4000 Articles a Day

According to the RWW piece, Demand Studios produces approximately 4000 articles a day through its combination of freelancers and editors. The one issue that I have with the article is that they use this as an indictment of the quality. They ask:

The bigger question is: there are surely many examples of good Demand Media content on the Web, but how many of the 4,000 articles it produces every day aren’t?

To me this is a poor argument. Yes, I’m sure that some of the 4000 articles aren’t great, but no one can judge what the percentage of this is so it is a specious question. I mainly read blogs by single authors. Mass produced blogs leave me a little cold. As a follower of individuals I can tell you that even the best bloggers put out lousy articles on occasion. Lord knows I do. No one is brilliant every day.

The better point the article makes is that the Demand Studios assembly line style and fast turnaround time creates a certain sameness to the articles being written, that there is a Demand Studios style, and it isn’t very interesting or incisive. I don’t read enough of their types of articles (like I said, I follow individual bloggers) to know if this is true, but it seems like a legitimate possibility.

In the Eighties the Definition of a Content Mill was “Associated Press”

Miami Vice Meets AP Style

Way back in the eighties, I served as the Associated Press Wire Editor for my college newspaper. Having an AP feed back then was as close as you could get to having Google News now. Article after article printed out on the dot matrix printer they provided, and I looked at them all (while dressed in my linen Miami Vice jacket) to see if they were relevant. I can tell you that AP’s style (they do have their own stylebook after all) was pretty bland even then. For most articles, you got the facts, and nothing but the facts. There was little room for color or individuality. A single article might get published in 500 different newspapers all over the world. Any sort of colorful writing had to be killed in case someone out there didn’t get it, or worse, was offended by it. Another interesting similarity between the Associated Press and Demand Studios is that AP has always used a number of low-paid writers (they call them stringers) to freelance for them. In the eighties, the saying was, “You can’t spell stupid without UPI and you can’t spell cheap without AP.”

Obviously Demand Studios is not identical to AP. The journalistic standards and the general level of talent at AP are considerably higher than at Demand Studios. AP is more selective about who they hire and more stringent about the sources for their articles. It is the similarities though, not the differences, that catch my eye. Both organizations tap a worldwide pool of writers. Both organizations exist to provide content to other organizations. Both organizations rely heavily on freelance work. Most importantly, both organizations have writing philosophies based on a universal cookie-cutter style.

I believe that sort of generic writing was the beginning of the end for newspapers, and I think that it can only have limited success on the Internet. A certain number of people will be satisfied with these articles, and search engines may never be able to tell good articles from bad articles, but there will always be plenty of room for individuals with distinctive voices to keep writing. A loyal audience that comes back again and again is in most cases preferable to a large number of casual readers who never return.

Demand Studios is a company that is filling a content niche quite successfully. The fact that they have enough writers and customers to be publishing 4000 articles a day shows that they are filling a need that exists on both sides. That said, if someone else comes up with a better way to do it, then the market will change again. I think Demand Studios does a lot of things well, but I also think there is plenty of room for improvement. If they can make a profit doing things their way, then surely someone who improves on the concept can do even better.

For Further Information:

• Is Demand Studios Worth Your Time?
• The Answer Factory: Demand Media and the Fast, Disposable, and Profitable as Hell Media Model
• About Hub Pages: An Interview with Ryan “Hup” Hupfer
• FakeAPStylebook on Twitter

Step One: Analyze your Strengths as a Freelance Writer

Make a list of subjects that you both know about and feel you would enjoy writing about. Ask yourself:

• What do I know that others either don’t know or don’t understand?
• What am I educated in?
• What work experiences do I have?
• What would I like to learn more about?
• What am I passionate about?

Don’t just ask these questions in your mind. Write down your answers. You will need them for later steps. Don’t be afraid to get specific. “I like to write about psychiatry” is a valid answer, but “I like to write about healing children who have been through psychological traumas” is a much more specific answer that could lead to articles or even books.

