By Tiffany Jansen

I used to write for content mills. I know I should be ashamed of myself, but I’m not.

Working for Demand Studios taught me a lot: sticking to a word count, following guidelines, writing on a deadline, working with editors and, most importantly, that I could earn money writing.

After moving to the Netherlands in 2008, I found myself friendless, jobless and confused.

To pass the time and cope with my newfound expat status, I began actively meeting other expats and discovered that many turn to freelance writing. No work permit necessary and you can do it no matter where you are, how many times or how frequently you relocate.

Building relationships with these expats led me to Demand Studios. Once I realized I could make money writing I started searching for other paying gigs.

I had some clips from DS to get started. Now all I needed were connections.

I discover networking

Enter ACCESS, a non-profit expat organization here in the Netherlands. One of their services is a quarterly magazine which I heard about from a fellow expat writer who had done some writing for them. They liked my clips and introduction letter.

Although they don’t pay, they are an amazing networking source. The clincher was the fact that they produce a very professional-looking publication that would give me more serious clips. Through them, I was able to connect with a staff member at XM Magazine (an expat lifestyle publication in the Netherlands).

Through ACCESS I was able to connect with a staff member at XM Magazine (an expat lifestyle publication in the Netherlands), who asked me to pitch a list of article ideas. They chose two event pieces which I covered for more than $280. Quite a jump from $15 per article Demand Studios pays.

One thing leads to another

Unfortunately XM went out of business. But not before the assistant editor told me about the newspaper The Holland Times. This paper reports Dutch news in English for the international community, and I was eager to try my hand at journalism.

The editor responded to my letter of interest, inviting me to the next editorial meeting. I learned so much from hearing what other writers pitched and what the editor was interested in.

I came to the next meeting armed with story ideas and left with my first assignment. I earn $0.36 per word and have been writing steadily for the publication for over a year.

My editor at The Holland Times introduced me to the Amsterdam City Tours blog. Thanks to her recommendation, I was approached by the blog owners to be a regular contributor at more than $70 a post.

Another connection urged me to contact the editor at expat/travel magazine Transitions Abroad. I got a $100 article assignment, and I now contribute regular expat and travel book reviews to the publication.

As much as I love writing for the expat community, there are simply not enough paid opportunities to make a living. I need to branch out.

I get serious about marketing

With this in mind, I tried cold-calling businesses to offer my services. I quickly learned that businesses here don’t need or want English content, or hire a professional translator to take care of that for them.

U.S. and UK companies prefer to work with someone local, or at least living in the same country. Expat entrepreneurs typically don’t have the funds to hire a writer.

So I’ve turned to pitching magazines. Magazines are often keen to publish work by writers from another country for the unique angle those writers bring. Produce interesting, well-written articles by the deadline, and magazine editors won’t care where you’re based.

I’ve only just started querying, so I’m still waiting to hear if my pitches have been accepted.

Whatever happens, I’ll keep plugging away. I’ve seen that good paying markets do exist and I want to write for more of them.

No more content mills for me. My writing’s worth more than $15 per article.

Tiffany Jansen lives in the Netherlands, where she is a freelance writer and owner of the musical theater company Little Broadway. She is the author of two children’s books and a frequent Twitterer.

One of the questions freelance writers ask me most is, “How can I find better-paying clients?” Another one is “Where are all the good-paying clients hiding?” A third one is, “Why can’t I find any good-paying clients?”

I’m sensing a theme here, that people want to know more about how to connect with great clients.

There are many ways to hunt these elusive good clients, but today I want to talk about two of my favorite in-person techniques for connecting with good-paying clients.

That’s right, these methods involve leaving your writing cave, going out, and meeting live humans.

Don’t be scared!

Once you get the hang of it, networking is actually a lot of fun. Or it should be — so remember to have fun with it.

Since I’m headed out to SOBCon next week, in-person networking is on my mind. Here are two techniques that are pretty fail-proof and simple for maximizing your networking time:

1. Eat lunch for two and a half hours

When I used to work big trade shows, I did this all the time. If you’re at an all-day or weekend networking event, there’ll be lunch. Often, there’s a big food court in an exhibition hall where people will wander in and eat at various times.

Start early — I usually go in around 11:15 and eat my own lunch, so that I could talk when others sat down. I keep a little on my plate so it looks like I’m still eating lunch.

