A decade ago — a fresh journalism grad ready to take on the media world — I had no idea what was in store for my career. It was 2008, right when the housing bubble had its messy burst, and I’d landed a job as a reporter at a small newspaper in Indianapolis. Though...
When you set out to write and figure out how to self-publish a book, you probably had no idea how much would be involved in the process. Sure, you knew it would be a lot of work. But now that you’re nearing the finish line, you realize how many extra steps you’ve had...
First-time authors sometimes make a grave mistake when seeking a book editor for their first manuscript. When I started as a freelance editor, I couldn’t put my finger on the problem. But, as my client list grew, I realized why I was secretly getting frustrated with a...
Since its launch in 2017, Substack has quickly drawn attention from the media industry for its potential to launch a new business model for writers. The platform’s simplest promise — making it easy to set up a subscription and collect payment from readers — has...
From about us pages to blogs, feature profiles are used to communicate a business’ brand, but also to put a human face on a business. By creating a compelling story, good profile writers can benefit from this high-need area of freelance writing. Profile writing...
Thomas Jefferson might as well have been describing how to break into ghostwriting when he wrote, “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” In the summer of 2014, I quit my job to pursue full-time self-employment as an author...
In a writing conference I once attended with novelist Ron Carlson, he said, “You wouldn’t not show up for a coffee date with a friend, so why don’t you show up for yourself?” Despite our best intentions, we often let our distractions prevent us from showing up to the...
Writers’ victories are short-lived indeed. For a brief moment after completing a first draft, writers sit back, breathe a sigh of relief, post a self-congratulatory humblebrag about finishing our manuscript, and then immediately think about that one character whose...
Even as a full-time freelance writer, I have to admit: I don’t remember much of the grammar lessons I learned in grade school. But when writing is your bread and butter (or even just your primary hobby), figuring out the most salient points of usage takes on a...
You’ve had a passion project (or seven) rattling around inside your brain for months now. Maybe you love telling people about it, or maybe you’re keeping mum — either way, you can’t stop thinking about how amazing it will be when you finally start working on it. But...
