How to Be a Working Writer

The decision to be a working writer might be seen as something you wouldn’t wish on an enemy. Being a working writer is enormously hard. There may not be much money in it and it takes long hours of serious work. However, if you love writing, nothing would be better than making a living at it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Create a portfolio. Even if you don’t get any work early on, this doesn’t mean you can’t still be writing. Write a number of different types of articles or content. Many employers will not even check where the articles were published, they just want to get a feel for your writing style. Of course, getting a high-profile gig is much better and you should advertise where the article was published.
2. Work for free. Many web magazine offer the opportunity for exposure, while not offering much in the form of payment. Still, this is a good way to add content to your portfolio and having the content published somewhere gives it some clout.
3. Negotiate for higher fees. When you’re starting out, the ball’s not really in your court. As you build up a stable of projects or clients, you will be able to command a higher price for your time.
4. Set up a private editing business or ghostwriting firm. Build a portfolio of fiction and non-fiction books that you’ve either revised or ghostwritten.
5. Apply for grants, both state and federal. Submit work to contests as well. This can buy some time for you to work on a particular project, but it’s not a long-term income solution.
6. Check freelance writing boards. Craigslist is a good place for finding writing jobs throughout the country. Many of these jobs are telecommutes, meaning you can write from a home office. Freelancewritinggigs.com is a good site for finding current listings of available writing work.
7. Write for movies. That’s where the real money is for writers. A writer can make more selling one script than many professional writers make in a year. Producers will even pay for scripts that don't get made. But you should know that most screenplays do not get bought. It's a highly competitive field.

Tips & Warnings

• Writing web content is a growing field. It doesn’t pay nearly as well as print magazine work, but it’s easier to come by.
• There are some web content firms that pay as little as a dollar for 500 words. Stay away from these, unless you’re just looking for a way to build your portfolio.