After recently updating one of my online portfolios, I figured it might be good to have a quick overview of what they are and why they’re essential to any freelancer (applicable not just to writers but designers, developers, artists, and many other careers).

Let’s run a quick mental exercise. Let’s say you want to hire someone to paint your house. The painter arrives, takes a glance at your house, and quotes you a few thousand smackers to get the job done. Are you just going to sign the contract right there, hand over the cash, cross your fingers, and hope for the best?

I sure hope not! What most folks would do is try to get a feel for whether this particular painter is actually worth the cost. You might ask him, for example, “Have you painted any houses in the neighborhood?” The intent being that you’d drive by and take a look to make sure the guy didn’t slap a yellow smiley face sticker on the garage door and call it a job well done.

However, this guy answers, “No. You’ll just have to take my word for it that I’m the best painter available.”

So…you call over another painter. He quotes you the same price, but when you ask for examples of his work, he whips out a binder full of amazing photos of houses he’s painted over the past ten years. Better yet, he gives you a  business card with a website that has even more of his work displayed, including virtual tours of interiors he’s painted as well.

Now let’s turn the situation around. You’re a [FILL IN THE BLANK]. I choose [WRITER], for obvious reasons. I get in touch with a client who needs copy for his new business website. Maybe some emails and a brochure. Oftentimes, this person will be getting dozens of other writers applying for this gig. How do I not only prove that I can get the work done, but also show him the variety of styles and formats that I’ve already done for many other satisfied clients just like him? If he’s afraid that hiring me would be a waste of time and money, how do I prove him wrong?

My portfolio(s) of course. I’ve got two, one on this site and the other on my oDesk profile. I try to keep them somewhat similar in the samples they display, the format is just a bit different.

These then, and the individual samples they contain, act as my proof. They’re a major bargaining chip in getting the work I need to sustain my freelancing career. Without them, I’d be at a serious disadvantage in just applying for a job, much less making myself stand out from the crowd.

A portfolio also acts as a history of career highlights. It can show off my favorite clients and the projects that turned out looking the best. And it can be a huge time-saver on both ends. The more accessible my portfolio is, the easier it is for potential clients to scan it and decide whether I’d work best for them.

Lastly, one of the most critical reasons to have a portfolio (especially an online one) is that many clients these days expect you to have one and might auto-reject your applications otherwise! If you can’t quickly link them to examples of your work, then they’re going to wonder whether you’re professional enough for them. And, let’s be honest, in these times, the ease of building an online portfolio leaves no excuse for lacking such a critical component of your writing career.

Do you have a portfolio? How do you set one up? What should it include? We’re going to look at those questions more in-depth over the next few posts, plus point out some resources and tools to help the process along.

The previous post discussed a few ways that freelance writing and fiction writing are different. You might be surprised that there are many more ways that they’re similar, aside from sharing the same general function of creating words where there  were none before.

I can understand that some fiction writers might be leery of freelance writing, or “writing as work” in general. If you believe that you have just a certain number of words available to you each day, and that once you use up that quota, you can’t write anymore, then sure, that’d be difficult to then build a career off of daily writing projects for clients. You certainly don’t want all your time and energy drained by work and have nothing left for your novel or short story (one of the reasons I recently decided to make a go at full-time freelancing).

For me, my fiction is my passion, but at this point it doesn’t contribute much in the way of paying the bills. I feel lucky, though, to have a job where I can use those same writing skills to, you know, help keep the lights on and pay for groceries. Through this, I also support my fiction career, in the hopes that the two will eventually balance out and I’ll be able to focus more on my stories. Now then:

How are freelance and fiction writing similar?

