SiteResults of the Renegade Writer Survey: Here’s What You Wished For!
Thanks to everyone who filled out my Renegade Writer survey — and congratulations to Colette Martin, who won a free half-hour phone coaching session with yours truly. I really appreciate that so many people took the time out of their busy day to offer their valuable feedback.
I received great feedback from 131 writers, and I thought you’d like to know what the results were:
29.4% of our readers have a part-time or full-time job and do freelance writing on the side, and 9.5% are stay-at-home moms and dads who freelance in their spare time. 20.6% say they’d like to become freelance writers but haven’t gotten started. 14.3% have been full-time freelancers for less than a year, and 17.5% have been full-time freelancers for 1 – 5 years. Only 8.8% of our readers have been freelancing full-time for more than five years. This was pretty interesting to me; I had no idea so many of our readers freelanced on the side rather than as a full-time occupation, and I also was surprised that so many are aspiring freelancers who haven’t yet taken that first step. I’d love to encourage newbie writers to overcome whatever obstacles are keeping them from breaking in!
When asked why they haven’t taken a Renegade Writer e-course or taken advantage of my phone mentoring, the vast majority (of those who have not already done a course/mentoring) say they can’t afford it. This makes sense in light of the fact that most of our readers are newer writers or aspiring freelancers who haven’t gotten started yet. Based on this info and the suggestions of some readers, I’ve decided to start offering my phone mentoring in half-hour increments so writers don’t have to purchase an entire hour. Also, in I’ll soon start offering e-mailed query critiques so writers can get one of the benefits of my Write for Magazines e-course without having to pay for (or take) a full 8-week class. As for the e-courses, all of our instructors offer versions with no e-mail support at half the price of the versions with full e-mail support; this option is perfect for self-starters who can work on their own (which all freelancers need to be).
I’d also like to point out that we offer a lot of free resources for new writers: The blog is of course free and there are hundreds of helpful posts on everything from marketing to the craft of writing. Diana and I offer a free packet of 12 query letters that worked for us — just send a blank e-mail to queries@renegadewriter.com. And my Free Teleclasses for Writers are (what else?) free.
Of all the types of posts I write, none was a clear winner in the hearts of our readers. But just edging out the rest was opportunities for writers. I do post opportunities when someone alerts me to them (and was very excited recently when a reader let me know she placed an essay in one of the Chicken Soup books thanks to a Renegade Writer post about the opportunity!). But there are other sites, like Deb Ng’s Freelance Writing Jobs, that do a much better job of scouring the web for writing gigs.
Many writers asked to see examples of queries that worked. I hear you — I have one going up this week, and have been searching through my query archives for other good ones to post. Also, I’d like to remind you that our book The Renegade Writer’s Query Letters That Rock has two dozen queries from different writers along with comments by the writers and their assigning editors on what made the queries work. These queries landed assignments from magazines ranging from Smithsonian and Parenting to Fitness and the L.A. Times Magazine.
One of the least popular types of posts was contests, which surprised me because we usually get so many entrants.
(Speaking of which, one respondent complained that it’s “obvious” that we use the contests and teleclasses to promote our e-courses. With all the free resources we offer and prizes we give away, I certainly hope people don’t begrudge us the opportunity to sell our services too. It’s not like we’re trying to fool anyone — when we give away a free e-course as part of a contest, of course we’re promoting the course! And in a free 60-minute teleclass, approximately one minute of that is spent offering an e-course discount to participants. Hardly underhanded.)
As for what readers would like to see more of, querying, marketing, and idea generation were in the lead, followed closely by productivity (which are my favorite posts to write as I’m a productivity junkie). I’ll keep these requests in mind as I brainstorm ideas for new posts.
Most readers also requested more posts geared for beginning writers, though a few asked for posts geared aimed at advanced writers. As one advanced writer pointed out, information for newbies is all over the web, while no one targets longtime professional freelancers. I’d like to make everyone happy by focusing on beginning writers’ issues while occasionally bringing up advanced topics, but I wonder: Is there anything I know that an advanced writer wouldn’t already know? One seasoned respondent suggested a post on how to create multiple income streams by selling e-books, teaching courses, and so on. I’ll see if I can pull something together; in fact, I’ve been thinking of profiling writers who have successfully built multiple income streams.
