As you’ll know if you read my previous blog post, I was fortunate enough to receive a Kindle for Christmas. This has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of writing for this particular channel. It has also made me think seriously about re-issuing a couple of my previous eBooks for the Kindle platform.

Interestingly enough I have also been hired to write a report for the Kindle market by a client this week. This feels like a great start to the New Year as I can learn as I earn! It’s one of the best perks to being a writer.

I must admit I am still at the learning and planning stage when it comes to publishing my own work on the Kindle. However I don’t think it will be too long before I get going in that respect – we started the New Year in our house with a roof leak (into the office for maximum disruption, wouldn’t you just know it). To cut a long story short we have to get a new roof, and although it isn’t as pricey as it might have been, it’s still motivated me to get some more income streams up and running.

This is what I think of as turning a negative into a positive! No one wants to have to foot the bill for a new roof, but we need one and at least we’re in a job where we can come up with fresh ideas to bring more cash in. It’s definitely not the same as being employed by someone else. Hmm, maybe I can offer to do some free writing for the company doing the roof, to knock some cash off the bill..?

It’s quite strange really because I started the year feeling really positive about my writing, focusing on making inroads into the Kindle market. And just five days in I’ve had good reason to feel determined to get that goal of selling the first few Kindle eBooks firmly under my belt as soon as possible.

The moral of the story is that you never know what’s around the corner (or what’s happening above your head for that matter) but you can always take something positive away from it. And here’s an intriguing footnote for you – once I realised we needed to pay for a new roof I immediately thought I would drum up some extra work to help pay for it. But before I could even think of doing it, I had three new jobs come in during the space of a single hour! One of them is actually an old client who has come back into the business and now has lots of jobs from other people to send my way.

Fortuitous timing, don’t you think? Has this happened to you as well? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

You know how sometimes you get a mental picture of something, only to find afterwards that you had your facts wrong? I’ve had just that kind of thing happen to me this week.

I live in the UK so it’s around that time when you need to think about getting your accounts in order in time to send to your accountant (assuming you have one). We have to send in our tax return in time to pay the first lot of tax by the end of January, and even though we have good intentions to do so before now, it generally doesn’t happen until October/November time. We’re still in plenty of time but there you go. Not only do we have to account for my writing income, my partner and I also have an eBay business so we’ve got that to account for too.

Anyway, I had it in my mind that the tax year running from 2010/11 wasn’t as good as the one before as far as my writing was concerned (or even eBay for that matter). It just didn’t seem to be as profitable but I was glad that at least we were in a good position being self employed; it’s not like we have to go into work every day wondering if we still had a job. We worked hard to get to where we are now and luckily (if you can call it that, if luck equals hard work) we now have enough income earning tools in our arsenal to bring in money from several different sources.

But still I felt like I hadn’t pushed forward as much as I could and perhaps should have done with my writing over that particular tax year. We get a pretty good idea of our earnings each month because we keep records as we go along. We just have to get everything ready for the accountant to see and work with to fill in our tax returns. But it hadn’t seemed like as good a year as the one before.

That’s probably why I was surprised to find I had actually done about the same as the year before. Imagine that – there I was worrying I hadn’t done as well and what would happen next year if I carried on the same way and there was nothing to be concerned about at all.

Of course a lot of professional writers find themselves earning consistently more every single year they are in the business. That’s good – it means they are keeping up with the cost of living. God knows we all need to find ways of doing that at the moment. But it has also refocused my attentions for the year ahead.

Here in the UK our tax year goes from April through to March of the next year. Normally people start on 6^th April (weird I know) and run through to 5^th April the following year. But I don’t tend to focus on my writing goals according to the tax year. I do it like most other sane people do, by going from 1^st January to 31^st December. And suddenly I find myself with ten months of the year gone and just two months to go. Now I have the information about earnings for the last year, it’s caused me to sit back and look at my writing business and income and to consider where I might head next.

