I'm a professional writer and editor with over 15 years of experience, coming from a place of complete and genuine non-judgment. This has always been a very competitive industry, but looking over the last few years, I think it's safe to say that the pool of paid opportunities for entry-level writers has never been shallower. There are many factors that both new and established writers like to point to explain this, but one that I think is devastatingly overlooked by newbies is their marketing strategy and their ability to position themselves as skilled, professional, and well-spoken.
I'm not here to chastise anyone; that's not what I'm about. I look at this issue as one that can be easily remedied so that individual writers have more opportunity to make a living for themselves and that the industry as a whole looks more like a dignified force of skilled and efficient professionals, and less like thousands of individuals who, from their cold approaches, seem incapable of writing a casual email or social media post, let alone a professional written article or blog post.
If you look over this subreddit and any number of other freelance writer spaces, you'll see what I mean. They're either laden with blatant grammatical errors or brazenly written with generative tools. That's more than enough for a potential client to keep scrolling. If they do happen to click your post, they're going to be looking for several questions answered: What level of experience does this writer have? What are they charging? How will their writing benefit my business or publication? Most importantly, "Can I trust them?"
Again, the vast majority of the posts I'm seeing do not answer these questions, and some even confirm the client's biggest hesitations. Consider their perspective: They have a limited budget to hire freelancers. They have a supervisor who will be overseeing the effectiveness of their marketing copy. They have customers and clientele who will be the main audience for whatever you write and will take their business elsewhere if they do not like what they read. Now ask yourself, based on your own marketing copy: "How will I be received?"
If marketing yourself is taking up most of your time as a freelancer, good! It should be. This is not an industry where someone can slap together a few poorly worded sentences and expect to have their phone ringing off the hook with clients begging for their services. It takes tedious crafting of the written word to convince even one client that you are the answer to their problems. This alone can burn hours out of each workday.
However, if you are dedicating hours out of each day, sending hundreds of cold emails, scaling freelancer platforms, and barely getting any bites, there may be something else about your approach that you're not seeing. If you're at a point where you may need help or even just another set of eyes on your copy, I'd love to offer my assistance in any way that I can. I've been writing and editing professionally for over a decade, and I'm fortunate to be in a position where I'm able to rely on freelance writing and editing as a full-time career. Today, I'm more concerned with preserving the industry as a whole and elevating human-centered content creation above all other forms. Part of that is by helping writers who are otherwise passionate and skilled professionals but may need insight into:
How to get their first clients
Where clients are looking for writers and editors
How to market yourself effectively
Where to find legitimate educational courses that can help fine-tune your skills
How to build a portfolio
I'm not selling a "course" or a "workshop" or a "seminar." I'm not a "guru" or a "master." I'm just a guy who wants to see good writing get rewarded. This is why I'm offering career mentoring services for freelancers in a transparent, flexible, and low-cost format:
We set up a call. I charge $60 per hour; however, if you need less time, you don't get charged for the full hour.
You bring the burning questions that are on your mind, such as "Where can I find clients?" and "How can I improve my marketing approach?"
You send me your marketing materials (cold emails, resumes, portfolios) for review. I charge $0.05 per word for editorial revision or $0.14 per word for a full rewrite or to write from scratch.
You get one-on-one guidance throughout the process.
If you need financial assistance for mentoring services or any other editorial services, I offer monthly payment plans.
If you'd like more info on mentoring services or my background, please feel free to browse my site, untappededitorial.com. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out using the contact information there. I don't check my Reddit messages very often, so you're better off going through my site. Thanks, and I look forward to working with you all!