Freelancewritingtips.com: Sara Edlington on how freelance journalists can survive a recession

IS there a recession or isn't there? Are you worried? Here, a writer with a wealth (geddit?) of experience shares her top tips on how to keep the wolf from the door.

1. Diversify, diversify, diversify.

Helen Kaut's excellent article in Press Gazette has plenty of good ideas. Look into international markets as well to give yourself more options. And look for other opportunities such as subscription-only newsletters and magazines, in-house publications and so on.

2. Develop relationships. And work hard to keep existing ones on track.
It’s a little too easy to feel comfortable when you’ve worked with an editor for a while, which can allow a more savvy writer to sneak in and you lose out.

3. Credit check new–to-you clients.

It doesn’t cost much £7-20 depending on how much info you want. But it does help give you an idea of what’s what. And then you can decide whether to go ahead or not.

4. Market, market, market.

As much as you can, you almost can’t market enough in a recession.

5. Create a cash cushion.

In a recession, companies want to keep as much money in their bank account as they can. So you might find payment times slipping. From 30 days to 60 days. 60 days to 90 days and so on. If you have a cash cushion, it will help ease the pain of longer payment times.

6. Look for danger signals.

If payments are taking longer or there are delays, it could be a sign of problems. It could also mean that accounts are having a ‘moment’, or some other reason. But be cautious and start looking for new markets, just in case.

7.Market intelligence.

Not all sectors go pear-shaped in a recession; there are always ones that do OK or well. So write for them to help protect yourself from downturns in other sectors you write about. How do you find out about them? Read the business pages, look out for reports, surveys and build up a picture of which sectors are doing well.

8. Money up-front.

If you’re working for companies then start asking for a percentage of your fee up-front.

9. Lots of work isn’t always a good thing.

Say what? It isn’t. It’s no good working hard but not getting paid. The temptation when you land a new client is to do more work for them straight away. It’s the ‘thank goodness, work!’ line of thinking. But you could find yourself having done all that work and never seeing a penny for it. So do one piece, and then wait and see if the payment turns up on time.

10. Be a polite squeaky wheel.

That helps you to get paid on time. Call a week or so before your payment is due to check they have all the info they need, from the invoice itself to other things like purchase order numbers of tax references. Ask when (the date) the payment will be made. And how it will be paid, cheque, bank transfer, in tea and hobnobs...

11.Think different.

Find new ways to market yourself, new types of market, new sectors to break into and new ways to make money from your writing skills.

12 Finally, look at sectors where the competition isn’t as strong.

There are often subjects that have some sort of barrier to entry. I don’t mean start writing about brain surgery - unless you are a brain surgeon. But there are other areas where there’s less competition, so take the time to get yourself up to speed on the subject. It might mean working for a lower rate for a couple of pieces, but the medium and long-term benefits make it worthwhile.

How do you break in? Leverage what you already write about. For example, if you want to get into the financial market and you write about parenting. Offer a piece with an angle about parents and their money.

Sara Edlington is a freelance technology writer specialising in business and emerging technology topics. She has been a full-time writer for the past 18 years and has successfully worked her way through several recessions. Her web site is at: www.sedlington.com