Why A Change In Perception Can Make Freelance Writing Progression All That Easier

By Dan Smith

Before I started writing, I used to dabble in web design and SEO. I would spend hours — and I honestly mean hours — every night going through forums such as those over at Digital Point, learning from others about CSS and the importance of back links, whilst downloading every free relevant resource I could find online.

It’s because of forums like Digital Point that I got into freelance writing, as what started as a one off visit to the writing sub-forum turned into something I’d do several times a day, every day.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking to someone who I used to do some work for that I met from those types of forums and it sparked an interest in me to go back and look at the forums to, well, just see what was going on — it had been at least two years since I’d even visited, so I was interested to see how things stood.

I only spent a few minutes reading through some threads, but it was all that was needed to make me realise several aspects, some of which really made me stop and think.

The first point is that I can’t believe how much of a difference there is in the perception of the freelance writing industry between the majority of people who hit those forums regularly and the people who you see writing and commenting on freelance writing blogs like this one.

On the forums, people aspire to getting paid $10 an article. That isn’t me reading a few threads and coming to that conclusion or being insulting, either — I used to be one of those people and when I got a gig that paid $10 a piece, I was absolutely ecstatic.

As a result of this realisation, I understood — probably truly for the first time — just how far I’ve come as a writer over the past few years and the last 18 months in particular.

I made a concerted effort just over a few ago to succeed at freelance writing and that involved stopping lurking around forums. They’re a great source of knowledge in some ways and for some topics, but I realised that I was going to struggle to make a full time income from writing if I was to continue aspiring to get $10 for 500 words.

Something else I found interesting is that some people are actually quite content earning this for their work.

The person I was speaking to who I mentioned earlier, for example, asked me whether I’d like to do some more writing for them (they used to run a small group of writers and we’d just work through the work as and when it came in).

When I explained that I’d find it difficult to work for the same rates that I used to and we discussed what rates would be suitable, they seemed a little taken aback that this was possible and to a certain extent, I think they thought I was lying.

We had a chat and I just told them the truth — they’re a great writer, have an in-depth knowledge of quite a specialist topic and that I could maybe help them move out of the lower paying band that they’re in.

I wasn’t trying to be condescending in anyway and just wanted to explain that I could save them the months it took me to move away from the forums by giving them a bit of a helping hand.

Their response?

To my amazement, they said that they were quite happy as they were, writing articles for $1o — or sometimes $15 — a piece.

And I wasn’t amazed in the way that they didn’t want my help — although I accepted every piece of advice possible when I was first writing — but that they were actually content at writing at that level, even though I was offering them a way to increase their income without having to do much more work at all.

This post isn’t meant to be insulting to any writer who’s charging $10 for their work and if it comes over that way, I really do apologise and guarantee that it’s not meant that way — if you’re managing to get some type of financial return for your writing, then you’re doing something right.

The point I’m trying to get across is that if someone is willing to pay you $10 for your work, there’s an extremely high chance that there’ll be someone out there who’ll be willing to pay three or four times that at least.

Sure, your work might require a few edits and a little more in-depth information on occasion, but there really is no reason why charging what could equate to $0.02 per word could be a thing of the past.

I owe a lot to the types of forums discussed and I still direct people who want to become writers to them, as well as to the popular freelance writing blogs, as there’s some good, foundation-type knowledge and experience that you can gain from reading through some of the popular threads.

However, what every freelance writer has to understand is that if you want to progress your career, you really have to change your perception of the industry if you believe that you should be aspiring to $10 or $15 for your work — I guarantee that if you’re currently getting paid this, with just a little research into different markets, you’ll be able to increase your freelance writing income substantially.

And if you’re looking for proof that it’s possible, I’m right here.

Image: James Jordan (Flickr)