Beer and More Beer

del.icio.us Tags: beer,book writing proof editing,writing,publishing,health

Currently I am working on two different beer books. The first is how to grow a beer garden in your own backyard. This is a how to manual for daring home brewers to grow the ingredients at home.

 

The 2nd book is on creating healing beers and wines. This one is already fast tracked to be published in four languages. (ipublicaides)

I have been a home brewing for many years and so both of these books are very exciting projects. This is of course means a lot of pubs, microbreweries and taste testing. It is research, do you hear me tax man!

Passive Income

As a freelance writer passive income is something I have been really trying hard to start. As you may have seen I have added some marketing items to this blog. At the rate I am going with Adsense- I will be able to buy a Starbucks Coffee next year. (and if you want to buy a cup of coffee- please use the link---haha)

 

 

Seriously- Freelancing means that you are working for a fee and often selling the rights to the work which means no royalties. passive income means that once you create it, it generates money on its own. Royalties are a good example for a writer.

I use affiliate programs to sell my books so that I can make a little commission on some of the books I have created. I am on look out for other forms of passive income. This way I can be more selective in the jobs I take and not confine myself to the working poor.

There is plenty of work out there, it is just that there are not enough hours in the day to do it all!

So what forms of passive income do you all use? Comment on it!

del.icio.us Tags: coffee,writing,passive income

Wild Wine Book

If you are at all interested in making wine at home, this recent release of mine has many recipes and takes you step by step through the process.This book was actually many years in the making, because when I won first place for a plum wine at the NC State Fair in 2002, I knew I wanted to write a book about making wine. I wrote some articles for Winemaker magazine including one about plum wine that really started my writing career off. Click on the book above and buy a copy!

Don’t work for free

In my last post I talked about figuring up what your time is worth and how much you should charge for jobs.

There is always the question of edits and rewrites. The best thing you can do is address this issue up front. Now I am talking about freelance jobs not books. For books- you will rewrite it until it is done and correct, so just prepare yourself.

For freelance work, you can say up front that your price includes a certain number of rewrites- after that you can quote them your hourly fee. This creates an understanding and reduces client abuse.

What I mean by abuse are the clients that want to change the same page you agreed to charge $20 for about 10 times. This is not necessary and if they know that you will charge after the 2nd rewrite they maybe less likely to abuse your time.

Always collect your fees after a rewrite- do not allow them to add to the bill for multiple rewrites- as you are likely never to see that money.

If they do not pay you, make sure that in the contract that the rights of the work will not be released until the bill is taken care of. That way they cannot publish your work without paying for it.

Please feel free to ask questions on these blogs- as I am happy to answer them or at least find the answer for you.

Don’t Be Afraid

Remember that as a writer, your time is worth money. Try to avoid doing anything for free. I have found that I have about 6 good hours of solid writing a day in me. I can occasionally push that limit, but my work may begin to suffer. Therefore I must decide what my per hour rate is. Here is my formula:

 

How much I want to make a week/ how many hours I want to work= my rate per hour

 

$600/ 30 hrs= $20/hr

 

$1000/35 hrs= $29/hr

 

In order to figure out how to price a job begin to figure out how many hours you are spending on particular jobs. For instance, if I can write 4 pages an hour on a simple job that does not require research or rewriting of material and the job is 20 pages, I estimate that will take me 5 hours. At the rate of $25/hr I would price the job at $125.

 

If it takes research I may only produce 2 pages an hour, so my estimate on a 20 page job would be $250.

 

Next post I will talk about edits and how to handle them.

del.icio.us Tags: rate,edit,freelance,writing

Telling a Story

As a writer- you have to learn how to tell a story. I was reminded of that when a friend from the symphony told me her story about her hurt foot.

Her: “So I saw on the Internet that you have a Phd, what is that in again?”

Me: “Natural Health- you know herbs and stuff.”

Her:” Oh yeah that is really cool- so can you help me with my hurt foot?”

Me:” Sure how did you hurt it?”

Her:” I hurt it in a car wreck and I twisted my ankle while I was running.”

Me: “Ok , so you will want to soak your foot in warm water with Epsom sal…wait a minute, you twisted it when you were running.”

Her": “ Yeah , well actually when I jumped over the fence, the details are not important…”

Me:” Why were you running from the scene of an accident?”

Her:” Really the details are not important, It’s just my foot hurts.”

Me: Long stare.

Her:” Ok – we were at this gas station and these guys were robbing it. We took off and they followed us and we panicked and wrecked the car. We ran when the police came and when I jumped over the fence I twisted it.”

Me:” Didn’t you think maybe you looked a little guilty running from a car wreck?”

Her:” The police knew we were innocent silly…”

Me:” But how? Never mind. Soak the foot, take some Chondroitin to heal the cartilage.”

Her:” Gee thanks, John.”

Me: Hold out hand.

Her: “What?”

Me:” That’ll be 50 bucks.”

LiveJournal Tags: story,run,police,robbery

I did not get paid, but it makes a great story.

Writing as a Performance

While writing to a friend on Facebook, the idea of this post came to me. The writers I have met are often introverted people. They feel comfortable behind the keyboard, but in most social situations are very quiet and shy. They are unsure if people will like their work. In fact, for many new writers this is commonplace.

I am a performer- I play the flute and piccolo in a symphony and many other places. I have been performing with the  theater and music since I was a kid. So for me, writing is just another performance.

I have my instrument (keyboard or pen), the music (in this case what I am writing about) and the world is my audience. I am confident in my skills and when I write it is a performance for my intended audience. While I do not hear applause, people send comments about my work.

There are good performances, and sometimes not so good, but I never question my ability as a writer. One bad piece does not mean that I should never pick up a pen again, no more than one bad note in a performance would mean that I would pack my piccolo away (however I may hide from the conductor for a bit!)

So when you are writing think of it as a solo you are about to perform for a packed house and when you write that last period, the audience comes to their feet for a 5 minute standing ovation.

LiveJournal Tags: music writing confidence ovation