Because write-from-home.com is a website geared toward new/beginning freelance writers, I get a lot of emails from new writers asking, “How can I get started freelance writing?”
I tell them this:
1. If you’ve got a day job, don’t quit it just yet. It can take a year or more to build your freelance writing business to financial stability.
2. Decide what type of writing you’d like to do, then figure out if you can do it in a way that will allow you to stand out from the crowd. Consider what you already know more about than the average person, and try to find some way to incorporate that knowledge into the beginnings of your freelance writing career. For example, my career background is as a bankruptcy paralegal. My first freelance writing job was writing for a bankruptcy law firm’s newsletter.
3. If you want to write for magazines, don’t start out by writing a bunch of articles and hoping to find magazines that want to buy them. Magazine editors want material that is geared toward their readership. Learn what a query letter is and learn how to write one. For this, I recommend reading Jenna Glatzer’s article The Beginner’s Guide To Freelance Writing.
4. If you want to write for websites or blogs, consider starting your own website or blog on a topic for which you’d like to get freelance writing jobs. If you want to write content for environmental websites, start a blog about green living. If you want to be a travel writer, start a travel blog. When you begin applying for freelance writing jobs, you can include the link to your website or blog to showcase your talent and knowledge for the subject.
5. Write for free sparingly. Don’t fall for the job ads that offer “great exposure” or “experience” in lieu of monetary payment. If you’re going to write for free to build your portfolio, make a call to a local non-profit or charity, become a stringer for your local paper, or find some way to write for a good cause. No one will be impressed by your portfolio of articles written for most of the websites out there that don’t pay their writers. If you won’t be proud to showcase the website on your portfolio, don’t write for them for free.
6. Network with other freelance writers. One of the best ways to learn about freelance writing is to get to know other freelance writers. Visit forums and blogs for writers. Some good forums for freelance writers are: http://forums.writersweekly.com and http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums. Some good blogs for freelance writers are: http://thegoldenpencil.com and http://fabfreelancewriting.com/blog.
7. Simplify your job search. There are lots of different sites for finding freelance writing jobs, from sites where you bid on jobs to huge free sites like Craigslist. Fortunately, there are some websites and blogs out there that can help simplify your job search by bringing you a lot of job leads all in one place. Here are some of the better ones that are free: http://dailyjoblist.telecommuting-writing-jobs.com, http://www.freelancebloggingjobs.com, http://aboutfreelancewriting.com/jobs/currentjobs.htm, http://sunoasis.com/freelance.html, http://www.writersrow.com/deborahng, and http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelance-writing-jobs.php.
8. Don’t give up. Getting turned down for writing jobs and receiving rejection letters from editors can feel discouraging, even to experienced writers. Keep in mind that there is a LOT of competition out there. Learn from your mistakes, and keep trying. The end reward is worth it.
Since I don’t think there is only one way to begin freelance writing, and since I don’t know that my way is necessarily the right way for everyone, I tend to point new freelance writers to a few more resources:
My favorite book on beginning freelance writing:
Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer by Jenna Glatzer
Possibly the best website for freelance writers:
http://writersweekly.com
Writers Weekly has lots of articles for new and experienced freelance writers alike. They have an active forum for freelance writers. They list paying markets for writers and freelance writing jobs. If you subscribe to their weekly newsletter, you’ll receive it all by email every Wednesday.
