Download - How to become a freelance writer
How to Become a Freelance Writer Hundreds of thousands of writing opportunities exist.
Making the most of them is where the art of the
freelancer really comes into play. A freelance writer
is someone who writes without belonging to any
single company or entity but acts like a small
business or an independent contractor.[1]
It's possible to be a full-time freelance writer earning
a living, or to be a part-time freelancer
supplementing a regular income. Another role is to
simply do it for fun or to build up a broader portfolio
of skills. In this article, you'll get the basics on what it
takes to ease your way into freelance writing as a
career or hobby.
Steps
1 Be a good writer. It may seem self-evident but
there is a substantial group of people who believe
that they can write but when they attempt it, their
lack of originality, good grammar, and self-discipline
prove otherwise. Be sure that you're comfortable
with writing, that it is a medium in which you can
express yourself with ease and clarity, and that it is
something you don't mind doing almost every single
day of your life without respite. If you don't already
have writing qualifications, consider doing a college
degree in journalism or English, or taking a
workshop so that you're at least aware of the major
requirements in writing, and the terminology used.
Even if you already have a degree in a non-writing
related course, you may find it easier to either get a
writing diploma or to get an entry-level job as a
copywriter or editor in a field related to what you
graduated in.
Decide whether you prefer fiction or non-fiction or
perhaps even both. Non-fiction is much easier to sell
than fiction,[2] so bear this in mind when making your
choice. If you're writing for fun, you have more
leeway to experiment, though.
Decide whether you want to write for a living, for
extra money, or for fun. The reason for
your freelance writing will impact the approach that
you take to running your freelance operation. Bear in
mind that treating freelance writing as a full-time
income will require a lot of hard work and
establishing yourself in the niche, so be prepared to
put in the effort and time.
If you already have qualifications, from a degree to a
diploma, always make use of these to support your
expertise. These are extremely helpful in a
competitive world where many people are seeking
the same thing but who don't have the qualifications
to stand out.
2 Be comfortable communicating. Unless you want
to be the hermit novelist living in poverty, you'll need
to reach out to other people as a freelance writer.
You'll need to be prepared to market yourself, to
drum up business, and to chase leads. You will also
need to be happy to turn around work quickly and
according to the client's or employer's needs and
changes, and all of this requires
good negotiation and interaction skills. Fortunately,
much of this can be done by email, meaning that
you can rely on writing to connect but it does mean
you'll need to be prepared to put yourself out there
and not just sit about waiting for leads.
As part of this, you'll need to know how to write a
query letter. A query letter explains the concept of
what you're proposing to write, along with a very
brief explanation of your experience
and qualifications. This letter has to sell your idea to
an editor, blog owner, or website operator and will
become a regular part of your toolkit. The sooner
you're comfortable with it, the better.
3 Realize that turning a creative passion into a job
can dampen your enthusiasm.No matter how
much you love writing, there will be occasional
writing jobs that you'll hate doing. In this situation,
you'll need to learn the art of "just doing it"
regardless of your feelings, your desire
to procrastinate, and your temptation to rush through
it. Master pushing through the dislike barrier by
treating it as the work that it is and looking forward to
the more interesting writing coming up. Some
freelance writers find it helps to maintain their own
writing on the side, as a means for ensuring that at
least something they're writing remains a pure joy.
4
Balance the joys of working alone with soaking
up the vibes from being around other
people. Working from home or for yourself can be
very lonely at times (no matter how much you love
your writing) and you can feel as if you're working in
a vacuum. Part of the answer to this is to accept the
unusual (and often liberating) nature of being a
freelance writer; the other part is to get out and be
around people as much as you can. Get portable by
having a notebook or laptop, and portable Wi-Fi
access, and go and write around people when you're
feeling lonely – a cafe, a library, a park, anywhere
that you feel involved in society again. You might
find you need to do this regularly, or every now and
then; just find your own rhythm and don't box
yourself inside your house all day.
5 Be prepared for a lot of self-discipline and good
money management. If you're planning on making
a career from writing freelance, you'll need to have a
good sense of responsibility toward your clients or
employers and yourself.
