Make Money Freelance Writing - "Secrets" to Making More Money as a Writer: There is a short set of principles that I always follow in my freelance writing work that are aimed at watching my financial bottom line and making sure that my work functions in such a way that I am meeting my financial obligations and taking care of my family. Here is that set of "rules" or "secrets" that I always follow.
1. Apply to Freelance Writing Jobs En Masse
Applying for freelance writing jobs is time-consuming. In addition, the competition out there is brutal. I've told this story again, and again, but it bears repeating: when I personally hired writers, I got hundreds of responses. This is what you're are competing against. If you are at the stage in you freelance writing career where you need to use freelance writing job boards, applying to multiple jobs in one sitting protects your financial line in several ways:
- You up your chances of getting bites
- You can then pick and choose between those bites, based on more detailed info
- You finish up this task- one that is unpaid, unbillable hours- in one sitting, and can then move on to paying work
Simply put: be careful and proactive about jobs.
2. Look For Long Term Potential
When choosing projects or deciding which ads to apply to, focus on those that have a potential for a long term relationship. Sometimes this is apparent in the ads or in your networking interactions, and sometimes it's not; you'll need to read for clues such as: Is the company launching a new product? Did the company recently lay off many full times that they want to replace with your cheap labor? Even a simple question- is the company large with multiple products?- gives you insight.
So how does this protect your bottom line, financially? Obviously: more work. But there's more to it than that. The company may be willing to ramp up your pay as time (and projects) go by. In addition, you're spending less non-billable hours in job searching!
3. Think Carefully About Start Ups, Individuals and Other Red Flags
This is self-explanatory. While there other start ups and individuals who are successful and are surely some writers' fave clients, there are some that don't pan out. Now, if you're an editor who contracts with novelists or would-be novelists, this, of course, wouldn't apply to you would it? But for the rest of us, again, just take a proactive stance in picking and choosing your freelance writing jobs. This is not an unequivocal urge for you to turn down start ups or individual employers-- just be careful!
4. Handle Your Finacials
Proactively handling your financials means employing practices such as:
- Always asking for a down payment
- Working benchmarks- and associated payments- into contracts
- Being proactive about your paperwork
- Sending out invoices quickly
- Keping an eye on your taxes and potential tax deductions
You can get all the best freelance writing jobs out there, but you'll never find financial freedom if you don't manage your money right. Looking for more help on money management? About.com has a channel on Personal Finance.
5. Stick To Your Fee Structure
You must protect your freelance writing rates. Ok, so sometimes this isn't so super-sticky-easy, right? For example, a magazine has a set per word fee paid to all freelancers, or a publisher pays the same amount across the board. However, as a writer, you must- MUST- understand what your time is worth. This may be best accomplished by breaking down projects into an hourly estimate and comparing your hourly rate to past jobs, projects or career positions. You'll not be able to protect your earning power if you are not even sure what it is.
6. Diversify Your Income
Deb Ng over at Freelance Writing Jobs often talks about not putting all your eggs in one basket. Any one client can potentialy tank, fire you, or etc. Diversify your freelance writing income as best you can. Blog, teach, edit. Publish both online and offline. Find an income-generating combination that works for you, and you'll always be expecting a pay check or two from somewhere.
7. Outsource Smaller Projects, Bigger Projects and Administrata
This often comes down to deciding if the task that takes you one hour is going to net or lose you money. For example, if you can outsource an hour of work to a transcriptionist for $20, and spend that same hour instead making $50, then you've netted $30 that you would have lost, had you done the transcription yourself. I've addresses this extensively in this blog post at Write to Done.
