Over the transom.

I still hear the ‘plonk’. Even though it’s a virtual manuscript hitting my in-box, I hear the sound of a ream of paper falling solidly on my desk.

You never know exactly what you are going to get, but if you’ve done the prep-work well enough, you have a pretty good idea. The initial sample you received from the buyer and the subsequent discussion gave you enough information to set your rate. But there’s still the plonk.

Here’s an example:*

Creating a Healthy Mindset

Do you feel like you could have a healthier attitude toward life? Would you like to change your attitude or simply approach things in a different way? It can be difficult with all of the stressors in your life to lead a healthy lifestyle, but the way that it needs to start is through a healthy mindset. Many people think that they are just meant to be a pessimist or they just aren’t as optimistic as a lot of the other people in their life. You can achieve a healthy mindset; you just need to go about it in the right way.

How You Can Have a Healthier Mindset

Many people sit back and look at their lives and wish that they could look at things in a more positive manner. Instead of working toward being positive they beat themselves up for being negative or not having the responses or attitudes that they wish they would have naturally. This is a typical response, but it doesn’t do any good. Instead of getting mad at yourself for responding the way you do, go about the desire to have a healthier mindset in a positive way.

What the buyer had to say.

“It’s too smooshy, too loose. Can you punch it up and have it read better?”

A little Q&A revealed that this was written to be SEO friendly. The original writer had her hands tied. I explained the trade-offs between readable and machine readable. The key phrase was ‘healthy mindset’, and I promised I would try to keep as many instances as I could while still keeping in mind that actual humans were the target audience.

The Parameters

• Keep, as much as reasonable, the key phrase.
• Shorten the run on sentences.
• Remove the redundancies.
• Punch it up (by way of the above and formatting tricks)

The Process

Here’s a blow by blow for one of the sentences: It can be difficult with all of the stressors in your life to lead a healthy lifestyle, but the way that it needs to start is through a healthy mindset.

Check the first 7 words in a sentence. If the writer hasn’t gotten to the subject, there is a problem. Simply reordering improves it. The stressors in your life make leading a healthy lifestyle difficult…

But I don’t like ‘stressors’. How about, Life’s pressures make leading a healthy lifestyle difficult… ? The ‘life and lifestyle’ conflict. And I don’t like ‘make leading’ either. Another shuffle and rewording gives: Living healthy is difficult in the face of daily pressures and stress. A healthy mindset can help overcome this.

Now, I don’t like ‘in the face of’. So- Living healthy is difficult because of daily pressures and stress. A healthy mindset can help you overcome this.

18 words from 30 and one use of the key phrase in each passage. That’s how it goes.

Try it yourself.

I’ve picked out a few wordy phrases you should be able to either eliminate or shorten dramatically. Give it a shot and try out your editor muscles. There’s nothing as worthwhile as hands-on.

• Many people think that
• a lot of other people in their life.
• wish that they could look at things in a more positive manner
• not having the responses or attitudes that they wish they would have naturally.
• go about the desire to have a healthier mindset in a positive way.

Like it? Hate it? Either way, I’m betting you can do it. And like me, you will get better over time. Better, faster, stronger, editor.

*If you are the author of this example, I would like to credit you for the work. I copyscaped it and didn’t get any results. As it stands, I am relying on ‘fair use’ of this small portion, but certainly I would like to give a proper citation.

Spinning

There is an odd sort of job which pays very well if you can sell it. A buyer already has something readable (an ebook or a website or a sales letter) and they want it redone to change the tone or the target (by target, I mean the reader it is meant for).

It could be something they already paid for and published. It might be an article they got from the net. Although this is really a rewrite, you will find it posted as an editing job. From the buyer’s perspective, the material is usable and written well enough, it just doesn’t ‘fit’.

Be very careful here. If they wrote it themselves, they aren’t going to be happy when you call it the worst piece of junk you’ve seen in a year. Tread lightly.

First translate

Translate what they tell you into your own language.

As writers we think about writing a bit differently (or should). The buyer will use adjectives like: too soft, too hard (usually as it relates to sales copy); too difficult to read or too long; or the ever popular “doesn’t sound right”. Whatever they say, try to translate it into your own terms.

