For many writers, freelancing has become the go-to career choice. However, to be truly successful there are a few things that every writer can do to ensure that their freelancing endeavours are profitable.
There are many perks to freelancing, such as working anywhere you want, setting your own rates and choosing projects that you are passionate about. But before you get ahead of yourself and quit your nine-to-five, you need to keep in mind that freelancing is an incredibly difficult career to get started in.
There are a few things that every writer can do to make sure that they have a successful freelancing career.
And we've got them right here, so keep reading because media update's Saads Abrahams is sharing six tips for freelance writers.
Up Your Writing Skills
The foundation of any successful freelance writer is the ability to write engaging, strong and error-free content. However, this is not a skill that comes naturally — it is one that takes a lot of practice.
If you want to be a strong and skilled freelance writer, you need to:
- read a lot and everything
- practice different writing styles: from email copy to blogs to social media posts
- take writing courses to improve your skills, and
- make use of grammar-checking tools.
Find Your Niche
To have a prosperous freelance writing career you need to focus on your niche. What are you going to write about? Writing on everything may seem like a good idea, but this industry is saturated and you want to be able to stick out.
Having a niche gives you the ability to:
- build a sustainable freelancing career
- write about what you are passionate about
- narrow down your clients, and
- build a reputable portfolio.
Learn to Take Constructive Criticism
Writing is very subjective, but working as a freelancer does mean that you need to give your clients what they want with a sprinkle of your own knowledge. So, you need to listen to what your clients want, which sometimes means changing what you've written to fit into their style.
Listening to and accepting feedback and criticism will only make you a better writer and make clients want to work with you again. Working as a freelancer you need to be amicable and flexible within reason.
Learn How to Edit Your Own Work
Working for yourself means you don't have the luxury of having an editor — you are the editor, proofreader, writer, accountant and everything in between.
And if you want to deliver top-notch content you need to learn how to edit your work. There are a few things that you can do to assist your editing journey, such as:
- Reading your work out loud — we tend to fix things when we read in our head, so by taking the time to read your work aloud you will be able to pick up any errors.
- Take a break after writing — this will help you get out of writer mode and you can refocus yourself into being an editor.
- Know who your audience is — if you know who you are writing this content for, you will be able to edit your work with their point of view in mind.
Network With Other Writers
You may think to yourself why you would want to network your possible competition, but having a good relationship with other writers will be of great benefit to you. Try not to see them as your competition but rather as your colleagues.
Building a network of other writers is important because you will not only be able to support and relate to one another but you can also get client referrals from other writers who do not focus on your niche.
You can build your network of writers by:
- attending writing seminars, classes, or workshops, and
- following fellow writers on social media.
Stay Organised
The number one thing that can make or break your freelance writing career is organisation. Not being organised leaves room for you to forget tasks and miss deadlines — which is obviously a huge no-no and completely damaging to your reputation as a freelancer.
There are many digital and non-digital tools that you can make use of to stay organised and on top of all your tasks, so make sure you are using them to your advantage!
Did you find this listicle helpful? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Canva
**Information sourced from Upwork