How to Get Started as a Freelance Writer: 5 Steps
Keen to become a freelance writer?
You might think that writing is easy. You have always had the urge to write; you may even carry a notebook with you for when inspiration hits.
But sadly, and one thing I wish I knew when I started as a writer because being a freelance writer has a lot more to it than simply writing well!
So if you have decided that you want to be a freelance writer, then there are a few essential things you need to know.
Freelancing is quickly becoming more and more popular across the UK and the world. One of the significant impacts of the dreaded c-word is that many people were forced to work remotely.
And you know what? Many people loved it! Working remotely gives you so much more flexibility than being in an office.
So when the covid situation began to die down, and many people started flocking back to the office, people looked for an alternative that would allow them to continue working from home.
The internet has made freelance writing significantly more accessible than it used to be. It has opened writers to clients with different customers, giving you a much bigger market and more potential revenue streams.
With that in mind, here are five steps that you need to take to become a freelance writer.
Decide What You Want to Write
This is a big one, and one I didn't realise when I started out. As a new freelance writer, I thought I needed to cast my net wide and put myself forward for any job.
And that approach failed miserably.
Think about it from the client's perspective, would you rather someone offered to work with you who specialised in your job, or someone who claimed to do everything?
There are several types of freelance writers:
Feature or Article Writer
Blogger
Copywriter
Journalist
Ghostwriter
Specialising early will also help you define your voice and narrow down your lines of work to secure better rates of pay.
Get Writing
This seems like a strange one, but so many new aspiring writers are not writing! As with everything, practise makes perfect, and the more writing you do, the better it will become.
An easy way to start writing is to set up your blog and schedule to update it often. Not only will this be good practise, but if your portfolio is sparse, this is a great substitute.
Setting a schedule makes it much harder for you to slip up and stop uploading. If you update your blog one weekend a month, you won't risk burning out early.
Set Up a Website
But where do you put all of your new sparkly lovely blog posts?
On your very own website, of course!
Your website doesn't need to be incredible, but making sure you are present online is essential when it comes time to market yourself as a professional. Clients will take you much more seriously if you have a blog, about page, and contact page.
Learn How to Pitch
When you pitch your writing to potential clients, you need to ensure that you are coming across as engaging, succinct, and professional. Every client will have guidance on what they want to see from a pitch, so make sure you read their notes in detail first.
Pay attention to the sort of content that they tend to produce and pivot your pitch to line up with their content.
Any pitch you make should have the following aspects as standard:
An engaging headline
A question that your pitch will attempt to answer
Why that question is essential to answer
Your qualifications that suit that role
Create a Portfolio
Regardless of whether you have any published work already or not, it is essential that you have a professional-looking and attractive portfolio that also links to your website and social media pages. Your portfolio is the shop front of your freelance business.
If you are still new and low on clients, write different content samples to highlight your abilities. Once new work has been published, continue to update your portfolio and keep adding to it over time.
If you liked this blog, check out 7 Common Mistakes Freelance Writers Make in Their First Year, and make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter, for more great content, delivered straight to your inbox!
