Writing Life
10 Things NOT to Say to a Technical Writer
It’s okay—the programmers are writing the user documentation. I’ve scribbled down the specs on these bits of paper, discarded napkins and the back of my hand. Just put it together in a nice document by Friday. If you have any questions, none of the development team will be around so you’ll have to talk to…
Read MoreHow to Use Twitter to Promote Your Writing Services
© 2009 Ugur Akinci There is a good way to use the Twitter to promote your writing services, and another way that’s not that good. I’m finding these things out myself by trial and error and I wanted to share some of my findings with you. 1) Always share something useful and relevant, either by…
Read MoreDon't Quote an Hourly Rate or Fixed Fee for Your Writing Services
© Ugur Akinci Here is something I’ve learned the hard way: if you publish or quote a fixed hourly rate or a fixed fee for different types of writing services, you’ll end up attracting the cheapest and hardest clients and you’ll never make money in this freelance writing business. We writers are generally very nice…
Read MorePerseverance vs. Perseveration and the Role of Stress in Writing Life
© Ugur Akinci I have always wondered about the relative merits of hanging in there and keep pushing up against life’s obstacles (perseverance), on the one hand, and continuing to do what clearly does not work and suffering the inevitable consequences of uncontrollable repetition (perseveration), on the other. The dominant market mentality encourages us to…
Read MoreSharing Content – Can It Hurt Your Web Site Traffic?
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Can sharing content “too much” be a problem for your web site traffic? I admit, I had this paranoia about sharing “too much” information with my visitors years ago but not any more. Because the more you share, the more your readers will accept you as an authority in your field,…
Read MoreLearning How to Write Well with John Steinbeck
One of the best ways to learn how to write well is to read a master and pay attention to the way he or she is doing it. I still read a lot of books with that kind of awareness since even after 20 years of writing for a living I’m still learning how to…
Read MoreHow much should you charge as a writer?
The question of “how much to charge” is always up in the air. I personally try not to quote an hourly rate and much rather work for a set fee. That avoids any second guessing on the part of the client as to how many hours any job “should take.” Having said that, here is…
Read MoreHow to estimate a copy writing job
© 2009-2010 Ugur Akinci It’s not easy to estimate how long a copy writing job will take due to the many factors involved in the estimation. Writing commercial copy does not only involve sitting in front of your keyboard and starting to pound away. You need to make research, read all the relevant materials on…
Read MoreGive Speeches to Supplement Your Income as a Writer
by Gary Karbon Guest Writer Have you considered giving talks as a natural way to supplement your income as a writer? If you haven’t, you should. It’s a powerful shortcut to become known as an “instant guru” in your field without receiving a Ph.D. degree. Writers are natural speakers since they know how to organize…
Read MoreWikipedia Punishes "Writing for Cash"
Here is an interesting development that should be of interest to all freelance copy and technical writers around the world: Wikipedia caught one of its editors writing for cash. How do you feel about this? [poll id=”3″] (Excerpt:) A longtime Wikipedia admin has been caught editing the online encyclopedia in exchange for cash. But the…
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