Browse the All Freelance Writing collection of freelance business articles below.
This section covers the business side of freelance writing, from finding better clients and choosing a specialty to setting rates, growing income, and making smarter decisions about how you work.
Whether you’re just getting started or trying to strengthen an established business, these posts focus on practical realities, not vague freelance motivation.
In this article series, we’ve covered a lot of different ways to break into print markets, most of which involve writing for magazines. Today, I’d like to talk about some unconventional ideas for getting jobs in the industry. So we’re going to delve into “Thinking Outside The Magazine” and explore alternative print freelance writing gigs. Glossies and trade mags are all well and good, but
Now that half the year is gone, it’s a good time to take a look at your situation to see how you’re progressing towards your goals. That includes doing a finance check-up. Here are eight things you should consider when conducting your mid-year freelance financial review. 1. Progression toward your salary goal. You should have started the year with an idea of how much you
When we think about marketing our freelance writing services, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea of finding new clients. But what about past freelance clients? Sometimes former clients get lost in the mix or are downright forgotten. Do you remember to approach them about potential new writing gigs? Here are a few things you can do to bring past freelance clients back,
Are you an aspiring (or even an experienced) freelance writer for magazines? If so, you might have heard the advice to “study magazines” before you submit a story or query their editors. What does “study magazines” mean though? This is a big issue for many new writers, and I know I did it totally wrong when I first began freelancing. Let me help you avoid
I’m a firm believer that most freelance writers should have a specialty. And many who claim they don’t, actually do. That’s because the concept of specialization is often confused with “niching down.” That’s not true though. A freelance writing specialty goes beyond choosing a niche. We’ll get into different elements of specialization, and why being a specialist doesn’t mean you do just one thing (another
Who pays writers these days? When it feels like freelance writing jobs can be hard to come by, it’s easy to get discouraged. But it’s not always a lack of gigs so much as a lack of imagination… not looking in the right places, or perhaps not in enough places. Think about the type of writing you want to pursue, then look at who you’ve already targeted
There are several things that can make freelance writing jobs attractive. The client might be amazing to work with. The gig might pay more than most. Or maybe it offers a dream byline. I’d imagine we all want great clients and decent pay. So let’s focus on that last one—bylines. Do you know what bylines are in writing? How much do you care about them?
Not everyone is a writer, and not everyone wants to be one. This can include subject matter experts who still have plenty to say. How do these people (business leaders, researchers, educators, and others with specialized expertise) reach people if writing isn’t their thing? They rely on ghostwriting. Have you worked with these kinds of clients? Would you like to? Before jumping into a freelance
Your online presence is important as a freelance writer. Clients want to see samples. They want to know what you can do. And when they search for a freelancer, they expect to find you in those search results. If you can’t be found, you’re missing out on opportunities. Maybe you’re thinking about freelance writing but you aren’t sure where to start. Perhaps the idea of
We’ve talked about how AI could impact the freelance writing industry, how AI can lead to plagiarism problems, and even the best way freelance writers can make money with AI. Now it’s time to explore the many different AI uses cases that could impact your freelance writing business. We’ll look at how you can use AI tools for ideation, outlining, writing, editing, marketing, and much
We’ve looked at the impact AI content could have on the freelance writing industry, ethical AI issues you need to be aware of, and specific AI writing tools you can try. Now it’s time to move on to the fun stuff. What better place to start than the absolute best way to use AI to make money as a freelance writer? If you search blogs
We’ve talked about whether or not AI writing tools are coming for your job as a freelance writer. We’ve explored some of the legal and ethical AI concerns you and your clients should be aware of. Now let’s look at some examples of generative AI tools you can test right now for your freelance writing business. But first… What is Generative AI? Generative AI is
Will they, or won’t they? That’s the question many writers and publishers face right now—whether or not they’re willing to publish AI content or use AI tools in their businesses. They have legal and ethical AI concerns. And that’s fair. Are there ways to engage in ethical AI use in your freelance writing business? Absolutely. But to do that, you first have to be aware
If you’ve followed developments around freelance writing, blogging, SEO, or technology in general in recent months, you’re aware of “generative AI.” In particular, you’ve heard about—and might have tried—an AI content tool called ChatGPT. And if you’re like many of our fellow freelance writers, you might have some concerns. Namely, is ChatGPT a threat to your freelance writing business? We’ll get to that. But first,
