I’m starting to think that this month was a spectacularly bad time for me to decide to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

It started out great. Heck, I was even ahead for a while there, and I was cocky about it! And then reality hit, and along with it came a parade of lengthy meetings (including long drives there and back), an overnight visit to my grandparents who were so happy to see me that I feel I should be self-flagellating to atone for how little I visit them, and a multi-day overnight visit with my mom and foot-taller-than-me little brother (along with frantic cleaning before and after to give the impression that I am actually a sane adult).

In other words, well, I’ve written no other words.

The thing is, despite multiple plot changes resulting in more than one dream sequence that I refuse to throw away because I will not sacrifice those hard-earned words, my book actually doesn’t totally suck. And I’m bummed that I haven’t had the time I need to give it what it deserves.

But damn the torpedoes and whatnot — I’m going to bang out 50,000 words on this puppy whether they’re good or not, and whether they happen before November 30 or not (but yeah, still trying for that), because my book deserves it and so do I. 

How’s NaNoWriMo going for you?

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA on social networking and your business…

Social media survey by Network Solutions’s Grow Smart Business indicated growth in use of social networking for small biz. At least 59% of active Web users have a social media profile.

Skeptics can suggest that social media is a passing fad, but time is showing that that’s not true. Social media creates a level playing field for small and large businesses alike. You’re no less likely to be seen online just because you’re small. It also gives you equal control in terms of managing your reputation online. It’s a business necessity to search your own name online.

Ideally your top Google results should be information you create yourself. If someone is creating a profile for you on some site you’ve never heard of, go join and at least put your correct info in because that will give you one more link in Google.

Know your audience. One tool is Google Alerts to notify you when your name, your business, your product, etc. is mentioned. Google doesn’t spider comments on photos, so BackType is a good tool to help you find content about you that Google might overlook.

Writers can use social media to identify ideas, trends, and buzz; find peers and network; distribute content easily; have a greater reach; and find new clients. Be a connector, one of the people who introduces people to others. Give without expecting anything back. Promote others not just yourself. Add value.

If you check your sent e-mail, you’ll find that you’re pretty much already blogging by sharing information about things you love and or know well with others. Blogging builds your credibility and facilitates conversations. Blogging is also a way to create links, which are nonmonetary currency. Blogs are shareable, taggable, trackable.

Create clear guidelines for your web presence — common sense guidance.

Listen first, be useful, and build relationships.

GABE GOLDBERG on essential technology and tools for writers

Multiple monitors and larger monitors lead to huge leaps in productivity. Instead of having to search through windows for the item you want, you can have all of the applications you use open at all times all day. More of the desktop to work with means more productivity. It’s an easy operation to add a video connection for a second monitor, but most modern computers have them.

Gabe also recommends making sure your computer has plenty of USB ports OR you get additional ports that are powered to expand your capacity. And he recommends an intellimouse with multifunction programmable keys to increase productivity and simplify your life. Keep ergonomics in mind when it comes to keyboards, mice, desks, chairs, and overall office configuration.

For anyone who never ever has power problems, you may not need an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to keep your computer running in the event of a power outage so you can shut it down manually rather than just yanking the power. Modern UPSs will connect to your computer with a USB cord that will send a warning signal to your computer if you’re not there to shut it down.

If you have multiple computers in the house, you might consider getting a home server to centralize your backup and make sure your whole network of computers at home has access to all of the same files as necessary. Same with a printer, so anyone in the house can print to the network printer. This means you don’t have to have a particular computer turned on all the time to be able to share printers with all of your computers. Also same deal for network storage and/or a shared drive.

All-in-one devices (scanner, fax, printer, copier) do save space, but if you pick them individually you can get the best of breed for each function. Also, if one breaks, you don’t lose all of the other functions when you have each of them individually.

If you have old peripherals that you want to keep even though the connections on the new computer don’t match the cord for the old printer/ fax/ whatever, you can pick up an adapter at virtually any electronics store.

Gabe uses a U3 USB drive that he can run applications from just as though they were on his hard drive. Most of them work with both Mac and PC. (Check the label.)

