How To Make A Living As A Freelance Writer: Expert Advice

The concept of working as a freelance writer is quite appealing to many people, and yet so many people who get started as a freelance writer end up quitting within a year because they either did not know what to do or did not take the time to do what was required.

• Making a living as a freelance writer starts off with a hump. There is a learning curve, a time during which you must familiarize yourself with new programs, concepts, or styles of working. Being disciplined enough to work from home may not be your strong suit, and it may take some cultivating in order to really do it well.


• Making a living can be done, but it takes consistent hard work, especially at the start. At the start of a freelance writing career, many people struggle because they might be skilled or have some background, but without published internet-based material that can be uploaded at the drop of a hat to potential clients, you will be overlooked. That being said, nabbing the first internet-based job can be difficult. Either you start off with something that pays very little money and build a portfolio and reputation there until you can move into higher paying jobs, or you try and try again to get the higher paying jobs by skipping the first step, a process that takes more time. So you can opt to put out effort at the start for very little money, and with enough diligence, you can start making a lot of money, or you can take the risk of trying to land a big fish without putting out the initial, low-paying efforts. The decision is up to you, and either way it takes about one year before you start making money each month, and about two years before you can start working full time as a freelance writer and sustain yourself with the income. This does vary based on skill set and qualifications, but is often the average.


• When you first start, you can make more money by being flexible about the topics. Just because you only want to write about home and garden topics does not mean regular home and garden topics will be available. If you are willing to research fashion topics, plumbing topics, etc… you can get more work. It takes time to build a reputation online, but once it is built, you can start being selective about the jobs you take.