Brace Yourselves

From the looks of the financial markets we're headed into a very lean period for freelance writers.

The calculus is brutally simple. Publications depend on advertising. Companies cut back advertising and marketing in a recession. From the looks of things we're in the worst financial mess since the 1930s. That doesn't paint a pretty picture.

If you've been a freelancer for long you've been through this before. I've seen it at least twice : Once in the early 90s and once in 2001 when a combination of the dot com implosion and 9/11 restricted activity and killed a lot of my clients.

So what can you do? Well, there are a number of things. If writing is a significant part of your income there's one thing you're going to have to do. You're going to have to work even harder to find assignments. This is not the time to sit back and let things come to you. You've got to go after them vigorously.

There's some other stuff I'll share with you later. Meanwhile I've got to get another query out.

--RC