Life of A Writer

Back when I first signed up for oDesk I didn't know if they'd really help me gain new clients, but today I'm happy to report that thanks to oDesk I've been able to increase my clients. Not only have I gained new clients through oDesk, but I've gained friendly clients who have been great to work for. The clients that oDesk has blessed me with have been very helpful and provide great instructions, and this, my fellow writer friends, is something we all want with clients.

I'm sure you're wondering how you, too, can increase your clients, and since I enjoy helping others, I'm going to share a few tips with you. These are the things I do to increase clients with oDesk. Remember, oDesk guarantees payment on all hourly jobs!

Seven Simple Ways to Increase Clients With oDesk

1. Check writing job listings daily. If you don't want to visit the oDesk site on a daily basis, you can subscribe to be notified of new listings via e-mail, or use the search feature on your left to search for the jobs you want, and then subscribe to the RSS feeds for each search you perform.

2. Apply for jobs that only pay by the hour. This guarantees that you'll be paid for your time and work.

3. Create and save a pre-written cover letter on your hard or flash drive. Then when you run across a writing job you want to apply for, edit your pre-written cover letter to match the writing job your applying for, and then follow oDesk's steps to submit that cover letter to the potential client.

4. Use your best clips on your oDesk profile,and update every so often with more recent clips.

5. Post your resume on your oDesk profile, along with any client testimonials.

6. Follow up with potential clients who requested an interview but never got back to you.

7. Take the free oDesk skills tests, and when you score high, make the results public so potential clients can see you really do have the experience you say you have.

Disadvantages

While oDesk has been making improvements, there are still a few things I believe they could improve. For one, if you're writing in Microsoft Word or researching (reading through information), the software that tracks providers' hours doesn't always log the time as "online." Instead, it logs it as "offline," and pay for "offline" time is not guaranteed. I guess it logs it as "offline" time because it considers you idle since you're just reading and not typing. That said, if oDesk could improve this, it would be great!

Finally, there's no guaranteed payment for fixed-price jobs. Personally, I don't understand how oDesk can guarantee their providers payment on hourly jobs and not fixed-price jobs. Although I'm already grateful to oDesk, they would earn my respect more if they'd change this policy.

Rest assured that this won't be my last post about my success with oDesk, because I plan to continue sharing my oDesk experience with you. To stay up-to-date with my oDesk experience, subscribe to my full RSS feeds or opt-in to receive free updates via e-mail.

Do you use oDesk to increase clients? Feel free to share your oDesk experience in the comments area.

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Over at Daily Writing Tips Maeve's latest post entitled Even Talent Requires Revision sparked this idea for my blog. In her post, she said, "Self-publishing authors may have plenty of potential as writers, but their novels often suffer from insufficient revision."

Maeve isn't the first to notice that many self-published novels contain spelling and grammar mistakes. I've read several articles where other authors point this out, and the sad fact is it's true. However, you're self-published novel doesn't have to be a statistic. How can you keep it from being a self-published novel that's judged by others because of the grammar and spelling mistakes? Simple, hire a professional editor to edit your novel. Personally, I think it's worth the investment, because if your novel contains too many mistakes, you risk losing your readers. Think about it, how many novels have you put down and never picked up again because they were riddled with so many grammar and spelling mistakes that it made it difficult for you to enjoy and understand the story that was being told?

I know it's not entirely the author's fault that self-published novels are criticized for their spelling and grammar mistakes. Why do I say this? Because a print on demand publisher isn't the same as a traditional publisher. Most print on demand publishers don't take the time to throughly edit the author's novel. Therefore, it's up to you to catch the mistakes, and after so many of your own revisions, you tend to overlook things. A professional editor, however, could greatly improve your novel, and she may catch many of the mistakes you overlooked.

What are your thoughts on hiring a professional editor for self-published novels? Have you ever hired a professional editor for a novel you self-published, or are you thinking about hiring one to edit a novel you're working on or just finished? I invite you to discuss this topic in the comments section.

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Just recently I signed up as an oDesk provider, and even though I haven't landed a writing job just yet, I had one interview last night. I understand that it may take a little time to land some new writing jobs because I've not been a member long, but so far, I love the system. In fact, the thing I love the most--other than it being free--is payment is guaranteed if I bid on the hourly jobs. All buyers must have a verified payment method before they can hire you. You'll also have to download the oDesk software that lets those who hire you track your hours and see that you truly are working on their project and not just surfing the web and charging them for it.

If you'd like to gain more writing jobs and not have to worry whether you'll get paid or not, sign up for oDesk today. Again, it's free to sign up. Furthermore, there's a great selection of choices for receiving payment (Paypal, direct deposit, oDesk debit card and more).

Do let me know if you sign up or are already a member.

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