Interesting Question, "How do I Become a Freelance Writer?" Truth be told, it's probably a question beyond the scope of a simple article like this.
However, there are a few key principles you must understand if you really want to find success as a freelance writer, whether you want to publish articles, fiction or even a commercial copywriter.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Create a Portfolio The best way to get writing jobs is to prove to people that you can write.
Just 5 or 10 years ago, the best way to do this was to write a few pieces to publish for free in order to gather clips.
But the Internet has changed that.
Now you can write and publish your own samples online as a portfolio.
Today, you can decide what sort of material you want to write and what subject matter you want to cover, write your own articles ad you do your foundational research, and use that as a body of samples to show editors or companies when you go to pitch your project.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Embrace Rejection One of the toughest parts of becoming a freelance writer is learning to deal with rejection.
You have an idea, you approach your prospect, make the pitch...
and the result is often a "no," if they bother to acknowledge your effort at all.
This isn't meant to discourage you...
it's simply a fact of the business that you'll have to accept.
Your prospect is likely very busy, and will most likely be receiving pitches from other writers, among all of the other fires they have to put out on a day-to-day basis.
As such, there are dozens of reasons your idea might get rejected...
and none of them are personal Rejection, though unpleasant, is not a passage of judgment against you or your ideas.
Most likely, it's a simple matter of timing.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Get Paid When you embrace rejection as a simple reality of your chosen profession, it actually makes getting paid easier.
Knowing that your submission may or may not be rejected allows you to start working on the next item on your list, while you wait.
How and when you get paid depends on the kind of writing you're doing.
If you are writing commercially, then it's standard practice to get half, if not more, of your project fee up front, with the remainder due upon completion of the project.
If you're writing for publication, you'll likely get paid upon publication of your piece...
perhaps even upon acceptance.
Either way, it is important to develop confidence in the fact that you deserve to get paid for your writing.
Many freelance writers lack that confidence and get taken advantage of.
Sure, anyone *can* write.
But most people don't *like* to write.
And few can do it really well.
If you treat your writing like a commodity, you'd going to get paid commodity prices.
If you treat it like the craft it is, then you'll get premium rates.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Build Up From Day 1 Decide right now that you *ARE* going to be a a freelance writer.
Create some samples for your website and start promoting your services.
Don't stop until you've been published or gotten your first corporate gig.
When you do, promote that fact.
Get some sort of testimonial from your client and ask if they'll refer you to others.
Then keep plodding along in your quest.
That first "sale" will turn into two, then five, then fifteen.
Eventually, you won't remember exactly how many times you've been paid to write...
and you'll be too busy to care much about it.
Just remember: if you're a freelancer, writing is a business not a hobby.
Treat it as such, working every day to build upon the efforts and successes of the day before, and before long you'll laugh at the days when you wondered if you could make it.
However, there are a few key principles you must understand if you really want to find success as a freelance writer, whether you want to publish articles, fiction or even a commercial copywriter.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Create a Portfolio The best way to get writing jobs is to prove to people that you can write.
Just 5 or 10 years ago, the best way to do this was to write a few pieces to publish for free in order to gather clips.
But the Internet has changed that.
Now you can write and publish your own samples online as a portfolio.
Today, you can decide what sort of material you want to write and what subject matter you want to cover, write your own articles ad you do your foundational research, and use that as a body of samples to show editors or companies when you go to pitch your project.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Embrace Rejection One of the toughest parts of becoming a freelance writer is learning to deal with rejection.
You have an idea, you approach your prospect, make the pitch...
and the result is often a "no," if they bother to acknowledge your effort at all.
This isn't meant to discourage you...
it's simply a fact of the business that you'll have to accept.
Your prospect is likely very busy, and will most likely be receiving pitches from other writers, among all of the other fires they have to put out on a day-to-day basis.
As such, there are dozens of reasons your idea might get rejected...
and none of them are personal Rejection, though unpleasant, is not a passage of judgment against you or your ideas.
Most likely, it's a simple matter of timing.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Get Paid When you embrace rejection as a simple reality of your chosen profession, it actually makes getting paid easier.
Knowing that your submission may or may not be rejected allows you to start working on the next item on your list, while you wait.
How and when you get paid depends on the kind of writing you're doing.
If you are writing commercially, then it's standard practice to get half, if not more, of your project fee up front, with the remainder due upon completion of the project.
If you're writing for publication, you'll likely get paid upon publication of your piece...
perhaps even upon acceptance.
Either way, it is important to develop confidence in the fact that you deserve to get paid for your writing.
Many freelance writers lack that confidence and get taken advantage of.
Sure, anyone *can* write.
But most people don't *like* to write.
And few can do it really well.
If you treat your writing like a commodity, you'd going to get paid commodity prices.
If you treat it like the craft it is, then you'll get premium rates.
How Do I Become a Freelance Writer? - Build Up From Day 1 Decide right now that you *ARE* going to be a a freelance writer.
Create some samples for your website and start promoting your services.
Don't stop until you've been published or gotten your first corporate gig.
When you do, promote that fact.
Get some sort of testimonial from your client and ask if they'll refer you to others.
Then keep plodding along in your quest.
That first "sale" will turn into two, then five, then fifteen.
Eventually, you won't remember exactly how many times you've been paid to write...
and you'll be too busy to care much about it.
Just remember: if you're a freelancer, writing is a business not a hobby.
Treat it as such, working every day to build upon the efforts and successes of the day before, and before long you'll laugh at the days when you wondered if you could make it.