Master Dayton Freelance Writing Blog: 50th Post

Celebrating the 50th Freelance Writing Blog Post

For some blogs, maybe the 50th post isn't a big deal, and doesn't seem like much at all. But when I started this writing blog, it was a side project, something I enjoyed, and had nothing to do with me personally making any income or building my online businesses, so this was never meant to be a post daily or weekly blog, and 50 posts is pretty good for me. I tried to think of something special to do, but being in the midst of a crazy month shooting for crazy writing goals, my brain isn't firing on all cylinders when it comes to putting together a blow your socks off post. So instead of something new and absolutely brilliant, I'm putting together a clips show.

I've actually been amazed at how many interesting and really cool things have happened in my life due to this blog, and also to writing online in general. I've met some really cool people, learned a ton about making money online, passive income, and how the possibilities of what you can do online can change your life. Jobs that resulted from my online writing have seen me move across continent from Alaska to Texas and back to Iowa right in between, and I've managed some pretty good stories and across the world invites whenever I finally get that darned passport.

So some of this freelance writing blog post will be rambling, some will be freelance writing advice, and a lot of it will be looking back at links, posts, people, or events that have made a particular impact on me over these past 5 years of writing online, and the past 2 years with this blog. So kick back and smile if you enjoy rambles, because none of this post is thought out ahead of time and it's going to be a happy scatter shot from here on out :)

So before I go into making lists, there's one blog post I did that stands above and beyond all of them. At the time it was one of my longest blog posts, and it is my personal favorite, in addition to being the "favorite" of my readers based on comments. Even despite the hugely increased following I received after that post, it remains the single most read and commented on post I've ever done on this blog, and it doubled the number of followers I have (that show on the feed or contact me by e-mail), received a lot of link love, and I noticed a huge jump in traffic that has stayed ever since. "Master Dayton" is also now searched for on Google monthly in the double digits, which I just think is cool. So hands down, the "BEST" blog post I ever wrote was this:

Why I'm Not Ashamed to Be a Freelance Writer

That one would have otherwise been on every single other list had I not set it apart, and that one post really did put this blog on an entirely new level by virtually every measurement I make and keep track of. So with that post getting its due, from there I thought the common sense way to start off would be to mention my 5 favorite blog posts, which were:

1. Setting Ridiculously Ambitious Writing Goals
2. Freelance Writing & Gambling: How the 2 Relate
3. Freelance Writing: The 4 Year College Plan
4. Passive Income vs. Active Freelance Income
5. Why Is Full Time Passive Income So Hard?

While these are my personal favorites, if I'm basing the most popular posts on number of comments, then the 5 most popular posts of my blog are:

1. Setting Ridiculously Ambitious Writing Goals (we all seem to like this one)
2. 50 Things Beginning Writers Should Know
3. Constant Content Review
4. Entry Level Freelance Writers: Don't Get Discouraged
5. Freelance Writing & Blogging

It's kind of funny to me how that one post strikes a major chord, but otherwise there's a pretty good divergence between the posts I liked most and the ones most popular with readers. Then again, some of them make sense. Writing about the 50 things beginning writers should know might not interest me because I've been there, done that, and have long since moved beyond many of those lessons. On the other hand, what a great post for writers who are literally just getting started in freelancing.

The success stories I've been e-mailed by some of my readers just encourage me beyond belief and make me really happy that I'm doing this. Because time wise versus monetary return, this blog should have been abandoned long ago. But I really enjoy helping others, I like being able to talk about freelance writing, and although there are the occasional trolls, it really is a small price to pay for the people I've met, the online friendships developed, and for the other places I think this blog (and my writing in general) are going to end up taking me. I want others who are on the fence or afraid to be encouraged and to work for more, and to dream of more, than they otherwise would.

I also want to take time to mention resources I would encourage beginners and intermediates in the freelance writing and passive income business to check out. These are good informational sources, each one I personally approve of and would have no problem recommending someone to.

Jade Dragon @ Innovative Passive Income
Allyn Hane @ Blogger Illustrated Video Blog
Grizz @ Make Money Online - first of the honest blogs about making money online that I've found, and this guy has influenced so many people he's like the "Godfather" of the honest make money online bunch.
Courtney Tuttle @ The Keyword Academy
Lissie @ Passive Income Ideas Online
Felicia Williams @ No Job for Mom

These blogs cover the gamut from freelance writing to affiliate programs, SEO, AdSense, passive income, and everything in between. If you want to learn how to become an online freelance writer, or make passive income online, it doesn't get any better than those sources. After that, it's just a matter of taking some type of action each and every day towards accomplishing your freelance writing goals, because even a small step is still one that gets you a little big closer to your freelance writing dreams than before.

There are two other sites I'd like to share. I haven't had correspondence with these individuals, or comment back-and-forths or anything like that, but I enjoy their blogs and think some people will enjoy them, as well.

There's Justin at Life of Justin, I think formerly it was "Digital Nomad," but I'm not 100% sure on that one. Enjoyable blog that also tracks how he went from corporate job to being self employed and being able to "go mobile" to enjoy life a lot more and still get the income to live well.

Then you have Ben over at Making Money Online with SEO. I have absolutely nothing but mad respect for this guy. You know how sometimes you think "If I just write 10,000 articles I'll have enough to make x a month?" but then you never follow through because that number is so ridiculously high? Well Ben learned SEO, keywords, finding good niches, and then he put in 18+ hour work days for months on end to prove that sheer volume, when done right, is enough to get to a full time online income pretty darn quick. If you feel yourself slacking off, reading the work he does acts like one heck of a kick in the pants to get you going again. And once again - rock solid information, and just like Grizz's blog, read all the comments.

There's the shout out to my friends. Sharing some of my favorite pages or "surprises," does come up with some issues. I'm not going to share my best money making pages, because giving away your niches is the best way to lose them. But I do have pages I wrote for fun which led to other opportunities, and those I'll be glad to share.

Some pleasant freelance writing surprises:

My Coen Brothers Biography on Squidoo. My first venture into passive income came when I was starting a new job in Austin, Texas, and my boss wanted me to become familiar with Squidoo. This was the first page I wrote, and it's made me $215 and makes about $20 a month. Strangest thing, for the longest time I couldn't figure out how the heck it was getting 300 visitors a month from search engines. Now I've figured it out and am going to be doing some experimenting. I'm not going to give away that secret, but I will say it's one of those "that's so stupid I can't believe it's working," things. Gotta' love when things bounce the right way. Another plus of this Squidoo lens: it led to a print publication as a Coen Brothers expert in the .Cent international arts magazine. Freaking cool.

