Boutin gives away all our secrets
By Marc Perton
Of course, to really make it as a freelance writer, one part of the work you can’t coast on is self-promotion. Paul may make it seem easy, but it’s not unusual for successful freelancers to spend as much time pitching as writing. That’s an even harder skill to master than getting your drafts in a day early and within 10 words of the requested count—and one reason I’m in a staff position, rather than freelancing. Guess that makes me a real slacker.
Must read: Paul Boutin’s How to coast to a writing career in Valleywag. Paul, a veteran journalist and blogger, lays down the law in a series of hilarious and dead-on points, including this classic for bloggers who want to make the move to what Paul calls the “real” media:
“Don’t troll other bloggers for links, or try to get onto Techmeme by posting about whatever’s already there. NEVER try to win a fight with Dave Winer. People in the real media don’t care what your Technorati rank is, they’ll just Google you to see what you write.”
Of course, to really make it as a freelance writer, one part of the work you can’t coast on is self-promotion. Paul may make it seem easy, but it’s not unusual for successful freelancers to spend as much time pitching as writing. That’s an even harder skill to master than getting your drafts in a day early and within 10 words of the requested count—and one reason I’m in a staff position, rather than freelancing. Guess that makes me a real slacker.
