Building an Author Platform, Growing Freelancing Income

The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today:

Making an Author Platform

Freelance Writing’s Irene Watson discusses author platforms, which are enhanced resumes that help “publishers and the media take notice that you are a professional, you have experience, you are good at promoting yourself and promoting your book and topic of interest without being self-serving, and overall, you know what you are doing.”

Websites should include the home page, about the author, places to buy products, media kits, and blogs. A list should be kept of publishing experiences, speaking engagements, and workshops. Writers need online forums to connect with fans, whether it’s a Facebook page on a discussion group the website.

Growing the Freelancing Income

Make a Living Writing covers what writers can do to increase their income. They can tell clients that their rates are going up, set up a website, raise rates for new clients, and grow their network.

They should stop waiting around and doubting themselves, and respond to full-time job ads to see if organizations need freelancers. They shouldn’t go to job bidding websites, where it’s a race to the bottom, but rather send query letters and do more research to find new markets.

Want to Go Freelance?

The Guardian covers freelance writing and what it takes to work at home. Before jumping into it, workers need to ask themselves if they can give up the weekly pay, company of co-workers, and holidays/paid holiday time.

They need to figure out if there’s a market for what they do, and if they can work from a computer and not get too distracted. If absenteeism is sickness are common, freelancing won’t be best, since work at home writers are their own bosses.