Getting Started As A Freelance Writer

Becoming a freelance writer is a dream of many people. The good thing is that getting started as a freelance writer has never been easier or more in demand.

If you want to freelance as a writer, you’ll need to understand the different ways a freelance writer can earn money, plus whether it’s the right choice for you as a career. You also need to know how to get better at doing it so that you can grow your income and maintain it long term.

What Is a Freelance Writer? Can You Make a Full-Time Living?

A freelance writer is a solopreneur or business owner who sells the service of writing. They may write either for themselves or as a contractor writing on spec for other business owners or authors, or for themselves as a self-published writer. As a freelancer, you’re on your own. You’ll have no boss, and you won’t have to sign in at a specific time.

However, as a freelance writer, you will have specific deliverables due at particular times. You’ll have to be self-motivated enough to stick to your timelines with your clients, as well as to continue marketing for new jobs, to have any hope of getting paid enough.

Making a Full-Time Living

As you think about this process, you may be wondering whether you can make a full-time living as a freelance writer or not, and the answer is yes.

You can earn as much money as you want as a freelance writer. Many freelance writers earn multiple six figures writing from home (or the beach), while some like to keep it part-time and make “grocery money.” How much you make will be determined by many factors – from the genre you choose to work in, to your skill level, and how fast you can produce deliverables that are acceptable to your clients.

As a freelance writer, you can work for a large company that likes to hire out its copywriting or produce content writing, or you can work for a large publishing house that hires freelancers to ghostwrite part or all of a series that they’ve already planned and outlined. Alternatively, you can work for yourself and self-publish the writing that you make up and plan on your own, and sell it directly to your customers.

Honestly, any type of writing that you are good at doing can be done on a freelance basis, and you can earn a full-time living doing it. The main thing is to work out how much you need to earn and only do things that make that possible.

The options are many. Your job is to figure out how much you need to earn, what type of writing you do best, who needs the kind of writing you do, and then the know-how and the ability to put yourself in front of your audience so that they can take your offers when you make them.

As a freelancer, you’ll be doing this on your own, with no boss to tell you when, where, what, why, or even how. Are you ready to be a freelancer? Do you have the temperament to quickly write the copy you’ve been hired to write, while also marketing your services?

How to get started

Develop Your Writing Skills

As a freelance writer, it’s up to you to do what you can to develop and improve your writing skills. As you write more, you will become better at it, so the first thing you want to realize is that just by getting gigs, you’re going to be improving and developing your writing skills. This will mean that you can take on more gigs, too.

Take a Course

There are numerous courses you can take through your local community college or university, or online through a site like Udemy.com, to help you develop your writing skills. Courses are a great way to give you the structure you need to learn more, but it’s not always necessary to have a course to accomplish learning. However, it can be a great shortcut to learning if you know what types of things you need to work on.

Get More Feedback

Once you start working with clients or you have readers who read your work before you publish, make it a habit to get feedback. Send a message to them automatically asking for feedback so that you can improve your writing.

Learn from Others

Some people are already freelance writers making a lot of money doing this. Because of that, you know it’s possible. And because of that, you can follow them and learn from them. Don’t feel as if you must reinvent the wheel to become a successful freelance writer.

Join a Community

It always helps to build a community around the things you love in your life. Join a writing community of other writers who enjoy the same type of writing and career you do. They’ll share their trials and tribulations, and you can learn from each other.

Get More Comfortable with the Writing Process

The thing that many people don’t realize when they first want to write as a freelancer is that there is a process of writing. When you learn the process and follow the process, you become better at doing it expertly.

Use the Tools of the Trade

Today, aside from a pen and paper, there are tools of the writing trade that you probably will want to invest in. A good computer or laptop, an ergonomic area to work in, writing software, editing software, and so forth will all make your writing life go much more smoothly.

Work on the Other Skills You Need to Be a Freelancer Too

In addition to working on and developing your writing skills, you need to continuously work on the other skills you need to be a professional freelance writer. Skills like time management, editing, researching, technology, networking, and marketing are all essential skills for the freelancer.

Practice

The best way to improve how you write is to write more often. There is no such thing as writer’s block because a writer writes. What if you went to the pharmacy to ask them for a recommendation for medication, and they said, “Oh, sorry, I have a block today.” This would not be acceptable. To become a better writer and develop the writing skills that will carry you to success, you need to write as often as possible.

Developing your writing skills is a process, just like learning anything. Start where you are, work on improving what you’re already good at, and then dive in and work on the things you’re not good at doing – while focusing on what you are good at doing naturally so that you can start making money from your writing now.

Developing your writing skills is a process, just like learning anything. Start where you are, work on improving what you’re already good at, and then dive in and work on the things you’re not good at doing – while focusing on what you are good at doing naturally so that you can start making money from your writing now.