beginning freelance writing

“Write what you know.”

Every writer has heard it. Some disagree with it. I think it’s a good place for a new writer to start. It’s how I started, and it’s how I still make my living.

Even if you’re brand new to writing, you can turn what you know into a career, a feature article, a novel, or a really good blog post. It’s up to you.

Step 1: Know what you want to write

In order to write well, you must have a driving passion. To write a great novel, you must care about your characters. To write convincing copy, you must care about making a sale.

I’d make a crappy ad writer. My ads would go “Buy This. Click Here.” I know a lot about cleaning up rabbit turds, but that doesn’t mean I want to write a book about it.

Chances are you have more knowledge than things you want to write about. You could spend hours making lists of things you know. You know a lot of stuff.

If you want to make a list of potential career niches, story ideas or articles to pitch, forget what you know for a minute and write down what you want to write. Write down what you’d be good at writing. Write down what you can picture yourself writing well.

Step 2: Know who would want to buy it

Not every idea is marketable. Some unique ideas don’t have a big enough buyer base or audience. Some ideas have been done to death. Know where your ideas stand, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time (and maybe a few trees).

I have a novel manuscript currently filed under “live and learn.” I had a good idea. I wrote I book I’d want to read. I never thought about what section of the bookstore it would go in. No agent or publisher will touch it.

If your goal is to make money, don’t waste your time writing something that won’t sell. Research the market. Research several markets. Want to write greeting cards? Browse the card aisles. Check the greeting card companies’ websites for guidelines on what they buy. Want to write for trade publications? Buy some. Study their websites.

Then flop your idea around. An article that can’t be sold to a consumer mag might make a good jumping off place for that how-to book you’ve been dying to write. Consider various possibilities before you ditch an idea you love.

Step 3: Know what you know

If you’ve determined your idea is marketable, and you’ve got a good prospective base of people you can sell it to, you’re already over halfway there. And you don’t even know what you know yet!

Here’s the frustrating thing about knowledge. Our brains are on overload. Our memories retain garbage. But that knowledge is there, buried under the grocery lists and old locker combinations.

If you have the passion to write about something, it’s probably because you already have at least some knowledge about it. You’ve just got to tap into it.

Grab a pen, or pull up a new document. Take inventory.

Step 4: Know what you don’t know

No matter how much you know, there will be more that you don’t know.

I’ve read the new bankruptcy law 500 times. I can recite it like the pledge of allegiance. Doesn’t mean I know the answer to every bankruptcy question thrown at me.

For every job I take, even when it’s a topic I know, I have to do my homework. Research done, reading required, questions asked. Everything we learned in junior high still applies. And being able to admit you don’t know everything is still a favorable quality.

Where ever you see a gap, write down what you don’t know.

Step 5: Know who knows what you don’t know

The internet and the library are great places to find fast answers to most uncomplicated questions. But beyond these resources, the world is full of experts.

Get to know other writers who write what you want to write and do it well. Ask them how they achieved their successes. People like to brag about how they got where they got. And some are more than willing to share industry and other contacts.

Get to know any niche expert you can. Not just the competition, but your allies. Freelance writers can benefit from knowing freelance bloggers, designers, consultants. What they do to succeed might be applicable to your own success, even if they don’t do exactly what you do.

Get to know every industry expert. Those who know the latest news and trends. Those who teach. Those who worked in the field for years. Anyone you might be able to interview, quote, or get a unique perspective from will be a great asset to you.

Get to know the agents, the publishers, the editors. Read their websites, their blogs, their interviews, the books they’ve done.

Get to know your readers. Ask what they want and what they don’t, what they love and what they hate. Ask what they’ve already read and what they’re aching to read. What do they wish someone would tell them? How can you tell it to them in a way that will reach them?

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I’ve received a few emails from people who want to know more about my methods for pitching new clients, so I thought I’d share. Keep in mind, you’ll probably need to tailor this to fit your potential clients and your writing goals. Or, toss it entirely. What works for me won’t necessarily work for everyone.

Cold Calling? Let’s Skip It.

