Someone I worked with many years ago passed away last week. It caused me to recall our association as it relates to writing. It was around 1989 and fear of starvation as a writer had sent me back to the working world for a while. I landed a job in the admissions office for a local private school. After about a year, when I got my confidence level back and my article business seemed to be supporting me again, I decided to go back to it full-time. The director of the school contacted me before I left and asked if I\u2019d like to write a book about the history of the school. I accepted the job and agreed to work so many hours per week on this project for a set fee per month. That gave me time to continue developing my article-writing business. <\/p>\n
This was a most enjoyable project. I loved working with the school director and interviewing the many former teachers and students of note. What stories they had to share. The results of this effort was a 300+ page book\u2014A Thread to Hold, The Story of Ojai Valley School. Have you ever written on commission? Or have you produced a book for a local business, etc? It\u2019s generally fairly lucrative and interesting work. Aside from the history of the private school, I wrote the brochure copy for a local recreation area, a history booklet and newsletters for a local water department and I\u2019ve rewritten manuals for a major international organization. I once designed and wrote the business column for a local newspaper. I\u2019ve also written campaign material and fashion show commentary as well as web and ad copy.<\/p>\n If you want to earn money writing and you have the skill to organize and write a variety of material, you might consider sending your resume and a few ideas to local businesses, utilities companies, candidates, etc. Offer specific ideas: \u201cI see that you are celebrating your 25th year in business in 2012, would you like to come out with an anniversary booklet to handout to customers and business associates?\u201d Or \u201cI notice that you are planning to run for the school board, can I help you with your campaign material?\u201d or \u201cPerhaps a blog would help you gain more recognition and credibility, let me write one on a regular basis for you.\u201d Or \u201cDoes your company need help revising your employee manual or updating your website?\u201d<\/p>\n If you want to earn some extra money, gain more writing credits and experience and have some fun doing it, consider approaching some of the individuals in your community who might need help with a writing project. <\/p>\n Announcements<\/strong> I\u2019ve invited a colleague to be a guest blogger here. She\u2019s going to write about writers groups. She belongs to two of them and gets something different from each. I think this would be a good follow up piece to the one I wrote last week on how to find a good writers group. Watch for Sandra Murphy\u2019s post coming up in a week or so. <\/p>\n Sue Collier, co-author with Marilyn Ross for The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing <\/em>will also be a gust blogger sometime this month. She\u2019s on a virtual book tour and asked if she could stopover here and write something for you.<\/p>\n Do you have something of value to say that would be of interest to authors, hopeful authors and freelance writers? Let me know if you want to be guest blogger here at my Publishing Blog.<\/p>\n Visit my websites: Someone I worked with many years ago passed away last week. It caused me to recall our association as it relates to writing. It was around 1989 and fear of starvation as a writer had sent me back to the working world for a while. I landed a job in the admissions office for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
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\nA few years later, I worked with this man on his memoirs, which he presented to his family members as a surprise gift. <\/p>\n
\nMy article, \u201cDo Bookstores Matter to Authors\u201d appears this morning in Fran Silverman\u2019s Book Promotion Newsletter<\/em>. Are you a published or unpublished author? If you aren\u2019t doing so already, you should be subscribing to Fran\u2019s enewsletter.
\n http:\/\/www.bookpromotionnewsletter.com<\/a> <\/p>\n
\n http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com<\/a>
\n http:\/\/www.patriciafry.com<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"