This week, meet writer Brad C from Fayetteville, AR! Check out our blog every Wednesday for a new interview with our super talented and very interesting WriterAccess writers. For more featured writers, visit our Writer Wednesday category.
When did you know you wanted to become a freelance writer?
I figured out I wanted to be a freelance non-fiction writer in 2006 at a spiritual retreat in Llano, TX. I’d always wanted to write for a living but bad fiction didn’t pay the bills. Suddenly it occurred to me that I didn’t have to make a living with fiction. Who knew?
Name a few of your favorite writers!
Gary Halbert—his ads as well as his newsletter. Harlan Ellison for non-fiction as well as fiction. Raymond Carver, Northrop Frye, Sherwood Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Harold Bloom, Catherine Anne Porter, Clark Ashton Smith, and HP Lovecraft. John Milton for power, grace, and occasional lessons on how not to use the language.
Splork from Lost Ball in High Weeds (his attitude can be a downer but his writing is good, fun, and funny). Aleister Crowley for voice, editorial-style rhetoric, and early viral marketing technique.
Do you have a preferred niche?
Several—B2B Tech, Marketing (online and off—especially on) and Web Development, Consumer Computer Issues/Troubleshooting, Privacy Concerns (including software), B2B Software, Linux, Cloud Computing, BYOD, VoIP.
I’d love to write about the concept of the psychological shadow (day-to-day manifestations more than theoretical topics), ’90s music, guitar effects and amplification, the history of science fiction, the occult, and the world from 1890-1945. It’s B2B that pays the bills, though.
Are there any types of writing you’d like to try down the road, or are you totally content with the work you’re doing now?
I’d like to keep moving in the direction of more sales writing, both B2B and B2C. Lately I’ve done plenty of emails, site pages, sales pages, opt-in pages, and white papers. B2B is enjoyable in a nuts-and-bolts way; B2C in a nutty enthusiastic way.
I’d like to write (and monetize) entertainment blogs and podcasts, a la Welcome to Night Vale.
Got any advice for your fellow writers?
- When it comes to clients, remember that your job isn’t to write—it is to make each client’s life easier. Make your own life easier by doing plenty of research and pre-writing.
- Legal pads are great for avoiding screen fatigue, even if you only use them for outlines.
- Western canon writers and other heavy-hitters are a good antidote to what the Web will do to your brain.
Brad C is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
Louis Roe is a content marketing intern at WriterAccess. Contact Louis on Twitter @lojoroe or by email Louis.Roe (at) WriterAccess.com.
