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Some of my favourite articles that we’ve featured on Fuel Your Writing have been our Writing Spaces posts. I think looking into the rooms and buildings where famous people have lived and their enduring works were created is fascinating, so it was a pleasure to see the Art of Manliness blog feature an incredible collection of such spaces this week.

There’s loads of absolutely stunning pictures in the full article but this one above is my favourite. A great man in a simple room at an unassuming, workman-like desk, working hard.

The Space To Do What You Need To Do

All of the examples in the article showcase something that I think is at the crux of the matter when it comes to having your own writing space – you need to create an environment around you which makes it possible for you to work.

The work might be different (writing a novel, running a business, studying for exams, copywriting, researching a project) and the environment might be different. Your space around you could be a anything from a huge library to a tiny shed. But as long as it’s yours, and is filled with the things that both inspire you and make it possible to work.

Please click through and read the full article at Art of Manliness, the pictures are wonderful and there are some great pieces of information regarding the spaces’ famous inhabitants.

Some amazing works and influential words were written in these spaces. What will be created in your space?

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Please share your thoughts in the comments below, and send us some pictures of your own writing spaces!

Image courtesy of Art of Manliness.

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Movies have trailers. TV shows have trailers. Video games have trailers. And they all work.

But book trailers? They’re terrible. Utterly terrible.

Lost in Translation

A movie/game/TV trailer is the perfect synergy of product and advert. It’s a visual representation of a visual medium.

A book trailer is a translation: a representation of one form of media (words) by another (visuals/audio). And as when anything is translated – page to stage, stage to screen, French to English, something is lost in that translation. Some emotional component, some nuance to the message.

Have you ever heard a TV or movie trailer on the radio? If so you’ll know what I mean. It’s very hard to convey how good something is when the audience can’t experience fully what it is you’re selling. Book trailers are the wrong type of advert for the product.

Interacting with the Box

Now that books are a part of the digital media fixture it should be the case that that problem is fixed, and that book trailers would be better; that through hyperlinks and hypertext embedded in trailers online you can connect with readers, taking them to a place where you can get a sample for your e-reader or an interview with the author, or exclusive content. But this just isn’t happening on any grand scale. Let’s take Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 as an example:

Now, all that trailer tells me is that Haruki Murakami has a new book out, that it’s called 1Q84, has two characters in it called Tengo and Aomame, and that things are not what they seem. That’s fine, but I can get that same information from a billboard or an ad in the newspaper – something I don’t have to go out of my way to click on. It’s just like every other book trailer – it’s just a box that, unlike the book, you can’t interact with or get emotionally involved.

You’re just watching, and you don’t watch a book. You take part in it.

Frankly, asking for something like a hyperlink in a book trailer is asking the bare minimum. That’s stuff that should have been happening five years ago. As the e-reader/tablet market has boomed the word has become another thing to prod with our fingers. Perhaps then the book trailer is obsolete. Telling a potential reader about a book in a 30 second moving picture show just won’t cut it. You need to create something someone can react to with a tap of the finger and/or something that will draw people in and want to find out more about your book. You need to create the itch.

The Itch

The purpose of an advert of any kind for any product is to connect with you. It’s to soothe an itch you didn’t know you even had. But rather than a connection there’s a weird fracture between a book trailer and it’s book. A book trailer always feels like a shadow of the work, rather than a representation. I think that’s because a book is a very personal experience, more so than any other medium of entertainment.

You and a book have a symbiotic relationship. You allow a book to sit in your mind, feeding it your imagination and being entertained by the results. You get out as much as you put in, and what you put in is your experience of the the world: all the accents you’ve heard, all the lips you’ve kissed, all the fear that’s slithered through you. Books are the ultimate interactive medium, so shouldn’t their trailers try to emulate that interactivity?

None so far have. They can only tell you what the book’s about, and maybe throw in a few adjectives for good measure – “Exhilarating!” “Moving!” “Hilarious!” – and the result is something like the 1Q84 trailer. Something that feels like a (well-made) Powerpoint sales pitch rather than something that’s trying to connect with you. There’s just no itch.

It’s all about You…

I wish I could think of a way to make book trailers better, or to find a replacement for them. I’m sure there’s a replacement/evolution, but I’m not an ad exec so I don’t know what shape that replacement would take. All I do know is that using a book trailer to notify people just that a book exists is unforgivably wasteful.

Books are about emotion, they’re about journeys; they’re the companion on the commute and the nightstand; they’re the conversation you share with a friend when you’ve both finished the final chapter. In short, Books are about YOU. What YOU get out of them. And the sooner book trailers understand the need for interactivity, and find a way to communicate it using the tools at hand, the sooner we won’t have to wince while watching them.

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Do you agree? Does watching book trailers grab your interest and get you excited for the book? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Adam Rose.

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Do you think of yourself as a “writer”? An “author”? Or an “entrepreneur”?

Chances are that you’ve never referred to yourself as the latter. But perhaps now is the time to start acting like one.

Listen to Brian Clark

Brian Clark should be familiar to you. He is the founder of Copyblogger, one of the most respected writing advice sites on the Internet. But what sets Brian and Copyblogger Media (the company he created from the Copyblogger blog) apart is that they go beyond merely writing, to focus on effective content creation, marketing and good business practices.

Marketing yourself properly is incredibly important for a writer. Creating a brand, an audience, seeking out opportunities – these are the types of things that an enterpreneur does day-in, day-out to build a successful business.

