[Electric Speed] Freelancer insurance | one-page websites | punctuation beauty

Digital tools and resources for creative people
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A note from Jane

Last week I treated a client badly.

He was someone Id consulted with before, who was now returning for help with a book proposal. Was I available? Could I quote him?

Indeed, send the draft when ready, I wrote him.

What I didn’t say: I was winding down my consulting and not eager to take on another project. But I have trouble saying no to established clients.

When his document appeared in my inbox a week later, I realized I’d been hoping that it would never arrive. That was not a false hope; many clients don’t follow through, for various reasons, or they work with someone else.

But now I had to grapple with the problem I’d created for myself. Based on earlier conversations, I knew this would likely be a time-intensive project, not a breezy spin through a Word doc. I was overcommitted and had been saying no to things I wanted to do. Why was I saying yes to this?

I made a snap decision to drop the project while sitting in the kitchen at my laptop, on a weekend, not long after I saw the document come through. I shot off a message saying I couldn’t take on the project, sorry. It was the briefest email you can imagine.

When I get stressed, I dispatch emails of even greater brevity than usual, the kind that hurt people’s feelings. Unfortunately, I was not sitting in my office, where I have a big sticky note that commands me to "Answer Tomorrow."

The client was—no surprise—distressed and thought he’d done something wrong. Of course he had only done exactly what I’d told him to do. By the time I slowed down to explain why I couldn’t help him, the damage was done.

I’ve reached these low points before, and I keep trying to reform my ways. Over the last 18 months, I’ve drawn back on client work, precisely to avoid overwhelm or short-changing clients. But now I’ve decided to close entirely.

I may open again in the future, but I’ve long wanted to serve a greater number of writers through each hour of my work, especially those of limited means. This changes my business model, but I feel ready.

Jane

P.S. Popular post at my site: Structure Isn’t the Holy Grail You’re Looking For

P.P.S. There is more to this newsletter. Keep scrolling!

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Emerging Voices: a webzine for shifting times.
Emerging Voices: A Webzine for Shifting Times

Emerging Voices is a quarterly online webzine going into its fourth year. Based in London, the webzine presents voices from around the globe reflecting the personal and the political through paintings, poetry, essays, photography and short commentary. Join our Subscriber list to be updated on quarterly postings, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!

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Jane’s Electric Speed List
Here are some of the latest things I’ve discovered. (I have not been paid to mention any of these resources.)
How to easily create a great-looking sign-up page (that can also include a payment form)
Many moons ago in this newsletter, I suggested Carrd as an easy, no-code website builder. It remains a great solution for quick, one-page sites (free!), but recently I saw Dan Oshinsky suggest Carrd as an efficient way to create a slick sign-up page for your email newsletter, an event landing page, or a dedicated page for a book or product. That’s because Carrd integrates with email service providers, payment providers, and Zapier.

I never thought of these use cases before, and it’s brilliant. It does mean paying a modest fee ($19/year) for the integrations.
Need freelancer insurance?
Earlier this year I discovered Dinghy, which is business insurance for freelancers that is affordable, easy to understand, and—even, surprisingly—a pleasure to purchase. It doesn’t require getting on a phone call or going through a long application process.

Even better, Authors Guild recently announced a new partnership with Dinghy to allow members to purchase media liability insurance tailored specifically to the needs of freelance writers. But anyone can obtain Dinghy coverage.
The top rated TV and movies available to stream, based on ratings from across the web
As soon as you land on the homepage for Flick Metrix, you’ll see the default "best movie" available to stream right now is Seven Samurai (on Netflix). I changed the criteria to: all streaming services, TV and movies released after 2010, with an average rating of 90. The top selection I had never seen or heard about was Kota Factory, an Indian Hindi-language web series. It’s now on my watchlist. You can narrow the search by genre and many other criteria.
What you learn about your writing by seeing only the punctuation
This web tool lets you "spy your hidden literary style." The results are peculiar and eye-catching; below is an example from an article I recently wrote. Here’s a discussion of the tool.
punctuation artwork
 
Social Media Bliss with Jane Friedman. $89 webinar hosted by Writers Digest University. Thursday, November 11, 2021. 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
NEXT ONLINE CLASS
Nov. 11: Social Media Bliss with Jane Friedman
In partnership with Writer’s Digest: Learn how to take a holistic and fits-for-you approach to social media that’s based on long-term reader engagement and sound principles of online marketing. You won’t find gimmicks or short-term approaches here. Rather, the basic philosophy is that (1) your work—your writing—is always central, and (2) you have to enjoy what you’re doing on social media for it to be sustainable and to become a meaningful part of your overall platform and online presence. We’ll eliminate as much guesswork as possible, and focus on how to retain your authentic voice regardless of what social media site you use.
Your turn: Twitter management
In the last issue, I asked you to tell me your favorite tools for managing Twitter. Apparently not many of you are using such tools! I have one response, from Bob Mueller:

  • If you’re late to the idea of Twitter Lists or just want to manage them more effectively than the native Twitter interface allows, check out Twitter List Manager. You can easily bulk add or delete users to lists; you can also manage the lists themselves. It’s got a neat, simple, relatively intuitive interface, it’s free/donationware, and is the best such interface I’ve found.

Next question: Do you have a favorite at-the-desk exercise or stretch? Hit reply to this email and let me know, or discuss on Discord.
 
Free resources featuring Jane
Upcoming online classes
Jane Friedman
Electric Speed is a free newsletter by Jane Friedman that launched in 2009. More than 25,000 subscribers receive it. You can support it by (1) sponsoring an issue or (2) sharing it with friends and colleagues. "At electric speed, all forms are pushed to the limits of their potential." —Marshall McLuhan
I baked fruitcake last weekend; it will age until Christmas! 🍇
 
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Powerful digital tools for writers

Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Welcome to Electric Speed: digital tools for writers ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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