Just a quick glance at the bookshelves of a fast search through Amazon and you will find thousands of books on how to be a freelance writer. Most of the books are garbage. Some of the books are good. A few are great. The Well-Fed Writer is one of the best.

The subtitle of the book is also important: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less. Let that sink in for a minute: Six months or less.

Normally, when it comes to a great book, I would tell you to download it immediately to your ereader and get started or maybe run to the library. Not this time. This is a book that you need to buy in the physical form. The reason is that you are going to be highlighting in it, writing in the margins and so forth. Remember college and studying the textbook? Same thing here only it’s enjoyable. You will need a notebook, highlighters and pencils. Just trust me and assemble these components.

Not only is The Well-Fed Writer one of the most informative books on freelance writing out there but it’s also fun to read. This is quite a trick when you consider that the subject matter is on how to get your business booming; not normally an entertaining subject.

The book is divided into 15 chapters each with a catchy title and numerous subtitles. This is not like many books that tell you what you need to do without telling you how to do it, Bowerman tells you exactly how to replicate his success in a step-by-step manner. Are you happy if you clear $200 a week from your writing? Bowerman will show you how to make it $2,000 a week or even more.

Now before I get any further, don’t expect to not work. This is not some get rich quick scheme. This is simply the formula for being a successful freelance writer. This book shows you how to find and access clients. If even shows you ways to pitch to the clients. The work part, that is up to you. Furthermore, reading the book isn’t enough; you actually have to put the information to use for it to work.

So what types of information can you expect? There is a ton of information (get your highlighter ready) to put into immediate practice to make you self-sufficient as a freelance writer within 6 months. Lets start at the beginning.

The introduction is great and covers all the basics of why you need the book and how it will help you. Then it quickly moves into the first couple of chapters where Bowerman asks why you want to be a freelance writer and goes into the benefits. He also covers what it takes to be successful.

The third chapter he goes into the sales and marketing realm. Pay particular attention here. This information if pure gold and needs to be covered until you can recite it in your sleep. To be a successful freelance writer you have to focus part of your time on sales and marketing. This is where you get your clients and without it you don’t have a career. Learn it now and you are way ahead of the game.

The next two chapters after that focus on building a writers website as well as where to find business. Again, place very close attention here because these are two of the most important building blocks you will have in your career. Without them you are never going to be anything but fodder for the content mills.

Chapters six and eight go into detail about cold calling, direct mail and email marketing. If you are a regular reader here you will already know how important these are to the overall marketing of your business. These two chapters will show you how to use these techniques to get more clients and to get the clients that pay well. Interestingly Bowerman references The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss in these chapters, though the book doesn’t make it into the sources list. That makes sense considering that the Ferris book isn’t about freelance writing. It’s still worth reading however.

I skipped chapter seven on purpose. It delves into the area of dealing with clients that many people shy away from: meeting them face-to-face. Bowerman actually walks you through the entire process including how to talk money before ever agreeing to a meeting where you would end up with a client that wants to pay little for a lot. The section on working efficiently is especially important and you should read it several times. The more efficient you are, the more money you make.

One important aspect that Bowerman touches on frequently is that the workday mindset needs to be adjusted. We are conditioned to work Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. Freelance writing doesn’t follow that construct. Our profession is one of projects and deadlines. We have a project and it has a deadline. Beyond that when we do it is up to us. We may prefer to work a traditional 40-hour workweek but that is often not possible. Your thinking needs to be adjusted and you need to learn outstanding time management skills. Your livelihood depends on it.

Speaking of money, Bowerman covers that as well. He covers every minute detail of how much to charge, how to get paid and everything else you could ever wonder. Have you wondered about hourly rates? They only exist in your head. You want to charge via project. As I have mentioned numerous times, hourly rates are always a bad idea for writers. Go for flat rates whenever possible. Bowerman reiterates what I have written about here for months: They may be the clients but it’s your business. You set the rules for your business. The clients need you as much or more than you need them. After all, you can find another client a lot faster than they can find another freelancer (and they probably have a deadline!) This is a trap that many new freelancer writers fall into because they assume incorrectly that they will be paid well by the client. Worse, many new to the industry will also assume that the amount quoted by the client is standard.

