I will, however, chat about making the most of your summer months, a time of the year where we tend to want to operate at a different pace although that doesn’t always mean we have fewer gigs on our plate. I’m very grateful that my workload is full, but I’m just as grateful that I can adjust my schedule when needed.

Summer Schedule

One thing I am not doing this summer is reading…books, that is. I’ve never been one to read much outside as the sunlight just hurts my eyes. And, with the need to be more flexible I’m concentrating on research projects that can be started well in advance of when an article is due. Still deadline driven, but not deadline consumed.

To give myself some flexibility, I have chosen to do the following this summer:

New Customers — Generally, I am not taking on new customers except for press releases through my new site, PRBeam.com. Even then, I had to turn one potential client down whose deadline clashed with other work I had pending. I expect to crank this end of my business up eventually, but not until after Labor Day.

My Websites — Balancing what customers need with what I manage on my own can be a challenge. That is one reason why I’m selling Auto Trends, as I plan to consolidate my work to a handful of sites. When it comes to who pays me, client work prevails. That means my work here will be mostly hit or miss until I get the rest of my stuff in order.

Flexible Schedule — Generally, I avoid evening work and working on weekends. Sunday is out: church and family time, but on some Saturday mornings I find it beneficial to write ahead in order to allow me to stop early some days or start later on other days.

Social Collaboration — I’m still using StumbleUpon and Twitter, but have cut back on using those social networking sites for now. I’m finding that the return on time investment doesn’t justify using these sites at least right now. I’m also limiting the number of guest articles I’m writing, but still accepting a few across my blog network. Again, this activity will ramp up after Labor Day.

How about you? Are you doing things differently this summer or are you maintaining the status quo?

Those problems are now behind me, but it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Besides, with HTML I can keep my six static pages in place and leave it at that. No temptation to add a blog post and dilute my freelance writing message found here. I’m still tweaking the site to make it render nearly the same to viewers across major browser platforms; it actually looks better in Chrome and IE than it does in Firefox. Go figure.

Of course, PRBeam.com is not an end to itself. I’m hoping that it translates into new business for me while allowing small business operators to find an experienced press release copywriter who can give them what they need for less. Under my current arrangement, customers will receive a newsworthy press release for up to 400 words and distribute it themselves.

And I’m advising these same customers to use a quality distributor and to disseminate their news carefully. SEO is certainly important as is targeting your news release to the right people. Print newspapers are fading fast, but many journalists have transferred what they do to the Internet. Those people may be interested in your news too, using your release as a jumping-off place for a fresh article.

So where is my own press release announcing my press release service? I’m actually going to wait until June to publish it so that I can tend to the needs of my customers first. Besides, if PRBeam.com is a raging success, I might want to tweak that $99 offer or add a distribution option. Stay tuned!

My idea of a well written press release is one featuring a smart headline, about 500 words in length, and with complete (and accurate) contact information to help make my job easier. Most importantly of all the newsworthy angle must be front and center – I cannot tell you how many times I’ve received a release that is a thinly-veiled advertorial or promotional piece. Those releases, of course, never see the light of day on my end.

Mihaela Lica

Young people get their news online which means that your press release has to find them where they're at. Social media sites are a good place to look according to a white paper issued by Pamil Visions PR.

It seems that I’m not alone with this viewpoint because a recently issued white paper from Pamil Visions PR – Press Releases Designed For Effect – examines what works and what doesn’t work with today’s news releases. Pamil Visions PR also operates the popular Everything PR news portal, both of which were founded by Mihaela Lica who is a Romanian native currently residing in Germany.

I’ve crossed paths with “Mig” many times over the past several years and was happy to get a preview copy of the white paper which was written by Mig and Phil Butler, and edited by Laura Spencer.

Seismic Shift

As expected, the white paper examines conventional press (news) releases and how they were used by traditional journalists to report news. Much promoted through the 1990s and into the early part of this century, the traditional press release had once been dominant, but that began to change in the late 1990s with Google’s birth and the subsequent shift to where many people now get their news online.

Today, the traditional press release is “dead” not necessarily buried, replaced by the social media press release which currently holds sway. That newfangled piece is still big on the news basis but it brings in additional components, most noticeably a social media angle.

Online Penetration

Thanks to the likes of Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Twitter and Facebook, savvy press release writers understand that their news may get picked up and disseminated in ways that didn’t exist a few years ago with blogs and web sites getting into the game too.

No longer do companies have much control over the news once they publish their releases – today, news is oftentimes spread online, commented by customers who share their experiences based on their opinion of a service, product or market. Those changes are part of the “new rules” shared in the white paper, with the consumer playing a far more pivotal role than ever before.

