Book Review: Secrets of a Freelance Writer

Robert W. Bly tries to impart both his wisdom and practical advice gleaned from over two decades as a successful free lance copywriter in his book Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More. His formula for success is neither quick nor easy, but requires constant application of the techniques and methods that he meticulously outlines in the book's 17 chapters. Also included in the third edition are seven appendices which give lists of potential contacts and clients, fee schedules, sample letters and advertisements. Published in 2006, the third edition is available from Owl Books, Henry Holt and Company for $17.

Bly stresses the value of writing, and particularly its legitimacy as a career. As bona fide professionals, writers should insist on being treated as such, he urges. Too many who attempt the literary craft, especially novices, will underprice themselves in an attempt to obtain clients. This not only demeans writers, Bly argues, but traps them into accepting low pay for future assignments.

The myth that all successful writers have published hundreds of magazines articles and dozens of books is one that Bly quickly dispels in Secrets of a Freelance Writer. The largely untapped corporate market offers a wealth of opportunities. Internet copy, advertisements, promotional brochures, corporate reports, press releases and sales letters are all produced by professional writers, who can typically command handsome fees for their services. Bly is candid about the drawbacks of such work -isolation, typically no bylines, frequent revisions, fickle clients and long hours. But the rewards, he adds, are generally well worth the effort, though Bly concedes that even successful writers suffer from occasional burnout.

Some readers will be put off upon realizing the amount of work required to obtain the kind of results that Bly describes. While he does not promise easy wages for easy work, he does maintain that with a modicum of effort and even a modicum of talent, writers can expect to earn significantly more on their own than they could from a conventional employer. You don't have to write great copy, he tells the reader, just good copy. That is about the easiest part of the process, however. Bly advises the new free lancer to purchase or lease a state of the art computer, complete with all of the accoutrements, rent office space or set aside a portion of your home for such a purpose, purchase a fairly-extensive library and maintain up to date article clippings on the subject or subjects on which you intend to write, and even hire part or full time staff, if necessary.

Becoming an expert on a particular subject can be bewildering to the novice free lancer. While most people know a little bit about a lot of subjects, many writers do not possess the kind of expertise or technical knowledge required for the kind of writing that this book promotes. Bly has an engineering background, the kind of credentials that will impress many clients. But other writers, while good at explaining abstruse concepts or clarifying technical jargon once it is explained to them, may have a difficult start. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of hours of research may be required in order to even discuss a subject intelligently enough to impress a new client.

Fortunately, Bly does offer advice to fledgling writers trying to build a portfolio. Use well-written term papers, unpublished essays, or articles written for school newspapers. He even recommends writing copy for free until writers have some credentials to present to potential clients, though this directly contradicts his point about how writers should not undervalue themselves.

The Internet has been a boon to many job seekers, a hindrance to others. Countless free lance writing assignments dot the employment landscape of the cyber world. Surprisingly, Bly dismisses most of them as misleading, claiming that most of the employers are simply seeking the cheapest price for their particular assignment. While this may be true for some of them, this is most likely not the case for the majority. Although writers looking for work need not confine their search solely to online venues, panning the Internet hardly seems prudent.

The final chapter dispenses advice on saving and investing the significant writing income that Bly is confident that the reader will make by following the steps outlined in the 16 preceding chapters. While no one with common sense would question the wisdom of sound investing, this really should be beyond the scope of the book. In Chapter 17, Bly digresses into an area that is best reserved for other experts.