Have financial systems set up before you start taking
in work and be regular with your invoicing, tax filing,
and reconciliation of accounts. You cannot afford to
be sloppy when it comes to your income!
Be organized; have a dedicated writing space, all of
your reference books in one place and easily
obtained, all the writing equipment that you need in
good working order, and a decent ergonomic work
station set-up. Writing daily can do terrible things to
your posture if you don't take good care of it!
Have a deadline system in place. Whether you use a
diary, an online reminder system, a wall chart,
a whiteboard, or whatever, be sure to have some
sort of system in place that allows you to see at a
glance what writing work is due when and for whom.
That way you can prioritize accordingly and not have
last minute rushes.
Communicate well and regularly. It's very important
that you feel comfortable reaching out to people to
make queries, to reassure them of your skills and
ability to meet deadlines, and to keep clients and
companies informed as to your progress and any
issues that may come up.
Don't take on more than you can do. Part of being
organized is knowing your limits. Once you do get
into a flow of regular writing, don't be lulled into a
false sense of confidence that you can do more than
the hours in the day. Remember to maintain a good
balance in your daily life.
6 Set a goal and keep working in the meantime. If
you plan to write magazine, online, and newspaper
articles, don't quit your day job until you're making
enough money to sustain your lifestyle. This means
that you might have to do your writing in the early
morning or in the evening or whenever you have a
spare moment, such as on the weekends. However,
it's good practice to trial your writing aspirations in
this way because it provides you with the opportunity
to see whether you enjoy writing under pressure and
across a broad range of different topics. It also gives
you the opportunity to work out whether you can
write well enough.
Visit the reference section of your
local bookstore and buy a copy of "The Writer's
Market". This will give you the know-how of writing in
easy-to-digest guides.
There are numerous exercises you can do to
increase your abilities as an author- submit letters to
the editor of your local newspaper, write articles for
your church bulletin, create a blog, even write
articles for wikiHow.
7 Become active in the writing community. There
are writing groups and freelance writer associations
in many countries and it's a good idea to belong to
them so that you can meet other writers, get
information and advice, and establish your
credentials as a writer. A quick search online should
find organizations in your local area or country. Look
for a group that has meet-ups, seminars, guest
speakers, and offers advice on all aspects of writing
including publishing and marketing, as well as
having contacts with publishers and networking
opportunities. Many of these groups may also be an
excellent resource for writing job leads, so being a
part of them will soon pay back in terms of contacts
and work offers.
Attend conferences and conventions that focus
solely on writing, authors, and freelance writing. You
can meet publishing professionals on these
occasions, as well as having the opportunity to
network with other freelancers.
In the United States, you can subscribe to "The
Writer", a publication which provides information and
advice on writing a query letter, finding publishing
houses, and how to run a writing business. It's an
excellent resource if you're keen to become a full-
time magazine writer.
8
Decide what type of writing you're going to
do. These days the choice includes print writing
(magazines, trade publications, newsletters, and
newspapers) and online writing. It's possible to do
both, although you may find yourself very stretched
trying to keep up. Even within the online writing
sphere, there are various possibilities, including blog
writing, guest blog writing, topic specific websites
(for example, green living, pet care,collectibles, etc.),
"article mill" sites (these vary in their quality), and so
forth. There is also official writing for government,
but for this type of writing you'll often need
qualifications and experience in the policy-making
areas you'll be writing for; contact a company that
handles such writing to ask them what they're
looking for.
Be aware that many print publications such
as newsletters and trade publications are done in-
house or outsourced to a company specializing in
writing. In this case, you may be better off trying to
get on the books of a company that is happy for you
to do freelance work across a range of topics using
their contacts. They'll take a commission but you'll
gain the benefit of their expertise and established
market.
9
Start looking for opportunities to write to build
your portfolio. Initially it is important to establish
your credentials and build a portfolio. It may be
simplest to begin by writing for small, non-paying
publications and websites. By writing articles for
smaller publications, you will gain experience, get
known, and get a bunch of published articles with
your name on them that you can use to show clients
and employers. You need that portfolio for
established publications to take you seriously and
hire you. Visit your local library to get lists of
publishers and ideas for whom to contact.