The way to do this is to read the copy and identify what the author is trying to say. This is going to be your theme. Whatever you end up with, this theme is sacrosanct. You aren’t out to say something else, just say it better.

Here’s some examples of what buyers tell you and what it means:

• Too long/wanders – They want it more concise. Use active verbs and specific nouns. Keep sentences short and punchy; paragraphs on point.
• Not friendly/too technical – The opposite of above, they want contractions and a point of view; consider anecdotes or a story line.
• Doesn’t have any authority – Needs facts and research. See if they will allow links or citations.
• Isn’t written for my readers – Who are the readers? Jargon and ‘insider’ talk might be needed. A good way to get a feel for any specific group of readers is to spend a little time reading blogs and forums in that subject area. Be aware the true expertise cannot be faked.
• Isn’t compelling – Watch out. This might be a copywriting job masquerading as an editing job. For this one, you need a good balance of factual content (the reasons behind the purchase) and other elements of copywriting- I highly recommend Bob Bly’s books on the subject. In any case, look to add emotional hooks and loaded adjectives with strong action verbs.
• Too much hype - The opposite of above. Usually written as a template and over the top copywriting. Trim the bull and add more factual description. Stories as examples help as well as testimonials. You combat the generic with the specific.

This list is getting out of hand, but pinning the buyer down as well as you can is essential. Expect several rounds of back and forth before you get the job clearly defined in your head.

Know these techniques

• Bulleted list to add punch and ‘readability’.
• Be able to check reading ease (see: Improve Your Writing for how to do this).
• Know how to add visuals and links to break up a long piece.
• Know how final page layout, font and form affects how a page is viewed. By form, I mean how writing is different on a button, a balloon or a cartoon graphic. How much information you can fit and where you can fit it…

That last bullet brings me to what makes editing a different animal than other types of writing I do on oDesk. When I take on an editing job, I’m also a consultant. I expect to make suggestions about presentation- what should go where and why in the final product.

And that brings me to my last point. Telling them why.

Justifying your changes.

This probably the most important thing you do when you edit, besides the actual changes. The what you did isn’t as important as the why you did it. Buyers expect you to have some expertise in communicating with the written word. And rightly so. You have to make it plain to them that you have contributed something worth the money they are paying you.

A rewrite alone isn’t enough. You have to tell buyers what you did and why you did it.

“I lowered the reading level to reach the average person browsing the web.”

“I’ve reordered the paragraphs and split them up to give a logical flow to the piece. This pattern allows for a convincing pitch at the end- they already have all the best reasons to buy in mind.”

“The article is longer than normal because people who are interested in this subject will keep reading. In fact, they are hungry for as much information as they can get.”

In my next installment, I’ll cover some real world examples and techniques.

I’ve noticed a trend on oDesk and other contract writing sites. The trend is to hire as cheaply as possible and then either the buyer edits the material into something usable or hires someone else to do it. (And when they get someone else to take a second look, you can bet the posting will include the phrase, ‘easy job’.) In other words, some buyers set out knowing they won’t get a good product out of the box and hire writers based only on the lowest hourly rate. Editing is part of how they are thinking about the job.

Feeding into this same trend are first-time or amateur authors (of web sites, sales letters and content) who realize, after struggling with a project, the results aren’t what they imagined. They are also looking for editing services.

Finally, a still rare but growing area is ‘freshening’ a website. An older site has gone stale over time; the company or product has evolved or the website just gets a worn-out feel. Although I consider a new set of clothes rewriting, these jobs are seen by some buyers as simple editing.

Can you do it?

It’s very likely that you already do.

I want to point out that ‘editing’ as used here means a skill set that includes rewriting, formatting, and reshaping the tone or spin of content. At oDesk, the term can mean anything from proofreading to an entire rewrite where the final piece looks nothing like the original material. With that in mind, my claim that you already do it should be obvious. Because you edit your own work before you submit it.

You already look for run-on sentences, grammar and punctuation errors, misspellings and poor usage… You do do that, right? Right?