As for beginning posts, I’m sure I can cook up plenty of topics that haven’t been done to death already in other blogs and magazines. So keep an eye out for more posts aimed at aspiring and newer writers!
As I mentioned, I offer free teleclasses for writers; I did one on query writing, and have also had guest speakers talk about essay writing and food writing. These teleclasses attract from 50 to 80 writers per session. I asked readers what they would like to see covered in future teleclasses, and the top two topics by far were idea generation and writing for trade magazines. You got it! I’m now trying to set up an idea generation teleclass.
Finally, I asked you to let it all hang out and let me know what you would like to see on The Renegade Writer blog. Many of you reiterated your desire for posts aimed at newbie writers, which I can certainly do. Many people also asked me to post more often. Right now I try to put up one “big” blog post on Monday, with a couple of smaller ones throughout the week. Since my goal has been to earn a full-time income working just two days per week so I can spend more time with my one-year-old (and yes — I’ve been doing this for a few months now), I’m not sure I want to post much more often. The weekly “big” post is a lot of work! I need to balance my time between non-paying work like the blog and paying work like my article assignments and e-courses.
Also, lots of readers liked the idea of a private forum for writers. Diana has brought up this idea in the past as well. I like it! However, we’d need to think about what our forum would offer that you can’t already get at free forums like MediaBistro or other fee-charging forums like Freelance Success. I’d also have to figure out: Do I have time to moderate a (hopefully busy) forum? So again, I’ll have to do some thinking on this idea.
Thank you once again for taking my survey; reading your feedback was eye-opening. I love that I now have a clearer idea of what Renegade Writer readers want, and I’m trying to balance those requests with my own goals (such as my new two-day workweek).
Here’s wishing you a successful 2010 with many lucrative and interesting writing assignments! [lf]
24 Responses to “Results of the Renegade Writer Survey: Here’s What You Wished For!”
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Susan Johnston
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 9:58am:Linda, I respectfully disagree with that commenter who posted the complaint about self-promotion. Some of your competitors’ promotions read like an infomercial (“discover all the secrets of a lucrative writing career for just 5 installments of $9.99, etc, etc”). I think the RW does a great job of giving prospective students a generous taste of your classes and books by offering lots of free information. I know that many people with informational products struggle with this, because they don’t want to give away the farm. But listening to a 60 second pitch is a small price to pay for an hour long teleclass with tons of useful information. We’re lucky to have people like you and Diana and the other teachers who are so willing to dispense advice to aspiring writers. And as a full time freelancer myself, I know that your time is valuable and that you need to promote your services in order to support yourselves. Happy New Year, and I hope you won’t take the comment to heart. (I know you won’t, because you’re a pro.)
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 10:47am:Thank you, Susan! It’s so bad of me to gloss over 130 nice comments to focus on this one negative one. But I’m glad readers understand that we’re not trying to be underhanded by promoting our e-courses with contests and free teleclasses!
Star
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 11:56am:Two-day workweek? Wanta run that one by me again? Happy New Year!
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 12:55pm:Star, it’s true! After adopting our son, I decided to start working less. I’ve probably been working two days per week since August, but I earned the same income as 2009 in magazine assignments. Part of it is that I kicked my habit of randomly surfing the Internet all day while I waited for things to happen — waited to hear back from editors and sources while clicking spasmodically on Check E-mail or surfing the writers’ forums. And part of it, I have to admit, is the fact that I’ve been freelancing full-time for 12 years so I don’t have to market as hard as I used to. I can write queries and letters of intro quickly, and I don’t have to write as many of them as I used to.
If I have a lot of deadlines, I might work more days in a week. For example, I have three deadlines on Friday so I’ll probably work 3-4 days. But a normal week is two work days right now. On the off days, I check in on my e-mail and voicemail occasionally in case something comes up. And sometimes I have to schedule an interview on an off day because the source isn’t available on my work days.