For transferring files from one computer to another, the Tornado is a great tool. Hiro wireless mouse and laser pointer is handy for presentations.

Gabe recommends always doing a custom installation on all software so you can make choices about how your software functions and what else is installed. For instance, he recently updated his Java installation and opted out of also installing the Java toolbar. Also, be sure that you keep all of your applications and software current.

Speaking of which, your router IS a computer. Make sure you have the current version of the router software and download updates to fix problems, add function, and improve security. Check your computer and router configuration to see if any software updates are necessary to bring your computer up to date.

Make sure your virus software is up to date. Use the competitor’s site to do a “drive-by” security check to make sure your software is keeping you virus free.

Take advantage of e-mail filters to reduce inbox clutter by filing things as they arrive so you can batch process your email activities. You can disable the default display of graphics in your email to have better protection from spam and enable it on a message-by-message base.

Be consistent and deliberate about naming and organizing files. Compress files for storage. Archive inactive files to avoid clutter. If you have multiple versions of a file and need to figure out what’s what, use the compare files tool in most office suites. Browser add-ons and plug-ins can increase productivity online and eliminate redundancy.

You can do voice, video, and direct file transfer over instant messaging.

A broadband internet connection is essential to productivity. Measure you actual connection speed using a site like SpeedTest.net and touch base with your ISP if your speed is substantially lower than what the ISP says your speed will be “up to.” Most connections are optimized for download. If you need upload and download to be more similar, talk to your ISP because you most likely will not be able to get what you need through residential service. Be sure to use a router and make sure it’s secure so you have to enter a password to connect. This is for safety and also controls your usage.

Send and receive faxes via e-mail to save paper and toner or ink, and make it easier to forward or archive content.

You can use Audacity to record phone calls on your landline through your computer with a $45 or $50 gizmo that connects your phone to your computer’s audio input.

Do regular upkeep on your computer to keep it running at maximum effectiveness. Defragment your hard drive, toss old files, that kind of thing, on an annual basis. You can do it yourself, have a pal do it, or take it to a shop that specializes in that type of work to sanitize it of old files, etc. Or you can have someone make a house call so you can keep an eye on them and your machine to make sure they’re not stealing or accessing your personal data if that is a concern for you.

Separate administrative privileges from normal user privileges to avoid your kid, spouse, roommate, or whoever from screwing up your machine.

When doing backup, use a portable drive rather than just an external drive. Be sure to back up not just your regular document files, including bookmarks, music, photos, QuickBooks or Quicken, etc.

Keyboard shortcuts can save you a massive amount of time for any program. If you learn one or two at a time, you’ll find yourself getting a lot more done.

Don’t install software you don’t understand, don’t install software that hasn’t been recommended, and don’t click on links in emails. Don’t trust first and verify later; mistrust first and then verify before doing anything.

Cathy Alter on pitching…

Figure out if your idea is even pitchable, then identify the right market. And test your pitch before you send it out. Cathy always goes for her “reach” option first and then works down from there. She recommends researching the market so you can match the style and tone of your query to that of the publication. And to find out who to send the pitch to, check the masthead. Avoid the general mailbox if you can. Putting a name on it essential. She recommends starting small. If you haven’t written for a publication before, pitch a front-of-book piece first rather than a feature to get yourself in the door and prove yourself.

Why now? What’s the news peg to hang your story on? Why is this a story. What’s timely and relevant? Make sure the publication hasn’t run anything similar in the last 3 years. Do homework, read the archives, and make sure.

Until you can say what your piece is about in just a few sentences, the pitch isn’t there and it’s not thought out enough for an editor to understand when you have in mind. When someone gets interested in what you have to say, you’re on the right track. Watch for when their eyes glaze over. Get to the point quickly and briefly and explain how you would write hte piece.