• The required dedication – Both fiction and freelance writing can be difficult fields to break into. Both can require years of initial investment before you start seeing any significant return on your work. Both require the ability to motivate yourself to sit in a chair for hours at a time,
• The variety of work – In fiction, you’ve got a smorgasbord of genres to choose from, as well as the formats and lengths of work you can experiment with. Novels? Poems? Short stories? Flash fic? Same with freelance writing. There are numerous types of writing you can do for clients, including web pages, SEO articles, press releases, emails, blogs, traditional marketing materials, and so on. Plus you end up writing for a huge variety of companies and are exposed to information about numerous industries.
• You set the schedule – Freedom! Isn’t that what many people crave in their job? The freedom to choose what they work on, who they work with, and how much they make? As a writer, you have the power to turn down offers from freelance clients and publishing houses…though I know some writers might wonder why you’d ever want to do that. Another post for another time.
• The feedback – As a writer of any sort, you must be able and willing to accept feedback, both positive and negative. In fiction, this comes from critique groups and editors (all of whom should have the goal of seeing your writing and your story improve). In freelancing, the feedback comes from clients. Remember that, ultimately, they’re the ones paying you for the work, and so you often need to adhere to their specifications. “Creative/artistic license” doesn’t have as much swing in freelancing as it does in fiction.
• The need for contracts – Contracts are essential to a freelance career. They determine how much you get paid and give you legal recourse should clients attempt to stiff on a completed project. In publishing, your book contracts determine your advance, royalties, rights, and many other facets of how you might (or might not) profit from the story you’ve invested so much of your life in.
• The need for industry research – It’s a personal mantra that “Research is king!” when it comes to being a writer of any sort. Research is vital both for the business and craft elements of writing, whether you’re checking out police procedure for a murder mystery or researching a company’s product so you can sound intelligent when you write an article or web page on it.

There are many other elements these two writing paths share, but those are some big ones. What’s your experience been with either or both? How else are they similar?

As mentioned in the previous post, there’s going to be some continued mingling of writing resources that deal with freelance writing as well as novel writing. Both are a great passion of mine and, as I am making a leap to full-time freelancing (in an effort to also have more time and energy to devote to my fiction writing), I wanted to incorporate some materials and insider perspective on the freelance writer career path. For some fiction writers, it can be a natural extension of the skills you’ve already honed and give you greater control over your schedule and resources.

Let’s start by looking at their differences, and a later post will discuss their similarities (there’s more in common than you might think).

Three big ways freelance writing is different from fiction writing:

1. Writing for others, versus yourself - When you’re freelancing, you aren’t there to tell the story you want. You’re there to produce the best content you can for your clients. Sometimes this can involve storytelling elements, such as characters or emotional hooks, but the priority is providing your customers the best writing you can according to their specifications and goals, not yours. (Now, if you’re writing stories to try and hop on a genre trend or as a tie-in to a particular franchise, then that’s another issue for discussion)
2. More immediate pay (if you’re fortunate) – Getting fiction work published, especially novels, can be a long and arduous process, fraught with uncertainty and fretting over advances and royalties. With freelancing, payment can be more upfront, such as a retainer to hold your services, as well as milestone payments depending on the type of work contract you’ve established with clients. Of course, there are times where clients can lag in payments (or try to avoid them at all) and so you must be on your guard to protect yourself against this situation and seek amends where it’s due.
3. The markets you sell to – As a fiction writer, it’s editors, agents, and readers who will eventually judge your work. As a freelancer, it’s business owners, ad agencies, local offices, managers, etc. You’re outside the usual publishing industry and into wider markets of sales, advertising, design, web content, technical writing, government contracts, press releases, email campaigns, and more.

With those in mind, there’s a bigger list of their similar aspects coming up! What has your experience been with either freelancing, writing fiction, or both? Have you ever had to juggle the two, or are you still trying to balance either with a day job? Do you find that being a freelance writer complements your fiction, or vice versa?

If you’ve been keeping an eye on things, you’ll notice Write Strong went a bit dormant for the past month or so (as I warned it might at various times). This has been from a variety of factors, one of which being that I left my last day job not long ago. I’ve been devoting more time and energy to my freelance endeavors, alongside my fiction, and have been wanting some more freedom to pursue this career avenue.

It’s a scary step to leave a day job and throw myself into contract work–but it’s one I feel a measure of joy in taking. There may be a full- or part-time job in the future (have already interviewed with a few folks), but my ongoing dream is to be able to do freelance and fiction writing as a full-time living. Over the past few years, I’ve been getting an eyeful of what it takes to draw in clients, get ongoing writing gigs, and provide quality content. I’ve had to learn when to cut the dead weight in my schedule  and also am slowly learning how to balance my fiction and freelance efforts.

A learning experience, for sure, but one I love. You might notice the Hire Me! addition to the website header, as well as the icon advertising my services on oDesk. All part of my expanding platform of freelance work, which includes both content production for clients as well as editorial services for writers.

So, shameless plugging of my freelancing aside, what else does this involve?

As this post might indicate, I hope to get back into more regular updates here and on my personal blog. There’s an ever-growing pool of resources for writers out there, and I also hope to start covering issues for freelance writers alongside fiction writers. I’m also hoping to get some other writers on Write Strong, providing their perspective on the craft and business of writing.

