Breaking Into Freelance Writing
Let’s be honest. Freelancing isn’t easy, especially when you’re a writer. Success, which comes as a slow ramp-up from usually humble beginnings, is defined only by the lengths of feasts between famines. Sometimes, work comes in faster than you can handle it. Other times, work comes in a trickle, if at all. To even get to this point, though, you need to jump the first big hurdle and land a client.
For some writers, finding a client seems like an impossible task. You might not know where to look or how to solicit business. For others, finding a client isn’t hard, but landing a job is. It’s the classical catch-22: you need a portfolio to get work, but you need to get work to have a portfolio.
Fortunately, the internet makes this catch-22 irrelevant. If you want to jump right into print-writing, for magazines or newspapers, you almost always need a portfolio of previously published work. For online content creation, you can write your own ticket by showcasing your work on free content repositories. (These repositories have the added benefit of “writer communities,” which we’ll discuss later.)
The first step to a successful career in freelance writing is building a portfolio. There are a number of ways you can approach this. The easiest, and probably most fulfilling for you, is building a blog. Use a free service, like Blogger or WordPress, and start filling it with niche content. Don’t agonize over the niche. Just choose something that you know about, or want to know about, and start writing. A well-written blog, especially one with consistent traffic, is just as valuable in a writing portfolio as dozens of published articles.
The other option, which is (sometimes) more profitable, is to respond to content calls on small article sites. eHow, Associated Content and Life123 are all examples of content sites that don’t require a formal application. Once you’re a member of these sites, you can either publish original works – so-called “unprompted articles” – or respond to specific article requests. Use anything you write on these sites as portfolio examples for future applications.
Alright, so, you’ve got a portfolio. Now what? Now, you head out into the unforgiving world of professional freelancers and apply for jobs. You can start small, if you’d like, by visiting one of the content companies listed at the bottom of this post. You can jump in head first and apply for every job you can find. Or, if you want to take the middle road, you can involve yourself in the writing communities on content repositories and learn from them.
Writing communities will protect you when you start. Listen to what other writers say, especially when they advise against certain companies or clients. Chances are, if the community believes a company is bad, it is. The inverse holds true, as well. No professional writer is going to risk his reputation supporting a site that’s a scam.
Aside from providing leads for work, a solid writing community will lead you as you start your business. You can benefit from the experience of others in everything from taxes to portfolio assembly. Writers are notorious for their willingness to share their expertise. After all, they’ve been exactly where you are now and know how important that information is to success.
You can find clients on your own through hundreds of different channels. In Piotr’s previous post on freelancing safely, he listed several resources for finding jobs. At the end of this post, I’ll give you several more. Some are better than others and the pay is largely dependent upon the demographics of the outlet. Craig’s List often has higher paying jobs than Digital Point Forums, since Craig’s List is geared to the United States and Digital Point has a large community of non-native speaking writers. However, you’re more likely to get scammed on Craig’s List by unscrupulous “clients,” so also exhibit due diligence.
The final topic I want to touch upon is actually applying. You might find a job, you might be incredibly qualified for the job, but, for many freelancers, sending the solicitation for work is the hardest part. We all fear rejection and ridicule. We worry the prospective client will mock our limited portfolio or attack our writing style. They won’t.
Always remember the mystical, powerful client is just another person sitting at a keyboard. They’re just as afraid of confrontation as you are and don’t want to offend you. To date, the harshest criticism I have received is, “This isn’t what I was looking for.” I’ve had my fair share of demanding clients, who want revisions and modifications for weeks on end, but not once has someone attacked me as a writer.
As promised, here are a few lists of great places to build a portfolio, get started and find work as a freelance writer.
Building a Portfolio
Getting Started
Finding Work
Rebecca is a freelance writer and WordPress developer from Chicago. Throughout her career as a freelance writer, she’s provided content for dozens of private clients and nearly all the websites listed. In her free time, she operates the blog WriteTranslation to help non-native English speaking writers improve their craft with tutorials, guides and weekly writing prompts.
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- Rebecca Mastey's Blog » Writing » Guest Appearance on
Wed, 10th Feb 2010 12:56 am
[...] in reading my ramblings on taking the first steps to freelance writing, you can click right here and read the post. It’s accompanied by an interesting graphic, which I’m having a hard [...]
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