Pitches nowadays are much different. It used to be that she could just go out to lunch with and editor and talk a good game and she would get the assignment. Now, you need to show your style, why the subject is worthy, and what the idea really is. There is now a hierarchy that maybe didn’t exist so much before. An editor has to show it another editor and there are a lot of yeses to get through. The more you can show the editor what you can do, what you will do, and what you’re capable of. Make sure your pitch is complete — they shouldn’t have any questions at the end of your pitch. The only thing she hasn’t really pitched is personal essay, which she accompanies with a short e-mail stating what she has done in the essay and a brief overview of her background.

Make sure you’ve spelled everything correctly including the editor’s name. Editors move around, so don’t burn any bridges. You want to be on time. Fact check, spell check.

Cathy is still so appreciative to have an editor say yes to an idea, and it’s even better when an editor calls and gives you an assignment.

A lot of times writers have to steel themselves for disappointment from rejection or stories being killed, not because the idea is bad but because you just haven’t found the right market yet. Never take it personally. It can be a good pitch, a solid pitch. Stick with it.

If she doesn’t hear an answer back in a couple of weeks, she will follow up and let them know that she really likes this idea and wants to sell it elsewhere. She wants to give her first choice a reason to say yes or no, or she will take it elsewhere. Half the time, she’ll hear back almost immediately to that follow-up. Editors are busy.

Tom Shroder on pitching…

Tom asks the question, In the world of Twitter, is there really room for narrative? Anybody who tells a good story can command your attention. You know this just from talking to someone on the phone; if someone is telling you a really good story, you’ll tune out everything else. Narrative is how we understand the world, and it has been since the beginning of man. Our whol experience, the nature of our conscious, the nature of how we understand our lives and the world, is rooted in narrative. People who hear a story about something retain the information in a much more vibrant way than people who are just given information. The one way we make connections that last is through storytelling, and that is not going to go away. Jus tbecause there has been this economic shift in the media doesn’t mean people don’t still want it. Narrative didn’t have to be a part of newspapers. They were just moneymaking machines.

The publishing industry is still challenged, and ebooks are beginning to explode. The trouble with ebook is you can charge as much for them so it means less money for the writers. Now that people are sitting down in front of their computers, or whatever, publishers have decided that nobody wants to read 6,000 words on their computer screen. And so on with Twitter and handhelds etc. And that will go on, and people will begin to feel the gap that narrative is no longer filling. But since there’s no cost for printing and distribution, why not download a 6,000 word story?

The situation that we’re in now that seems to be shrinking the need for narrative is transient. The need for narrative is inherent in the human condition. To sell a narrative, it actually has to have value. You actually have to know something that is fascinating and be able to tell it in a way that is riveting, and you will find a market for it. It’s more about knowing what you’re doing and giving something of value. That means knowing something that other people don’t know, knowing something that really grabs people’s attention, and presenting it in a way that is fun, gripping, riveting, and won’t let people turn away from it.

The biggest thing in queries is to understand intimately the market you’re pitching to. Match the tone of your letter with the tone of the publication. He’s been amazed at the number of pitches he got that were clear that the sender had no clue what the magazine actually did.

It’s really about the quality of what you have. Editors make stupid decisions all the time. You really have to ask yourself, How good is this material, how good is the presentation, and if you believe this is really good, it’s really fascinating, I’m really learning something I didn’t know, that’s your indication that you need to stick with it. If someone responds to the specifics of your stories and tell you to try them again, they mean it. They have enough mail; they won’t encourage more if it’s not good. And mention in your next shot that they had asked you to try again. Once you start entering into a conversation with an editor, that’s a whole different ball game.

There’s an art to being persistent without being annoying.

If you’re unpublished, your idea has to be that much stronger, and your presentation has to be that much stronger.

Meg Guroff on pitching and publishing…

The important thing is what you have to say and how you have to say it. If you are saying something original and in a fresh way, tehre are people who will want to be a conduit to bring that to readers.

Meg’s provided 11 queries that come in in the last month. All of the examples she’s brought are from e-mail, and she no longer knows where the paper letters go, as they don’t come to her anymore. She only sees them if there’s something really, really otustanding. You really don’t want to send paper anymore; they go someplace. Emails ot specific editors go directly to the editors. Even though the instructions say to send it somewhere, e-mail it. She will always read querys from writiers because they have a sense of how to find her and the right person to contact and that it’s the best way to go.