Write down all of the jobs you have held and classes or other educational experiences you have had. Even if you don’t plan to write about them right away, you may find that they can add unique twists on article ideas. Sticking with the psychology theme, if you once held a job as a florist, you might decide to write an article about the psychological effects of flowers on trauma victims.

For more information try 6 Freelancing Lessons from Tony Stark, aka “Iron Man” and Do Interesting Things.

Step Two: Analyze the Freelance Writer Markets

There are many markets for your writing. From print magazines to blogs to web content providers to small and large businesses. Don’t limit yourself to the publishing giants. The competition is steepest there, and unless you have a solid reputation and some good connections, you will find it very hard to crack those publications. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to crack them, but don’t make that your primary focus or you are likely to spend a lot of time waiting for assignments rather than completing assignments and getting paid.

Some markets to consider: consumer magazines, trade magazines, professional journals, newsletters, local and regional publications, electronic publications, textbooks, and corporate publications. This is by no means an exhaustive list of publishing opportunities but it should give you an idea of where to start.

Use your Internet resources. Search for sites that deal with your areas of interest. They can be both publication possibilities and research resources.

For more information try 40 Freelance Writing Markets Paying $100 or More (Much More) and The Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites.

Step Three: Pick Your Initial Freelance Writing Specialties

Not every specialty you have is going to be highly marketable. There are many factors to consider when picking your initial specialties:

• The number of potential clients (Publications, businesses, people) who may be interested in your specialty.
• Whether or not you have something new to add to the area of knowledge in that specialty.
• The potential profitability of writing in that specialty.
• How long you feel you can write in that specialty without becoming bored or running out of things to say.
• Do you have equal credentials to the people publishing in the field? If not, can you find a co-author who does?

Analyze your list of specialties and decide for yourself which ones have the greatest chance for success. Pick specialties for which you can both find markets and maintain your motivation. Generally, you want to start with from one to three specialties. The list of specialties can grow over time, but don’t spread yourself too thin at the beginning.

For more information try Should You Specialize in Website Content? and The Freelance Copywriter’s Unfair Marketing Advantage.

Step Four: Find Freelancer Allies

Even before you start sending out queries, you should start making contacts. This requires research and bravery. You need to find professional organizations, clubs, support groups, special libraries, experts and any other resource that will help you succeed in this specialty. Don’t settle for just knowing where, what, and who these resources are. Contact them and establish a relationship. You will need them for more than article research.

Knowing all of the people within a certain field will result in assignments and other opportunities. In addition, you may find that one or more of the “experts” in the field are looking for co-authors or ghostwriters to help them become better known. Just because a person knows a subject, doesn’t mean they know how to write about it. Also, look for other writers who are writing in your field. Contact them. Try to convert them from competition into allies. Sometimes, other writers are so swamped they might forward opportunities to you. Someday, you might be in a position to do so yourself.

For more information try Let me Show You Inside a Secret Blogging Alliance and Are You Forgetting to Network With Your Friends?

Step Five: Start the Query Process

Make a list of ten or so publications or clients that you want to query initially. Analyze their needs. Read back-issues and Internet pages of publications. Look at the past publishing history of business clients. Contact publications and ask for their submission guidelines. Many major publications will not accept blind submissions. If your heart is set on them, you will have to find a way to develop a rapport with the editor.

Try for a variety of prospects so that there is as little overlap as possible. Try different types of publications, different regions, different companies and so forth.

Querying is, of course, an ongoing process. When your first round of queries is out, you will want to be researching your second round. Don’t just wait for opportunities. Be proactive.

For more information try 7 Steps to a Successful Freelance Query and How to Write a Query Letter.

