They say that time is money, and this is certainly true for the professional writer. If you’re billing a client according to the amount of time spent on the project, you’ll need to keep an accurate record of that. You could use a spreadsheet, which certainly has its advantages, but the beauty of Taskcoach is that it will actually record the precise amount of time you clock up – as long as you remember to set it going when you start work!
Professional writer
8 Rules for writers
Here is a set of rules that I hope you will find useful. The way I see it, readers’ time is far too precious to waste. People are made to feel guilty, or have somehow been conditioned to feel guilty, if they don't read every possibly useful report. Or every relevant newspaper article. But as writers, or content producers, we have a responsibility too. Here are some rules which I am gradually starting to live by myself.
The value of clippings
I feel a bit like the first person in Khalil Gibran’s story of The Gravedigger. It’s taken me years and years, but I am finally getting rid of boxes and boxes of my clippings, ie the articles I’ve had published.
This is not out of necessity, even though they do take up a fair bit of room in our loft. It’s just that I’ve decided I don’t need them any more, which made me think: why does anyone need to keep their clippings?
I think there are three main reasons.
How to store clippings
How do you keep your clippings?
If you keep them in paper format, they take up more and more room as your portfolio grows. If you keep them in boxes in the loft, as I do, you never get to see them anyway. I think if you’re going to store them in printed format you should go the whole hog and keep them nicely bound in some sort of presentation folder, and place them on shelves in your living space so that they can be admired by you and anyone who happens to browse your bookshelves!
The future of journalism
What technology skills should the modern journalist have? Earlier in the year Tony Johnston, of the Press Association, gave a talk online for a “Teachshare” session for Vital. It was fascinating, and a few things stood out for me:
Read MoreSome of my reference books
Just because I love technology and spend a lot of time on the web, and writing for the web, doesn’t mean I’ve eschewed books. I still use books extensively (and intensively) for my writing. Not any books either, but ones written or contributed to by experts.
I think if you’re serious about writing you don’t want to be messing about with so-called “crowd-sourced” information, which may or may not be correct.
Top tips from a self-publisher
John Betcher is publishing a series of top tips for self-publishers, in batches of 5 at at a time.
It’s all good stuff. John seems to do a lot of experimentation, and then reports back on how things worked out, warts and all.
Read MoreBad headlines
If there’s one thing that really annoys me it’s chapter headings and article headlines where you can’t tell what the subject matter is until you read it. Who needs a situation in which you don’t know if you want to read something until you have read it? The way I look at it is that if the author can’t even be bothered being clear when he’s trying to entice you to read his stuff, why should you be bothered to oblige him by reading it?
4 Reasons to get published
It's important to be published by a traditional publisher
Image by Terry Freedman via Flickr
In this day and age, in which anyone can publish and distribute their books electronically, or self-publish them by going down several routes (none of which need include the traditional vanity publisher), why should anyone bother approaching a traditional publisher? After all, very few of the thousands of manuscripts that publishers receive find their way into book form, and of those that do, very few hit the big time. There are, in fact, at least 4 reasons to try to get published by the age-old process of going to publishers.
10 attributes of professional writers -- #10: Ask for permission to quote
It’s always a good idea to ask permission to quote someone, especially if you’re (slightly) putting words into their mouths. “How might that arise?”, you might ask.
10 attributes of professional writers -- #9: Keep a record of sources
If you’re doing research for an article, it’s easy to lose track of where you came across information, such as useful quotes you can use. This is where an electronic aide can come in very handy.
Two tools you might consider using are:
10 attributes of professional writers -- #8: Pitch to the right outlet
You’d think this would be a no-brainer, wouldn’t you? Yet just about every week I read an article by some editor or other bemoaning the fact that would-be contributors don’t appear to have done any research into the publication, preferring instead to offer an article regardless of how well it fits.
Read More10 attributes of professional writers -- #7: Research properly
Can there be any excuse, in this day and age, for poorly-researched material? There are books, the internet and still, even in these straitened times, public libraries with reference sections.
Self-publishing
Although I have had many books published by traditional publishers, I like self-publishing. I like it because it is great for niche topics. However, it is most decidedly not an unequivocally good thing, and there are pros and cons of each approach. This video summarises the issues.
10 attributes of professional writers -- #6: Proofread properly
Last year a teenager sent me an article with a covering email saying:
Sorry, I didn’t have time to proofread it properly. Sure you can sort it out!
Tools For the Writer
To write, you need a couple of tools. On the low end of the scale, paper and pencil will do. Typewriters are good. Word processors are better.
Read More10 attributes of professional writers -- #5: Send professional emails
Email is a marvellous facility. especially for pitching editors or publishers, and for sending a covering “letter” with an article or story. However, there is an inherent danger of its tempting us into being too casual.
Here are “Terry’s Top Seven Tips for professional-looking emails”.
10 attributes of professional writers -- #4: Make it readable
"This is on the level of an 11 year old." That was the verdict of an article I'd written as part of a writing course I'd been invited to attend by a magazine I was writing for at the time.
Read More10 attributes of professional writers – #3: Meet the deadline
It seems to me that one crucial difference between a professional (in all senses of the word) writer and others is that the professional will always meet the deadline set by the editor.
Sometimes, of course, this isn’t possible. For example, I was recently commissioned to write some articles about
Read More10 attributes of professional writers – #2: Work to exact word count
In the first post in this series, I made it clear that by “professional” I was referring to the strict definition of the word, ie that payment is made for your services. But there is also, of course, another meaning of “professional”, which is to behave and conduct oneself in a particular way.
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