Talent Isn’t Everything: 5 Secrets to Freelance Success
I’ve been a professional writer since I sold my first piece to Seventeen at age 21, on my first try.
(Take that, Sylvia Plath: she racked up about fifty rejection letters from the same magazine before breaking in.)
Since then, I’ve veered between being an on-site staff writer and a full-time freelancer, doing one or the other for about three or four years before getting bored/wanting more money/getting sick of winter commuting/spotting an ad for the full-time “dream job” I just HAD to have (for a while).
Right now, I’ve been freelancing full-time since 2008. Along with the politics and culture pieces I do for PJ Media and other online magazines, I write web copy for clients ranging from funeral homes to roofing contractors; edit and ghostwrite books, newsletters, and op-eds; and manage a few social media accounts as well.
Over the years, countless people have told me they want to be freelance writers, too. So here are some tips and home truths about the freelance writing (or freelance anything) life.
#5 – Talent isn’t everything
Maybe you’ve won some writing awards. Maybe you’ve read a magazine article or an employee newsletter and thought: “Heck, I could do better than that.”
Maybe you’re right.
That’s not enough.
It’s likely that the magazine editor assigned that article to a merely competent writer – who also filed the story early, met the requested word count, and made all the changes the editor demanded without complaint.
People like to work with… people they like to work with.
Now, coming from me, that’s pretty rich.
One of the reasons I’m a freelance writer is that, frankly, I don’t “play well with others.” I am too introverted, tactless, demanding, opinionated, and “masculine” to fit in with today’s feminized workplace — a pink and purple extravaganza of giggling, weekly birthday parties, crying-in-the-bathroom, “diversity training,” “team building,” and boring baby pictures/anecdotes — everything, it seems, except actual work.
And today, “fitting in” with the company “culture” (of bridal showers and non-stop conversations about food and “stupid husbands”) is prioritized over competence and intelligence.
Yet somehow, even a curmudgeon like me can manage to remain polite, helpful, and engaged for the length of that email or phone call with a client.
So just imagine how impressed they’ll be with a genuinely nice person like you!
You may be the finest prose stylist in the English language, and a veritable font of creative ideas. You may be an expert in your field, or a clever, well-read generalist.
However, if — just as an example — you bitch (aloud) when a client decides they want to change back to the version they just changed yesterday (and the day before that), your clients and editors will tire of your diva-dom (yes, to them, you’re the diva…) and replace you with a mediocre yet reliable writer instead.
Temperament matters as much as talent, if not more so.
# 4 – The one thing no one else will tell you
Now I’m about to tell you something that you won’t read in any other “how to be a freelancer” article, ever.
It’s mean and nasty — and it’s true. It may be the best piece of all-around work-related advice you’ll ever get:
Don’t be “the one with all the problems.”
Clients will pretend to be understanding when your grandmother is dying or your kids are sick and/or running around screaming in the background or the power went out across your city for 12 hours.
But they really don’t care.
They have deadlines and budgets and bosses and customers and clients (and problems) of their own.
When my father died, my old boss in book publishing asked me sheepishly, mid-hug, how long I’d be out of town for the funeral. After all, we did have a sixty page Christmas catalog to get out….
When my mother died, I went back to her apartment after making the funeral arrangements, got out my notes, dialed the phone, and interviewed a big-time author for a major daily paper, as I’d been assigned to do the week before.
Never miss a deadline. I know I have once or twice but I must’ve repressed the memory.
Your “brilliant” article or web copy or brochure text is completely and utterly useless until it arrives in your editor’s or designer’s or client’s inbox.
Until then, it may as well not exist. Freelancing is binary: all or nothing.
Even on his deathbed, Christopher Hitchens met deadlines.
Yes, he probably had an assistant (or two), not to mention a wife and a coterie of understanding friends and editors.
He also had cancer.
So you’ll need a better excuse than that.
(P.S.: Own two newish computers that worked fine the last time you used them.