Step Six: Gain Something from each Freelance Assignment

You may find that your initial assignments don’t pay as much as you would like. Sometimes, they may not offer any money. Chances are, you will not start off at the top of the pay bracket unless you happen to be well-known in your field. The key is to work your way up that pay scale at a speed that is acceptable to you. To do this, try to gain something from every assignment. Much like an athlete or a musician, your initial aptitude and ability will only get you so far. Experience, research and coaching are needed to get you the rest of the way. Here is a partial list of ways you can improve your writing:

• Find at least one new source (Person, book, web site, article) for each article you write, even if you have covered the territory before.
• Write each article with the intent to improve one aspect of your writing skills:(To write more quickly, to make less initial errors, to improve your editing)
• Do everything you can to meet every requirement your client has set (Subject, sources, length, supplemental materials, and of course, deadline.)
• Improve your relationship with the editor or client. Sometimes you can get to know them as a person. The busiest ones will not be as open to talks, however, even if they like you. Don’t take it personally and don’t be an annoyance. At minimum, ask a client what else they are looking for and follow up with another query. Remember the first part especially. Often, editors already have ideas. All you may need to do to get an assignment is ask.
• Develop a circle of mentors or peers. Join a writing group. Email a blogger. Form individual relationships. Find people who can help make you a better writer and a better freelancer.

For more information try 5 Things You Never Say to an Editor and Proofreader’s Marks.

Step Seven: Develop a Clipping Library of your Freelance Work

Keep all of your published materials. Keep your initial computer files and keep any print versions of your work. A clipping library will come in handy in many ways. You can use the information as sources for new articles, to refresh your knowledge of something you’ve covered, and to send out as samples to new prospects. Organization is not always easy for writers, but an efficient filing system can do wonders for your projects. In effect, you become your own research library. This will come in handy when it is time to recycle and reuse.

For more information try Quick Guide to Creating an Efficient File System and Getting Things Done: How to Take Control of Life.

Step Eight: Recycle and Reuse your Writing Work

One of the great advantages of having a specialty is that you can constantly reuse your work. Here are just a few examples:

• If you have retained the rights, you can resell articles as reprints without changing a word. That means you can get paid two or more times for the same exact article.
• You can repurpose an article. For example, an article about preventing heart attacks can be rewritten slightly for sale to a fitness magazine, a business management magazine and a senior citizen’s magazine. A new introduction and the personalization of a few items might take an hour, and the new sale might pay the same as the initial article or even more.
• You can combine pieces of more than one work into a new, different article.
• Once you have written a number of different articles about a subject, you can consider combining them together into a book. Publishing a book on a subject is a great way to generate new prospects and to be recognized as an expert in the field.
• You can give lectures based on your articles. Depending on the subject, lectures can pay quite well, and they further establish you as an expert in the field.

For more information try Repurpose or Reprint? What Do I Do With My Articles Now? and How To Repurpose Your Articles.

Step Nine: Work on Your Writing Credentials

Anything you can do that builds your reputation as an expert in a field will improve your opportunities. Here are a few ways you can work on your credentials:

• Take classes in your specialty, and if possible get a degree or a certificate.
• Teach seminars or classes or give lectures in your specialty. This is much easier to do than it sounds. Provided that you don’t have a fear of public speaking, you can almost read straight from your articles. The best part is that these opportunities don’t just improve your standing; they are generally paying opportunities.
• Be available for interviews. If someone else wants to quote you as an expert in the field, jump at the opportunity.
• Attend conventions and other gatherings of people in the field. Even if you aren’t giving a presentation, you can still introduce yourself to people and tell them you write in the field.
• Write a book or an eBook. There is no better way to establish your credentials than to write a book about your hey subject.

For more information try Thirteen Steps to Write and Publish a Free Ebook In Thirteen Hours and How to Become an Expert on Nearly Any Subject.

Step Ten: Learn When to Say When

As stated earlier, you can continually expand your specialties. You might start out writing about two subjects that may or may not be related. For example, you might start out writing about the Russian economy and about model trains. After a year, you might find that your interest in the Russian economy has lead to an interest in Middle Eastern business practices, and that your interest in model trains has either vanished or is failing to generate the business to make writing about it profitable for you. You can always drop or cut back on one specialty to pursue another or to concentrate on your remaining specialties. You can also go back when and if you feel it is time for another try.

For more information try How to Defeat Burnout and Stay Motivated and Are Your Stuck?.

