How To Earn Your First Dollar As A Freelance Writer

So you’ve decided that you want to get paid to write online — where do you start? More specifically, how do freelance writers move from empty coffers to money in the bank? There are lots of ways to approach this and get that all important first pay cheque — here are some of the methods that have worked for me.

Use your contacts

When you get started, let people know that you are available for writing work. This is not just about creating a web presence but about using the contacts you already have who might have something to offer you. In my case, one of my first freelance writing jobs came from a former student who didn’t yet have the confidence to write a story about a charity event he was spearheading. That paid me around $25 — not much, but boy did it feel sweet!

Network

Networking is your best friend as a new freelance writer. It’s up to you how you do it. I hooked up with potential clients (passed on by other writers) through blogging. Those writers could see my writing style and because we had communicated they felt confident in recommending me for jobs that required similar skills. Other places to find those first jobs and make those contacts include social media sites, business networking sites and forums. Promotion is essential for new writers.

Apply for everything

Sometimes getting paid to write is a numbers game — the more bids, queries and applications you send out, the more likely it is that someone will pay you for your writing. As a new freelancer I didn’t have money to spend so I signed up for the free levels on several bidding sites and submitted as many bids as I was allowed to. Although I didn’t eventually get many jobs through those sites I made contacts who later became clients.

Just ask

Okay, I don’t know how realistic this is but I was lucky enough to hook up with someone who believed in giving new writers a chance (and I’ve since tried to pay it forward). There is no harm in asking someone to give you a try but you only get one chance to make a good impression so you really have to give it your best shot. That first piece must be polished to within an inch of its life before you submit it.
That’s pretty much it — you need a lot of persistence to get that first job. Every job after that will be much easier to obtain.

Even if you have no experience and no clips it doesn’t have to be a problem. You just have to do a bit more legwork. Learn about web content writing and search engine optimisation. Search the bidding sites for jobs that attract you and look at examples of excellent web content writing. Then write and post similar articles on your blog. That will give you examples to show off and the confidence to know that you are a writer and you will soon get paid.

As you can see there’s a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work involved in getting that first pay cheque. I know other writers have strategies they used to get their first commission – care to share?

(See my Freelance Writing Questions and Making It as a Freelance Writer series for more tips on getting started.)