Like many writers who have been ‘at it’ for a while, working for clients, I am now devoting some of my time to my own goals. Hopefully these will flesh themselves out to stand in for some of my writing income next year. If 20% to 30% of next year’s income is from my own websites, through Adsense income, affiliate income and so on, I’ll be happy.

It’s plain to see then that the history of your writing income is really important for so many reasons. Of course you need to have that history in order to pay your taxes, whatever country you happen to live in. But it is also important for you to look back on, so you can see where you have been, how well you have done and where you might possibly go next.

If you haven’t checked on your writing income lately, maybe now would be a good time to do so. I guarantee you’ll learn something from it.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Well it’s about time I updated my blog to let you all know where I’ve been and what I have been doing for the past I-don’t-know-how-long. There have been some very good reasons why I haven’t updated my blog, although I will admit I could have (and should have) been updating it at least sporadically.

Firstly and most importantly my eldest niece has been rather poorly for the last six months, involving numerous hospital trips, an extended stay in Great Ormond Street Hospital and much more besides. Thankfully we are getting to the stage where we now have a diagnosis but she has another three week stay coming up. This means I will be in full auntie mode helping to kidsit the other two kids so my sister can stay with my eldest niece for the three weeks.

Obviously this has all meant fitting my writing work in around everything that has been going on, and it looks very likely to continue this way for the rest of the year at least. Added to all that, we managed to get a well earned break for the last week, so I am now sitting at my computer for the first time in around ten days.

But that’s not all…

Personal writing efforts vs client work

I think this is an area where we all struggle from time to time. Client work is great because it gives us writers the chance to earn virtually instant money. You win a job, complete it and get paid. You might even get a certain amount of the cash up front too.

But this isn’t how it works when it comes to writing for your own ends. As you may know, my partner and me also run a PLR store. This is gradually making more sales and it is something I need to devote more time to in order to populate it with more content. More content equals more sales, so I need to find time in my daily schedule to get this done.

Furthermore we have plans to launch some more blogs and I also have one e-book virtually written (about writing – more details when they become available) with more ideas to focus on as well. Add to that the fact that I want to install a new theme and appearance for this blog and you can see that it’s been pretty busy around here!

All of this means that I’ve had a serious rethink about the balance of client work and personal work that I have been doing. It’s all too easy to accept lots of client work because you know you’ll get paid for it nice and quickly (for the most part). But your personal efforts take a little more faith to get them going. You might have to sit and write articles, e-books or something else you have in mind to sell, and you know you have no idea whether you will ever sell any of them. But at the same time you know you are creating a potential stream of income for the future. You might end up selling lots of copies of a particular e-book you write, giving you the chance to keep on earning from it in several months and even years from now. You certainly wouldn’t get that from any client work.

So as I am returning to work after our break, I am going to focus on setting a timetable for my daily work. I will be working 9am until 6pm most days (this is the plan to start with – it may change), and since I get up between 7-7.30am most mornings it gives me time to go for my morning walk, grab breakfast and start writing for myself first. I can then fit in some more work for me before I finish for the day, between six and half past. Gradually the plan is that I will do less client work and more for our own PLR business and so on, although I do think I will always do a degree of client work, just to keep my hand in.

What plans do you have for your writing career?

I think it helps to evaluate your writing career every now and then, otherwise you are in danger of becoming stagnant and not doing anything you really want to do. Yes you can earn a lot of money as a ghostwriter, but you can arguably earn more by writing for yourself, whether that means setting up a PLR store, writing e-books or even creating courses. There are all kinds of ways you can use your writing skills to develop other aspects to your career and business. I’ve certainly discovered that I have probably been selling myself short in focusing on client work and little else.

Since it is now the middle of October, it is the perfect time to consider whether you are progressing in the way you really want to with your writing career. Think back to a year ago and ask yourself whether you are where you wanted to be twelve months ago. Have you achieved much in that time? Have you progressed in the way you wanted to? Is there anything you would like to achieve that you haven’t yet got around to?

