Freelance Writing – ArcticLlama

Have you added the Facebook LIKE button to your website or blog yet?

Multiple big name websites, respected media outlets, magazine websites, and more have added the Facebook code snippet that publishes a "Like" button on your stories or websites. I even added them here on the freelance writing blog, although I did not add them on the ArcticLlama freelance writing business website. Having like buttons all over a professional business website just didn’t seem the way to go.

I also added the new LIKE button, which can also be set to display RECOMMEND instead, to some of my other websites that I will now shamelessly plug in the spirit of this post (You’ll see what I’m talking about in a minute.) The LIKE button is part of Facebook’s F8 initiative which before the whole Facebook privacy debacle drowned it out was supposed to be the amazing Internet changing Google killer. It isn’t really turning out that way, but the technology writers have moved on to fresher ground, like the new Apple iPhone 4 which is a major Google killer…um, wait a sec–

Adding the Facebook like button to websites such as my parenting skills from Dad website at Undefeated Daddy was easy. Like many of my sites, my personal financial tips website and my site dedicated to helping people make money by writing online, are build on the WordPress platform.

For those of you not familiar with WordPress, it is an open-source blogging platform that allows writers to focus on writing and WordPress handles everything else like formatting what that writing looks like on a webpage when someone reads it in a web browser. This writing blog is published on WordPress and I am continuously searching for the best WordPress theme for writers but haven’t had much chance to try them out lately.

Click Like on Facebook Button

Ironically, many of my readers are apparently not the click the Like button types. Most of my posts go unloved in the like realm. That isn’t a focus of mine, and I’m not sure if it has any value considering the sheer volume of likes that I see on any given day on my Facebook account which is not exactly filled with Facebook junkies.

However, that has not stopped me from liking my own writings no matter where they are published. If I see a LIKE button on something I wrote, whether on my own websites, or the websites of clients that I write for, I click it.

I can’t help but wonder how many other writers are clicking to Like what they write either. In the end, does this undermine the whole system?

As professional writers, we know all to well the frustration of copyright infringement and people stealing professional content to fill up junk websites filled with advertisements and affiliate links. When it comes time for freelance writers to find and use stock photography to go along with our writing efforts we play by the rules. If you don’t believe in the Golden Rule, then at least you should believe in playing for the good guys, and good guys don’t steal a person’s pictures, just like good guys don’t steal someone’s written words.

The catch is that many writers, both professional freelance writers, in-house writers, and hobby writers end up stealing stock photos and infringing on the copyrights of the photographer without ever realizing it.

The confusion comes from the terminology used in the stock photography business, and a general ignorance among most people about how photographers get paid for their work. To illustrate, think back to your wedding day, or if that’s a little bit too far back, or hasn’t happened yet, as a friend about theirs. Specifically, think about the arrangement with the professional wedding photographer that took pictures at your wedding.

Some wedding photographers charge an upfront fee. This covers the photographer’s expenses for being at the wedding and wedding receptions, and also compensates the photographer for showing up to your wedding and not heading off to a better photography opportunity elsewhere. However, some wedding photographers do not charge a fee for their services at all. In one respect, these professional or semi-pro photographers could be considered “free” wedding photographers.

However, as anyone who has had professional wedding photos taken recently knows, that is not actually the case. Frankly, you wouldn’t expect it to be. Photographers have bills to pay too. Unless you have a friend taking portraits in a home photography studio you are going to have to pay something for the services of a professional.

Free Stock Photos Versus Royalty-Free Stock Photos

What makes following photography licensing and copyright rules difficult is understanding that there are actually TWO ways that photographers get paid for their photos, whether we are talking about professional stock photography or otherwise.

The first way a photographer gets paid is by selling the actual photograph. This is the typical transaction that everyone is familiar with in every day life. However, because a photo is creative intellectual property, just like writing is, you can’t really sell the actual photograph. Instead, what you do is sell some or all of the rights to that photograph, just like getting paid for writing.

Writers can sell first-rights to their work which gives the publisher the right to use the work for the very first time. While most publishers also buy at least some reprint rights, theoretically, this would mean that the magazine or newspaper publishing your story could only publish it once, and then the work belongs to you again. Once again, you can sell some or all of the rights to the story, just like a photographer.