Still not convinced you should bid on editing jobs? Take a look at this cut and paste (part of a cover letter put up on a message board). Read it and think about how you would ‘fix’ it. It’s fairly typical of an ESL (English as a Second Language) writer.

I am one of the serious bidders for the project. With me working on your project you can be rest assured about the quality. I will always keep you informing about the progress so that you can be in loop and relaxed. I am really enthusiastic about the project. We believe in work quality, customer satisfaction and timely delivery of projects for better relations wit customers, Achieving 100% customer satisfaction and proving our best services

I cherry picked that example to make a point. There is a great deal of written material out there that needs help. And you can provide that help.

Can you get a good price?

Yes, if you can inform/lead/educate the buyer. You need to get them past the this is a simple job mindset. And you can do this without being snide (Oh, if it’s such a simple job, why the hell don’t you do it yourself?)

Focus on the end product. This is, after all, the buyer’s primary interest. Don’t complain, just explain. This helps you get hired. You have to get them to understand what you are actually doing for them. If they aren’t writers themselves (which, if they are hiring an editor, they usually aren’t) it’s not easy. Which brings me to:

The Gold Standard

1. Get a copy/sample of the material before you commit to a fee or a number of hours.
2. Take that sample and edit it.
3. Send it back as part of your cover letter.

Why is this so important?

• It tips you off to how much work actually needs to be done and allows you to estimate your time commitment.
• It shows the buyer just what she is paying for and what the final product will be like.
• It gives you a chance to explain the process, the what, why and the how.
• It gets you interacting with the buyer and past the first date awkwardness.

I’ve tried to show you the why you should consider editing for money. In future posts I’ll focus on the mechanics. But one final tip: Never, ever be derogatory instead of calm and factual about an original piece. You don’t know when they wrote it themselves and have an emotional stake. Try to stay professional with your critiques and corrections.

I’d like to start with an announcement:

oDesk is going to end support for Internet Explorer 6 some time in September 2008.

I thought I had better put that out there just in case we have some readers who still use IE6 and don’t check the oDesk Community often enough.  If you’re in that group I really recommend going out and getting Firefox 3, or either upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or Opera 9, or even Safari if you’re a Mac user.  Internet Explorer 8 is already in beta, so there’s no reason to be two generations behind the curve.

My own preference is for Firefox 3, although I use other browsers when I have to.  (I admit it, I’m a browser junkie and have four installed on this machine.)

Now that we’ve finished that important public service message, we now return you to your regularly scheduled posting.

In a previous post, I discussed some of the pros and cons of Google Documents and other forms of ‘Cloud Storage.’  While I do think Google Documents make a great collaborative tool I still have serious issues with storing client data on someone else’s machine.

Luckily, I have found an alternative.

Before I go into it further, I recommend you brace yourself, as I won’t be surprised if Nelson fires off a full broadside at this one (I expect him to look at it with his blind eye due to the source.)

Windows Live FolderShare

The idea is simple.  It’s a peer to peer (P2P) application that lets you mirror folders or directories on multiple computers.  It has built in security settings that also allow you to either restrict access to yourself or share the folder with someone else.

Currently I have it set up so that my main writing directory (which has sub-folders for my personal and business work) is mirrored between my desktop and my laptop.  This lets me open a work file on either computer and have it automatically update on the second so long as I have an internet connection.

What I like is that it meets two of my needs simultaneously.  It gives me an automatic real-time backup for any work I do as all my files are mirrored on the other machine, and also gives me automatic synchronization so I can work whenever I need to or wherever I am without worrying about having the right version of the document.

Now for my second trick:

It also allows me to share folders with someone else.  This means that if I’m doing collaborative work with one or more other people we can share a folder and use it as a document repository.   We can each mirror the folder and then any time I update a file my client can have access to it immediately.

This works very well on oDesk with the payment guarantee which means I don’t need to worry about whether I’ll be paid for what I have done.

It’s a very useful tool, especially for people like myself who work on multiple computers.  In fact I’m thinking of putting the application on one or two of our other computers just to be sure I have backups when I need them.