We also run an eBay business and consequently this is heading into the busiest time of the year. But even though we will be knee deep in toys, gifts and gadgets to post out to people all over the world, I shall still be planning the future direction of my writing business. I can still take some time to evaluate where I am now and where I want to go in the future. The plan is to start factoring in more writing for myself next year, although things are kicking off now as well.

The point is that you can always find time to slot in your own work – work that can still earn you money in six months and more from now as well as today.

Where’s the new blog design?

Yes I know, I promised this a while back didn’t I? Well it IS still coming – I’ve been undecided on which design to go for, then I found a theme I liked and lost it so I’ve had to start the search again!

Anyway the new design probably won’t come into play now until early next year. It should be more professional, easier to navigate and the blog sections shall be easier to pick your way through as well. All in all it should be a big improvement and it means the blog will be growing into its next stage of life.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for things you’d like to see as part of the new design, do let me know. I can’t promise they will be included but feedback from my readers is always welcome!

What does this mean for you?

All this planning will have a knock on effect for you as well. You should start to see more blog posts in the coming weeks, as well as new sections to the blog and more to get your teeth into. I may also start a newsletter, but this is not definite as yet. I’ll let you know more as and when it happens. Again, if there is anything in particular you’d like from a newsletter do let me know. This blog is always intended to be a help to those who are already writers as well as those who are thinking of writing for the first time.

I think that’s covered everything and got us all up to date for the moment. I will be back soon with more posts so do keep reading, commenting and staying in touch.

And of course, feel free to share how your own writing career is developing!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

It’s been a strange old week really as far as my freelance writing career is concerned. I have been writing a travel blog for one client for around fifteen months now, and the last day in February will be the last day I will be writing it for them. For a while anyway – they have some changes in the pipeline which mean they won’t need the blog posts for a bit.

But in the same week I have been asked to do another daily blog for an existing client. So one blogging job has replaced the other, without my having any real say in it! This is just the kind of bizarre thing that tends to happen in my freelance writing career. It will no doubt happen in yours too, if you decide to go down this route.

Do you feel as if you are in total control of your freelance writing career?

Don’t worry if you don’t – I think it’s quite normal not to, at least at first. I remember when I first went full time I felt nervous if I had a day that was even halfway approaching quiet. Anything less than full throttle felt like danger times were coming, where not much money would be coming in.

After a while I began to learn that a full time freelance writing career was not necessarily a steady stream of work.

Instead it was peaks and troughs (although thankfully very few troughs, not any that have been very deep anyway!). If I could check my calendar and see a quiet few days ahead, I would immediately start looking for work to fill up the gaps.

This is not a bad thing to do, since it does bring in more work. My freelance writing career has revealed that every single effort to find more clients has met with success. If I applied for a dozen jobs, say, I would normally get one. It’s the ‘throw enough mud and some will stick’ tactic and it does work.

But now I don’t always go out and find more clients whenever things get even slightly quieter. Instead I take the opportunity to work on some of my own freelance writing career goals. I write for this blog. I tweak my Squidoo and Hubpages content to bring in more visitors and earnings on those sites. I might even do some promotion for my blog or website, depending on what my needs are at any one time.

The point is that a freelance writing career can be composed of many different things.

Some weeks will be fairly regular with regular clients and regular jobs left, right and centre. Other weeks will be marked by a job ending, and perhaps a new one beginning. Still more weeks will afford you more time to write for yourself – developing your own blog and looking for ways in which your own content will bring you in some cash. Think affiliate marketing and you will get the idea, I’m sure.

My freelance writing career has changed a lot in the three years since I first went full time. But those changes have been small ones on the whole. I have developed skills I never knew I would need in the first place. I am more selective with my clients now. In the past I would take on more than I do now, simply because I was frightened about the ‘feast or famine’ feeling some writers get. Grab it while you can, that was my motto.

But now I feel differently. I am confident enough in my freelance writing career and in the marketplace I work in to know that jobs will come, jobs will go and clients will sometimes change as well. But there will always be work there and I can afford to pick the things I really want to do, rather than writing things I don’t really like.

Are you scared of changes in your freelance writing career?