Shortly, new people arrive with their lunch.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” they ask. “Of course not — sit right down!” I reply.

They take a bite or two of food, and then I start shmoozing them up, just like you see those two guys in the photo doing at a business event. “Where are you from? How are you enjoying the conference? What does your company do? Interesting…do you use freelance writers at all at your company? Who’d be the best person at your company to talk to about that?”

Often, I could keep sitting there chatting with new prospects until 2 pm. As people finish lunch, new people arrive, and you begin again.

I love this technique because you’ve got a captive audience — they’re chewing. If you do it pleasantly, they won’t become so annoyed they pick up their plate and leave. Everyone’s in a good mood and on a mental ‘break’ while they eat, so it’s a great time to meet people.

If you’re in a scenario where everyone sits down to lunch in one place at the same time, circulate amongst the tables. When you go back for a second roll or dessert, sit back down at a different table, and begin your shmooze-up over again with the new crowd.

2. Host an event

If you’re going to take the trouble of going out to a networking event, you can put in a tiny bit more effort and ensure you meet every single person who attends the event. How? By being the host or co-host.

My writing bud Michelle Goodman is the co-host of our Seattle MediaBistro networking events, and I’m jealous! It is a great gig.

Why? Here’s how hosting helps you meet the largest number of people and be seen in the best possible light:

First, the host gets to stand by the check-in table and greet everyone as they pick up their name tags. You can chat up a lot of people that way.

Next the host gets to make a little speech somewhere in the proceedings to thank everybody for coming, in which you can say a bit about what you do…so anybody the host didn’t connect with on check-in now knows what you look like, and a little about your freelance writing business.

Finally, it’s my experience that when attendees leave a networking event, nearly all of them do one thing: They go over and thank the host for putting it on.

In other words, the host gets to meet basically every single person who attends the event. Those people all come away with the impression that you are a happening coordinator of events as well as a freelance writer.

Networking doesn’t get more effective than this. It’s a big payoff just for setting up a table, printing out a few nametags, and maybe sending a couple promotional emails. This one is a strategy I recommend to all the writers in my mentoring program, who’re looking to ramp up their earnings and — yes, find those better-paying clients.

How do you make in-person networking effective? Leave a comment and add your tips.

Photo: Stock.xchng – LotusHead

Today, I’m reaching into my freelance-writer mailbag and answering a question I got from a participant in my recent 40 Ways to Market Your Writing webinar. Oscar Halpert emailed me after the session and told me he’d recently plunged into freelance writing after being laid off.

He got referred to a possible writing client by someone he met at an in-person networking event. Oscar’s new contact thought this CEO might need a writer. The client call didn’t go so well, though, Oscar reports:

“We spoke for 90 minutes, during which time I asked a lot of questions about her business and its problems and needs.

I agreed to a followup call in nine days. [Then] looked closely at the company web site and realized:

a. The CEO has no marketing plan and no marketing strategy. They’ve done one press release in four years.

b. She wanted me to devise a strategy to get her company leads. I told her that’s a marketing function, not a writing function. She suggested a win/win: I produce a YouTube video that goes viral and bingo-bango, we both benefit.

c. She had a limited budget.

d. She had me sign a nondisclosure agreement.

So, now I have a CEO who was referred to me by her trusted ally. I backed out.
He looks like an idiot and she still needs her problem solved.
And, I’m still working on finding my first portfolio items.
Did I mess this up?”

To answer that last question first: Maybe. It depends. But I think you bungled it less than you think.

First off, I try to keep initial discussions with prospects to half an hour, or an hour at most, especially if I haven’t had a chance to size them up. Try to get them to move quickly from initial pleasantries and blathering about their company’s greatness to defining the writing project they want to assign.

To your points:

a. Put on the blinders. Ah yes, the company without a plan. There are herds of these ungainly beasts roaming the business world. They often want to hire freelance writers in a desperate stab at doing something about their marketing problem.

In this situation, you’ve got two choices. You can point out the obvious: Writing this one thing will not change the underlying lack-of-marketing problem. Or you can look at this initial writing offer as an opportunity for the company to begin solving their marketing problem — and for you to get an ongoing series of assignments.

They haven’t done a press release in four years? What an opportunity for a freelance writer.