I’ll tell you right now, I know nothing about cold calling. I despise the phone. Therefore, crafty chick that I am, I go out of my way not to have to make calls if there’s some way around it. Email is my best friend.

Onto the pitch.

What is an email pitch? And isn’t this spam?

Don’t expect you can create one boilerplate template email that you can send to everyone in your target industry and get a bunch of bites. Like everything else in life and business, anything worth getting takes effort. The email pitch shouldn’t sound like spam, and if you do it right there is no way it will be confused by anyone as spam. Send a template email to everyone on the planet, and you’re going to land in spam traps and the proverbial freelance unemployment line. With that in mind, an email pitch isn’t a one-liner saying, “Dude, wanna hire me? My blogging skills rule.” It’s a well-researched, carefully crafted tool used to draw in business.

What does a pitch contain?

Every email pitch I send out contains the following information:

• My work background (paralegal) and experience in the practice area the lawyer I’m pitching practices in (if I don’t have experience in their niche, I leave this out).
• My experience as a blogger for lawyers (firms I’ve blogged for, links to blog posts).
• Specific examples of how I’ve made lawfirms money and/or gotten them new clients through blog posts I’ve written.
• Specific examples of how I could do the same for the lawyer I’m pitching.
• A short list of competing firms already using blogs to bring in business.

What will the pitch look like?

Every email pitch I send out is tailored specifically to the type of person I’m dealing with.

I spend hours researching their practice, from browsing their websites to searching for interviews, reading articles they’ve written and researching cases they’ve worked on. I study their competition.

If they have existing blogs, I read them. I leave comments. This way I can open my email by saying I’ve read their blog for however-long, and that they might recognize my name from comments I’ve left.

Reading a potential client’s blog is often a good way to understand their personalities — how they talk, how they think, what their goals are.

My opening paragraph is all about them (lawyers like that). A common mistake I see a lot of freelancers make — one I used to make myself — is to start out talking about what the freelancer has done, what the freelancer’s back-story is. But the truth is, they don’t care. Not yet. Not until I’ve hooked them in with letting them know I’ve done my homework. After I convince them I understand their business, respect their accomplishments, understand their goals, then they begin to care what I can do for them.

My next paragraph is the pitch part. How I can make them money. How I can bring them business. I don’t discuss price. Or terms. Or anything that’s about me. This is about them.

The next paragraph breaks down how my experience and skills will benefit them. I’ve already researched their competitors, and I tell them so in a way that’ll make them realize they need me to work for them. I tell them how the blogs I wrote for other lawyers brought them new clients. I tell them how my paralegal background brings extra skills to the table that they won’t get from the average blogger.

I tell them I look forward to hearing from them, and I usually close by giving them a partial/highlights list of my other services, because not everyone wants a blogger.

What comes next?

What happens next will vary. You may get an instant taker. Be prepared that you shouldn’t be pitching new clients if you don’t have time to take on more work. (I know, this seems obvious, but we’re not all so bright.) You may get a rejection. You may never hear back.

In all but two times, I’ve received a positive response. The clients I didn’t get were ones where someone else was already lined up. One of these did use me for another non-blogging assignment months down the line. I’ve never had any that don’t repond at all, but if I ever get one, you bet I will follow up. Just remember, there’s a fine line between eager and annoying. Don’t make a pest out of yourself, because that’s a bigger turnoff than just about anything.

If you get a “thanks but no thanks” you may choose to move on to the next prospective client or try a little harder. If you pitch by email, maybe a follow-up call saying, “I received your email that you weren’t interested in my writing services. I just wanted to tell you thanks for considering me and let you know that I’ve available to do A, B and C should you need someone down the road.” As I said, I dread the phone, so I’m happy I’ve yet to get to this point in the process. But I know freelancers this follow-up call method has worked for successfully. You never know if someone is out of town, if your email got filtered, or what. So sometimes, picking up the phone after you haven’t heard back in weeks is a logical way to go.

Get turned down?

Don’t feel bad. Just chalk it up to experience. Every time I write one of these pitches, it gets easier.