by James Palmer

Well, another year has gone by. Didn’t make much progress on your freelance writing goals?

Don’t worry. There’s still hope.

Below are eight ways to finally make your freelance writing dreams come true:

1. Get your head on right. To succeed at freelance writing, you have to get in the right mindset. Two things I did to help get into a positive frame of mind are to read inspirational quotes and motivational books — my favorites are Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz — and to simply take responsibility for what happens in your life. If your life is always messed up due to your spouse, that skinflint editor, and the economy, you’ll never see how you can change things. But if you are responsible for your problems, it means you can fix them.
2. Set realistic, actionable goals. Writing ten thousand words a day while holding down a full-time job is probably not going to happen, but 500 words per day is doable. Getting published in Esquire is a laudable goal but not within your control. Querying five publications per week in order to build up your clips is more actionable.
3. Stay away from lowballers. If you start out writing for pennies you could get stuck there for years. Go after publications and clients that know the value of good writing and have the money to pay for it. Low-paying clients won’t respect your work and often turn out to be the most difficult to work with, too.
4. Learn to query. Professional publications want to work with professional writers. Learn how to write professional query letters and letters of introduction.
5. Read. You would think this is obvious, but for some it isn’t. You have to read if you are going to write. Read novels and poetry and blogs and how-to books and, last but not least, the magazines and websites you want to write for.
6. Write. Believe it or not, here’s another one we often forget. You’ll never get good unless you practice.
7. Pitch. You’ll never get paid if you don’t pitch stories to editors — lots and lots of stories. Study the publications to get a sense of what they’re looking for and send those queries out.
8. Stick to a niche. Specialists usually earn more money than generalists. Try to become known for a particular market, type of writing you do, or client you help.

James Palmer is a freelance copywriter and author of 23 Ways to Make More Money as a Freelance Copywriter. For more tips on becoming a successful freelancer, check out his blog The Successful Writer.

How will you earn more in 2012? If you need help figuring out the freelance-writing game, you can ask two pros about it live at noon PST tomorrow –  my Freelance Writers Den Open House Call guest this month is The Well-Fed Writer‘s Peter Bowerman.

If you’re not already on my free-call list, you can register here.

I recently had a chance to watch the original version of Pippi Longstocking with my daughter. I was fascinated to see how many helpful tips it held for freelance writers.

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet, Pippi is a 9-year-old girl who lives alone in her ramshackle, wildly self-painted house, Villa Villekula. Her mother is dead and her father is a sailor who’s usually away at sea. Pippi manages to cheerfully deflect all efforts by well-meaning adults to send her to school or to an orphanage, in part due to her secret weapon: she has super-strength and can easily lift a horse over her head.

What can you learn from Pippi? Here are seven ideas:

1. Don’t look for external strokes. Pippi is functionally an orphan. She’s all alone, with nobody to encourage her, but she is rarely sad. She doesn’t need others to tell her she’s wonderful — she just knows it. When writers don’t get an answer to a query, they need the same sort of positive self-image to keep going.
2. Be brave. From entering a strongman contest to sailing off in a balloon, Pippi is never afraid. She’s out to experience everything the world has to offer. By the same token, writers willing to take difficult assignments often get clips that put their career on a whole new level.
3. Let your imagination run wild. Pippi is not a conventional thinker. She paints her house a rainbow of colors. Some walls are left off half-painted, but that suits her fine. And obviously, to lift a horse, you first have to imagine that you can. Don’t have limits in your head around what you can accomplish as a writer — as a freelancer, the sky’s the limit.
4. Let the housekeeping go. There’s all sorts of old clutter at Pippi’s house, and she wears mismatched, patched outfits. So what? She’s having fun. Most freelancers — especially ones who juggle writing with family — need to let go of the whole Martha Stewart thing.
5. Make friends. Pippi is able to get out of several scrapes with the help of neighbor children and their parents. Writers who network with other writers tend to get more gigs — and can get the feedback that keeps you from taking bad offers, too.
6. Discover your strengths. Everyone has unusual interests and areas where they excel. Find those within writing and you’ll probably find better pay. Then, push your writing to the limit and beyond. See what you can accomplish.
7. You don’t need a boss. Social workers and neighbor ladies are aghast that Pippi has been left to manage on her own. But the fact is, she’s perfectly able to care for herself. She’s an unusual child that way — just as not everyone is cut out to be a freelancer. It may seem odd to those who’ve only ever held a job, but those of us who freelance successfully don’t need a boss standing over us to get things done.

