There are some great posts in this edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 45th edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
I’m happy to present the 43rd edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival — there’s some great posts here. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 44th edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
I’m happy to present the 42nd edition of the Business of Freelance Writing Carnival. If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 43rd edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
I received a question last week that I’d like to share with you:
I recently got word that my job will soon become eliminated. I am also a writer and considering going freelance but thought I’d ask you first, is it lucrative?
And I mean lucrative in the way of money, not free time or freedom.
I admit, I had to think about my answer to this question for a while. Most of the freelance writers I know — successful or otherwise — looked at freelancing for an opportunity to be more flexible or a host of other reasons.
This is my answer:
Freelancing can be very lucrative — I know a few freelancers who have hit six figures. But I also know freelancers who earn barely minimum wage. It is a matter — mostly — of how disciplined you are. If you can keep yourself on track, you can make money.
That said, it does take a while to build up a reliable income. It can take several months to get on your feet. I’d never recommend switching if you have financial commitments that significantly outweigh your savings. It can be done, but it’s very difficult.
The most lucrative field of freelance writing these days seems to be copy writing. Many magazines seem to be cutting down on the numbers of articles they buy, but every company still wants copy for their websites, brochures, etc.
Is there any thing I should have added? Let me know in the comments.
I’m a finalist in the 2008 Blogging Scholarship, and I’d really appreciate if you’d be willing to vote for me. Voting ends at 11:59pm PST on Thursday, November 20th, 2008.
To put it simply, this scholarship would really make my next semester a lot easier and I’d be grateful for any votes you can throw my way.
This post is a guest post from Kelly Kilpatrick. I think that she’s written several good tips here — though, I think a few of them are definitely best in moderation. Thanks, Kelly, for sharing your experience with us.
Earning a living doing freelance writing work has both its advantages and disadvantages – on the plus side, you get the luxury of a flexible job that you can do from the comfort of your home and you get to choose if you want to work or not; on the minus side though, it’s a pain when you have to apply and wait for the next assignment to come through before you start working regularly again. There are times when this uncertainty gets to you and you need to work hard to keep your spirits up. The following tips are designed to help freelance writers get the maximum benefits using their time and talent:
Work as much as you can: There are times when freelance writers find themselves with absolutely no work; and there are others when they’re deluged by offers and are forced to turn down some. The problem with turning down writing gigs when you work freelance is that these clients often never come back when they have other work to be done. Taking on more than you can handle is not advisable – you’re likely to stress yourself out and produce less than quality work, and this in turn affects your future contracts and projects. What you could do is ask clients for a week or so more on projects that do not need immediate delivery. This way, you’re not turning clients away, but you’re still buying enough time to get all the projects completed.
Get to meet your clients: Even though you work from home and can achieve the results your clients want through discussions on the phone and through email, it’s best to drop in at their offices once in a while and let them see the flesh-and-blood person behind the voice and the words. For some reason or the other, this not only boosts their confidence in your work, but also gets them to trust you more on a personal level.
Do what it takes to keep your clients satisfied: If you’re serious about earning a living doing freelance writing work, you must make sure that your clients are satisfied with your writing. There will be times when they may not see eye to eye with you over your work, when you think you’ve given your best, but they’re not satisfied. Instead of taking umbrage at their criticism, redo the project according to their wishes; after all, it’s their satisfaction that counts when you want their continued patronage.
Make yourself available at all times: When you work from home and are dependent on random job offers that come in from time to time, you must make sure your clients are able to reach you at any time during regular working hours. Don’t leave your phone switched off or unanswered, and even if you do, return calls and emails promptly to show clients that you’re dedicated and interested in their job.
Always find time for your regular clients: The new job may promise more money, but that is no excuse to refuse your regular clients’ projects. Neglecting your bread-and-butter jobs while aspiring for the high-paying ones is a gamble that may not pay off in the long run.
This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of online colleges. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot con.
I’ve noticed a trend with a couple of bloggers and e-book writers: they’re using speech recognition software to speed up their production. One or two are also making recordings, hiring transcriptionists and getting a written draft back that way.
The initial draft that you can get back from either a transcriptionist or from speech recognition software isn’t going to be great. Especially if you use a lot of jargon, either method requires at least one thorough round of editing. Another issue is the cost — for the more reliable speech recognition software products, we’re talking price tags of a couple hundred dollars. Transcriptionists generally work for an hourly rate and it’s a simple fact that if you have a couple hours of recordings to transcribe, the price is going to be fairly hefty.
I can see using either of these methods for a written product like an e-book — something that you expect to continue selling many copies of and recouping the costs of production with less work. But for articles and blog posts, I don’t see it as so much of a feasible option. I think quality is one of the biggest issues — many writers are so used to typing or handwriting their work that it seems like switching to a new method may decrease quality even as it increases quantity?
What do you think? Do you talk faster than you type? Or are you going to stick to your keyboard?
Just a little late in getting this carnival up — my apologies. But we’ve made it to the 40th edition, in one piece! If you’d like to submit a post or two for the 41st edition, you can do so at Blog Carnival.
. The winner is commenter #4: Emily N.