What would you like to see? What questions or issues about writing have been taking a forefront in your mind? What do you want to gain insight on in either the freelancing or publishing side of the work?

Chuck Wendig has been running the website TerribleMinds.com for ten years now, and continues to build a great number of articles geared towards helping writers grapple with the brutal realities of their craft and business–in a rather unique manner.

Before I link to any of his articles, let me provide a quick warning. Wendig himself notes that the content on his site contains:

• Mentions of: pornography, meth, primates, goblins, unicorns.
• Things that I think are funny, but may not actually be funny.
• Ramblings and rants.
• Utterly random garbage thrown out of my head and onto your computer monitor.

For anyone sensitive to profanity and the occasional (okay, rather frequent) obscene imagery…just ignore this post in general. For those who don’t mind such things and also enjoy writing advice presented in a hilariously off-kilter fashion, then dive on in.

Other insightful and incredibly funny posts include What It’s Like Being a Writer, Turning Writers into Motherf&^%*#g Rock Stars, and 25 Ways to Make Exposition Your B^%*H.

So if you’re feeling in the mood for being verbally abused by a complete stranger, want a mental kick in the rear, or an acid splash of writing reality straight to the face, hop on over to TerribleMinds.com and indulge in the strange and wonderful world of Chuck Wendig. You won’t regret it. Or maybe you will–but in a good way.

It’s funny. Sometimes websites dedicated to helping writers can also pose a danger to writers by providing so much useful material that browsing it all can distract from actually getting any writing done! Workflow: Writing is one such site. Extremely useful, but it must be managed with care.

Like Writer’s Knowledge Base, Workflow: Writing gathers articles on all aspects of the craft and business of writing and makes them easy to browse. From inspirational blog posts to educational publishing reports, you’ll find little to nothing goes uncovered here.

Collecting thousands of Fiction, Journalism, Blogging, Freelancing, and other Writing articles, news, and resources from all over the Web, from the top working experts in the field, and then collating, filtering, and organizing that content, and delivering it directly to you by Web, RSS, e-mail, and even Twitter. It’s all about helping those who make a living with words find the information, help, and resources they need to succeed in writing.

Just be sure to put a time limit on article reading. It can be oh-so-tempting to feel like you’re doing something productive by reading a lot about writing and publishing–but if you never get around to the writing, you’re just fooling yourself. Remember to keep your priorities straight. Articles from authors and editors can be useful, but the best kind of learning comes from you applying yourself as a writer. In the end, only you can determine what works best with your craft and which path to writing success is worth walking.

Querying literary agents and editors can be one of the must frustrating parts of the whole publishing industry…for both writers and those they’re querying. Writers hate queries because they inevitably lead to rejections. Literary agents and editors must wade through hundreds a day, many of them terrible. After a while, the constant cycle of query-reject-query-reject leads one to think of the quote: “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.”

One of the best ways a writer can learn to circumvent the many pitfalls of querying is by example. Learn by seeing what others do wrong, what earns them the ire of agents and editors, and then do everything in your power to avoid making the same mistakes.

With that goal, let me present Query Quagmire.

Query Quagmire is a tumblr blog that dishes out anonymous query responses (mostly rejections) in the snarkiest of fashions. It evokes memories of Miss Snark herself, who lambasted writers with the goal of driving off the unworthy and making the rest grow a pair and actually produce high-quality work with professional style.

You’re going to groan and laugh quite a bit with Query Quagmire. It’s painful to see how unprofessional some writers can be when it comes to the business side of the craft. You’ll see many stumble in the same way, over and over. In fact, here are three top issues that can get a query rejecting, without even regarding the material itself:

• Not reading the submission guidelines.
• Misspelling the agent/editor’s name.
• Stalking the agent/editor, either on the phone, chat, or in person.

Query Quagmire provides a valuable service by putting up signs (often with a writer’s skull or giblets staked nearby) to warn others off from dangerous paths. Take the time to read through it all and make sure you don’t end up on there yourself. It’ll be the most entertaining industry lesson you’ll have in a long while.

Scott Berkun is a writer, bestselling author, and public speaker on topics such as innovation, creativity, and motivation. In this video, he discusses his method for sitting down and writing solid content, while at the same time playing a time-lapse recording of his work on a related essay. Entertaining and insightful.

Obviously, not everyone’s technique is going to be the same, but some of the tricks he talks about are definitely worth trying. And while he’s focusing on nonfiction writing here, I think many of his techniques can cross over into fiction. For instance, if I get stuck on a particular scene and don’t know how to move forward in the plot, I’ll often start at the beginning of the scene or chapter and read back through. This often gives me better sense of where the scene needs to go and gets my fingers typing.