How are you like Pippi Longstocking? Leave a comment and tell us your superpower.

Coming later this week: My Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers series continues. Subscribe to catch the whole series.

Aren’t you sick of the negativity out there in the freelance writing community? I know I am.

You know the spiel. Comments like:

The economy is still so awful, bla bla bla.

All articles are now $5 or less.

I can’t believe this Craigslist ad asks for three free samples.

The fact is, some freelancers are still earning a great living, and you can, too. But first, you’ll have to stop buying into the gloom and realize that what you earn is really up to you.

To help you take charge of your writing career, I put together a list of 100+ proactive things you can do right now to build your income:

1. Tell your clients your rates are going up.
2. Raise your rates for new clients.
3. Raise your rates every year in the fall, to take effect the following year.
4. Let your current clients and all your friends and former co-workers know that you’re looking for new clients and you’d appreciate their referrals.
5. Grow your network.
6. Write for more parts of your existing clients — does that publisher have other magazines? That company have other divisions?
7. Have a writer website.
8. Improve your writer website. Pro sites make a big difference in the rates you can command.
9. Make it easier for people to contact you on your website. Kill that contact form, for instance.
10. SEO your website. Get key phrases into your URL, headline, tagline, and copy.
11. Solicit more testimonials from previous clients and add them to your site.
12. Respond to full-time job ads you see and ask if they need a freelancer in the meanwhile.
13. Read more widely so you can find more story ideas.
14. Get a Book of Lists for your nearest major market, for a ready source of quality corporate leads.
15. Get The Writers Market with online support, so you can research publications.
16. Stop doubting yourself.
17. Stop waiting.
18. Stop worrying about what people think of you.
19. Stop wondering where the shortcut is and start marketing your business.
20. Stop writing for content mills.
21. Stop buying into the revenue-share dream.
22. Stop bidding on jobs where you’re competing with thousands of other writers. Opt out of the race to the bottom.
23. Get a perspective on your writing obstacles. Then just make the time to write.
24. Get out and meet live humans. People give you jobs, not computers.
25. If you’re scared to go networking, bring a friend for support. Then, take it slow. The first time, just go and observe and smile a lot, and then go home. Next time, introduce yourself to one person.
26. If there isn’t a good networking group in your area, start one and serve as the host. Great way to get known by a lot of people fast — because everyone thanks the host, don’t they?
27. Create a “me” speech so you know what to say to people who ask what you do — after the part where you say “I’m a freelance writer” and then they say, “Really? What kind of writing do you do?” (Thanks to IJ Schecter for this one.)
28. After you network, be sure to follow up and start building relationships with the prospects you meet.
29. Send query letters.
30. Send simultaneous queries, even when magazines’ guidelines say not to.
31. Send more than one story idea in a single query letter. Ups your odds of success.
32. Don’t wait to hear back on those query letters. Send more query letters immediately.
33. If you don’t get results, learn more about how to write great queries.
34. Do more research and find new markets. New online markets are emerging every day and new magazines are started.
35. If you write for a print publication, see if they also assign articles separately for their website — and vice versa.
36. If you only write for magazines, consider adding a few corporate clients to the mix. They tend to pay better and faster.
37. Send customized prospecting emails.
38. Make cold calls. Just grab the phone book, pick up the phone, call marketing directors and ask if they use freelance writers.
39. Send direct mail postcards. Few writers do that, so you can really stand out.
40. Drop your lowest-paying client, to make time to market and find better-paying clients.
41. Get up earlier.
42. Stay up later.
43. Give up television.
44. Get more exercise. You’ll be healthier and better able to focus and write.
45. Take at least one full, 24-hour day completely offline each week.
46. Take mini-breaks where you get up from your computer and walk around a bit.
47. Take a class and learn a new writing specialty.
48. Join a writer’s community and get support and feedback from peers.
49. Stop reading Craigslist ads.
50. Find job boards where the companies have to pay to post a listing.
51. Find niche job boards for industries where you specialize.
52. Get on LinkedIn.
53. Stuff your LinkedIn bio with key words your prospects might search to find you.
54. Find former editors on LinkedIn and reconnect. Let them know you’re freelancing.
55. If your former editors are out of work, send them job leads. They’ll remember you when they get their next gig.
56. Send InMails to people who’ve viewed your profile if they seem like prospects.
57. Join LinkedIn writer groups — you can find jobs leads, support, and a sounding board.