Propose a plan to write 12 in the next year, or even six, to start getting their name out there again. Charge even $300 apiece for them — I shoot for $500 personally — and that’s a sweet $1,800-$3,600 gig that pays you a bit each month. You get in, you write a little, you slay them with your amazing wordcraft wizardry, and make yourself indispensable.

Then, you might help them see the need to create a media kit, new Web content, new product descriptions, a regular weekly blog post, ghosted guest-blogs on industry sites, a Facebook fan page, a monthly e-newsletter, a white-paper series. Soon, they’ve got enough puzzle pieces to do some real marketing.

When you’re starting out freelancing, every writing assignment may not be a big success for the client, because these first-rung sort of clients are often too dysfunctional. But in the meanwhile, you got paid and got a clip. If you need work bad, you just take what they offer and hope to build the relationship from there.

b. Time for a referral. If you don’t feel qualified to advise on marketing strategy, the best option is to refer the CEO to a marketer from your network. That way she gets needed advice, and the grateful marketing strategist keeps you on the team for writing.

If her idea is “make a YouTube video” but you don’t do that sort of thing, you simply say so. Then, refer them to a digital video specialist, where you’d write the script and they’d execute it. (And then there’d also be someone else to point the finger at if her video doesn’t “go viral.”)

c. No budget: Dealbreaker. You don’t really define how limited of a budget you’re talking about, but it’s possible the game ended here. If she doesn’t have the money to hire a freelance writer to do even an initial small project such as a few press releases, then she can keep dreaming about more sales. Some CEOs are dumb this way. Don’t expend energy trying to convince them of your value. They don’t get it.

However, if her “limited budget” is $10,000, or even $1,500, there’s room in there for some writing fees. I say, do what you can with the resources they got.

d. NDAs…a non-issue. Not sure why the nondisclosure agreement matters. I’ve signed NDAs, reviewed proposals, and then passed. Just don’t tell the world their finances or trade secrets, and you’re good.

Planning a graceful dismount. Finally, you seem like you’re covered in shame because you declined to work for this woman. I think you can hold your head up, as long as you conducted yourself professionally.

When you say you “backed out” — did you promise this woman something? Sign a contract? String her along for months?

If not, then you were referred to a possible writing job you investigated, and then declined. I get referred for weird stuff on a regular basis that I pass on. You’re under no obligation to take every gig you get told about.

Also, you had known the person who referred you for 10 minutes. It’s pretty minor collateral damage there. He doesn’t really look like an idiot. He merely suggested you two might be able to meet each others’ needs. Didn’t turn out that way. No biggie. Happens all the time.

Be sure to send your referrer a thank-you note or email for thinking of you. You can let him know she didn’t really have a budget, or it wasn’t a fit for you. And you’re still looking for writing gigs. Be a pro about it, and they’ll refer you again.

Finally, send the CEO a thank-you for considering you. If you do this artfully enough, they might call you back some day when they’ve got more budget and a better idea what they want to do with marketing.

Have you had writing-client referrals that didn’t pan out? If so, leave us some tips on how you handled the situation.

Breaking news: I learned last night this blog is a finalist in Write to Done’s Top 10 Blogs for Writers contest. Special thanks to all the readers who took the time to go over to WTD and nominate Make a Living Writing! I am blown away by the enthusiasm and support from my readers. They’ll announce winners before Christmas, I’m told.

Photo via stock.xchng user juliaf

On this edition of Mailbag, we tackle a question I get a lot: How can a freelance writer kick the content-mill habit and move up to better-paying clients?

On the recent post about Demand Studios’ IPO, reader Mike Biscoe was concerned about the revelation that DS doesn’t make a profit, which puts them at risk for going bust. An excerpt of his comments and questions:

I’ve been working for Demand Studios since 2009. Almost exclusively. I live in Thailand and because the cost of living where I am is cheap, I can pay the bills simply by writing DS articles. My only other income comes from occasionally writing articles for similar content mills that pay half of what DS does. Prior to 2009, I have no experience in writing anything other than regular letters to my grandma.

I am here on a tourist visa and therefore can’t legally work. If the [DS] job goes, I go. Since I am newish to writing I can’t say I know that much about what a logical next step would entail. Though I don’t think DS is going out of business tomorrow, it reminds me that I must look ahead.

