Learn how you can develop an effective online writing portfolio with NAIWE Expert Ruth Thaler-Carter.
Join us for a NAIWE Teleclass May 1, 2013, 3:30 p.m. EDT Instructor: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter joined by
NAIWE Director Janice Campbell
Developing an Effective Writing Portfolio
In the past, a freelance writer’s portfolio was a notebook or binder holding copies of published works, called clips (for “clippings,” as in articles clipped out of the newspaper or magazine where they were published) that writers toted along to in-person interviews. In today’s electronic age, freelance writers often need—or want—to present their work to prospective clients, agents, editors or publishers whom they cannot visit in person. Today’s portfolio has to be more flexible and beyond faxing or mailing a couple of published articles.
This one-session class will look at ways to develop an effective, modern portfolio that creates opportunities to share your work, both published and in-progress. You’ll gain insight into what a portfolio should contain, as well a ideas for how to present it most effectively. You might even find yourself inspired to spend the afternoon adding things to the Portfolio page of your NAIWE member site!
Members will find call-in information for the classes in the member area of the NAIWE.com website. You’ll find it by logging in on any page of the site, then going to the Library link, then to the Expert Teleclasses link. NAIWE teleclasses are totally free for members ($27 each for non-members).
If you’re not a member and you’d like to join in time for the teleclass, you may click on this “Join NAIWE” link to do so. If you would like to register for the teleclass only, you may do so by visiting the Teleclass page. We hope you’ll join us!
If you can make it to Florida in January, please apply! Simply send an e-mail containing the following information to support@NAIWE.com by December 15, 2012.
Name
Profession/Business
NAIWE Member Site URL
A brief statement of why you would like to come
Statement of commitment to come if your application is chosen
Don’t miss joining NAIWE at TAP! 2013!
In addition to the keynote by Guy Kawasaki, conference sessions will include:
Sessions will include:
Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur: How to write, publish, and market your books as a self-publisher
How to Start and Finish Writing Your Book
Apple iBooks Author Fast Start
The Road to Kindle – A Successful Author’s Journey
Copyright Still Means Something for Digital Publishers
Copyright FAQ
User-Generated Content is Great (and Full of Legal Problems)
From Book to Business
Sink or Swim? Navigating Today’s Turbulent Waters as a Content Creator
Digital or Die: The Case for Captivating UX & Design to Bring Your Content to Life
Writing for the Web: How to Compel Your Audience to Action
Hypersyndication: How to Deliver Your Content to Multiple Platforms
Establishing Your Digital Publishing Identity Across Multiple Social Media Platforms
Creating a Video Trailer for your eBook or App Using Adobe Photoshop
Creating ePUB files with Adobe InDesign
Getting Started with Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) Single Edition
ePUB, PDF, or DPS: Which Format to Choose?
Design & Digital Publishing Essentials
iOS 6 for Designers and Developers
User Interfaces Don’t Have to Suck — The Mobile User Experience
Finding Your Audience Tribes in a Hyper-Social Digital World
How To Use Compelling Photographs To Attract More Eyeballs
Here’s the recording from today’s episode of The Freelance Life. Enjoy!
You have lots of great tips about your expertise to share with the world, information that may seem like basic common sense to you that is nothing short of life changing for other people. And you keep hearing that social media for business is the way to go. Yet there are so many social media tools you’re not sure where to start.
Plus people keep telling you that writing a book is a must, leaving you weary just thinking about doing that. After all, you run a small business. Who has time? You may not even feel comfortable writing. You want and need to re-purpose everything you do to make the best use of your time, energy, and resources. Learn how to develop a painless and fun strategy that’s perfect for you, with big results both online and offline.
Paulette Ensign, founder and owner of Tips Products International, will have you popping with ideas as we chat about how she took the tips she shared with her clients and prospects and created a simple product that not only sold over a million copies in several languages and formats, but still sells today, over 20 years later.
BIO
Paulette Ensign, Founder and Owner of Tips Products International, had no idea she would sell well over a million copies of her 16-page tips booklet, 110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life, when she wrote it in 1991. Or that she would do so in four languages and various formats without spending a penny on advertising. Nothing in her background prepared her for that. Yet her can-do attitude triggered and supported those results. She has made a handsome living and a cross-country move from New York to San Diego by recycling the same 3500 words since 1991.
Paulette has two degrees in music education preparing for her original career teaching string instruments in public elementary schools for more than a decade.
Between teaching strings and developing the wonderful team at www.tipsbooklets.com, Paulette was actively involved in the then-emerging industry of Professional Organizing. She owned an organizing company and was a major contributor of time and talent to the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), consistently serving in leadership roles, ultimately as national president.