58. Get on Twitter and start figuring out how it works.
59. Find editors and prospects on social media and pitch them.
60. Do some sleuthing to find out if there are niche social-media platforms where your prospects hang out. Join them, too.
61. Explore emerging social-media hangouts such as Google+ to see if they’re useful for finding clients.
62. Write an ebook and sell it. Then, help clients do it.
63. Send bills out more promptly. Often the payment clock ticks from the day they get your bill.
64. Get cool business cards that say something about your unique writing skills. Bring them with you everywhere.
65. Make a special offer on your business card, such as a free consult.
66. Consider getting a t-shirt or magnetized car sign that advertises your writing.
67. Experiment with Facebook or Google ads for your business.
68. Whenever you’re out shopping or at a doctor’s office, look for customer magazines. Read, pitch them — you already know their products.
69. Read all the company newsletters and magazines you get at home. Pitch them.
70. Learn to write hard stuff — write about actuarial forecasting or software development. Find the niches where they can never get enough good writers.
71. Learn to write sales copy. Helping clients make more money will always pay well, and there’s always a need.
72. Learn about lucrative types of writing such as white papers and special reports.
73. Put on free classes for your prospects, either online or in person.
74. Create a free, informational report to give your prospects with writing or marketing tips. End with your contact info or a special offer.
75. Create a newsletter your prospects can subscribe to, in order to stay in touch.
76. Donate your writing services to a charity auction — you’ll meet a prospect, and get some good PR.
77. If you need more clips, find somewhere legit to volunteer. I once wrote for my regional library system’s newsletter, for instance.
78. Collaborate with designers and other related-industry professionals. Refer each other business.
79. Cut your expenses. Then, you’ll feel less pressure to take low-pay gigs and have more marketing time.
80. Know and take advantage of every home-business tax break. Keeping more of your money has the exact same effect as earning more.
81. Consider using a co-working space for the networking and synergy with other business owners working there.
82. Track prospect nibbles that haven’t panned out yet, and keep following up. Send them articles of interest — anything to keep the connection.
83. Have a marketing plan.
84. Analyze your current client base, and how you got each client. Which marketing methods paid off? Do more of that.
85. Analyze your daily activities, and eliminate things you do that aren’t resulting in income.
86. Query better-paying magazines.
87. Pitch bigger companies.
88. Join professional writer organizations and volunteer. Great way to get known and referred.
89. Get listed in online resource guides of service providers and professional associations in your target industries. Often, it’s free.
90. Ask for the gig.
91. If the job gets bigger, ask for more money.
92. Don’t work without a contract.
93. Be sure your contract defines your payment terms — when you will be paid.
94. Make initial commercial writing contracts for only 60-90 days — then negotiate a better rate when it expires, based on your growing knowledge of the client’s business.
95. If you’ve only sold first rights, resell your articles.
96. Recycle unused parts of interviews you’ve done into new stories.
97. Write more than one article off the same set of research, for noncompeting markets.
98. Ask interview sources what else is going on in their industry. Leave with another story idea.
99. Don’t overreport. You’re not going to be able to fit eight sources into a 500-word article.
100. Learn to write to length. Less rewriting means time saved, and more income potential in the year.
101. Every time you turn in an article, be ready to pitch another story idea.
102. Land government contracts. Get qualified to bid directly or save the paperwork and connect with agencies that are bidding contracts — often, these are big projects at decent rates.
103. Look for ongoing projects. Even regular blogging gigs can add up to big revenue, and let you start each month with some pre-booked revenue.
104. Offer new clients that have the potential for ongoing work a one-time discount on a small, first project. Get that client in the door, make them love you, and line up a steady source of revenue.
105. Enter free or low-cost writing contests — it gets your work in front of editors who might hire you.
106. Write at your most productive and creative time of day.
107. Do the writing-biz task you’re in the mood for now, instead of the one that’s “top priority.” You’ll be more efficient.
108. Write blog posts in batches.
109. Plan out blog posts with a scheduling tool such as WordPress Editorial Calendar.
110. Put a “hire me” tab on your blog, so people know you want gigs.
111. Remember your blog is a writing sample. Have a clean design, show you understand social media, and write every post like it’s a $1-a-word magazine assignment.
112. Keep idea lists, so you always have more ideas to pitch if an editor asks.
113. Outsource time-consuming tasks that rob you of productive writing time.

