. . . the need to maintain a good website for freelance writers.

The life of the typical freelance writer -- particularly writers who exist in the shadowy in-between world of traditional print and online publishing (a necessity these days as you have to go where the money is) -- tends to be a very predictable one in most respects.  

You may not know what you will be writing about from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, but you do know where in the world you will be in physical terms with some easy predictability.  These days the lion's share of the work that the typical freelance writer does is centered around their personal computer, with assignments arriving via their email inbox and delivered in much the same fashion (unless the publication has an online form through which completed assignments are meant to be delivered.

One of the consequences of this new way of transacting business is the necessity for every writer to create and maintain a personal website or, at a minimum, a personal web page that serves as both an online identity and the focus for their work; it becomes the center of their business in other words.  

Editors these days expect to be able to access a wide variety of information on those pages or site, from instant contact data to writing samples, as well as biographical information that will provide a sense of who the writer is as well as what they do.  While most (if not all) of that information will never make it into print, the function that it serves is to give the editor a sense that they know who the person is that they are assigning work to or hiring,and that the writer is accessible to them so in that respect the form that a writer's page/site takes is pretty important, because it ends up being a virtual extension of a real person.

First impressions count for a lot -- my mother told me that and I believe it -- so the first impression that you make as a freelancer through your site should be an accurate reflection of who you are but it should also have enough character and oomph to catch the eye.  Obviously you cannot risk going over the top with it, but it should be memorable enough so that the positive impression that it makes on an editor lingers.

With that in mind you would think that every writer would take pains to be certain that their website provides an accurate reflection of who they are, and offers at least a minimal slice of their character and personality, right?  Well, no, not so much really.  In fact if you took the time to Google the search terms "+freelance writer +home page "+portfolio"  what you end up with is a long list of sites with predictable content but pretty much lack any sense of personal identity.  

The effort that you make in creating a site that represents the identity of the author is especially important for the freelance writer, and not just respective of the impression that it makes on editors who offer potential assignments, but perhaps even more important is the impression that you make on your readers -- after all the reason that you do what you do is for your readers, right?  Right!

The treatment that they give is more like a brochure than a personal statement, and these sites and pages appear to have been stamped out of preset designs rather than serving as examples of the creative spark that exists in each writer.  A very strange trend if you ask me, because I know a lot of freelancers and they are almost all, to a one, characters in their own right.

Addressing the reasons behind why these creative and capable writers who are otherwise interesting and even amusing people have come to the conclusion that they are better served by bland lists and tend to rely upon blog-style cookie-cutter designs -- formats that have about as much to do with the individual writer as the ticket stub for a train trip from Boston to New York -- and I confess that I am left quietly surprised by this trend.

While this is a subject for another post, on another day, before I get to the real subject of this post I wanted to share with you the results of several conversations that I had with different freelance writers whose sites pretty much mirror what I have just described, the gist of the conversation being opened with the question of how they chose the design that they chose...

"The appearance of the site really is not as important as the information it contains so as long as that information is easy to access and easy to read, what does it really matter?  It is not like an editor is going to form an impression of me from the design of the pages where I stick my portfolio," was one thoughtful reply.  "Maintaining that (website) is such a hassle.  I used to write a blog on it but I realized that nobody really cared, so now all I have to remember is to update my portfolio," was another.  Clearly they have the impression that their online presence is mostly wasted effort when it comes to what amounts to personal branding, and that is a shame, because when I looked at the other side of that coin the position was diametrically opposite...

"You can tell a lot about a writer from their home page," an editor for an online gaming entertainment site I was pitching a feature to said.  "In my experience the freelancers who take the time to create an interesting site for their work and themselves are the sort of writer who puts in 110% effort in the assignments that I give them, and besides that if you think about it, the fact that they take the time and put out the effort to create a site that reflects their personality and their skills is always a good thing," they observed.  "I can choose from a hundred freelancers for each piece I need written, so the ones who make a lasting impression on me are the ones I remember first."

