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| When you want to write for money you should also write for yourself. Better writers do that. |
It all began when I was a kid reading books in the school library. I was so fascinated by the stories I wanted to write my own. One day when I got home from school I took out some writing paper and began telling my own stories. My mom saved a few and showed them to me years later. I was an awful writer as a kid.
When I reached high school I took as many writing classes as I could. They were fun for me and I wrote for the school paper. It was good practice. And I shouldn't say this but I wrote some homework assignments for a few friends. I wasn't the stereotypical "goto" kid all the jocks hit on for homework. I did favors for real friends when they fell behind.
College proved to be more of the same but better. One year I was writing essays for every class. I loved it when the professors offered extra credit for writing projects. I signed up for a couple of advanced writing classes in my senior year. And I wrote for the school paper.
You would think my career was destined for writing. I toyed with the idea of becoming a journalism major but my friends talked me out of that idea. I guess they did me a favor because a lot of journalists have lost their careers. So I did the next best thing. I started a blog.
That blog is long gone but it helped me improve my writing. Practice is everything when it comes to writing. If you want to be a better writer then write more.
When I began my freelance copywriting career I had no expectations. It was just supposed to be weekend money. A lot of those early assignments were awful. What people think passes for good topic ideas blows my mind. I guess they were doing it for SEO. Does that really work?
After a few months I was writing fewer freelance articles but I still needed some cash. So I checked into the TextBroker account one summer day and saw a listing for an interesting article. It was longer than the usual assignment. When I turned that in the vendor asked for another piece. And the next week he asked for more. After about two months he started paying me higher per-word rates.
What pays good in freelance writing? Anything that is well-written. Once you have a reputation for writing people pay more. I started 3 blogs and just wrote about random stuff for a couple of years. If someone asked me to write about puppies I wrote two articles: one for them and one for me. My articles were more interesting because I didn't have to fulfill someone else's requirements.
Blogging for myself was the best writing decision I ever made. I used to think I would never come up with enough ideas for blog topics. Hah! If you look at this blog's history you'll think the same thing. But this isn't my own blog. I just drop some ideas here about making money. I've written about games, horses, skating, building houses, repairing cars, and a lot of other topics.
Being a freelance writer is hard work. If you want to get paid better you have to work hard. It shows in your writing. If everything you hand in looks cheap and boring you'll be paid cheap and boring rates. Some people want that kind of copy. Some people want better copy.
What keeps me going besides the money I make is the ego boost. Sometimes I look at articles I have written for popular sites and think, "I did that. Those are my words. And people are reading them." I could almost do it again for free just for that feeling.