The writer is going to be representing the editor to the public, so there’s no reason to pick a quirky stranger to do that. And don’t start your story with YOU; she doesn’t care who you are — come to her with the story. Don’t do multiple ideas in the same query; pick your best idea and run with it. A query is not a letter; it’s a marketing document. You need to grab them, and it should be about the story not about you and not about her. What can you do for her? That’s what she’s trying to get from these.

Queries should be specific enough that the editor knows what you’re talking about, but not so specific that there’s no flexibility for the editor to mold it how he or she wants it. You need to demonstrate in the letter that you’re working to make yourself an expert on the subject you’re pitching, because if you haven’t done the legwork, it shows in the letter.

Meg doesn’t want to click anything because it takes up her valuable time. Put it right in the e-mail. Make it easier for her.

Following up is crucial, both because the editor is busy and also because it shows a lot about them if they follow through, if they are where and when they said they would be.

Basically, you’re trying to make your best case. You can’t say you’ve been published in the New Yorker if you haven’t, but if you have specialized experience or knowledge, you should include that. Same as if you met at a conference or you’re from the same school or you were referred by a mutual friend or whatever.

 LESTER REINGOLD: The “serendipity” approach to finding work as a freelancer

In short, make your own luck and capitalize on opportunities. He didn’t start off with the intention of writing commercially, but he ended up doing it. He transitioned from full-time to freelance work. He went to Columbia for journalism but found himself not really using it. He wrote for some steady clients, including a trade pub, Conde Nast Traveler, and the magazine of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Principles that have worked for him

• Achieve the right amount of specialization. The right amount is the amount that makes you credible but doesn’t close you off from other fields. Identify subspecialties within your specialty. For aerospace, you have air safety, regional carriers, national and international carriers, etc. The value in specializing is that you learn the jargon and the issues you’ll need to be able to speak the language of your field. You don’t have to be a professional in the field to be a specialist in the field. You might not fly planes, but you can right about them.
• As you write in one field, be on the lookout for related areas. There are many organizations in a single field, as well as organizations interested in the field or in the organizations within the field — and they all need writers. Very often, they want to hire people to write their publications.
• Build on ideas, topics and research you have compiled for previous assignments. Repurposing your research, knowledge, and concepts can yield dozens if not hundreds of articles.
• Maintain enough momentum in a field so you become a known quantity. When people know who you are and know what kind of work you do, they will prefer you over unknowns.

Writing for publication vs. commercial work: In publication, the editor makes the assignment, the writer hands in the assignment, the editor makes changes. In commercial work, you’re dealing not with an editor but with a client. Establish up front what the client wants you to do: write it, edit it, both.

You don’t need to have technical expertise, but you need to be able to work with those subject matter experts and take their technical info and translate it to something readable and understandable and clear.

Keep in mind that stuff that may not appeal to you as a reader may be very interesting and enjoyable to you as a writer. If you’ve got work even if it may not be in the most compelling topic, hopefully the process will create at least some level of interest.

To get the next type of job, you just need something to start with, something in print to show that you can write for publication and that you can do what’s needed in editorial work. Even if the subject and format are different, you’ve separated yourself from the wannabes.

 VICKI MEADE: Reflections on freelancing

Freelancer for 12 years after working in associations as a writer and publications manager. After freelancing she got another job and started to realize everything she did wrong as a freelancer. She’s interested in everything so she never really specialized. If she had to say what it was, she’d probably say health care, because she did a lot of that. But as a freelancer she would write about anything people asked her to.

She moved to DC area with a lot of associations and started writing for them: magazines, newsletters, brochures, meeting promotions, etc. She got a lot of good experience doing that, and in 1994 decided to freelance instead of commuting to DC. She made the leap by getting an anchor assignment/ client that she could rely on, and she had $15,000 work she could count on for her first year. From there, she jumped and started doing whatever came her way. She wasn’t terribly organized about marketing herself, but she believes that the most important thing is your relationships. Your writing and editing skills are a given, but your interpersonal skills are huge if you’re going to be a freelancer.

