Making Money from Freelance Writing

Its the question that every aspiring freelancer eventually finds themselves asking: is it really possible to make money from this? The kind of money that lets you keep a roof over your head and feed your kids occasionally, that is?

Well, yes, it is. But lets be honest: its not easy. In fact, you probably just picked one of the most difficult career paths in the world. Thats the bad news.

The good news is that with the right approach and the right attitude, you can earn a respectable wage from freelance writing. Here are a few tips on how to do it:

Love your writing career

If youre anything like the thousands of other freelance writers out there, youre probably not in this for the money. If money was your main objective, youd probably be working your way up the corporate ladder right now in a nice, safe office job, washing the car on Sundays and forgetting all about writing.

If that kind of lifestyle is anathema to you, then congratulations freelance writing could be the right career choice after all.

At the bottom line, most freelance writers do it because they love to write, and because they want to be able to make a living doing something they enjoy. And thats a good start. If you really want to make a success of your freelance writing career, youre going to have to love what youre doing, and really want to make a success of it.

This is a rule that doesnt really apply to conventional working. You dont have to love Big Macs to work in McDonalds, or love filing to work in an office. You just have to turn up on time, do whats required from you and then walk away. If your career is freelance writing, you never get to walk away. The truth is that at first (and often for a long time afterwards) youll spend much more time looking for work than youll spend actually writing. Looking for work will become all-consuming. When youre not writing, youll be either thinking about writing, or looking for writing you can do to make money. If you dont love what youre doing, and if youre not absolutely determined to keep on doing it, youll find it very hard to keep that up.

But enjoying what youre doing isnt going to be enough: if you really want to make a living out of your writing, youre going to have to treat it like a business.

Treat freelance writing as a business

As weve said, the chances are that you write because you love to write. Or because you want a job you can work around your kids, your hobbies or your other commitments in life. Whatever you do, though, never lose sight of the fact that your writing is, first and foremost, a business. And as with any business, you need to work at marketing it and growing it.

This may not come easy at first. Youre a writer, after all, not a marketer! If you wanted to sell things, youd have found a job in sales, right?

Wrong. You DID find a job in sales. Freelance writing is as much about selling as it is about writing. You picked a competitive industry to work in. No matter how good you are at writing, theres someone out there whos as good or better. There are even people out there who arent nearly as good at writing as you are, and yet theyre getting more jobs. Why is that?

The difference is in the selling. The mediocre writer who does a good job of getting out there and selling their services (and themselves) will ultimately be more successful than the excellent writer who sits at home and waits for the work to come and find them. The truth is that the work will never come. You need to go and find it and when you find it, you need to make sure you pitch yourself well enough to secure it. If you dont know anything about marketing, its time to learn.

Remember the golden rule of writing

Of course, there are ways to make things easier on yourself. There are a whole host of websites out there which allow you to bid for writing jobs. Great idea, no? Well, it depends. Remember the golden rule: money flows towards the writer. If youre thinking of signing up with an agency that requires you to pay money to join, youre already breaking the number one rule.

Be wary of bidding sites, too. Often the competition is so fierce that you have to be willing to practically work for free in order to secure the job. And working for free isnt paying your mortgage or feeding your kids.

Love your work, market yourself, and remember the golden rule. Welcome to the wonderful world of freelance writing!