Ask Sharon: Readers’ Questions on Writing Answered

April 22, 2011

For a couple of months now I’ve had a box in the sidebar (update: I’m now encouraging people to ask their questions either on my Facebook page or Google+ profile) where people can ask questions for me to answer. I was inspired by Anne Wayman’s regular ‘Dear Anne’ posts on her blog. People are starting to use the feature more regularly. Here are some of the questions that have been asked and answered since the feature started. As it turned out, many of the answers were already on this site. :)

How do I write online and make money without it costing me money?

I answered that question here.

Where do I start? I have a ton of topics to talk about — where do I begin?

How do you get started if you’re new?

I’ve written a post on Starting out in Freelancing and the rest of the freelance writing questions series has some useful info on starting a writing business.

How do I find work as a beginning sales letter writer?

I’m not an expert on sales letter writing, though I have written a few, but check out this advice from Chris Bibey.

Can teenagers write and get paid?

Yes. As well as teen writers, there are a lot of teen bloggers. Check out CarlOCab, who was running a successful blog at the age of 13 and there’s some more inspiration in this Guardian article.

How can I publish without revealing my name?

The answer is simple — use a pen name. Even if you sign a writing contract, you can have a pen name.

Here’s some info I found that might help with your decision:

A follow up question dealt with the legal requirements of using pen names. I found some answers here:

Which sites actually pay, even minimally for people to generate content for them? I enjoy writing and if I can “blame” 2$ for my efforts… I’d love it all the more!

Here are a few posts I’ve published on the issue.

What is a ghostwriter?

Answers are here:

How do you find sources to write for?