I’ll be honest. I’ve had better summers. The season started with me getting fired. The offense was that I allowed a relatively minor company document to get indexed by Google. I had used one of my own ftp sites to send the file home, and I had forgotten to remove the document. Google found it, information security found it on Google, and I found myself out of a job. In years past, such an infraction would have gotten me a warning at best, but times have changed. My termination was soon followed by a substantial round of layoffs at the company. Virtually every benefit, from medical to profit sharing to the 401k has either been eliminated or substantially reduced. I fully expect that there will be more layoffs. The company has some major problems and it may or may not survive

I went into the house to fill up a pail of water. Unfortunately I didn’t have a pail, so I used a two-liter soda bottle. The water pressure was particularly bad the day. In the summer, in the desert, the water pressure at two in the afternoon is light at best. Before I even finished filling the bottle, the tire exploded. I ran out and splashed water on the fire, but it was too late for minor measures. My neighbor had his hose in the front yard, so I ran and grabbed it. The water was barely strong enough to reach the fire, which was making its way toward the gas tank. I focused the water on that spot.

Getting fired had not been in my plans. In fact, I had been making a special effort at to work to eliminate any possible issues. In a casual work environment, I had begun wearing long sleeves and ties. I had eliminated every remotely cynical decoration and covered my cubical with inspirational slogans and the company’s “customer covenant”. I had tried to make myself fireproof, but there’s always something out there that can get you. For me it had been a nightmare project four months earlier. We’d been given an outrageous deadline to put out a product that was clearly not ready. We’d been told to “think outside the box” and do what it takes to succeed. I was operating on almost no sleep and battling a cold that had dragged on for months. Somewhere in all that chaos, I started sending files back and forth from home so I could keep working. This was not an approved activity, and even though I had my manager’s consent, I knew it was a risk. That was why I stopped after the company came to the sad realization that its dream product was a polished turd and gave up. Unfortunately, I forgot about the file, even as Google was discovering it. Four months later, it exploded in my face.

An explosion was exactly what I was trying to avoid with the van. Unfortunately, as even I know, water is not the most effective way to put out a fire, especially when oil and gasoline are involved. In this case, however, I got lucky. Two neighbors appeared, each with their own fire extinguisher. They didn’t quite manage to put the fire out with them, but they got it away from the gas tank and eventually we managed to put the rest of the fire out with the hose. By the time the fire truck arrived, we were already cleaning up the mess and pondering the damage. We drank some ice water together and then I went to call my insurance company. Eventually I collapsed on the couch and spent the rest of the night coughing up the remains of smoke and fire-retardant powder.

When you get fired, you have to combat a lot of issues at once. You are depressed that you failed. You are angry that you were rejected. You are worried about your finances and your reputation. You have to contend with everyone, EVERYONE, that you know asking you what you are going to do next. You question your actions and try to figure out what you could have or should have done differently. I updated my resume on all the job boards. I bought a new set of business cards. I contacted old friends. I created a new portfolio site.  I found ways to dramatically increase my Internet income. My wife and I cut out all of our unnecessary expenses.

The van had caught fire as I was arriving home from an interview. My portfolio, my friends, even my business card had come together to bring me a new opportunity. A few days later I got the call. We want you. I am an independent again. I am a freelancer for hire, and I have my first contract. Life is good… but I need a new car.

Before I discuss what you should tell a potential publisher, I should make sure you know what you should NEVER tell them.

• Never tell them that you are a first time writer who is looking for a break
• Never tell them about your personal or money problems
• Never tell them you don’t know the subject well but are looking to learn more

Publications don’t care about your problems. They are looking for good writers. The last thing a publisher wants is to take a chance on someone who may not be able to deliver what they promise. Your goal should be to fill the publisher with confidence, not pity.

The best spot to discuss your qualifications is just before the concluding paragraph of your query letter. You don’t want to waste time or space, so limit the discussion of your qualifications to those that are most relevant to the article you are proposing. For example, if you are proposing an article about the financial impact of divorce, it is relevant to mention that you are a financial advisor and a divorcee, but those same facts would be irrelevant in a query for an article about living with chronic back pain.