It is probably a good thing that you cannot see facial expressions through webchat and IRC, because the writers I was talking to would likely have been shocked by my needing to carefully pick my jaw up off of the floor at their replies, and the editor would have taken note of the smug expression on my face caused by their confirming a reality that I had long suspected.  

The writers seem to be convinced that the image that they present to the world -- and what is much more important to my way of thinking to their readers and editors -- does not really matter or have an impact on how they are perceived by both groups, but I know -- I know -- that is not true.  Coming up with a good (and accurate) site design that helps to communicate who you are as writer is a very important step in creating your personal brand and in introducing you to the world, and especially new readers who are just discovering you.  Then there are editors -- don't forget the editors!

Once you have decided on that design and its elements and you start building your site, you should borrow a trick out of the playbook of web design pro's though, and immediately begin tweaking your site by paying attention to the way it is being used.  You get that information through the site stats that most hosting companies make available to you free of charge.  And that does not apply just to your website either -- you can use the stats from different elements of your site -- this blog is a prime example -- to see how it is being accessed, how it is being used, and perhaps even more significantly you can obtain a snapshot of the people who are visiting -- and reading -- your pages as well...

At least some effort towards improving the effectiveness of your website needs to be made on your part as its creator whose partial goal is to introduce your character and personality to both your readers and new editors who might throw you a bone in the form of a writing assignment.   It is not enough to make it and then wash your hands and say "I'm done!" you have to set small goals for yourself aimed at improving it and then do it!

Tweaking Your Site

If you happen to care about how your website looks, the impression that it makes on the average visitor, and how they use it, you already have some props and respect from me; I am convinced that the presence of your website or page is as important as good telephone manners and punctuation when it comes to making an impression on editors, and even more important for your relationship to your readers.  I am also convinced that the care that you take in design of your site/page and the information you put on it besides the required things like contact information and your portfolio are worthwhile and worth the effort.

The choices that I made for the recent redesign of my site were very personal and reflect both my character and personality -- actually the creative spark that set me in motion and resulted in that puzzling design came from a casual comment from an editor that I had pitched a piece to, and in the follow-up call they made some comments and observations that, though personal, set my imagination on the course that eventually took me to the design you can see on my home page.

They did not end up commissioning that piece -- they wanted a variation of it, which I was happy to accommodate -- but in the midst of that conversation they observed that they found me puzzling; they commented that they admired my pluck -- that my appearance and personal situation (I use a wheelchair to get around) would probably depress most people to the point that they would not be out there pitching feature pieces but rather would be depressed and hostile towards life.  They thought that my can-do positive attitude was admirable, and wondered what the secret was to my staying upbeat in a world of constant pain that is largely hostile towards people who cannot walk. 

"Drugs," I replied.  But they knew I was joking.  The truth is that just like every other life-altering situation, you have to make a choice; you either make the best of what you have or you give up.  It is incredibly easy to blame others for your disabilities and your inability to have the things you want or lead the life you want; it is a lot harder to take what you have and build upon it, and when you are physically handicapped I believe that making the choice to be emotionally compromised in the bargain is the surest path towards self-destruction and self-pity.

When you consider the alternatives -- lead a bitter and unfulfilled existence, don't get the things you want, make other people miserable, and in the end when you tally up everything you did not get done and all of the failures that your life presents, you still only have yourself to blame.  I would much rather try and fail then to not try at all, and besides that when you try and succeed the impediments that you overcame tend to make those successes all the sweeter as a consequence.  Now that directly impacts the entire issue of both an online and real-world presence for me, and probably in ways you have not considered.

I never conceal the fact that I am disabled (the politically correct phrase would be mobility challenged) but on the other hand it is usually not a good idea to make that the first thing an editor learns about you if they happen to be looking for someone to cover an event that requires travel to another city or country -- and I have and will continue to accept those types of assignments, because I firmly believe that the struggles associated with travel are my personal problem, and not something that I want to encourage the average editor to consider.  With that in mind you can probably see how my website and online presence is incredibly important to me -- and why tweaking it and making it more effective is worthwhile effort.

