Filip Poposki

A Comprehensive Guide to Freelance Writing If you’re thinking about getting started as an online freelance writer, there are definitely a few things you should know before you commit yourself to it. First and foremost, you’ll need to realize the fact that you’ll be thrust into an expansive world you know barely anything about, and you’ll have to fend for yourself in it with whatever resource you can. Whether it’s quick wit, unfaltering vigilance for new job opportunities, charisma, making impressive first impressions or just raw intelligence, you’ll have to bring your your best qualities if you’re looking to convince strangers online that you’re good for the job. In my case, starting out struck fear into the deepest layers of my psyche – I always thought of myself as a decent writer, having dabbled in creative short stories here and there - it was really all the experience I had. Convincing a stranger online that my writing was so good that I had to be compensated for it was something I’d never pictured myself doing, so it was definitely unexplored territory for me. It took me weeks of convincing from a good friend of mine (who at the time was noticeably ‘rich’ per our standards) that freelance writing was a viable temporary career choice. And while I had limited academic knowledge with mediocre grades at school and college, my first freelance writing job was, believe it or not, writing for a site that hired writers to complete scholarly papers on a tight schedule. All it took was a 600-word summary of my background and why I think I should write for those fine people over at ‘custompapers.com’, and I was set – I had become an official online freelance writer without a dollar in my pocket. Now getting a job on that site was no easy feat, especially for a beginner like me. You had to refresh the ‘jobs’ page every 5-10 minutes in hopes of finding an open job, and even then it had to be a job that you were fairly certain that you’d be capable of completing on time. After a few days of relentless page-reloads, I had finally found my first ever freelance writing project: A 1,000-word report on dark matter. Now I, like most people, barely had the slightest idea of what dark matter is, but thankfully the almighty Google was here to save the day. After a few hours of searching and compiling data, followed by a few hours of putting that data into words and afterwards a few more hours of nervous contemplating and proofreading, I was finally done – 10 hours of research, writing, editing and proofreading all coupled with a healthy dose of procrastinating resulted in a pretty decent report on dark matter. To be fair, the job paid $20, which is laughably low for 10 hours of sweat-inducing, nerve-racking work, but it was still money nonetheless. Those 10 hours were passed with exhausting oscillations of fear, anxiety, exhilaration and the constant, disappointing reminder that I’m working my ass off for a mere $20. I’ve never felt more productive in my life, and I’ve worked double shifts at a cafe beforehand. In the end, my first writing job (and many more afterwards) was not about the money, rather it was for the experience. However, it’s not all bleak – like it or not, you do get better with time. Even if you have the work ethic of a sloth and the attention span of a horny 20-year old, if you keep at it your writing will improve whether you want it to or not. Additionally, you’ll feel much less nervous about your work, you’ll procrastinate less and you’ll learn not to fear a bad reaction to your work as it’s all a part of the game. In retrospect, that same job would now take me no more than three hours to complete, so that’s 20$ for three hours, which by my current standards is not that bad. Sure there would be a little procrastination here and there, but those irrational feelings of nervousness and anxiety won’t be there – the experience you gain will slowly subdue them and stop them from ever reappearing. Freelance writing to me is an uphill climb with several flat plateaus where you can set up camp and enjoy your accomplishments – something akin to a video game. You start out wherever you can, and slowly find out that you can do copywriting, SEO content, blogs, product descriptions, landing pages and lots of other kinds of writing which are pretty well-paid. After a month or so at custompapers, it was time to move on to bigger jobs that paid bigger money. Enter /r/forhire – Reddit’s most profitable board. ‘forhire’ was too introduced to me by the same friend who got me writing in the first place – this really convinced me that it takes someone to show you the right place to look when it comes to online freelance work. I was stuck on dead-end Google searches and promising job opportunities for a good while before my savior friend showed me the ropes, again. ‘Forhire’ is perhaps the internet’s most dynamic online job board – there are dozens of new job offers being posted by the hour – software developers and other programmers rake in the big money here, with graphic designers and photoshop wizards making decent money while the writers sadlyscrape the bottom of the barrel. Don’t let this discourage you though – I’ve raked in ~$,1000 per week by just doing what I do – being a consistent writer with time on my hands. I’ve landed jobs that have took me no more than 8 work-hours to complete that have paid me a cool few hundred dollars, which is much more than I’d ever make at my old waiter job. Now ‘forhire’, is no joke, sure the friendly vibes you get from Reddit users does ease the tension, but the employers there are after serious workers who can meet deadlines while following their given instructions accordingly. With that in mind, the writers there tend to be thoroughly tested by employers before they decide to hire them. This means that whoever you are, whether you’re just starting out or have years of experience under your belt, you’re going to have to win over your employers before they decide that you’re worth paying – and they ALWAYS pay. (In my three and a half years as a freelance writer, no one has ever stiffed me) When I first started sending PMs on Reddit for jobs, I thought that I had to be transparent about every single detail; I would inform them of all my past writing jobs, add my rate, linger on about why I’d be perfect for the job and include every single detail I deemed necessary in order to compile a 200-300 word message on why they should pay me to work. Even with a few samples of my excellently-written previous work, I was still receiving very little replies. The problem was that not many employers felt open about reading a long list of reasons why some kid was a good enough writer to be paid by them. Psychology plays a big part when making a first impression, and in this case, cluttering my pitch to potential employers with irrelevant details about my writing prowess showed that I was nervous and inexperienced enough to include every single factor that I thought might help me get that job. A cluttered, poorly-constructed pitch will not win many people over regardless if it contains many examples of excellently-written previous work or not. Soon after, I realized that the secret is to be calm and concise when convincing others to hire you. A 100-word introduction about yourself with a few key points showing your past experience on paper is sufficient when written in an