– Wendy – I agree completely about those kinds of ads. It's similar to content mills that recruit a lot of writers with promises of easy money, flexibility, etc. I can't even count how many times I've heard writers say they take on those projects because it lets them "focus on their art." BS. It lets them avoid the business side of being a freelance writer. And easy isn't better in this case. There are countless ways they can focus on their art without allowing themselves to become low paid virtual sweat shop workers out there to make other people money. I can't imagine how anyone can say it with a straight face when they frequently also admit it comes down to speed — you can't focus on art when you have to focus on cramming pages full of content and keywords every 15-20 minutes. Yet this is one of the groups I see most frequently use the "art" excuse for what they do. They were actually the folks that inspired this mini-rant via email with Lori recently and then inspired this post.

– Jake – It's interesting to hear that schools are exposing students to freelancing at all. We didn't have anything like that when I attended high school (nor now, with a sister who only graduated in '09). I wonder if that's been the norm for a while there, or if schools are catching up to what feels like an increased entrepreneurial spirit out there these days (with it relatively simple to start a business on the Web as opposed to students 10-15 years ago when opportunities like that were still much newer). If you learn more about it and what they're teaching, I hope you'll update us. 🙂

– Eileen – There's certainly no reason to pursue any kind of writing that you don't want to do. So good for you for carving out your niche and being happy there. 🙂 At the same time, as a copywriter you're probably already a story-teller to some degree. Story-telling is one of the keys to being a successful copywriter. So if you ever did decide to branch into fiction on your own behalf rather than solely writing for business clients, I'm sure you could make a decent go of it. 🙂

– Kristen – You are absolutely right. Writing books vs freelancing; publishers as clients vs investors. Those are topics deserving of their own discussions at another time. There is far too much work to be done to get caught up in squabbles over semantics. Today that involves both copywriting and work on a novel in my case. I hope you're having a productive one, no matter what kind of project you're working on right now. 🙂

– Lori – You are quite welcome. And again, thanks for having me. 🙂

Rustic fantasy? That sounds cool, Eileen. 🙂

(Hey, hands off my turkey sammich!)

And Eileen, you're *not* alone. I haven't said "never," but it's way down on the list. I believe Norman Maclean was in his 70s when he published A River Runs Through It, so I'm thinking that's a reasonable expectation.

Devon, I hear you. I want to ask – is it possible that business writers and novel writers share similar habits? Personally, I don't see a large distinction as I enjoy both nonfiction and fiction writing. I too take my articles and writings with me after 5, as I do my poetry and my book manuscripts. I think we're more alike than it appears. 🙂

Jenn, you're welcome! And thank you for bringing this important discussion to the blog.

Sam, I tend to think what I do IS art – it's art to whomever finds value in it. Same goes for your health articles. In my opinion, it's art to be able to persuade or validate any point through words.

What I wouldn't do is call my journaling freelancing. That's different. But wow. This discussion has my head busy!

Wendy, I don't know. I'm passionate about my work, even if it is writing about risk management and insurance (be still, my heart!). 🙂

Jake, are you really a sellout? You're doing what you love, you're paid well for it, just like a novelist, and you are an artist – just not starving yet.

Maybe I should steal your lunch more often. 😉

Eileen, you have found your calling and your niche. I think that's fantastic. We love you with or without a novel in the works. 🙂

Kristen, good point. Business acumen is important. But I think the writing skill is the payoff. We can get our feet in the door, but to keep it open we have to deliver. I think it takes a marriage of both to be successful. But without the business savvy, we're kind of dead in the water.

And it really doesn't matter how define freelance–if you spend your day debating it, that's time you could spend on your business.

Great post–business acumen is more important than writing skill if you ask me!

Just yesterday, I ran into a high school senior on the rowing team I used to coach. (I'm on a one-year, self-imposed sabbatical.) We've talked often about writing, and I'm guessing she's a very good student. One of her classes even did a recent module on freelancing.

So, she asked me how business was, and I gave her the Reader's Digest: '08 and '09 were the slowest since
'00, '10 was a bit better, and that those results were reflective of the economy at large as much as anything.

Her response was interesting, to the effect that "Oh, yes, the arts always get cut during economic down times."

To which I responded, "Well, Becky, the reality is I'm more of a commercial sellout than that. Most of what I do isn't artistic as much as providing ideas and content for businesses. When businesses do well, I do well. When the economy stinks, I suffer."

I only had a few minutes to talk with her, but I will see her at a race this weekend. I'm curious to know exactly what they learned about freelancing. I suspect it was mostly about the fun, creative aspect, not the business realities — which, to me, demand their own kind of creativity and result in a different type of exhilaration.

And for the record, if I had to support myself purely based on my artistic skills, I would have starved to death circa 1999.

I think we define "freelance" differently.

Novelists are absolutely freelancers. They don't have steady jobs — they work contract to contract. They can be fired at any time, just like any other freelancer. They move from publisher to publisher. They may have more artistic control earlier in the process– sometimes –but whether or not they keep getting contracts depends — as you clearly state in your piece about business– whether they convey the value to the target market.

The dictionary definition of "freelance" is "someone who works for different companies at different times rather than being employed by one company."

Janet Evanvoich may not be a freelancer anymore, because she's been with the same publisher for X amount of years, she knows the market, and gives her audience value for money; but most novelists, playwrights, even film and television writers go from contract to contract and company to company throughout their careers. They are freelancers.

And many, many novelists I know — even some who have fairly regular publishing contracts with the same house — have taken on "work for hire" and book packaging deals.

In this reality, very few novelists can sit at home working on one project for one publisher– they are working on multiple projects for multiple companies.

They are successful, in my opinion, because they integrate rather than detach the two sides of the equation.

I love writing, but when it comes to my freelance business, I consider it simply what I do. Unfortunately, I didn't always think that way, but I have learned and now I can separate the passion for writing and the business part of writing. I won't take on anything just for the sake of getting to write.

My passion resides in creating comics, which is only something I'm dabbling in at the moment. It's value is priceless to me. If I decide to offer it as a service, then the business side will take over.