When people think of a side hustle, their minds often gravitate towards influencers, online stores, photography, or graphic designers. But there’s one job in the gig industry that’s becoming more popular than ever, and that’s freelance writing.
In many ways, the internet as we know it was built on the back of the first online freelance writers. People writing on their blogs about their lives and stories, which eventually lead to the type of content creation that we use today.
But is freelance writing still a viable side hustle in 2022? Yes, yes it is. And if you want to know why, you should read on.
This week’s newsletter brings you:
- Trends. Which type of writing is more in demand? How much money can you make as a freelance writer? We will bring you the data this week.
- Strategies. On this occasion, we will show you the reasons why becoming a freelance writer is still a good choice for side hustlers, how you can get your freelance writing journey started, and a few examples of successful freelance writers to serve as inspiration.
- Tool of the Week. As a freelance writer, you’ll need tools that can help you make your text bulletproof while also keeping you on track with your goals. That’s why we bring you a group of tools that covers all your freelance writing needs.
Trends
Wonder what types of content freelance writers get paid to write? How much can you really get paid as a writer anyway? We’ve rounded up the data so that you can see the earning potential for this kind of side hustle. And the best part? You don’t have to put as much time into it as you might think!
Types of freelance writing content
Based on the results from Elna Cain’s 2023 Freelance Writing Stats & Facts Survey, 77% of content most freelance writers create are blog posts.
This makes sense because content marketing will be worth more than $600 billion by 2024. So as you can see, blog writing is a highly valuable piece of content that all writers should know how to write.
Freelance writing source for clients
So where should you go looking for clients as a freelance writer? According to this survey, the top method for gaining clients is referrals. What’s a referral? It’s when a past client, another writer or an editor recommends your services to another business.
The next most popular way to find clients is through job boards such as Upwork. This makes sense, especially when you’re first starting out. You want to go where people are actively looking to hire a writer!
Next are websites, another great method to land client work. Having a “home base” online that details what you do and who you serve is a great marketing tool to have.
Freelance writing rate per word
From this survey, it looks like rates between writers vary, with $0.21-$0.30 at 29%. However, 34% of writers have rates between $0.05/word to $0.20/word.
Your freelance writing rate is partly subjective and is contingent on where you live and the quality of your life. Someone in a developing country can live on $300/month, while that doesn’t cover rent for a one-bedroom in other areas of the world.
Freelance writing income per month
Anyone who decides to freelance write always wants to know how much they can really make. According to this survey, 42% earn up to $5,000/month, while 30% earn up to $2,000/month. It’s also awesome to see that 21% make between $5,000 – $10,000/month!
Freelance writing hours per week
Almost 60% of the writers surveyed work on freelance writing less than 10 hours a week, making it an ideal side hustle. 33% of writers surveyed work part-time hours at 10-30 hours a week and 10% work full-time for 30+ hours a week. You can put as much or as little time into it as you like. The choice is yours!
Strategies
Trends might come and go, but knowledge remains. So, here’s how to decide whether or not you should start freelance writing.
Reasons to become a freelance writer in 2023
Freelancing has become more popular than ever, with a record number of professionals deciding to go freelance, which is not surprising given that 47% of hiring managers are now more likely to hire independent workers after COVID-19.
So, if you need a change of career or at least a change of lifestyle in 2023, freelancing could be the answer.
Rather than entering a whole new industry or employment role, freelancing allows you to utilize your present talents and expertise in new ways, giving you freedom and flexibility over how you work and opening up a plethora of new opportunities.
Truth be told, now is the best time to start a freelance writing side gig. The demand for freelancers exploded throughout the pandemic, and this trend is expected to continue through 2023.
And, with organizations increasingly seeking responsive and adaptable people, this trend is only expected to accelerate in the next months and years. That implies there will be lots of opportunities for talented and hardworking professionals.
So the demand for freelance writers is out there, but that’s just one of the reasons why this side hustle opportunity is so tempting. Here are some other benefits of becoming a freelance writer:
Bye bye office: Who says you have to work in an office to be productive? With freelancing, you may work wherever you like, whether at home, in a local café, or on the beach while traveling the world.
No more 9 to 5 jobs: If you’re one of those folks who doesn’t thrive on the traditional 9 to 5 (and who does, really? ), freelancing is ideal. Do you want to take Mondays off? Take a chance! Do you like to work late rather than get up early? It’s not a problem.
You can work whenever it is convenient for you as long as you complete the work. Isn’t that one of the goals of your hustle?
Furthermore, managing your own hours is beneficial to your work-life balance, allowing you more of the valuable commodity that is time. Whether you’re managing family obligations, want to devote more time to a pastime, or simply want an additional hour in bed in the morning, freelancing allows you to prioritize what’s important.
More satisfying: As a freelancer, you have a good possibility of avoiding the usual workplace problems and drama. Freelancers tend to be more optimistic and feel better about their job’s purpose than people in a fixed position. Win.
Increased earning potential: Freelancers are often paid more than in-house employees, so your earnings are likely to improve without you having to pester anyone for that promotion.
Be your own boss: If you despise being told what to do and how to do it, you’ll be right at home as a freelancer. As the owner of your own micro-business, you have complete authority and don’t have to answer to anyone – except your clients, of course. Feel free to follow your instincts, let your imagination run wild, and claim full credit for your accomplishments.
Choose your clients: Being your own employer also means you may pick and choose who you work with, as opposed to working in an agency or in-house. You can choose to work with only the companies you like and find interesting, and decline or resign from those you don’t.