Along the same lines, other Squidoo lenses that have done well for me include: Sinclair Lewis Novels, It Can't Happen Here as a Prophetic Warning, and Best Dystopian Novels. All of these have led to a wide variety of opportunities including being a specialty guest on radio and Internet radio shows on multiple occasions, and guest speaking at a high school and college on these topics. Once again, all really cool stuff, and it makes my "Academic Resume" look really good. Never mind that I'll probably never apply for a professor's job again, but eh, still cool. Strengthens a safety net, as well, and I like my options :)

My original page helping freelance writers is also on Squidoo, and doing well and helping people, but I'm not linking back to that one, because that's one of my best links to this blog and I don't want it to be reciprocal.

Writing on HubPages has led to a lot of hubs that haven't made me money (although there are plenty that are) but several I've made have led to some amazing conversations about philosophy, Alaska (love the state), pros/cons of legalizing marijuana, and a wide variety of other topics. Writing there and seeing detailed but civil arguments or discussions in the comments section has been a real cool thing. Writing for HubPages also almost got me in a story for USA Today. Granted, this story would have been cooler if I actually ended up there, but hey, it shows the possibility is at least there.

Probably my best story is how a little read article (only a few hundred people) resulted in me getting a thank you note from a king. An article I wrote for Associated Content about an new charity resulted in the King of the Isle of Man (and yes, I realize there are arguments over this, but the title has been granted to him) reading it and sending me a thank you note. So I'm one of the few people on this Earth who can say I've received a thank you note from a King.

Among other pleasant surprises, my article on the 10 best post apocalypse movies is probably my favorite. I know from testing that articles like that don't end up converting in AdSense and they don't get people to buy the movies, so it looks like "worthless traffic," so I like getting paid on a per view basis for that type of traffic. And this article makes me $12-20 a month in page views, and has made me well over $200 for what was about 70 minutes of work.

Which brings me up to a bit of advice, if you're writing for Associated Content and you want to get anywhere remotely close to a decent passive income stream from it, then you want to write list articles. Out of my top 20 monthly earners, 17 are list articles. So are #21, #23, and #25, for that matter.

On this blog, I'm seeing more and more attention, more and more search engine visitors, and more consistent lurkers and registered followers. I'm beginning to see more natural backlinks to the blog, which means bit by bit I'm ranking for more terms for Google, "Master Dayton" is becoming a more recognized moniker, and more people are finding me every day. This is all really cool, and as my passive income from freelance writing continues to grow, I think the many amazing stories and opportunities from writing online are only going to continue.

So that's it for now. Read some of my friends' blogs, get some writing done, and if the idea of a "new lifestyle" from writing seems odd, I do recommend The 4 Hour Work Week. I use the stories as more of motivation and tips for staying productive than a set business plan, but it's a pretty cool work, and one that gets you thinking.

Ridiculously Ambitious Writing Goals: They Can Help You, Too

Making Ambitious Writing Goals A Boost & Not an Anchor

There are two ways that ambitious writing goals can generally go, and I think sometimes for both beginning and seasoned freelance writers (and maybe even creative writers, too - Justus and Ashley feel free to fill to chip your two cents in the comments about if you think this applies across the board or not for creative writers, as well) the way we handle and deal with ambitious writing goals is maybe just as important, if not more so, than the goals themselves. This is really an important point, because while setting hard to reach goals and accomplishing them can really propel you as a writer (or in any other endeavor for that matter), I know plenty of beginning freelance writers who felt crushed by the weight of their own goals, especially after falling behind and failing to achieve them.

In this post I'm going to share some of the freelance writing goals that I've set for myself for the month of March, and I'll be the first to admit that not only are they overly ambitious - but ridiculously so. That said, I know where I am in life both as a writer and as a person striving for daily betterment of my life and myself, and setting very ambitious goals is a very good idea for the situation I'm in...but where can this sometimes go wrong for writers?

One of my strong points is not organization. Anyone who reads this freelance writing blog with any frequency at all probably understands that. So I'll make a list of questions that you should ask yourself before deciding what kind of goals to set for yourself, and whether to shoot for the realistic or the ambitious.

• Am I going to become frustrated, disappointed, or depressed if I don't reach my goals or don't come close?
• Do I take written goals seriously, or do I ignore them completely the more obvious it becomes that I'm going to miss them?
• Are my writing goals based around what I should do, what I want to do, or both? Or neither? Why?
• If I have trouble accomplishing my freelance writing goals, is it because money is not enough motivation as a goal? (I know for me it's not)
• Will ambitious goals make me rise to the occasion, or intimidate me into frustration or depression for not making the mark.
• What are the reasons behind my goal setting? ((this might be the most important question of all, and one you need to take time to study as a writer if you don't understand the meaning)).

I might not have drawn it out completely clearly, but I think you guys probably get the gist of what I'm saying at this point. If written goals aren't heavily motivating to you, but you still get depressed from not hitting them when the month's end comes around, then you need to a) find a better way to motivate yourself, and b) work on changing your mindset.

Angry can be good. My now "famous" angry blog post about not being ashamed to be an online writer is one classic example of channeling anger into something really productive. That blog post in a way launched this blog to a new level. Followers doubled, e-mail "lurker-followers" doubled, my comments have gone up exponentially, and the links I received from people who liked the post probably got me another point of PR and ranking well enough to draw in about another 50 visitors a week. Thanks to you all.

That was anger turned into production. I can't do the same from frustration or depression. I don't think I've ever met anyone who can. Even worse, being down about not making some ambitious goals can cause you to drag your feet or become despondent about your writing progress so it gets even worse, and suddenly you're in a vicious cycle.

I like ambitious goals for the same reason Timothy Ferriss does. I find in my life that average goals mean mediocre work and effort, and no major adrenaline rush when I hit them...but maybe a little of the "what's wrong how could you not even get that done in a month?" when I don't hit those same goals. If I shoot for the top of a tree and miss, I might land on the first branch. If I shoot for the moon and miss, I still might land on Everest. That's the big difference, and that's the motivation you have to be able to give yourself as a freelance writer in order to really make huge strides forward in your writing career: whether it's online, offline, passive income, or some combination of all three.

