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Category: youngprepro
I’ve been freelance writing for two years now.
One thing I’ve repeatedly made clear is that the sole source of success for my freelance writing business is my blog. I’ve written countless articles on how to get freelance writing clients from a blog, and I even created a definitive slide on how this works.
But there’s a question I’ve had to ponder along the way – a question I think a lot of you might have; is ‘luck’ a factor in all this?
A few weeks ago I announced a contest here on WritersinCharge asking you for your ideas to help create a perfect writing cartoon.
There were a lot of entries (over 50) and I was impressed by the cleverness and creativity of WritersinCharge readers. In fact, someone went the extra mile and drew an illustration to explain his idea.
You guys rock!
There were entries from various parts of the world and I really appreciate every entry. In fact, it was damn difficult to decide the winning entry.
Categories
A New Chapter
This month marks a new chapter in the history of WritersinCharge.
WritersinCharge was started on the 2nd of April 2010, so it’s been a little over 2 years since I’ve been running this blog.
It’s been a great ride!
One thing has been consistent through all these, though. I’ve been doing it all alone.
I’ve been writing the majority of the articles, doing all the research, responding to all the emails and working on client projects.
As much as I’d like to pretend that things are perfect, they aren’t.
I try my best to research every article written on this blog, provide as much details as possible and respond to reader questions and problems.
Unfortunately, I can’t do this alone anymore.
PS. The contest is now over, so no more entries can be allowed. All the ideas submitted were great, and I’m now working with my designer to create 2 – 3 different characters based on the winning ideas. The WritersinCharge audience will soon have to vote the best idea for us to determine the winner.
I’ll be updating this post once the winner is decided!
Update: I’ll also be enlisting help from the WritersinCharge audience in regards to the winning entry. My designer will work on the top ideas I chose, and everyone will have a chance to vote for the winning character.
A lot of changes are on the horizon for this blog. I can’t contain my excitement for what’s about to happen.
You’ll be finding out more about this in September, but I’m planning something I can’t resist telling you about right now as it is the subject of this contest.
I’m Starting a Freelance Writing Cartoon Series for WritersinCharge!
And I’ll give you $500 for an idea to make this a reality.
The structure of the payment is still currently uncertain, but depending on the responses I get, here are 3 ways I could go about it.
1. Give one person with the very best idea $500 in cash
2. Give one person with the very best idea $300, and the person with the next best idea $200 in cash
3. Give two people with the best ideas $250 each in cash
Note: The cartoon series won’t be replacing regular blog posts. Updates and new content will carry on as usual. The cartoon series will be introduced to spice things up and increase the overall quality of the blog for readers.
What the Contest Involves
Essentially, I’m making plans to revolutionize WritersinCharge and a huge part of that plan includes publishing writing cartoons every Wednesday.
Each cartoon will address a unique problem writers or freelance writers face and will mostly be developed around reader feedback.
The idea behind this is to make learning fun.
I won’t be designing the cartoons myself. I already have a professional designer who will do this. However, to make this work I have to bring in my own ideas.
This contest is about getting the best ideas to make the cartoon superb, attention grabbing and most importantly – inspiring!
Here’s what I already have in mind:
1. Design a character who the cartoon will be based on. I’m thinking of a kind of “freelance writing professor” (with big beards, glasses and all…) who addresses freelance-writing related concerns and gives actionable tips and advice in a funny but practical way.
2. I’m thinking of making the cartoons (for the first 3 Wednesdays in a month) – geared to answering reader questions. The 4th Wednesday’s cartoon will contain tips from me; mostly as a form of motivation or hard kick in the ass to get started.
3. The cartoons will be short; say, half the size of an A4 – or the size of an A4 at most.
I’m not experienced with cartoons and comics. In fact, I could easily count the number of cartoons I’ve read/watched since I was born, and while the cartoonist will do most of the work, I believe input from WritersinCharge readers will have a lot of impact.
For this very reason I’ll really appreciate it if you can give me your tips, advice and suggestion in shaping this cartoon series.
The contest isn’t for you to design the cartoon or even suggest the message to be used, but to give an idea on what you think will work best, and how you think the cartoons should be designed/positioned. Feel free to disregard what I have in mind as they aren’t concrete yet. This is about getting the best out there!
Who Can Participate?
Anyone and everyone can participate, whether you’ve been reading this blog for a year or just discovering it via this post today.
What matters most is the idea and how much impact it can add to this community.
Here’s the system I’ll use to judge which entries I think are the best ones:
- A great idea and implementation strategy = 3 points
- An actual example already online before to better illustrate your idea (it could be a link to a site or an image) = 2 points
- Sharing this post on social media sites to get others to be involved = 1 point
I’ll be using the above outlined system to judge the entries and the more points you get the higher your chances of winning. I’ll also be getting help from my designer and others to ensure the best ideas are used.
This is all about adding value to the community and changing the lives of other freelancers, not just about the money to be won. At the same time, however, I think every good effort should be rewarded.
You can also participate no matter how old or young you are, and irrespective of where you’re from.
How to Participate
You can participate by commenting below (or sending me an email) with your ideas, implementation strategy and examples. If you also share this post on social media sites, you should include links to your status updates to get a bonus point.
It’s also okay to participate more than once; this is about getting the best ideas, and that idea might come to you just after you posted the first one. Feel free to post any ideas. All ideas from the same person will be counted as one…thereby increasing your chances of winning.
The payment for winning the contest will be sent via Paypal or Bank Transfer.
Fire away and let’s do this!
Not only do you have the chance to win up to $500, you’ll also be changing the lives of tens of thousands (potentially millions?) of writers from all over the world!