Every so often I go through this same procedure and just
give up because it all just seems too hard. And I’m not one for giving up. I’m
stubborn enough to butt my head against a wall until I crack it and it all
comes down, brick by brick. But I just feel so lost whenever I try to break
into this industry, probably because I am not confident enough in my own talent
to really push for it, but also because I really don’t know where to start. And
where do you start? The world of freelance writing is so huge and so daunting
that you can try and jump in the deep end and see what kind of creatures you
may encounter in the depths, or you can dip your toes in the shallow end and
decide to walk away until the water gets warmer. But how does the water get
warmer?
Four years ago I tried. I set up profiles on freelance
websites, applied for different job listings and did some work for a company in
India that was paying about $0.01 cents a word to write SEO articles. That
lasted a week – my writing was worth much more than that. I wrote some pretty
interesting articles for a blog, and was never credited for them (I can still
see them up there for everyone to read), and was paid a little bit more than a
pittance for them. Then I decided that I would rather write articles for my own
blog, because at least I could give myself credit for it and write about what I
wanted. So I basically gave up. At the time I just took on another job on top
of my regular bartending job and focused on writing for myself in my free time.
This time around I have decided that I am going to try a bit
harder. This is what I have always wanted to do: work from home as a writer.
And now I’m even more motivated – I’m at home raising my daughter and therefore
have flexible hours to write. And I’m good at it – I love writing about just
about everything, I love doing the research, I love that feeling of excitement
you get when you write the first draft and the words are coming out faster than
you can type. I love going back to a draft to edit it and realizing that it
really sounds good, that the tone and the style and the words all work, and
that it is something you would want to read. I just love to express myself with
words. It’s what I have been doing all my life. And to get paid for doing what
I love? Who wouldn’t want that?
So how on earth do you start? I’ve read countless articles
on what to do and where to go and how much to charge. But how do you REALLY get
in there? How do you start selling your product for the correct price? Yet
again I set up profiles on freelance sites. Yet again I started to bid for
projects. And yet again I feel like it’s just not worth it. This time it’s not
about my confidence – I KNOW I am good, and I know I can produce excellent
copy. This time it’s about what I would be getting paid. I looked up freelance
writer rates online, thought back to what we would pay our translators, editors
and proofreaders when I worked for a translation agency and came up with what I
think are correct rates. On the low end, but not selling myself short. The
first ad I answered was very interested in what I could do for them (research
and provide 2 blog articles a week on the bar and restaurant industry,
showcasing people, drinks, food, locations etc); but told me I was expensive. I
haven’t heard back again, but we will see about that one. Then yesterday as I perused
through an email I receive on a daily basis from one of the freelance sites I
saw an ongoing editing and proofreading job. Perfect – something to get me in
there, start getting somewhat of a reputation, right? Something I know I can do
very well seeing as I did it for years. And then I saw what they are paying. $1
a PAGE. $1 a page to edit, probably research, and proofread a copy? Are they
completely insane?? Are there really people out there who work for that type of
money? This means that in order to make $100 in a day you need to edit and
proofread 100 pages. Assuming that there are about 250 words per page (industry
standard) and that you proofread on average 1,000 words per hour, if you worked
a 12 hour day you would therefore be making a whopping $48 at $4 an hour. And
this is assuming that you have nothing else to do for 12 hours and that the
copy is not too bad. If you did this for 7 days straight you would make $336
before tax at the end of the week. Do it for a month and your pay would be
$1,344. Nope, NOT worth it. Who on earth works for these rates? And yes, I know
that it’s possible to do the work a lot faster, but what kind of quality are
you going to be providing?
And that‘s the whole point isn’t it? Why would anyone in
their right mind provide any kind of quality work if they are being paid a
pittance to do so? And who are the people who are actually accepting these
rates? How on earth am I ever going to find any kind of work in this industry
if these are the jobs I have to accept? It’s extremely disheartening. Should I
just give up on the whole idea of being a freelance writer again? How can I prove
to potential employers that I have the skills that they need, and that they
need to hire me, especially since I don’t have any real experience in the
industry? I’m determined to not give in this time as I would like to be able to
work from home, in my own time, doing what I love, but I still don’t know where
to start. I suppose this is just the beginning of multiple ramblings and rants
on the subject…
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