitely more rewarding. You are doing this because you are a good writer and you have something to offer. Now go out there and win some gigs! 

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21. December 2008 by Jennifer Dunn Saunders.

It’s that time of year again. The end of the semester. Finals and paper deadlines are sneaking up on you. So is the panicky realization that failing to study or go to class may not translate into the grade you are looking for.  And now, instead of sucking up bad behavior and cramming all that knowledge into your head in a few all night study sessions, you turn to the internet in hopes that there’s an expert on the Spanish American War, or Chekov’s short stories, or writing a business plan who just happens to be waiting to share that expertise with you in exchange for your (or, likely, your parents’) hard-earned shekels.  Knowledge, mind you, which she did manage to go to class and learn.

Why We Won’t Do It

First, shame on you. You are cheating. Your college degree? If you do manage to make it to the big stage, you might as well snatch it out of its attractive frame and tear it up, because you did not earn it. What is a college degree without a record that you actually sat in a class and learned something? When a future employer sees the GPA on your resume, she has a reasonable right to expect that you know the material you purported to study. Put yourself in the place of the losing candidate who did not cheat but ended up with less than your spectacular GPA or degree?  How would you like to be that poor guy that got beaten out by a cheat? May there be a thumbtack in your chair when you sit down on your first day on the job.

I know it might not seem like it now, but learning really is its own reward. I admit I was tempted to skip American Philosophy more than once, but I stuck it out. I also got a B, and that hurt my GPA. But when I look back on my college career I can be proud of learning the material in each and every class without relying on anyone else to do my work for me.

None of this getting through? Then how about listening to a little plain old common sense?

Why it Doesn’t Even Make Sense to Ask

• Like Snowflakes, No Two Writers are Alike – Remember those essay questions you muddled your way through on the midterm? Your professor read those. And unless Jupiter aligns with Neptune, chances are my writing style is going to sound nothing like yours.  Your professor likely has a Ph.D. for pete’s sake. She’s going to notice.
• Neither Are Any Two Classes – Have you ever taken a two part class with different professors? Did you notice that each professor had his own style, preferences and opinions? They are going to want to see these preferences and opinions reflected in your paper.  Academics may seem like dotty old pipe-smokers, but that’s a façade. They disagree. On everything.  Have you ever read a peer review of an academic article? They make the worst YouTube internet flame look like a birthday party invitation. (This is why I can tell you with a certainty to never sit two anthropologists together at your Christmas dinner. Trust me on this one.)

In short, your professor is going to want a paper in a certain style, with certain preferences, predicated on certain theories. The freelancer you hire the night before the paper was due did not take your class. Something’s going to look fishy.

I hope this has explained why a freelance writer with a social conscience will not write your 5-10 page paper on the depiction of migrant works in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.  Now stop asking.

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