It’s time you did that too.

Turning Writers into Entrepeneurs

I’ve been trying to convert writers into entrepreneurs for 6 years now, and now you might not be able to resist.

Last week, Brian launched Entreproducer, a multimedia email newsletter that will focus on the business of independent new media content, and why every smart startup is a digital media company.

His first article focuses on writers. Writers like you. In it, he examines the opportunities in ebooks, and argues why you should treat your book as a startup.

One way or another, you need to build an audience. And the smart entrepreneurial approach for authors involves creating free online content to build that audience before you try to sell a book (or anything else).

In other words, become an Internet publishing entrepreneur. Your first book is simply your first product, no matter the level of artistry you put into it, and your biggest asset is your audience.

Take Your Business Seriously

I think this last comment is key, and it definitely got me thinking. When an author begins to think like a business, then you realise the importance of taking the business of writing seriously. Of course, great content is paramount. But you need an audience, you need a market, you need people to care. On top of that, when you begin to think of yourself as an entrepreneur, you begin to look beyond the book. Why not think about publishing? Or speaking tours? Get your audience, and go from there.

Entreproducer

I would encourage everyone to sign up for Brian’s Entreproducer newsletter. No, I’m not getting anything for saying that, I just think it’s awesome. But you will definitely get something if you sign up. You’ll learn to think about your work in a whole new way.

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Let’s face it. The copy on your company’s site, press releases, and any additional materials could be improved. Copy is the most under appreciated element of design and more specifically of a company’s design.

It’s about writing the company, not just building the company.

Jason Fried, the co-founder of 37signals, stated that he would like teach a class on writing. He said,

I don’t care about the topic. I care about the editing. I care about the constant refinement and compression.

Furthermore he said,

I believe editing is an essential skill that is often overlooked and under appreciated. The future belongs to the best editors. Each step requires asking “What’s really important?” That’s the most important question you can ask yourself about anything.

Did you know that 37signals started from a list of 37 thoughts related to web design and related topics?

Forming Sticky Values

It is essential to form a manifesto of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. These are your sticky values and they are “sticky” because they should always be there in your head when trying to write your company.

Your established values should be included in your materials available to the public as well as your employees. It’s crucially important that everyone is on the same page. I’m not pushing that a company should be a cult, but I am pushing for a great, unified experience to be achieved.

Writing down established values will only help the process of building a company. Once you have your values written down (thinking them is not enough) you can begin to incorporate those values in everything you do. It’s engrained. It’s written down. We’re writing the company.

Express Personality

People need to know that deep down your company would say the things you say. That the words are true, and that the company believes them completely. A company needs to have a personality and the only way to truly portray that in very deep, yet literal binding sense is for it to be done through writing.

Words are powerful. They have the opportunity to show emotion, relationships, and opinions.

If you lack personality it is more than likely the people behind the company lack originality, creativity, or any passion. Do you think that company will last or do you even want to be part of that type of company?

Unless, of course, if the company is going for a very dry, straightforward personality.

The important thing is that you’re writing the company. Expressing personality in a company or brand is crucial to consistency and believability.

Understanding the Environment

An environment is how the company is positioned in reference to their product or service.

How does one stand out but also be understood by the consumers interested in their product?

For example: Apple is filled with many highly skilled engineers but they speak in a very simple and understandable way to their audience.

You must think about the environment you are in and be ready to communicate in a way that is understandable to them. But, in doing so, keep in mind the personality you’ve built and the sticky values you’ve formed.

Last Words

Finally, this is why the idea of a blog was truly created and beneficial to companies. It was a way to express the words of what the company or brand was about. To this day blogs are used to address the continuous struggle for proper image of how the brand is viewed by the people as well as the people amongst the brand.

If you don’t have a blog you create copy on your site, through your press releases, other physical materials, or through the words of your employees. Apple does a good job of this, because they don’t have a blog. I mean do they really need a blog? You don’t need a blog if you can portray the writing of your company in your existing material.

Writing is under-appreciated. It has the power to build a strong company. We’re writing a company.

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Do you know any examples of a “well-written” company? Please share them, and your thoughts/feedback, in the comments below!

Images courtesy of andymangold and 37signals.

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Today’s post follows on from yesterday’s Writing Spaces article. Here Cynthia Morris looks closer at the individual spaces of the authors, and how they have found life as a writer in the City of Love.

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What about your writing space must you have?

Janet Skeslien Charles Absolute quiet at home or good coffee in a café. I love notebooks and pens. Le Thé des Ecrivains has lovely notebooks and my newest pen is part porcelain.

Bibliotheque Nationale

I’ve also been going to the Bibliothèque Nationale, right across the river from my apartment. You can’t check anything out of the BN, and a year pass in the research section is 60 euros. There are few distractions. At home, I can check my email, tidy up, make yet another cup of tea, or call a friend, but at the Library, I have to focus. I only stay for an hour to ninety minutes, but do get a lot of writing done in that time.

Heather Stimmler-Hall Sometimes I’ll take notes on the metro, but I can’t get any serious work done anywhere but my own desk on my computer. I like to have my music, my cup of hot tea, my Burt’s Bees chap stick, and my little doggies Pedro & Lena snoozing in their basket nearby.