So why am I making absolutely ludicrous freelance writing goals (and creative writing goals as well - when you consider them tied in with everything else I'm doing this month) for the month of May when I'm almost certainly destined to fall at least a little short?

Because:

1. The larger the goal, the more work I'll get done even if I fall short.
2. Having huge goals is an adrenaline rush that keeps me on track and on task.
3. IF, and it's a big if, but IF I somehow nail the goal and make it, accomplishing that level of work (or even coming close) will be the type of victory and confidence builder that will give me the drive and the ability to run through brick walls for months to close in on my much larger goals for this year.

Those are the reasons that I personally love setting ambitious freelance writing goals, and why I'm going to do so for this month. If this strategy works for you, copy it. If not, find what does work for you. Writing is a skill that can ALWAYS improve, no matter who you are. So get at it.

So here's my favorite time: put up or shut up. So here are the goals I'm sharing:

Freelance Writing Goals

• Over $5,000 in freelance writing income. This does NOT include passive income or increases in passive income sources like AdSense or eHow. Does not include editing jobs, either. Writing job means writing job. This alone will require a ridiculous amount of writing for me.
  
• Double my AdSense income in one month. I've been on a plateau for about 4 months now. It's time to get the work out and get my passive income to some actual serious numbers that can make a dent in the monthly budget.
• Double my eHow income in one month.
• Get the AdSense income to over $100/month for me and my brother's business. We hit $20 starting for scratch (and AdSense isn't anywhere close to being the main income stream of this business, but we're all about passive and diversify), and now I'd like to see that make a huge jump in month 2.
  

Creative Writing Goals

• Finish 3 more zombie short stories, including an outline for the one I'm really excited about. I'd share the title, but I'm jealously guarding the plot and the title would give it away.
• Finish 2 more chapters of the novel "Broken" I'm helping to co-write.
• Finish 4 chapters of the novel I'm writing for my sister.
• First 20 pages of my novella "Pawprints to Saskatoon," which currently as 15 pages of random scenes and an outline.
• First 10 pages of "Men with Beards" screenplay I'm helping to write on spec.
• Write, complete, revise, and send out 2 additional short stories.

Passive Income Writing Goals.
(Yes, I realize AdSense earnings could technically fall here)

• Write 100 InfoBarrel articles
• Write 100 new HubPages
• Write 15 new Squidoo lenses
• Write 30 new Xomba articles

Other Writing Goals

• Minimum 8 blog posts on this blog this month
• Minimum 12 blog posts over at my "Fixing my life" blog (going swimmingly, by the way, thanks for asking)
• Rough scripts out for YouTube parodies (pet project)
• 100 articles for backlinks via the KWA directories
• 30 articles for UAW (which is really 90+ since you have to have 3 versions of each plus hand put in all those annoying boxes at the end)
• Revise my poetry portfolio (I know, creative, but I told you I wasn't any good at organizing anything)
• 10 personal hand written letters through the month of March.

So hey guys, those are my goals for this month. It's a ridiculous number of overly ambitious writing goals, but if I do even half of this, it's going to be one of the best months I've had in two years, and it's going to see me in a much better place than where I started. You know what else? The results from that work will be more than enough to give me a boost to keep going.

You know how much of a "writing god" I'm going to feel like if I pull ALL these goals off...or even come close? No blasphemy intended at all (note the lower case 'g'), but the point I'm making is that by putting this out there, this is how I'm going to absolutely kick ass in March of 2010, and get some much needed momentum and strength heading into what's going to be a difficult personal time no matter what happens of the situations coming to bear.

So how are you going to take your writing career to the next level? How are you going to challenge yourself to see what you REALLY are capable of? Leave a comment and let me know. And oh, yeah. 1st blog post of March is down. Feels like I'm already have way there :)

50 Things Beginning Writers Should Know

50 Things I Wish I Knew As A Beginning Freelance Writer

So I wasn't sure how to start off a new year with my blog, especially with all the work I've been doing trying to kick off a couple of online businesses, dealing with an entirely new work load, and putting the personal life in order while dealing with about a dozen new projects. Not complaining, mind you. I love all the work that's coming in, the new sweet contract I just landed, and the amazing array of projects that seem to be coming my way, including screen writing and creative writing projects that could potentially open some really amazing doors for me. Might even get to add to the sparsest page on IMDB :)

But this is a freelance writing blog, and one I've been wanting to give more TLC to in a while, and no time like the present to begin. One thing about being a freelance writer for over 5 years now is that I've made some good discoveries, and a crap load of mistakes. Like dump truck load of them. I've also learned that as a writer there are benefits to a freelance writing lifestyle that people don't tell you about, as well as drawbacks to living as a freelance writer that no one warns you about, either. Then there are the crazy bits of freelance writing knowledge, when a stereotype like "the freedom of being a freelance writer" is correct, kind of, but not ever in the way that you imagine it.

What better way than to kick off a brand new year of writing and blogging than by making a long list of what I wish I knew before I got started – or things I've learned along the way.

