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Last Updated on July 4, 2016 by Work In My Pajamas
Getting work as a freelance writer can be tricky, but you do have various options open to you. You can apply for jobs on sites like Upwork or Journalism Jobs; plead with digital marketing agencies like clickintelligence.co.uk to let you write their clients’ articles; or believe it or not, just send random articles to publications in the hope that you will get your name out there and it will lead to more work … and you’ll get some money, perhaps. Although the last option rarely pays, it does mean your name will be in the consciousness of serious publications and blogs, which will open doors for you. It’s a necessary step on the road to becoming a successful freelance writer. If no one is accepting your work, however, it may not mean you’re awful, it’s probably because of one of the following.
Topic
You’d think this would be a given, but it seems that the majority of pitches fail because the topic being pitched has little relevance to the blog or publication in question. I understand that you are going to want to write about the things that you are interested in, however, make sure you’re sending those articles to blogs that post the same topics as you have written about.
Bonus: Make the title something engaging, if a blog is big enough it will receive a lot of submissions, so ensure your title is an accurate reflection of the content in your article, but also make is sparkle so the editor will even bother to read it.
Your Writing
I know I made it seem that I would give you a list of things you could do that would improve your chances of getting published without resorting to telling you that your writing is awful, but I’m not going to. You may think because you’re not getting paid for it – probably – you don’t really need to try that hard with making your writing come alive and ensuring your grammar is accurate. It’s more important with these articles as these are the ones that will build you a name and reputation – and no blogger is going to bother editing your articles for you simply because they like the topic.
Bonus: Make sure you’re writing is good and for the right audience. If the blog you’re writing for is aimed at middle-aged women, don’t write an article like you’re a twenty year old man. Simple, yet so many people fail to grasp it.
Been There Done That
The internet is filled with articles on every topic and unless you’re writing about something new and cutting-edge, chances are the internet already has a few articles on the topic, so as a writer you must make sure that you are: A) writing something relatively new/untouched; or B) giving a fresh and original perspective on the topic at hand.
Bonus: Always read the titles of the last few months’ worth of blogs posted by your target blog to ensure that they haven’t covered something similar as then it will a sure fire thing that you will be rejected. Reading their other titles will also give you an idea of the style the blog wants and that is very important.
Get out there and start typing those articles my writerly friends.
One Bonus for Good Luck: Always follow up if you haven’t heard from them since sending your piece. It might have gotten lost, or they may have forgotten to reply (or you will guilt them into replying sooner than they were going to).
Image Source: Pixabay