Nothing beats a backup you don’t have to think about.

The usual pattern is: read the job board, find something that I can do within a buyer’s budget, construct a cover letter, submit samples, apply, and wait. And wait.

The thrill comes when this process is turned upside down and interested buyers email me. Yippee!

What was it about my profile or my portfolio that had them picking me (and maybe a few others) out of the vast herd of writers at oDesk? Whatever it was, it’s a great feeling when it happens. I’m suddenly no longer a 5-drink Lucy (the one who only gets propositioned at the bar after suitors have had a few) and I’m the budding starlet plucked from an obscure waitress job to work on the big screen. (That would be a better set of metaphors if I were female.) Anyhow, it’s really nice.

Before becomes now.

Back when I was anxious about finding work, worried about reaching volume and money goals, and applying for almost anything that had the barest scent of a job I could do- back then, they said, “Get a few jobs done and done well. Fix your profile. Accumulate some samples. Do this, and buyers will find you.” Sure. Sounds nice.

All BS aside, they were right. Thoughtful and motivated buyers don’t just screw around with a job posting. This is especially so if they are experienced buyers with lots of previous projects completed. You only have to look at the ‘initiated by’ column on postings to see that buyers are actively looking for good fits. When ‘buyer’ appears in that column, it means they searched for and found someone they are interested in hiring. Once in a while, that someone is me.

Get past the flattery.

Enjoy the moment. Take the ego boost. But then, move on.

You have to evaluate the offer as you would any other: Is the money right? Is this something I want to do? Can I fit it in my schedule?

Recognize you have a bit more power than you normally have. The buyer is halfway sold going in. So consider your wants and needs a bit. Now is not the time to be swayed by the simple compliment and flattery of being singled out.

I have made that mistake. Because a buyer invited me directly, I agreed to a lower price. Oops. I no longer make that error. I bid (and try to justify my bid) based on the job as presented. Actually, I usually ask for more information as a matter of course, but then I bid towards the high end.

Try and use the they-want-me power when you have it.

Beware of the scammy.

There is a type of buyer who uses the provider listings to generate wholesale invites. I don’t think of these are real jobs at all. These folks are just broadly posting their job as an invitation instead of on the job board. The only thing I do with them is add a message when I decline the offer. The message is usually a variant of “You aren’t paying enough and I don’t think you will get a very good product.”

These folks already know this, but I still do it.

Until the terrain at oDesk changes (perhaps by adding a minimum?) scammy invites are going to show up. As long as they don’t overdo it, I don’t have a problem with buyers who want to game the system this way. They are entitled to get the lowest price they can for the work they need done.

So, follow the advice I got, and enjoy the invites when they come your way. Just make sure it’s a party you want to attend before you RSVP.

Gaffs to avoid

These are mistakes I have collected from writing I have read or edited (and some I’ve made myself).

• accept/except - She accepted (agreed to) the gifts, all except (excluding) the one from me.
• principle/principal – The principle (rule) of parsimony was the principal (first, primary) reason I kept the article short.
• discrete/discreet – The one means circumspect or prudent (discreet) and the other means separate from some group or category (discrete).
• belief/believe - My belief (noun) is that you believe (verb) things I do not.
• proceed/precede - To proceed is to continue or move on, precede means to go before in space or time, as an introduction might precede the main body of a book.
• illusion/allusion – She mentioned the magician’s illusion (a false impression of reality) when making an allusion (implication or passing indirect reference) to how fake my passion seemed.
• lay/lie - Lay is the action of placing something down (usually horizontally), while lie is the condition of being there. So, if I lay a book down on the table, it is lying there and it lies on the table.
• to/too – The second means extremely, very, or in addition to. I am too (very) short for dancing and I am roundish too (in addition).
• capital/capitol – Capitol is the building where the legislature meets, either in Washington D.C. or in a state. All the other meanings are capital.
• then/than – Then is used for time and than is used in comparisons: I had more sense then (time) than (comparison) I have now.
• accede/exceed – Accede means to agree to and exceed means to go beyond some measure or expectation.
• access/excess – I had access to the secret vault where I found an excess of top secret documents.
• all ready/ already – It’s already noon, are we all ready to go?
• all together/altogether – We were all together on the train, although it was altogether too crowded to breathe.

