by Jay Donnelly
Are you a passionate writer? Whether you love writing fiction or non-fiction content, then you may be considering scrapping your current career and taking a leap of faith to start working as a writer. This is extremely exciting: you’ve found your calling and now you want to move towards it, leaving your old career behind.
However, before you rush into quitting your job, it’s important to take a step back and think carefully about the move you are making. That’s not to say don’t do it, it just means moving into a writing career with a strategy behind you, instead of not thinking things through properly. After all, the last place you want to find yourself is struggling to get work, so it pays to take time to think the process through.
If you have the skill to create high-quality content around a range of topics and have a unique tone of voice, then a career in writing could be perfect for you. The great thing about going down the route of writing full-time is the fact that there are so many incredible opportunities waiting for you.
The amazing thing about having a career in writing is the fact that you can do it from anywhere; you don’t need to be in an office to write. You have the option of working from home, opting to work in a co-working space, or working while you travel the world – you can choose where to work from.
Feeling inspired to start a career in writing? Have a read of the tips below before quitting your job, to ensure that you’re in the perfect position to do so!
Hone your writing skills
The first step that you need to take is to hone your writing skills. You may do a lot of writing already, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for improvement. Start by sourcing some writing workshops and courses for both fiction and non-fiction writing – it pays to be able to write both fiction and non-fiction writing when you’re attempting to earn an income as a freelance writer.
You should find plenty of online courses to choose from, as well as a number of local courses that you could opt to attend. Carefully consider which courses would be best for you and your aspirations, as well as looking at which courses come with the best reviews. You may find it helpful to join some writing groups on Facebook where you can ask for advice and recommendations of courses and workshops to help improve your writing further.
Practice your proofreading
As a freelance writer, it’s vital that you know how to proofread professionally. If there’s one mistake that you don’t want to make, it’s sending in a piece of content that is littered with errors and hasn’t been properly checked over. That’s why it’s so important that you take the time to learn how to effectively proofread, to ensure that you are able to submit error-free work.
When it comes to proofreading, you may find it helpful to invest in a number of online writing checkers. Popular resources used by a large number of writers include Hemmingway and Grammarly – these two sites allow you to check your writing for a number of errors, as well as highlighting issues with sentences that are too long or too complex and are hard to read as a result.
Understand the process of finding work
The next step that you should take is to start learning about how, as a freelance writer, you will actually find work. What does it take to land a writing gig? Again, you may find Facebook writers’ groups helpful when it comes to learning more about the best places to find work as a writer – it’s always useful hearing other writers’ ideas.
Job sites like Indeed, for instance, do list freelance writing jobs, and so are worth keeping an eye on and checking at least once a week. You will also find that resources like Freelancer – a site designed especially for freelancers in a number of niches, including writing – have a wide number of job opportunities listed on them.
Then, there’s also the option of choosing to pitch ideas and sell yourself, instead of waiting for a role to come up. Whether you want to write magazine articles or sell a book, you can pitch your ideas to editors and publishing houses. Pitching ideas can be a daunting concept, as the truth is there’s a lot of rejection. However, once you get your foot in the door and start making a name for yourself in a certain industry or area, it becomes far easier to see successful results.
Think about how you’ll work
Before you quit your job and launch into a writing career, it’s important to take the time to think about some of the practicalities of doing so. For instance, you need to consider where you will work from – yes, it’s highly flexible and you can work from anywhere but it’s important to determine where ‘anywhere’ will be when you first start out.
If you’re planning on working from home, then you need to set aside a dedicated workspace where you can complete your work from. Or, if you’re planning on travelling while you write, you need to think about where you will have internet access and whether you will set aside a certain amount of time each day to work. You need to take the process of working seriously if you want to see results and actually earn an income. You may also want to consider investing in a virtual address from somewhere like https://physicaladdress.com/ and to set up a business website, complete with a business email address and phone number. That way, you can ensure that all of your business correspondence remains in business accounts, and your personal and business lives don’t accidentally overlap.
Learn how to market yourself
One of the most vital things that you need to learn when it comes to making a success out of a career in writing, is how to market yourself effectively. In the writing industry – particularly the freelance sector – competition is high, so you need to workout how you will ensure that you stand out from the crowd.
There you have it, a few useful tips for how you can take your love of writing and transform it into a successful career.
Find more writing and publishing tips at Nothing Any Good.
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