How to Become a Freelance Writer in 2023 

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Note from Lisa: Do you want to make money from home as a freelance writer? If you do, you’re in the right spot! Rose is here with some great tips on how to become a freelance writer in 2023.

Take it away Rose…

This is your year to make money from home, and there is a convenient and creative way of doing it. Becoming a freelance writer is a great way to earn a full-time income or just a little extra cash. You are in complete control, so it’s entirely up to you.  

What is Freelance Writing?

If you want to become a freelance writer, you understand that you are an independent business owner. When you get hired to do a job, even on a recurring basis, you are doing it as a self-employed individual.  

There are more specific categories of writing within the freelance writing realm. It’s best to choose the type of writer you would be most comfortable being.

• Copywriter
• Feature writer
• Freelance Blogger
• Content writer
• Technical writer
• Ghostwriter 

However, the services you offer can overlap, depending on the client’s needs and what you will do.

Yes, I said what you will do. When starting out as a freelancer, some people fall into the mindset of an employee/employer relationship. But as a freelance writer, you can determine what specific writing services you’d like to offer. 

Specific writing services you can offer include:

• Blog posts
• Email copy
• Website copy
• Landing pages
• SEO Content
• E-books
• Editing 
• Blog Management 

There are many skills you can offer under the heading of freelance writer.  

What If I Am Not Skilled At Writing?

Some, maybe all, of these writing services seem out of your area of expertise. If you want to be a freelance writer and feel you aren’t skilled enough, either:

A) You are walking in fear. In that case, you’ll never feel you are good enough at writing to become a freelance writer. This fear keeps many people back from making their dreams happen. I encourage you let go of that fear and take the steps to build your freelance business.  

Or

B) You are right. Perhaps you know nothing about the unfamiliar landscape of freelancing in 2023. Or perhaps you know some of these things but know your skills may not be strong enough for your business to succeed long-term.

Any way you slice it, you need to always be improving your skills, especially in today’s market. Here are some ways to do that.

Develop a Writing Routine

The number one way to improve your writing is by sitting down, focusing on a topic, and then writing. Start by thinking about what inspires and interests you.  

After getting comfortable with writing daily, you can look for content ideas. What is trending? What do your favorite blogs and news sites talk about? You can write your own spin on these topics.   

This will not only give you practice while perfecting your typing skills, but it will also develop writing samples. We’ll talk about that more later. 

Guest Post

Another way to improve your writing skills is by writing guest posts. Now that you’ve gotten several articles on hand, you can seek one of those sites that you wrote an alternative article for and see if they will accept the article as a guest post.

This means that you are a guest writer. Some sites also do what’s called a contributor writer. It means you are guest posting regularly. However, I encourage you to seek sites that pay their contributors if you want to go that route. 

Being a guest writer (or contributor) will look very good to clients and give you the practice you need.  

Ongoing Education

Still not confident? Take an online course on writing. Sometimes just writing and reading on our own isn’t enough.  

You can find a general course on writing or grammar, or get a more specific course on freelance writing, content writing, blogging, copywriting, news writing and more.

How Do I Get a Freelance Writing Gig?

There are a few things you need to do when you are ready to present yourself for a freelance writing gig.

Research and Set Your Rates

FB groups, Reddit groups, YouTube videos and podcasts all give you plenty of information about the appropriate pricing for your writing services.  

Create a Portfolio 

A writing portfolio is to showcase your abilities to potential clients. Remember those articles that you wrote during your writing routine come in? Go through them and pick the ones that display your best writing. Perhaps you also got a few guest posting opportunities. Look through those too. Choose 4 or 5 as your writing samples.  

Your portfolio should say who you are, what type of writer you are, what your services are and what your rates are. Remember to include links to your samples and end with how to contact you or how to set up a meeting (by phone or otherwise) to get started.

Find Your People 

You need to network with other writers in order to get answers to your questions, share your heart about what’s going on with work, but also to get clients. Others in your network can refer you to clients.  

And what about clients? Yes, you can use LinkedIn, job boards, such as Upwork or Freelancer, and reach out to businesses and individuals to offer your writing services.

Be Ready With a Contract

Once you find your people, have your portfolio sparkling and ready to go, you need to be ready with a contract. The contract is the agreement between you and your client so they know exactly what you will be doing for them, what’s needed from them, a timeline for the project and, of course, what and when the payment will be.  

I know this can be a barrier to getting started, but it’s highly recommended that you have a lawyer write up a contract for your specific needs and services. However, there are also templates out there. Be careful because this is the most important part of the business, making sure you get paid.

What About AI Writing Applications?

In 2023, we do have the opportunity to use many high-tech writing tools, including the evolving AI writing applications.   

It is important to keep in mind that AI writing technology cannot fully do what a human writer does in the way of style, creativity, emotion, and depth. It also still has factual errors and cannot speak on issues that are newly trending, since it works by way of receiving content that people put into it.  

With that said, it’s highly possible that this tool could in the future allow us even greater opportunities as writers.  

For now, it is a great idea generator to kill writer’s block.

Kill Doubt and Become a Freelance Writer in 2023

Your own doubts (or someone else’s) isn’t going to make you money.  Equally, allowing fears of not measuring up or being beaten out by technology will kill anyone’s career.

In the end, improving your skills, presenting your work and knowing your worth is what will get you a successful freelance writing career in 2023.

Note from Lisa: If you’re looking for a great course to get you started, I highly recommend Gina Horkey’s 30 Days or Less to Freelance Writing Success. You can check it out here.