Get in touch with everyone you know to make sure they’re aware you’re freelancing, and let them know what your strengths are. The real key is to be professional and think of yourself as a business. One thing she did later in her freelance life that she wishes she’d done right off the bat, she took some courses from SCORE. They teach you how to run a business. If you freelance, you are a business. You’ll have to think about all kinds of things, taxes, and so own. They will teach you how to market yourself, etc. She also took a freelancing course from AIW when it was still WIW, and also talked to everyone she knew who was a freelancer to get their tips.

Think of yourself as a business, be professional, be reliable, and meet your deadlines. Something she learned when she got a full-time job with a technology company after freelancing was that she could learn about technology and other things she didn’t really understand and grow to understand them. During the 4 years she’s been with this company, she’s learned so much from the freelancers she’s hired about how they promote themselves, how they work with her, what matters to her. It wasn’t until she freelanced and THEN started hiring freelancers herself that it really became clear what she valued. Professionalism is huge, curiosity, being organized. They were always on time, always kept her informed, and there were no surprises. 

You have to roll with a lot of things because your clients largely won’t understand what it takes to create the work you do. Make sure you are exactly clear on what the client expects from you. Create a letter of understanding to be very clear on what the job is to avoid any disconnects. Protect yourself by defining everything. You don’t want to seem like a person who always says no; you just want to be a professional.

It’s ideal to start with something you can show a prospect, a portfolio of your work. 

She may begin freelancing again soon due to layoffs. Things she will do to hit the ground running and do it right:

• Think about a specialty to be more focused on specific types of work or areas of focus.
• Develop something(s) useful potential clients can use to give to them to establish her credibility and stand out as a solution person — something that will help the clients solve a problem.
• Remember to be positive. Don’t complain about other clients, don’t complain about other types of freelancers, don’t complain about the work, etc. Have good interpersonal skills, don’t make your problems their problems, bond with the client to an appropriate degree, remember that you’re there to help them get the work done.

The key is, again, to look at yourself as a professional and your work as a business. Also take advantage of your contacts and be sure to create materials to market yourself (business cards, stationery, website, etc), and develop a portfolio. The important thing about case studies or anything else for that matter is to make it compelling, find the important nuggets, and make it digestible.

An anchor client can be your previous employer, a part time employer, or just a company that really needs a freelancer for a substantial volume of work. It’s very cost effective for companies to use freelancers rather than hiring additional employees, so it’s very appealing to them. The challenge is letting them know that you’re reliable and they can count on you. The best way to do that is to approve it. Once you’re in and they’re happy with you, they will come back for more and more and more. Anything that’s on an ongoing basis (such as a newsletter) so that they really, really need you, that’s a great thing to pursue.

Ways she will market include: getting back in touch with former clients and offer them whatever useful resource she creates; cold calling companies in the right industry; and attending events where people who are not writers but rather potential clients. Remember that your job is to solve a problem, so figure out what problem you can solve and paint a picture for how you can help the client. Help them to see how you can solve a problem for them.

DONALD GRAUL (AIW’s executive director): 

Be sure you make your client look good. The small things, the little notes and networking we did before everything went electronic, resulted in lots of work. Take advantage of that professionalism, and always look for where the next job is coming from. Never ignore the fact that you’re with the next client right now. The work doesn’t always find you. Sometimes you just need to do some cold calling, and be willing to do things the client doesn’t really want to do because they want to have someone to blame for it.

The Business of Freelancing

AL PORTNER: So you want to be a freelancer… 

Before you dive in, you need some perspective. There are only 3 jobs in the whole world.

1. People who make things
2. People who sell things
3. People who account for the people who make and sell things.

Freelancers do all 3 jobs at once.