Katy Masuga I grew up without much, sometimes not even a bed. So to define my needs in terms of, well, anything beyond being alive feels slightly disingenuous. I happen to live in a studio which is in a turret literally overlooking the Eiffel Tower. This round room is part of the intended apartment from Last Tango in Paris, though the interior shots in the film are elsewhere.

Cara Black A pencil. I like the French mechanical pencils. I’m always making notes. Ideas come to me as I walk. Using my laptop, I write at the kitchen table. I work at different times of the day.

I also listen to French music when I write to help me remember what I saw and felt while researching in Paris. When I started writing, my son was small. I had to grab writing time when I found it.

Mary Duncan I must have natural light. Maybe that’s because I come from Southern California. Sometimes I go to Café de la Mairie on rue St. Sulpice. I go upstairs there to read manuscripts or to write longhand. It’s quiet there and you see other writers and editors there.

What writing challenge have you had to overcome?

H S-H In my travel writing career the hardest challenge has been differentiating myself as a professional journalist among the growing sea of bloggers who write as a hobby. Pithy observations and witty commentary may be fun to write, but it’s not journalism. Good travel writing should be well written, accurate, and useful. That requires quite a bit of real work and fact checking in person, not just online. It’s the unglamorous side of travel writing, but it’s the most important, as well.

Other than that, there’s the age-old writing challenge of actually writing. I wrote my first professional news article 18 years ago, and it’s just as hard today as it was back then. But like Paris, the rewards of being a writer are worth the effort!

CB When writing a series, the challenge is to keep the stories fresh. How to keep my character’s motivations personal. Aimee has to evolve throughout the series and has to be familiar.

It’s really important to use sensory detail to bring the reader to Paris. Smell is easiest to write, and my challenge is I can write in too many scents. Touch is really important and also difficult to write.

JSC I haven’t overcome it yet: my second novel. A project dear to my heart that I have worked on for several years has just gone back into the drawer, and I am moving on rather than overcoming. There are no guarantees in writing or in life. Even with hard work and the best intentions, there are setbacks.

KM The question can obviously be taken many ways. I’m in the process of transitioning from publishing in academic writing to literary, and, although I don’t find the writing to be a challenge per se – I have always done both – , I am having to learn a whole new field in terms of publication.

MD It’s very easy for me to have too many irons in the fire. Then I don’t get any of them done. Also being able to block out the ‘other’. This is where discipline comes in.

What Paris myths have you found to be untrue?

MD People think they can come to Paris and write the Great American Novel. The myth is that city will give you the energy and environment to do it; the truth is you need to create that energy for yourself.

Gertrude Stein's Courtyard Entry

H S-H The idea that Parisians don’t like to work. I think every culture has its lazy contingent, and in Paris they get a lot of attention with their protest marches.

But the small business owners I meet daily in my work — hotel owners, restaurant workers, tour operators, and small boutique owners — are some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met. They’re too busy to go on strike, don’t expect government handouts, and aren’t planning on retiring at 60 years old.

JSC It is disappointing to hear people talk about how rude Parisians are, because for the most part, I find that people here are lovely.

KM Well, by definition all myths are untrue. As for Paris, I think that any city eventually becomes ‘real’, in the sense of gritty and bureaucratic, once you allow yourself to move beyond the surface of idealized images.

Anyone who makes the choice to live here learns that fact quite quickly and generally finds it annoying when casual visitors make the typical references to being enamored with a place that doesn’t exist but in their minds.

At the same time, expats are perhaps guilty of this mystification more than the rest. After all, it is precisely despite the ‘gritty and bureaucratic’ that we remain here and sustain our own image of the city as simultaneously beautiful and actual, imaginary and abrasive, comfortable and yet dreamily elusive.

What about your writing space?

Many thanks to these writers for contributing their time and sharing their experience. I loved doing these interviews because my work is devoted to helping people do their creative work. I’m fascinated about what circumstances provide the best environment for our work.

Answer these questions for yourself, for where you live and what’s vital for your writing process. You might be surprised at your answers! Please share them in a comment below.

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Images courtesy of Frits de Jong and Cynthia Morris

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Paris has long been a place where writers and artists sought political and creative refuge. Vladmir Nabakov, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce and Janet Flanner all moved to Paris hoping to thrive in a city that both inspires and challenges.

As a lifelong francophile, Paris has rooted in my own imagination as a place that offers more vitality. I’ve been fascinated by the city’s influence on the creative pioneer, and have spent hours in Paris researching for my novel.

Curious to see if the myth of Paris as a refuge for writers still sticks, I interviewed a handful of authors to see what the city of lights does for their writing.

Today we meet the authors, and I ask them the eternal question, “Why Paris?”. We also delve a little deeper into how Paris, like any other surrounding or Writer’s Space, inspires, influences and helps their writing.

The authors are :

Heather Stimmler-Hall leads private tours and publishes the popular web site Secrets of Paris. She’s the author of many Paris guidebooks including Naughty Paris and the recently published Naughty New York.

Janet Skeslien Charles is the author of Moonlight in Odessa and lives and writes in Paris.

Mary Duncan is the author of Henry Miller Is Under My Bed. Mary lives in Paris and founded the Paris Writers Group.

Cara Black is the author of the popular Aimee LeDuc detective series. Each book is set in a different neighborhood in Paris, such as Murder in the Marais.

Katy Masuga is a professor and author of the recently released books Henry Miller and How He Got That Way and The Secret Violence of Henry Miller.

