Covid-19 took more than just lives. According to the United Nations, 8.8 percent of global working hours, equivalent to 225 million full-time jobs, were lost due to the pandemic. As economies closed their doors, employees were forced to work remotely, while some unlucky ones have to give up their jobs entirely.

Employees working fewer hours are also receiving less pay. And if you are among the unfortunate ones who had to reduce schedules or leave their job, know that all hope is not lost. You can still easily earn extra income while staying at home by becoming a freelance writer.

Entering the freelance industry is not hard, but thriving in it is another story. Hence, below are some tips on how you can become a successful freelance writer:

1.  Read, read, and read

Who said that you need to have experience in creating written content to become a successful freelance writer? No matter what your previous profession is, you can still enter the industry. After all, writing is for everybody!

Also, having a college degree in communications or journalism may be an advantage to start with. Is it necessary? No! Not everyone who finished college learning how to write ends up writing well.

So, what makes a good writer? Reading! That is why you need to find the best place that can convert PDF to Word free online. One website that can help you is PDFBear. It will help you easily work with e-books and other resources and turn them into Word files that will help improve your writing, like adding notes and paraphrasing some parts of the text to find your style.

Most importantly, reading a lot means that you expose yourself to more words, therefore increasing your vocabulary and learning more about the right sentence structure for different niches, which are the very foundations of being an excellent writer.

1.  Know your content

The world wide web is home to endless information accessed by billions of people. You can find anything on the web. Hence, you can also write whatever you want. But that is not a good thing for online writers.

The freelancing industry values versatility. However, if you are still a neophyte, it is better to create a firm groundwork for your expertise. You can do this by choosing what kind of content you want to put out there.

You can be a copywriter for businesses, an e-book writer, social media manager by writing captions for posts, or a contributing blogger for websites. There are too many choices. It is up to you what you want to pursue first. Once you have mastered one kind of content, you can level up to another one.

1.  Invest in online tools

Writing for online content is not the same as writing a personal essay. It involves a lot of technicalities such as search engine optimization, readability, and understanding your market. You also need to find a legit source of information to avoid plagiarism.

There are a lot of online tools online, but you can only do so much with them. It would be best to avail of their premium subscriptions to access their most helpful features. What you are looking for are websites that are efficient in checking your grammar, helpful in creating correct citations, online archives for academic journals, and SEO application tools.

It would feel like a splurge in the beginning but it will be advantageous for you to have reliable tools as soon as you start. Most of your clients can give you access to their premium accounts. However, know that you will be working with different companies. You do not want one of them to see the content made for the other. Plus, if you have these tools, clients will know that you invested your own money. Therefore, they might pay you more.

1.  Create a portfolio

You have the tools, and you know what content you want to write. The next thing you need to do is attract your clients. But you cannot do that unless you have a portfolio or a collection of your written works.

In the freelancing world, a portfolio is the best bait to get an employer’s interest. Clients need to have something to hold onto to prove that you are an expert at what you do. Unlike in the corporate world, not all of them have time to set out practice articles. Without a portfolio, you cannot prove that you are a writer.

If you are from a different industry not related to communications or writing, you do not have to worry. Having no relative experience does not get you out of the game. You can start from scratch. Write anything that you can, make your trial articles, let your peers judge them, then place them all in one PDF.

Make sure to only put your best sample works in the portfolio. Choose the piece that you are the most confident with—the one that can fully represent your writing style. In this way, employers will know what sets you apart from other writers, increasing your chances of getting hired.

1.  Attend webinars

Writing is a skill. Meaning, it is something that you can lose over time if you do not make an effort to keep it. For instance, you will lose your pacing if you do not write continuously. That is why even if you do not have any clients, it would be best to write for leisure.

One of the best ways to hone your skills is by attending online seminars or webinars from freelance writing experts. You can find many of these on Facebook, Instagram, and Skillshare. Some Ivy League universities are also offering free classes through massive open online courses or MOOCs. With the help of these seminars, you will not only improve your skills but you will also have more basis for your expertise.

In A Nutshell

Thriving in the freelance industry, especially as a writer is not an easy feat. It requires hard work and perseverance in looking for available work and searching for willing clients. But one thing is for sure: you cannot succeed as a freelancer if you do not know your worth. Despite being a newcomer, do not settle for less and always know your worth. No matter how good you are at writing and no matter how many online tools you have to perfect your craft, you will not have a prosperous future without knowing the value of your work.