To become a well-paid freelance writer you don’t need to have specialized education, but you do need to have talent, be well-versed in your genre, and bring something new to your readers. Whether you want to publish a book, or become a freelance master on preparing landing pages, blog/guest posts or commercial offers, you must know how to present and sell yourself.
Where to start?
At the beginning of your career, you may try writing short stories for magazines and newspapers. Blog posts are also a good choice. Most editors are happy to work with freelance writers because they can get a third-party view on an issue, which is often fresh and different.
You may not be well paid until you become better-known, with a solid portfolio and impressive feedback. But if your only goal is earning money, you’ll hardly grow into a competent writer- inspiration and sincere interest should motivate your endeavors! So let’s move to the basic tips that would help you to grow into a competent and sought-after freelance pen wizard.
1. Watch and Note Events Carefully
Start a diary and daily record your thoughts, observations, details of human characters, and scenes from daily life. You need to be observant to be able to note interesting and beautiful pictures in the bustle of life, turning the moments of your life into little literary masterpieces. Undoubtedly, you have to focus on the potential audience and elicit the emotions that work for your purposes.
2. Search for Inspiration Everywhere
Every day we directly (and indirectly) participate in lots of interesting stories and dialogues. Observe carefully, listen and capture valuable finds. They will be useful for future literary creations like small stories and novels. By the way, many writers of the naturalist school such as Emile Zola and Theodore Dreiser used news notes as the core for their novels.
Since an idea can appear in one moment, while traveling, shopping or during a long conversation, you must always carry a notebook and pen or a voice recorder. An idea can evaporate as quickly as it appeared!
3. Know Your Worth
Pricing is one of the most burning questions for any freelance writer. If you are a new freelancer, it is difficult to talk about competitive prices, so you must bid lower than the average value. However, it is important not to lose your dignity. Spend time on improving your skills, and the pricing policy will change along with your skill level. Taking cheap jobs does not allow you to grow professionally. Quality work takes more time than cheap, superficial rewriting or copywriting, but it can pay much better.
4. Don’t be Afraid to Expand
How does a writer expand past their first freelance websites? Of course, any writer has their unique path to success, but the key point is to focus on the transition from quantity to quality. A few months from the start, you’ll get your first regular customers, but you cannot abandon the search for new ones. New professional acquaintances can give you a constant flow of new, better-paid work. Try to spend 60-70% of your time on working on standing orders while the remaining 30-40% should be devoted to developing the customer base.
It may seem like Upwork, Freelancer.com, and other websites are overfilled with performers. However, with the demand for writing and essays driving traffic to sites like Buzz Essay, millions of employers all over the world are in need of copywriting or rewriting. So why not give them the opportunity to use your skills?
5. Finally, Don’t Stop Improving
Read best writers of your genre and notice things you like. Spend your free time acquainting yourself with the biographies and memoirs of professional writers, authorities and experts. Their experience will become a source of useful tips for you.
About the Author: Lucy Adams is a blogger from BuzzEssay and a freelance writer. She covers a big range of topics, from education to psychology. Lucy is a generalist, so feel free to suggest something interesting and, be sure, you’ll get a fast and grounded response. Just try this kind of collaboration and add value to your blog!
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