New freelance writers are full of questions. “How do I get started?” “Where are the high paying freelance writing jobs?” “Should I sign up for freelance marketplaces or find my own clients?” I hear questions like these all the time. But are they the kinds of things beginner freelance writers really need to know? To find out, I caught up with some more experienced freelancers —
One of the most common questions I get from new freelance writers is “Where can I find freelance writing jobs?” And a common place for freelancers to start is to seek advertised gigs on job boards and related sites. Not sure where to start a search of your own? Let’s explore 15 places where you can find freelance writing jobs, and then let’s talk about
We’ve talked about freelance writing fees quite a bit here over the years, but today we’re going to focus on something that doesn’t always get enough love in the freelance writing community: hourly freelance writing rates. Don’t get me wrong. Hourly rates aren’t an ideal billing strategy, and we’ll talk about why. I can’t think of a single case where I’d recommend them for a
Your first freelance writing job can be the most difficult to land. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Potential clients are all around you, and you might be closer to your first than you realize. Or maybe they’re halfway across the world and you just haven’t figured out how to find them yet. Let’s look at some ways you can land your first
Whether you’re a new freelance writer or you’re still deciding whether or not to launch a freelance writing business, the costs are something you’ll need to consider. Fortunately, becoming a freelance writer doesn’t have to be expensive. You can do it for under $100 up front. And you can certainly launch with even less than that. Let’s look at some of the costs involved in
One of the biggest perks of freelance writing is the stability. Unlike working full-time for a single employer, losing a gig (by choice or otherwise) doesn’t mean you lose all your income at once. That’s because you diversify your writing income when you freelance, splitting your working hours between different projects for different clients. But there are other ways to diversify your income beyond simply
It’s that time of year again. No doubt, if you haven’t already, you’ll start to see freelance industry surveys. They might summarize 2020, or they might offer trend predictions for 2021. Industry surveys can be fun to review, but be careful about using them to make serious business decisions. Let’s look at why industry surveys can be interesting. Then we’ll go into some common flaws
If you’ve ever searched freelance writing job ads, chances are good you’ve seen something that made you think “Huh?” Maybe something felt “off” in the job description. Perhaps the pay details looked sketchy. While I haven’t sought leads through freelance writing job ads for my own work in years, I do browse them regularly to curate some of the better listings here. And boy oh
Today’s reader question comes from Christian Simmons, one of several writers to reach out to me as the current coronavirus pandemic hit their freelance writing businesses. A common theme is freelancers wondering if they should start specializing in pandemic-related content for the time being. Now, in Christian’s case, he’s a health writer who might have interview contacts that would make this feasible. But that’s not
One of the more popular posts here at All Freelance Writing is my auto-updated list of websites and blogs that pay $100 or more per article. But $100 per post isn’t the great rate some newer freelancers think it is. That’s a low rate on the professional scale, though thankfully those gigs are advertised more often these days than even just a few years ago.
If you work from a home office most of the time, things can start to feel a bit dull before long. There might come a time when you want to work on freelance writing projects pretty much anywhere else just for a change of scenery. You could take the traditional routes of office-sharing, working in cafes, or writing from your local library (a great option
Every week I curate ads for the freelance writing job board here at All Freelance Writing. That means digging through a lot of garbage to find a few gems. And one type of ad I sometimes see deserves a bit of attention — those with pay based on location. What do I mean exactly? These are the ads that either outright say your pay as
In my review of David Rodeck’s professional website, one of the things I suggested was to publish his freelance writing rates (or, at the very least, remove the Rates page that really only had payment terms). I’ve long advocated making your rates public. I’ve never had a newer writer I worked with tell me they regret adding rates to their site after I’ve prompted them
Earlier this week, we went through my professional site to show you the kinds of plans you might make after conducting a content audit. Yesterday we took a look at Yolander Prinzel’s freelance writer website. And today I’d like to follow up with one more site review, for David Rodeck. David Rodeck is a business and financial writer similar to Yolander, so this is a
When we looked at 5 freelance writer websites done well, I critiqued some professional writer websites to give you ideas about how to improve your own. I also opened it up for review requests for others who wanted public site reviews here on the blog. Yolander Prinzel was the first writer to take me up on that. Yolander is a freelance financial writer, and back
No freelance writer website is perfect. I pointed that out when we looked at five freelance writer websites done well. That includes my own site, ProBusinessWriter.com. And today I’d like to use it as an example to show you the kinds of things you might want to change by picking it apart a bit here on the blog. About a year ago I updated the