2011 was a great year for me as a freelance writer, as a blogger, and as a person doing his best to enjoy life. I had a lot of fun selecting these posts. I hope you enjoy them!
And my deepest thanks to all of you who visit ProductiveWriters.com. May you all have a happy and productive 2012!
Favorite Posts About Freelance Writing
8 Ways to Increase the Joy of Writing. One of my faves, and one that received a decent amount of social media attention.
Write Faster: 12 Top Tips for Freelance Writers. Lots of people shared their tips in the comments. Many thought that learning to touch type was the most important.
Why Freelance Writers Must Be On LinkedIn. I feel very strongly about this. I see too many beginning freelance writers focusing on blogging and Twitter when there time would be better spent building up a strong LinkedIn presence.
Should You Edit As You Write? Turns out most people do, at least those that leave comments on this post.
Favorite Posts About Productivity and Time Management
Top Time Management Techniques for Freelance Writers. Contains my best techniques to help writers focus on what’s important for their writing business.
Writing Ergonomics: Top Tips for Proper Posture, Alignment, and Movement. I’m a major proponent of posture, alignment, and relaxation (I’ve been studying tai chi for over a decade), and I think it’s key for us to be healthy and happy freelance writers.
Small Positive Changes Add Up to a Big Difference in Your Life. A concept that’s very important to me. One of the few PW posts where I included a picture!
And I still do the wheel pose just about every day.
Favorite Posts About Blogging
Edit Old Blog Posts to Boost Search Engine Optimization and Traffic. I strive to be a “talented amateur” at SEO. I share some of my techniques here.
How I Improved My Sales Page and Increased Conversion Rates for My E-Book. I discuss subtle but important changes I made to the sales page for my e-book about my freelance writing specialty: Writing College Textbook Supplements, second edition. (Click the book cover in the sidebar for more info.)
My Most Controversial Posts…
On Freelance Writers Who Write for Free or Low Fees. I wrote this in response to all the complaining I saw by content-mill writers and some Huff-Po bloggers.
Why Publishers Should Pay a 50-Percent Royalty of Net Income on E-Books. Let’s just say that not everyone thinks that rate is either fair or likely to happen.
2010 Book and E-Book Sales Data for the United States. This post still gets a lot of search traffic and has generated the largest number of people sending me e-mails asking if I know specific numbers of sales for specific books (I don’t) and if I have any advice on whether or not they should pursue a specific project (sometimes I have an opinion).
Why I Won’t Buy Demand Media Stock. Demand Media, which is well-known for paying freelance writers next to nothing, went public in an IPO just before I wrote this post. On the day it ran (January 31, 2011) Demand’ stock price closed at $20.28 per share. On Friday, January 20, a year later, it closed at $7.07 per share.
Wow, great compendium there John! I really enjoyed the 8 ways to increase the Joy of Writing one myself.
And I’m jealous about the backbend…not sure I can pull that off anymore, though I did years of gymnastics a long while back.
Thanks for your kind words about the Joy of Writing post. That was a lot of fun to write, and the comments were great — including yours.
I’ve always been fairly adept at back bending yoga poses. The poses that focus on hip stretches are another matter: I really struggle with those.
I wanted to do one of these roundups too – was thinking of checking my Google Analytics and doing “YOUR favorite posts…” but thought maybe it’s too late in the year already…but maybe it isn’t…stay tuned!
I think you have until the end of January. You could choose them by number of comments, or number of shares on social media, or highest number of readers who found the posts through Google searches…
Your wheel posture is so much more, well, wheel-like than mine, John. I look like I have a bent rim. LOL
Great line up. I love these kind of posts because they put all my favorites in one place. 🙂
I got the idea for the round-up from what other bloggers did over the last few weeks, including this post from you: Your Favorite Things
Love this, John. So many great posts, I tweeted so everyone can pick their fav. 🙂
Thank you Cathy!
Thank you for the inspiration John! Freelancing is always fun and a journey in itself. 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the post Alexander!