My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: freelance friends, fellow freelancers, new freelancers, New York, Molly Crabapple, Meghan Daum (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Since we’re all sh**ing our pants over the current economic situation, this book couldn’t come at a better time. My So-Called Freelance Life saunters its way through the ins and outs of becoming a successful solo professional, whether you’re a newly graduated 20-something trapped in a monotonous cubicle job or a new mom looking for flexible hours. Having accumulated a great deal of experience on the topic, Michelle Goodman (author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide) leaves no paperweight unturned, explaining how to get started, maintain a budget and schedule, gather/weed out clientele, and legally cover your a**. Goodman includes a bevy of relevant links, contacts, organizations, and advice on everything from negotiating your hourly rate to when to quit working for the Man. While her book thoroughly covers every fundamental career intricacy you can imagine, wit and hilarity are also seated firmly within. (She even quotes Peter Gallagher on The OC, thus actualizing the poetry of my heart.) Not only is this book an incredible guide on how to get started, but it’s also inspiring and oddly comforting. “You can’t hitch your entire creative career on one big break—or one fat failure,” Goodman writes, “you have to keep moving forward, reaching for bigger and better.” It’s a book you will feel compelled to keep in your personal library (probably between your college dictionary and your religious tome of choice), or you can be like me and sleep with it in your arms."
—Bust Magazine

"I love this book! I’ve never had a 9-to-5 job, but it took me years to burn through my conditioning as a woman (that taught me my work wasn’t worth much), my conditioning as a Gen Xer (that taught me I shouldn’t take my work seriously), and my general fear of organization and success. My So-Called Freelance Life would have saved me half a decade of bumbling around. A must-read for established and hopeful creative professionals.”
—Ariel Gore, author of How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead: Your Words in Print and Your Name in Lights

"Michelle is a freelancing superstar, and this guide is packed with indispensable information and stories from the trenches. With advice on everything from handling missed deadlines with grace, to creating a killer portfolio, My So-Called Freelance Life will show you how to make your dream career a reality and help you feel like you’re not alone in going solo."
—Lauren Bacon and Emira Mears, authors of The Boss of You: Everything a Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business

"A witty Seattle writer who has weathered 15 years as a freelancer pens a sage and encouraging guide for others hoping to cobble together various projects for differing employers into a sustained career."
—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Michelle Goodman has done what so many of us are terrified to do (and may all be forced to do in our looming recession economy): cut the strings for a completely freelance existence. Luckily, she made all the mistakes first, then compiled her wisdom… a well organized how-to book about overcoming all those fears that keep us clinging desperately to our cubes.”
—Seattle Weekly

Product Description

Tired of clocking in and losing out? Want to pursue creative, fulfilling work on your own time and also make a living in the process? My So-Called Freelance Life is a how-to guidebook for women who want to avoid the daily grind and turn their freelance dreams into reality. Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide and self-proclaimed former “wage slave,” offers tips, advice, how-to’s, and everything else a woman needs to pursue a freelance career.

Confused as to whether you should tell your clients that the odd gurgling sound during a conference call is emanating from the infant sleeping on your shoulder? Goodman answers all of the unusual questions that may arise for women exploring the freelance world. Far more than your normal business guidebook, My So-Called Freelance Life blends candid, humorous anecdotes from a wide variety of freelancers with Goodman’s own personal experiences as a creative worker for hire.

Whether you’re a freelance first-timer or a seasoned creative professional, copyediting queen or web guru, My So-Called Freelance Life is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in freelancing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Seal Press (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580052592
• ISBN-13: 978-1580052597
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,703 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cure for the Common Freelancer, September 28, 2008

By	Toni V. Martin "freelance magazine writer" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're like me, you probably fell into your freelance lifestyle, rather than deliberately planned and strategically designed a solo career. Which is why Goodman's book had me at the title! This is a well-written, hilarious, solid resource for creative types who still have a 9 to 5 and want to switch to working for themselves, or those of us who kinda already are but not as professionally as we might like.

Goodman covers the fun stuff like getting your online portfolio up and hobnobbing with fellow freelancers. She talks about the icky stuff--like recordkeeping and invoicing and working with a tax professional. And she keeps it real, with discussion on how to not "sell out" creatively while keeping your bills paid and maintaining the work/life balance. All the while, Goodman freely admits her mistakes as proof that it's never too late to get in shape, businesswise. Her popular 1st book, The Anti-9-to-5 Guide, website of the same name, and columns and writing gigs give her advice plenty of street cred.

I have shelves of books on the freelance writing lifestyle, many of which are dear to my heart and great references (Bowerman's "Well Fed Writer" is one example). But "My So Called Freelance Life" is now #1 with a bullet because it's a targeted blueprint to laying the foundation and building my writing business, delivered in a hip, conversational tone that spoke directly to me.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your FABULOUS So Called Freelance Life, October 1, 2008

By	Stephanie S. (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

I read Michelle's last book, The Anti 9-to-5 Guide, and loved it, so I was eager to read this her new one. I have to say that she did not disappoint. Her candor is refreshing, as is her contemporary yet tried-and-true advice for those of us in the freelance trenches. Some stuff in here I'd never thought of, like renting a spot in an office co-op to avoid climbing the walls with loneliness.

I'd recommend this book for new and experienced freelancers alike - in fact, I've already bought a copy for a friend.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, practical book, September 11, 2009

By	K. Kaland "Into languages? www.wizonesolution... (Oakland, CA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is definitely geared towards the freelance individual. It covers the need-to-know information that pertains to them, but nothing more. It doesn't weigh one down with overblown business terminology or anything of the sort and is written in casual language.

I've recently started freelancing, and this book provides a great supplement to the other reading I'm doing because of its lighthearted style.

That said, the information within is accurate and valuable, and I probably could have well gotten by with only this book.

Recommended! Check it out! It's cool.