In the past, I have talked a bit about how to market your services, find new clients, etc. Although I have never been one to use cold emailing in my freelance writing career, many readers have told me that I should give it a try. Personally, I have always thought that cold calling was a much better way to find clients. But since I have never given the email method a try, my assumption is a bit premature.
My main concern with cold emailing is that the recipient will think that I am nothing more than a spammer. Not only do I hate to find spam in my inbox, but it really slows me down due to the high volume of emails that I receive. How do some of you guys and gals get around this? Or don’t you worry if your recipient thinks of your mail as spam? Personally, the best way I can think to avoid this is to personalize the message as much as possible, including the subject line.
Over the next few weeks I am going to give cold emailing a try. If it works to my advantage, I will surely add it to my current marketing mix. On the other hand, if it is a complete failure or people begin to show displeasure with my unsolicited mail, I’ll back off.
In the meantime, if anybody has tips on how to achieve maximum success with cold emailing, leave a comment or send me a quick email. I promise I won’t call you a spammer!Â
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep all of the money that we earn from freelance writing? While this is a nice dream, it will never happen. Taxes are a way of life, and you need to come to grips with this. Believe it or not, many people think that they can hide their freelance writing income from the IRS. This is not something that you want to try; unless you want to get into a lot of trouble that is.
There are two types of freelance writing careers: full-time or part-time. The way that you treat your writing will depend on how you proceed with paying taxes. Obviously, both ways have their own set of complications. For this reason, I suggest that you see a tax professional when it is time to file your year end return. Additionally, they can also help you set up quarterly tax payments both on the federal and state level. Remember, there is no employer to withhold taxes, so you are responsible for sending in the appropriate payment four times per year.
As you may know from experience, it is always nice to get a tax rebate as opposed to owing more money to the IRS. Of course, not everybody is this lucky. Even if you stay on top of your quarterly payments, you may not do enough to garner a rebate. Luckily, as you get used to your freelance writing income, you will be able to make the necessary adjustments.
Dealing with taxes month in and month out is one of the biggest drawbacks of being self-employed. While this may not bother some people, I see it as a drain on my time. Although it can be annoying, I know that it is something I must do if I want to work for myself. After all, being in charge of my own taxes is much better than working for somebody else!
Since signing up for the online edition of Writer’s Market, I have had access to thousands of publications that accept work from freelance writers. While I usually send out three or so queries per week, my acceptance rate has not been very high as of late. It can be disappointing to get turned down, but you need to keep one thing in mind: this is not a direct slam against you or your work. In many cases a publication may have enough freelance work for the time being, or your idea may have been covered in the recent past.
When a publication turns you down, it is important that you do not forget about them in the future. I have two folders on my computer. One is full of publications that I have worked with, and the other with those who turned me down in the past. While I always stay in touch with past clients, I do the same with those who told me no. Just because they did not like my idea a few months back does not mean that this will hold true in the future. And in many cases, the editor will send back a note telling me to query again in a few months. If you get this sort of open invitation, it is very important to take advantage of it.
It would be easy to get down on yourself when you receive rejection after rejection. This week alone I have received three emails from publications that I queried. Two of them told me that they recently covered my idea, and the other I am still speaking with. One out of three is not great, but I’ll take it. Would it be easy to get frustrated over this? For sure. I have gone through long draughts in the past where everybody seems to say no. But when I finally land an assignment after those rough times, it feels great!
Wouldn’t it be nice if every query letter resulted in a new job? Sure it would. But this is not realistic. The way that you deal with rejections is an important aspect of your freelance writing career. Do not let this get you down.
