05Feb 2018 by Philippa Willitts
Special offer for new clients: copywriting, blog-post writing, freelance content creation

Special offer for new clients: copywriting, blog-post writing, freelance content creation

About Writing
[tweetherder]You can have brilliant ideas, but if you cannot get them across, your ideas will not get you anywhere. - Lee Iacocca[/tweetherder]   Everybody loves a discount and, if you are looking for some commercial copywriting, you've just found one. I offer blog-post creation services (blog posts are one of the best ways to market your business and get the word out) and copywriting for static webpages. I also write eBooks, white papers, press releases and case studies for clients. I have been a full-time freelancer in this business for nine years so I use my wealth of experience in my work. I create content that will attract attention and new customers, providing you with great work to share on social media and attract that gorgeous SEO juice. I specialise…
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20Dec 2016 by Philippa Willitts
Fixing the Mistakes Made by Hiring Cheap Writers

Fixing the Mistakes Made by Hiring Cheap Writers

About Writing
I've lost count of the number of times somebody has approached me about my writing services. They complain that they hired somebody to do this work already but, well, it was awful and now they need someone to fix it or to start again from scratch. Invariably, they paid that person around $5 for 500 - 1,000 words and the content they show me is an unmitigated disaster. So, they hire me. I do the work they need, and they pay me. They've paid out twice for writers when, if they'd only bitten the bullet and paid fair fees in the first place, they would have saved themselves both money and time, all the while reducing their stress levels as an added bonus. Those of us who charge higher rates…
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17Sep 2015 by Philippa Willitts
I Get 30 Press Releases a Day. Here’s How to Get Me to Open Yours…

I Get 30 Press Releases a Day. Here’s How to Get Me to Open Yours…

About Writing
As a writer, I do a combination of commercial content creation and journalism. As part of the commercial work, I write press releases for businesses that want to gain some press attention. As a journalist, I get an inbox full of unsolicited, mostly terrible press releases from PR companies and brands. I open maybe 10% of the press releases I receive, and I follow up on maybe 10% of those... so, if you are hoping to attract a journalist's attention, what do you need to know to be part of that 1%? Press release dos and don'ts: what this journalist needs you to know Do have a good subject line. This is probably the most important factor in whether a journo will hit 'open' or hit 'archive'. It must intrigue the…
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22Dec 2014 by Philippa Willitts

Escape from Content Mills: Tell Me What YOU Need to Know!

About Writing, Freelancing
So many freelance writers feel trapped in the under-paying, soul-destroying 'race to the bottom' freelancing sites and content mills. I have escaped from that depressing hole, and I want to help other writers to do the same! But to do so really effectively, I need to know what the barriers are that you face so that I can guide you to smash them and thrive with your own, private clients! [tweetherder]What are the obstacles that trip you up when you try to escape from the content mill trap?[/tweetherder] Do me a favour and fill out this survey. You can also use it to sign up to the email list that I have set up for this purpose, specifically. And, if you have friends or colleagues in a similar situation, please…
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19Dec 2014 by Philippa Willitts

Run, Don’t Walk, Away From Content Mills: Secret Sneak Peak!

About Writing, Freelance Self-Promotion, Freelancing
[caption id="attachment_1825" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Photo credit: Howtostartablogonline.net[/caption] One of the questions I get asked the most by fellow freelancers is how they can escape from writing for mass freelancing sites with low pay and a 'race to the bottom' mentality. The fact is that even if all your current work is underpaid and undervalued, even if you are doing some kind of ad-based revenue share that earns you 22 cents for an article you spent three hours writing, even if you are currently producing work that you know is under par because you need to write four articles an hour to break even, and even if you have never had a private client of your own, it is possible to escape from the content mill, but it takes some focused work to get your foot in…
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21Nov 2014 by Philippa Willitts

Book Recommendation: The Freelance Writer’s Guide to Making $1,000 More This Month

About Writing, Freelancing
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="338" class="zemanta-img"] Bookshelf (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] You may remember Mridu Khullar Relph who I interviewed on the podcast recently. Well, she's written a book. And it's really good. Full disclosure: Mridu and I are friends and she gave me a free copy of the book. However, if I thought it was terrible I would simply have never mentioned it again. Instead, having read it and been inspired, I actually can't recommend it highly enough. Firstly, her credentials. Mridu has years of experience in journalism and counts the New York Times and TIME amongst her credits; this shows in her writing. The Freelance Writer's Guide to Making $1,000 More This Month is packed full of tips to get more work and improve your income and these tips are not vague, they are…
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07Jul 2014 by Philippa Willitts
Twenty-seven essential books to boost a writer’s creativity

Twenty-seven essential books to boost a writer’s creativity

About Writing
It is a well-known fact that you can never have too much creativity or too many books. So I have gathered together the best of the best - an epic list of 27 books to provoke and inspire creativity for writers, artists and business people. The links below are for Amazon. If you would prefer to support independent bookshops, try Hive Books or Bookshop.org in the UK or Bookshop or IndieBound in the USA. For people in other countries, a quick Google should help you to find an independent alternative. [bctt tweet="You can never have too much creativity, or too many books..." username="PhilippaWrites"] Amazon.co.uk WidgetsMake Your Creative Dreams Real: A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, and People Who Would Really Rather Sleep All Day by SARK Discovering SARK's books, some ten years ago, was a revelation to…
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08Oct 2012 by Philippa Willitts

The Relentless Marketing of a Freelance Writer

About Writing
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Promotion brainstorm (Photo credit: tamurray5)[/caption] Before I became a full-time, self-employed freelance writer I read a lot on the subject. I wanted to feel prepared and not have any nasty surprises, so I consumed as much information as I could find in advance. One thing that I read again and again was that, as a freelancer, you have to be constantly marketing yourself but for some reason the reality of this didn’t sink in. I was building myself a website – that was marketing, right? And I could email companies to see if they needed a writer, so that was my marketing covered. Or so I thought. What transpired was that what I had read was right and my vague plans were severely lacking. I had…
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06Sep 2012 by Philippa Willitts

Introducing the Writers Helping Writers Collective

About Writing, Uncategorized
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] Spreadsheet email (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)[/caption] Last night, on Twitter (follow me @PhilippaWrites), I got into an interesting conversation with @thewritesprite. She followed me, and I told her that I liked her username. She joked about how difficult it had been to choose one, and we started to talk about how, despite writing for other people for a living, writing for ourselves can sometimes be hard. There are, of course, other times when another writer's input can be very valuable - for instance it is nigh on impossible to proofread your own work. You are too involved with the text and it often takes a fresh pair of eyes to spot mistakes. And sometimes a writer can craft a catchier Twitter bio about somebody else…
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