Careers

Specialize Your Writing: Creative, Magazines, Media, Copywriting, Web Copy

By Allena Tapia, About.com Guide

Here, we explore how to write and make freelance writing money in a variety of genres. That might mean writing creatively, getting published in magazines, media writing, business writing and so forth. Once you're on the road to freelance writing success, it's time to build your knowledge and expand your horizons through these genres and through topic expertise. Let's look at some of the possibilities, so that you can make the best decision for your goals and strengths.

Creative Freelance Writing
Getting Published in Magazines
Copywriting and Business Writing

Web Copy
Writing for the Media and PR Writing
Technical Writing

Creative Freelance Writing

Some freelance writers hope to earn their living by writing creatively- using their words to produce emotion- not copy for someone else's profit! Is this career path possible? Yes! Following are some tips and resources on how to make money as a creative freelance writer.

Getting Published in Magazines

Another great career path is writing for magazines. When you freelance write for magazines, you not only get paid, but you also get to see your name in lights...or at least in print! Magazine writing generally begins as a writer who has some clips and/or expertise sells an editor a specific idea for a specific magazine via a "pitch" or "query" letter. Once an editor likes your idea and work, an easier relationship is then formed, hopefully with ideas becoming a two-way street. In addition, trade magazines often form relationships with freelance writers based on Letters of Introductions or formal calls for resumes/CVs/clips. Here's some more details on how to get your work published in magazines.

Copywriting and Business Writing

Copywriting covers a whole slew of different kinds of publications- but we'll differentiate them from business writing by one thing: selling. Copywriting almost always embraces a selling of something- whether it's through slogans, direct mail pieces, or ads. Then, we'll add in business writing, which is similar- but doesn't necessarily "sell" something (think resumes, or internal company newsletters). If you're wondering about selling something on the web, don't worry! We cover that in a later section on web writing and web copy.

For now, let's take a look at copywriting and writing for businesses, including the different rules, challenges, and how tos.

Web Copy

Writing for the web entails a couple different kinds of writing, and touches on some other sections on this page, such as copywriting (selling something on the web), journalistic writing (pitching websites that are also magazines/periodicals), and even creative writing (online lit journals). However, the content in this section is focused on writing not covered elsewhere. We'll look at content marketing, content mills (very different things, despite their shared names), blogging, and ebooks, among other things.

Writing for the Media and PR Writing

At first glance, you may question why these two types of specializations are together. The goal of public relations writers is to get the media's attention, so that the media will then write about them. Therefore a lot of the writing aimed at the media is produced with the media outlet in mind. Get it? If not, keep reading. In addition, there is some overreach. Pieces like op-eds could fall under either newspaper publications or PR publications. Keep reading for tips and resources on writing for media outlets.

Technical Writing

Technical writing has enjoyed recent acclaim as a fast-growing career field with a lot of potential and demand. It does present freelance opportunities, but full time technical writing jobs are definitely to be had, too. Technical writing can be defined as copy production focused on presenting (sometimes "involved" or "difficult") information specifically for a lay audience to use.

Freelance Writing