And now I need a breath.

The confusing pairs I’ve listed so far won’t get caught by your spell checker. Maybe that is why so many slip through. But there’s another type of mistake that doesn’t get caught; one that can be really embarrassing.

It happens when a word is misspelled, but ends up correctly spelling another word, one that wasn’t intended.

When the words are visually similar, a cursory proofreading doesn’t catch them either. For example, decide/deicide. The former is when you make a choice, the latter is when you kill a god. Compassion/compression, pursue/peruse, anyone/any one…

The only answer is to read and reread your submission before it goes out. I am not happy admitting that after I thought I had proofed something to death, I’ve sent blotchy fruit to market. If and when I discover it, I make every effort to fix the problem.

One tip I’ve just started using is reading sentences backwards. I am told that doing this helps give a ‘fresh eye’ when proofreading. I can tell you it feels strange, but does get me looking at words as words instead of parts of a sentence with meaning and context.

The best technique I’ve found so far is to reread a piece a day or two after I have written it. I suppose that puts me more in the reader mode instead of the author mode. Unfortunately I am often too close to deadline for this to be an option.

The only thing I can assure you of is even when one particular buyer doesn’t notice a usage error, their readers will. And there isn’t an upside. When you are selling your expertise, you just have to work as hard as you can to avoid goofs. Because no matter how well you make the rest of the piece, they are going to remember the flub.

Here’s one that appeared in my local paper, in an article about a car accident. “The cars ended up on top of each other.” There’s no spelling or grammar error there, but the impossibility of it made it memorable.

Let them remember your prose for its power and imagery, not because you had a ‘wardrobe malfunction’.

OK, we all make typos and grammar flubs. That’s not exactly what I mean. What I mean is a sort of usage error that has you publishing, ‘Don’t loose your bowel.’ instead of the intended: ‘Don’t lose your bowl.’

What the psychologists say.

Evolutionary psychology proposes that we are pattern formers because it allowed our predator ancestors to pick out the unusual from the background. And these ‘things that don’t fit’ meant food or danger or ‘go look– be curious’; survival for the guy or gal who could best pick out errors in the pattern.

The point is that the feeling of abrupt interruption is hard-wired in our brains. We can no more turn it off than we can turn off the ‘I think my foot itches’ switch. The significance for writing is that we strive to become invisible to our readers. Unless an article is about me, I shouldn’t appear in it. The dissonance our readers feel when a proofreading error gets onto the page yells out, “Look, someone wrote this– and they goofed.”

The second explanation comes from more general psychology. They point out that what irritates us as individuals most is spotting mistakes in others that we fear to make ourselves. This one is a bit more complex, but has to do with how spotting a mistake makes you feel. If you spot something unconnected to your own ego, or a habit you have yourself that doesn’t bother you, the error will slide past without much emotional content.

On the other hand, if the error is one you would be horrified to make or one you guard against, then you will suddenly, and without will, jump to some harsh judgments about the writer. They will seem uneducated, dumb or careless to you. Readers who experience this (and by the way buyers are also readers) not only loose the flow of the article, but even if they pick it up again, have lost regard for what it says.

I played a little trick on you there. Did the ‘loose’ instead of ‘lose’ throw you off a bit?

My list of common errors.

Here’s a list of errors guaranteed to irritate editors and mark you as a ‘less than educated native speaker’ or worse. The nice thing is having a list largely guards you against them.

Alot/a lot There’s no such word as alot. It’s a lot, two words. Always.

Lose/loose and chose/choose Lose means to no longer have. Loose means ill-fitting or to let go. Chose is the past tense of choose. We choose better today because we chose poorly yesterday.

Affect/effect Affect is verb meaning ‘to cause an effect’. Effect is the noun- ‘Gun control affects how many guns are purchased, and this may have an effect on crime.’ There are specialized uses for both of these: In psychology, affect can be a noun and effect can be used as a verb in phrases like, ‘to effect change’.