You will want to mention a few of your past article credits. Again, they should be the most relevant credits you have. If you have nothing relevant, go with the most prestigious credits that you have, but relevancy trumps prestige. If you are employed as a writer for a particular publication, be sure to include that. If you have very few credits, just include the best that you have and don’t apologize for them. Just put them in and move on. Everyone has to start somewhere.

Here is a sample paragraph from a query letter:

I have been a professional investment counselor for the past fifteen years and was one of the earliest adopters of Internet trading. As a former state representative, I authored several investment fraud bills that are still on the Arizona law books. For the past two years I have written a weekly investment article for Phoenix Business Insider. I have also published investment-related articles in Worthwhile Investor, Smart Stock Analyst and Fund Advocate.

Finally, you should include, along with your query letter, from one to three writing samples. If you are emailing your query, it is acceptable to include links to articles, but if you are sending a query by regular mail, you need to include the actual articles. Remember that you want to include whatever samples are most relevant to your query.

There are two advantages to pitching very specific subjects. The first is that it makes you look more knowledgeable. Specificity and knowledge go hand in hand. Anyone can pitch an idea about picking up women. Even “six pickup lines” is general. If you dig deeper, you might find a more unique perspective. For example, if you have studied linguistics, you might pitch, Why Your Pickup Lines Don’t Work, Six Tips from a Cunning Linguist. If you used to be a bartender you might pitch, The Bartender’s Guide to Picking up Women: Six lines that never work (and three that do).

The second advantage of specificity is that it reduces the risk of you pitching the same idea as someone else. The last thing you want is to pitch a topic your potential publisher has seen (or even published) before. There are limits to how much research a writer can do into the past topics at a magazine, especially if you want to spend more time writing articles than pitching them. Specificity gives you the best chance at originality.

Realistic ideas are the other side of that coin. If you don’t know anything about pickup lines, don’t pitch an article about them. Your query letter should start with some flash, but the body of your letter is going to have to back up that flash. You will need to give examples of what you intend to write about. You not only have to convince your potential publisher that your idea is perfect for them; you have to convince them that you can turn that idea into a great article. If you can’t convince them you are the right person to write the article, your great idea won’t help you.

The best way to start off a query letter is to treat the first line like it was the headline for your article. Center it above the rest of the text and make it as provocative as possible. Try to match the style of your target publication when you write the headline. Cosmopolitan and Woman’s Day are both publications aimed at women, but their style and content are different. In most cases, you would want to write a different headline for your query letter if you were pitching it to one magazine rather than the other.

Beyond being provocative, the headline should give the editor some idea of the format and style of your article. For example, “Ten Ways to Smash Christmas Debt” would clearly be a list article while, “Do You Blow Your Christmas Budget?” could be a list but sounds more like a quiz or a series of questions and answers. Here are some provocative headlines from recent articles on the web. Note that the style of headline matches the style of the publication. Also remember that I am discussing the headlines, not the content of the articles.

• Beat the Holiday or Financial Blues: 9 Tips for Making Yourself Happier in the Next 30 Minutes — Zen Habits
• How to Deal with Cranks, Flamers and Trolls — Men with Pens
• I Got Off My Ass and Did It –  Someday Syndrome
• What Freelancers Can Learn From The Dog Whisperer — Beyond the Rhetoric
• The 10 Free Resources Every Writer Needs — Write to Done
• When witnesses take over the news — BuzzMachine
• Doctors Observe First Known Case of Sleep E-Mailing — Techcult
• What Do Prostitutes and Rice Have in Common? — Freakonomics
• Social Media Bought My Car — Remarkablogger

After your headline, consider writing a subhead that provides additional information and clarity. A headline that is meant to attract attention is not always as informative as it is provocative. The subhead gives you a chance to explain the content of your proposed article. You want to capture the editor’s attention, and then you want to give them the essential flavor of your article before you move on to the meat of your query.

It can be difficult to come up with truly original ideas, especially when you are dealing with a publication that caters to a narrow topic. A magazine about model trains or a web site about search engine optimization doesn’t have much new ground to cover after a while. Still, if you consider yourself a knowledgeable writer about one of those subjects, you should be able to find a fresh approach to the material. You may not come up with an idea that has never been used before, but at least try to find a new way to present the material. Often, it is a good idea to get more specific. There may be many search engine optimization articles about using keywords, but if you take the time to discuss a small part of a specific technique, you might find some ground that has not been covered.

