Complete Guide on How to Become a Freelance Writer

Humanity has developed writing for thousands of years. This tool is the foundation of our civilization. And although new advanced ways of transmitting information have appeared, writing is still a very popular tool. That is why such professions as copywriter, writer, and blogger remain relevant decades later. There is no AI that can quickly and perfectly mimic human speech. Many companies have to hire freelance writers to do writing for them. They are ready to pay well for professional work. That is why you need to know how to become a professional writer. This guide will help you with that.

Things You Must Be Prepared For If You Wish to Become a Freelance Writer

Below you can find a step-by-step guide that will tell you how to become a freelance writer. But before proceeding to the first point, you need to pay attention to the fact that this profession is not suitable for everyone. Yes, this job has many cool features (we will analyze them separately below). But, unfortunately, some features can scare off an unprepared worker.

For example, a freelance writer will face a lot of rejections. You will be lucky if you get a positive response on 10% of your pitches early in your career. Yes, with experience and with the creation of authority, this figure will grow. But, not everyone is ready to receive rejections on a regular basis.

An irregular workload is also associated with this problem. You never know for sure how much work is ahead of you next week. Maybe you will have a new project every day. Or maybe there will be one small article order for the whole week.

When you write on request, you will often come across projects with an uninteresting or stupid topic. You need to come to terms with the idea that you will not always be happy with your topic or the idea of ​​your text.

Lastly, there are deadlines that you have to meet regularly. And the fact that writing is a creative process only makes it worse. Sometimes you don’t have enough time to make your paper perfect and have to sacrifice quality to finish work more quickly.

Education Requirements to Writing Well

You don't need to have any special education to become a freelance writer. Basic schooling may be enough to start writing a good essay. So if you wrote your school essays an A+ then you probably know all the necessary basics. But it does not mean that additional education is not needed at all. There are special rules, techniques, and ways that can transform regular paper into a masterpiece. You can study them in college, university, special courses, or by reading them from textbooks.

Practice is your best teacher. You need to read a lot of quality literature. Analyze how the author uses words to convey an idea to the reader. Explore guidelines for beginners and advanced writers. Experiment with your text and write the same article in different styles. Remember, the more you practice and study this science, the more enjoyable your texts will be.

Additional Skills for a Freelance Writer

Freelance writers will probably spend approximately 80% of their working time on writing tests. But on average, 20% of the time is consumed by totally different tasks. After all, when you work as a freelancer, you need to look for new orders, manage current projects, do the editing, stylize the visual component, and so on.

Task Management Program

To become a freelance writer you need to create a management system first. You need it to keep track of current projects, remind yourself of deadlines, have quick access to task descriptions, create an archive, and keep track of your progress. Fortunately, there are many good free and paid task management programs on the internet. Most likely you have heard about such applications as Trello, Asana, Any.do. If they do not suit you, then you can always find yourself an alternative that can help organize your work.

Photo Stock and Image Editing Skills

Text without pictures is boring. Any essay looks more attractive even if there is only one image in the introduction section. In addition, sometimes you will have this service as part of the main assignment. That is why it is an essential skill to know how to decorate your work.

Usually, all you need to do is just to use the services of a photo stock. On web platforms such as Unsplash and Gettyimages, you can find free images on any topic. But it can be super valuable to have basic skills in the image editor too.

Text Editing Apps

A professional differs from an amateur in that he always asks to double-check his work. But when you are a freelancer, you don't have an editor who can check the paper before publishing. Fortunately, the AI of programs such as Grammarly or Hemingway can process texts and highlight your mistakes. You will be assured that not even one stupid mistake has been missed in your article.

Freelance Writing Is More Awesome Than An Office Job

You probably don’t know how to become a freelance writer online yet, but you certainly have a clue that it is a really cool job. There are many rare benefits that you can have by writing texts as an independent writer. Here are some of them:

Flexible Schedule

The obvious one is that when you work for yourself you can work when you want. It is extremely useful when you have another part-time job or you are a student. With a flexible schedule, you can give yourself a day off or work for some extra hours if you need. 

No Office Boundaries

Do you want to become a freelance writer precisely because of this feature? If not, just look at all of the benefits that freelance can provide you with! You can freely work at any location you like. For example, you can work from home, from a coffee shop, from a park or from a public library. The only border is your imagination. All you need is an internet connection on your device. That means that you can always create a comfortable environment for yourself.

Unlimited Income Potential

The salary is proportionally dependent on your experience and your reputation. It means that over time you will be able to take more complex projects and receive big checks. Everything is about your ambitions and your efforts.

First Step - Create a Portfolio of Your Work

You may be wondering, “how do I become a freelance writer?”. At first, you need work experience. Homework for a literature class is a great trainer, but you can't attract your first client with it. You need to create a portfolio of your work on different topics and in different styles. It means that you have to work for free at first. But it is not a reason to be upset. If you are talented and write beautifully, then the first order will not keep you waiting for too long.

The most popular option is to create your own blog. There you can write regularly on topics of your interest. An alternative to this is to make posts as a guest writer. There are platforms on which you can write blogs with other users on different topics. Thus, you will get the first readers who can leave a useful comment.

Second Step - Pitching to Jobs

Now that you've learned all the skills you need and built your portfolio, you're finally ready to get started. As mentioned above, copywriting is a very popular profession. That is why you will find a job board for writers very quickly. Work can be of completely different quality and salary at such freelance marketplaces. But you don't have to wait for weeks for a job offer. Such sites will be an excellent first work experience.

If you are looking for someone to do your homework  just hire an essay writer. Our website assists students with their studies. Thousands of students turn to this website for help. That means that you will always find help here. If you want to work with us and help students, please follow these simple requirements. All you have to do is to pass the entrance test. If you have enough skills, you can quickly get through the selection. Together, you will help students with different types of assignments.