Don’t be – they come naturally. And in my experience, every single time a job has ended, a new one has been just around the corner. You will probably find this to be true in your own freelance writing career as well.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

I’m not sure mine was – at least not until last week. There are so many computer keyboards out there that it is nothing short of confusing to start shopping for a new one. But as someone who writes for a living and tends to rub some of the letters off the keyboard on a fairly regular basis, it was definitely time for a new one.

But there was another reason for investing in something different too.

You see, I suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome. Yes, when you become a successful writer it seems like you automatically become more prone to getting problems with your hands. I’m pretty good in that I wear stiff hand straps when I go to bed at night; it stops you bending your wrists and gives them seven or eight hours to rest. They definitely help.

But I decided to finally bite the bullet and go for a new ergonomic keyboard. After much deliberating (about three week’s worth in all) I settled on the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000. I will admit to being a bit sceptical to begin with, but I have been really impressed with it thus far – especially considering that today is only my third day of using it.

For starters the ergonomic keyboard is only slightly curved, rather than being really severely curved like some others I’ve seen. I tried one a couple of years ago that was shaped a bit like a pyramid. Imagine one of the angled edges facing towards you, with one side of the pyramid facing away on each side. That keyboard was split so that one half was on each of those two aforementioned sides. If it sounds hard to describe it was even harder to type on! I felt as if I needed brain surgery in order to be able to use it. There was definitely a split brain thing going on and I couldn’t persevere with it long enough to make it work.

So does the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 rank any better?

In a word (or perhaps three), yes, yes and yes.

The Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000

This is a beautiful ergonomic keyboard and I am still amazed at how cheap the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 is, especially when you compare it to various other ones on the market today. It’s reasonably basic but that suits me just fine; I get confused if I have too many buttons to play with!

With that said though, the keyboard has a web/home button, a search button and a mail button so you may find those useful. If that’s not enough and you love playing videos online (all in the name of research for your latest writing project of course) you’ll appreciate the play and pause button and volume controls. These are located just to the left of the buttons mentioned previously.

But is the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 good for your carpal tunnel and aching hands?

Well it’s early days for me but so far the signs are good. After a couple of reasonably long days typing I am finding it pretty easy to use and my hands seem to be faring better as well. The gradual curve on the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 may be too gradual for some, but for me it’s just right. It’s angled perfectly to ensure your wrists don’t bend at an odd angle, but it doesn’t feel strange to type on either.

You’ll probably make a few typing errors as you adjust to the angle but for me they were quite minimal and they didn’t last long. That’s part of what held me back from getting an ergonomic keyboard sooner – I felt like I had to wait for a slow patch in my work to have the time to make all the mistakes I’d make while starting to use it. It’s good too because I also use a laptop which obviously has a traditional flat keyboard so I need to be able to switch between them without having to relearn typing all the time.

So for me, here are the main benefits of the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000:

• Gradual curve instead of something more severe

• Great if you are not a touch typist (but equally good if you are)

• Spill channel inside the keyboard apparently makes it spill proof (or at least able to cope with it when you do get clumsy – at my desk that’s quite often)

• Use it flat or use the feet at the back to create more of an angle from front to back (after a few tries both ways I opted to forego the feet – it seems to keep my wrists at a more natural angle)

• It has the essential calculator button right above the number pad on the right hand side (on my old keyboard the calculator button was about as far from the number keys as it’s possible to get, strangely enough)

So if your hands are aching because you love your writing so much, think about getting an ergonomic keyboard. It makes more difference than you think it will, and I would definitely recommend the Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000, along with many other happy users, judging by all the reviews I’ve read!

UPDATE: Just two weeks after starting to use this keyboard I have noticed a marked improvement in my hands. I haven’t had anywhere near as much discomfort or pain as I had before, so I’m glad I’ve got it! I have also gone on to write a new Hub about my experience with these keyboards. You can read it by going to Ergonomic Keyboards – Why I’m a Big Fan.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Most online writers are looking for ways of earning more money from their writing, but they don’t all think in terms of multiple income streams. I certainly didn’t when I first started to write, but things have changed now. I still have some way to go to create the type of income streams I would really like to have, but I am certainly enjoying the journey.

