I have received several emails and comments regarding my recent post, Three Quick Tips for Aspiring Online Content Writers. Many people seem to agree with every point that I touched on, whereas others are picking on this sentence: “In fact, with my first online content job I was paid $1 per 500 words; that is just about as bad as it gets. Over time this changed, but starting at the bottom is part of the process.â€
I wanted to clarify my stance on that point. First off, I can understand why some people would not want to work for low rates. When I started out, it was quite disappointing that my first job paid so low. But with that being said, I still believe that there is nothing wrong with this if you are simply trying to gain some experience. Even though that job was one of the worst I ever had, it also taught me the most about the freelance writing industry. And that is something that I would not trade in for anything else.
The experience of working for low pay and learning how to move up the ladder was essential to my current success. Does this mean that you should work for pennies if you do not have to? Absolutely not. But the bottom line is that some aspiring writers give up prematurely on their career because they think that it is wrong to work for lower rates. If I would have followed that advice, I would have never boosted my freelance writing income to such a high level.
Those who are against writing for low rates have an excellent point; it is simply one that I do not agree with. I am positive that every beginning freelance writer would love to write for local newspapers and publications. But the post that I made was geared more towards those who want to get involved with online writing.
My advice is quite simple: start your freelance writing career getting paid as much as you can, but make sure that you start. The biggest mistake that you could make would be to hold out month after month hoping for higher rates. By getting involved with the freelance writing industry, no matter the pay, you will find that moving forward is much easier.Â
Every month, my freelance writing income post is the most popular. Just like many bloggers, I think that readers like to learn about how much money can be made through hard work, determination, and of course, some luck.
Last month, my freelance writing income totaled more than $7,000. I received a lot of emails asking if that was my highest output ever, and although it was high, it was not the best of the best. With that being said, $7k in one month is solid for me.
In November, things died down a bit. Once again, the main reason for this was the fact that I put a few extra hours into developing other business ideas as opposed to working solely on freelance writing projects.
Here are my freelance writing income stats for November 2007.
Number of Completed Projects: 14
Payment by PayPal: 11
Payment by Check: 2
Payment by Bank Wire: 1
Total Income: $5,083.62
Since December is the last month of the year, I hope to at least reach $5k as to close out 2007 out on a high note. If everything goes as expected this month, it is safe to say that I will be happy with the year that I had. From there, setting goals for 2008 will be priority number one; there will be more to come on this as the end of the year closes in.
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I have always found it easy to research new projects, markets, and much more on the weekend, especially Sunday. During the week I am so caught up with my day to day work that it can be difficult to make time for research. But when Sunday comes around, I can sit in front of my computer for hours on end without having to worry about actually working on projects.
What type of freelance writing research can you do on any given Sunday?
1. Search for new publications that align with your interests. Even if you have a lot of work to do, it is always a good idea to have other jobs in mind. Using a tool like Writer’s Market will definitely help in this area.
2. Read forums that line up with your freelance writing career. There are many forums devoted to writing alone, as well as some that touch on internet marketing, business in general, and much more.
3. Put together a plan for a new blog, website, or business that you are hoping to get up and running.
If you have nothing else to do today, why not consider some research for your freelance writing career?
