Thread: freelance writing

I want a job as a freelance writer. I've been looking for jobs to get me started, but I am having a hard time finding some. I joined a few sites hoping it would get me started, but the pay isn't good considering the amount of work the employer wants. Can anyone help me out?

Accept that when you start no-one is going to pay you a lot. The Times is not going to commission your first job - The more you put yourself about, the better you will get known.

Bloggs is right, especially with companies you only deal with online. Got some work a while ago from a company in Ireland called 'Inspiration' who needed SEO articles for a variety of company's blogs. Pay's not great, but the people you deal with are and it's a good way to build up a portfolio. Almost all of your internet based freelance stuff is going to have some tie in to social media or SEO.

Good luck

Try writing for local magazines first and see how you go from there.

You can make good money writing copy for corporate clients -- web content, printed marketing materials, press releases etc. There is ad work, but not a lot of it these days. It's just hard to break into. The old catch-22 -- you need the work to get the work. Most of the people I use have come recommended and have fat portfolios.

I've done a lot of copy work, but always through my connections as a designer and creative director -- and many times, the client wasn't even aware I did the writing. You might need to ask around -- put out feelers and offer to write for a start-up, a small company or a non-profit for little or no money. I hired a girl who did that to build her book -- whatever it takes to get samples. No one will hire you without them.

The words 'job' and 'free-lance writer' constitute a non-sequitur. The reason many of us insist on remaining free-lance is the freedom it gives us, freedom you'll never have if you look for a job. A job means being tied down to one company, one newspaper, one magazine, one press syndicate. A job means you have to please the same somebody day after day. A job means security, but it also means losing your ability to put yourself on the open market and go where the best stories and the best money are. The free-lancer answers to no one but himself.

The last thing a real free-lancer wants is to be 'hired'. I'm like the farmer. I have product, I sell it. Some seasons are better than others. If I'd wanted a job I'd've stayed at Uni, finished my Piled Higher and Deeper, and begun the chase for tenure by lecturing bored students on Beowulf and writing scholarly articles for scholarly journals read by scholarly people who would use my articles as footnotes in their own scholarly articles. No thank you.

I've never gone hungry, but early on I came close. Freelance is not for the faint-hearted. You have to take the pennies at first and live on cabbage and river fish for a while, but if you can write, if you have an eye for what makes a good story, if you have a high level of self-appreciation, and if you are willing to go in harm's way, you can build a profitable career as a freelancer. You have to cut the ties that bind and take risks. As a freelancer one thing you don't have to take is guff from some managing editor who thinks he owns your soul. No one owns the soul of the free-lancer.

The advice to start local is good advice. While the printed newspaper is fast disappearing, the newspapers continue in business publishing on the Web. They still need reporters, writers, and photographers. One advantage I've always had is my twin skills, writing and photography. Write a good article and include good pictures, not amateurish snapshots, and you double your chances of a sale. My first article in '54 was submitted with photos. I've followed that pattern as much as possible throughout my life, and I have to say it's been a good life.

Don't stay local very long. There's a big world out there with infinite possibilities for the skilled wordsmith. Start with local mags and newspapers, and very quickly begin to look at, and submit to, the regional market, then national. Once you get your foot on the first rung of the ladder all you have to do is climb, step by step. Go for it.