The best time ever to be a freelance writer

I BELIEVE there has never been a better time to be a freelance writer, reports Andrew Crofts.

I believed it when I published a book called How to Make Money From Freelance Writing 15 years ago, but I believe it is even more true today as a new edition of the book comes out from Piatkus (now renamed The Freelance Writer’s Handbook – how to make money and enjoy your life).

People keep telling us we live in the Information Age and the Entertainment Age, so what better time could it be to be one of the people who creates and sells both products?

Scaremongers warn us that fewer and fewer people are leaving education with even the basic writing skills; if this is true and you are one of this select band of skilled workers you are in a stronger position to sell your wares than at any time since literacy first became widespread in the West.

The market for material is expanding at an increasing rate with more magazines, more websites, more books and more television programming being created than ever before. At the same time we have ever more sophisticated ways of producing our material, as computers become more user friendly and affordable and printing techniques more accessible. Publishing giant Random House worked out that they sold four times as many books in 2005 as the entire worldwide book industry did in 1955. And that isn’t the end of it, because for every book that is published there are probably 100 new blogs going online.

Freelance writing has always been the most wonderful way of earning a living. Nothing, except perhaps inherited wealth, provides greater personal freedom. You can follow your interests and develop yourself in any direction you choose, free to live where and how you want, and to travel wherever and whenever the urge takes you. As a freelancer you never know when Lady Luck is going to drop some fabulous opportunity into your lap.

My aim in the book is to inspire readers with the necessary hope, ambition and nerve to give it a go, and to lead them through the various preparation stages so that they have a sensible, realistic plan and an understanding of the marketplace they’re entering. I then try to show them how to turn their writing skills into a business that will support them in whatever lifestyle they’ve set their hearts on.

There are many ways to make a decent and pleasant living from writing, but it’s all too easy to be carried away by unrealistic dreams. We all need dreams to get us out of bed in the mornings but to make them come true we must have the basic tools of our profession. Becoming a successful freelance writer is difficult, but it’s perfectly doable if you go about it the right way. People just need to think how to put themselves in positions where they are likely to be offered the lucky breaks, then all they need do to succeed is produce the best work they are capable of.

Much of it is about marketing. Selling writing skills is not a lot different to selling airline seats, vodka or cigarettes. We need to approach our careers as we might approach the launch of a new shop or a new brand of pop singer. We need to think how we are going to find customers, persuade them to buy from us for the first time and how to keep them coming back for more.

Every morning that you wake up as a freelancer you know something exciting might happen today. A publisher may ring with a big commission, your novel might be accepted, a huge star might agree to an interview, a magazine might buy an article or send you to Tahiti with all expenses paid, the film rights to a book could sell for thousands or a chat show host will want to interview you. Most days none of these things will happen, of course, but some days they will.

This book first came out at the beginning of the 90s. Five years later it was updated to include developments such as word-processors and fax machines. Five years later it needed a complete re-write because of all the changes brought on by technology, most notably the spread of the Internet and the increasing use of e-mail and mobile phones. Now another five years has gone by and we have witnessed yet another quantum leap into a world once only imagined by science fiction writers.

Almost all the changes have been to the benefit of freelance writers.

In the last 35 years, ever since I left school, I’ve tried to sell work in virtually every area of the writing market. Some attempts have been more successful than others. I’ve collected as many rejections and disappointments as anyone. But I’ve still managed to stay in business, travel the world and write quite a few “number one bestsellers”.

Even in the bad times I would never have swapped writing for any other profession. I hope this book will lead readers to not only making a good living, but to having a great deal of fun doing so.

If you persevere you can achieve whatever you want.

Andrew Crofts is a leading UK ghostwriter, having ghosted more than 50 books, half a dozen of which have sat for many weeks in the number one spots of the Sunday Times book charts. More details of his books can be found on his website.

Comments

[Linda]

I'd like to thank Andrew for contributing this article, and can thoroughly recommend his handbook.

Last summer when I was approached to ghostwrite a book, his book was the resource I used to learn more about this craft. I read it hungrily, in one go!

An agent congratulated me on my "excellent pitch" and said she looked forward to hearing from me.