The second way a photographer gets paid for a photo is by being paid royalties. Again, just like writers in some cases, a photographer can earn money based upon how is photograph is used. Royalties can be paid in numerous ways including on each publication or usage, based upon how many sales there are of whatever the photo was used for an so on. Writers, particularly novel writers and book authors, get paid royalties too. For each copy of the book published, the writer earns some amount of money (once the advance is paid back).

Here is where everyone gets lost.

Free stock photographs are free in the sense that you do not have to pay up front to use the picture. That does not necessarily mean that you do not have to pay at all.

Likewise, a royalty-free stock photo means that you do not have to pay the photographer royalties based upon where and how often you use the picture. Again, that does not necessarily mean that you do not have to pay anything.

The trick is that free stock photos may still require royalties to be paid when the photograph is used, and royalty-free stock photographs may require that a one-time fee be paid for the rights to use the photo in the first place.

Now, of course, some stock photos are both free and royalty-free making them pictures that you do not have to pay for at all. However, that does not mean that there is no licensing agreement associated with the photo. Totally free stock photos may require that the photographer be credited whenever the picture is used. The license may actually require that the photographer be credited in a specific way. Even more common is that the license may restrict where and how the image can be used. For example, a photo may be prohibited from being used in adult themed advertising or the like.

The point is, don’t just assume that because you searched for “free stock photos” that whatever appears on the webpage Google sends you to is actually 100% free for you to use at any time in any way.

A good tool for a writer’s toolkit is a resource of stock photography, both free and otherwise. Fortunately, the Internet has made finding high-quality stock photography easy. It has not made understanding stock photo licensing any easier.

A good starting place for free stock photos for writers is Microsoft Office. Included in Microsoft Office 2010 and pretty much every Microsoft Office version before that is the Clip Organizer that allows you to search for free clipart. This includes both clipart that came with Microsoft Word 2010 and that which is online on Microsoft’s Office website. Don’t worry about the term clipart, that includes photographs and multimedia, at least on MS Office. If you can’t find it, check your Microsoft Office start menu folder for a Tools section, and the Clip Organizer will be in there.

Good luck, and happy writing.

I had a chance to get some hands on time with an iPad the other day. Like everyone else, I thought it was really cool at first. I mean, imagine the possibilities. But, then as reality sat in, I could only actually imagine two possibilities (games and reading), neither of which justifies a $100 device, let alone a $500 one.

Now, I am sure that for certain people, the iPad or a touch-pad tablet computer of some sort might eventually be very useful. However, for right now, all I see is a really expensive technology gizmo whose "big ideas" are all really just gimmicks when you get right down to it. The iPad may be great for techie types who surf the Internet during meetings, but for a freelance writing business, the value is very limited.

Plug for my article about best WordPress themes for writers making money with ads online.

iPad Size Makes It Useless

The problem is not with the snazzy iPad interface, nor with the applications offered. The problem is also not with the features the iPad has or the functionality that the iPad lacks. (And, yes, Adobe Flash is a big, fat, piece of junk that causes crashes, battery drain, and overheating.) These things seem to be mostly up to task for a device of this kind.

The main problem that sinks the iPad as a usable writer’s tool is its size. This seems counterintuitive. After all, one of the big selling points of the iPad is its small size and light weight. The iPad is much lighter than most laptops and smaller than most of them too. It is also thinner than a netbook.

So, what is the problem with the iPad’s size?

After you get past the gee-whiz factor, the reality of the world is that when it comes to size, there are really only a handful of meaningful differences. These size categories are the ones that determine how any device, electronic gadget or otherwise, is used in your day-to-day life. Some things are not portable at all (65" Sony Bravia LCD HDTV) while other things can be carried with you everywhere (your car keys). In between are various levels of portability such as:

• Fits in the trunk of a car.
• Can be carried in suitcase.
• Can be carried in backpack.
• Can be carried in briefcase or messenger bag.
• Can be carried in fanny pack.
• Can be carried in purse.
• Can be carried in pocket.

When Size Matters

The easiest way to see these size distinctions is to think of the tradeoffs between organizers or planners and their size. For example, you can get a big, 8 1/2 by 11, Franklin Covey organizer with pouches, pockets, planning sheets and calendars for just about any scenario you can imagine. The problem is that it will be bulky, heavy, and large. That means that it will sit on your desk all of the time. Maybe you will put it in your briefcase or work bag at the end of the day and take it home with you, but that is it. There is no way you will be lugging that thing around when you go to happy hour or a writing conference.

