Freelance Questions

I’ve got a number of questions in mind that would interest freelance writers. I don’t think any of them could stand alone as an individual post so it seems to make sense to me to consolidate them into a single post. Here goes.

Writing Other Than Freelance

I know that a lot of freelance writers tend to write in addition to the writing they get paid for. I know that is the case as far as I am concerned. I do have a couple of personal writing projects that are always waiting in the wings. For me, these projects always seem to end up on the back burner (sometimes for months) and progress is very slow. It makes it seem as if they will be perpetual. I’m generally pretty good at multi-tasking but this area escapes me.

I guess what I’m wondering is how my fellow scribes balance their paid writing with their personal writing. Do you have writing that you do for you? If so, do you set aside specific time to pursue the personal writing or do you “catch as catch can?” Or perhaps you set aside a special day a week or month where you do no client work at all.

Book Proposal Question

I’m working on a book project for a client. Most likely we will pursue the traditional publishing route. One of the folks involved in the project relayed some information from a friend who was recently published. According to this person, as part of the query he let the prospective publisher know that he had a (fairly substantial) sum set aside for marketing and promotion. This is the first I had heard of this and I’m wondering if any of you that have done book proposals for a client have heard of this. If so, how did it turn out? Do you feel that it made a difference in the publisher accepting the proposal?

Big Project Thoughts

What is your take on taking on big writing projects. By “big” I mean books and the like that may take many months to complete. I think the potential is there to make some pretty good money, but frankly, taking on a commitment that large scares the hell out of me. (I have a list of “fear of commitment” references, shoot me an email and I’ll forward the list of previous girlfriends) Part of the fear of these big projects is based on how many things typically go wrong on small projects. In my mind, I see issues rising exponentially. Am I making too much of this? Do I have my risk/benefit ratios bass ackwards? What have your experiences been in this regard?

Thanks for indulging me with your answers to these questions. Hopefully we can get conversations rolling that will enlighten and entertain.