Entitle/title The name you use to refer to something is its title. Entitle means a right to ownership. ‘The title of this blog post is Becoming Invisible, as its author, I am entitled to the copyright.’

Its/ it’s Its is possessive. It’s is a contraction of it and is. ‘It’s off-putting when its head has gone missing.’

Loan/lend Lend is the verb. You lend your talent. Loan is the noun. You never, ever loan your talent.

Fewer/ less than Fewer is used with discrete countable things. Less than is used with other quantities. ‘He has less sense than a cow and fewer friends.’

Got a pet peeve of your own? Help me add to my list.

Getting a handle on a new project quickly is important. Relevant questions help, and they accomplish two goals. They frame the job as clearly as possible and they show buyers that you are a focused professional.

If you don’t ask meaningful questions and get good answers, you and your client are left without concrete milestones and objectives. We are writers; we are communicators; soliciting key information from your buyer is the first chance you have to show off your skills.

There’s one other side to consider- the buyer’s perspective. They are as much in the dark about you as you are about them. When you ask good questions they can see you are taking the project seriously. This instills confidence. It’s happened to me more than once: I asked questions on the message board to narrow down a job’s scope and landed the job before placing a formal bid. The buyer could tell I was interested and focused on the problems and specific needs of his project.

Buyers appreciate that you need some essential information to bid accurately and unless they are experienced at posting jobs on oDesk, they’ve probably left something out of the description. Here’s the top five questions I need answers to before I start work:

Who am I writing for?

I don’t mean the buyer, I mean the reader. Who is going to be reading this and why? Are they already well versed in the subject or are they lay readers? What are their interests? This is what makes a press release a different animal altogether than an ‘About Us’ page. The same basic article would be unrecognizable when written for an editor who just needs the facts, a lay reader looking for engaging narrative, or a search engine picking out key words for ranking (yes, sometimes our readers are machines).

The more I know about who I am writing for, the better. Are they educated readers who won’t put up with hype or fluff? Are they less serious readers just looking for an entertaining piece? The questions vary depending on the project, but the information I want to extract is the same: I want to know who the expected audience is.

What is my writing supposed to accomplish?

Buyers should have a clear objective in mind for their project. Sometimes you have to remind them of this and get them to think it through. You want to know if your piece is meant to sell a product, inform naive readers, push an agenda, establish authority, connect on an emotional level… the list is long and the objectives often mixed. The clearer your buyer is on the purpose of the piece, the easier it will be for you to mold it to fit. And when the time comes to submit your work, the same standards will be in play. There won’t be any mystery about whether or not your piece has the right spin.

What are the firm deadlines?

Every buyer wants it today, or maybe tomorrow morning. If you pay attention though (and especially for integrated projects where your writing is only one brick in a large wall) you will notice that while you are sweating to meet some deadline, your material doesn’t appear for weeks or even months after submission. I’ve adopted a rule many subcontractors use: Good, Fast, Cheap- pick two. The idea is to allow for rush jobs, but charge for them.

You should have two things in mind when you are talking deadlines with a buyer. The first is your own private estimate of how long the project is actually going to take you. This is your, bottom-line-do-it-as-fast-as-possible date. Keep this private.

The second is your, ‘how much time I’d like to do it in with my other jobs and the level of stress I’m comfortable with and knowing life in general will intrude’. This second estimate is what you predicate your regular bid on. Anything quicker than this is a rush job. Add at least 10% to your bid for short-deadlined work.

What are the format restrictions?

The catch-all term ‘format’ refers to the final form your work will take. Here’s some examples from recent projects I’ve completed:

• MS Word. The most common way (along with Rich Text Format) we submit our written gems.

• PDF. If you don’t have the ability to produce .pdf files, you are going to be shut out (or at least ranked lower) when a buyer expects deliverables in this, or any other specific file type.

• Email. Yes, emails have their own style. You are limited in length, tone, and maybe fonts.

• Dialog. I did a script for an animated cartoon that limited sentence and word length, couldn’t have bold or italic script, and had to meet ‘run time’ parameters.

