Nowadays, you see a lot of companies hiring freelance writers. But there are so many differences in these job ads. Some companies hire freelance writers and then have them come into the office during working hours, while other companies ask the freelance writer to contribute a certain amount of articles from home.
What exactly is a freelance writer? What should you write to be considered a freelancer?
There are many ways to be a freelance writer.
Who is a freelance writer?
A freelance writer works for a business or individual on a contractual or project basis. These "contractual" jobs don't necessarily need to have a formal contract in place, but what they do share in common is that they are a project or piece of writing with a set timeframe and a goal. After the project is finished, the freelance writer goes to the next project.
Freelance writing covers a wide area of writing such as business writing, marketing writing or web writing. Some freelance writers focus only on writing for magazines, anthologies or newspapers, while others work for non-profit organisations through grant-writing and proposal development.
Once you jump into the realm of freelance writing, you'll start to find out your strengths and weaknesses and be able to target the jobs that best highlight your skills. Once you understand what you're good at, and begin to use that talent into a project after project, you will then truly be a freelance writer.
There is always a demand for freelance writers.
First, you need to learn about the different varieties of freelance work available. Here are the basic arrangements of freelance writing:
Ongoing regular contracts:
This means contracts and works for clients that are regular (meaning they have regularly-timed work that is due on a typical day) and permanent (the arrangement does not have a definite ending, and the work continues indefinitely).
Ongoing sporadic contracts
Contracts and relationships that are permanent, but not regular at all, which means that the work does not come very often, and the writer is not paid on a regular basis.
One-off projects
The writer works on one project, and once they're done, they are free to move on.
Magazine pitches
Writers will submit proposals or pitches to magazines. Once the editor finds them eligible, they will receive assignments for magazine articles.
Passive income
Passive income comes from writing an item (such as an article or ebook) one time, and then continuing to collect "royalties" or payments for/from that work. It is considered passive as you don't need to do anything with that piece again.
Now, you know what it takes to be a freelance writer.
