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âTrying to make it as a freelance writer is scary AF.â
With a subject line that bold (and accurate), I wasted no time in opening the email. It was from a young woman whoâd recently graduated with a dual degree in English and journalism, asking me how, how, how in the world do I make a living this way?
It wasnât the first time Iâd received an email to this effect, which feels patently insane. If youâd told me just a few years ago Iâd be earning my keep as a full-time freelancer â let alone giving advice on the subject â Iâd likely have laughed in your face. Even when I was working a staff writing gig, I had never so much as drafted a pitch to an outside publication.
I only got brave enough to start submitting ideas after lots of encouragement from my good friend (and fellow TWL writer!) Susan Shain. Thanks again, Susan.
Now, Iâve got almost three years of working for myself under my belt â and in the first year, I actually earned more than I had as a staffer. I enjoy location independence and a workday uniform of yoga pants and tee-shirts, so itâs no surprise that fielding the how do you do it? question has become a common conversation.
But itâs never easy to answer.
So really though â how do you do become a full-time freelance writer?
Hereâs the thing.
Thereâs no guaranteed, step-by-step process that will land you the freelance writing career of your dreams. Ask 10 different writers, and youâll get 10 different how-I-made-it stories â or, more accurately, how-Iâm-making-it-up-as-I-go-along stories.
The actual mechanics of how to get started freelance writing are pretty simple, though not easy: Have good ideas, be good at explicating them clearly, and spend lots of time and energy on the Sisyphean footwork of finding publications that will pay you to publish them. (And convincing them to do so.)
As youâve likely already discovered, this blog is a great resource for figuring out these logistics and improving your skills at each level. We also offer an ebook dedicated to freelance writing jobs for beginners.
The honest truth about making a living as a freelancer
As far as stringing it into a full-time living, though, Iâll be honest with you: A *lot* of it is luck, and also getting very cozy with rejection. If I get a positive response for just 10-15% of my pitches, I count that as a huge win.
But if you have your heart set on making it as a freelance writer, there are some actionable steps you can take to make it happen.
Hereâs my best advice for how to start freelance writing.
1. Seek out education or training
Don’t worry; you don’t have to have a formal degree to be a freelance writer. But if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll likely want to educate yourself in some way, so you can produce quality work from the get-go.
If you don’t have the money or time to get a degree from a university, look for an online writing course. They’re typically more affordable than formal degrees, and you can work your way through them from home (and in the evenings or on weekends if you’ve got a day job).
If youâre planning to go to college or are in the process of earning your degree, you may want to consider formal studies that will help you achieve your goal.
Contrary to popular opinion, English major jobs can be profitable, and the same is true of other writing-intensive majors like creative writing, communications and journalism.
Studying humanities flexes your rhetorical muscles, which will make you a much better writer and pitcher. Plus, these programs lend you the soft skills employers look for â which is good, since youâll likely need a day job while youâre finding a way to make the whole yoga-pants-forever thing work.
If college is already in the rear view, you might also consider grad school, or more specifically, an MFA. But be careful. The additional expense wonât guarantee you work down the line, and if youâre already dealing with student loans, you could just be digging the hole deeper. In the case of freelancing, itâs more about experience and practice than the fancy pedigree.
Fortunately, if youâre aching to go back to school, you donât have to go broke to do it. Many MA, MFA and PhD programs come with tuition waivers, provided you teach, or assist in teaching, a number of undergrad classes while you study. You can also find fellowships, scholarships and other forms of loan-free financial aid if youâre diligent.
2. Consider starting with a staff job
Yes, I know: Finding an editorial position â or any job, really â is easier said than done.
But websites and publications do hire writers, and getting a full-time position will give you two amazing, irreplicable benefits: an instant stack of clips and a world of hands-on education you just canât get any other way.
Working closely with editors and other creatives every day will make you a better writer, period; if you work for a digital publication (likely), youâre bound to get some SEO training and other know-how in the bargain. I know for a fact I owe my success to my tenure at The Penny Hoarder, whose managing editor â Alexis Grant, who also started this website â essentially handed me a writing career whole cloth in hiring me.
3. Get out there and start pitching
âThis is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until itâs done. It’s that easy, and that hard.â – Neil Gaiman
At the end of the day, the only way to become a freelance writer isâŠto start writing.
That means taking a pretty scary leap: Youâve got to start pitching publications and applying for gigs even if you donât have many clips. Hey, everyoneâs a beginner at the beginning.