1. It's very hard to get work as a true beginner freelance writer, which is why:
2. It's always best as a writer to have 6 months of severance pay or more before kicking off a freelance writing career.
3. Helium.com isn't a scam, but it is a complete waste of time unless you understand backlinks and passive income – which you won't as a true beginning online writer.
4. The best articles for Associated Content are topics with a ton of traffic but no advertisements from Google – so you get paid for traffic that wouldn't convert on a blog (top 10 movies lists are great examples of this)
5. List articles are easy to sell on Constant-Content,
6. But if you're writing for Constant-Content all your writing has to be top notch.
7. eHow is a good place to build passive income if you know what to right, but
8. eHow will yank your articles without pause if your article is even slightly in violation of their interpretation of the terms of service and writer's guide.
9. But eHow is a great doorway to write for Demand Studios, which is pretty decent up front pay for Internet writing.
10. Demand Studios pays pretty well for online upfront articles, but
11. Some Demand Studios editors are out of control, which is fine when
12. You're willing to walk away from a revision request that is beyond ridiculous for what they're paying. This hasn't happened often to me, but about 2% of all articles I write I decide not to revise (generally I revise 20% of my articles, but revisions are usually very simple and taking only 5 minutes or less).
13. Learning the difference between passive/residual income and freelance work for hire income is critical for long term goals as a writer.
14. Employers pay half of your Medicare and Social Security when you work for someone. This is important because once you pay your own taxes, you have to pick up the tab, meaning a freelance writer who makes $20,000 has to pay a lot more in taxes than someone who is employed and makes $20,000.
15. Taxes are paid quarterly by freelance writers, which makes budgeting a must.
16. There are many different types and styles of writing, and each requires a different view or approach.
17. Online freelance writers have to be able to adapt to more than one type of writing to really succeed as a full time freelancer.
18. Not all work is worth doing. Burn out is a major concern, as is carpal tunnel, and sometimes it's better to rest or pursue other interests as opposed to writing a bunch of $3 articles.
19. Guru.com and Elance.com are legitimate freelance writing auction sites that writers can earn a full time living from. All the others aren't worth the time.
20. Writing a query letter might be the single most important part of securing extra work as a freelance writer.
21. Bidding for jobs on Guru & Elance is a great way to practice sharpening and honing your query letters.
22. HubPages is a good introduction to passive and affiliate income, and also a good place to keep an online writing portfolio, which brings up a good point:
23. Create an online portfolio. HubPages is a good place for this, so is Squidoo. Based on pages at both of these sites I've had people contact me for work, and this has led to some pretty good writing jobs.
24. Marketing is critical for any writer who ever wants to make a full time income with their words.
25. Writing is only a small part of making a full time income writing. Phone calls, e-mails, bidding for work, marketing, and negotiating prices all take up just as much, or more than writing freelance.
26. Find a niche specialty based on what you know. Being an experienced poker player made it easy and natural for me to be a good poker writer, which made me by far the majority of my freelance writing income during my first year as a full time online writer.
27. Getting work done on time puts you above many other writers (as basic as making the deadline should be), getting the job done early gets you repeat work and a raise.
28. Learn to use PDFs and Power Points. This will open up doors to jobs that you might not otherwise be able to do as a freelance writer.
29. Invest in ZipFile software.
30. Invest in a screenshot software.
31. Set up a blog, website, HubPage, or something to create an online presence.
32. Spend a full day writing and editing the best sample articles ever. These should never be sold, but can be used to show your talent and ability to potential clients.
33. Never use the home office deduction on taxes. That's an audit waiting to happen.
34. Review restaurants when you go out with friends – because 50% of the cost of business meals are tax deductable.
35. Don't start a book or movie blog. Just not worth the effort for the return.
36. If you're chasing residual income and have even a little bit of extra income, outsource work. The sooner you can do this, the sooner you can reach your passive income freelance writing goals.
37. Save all clips. Have copies of all of them.
38. Work on your writing resume. This should look completely different that a normal spread out resume.
39. Network. This goes along with marketing as being a critical skill that most freelance writers online or offline too often ignore.
40. Never be afraid to ask for a raise. If employers keep coming back, there's a good chance they're happy enough with your work to pay more. If they keep offering new work before you finish what you're on, you're probably working for much less than they're willing to pay you.
41. Learn about basic SEO and web writing. Articles for the web are often much different than what employers want for print or other freelance writing mediums.
42. Not being an English major shouldn't stop you from being a writer. In fact, for online freelance writing not being an English major could be a huge bonus.
43. Going to graduate school doesn't help freelancing at all – in fact you have to re-teach yourself to write for non academic mediums.
44. Because academic writing generally doesn't pay unless you hook onto a grant team.
45. Find some helpful freelance writing blogs to learn from. Many of the authors will be glad to respond to a well thought out question in the comments section, BUT
46. Read over the blog first. This includes old blog posts about freelance writing because you don't want to ask a question that has been covered in the blog 100 times.
47. InfoBarrel, Xomba, and HubPages gives writers some major opportunities to learn how to use back links, AdSense, and build some passive income while using their strengths as a freelance writer.
48. Learn about residual income early. The options and doors this opens up down the line makes it something to at least get started with early.
49. Work space. You need to create a solid work space to get into the habit of sitting down and knocking out articles on things you would probably never write about like treadmill reviews, concrete, mini-bikes, yeast infections, or 50 articles on green tea and health benefits.
50. Freelancing freedom comes with a price, or maybe just a giant asterisk. More on this in a bit.
    

So there's a good list of 50 things I wish I knew before getting started as a freelance writer. I'm sure if I wrote on this blog with steady grad school training of resources and precision I could find 25-50 more, but at that point I'd just be showing off, or chasing the word count on my longest ever blog post of Why I'm Not Ashamed to Be a Freelance Writer.

The freedom of freelance writing – which is often one of the main draws to being a writer. Let's discuss this very briefly, as it will be worth a full sized post of its own later. But right now I'll say this: there IS a certain degree of freedom to the freelance writing lifestyle. Some call it being a digital nomad, others refer to it (perhaps somewhat incorrectly) as lifestyle design (mainly because I think Timothy Ferriss was discussing a much more passive income that freelance writing), others as an online or digital vagabond. I always kind of liked the nomad or vagabond phrases.

I can work from my current apartment in Iowa, just as I could work from my old apartment in Austin Texas, or the cabin I used to rent in Fairbanks Alaska. When on vacation I can sneak in two hours of work in the morning before Tampa really kicks into gear, or I can stay a month with friends in Oregon and work from an Internet Café while also chipping in to help renovate their house.

There is a ton of freedom. I can talk walks, I can have a beer and lunch at noon across the street at Mulligan's Sports Bar, I can grab a friend and road trip.

But a freelance writing career also acts as a tether. The work has to be done, and if I don't do it because I went on a 10 mile hike during the day, I'll be doing it from 10 pm to 6 am in the hotel room at night because the work has to get done. As a freelance writer, it can be very hard to eliminate stress from your life because you can always find more work to do, there's always something not getting done, and there's always more you feel like you could/should be doing.
So you do have freedom, and it's a freedom I wouldn't trade for the world, but it's a limited freedom that acts kind of like a tether unless you can find a way to make a full time living from residual income online. That's the reality of the freedom of a freelance writing career. That's also the myth of freedom in a freelance writing career. Finding the balance and avoiding burn out is a huge part of the equation.