Ask yourself why you want to freelance, what kind of work you want to do, why you’re qualified, who you will work for, what’s our business plan, how you will market, whether you have a natural client base, whether you’ve set benchmarks to signal success, how much you will charge, and what you expect to earn.

Remember that business is separate from your personal life. However small, it’s still a company.

Things new freelance writers believe they will write largely for publication. But most of your income will come from work for hire projects, not magazine and newspaper articles. This is in part because of a shrinking pool of traditional magazines and other publications, and the time lag in periodical publication in terms of the lengthy process of pitching, writing, revising, and then getting paid.

Potential customers include AD and PR agencies, associations and nonprofits, general business, colleges and universities, foundations, government, embassies, health care providers, newsletters (a vertical population, or those who need information for their jobs), internet, technical documents (lots of money to be made), think tanks, etc. Commercial writing generally pays the best and is the most dependable source of income, including advertising, PR, annual reports, editing, grant applications, marketing materials, newsletters, photography, RFP responses, speeches, etc.

Consider certificate programs through professional groups, such as JHU’s editing program or IABC, PRSA, and Council of PR Firms, Association of Proposal Writers, etc. Those three or four little letters after your name make you more marketable in certain areas.

In a tough economy, some of the bet jobs are the ones that lead to revenue for your customers: grants, proposals, and fundraising materials. You become an investment rather than an expense. Also, any required documents like annual reports, technical manuals, documentation, etc.

Keys to freelance success:

• Perseverance
• Always remember you’re in your own business — you’re the president and the janitor
• Maintain excellent busines practices
• Deliver outstanding work
• Cultivate specialized subjec matter knowledge
• Marketing, marketing, marketing
• Networking, networking, networking
• Get and keep a good reputation

Contact Al via e-mail for a variety of resources including a new biz checklist, a list of the kinds of work available, a work for hire contract form, tips on networking, and a list of communications organizations and networking opportunities.

KEN NORKIN: The Fundamentals of Freelance Business

The Top 10 Good Things About Being a Freelance Writer

(i’ll have to get this from him, it’s hilarious)

Your Top 2 Questions

1. Can I really make a living as a freelance writer? — Yes, you can.
2. So how much can I earn? — It depends.

There are no reliable figures on freelance earnings. Some organizations have done fee surveys, but they can be skewed, outdated, and unreliable data.

Creative Business Newsletter is extremely valuable for commercial writers, and they update pricing guidelines every few years. The editor’s pay surveys ad pricing guidelines seem to indicate that in general, freelance writers who are experienced and qualified at a certain point should be able to earn about the same as if they were working full time as a writer. (See Salary.com and others for comparable numbers).

More important than what you can make is whether you can do enough work to earn the income you want. Think about your earnings related to your capacity to do work.

If you’re paid per word primarily, figure out how many words you’d have to write in a year to make your target gross income. At $1/word, you’d have to write 50,000 words to make $50,000, which is twenty-five 2,000-word articles. But 650 words is the new 2,000 words, so that makes more like 120 articles/year. Do you have the capacity — physical stamina, ability, stamina, volume of assignments — to do that? The numbers don’t lie.

Per hour is a little easier. When all is said and done, most self-employed people have generally agreed that because you’re doing all of the billable and nonbillable work for your business, you will probably only bill about 1,000 hours/year. So what do you need to charge to make what you want? And how many hours can you work? That’s reasonable because 1,000 hours is 50% productivity.

Ken’s favorite way to pay is by the project. Charging by the project makes your potential income virtually limitless. The final bill you send the client is divorced from the number of hours it takes you to do the project. Ideally you want to make sure you break even OR increase your hourly rate by completing the job faster. Project billing lets you make more than you would per hour and solves the capacity problem. Capacity becomes more of a marketing problem: Can I FIND these projects?

Ken does a lot of annual reports and speeches that successfully compensate him at higher than his annual rate. If he could do 3-4 annual reports and 3-4 speeches each year, he’d be earning a very comfortable living.