Why Paris?

H S-H This is just where I ended up 16 years ago, more by chance than any grand scheme. I’ve been trying to make the best of it ever since, because even though it’s not the easiest place to live and work, it’s certainly the most rewarding, in my experience.

CB I’ve had a long love affair with France. My father was a Francophile and my household had a lot to do with France. When I first came here, I realized how much there is here. I’ll never get tired of it. I’ll never be French or totally understand this culture. I’d wanted to write for a long time but it wasn’t until I was passionate about something that I was able to write.

JSC Like many people, I moved here ‘for a year’ and just decided to stay…

KM It might be just as easy to say ‘because I studied French literature, in part, in graduate school’, but of course that simply postpones the question, creating a diversion toward another question. I wanted to explore what was unfamiliar. I wanted to become part of the world unknown to me through both space and time – namely, travel and study. I earned a PhD in Comparative Literature with a focus on early 20th century expatriate literature, specifically writers who came from abroad and lived in Paris, drawn in their own ways to finding that world of otherness in oneself.

MD Paris nourishes my soul. When I visited in the 80s, I said, someday I am going to live in Paris and write what I want (as opposed to writing as an academic). It takes a lot of gumption to move to a new place. I think it requires a lot of questioning about why you aren’t happy where you are.

How Does Paris Inspires Your Writing?

H S-H I’ve wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. But back in 7th grade when I was about 12 years old, my English teacher made it clear that writing wasn’t a “real” job, so I decided to become a journalist. When I arrived in Paris as a college student, I couldn’t help but notice how the French take writing — and writers — seriously. There’s a respect for the profession here that I never saw in the United States where every writer (except those who are already wildly successful like Stephen King) is dismissed with a “And what’s your day job?”

Even though I’m still more of a journalist than a novelist (I’m working on it!), I think the atmosphere here is much more conducive to a serious writing career than it was for me back in the States.

CB There are the big stereotypes. I don’t see that though. I write about what I see. Paris is still charming, outside of the stereotypes. I’m always discovering things, like the doll hospital down the street.

JSC I find it incredibly hard to concentrate on writing in Paris, there are so many wonderful distractions in the form of cafes, readings, work, life…

KM My view is extraordinary, and, once again, I am privileged with a feeling of paradoxical simultaneity: I am constantly thrust into the vibrant rush of the city, yet I remain in my own private space.

It’s a great writing space for me, because I have always felt that I should be out more in the world even though I prefer to be alone most of the time. This way, I have the pleasure of feeling like I’m among the crowds, when in fact I’m simply perched in my tower. I do like the quiet, but I also like the energy of the world moving around me.

MD Paris does feed your senses. But a lot of places have that. We have to feed ourselves. For me, a lot of what Paris gives me is the people. I started the Paris Writers’ Group, because I missed the writers’ group I was part of in San Diego.

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Tomorrow we continue our tour of Paris through the eyes of our writers, including the many myths (true or otherwise) about Paris as well as the challenges that living in a new, vibrant city can bring to your work. We also take a little bit of a closer look at the individual writing spaces of our authors, the little corners of Paris they have carved out and made their own.

Before tomorrow’s article, please share with us the cities and places that inspire you and your writing. If you’ve been to Paris, what did you think of it?

Images courtesy of Moyan Brenn and Cynthia Morris.

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Getting the most out of online networking can be tough. Today on Fuel Your Writing, Grace Myers helps us to do so, by outlining the process for creating a professional and engaging LinkedIn profile.

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LinkedIn can be an extremely powerful tool for showcasing your professional skills and accomplishments. You can connect with others, learn from those in your field and let your business shine in front of over 135 million members worldwide.

Unlike other social media platforms, LinkedIn users are all serious professionals looking to build relationships and grow their knowledge of industry trends. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn offers access to a specific demographic – those interested in professional networking.

Despite LinkedIn’s boundless capacities for marketing yourself and business, few of us ever tap into its full potential. Follow these simple steps to write a better LinkedIn profile, which will appeal more to other professionals, potential employers and clients.

Stage 1: Get Prepared

1. Research profiles of professionals in your field. Examine well-organized and effective profiles to gather ideas. Take a look at mine for an example of a simple profile.
2. Examine your skills from the perspective of a potential employer and/ or client. Include – and emphasize – your skills and accomplishments that employers want to know. Each section you write should answer the question, “why should I hire this person” or “why do I want to know this person” immediately.
3. Create an outline. One easy way to being your profile outline is to add your skills to the skills section, then write the positions you’ve held in chronological order. Take a close look at these two lists and determine three attributes or accomplishments that set you apart from others.
4. Fill in the details. LinkedIn allows you to add more specifics than a standard CV, so take advantage! Go into more depth about your accomplishments and projects that you’ve completed. Remember to always write from the perspective of a potential employer and client.

Stage 2: Build the Foundation

Now that you have a detailed outline, you can start filling out each of your profile’s sections.

Summary: First impressions matter. Make yours impactful by clearly describing your central skills and what you can offer them. Use an upbeat and highly professional tone to describe yourself in the first person. The goal of the summary’s writing is to clearly describe what you do while boldly illustrating your energy, confidence and enthusiasm for your work.

Experience: Simply listing your job titles along isn’t enough to create an impactful profile. Add lots of details about your current roles, achievements, leadership and projects. Similar to writing your CV, make sure to use active verbs and specific information whenever possible.