• Graphic. Pictures, graphs and other visual add-ons mean you have to address file size, pixel density, color and readability issues for different browsers. My graph looked great on my screen, but the labeled points were impossible to make out in the final version. Graphic arts is a field all by itself for a reason.

• Word count. There are situations where word count mismatches occur between what a buyer has in mind to cover in a piece and the amount of room necessary to do it justice. Generally, buyers think they are getting more for their money when word count goes up. But at about 450 words per average website page (when font and formatting is taken into account) they can overshoot if they ask for a thousand words where only 500 will fit.

How and when will I be paid?

I suppose it’s human nature to ignore uncomfortable subjects. And for some reason, money issues can fall into the category of ‘unpleasant’. I used to avoid talking money upfront with clients because it made me uneasy. That changed when a fundamental misunderstanding about pay rate ruined an otherwise ideal job.

Freelancing is a business. Buyers are usually in business too, and they understand that ‘how much’ and ‘how soon’ impacts your ability to continue doing business. By clarifying payment amounts and methods, you demonstrate to your buyer that you are a serious business person. Don’t think that you are insulting anyone by asking money questions. They will appreciate knowing where things stand as much as you do.

The right questions help you in other ways too.

Simply by asking and evaluating the answers to these 5 questions, you will get a better appreciation for what the actual job is (as opposed to what they posted). But there’s a hidden bonus. The interaction with your client will tip you off to what it is going to be like working with them. Quick, informative answers tell you as much about their business style as a history of completed jobs on oDesk. Difficulties in communication, whether because of personality conflicts or language barriers, will become evident before you’ve taken the plunge and started work.

So ask away. It’s only going to help smooth the road and mark you as a mature professional freelancer.

]]> http://odeskinsider.com/blog/5-key-questions-to-ask-buyers/feed/ 2 http://odeskinsider.com/blog/flying-solo-ii/ http://odeskinsider.com/blog/flying-solo-ii/#comments Tue, 13 May 2008 15:10:39 +0000 William Morrison http://www.odeskinsider.com/?p=129 In my first post on going it alone, I mentioned that you don’t have to sever ties with oDesk right off, rather, a mixed strategy was best. Here’s some more tips and tricks along those lines.

Funnel through oDesk.

This has already worked for me. A client wanted to link up in Skype. The job listing wasn’t through oDesk, but from another brokered site. Now, there’s a lot of back and forth when you’re chatting live. I’m trying to get more info about the project (word counts, number of pages- the usual) and he’s pressing me for a price. In the middle of this he asks about references. Off the top of my head (I’ll be prepared next time) I tell him my profile is at www.william.morrison.name. You might remember from the previous post in this series (which goes over how to claim your .name) that this URL currently points to my oDesk profile.

Well, it worked. He was impressed by my profile enough to hire me on the spot.

So, bottom line- you’ve spent some time getting your oDesk profile right. Don’t waste that effort. If you just pull up your profile without knowing about oDesk, you will see what a great ad it is. Funnel prospective clients through it, regardless of where and how they are hiring you.

Hustling jobs.

You see and read hundreds of websites a month. Most of them are pretty professional, but many are not. If you are writing web copy, don’t be shy about selling your talents, either for a bad website or just to update and freshen up a website. One good place to troll for business is locally. Most of the middle to large business owner’s I run across have a domain and website for their business. Check them out.

You can find URLs for local businesses by looking for links in online phone directories and on business cards. Take a look at a few sites with the idea of improving them for a fee. Rewrite a few paragraphs of their ‘about us’ page or FAQ to show them what you can do. Walk softly here, don’t be too critical; they may have written the copy themselves. Again, funneling them through your oDesk profile takes some of the selling burden off you.

Offer your services to websites/blogs in your area of expertise. If you have credentials, play them to good effect. “I’m a freelance writer with five years experience growing bonsai. I’d like to send you an example article for your site/blog which you can use with my byline and a link to my profile.”

This is called network marketing, but it amounts to bartering. You are exchanging something you do well for exposure. Don’t overdo this. If someone likes your stuff, don’t keep flipping freebies at them. Quote your regular rate, you are a professional.

Start an idea jar.