I recently had a discussion about my two-day workweek with my life coach Kristin. I told her I couldn’t believe it was working…I felt like I was cheating in some way, or that in a couple of months I would check our finances and discover that we’re dead broke. Kristin assured me that after 12 years of investing tons of time and effort into my career, that investment is finally starting to pay back and I should just be grateful for it. So I am!
Honor
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 2:17pm:Hi! As a longtime lurker I just wanted to say thanks for this blog and for all that you do to help other writers and writer wannabes! I know how much work it takes to maintain a site like this and I think you are doing a wonderful job. I’m looking forward to reading more in 2010 (and perhaps taking advantage of some of your classes – the new formats sound intriguing.)
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 3:20pm:Thanks, Honor!
Kirsten
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 4:25pm:I wholeheartedly agree with Susan Johnston – I’m really impressed with, and thankful for, the generous amount of material you provide for free. I really enjoyed the one teleclass I attended, and am looking forward to more. It was packed with great tips – couldn’t have been further from an infomercial.
You also mentioned profiling successful writers on the site. I think that would be a fantastic idea. Everyone comes at this career a little differently, and it’s so fun to hear how others have made it work for them.
Thanks for such a great site, and happy new year!
Colette
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 4:33pm:Linda, thanks for sharing the results of the survey.
I am thrilled that I won the free mentoring session! Now I guess I can’t say “I never win anything” anymore.
On the point on self-promotion — regardless of the responses you absolutely must continue to promote your services and products. Heck, if you can’t promote your stuff on your own blog, where can you do it?
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 9:03pm:Kirsten and Colette, thank you so much! I look forward to talking with you for the mentoring session you won, Colette.
Sybil
Said this on January 4th, 2010 at 9:32pm:Linda — I agree with Susan and Kirsten. You provide lots of useful information for writers, including quite a bit of free stuff. I’ve learned so much from your books and this Renegade Writer blog. I enjoyed the free teleclass on essay writing led by Amy Paturel. I continue to be amazed and inspired by all that you do. Keep up the great work, and Happy New Year!
Colette — Congratulations on winning the mentoring session. You won’t be disappointed. I had two excellent phone mentoring sessions with Linda. They were very helpful and well worth the money. Linda is so generous with her knowledge and time.
Samantha
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 2:07am:Many thanks for all that you do! Given that so many of us freelance on the side, perhaps some posts (perhaps guest posts?) on how to fit it all in – how to carve out time for queries, interviewing, etc. in amongst a typical workday? I know it’s something I struggle with!
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 8:47am:You all are so nice! Sybil, it was great working with you. Samantha, good idea for a blog post…maybe I can interview a freelancer who’s making the juggle work.
Jenn Mattern
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 9:54am:I don’t recall what I voted for in the survey, but I’m definitely all for more posts on productivity. There’s precious little more important in freelancing than learning how to work smarter to get more done without having to sink in more time. Not only do you earn more, but you decrease the chance of burning out. And really, what more can we ask for?
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 10:29am:Jenn, I love writing about productivity. (In fact, most of my Get Unstuck course is about increasing productivity.) So I’d love to do more posts on that topic. If you have anything specific you’d like me to try to address, let me know!
Jenn Mattern
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 1:14pm:Something about getting rid of things you don’t need might be good. Not only the visual clutter around us in an office that can serve as a distraction (things we think we need, but much we really don’t) but also the clutter of too many projects — how to choose a keeper and know when it’s time to abandon ship (like a blog, e-book, or other project that really isn’t paying off).
Or something about productivity tools could be good too — things to keep use focused and on-track. I’m not personally one for tech-driven productivity tools like alarms and PDAs, and usually lean towards things that actually force me to step away from the computer and “think on paper” instead. I’m sure there are other strategies for dealing with digital burnout to keep the work day more productive though. If you can think of any, I’d love to hear about them!