Past experience and education: When explaining your previous positions and education, use a similar writing style as the “experience” section. Include only three or four of your most important and pertinent accomplishments for each past position to prevent your profile from becoming too long.

Stage 3: Polish

Now that you’ve written the bulk of your profile, it’s time to polish the content so it stands out.

1. Keep writing concise. LinkedIn profiles can easily become cluttered and difficult to read because there is so much information. To keep things looking clean, keep sentences and points about 15 – 20 words long. Get rid of any unnecessary words to keep your content concise and powerful – and remember to write from the potential employer’s viewpoint.
   For example, change “My web design packages are of superior quality to change your business” to “Your website will drive growth after improvements with my superior web design packages.”
2. Keep layout clean. Visually separating the content is vital for improving your profile’s readability. However, this is very much a matter of personal preference. Experiment with adding spaces between points, moving sections around and using different symbols to separate key points.
3. Use LinkedIn tools to keep your profile looking sharp. LinkedIn offers several quick fixes to improve your profile’s look. Customize the names of your websites by choosing “other” in the drop-down menu. Customize your public URL to be easier to read and remember. Finally, instead of using simple bullet points or dashes to denote your points, use one of your browser’s special characters and symbols.
4. Edit, edit, edit. Print out the PDF version of your profile to check for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Stage 4: Add Extras

Take advantage of LinkedIn’s many applications to make your profile more dynamic and interesting. Include your blog posts with the WordPress or BlogLink so your connections stay up-to-date with your projects, events and thoughts. Let others know what you’re reading with the Reading List by Amazon. You can also display some of your best presentations or documents with the SlideShare and Creative Portfolio Display apps.

Stage 5: Update

Now that you’ve created a lean-and-mean profile, make sure that others continue to view it over and over by updating frequently. Every two weeks, change something in your profile – your summary, a description of your experience or an application. Another easy way to keep your profile’s content fresh is to routinely update your status with links to articles you’ve written, articles about your projects and business, thoughts and ideas.

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These five stages are simple ways to improve your LinkedIn profile’s content. Do you have other strategies for creating a great profile? Have you found a particularly great profile? Please share your thoughts!

Images courtesy of LinkedIn and Robert Occhialini.

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Many freelance writers turn to outsourcing their work to a third party in order to stay on top. In today’s guest post, writer and marketer Mitch O’Conner warns us why that might not be a good idea.

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When faced with the stress of tight deadlines and overwhelming workloads, many online freelance writers decide to outsource their content creation to a third party.

Outsourcing does have some potential benefits. You can spend a small percentage of your going rate for the meat-and-potatoes portion of your content while you worry about “bigger” things, such as the overlying structure of your work and forging relationships with new clients.

Unfortunately, outsourcing your freelance work has a number of potential dangers as well. Before you chop off a portion of your budget and hand it to an online assistant, consider the following:

You’ll Lose Your Writing Style and Voice

As a writer, you’ve probably worked hard to develop your own writing style and voice. By mastering the rules of the English language, you’ve allowed your own personality to shine through in your written content, and your client and audience appreciate the effort. Unfortunately, the same can’t necessarily be said about your potential outsourced writer.

Even if your outsourced work is returned to you with perfect grammar, spelling and composition (which it won’t be, in all likelihood), your audience will be able to tell that it’s just not you. This could result in an uncomfortable conversation with your client, who may immediately notice a sudden shift in the way “you’re” writing.

A dramatic shift in style and voice isn’t the type of thing that you can easily fix with a quick once-over of the finished product. If you have to go through the work sentence by sentence in order to make it read like you wrote it, you’ll immediately regret spending the time and money on outsourcing it in the first place.

Of course, it’s important to note that this is more of a concern for opinionated and editorialized articles, which allow your voice and style to shine through brightest, and less of an issue with dry, encyclopedic content that could be written by basically anyone so long as it’s accurate and clearly composed.

You’ll Spend More Time Editing

Potentially, a lot more time. In many cases, the recipient of your outsourced work will have a different definition of “acceptable quality” from you. The writer may breeze through the work, never stopping to review the overall structure of the content, much less the spelling, grammar and sentence structure present in each paragraph.

Many online writers accepting outsourced work speak English as a second or even third language. Even if they do speak English natively, it certainly doesn’t mean that their writing will be without fault. This can present plenty of challenges in the form of misspelled words, chopped up sentences, missing punctuation and phrases that make little sense to an American audience. These are all things that you’ll need to spend time correcting before presenting the product to your client.

Your Work May Become Disjointed and/or Repetitive

What many online content creators don’t realize is that when they outsource their work to a “writer,” they may actually be hiring a group of writers that will split up the work however they see fit. This doesn’t necessarily bode well for your finished product.

Are the writers communicating efficiently and reviewing each other’s work as they go? If not, you could end up with a lot of duplicate copy throughout the overall project, with pages that echo one another in a way that your client (and your eventual audience) could notice with dismay.

On the other end of the spectrum, the finished product could end up with significant holes that you’ll end up needing to cover yourself. One of the outsourced writers could expect his colleague to cover an important topic in detail, while that colleague may expect the same of the first writer. In the absence of a final review by a “head writer,” this could spell trouble.

Adding More Links to the Chain Reduces Reliability

How much do you really know about the person (or persons) to whom you’re outsourcing your writing? Does she have a reliable wireless internet connection, or will she phone you just hours before your deadline saying that she’s been unable to get online to complete the work?