Despite the relative importance of that destination and presence online, very few writers appear to have even the slightest idea of how that resource is being accessed, and which pages receive return visits -- the sort of raw data that the people who create websites pay particular attention to since it allows them to fine-tune a website to improve its results and make it more effective.  Considering the fact that for most freelancers they are the web design and development department for their business, as well as the creative team, and the standards inspector, writer, editor, and chief bottle-washer.  We cannot be all of those things without forming an intimate attachment to what we create, but we can be all those things and still remain completely ignorant of the actual use of and impact that our sites have on the readers.  Heck, you don't even have to try to reach that level of ignorance, you just have to let it happen.

Knowing what the device and Operating System are for the people who are accessing your site can be as interesting and as important as knowing where in the world they are, what the percentages are for the nationality of your visitors (change that to readers) are for each piece, and when the stats cover your actual writing, features, news, reviews, and the like, this information morphs from statistics to valuable data that can help you sell your skills to editors from publications you have never even considered pitching to before.  When you discover you have a large reader base in Germany that you had no idea existed, that is new you can use!

Stats for Speaking Of...

When I first discovered the collection of stats that are available -- at the click of a link -- I was blown away.  There was all sorts of useful information to be had, in fact I will share a sampling of that with you now:

-- Visitor Percentages by Browser --

• 17% -- Chrome
• 46% -- Firefox
• 21% -- Internet Explorer
• 01% -- Mobile
• 03% -- Opera
• 08% -- Safari

-- Visitor Percentages by Operating System -- 

• 01% -- Android
• 06% -- iPad
• 02% -- iPhone
• 02% -- iPod
• 03% -- Linux
• 08% -- Macintosh
• 03% -- Other / Unidentified
• 72% -- Windows

-- Visitor Percentages by Country of Origin -- 

• 01% -- Belgium
• 10% -- Canada
• 04% -- China
• 06% -- Germany
• 03% -- Mexico
• 01% -- Poland
• 03% -- South Africa
• 27% -- United Kingdom
• 42% -- United States

In addition to the above stats I can also learn what pages on my various sites refer the most traffic to this blog, as well as what other sites online (mostly my home page and Google) refer readers in, where they are coming from and what search terms that they are using that ends up bringing them to my site and this blog, which blog posts generate the most views and how often, what the daily traffic looks like, and a plethora of other information. 

On the hosting account for my website I can get the same information but in far greater detail, and in fact the stats system can be custom configured by me to allow me to drill down to specific information such as what the percentages are for each of the Microsoft OS's that are covered by the entry for "Windows" -- if you are curious and I was, I recently took a look at that information displaying the data as daily stats and learned that over the course of the past seven days the presence of Windows 8 is steadily increasing, which suggests that contrary to the rumors online, people are actually buying and upgrading to the new Windows.

A jaded -- or clever -- writer might take these stats and use them to tailor the contents of their site in order to narrow them to the most appealing information, so for example I might start writing blog entries whose subjects include the Firefox web browser on Windows 8 and examine Internet interests of people in the USA and United Kingdom, which would nicely hit the top percentage of users already visiting my sites.  Or I could do the same thing but change the focus of habits to people from Poland if my goal was to improve the traffic from that country.  You get the idea about how this information and these stats are actually useful for improving the site, right?

Working Press

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G'day!

Anyone who has sent me an email knows that I always reply - I think that is just good manners - but every now and then I get asked similar questions and I am tempted to blog about it - then I answer the emails and forget about blogging about it!

Today I am blogging (though I did already answer the most recent email on the subject) because enough people have asked about this to convince me that it deserves a public post. The subject? A mixture of questions about working press.

Over the course of the past year I have received 20+ emails asking me about how I became a columnist and how they might do the same. Other emails of a similar line regarding journalism, working press, photography, and just getting published hikes the total above 50, which from where I sit is both a lot of interest and a reason to blog on it.