Paulette added collaborative co-authored tips booklets to the learning tools and services she sells, providing an instant product and an instant marketing tool as a supplement or substitute to a person’s solo-authored booklet.
She now has more than forty years’ experience with small business owners, corporations, and professional associations in numerous industries, worldwide. She and her cat happily live a mile from the beach in San Diego. Of course it doesn’t snow at the beach, keeping them both young at heart.
NOTE: NAIWE members can be featured on The Freelance Life sharing great ideas, success stories, book chats, and more. Contact editor @ naiwe.com if you’d like to get on the list.
Our Member of the Month for April isJim Sutton of Creative Solutions. Listen in to the recording below as we interview Jim on The Freelance Life. He shares some of the online networking skills he teaches others to help improve their online networking for profitability.
A self-described onion networker, who is passionate about networking and helping others master the skill, Jim built his LinkedIn network to 3600 direct connections in 6 years. He has successfully managed complex learning management systems and led the creation of performance-based qualification programs. To help improve the skills of job seekers he is currently facilitating a weekly interview preparation session. He lives in Venetia, PA, is married and has a degree in computer systems and a masters in Training and Performance Improvement.
How’s your manuscript? Are you participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) or have you been working on your book for many months? If you’re serious about the book you’re writing, you know that your rough draft will need more work when you’re finished.
To complement this month’s celebration of NaNoWriMo, we’ve invited NAIWE Editorial Expert Barbara McNichol to speak on 7 Writing Problems that Editors Constantly “Fix” to Make Your Book Sale-able. Barbara will discuss editing techniques—for both fiction and nonfiction writing—that will give you ways to immediately improve your prose. Even when you step up your productivity with the NaNoWriMo schedule, you can have an eye on quality as you go.
Barbara is a freelance editor who works with authors, speakers, and entrepreneurs to add power to their pen through the written word. She am author of Word Trippers: The Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters - a reference guide for writers everywhere in searchable Kindle format.
This members-only teleclass will be held on Thursday, 11/17/11 at 03:30 PM EST. **UPDATED DATE**
Members will find the call-in information in the Members-Only section of the NAIWE website. Just log in at the top of any page of the site and go to the Library. Click on “Expert Teleclasses,” and you’ll find the information you need.
Remember, our expert teleclasses are always free for members. Non-members will find additional information about the teleclasses on the Member Teleclass page.
Whether you’re a writer, entrepreneur, academic, or top-level editor, you need digital skills in order to succeed.
This webinar will outline 10 steps — and critical websites, social networks and gear — to help you become more tech savvy. You’ll get complete notes as well as a primer on how to manage information overload. Don’t sweat the tech! Dominate it!
This is free webinar and open to the public. Our host for this event is NAIWE’s new benefit partner, Knowledgewebb.
Important note: You must have pre-registered for this free session and received a confirmation message from Knowledgewebb’s office in order to participate.
Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Time: 2:00PM – 2:45PM EDT
Learn more about the webinar at the Knowlegewebb site.
Tinie Tao, a freelance writer and editor, is NAIWE’s October Member of the Month. Tinie effectively uses her NAIWE website (TinieTao.NAIWE.com) as a showcase for her fresh, accessible writing style. I think you’ll enjoy her interview. Join us for the audio interview at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, the 13th of October at The Freelance Life.
Q: Please share a little of your professional history with our readers.
I’m currently writing and editing for The Infusion Project, an organization that promotes and throws live art events downtown for artists to get their work out there. I also write blogs for New Evolution Video, a San Diego video marketing company.
Q: How and when did you make this business a reality?
I quit my admin/office job, which was my first position out of college, after about ten months there. I knew from that experience that I wanted to jump into my passion and start enjoying every day of my life now. I was already writing for New Evolution at the time, and I was able to ramp up the quality and amount of writing I did for them when I liberated myself from the day job hamster wheel.
Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned thus far in your career?
I actually create my highest quality writing when I focus on others. I stay on track when I ask myself, “How can I help this client? How can I best serve the readers?” My priority moves from being about how much money I’m getting out of the deal to creating the most fun-to-read content I can for an audience.
Q: What are some of the teachers, books, or authors who have influenced your professional life in a positive way?
I love Carol Tice’s Make A Living Writing blogs and Steve Pavlina’s personal development blogs. Steve teaches that we ramp up personal wealth by creating and delivering value. We already know that we’re talented!
We create financial abundance by getting others to see our talents. We profit when others recognize and purchase the enormous benefits to themselves from our products and services.
Q: As a seasoned professional, what advice would you offer an independent writer or editor who is just beginning a career?
Take risks, and try new things!
Q: What inspires you?