So that's it for now. A very happy New Year for everyone, and I hope 2010 finds you optimistic, encouraged, and profitable. A lot more coming up soon, and as always feel free to comment. I always enjoy the interaction and will help out beginning freelance writers whenever I can.

Here's to the first post of Master Dayton in 2010. Cheers!

Angry Freelance Writing Blogger Rant

It's This Writer's Ranting Time

For all those of you who remember my last freelance writing blog rant, no worries. This one won't be nearly as long. I promise I don't have 5,246 words more in me for this one :) The short topic of this post is jack asses. If you go around writing blogs that are online, you'll find a lot of them. It's unfortunate. Most are trolls who claim to make a lot more than they probably even dream of, while bashing everyone else. You can usually identify these "writers" because they never leave a link in their comments and say absurd things like "every college educated writer should earn $40 an hour out of college." Once in a while, you get an arrogant jerk who does make six figures writing and so in some ways can back up their arguments.

I don't like jerks. Most writers I've talked to are very friendly and helpful. But you get a few who just seem obsessed with being perceived as better than everyone else. What amazed me was some of the slamming that was going on of Demand Studios. Now I've only been writing there for a little over three months, and I have had a few copy editors who seemed to be asking a ridiculous amount of work in revision to get paid for an article, but to say that $20 an hour or more is peanuts and a disgrace...has anyone seen what the majority of online writers have been paid recently?

Now the $20 an hour is assuming a few things. The easiest way to get there is if you prove yourself with other articles and end up with "specialty" requests. But Fact Sheet articles take all of 10-15 minutes to write, and those are $7.50 each. A $15 shouldn't take a full 60 minutes, either, so a determined writer has the ability to get up to $20 an hour. It takes time to learn what this site is looking for with each type of article and to become proficient at writing to the template, but that's true of any writing job.

Once you get going, $20 an hour is not an unreasonable average, and that's over $40,000 a year, an amount that over 90% of freelance writers will never come remotely close to. I can write a $20 article in 45 minutes based on what Demand Studios is looking for. Finding and recording contact information for hotels and restaurants honestly takes me more time than the rest of the writing. Another advantage of Demand Studios: there's always more work. ALWAYS. I can write between projects, I can write for money at 3 a.m. or I can do $200 in a day if the bills are stacking up.

In fact, I expect my DS income next year will pay off all of my credit card debt and max out my IRA in addition to helping me cover rent, bills, student loans, etc.

So why the arrogance? One particular blogger went on and on about "moving to the next level" or "pushing yourself to the next plane." This person is an accomplished magazine writer, which is why the arrogance surprised me. Print mediums are dying. While I believe there will always be a print market, there are far fewer magazines now than there were 20 or even 10 years ago. That means if said blogger is writing 50 high paying articles a year for magazines, that's 50 assignments that no other writer can get.

There is a very small amount of room for top notch freelance magazine writers. Even ignoring this, there's the skill issue. Some writers are good writers. Not very good, not great, and they're never going to be. But if they can write clean writing in template form, they can make $20 an hour for a very solid living.

A second issue I have with the snobs: some of us started in a hole. We have to make rent, we have to make student loan payments, we have to pay medical bills. There is no 6 month severance, no connections from days in Academics. For a person who needs to start and get a decent income now to keep from being homeless doesn't have time for 40 hours of unpaid work a week "pushing for the next plane as a writer." I'm all about constantly pushing for the next level, but there's no reason not to make $40,000 a year while doing it. Have you seen what adjunct professors make for a living while trying to break into tenure status? Ashley and Justus - feel free to rant for paragraphs in the comments about that one!

Finally, it's one thing to bash a company or bash writers for their choices, but in the end we each have to find our own path. I've tried for 2 years to break into major magazines. So far nothing and no interest. Some trade magazine articles, but none of the major ones I've tried for. I do have some very high level clients - in fact there are some highly technical Forex reports I write weekly for about $42.67 an hour. But that's only a 3 hour a week job on average, and there isn't any more where that comes from. Would I like to make $43 an hour as a freelance writer all the time? Sure - but I'm going to be an idiot who starves to death if I don't find something to fill the gap of the other 37 hours a week.

Finally, $15-20 an hour is a great way for college students to make money on the side, or to even learn what they need to about the editing process and freelance writing to start their own business. For those of us who have lived wondering how to make the rent check, having the ability to make a couple hundred dollars in a few days is HUGE.

So my rant to all the jerks out there (the ones who can actually back up what they say, the idiots who never leave a link are pretty obvious frauds) is simple: help out or shut up. If you don't want your name on an online article, then don't write online. As for the rest of us, well I've learned long ago that pride is overrated, and overvalued. I write well, and I write what they want. Not going to be put down for delivering what they ask for, and I'll continue to get paid for being a freelance writer.

Freelance Writing & Blogging

Friends Let Friends Blog Angry

I have to admit, despite a rough year that's still ongoing, I've really enjoyed this freelance writing blog recently. About two weeks ago I received a couple of thoroughly unpleasant and bitter e-mails from former acquaintances who weren't shy on hurling the insults. This led to an important decision on my part as both a writer and a blogger: should I let it go, or should I air out a public response giving my personal feelings on being a freelance writer?

I decided to blog angry, and my rant on being proud to be a freelance writer turned out to be the most well received blog post I've ever had - even though this writing blog has been around for over a year now. This made me smile. Not only did my angry rant hit a chord with many other people, but it doubled the amount of people following me on Twitter, flooded my inbox with positive support, and while 12 comments is a joke to many people - it doubled my old record. Even includes a great back and forth with Lissie from Passive Income Online. Despite her objections to the contrary, Lis is becoming something of a mini online celebrity for those of us who don't believe in A-lister bullshit and really want to learn how to make money online. She has a great sense of humor, and I've enjoyed being able to chat with her. It's good to have friends online.

Did my long ranting blog post give any useful information? In a round about way, yeah. First of all, at the end somewhere in those last two not angry sentences, a very important lesson about being proud of who you are and what you do hopefully came through. I'm proud to be a successful freelance writer. Any freelance writer who is not is going to quit. Really, it's only a matter of time. Just try telling someone you're an Internet Marketer or a Writer, and wait all of 0.2 seconds before seeing a sneer, an arrogant look, or a blank unimpressed face. You must have thick skin, and you need to be able to ignore the armies of naysayers who would LOVE to make you a little bit more miserable.