The one thing you need to do to get paid for what you write is to SEND A BILL that includes:

• Who you are and your contact info
• INVOICE (not statement, etc.)
• An invoice number for tracking purposes
• Who the client is and their contact info
• Who the contact is (ATTN: Name)
• Description of the project (include project number, word count, name of project, etc.)
• Possibly reiterate the rights you’re selling
• Itemized list of costs and the total
• Due date for payment

Top 10 Things You Need to Be in Business

• Collection of payments
• Billing system or process
• Way to track time and expenses
• Equipment to do the work
• Place to do the work
• Time to do the work
• Time to find the work
• Business cards
• Materials that say “Why You?” (resume, brochure, clips, website, etc)
• Customers!!!

Secrets of the top earning 16% of writers (Marcia Yudkin):

• Establish relationships with a few editors
• Speialize in one or two topics
• Write books

Secrets according to Ken Norkin

• Work a lot
• Which means market a lot til you don’t have to
• Write only for pubs and clients that pay well or that can advance your career
• Turn down work that doesn’t meet your needs
• Always be agreeable / flexible / easy to work with
• Never miss a deadline

JOHN MASON: Copyright for freelancers

Copyright is an intangible intellectual right that attaches to individual works of authorship. Copyright attaches as soon as you put it in fixed format. The founding fathers thought copyright was important enough to include it in the Constitution. Now, copyright has developed into a multibillion or multitrillion dollar industry. Everything we do as writers is subject matter of copyright.

Original authorship is the key. There must be a spark of originality. So the phonebook, an alphabetical listing, is not copyrightable (Note from KK: the case law on this specific issue is hilarious). Other kinds of lists might be copyrightable if there is creativity involved, but you would hold copyright to the list, not the underlying materials.

If you want to preserve a right, spell it out. If you want the parties to an agreement, every time you’re doing work for someone and they’re paying you, you have an agreement whether you have a document to point to. The best way to protect yourself is to put it in writing and be clear. But be mindful that you don’t want to scare your customers with a 12-page document or something because the time they would have to invest in reading it and reviewing it would not be worthwhile.

A lot of customers will have a form agreement that they expect you to sign. Always read it. Whether you understand it or not, you’re bound by it if you sign it. A contract or agreement is the end result of a negotiation. If it’s a new business relationship, you want to negotiate it all on the front end, and the end result of the negotiation is the agreement. For existing clients, you will have already worked this out.

Invoicing alone is not necessarily sufficient to establish the terms of the agreement. Copyright law has formalities that must be adhered to. If you sign a contract, you’ll be bound by it unless it’s voidable by law. Read it carefully and understand it. If you don’t mind giving up the copyright, fine, let them have it. But if you want to keep a right, be clear about it and include it in the agreement.

The answer to every copyright question is basically “it depends.” If you want to represent a published version of your work in your portfolio or something, there’s nothing obviously problematic about that. It’s a public display already, so it’s fine. But if you use what you actually gave to the publication, that was not made public. With writers, if it’s published and it’s NOT in your contract that you can use it for your portfolio, find the published version and use that. Scan it and post as an image or link to it.

Copyright does not extend to an idea. There is really no way to own an idea under the law. Copyright attached only when it’s in a fixed and tangible form. Patent lawyers are trying to expand patent law to cover “business methods.” The one-click online ecommerce method is an excellent example (Amazon, eBay, etc.). Intellectual law allows you as the original owner to stop someone from violating your copyright, from infringing, with an injunction, etc. The reason this is relevant is that some authors are now trying to work with schmancy patent lawyers to patent plots as business methods. The dew that evaporates from the window is not fixed in tangible form, but the photo of the drawing you create in the new is copyrightable. Another would be drawing on the beach before the tide comes in — not copyrightable because the water will wash it away.

The inherent exclusive rights in copyright:

1. Reproduce it (make a copy)
2. Distribution (ie, publishing: First North American Serial Rights for example)
3. Prepare derivative works (ie, changes to what you wrote)
4. Perform publicly – play, movie, etc.
5. Perform publicly – musical composition

Unless you sign the agreement assigning rights to another party, you retain the rights no matter what you may have negotiated — so just stating what you’re assigning to them in the invoice is not sufficient (but you can and possibly should reiterate it in the invoice for additional clarity if you’re concerned). If it’s in there and you sign it, you’ve transferred it. Be specific. Rights remain with the author if the contract is silent on the issue, but it’s better to be clear. 

