I recently came across an opportunity to partner with a writing site that I respect very much.  This person has been freelancing for years and put out a call for help.  I didn’t view it as a partnership at first, I saw it as a freelancing work opportunity.  As I delved into it a little deeper it occurred to me that even though they would be feeding me and directing the work, it was in reality a partnership.

I think that the success of these types of arrangements boils down to one thing: Attitude.  I could look at this strictly as a chance to make some money (the folks over at VISA love it when I do that) or I could look at it from a broader perspective.

It’s all about ME!

It’s rather unfortunate but I do believe a lot of freelance writers out there approach possible work projects from that angle.  Hey, if you’re in this for short term gains then have at it.  Maybe you’ll make a bit of cash but if you ignore partnering opportunities then you are working an isolationist strategy and in this highly competitive (and social) world in which we operate, you will burn bridges and relationships and ultimately you will be alone.  Remember, “No man is an island”.

But I digress

Partnering is a pretty broad based concept when it comes to writing.  There was recently an offering from CopyBlogger who partnered up with Partnering Profits.  There were audio conferences and an opportunity to subscribe to the program.  It was interesting to listen to the audio casts and there were valuable lessons about partnering.  This program is more from a business standpoint but I would argue that any writing partnership is to some extent a business venture.

Writing partnership types

The types of writing partnerships are only limited by your imagination.  Here’s a few:

• Reciprocal guest posting – Short and sweet, but a partnership none the less.
• Contributing authorship – Becoming a contributor to a site that you do not own.
• Client content provider – writing content for a client’s site makes you a partner with that client. If you do a great job, their site grows as will your partnering relationship with that client.
• Ghost writing – The client has the idea and story, you have the ability to put it on paper.
• Writing collaboration – For example a single topic article is co-written with each author researching and contributing specific parts.

It’s not always easy

Writing partnerships have a few pitfalls:

• If you’ve not worked with this person or group previously you never really know what you are getting yourself into.
• You have to remain ultra-flexible
• You have to be willing to give up some of the control over your writing.
• You have to be strong enough to voice your opinion when you think something needs changed.
• You need the tact to do that gracefully.
• You need the courage to be able to bail when things aren’t working.

Finally

Think about the type of writing you do and identify anything that is truly a partnership and approach the project and tasks from that perspective.  Buy into the project.

So my question for you is: Have you had any partnering experiences?  How did they turn out?  What did you learn?