Public Relations, Marketing, and Graphic Design firms sometimes use the services of freelance writers. Many of these firms have their own writing or creative staffs and sometimes they do not. If they do, a writer may receive a polite “no thank you”. Sometimes the current workload is more than the in-house staff can handle – in this case, a firm may want to hire a writer. Most of us freelancers can write brochure copy, web copy, advertising copy, and direct mail copy. Many of us can also write white papers, case studies, annual reports, press releases – the list goes on. If you’re a small shop, you can appreciate the fact that the workload can become too large. If you’re struggling to keep up the front end, consider hiring a writer to work on your communications and creative pieces.

Small Businesses sometimes need a freelance writer or desktop marketer – and they don’t know it. Many freelance writers also design basic marketing materials, such as postcards, fliers, brochures, and newsletters. In cases like these, a small business with a small marketing budget may get more “bang” for the buck if they hire a freelance writer/marketer. Not only does it cost less, you’ll be engaging another small businessperson. For small business owners who aren’t quite sure of the need for a writer/marketer, here are a few things to consider. Do you pay a large sum of money to keep a marketing firm on retainer? If so, consider switching to a writer/marketer who may charge by the project. Do you have local visibility? If not, think about what you could do with a few well-written and catchy postcards, fliers, or brochures. Do you want to increase sales? Who doesn’t, right? A writer/marketer can design a direct mail campaign for you – you can offer a discount, a coupon, whatever, to get prospects in the door and turn them into customers. Once you have your customers, think about sending out a monthly newsletter – your writer/marketer can write the content and design the publication for you. If you have a small marketing budget or have never really thought about how to effectively market your business, consider contacting a freelance writer/marketer.

Large companies sometimes use freelance writers, as well. Of course, these companies may have in-house marketing and communications departments, or have an established relationship with a firm. But who writes internal publications – newsletters, articles, communications, training materials? Who writes annual reports, regulatory communications, or other documents? If you’re a corporate PR Manager, Communications Manager, HR Director, or Marketing Manager, think about the time you and your staff spend on writing publications and communications. There’s a possibility you could outsource the writing to a freelancer and utilize your staff for the front line items on your list. Maybe management has been asking you for publications like these and they’ve always fallen to the bottom of your list due to a lack of resources. A freelance writer could definitely help you move these projects.

Entrepreneurs and individuals, especially in the age of Web 2.0, are becoming another segment of business for freelance writers. The digital documents field is becoming quite lucrative – places like Clickbank.com have enabled us to write and sell all kinds of publications, from how to game online, to investments, parenting, crafts, and hobbies. Maybe you have a great idea for a useful publication but can’t quite get it down on paper. There’s no shame in admitting that you’re not the best writer in the world – if we were all great writers, a few of us would be out of a job. If you find a freelance writer who has written e-books, white papers, or even print books (fiction and non-fiction), he or she can help you organize your thoughts, help you with the structure, and write the material. The area of intellectual property falls into play here for both writers and consumers, so be sure to have an agreement on the copyright of ideas and end products.

There are many reasons to hire a freelance writer and I’ve touched on just a few of them here. How do you go about finding a writer? They may be coming to you, like I attempt to on a daily basis. Many of us have online presence and advertising through online ads like Google Adwords, so a search for “copywriters” or “freelance writers” can turn up good matches. Clearinghouse websites that match buyers with service providers, such as Guru.com and Elance.com, are also good places to start. Be aware that prices are driven down on the web because of the number of people looking for the work. Be sure that the writer has the credentials, ability, and maturity to handle your job before you hire them. And remember that the lowest bidder may not always be the most qualified service provider.

If you’re not sure about your need for a freelance writer, contact one anyway. It may not be the right time for you, but it’s never too early to forge a relationship with another businessperson who offers a unique talent that not everyone possesses.

Chris Amisano is a freelance writer and author. His first novel, An Imperfect Arrangement, was published in June 2007. Visit his website at [http://www.dchrisamisano.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Amisano

Determine the type of writing services you need.