Of course, even if youâve never published professional work, there are other ways to showcase your writing prowess. Got a killer short story that hasnât found a home quite yet? Maybe even a particularly well-wrought essay from college? I applied for The Penny Hoarder with a short memoir I wrote in grad school and â I kid you not â wine-tasting notes. Most employers and clients are more concerned with whether youâve got the goods than where youâve managed to land them.
Not sure where to start when it comes to finding paid writing gigs? Check out these online gold mines for finding freelance writing jobs.
4. Showcase your work online
Your pitches will be far more effective if you link to an online writing portfolio where editors can check out your work.
This doesn’t have to be anything fancy! A static website will do, even one created with a template.
As far as a portfolio is concerned, I recommend Contently. Not only is it a clean, easy-to-use digital showcase, but it can also land you valuable work: the platform matches editors with writers and other content creators based on specific beats and skill sets. Iâve earned literally thousands of dollars simply because I chose to use it.
If you want to take this a step further, consider starting a blog. Writing regularly is a great way to practice your craft, and you might even grow a following for your work.
A blog also gives editors more samples to review when they click over to your site from your pitch; every blog post is an example of the kind of work you do. That doesn’t mean they have to be perfect, but know that if you have a blog, editors will look to that for insight on your skill and creativity.
Finally, having a website will make you feel way more legitimate. (Impostor Syndrome is totally a thing in this business, so get ready!)
Oh, and while you’re at it, make sure your social media accounts reflect well on you, too. Any good editor will explore those to learn more about you.
5. Networking: Yup, itâs a thing for writers, too
As a serious-business introvert, ânetworkingâ has always felt like a four-letter word to me. In fact, I was drawn to freelancing in large part because it got me away from the noisy, crowded office environment.
Nevertheless, my first major client â the one that made quitting my day job possible, and whose work still makes up a sizable percentage of my income â was an opportunity I landed in part because of a shared connection. Iâve also written web copy for gym acquaintances, friends and family members, which were gainful projects both financially and in broadening my experience.
The Write Lifeâs managing editor Jessica Lawlor blogs about how she landed her first freelance client, as well as the ones she found thereafter. From sorority sisters to Twitter friends to existing professional connections, nearly every single story involves networking.
Case in point: Donât overlook any of your current social spheres when it comes to writing opportunities, and get ready to actively work to increase them. Everyone needs the written word sometimes!
6. Figure out how to get paid
This sounds obvious, but it can be a hurdle when you’re just getting started. Once you’ve found a client and produced the work you promised, you need a way to get money from their bank account into yours.
Many freelancers have given up on paper checks and rely primarily on online payments. If you’re just testing the waters as a freelancer, keep it simple by creating a PDF invoice and emailing it to your client, then asking for payment via an easy-to-use system like PayPal.
Not sure what to include in your first invoice? We’ve got you covered! Here’s how to write an invoice, plus an invoice example.
Once you feel confident you’re sticking with freelance writing, it makes sense to move to a software that will create the invoice for you and help you track payments. We’ve got a list of some of the best invoice generator tools for freelancers.
7. Know this: the work isnât always glamorous
When I tell people Iâm a freelance writer, they often think Iâm publishing exclusively in glossy magazines with chic, single-word titles. The closest Iâve come to that, so far, is Yahoo! â a byline Iâm very happy with, but whose trademarked exclamation point does not exactly bespeak elegance or sophistication.
The bulk of my paying work is far less illustrious, but critical for rounding out my bank account. Website copy, SEO work and listicle-style blog posts arenât what anyone dreams of when they feel the pull of the pen, but theyâre some of the most reliable ways for freelance writers to pay the bills. Many businesses can provide a steady stream of this kind of work, becoming the anchor clients by which you build a semi-reliable paycheck.
The idea is to pick up as much of this bread-and-butter work as you need to survive, and then use the rest of your time to pitch those dreamy projects you canât wait to work on.
It can be a hard balance to strike, but even un-fun writing counts as valuable practice. Youâll hone your craft and earn your keep all while amassing more clips â and better chops â to show off when youâre pitching the big boys. Then, you can slowly scale up to working exclusively on better-paid, more interesting content.
8. Expect the unexpected
Fickle income, weird hours, totally unmitigated refrigerator access â working for yourself is a strange and sometimes dangerous world.