Does she possess a sufficient level of experience in the given subject matter, or will she be learning it on the fly through some simple Google searches?

Can she work independently, or will she batter you with questions at even the slightest hint of confusion? Remember, outsourcing is about saving time, so a constantly-curious writer will defeat the purpose.

What’s the quality of her finished product? Can she produce any testimonials from satisfied former clients?

The Bottom Line

With all of that said, it’s important to note that in some cases, outsourcing is still a viable option. Understanding the potential dangers of outsourcing your freelance work will help you identify when it’s appropriate and when it just isn’t.

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Have any of you ever outsourced your writing? We’d love to hear from you if you have! Please share your experiences in the comments below.

Images courtesy of stuartpilbrow, Monceau and greenpeanut.

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Today, Grace Myers gives us some important advice on scoring those corporate writing jobs. They may not always be the most fun, but they can pay the bills!

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Large corporations are always in need of organized and skilled freelance writers for help writing or editing projects. Corporations – with their numerous departments and organizations – produce almost every type of written material. They frequently require outside assistance for ad campaigns, annual reports, manuals, brochures, web copy, blog entries, speeches, technical documents and training materials.

It can be difficult, however, to land your first corporate writing job. Corporations always want to hire writers with experience writing at similar corporations. To make matters more difficult, corporations often keep their contact information private, unlike advertising or design agencies, for example.

Don’t despair. When you market your services to corporations in the right way, you’ll soon land your first job. Plus, once you finish your first writing assignment for a corporation, it’ll become easier and easier to land other challenging and exciting jobs at large businesses.

Do you want a few Fortune 500 companies listed on your resume, but not sure where to get started? Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to landing your first corporate writing job.

Use Your Current Network

Your network, no matter how small, is enough to build on. Ask family, friends, former colleagues and fellow alums to spread the word about your writing services. Ask them to introduce you to a colleague who works at a large corporation who can introduce you to other employees. Who you know can be crucial to landing your first job, so always continue to network.

Emphasize Your Niche

Leverage your skills and tap into a specific corporate niche. You’re more likely to be hired when you are known for your specific skill. Once you’ve been hired, you can tell them about other projects that you’re willing to work on.

If you have lots of experience writing web copy, market this skill to the human resources or corporate communications departments to write content for their intranet or public websites. If you have experience writing news releases or articles, contact employees who work at the public relations department.

Create a Simple Website

Emphasize your services for corporations and your corporate niche. The website should promote yourself as an expert writer and make it easy for prospects to contact you.

Leverage LinkedIn

This powerful tool is perfect for building your professional networks. Introduce yourself to lots of people and use LinkedIn to keep in touch in the future. When inviting someone to join your network, never use the standard message. Instead, your message should be specific to their organization and your services. For example:

Hi Ms. Blake,

I’d like to add you to my professional network. I’m a freelance writer and editor specializing in technical writing. I’d love to connect with you about your projects at XYZ Corp., your approaches, content and how my services could make your life a little bit easier.

Warm Wishes,
Ted McNeil

Use Snail Mail!

This is necessary for introducing yourself to a broad array of corporate professionals. It may seem outdated, but direct mail is an effective way to reach hundreds of corporate employees.

To collect corporate employees’ names, titles and addresses, use the resources at your local library. Online prospecting tools, such as Jigsaw, are very useful, but often cost a small fee per contact. When writing your direct mail letter, keep things simple and no more than one page in length. Introduce yourself as a writer or editor, your specialty and qualifications. Then, point the reader to your website.

Direct mail letters usually generate a 3-5% response rate. It may seem like too little worth caring about, but remember, just one of those responses could turn into a large contract and a steady client for years to come.

Just Get In The Door

Set up coffee meetings with contacts. Your goal is introducing yourself and networking, not landing a job. Dress sharp and bring lots of business cards. Introduce yourself to the prospect and emphasize that you aren’t searching for an immediate assignment – you’re simply interested in learning more about their business and projects.

Focus the conversation around their work, not yours. Ask about the types of projects they write, their organization’s long-term goals, writing strategies and ideas for new projects. They’ll appreciate your interest in their work and smart questions.

After the meeting, keep in touch by sending an email or calling once a month. Once a project arises for them, they’ll think of you straight away. Since you’ve discussed their business and long-term goals, you’ll have an “edge” in crafting a successful writing project that will exceed their expectations.

Go Above & Beyond for Your First Client

In fact, you should go above and beyond for every client, but definitely for your first one. Once you complete the assignment, ask them to refer you to their colleagues within the department or at another branch of the corporation. This recommendation is gold; it’s proof that you understand how their business operates and can produce results. Leverage these recommendations to land jobs at other corporations and expand your business.

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Do you have any tips on landing those money-paying corporate jobs? Please share your thoughts and advice in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Andreas Flohr and LinkedIn.

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I happened across this brilliant and very funny video about a man longing to have a more minimal/beautiful writing space.

Desk Envy from Yuvi Zalkow on Vimeo.

I know that a lot of you love your cluttered, lived-in spaces, and I’m sure you will identify with Yuvi’s desk and work habits. The site that he links to at the end of his video, Simple Desks, is a great place for all you writers who like your spaces a little more aesthetic and minimal.

Hope you all enjoy this bit of midweek fun!

