Today is the day after my favorite day: St. Patrick’s Day (and the anniversary of this ol’ blog). If I’m here, I’m probably sporting a rather-not-do attitude. So this post is scheduled in advance.
Last week when I was looking through LI forums and Twitter, I noticed a lot of the same old, same old. While there are many refrains we writers have heard over the years, here are the “Greatest” Hits:
- There is nothing out there!
- The good-paying jobs don’t exist.
- I need work! Hire me! (saw it twice on Twitter and yes, it sounded that desperate)
- How do I start?
- Make 100K in your underwear!
- We need writers!
Each one of these statements — well, they piss me off, to be perfectly honest.
They’re either the “I give up” or the “Promise the moon” mindset.
Both are factually incorrect. But more to the point, did I mention they piss me off a bit? I guess it’s because every one of those statements echoes something that just grates on me:
Laziness. [bctt tweet=” Lazy writers make excuses. Successful ones make opportunities. #freelancewriting ” username=”LoriWidmer”]
That laziness has allowed a lot of misconception and untruths about freelance writing to fester. So let’s talk about what freelance writing isn’t:
It isn’t lying on a beach getting some sun.
Seriously, even with a good sun shield, you’re not going to see that laptop screen. Besides, I’m betting sand mucks up a hard drive quicker than a rainstorm.
What bugs me most about this image is that we writers are leisurely going about our day, just lounging around enjoying life as the money pours in. Please. Yes, you can work from anywhere, including the beach, but know this — you’ll work. (And if you’re not wearing sunscreen, you’ll burn because your concentration is going to be on the work.) You still have to put in the time and effort. (The perk is you can hit the beach after you’ve checked off all the items on the to-do list because hey, you’re freelance. You don’t have to hang around for eight hours waiting for your shift to finish.)
It isn’t all substandard jobs.
No, my friend, that’s all you right there. Not you being substandard, but you choosing to look for work via the bottom-feeding method. Job boards in general are not your friends. Good work can show up there on occasion, but it’s mostly a race run against thousands of other writers for pay that isn’t worth your getting out of bed for. If you don’t like the view from where you sit, change the landscape. Move on to building a network and growing a business the slightly harder (but much less soul-sucking) way.
It isn’t making six figures by charging five bucks an article.
There is no conceivable way to sell me on the notion that you, Fivrr contractor, are making six figures annually by charging five bucks per job. No. Way. You would have to write 20,000 articles a year. Or 1,667 articles a month. Unless you’re a freelance writer who enjoys sleeping 8 hours a month while being used by someone making a ton more off that same article, don’t. You are worth more. You’re certainly worth at least minimum wage, which that isn’t.
It isn’t sitting back and waiting for someone else to do it for you.
Ask Devon Ellington. Ask me. Ask any writer who has had another writer seek advice, only to spend years asking the same question (or worse, arguing with you on what’s wrong with your advice). When you start your freelance writing career, there will be no boss pushing you to get anything done. There will be no assignments coming in (Hello! No one knows you’re there yet!) There are no set hours to force you into a disciplined approach. There are no guiderails unless you put them in place.
This is where writers either thrive or fail — on movement forward. No one will push you. YOU have to push you. If you don’t, it may be best to find another way to earn a living.
It isn’t making up the rules as you go.
It isn’t deciding today is a good day to follow some ethically challenging behavior because you might earn a buck. It’s not about deciding that hard-and-fast rules of business or ethical behavior in general are just guidelines. Particularly when it comes to journalistic ethics, just because you didn’t get a Journalism degree doesn’t mean they don’t apply to your work. Well, maybe not so much with marketing as your job there is to spin things in a positive light for your clients, but you should still follow as closely as you can the ethical standards journalists follow. It covers both you and your client.
That means you don’t accept a job from a client who asks you to rewrite someone else’s work (I can’t believe we even have to have this conversation). Rewrites, mashups (combining several articles into a “new” one), deeply revised versions, or flat-out verbatim writing is plagiarism. If it wasn’t your words to start with, it still isn’t yours. That’s theft. And anyone who practices or promotes this type of behavior shouldn’t be writing anything other than menus.