Sharing positive energy with entrepreneurs building amazing businesses. I love that my clients’ industries (ie. art, entertainment, technology) are young, hip, and full of life.
Q: How has your membership in NAIWE benefited you professionally?
My NAIWE membership equipped me with the tools I need (ie. WordPress platform, examples by other members) to create and publish my online writing portfolio.
Twitter…is it the Great Timewaster, or the greatest thing for writers?
Maybe somewhere in the middle, but closer to the “greatest” side, says social media expert Shel Horowitz. Shel, the multiple-award-winning author of Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, and six other books, has been marketing effectively on social media all the way back to 1995. Yes, really–16 years.
Shel usually spends between 5-20 minutes a day on Twitter. Yet he has 4,510 followers (all organically acquired–no cheats or automated software) on Twitter as of 6/30/11, gets retweeted frequently, has Twitter connections with some of the top names in marketing and publishing, has been a featured guest on several high-profile TweetChats–and used Twitter to help propel his most recent book launch to reach an estimated 5 million people.
Join Shel as he shows you
Four different types of Tweets and how best to use them
Three super-effective tools that will vastly increase your efficiency with social media
Strategies to stay active, get noticed, and still keep Twitter from taking over your life
Shel will join us for a members-only teleclass on Wednesday, July 27, at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Members will find the call-in information in the Members-Only section of the NAIWE website. Just log in at the top of any page of the site and go to the Library. Click on “Expert Teleclasses,” and you’ll find the information you need. Remember, our expert teleclasses are always free for members. Non-members will find additional information about the teleclasses on the Member Teleclass page.
Knowing what to charge is one of the biggest challenges of the freelance life.
Join us at 3:30 p.m. EDT on The Freelance Life as we interview Laurie Lewis, the NAIWE Pricing Expert about her book, What to Charge: Pricing Strategies for Freelancers and Consultants. If you missed the live show, here’s the recording:
You may purchase the book at our new NAIWE Bookstore. If you’re a member, be sure to take advantage of the member discount!
Summer has started, and we know it can be an off-season for many freelancers. You don’t have to watch your business slide backward, though. To help you maintain momentum while working with a fresh schedule, we’d like to invite you to enlist in the NAIWE Get It Done 2011 Summer Challenge. Take this summer to learn, grow, and get ready for a busy and successful autumn.
There are three parts to the challenge:
Read three books that will stretch your mind and inspire your creative spirit.
Finish one project that’s been nagging at you for longer than you care to admit.
Brainstorm a new project that will bring you an additional stream of income, then take the first step to make it happen.
If you’re going to take part in the challenge, here’s what to do:
Post the challenge button on your website or blog (right-click to copy and save it to your hard drive).
Write a post about what you plan to read and do to meet the challenge.
Link the button to this post and/or paste the address of this post next to the button so visitors will know how to find the challenge for themselves.
Leave a comment below with your URL so that others who take the challenge can visit your blog or website.
All of this will help drive traffic to your website during the notoriously slow months of summer, and it will help to keep you motivated. And because the challenge stays up all summer, your ideas will be able to inspire others to jump in and get something done, too.
Of course, we have a few suggestions for books to read and things to do, but we’d also love to hear your recommendations. Some of our book selections aren’t new, but they’re good. If you haven’t read them, grab a lemonade and head for the hammock!
Claim your name on major social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)
Register at Digg, Stumble, and other sharing sites so that you can easily share interesting blog posts (including your own)
Update all your social media profiles
Connect with people in your industry, either on social media or in real life (or both)
Get a professional headshot for your website and blogs
Sign up for a free ping.fm account so that you can update all your social media accounts with one click
Add content to your website and blog (more content equals better search engine rankings)
List your business on Google Local so you’ll show up at the top of search results for your specialty
Finish a book or article that’s been on the back burner
Knock out a few annoying little projects that just need to get done
Reorganize your office and make it a place where you feel inspired to do your best work
Ideas for Additional Streams of Income
Put together a class you could teach to introduce others to your area of expertise
Compile all your notes on your subject of expertise, write a succinct how-to book, and post it on your site as an e-book
Create a series of short videos containing how-to tips
Query a new market or potential client
Add Google AdSense to your personal website and blog
Create a tips booklet and offer it to prospective clients or sell it on your website (listen to the teleclass by NAIWE Expert Paulette Ensign to learn how to do it).
Multiple streams of income add up to financial stability– create some today!
If you have other ideas, feel free to add them in the comment section. Be sure to sign up for The Edge, NAIWE’s newsletter, for updates on the challenge (sign-up box is in the right column). And in the midst of all, remember to enjoy your family and friends. Summer comes only once a year.