However, finding a writing job can be difficult if you don’t know where to look.
Luckily for you, these days there are more options than ever before for freelance writing gigs. The days of the starving artist are over because of:
- Blogging
- Content marketing
- Copywriting
- Self-publishing
- Ghostwriting
You may now write from anywhere and get rewarded for your efforts. Online writing tasks that pay well are available in any location. You might write for content mills—a website or service that generates low-cost articles for other websites—but they don’t pay well.
Smart authors, on the other hand, know where to look.
Set up job notifications on major writing sites, such as Upwork, BloggingPro, Freelancer.com or IWriter, to stay up to speed on the greatest writing jobs available.
Resources:
13 Reasons to Start Freelancing in 2022 by peppercontent
Find Freelance Writing Jobs by The Write Life
How to become a freelance writer in 2023
We’ve already established that becoming a freelance writer is more than worth it these days. However, it’s one thing to know you want to be a freelance writer, and another thing entirely to know how to get started.
But that’s where we come in.
If you want to become a freelance writer, here are the steps you can take:
- Immerse yourself in the freelance writing industry
Before you begin writing as a freelancer, you should learn everything you can about the profession. Read biographies, articles, blogs, and other information on the websites of accomplished freelance writers.
Many writers give useful information about what it takes to be a freelance writer, how they run their writing businesses, how they write, where they look for work, and how they establish their pricing.
Browse gigs freelance writing job boards to discover more about how to get into freelance writing. This will offer you an understanding of the types of employment that are available, what companies want, and what current market earnings are.
- Figure out what you’ll write about
You can work as a freelance writer in a wide variety of fields, ranging from newsletter writing, video scripts, business writing, speeches, copywriting, and much more. The topics you can write about include babies, pets, comic books, health products, art, food, science, and so on. However, it’s better if you choose one or two areas that pique your interest and focus on them first.
You can broaden the scope of your content production to additional niches once you’ve established yourself as a freelance writer and have mastered time management.
- Gain the necessary business abilities
Freelance writing is a business, and so to be successful as a freelancer, you must be organized and have solid time management skills.
You should establish a consistent writing schedule to work on your projects, as well as a clear system for tracking in-progress, completed, and pending projects. You must also keep track of issued and pending bills, received money, pitch writing, job applications, and customer responses. Many writers also keep a running list of writing ideas to ensure that they never run out of topics to write about.
- Build a writing portfolio and promote your writing
A well-presented and up-to-date writing portfolio is critical for any freelance writing career. Create a professional website where you can upload and present your work samples in a fashionable manner. You can add articles in a specific specialty or information spanning a variety of themes, depending on your preferences and knowledge.
If you don’t have any professionally released content, create content that potential clients will want to commission and present it on your website. You can also build a blog to collect clips on themes of interest to you.
Marketing your writing services is also an important aspect of working as a freelance writer. Having a decent website and a blog will aid your marketing efforts, and consistently posting material will boost your ranking in search engine results.
Include a page on your website that details the writing services you provide, a page that tells clients who you are and how you are qualified to help them, a portfolio with writing samples, and a contact page to make it easy for clients to reach you.
You can sell your services on social media and business networking sites by putting links to your most recent published articles or blogs and offering availability updates. Social networking also keeps you up to date on industry trends and employment openings. Consider creating guest posts for other writers or showcasing their work on your blog.
- Look for freelance writing opportunities
There are numerous freelance writing possibilities available online. Visit employment boards that update their advertisements on a daily basis and hunt for work that looks intriguing and pays well. Look for positions on business networking sites and social media as well. You can also pitch articles to publications and online journals, as well as send cold pitches to businesses.
Spend some time investigating the companies before submitting your employment applications or article pitches. It is critical to determine whether they hire freelance writers on a regular basis and how writers rate working with them. Examine the information on their websites to acquire a better understanding of their writing requirements. Customize each application to the job’s specifications and include relevant writing samples.
A freelance writing success story
If you need a little bit of inspiration to get started with your own freelance writing career, take a look at Julia McCoy.
Julia walked out of college at 19 to pursue her passion for writing and launched her own content writing agency with $75 only three months after she learned how to polish her writing.
Now her agency brings in $840,000 per year, with a website that gets over 100,000 organic views every month, and her agency’s blog has 14,000 subscribers.
Resources:
How to Become a Freelance Writer by Indeed
6 Secrets of the Most Successful Freelance Writers by Skyword
Tool of the week
As a freelance writer, you’ll need a wide range of tools to help make your content as good as it can be. This is not limited to tools that assist your writing, but also ones that help organize the business side of things.
To that end, we bring you two great tools. One to polish your writing, and another to polish your organization skill:
Grammarly – Grammar correction
Grammarly is the most popular and accurate grammar checker on the market. It examines your content for proper application of advanced grammatical principles, corrects spelling, recommends synonyms, and expands your vocabulary. It is compatible with any application or text editor.
Grammarly has practically become a mandatory tool for any writing job, though you shouldn’t solely rely on it. Make sure to proofread your work as well.
Indy – Organization
To make money, writers must write, but freelance writers have to do a lot more than just write. Indy simplifies freelancing by providing authors with the administrative tools they need to do all of their business tasks swiftly and efficiently.
Indy provides tools to help you handle proposals, contracts, files, forms, invoicing, and projects. You can work on all of these simultaneously on the same platform. Simple and effective.
Resources:
Freelance Writing Tools: The 16 Best for Running + Growing Your Business