Today, Bookpleasures.com is excited to welcome as our guest, Kelly James-Enger. Kelly has been a fulltime freelancer for 17+ years, writing nearly 1,000 articles for more than 60 national magazines and more than a dozen books. Well-known as a freelancing expert, she’ also the owner of Improvise Press, a niche publishing company. Her books include Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets and Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition. She blogs about making more money in less time.

Norm:

Good day Kelly and thanks for participating in our interview

How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going?

Kelly:

I majored in writing in college, but then went to law school. Working as an attorney, I started writing fiction again but soon realized there was a much bigger market for nonfiction (i.e., articles) than for short stories in magazines, so I decided to focus on the former as I had a better chance of being published—and I knew I wanted to be published! And what keeps me going today, well, writing isn’t only what I love to do—it’s my career. I’ve been a fulltime freelancer since January, 1997, and writing is how I support myself and my family.

Norm:

Did you read any special books on how to write? As a follow up, do you work from an outline?

Kelly:

I read Writer’s Market religiously each year the edition came out, and I did read quite a few books on freelancing and self-employment when I first started freelancing fulltime. Re: outlines—I usually use a rough outline for articles, and I do outline books, but when I write fiction, I come up with the characters and then see what happens.

Norm:

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Kelly:

I specialize in a handful of subjects (health, fitness, wellness, and nutrition), so I do struggle with burnout and writing about the same things over and over. And it’s always a challenge to find time to write fiction—even though I write for a living, my time to write what I love to write (not just what I get paid to write) is limited.

Norm:

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

Kelly:

I’ve published more than a dozen with traditional publishers, but fiction and nonfiction. Did you Get the Vibe? is my favourite novel and Six-Figure Freelancing is my favorite nonfiction book.

Norm:

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

Kelly:

Yes, I typically get 3-5 emails a week from readers. Often they have a quick question that isn’t answered in one of my books on freelancing, but sometimes they just want to say “thanks for your book,” or that it’s helped them with their freelance career, which I love to hear!

Norm:

What do you think of the Internet market for writers?

Kelly:

If you mean writing for online markets, I think it’s a great opportunity for writers. They may not pay as much as print magazines, but there’s a huge need for well-written content for online magazines, websites, and blogs, and I think writers should take advantage of it!

Norm:

How long does it take you to write a book and what is your work schedule like when you're writing?

Kelly:

Typically about six months, depending on the subject matter. I ghostwrite books for clients, too, and those usually take four to six months. My work schedule depends on the day—I have two little kids—but I typically do my “hard core” writing work in the morning, and editing, research, interviews, and other tasks in the afternoon.

Norm:

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

Kelly:

Research, whether it’s based on interviews with other people, doing my own research, and/or my own life experience.

Norm:

Can you tell us a little about your most recent books Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets and

Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money?

Kelly:

I wrote Dollars and Deadlines because I’d never seen a book that walked new writers through the process of pitching, researching, and writing articles for print and online markets. I share the process of ten actual articles so that new writers would know exactly what to do (and not to do) when they started freelancing. Six-Figure Freelancing was a very successful book I wrote for Random House in the mid 2000s; I updated and expanded it and published a second edition of the book myself in 2013. Six-Figure shows both new and experienced writers how to make more money for their work, and it’s probably my best-known book.

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and your books?

Kelly:

Thanks for asking! Check out Improvise Press and  MY BLOG  for the latest on how to make more money as a writer in less time.

Norm:

As this interview draws to a close what one question would you have liked me to ask you? Please share your answer.

Kelly:

How writers can make more money for their work—I think that’s a critical issue for writers who want to turn their words into an income stream. And the answer is to start thinking not only about what you want to write, but the types of markets that pay for that kind of work, and how you can meet their needs.

Norm:

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors

Kelly:

My (book) pleasure! Thank YOU for the interview!

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