(I don’t mean “have access to one at your mom’s house or at the library,” either. Your mom’s house and/or the library could burn down tomorrow or be inaccessible by road during a blizzard.
(“My computer just crashed” is also not your client’s fault, and you will be seen as — say it with me now — “the one with all the problems.”)
# 3 – Know your rates
It’s always better to quote a high rate and risk losing a potential client than low ball the quote, get the job — then find yourself trapped in project-creep hell with a persnickety client, and ending up making the equivalent of less than minimum wage when the project is (finally) over.
The cheaper the client, the more demanding they are.
My $75/hour clients tend to approve the very first version of everything I send them, thank me profusely, pay me immediately, and hire me again.
Clients I’ve taken on for far less (because I’ve felt desperate — or sorry for them) ALWAYS want more changes, more words, more pages, more of my time on the phone, more everything.
Eventually, I (politely) fire clients like that. Inevitably, they are replaced almost immediately by more professional ones with larger budgets (and brains).
Now let’s get pragmatic:
The best “how much should I charge” web-based resources for writers, editors, consultants — pretty much anybody who works with words, which these days is… pretty much anybody — are here, here, here, here, and here.
The best all-around resource for starting out cold as a freelance corporate/commercial writer (as opposed to a magazine freelancer, which is a mug’s game that’s practically extinct anyhow) is Peter Bowerman’s Well-Fed Writer series.
(I know: the artwork on his website is corny. However, this is one time not to trust your instincts on that front, because Bowerman’s advice is solid and his newsletter is amazing.)
Even if you aren’t a writer, Bowerman’s stuff provides valuable insights into how businesses are really run, and how hiring and budgeting decisions are made. The success stories sent in by newbie and veteran freelancers are packed with “takeaways” about marketing yourself, too.
# 2 – Don’t obsess about trivia
Have you ever worked at a company so caught up in rewriting its mission statement or redesigning its logo that its core business suffered?
Don’t be that person.
You already know that wasting all day texting and tweeting your friends is a time suck. And when you’re a freelancer, time is money. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.
When I was starting out, would-be freelancers got caught up learning the official proofreading symbols or concocting the perfect query letter.
Today, they spend too much time trying to get their official website/portfolio “perfect” or stressing out about business cards.
All these distractions give you the dangerous illusion that you’re working.
And you’re not.
You’re only working when you are either applying for new projects on Craigslist and other job boards, or actually working on a paid assignment.
Work normal business hours.
You may well be a night owl who loves the idea of writing at 2am, but if you do that, you’d better be ready and able to answer the phone and your emails between 8am and 6pm, too.
Nobody wants to work with a quirky flake (see above).
The other advantage to keeping normal hours is that you then have “permission” to do all that other important-but-distracting-and-unpaid stuff — like exercising or folding laundry — early in the morning or in the evenings.
(P.S.: Your ROI on writing book reviews is likely a negative number. Do them for fun once in a while, but consider them trivia, too. If you’re writing for a living, you have to invest your time, talent, and energy in the most efficient, profitable way. Book reviews are the literary equivalent of skateboarding and gaming: a lucky few can make a living of sorts, but otherwise, it’s a hobby.)
# 1 – Going from good to great (or at least, better)
It’s almost impossible to proofread your own work, but you also want to submit the best copy or article (or report to your boss) that you can.
Here’s how I get around that:
If I have an assignment due Tuesday morning, I take one last look at it Monday night, then sleep on it.
On Tuesday morning, I open the Word doc and immediately change the size and type of the font.
If I wrote the article in Verdana, I change it to a serif font like Times, then bump it up two sizes.
I may even switch the text to blue, green, or red.
This tricks my brain into reading the piece as if for the first time. Inevitably, I notice a typo, factual error, overused word, or awkward sentence.
I may also incorporate any overnight brainstorms.
Plus I may realize, to my embarrassment, that I forgot to include the joke or factoid that sold the editor on my idea in the first place, or that I didn’t use the client’s SEO keywords often enough.
