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In part two of our interview series with successful freelancers, we’ll take a look at the different types of writing they do and how they personally land most of their writing gigs. Why is this important? As I mentioned previously, query-free freelancing isn’t the only option available to you as a freelance writer. While the Web 2.0 world makes it much easier for new writers to build a platform and their visibility early on, other tactics still have a place. You’ll get a glimpse of what other pros are doing, and how some things changed over the years for a few of them.
It’s also important that you understand queries or query-free approaches to freelancing can vary depending on the type of writer you are. For example, query letters will have a larger role in freelance magazine writing than they would on the Web. On the other hand cold call pitching might work in commercial writing, but it might annoy editors with national publications.
I’m regularly asked how writers earning decent rates find their gigs (or where they find their gigs). For me it’s the query-free approach where my clients most often find me. I understand that alone isn’t very helpful for a new writer. Our guests come from a mix of backgrounds, from ghostwriting books to writing for corporate clients, and here they share how they find new work.
Let’s get to it. I asked our guests what types of projects they most often take on for clients and how they land most of their freelance writing jobs. Here’s what they had to say:
Chris Bibey
The majority of my projects consist of commercial and web writing. In the past, magazine writing was a large portion of my workload, but over the past year this has died down a bit. Many of my Web writing clients have asked me to work for them in a more traditional sense, such as on marketing material, and vice versa.
I land new clients in a number of different ways. At this time, networking and client referrals seem to be in the lead. That being said, I am always sending queries when I have the time to do so.
Angela Booth
I’ve contributed to several magazines every month for the past 15 years, and have many copywriting clients who’ve been with me for years too. New clients usually present some form of commercial writing, whether for Web or print, although I do take on (book) ghostwriting clients too.
[Most jobs come] either via word of mouth / personal recommendation, or via visibility.
Jenna Glatzer
I mostly write books now, but I also write for magazines. Every now and then, I also do every other type of writing you can imagine, but those are the main two. At this point, most of my jobs come to me through editors who’ve either worked with me in the past, or who work with other editors who’ve worked with me.
Kristen King
The two types of work I’m doing the most right now are marketing content (including executive-level resumes) and proposal writing. I also accept smaller projects such as book editing or magazine feature articles, but they tend to be a much smaller proportion of my workload and are rather sporadic these days, whereas in the past they were a much bigger chunk.
My freelance work comes to me from four sources: word of mouth and referrals, repeat business, clients coming to me (eg, finding my website, etc.), and actively seeking out work. My actively seeking work is definitely the smallest proportion of that at this point — 3+ years into full-time freelancing — but was pretty much my sole source of work when I was freelancing part time from 2004 to 2006.
Deb Ng
Most of my writing jobs now are writing for the web in some capacity, usually blogging and social media content. In fact, I haven’t had a print client in a couple of years now because my web projects have been so lucrative.
Nowadays most of my writing clients contact me via my blog. However, I also find clients by cold calling and traditional job ads. I like to find local businesses that may need writers from time to time, for instance graphic and web designers. I send them a packet about me that includes a bio, brief writing resume, samples of my writing and business card. I follow that up with a cold call. I’d say 1 out of every 10 calls lands a client.
Allena Tapia
I am completely a combination. My regular work at About.com is writing for the web, but I want more magazine pieces, and the past couple months I’ve been doing a huge content project for Cengage. Then, I add in my local clients- editorial director at a local magazine, some non-profit marketing pieces and !!! you’ve got the weirdest mix possible!
Recently, I’ve found more and more people find me through word of mouth—editors talk! Also, I have a lot of repeat work from past clients. For example, I responded to an ad for freelance writers for a specific magazine about a year and a half ago. I turned around my first assignment early, making sure it was polished to near perfection. The editor then began to think of me when she needed something in a hurry, or another writer left her in a lurch. I’ve now appeared in nearly every issue. Last week, she received a piece from a writer that she didn’t like—and it was the lead piece on the Sotomayor nomination! She needed it reworked entirely over the weekend, and she thought of me! So now I have the cover of a major nomination in my field (Latino issues), of a major current event— in a magazine that is nationally distributed!
Anne Wayman
Most of my clients hire me to ghostwrite books for them. My clients come from two sources – return clients and through my websites which I guess is my strong visibility. I worked with a ghostwriting broker for awhile, but I do way better on my own.
Anyone seeing some common themes in there? Like referrals? Keeping clients happy so they keep coming back and referring you to others is a big part of query-free freelancing, and as you can see here it’s equally true when you land your initial gigs through queries. Speaking of queries, come back tomorrow and you’ll find out exactly how important querying was (or is) in the careers of each of our guests, and how important they feel querying is for new writers too.
Related posts:
- To Query or Not to Query: Part Three
- To Query or not to Query: Part Five
- To Query or Not to Query: Part Four
- Share Your Writing Tips – Query Letters
- To Query or Not to Query: Part Six
About the Author: Jennifer Mattern
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TAGS: Allena Tapia, angela booth, anne wayman, chris bibey, deb ng, freelance writers, Freelance Writing Jobs, Jenna Glatzer, Kristen King, magazine writing, queries