Submit a poem or story to a children's magazine
such as Owl if you're a young person.
If you're a teenager, join your
school's yearbook committee and submit articles to
the school newspaper. Regard this effort as good
practice for your future freelance career.
If you're a college or university student, craft strong,
well-written essays for class that you might be able
to later get published. You can also offer your
services at the writing lab, and write articles for the
student newspaper, literary magazine, and alumni
magazine.
For an adult, start with reputable online sites that
accept articles – make contact with the owners of
sites and blogs that you admire and explain that
you're building up your portfolio and would like to
write some pieces for free in return for your name
being publicized. If you have your own blog
or website, this can help you as you can include it as
a backlink with your name.
Non-profits are also excellent places to find writing
work. Donate your time and effort and get your work
published in their newsletters and publications and
use those as part of your portfolio.
Turn your best articles into PDFs that can be easily
emailed to potential employers or clients.
10 Reach out and start job hunting. When you feel
that you're capable of writing professionally, think of
something you'd like to write about, then start
contacting the relevant people. Find publishers you'd
like to write for, then read their guidelines. This
cannot be over-emphasized - sending queries and
articles in that have nothing to do with the
publication is as bad as turning up to a job interview
never having researched the company. Know your
market and target your writing accordingly. And
always send a query letter to a major publication
before submitting a completed article, unless you're
submitting "on spec", or you're happy to waste
precious time on an article that may never be
published.
For a newspaper: Send a query letter to the
city/lifestyles/sports editor of your local newspaper
asking if they're interested in publishing an article on
the topic. Include the first paragraph of your article
and an outline of the rest. Call in two weeks if you
don't get a reply. Another approach is to send in a
completed article for them to consider "on spec". In
this case, the editor will read it but doesn't have to
publish it.
Magazine or other major publication: Think of
something you'd like to write about, then send a
query letter to the editor of a pertinent major
publication asking if they're interested in publishing
an article on the topic. Include the first paragraph of
your article and an outline of the rest. Call in four to
six weeks if you don't get a reply.
Online: Check online job boards for columnists,
bloggers, web content creators, and other writing
jobs. Use a query letter approach in an email if it
seems appropriate, or simply respond in a
straightforward manner to the job's description.
For guest blogging, make it clear you have read and
enjoyed the blog in question and keep your
suggestion short and sweet. Good blogs get an an
overwhelming amount of requests and yours needs
to stand out to make the blogger want to even read
it. For article sites, if they require you to apply to be
an approved author, then do so and supply all the
needed background information and proof of your
qualifications. For those sites that don't need
anything more than joining, get on with it and join but
don't rely on these sites to make a living!
11 Write your article. If you haven't already sent a full
article but just the query, then it's time to get started
once the client or employer confirms that they want
your writing. (Congratulations, by the way.) Write in
your own unique and brilliant way and avoid
conforming to the mold of other writers. By all means
conform to the required guidelines of the publication
in question, but try to avoid cliches, hackneyed turns
of phrase, dull prose, and deadly boring content.
You've got that worked out already, right?
Keep a thesaurus, dictionary, and grammar book
with you at all times. If you're writing in an English
that isn't your own dialect, or isn't your native
language, also have a grammar resource for the
English in which you are writing.
12 Find steady freelance writing jobs or even
ongoing contracts. There are plenty of possibilities
in both print media and online media. The difficulty
will always be the competition, so you'll need to keep
your style sharp and interesting, your list of contacts
detailed, and your motivation stoked. Keep
improving your writing skills by reading widely,
attending relevant talks and seminars, and staying
up-to-date in the areas you're writing about. This is
especially important if you're writing in areas that
change rapidly, such as technology and fashion.
Update your portfolio every time you have an article
published.
Learn from your editor's comments. Fix your
grammar quirks, mend your heavy prose, and
celebrate the fact that someone is giving you golden
advice on how to improve your writing skills.
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