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Title: The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success (The Renegade Writer's Freelance Writing series)
ISBN: 1933338008
Author:
Linda Formichelli
Diana Burrell
Publicate Date: 2005-11-01
Publish: 2005-11-01
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $8.75
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $6.85
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Confidence for Beginning Freelancers
These ladies cut through the bull to tell new freelancers what works and what doesn't work. In some situations it is all based on the comfort level of the beginning freelance writer on which "rules" to break but the authors offer their own experiences.
The tone of the book is conversational like you're having lunch or a cup of coffee with them. For beginning freelancers who have very few mentors this is an excellent book to give them a peek into successful freelancing.
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2: Great beginner book - with a caveat
Yes, this book is full of facts that seasoned freelancers already know. But for a beginner, this is a great book. One thing to keep in mind, though: you need to KNOW the rules before you break them. The authors do a good job of explaining why certain rules are in place and when they should or shouldn't be broken, but new writers need to use their common sense as far as what they are comfortable with.
The chatty tone makes this an easy to read, un-intimidating intro to the craft of selling yourself as a freelance writer. I highly recommend it for newbies.
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3: best freelancing book yet
I have read just about every book I've come across on freelance writing and I find this by far to be the best. Most of the others re-hash all the same old outdated information time and again. This one takes a fresh approach and gives you something to think about. I even break their rules! If you are interesting in freelancing this book is one worth reading.
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4: A good resource -- maybe too flip at times
I've read four of these get-started-freelancing books and most were very helpful. Renegade provides a lot of tips from not only the very experienced authors but from other veteran and beginning freelancers and editors, including snappy query letters, tips on getting along with editors and getting paid, and getting paid better.
The advice isn't as renegade as the title indicates. Every suggestion comes under a heading of ``Break this rule:'', which is a good idea for a book. But in reality, in almost all cases, what the authors really mean (and they seem to acknowledge this) is that there are occasional exceptions to these rules. You'd be an idiot to pull a George Costanza and do the opposite of these rules to change your luck.
A minor peccadillo: The writing style sometimes is overly flip, in a ``Freelancing for Dummies'' sort of way. Here's an imaginary example, because I don't have time to reread the book right now to find real ones: ``If you don't hear back about your query in two weeks, don't go setting yourself on fire and jumping off a cliff.'' For me, it sometimes distracts from the message, but I know others will find it friendly and comforting.
I'd like to suggest something I haven't seen in any of the books I've read. Why not have a hand-holding, get-started kick in the pants for procrastinators -- perhaps a step-by-step work session that would tell them to come up with a story idea in a certain field, let's say arthritis treatment, and then list a few websites or other sources for research and some experts in the field on that narrow topic. The exercise would walk the writer through finding actual magazines that would use stories about arthritis and judging which pay the best and are most writer-friendly, and would name the contact people and their emails. Next, a template query on an arthritis story, which of course the hopeful freelancer would rewrite to his/her specific story idea. I think many who are just getting into freelancing can find the whole thing overwhelming. A lesson like that could break the ice.
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5: Good insider info
I have to say I'm pretty happy with it, overall. Probably not the sort of book you'd want to cosy up in bed with and read cover to cover, as it's really a book full of tips and references for freelancers, but it had a lot of good stuff.
I thought for a while it was a little self-contradictory, but then I re-thunk that. I think it's more a question of them giving you different points of view on how to tackle the same issue. It was written by two women, after all. They're bound to have differing opinions from time to time.
But the tone was folksy, if a little forcedly so; sometimes they sounded like chirpy little squirrels. But it gave a very clear idea of what the freelance writing life would be like, so it was worth the read.
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