The following is a guest post by Carmen Rane Hudson. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.
Freelance writing provides a wonderful opportunity for people who want to work from home. However, building a successful freelance career is about more than getting the words on paper. Some of the most helpful skills a freelance writer can possess are not writing skills at all. These “other skills” are the skills that can set you apart from your competition and help you land more jobs. Here are 4 skills that will help keep those gigs coming.
Interviewing Skills
Some of the best information, the information that will really make projects great, can’t be found on any website or in any library. Some of this information is all locked up in the minds of some fairly fascinating individuals.
You don’t have to be a reporter to make this work for you. Often, the only person you’ll have to interview is your client. Clients often start looking for ghostwriters specifically because they have information or stories to share. They don’t necessarily want to waste a lot of time jotting down a bunch of notes for you. Yet many freelance writers don’t want to use any other mode of communication besides e-mail and instant messaging. You can land these gigs by being the one guy who is willing to spend a few hours on the phone, asking questions and listening to the answers.
Besides, these writing pieces can be some of the easiest products you’ll ever craft. Interview subjects, especially those who want you to write a book for them, tend to be very passionate about their subject matter. Many can talk for hours while you quietly take notes. Once you’re off the phone the research phase of your project is generally complete. You will be able to immediately turn your attention towards presenting that information in a format the reader will enjoy.
Formatting Skills
A lot of people who buy writing services just want a finished product so they can get on with the business of marketing that product. Offering even the most basic of formatting help can give you a jump on your competition. This could mean adding borders, inserting a table of contents, creating basic covers and using footers in a professional way. Offering a PDF version of your work could also represent a major boon for clients.
Though it’s not an art I’ve yet comfortable with for myself, writers who learn how to format their work for e-readers are likely to enjoy a massive income in the very near future. This skill isn’t an easy one to master, but it’s growing in demand. Clients ask me about this service constantly. I predict that anyone who can both write, and format that writing for the Kindle, will find clients ready to hand them money by the shovel-load.
Posting and Submission Skills
Do you know how to post an article directly to WordPress or Ezine.com? Can you create an auto-responder with all of the correct settings in GetResponse once you’ve written the text for the e-mails? If a client asked you to submit his press release through PR Web, would you know how to do so?
Many of your potential clients don’t know how to do many of these things. Many more of your potential clients would prefer not to take the time to do them. These skills give you an easy way to add value to your work. They also don’t take up very much of your time. Thus, you achieve a win-win for both you and the client. Few writers offer these sorts of services as part of their standard service package. Being one of the few writers who does will give you an edge.
Consulting Skills
It pays to understand exactly what a client is attempting to accomplish with a particular writing piece. It also pays to know how he can go about accomplishing that goal. That way, you’re prepared with a real, helpful answer should the client ask you what his next steps should be.
Educate yourself on branding, marketing, traditional publishing, self-publishing, list building, traffic generation, social media and copywriting. At some point, one of your clients will have a question about at least one of these items.
Some of your clients are brand new entrepreneurs. They may be using your writing services to help them build their work-from-home internet business. Don’t just be a contractor to these people—be a resource. Be ready to steer them in exactly the right direction. If they’re about to make a change to the title of their book, for example, that would absolutely gut their ability to differentiate their brand, be ready to say so. They might not always take your advice, but they’ll appreciate the fact that you’ve given it with confidence. Just make sure you know enough to give good advice. Be able to tell your client why you’re advising what you’re advising.
This awareness also helps you up-sell, which will increase your income faster than finding brand new clients each time you try to get to work. Up-selling is as simple as asking: “Will you need a press release to go with this book?” It’s a sale you’re more likely to make if you understand how and why the press release would help your client in the first place.
The Bottom Line
Look for ways to increase your value as a writer and as a business partner. If you do this, you’ll be more than just another freelancer—you’ll be that professional people are dying to have on their side.
About the Author:
Carmen Rane Hudson is also known as The Deadline Dervish, and has been a freelance writer since 2009. She also maintains a course for aspiring freelance writers at www.sevendayfreelancer.com.
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