At the very least, youâll want to prepare yourself financially for things like managing income flow and expenses, paying your own taxes, buying your own health care and funding your own retirement. And for even the best writers, clients come and go, so be sure to build up a significant cushion for those inevitable dry periods.
Itâs also a good idea to impose rules to lend your otherwise-loosey-goosey day structure â like deciding youâll only write at your desk as opposed to your couch, for instance, or making yourself put on real pants for the duration of your work day. (Or maybe not. Letâs not get crazy.)
If I had to summarize it all in brief, Iâd say this: Becoming a freelance writer requires equal parts semi-pathological levels of type-A dedication, boundless curiosity, and total insensitivity to rejection.
Oh, and luck. A lot of luck.
But like all of the best things in life, even though itâs not an easy journey, the road to the write life is definitely one worth taking â and one weâre excited to help you travel.
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure theyâre useful for our readers.
Awesome piece. I’m in my third year working as a freelance writer and I’ll never regret the step I made.
Lets work to understand and overlook each others imperfections! Are you perfect? Clearly not, so work on yourself before pointing fingers. Find what you CAN use out of the article and find what is RIGHT. Looking for negative or a reason to bitch is a sad existence. I hope with any published work that is not the case! Lets encourage one another and find the good because we always find what we are looking for!
Thank you! This post contained the kind of value Iâm searching for as a beginning freelance writer. Bookmarkedâ
I agreed wholeheartedly. I self-published my first novel. I did not earn any income with it. In fact I lost more than $5000 trying to get it noticed. This taught me a bitter lesson. Do your homework. Research and gather as much information as you can before you dive into this venture. No one can become a success instantly. This is the myth Hollywood had sold us for decades. The wise saying goes something like this. “Plant your seed. Before it become a tree you must learn to look after it. Given time it will bare fruits of your labour.”
hi jammie,
thanks a lot for giving your readers this awesome content. I have been on this path for a while training a lot but haven’t landed a single job.
this hasn’t discouraged me a bit since I continue learning and every week I end up a better writer than ever before. I have learnt value ideas from your post and will not tired following you. may God bless you. thank you.
Every one of these sentences is redundant, nothing about how to become a writer. An efficient writer would say: “I just want you to buy my book.” Look, you can do something meaningful for the world instead of filling it up with empty words!
Thank you so much Jamie. That was so helpful. I already have a blog that I regularly post in and a bachelor’s degree in english litterature and I can’t wait to start an online writing job. Don’t mind the negative comments. You did a great job with this well written post.
SEO = Search Engine Optimization. Iâm surprised anyone interested in writing doesnât know this, but a quick Google search might be better than posting a hostile comment on an otherwise helpful site.
I really enjoyed that article! It was fun yet realistic. Thanks for your input and for sharing your knowledge. As a prospective freelancer that hasnât really gotten my start, I really appreciate you sharing your experience. I hope to figure out how to make freelancing work for me and hopefully Iâll be helping out newbies myself one day!
Thanks for this well written post. I started a blog 4 months ago and now I’m ready to make money with it. I will definitely start as an online wirter.
Thanks Jamie, this is a very helpful article. But I think that Contently may have changed. I couldn’t find anything about posting a portfolio.
I was also unfamiliar with the SEO acronym. So…I opened a new tab in my browser, typed “SEO” and hit Enter.
And thus, I learned what Search Engine Optimization is. With less effort than it took you to create this negative post.
My unsolicited advice, Raymond: take your fate in your own hands. Don’t expect everything to be handed to you.
And good luck!
Thank you for the great insights! I am much more inspired to get off my butt and make this happen. Are bathrobes acceptable work attire?
For several years, I worked part-time as a freelancer, publishing articles for newspapers and magazines, as extra income, for my regular job. But this year I made a conscious move towards freelance writing for blogs, instead of prints, to the extent that I earn $ 2,000 a month as a blog writer. What’s great about working as a freelance blogger is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. So you can write late in the evening, during lunch, or in the morning. You can do this on a trip, or sitting in a boring conference. This has a very attractive element of freedom. Even if you decide to become a freelance writer and want to quit work, do not do it right away. Try yourself, hone your skills before you do something decisive. Good luck!
What the hell is SEO? Instead of throwing out acronyms or other strange terms like this and assuming every reader is familiar with them, it would have been better to insert a short and concise definition. In that way a reader will stay with the article and learn more rather than find oneself distracted by unfamiliar wording that only serves as an annoyance.