After I make these corrections, I change the fonts back to normal and send it to my client or editor.
Doing this has improved the quality of my writing exponentially. It certainly gives everything I write a more professional polish.
I could tell you more — lots more — but then, while I wouldn’t have to kill you, I would have to charge you.
Kathy, your font-switch trick for proofreading is worth your weight in gold. Thanks!
Thanks Francis,
Actually, I recently lost a lot of weight (I almost wrote “a ton”…) BUT the price of gold has gone up, so…
Glad I could help!
Kathy,
A lot of great info here, especially the “what to charge” sites. Thank you!
I’ve been freelancing (or “working for myself”, an alternate description of what I do that allows my mother to tell her friends that I own a business) for nearly 40 years in advertising, design, writing, marketing, etc., and let me tell you something – you and I are both pikers!
http://adage.com/article/agency-news/advertising-freelancers-madison-avenue-stay/234416/
$1000 to $2000 a day on Madison Avenue?! Where do I sign up?
Kathy,
This is probably the best “bang-for-your-buck” bit of advice for writers that I have ever seen. Beautifully done.
I’m going to be trying that font switch idea myself. The curse of our trade is that it’s incredibly easy to spot 99% of the errors in any piece, but the last 1% take all the time and energy to weed out. This tip could be a nice weapon in the battle. I’ve also found, for what it’s worth, that expanding the text so that it looks *enormous* and fills my 27″ monitor can help me focus.
Great resources, too — I’ll be filing those away in case I find myself leaving the 9-to-5 scene again.
Wonderful article, Kathy! As a freelance writer, friends and family are always telling me how “lucky” I am to work for myself, but as you’ve pointed out here, there is so much more than luck at play when it comes to being successful. These are some spot-on tips that I hope would-be freelancers will take to heart before jumping into the field.
Thanks Kathy! Rather inspiring actually,
I’m freelance business English teacher in Warsaw, Poland, since 1997, and I also do some proofreading work. I teach mostly in-company, contracting concurrently with a few commercial language schools and I have a portfolio of private students. I’m much happier working as a freelancer compared to being one of the many corporate wage slaves that I meet in my work.
I don’t look forward to returning to the U.S. and continue teaching, so if I do return I’ll probably retire rather than work at some school managed by some punk ass half my age.
You have some great tips, especially the websites for suggested rates, job boards, and how not to waste time.
Expat in Warsaw
Larry,
I lived in Eastern Europe from 1991 to 2004, mostly in Warsaw in fact. I started my career in journalism there as a freelance writer/copy editor. How are things there and how’s Poland doing these days?
‘…a pink and purple extravaganza of giggling, weekly birthday parties, crying-in-the-bathroom, “diversity training,” “team building” and boring baby pictures/anecdotes…’
Sorry to get off topic, but good Lord, that reminds me so much of my days as a librarian, when I was one of the few males amongst a bunch of feminism-crazed females. I don’t miss it.
Perfectly done, Kathy. I would add one more though: If any of this advice offends you, you will almost certainly never be a professional writer in any regard.
Since so many people have commented on the proofreading advice, here’s more:
Proof with another person…one saying out loud all the capitalizations and punctuation while the other checks it against their own copy of the text.
And if the material is highly technical/complex, READ IT BACKWARDS. (“Period all caps backwards it read comma technical forward-slash complex is material if initial-cap all.”) That’s how it’s done at technical/industrial ad agencies where every typo not only costs your firm money but can also, unintentionally, misrepresent a client’s product.
I will never forget the expensive 8.5 x 11 5-color glossy C-fold brochure upon which, despite THREE rounds of proofing, ended up with centimeters instead of millimeters in a performance spec. That cost the agency a full week of half a dozen temps coming in after hours to stick 250,000 china-back correction labels over the 250,000 “typos.” Truly the stuff nightmares are made of!
Wow, thanks everyone!
And please share your tips here too.
A very good read, and good advice. Thanks!
