I’ve often used these pages to extol the virtues of blogging if you work as a freelance writer, as a way to add to your skills and make yourself more marketable to online publications and other potential clients.
But why take my word for it?
Look through the blog roll for the 2012 Blogathon and you’ll see dozens of other freelance writers and journalist entrepreneurs who have incorporated blogging into their writing business. Some use blogs as test beds for subjects they’d like to learn more about. For others the subject matter is secondary to the writing practice. Still others use their blogs to showcase their work, or to make money from advertising or affiliate sales.
If you’re a freelancer who still hasn’t taking the plunge, what are you waiting for?
Blogathon writers who blog
Here’s a sample of the writers participating in this year’s event and what they blog about:
Arizona writer and author Jackie Dishner blogs at Bike with Jackie about “inspiration, encouragement, quirky stories, laughs and life-changing adventures.” This is Jackie’s fifth blogathon, and this year she’s graciously agreed to be a “Blogathon Ambassador” on the event’s Google Group to help out newer bloggers. She also wrote this guest post on why it pays to do a blogging challenge.
Barb Freda blogs about food at Babette’s Feast, including a recent post on food trends. When she’s not posting on her own blog, Fred writes about business, consumer technology, food, wine, and travel and works as a recipe developer.
Carrie Schmeck is a business copywriter in Redding, Calif., who blogs at BizziWriter. Carrie uses her blog to talk about her business and the business of being a copywriter. Every Friday she runs examples of bad copywriting, like this one.
Jennie Phipps is a former newspaper reporter and editor turned freelance journalist. She also owns Freelance Success, a members only website and forum for professional writers. In her spare time, Phipps blogs at Detroit on the Cheap, one of the string of frugal-living sites in the Living on the Cheap network. Leah Ingram, a freelancer and author whose Philly on the Cheap blog is also in the Living on the Cheap network, is doing the blogathon for the third time.
Sandra Hume is a Colorado freelance writer and editor and one of close to a dozen Freelance Success members – myself included – participating in this year’s blogathon. Hume’s blog, Little House Travel, is a travel guide for fans of the Little House and their families who want to travel to places that series author Laura Ingalls Wilder called home.
When Cheryl Wright isn’t writing her weekly column in the Trinidad Guardian‘s Womanwise Sunday magazine, she posts on her namesake blog about fashion, writing inspiration, how she spends her time, and just in time for Mother’s Day, her mother’s legacy of creativity.
Debbie Kaplan is a journalist specializing in family travel whose byline has appeared in publications such as Shape, Family Fun, AAA Traveler, and the Los Angeles Times. She uses her Frisco Kids blog to share kid-friendly trips and activities around the Bay Area, such as this one about summer concerts at Stern Grove.
Freelance newspaper reporter Walter L. Johnson II blogs about media and communication industry jobs at Communications Careers Corner, including this recent post on being the right fit for the job.
Elizabeth King Humphrey is a Wilmington, N.C., freelance writer, editor, proofreader and writing coach who blogs at The Write Elizabeth about reading, writing, editing and parenting. In a recent post she shared her 5 favorite books on editing.
Anne Noble, a Michigan freelancer with nearly 30 years of experience in newspapers, magazines and corporate writing, blogs about family and other subjects at Mac’s Musings.
Ronda Levine is a Northern California editorial consultant, writer, editor and graduate teaching assistant. On her blog, Not Quite Ally McBeal, she covers a variety of subjects including relationship issues, inspiration, and her recent engagement – congrats!
Why your blog needs an ‘About’ page and a picture of you
If you’re a freelance writer or use your blog to promote your business, you have to do two things: create an About page and put your picture on it. You’d be surprised how many Blogathon bloggers’ websites I looked at to compile this list who had neither of those.
Another note: There’s no way I could include all the freelancers in this year’s blogathon in this list. If you’re participating, please feel free to add your name, the name of your blog and a link to a recent post that’s a good example of what you typically write about in a comment on this post.
Portland writers, there’s a reason none of you on on this list – I’m saving you to a separate write up after our May 18 IRL gathering – look for it next Saturday.
We’re in great company here, Michelle. Thanks for the mention and for letting me help you out this year.
