Part of our "Start a Successful Freelance Writing Career" Video series
( Read the transcript )
What will you write about? If your response to this question is "whatever I can get paid to write," then one of two things will probably happen. Either you will be wildly successful because you are willing to write about absolutely anything, or you will instead get burned out from spending so much time writing about things you have no real knowledge or passion for.
If you look at an online writing jobs website then you will undoubtedly notice a diverse listing of various subjects available to write about. It helps to survey the various writing job websites before you ever start applying because you will see if there are generally topics you like available. For example, if you really want to write about reality television shows, you will be pleased to find quite a few opportunities to compose articles and blogs about this particular topic.
You can also take a look at what type of pay you can expect for this type of writing; if you can only find listings for very low-paying jobs for your preferred subject then you can either consider your first few jobs as ways to get your foot in the door, or you can instead switch things up and start searching for other topics you can write about.
In the beginning, you will spend quite a bit of time trying to find someone to hire you. Without a reputation as a paid writer who delivers things within the deadline, you will need to find someone who is willing to take a chance on hiring you based solely on your writing talent. For this reason, you probably shouldn't expect to land a high-paying job in the very beginning, but you should instead accept some lower paying jobs so you can start building up a reputation and some experience.
Don't get discouraged if you have a hard time landing your very first paying gig, but know that as long as you are a good writer it will surely happen sooner or later. You'll be surprised to find that writing jobs are often like getting pickles out of a jar: the first one is tough, but after that they all come quickly and easily.
If you look at an online writing jobs website then you will undoubtedly notice a diverse listing of various subjects available to write about. It helps to survey the various writing job websites before you ever start applying because you will see if there are generally topics you like available. For example, if you really want to write about reality television shows, you will be pleased to find quite a few opportunities to compose articles and blogs about this particular topic.
You can also take a look at what type of pay you can expect for this type of writing; if you can only find listings for very low-paying jobs for your preferred subject then you can either consider your first few jobs as ways to get your foot in the door, or you can instead switch things up and start searching for other topics you can write about.
In the beginning, you will spend quite a bit of time trying to find someone to hire you. Without a reputation as a paid writer who delivers things within the deadline, you will need to find someone who is willing to take a chance on hiring you based solely on your writing talent. For this reason, you probably shouldn't expect to land a high-paying job in the very beginning, but you should instead accept some lower paying jobs so you can start building up a reputation and some experience.
Don't get discouraged if you have a hard time landing your very first paying gig, but know that as long as you are a good writer it will surely happen sooner or later. You'll be surprised to find that writing jobs are often like getting pickles out of a jar: the first one is tough, but after that they all come quickly and easily.