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 2:25pm:Thanks, Jenn! I’ll keep these in mind as I brainstorm post ideas.
Steve Ion
Said this on January 5th, 2010 at 8:37pm:It’s interesting that querying, marketing, productivity and idea generation were in the lead on the site. It seems we all want to get better at what we’re doing, which basically means we think we’re not there yet. But those 4 areas mentioned are not writing and that’s a very good sign. I suspect every blog writer who watches this site is well trained and solid in their writing ability, yet knows they need to do a better job of marketing their services.
Thanks for the great posts over the last year.
Steve
Eric C
Said this on January 6th, 2010 at 3:20pm:The negative comment probably came from me. Here’s the thing, the survey asked for advice, I gave it. On the particular day I took the survey, something like 4 of the 5 previous posts were on services. I was just being honest, it was a turnoff.
I loved today’s post on the “Query that rocked.” I’m one of those freelance writers right on the cusp who will be sending out his first queries in the next couple of weeks. I needed this post.
I dislike posts that rep your services.
Two points on this:
1. This isn’t just your blog. Any and every blog that does this annoys, from the A-list blogs down to the B-list blogs. I also understand the need to monetize blogs. But there is a line where it becomes overwhelming for me.
2. Have you ever given a writing piece to someone and they just read it handed it back and was like, “It’s good.” How useless is that? Rip it apart, bring attention to the crappy parts. Give me some feedback. Think about when you edit someone else’s work, don’t you hate it when every criticism you give they reflexively fight back against it? I’m sure you’ve come across this helping people.
Obviously I like your blog. There are a million writing blogs out there but I’ve bookmarked yours and I check back regularly. I hope my feedback didn’t hurt your feelings, I was just being honest.
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 6th, 2010 at 8:15pm:Thanks, Eric! I offer tons of free resources to writers, but I also offer not-so-free ones, and I need to promote them. I make sure to have one “big” post per week — basically a free article — and maybe one or two smaller ones. But when the time rolls around for new e-course sessions, there will be more contests and guests posts from instructors.
jan
Said this on January 10th, 2010 at 4:11pm:Linda, I had forgotten about the survey and was so glad to see the results. Very interesting. And I want to tell you how grounding your site is for me. A free-lancer who I’ve never met basically told me I could do this and to go for it. And she gave me your website and one of your books as proof, as support and as mentor. I appreciate her and I appreciate your generosity. I’ve never felt over-marketed here (actually, I don’t feel marketed much at all and can’t figure out how you do it!). Instead, it feels like someone offering help and encouragement. And I count on it. Now, just help me with productivity and I can afford more of those courses!
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 10th, 2010 at 9:13pm:Jan, thanks so much! Your comment makes my day. I’m so glad you feel encouraged, because that’s what I’m all about. At a time when people are often so negative about the prospects for freelance writing, I’m here to show you that it can be done.
Karen Elliott
Said this on January 10th, 2010 at 9:46pm:You are the first person in this business to ever ask me how I felt, what I wanted, what I did or did not like. Stop the presses – I’m impressed. A lot of successful people in the writing biz act like they are doing me a huge favor, and I resent it. And when I finally publish my NY Times best seller and it’s made into a blockbuster movie with Will Smith or Harrison Ford, ah, well, then they’ll be sorry!
I’ve been visiting the Renegade Writer more and more and more, and I’ve gotten loads of information that I can use in the future – I’m keeping a notebook! I’m signed up for class on 1/11, and I can hardly contain myself with excitement.
I’m also happy that you turned me on to Survey Monkey – that little guy is so cute. I’ve completed three surveys already and it’s fun to watch the responses come in and look at what it all means.
LindaFormichelli
Said this on January 11th, 2010 at 9:35am:Thanks, Karen! I’m excited to work with you starting — today!
I also love Survey Monkey. You can write a 10-question survey for free, but if you get more than 100 responses (which I did), you have to sign up and pay (which I did).
Leila R. Bard
Said this on January 12th, 2010 at 8:56pm:Eric C — and how much exactly are you paying for Linda’s effort and time?