But when I got in touch, she said that actually she'd read it too quickly. Thanks.

We also gained interest from a second agent but unfortunately my proposed subject (whose idea it'd been in the first place) had read my first chapter and gone off the idea.

Such is life :)

[Olivia Gordon]

I'd agree with you and Andrew Crofts. Most of the journalists I know are either freelance or planning to be. Papers and mags are making people redundant left right and centre, and need freelancers to plug the gap, so I think there's more and more work.

[Craig McGinty]

Hi Andrew, many thanks for taking the time to write this piece. I am sure it will get other freelance writers thinking about things in a new light.
All the best, Craig

[Andy Merrett]

Read Andy's piece by clicking on the link below.

"Yes, it’s a plug for the latest update to his book “How to Make Money From Freelance Writing”, but it makes some useful points for anyone considering, or starting out in, freelancing..."

[AnnA]

Absolutely agree with you Andrew - and I don't know if it is just me, but a large proportion of my ghostwriting clients are entrepreneurial business owners, a very high proportion of whom are dyslexic so they see a ghostwriter as a godsend. They have the brilliant idea and I have the fee for writing about it, seems an excellent arrangement to me!

[Star Lawrenece]

Not to be a contrarian or anything, but in my 25 years in the business, I have never seen so much lowballing on price! Craigs--free listing, expectation of cutrate candidates--has changed the business. Bid sites pit writers against each other in a race to the bottom. Also a factor is this concept of "crowdsourcing," pulling free words out of the air and having someone edit them. Some freelancers are also coaxed into writing for free--for a site mention, which supposedly benefits them somehow. The $1 a word rate is still a pipedream in many pubs--same as in the 1970s. Experienced people with fistfuls of national clips are asked to write free "tryouts." On and on. But I hardly find this to be the golden age of freelancing.

OK, I am a contrarian!

[Linda]

Hi Star, but it's good to be contrary. :)

I'm really interested in discussing this stuff.

I've had lots of comments that Andrew should "get real", that freelance life isn't all how he portrays it and that for many freelances, it's a daily struggle.

I'm going to collect the messages and comments I have had together and write about it again.

You may like to check out my piece on writing for free:

http://www.freelancewritingtips.com/2007/04/show_me_the_mon.html

Thanks for dropping by,
Linda

[John Thompson]

Before you go scraping our freelance journalism email discussion list for "messages and comments" for your article, you might want to re-acquaint yourself with the rules of the list - see "Terms and conditions" at http://www.freelancejournalism.com/.

[Linda]

What I was intending to do was write something to give a flavour of the sort
of reaction to the piece Andrew wrote that I published on my blog, because as I said when I came onto the list to ask people what they thought about it, I do believe it's an important discussion, I wasn't planning on publishing anything without contacting anyone directly, and if I did I would say to them that I felt it was good to have a piece showing what other
established freelances had to say. This is the way as an experienced editor, news editor, feature writer and reporter, that I would have approached it, so to switch on my computer and see people debating whether I am "allowed" to quote anything that has been said, is really quite annoying. I do actually know what I'm doing.

[Denise P]

I would say that the discussion raised here is both interesting and informative. It also helps other freelancers gain valuable insight into an industry that can be uplifting one day, and downright frustrating the next. Someone at freelancejournalism.com seems to have too much time of their hands. Terms and conditions do not prevent its users from submitting valuable comments on another blog, and neither should they. The market is competitive enough without bickering over who posts on whose blog/forum/website.

[Tracey "Word Doctor" Dooley]

On the one hand, I agree that today there are more opportunities, certainly across differing borders and frontiers, than ever before for writers.

However, with the strengthened competition from the 'open market' via the internet, I'm not sure it bodes well for earning a more-than-decent living with words if you live in the UK.

Just my 5p (inflation!).

Tracey
http://marketingmoment.wordpress.com/

[P.SantaRani]

Sir/Madam,
I have completed my masters in journalism and mass communication. at present i am a housewife. I have got a flair for writing and hence want to earn some money by doing freelance journalism. so please guide me on what topic shall i write so that it will be paid.
yours sincerely
P.Shantarani

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