So I encouraged people to have a thick skin, to have confidence in themselves, and to have pride. It takes a lot of courage to break away from the masses and to work on making your own destiny.

Besides, as angry as I was, all things considered I was pretty mild. At this point, nowhere near Allyn Hane's Rant on Online Scammers. His language isn't even PG-13, so don't open that link at work :) But if you're not familiar with Allyn, he's a big time talent and his videos are really encouraging, as well as enjoyable. It's grade A stuff. If you're looking to move beyond freelance writing to the actual nuts and bolts of making money online (without ripping people off by flogging crap) then he's one of the guys out there you need to keep track of.

But maybe some of the best lessons from my last freelance writing blog post, which actually had very little to do with teaching about freelance writing, are the lessons that aren't abundantly clear. Why did this blog rant get me more followers on Twitter, a huge e-mail response, and a whole lot of comments from new people interested in past posts?

Because say what you will about blogging angry, but my personality definitely comes through in that post. This doesn't mean that all my other posts where I'm the kind patient teacher isn't true. I hope to help out readers who come to this blog. That said, I take pride in being a freelance writer, as the last post indicates, and in anger I decided to through down the gauntlet instead. I wasn't a jerk (well, not a complete jerk), but the rant was honest, heart felt, and the gauntlet thrown down. A lot of people apparently really appreciated this "in your face, won't back down, tell it as I see it" attitude.

After all, who hasn't had a day where they felt that way?

Who doesn't have a friend they love because he/she simply won't take crap from other people?

I think this is the tone that blog post really hits, and that's why it was really a hit. Remember, personality matters when it comes to writing online. This is especially true with blogging. If you don't know what your voice is, then experiment and learn what your voice is. Maybe it's calm but quirky. Maybe it's random and chaotic. Or maybe it's steady and open to teaching...you know, with an occasional roar when someone's picking a fight :)

The next post will be coming soon, and will really reflect a lot of the changes that have been going on with my business model as far as writing goes. During this last recession, normal freelance writing (which usually does very well during recessions) crashed in a lot of ways. Now more than ever, job to job freelancing is harder to do and has less security. Passive income by writing online and learning SEO and Internet Marketing - that should be the goal for every person looking at a freelance writing because that's where the security is.

Until then, thanks to everyone for reading, and remember:

Friends don't let friends blog drunk . . . but friends DO let friends blog angry!

Sounds like I'll have to do a spoof video in the future on that. Later.

Why I'm Not Ashamed to Be a Freelance Writer

With All Due Respect, My Critics Can Bite Me

Well it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out that I'm feeling a little bit more combative than usual with this blog post. There are a few causes to this, and unlike most of my freelance writing blog posts, I don't even have a basic outline to this one, so this might turn into one of the all time classic ramblers. If that's the case, so be it. No one who's known me since college is likely to accuse me of being too quiet or keeping to myself too often :) As a quick warning - I generally try to refrain from swearing and crudeness, so if you're sensitive to this type of thing, might just want to skim parts of this lightly.

The first basis of this post is simple: I am not, and will NEVER be, embarrassed about being a freelance writer. To me writing is not some some type of dick measuring contest. If you think you're better than me, great. It really isn't my concern. If you've been published in one more magazine or in Chattanooga State Literary Magazine as opposed to the Chattanooga A&M Literary Magazine (I assumed these are made up - so no slight against Chattanooga State if they happen to exist - but maybe against A&M. I'll have to get back to you on that one), great. I'm happy for you. That's not being facetious.

Maybe it's having been around graduate school tool long and academics and creative writing programs, but I've never understood why so often it seems like people believe that individual success has to go hand in hand with tearing others down. I'm not saying all grad schools or creative writing programs are like this, nor all writers. But it does sadden me how often I've run into this, and that every close friend I have who has been through writing and writing programs has been through the same thing.

So recently I've heard from a couple people from my grad school past whom I hadn't heard from in years, and really didn't care to. This wasn't the sole catalyst of my rant, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I have no idea how they got a hold of my e-mail address, or why everyone was in a fighting mood, but there are a lot of things in my life people can trash and I just don't care. It's not worth my time to be angry or upset or to lose piece of mind over the bitterness of other people.

That been said, I've wanted to be a writer since I was three years old, when I could first read and write. Yes, you read that right, I was three when I could read and start writing. I've always loved the written word in ALL of its forms, and I refuse to accept any criticism saying what I do is inferior to what anyone else is doing.

I'm not ashamed of being a writer, or having wrote simple articles for online websites. I get paid for my words. People find value in what I write. Even beyond this, I make a living as a freelance writer. A living. I don't make a penny because I have the "right politics" and I don't make a penny because I "know the right people." No one's butt gets kissed, I don't have to sell out my values (I get to turn down any job I simply don't want to do) and above all I get paid for writing. Not teaching.

IMPORTANT POINT: I am in no way, shape, or form bashing teaching. Teaching is one of the most important jobs anyone can do, and a good teacher changes the world - as does a bad one. That said, if you're trashing my writing while making a living teaching (and not writing), then yes, I'm going to take that shot at you because the subject is writing. Do you make a living writing? If not, then be very careful taking a shot at my words, because I MAKE A LIVING WRITING. So you better be able to back up the accusations before trashing my words. This is not a dig on teaching, but at writing teachers who feel privileged to look down on us "lowly" freelancers.

Aside from making a living from my words by freelance writing, there are several reasons why I find being an online freelance writer rewarding. For one, my words aren't read by 20 random people who may or may not pick up a copy of an obscure literary journal. My "views" count from just one website I write on is over one million. That's right, in two years ONE MILLION PEOPLE have read my work online. This isn't including the stuff I've wrote that was ghost written. It may not be Stephen King, but my writing has been read by over a million people. No matter how you try to explain that down, it doesn't change the fact that my words have apparently been seen as pretty useful or worthy by a whole hell of a lot more people than those who still trash me to this day.

