Written By: Palak Sharma
If you have taken the first step towards becoming a freelance writer, then at a conscious or a subconscious level, you are ready to be your own boss. However, it is not as it seems to be a freelancer. When you are your own boss, you are responsible for your own marketing, financial health and operational planning. You can’t just hope to be a non-fictional version of Carrie Bradshaw and write your way into Prada-dom. A freelance writer has to meticulously work towards procuring writing gigs that not only pay the bills but also keep the creative juices flowing. While the initial mundane assignments will test your patience, eventually it would become increasingly important for you to focus on quality work and grow as a writer.
If you have taken the first step towards becoming a freelance writer, then at a conscious or a subconscious level, you are ready to be your own boss. However, it is not as it seems to be a freelancer. When you are your own boss, you are responsible for your own marketing, financial health and operational planning. You can’t just hope to be a non-fictional version of Carrie Bradshaw and write your way into Prada-dom. A freelance writer has to meticulously work towards procuring writing gigs that not only pay the bills but also keep the creative juices flowing. While the initial mundane assignments will test your patience, eventually it would become increasingly important for you to focus on quality work and grow as a writer.
Now, a perennially sluggish economy may force you to think that it would
be improbable for you to land good freelance writing gigs, but that is most
definitely not the case. Economic downturn or not, there is always work for
good writers. All you have to do is find the right sources of work. To begin
with, you can take the following steps to find new freelance writing gigs.
Create
your own freelance writer blog
Setting up your own blog will give you that instant exposure which a
budding freelancer can definitely benefit from. A well planned, monetized, pay-per-click
and SEO enabled blog can itself start financing your freelancing venture. A
writer’s blog can be about writing inspirations, article portfolio and types of
freelance services offered by you. This could be your virtual office through
which prospective clients can reach you.
Try
content mills
Now, a lot of seasoned writers may turn up their noses at the mere
mention of content mills, but for a novice, the ease of breaking into this
market can be encouraging when confidence levels are still low. Content mills
generally pay less and the quality of work is more often than not,
unchallenging. But with consistent participation, you can become a preferred
writer, can get to write really interesting papers and earn much more than you
start with.
Pitch
article ideas to magazines and newspapers
Magazines and newspapers are most definitely the highest payers for
freelance work, sometimes as much as $2 per word. While it is difficult to get
associated with them, once you manage to build that bridge, it can be a very
fruitful association. Pitching some article or column ideas to dailies,
weeklies or monthlies can be a time consuming process but can get you some much
cherished freelance writing gigs.
Write
for specialty e-publications
If you are a medical writer, travel writer, finance writer or a technical
writer, then sky is the limit for your freelance earnings. All you have to do
is find e-publications that cater to your prefereed specialty niche and pitch
your ideas to them. It may take you a while to start getting paid well, but
eventually per word rate can be as high as $1/word.
Brand
yourself effectively
Developing a personal site in sync with your writer blog can enhance the
credibility of your personal brand. Once you will start pitching ideas to every
possible source, people would want to know you and see your work before setting
up a work relationship. A well crafted personal site, showcasing your writing
talents can not only impress existing clients but can pique interest of
potential clients too.
Explore
social media
Facebook, twitter and Linkedin are incredible mediums to promote your
work and talents without investing much in marketing. A strategically placed
Facebook ad or Linkedin status can drive quality traffic to your personal site
and land you a lot of gigs.
Bid
for gigs
Freelancing sites like skill pages, freelacecareers, elance, odesk etc.
are great platforms to bid for diverse writing gigs and start building your
freelance writer portfolio. As they are virtual competitive markets, the pay
rates are only slightly better than that of content mills but the potential of
becoming a favored writer is there which can improve your earning prospects
immensely over time.
Join
a writers’ network
You can’t hope to produce quality writing every single time without
associating with like minds. Freelance writer clubs, networks and chat rooms
are ideal places to build connections and do some unpaid PR. Not only can you
develop an information system for yourself, but you can earn some great
referrals out of these networks.
Obviously, with time you will get comfortable working for some clients
and establish your own sources for generating gratifying writing gigs. But
trying your hand at every option will give you incredible exposure and help you
develop a versatile writing style more effectively.
Awesome post...
ReplyDeletegood post but should have been given some links and steps to follow
ReplyDelete