An idea jar is a wide-mouthed jar (a cookie jar works well) that you throw little notes into. Ideas you haven’t thought through but seem like they might have legs. The point is to accumulate enough ideas about expanding your writing opportunities beyond brokered sites that you never ‘run dry’.

I’ll give you an example. I’m looking at a little slip of paper that says, “Local business features, snowmen and museums”. Fleshed out, the idea is to profile local businesses and their owners for Sunday feature articles in my local (small town) newspaper. The ‘snowmen’ part references a local business that makes and rents out snow making machines for the winter; the ‘museums’ tag is for a company that makes elaborate display cases for museums. Either of those companies would do to start. The advantages are connections with local businessmen, local newspaper editor, and the chance to leverage articles in other venues. For the businessmen, trade magazines would be a natural segue.

Here’s another one from the jar: “Buy small ads”. The idea is to take out small ads offering ghostwriting (article/ebook) in the hobby magazines I read and have an expertise in. I’ve already bartered an article for a free subscription, I think I could barter another article for some small ad space.

Another:
“Check out ezinearticles.com” I forget why I wrote this one down, but I assume I’ll remember when I go to that site…

I’ll have to hold off writing the next article in this series until I try out some marketing techniques and see if they fly or not. In the meanwhile, if you have an odd-ball idea that has worked for you, share it. We learn the best stuff from each other.

As the Bard once said, “Aye, there’s the rub.”

As an enthusiast, I enjoy nothing more than fiddling with arcane configuration settings, overclocking, tweaking and half a hundred other nerdy pursuits. As a working professional, I don’t have the time. I use my computer for work, and every hour I have to spend working on it to get something configured ‘just so’ isn’t being spent earning money to pay the bills. That’s a problem.

Another problem I have has to do with the simple fact that lots of companies use Microsoft products, and if you want to work with them you need to have something that can read the files they send you. They also have to be able to read the files you send them.

If your job involves sending them several different files and the only one they can read is the invoice you won’t get paid.

Microsoft is the industry standard.

Not Linux, not OS X, not Solaris, not FreeBSD, but Microsoft.

It may not be what we want, but it’s what we have. One of the most important qualities for a professional is pragmatism. If you want to play the game you have to follow the rules. If you don’t want to follow the rules, then don’t play the game.

I’m not saying everyone needs to use Microsoft products and stay away from Open Source. I’d have to wipe my computer to do that. It’s not a viable option. I use open source products a lot. I do my browsing in Firefox, I do a lot of my large projects in yWriter; neither of which are Microsoft products.

However, I have Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer installed on my computer. I could do most if not all of my work without them, but I choose not to. I’m working on an editing job right now, and one of the features I’m using is Word 2007′s version of “Track Changes.” The author of the piece has it too, and it’s making the collaborative aspects of the job just that much more efficient.

I could do the job without Microsoft products: I’ve written three novels using three different non-Microsoft products.  They don’t have a lock on useful software by any means.  The problem lies in the fact that sometimes it takes extra work to make the non-Microsoft product interface with the Microsoft product your buyer is using.  (It can also take extra work to make your Microsoft product work with their Open Source alternative too– so it’s best to have both).  Extra work isn’t a problem, the fact that it’s not billable is.

If someone provides me with something in an industry standard format, it’s not their responsibility to convert it into whatever form I need it to be in so I can work with it.  If I have to spend half an hour converting something then that half hour comes out of my time, not theirs.

It’s not the buyer’s responsibility to conform to the provider’s preferences.

It’s the provider’s job to conform to the buyer’s requirements.

I’m not saying suspend your oDesk client every time you open the “Save As” dialog to save a file so you can edit it in another program.  Nor am I saying that you shouldn’t get paid because the program you’re using is Open Source.

What I am saying is don’t let your personal preferences prevent you from using industry standard applications.  I’m also saying that if you are using non-standard applications any conversion and compatibility issues are your responsibility.

It all comes down to the fact that successful providers are the ones who are professional and buyer-focused.  You can use any software you want, make any choices you want, but remember it’s the buyer’s ball, their game, and their rules.