Dream of being a
well-paid freelance writer? Long to carve out an enviable
lifestyle with plenty of freedom, flexibility AND healthy
income? But wait a minute…aren’t the words
“starving” and “writer” forever
joined at the hip? Not anymore.
How about a writing direction
with plenty of work, strong and growing demand for good
writers, hourly rates of $50-100+ ($60-75 average) and
where all time is billed? No flat fees with vast, open-ended
commitments of time. Translation? Less time working
to pay bills and more time pursuing your writing passions.
We’re talking about freelance
commercial writing – writing for Corporate America
– the subject of The Well-Fed Writer, and quite
possibly the answer for all aspiring writers who want
to turn their love of writing into their living. The
book was a triple-book-club-selection (Book-of-the-Month,
Quality Paperback Book and Writer’s Digest) and
earned several prestigious awards in 2001:
1) Second place in the ForeWord
magazine Book of the Year Awards (Career Category)
2) Honorable Mention in the Writer’s Digest magazine
National Self-Published Book Awards
3) Finalist in the Publisher’s Marketing Association
Ben Franklin Awards (Best First Book).
Why is there so much business?
In the last decade (and in the fall of 2001, we’re
in the midst of another round), two huge trends have
sculpted the corporate American landscape: downsizing
and outsourcing. Corporations are doing more with less:
fewer people, less resources and smaller budgets. The
workload is growing – especially with the exploding
Internet – and many organizations rely heavily
on freelancers to help them handle it.
Why do corporations hire freelancers?
For good solid economic and creative reasons. With a
freelancer, corporations don’t have to pay salary,
benefits, and vacation time. But they will pay a freelancer
$60-80 (average) for their time. In addition, they pay
only what they need when they need it. And with a network
of freelancers, they get a broad spectrum of fresh talent
(hard to get with in-house staff writers used to writing
about the same topics day after day) which they can
form-fit to their specific writing needs.
What’s “commercial
writing”? Marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters,
direct mail campaigns, video/CD-ROM scripting, speeches,
sales sheets, proposals, web content, and so much more.
