Starting Your Career As A Freelance Writer? Here Are 4 Writers Markets
When you’re first starting your career as a freelance writer, it can be a daunting at first. In this article you’ll learn about 4 strategies which will make it easier to get started, whether your goal is to write for magazines or become an online copywriter.
The 1st method is to write for free. While that may seem counterproductive, it’s actually a great way of getting started. This method allows you to build up your writing credits quickly and once you have those you can use them as clips when you look for a job with a paying magazine.
When you begin writing, it’s a good idea to test out different markets, partly to see which writers market appeals. It also keeps you from running out of ideas if you saturate a marketplace. In my case, I knew where I wanted to go, which was into the field of computer graphics and photography. I initially started with reviews and later progressed to “how-to” articles, which became my specialty.
Book reviews are the next writers market to explore. Like the method above, it’s a quick way of getting credits which you can use to find assignments that pay more. Be aware that writing reviews can be labor intensive, so it’s really important to keep track of your time. If there are guidelines available for the review, use them. Likewise, see what’s available online to help you write. It’s not necessary to do everything yourself.
The 3rd method is to write profiles. This is one of my favorite forms of writing and is a great writers market. You get to interview a person and tell their story. It’s also an easy way of writing, if you do it correctly. I had one writing gig (Streaming Media World) and the vast majority of my work was interviewing people. Over time, I became quite good at it and could create articles quickly. Most of the time I recorded telephone interviews,which I’d transcribe and edit later. If I had enough lead time, I’d do an email interview, which made life easier.
The last method we’re going to look at is to become an editor. This is a great way of working for many reasons: Quite often the pay is better as are the hours, you get to edit someone another writer’s work and develop a new skill. This was another favorite way for me to work, partly because it allowed me to see another perspective, the view of the world through the eyes of another. When editing, I visualized the article as river that flows smoothly, which was very effective.
Do you want freedom as a freelance writer? You now have 4 great ways of getting started. Enjoy the ride.
Looking for great writers markets? Get a free chapter excerpt from Secrets of Profitable Freelance Writing. Click on the link and find out how you, too can find high paying writing jobs online. This article, Starting Your Career As A Freelance Writer? Here Are 4 Writers Markets is released under a creative commons attribution licence.