Another reason I'm proud to be a freelance writer is simple: it's hard. Yes, given the choice I'd rather write fiction, screen plays, poetry, and other creative writing and get paid full time. That said, being as good a writer as I know I am, I wouldn't give up on freelancing and I would never give up writing online. There's a deep satisfaction from actually being able to talk to my readers through comments, help others get started writing online, and help to change other lives for the better. In addition to this, I've helped shape the online world of the Internet. I find this to be cool. There are literally thousands, if not tens of thousands, of phrases you can type on Google that will bring back an article I either wrote or ghost wrote on page one of the search results.

Beyond this, I don't buy the argument that creative writing is somehow "higher" than freelance writing, or that basic Internet writing is beneath any "good writer." To give my belief on this opinion, I'll quote Homer Simpson: "Bull Plop."

This is crap. If you want to believe that creative writing is a higher form of art, then fine. I have no problem with that very specific statement and description: because the majority of time it will be true. That said, a good creative writer isn't necessarily better than a freelance writer. So I don't buy the crap about that writing being inherently better. I've been paid for my fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and freelance writing. Creative writing is different than freelance writing - but it's not inherently any better.

Case in point: it's hard for even good creative writers to get published BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY OF THEM! There are many great fiction writers out there, many great poets, many great screen writers. Very few of them can actually make a living writing. If there weren't many great writers, it wouldn't be hard for creative writers to get published. Good creative writers are not a rare breed.

Truly good freelance writers are. Only 16% of writers make enough money from writing alone to be above the poverty line (roughly $10,000). I've never fallen below this amount, and beat it by several thousand even in my first year writing, when I had no idea what I was doing, no money to invest in my burgeoning writing business, no writing portfolio, no references, and no mentors to help me. In addition to this fact, the competition for writing jobs has never been fiercer, never been filled with more wannabe mediocre writers, and never filled with more just plain average writers. Even worse: when measured in "real dollars," comparing the value of rates from then to now, rates have dropped OVER 50% since the 1960s.

So if you're in the top 16% of freelance writers in the world, you're doing damn well. I've been there now for four years and counting, and have made as much as $45,000 in a year. I could have made a lot more, but I enjoy freedom of time more than income, and spent my days and weeks accordingly.

Not bad for a "talentless hack," is it?

Most of the writers I've met through college and grad school simply could not do what I do. At least not as well. This might seem like a strange thing to say on a freelance writing blog trying to help others out on the same road, but it's true.

In some ways it's because certain parts of a college, and especially a graduate school, education get in the way. They teach you writing skills, but not the skills that translate into making a living as a freelance writer. What I've said in other blog posts is true: if you work, work, work, and then work some more, you can learn to be a decent enough freelance writer to make a living at it. This is especially true if you learn how to pursue passive and residual income.

That said, since the criticism is coming from former people who I met in grad school, that's where I'm shooting back. And I'll be perfectly freaking blunt to the two who managed to get my goat:

You can't do what I do when it comes to freelance writing.

That's all there is to it. Deal with it. Or read my blog and use it to prove me wrong. Whatever. The second part of my argument with these two is pretty simple:

One of you has nearly thirty years on me as far as publishing creative writing. I'll catch up. The other hasn't published that much more than me. If your book gets published, congrats. I mean that. Getting a book published is really difficult. My novel, "My Brother's Keeper" has twelve rejection letters with detailed hand written comments. Which also begs the question, at what point does the pile become more impressive than getting published?

But this also brings up another reason why I won't be ashamed of being a freelance writer: because this job has proved to me that I can be a published creative writer.

Huh?

Well two of my favorite freelancing jobs of all time included ghost writing two fictional novels from two outlines and getting them into "publishable shape." Because of the NDA I signed, I can never reveal the titles of these two novels. But I can tell you that both were published, and I smiled widely when I can go to the book store, pick one up, and see my words in print. Yeah, it's not the same as getting my own published, but two books I've authored have been published.

And my graduate school thesis is getting mighty freaking close.

I'm a creative writer and I'm a freelance writer. I can say by income alone that I'm in the top 10% of pure freelance writers in the world. I'm also one of the most flexible freelance writers out there. I've been told by one client I'm the best press release writer they ever had. Another loved my sales letter. Several have told me my content articles are as good as any they've ever received from freelance writers. I have over 20 ghost written e-books that continue to be sold online. There isn't a lot of writing I haven't done at one point or another.

And things are going to continue to get better. There's always a demand for good writing, and as my learning and polishing of my craft continues, I'm only going to get better. Why should I be satisfied with being in the top 10% of freelance writers in the world when I can be in the top 1%? The pursuit continues.

But I will not be ashamed of being a freelance writer. This has opened doors for me as a radio guest on several shows, sharing expertise on topics that include Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, the American education system, Fascism, dystopias, and the Coen Brothers. I've had lunch with millionaires, traveled all over North America, and even received a personal thank you note from a King. Yes, as in a royal title. Probably the best amazing story I have to tell.

What do I have to be ashamed of?

I'm one of the best in the world at what I do, and I'm getting better. So in the end, those who want to trash my writing can say what they want - but let me Bible thump with "Wisdom is proven right by her children." I have plenty of creative writing (fiction, poetry, & non-fiction) published, and I've been paid for all three. Ghost written novels are in print that have my words on shelves in different bookstores across the country. I've even been published in an International arts magazine.

Oh, and as for my creative writing being that of a talentless hack: my 3rd year in grad school, who was the grad student who won the Alaska short story competition and was the only grad student to even place in the poetry contest (3rd)? Oh, yeah, it was the talentless hack who makes a living as the freelance writer and has this blog.

Last shot across the bow: Amazing how in the first year of blind judging I went from never being mentioned to rocking the world, isn't it?

The one other reason for this rant: ignore comment trolls who leave comments talking about everyone writing for less than $20-$25 an hour being losers or hacks. They're idiots and liars who amazingly never have a website to link back to in order to check their back story. I've almost always found that writers who do make full time livings writing aren't egotistical self serving jack asses, they tend to be good people who want to help out beginners.

So I should probably wrap up with something helpful. The number one rule to freelance writing is still the same: get started now. The second rule to freelance writing is this: ignore the trolls, ignore the naysayers, and ignore all the jerks who want to tear you down and destroy you. Unfortunately, there are many people like that in the world. Ignore them.

Or write a blog post destroying their pitiful rhetorical arguments.

Both are good :)

Next time my blog post will be more helpful with freelance writing tips. That I promise...although maybe not quite as entertaining. Everyone take care, take a deep breath, and do one thing today to get you closer to your goals and dreams. Always do one actionable thing to get one step closer to your goals and dreams.