To you, what doesn’t belong under the definition of freelance writing?
Why do you think so many freelance writers cling to these ideas? (May be a rhetorical question, but feel free to answer)
10 responses to “What Freelance Writing Isn’t”
Where I live right now, people don’t like to pay writers.
So the bulk of my clients are far away. Because I’m not working for them for free, even though they try to bully me daily about how “exposure” will help. No. It just reinforces that they don’t have to pay for quality, and what they’re getting for free — let’s just say there are companies I don’t do business with because their marketing materials are so bad I don’t trust they’d have quality in anything else.
Most of this bad advice I notice either comes from hobbyists or those whose partners foot the bills or who make their living at what they consider a “real job” and dream of a writing life that doesn’t exist. Or from wanna-be writers in other jobs who never actually get around to write more than an article every couple of months and are thrilled if it gets them five bucks and a by-line. If they had to turn out content every day, most of them wouldn’t last a week.
But most of the people who earn a living off this bad advice are those that are creating the advice and selling it to those in the categories above.
They write advice about freelancing, but those are their only actual credits. You don’t find their bylines in a variety of situations. Only on advice articles.
That’s what pisses me off.
Agreed on all counts, Devon. And I’ll add this: the people who use these excuses don’t take this job seriously. They should be viewing this from a different lens — they should consider this their only source of income, even if it isn’t. Writers should be working at this as though their entire livelihood depends on it. It may someday. Or it does right now.
If you want to succeed — really succeed — you have to view this as your only option. And you have to want to build the best career, business, life you can. We all have it in us. Those who try harder and are open to change are the ones who make it. It’s not rocket science.
Lori, I apologize. This isn’t a response to the question you posed at the end of your post, so it’s not really part of the discussion. Instead, it’s a random comment. Now that the mea culpa is out of the way:
I’ve been reading your posts for at least a year. I mean, really reading your posts. Looking forward to your posts. Opening them immediately instead of saving them for days or deleting them when I’m buried.
I also subscribe to a lot of other freelance writing blogs and newsletters, so I have a wide frame for comparison. And you are the one I love above all others. Everything you write makes sense. It’s honest and never manipulative. It’s practical, relevant, authentic, thoughtful. It’s based on long and legitimate experience, and it gives me a role model of a freelancer who knows the stuff and walks the talk.
Freelance writing is a demanding path, and you’re the best guide I know. Thank you. Now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion . . .
Ranee, you’ve just made my day. Thank you! I appreciate the compliment — I hate the manipulative, sell-me-something stuff that’s out there, so this is a doubly nice compliment!
I’m so glad I’m doing something that resonates with you. Please let me know if I ever veer too far away from that path. And feel free to tell me what you want to hear! This blog is basically yours (I’m just the steward).
Would love to hear more about your story and your path. Feel free to email me through my website. I respond pretty quickly when I’m not busy with client work!
And thank you! In a cacophony of online voices, I’m glad to have one that I truly trust. I’ll share my summary story with you soon, so that you can get a better idea of why I especially appreciate the guidance you provide. And it will be nice to give you a person behind my name, which doesn’t always happen in the blogosphere. Till then!
Yes, please share, Ranee! I would love to have a conversation and get to know you. 🙂
My contact form is best (I try not to put the email address online) — http://www.loriwidmer.com/contact
Just send me a quick hello and I’ll share my email address. Life stories don’t often fit in those little contact boxes. 🙂
I agree, Ranee. You know why Lori’s blog is the best and most trustworthy? Her goal is to help other writers, not sell them something. Plus, she’s super smart!
You nailed it, Paula. Thanks for saying it so well!
Geez, you guys! You’re far too kind. If it weren’t for the people who come here, this blog wouldn’t be much of anything.
Thank YOU for making it what it is.
Agreed, Paula. Lori’s is one of the few voices I trust for online writing advice.