(Yes, there are a few affiliate links in there, for products I have used and highly recommend.)

What have you done to grow your freelance writing income lately? Leave a comment and tell us your tip.

How much do you need to earn as a freelance writer?

Often, I hear from writers who think if they can just replace the hourly rate they got at their day job with an equivalent hourly rate as a freelancer, they’ll do OK. Check out this comment from one of my recent blog posts:

“I landed another gig on Elance today doing data entry for the next 4 weeks at $11 an hour. No, it’s not $50 an hour, but it pays the bills. And it beats bagging groceries at Trader Joe’s for $9 an hour…”

Unfortunately, that’s not true.

Getting a measly $2 an hour more as a freelancer than you would have earned at a day job doesn’t put you ahead. It puts you way, way behind.

Let’s get out our calculators and do a little math to figure out the size of the problem. To net the same hourly rate as a freelancer, you’ll need to add in the following costs you don’t pay as an employee:

1. Utility bills. The heat, water, light and phone bills may all be higher when you’re home all day. As a worker, your boss essentially paid for some of this by hosting you at their place of business .
2. Employment tax. Your employer footed the bill on half of this. As a freelancer, you pay both halves yourself. You can look up your tax deduction on a pay stub to see how much more you’ll owe the IRS. You’ll also likely pay state business taxes as a freelancer.
3. Equipment. Your boss provided a computer, Internet access, printer, paper, and everything else you needed to work. Now, you’re on the hook for all those costs. When the computer dies, guess who gets to call a tech — or buy a new one?
4. Marketing costs. You didn’t need to get out and market your business when you had a full-time gig. Now, you might need to purchase publications, join associations, take trainings, pay a web host, send direct-mail postcards — all those marketing costs are yours to bear.
5. Non-billable hours. A full-time job gave you a guaranteed 40 hours of work each and every week. Freelancing isn’t like that. You’ll have hours you need to spend marketing, doing bookkeeping, chasing after slow payers. So to end up with equivalent pay, you’ll have to figure how many billable hours you’ve really got in a month and divide the monthly total you need by that figure, not the 180+ hours of a typical employee.
6. Unpaid vacation and sick time. Your boss might have floated you a couple weeks free a year or more, and may have covered a week or more of sick days, too. As your own boss, when you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

Earning $11 an hour as a freelancer isn’t looking so rosy now, hmm? Which is why I advise freelance writers to set a goal of earning $100 an hour.

Sure, the low-priced freelancing allows you to retain control of your day, and hopefully scare up some better-paying freelance gigs. But in the long run, if the pay rate isn’t a whole lot better than you did as an employee, financially you’re going to end up worse off.

Have I left out any costs of freelancing? Leave a comment and add to my list.