My former boss used to use the same color/font trick, but for making certain his scheduling of all shifts in my department were accurate. I never thought of using it for proofreading and final edit.
Sadly, the only tip I have for anyone comes from my labors as a fiction writer:
When you’ve finished your first draft, do not immediately send it to your editor. Instead, hand it to a good friend you know you can trust, with instructions not to give it back to you until either two weeks have elapsed, or the two of you have gotten stinking drunk together at least twice.
No, he doesn’t have to read it for the service to be effective. He just has to keep you from drooling over it until your euphoria at having produced the Great Internet-Age Novel has passed, and you can see its flaws with some objectivity. That enforced period of separation can save you quite a lot of embarrasment.
All very true. I was laid off in 2009 and forced to start a freelance writing business. (No one would pay me to do anything else.)
I have found Rule 3 to be very true. I have found cheap clients to be nitpicky and time-consuming. I recently scraped one off.
I have violated Rule 4 too many times already, but am fortunate enough to have mostly recovered.
Also, Rule 2 — work normal business hours. It’s the hardest trick and I still haven’t learned it.
One thing I’d add — maybe it was just me, but I overgrew my business in the first 18 months. It happened gradually — three clients kept giving me more and more work. I was so frightened after having been laid off that I said yes to everything (plus I got a rush from making the sale). I burnt myself to a crisp and ended up having to hire someone.
Your advice…..”Work normal business hours” is well well-taken. For some of us who work from home it is the key to self-discipline and the disciplining of everyone else. I know of one case where a self-employed business consultant had to rent an office near his home simply because he could find no other way to get his family and friends to quit bugging him until they could accept the fact that he was employed like everyone else and not accessible during normal work hours. Too bad because he had a nice home office that otherwise would have worked very well for him. I tell my wife that I am leaving for work and then go to my downstairs office.
Kathy, when my mother died, I packed up my stuff and did my deadline work on my dad’s kitchen table in between trips to the funeral home, making arrangements with the music director for the service, and planning/hosting the post-funeral gathering for guests, er, mourners. I was a newly syndicated cartoonist of a daily comic strip, and it didn’t occur to me to ask my syndicate to run a few early panels during this dreadful week (although I found out later they would have). Your advice is good; the most successful freelancers are the most professional, and vice versa.
Kathy, great advice even for the non-writer. I’m unemployed & found the advice grounded yet somehow inspirational too. Thanks, I needed that.
Oh, yes – certainly be a pro, and expect to be treated like one. My business partner is a night owl – but I am am morning person, and it helps no end that one of us is available for at least 3/4ths of the working day or night.
And about being paid in a timely fashion? My best-evah! freelance job came out of nowhere, from a publisher who discovered through the blog that I contributed to – that I knew quite a lot about a certain field and that, yes, I could write in a pleasing and easily-comprehended voice. Signed onto a contract that specified deadlines, requirements, and amounts to be paid – and the checks appeared on the dot. And the editor I worked with was a sweetie, as well. No repeat jobs from them as of yet, but that one job pretty well met my needs for income for about 6 months.
The worst freelance job – that would have to be a local glossy mag, who accepted a pitch, said they would pay extra for photographs to go with (which I took, as I am a pretty fair photog), promised they would pay when the article printed, somehow lost track of my invoice … oh, it got ugly. Beware of publications who appear to think they are doing you a favor by giving you a byline … and prompt payment for work done and delivered is just this silly little bagatelle. No, I never got anything extra for the photos (which did come out quite well) and I had to practically throw a tantrum in their office to get the damn check. No, by mutual unspoken agreement, I’ve never worked for them again. (Although I do see that they have a new managing editor since then. Gee – wonder why? Maybe burned through all the obliging and hopeful freelance talent in town?)
I got to point five before I realized I was reading the comment guidelines for PJ Media, and not your very informative tips for becoming a freelancer. I am a blockhead. Hope this gives others a chuckle, as it did me!
