writing

Medium’s new payment model

This entry was posted in Writing Writing as business and tagged Medium writing on by

Just as I thought I was starting to figure Medium out, they’ve completely changed the payment model. This is what they’ll be doing, starting October 28:

1. We will calculate earnings based on the reading time of Medium members.

2. We will include reading time from non-members too, once they become members.

3. Your earnings will be updated daily, not weekly.

4. Your story stats will show new metrics to explain your earnings.

For more information, please read our blog post here. [no link]

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I’m on Medium.com

This entry was posted in My writing and tagged Medium writing on by

I’ve started posting articles on Medium.com. Please follow and clap if you’re so inclined.

Here’s the link for the RSS feed. It works in the Leaf reader, but the WordPress sidebar widget doesn’t recognize it, so I can’t add the feed on this site. You can try bookmarking it in your favorite feed reader; let me know if it works or doesn’t.

My latest article, as of this post, is “Remembering the Salem Witch Executions”.

California bill threatens freelance writers 2

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged business California law writing on by

California map from EPA.gov Politicians hate the “gig economy.” The simple reason is that it’s harder to collect taxes from freelancers than from employees. The California Assembly has passed a bill that would put many freelancers out of work, including writers. It would force clients to take them on as employees. That’s very unlikely to happen for the typical writer, who would simply lose the work.

As of this writing, the bill still has to be passed by the Senate. The text of California AB-5 is on the state website.

I’m not a lawyer and (fortunately) don’t live in California, but this kind of legislation could spread to other states. If it does, it will force a lot of writing work overseas, hurting people in every state.
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The content reviewer, as seen by the writer

This entry was posted in Satire Writing Writing as business and tagged clients satire writing on by

Note to companies that purchase content: This is a satire, not a model to follow! ????

These are from the experience of other writers as they’ve described them on forums, just a bit exaggerated in some cases. I can only speculate on what the reviewer was actually thinking, but the writer can easily imagine a professional sadist at the other end of the transaction.

If you want to cultivate a team of writers who will give you a steady stream of material, please don’t follow these examples. Most reviewers try their best, but hastily-written comments can leave writers bewildered and discourage them from fixing easily-corrected problems.
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Misused musical terms 3

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged msuic writing on by

Musical imagery adds a lot to writing when it’s done right. The only trouble is that so many writers get it wrong. They misunderstand the terminology or the capacities of the instruments. Music is a big part of my life, so it especially bothers me when references to music are full of mistakes. Here are a few pointers which could be useful.
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Writers’ Zone on DZone

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged technical writing writing on by

A few days ago I came across the “Writers’ Zone” on DZone. It looks like a very useful resource for people who, like me, do freelance writing on technical topics. Two different skills intersect in our work: expertise on technology and the ability to present a compelling message. A good developer or sysadmin understands the stuff, but most of them find it a challenge just to write understandable comments. There are freelance writers who can research anything, but it’s not the same as really knowing the issues. We bring the technical knowledge and the writing skill together in one place.

Writers’ Zone has articles from many different perspectives. There are pieces for customers and editors, articles on how to write better, suggestions on tools and how to use them, and — as is their right — regular self-promotion. It’s a site any technically oriented freelancer ought to bookmark.

Just by the way, DZone loves it when people submit articles. However, they don’t love it enough to pay.

Writers: Are you an employee or a contractor?

This entry was posted in Commentary and tagged business clients writing on by

Occasionally I hear from freelance writers who mistakenly think they’re employees. Some even list clients as employers on LinkedIn. I don’t think I’ve ever run into the reverse. In the United States, there’s a clear distinction between the two, and it’s important to know which you are.

If you’re an employee, you filled out a W-2 form for the IRS, and your employer deducts taxes from your paycheck. If you’re a contractor, you’re self-employed. You get a 1099 reporting your income, and normally the IRS collects the tax through estimated tax payments or with the 1040 in April. You get the privilege of paying double Social Security tax. On the positive side, you can deduct business expenses, perhaps even a home office.
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Writers’ echo chambers 1

This entry was posted in Writing and tagged research writing on by

Did you know that a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds? It must be true, it’s all over the Internet! The oldest mention I can find of that factoid dates from 2009. At the time, the supposed source was the FBI, without any citation. Lately it’s usually Gartner, still with no citation.

Phantom statistics

Recently a customer asked me to include that “statistic” in an article. Fortunately, it wasn’t a requirement, just a suggestion. The customer also wanted all links to be no more than a year old, so citing a nine-year-old figure didn’t really seem like what they wanted. Even if the figure was once accurate, the theft rate is sure to have changed over the years.
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Lying for money

This entry was posted in Writer ethics Writing and tagged ethics writing on by

A piece called “Confessions of a Fake News Writer,” by someone using the name Winston Wordsworth, recently came to my attention. You can look it up if you want; I’m not giving this scumbag any “link juice.” He says in the article that he currently accepts money to write lies, so there’s no strong reason to accept anything he says as true. But by Russell’s Paradox, if he’s lying, he’s telling us the truth when he says he lies. And there must be people like this. They deserve to be spat upon.

Winston says he’s “prostituting myself out.” That’s an insult to prostitutes, who mostly deliver honest value for money.
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“Link juice” and other content marketing superstitions 1

This entry was posted in Techniques Writing and tagged business HTML writing on by

Small minds are attracted to zero-sum thinking. They believe that anything that benefits someone else must hurt them. That’s where the myth that sites should never expend “link juice” comes from. The idea is that if you have any links in your articles, the site you link to will gain in search rank and you’ll lose correspondingly.

How much influence do these people think they have over search ranks? Unless they’re operating a leading site in the field, their effect is negligible. Besides, presumably they aren’t linking to their competitors, so giving another site a slight boost doesn’t do them any injury.
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