A while back, I got a solicitation from a Dan Marzullo saying, “I run a small copywriting firm and I’m looking for another writer to add to the team.” I didn’t respond, since it felt like mass marketing. Since then I’ve learned that he’s contacted other writers I know and may not have represented his conflicts of interest accurately. I recommend not dealing with him. Inadvertently violating your existing agreements can really mess up your business.
business
California bill threatens freelance writers 2
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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Writers: Are you an employee or a contractor?
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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“Link juice” and other content marketing superstitions 1
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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What makes a professional writer? 1
Is a professional writer just someone who makes money writing? Then we might as well call anyone who gets paid for doing anything a pro. The word implies more than that. It means a commitment to producing the best results possible. It means not just being paid for work, but being paid for good work.
Professionals know that a career is an ongoing effort, not a leap to stardom. It’s a matter of constantly developing better skills, both at doing the work and at marketing it. Jeff Goins’ “7 Things Professional Writers Know That Amateurs Don’t” makes some excellent points on this topic. He explains that “success in any field is more about commitment to a process than it is about finding one magic trick that will make it all come together.”
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Agency sites for writers
The blog Making a Living Writing recently posted an article on “Middle-Man Agency Platforms.” None of the sites listed are ones I’m familiar with, but they could be an interesting way for writers to expand their markets.
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