Secrets of a Freelance Writer
Bob Bly's Book Details How to Make $100,000 a Year by Writing
Secrets of a Freelance Writer is Bob Bly's classic book about how to make a six-figure income through writing for corporate and business clients.
Secrets of a Freelance Writer, available in its 2006 third edition through Owl Books, is subtitled How to Make $100,000 a Year or More. This intriguing subtitle sums up the focus of the work-- to make a good living by concentrating on how much you can make with each form of freelance writing.
Corporate Writing
Most of the instruction in the book refers to how to get and keep corporate clients. Because these pay the best, the writing most often discussed is copywriting ads, writing newsletters, press releases, white papers and sales letters. Bly advocates making cold calls to prospective clients in order to get corporate writing gigs. Those calls are then backed up by meetings in which a portfolio of samples are used to show the writer's experience.
The different types of corporate writing are broken down, with extensive explanations given for each. Items such as PowerPoint presentations, brochures, fliers and TV commercials are covered. Bly also goes into what type of experience is helpful in getting the different types of project.
Perhaps most famously, he provides an estimate of what each type of project is worth. The prices he quotes tend to be high, and are based on his own rates. Because the potential for high fees are there, Bly refers to business writing as "high-profit writing."
Web Writing
There is also some advice about Web writing, including e-zines, blogs and Web copywriting. One of the ways that Bly advises to drum up web writing business it to create a professional-looking website that encapsulates the writer's experience and skills.
The site should have a portfolio of writing samples, Bly says, but it should not be stuffed with keywords. Bly quotes web marketing experts in the belief that keyword stuffing hurts a site's credibility, leads to unreadable copy and can actually get the site penalized by Google.
Networking
Bly is a big proponent of networking to stay on top of the writing market and to meet new clients. The process of networking shouldn't be about sales, Bly says, but should focus on making connections. The connections don't have to be potential clients, though. They may be other people, such as graphic artists, who could be of help at a future date.
Bly believes that meeting in person establishes a personal connection that can't be made otherwise. That connection can make it more likely to get contacts to give advice or to agree to profitable collaborations.
Related article: The Copywriter's Handbook
