Freelance writing is a great career for many, partly because of the freedom that you will enjoy. Among other things, you now have control over your success, rather than having a boss determine it for you. Be aware though, with that freedom also comes responsibility. Management becomes critical, not just for what you do, but when you do it. Here are some success tips:
1. Control Your Environment. It’s really important to keep your space organized, partly because you’ll be dealing with a lot of paper in the form of press releases, product information, manuals, etc. Some of this will stay resident on your computer, other things you’ll want to print.
More than that, you’ll be working with various publications, so it’s wise to have a folders for each one and any correspondence. Likewise you’ll have that on your computer, as well. This is especially important when doing research, especially online. Make sure to store your important bookmarks in folders on your browser. One last thing, make regular backups, at least once a week. Nothing is worse than losing all your data. It could severely impact your business.
2. Marketing. The foundation of your business is with marketing. One of the things to consider is the 80/20 rule. In the beginning, roughly 80% of your time will go into marketing and 20% writing. This is because your business is new and like any business, it requires time and effort to build it. It will be necessary to do research, find potential clients, write up queries, send them out, follow up, etc. Eventually, you’ll find yourself writing more and marketing less. This is the natural order of things, though marketing will still be an ongoing effort, just easier and less time intensive because you’ll now have a client base.
3. Never Write Articles in Advance. Many freelance writers write an article in advance, then try to pitch it to an editor. This is one of the worst mistakes that you can make and is a major waste of your time. Never, ever write articles in advance. If you do and the editor(s) don’t like the story, you’ve wasted your time.
Here’s what to do instead, write a short paragraph which summarizes what the story is about. i.e. When compressing images for the web, there are 3 main formats, JPEG, PNG and GIF. In this article the reader will learn about the different formats and when they should be used. The reader will also learn about different compression ratios for art, type and photographs.
4. Don’t Use Microsoft Word for Web Writing. MS Word inserts all sorts of undesirable characters in the copy which make it a nightmare for the editor on the other end. It’s even worse when you save documents as HTML. A better option is to use a dedicated HTML program, such as Notetab or Dreamweaver.
5. Creating a Following. When building a business, be aware that it will take time to generate a client base. Assuming you have a solid marketing plan, you need to stick to it and work it every day, every week. Success comes as a result of cumulative consistent effort. It’s important to keep chipping away at it, even when you’re tired or would rather be doing something else. Your business is a discipline and needs ongoing effort. Working sporadically, or only when you feel like it will set the stage for failure.
The occupation of freelance writing creates many opportunities. Using these tips will help guide you in the right direction, now and for the future.
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