Your Copy

There is much more found in this 13-page white paper than I’m willing to share here, with detailed instructions on how to reshape your release to adhere to contemporary modes of communication. Naturally, if you want those details you can purchase your copy of the white paper on the Pamil Vision or Everything PR site, certainly a worthwhile investment for the public relations professional or corporate communications manager.

Please Note: No compensation was received by Pamil Visions for this review.

I’m not your average blogger nor am I your typical freelance writer. I maintain six active blogs, four of which are updated daily, with the remaining two updated once or twice a week; I’m also currently serving as the automotive columnist for a pair of print publications.

Most particularly as when the news has something to do with cars, I’m often the recipient of requests to review a product, make an announcement, tell a story or share something else with my readers.  Admittedly, I can’t respond to every request personally and I sometimes miss the announcement completely.

To that end, I want to share some tips with those of you whose responsibility it is to disseminate news, particularly when you’re trying to see if I will follow up with what you have.

Not all news is equal, but not all press releases and announcements are either.  This means that you have a better chance of getting a “read” and an eventual article placement if you follow my advice:

Contact me carefully — I no longer publish a phone number where people can contact me. My current clients have that number and I also give that information out to people who are part of my trusted circle of news providers. For everyone else, contacting me via my on site contact forms or direct email address is the best way to go.

I put a lot of weight on those contacts who provide all of the information I need from the get go including at least one related photograph. I just don’t have time to play email tag — be thorough and I’ll have a clearer understanding of what you want and can make my decision based on the information you supplied.

Please be patient — I don’t always respond to contact requests as quickly as I probably should. No excuses, but life does happen to get in the way. Juggling a number of responsibilities means that some tasks get pushed to the side. Plus, there are times I am on deadline and absolutely nothing will get me to stop what I’m doing to focus on your news.

More often then not, I’ll go through my inbox several times during the week to catch up on my messages. Yes, if I detect that something is spammy or isn’t relevant, I’ll simply delete it and move on.

Follow up with me — If someone has something that is very interesting or truly believes that what would benefit my readers, I have no problems with receiving a follow up note. Pushy people are usually ignored while polite folks get moved to the head of the line.

Just to let you know that I’m from the old school: I value personal relationships and I enjoy long term business dealings. I’ve been online steadily since 1995 and have managed my own sites since 2002. I like to think that what I do now will be something that I’ll be doing the rest of my life. I love my job!

I need your people — Got people? I hope so. From time to time I’ll rewrite a press release and add my thoughts to the conversation. However, I prefer the human contact (remember, I’m old school) and am much more likely to go with your story if I can speak to the name behind the story.

This means the person who designed the automobile, runs the division, created the concept or is heading up the ad campaign is of interest to me. I won’t take up a lot of their time (we’re all very busy these days) but if I can have ten to fifteen minutes, that will certainly help your cause. In some cases I’m satisfied with a brief quote sent to me via email.

The bonus round — Last of all, you can increase your chances of having your news published by writing a jam up press release in the first place (I toss away anything smacking of self promotion) and by offering to cite my article somewhere on your website or blog.

I’m not looking for a “pay to play” exchange but if I’m publishing something newsworthy about your organization, product or personnel you can bet that I’m providing a valuable path to your site, one that my readers will likely travel frequently over the weeks, months and, yes, the years ahead.

Photo Credit: Sanja Gjenero

Most of the work that I do is freelance writing with SEO and other marketing stuff secondary projects. Yes, I get the usual requests: please optimize my pages with select keywords, link these pages to other pages on our site and include outbound links, etc. That is a given when I write web content — my clients want an added benefit to go with the words that I write and I happily comply.

Not every job inquiry is something that interests me as the proposal has enough holes in it to walk through. Pay is too low, the research required necessitates using suspect sources, or the topic is simply not something I’m all that keen about covering — ladies hair products, for one!

Last week, I received one of those inquiries that wasn’t worth a response. Almost always I reply to messages sent via my contact forms or directly to my email inbox, but in this case I decided not to answer. The problem with the inquiry was this:

• We would like you to review a variety of car models and write these reviews along the lines of this site (withheld by me).

• Because it isn’t possible to actually drive each car, you can obtain reviews elsewhere on the internet and use those to write your article.

