I was recently contacted by the team at Essay Tigers about "How to become a successful freelance writer". Check out this great infographic they put together:
How to become a successful freelance writer [Infographic] by the team at EssayTigers
Are you a freelance writer? Got some tips of your own about building a freelance writing business? Leave a comment below.
This weeks site of interest is
http://writingcareer.com/
This site is a goldmine of information!
Brian Konradt, a freelance writer, has launched Writing Career.com, a website to help creative people and creative thinkers decide if a freelance writing career could be their career choice.
His website, WritingCareer.com, provides many free articles, resources, recommendations, and career guides to help educate people about different writing careers and different types of writing.
Many freelance writers can tell you the exact date they had launched their writing careers and the reasons why. Some reasons include: “I wanted to set my own hours and make my own money”; “I love writing, and this career lets me make money for what I love to do”; and, “I enjoy working with different clients, managing several projects at once, and challenging my creative skills every day.” People with writing careers love what they do. There’s nothing else they’d rather do but to write and get paid for it.
“I remember the date I had launched my writing career,” says Konradt. “It was October 17, 1992. I remember this date because it was the day I had finally decided to make a change in my life and pursue a career that involved one of my strongest passions, and that was writing.”
Konradt didn’t succeed at first. In his first year he made little money. That quickly changed when he learned how to market his services and network effectively. In his second year he was earning $25 per hour writing for local businesses, organizations, and ad agencies. More than a decade later, Konradt is still a successful freelance writer and commands much higher rates.
To launch a successful freelance writing career, Konradt says you need these five skills:
1) Writing skills. The most obvious skill is knowing how to write and what to write about.
2) Marketing skills. Knowing how to market your services is an essential skill – and probably more important than knowing how to write well. Effective marketing brings you a steady flow of clients who pay your rates.
3) Client skills. You need to know how to create trust and rapport with clients and editors. Basically, you need client skills to build one-on-one relationships with whoever hires you or is thinking about hiring you.
4) Personal skills. Just how committed and motivated are you to succeed? Writers experience many obstacles along the way. Do you have the personal skills to attain your goals?
5) Management skills. Most writers work on a handful of projects at once and adhere to a daily schedule to ensure they finish their projects. You need to learn how to manage your time and manage your projects.
“You always hear you can’t make a full-time living as a freelance writer,” says Konradt. “I’ve been hearing this statement since the early 1980s. It’s untrue. Successful writers who know how to market their services and find high-paying clients make six figure incomes. This is a truth. The difference between making a full-time income and writing for pennies is how well you market yourself and which clients you write for.”
Today the three most popular freelance writing careers include editorial writing (writing for magazines, newspapers; websites and blogs); copywriting (writing for businesses and ad agencies); and SEO writing (writing search engine optimization copy) for businesses and affiliates. The best paying writing careers include freelance copywriting; freelance technical writing; and freelance public relations work. Freelance writers in these careers typically earn $25 to $45 per hour, and even more with experience.
One of WritingCareer.com’s many features includes a freelance jobs database which allows writers to browse through current freelance writing jobs. Many of these writing gigs are for freelance copywriting, magazine writing, SEO writing, and public relations work. WritingCareer.com also offers a section of downloadable Career Guides that cover different writing careers; a section of free career-related articles which introduce readers to different writing careers and what to expect; and a giant resource section of career-related websites.
