Freelance Writing

Hey Lovelies!

Welcome to another scintillating installment of my blog, where we will be talking about freelance writing. Should I have probably put this before my post on Ghostwriting? Probably. Oh well, too late now, so you’re stuck with me doing this a bit out of order.

What is freelance writing?

Is when you can work for multiple companies at the same time and get paid for writing for them. Basically, you’re a self-employed writer. Plus, you get to diversify your interests as you can write about whatever you’d like and also do different things for different people.

But how is this different than ghostwriting?

Well, the main difference with freelance writing and ghost writing is that when you freelance your name gets put on the work you submit. You get your own byline saying that you did this piece.

Now, if you’re thinking that this sounds like the easiest job in the world, which is what a lot of professionals make it look like, well, you’re unfortunately wrong. It’s not easy, especially when you don’t know where to start.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• Figure out if this is a good path for you to take. It’s not for everyone. You’re in charge of making sure you get paid, when you can take holidays (if you can afford them), and you’re not going to get paid if you’re sick and can’t write. If that freaks you out, then you’re going to probably want to hang onto that 9-5 job, at least until you feel comfortable quitting and are making some good money on it.
• Don’t go for those bidding sites. It’s basically a free for all and you’re competing against thousands of other people. On top of that, you usually don’t get paid very well. This I happen to know from personal experience. However, do check out those writing job boards – some of them are great and have jobs that will pay well.
• Don’t sell yourself short. Just because you’re new at the game doesn’t mean that you are unworthy of being decently paid. You’re still putting in that time and effort into writing something for someone else.
• Get testimonials from your previous clients. It’ll look good on your portfolio. Just make sure you have permission to use their information.
• Make sure you have some amazing samples of your work. This is going to give prospective clients an idea of what you can do. Plus, it’s a great way to market yourself.
• Have a website. This showcases your talent, is a place to host your portfolio and explains who you are. Don’t put your pricing up on there though. You’ll want to be able to negotiate that based on your skill. And your website doesn’t need to be fancy – it just needs to work for you. You should definitely check some other freelance writer websites for some inspiration though.
• Have a niche. So if you love writing about dogs or SEO, then write about it – specialize in it. It will take you farther than you writing on a million different things. Why? Well, you’ll spend more time researching stuff you don’t know anything about than writing. You’re not going to get paid by the hour but by the article you write.
• Pitch yourself to everyone. You’re not going to gain a client by sitting around doing nothing. You’re going to have to put a lot of work into it and job boards can only get you so far.
  • LinkedIn. Create a great profile and network like crazy.
  • Join a networking group.
  • Join your niche’s organizations and go to every meeting.
  • Have an elevator pitch. (You explain what you do and who you are in about thirty seconds.)
  • Have business cards made and at the ready.
  • Send emails to individuals and companies. You’ll get rejected a lot or a lot of no responses, so be prepared for that.

Freelance writing is a good side job to have to bring in some extra cash, but if you’re wanting to do it full time then you’re going to have to put the work in to make a good career out of it. Just also keep in mind that you will be getting paid by the article and not by hour, which sucks if you have to do a lot of research or spend an hour or two making the article amazing.

If you’re ready to give freelance writing a try, I do have some resources for you. Here’s some links to other links that will give you a good idea on where to go to for freelance writing jobs:

• The Write Life
• Entrepreneur

That’s all that I have for you today! I hope this was helpful in some way. I also hope that everyone’s Valentine’s Day was a good day yesterday! As a head’s up, we’re going to be going over themes, motifs and symbols in Tuesday’s post and on Thursday we’re going to jump into world building.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Until next week!

Cheers,

Danielle