Time to face an important truth: in order to continue doing what you love, you need to earn money from freelance writing. When I first started out in this field, I was hoping that I would be writing a lot of articles on political events, humorous stories about my kids, opinion pieces, the really fun and interesting stuff. At this point in my career, I have realized that having opportunities to write about these things are few and far between. In order to earn money from freelance writing, I have to (often!) write on topics that don’t exactly stimulate my brain or bring joy to my heart.
Don’t give up your dream - and don’t work for slave wages
There are a couple of things that freelance writers, especially those in the beginning stages of their careers, are prone to. The first is to hang on to their pretension, believing that their art is far more important than making a living. What they don’t realize is that they can retain the parts of writing that they love without writing off, so to speak, the mundane tasks that put food on the table for the kids. You don’t have to give up your dream, you just have to realize that if you ever are going to “make it” in the way that you want, you are going to have to pay your dues.
The second mistake that freelance writers make is to devalue their services, to the point where they are basically working for slave wages. This is a chronic problem for writers both online and off, but I think that it is really exacerbated when someone starts a career by writing online. The amount of competition can make it very difficult to compete, and the temptation to earn money from freelance writing by being the lowest bid on the board can be hard to overcome.
How I started out
Before I go much further, I would like to say that in the beginning stages of my career, I took the lowball approach. I did this for a couple of reasons.
- I knew I could still make a decent wage, comparatively speaking. I type fast, I process fast, and three 400 word, $5 pieces an hour meant $15 an hour, not a bad wage particularly from home.
- I wanted to bulk up my feedback. In order to get the higher paying jobs, I needed to get some street cred, and in order to do that I needed some feedback. At the same time I could earn money from freelance writing.
I am not ashamed of taking this approach because it worked very well, but sometimes I wonder if I might have been able to bid at the prices I do now even though I was just starting out. If any of you are gutsy enough to try it, let me know because I would love to write about that.
Higher prices lead to more work
Even with this lowball approach, though, I found that I was able to raise my prices without too much time passing by. It was at that point that I made the conscious decision to make my proposals and bids based on quality, rather than the knowledge that if pressed I could pump out three to six articles in an hour. To my surprise and relief, business didn’t fall off at all; in fact, it increased! Not only was I making more money per article, but I was landing more jobs than I had previously.
The best example I can equate this to is in the world of real estate. Years ago, the parents of my best friend were trying to sell their house within a certain price bracket, and getting very few visits. Their natural reaction was to lower the asking price, but a friend suggested raising it instead. They took the advice somewhat skeptically, and put their house in the next price bracket up. To their surprise, the house had serious offers within a week and had sold within two. The buyers had been out there all the time, but obviously there was the perception that a low price meant low quality.
I get the impression from a few of the clients that I have talked to that it is much the same way in the world of freelance writing. Some pass over cheap bids because of the belief that a low price is hiding poor quality.
That’s good news for anyone who wants to earn money from freelance writing, because it means that if you deliver a quality product, people are willing to compensate you well for it.
Higher prices bring better clients
In addition, I have found that the clients who are willing to pay more for better quality work also tend to send more work my way. A year or so ago, I decided to try raising my prices yet again, just to see if I could make $20 for an article.
I was delighted when selected. And even more so when he sent me 10 more articles to do.
Since that time, I handle ten articles each week for that buyer; he is not interested in looking for someone who offers a lower price, he wants to stay with the writer who charges fairly and offers quality work in return.
If you want to earn money from freelance writing, you can’t be timid when it comes to charging what you are worth. The mentality of buyers and your own work will both support your decision to charge fairly, and you will probably find that your yearly earnings are equal to that of the average magazine and newspaper freelance writer in no time.
