So, you want to know how to become a freelance writer and get paid to write?
You shouldn’t be surprised that writing has become a very popular way to make money from home.
You can do freelance writing on the side of your usual job or make it your full-time role. The possibilities are endless when you become a freelancer!
In this article, we’ll look at how you can become a successful freelance writer and hopefully cover any questions you have about it.
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How To Become A Freelance Writer With No Experience
When you are just starting out it can be concerning when you feel as though you don’t have any experience.
Just because you have no experience doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get a job. We all start somewhere, right?
All that you need to do is start to build your portfolio and network. The work will come!
You can also speed up the process by taking a writing course that will teach you every step you need to know to get started making money freelance writing.
1. Decide To Become A Freelance Writer For Free vs. With Startup Cost
First things first – you will need to decide if you want to start with no money behind you or put a bit of investment into it.
There’s no right or wrong answer here, it depends on how much you want to put into it, and if you have any money to do so.
It is 100% possible to become a freelance writer with no money, as long as you have the equipment to do so already.
2. Do Some Research And Consider A Freelance Writing Course
Before you get started you may want to think about doing a freelance writing course.
We are big fans of taking decent training from people who have been there and done it.
If you can take a freelance writing course and it helps you to get your first clients, it will have been worth it.
Many of the best freelance writing courses will help you both with developing your writing and finding your first clients.
3. Choose A Freelance Writing Niche (Or Two)
When it comes to doing freelance writing, it will really help you to have a particular topic that you focus on.
The reason for this is because it makes you more attractive to prospective clients.
Going back to imaging you are a business looking for a writer – say your business is all about gardening. When you go to look for a writer, wouldn’t you look for a gardening writer?
If you were coming across writers who said they wrote about anything and everything, would that be as appealing to you?
Not only is choosing a particular niche more appealing for clients, but it will also be good for you.
You will be able to increase your expertise in that area and become more knowledgeable. This will in turn, help you to charge higher prices.
When it comes to choosing your niche, it helps to pick an area in which you have either knowledge or passion. Ideally both, of course!
The reason that it’s a good idea to have a passion for your particular niche is that you are going to be spending a lot of time writing about it.
If you are writing a lot about a particular topic every day, it will help you out if you enjoy doing so. Not only that, but you will find it quicker and easier to do.
4. Brush Up On Your Writing Skills, Writing Tools, & Organizational Skills
It goes without saying that the better your writing skills are, the more you can impress your clients and get new ones.
These are things that you can do before you get started and also as you get writing work to improve yourself.
The more that you practice writing, the better you will become at it. Don’t just write for your clients – you could do your own writing on sites such as Medium and could create your own blog.
There are various writing tools out there as well, which will help you with your writing skills. A good one to try out is Grammarly, which will help correct your grammar.
You can also use Surfer SEO to improve content rating on Google and even write articles faster with Jasper!
When it comes to working with a lot of different clients, you will need to stay highly organized.
It’s worth trying out various organizational tools to see which ones work best for you. Your clients will likely have a tool that they use, such as Asana or Trello.
5. Decide Between Freelance Writing For Bloggers vs. Business To Business Writing Jobs
When it comes to choosing your niche, it’s also important to look at whether you want to write for bloggers or for business to business (often referred to as B2B).
The main difference between these could be that the B2B is more professional in terms of how you will be writing, and blogs will be more laid back, generally speaking.
There are so many different types of blogs out there that you can write for. There are personal finance ones (like ours), fitness, parenting, food, and so on.
When it comes to B2B you may be doing things that are more technology-based etc, so if you’re looking at how to become a B2B writer, it’s useful to be an expert in a topic.
B2B can typically pay higher, so this is something that’s worth considering as well.
There are so many freelance writing job opportunities that the options are literally endless.
6. Consider Building A Writing Portfolio Website Of Your Sample Work
When you pitch for writing jobs, you will likely be asked for examples of your work. It will look more professional if you have a place where you have these samples ready.
If you haven’t done any jobs before, you will still need to show samples of your writing. Choose a topic and write a piece on it, so that they can see your style of writing and tone.
Creating your very own blog is a good way to show your work and how you write. You can also cover different topics, do different lengths, and so on.
The benefit of putting together your own website is that you can choose what you write about, the length of the articles, etc.
You could even set up a blog as a way to make money, and the added bonus is that you will have a ready-made portfolio of your work.
Are you wondering how to set up a freelance writing website? We have a great step-by-step article guiding you through the process.
7. Start Pitching Freelance Writing Jobs For Beginners
When you have got your portfolio set up and you’ve got some writing practice under your belt, it’s time to start pitching for freelance writing jobs for beginners.
It sounds scary to start pitching, but you are unlikely to have lots of clients flocking to you when you are brand new.
Pitching is just part of being a freelancer, and something that you are going to have to do if you want to make money.
There are places that you can start looking as a beginner, such as job sites and even freelance writing content sites.
Some examples of good sites to start with include:
If you’re looking for B2B clients then a good place to look for clients would be on LinkedIn. You can also put examples of your writing work on there.
If you’re looking to write for bloggers then a good place for you could be in Facebook groups. Look at where they hang out and let people know that you are looking for clients.
