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| Introduction | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| So You Want to Be a Freelance Writer | |
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| What is a Freelancer? | |
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| How Much Can You Earn? | |
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| What Does It Take to Become a Freelancer? | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| The Necessities | |
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| Optional Extras | |
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| Making Time to Write | |
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| Treat Time as an Investment | |
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| Examine Your "Time Budget" | |
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| Examine Your Priorities | |
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| Eliminate Time-Wasters | |
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| Teach Others to Respect Your Time | |
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| Setting Goals | |
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| Defining Effective Writing Goals | |
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| Short-Term vs. Long-Term Goals | |
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| Review Your Progress | |
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| Coping with Rejection | |
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| But why? | |
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| "Good" Rejection Slips | |
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| Self-Honesty | |
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| It Sank. Get Over It. | |
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| Starting Your Article | |
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| Finding Ideas | |
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| What Do Editors Want? | |
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| Digging for Ideas | |
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| Brainstorming Ideas | |
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| Focus and Expand | |
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| Don't Eliminate the Negative | |
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| Categories, Subjects, Topics, and Slants | |
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| Category | |
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| Subject | |
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| Topic | |
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| Slant | |
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| The Outline Demystified | |
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| Five Ways to Approach the Outline | |
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| Working Within a Word Budget | |
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| Conducting Research on the Web | |
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| Defining Effective Search Terms | |
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| Is It Accurate? | |
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| Using Published Sources | |
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| Conducting Interviews | |
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| Making Contact | |
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| Before the Interview | |
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| During the Interview | |
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| After the Interview | |
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| E-mail Interviews | |
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| E-mail Surveys | |
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| Using Interview Material | |
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| Starting Your First Draft | |
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| Step One: Identify Your Subject | |
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| Step Two: Identify Your Subtopics | |
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| Step Three: Identify Your Audience | |
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| Step Four: Identify Your Limits | |
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| Step Five: Identify Your Structure | |
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| Style and Presentation | |
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| Beginnings, Middles, and Ends | |
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| Sidebars | |
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| Five Flaws that Can Lead to Rejection | |
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| Personal Experience Articles | |
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| Experiences to Share | |
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| Experiences that Enrich | |
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| Experiences to Avoid | |
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| Experiences to Endure | |
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| First Experiences | |
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| Experience as Expertise | |
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| Using Experiences Wisely | |
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| Getting the "I" Out | |
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| Some Final Tips | |
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| Finding the Right Markets | |
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| Exploring the Markets | |
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| Finding Free (and Almost Free) Magazines | |
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| Evaluating a Market: Is it Right for You? | |
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| Should You Write for Free? | |
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| Writing for Special-Interest Publications | |
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| "But I'm Not an Expert" | |
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| Understanding the Markets | |
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| Magazine "Must-Haves" | |
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| Should You Specialize or Generalize? | |
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| Writing for Newspapers | |
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| How Do Magazine and Newspaper Writing Differ? | |
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| Finding Freelance Opportunities | |
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| Types of Newspaper Articles | |
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| Do You Need Pictures? | |
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| Querying a Newspaper | |
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| Writing the Article | |
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| Don't Overlook the Internet | |
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| Once You Have Your Foot in the Door� | |
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| Queries and Submissions | |
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| The Submission Process | |
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| Whom to Contact | |
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| What to Send | |
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| Simultaneous and Multiple Submissions | |
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| Waiting for an Answer | |
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| The Editor Responds� | |
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| After the Acceptance | |
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| Tracking Submissions | |
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| Will an Editor Steal Your Ideas? | |
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| How to Write a Successful Query | |
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| Elements of a Query | |
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| Hooks to Avoid | |
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| Format | |
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| Multiple-Pitch Queries | |
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| Common Query Problems | |
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| E-mail Queries | |
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| Elements of the E-mail Query | |
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| Formating Your Manuscript | |
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| Print Manuscripts: The Basics | |
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| Fonts and Format | |
