Earning Your First Income as a Freelance Writer

It's a daunting and competitive world, especially in writing freelance, and a lot of people often ask how you make the first steps to getting in on the business and getting clients.

Unless you already know a plethora of people waiting to give you money for doing something that you love, you're probably going to have a tough time to begin with, but there are things you can do to ease your way in.

In this article, I'm offering a few ideas that have helped me so far.

• Freelance Websites

Many people who already have clients or regular work scoff at the thought of writing for these websites, but for the new starter, it might not be such a bad option. Of course, the pay isn't great, but it's something to get you going, and you can often build links to your own website or portfolio with each one you write.

• Article Websites

There are websites that pay for articles, like listverse, and while it's a little more difficult to get articles through as you're blindly pitching, once you get the hang of the style it can be a real life saver. You can also add links and a short author bio at the bottom of the article, building awareness of you as a freelance writer and boosting your SEO.

• "Just Going For it"

This option is the most difficult by far if you don't have any funds to fall back on. If you have a very large buffer to live on in the mean time and are extremely disciplined, then by all means, go ahead!

What I mean by "just going for it" is going straight out and only focussing on getting clients (something I will cover in a future post).

What I recommend as a new freelance writer, is doing a combination of at least the latter two. You need to spend time earning money now, but also take steps towards your future and the clients you can be working with in it.

Do you have any recommendations for new freelance writers or have you learned anything you want to share with other new people recently?


Mark Ferbrache is a freelance writer, art enthusiast, and avid learner. He also runs RUNTpress, a publishing company devoted to obscure knowledge and new thinking. His portfolio can be found here.