Top 10 Articles for Writers-August 2011
My monthly Top 10 feature was on vacation last month, but it’s back with a tasty compendium of interesting posts I’ve gathered from our wonderful Interwebs this summer.
Some fun new faces on here this edition, including a hot, fast-growing blog of interest to all trying the blog-monetizing route — Income Diary. And a great young mommy blogger I’ve been wanting to feature for a while, Rebecca Garland, who’s a regular on All Freelance Writing. Actually, a lot of good stuff for serious bloggers here, so read up.
Looking over the list, I find many of the authors featured this month have made appearances on Den Meeting calls for Freelance Writers Den members. This may have tuned me in to how good their stuff is…or was it vice versa, that their good stuff around the Internet made me want to ask them to a Den Meeting? I’m not sure which came first.
But in any case, enjoy!
- The 5 Steps to Actually Starting Your Freelance Writing Career by Anne Wayman on About Freelance Writing. A solid game plan for those of you who are still trying to get over that hump and take the first step.
- 7 Golden Rules of Successful Affiliate Marketing by Barrie Davenport of Live Bold and Bloom and The Daily Brainstorm, on A-List Blog Marketing. Enjoy the laughs and learning as Barrie describes how she figured out affiliate sales in one of the kickoff posts for the new spinoff marketing site from A-List Blogger Club. I have a post on this very topic up my sleeve for later this week, but this will hold you until then.
- 10 Ways You Can Have Enough Money and Stuff by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less. I think this post could help a lot of writers who feel like they can’t afford to quit their day jobs to try freelancing.
- 23 Reasons Your Blog Isn’t Making Money (and what to do about it) by Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing, on Copyblogger. Members of Freelance Writers Den had a chance to hear Danny live with me on the Webinar last week…here’s more of his brilliance. I was reading along, loving this post when I went, “Wait a minute…I’ve heard some of this before!” And then I realized it was by Danny.
- Don’t Let Your Blog Get Caught With Its Pants Down by Joseph Putnam of Blog Tweaks, on Problogger. Yet another guy Denizens will be familiar with…and he keeps popping up on all the big sites. Anyway, this story is hilarious, too — maybe I was in the mood for humor this month.
- How to Run a Blog With Only 12 Hours a Week by Joshua Dunlop of ExpertPhotography, on Income Diary. I could always use more of this time-management sort of help.
- My 30-Day No Email Trial: The Results by Erica Douglass of Erica.biz. I need to do this. Or at least not pick up email for 30… minutes.
- The Number One Thing Holding You Back From Freelance Writing Success by Linda Formichelli on The Renegade Writer. OK, I teach the Blast-Off class with her…but I’ve got to make more time to read her blog posts. Because they rock.
- The Two-Hour Career: Making WAHM Work by Rebecca Garland on All Freelance Writing. This young lady is juggling it all — work, freelancing, and a toddler. Great time-management tips from her all the time, but I particularly liked this post.
- Write Faster: 12 Top Tips for Freelance Writers by John Soares on Productive Writers. Hey, he’s been a Den Meeting guest too and is a Den Expert member! I’m really sensing a pattern here.
What great stuff have you read online lately? Leave us a link and add to the list.






Great list Carol.
I checked them out, and they all talk practical sense. That’s what people need to know now.
Ayo Oyedotun recently posted..How Does Your Business Fit into Year 2020?
Hi Carol,
Thanks so much for including my article with this impressive group! I really appreciate it and hope to see you at A-List Blog Marketing!
Carol, many thanks for including me here. I’m in very good company!
And I really love what’s going on inside the Freelance Writers Den — an active mix of writers at all levels of experience learning from each other.
John Soares recently posted..Write Faster: 12 Top Tips for Freelance Writers
Thanks for including me on the list Carol and introducing some some I didn’t know before now. As John says, it’s delightful to be in such great company.
Anne Wayman recently posted..How To Break Through Writer’s Block
Hi Carol,
Thanks for including me with this great list of writers. I had a lot of fun writing the post, as it happens to be intensely personal.
I also thoroughly enjoyed Danny Iny’s post from Copyblogger and was delighted to see it here.
Thanks again, and great list!
Joseph Putnam recently posted..3 Blog Hot Spots to Maximize and Get More Offers in Front of Readers
Well, I thought I’d have to go on Twitter and alert all of you that you made this list…but I see you’re on top of it!
But I’ll mention it on Twitter anyway
Thanks for writing great stuff!
Don’t worry, I get Make a Living Writing hot off the e-mail press every morning.
Joseph recently posted..3 Blog Hot Spots to Maximize and Get More Offers in Front of Readers
Bookmarking this page….great resources!
Ruth – Freelance Writing Blog recently posted..4 ways to find freelance writing inspiration in sunny, sandy play
Ruth — I checked out your post and tried to RT it but your tool isn’t working FYI…then I tried to leave a comment and it 404′d me.
Thanks so much for the shout out! Can’t wait to read the others on this list.
Linda Formichelli recently posted..What to Do When You Don’t Have Deadlines
Great list, and super helpful for newer independent writers like myself. Thanks for putting this together Carol, I do appreciate your efforts!
Mike
Mike Carlson recently posted..Trying to master the art of non-conformity
Thanks so much for this great list! Will check them out. Have a great weekend!
Karen Lange recently posted..Miracles
Holy crap – Carol, I think Post #1 is what I’ve been looking for for the past few months! I’m right at that beginning point and still not sure just HOW I go about writing to a targeted lead or getting clients without going to content mills. That pretty much answered it for me. Thank you for passing it on!
Rob F. recently posted..Geekly Analysis: August 25th-31st, 2011
Hi Carol, I recently came across a post worth mentioning…speaks a lot about the “assembly line” mentality many writers find themselves in with content mills:
http://thecopybot.com/2011/09/majestic-customer-service/
Ahlam recently posted..What Does Productivity Really Mean?