Have you set off your journey to becoming a professional freelance writer? If yes, you need to learn lots of things to go places. Embarking on a freelance career is rife with challenges that often get in the way to making prolific bucks.
Do you have enough skills to start as a freelancer?
Freelancing is not easy-breezy that anyone can do. You’re sadly mistaken if you swing into freelancing with a hope that it is a quick fix for your financial problems. Freelance writing is - a rewarding - but an intricate process. You need to work hard for several weeks without making any money. You have to be passionate to work as a successful freelance writer. Before diving into the writing industry, ponder if it’s your cup of tea. Do you love reading long and complex articles or not? Do you have a good command of a language?
Wise up to the types of writing
Freelance writing is a broad industry that consists of various types such as copywriting, blog writing, article writing, e-book, content writing, ghostwriting, fiction writing and technical writing. You should decide which genre you can write on. Don’t assume that you can write for all niches. Be specific about your skills and accordingly embrace projects. If you’re good at article writing, you should explicitly mention on your profile “freelance article writer”.
Write in a professional tone
Lots of reading and writing can make you a professional writer. If English is not your first language, it could be difficult for you to write like a native speaker. You can get brickbats from your audience and clients initially, but stick it out. The more you write, the more you improve. If you’re an ebook author, you should read ebooks. This will help you learn the writing style, vocabulary, flow and the like.
Hourly or fixed pricing
Whether you should charge an hourly rate or fixed prices entirely depends on your project. You should charge fixed rate if you’re a freelance blog writer as you can handle multiple projects simultaneously. However, the hourly rate is a more suitable option if you’re working as a copywriter.
Build your reputation
In order to fetch assignments from your clients, you have to share your masterpiece with them. Sharing a link of your blog is like blowing your own trumpet. You should have your work published on established blogs such as LifeHack, and share that link with your clients. It will help you convince your client that you’re a professional writer.
Freelance Platform
Choosing a freelance platform is also one of a difficult choice to make. If you’ve just started freelancing, you shouldn’t jump at renowned platforms as they have fierce competition. Try it on new and small platforms.