Making it as a Full-time Freelance Writer

Okay, I believe the main question is: can you write full-time. The answer is...yes! Absolutely! Go to your boss right now, and just quit. I guarantee you that you will feel much better.

All right, I think I answered this question. Well, I guess I've done my part. I think I'm going to take off.

Oh wait, wait, wait, you want more. Okay, here's the deal. Sadly, it is about the numbers.

If you are considering writing for a living, full-time, the first thing you need to do is a big story problem. You need to add up how much it is going to cost to live. I mean, housing, groceries, gas, power, everything! In fact, add a little more just for the heck of it. Now, take that total and figure out what hourly salary that you would have to make just to live.

Yeah, it's pretty dang scary. Unless you get lucky, and I do mean lucky, you will probably lose money your first two or three months. Just look at it this way, you can apply to lots of places, but there is always that whole, they got to look it over, they got to do interview, and that process can take months.

Right now, writing looks bad. It really has nothing to do with the economy or anything. The simple truth is that the world is flooded with writers who already write for free. Seriously, there must be millions of blogs out there.

Sadly, if you go on sites like craigslist, you would be surprised at how little they are charging. I once worked for a blog that charged $5 per post for a 200-word article. I found that by the time I finished one, it took one hour. You can't work for $5 an hour. I decided that it was worth the fallout of looking for another line of work than to work for someone who doesn't respect time.

Working for experience is all right, but you clearly cannot make a living on that.

Which is the first lesson: Writing isn't about going to a job and acting like you are doing something. You can't get away with that when you are full-time. It's all about producing results, and then collecting a check.

That's right, if you want to write, you have to apply to do it, and that takes time. And no one, and I mean, no one, is going to reimburse you for it.

There are a few investments that you will want to make. First of all, you are going to want to get yourself a laptop with Wi-Fi. Even though I had a desktop, you can have something that you can take your office with you. You are going to have to backup everything, too. You don't want to be the one who opens up the laptop and find that all your memory has been erased.

Yeah, your next problem will be finding an access point. You might want to set up a wireless network in your own house. Technology: use it!

Writing is all about a juggling act where you must write and, in some cases, apply for jobs at the same time. Now, the best thing you can do is just apply, apply, apply. Set yourself out a timetable to be writing, and figure out the budget that you need to do so.

Getting a writing job is difficult, because there are many variables in the equation. Let's say that there is a 1 in 10 chance of getting a job. How many applications would you need to send out in order to get one job?

Now, just imagine all of those multiplied by the amount of competition that you will have for these said jobs. Another variable that you can't bank on.

Evening your odds:

1) Apply for more jobs. Nothing beats the odds like multiple attempts, really. At first you don't succeed...

2) Apply for jobs that match your experience.

Find yourself some freelance writing job sites. There are some that will charge for their services. I've seen these, I've usually used the free trial, and generally found that you won't find anything more than what you would find at other sites. Of course, someone has to make a profit.

Most job postings for writers are very specific about what they want. Therefore, put your best foot forward when applying.

When you type up a query letter, you should probably save it. That way, you only have to type up part of it so you can always use that application again. I've got a slew of them on tap with titles like "Tech writer needed", "fiction writer needed", and so on. Always read them before you submit them so they don't sound pre-fabbed. Editors can always tell when you're copying and such.

So let's say that you get some writing job, or better yet, get several. One of the best ways that writers can make more than just a living wage is to take many jobs. I've heard it said that the middle class tends to think in terms of salary and benefits, while millionaires, or other people with money tends to think in terms of multiple sources of income.

Now, you should probably know that you will work with a lot of people. Some of them will be people who know how to work with writers, who understand about deadlines for the writer and paying them on time. You will then meet people who don't understand it.

Now, what happens when you don't get paid. You could do a whole contract thing, but in the end, it is a piece of paper, when it is not honored will kill your time and money.

I only had one situation where I worked for someone who did not pay me. I really should have known better than to take the assignment from someone named Wong Wong. As it was, I think it was possibly a little of my fault. This man told me what he wanted, but it was pretty general about wireless internet. So I did my research, wrote up the article, and sent via email my first draft. This man sends it back, with a full outline of what to do. All I could think of was "if you had this outline, why didn't I see it before the first draft"? I wrote him back and addressed this, politely. You know what I got? Nothing, no response, ever.

Since then, I call that instance getting "wonged". I also have another term "shahined". This is from an assignment from a guy in another country named Shahin, who wanted me to write some articles about Iran. He paid me well, but he kept delaying the payment. You will probably meet a lot of people who will "conveniently forget" to pay you. The best medicine to that is just keep politely asking for your payment. This generally works.

So, now that you have these tools, feel free to quit your job, and get started as a full-time freelancer. Just don't say that I didn't warn you.