Making Money with Adsense: Freelance Writers Beware the Smart Pricing Mark!

Passive Income for Writers: Some AdSense Warnings

Freelance writing takes some time and effort to break into, and for most of the last three years and change the majority of writing for money that I've done has been the "normal" type where you write, get paid, and that's more or less it. A lot of this has been online writing and ghost writing because there's an extremely high demand for both, and anyone who knows my story, from near bankruptcy to the car accident that busted both my legs to some periods of homelessness (or near to it) can see why sometimes I worked for less because I needed cash now. Somewhere in the middle of all that mess I figured out how to become a great freelance writer (enough to make a living writing) and returned to and finished grad school despite a really negative environment, considering my situation.

There is another type of freelance writing that online writers can do to make money, and that's earning passive income. While writers can make passive income with some more traditional writing at websites like ehow and Associated Content, but this doesn't offer the same level of passive income that more Internet marketing based writing can make. The one program that is almost the definition of passive income is Google AdSense.

The early disclaimer: I've been getting into AdSense part time for only a few months. So I'm nowhere near a Guru or Expert level, but I've followed the advice of some of the AdSense/SEO experts who share their secrets and make a full time living with AdSense (I'll include their links later in this post) and even with the relatively little time I've been at it, I've seen their strategies work first hand and the percentages for me shooting up like crazy.

Many people give up on AdSense after a few months, and online forums are littered with "I only made $1 in a month" or "I made only $5 in four months," stories of people quitting, thinking there was some magic bullet to passive income. AdSense, and most of what it takes to build actual automated income, is going to fall more under Internet Marketing as opposed to Freelance Writing. Part of the reason is people have unrealistic expectations early on. Check out this great blog post about quick easy ways to make money to really get a good sense of how the beginning process of making money online takes place.

Does a freelance writer have an advantage? I think yes, if he/she knows who to learn from and can adapt quickly to the style needed to maximize writing earnings. If a person refuses to learn how online search engines, traffic, and Internet Marketing works, then $1 a month only, or $5 a year might be all that a person can make from AdSense.

As part of the agreement to be part of Google AdSense, there are a lot of stats I can't reveal, but I can give you a look at monthly earnings:

• May - $0.00 (didn't even have traffic every day - I was a total noob)
• June - $1.21
• July - $3.99 (pathetic, but sadly more than many make)
• Aug- $12.40
• Sept- $22.95
• Oct- $28.52

Now before anyone starts scoffing: I did virtually no gathering of back links until recently, until September it was all from one blog I barely wrote any posts for, and a lot of the later stuff was from joining Hub Pages, which splits impressions and clicks. How much time do I spend on this passive income? Not nearly enough. Maybe 1-3 hours a week, and after doing a lot of reading, I realize most of what I've done the past few months is wrong. But this is encouraging, because I'm just short of averaging a dollar a day, and that's if I don't do anything.

Unless I Get Smart Priced.

"Smart Pricing" is when you fall below a certain percentage of clicks per impressions. Based on conversations I've had with friends and other online sources, the general consensus seems to be that the smart price line is probably around 2.00%. This is the point where instead of being worth 25, 58, or 70 cents (and yes, I was a newbie starting out, so I chose areas where the pay outs aren't as good as they could be) a click, they're suddenly worth 3, 4, or 7 cents a click. Not good.

Smart priced, I'd only be looking at $6-12 a month if I never did anything and never improved my stats. Without smart pricing, I should be able to earn $35 or more in automated income. For never doing any work, and having yet to come close to dominating a niche, this isn't bad. Knowing what Justin, Vic, and Grizz teach, I know how to go about doing this.

The problem is, let's say hypothetically Mr. MD has sites that are getting more and more traffic, but for some reason the click numbers are declining at the same time. Even though Mr. MD's total history with Google he is still above that hypothetical 2% line to get the better compensated clicks, there are a lot of people noticing, like Mr. MD, that if at the beginning of a month there are a few bad days to pull you down below 2%, then you get smart priced.

That means a really bad start to the month can badly dent the earnings numbers.

As far as I can tell, aside from a few very out of the way forums, no one has talked about smart pricing as a monthly thing. This is something to keep in mind, especially when trying to start from the beginning. This is the quick note to new freelance writers looking for passive income: be aware of this stumbling block, and don't let it get you down, and don't let it scare you off.

If anyone knows of other "hypothetical experiences" detailing this same finding for the month, let me know in the comments about other things you've "heard." As far as my hypothetical friend Mr. MD, he's going to keep plugging away and applying the lessons learned from the experts to figure out what he's doing wrong and fix it. Hundreds or even thousands of people make a full time living out of AdSense, so he knows he can, too!

That's an update on another potential nugget of knowledge that could help you if you decide to go into the Google AdSense program. Best of luck, and here are the links to these guys' blogs:

Grizz's Make Money with AdSense Blog

Vic's Make Money with Niche Stores

Justin's Make Money Online Site

If you want to learn how to make money online with AdSense, blogs, affiliate marketing, and niche stores, these are the guys you need to learn from.

Next time: Helium.com review, and a possible stay of execution. I'll get more into their recent announcements and why that might barely be enough to keep me from blasting their site to the netherworld of the Internet...maybe.

Writing: Welcome to Master Dayton

Master Dayton: Advice for New Freelance Writers

Welcome to "Master Dayton's" blog. This is just the introduction, but in the future I will be sharing all the knowledge and information I've gained over the years about freelance writing to help you avoid the mistakes I've made and get you making some decent money freelancing and helping you to acheive your freelance writing goals, whatever those might be.

There's no snobbery here, and no deceit. I will NEVER offer you "can't miss" advice on any type of writing that I've never done, I'll NEVER reccomend a product that I haven't reviewed and that I don't use myself, and I will NEVER put down someone as being a "noob" or "idiot" for wanting to do something different. There are many types of writing and some people don't want to write technical writing or learn two years worth of marketing to make money with Adsense. Some do.

That's okay. I've done a lot of different types of writing covering the full gamut of writing from creative writing to freelance writing, so this blog will contain a lot of useful information and hopefully something all of you can use. Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to keep coming back for updates!

Privacy Policy for Master Dayton Freelance Writing Advice

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