easygoing, relaxed style. Those employers know that you have some degree of writing skill in you, but what they’re really going for is dependency – they need to depend on you to stay true to your word and need to know that you can follow their instructions properly. For example, if you tell an employee that you can do 2-3 hours of writing per day, really do 2-3 hours of writing per day. If you hint at them that you’re a sharp writer with an affordable rate and flexible working hours, they will expect you to stick to that. Cluttering your pitch with a myriad of reasons why they should hire you while sounding like the most non-opinionated, passive person in existence probably won’t spark their intrigue, even if you’re the best writer in the world. Employers want to know that they’ve hired a real, living, breathing person who they can depend on, not some scared beginner too nervous to make a bold move. (pitching to employers is very similar to hitting on girls online) I learned that the hard way through dozens of no-replies and established my own distinct pitch-style that would hook at least half the people it’s sent to. My past 30 pitches have garnered satisfying replies and have even encouraged employers to reply to me saying that I did not get the job (which almost never happens) due to the magnetizing way in which I presented myself in my pitches. How does one become this? Well, the truth is that there is no shortcut to becoming a confident and trustworthy freelance writer - you really have to become one to be one. However, there are a few practices that can help bring that version of you out: First, keep a natural writing style for your pitches – if you sound robotic during a pitch, it’s a clear indicator that you’re feeling nervous or anxious about the job, which in itself is a clear indicator that you’re a beginner not accustomed to online freelance work. This holds especially true when writing PMs on the many Reddit freelance work boards; (yes, there are more work-related boards on Reddit than just /forhire) never call the potential employer sir, ma’am or any other overly-formal title. Remember that this is a freelance writing gig you’re going after, not a longterm status of employment, so you’re going to want to sound natural and casual. In my experience, most employers were barely older than me – in their mid-late 20s, so of course they’d be a little put-off when called sir or ma’am. If English is not your native language, imitating tonalities you hear from TV shows and movies will eventually help you mold a somewhat native-sounding tone. Avoid babbling on about why you’re the best writer for this job, or how much you’re hoping on landing that freelance gig – this makes you sound unsure and fearful, also indicating that you may not be too skilled with the English tongue. Remember that there’s a fine-line between sounding confident and cocky, and only you can draw that line for yourself through the feedback you’ll be getting from potential employers. You’ll fail many times, but you will grasp the concept of an easygoing pitch soon enough if you keep at it. Secondly, drop ‘one-liners’ in your pitch that help you sound confident and sure. A little ‘This is exactly the kind of work I’ve been doing’ or ‘Looking forward to hearing from you’ shows that you’re not only sure of yourself, but are also sure of the job. These ‘one liners’ don’t have to precisely be ‘one liners’, just drop a few hints here and there that you’ve done this before and are sure that you’re used to getting positive replies from your pitches. These ‘one liners’ can also be derived from American/English TV shows or movies if you’re not a gifted English speaker, just be careful not to sound like a pop culture-reference machine. Being able to establish an easy-going tone for your pitches screams ‘experience’ and ‘security’, even if you don’t have much of it. (remember that it’s okay to bend the truth when having to disclose your experience with an employer – samples aren’t always asked for) Thirdly, when it comes to rates, never share them with anyone who isn’t serious about hiring you. Freelance writing employers can and will judge you based on your rate – go too low and you’ll be implying that you’re a bad writer with little experience, aim too high and you might chase them off before getting a chance to prove yourself. If you get a promising reply from a potential employer, THEN you can share your rate with them. If they don’t ask for a rate after giving you an assignment, they’ll probably pay you based on your performance, if not, even better – now YOU get to establish your rate after you’ve already done the work. (remember that all work you send to an online employer is paid, otherwise they risk the high probability of being banned from whatever board or site they’re posting on) I can’t tell you how many times people have commented on my overly-low rates, saying how it’s not fair for the rest of the writers and how I’m probably too inexperienced to know what a proper rate is. This is why sharing a rate with anyone who won’t hire you is a bad idea – try to keep it at 2c per word if you’re a beginner, and slowly work your way up. Creative writing, product descriptions, high-school level academic papers and rewrites are usually the cheaper, with college-level reports, technical writing, SEO content, landing page copy and copywriting typically being more expensive. (4-10c per word) You could also set up a ‘fixed’ rate per page, paragraph or article, however a per-word rate is usually more profitable. Fourth, if possible, try to set up a call or video conference with your potential employer. Adding a ‘I’m also up for establishing a quick Skype call as opposed to dozens of back-and-forth emails’ in your pitch is an excellent way to ‘break the ice’ with your employer. This will significantly increase the chance that some will reply to your pitch, regardless if you’ve sent it as a PM on Reddit or as a direct email. It shows that you’re both confident and experienced enough to be comfortable with a quick video call (or a plain call). An employer who can talk to you in real time or better yet see you and chat with you about your job will automatically feel much surer about their choice of hiring you. Nowadays I almost exclusively contact my employers via call or video conference and stick to sending emails or texting them on an instant messaging app once we’ve established a working relationship. Sending emails or PMs back and forth will not garner the same aforementioned benefits of a video conference/call. Last but not least, stay true to your word. Regardless if you’re a good or bad writer, sticking to your deadlines and doing what you’ve promised to your employer is the best way to build trust with them. You could do video calls with an employer all day if you want, but that won’t build the trust that staying true to your word and delivering your work time will. In my experience, being a consistent writer for an employer who not only delivers work on time but also puts in the care to it in order to make it A1 quality is what has gotten me ‘rich’ through freelance writing. I’ve even earned a few bonus dollars here and there by being a good writer for my employees. Doing this can turn a quick gig into a longterm position that pays well for months on end. If you’re truly ambitious about writing, this will have to become common practice for you.