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Today’s guest article is from Chris Hutton. He gives us some advice for all you freelance writers, on where to focus your efforts to make the most effective use of your time.

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Writing is one of those tasks that we constantly are trying to complete. However, the multitude of sources and items published every day distract us from our work. If you ask most writers what they struggle with, most of them will say that they wish they were more focused during their writing, so they could get more of the writing done and use their time more effectively.

The Freelance Curse

This struggle is even more apparent for freelance writers. Most freelance writers know that the more pieces they finish, the more they get paid. Any moment that they aren’t working costs them potential money.

So, how can a freelance writer make his time more focused? There are four areas in particular that writers can work through in order to improve their ability to be productive. And the first thing is Putting First Things First.

Put First Things First

“Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.” – Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey is the author of self-help bible The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit 3 of his book is the idea that you must first plan what are really the most important tasks you face, in order to prioritize them and to be productive.

Freelance writers certainly need to make sure that they have everything in its place. Every writer should determine what really matters to them. Are things like family, work and relationships first for you? Is entertainment, and your own self-fulfilled joy the only thing that matters? You should answer these questions before moving forward. Then you will be able to determine what you can cut from your life so you can focus more on your writing.

Give yourself a Deadline

Another method to consider for using time effectively is setting a deadline. By having a deadline, you are more likely to stay focused. A great way to implement this on a daily basis is setting a timer for your writing. If you know how long it takes you to write X amount of words, you should use that information, and determine how long it will take you to write about your subject. Take that time amount, and set it apart. Then, set a timer that will buzz about 10-15 minutes past your estimate of time, for the sake of being flexible. This timer will instill a sense of urgency in you, that will make focus easier. And if you are able to make your goal, go ahead and get a treat, or check your email. Reward yourself for your focused attempt. It’s best to start out this method with smaller articles, and go onto bigger projects as you go.

Remove Distractions

This is the biggest hindrance for writers. We can set our time, and our efforts aside. But when we see that link to a funny cat picture our friend emailed us, or the latest article on how to succeed in blogging, we remove ourselves from our place of writing, and start to eat our time away. The five minute video leads to another, and another. Eventually, the time adds up, and we lose track.

The best way to remove yourself from that funk is minimal writing software, such as Darkroom, iAWriter and Byword, which we have mentioned on FYW before. These create a full-screen environment that allows you to write without distraction. Also, you should consider creating a set-up where your writing computer can be separate from other devices, like a phone, or a clock. The less things to pull away from your focus, the better.

You can always try listen to music. Some writers consider music to be distracting, while others see it as essential for getting work. Both groups are correct, since some music can be very distracting, and some music can refine your focus. It all matters on why you’re using it, and what you are going to do with it. The best music is instrumental. Soundtracks are often really good. You won’t be distracted by lyrics, and it’s unlikely that you will get as picky about what you are listening to. It’s especially helpful if you use music sources like Pandora to create a constant stream of this music, so you don’t have to worry about picking and choosing.

Formulate Your Thoughts

Writers often know what they want to say, but don’t know how to say it. So, it’s always worth returning to that principle we were taught in high school: researching and outlining your thoughts. Make sure that you know enough about your subject to write about it. If you don’t, then you can complete the research, and turn it into an outline for the piece. Once you have the outline, you’ll know what you want to say up front. Transferring it to paper may be easier. It also makes the editing process faster, and allows you to focus on your main objective.

These four areas will help you to focus your energy, use your time wisely, and be able to write more than ever before. Like all things, it will require practice. It will be hard. But if you are willing to work, then you will find it profitable, and worth your time.

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How do you focus? Have you found these tips useful? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Images courtesy of sourabhj, Stephen Covey and Christopher Jackson.

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In today’s article, Grace Myers offers advice on an important aspect of business and freelance work that many writers neglect: emails.

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Email makes sharing information cheaper, faster and easier, and has transformed the way that we do business. More importantly, email has changed our business relationships. It’s now the most common way to communicate, ask questions, mentor and build your personal “brand.” Email is how we welcome, motivate, engage, inform and recognize achievement.

Yet, many of us dread a full inbox and consider emails the most headache-inducing aspect of our work. This isn’t surprising – it’s a venue where terrible writing and even rudeness pass far too easily.

Take this example string of emails:

Subject: BP Report Needed!!
Sent By: Karen@xcorp.com at 9.30 AM
To: Tim@xcorp.com
Please send me the marketing best practices report ASAP. Thx.

Subject: Re: BP Report Needed!!
Sent by: Tim@xcorp.com at 2.30 PM
To: Karen@xcorp.com
Attached.

Subject: Re: BP Report Needed!!
Sent by: Karen@xcorp.com at 2.50 PM
To: Tim@xcorp.com, Lisa@xcorp.com
Thanks for the PDF. I understand you’re currently very busy with a sales project, but I need the marketing BP report to be formatted to the layout guidelines sent to you last week. This won’t work for my upcoming meeting.

Karen, the writer, focuses solely on her immediate needs – getting the report – and not on giving background information, specificity or using this opportunity to build their working relationship. When there is a small problem, she immediately brings in a supervisor in on the conversation without any introduction or explanation.

These types of emails not only slow productivity, they create tense workplaces and strain working relationships.

A Little Effort Goes A Long Way

When you take the time to write clear, thoughtful emails, you are more likely to accomplish your short-term goal (getting the task done), as well as your long-term goals (building affable and productive working relationships).

