According to my built-in MS thesaurus, freelance means “self-employed,†“temporary,†irregular,†“casual†and “ad hoc.†These terms describes freelance writing work fairly succinctly. The opposite word (or antonym) noted in my thesaurus is “permanent.†After 30+ years in this business, I can tell you that there is nothing permanent about freelance work, except for the constant need to promote oneself.
As a freelance writer, you may be busy one month and scrounging for work the next. There are no guarantees in this profession, just like there are no guarantees for the commercial fisherman, the restaurant owner, the building contractor, the real estate agent or anyone else who depends on certain circumstances for their wages. Many businesses ebb and flow according to the economy, the weather and world events, for example.
Most entrepreneurs, independent contractors and freelancers can take steps to secure their businesses in good times and bad. And this is true for writers. If you want to be a fulltime writer here’s what I suggest:
Don’t quit your day job until you’ve established adequate writing work or a regular clientele.
Determine what sort of wages you need. (If you focus on your needs in the beginning, you can always expand your services or your clientele, etc. in order to build the earnings you desire.)
Let’s say that you want to earn $25,000 the first year. You could, perhaps, generate $10,000 through magazine articles, $8,000 from corporate work (rewriting company manuals, writing letters, editing company newsletters and so forth) and $7,000 working with authors on their book projects. How would this look in real life?
That’s 25 articles per year (or 2 articles per month) at $400 each or 3 per month at around $275 per piece. It’s also around $660 worth of work each month for the corporate sector. Let’s say you rewrite one company manual at $1,250, create 5 brochures at around $2,500 and write 3 company newsletters per month at $300/month—that’s $7,350. And if you have the qualifications to work with clients, 5 authors needing proof work or a final edit, for example, plus a few clients with lesser requirements could add up to the $7,000 you need to meet your financial quota.
How does that compute into time spent on each project? An article will generally take you anywhere from an hour to a few days to complete. Add in the time you’ll spend soliciting article work and you’ll probably need 400 or 500 hours. As for soliciting and completing corporate work, add another 100 hours and for the work we outlined above, 100 hours (based on $50/hour). You’ll need to put in 140 hours with author clients. What’s the total number of hours you’ll need to achieve your $25,000/year? On paper, it comes out to around 840 hours. So you have 1,240 work hours leftover each year to build your business to the $50,000 level.
Of course, your success as a freelance writer depends quite heavily on your ability and willingness to get out there are solicit work–promote yourself and your business. This is an ongoing aspect to any sort of freelance work.
As I was computing the time elements above, I was struck by how different things are now as compared to when I started my writing business. I wrote for years using typewriters–first, a borrowed manual typewriter and later a snazzy new electric typewriter. Research work had to wait until the library was open. The only way to reach experts for an interview was by phone or mail. The work that I do in a few hours today would take me days or weeks back then.
I’d like to share a couple of great resources. Writing for Dollars has just completed two useful databases. They have a marvelous and FREE Guidelines Database which includes writers’ guidelines for a wide variety of magazines and other publications as well as book publishers. Check it out at http://www.writingfordollars.com/guidelines.db.cfm
They have also finished an Articles Database for writers and authors. You’ll find articles by Peter Bowerman of Well-Fed Writer fame, Hope C. Clark (Funds for Writers), Peggy Fielding (True Confessions author), Kelly James-Enger (Six-Figure Freelancing), Linda Perret, comedy writer and Patricia Fry (hey, that’s me!). They have 10 of my articles posted so far. Check this free database out at http://www.writingfordollars.com/articlesdb.cfm
Dana Cassell features one of my articles in the April edition of Freelance Writer’s Report. It’s on Book Promotion Tips (see page 5). Brian Jud’s April newsletter introduces me (Patricia Fry) as guest columnist. Subscribe to Jud’s Special-Sales Newsletter at http://www.bookmarketing.com
My piece focuses on stepping outside your promotional comfort zone.
We’re leaving our home and cats in the care of house/petsitters today as we leave on our 11 day trip. Remember, I’ll be conducting a book proposal seminar at the Hilton Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia this Saturday morning (March 29, 2008) 9-12 and I’m speaking on 2 secrets to publishing success at 2 at the Hilton. I’ll also be speaking to Nashville writers at Borders West End in Nashville, Monday, March 31 at 7: p.m.
I will be blogging while traveling, but probably not with the regularity you’ve come to expect. In fact, I know that there are many of you who hope to earn a living through your book or line of books. At my next opportunity, I plan to outline the possibilities for your success. Yes, I’ll include figures and timelines.
By the way, if you are interested in establishing a freelance writing business, you definitely need to know more about publishing, editing, article-writing, etc. Please order your copy of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html