Thanks for that, Mike. We can always use a good chuckle.
But remember, we’re not laughing with you, we’re laughing at you!
Great article.
I’ve never tried switching fonts, but I consciously think of myself as switching brains. Brain One does the writing. Brain Two does the editing and proofing. I try to be entirely in one mode or the other. Another editing trick I’ve used is to read my draft out loud (or even have the computer read the text to me).
Most of this is good advice in general. I push my students to be crazy about being on time personally and with work product. A few months ago I got an email from a former student of some years ago. He reminded me I had docked a paper of his 1/3 of a letter grade [basically a single point on a 25 point paper] *in front of the class* for being less than one minute late. He said he hated me for it, but never forgot it. Now it’s his rule in his HS classes. You simply must get the habit of being on time. It will get you things that nothing else will.
My practice is that papers due in class or my email have a deadline. Miss that by a single second and it’s 1/3 letter grade off the work. Each day at the same time it’s another 1/3 letter grade off. They end up setting their own grade. And some of them learn about being on time.
I am an engineer, but have done more than my share of technical writing. I think my predisposition for it is somehow related to how I have a brain freeze whenever I see a PowerPoint chart with a typo. Your trick of changing font & color is GENIUS. For decades I have told younger engineers that “you can’t read the same thing twice, because the second time your brain sees what it read before, not what the eyes are telling it.” Thank you for that, and the excellent article.
I’ve been a freelance IT consultant for 15 years. This article is just good, solid advice that applies to my line of work as well. I would elaborate on the “talent isn’t everthing” advice, to say that it’s also good to actively cultivate a good rapport and friendship with your clients. Instead of phone meetings, try to meet them in person once in a while for some face time. They will hire the person who is their friend over the person who is best suited for the job. I’ve hired the same sub-par housepainter many times just because he’s a really affable guy who sends me a Christmas card and knows my kids’ names. I think this is what pro salesmen do, and it must work for everyone: writers, realtors, lawyers, etc.
Wrote for “Seventeen”, eh?
I guess that explains your tastes in music.
Just kidding. I’m happy for your successes.
I have used a variant of the font-switch when reading printed copy: I turn the page upside down to read it. Also, while it can be a trap to obsess too much over business card & web page design, it, conversely, can be trap to not think enough about how to do your taxes. At least wirters don’t need much equipment, but for an engineering consultant building his own lab, the proper accounting is much easier when everything is kept organized from the outset.
Good points, all. I’d add two more: 1) For freelancers who are juggling work and parental responsibilities, you never have to leave an appointment to pick up a child (or whatever); you “have another commitment” and 2) get it in writing. I once did a piece for a magazine on a verbal agreement with the editor and turned it in on time, only to learn that the editor had left and his replacement was taking a different direction. The piece was never published and I was never paid … lesson learned!
Kathy:
I laughed out loud reading your comment about “working with a genuinely nice person like you” In addition, and as a lawyer who has to write very precisely, I thought your technique for proofing a piece was very helpful. A second alternative is to hire an articled student but that is definitely more costly.
I read your 5Ft of Fury Blog on a daily basis. Why do you have more cojones than most of the Ontario so-called “Conservatives” ? Could you send them some?
Best of luck.
Kathy:
I laughed out loud reading your comment about “working with a genuinely nice person like you” In addition, as a lawyer who has to write very precisely, I thought your technique for proofing a piece was very helpful. A second alternative is to hire an articling student but that is definitely more costly.
I read your 5Ft of Fury Blog on a daily basis. Why do you have more cojones than most of the Ontario so-called “Conservatives” ? Could you send them some?
Best of luck.
I’m a successful freelancer too. I write for online magazines, and translate and edit other people’s works. I’ve been doing it for 14 years, with a steady, not great but pretty good income, and never find myself without work. It’s a pretty nice life, I wouldn’t trade it for anything but, possibly, a very attractive salaried job.