If you sit at a desk all day, then this type of planner maybe makes sense. However, if you do a lot of traveling or if you have client meetings all over the city, or if you don’t have a desk job, this planner is worthless to you, no matter how great and feature packed it is.

On the other end of the spectrum would be little, note card-sized calendars that fit in your pocket or purse. The great thing about these is that they are small enough to take everywhere with you. That means that you will never be somewhere and get an important meeting setup or critical phone number without your planner right there to write it down in.

For ultimate organization check out the ADHD Planner tips

The downside, of course, is that with it being so small you have to leave out a bunch of important items you could really use sometimes. Unlike the giant planner, there is no room for a business card holder, or even for a pocket to hold your parking pass or identification card. If you need to have lots of different things with you when you are in business mode, then this planner is worthless to you no matter how compact, lightweight, and portable.

There are any number of other sizes of planners and organizers in between. They tend to fall into approximately standard sizes, however. This is partly due to being sized to match up with readily available paper sizes. It is also because there is a point where the size differentiations just don’t matter any more.

For example, can you really write that much more information in a 6" x 8" planner than you can in a 5" x 7" planner?

More importantly, there is no real reason to distinguish between the two sizes. Neither one will fit in your pocket or purse, and neither one will allow you to carry "everything." So, in most respects, these planners are the same size.

The Only Sizes That Matter

Which brings us back to the failure of the iPad as anything more than a fun little gadget, and, more importantly, to what makes the iPad suck for writers.

In the world of the work from home freelance writer, there are different functions and events that take place. This is roughly true for all professional writers, regardless of whether they work eight hours at a desk in an office or whether they work 24/7 from the road.

As a writer the differences revolve, not surprisingly, around writing. When it comes to writing there are just three scenarios that matter.

1. Full Setup Physical Location – Your home office desk or a desk or table at a client site all fall into this category. This is a place where you will be doing enough work, often enough, that you take the time to place and setup your equipment and then leave it there. This involves a desktop computer or docking station with a full-size keyboard and full-size monitor.
2. Temporary Planned Location – Starbucks, Stella’s on Pearl Street, coffee shops, libraries, cafes, and on-site locations for a short period of time. These are the bread and butter locations for the freelance writer. A table, a fun, sunny, open atmosphere, or an empty desk or table in an office building. The thing about these locations is that they are temporary. Desktop computers, 24" monitors, wiring, and the like are out. On the other hand, there is going to be an electrical outlet and a desk or table to type on. You might be there for 20 minutes, or it might be six hours. Either way, this is a certain kind of portability. I like to call this bag-level portability. While these work locations may be temporary, they are not a surprise. On the contrary, I PLAN to be at these locations for a set amount of time and I pack a message bag to carry with me according to how long and what I plan to be working on.
3. Unplanned Locations – Inspiration can strike at any time. Jotting down a note of an idea for something to write about, a quote that you want to use later, or even doing some actual writing, requires the writer to be prepared at all times. To be useful, any device used in this scenario has to be so portable that you can (and do) carry it with you at all times. This is the opposite of the above where you plan on when to have equipment with you. For these highly portable devices, you plan when to NOT have them with you. (Leave your cell phone at home, dear.)

By now, you can probably see where the iPad falls short for someone like me. It is too big to be a carry with me at all times device. The iPad is a bag-level portable device. That is, you are not going to carry an iPad with you unless you have some sort of bag or portfolio that you are carrying around with it inside.

There is nothing wrong with that, but it begs the question,

"If you are carrying around a bag or purse that would fit an iPad, wouldn’t it also fit a netbook?"

And, if you can be carrying a netbook, wouldn’t you rather have something that has a keyboard that you can touch-type on? Over at Cult of Mac (nice name) they mention that you can use an Apple Bluetooth aluminum chiclet keyboard that you already have sitting on your desk. Unfortunately, that is exactly the point. Do you really need an iPad for your desk?

You can also get a special keyboard for the iPad, but by the time you add that size and weight (and cost), you are well into netbook and laptop territory, and for the same money you can get something that won’t constrain your ability to work on a wide variety of projects.

What we really need is something that still fits in a pocket (I mean actually fits, I’m looking at you Sony.) and yet is bigger and faster to type on than a standard smart phone. The iPhone is one of those devices, so that makes a lot more sense. Maybe I will look at one of those or its competitors when the time comes, but for now, the little scribble pad and touch screen keyboard on my three-year old HTC Touch handles the anytime anyplace requirements.