I read The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman

Yeah, I read self-help books from time to time. Sometimes a girl needs help. Sure, I might order it anonymously online and rip the unmarked package open in a dark room in my home, but I read them.

More specifically, I’ve read quite a few self-help books about freelancing recently. But this last one, The Well-Fed Writer by Peter Bowerman, really gave me the confidence to stop freelancing on the side and take the plunge into a full-time operation. It was recommended to me by Beth Z, who quit her job last year to start freelancing and who now writes a blog about her ongoing experiences with the Big Change.

While many other freelance books play on the fantasy of sitting at home and writing for The New Yorker from time to time and fending off rabid fans with a stick, The Well-Fed Writer focuses on something a little different and a lot more realistic: getting writers well-paying work that will allow them their preferred hermit-like lifestyle and, over time, give them the freedom to work on their other goals and dreams.

This book isn’t about how to write or how to write for corporations - it doesn’t cover how to write a brochure or a press release or an internal newsletter. But it does cover the business side of things (which most writers are naturally dumb at) like marketing yourself, setting rates, finding clients, keeping clients, and navigating your time and expenses.

The book probably wouldn’t be helpful for someone who doesn’t already have a small foundation of published clips and who doesn’t have confidence in their writing abilities. It certainly isn’t for someone who doesn’t want to throw themselves into the full-time freelancing lifestyle. But it is helpful if you’re pretty sure you have the skills and personality for the work but don’t know where to start.

The book also has a very helpful set of appendices that show examples of many of the topics covered, from sample mailers to sample thank-you notes. Everything, from the beginning to end, isn’t very glamorous, but that’s not what the serious freelance writer needs to hear. He simply covers the often-boring nuts and bolts of running a solo business.

Although the book is a treasure trove of information, of which I highlighted roughly half of what I read, it is a little dated. It was originally published in 2000, and even in the last eight years, a lot has changed, especially in regards to marketing techniques and technology stuff. For example, Bowerman doesn’t discuss online opportunities for writing, setting up your own website, or web content writing jobs. (I heard he does cover more of this stuff in his newer book, which I have also secretly ordered online).

The book does have a tiny bit of a smarmy infomercial sales tone from time to time and it does make things sound a lot easier than they actually are (for example, the subtitle is “Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less”) but in the end, it’s full of information that would have taken me years to perfect on my own. And, more importantly, it gave me confidence that, with enough hard work (and a lot of cold calls) I could trust myself to get this done.

Buy The Well-Fed Writer from Amazon