Great article, Kathy,
And thank you for the plug for my book, The Well-Fed Writer; a friend who frequents this site steered me to it.
You’re dead-on on so much here. Yes, it pays to be likeable and easy to get along with. And as you point out, even if you’re not cut out (for whatever reason) to “play well with others,” you can certainly be personable and easygoing for the short periods it takes to get through a project with a client.
Heck, just knowing you DON’T have to live the 9-5 life they all do should make you positively joyful to be around.
You’re correct that talent isn’t everything. Plenty of decent (but not amazing) writers get a lot of traction because, as you point out in your example, they’re so low-maintenance. And when companies are on tight timeframes, that’s a golden quality.
It also points to another reality: in the commercial writing field, while you definitely need solid writing skills, the work involved generally doesn’t require extraordinary levels of talent. Many arenas/industries simply look for good, clear, concise communication.
And ditto so much else you said here: Better-paying clients are almost always easier to work with than the low-ballers. One of my coaching clients who’s building her business right now said it perfectly in a note she wrote me the other day: “I’m also beginning to see how differently potential clients with money vs. those with little behave. They’re like different species.” SO true.
Anyway, thanks for a great piece. The whole time I was reading, I looked like one of those bobble-head dolls…;)
PB
About the font/color switch scheme – I first ran into the concept as a young engineer, in the days when drawings were all on vellum and duplicated via blueprint machines: my first employer had us do check prints on pink paper! Ever since I’ve noted, and preached to others: if you want to check something, make a major change in its presentation – size, medium, color, whatever. Glad to see so many of your commenters have discovered the principle.
Good piece, thanks. It is important however to keep in mind that many freelance (or consulting or contracting) jobs do require someone “plays well with others”. In my experience, I am often called upon to be part of a team in which fitting in and playing the part are critical skills. As for your advice on rates: there is huge pressure on rates right now with many superbly qualified people giving themselves away for not much. I seeing roles that went for €1400 per day a couple years ago, dumbed down to €600 a day. Freelancers need to stay strong in the face of these pressures and show that experience and results matter.
Good advice in the main, and I say that speaking as someone whose primary work function has always been writing, whatever the job title and whether it’s on-staff or freelance..but what’s with the author’s claim that “Nobody else will tell you” “Don’t be ‘the one with all the problems.’”
Errrrr…? Isn’t that one of the first things we all learn on our first Real Job? Doesn’t that go right along with “If you want to play with the big boys, play LIKE the big boys” by leaving all that weepy-whiny personal stuff at home? Am I the only female here eternally grateful for that very heads-up via an early female mentor in a heavily male-dominated business?
Furthermore, “Don’t be ‘the one with all the problems’” is not only a good rule for business, it’s a good rule for LIFE. Everybody hates a whiner. Sooner or later most adults wake up and realize that however coddled their upbringing might have been, an overwhelming majority of their “problems” are only “problems” because they feel entitled to treat them as such! Barring true tragedy — e.g., death of a family member, life-threatening injury or disease — American adults ROUTINELY enjoy the most OBJECTIVELY problem-free lifestyle on the planet! Even our “poor” are rich by global comparison!
Eh. That’s pretty far afield from How To Survive/Succeed Writing Freelance, but I beg your forgiveness; this issue makes me a little bit crazy whenever I “hear” it discussed.
I’ve been freelance writing for about five years and Kathy’s advice and observations ring true. Thanks!
A really good article, Kethy. Since I have designs for the biz – thank you very much again. Thorough and fun.
I subscribe to a couple of newsletters for freelance writers and this is the best advice I have ever seen on freelance writing. I would have paid for this good advice.. I wish I had read this back when I used to paint portraits many years ago. I had the exact same experience with the clients to whom I charged a low rate. They were difficult, time consuming, and unappreciative.
And by the way, I am so glad someone else hates the bridal shower , bizarre girly culture in the office! It drives me nuts. It reminds me of the culture in a girl’s dorm.
But I digress . This is a wonderful article. Thank you for posting it.