Before you can start your search for a writer, you must know what type of writing services you need. Do you need a skilled Web content writer? Do you need a talented copywriter? Or do you need a stellar press release writer? The good news is many writers specialize in more than one area of writing, so finding one writer for all of your writing-related needs is possible.

Ask for writing samples.

Writing samples are essential. An experienced writer will have a portfolio that contains samples of the types of writing they offer. Read the writing samples carefully: Are they well-written? Are they easy and interesting to read? A professional writer’s work will be polished and should already be edited. Writing samples that are littered with errors or that are poorly written are red flags. Avoid writers with poor writing samples.

Ask for references.

Testimonials from current or former clients will give you an idea of how others enjoy working with the writer you’re considering hiring and how happy they were with the results of the writer’s work.

Don’t hire based one price alone.

If you hire based on price alone, you’re taking a gamble. There are writers, especially online, who will charge very low rates. Be wary of those writers who charge very low rates; there is likely a reason for it. For example, the writer may be inexperienced and thus unable to produce the quality of writing for which you are looking. Some new writers will work for lower rates, but you’re going to be hard pressed to find a quality new writer who is going for write an article, for example, for as little as four dollars a page. Even new writers often don’t offer cutthroat rates.

Be prepared to pay a deposit.

Many professional writers charge a deposit to clients, especially if they’ve never worked with a particular client before. Be prepared to pay a deposit, but be wary of any writer who asks for 100 percent upfront.

Clearly communicate what you expect from the writer.

Even the most experienced professional writer can’t read minds, so it’s vital that you clearly communicate what you expect from the writer. For example, if you’re hiring a writer to write articles, identify the topic of the articles (be as specific as possible), the desired length of each article, whether you want the articles to contain any keywords, and any other information that you deem pertinent. Consider writing a project description that details exactly what you need, and be open to any questions and input the writer has for you.

Consider copyrights.

If you want all copyrights to transfer to you after you’ve made final payment for a project, ensure that you have a document, such as a Work for Hire agreement, stating that.

Have a project agreement written prior to the start of a project.

Always have a project agreement written and signed, by you and the writer, prior to the start of work. A project agreement should include such information as payment, amount of deposit (if applicable), method of payment (i.e. PayPal or check), project description, copyright terms, and due date.

If you’ve never written a project agreement before and if the writer doesn’t provide a project agreement, you can find plenty of boiler templates of project agreements online that you can then customize to your individual needs.

Beth Williams is a full-time writer and published author with more than a decade of professional writing and editing experience. She has written hundreds of online and offline articles, ebooks, audio scripts, Web site reviews, Web content, newsletters, press releases, and more. To learn more or to hire Beth, please visit http://www.creativeinklings.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beth_Williams

This is not something that just any writer can do, because there is more to rewriting an article than simply using synonyms and switching the sentences around a bit. It is essential to make sure that blocks of text are not duplicate and that any synonyms that are used are indeed true synonyms, and retain the sense and meaning of the original.

In fact, a good article rewriter will ignore the original other than reading it a few times to get its exact meaning, and then rewrite it in his or her own words. By doing that it is possible to generate dozens of articles from one original without even the original author recognizing any of them as being a copy.

This is probably one of the most valuable article writing services that a professional writer can provide for you, since you can purchase hundreds of PLR articles and have them all rewritten in several different ways.

Let’s say you purchase 100 PLR articles that allow you to use them as if they were your own. There is absolutely no point in you using them as they are, because every man and his dog will likely have bought the same articles, and will be trying to use them on their websites. None of them will be likely to be listed on any of the search engines due to duplication – when you buy them they are certain to be already published on all of the major search engines, either as website content or on article directories.

In order to use them, the articles will have to be made original, and this is where your choice of article rewriter steps in. Article ghost writers offer many different types of article writing services, and article rewriting is one of them. There is a skill to rewriting articles, particularly in generating several different articles from one.

In fact, it is not impossible for a good article rewriter to take an article already listed on Page #1 on Google, and produce another three or four from it that will jump above the original in Google’s listings. Is this illegal? Is it illegal to take an article written by somebody else and rewrite in such a way that Google cannot detect any significant duplication?

