Career Options for Freelance Writers Online

Posted by Marci Hotsenpiller Sep 18, 2009

Editor Jill Browne discusses how freelance writers can become publishers using easy, low-cost tools.

One of the two trends in worldwide business that I was told about on Day 1 of MBA school, back in the Middle Ages, was disintermediation.

Thanks to the Internet, the Web, and an increasing variety of free and low-cost publishing tools, writers are running their own websites, blogs, and publishing empires. Does it work?

Remember the Small Town Newspaper Editor

I don't see a huge difference between the one-person website owners and bloggers of today, and the editor of my town's paper when the population was about 8,356. That gentleman was not just the editor in chief, but also the publisher, the ad sales department, the reporter, the copy editor, the sub editor, the department editor, the photographer, and he probably delivered a few bundles of papers on his way home. Other people helped, and I'm sure there was a pressman or two back behind the scenes, but I always had the feeling that the editor could do it all, and that frequently, he did.

With much less ink to stain the wretches, and an incredibly greater potential audience, anyone with a connection to the Internet can be just like that small town editor. The key ingredient is no middle men.

Some Writers Who Have Become Publishers

I'm going to rhyme off a few websites here because I think it's worth considering whether this type of activity might be the direction you'd like your career to go. You may love or hate it, but this "independent publisher" model is here to stay. In the listings below, the Alexa traffic rank is a measure of site popularity, with lower numbers being more popular.)

Problogger.net, (Alexa traffic rank 2,754), the blog of Darren Rowse from Australia, is a very popular source of advice for bloggers who want to make a living at it. Sniff around his site and see if you can figure out how he makes money. I know of two ways (the obvious ones): he runs ads on his pages, and he has published a book about blogging.

Type-A Mom (Alexa traffic rank about 142,300) is more than a website, it's becoming a culture. Kelby Carr, a Suite101.com writer, is behind it. I like the way Kelby has thrown herself into a niche about which she has such passion: Moms (or Mums to me). The Type-A Mom site is a one-person enterprise, but Kelby has set up the site to have more than one writer. In fact, many other writers contribute to Type-A Mom, and share the ad revenue. Next week, the first ever Type-A Mom Conference is happening in Asheville, North Carolina (September 24 to 26, 2009).

Kelby's strategy reminds me of the Canadian (print) magazine Cottage Life. (In Canada, a cottage is a holiday home.) The idea behind Cottage Life is not just to pass along information about cottage living, but to own the market. To this end, there is a magazine, a website, TV programs, a trade show, and a specific line of goods available for purchase. It strikes me that Type-A Mom is similar, but younger, and without the print magazine.

Fly Lady (Alexa traffic rank about 60,000) started as a mailing list group where the Fly Lady (a real person, Marla Cilley) gave advice on getting on top of clutter, disorganization and chaos in the home. The mailing list is still going, but now there's a website, a few books, a store, speaking engagements, and an online radio show. This began as one person and is still Marla and her associates speaking directly to their community of readers. Of the websites I've listed here, this one is the least "writerly", in that much of the communication is short directives about keeping life going on a good path. However, Marla writes essays almost daily to inspire the thousands of readers.

The Vacation Gals (Alexa rank about 212,900) is a travel site with a distinct voice and again, a well-defined niche. Two of the "Gals" are also Suite101 writers, Jennifer Miner and Kara Williams. They have pooled their talents to come up with a lively and entertaining site, again with no middle man between them and their readers.

Is owning and running a website as well as writing some or all of the content really what you want to do? That's a very personal question. Some people enjoy tinkering with HTML, graphic design, and all that computer stuff, and others (like me) hate it. The good news is, it's getting easier and easier to find affordable ways to have a website designed and maintained for you, and still be the person in control.

A final thought: some writers sniff at those who take the indie road and become their own publisher. I would say that is putting form over substance. After all, that small town newspaper editor was a literate, informed writer, even though he also did the heavy lifting.