When you do have a new idea, or a new take on the subject, make sure that you emphasize that early in your query letter. The fact that you aren’t offering the same old story should be one of your key selling points in your query letter. Your goal is to stand apart from everyone else. It is worth spending a little extra time thinking about how to make your idea original. Another good way to do this is to add a little personal experience to your pitch or to pick an overriding metaphor that hasn’t been used before, such as comparing model train enthusiasts to politicians. No matter how you go about it, find something new to say if you want to make a sale.

Look for submissions guidelines 

A magazine or web site’s submissions guidelines are the best advice you are going to get about how to approach the potential client. They may have a format they prefer, or they may let you know what topics they are looking for and what topics to avoid. They might also tell you what they pay, who the appropriate editors are, and what lengths are preferred. Some magazines may still prefer printed and mailed submissions over email. Whatever the case, the submissions guidelines are your first, bet advice about how to approach your potential client.

Read the articles 

You need to get to know your potential client. Read through their articles. For web sites, it is generally easy to find archives and review past articles. For a magazine without a web presence you may need to pick up several issues and examine them. You don’t have to read every word of every article, but you want to familiarize yourself with the writing style and the sorts of subjects they write about. You also want to be sure that your idea won’t be identical to something they have published recently. 

Figure out who is who 

You need to identify the appropriate person to receive your query. Sometimes you can get this information from the submissions guidelines, but in many cases you are going to have to actively look for the appropriate person. With magazines, there is generally a masthead somewhere in the publication. The masthead is a list of all the relevant people at a publication, from the publisher to the editors to the writers. You want to look for the editor that best seems to match your submission. For example, if you wanted to submit an interview with an artist to a regional publication, you would look for the arts editor or perhaps the lifestyle editor. 

When searching a web site for the appropriate person, the best places to check are the “about” page and the “contact” page. If you cannot find an appropriate person, it is acceptable to email the publication and ask for the name and title of the person who can review your submission. Using the correct title for a person is important. Identifying a person by the wrong title is bad. If you are unsure, just use their name.

How long do you need your career to be sustainable?

When considering the sustainability of your career there are some questions you need to ask. The first question is how long do I want this career to last? Most people don’t intend to stay in the same job, or even the same career for their entire life. You might want to be a freelance writer today, but you may not want it ten years from now. When considering sustainability, it is good to have a finite period of time in mind. If you don’t have a specific idea of how long you want your career to last, then a good time period to use is twenty years. Feel free to pick your own value though. If you do have an idea of what you want to transition to next, and when, part of your consideration should be about how you are going to position yourself for that next change.

How much money is enough money?

Money will always be a primary issue. You not only need to consider your income, but you need to consider your spending as well. You also need to ask how much damage a major crisis would have on your income.

For almost three years, I managed to live strictly off money I made from my web sites and money I made freelancing. I never had enough money to put much of anything aside. I just managed to meet my obligations and no more. There was more than one point at which I thought I wasn’t going to meet my obligations, but somehow money always came through. That doesn’t mean that the career choice itself was unsustainable. I was very careful with the money I did have coming in, and that helped. I spent money only on essentials, and made do without almost anything else.

Now, I work full time in addition to blogging part time. I make a considerable amount of money, so income isn’t a sustainability issue. That doesn’t mean that finances are no longer an issue. When I hade very little money coming in, I spent very little and I did my best to avoid debt because I knew how difficult it would be to pay back debt with so little money coming in. Unfortunately, the lessons I learned as a frugal freelancer did not carry over when I moved to a full time income. I have acquired debts and spent money on items I never would have considered when I had less income. Financially, there are still sustainability issues in my life.

Can you weather a crisis financially?

One of the key improvements that a full time job has provided, is insurance. As a web publisher and freelancer, I lived without it. If I had gone through even a minor medical emergency, it would have crushed me financially. Now, I have a job with paid time off and good health insurance as well as short and long term disability insurance. I can handle a minor or even a substantial health emergency.