So what kinds of multiple income streams are we talking about?

Well, there are three main ways that most writers will know about when it comes to earning money from their writing. You can:

a)   Write for clients and earn a flat fee for each piece of work you complete

b)   Write for websites that allow you to earn smaller ongoing sums of money according to how many visitors each article gets

c)   Do a combination of the two

Now most people will recognise these two methods and in fact there has been many a discussion online as to which method is best. I have tried both and I think I will always prefer the idea of working for a flat fee for clients. I have tried the other method though and most recently I have been earning some Adsense income from articles I have on Hubpages. I can earn a small amount that is steadily growing – even when I don’t add any new articles to the site.

But that’s a different story for another blog post. As far as income streams are concerned, I also have other sources of income that I am building up. For example I get a few commissions and sums of money as a result of having this blog. Some will be from Adsense ads I have added to my blog feed, while others come as a result of sales and commissions made by sending people to other websites. This is something a lot of writers do to help bring in multiple income streams; they monetise their blog in some way.

So what could YOU do to start bringing in multiple income streams?

Multiple income streams could lead to a higher overall income for you

Well if you don’t already have a blog, start one up. Not only can you monetise it, you can also get new clients the same way. I also earn a bit of cash each month by writing articles and creating web pages on Squidoo. I have also found a couple of ongoing clients through that site, so it might pay dividends for you in more than one way. I didn’t overtly advertise my writing services on the site either – I merely stated I was a full time freelance writer and created good solid pages for people to read. The rest took care of itself!

Affiliate marketing is another popular way for writers to earn different income streams. When you think about it, we writers are incredibly lucky to have such a skill. We can blog, we can write articles and we can create simple sites with the help of WordPress in order to gain attention, sell affiliate products and find clients. You just have to learn what to look for and where to start building up some different income streams.

So if writing is a bit quiet for you at the moment, don’t panic – build income streams instead!

Use the time to come up with some more ideas for income streams you can build up for the future – you’ll be well rewarded for it in the months to come.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Is it really worthwhile to write what you know?

Many writers who have been around for a while will remember being taught to “write what you know” when they first started. But is this really such great advice to stick to for the whole of your writing career?

Can the ‘write what you know’ rule actually harm your writing career?

It can if you’re not careful. I have been writing since around 1990 now, and if I had stuck to writing what I know about I would still be writing about cats, working from home and little else!

I do still write about these subjects of course, as this web page on interactive cat toys will show you. But my point is that if I had stick to these subjects and not broadened my horizons at any point, I wouldn’t have been able to build a full time career around my writing.

‘Write what you know’ can be a strait jacket as well as a help up on the ladder.

Do you write about what you know - or are you branching out?

I have to say I’m glad I started out on my writing career by following the old ‘write what you know’ rule.

If I hadn’t I probably would have found it harder to get published. My first clip all those years ago – a paid clip too – was in a cat magazine, so it obviously worked in one way or another.

But gradually I started branching out into other subjects and topics. Once I started writing for online markets the ‘write what you know’ rule was firmly left behind and I had the confidence to write about plenty more subjects.

I don’t tackle everything because some topics are just not for me. That’s fine – you don’t have to write about everything.

But the ‘write what you know’ rule is a good leg up in the beginning, certainly. Just be sure you don’t rely on it for too long; you should start looking at branching out as well if you want to write for as many different clients as possible. This is about as far from ‘write what you know’ as you can get.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Advice, blogs, courses and resources for freelance writers

This is the theme of my latest Squidoo lens for freelance writers. It’s only just been published but it already has a good deal of content on there which may prove helpful to you.

It’s called advice, blogs, courses and resources for writers, and I am aiming to keep on expanding it as time goes on. There is no limit to the bounds of the lens (that’s what all Squidoo web pages are called, by the way!), so if you have any ideas or resources for freelance writers that you would like to share, please do so on this blog. I’ll add them to the lens.

