To get writing work, you have to let people know you exist. Setting up a Web site is the best way to start, no matter where you are. If nothing else, it makes your work visible and accessible to a large audience.

Today, every working writer absolutely must have a Web site. The reality is editors expect you to have an online presence. Editors are your customers, so you need to meet their needs to get published. With a web site, you can prove your writing is good by putting your portfolio online. Plus, because the site is accessible 24/7 in all time zones, it can be promoting your work even when you're asleep.

People who work in publishing are extremely busy. Deadlines are a constant pressure. They don't want to wait for a 500K file of your latest article to download. Or worse, a poorly scanned version of a press release you wrote. It's a lot easier for them if you give them a list of links and let them read online at their convenience.

A Web site may seem like a daunting task. But a site doesn't have to be complicated. Think about what your customer wants to know (i.e., those editors you want to impress). Then make pages to answer their questions.

All writer Web sites should contain:

1. Concise information about your writing specialty. What do you do? It's not a good idea to try and be everything to everybody. It's a recipe for confusion, so pick a specialty and focus on it.

2. A list of writing credits. Now that a lot of magazines are online, you can often link directly to your articles. At a minimum, you can usually link to the main publisher or client home page.

3. Samples of your writing. Some editors want to see articles that haven't been edited by a pro. Why? A really good editor can make bad writing almost unrecognizably good. Editors know that someone else could be cleaning up your writing. So it never hurts to show a few clips in an unaltered state. This may sound like extra work. But it's really an opportunity for you to write some original material that you can reuse later.

4. Your complete contact information, pricing or payment policies, and if you are collecting email addresses, your privacy policy.

Along these lines, many writers start an ezine or newsletter. Yes, it's a commitment. But it's also the easiest way to start developing content and promoting it directly to your niche writing markets. An ezine is certainly one of the lowest cost ways to promote your writing talents.

However, starting an ezine is a bit of work, so first get your Web site up and functioning. Then once that is working for you, decide on a focus and a format for your ezine. Write a few articles ahead of time. Then get an autoresponder or list mailing service set up, and begin promoting. Of course that's the bare minimum, but there are many resources online on starting up ezines. As a writer, you're probably also a researcher, so this is a great opportunity to learn.

One classic writer question is, "how can I get published if I don't have any clips?" It's the chicken and egg problem recast for writers: you can't get work without any clips, but you can't get clips if no one will give you work.

Creating your own Web site content solves the problem. Write your own articles and publish them yourself online in your ezine. If you're concerned that these "self-published" clips won't be as impressive as published clips, don't be. Remember what editors want: articles that are original, easy to read, accurate, and on time. Your Web site proves that you can at least deliver on the "original, easy to read, and accurate" parts!

Susan Daffron

Susan Daffron aka "The Content Queen" is the President of Logical Expressions, Inc., a company that helps small businesses create, manage, and distribute content. Logical Expressions specializes in fusing high-quality unique content with search-engine and human-friendly Web sites. In addition, Susan practices what she preaches, publishing three ezines on popular topics, including computers (Logical Tips), adopted pets (Pet Tails), and regional information (Sandpoint Insider).

A recognized expert on content, design, and editorial topics, Susan Daffron has written more than 70 articles that have appeared in national magazines, more than 200 newspaper articles, an online software training course, a software book, and book chapters.

In addition to her writing experience, Susan has been doing design and editorial work since 1989. She has created magazines, newsletters, books and other book-length documents such as users guides and manuals. She was awarded the Most Valuable Professional designation from Microsoft in 1996 for her expertise in working with long documents in Microsoft Word.

Since forming her company in 1994, Susan has worked with businesses ranging from small service firms to large corporate entities. Some of her most well-known clients include Macmillan Computer Publishing, Bedford Communications, and Penton Media (formerly Duke Communications).

Many samples of Susan's writing are online. In addition to her ezines, for two years, Susan also published a free (print) computer “how to” magazine called Computor Companion. The magazine has evolved into a quarterly online publication and continues to receive rave reviews from computer users on the Web.