Course title: Professional Freelancing
Instructor: Bev Walton~Porter
Enrollment fee: $80
Instructor: Bev Walton~Porter
For instructor experience, click here
Duration: Four weeks
What are students saying about Bev's freelance course?
"The Professional Freelance Basics course was wonderful. I would highly recommend it. The assignments were interesting and challenging. Since I have difficulty generating ideas, I found the creative exercises for developing ideas helpful and fun.
The section on writing queries was wonderful and indeed helped me overcome my query fear. Bev is an excellent instructor who is supportive, knowledgeable and positive. She takes the time to personally answer any questions about assignments, or freelancing in general. I learned more in this course than I have from many books on freelancing.
If you want to become serious about your freelance writing, or want some pointers to help you increase your productivity, this is the course for you!"
--Kim Stempel
Description/outline of course:
As an instructor for the Professional Freelancing course, I look to channel your energies into getting the tools and learning the techniques required to write and sell freelance articles on a consistent basis. It is my hope you will take this knowledge, mold it to fit your needs, and move from writing as a hobby to writing as a career, either part-time or full-time.
Over the next four weeks, you'll learn how to generate hundreds of ideas on a consistent basis, how to polish those ideas and transform them into articles or stories, how to use my question/answer method to target your article for the appropriate market, how to write a convincing query letter, how to deal with rejections -- and bounce back from them, how to diversify your efforts for maximum exposure, and more.
It's quite simple: editors are looking for a quality product to present to their readers (articles) and you provide editors with your writing services to deliver that quality product. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Yes, it does. But it's not, and that's why many writers give up after only a couple editor rejections.
Freelance writing calls for specific knowledge and tools to become successful. You must also learn how to diversify and market yourself in a variety of writing venues. Finally, tapping into your creative reserves is an absolute must. Freelancing is about generating and selling ideas, after all!
So come, take my hand and let's walk together. I have some neat things to show you. By the time we complete our trip, you'll be well on your way to finding your own personal path to writing success!
What are you waiting for? Let the journey begin!
Outline:
Week #1 Generating Article Ideas
Why do some writers have such a hard time generating ideas? The answer is simple: because they don't trust themselves to be the creative beings they are. They fail to understand that writing is not all logic and linear thinking ability.
Writing, whether fiction or freelancing, has a connection to the right brain, as well. Learning to write using both sides of the brain is the first step to breaking writer's block and revving up the most productive part of you.
We were all born with the ability to be creative and we all have the power to generate more ideas and angles for stories than we could ever possibly execute in our lifetimes.
The true secret to opening up the wealth of ideas you have housed within in you is to simply trust in yourself and follow certain exercises which are designed to jump-start your brain. In this first lesson, I'll teach you eight great ways to kick your creative engine in gear.
At the end of lesson one, you'll know the sure-fire method for generating literally hundreds of ideas on a daily basis -- and this is the vital first step toward writing more, gaining more acceptance of your work and selling more!
Week #2 Mastering the Query Letter
Query letters scare the daylights out of many writers, and I've never understood why. Ever gone on a job interview? Ever written a resume? Ever read a resume? What do all these things have in common with a query letter? You'll find the answer in week four.
Learn how to craft a knock-your-socks-off query letter and break the rules just enough so that you'll get editors and publishers to take that second look at your proposal. When your query letter causes a double-take, then you can bet the chances are good you'll get a go-ahead for the project.
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to craft the best query letters and do it with confidence no matter how large the project! Master this tool of successful freelancing and you can write your ticket for assignments from here to eternity.
Week #3 Targeting your Markets
As I've said before, being a writer is more than being a writer -- especially when you are a freelancer. The second hat you'll wear is one of marketing professional.
If you fail to wear the hat of savvy, smart marketer, then it's like having a great steak and trying to sell it to the neighborhood vegetarian. No matter what you say, your client won't be in the market for meat, period!
During week three, you will discover the best ways to search and find the best places to pitch your work. You'll also find out the best way to succeed as well as one guaranteed way to fail. The goal is to avoid the latter and become skilled at the former.
Week #4 Diversification - Key to Freelance Success
Perhaps the most important lesson you can learn as a freelancer is to diversify. To be successful and prosper in such a competitive field, you must learn to write anything and everything, from articles and various product reviews to advertising copy and technical material.
The idea of diversification often scares people away. Why? Because, once again, the prevailing questions are, "How do I start?" or "I don't know how!" When you're finished with the final week's lesson, you'll never have to ask those questions again.
You will know what you need to do and how to begin the cycle. During the final week of our course, I will lead you step-by-step through the process of working through that fear so you can optimize the use of your freelance abilities.
As we wrap up our final session, you will have a chance to ask questions, submit comments and clarify any issues left outstanding from the course. My hope is that we will adequately cover all basic aspects of freelancing for you -- enough so that you can go out in the publishing world and begin freelancing as a career, not just a side hobby.
ORDER THROUGH OUR SECURE ONLINE SERVER AND REGISTER FOR YOUR COURSE TODAY!
Note: If the course has reached capacity for this session, you will be guaranteed a spot for the next session.