Well, in my book, what this person wanted was for me to plagiarize my work. Sure, I can certainly write about a car based upon the work available online, but I can’t “fake” driving one and basing my article on how a car sounds, feels, turns, starts, stops, etc. Moreover, the inquirer was from Europe and a number of the vehicles to be featured are not on American highways (Skoda, Fiat, Renault, and Peugeot to name a few). My ability to even write a halfway sensible article would  have to be based upon personal experience, not the review of another writer.

As I said, I didn’t respond to this person, choosing to laugh off his proposal with derision. I’ve had similar request to cheat in the past and I treat each one the same way — good-bye, so long, farewell….

One of the advantages of bringing in customers through the internet is that I am able to provide the same level of work that a client would get from an on-staff writer, but from my home office. The client saves on labor costs while I don’t have to commute. At the rate that I am not driving, it’ll be another 17 years before my 2001 sedan needs to be traded in.

I have my busy times and I have my slow times, but there are also those projects that come my way that aren’t a good fit for me. For example, when someone queried me about writing hair care products I had a laugh — I’m almost as bald as a plucked chicken. Besides, I really don’t know much about hair care for women, therefore I referred this person to someone who I think does.

Which brings me to the point of this article — I will gladly share your contact information with someone especially if I cannot take on a project.

No, I am not looking to compile a list of writers — your blog gives me a good clue of what you can and cannot do — nor will I necessarily jump in the middle and play the go-between role. I figure if someone contacts you about work, then that a feather in your cap, not mine.

At the same time, I’d rather you deal with this person directly and come up with your own business agreement.  I think that works out best, lest you feel that you are obliged to me in some way which you are not.

I may not have referred a project to you today, but then there is always tomorrow.

Business Dives, I Sell A Bunch Of Sites

Earlier this year I experienced a significant drop off in my business which played a part in me selling off some of my websites. The income derived from these sales covered me for several months, but it was only within the past three months that I noticed an up-tick in my writing business. Today, I’m working for three very good clients on a long term basis while taking the occasional one-offs (article, press release, etc.) as time permits. I’ve also launched several new blogs which will be a part of my long term business strategy.

Setting Your Freelance Writing Rates

Now back to setting rates: Part of my drop off this year was attributed to me raising my rates. I let some of my older customers go and I began to take on some new clients under my new rate structure. The gap between dropping the old and bringing on the new was much wider than what I had expected, but I’m finally where I want to be. You may ask why didn’t I simply raise my rates with current clients, which is a good point, but I didn’t do that for two reasons:

1. My rates for these clients would have doubled.
2. Long term, I wasn’t interested in writing for them. No sense hanging on to something that is of no interest to you.

I based some of my rate changes on what I found online, particularly what Lynn Wasnak and Paul Lima shared. Links to their sites can be found in this article and I also discussed freelance writing rates here this past September.

Are Your Raising Your Rates For 2008?

So, my question to you is this: will you be raising your freelance writing rates for 2008? At least one inquiring mind wants to know!

Most of My Income Comes From Writing Projects

I still derive income from ads and certain non-writing sources, but freelance writing is at least 85% of my monthly income. This pales in comparison to three years ago when managing web sites, forums, and relying heavily on ad income held my business up. I’m glad that I’m writing more than ever before because this is what I prefer to do with my time.

I’m saying all of this as I just visited Anne Wayman’s blog where she posted the question, “What’s Your Writing Routine?” and I responded with my answer which you can read over there.

Personal Writing Followed By Client Work

Although I do have a writing routine, it isn’t set in stone. There are times when I have my blog posts prepared in advance and have them set up to appear shortly after 3 a.m. local time and there are other times when I either skip blogging or add something later in the day.

As far as work for clients goes, I start my client work a few hours into my day. The reason? Because that is when I am the sharpest — my creative juices are flowing and I’m ready to rock ‘n roll!

Hitting My Writing Stride

Yes, I can write at odd times of the day (odd for me, that is) but I know that my best work takes place between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. The house is quiet, the kids are in school, and I’ve put behind me the day’s personal marketing and blogging tasks.

Oh, there are days when I do not write for clients at all. I don’t normally work those days into my schedule, rather I know that my work is better saved for yet another day.

There are some advantages to working as a freelance writer — flexibility of schedule is one of them.

Yesterday, I submitted a pair of press releases that were 199 and 245 words long respectively. Essentially, I find that if a “call to action” isn’t made quickly, you will lose the reader in no time.

I realize some companies are a bit self-enamored with their new product or service and are prone to gushing on and on about it. From the perspective of a reader, anything other than a pithy press release can quickly cause your audience to move on without them inquiring further about what you have to offer to them. So, not only weigh your words carefully, but remember to be brief and concise.