I do not believe so. It certainly isn’t plagiarism, which is copying somebody else’s work and claiming it to be yours. In one sense, plagiarism can be the theft of an idea, in that a discovery can be rewritten by another inventor or researcher, and then the discovery claimed as original work. However, that is not the same as reading an article and then writing it in a different way.

There is no copyright on the concepts contained in the vast majority of internet articles – only the actual writing. Therefore, if an article rewriter copies an article in such a way as to convey the sense of the original article, but in different words, then that is not a breach of copyright as long as the topic is in the public domain: in the way that the concept behind this article is in the public domain.

If you want to make the best use of the available online article writing services offered by many websites and online freelance article writers, and article rewriters, then chose several articles that you have read, and that you would like to be published under your name but in a different form, and hire a ghostwriter to rewrite them for you.

Done properly, it would not be possible to tell that one was based on the other since most article topics are not original. Were they so, then perhaps there might be case for plagiarism since the concept was being stolen, or the intellectual property as it is referred to. For anything else, an article rewriter is not breaking the law

Another way an article rewriter can help you is when you are using one of several article submission services or article spinners, whereby you have to rewrite a number of sentences or paragraphs in a different way. These are then permutated to generate dozens of new articles.

An article rewriter can help you to make the best of your articles by rewriting them into several different versions, to the extent that each one can be listed on search engines as separate articles. That’s article writing services at their very best.

A better way is needed. The common way of writing an article or term paper, or to compose text for a website is to get the material from various websites, combine this under various headings and then to rewrite each part in your own words. Essentially you use the ideas and concepts of the reference material, devise new phrases and text as replacements, and add your own concepts, phrases, expressions and words. More comprehensive and smarter substitution devices are required that make better and appropriate replacements. Such devices should have synonyms for 5,000 to 10,000 of the most frequently used words in the English language. Such large numbers of words are required to boost the substitution density. The aim should be to replace about half of the initial words. These words should be carefully chosen for substitution. This means choosing words that can be consistently substituted without altering the meaning of the phases and sentences or producing garbage. Using synonyms will never be flawless, because many English words are used as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc with different meanings. Also many words have a wide range of meanings in various contexts. However, by carefully choosing the words to be included and their synonyms, the performance of the programs can be optimized. Oddly this will mean that many of the commonly used words will have to be omitted because they have too many meanings and uses. Many difficulties arise from words that can be used as both nouns and verbs, with separate meanings, for example: study, care, rate, mark, strike, plan, need, back, walk, rent, loan, award, fight, report, work. Changing these words will be unreliable because the software cannot detect whether to apply the ‘noun’ or ‘verb’ version. Software to do this will be too complicated and too slow. Other words have too many meanings and uses to be suitable, for example: treat, last, safe, secure, safe, clash, works, over, fit, able, market, scale, poor, well, fare, fair, part, flexible. Changing these words will be dicey and will often produce meaningless results. Therefore these kinds of words should be omitted to ensure that about 75% of the words restored using synonyms are apt replacements.

The method proposed here is not a ‘dumb cheat’ instant replacement scheme where you use the method to magically make a rewrite without any further editing. Rather the concept is to use the proposed substitutes as a way of focusing on the text to change into your own words. Once the preliminary substitutions have been made – you then start the editing stage. This means going through the text, rewriting phrases and sentences in your own words. You proceed by accepting or changing the substitutes, adding new phrases and concepts, re-expressing various bits and reordering the phrases and sentences to suit. A properly conceived synonym substitution device is very helpful and effective for doing this editing. You should not expect more than two-thirds of the substitutes to work straight away. Don’t try to use the device as an automatic replacement device, but rather use it as a way of highlighting parts of the text you can change into your own words. You will find that this is a simpler and much quicker method than trying to rewrite the source material from scratch. Find a good online synonym replacement tool for your next drafting, writing or rewriting assignment. What is required is a program that has large numbers of carefully chosen, suitable and dependable synonyms.