The following are my observations, answers, and opinions to each question I was asked:

(1) How did you become a columnist?

Pure dumb luck. Seriously, it was a right place, right time sort of deal. I had written a piece for a magazine that went out of business between when I proposed the piece and when I finished it, and at the suggestion of my wife, I sent a query to the Times.

I doubt anyone could have been more surprised than I was when they accepted it, and then printed it considering that it was a magazine-sized piece! I was asked for another piece, and then a third, after which I was asked if I would like to write a bi-monthly column on technology, and Digital Grind was born.

(2) How can I become a columnist/journalist?

First, there is a big difference between a columnist and a journalist.

A Columnist: Generally selects the subjects they write upon, and is responsible for all of the aspects of that process. If they are lucky they have a really great editor (I am and do) who they can call upon for guidance and an experienced eye. The biggest difference between a columnist and a journalist is that a columnist infuses their opinion into the pieces that they write, whereas a journalist should not be doing that.

A Journalist: Writes about things that happen and reports the news. Some (a rare few) work as investigative journalists, hunting for the untold and hidden, but most journalists are employed as Staff Writers and either cover an established beat or are assigned pieces by their editor.

Both Columnists and Journalists follow a well-established code of ethics and rules set by their paper - rules that are there to protect the integrity of the paper AND the writer. There are some obvious ones - like verifying facts and identifying yourself when interviewing people - and some not so obvious ones as well that I will cover in a question below...

To be a Columnist: Requires a solid grounding of knowledge in the area that you are writing about, and the ability to write. You know what you know, you know where your strengths are, and you should play to those strengths! If you think your skill set applies, contact the section editor of your paper and ask them if they would be interested in a column from you. Tell them about yourself, your experience, and your aims - write a sample column - and see where that takes you!

To be a Journalist: Is a bit more tricky, since there are specific skill sets you simply have to have. This career track usually begins with journalism as a major at university - though it does not have to - and requires you to be a very task-oriented and self-motivated person. You have X number of words (usually 600 to 900) to explain who, what, where, why, how, and when - and often only a few hours to make that happen. Talk about pressure! But if you think that is you, than educate yourself on the subject!

There are lots of books available and it would not hurt to start writing on your own - learn the style of the publication you want to write for, find a newsworthy topic or two, and write it up. Introduce yourself to the section editor, tell then about yourself and your goals, and include the sample piece you wrote. Yes, it can be that simple!


(3) How come you are identified in different ways in the paper? Sometimes you are a Contributing Writer, sometimes you are a Freelance Writer, and in your column you are just you?

In my by-line for the column I am identified by name - and as a columnist in the section - but you will notice that at the end of the piece, it always says that I am a Freelance Writer, and it gives you my email address. For non-column pieces - How it Works and news pieces - I am usually identified as a Contributing Writer.

The reason for this is actually pretty simple - and Jim, it is not a secret code... What it means in very basic terms is that I am not a Staff Writer - I write for the paper but I am not on staff there.

The term "Freelance" goes back to the age of knights and castles and kings - a "Free Lance" was a warrior who hired out his Lance to any Lord, Baron, or King who was willing to pay them. In its modern use, it means that the writer is working for the publication for a specific project, series, or in my case, column - though I can still contribute to the paper outside the column.

A "Contributing Writer" is widely viewed as a step-up from Freelance though I am not so sure that this is valid, considering that most newspapers use the title to denote a non-staff writer of straight news and feature pieces who has had more than three pieces published in that paper. Often a first time writer's piece is identified as "Analysis" though the usage varies by publication.

(4) It must be pretty cool to be able to wave your press pass and get into concerts and events / How many articles would I have to write for a paper to get a press pass? / You get a lot of free stuff as a newspaper writer?

These questions caught me by surprise the first few times I received them, and I have to admit that I am still surprised when someone asks me this - and it is not just by email, I get this in person too. The reason that I am surprised is that my mindset on the issue is the diametric opposite of the person asking it!