When it comes to writing a pitch, keep it short and sweet. Let them know why you want to write for them and why they should hire you.
8. Set A Freelance Writing Schedule
When you are starting to gain new clients, it’s important to make sure that you have a good schedule set up.
Your clients will have different deadlines and timescales for you to work to, as well as a different amount of work, so you will need to keep on top of this.
This is where online tools such as Asana or Trello will come in helpful if you want to schedule everything online.
9. Set Up A Good Freelance Writing Work At Home Space
When you are working from home (whether it be freelance writing or not) it’s important to set up a space for working.
It can be tempting to work from the sofa or even in bed, but you need to make sure that you are in a productive mode, and this comes from a workspace.
You may not be able to set up an office, but having a dedicated space free from distractions will help you so much.
10. Constantly Work On Improving Your Freelance Writing Skills
When it comes to something like freelance writing, there’s never too much practice or knowledge that you can have.
The more you learn, the better you will become and hopefully, the more money you can make.
It’s always worth thinking about taking a freelance writing course, even if you have been writing for a while.
FAQs
How hard is it to become a freelance writer?
Now that you’ve been thinking about becoming a freelance writer, you may be wondering how hard it actually is.
The thing is, it differs for everyone. However, with that in mind, it’s not hard to become a freelance writer.
It’s harder to make it your full-time job, but if you are just looking to get some writing work then you shouldn’t find it too difficult.
There are a lot of varying factors, such as if you already have writing experience, if your current role is relevant, and so on.
If you really want to be a freelance writer, then you won’t let anything stand in your way.
Can anyone become a freelance writer?
Believe it or not, anyone can become a freelance writer! If this is something that you are truly interested in then you need to make it happen.
There are so many websites and businesses out there (billions in fact!) that need content written for them.
It would be impossible for them to create all of the content themselves, so they need to outsource. This is where you come in!
There’s nothing to stop you from being a freelance writer right now. It may take some time to get more clients and work your way up to full-time if that’s what you want, but getting one client should be your first goal.
If you’re interested in how to become a paid writer, or how to become a commissioned writer, this article is for you.
Does it cost anything to become a freelance writer?
It is possible to become a freelance writer without paying for anything. That being said, there will be tools of the trade that you may find it useful to invest in.
If you want to be a highly paid freelance writer then it will help you to know things about SEO and content marketing.
When you are just starting out all that you will need is something to write on like a laptop or computer.
There are some job sites and writing job boards that are paid, but you don’t need to use those if you can get clients in other ways.
Can I become a freelance writer without a degree?
Wondering if you can become a freelance writer without a degree? Yes, you can!
In any job, there are advantages to having a relevant degree, but there are some jobs where having a degree isn’t needed.
If you have a degree in something related to writing then this will be advantageous but does not mean that you can’t get work without one.
Ultimately, the client will be interested in the work that you can produce for them and not your education.
Freelance writing is a perfect job or side hustle for people who don’t have a degree but have a passion for writing.
Why become a freelance writer?
Maybe you’ve just stumbled across this article and you’re wondering why you should look into becoming a freelance writer.
Freelance writing is a great way to make money because it is so flexible. As long as you have a laptop and internet then you can work from anywhere.
There are many people who are traveling who do something like freelance writing as their way of making an income.
It does help if you are passionate about writing and want to get paid for it. The same goes for if you have expertise in a particular topic.
You should be a freelance writer if you want something that’s flexible, you can do from home around your other commitments, and you hate being on the phone.
What do you need to become a freelance writer?
In order to get started as a freelance writer, you don’t need very much, which is why it’s such a good job for pretty much anyone.
You will need something to write on and something to send your work to your clients. Ideally, you will have a computer or laptop. You could use your phone, but this wouldn’t be desirable.
You can also sign up with helpful AI writing software to make optimized content quickly- we suggest Jasper to get a headstart as a freelance writer.
More than anything you will need a passion for writing and the topics that you will be writing in, a good organizational system, and know your way around common computer programs.
How to be a self-employed writer?
There are lots of ways of becoming a self-employed writer – you don’t need to sign up as a writer for a company to be one.
There are so many businesses out there that hire freelance writers, so you’ll want to look for these jobs.
What are some other ways to increase income as a freelance writer?
Put yourself in the shoes of a business owner looking to take on a freelance writer. What kind of things would you be looking for?
You would obviously want someone who is a good writer, but is there anything extra that they would have that would appeal to you?
The more relevant skills you add, the better this will look to prospective clients. A good one to add would be proofreading, which you could always do separately as well.
Final Thoughts
If you have been thinking about becoming a freelance writer for a while, we hope that this article has helped give you the confidence to begin.
It’s easy to think that you need years of experience and a ton of degrees to get started, but that’s not the case. You can become a writer and make $200 a day easily!
Becoming a freelance writer is definitely possible if you are determined to put in the work and are prepared for some rejections.
There are a lot of businesses out there that need content writers, and it’s a great way to make money from home.
You can sign up with FlexJobs today and start applying for freelance writing jobs ASAP- meaning you could earn money as a writer this week.
So get out there and get your new high-earning career started!
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