In a world filled with large corporations, billionaire entrepreneurs, and influencer platform booms, there’s no wonder why there are so many people branching out from the normal 9 to 5 mundane jobs to help satisfy those flexible lifestyle cravings. Freelancers have been around since the dawn of time, it’s only now, thanks to remote working, that it is so accessible for a wider society to offer freelance services via their computer. Here, we tell you how to freelance write with no experience.
Freelance writing is one of those services that can be fairly easy to fall into without having prior writing experience. It can help you learn how to navigate platforms such as Starter Barter, People Per Hour, and Fiver, allowing you to pursue future business ventures with more ease after your profile and customer relationships have been built.
The first thing you need to think about when you are wanting to promote yourself as a freelance writer is your unique selling point. These sites are filled with writers of all abilities, who are likely going to be bidding on the same jobs as you. You need to create an engaging profile, listing your skills and accomplishments, don’t be shy but don’t lie! It is always so much easier to write about something you are passionate about, rather than scrambling around the internet trying to research and write about something you have a limited knowledge of, so especially in those first few months of trying to learn the skill, stick to accepting jobs you know you can fulfill to a good standard, whilst setting your prices accordingly. Once you have built the confidence to write to a higher standard you can re-look at your rates.
On many of these sites, they will provide an honest summary of the writing style they need, for example, start-up companies who need some copywriting done on their website will ask for entry writers as their prices are more competitive, once the company becomes more established they may wish for their website to be completely re-written by a more experienced writer, this is where being a beginner may be on your side.
You want to write engaging content that is factually correct, this is where Google becomes your best friend. There is no information that can’t be found within a matter of seconds – remember, your client knows this too! Even if you think you know all there is to know about the subject you are writing about, it’s still a good idea to do a little research beforehand to see what angle other writers have taken about the topic and also see how much consumer engagement they have received in comment sections.
When you are wanting to become a better writer, there is no shame in exploring tools that we are lucky enough to have on the internet. There are a number of thesaurus websites that are free to use, these can help add pizazz, animation, fire, force, or oomph to a paragraph by simply giving you the opportunity to explore undiscovered words that can amplify the final document beyond your current expectations. Another great tool to use as a freelance writer is Word Counter, this site is perfect for writers who want to charge by the word rather than by the hour – we find that on occasion, especially if we are writing about something really engaging, that we get completely lost in the research element of a job and end up reading more than we write, so it would be unfair for us to charge by the hour. Word Counter not only counts the number of words/characters you use, but it also highlights any grammatical errors, provides hints on how to make your writing more reader-friendly, and shows you how long it would take for the average reader to get through the document which can be really useful if you have been tasked with writing a speech. Do always ensure if you are going to use a website like this that you check through any changes it recommends, they do not always make sense, especially when writing for an English-speaking audience.
One of the top priorities for any freelancer is to ensure there is no plagiarism within your work, it can be easy to accidentally plagiarize when you are writing about a niche subject therefore to be able to market yourself as a trustworthy writer you will need to use websites such as Grammarly to check your work before submitting it to a client.
You really want to build good relationships when you are starting up, repeat custom is the best custom you can have as you learn to understand the style of writing they are happy with, the turnaround times they expect, and their preferred layout style of a document. Knowing these few things about your client will allow you to write more effortlessly, as well as it being more time-efficient for both parties in the long run thanks to fewer changes needing to be made once the work has been submitted. Some clients will give clear instructions as to who the document is being marketed to so the writing style can be adapted to fit in with that clientele, whereas others might be more comfortable with allowing you to be more free.
The best tip to give to anyone who wants to become a freelance writer is to read, read anything and everything! There is no limit on how broad your horizons can become, only endless possibilities for new words, phrases, and techniques. You can have studied some of the most outstanding books ever written, yet never read how beautifully, poetically, and thoughtfully a children’s author can describe a rainbow. You don’t need to have an English or Liberal Arts degree to become a freelance writer, just a quiet place to work, an imaginative mind, and the confidence to take on that first job.
