How To Become A Successful Freelance Writer

How To Become A Successful Freelance Writer

So you want to be a writer. Your first love may be to write novels, screenplays or even books for preschoolers, but in the meantime, you do need to earn a living. Or, you may really be “into” content marketing and love writing blog posts, articles, and such. Perhaps you want to be a ghostwriter of sorts, providing products for students, business professionals, and others. Or you`re determined to build a career in the field of digital marketing. No matter what you choose, the following tips will come in handy.

How You Get Started

Success doesn’t come unless you first start somewhere. And that start may be shaky, certainly inconsistent in terms of clients and gigs. But, over time, if you are good and you develop your style to suit the type of writing you do, your business will grow.

You can begin by placing ads in certain places, like Craigslist. Or you can sign up with writing websites (don’t pay money to any site to sign up!). You can apply to online writing companies, such as those that offer our services, and select the type of writing you want to do. If you use every possible source for writing gigs, you will ultimately get a client/assignment or two, and you have officially begun.

In the beginning, you need to take any gig you get – you need the money, and you just need to get yourself out there. Over time, you can become more selective, but not now.

Growing Your Business

As your reputation grows, you will discover that, even if only through writing sites you are signed up with, certain clients will begin to request you, because they like what you do. The nice thing about this is that they will also refer their friends to you, and your business will grow by word-of-mouth. Thus, it is a really good idea to create your own writing blog. It can be in the form of portfolio with your best articles and stories. Make it as user-friendly and pleasant-to-read as possible to engage new readers and your potential clients. There are a plethora of WordPress themes to make your blog look professional and tasteful. What is more, now you have to put minimum effort for the blog creation. Ultimately, you may be faced with a choice. Do you keep working for others, or do you strike out on your own?

Also, you can start sharing your experience with other writers and gather a writing community where newcomers will be able to find help and support from their experienced colleagues. Create a Facebook group, host webinars or start a Telegram channel. Check out what free or cheap options social media can offer for such a purpose and find the easiest and the most affordable way to host a webinar.

Becoming a Fully Self-Employed Writer

Depending upon the type of writing you enjoy and that has brought you success, your entry into self-employment will obviously focus on that niche. Some genres will require heavy marketing; others will not.

1. If you have determined that blog post writing is your niche, then your job will be to conduct the research to find those blogs that pay well for posts they publish. You will need to study their guidelines carefully. Then, you will simply need to write every day – lots – and keep sending in those submissions until you have success. Again, once you have successful submissions and have developed a solid reputation with specific blogs, they will look for your submissions and accept them easily. You may even ultimately start your own blog in a niche area and become an expert and influencer in that niche. At this stage, you will also have to pay close attention to time and finance management if you want to arrange your time and meet all the customers` needs and get a steady income. Here, you might need professional advice and training to deal with these issues in a smart way. Try offline or online short term finance courses, attend workshops on time management or find tips on management gurus` social media.
2. You might consider setting up a writing service of your own. This option will require an engaging website, a presence all over social media, and lots of Content Marketing. It will take time to establish yourself, but you can continue to ghostwrite for others while your own business grows or you can ask a digital marketing agency for help. This option will require more non-writing time on your part, and some self-education in terms of entrepreneurship and business operations and technical aspect to be able to do such basic tasks as finding employees, dealing with taxes or choosing a helpdesk software for your website. But no worries, many have done this before you.

Watch Spreading Yourself Too Thin

In the beginning, of course, you took any type of writing because you were “hungry.” Over time, however, you will have to find your niche – that genre of writing that gives you the most satisfaction and which you find most enjoyable. You will not make it if you are not passionate. You have to get up every day looking forward to what is on your work agenda for the day. That’s at least 60% of the path to success.