Recently, I wrote about how times have changed for freelance writers. It’s not my place to say everyone has to embrace or even accept these changes. However, I feel I’m being realistic when I say things have changed drastically for writers in the past 20 years. We can waste a lot of time and energy fighting change, or we can figure out the ways to make it work to our benefit.
One thing that hasn’t changed in the past 20 years is how there are still poor, decent, good and really great opportunities. Holding out for one type of opportunity may mean you’re waiting around a long time in between gigs. Picking and choosing a variety of types of projects can end the famine.
I attribute some of my success to keeping an open mind and not holding out for one type of gig. Now, I’m not going to ever tell you that my way is the only way. My way works for me, it would be silly and condescending to suggest anyone who doesn’t do things my way is clueless or a moron. However, I can share some of what I learned over the years, and you, the reader with an open mind, can use what works best for you.
Here are my tips for approaching freelance writing with an open mind.
1. Sometimes lower paying work has many benefits:
I don’t believe in working for pennies or quarters. However there are many jobs that provide a livable (above minimum) wage, even though they’re below the rates many freelance writers are willing to accept. Before writing off a job as too low, look at the perks. For instance, do they offer regular bonuses for jobs well done? Do they offer tools for success? When I worked for b5Media, Darren Rowse regularly added to an online training manual of sorts. To me, this was a benefit of a lower paying network because I was learning about blogging from one of the best in the business.
There are other perks to consider as well. Working at home is a big plus. Flexibility with time is another. Other considerations include not having to pay for childcare, restaurant lunches, commuting fees or regular restaurant lunches. Not having to pay for all these items may make it easier to accept a gig paying a little less.
2. Having a base pay rate doesn’t mean you can’t make adjustments now and then
I believe in having a base pay rate. This is what I quote to clients who are inquiring about my fees. I find that by having a base rate, I don’t bid too high or too low. I stay within my comfort zone. However, there are times when I’m willing to work with a client and lower my rates a little depending on the amount of work, the client’s name or reputation and how badly I want the gig. This isn’t to say I would go from, say, $50 an hour to $5 an hour, but keeping an open mind about pay enables me to work with more clients.
3. Variety is the spice of life
Though my preference is for web writing, I’m not married to it. I enjoy a variety of projects. In this economy, purists might want to branch out of their genres and try something different. Web writers might try querying an editor now and then. Journalists may want to supplement their income with web content projects. The point is, there are plenty of options nowadays. Why put all the eggs in one basket?
4. Accept change
I’m old-fashioned about many different things, but not work. I know that I can’t do the same thing forever. I also know that times have changed. I don’t have to like every new type of opportunity that comes along, but I’m not necessarily going to fight them all either. It’s not 1982 anymore. We don’t have to embrace opportunities we don’t agree with, but we should accept the fact that times have changed. There are different types of writers, different types of budgets, and different types of opportunities. Approach the new way with an open mind rather than mourn the way things used to be.
Freelance writing in 2009 requires an open mind. Those who remember this will do well. Those who end up clinging to ghosts of media’s past may find themselves without work. In today’s economy that’s not the best option. Approach freelance writing with an open mind. Find the pay and opportunity formulas working best for you. Above all, try not to dismiss something you know nothing about, it might be the way of the future.
I’d love to learn your thoughts, so please speak up in the comments.
I think you are absolutely right, especially regarding people who may come from a print journalism background. I wanted nothing to do with the Web when I first started writing, and now I fully embrace it and all its possibilities. Always keep your eyes open and look into things outside your normal scope–you may be surprised at what you find.
thanks Deb for great advice as always
I was a print writer before Al Gore invented the Internet
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I still write for a number of print pubs, but don’t know how anyone could survive on that alone any more.
A thought on base pay: If you offer a discount to get the work, show the discount as a line item on the invoice. Good reminder to client and you that your base rate is indeed higher.
Thanks for the advice Deb. I have to expand my horizons. Once inawhile I get fearful because I don’t have the skill set for one particular area of writing. I just have to acquire the skills. The way the economy is it seems it pays to be a generalist (imo).
I think it’s important, though, to be strategic about lower-paying choices. Is this an opportunity to establish myself in an area of real interest? Is this job likely to lead to bigger things?
I recommend against taking low-paying, on-time opportunities with steep learning curves. You can easily invest many hours with nothing but $20 to show for it.
Good investments might include:
Low-pay blogging on a topic that you love (and establishing a body of published work on the topic)
Low-pay or even no-pay work for an organization for which you are dying to work on a regular basis
Low-pay work for an organization that clearly uses freelancers on a regular basis and is “trying you out” to see if you’re a good organizational fit.
Rotten investments:
writing someone’s college admissions essay for $20
ghost writing someone’s article for peanuts (for real bucks, of course, it might be worth it!)
writing a single press release for a dirt-poor startup in another state that is doing a type of business in which you’re not interested.
Lisa
This post is right on the money! I graduated from highschool in 1998 and everything I learned is obsolete! But I don’t see writers fighting the change as much as I do editors and agents. Some magazines and newspapers still want you to snail mail or fax your queries and that’s always a pain.
The only thing I fight are the business decisions. In the end, it’s all about business and we writers don’t like the b word. It seems to make us less writers and more corporate. Sure, we’re all in this to make a living and in order to do that we much change with the times. After all, who’s gonna keep buying the same ol’ same ol’? Soon enough, the internet will become passe and we’ll have to move on yet again. It’s life!
I still work full-time in the newspaper industry. Our staff has been cut in half since I started working there 15 years ago. Needless to say, I am ready to move on to full-time work elsewhere. For almost two years I have been doing freelance writing for the web part-time and loving it. I have tried to get some of my other newspaper friends interested in writing for the web for the future, but most of them don’t want change or want to learn how to look and apply for these jobs. Their loss.
Though I’ve now been out of newspapers longer than I was in them (13 years in dailies), it’s a shame what is happening to the industry. They thought this would hapopen with radio and TV, but the Internet seems to be the real culprit…and the shrinking size of staffs means that those who are left are pushed to their limits on a daily basis, without the time for longer, in-depth articles that had always set newspapers apart.