How to Become a Freelance Writer

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By WordWhizKid
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Becoming a writer is within reach.

If you have a dream of becoming a freelance writer but don't know where to begin, don't give up. As a journalist, online writer, freelance writer and jill-of-all-trades writer, I can offer you some simple tips and suggestions for how to become a full-time writer and kiss your humdrum office job goodbye. Read on to enter the exciting world of letters:

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Determination
Computer

Step 1

Strengthen your skills. Determine what kind of writing you want to focus on and learn all you can about it. If you want to write books, read up on the types of books you're interested in and immerse yourself in top-of-the-line books in your topic area. Study the masters and learn. If you want to be a full-time online writer, eHow is a great place to start and find lots of great advice and support in the community forums and in people's articles. For magazine and newspaper writing, check out all the local publications to see where your writing would fit in. Find your niche.
Step 2

Certify yourself. If you are rusty on the computer or a slow typer, take a continuing education class to brush up on your skills. If you want to be a grant writer or technical writer, check out local classes and seminars that focus on this type of writing. If books are your passion, join a local author's group. For aspiring journalists, join the press association in your area or state. Networking with like-minded people who are interested in your niche will offer you tons of advice, support and examples of the options that are available to you.
Step 3

Start small. If you have never been published, offer to write a few articles for free for local publications or online. You can volunteer to become an editor at the Open Directory Project, which is a non-profit comprehensive listing site for all (non-spam) Web sites to register with. Volunteer to edit a section whose topic you know a lot about and you will be considered an expert in the field. You can also write online for free by starting your own blog or Web site and writing about something you know and can help others with. Consider what areas people are interested in and how you can bring fresh knowledge and perspective to the table.
Step 4

As you build your writing portfolio, create a Web site to showcase all of your work. You can add a link to your Web site on your resume or application when you apply for writing jobs and it will show how serious you are about writing. If you write online, you can showcase your portofolio on the site you write for, such as eHow, Associated Content, or Elance. When you apply for other online writing jobs, send links to your articles on these sites.
Step 5

There are so many places you can write for, the sky is the limit. For contract writing work online, check out Elance, Guru and iFreelance. You can create a profile and bid on jobs on these sites and get paid anywhere from $50 to thousands of dollars per project. For online writing, compose articles for eHow, Associated Content and Bukisa and earn more income from the more page views and ratings you get. For journalism writing, check out Journalismjobs.com, Craigslist (under Writing Editing and also under Writing Gigs), and the sites of individual publications that you are interested in. Look up the magazines and newspapers in your area and contact them to see if they need freelance writers.
Step 6

Be patient. It takes time to earn money as a freelance writer but the rewards of seeing your writing published and sharing your work with the public are great. Also, if you do not earn a lot starting out, you can rest assured that you are building your portfolio and each piece you write will help you get paid more and find more work in the future.