Sound like lots of work? Well, it can be. Writing effective emails is difficult – it requires planning and editing. But it is worth that effort. There’s a significant return; when you write better emails, you’ll write fewer of them, get things done faster, improve relationships and receive better emails into your inbox.

Take this example email:

Subject: Re: July – August Best Practices Report
Sent by: Karen@xcorp.com at 9.30 AM
To: Tim@xcorp.com

Hi Tim,
Do you remember the marketing July – August best practices report you spearheaded for your team?

I have a meeting with Jim on Monday about the division’s marketing strategies. I’d like to incorporate the information from your report. Maybe even brag a little bit about your team’s success!

Could you please format the report to the layout guidelines we agreed upon last week (attached)? I need the formatted version by the end of the day tomorrow.

Thanks for your leadership on this! Looking forward to touching base with you after the meeting.

Warm Wishes,
Karen

This email is certainly longer, but it gets the job done straight away. The recipient, Tim, feels respected and valued, strengthening their relationship. The email also gives Tim the big picture of what is happening and the specifics he needs to get the task done well and on time. In fact, Tim will probably get this done right after finishing the email.

You may feel like you don’t have the time to work on your emails, seeing them as unimportant when fighting for time against bigger, more pressing projects and pressures. But the rewards are more than worth it.

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How do you make sure you write productive and efficient emails? Have you struggled with receiving poor emails in the past? How have you coped? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Image courtesy of ProBlogger.

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In today’s Writing Spaces article, MJ Henry shows us where William Faulkner wrote many of his award-winning novels.

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William Faulkner came from an old southern family in Oxford, Mississippi. He won a number of awards in literature, including two Pulitzers for Fiction in 1954 and 1962. In 1929 his novel The Sound and The Fury was ranked sixth on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th Century; also on the list in 1930 was As I Lay Dying and in 1932, Light In August.

Faulkner traveled to many places in his lifetime, writing as he went, in countries all over Europe and Asia. He worked for a New York bookstore and a New Orleans newspaper. He also had several brief stays in Hollywood to be a screenwriter.

Settling Down

It was on one of his Hollywood stays, in the early 1940’s, that he told director Howard Hawks that he would be more comfortable writing at home. Hawks gave him the go ahead to do that. After several days of not hearing from Faulkner, Hawks phoned his hotel where he was staying to see how the writing was coming along, only to learn that Faulkner had checked . It seems that when Faulkner said “home”, he meant Mississippi, and Rowan Oak.

In his beautiful house at Rowan Oak, sat at his own writing desk, Faulkner wrote about the people in Mississippi. He was especially fond of writing about the treatment of African-Americans. Many of his stories show the distinct differences between the classes in Mississippi. He wrote 13 novels and numerous short stories. Many of these were set in a factious Mississippi county called Yoknapatawpha County.

Faulkner’s experimental style paid meticulous attention to diction and cadence. He made frequent use of “stream of consciousness” and wrote emotional, subtle and complex stories of a wide variety of characters.

Comfortable to Make Mistakes

Writing at home, Faulkner could focus on just writing, learning through his own errors, which he believed to be the only way to write – not constrained by pressures concerning technique. In 1956 he was interviewed by The Paris Review, and stated:

Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him.

Images courtesy of VeryBadFrog.com and the National Portait Gallery Face To Face blog.

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Back in March, FYW writer Rob Smedley gave us an insight in the writing hut of the wonderful Roald Dahl. Now, that hut is under threat.

Yesterday, on what would have been Roald Dahl’s 95th birthday, his family launched a campaign to save his writing hut. Still left at the bottom of his garden in Buckinghamshire, exactly as it was when Dahl died in 1990, the shed has fallen to decay, and is in real danger of falling apart.

The family hope to raise £500,000 ($788,550) in order to move the hut, piece by piece, to the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. This will be a difficult process, requiring almost archealogical precision in order to keep everything intact (remember all of the stuff in Dahl’s shed that he collected to inspire him). Hence the rather large sum of money being gathered. Unless this can be raised, Dahl’s incredible and inspiring hut may be lost.

The good news is, that around half of the money has already been raised, so hopefully one day soon the shed will be saved and installed in the museum, where it will be, for the first time, open to the public. I for one cannot wait to go inside and experience a little bit of Roald Dahl’s magic for myself, that lives on inside his amazing Writing Space.

Image links to original source.

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We’ve featured some of our readers Writing Spaces before, and now here are some more! Thanks to everyone who got in touch and sent in your wonderful spaces, and for making me very jealous of where some of you write!

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Corey Freeman

I’m in college right now, so my writing space is pretty much my dorm-sanctioned desk. I also use the study lounge. It can be a tight squeeze, but it’s nice not to be bogged down.

Yesim Cimcoz

This is where I write in the summer. It’s my balcony in Istanbul, looking over the Marmara sea, surrounded by the sound of the boats, the seagulls, the smell of the sea and the ancient city across the sea.

Sally Ravels

This is my little desk. I have river views. I hear frogs and birds all day. It is sunny and bright.

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How does your own Writing Space compare to the ones above? Do you have to make the most of a student space like Corey? Are you lucky enough to have a beautiful bureau like Sally, or a sunny, open space like Yesim? Please send your own pictures here, and let us see your Writing Space!

Images courtesy of their respective writers.