The Library of Congress is a massive repository of copyright registered materials. It’s about $45/work to register with the LOC, and there are a lot of technicalities so make sure you do it right. There are incentives to registering, such as additional damages in cases of infringement. In the US, you can’t enforce copyright except in a course of law. You can send a cease and desist letter, but if they blow you off your only option is to go to Federal court. You can only do it in Federal court and only with a certificate of registration. If you try to sue someone for copyright without that certificate of registration from the LOC, the court will throw it out. You can register after the fact if you find someone knocking you off.

Plagiarism isn’t necessarily actionable. It must rise to the level of actual copyright infringement. So if you submit a query to an editor and then 6 months later an article just like you proposed appears in the publication, it’s really not copyright infringement unless they literally lifted from your query.

Be aware of what publishers are trying to get from you before you sign a book contract because they are trying to get all possible rights (ie, revenue streams). Previously, there was a rights reversion in book contracts that you’d get the rights back after publication. Now, it’s mostly an exclusive right so long as the book is commercially available including print on demand (POD), so basically you never get it back and can never take it anywhere else. They want to get as much as they can, and you need to know what you’re signing off on. Making it Kindle available is one thing. Giving it to them forever and ever and ever is another. 50/50 is a pretty standard split for electronic stuff.

Copyright now is life + 70 years for individual copyright thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act. This was heavily lobbied by corporations because it extended protection for work made for hire to the shorter of 95 years from the first publication OR 120 years from the date of publication.

NB: AIW membership includes membership in Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts.

For those not familiar with morning pages, it’s a technique devised by Julia Cameron that grabbed the writing public through her book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. In simple terms, first thing every morning (after peeing and brushing your teeth, before working or doing chores), you sit down and write three (3) pages of longhand. You can write whatever you want so long as it’s something and you fill up three pages. Says Cameron in The Sound of Paper: Starting from Scratch,

Work with the Morning Pages awakens our intuition. Synchronicity becomes a daily fact. We are more and more often in the right place at the right time. We know how ot handle situations that once baffled us. In a very real sense, we become our own friend and witness. Morning Pages are the gateway to the inner and higher self. They bring us guidance and resilience. They make us farseeing.

Most if not all of the extremely prolific writers I know, the ones who immediately spring to mind when I think of when I think of the label “writer,” do morning pages. And now I do. I’ve decided. Today was the first day of a new habit. Who cares if it supposedly takes 21 days (depending on whom you ask) to form a habit? I’m declaring it a new habit. Just like NaNo aside, I’m going to devote time each day to write 2,000 words for myself before I write anything for anyone else. These are my new writing habits.

In the three days of NaNo, I’ve realized that I lost something of my identity as a writer when I began writing for a living. Bizarre, isn’t it? But as I have shared with some of you previously, I am often so busy writing for others that I hardly ever write for myself anymore. I have become a person who writes, rather than writer. This is not what I want for my life. This is not what I fantasized about when I dreamed of my life as a full-time writer.

Don’t get me wrong: It doesn’t totally suck or anything like that. I do work I enjoy and I do it from a home I love and it allows me the lifestyle I want. But writing only for others is not what makes me happy.

I feel like I’ve been on a road trip on a major highway and I just realized that I missed my exit about 50 miles back. It’s been a pleasant ride and I’m going approximately in the right direction, enjoying myself, but if I keep going this way I won’t make it to my destination. So, it’s time to backtrack.

Are you astonished at this great revelation, which has come a mere three days into a month of writing with reckless abandon and a mere day into these miraculous morning pages? I know I am.

Whether you’re NaNo-ing or not, what have you learned about yourself as a writer in the last day, week, month, year? Leave a comment. Let’s talk about what it means to be a writer.