I want to begin formulating a plan for more meaningful mid- and long-term goals.

Do I carry a scarlet letter for the rest of my life for writing eHow, Trails and Livestrong articles?

In spite of what good DS might do for me, there have been times when I’ve been so frustrated by the process that I’ve imagined jettisoning my laptop right through the window and listening with satisfaction as it crashes on the rooftop five stories below. In other words, I don’t want to believe that DS is my only hope for employment as a new writer.

Thanks for the information and clear-headed advice.

To get the easy stuff out of the way first: You’ll only be branded a mill writer forever if you put DS on your resume. Leave it off, and no one will know. End of stigma.

Here’s the nut of my answer to your main question about kicking mills and getting paid more: To move up, you’ll need to actively market your writing business. That’s the gist of it. Getting better pay involves getting off your tushy, and looking for better clients.

There are some basic ways to do that — plus one I’ll throw in that’s unique to your being an expat living in an exotic locale. Here are seven ways to break in to better markets:

1. Create a writer Web site and SEO it. If you don’t have a site that promotes your writing, create one as soon as possible. Make sure you use key words about the types of writing you want to do in your header and home-page copy. Put up some clips — yes, for now they’ll be from DS sites, but replace those as soon as you can with others. This will allow some prospective clients to find you. So once you’ve done the active work of creating and properly optimizing your site, you can passively snag clients with it. I’d put in “American expat in Thailand” somewhere, if I were you.
2. Create a personal blog. You can make a strong audition piece — especially if you’d like to blog for pay for others — by starting your own blog on your writer site. Don’t doodle on there — write each entry as if your career depended on it. It does. This technique paid off for me huge, and now some months I make half or more of my income from paid blogging.
3. Direct-mail or email prospects. Identify a type of publication or business where you know something about their subject matter, and then do some online research. Create a list of prospective publications or companies. Contact their editor, marketing manager, communications director or other likely target. Since you’re overseas I’m betting mail or email will be the way to go rather than cold-calling on the phone. Introduce yourself in your mail or email piece and simply ask if they use freelance writers. This has a low response rate, but you will usually get some clients, as Chris Bibey recently testified over on All Freelance Writing.
4. Seek out guest-post opportunities. If you’ve written for DS, there are probably blogs where you could guest post. Subscribe to Blogger Linkup and respond to sites seeking guest bloggers. Yes, it’s usually for free, but it’s a valuable form of marketing for you. Being seen on high-traffic blogs can get you clients — and it gets you clips from places that aren’t from DS sites. Try to spend some time on these guest posts and really make them strong. You’re auditioning for better-paying clients. The bigger-viewership site you can appear on, the better.
5. Network online. I’d ordinarily recommend getting out to some in-person networking events, but since you’re in Thailand, it’s probably hard to drop by a big-American-city Chamber of Commerce networking event. But you can meet and connect with lots of people on LinkedIn groups, and networking sites such as Biznik. The latter is another good place to create strong articles that could serve as example clips.
6. Leverage your locale. OMG,  you’re living in Thailand! I bet you’ve visited plenty of interesting tourist spots there. You could write a query letter to all sorts of travel magazines offering to share those. You could also hit all the simple-living mags and Web sites with your “how to live in Thailand on $1 a day” ideas. You’ll need to learn to write query letters, but it’s not that hard, and well worth it for the money you could make. You can read a book about querying if you need to learn more. You can resell your Thailand-travel story angles umpty-dozen times. You might start with tourism companies that need brochure copy or marketing letters, and work your way up to calling on airlines that fly to Thailand and pitching their in-flight magazines (these are usually top payers). Find editors online or in the Writer’s Market.
7. Apply for jobs you see online. Start diversifying where you write for — even if it’s at DS rates — by answering online job ads. You should be able to gradually increase your rates as you acquire non-mill clients. Problogger often runs ads for bloggers at rates at or a little more than what you’re making, and the work may make for stronger clips for moving up.

There’s more about how to market your writing here and here.

How would you advise Mike to move on beyond content mills? Feel free to add more tips in the comments below.

To earn more, you’ve got to market your writing services. Learn how live next Tuesday at my Webinar, 40 Ways to Market Your Writing, with co-presenter Anne Wayman of About Freelance Writing. Only 150 can participate. Sign up here.

Photo via Flickr user extranoise