Looking to Make This a Great Year But...

Stop reading willy-nilly. Instead, only read that which will help you achieve your goal faster.

Write out a plan for 2013. Set your goals and identify what you need to attain them. Identify the niches you have that passion in and list them out, then work on one at a time until they're all live.

As to the ebook, who cares if someone else has covered it? You'll bring your unique perspective on the topic. Look at the library shelves on any given topic and you'll find dozens to hundreds of books. Do the facts change from one to another? No, of course not. What changes is the unique experiences and insights that an author brings to the topic.

Think of it this way - what do you have to lose by completing it? I don't see a downside. You may sell less than you would like but if you don't finish it, you'll never sell a single copy, will you?

There are no new ways to make money. You make money by selling your products, selling other people's products or by earning advertising revenue. That's it. All the rest is just window dressing and most so-called new methods are short-term gimmicks.

This one's easy. Charge more and build a customer list. Even if you have to go with a free autoresponder for now, start getting your customers on a list so you can re-contact them. When times are slow for new orders, email your list of customers offering a special to get more work.

If you can swing $20, post an ad in the Warrior for Hire section. Make sure you proof that ad extremely well as it's your first impression. Make sure you have some samples to show prospective customers, either that you can email or preferably up on a portfolio site (this can be a free Weebly page or a free blog for now).

Charge at least double what you are now. As long as you can write decently in English, you'll get that rate with no problem. When your schedule fills to the point you have to turn customers away, increase your rate by another penny per word at least for new customers.

I agree with talfighel and would like to add that you must never give up.

Look at it this way. If you were learning to drive a car, you would invest a lot of hard work and heartache.

If you gave up, your life would not change, but if you refused to give up, you would eventually pass your driving test and have the open road to look forward to.

Believe me, just being able to drive a car makes life much better, so keep at it and write your next post with a big smile on your face.

For the type of list mentioned above, you don't need an autoresponder. All you need is a mailing list, and most hosting accounts have them available as part of the hosting service.

For building a list of clients, it's simple. Email them and ask if they would like to know if/when you might have openings and/or special promotions. If they say yes, add them to the list. If they say no (or nothing), don't. Unless you have thousands of clients, this will be a small list. A small list like this, along with some common sense practices, avoids the kind of problems third-party service providers like to hammer on.

It's been years since I wrote for clients, but from what some of the active pros here say, when you raise your prices you tend to attract different clients (and better ones). At $1 per 100 words, you're attracting the bottom feeders looking for either bargains from writers who don't know what they're worth or bulk content where wrod count is more important than quality...

Put your rates in your ad and change that title, first of all. Your title tells me your cheap but then you don't give a rate inside. Many potential customers won't even ask for a rate.

Spice up your ad a little - show me how well you can sell with words by selling me on YOU.

What is the main benefit to someone who orders writing from you? If cheap is the best you can come up with, you will stay dissatisfied and constantly scrambling for new customers.

That's just the top of my head stuff from reading your ad, but I think you'll find these things will make a big difference.