Can you save for your future?

Another advantage of my current situation is that I now have retirement savings. I have access to a 401k, a pension program and even a profit-sharing program. Saving for the short term has been a problem for me, but saving for the long-term has been somewhat better because of all of these programs. There are similar steps that freelancers can take, but it is more difficult.

It isn’t about career choice, it is about career development

It may sound as if I am knocking my career as a freelancer. I am not. Being a freelancer was not the central problem that I had. The central issue was one of income. I did not take the steps that would have added to my income and helped me save for emergencies or get insurance. Had I run my career more wisely then, I may never have needed to move to a “more secure” job.

Next time I’ll look into some of the ways that you can make your career more financially sustainable.

Put Your Money Aside

A bad economy is not a good time to be spending money on non-essentials. I know the current philosophy is that you can spend your way out of a recession, but let the rest of the people do that for you.  Put aside as much money as possible. I know how difficult it can be, but do whatever you can do because any cushion you have will help keep you afloat if you lose your job.

Do Your Job Really Well

A down economy is not a good time to be a bad employee. Don’t give your company an excuse to let you go. Get your projects done on time or early if at all possible. Double-check your work to be sure everything was done properly. Be willing to help out another employee if they need it. Do what you can to promote as positive a reputation at work as you can muster. If the stress is getting to you, look for healthy ways to let off steam after work such as exercising or getting back to a hobby you enjoy.

Know Your Market

At least once a week, take the time to do a general online job search for writing positions in your area. Your goal is to get a sense of where the market is and what your options are. I recommend Indeed for this search because they aggregate multiple job sites and they allow you to include salary levels as a filter so that you can see where you stand when it comes to pay. If a job sounds interesting, you can apply, but the main goal is to stay informed.

Perfect Your Resume

Make sure your resume is complete and flexible. Create a single-page version for basic job search needs, and a longer, detailed version that discusses all of your past writing experiences in depth. The second resume is more of a reminder of what you have done in the past at each job so that you are ready to discuss those things if they come up. The in-depth resume should come complete with exact work dates and company addresses. This will come in handy if you find yourself filling out a job application.

You might also want to create some tailored single-page resumes. If you are capable of working in multiple fields (copywriting, technical writing, editing, proofreading, public relations, etc.) create a resume for each type of job. In a down economy, you may need to take a position you would otherwise not be interested in. It is best to be prepared for those openings before times get desperate.

Putting your resume online with a service such as Monster, Dice or Career Builder is a judgment call. If you are worried about your employer finding your resume, than either make it private/anonymous or fill out the resume but leave it inactive so that you can activate it the moment you know your job is in peril.

Update Your Portfolio

Often, when you are laid off, the notice comes quickly and there is no time to assemble current samples of your work. If you want to be ready, work on your portfolio before there is a crisis. Keep it updated. If you need to use unpublished company materials that may contain protected information, working on this in advance gives you the time to remove or rewrite any sensitive information that your company may object to your distributing.  Much like your resume, you will want to tailor your portfolio to different career paths. Samples of your copywriting work are not appropriate when applying for a technical writing job.

Increase Your Visibility

While a company may object to you sending out your resume, there are plenty of other ways to increase your visibility. You may want to start your own professional blog. Some companies do object to employee blogs, so make sure you aren’t in violation of any policies. If you cannot run your own blog, you can always write guest articles for other blogs or industry publications. Work on your networking. Join organizations in your career field and attend events such as conferences and seminars. Try to meet as many people as you can at these events and be sure to bring business cards. You can also join business networking sites such as LinkedIn or Xing. If you do join, try to be as active as possible. The more you interact, the more options you will have if you ever need to put your network into play.

Diversify Your Income

If you can develop a secondary income source, it will help lessen the blow of losing your primary income. You can take a second job, freelance or set up a small business such as an income producing blog. You know your own strengths so I can’t tell you which one will work best for you, but find a way to keep all your eggs from being in the same basket.

That’s it for my advice. I welcome advice from others. What do you recommend for a down economy?