What writing tips or tricks would you like to share?

Books and publishing are evolving. That’s plain to see. The rising popularity and functionality of ebooks and e-readers continues to establish their presence in the market. Authors who have the ability to republish their backlist online, direct to readers, (such as how J.K. Rowling is doing with the Harry Potter books) will benefit enormously from this sort of arrangement.

What underlies all this is also the future of the bookstore, both franchise and indie.

First it was the Big Corporate Bookstores that were the threats. They were the villains that were going to put mom-n-pop indie bookstores out of business.

Then the ongoing downfall of Borders brought another huge issue to light: the impact of online book sales and ebooks themselves. Barnes and Noble has managed to keep itself going, many say, due to its  investment in the Nook and the community of readers dedicated to that device–though B&N is still struggling to keep profits up, and recently saw a large quarterly drop.

But bookstores in general…what’s going to happen to them? Are they going to become nothing more than antique shops where die-hard collectors go for the old-timey thrill of turning a physical page? Are bookstores going to become more virtual while the shop itself becomes obsolete and books become entirely electronic or POD?

With the instant gratification readers can experience with ebooks, plus the often steep price reduction through sellers such as Amazon, what’s the point of the bookstore anymore? How can they survive this sort of competition and industry change?

If a booksellers wants to continue to have a physical presence, then I believe it comes down to one big thing – the community experience.

What sort of community has your local bookstore built? Does it have one? When was the last time you visited any bookstore in your area on a recurring basis? Why’d you go?

I’d say if you do regularly drop by your local bookstore, it’s because it gave you a reason to come back.

For example…

One of the big stores in my area (Denver) is the Tattered Cover. I go there quite a bit myself, and it always has a huge presence in the neighborhood. They host tons of author events (holy crap, George R.R. Martin is coming in July!), they’ve got a lively Twitter feed, and the store itself never lacks for folks browsing its many shelves and deli selections.

It has made itself much more than a place to just buy books. It’s an experience. It has incredible character, great staff, and encourages plenty of interaction with the readers who support it.

I believe this must be prominent for a bookstore in the years to come. It’s not so much about the books themselves. Books and reading become the common ground for a vibrant local community. The bookstore becomes a headquarters for an overarching experience–with the side benefit, hopefully, of getting enough business to continue providing this service for readers.

Is that enough, though? I’m sure numerous bookstores have these qualities and are still fighting to survive. Look at Powell’s, for instance. A large, well-loved, community-supported, tourist-awing bookstore that still had to layoff 31 employees just to make ends meet.

So are bookstores on the way out?

I’d argue that bookstores are losing their place as an essential part of the reading experience. We’ll lose a lot more in the ongoing upheavals too, no doubt. However, I believe those that survive and thrive will be the ones that have made themselves essential in new ways. Those that go far beyond just stocking and selling books.

Just as authors and publishers are slowly redefining their roles and methods of reaching readers, so bookstores must reforge themselves as community cornerstones. It will be fascinating to see the changes bookstores will undergo and how they’ll evolve in the years to come.

The countless facets of the writing craft and publishing industry can be overwhelming, especially to newer writers. The amount of research and work required to get a grasp on the fundamentals of building a successful writing career can be exhausting. The sheer number of books and articles and blogs available to writers can be daunting. Where do you start? How do you know if you’re getting accurate and wise information from a particular source?

These are the issues and questions that inspired Write Strong in the first place. It continues to grow as a central hub that compiles helpful resources and tools for writers, covering all the major issues from literary agents to self-publishing to the writing craft and beyond.

And in this continued vein, I want to draw your attention to the Writer’s Knowledge Base. Designed as a Search Engine for Writers, WKB is a growing online library of articles on all sorts of writing topics. Run by Elizabeth Spann Craig and Mike Fleming, the two work to draw together articles from across the internet and make the content freely available and easily researched.

WKB’s mission is to “Help you find the best writings on writing.” Using a simple-yet-elegant user interface, writers can look up any relevant topic and be presented with dozens, if not hundreds, of articles, all of which provide solid insight into the craft and business sides of writing. Elizabeth also tweets the various articles and sites WKB links to @elizabethscraig.

Several of the main search categories include articles on Characters, Settings, Plot, and Publishing. You can also do a search for Random articles, or check out the more Popular searches that are being done by site users.

So give it a try! Are there any particular issues with writing or publishing that you haven’t found the answers for yet?