There are no standard rates in this industry. This is something that Bowerman stresses and I want to emphasize as well. Look, we all want to be paid well. But unless we demand it, we will be paid as low as the client thinks they can get away with. There will be times when you might want to work for less. I do it frequently if it’s a local business just starting that needs help. I’ll help and they understand that this is something akin to a welcome to the jungle rate. Those people generally become some of my best long-term clients. Part of that is because I helped them get started. Most of it is because as long as they use me they don’t have to find someone else.

One other thing you need to be aware of before purchasing this book: At no time does he ever suggest that you should work for nothing. His information is geared to helping you find the high-end clients. It’s important to remember this. You are not looking at $20 clients here.

The Well-Fed Writer also highlights the importance of networking to your career. He gives tips, the best places to find contacts and the network connections that you need to improve your client list. He explains in detail why this is necessary, who to contact, what to say and even how to dress. The attention to detail here is indicative of his attention to detail throughout the book.

There are a few really interesting aspects that show up in the last five chapters. For example, Bowerman discusses something I’ve not come across in any other book on freelance writing (and I have read a LOT of them!) He covers working in smaller markets and rural areas. For those living in small towns this is a huge find for them. It can be difficult for those in smaller areas to put some of the networking and meeting tips into practice when they live 200 miles away from the nearest urban center. Bowerman covers it beautifully and shows real work examples of those who have done it.

The primary challenge for those in smaller areas is what is known as a limited mindset. These people get to believe that you have to live in certain areas to have a particular occupation. You can only be an actor if you live in California, you can only be a freelance writer if you live in a city. Bowerman explains why that isn’t so and shows how to alter his ideas to use in literally any area in the country. These techniques will adapt to virtually any country as well.

The rest of the final four chapters cover topics such as working at freelance writing part time, how to make more than $100 an hour and what types of writing you should be doing to make the most money. Let me expand on this last one.

Here is the deal: We are all writers here so that means we love to write. The reality however is that we can’t always write just what we love to write. Niche writing is great but not every niche will pay the bills. This means that we need to be willing to focus out writing on the areas that will give us maximum revenue. We can write on the stuff we love in our free time. Which, if we follow the suggestions Bowerman gives us, will be considerable.

Bowerman does delve into niche writing and that is great. The reality though is that unless you are supplementing your income or have one of the lucrative niche markets, you need to branch out. While I certainly agree with Bowerman, the reality is that it’s actually much harder to have a successful freelance writing career if you limit yourself to a niche market.

There are two appendix chapters to this book. One is on success stories. This is worth reading not only for inspiration but also for ideas on how to replicate their success. The other Appendix chapter is even better. It lists books, resources and websites galore. There is not a loser in the bunch and they are all updated with each printing of the book.

One really great aspect of The Well-Fed Writer is that it has an incredibly outstanding website. You HAVE to visit the website; it’s a requirement and it should be a law! This website has a toolkit on it that has sample contracts, pitches and every document he talks about in the book. Need a cold calling script? He has one. Need ideas for your targeted email marketing campaign? Yes, he has that too! You will also find more success stories, any new tips that he has come up with between book editions and so forth. This website is a literal treasure trove of ideas and hints.

The Well-Fed Writer is probably the single best book on freelance writing out there today. Without question he nails the issues we face and how to handle building a freelance writing career from the ground up. Having read the book several times I can honestly say that there isn’t a single thing in it I would disagree with or a single point where I think he is off the mark. This is one of those rare books that are worth twice what you will pay at the checkout counter.

One word of caution, and it has nothing to do with the content of the book: Buy the latest edition. This book is updated more frequently than most and you will want the current edition. This way you will have the latest websites, suggested resources and any new tips that have arisen due to changes in the industry. The book is available on Amazon.

Enjoy this book and Happy Writing!