What kind of information do freelance writers need the most?

I think it depends on the type of writing you are involved with. For instance novelists will have very different needs and wants to article writers. It all depends on what you want to achieve.

This is why I need your help to provide excellent quality links on the Squidoo lens. I want every writer to feel they’ve got something out of it. Freelance writers could be poets, novelists, screenwriters, SEO writers, you name it – there are dozens of possibilities.

Share your favorite freelance writers sites now!

It will help us all find better websites and resources to use during our daily lives. We may work alone but there’s nothing to stop freelance writers coming together and helping each other out now and then, is there?

Thanks in advance for your help – on behalf of little old me, just one of the thousands of freelance writers out there today!

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

Freelance writing online is an amazing profession.  Okay I know I might be a teensy bit biased because this is what I do for a living.  The most amazing thing about it is that I have always wanted to be a writer.  But I thought that once I actually started doing freelance writing online – and had been doing it for a while – I’d probably get bored or the shine would wear off a bit.

It didn’t – freelance writing online is just as good as ever

Can freelance writing online be boring sometimes too?

However with that said, I know there have been days (few and far between maybe, but they are still there) when freelance writing online has not been the #1 thing I have wanted to do.

The first time I got bored with freelance writing online, I panicked.  Had I actually chosen the wrong career after years and years of yearning for it?

Of course the answer was no.  But I did learn something valuable after the initial panic from that first experience ebbed away.

I learned that freelance writing online can have its dull days, just as any job can.  You can certainly do things to limit that boredom, i.e. you can make sure you only take jobs that you will really enjoy.  If you hate gardening and you take a job to write 20 articles on the subject, you are going to be bored silly by the end of it.

You have total control over your freelance writing online career

Remember that.  For me, the feeling of being out of control is most likely to occur in the first few months after starting a freelance writing online career full time.  As time goes by – I’ve been doing this full time for two and a half years or so now – that feeling dissipates.

In short, if you are starting to feel bored with freelance writing online, take some time out to analyse the reasons why.  The chances are you are just going through a minor slump.  Once you’ve ironed it out you can get back to freelance writing online and enjoying it as much as you do normally.

Taking a different direction with freelance writing online

If the feeling persists, you could try taking a different tack altogether.  Stop writing articles and go for blog posts instead.  Change your client base if you must.  Take a few minor steps and make a few minor changes, and see where it gets you.

You will probably find you don’t need to do this though.  I find a half day spent doing something else entirely – or even taking a couple of extra days off if I can – solves the problem when I feel bored or below par.  This usually means freelance writing online becomes more vibrant and entertaining again.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time

In fact, are Google Alerts useful at all?  Answer – yes they are extremely useful, particularly when you have a regular online writing gig and you constantly need fresh ideas for articles.

Getting prepared to use Google Alerts

Some alerts are more useful than others - such as Google Alerts for example! (photo credit garwee at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/garwee)

I set up a dedicated email address this week to handle plenty of different Google Alerts I have set up.  In case you don’t know, you can request Google Alerts for a specific search term you are looking for.  This is a facility that is currently in beta mode, but if you love it half as much as I do you’ll be using it constantly within minutes of trying it for the first time.

More about using Google Alerts

I first started using it as a one off several months ago, when I started looking for anything related to online writing.  I have since discovered it is fantastic for setting ideas off in your head when you need some inspiration on regular writing topics.

An example of Google Alerts created for a specific purpose

Let’s say for example that I wrote a regular monthly article on widgets.  All I have to do is to go to Google Alerts, set up a regular alert for the word ‘widgets’ and wait for an email to arrive.  I don’t always get any inspiration from it, but quite often a news item will pop up that immediately sparks off an idea.

For my money this is a great new asset from Google that I personally will be making a lot of use of.  Will you find it just as good, or do you have other ideas when it comes to seeking news and inspiration?  I can’t see a time when I won’t be using Google Alerts for inspiration, along with various other methods as well.

My Online Freelance Writing Career - ... earning a living one word at a time