You’re welcome Jackie, so glad we’re in it together for another year.
Michelle
I was fortunate to be included in last week’s blog round up. I, too, am a writer who blogs. I use it to write about health issues and it has given me great exposure. If you type “nurse writer” into Google, my blog is the number one link. It sure beats paying for that placement.
A recent one was Does Commute Time Add to Health Risk? (http://medhealthwriter.blogspot.ca/2012/05/does-commute-time-add-to-health-risk.html).
Thanks for this!
Marijke:
It’s your first year, but you’re taken to it like the proverbial duck to water. It’s obvious you’ve got experience as a blogger – keep up the good work.
Michelle
I’m a Blogathon participant and freelance writer too! My blog has been a little unfocused lately, but I’m finding the Blogathon has given me insight into what I really want to write about – fiction writing.
Today’s post – What I learned in college critique classes – is a great example of that: (http://www.jennmaxwell.net/blog/2012/5/12/what-i-learned-in-college-critique-classes.html)
I’m also on Twitter: @jennmaxdesigns
Thanks Jenn.
Michelle
Thanks Michelle! I appreciate the highlight!
I’m a freelance writer and a yoga teacher, and my blog, http://www.mamahhh.com , connects those two practices to my passion for helping women experience birth (natural, medicated, or surgical) as a rite of passage, rather than purely as a medical event. In our hyper-busy lives, we seem not to have as many ceremonies and rites of passage to remind us of the sacred nature of life. Pregnancy, birth, and motherhood give us a chance to connect on a deeper, slower level of exquisitely being, and knowing that we’re absolutely enough simply because we are. Self-care and self-acceptance are huge issues within that experience. Thanks Michelle, for your blogathon giving me a framework for tending to this work in a more dedicated and regular way!
Jennifer, thanks for being such a faithful member of our blogging tribe, we’re better for it!
Michelle
It’s great to know there are so many writers among us! I am a professional copywriter (strategic storyteller) for the last 12 years and the author of a memoir. A second-year participant in the blogathon, I celebrate excellence in writing and storytelling on my blog, The Writing Well.
Thanks, Michelle! This is my first time in the Blogathon, too, but I’ve been a freelance writer for a looooonnng time. I’ve posted my resume/bio and samples of my work on my main site, http://www.peggyJnoonan.com, most of which has been about health and medicine – the conventional kind. But I also wanted to write about alternative medicine so I created my AltMedForYou blog to build a new platform. If that sounds like I know what I’m doing, it’s overstated — I have lots to learn and thanks to this first venture in the Blogathon, I’m making progress.
One of my recent articles was a cover story in USA WEEKEND Magazine – a roundup of innovative state and local health programs that are making a real difference in people’s lives (http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20120217/HEALTH02/302170008/How-fix-our-public-health)
It’s great to see so many writers in the group.
-Peggy
Congrats on the great placement Peggy, so glad you’re joining us this year.
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
This is my first Blogathon and I’ve recently taken the plunge to become a freelance writer and communications consultant with experience in the Canadian healthcare system. I’ve just begun blogging about writing, branding, communications and technology. The Blogathon has been helping me connect with other freelancers and figure out my niche.
Thanks for organizing this fabulous challenge!
I’m a full-time freelance writer and editor, too! I’m an ASJA member, the managing editor of the Performance Menu: Journal of Health and Athletic Excellence, and a weekend editor at ESPN affiliate site Sherdog.com. This is my second year doing the Blogathon. I blog at http://yaelwrites.com/blog, mostly about health and fitness (and Brazilian jiu-jitsu), but a little bit about food, creative entrepreneurship, and whatever else is going on at the moment.
Any tips on creating an About page? I’ve got one under construction and am looking for ideas on how to build a good one. Or at least a good basic one.
Joan: Great question. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll save it for a Dear WordCount column – look for it soon. Meanwhile, check out the “About” pages here. I’ve got one for myself, which is a condensed version of my bio, and another for the blog.
Michelle
Thanks for mentioning my blog – I know I totally need to update my about pages! Ack! It’s funny, how many little to-dos can crop up on a to-do list.