These days, many people are looking at ways they can take more control over their lives and financial affairs. As we approach 2022, this trend is going to increase. One skill that a lot of people are taking advantage of today is writing. In this article, we go over 4 steps you can take towards becoming a freelance writer.
4 Steps to Become a Freelance Writer
Here are 4 steps you might want to consider taking on your journey to becoming a freelance writer:
1. Learn about the work a freelance writer does
Professional freelance writers usually work on different kinds of content for their clients. If you ever get bored doing a certain type of job, you can always take a break and focus on some other aspect of it. This can be considered one of the factors that make freelance writing an attractive occupation. Some of the best and reliable writers tend to also work with paper writing websites, so if you ever need professional help, this is one way to find it. Expert writers can help with any task, academic or otherwise, such as:
- Proofreading and editing.
- Website, white papers, press release, copywriting.
- Emails.
- Content marketing.
- Blogging.
The number of freelance roles exceeds these 7, so you can be confident you’ll be able to find one that you like.
2. Start to develop the needed skills of a freelance writer
After having a look at some roles of a freelance writer, you still need to make sure you have the required skills to be a writer. Writing involves taking words and ideas and putting them together creatively so that your audience will appreciate them.
Becoming a writer will require you to have an understanding of a few guidelines; here are some of them:
- The basics of grammar.
- How to incorporate feedback into your work.
- How to research articles.
- Working with a word count.
- Learning the tricks behind search engine optimization (SEO).
- Common writing style guides such as Chicago (not the actual place) and AP.
- What plagiarism is, and how to avoid it.
3. Find your niche, and focus on it
When looking to go into writing, starting a personal blog is the direction a lot of professional writers today took and would advise others to do the same. To help make this journey easy and fruitful, you might want to consider focusing on things you have experience in and are comfortable writing about.
For instance, let’s say you are a software engineer who is feeling a bit burned out from work. You could decide to start a blog that focuses on tutorials and useful information for young programmers and fellow professionals. The tech community always has a need for individuals who can take a complex subject and break it down for the masses.
4. Set up a portfolio to help you land clients
In the early stages of your freelance writing career, and even as you become more of a professional, it’s essential you have a portfolio. A portfolio is great to showcase to potential clients why you’re the right person for the job and, when presented right, can be very convincing. Also, when interacting with different clients, it might be challenging to describe your past jobs for everyone. In this case, you could simply send them a link to your portfolio.
Conclusion
When looking to become a freelance writer, there are many things you have to consider; in this article, we went over 4 of them. After developing the skills needed for freelance writing, you should start looking for freelancing writing jobs. There are different platforms such as LinkedIn and Upwork that you can use and are very good, so do your research into what works best for you.
Michael Carr is a freelance copywriter and English translator. He is interested in all things concerning linguistics. Michael enjoys producing educative guides as his way of giving back to society. He also loves hanging out with friends and playing scrabble and word puzzles.