First I should point out that a "Press Pass" is not something that you receive from the publication you write for - it is an ID or pass that is provided to you, by the venue operator, at an event, after you have established your credentials as news media.

How you establish your credentials can be simple enough - you contact the venue in advance to register as press and they verify you. Ah but that is the point, isn't it? They VERIFY you. You do not just show up at an event and wave a media ID and waltz in - that is not how it usually works. You apply in advance, and the PR person for the event either verifies you by doing a web search or checking your paper's web site, or they call your editor.

As for your media credentials - I should point out that I am very reluctant to use them and I only do so when it is necessary - and I have good reasons for this!

First, the ID I was given by the Editor of the Times is a company ID - which means ANY time I use it, I am representing the paper. That is fine if I am working a story and I need to establish that I am in fact working press - and it is incredibly valuable for that purpose because it has the all important contact information on it so that the person or agency I am presenting it to can simply dial up the paper and verify that I am who I say I am, and more to the point - I am supposed to be asking the questions I am asking. That last bit is rather important, and I will explain why.

Somehow an opportunistic notion has been attached to media ID - it is almost as if the public thinks of it as a free pass, or the golden ticket for freebies. I would be a fool if I did not admit that there ARE some members of the press who have, at times, used it in that way, but you may be surprised to learn that that sort of use very often leads to an abrupt change in the users status - to unemployed (and in extreme cases, unemployable).

Remember the rules that working press follow that I mentioned earlier? One of the major rules is that any time you are using your status as press to access an event or to interview someone, it must relate to a piece you are actually writing. Let me rephrase that: I may really like the Blue Man Group, but I cannot use my ID to get a backstage pass and interview them unless I am actually writing a piece ON them - and since I am a technology writer that is not very likely is it?

It is true that as a tech writer, I am offered free stuff all the time. Companies email me offering to send me a gadget or software, and I get invited to industry events. Rarely do I ever accept any of these items or invitations, because if I did, I would have to write about them! I only have 1400 words twice a month and believe me when I say that there is no shortage of topics to write about.

(5) What is the best way for me to get published? / If I write for an online site that does not pay, will that help me get work for sites that do pay?

I am not being sarcastic when I say this - but knowing when to write is probably the best way for you to get published. What do I mean by that? Simply this: writing a piece and then trying to get it published is not the way to go, and is probably the most common mistake in freelance writing.

Learn how to write a good query - and research the publication you want to write for first! There is nothing more painful for a writer than to have to rip apart a piece that they have already written in order to meet the requirements received from a query - it is much easier to query, than write, than the other way around. And your pieces are always better that way.

I honestly cannot say one way or the other if writing for an online site is going to help you get work - a lot of those sites make a big deal out of the fact that you will be getting "published" and that writing for them will "help establish you as a writer" but whenever I see that sort of thing, I have to wonder why they need to tell me that?

I should mention that there are exceptions to this - years ago I actually sold a piece that I originally wrote as a review for the Lincoln Aviator to a magazine that found the piece online, so my qualified answer is yes - and no.

(6) I found a site that sells Freelance Press ID, is that helpful to getting started? / Are you a member of the IPA?

If you are working on a piece that has already been accepted or has been requested by a paper or magazine, providing the contact information for your editor should be sufficient to gain access to whatever venue it is that you are trying to cover. Having a laminated piece of paper with your photo on it issues by anyone other than the publication you are writing for is not just a bad idea, it could get you frozen out of the venue you are trying to access!

I do not claim to be an expert in this area - but common sense tells me that the PR people who handle vetting the press are very familiar with what legitimate credentials look like, and besides that they rarely every accept them on site unless they have established your credentials prior to the event, so I would have to say save your money.

No I am not a member of the IPA. I do not recommend the IPA. I know very little about the IPA other than that they have a very fancy web site and they provide "ID" services for a fee to people who want to be freelancers. Save your money?

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Well this turned into a wall of text - sorry about that. Still those are the six most frequent topics, and I hope that I made sense to you :)

Be well!

CMBF