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| Electronic Submissions | |
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| Counting the Words | |
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| Other Format Issues | |
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| Do You Need a Cover Letter? | |
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| When to Use a Cover Letter? | |
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| Ten Things to Leave Out of Your Letter | |
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| Rights and Contracts | |
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| Understanding Rights and Copyright | |
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| A Writer's Rights | |
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| Electronic Rights | |
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| Use vs. Payment | |
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| Protecting Your Rights | |
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| Understanding Contracts | |
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| Understanding Terms | |
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| Negotiating Contracts | |
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| Understanding Your Position | |
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| What Isn't a Contract | |
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| Making Your Own Contract | |
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| Some Tricky Contract Issues | |
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| Setting Fees and Getting Paid | |
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| By the Word vs. by the Hour | |
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| When Time Isn't the Only Factor | |
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| Handling "Pay on Publication" Markets | |
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| Asking for More Money | |
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| Getting Paid | |
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| Handling Income and Expenses | |
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| Tracking Your Business | |
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| Why All This Trouble? | |
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| Preparing Your Taxes | |
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| Deducting Expenses | |
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| Estimated Taxes | |
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| Surviving an Audit | |
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| Get an Accountant! | |
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| Keeping Records | |
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| Contracts and Letters of Agreement | |
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| Correspondence | |
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| Invoices | |
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| Clips | |
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| Manuscripts | |
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| Keeping Electronic Records | |
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| The Online Writer | |
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| The Writer and the Internet | |
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| Creating a Writer's Web Site | |
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| Five Great Reasons for a Web Site | |
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| Elements of a Successful Web Site | |
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| Making Money from Your Site | |
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| Three Things Your Web Site Can Do Without | |
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| The Greatest Danger of All� | |
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| How Social Networking Sites Help Writers | |
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| Facebook | |
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| Linkedin | |
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| Twitter | |
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| Using Social Network Sites | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Beyond the Basics | |
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| More Information | |
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| To Blog or Not to Blog | |
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| Why Blog? | |
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| Speaking of Numbers� | |
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| Blogging vs. "Writing" | |
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| Taking the Plunge | |
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| Tools for the Blogger | |
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| Expanding Your Writing Business | |
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| Selling Reprints | |
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| Writing for International Publications | |
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| Selling Photos | |
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| Photo "Ops" | |
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| Basic Equipment | |
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| Submitting Photos | |
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| Obtaining Photos from Other Sources | |
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| Submitting Photos Without Manuscripts | |
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| Selling (and Syndicating) a Column | |
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| Choosing a Column Topic | |
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| Pitching Your Column | |
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| Self-Syndicating Your Column | |
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| Writing (and Selling) a Nonfiction Book | |
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| Why Write a Book? | |
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| Getting Started | |
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| Finding a Publisher | |
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| Preparing a Proposal | |
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| The Publishing Process | |
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| Do-It-Yourself Publishing | |
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| Self-Publishing | |
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| Subsidy Publishing | |
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| Subsidy Print-on-Demand Publishing | |
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| Electronic Publishing | |
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| Commercial Freelancing | |
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| Writing for Businesses | |
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| What Does a Copywriter Do? | |
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| What Do You Need to be a Copywriter? | |
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| Getting the Work | |
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| SIDEBAR: The Cold Call, by Peter Bowerman | |
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| Becoming a Successful Copywriter | |
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| Writing Copy | |
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| Direct Sales Letters | |
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| Press Releases | |
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| Writing Web Content | |
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| Commercial Freelancing: Where's the Money? | |
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| Defining the Project | |
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| Determining a Timeline | |
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| Setting Fees | |
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| Get It in Writing | |
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| Follow up! | |
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| Conclusion: Taking the Plunge | |
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| Full-Time Freelancing: Taking the Plunge | |
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| When to Plunge-and When Not To | |
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| A Writer's Checklist | |
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| Making a Plan | |
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| About the Author | |
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| About the Contributors | |
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| Index | |