Freelance Writing and Research

Do you ever wonder about your relationship to your freelance writing business? Are you happy with the way things are going or would you rather have less work or more?

I find that my realtionship with my writing goes through highs and lows, one day I am on top of the world that I am able to make money with my writing and other times I wonder why I do it.

Of course I know why I do it - I think that sometimes the writing for money interferes with my writing for the sheer pleasure of putting fingers to keys or pen to paper. Having said that there are some projects that fire me with enthusiasm and the money I earn is an added bonus.

What is your relationship to your freelance writing - Do you go through periods of doubt? 

Is Freelancing For Everyone?

An increasing number of people do make at least some money from freelance writing, whether that is for print or for the web. Success in the freelance world is largely a matter of attitude and of course some level of writing skills.

If you think that freelancing will make you rich over night, forget it. You can certainly make a tolerable living as a freelance writer, but it takes time, and it takes a lot of work with little return. If you love writing these things won't matter much because you will keep going until you break through. 

Freelancing is not an easy way of life but it can be very satisfyong and a lot of fun - providing you put in the work first. If you think freelancing is for everyone then I would have to disagree, but if you're serious and you love writing then you might want to look at the tips below.

Five Winning Ways to Kickstart Your Freelance Writing Business

Whether you're a stay at home mum who needs to add something to the family budget, or you have a full time job that you are looking to give up and get on with writing, there are a number of things that will help you to get started on what you really want to do.

• Get Yourself a Blog

   

  If you don't already have a blog, then get on over to blogger and start a free one. A blog helps you to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis, and it's a way of getting your writing noticed. When you post something to your blog then get it on feedburner, this publisizes your blog and makes it available to a wider audience.

  Read other people's blogs and if you enjoyed the post then leave a comment, not just like the blog, but something related to what you have read. When you comment leave a link back to your own blog. Once you have a number of posts up, then you have somewhere that prospective clients may go to see your writing style.

  • Submit Your Work To Article Directories

     

    Whether you write about writing or you have some other reasonably defined niche such as parenting or computer problems, write some articles and submit them to article directories with a link back to your blog and a sentence or so offering your services. Try to submit at least one or two articles a week to three or four directories. Some people may click on your link and want to know more about what you are offering; many won't.

    Article writing and submission has three major benefits, people clicking on your link and visiting your blog, a more visible web presence because these things may come up if they relate to a person's search terms, you will have some work that you can point prospective clients to when they ask to see some work - don't ever write free samples, a lot of writers get scammed with that one. Some people will take the article that you have written, along with any written by others and they've got most of their project work for free. 

  • Join a Writer's Forum 

     

    Head on over to digital point which is a forum for webmasters, bloggers, and freelance writers. Get engaged with some of the topics, once your profile gets known you can look at some of the 'writers wanted' posts. Many of these will only be offering 1cent a word, sometimes less, but the 1 cent a word stuff is ok when you are trying to get started. 

    • Guest Blogging

       

      There are plenty of people on the web wbo ask for other people to write a guest blog. Off your services when you see this, you don't get paid but you do get a lot more exposure. 

       

  • Networking

     

    Join some of the social networks such as blog catalog and blogsvine. You submit your blogs and other people can read them, you can read and comment on the work of others. You can get a fair bit of traffic that way, which gives your blog a higher profile, and more likely to be read by people who want someone to write for them. 

  Once you have done all of the above you will have made some useful contacts, got your work known, and hopefully have found a paying job or two. When the work starts to come in this will give you a lot of satisfaction, but you can't rest on your laurels if you're trying to kickstart your freelance writing business. The final thing that you should do is join something like Get a Freelancer, where freelancers bid for work, most of the jobs on offer are very low paying, but you do find them with reasonable pay. I have found that Digital Point is a good source. If people are happy with the writing you do for them, not only will they give you a visible rating, they may recommend you to others on the forum.

  There are any number of winning ways to kickstart your freelance writing business, make a start with these five and let me know a few I might have missed.
  

   

   
  

Who is Your Boss?

Most freelancers enjoy working from home because it means that they are their own boss, however, some clients prefer to think that because you are writing for them, they are the boss. I did some work for a client last week, and that was ok. Then they wanted some more work, but at a lower rate and I said no, because I had already given them a discount. The next thing this client wanted to do was bring the deadline forward, instead of wanting 10 articles in two days they wanted them the same day. It was at this point that I decided there was not going to be a working relationship with this client because they thought of themselves as my boss. How do you deal with clients who want to change the rates, then the deadline and treat you as a low rated employee? 

When you start freelancing then you may, like me and many others underprice your services. Many writers have only one or two clients and will continue to take low paying work from them because it is constant - that's fine as far as it goes but I have found that it pays to spread your net wider. 

Getting More Work

If you want more work then you have to go out and get it. For many writers this means bidding for work on sites such as Guru and Elance. It is also worth testing out writing forums, digital point has a name for attracting writers and people who want writing services from the bottom of the pile - however, it is possible for writers to find jobs where the pay is reasonable. Take care when posting on these forums, posts that have spelling and grammar mistakes or only contain responses such as hire me, and a link to your site will not get you far. If you see something you think might be worthwhile then pm the person who is looking for a writer - I have found a couple of good writing gigs this way.

Get yourself known on the internet by keeping more than one blog and by linking to other blogs and commenting on what other writers have to say. The internet can be a cold and lonely place without some interaction so go out of your way to comment and to join sites such as Blog Catalog - I got a guest post this way and it is an excellent means of getting your name and your writing known. When it comes to bidding for work and getting more work I am finding that visibility is often the key.