“How can I become a freelance writer? “That’s a question that nearly every writer takes into account at least once.

A writer who works as a freelancer, regardless of where they begin, enjoys a sense of independence that a 9 to 5 profession cannot provide. It also gives individuals the freedom to choose the profession that best suits their needs and requirements, without being constrained by location.

But, before you imagine that you can become a freelance writer whenever you want, consider this: How can you become a freelance writer?

It’s not as easy as it appears and you can’t be a successful freelance writer all day long. You have to commit yourself entirely to the career, and it is a while until you arrive at a stage you consider profitable. There is a lot of hard work and research into becoming a freelance writer. If you plan to take it full time, you need to do little and think about it before you leave your current job for freelance work.

1. Conduct research on freelance writing

Just as you would for any other employment. When you first start freelancing writing, you should conduct a lot of research on the subject so you know what to expect, where to be cautious, and what to keep in mind. While this may appear to be a minor task, it will help you understand the freelance writing business in India and how it differs from other countries.

When you first start it, make sure you do a lot of research and discovered several forums where individuals shared their expertise in the area and their thoughts on – how to become a freelance writer. Read what other freelance writers had to say, discovered how they worked by reading their blogs and visiting their websites and learn everything you could about the business and the writing style. When we first start, most of us have no idea what kinds of jobs exist, and researching the issue allows you to learn about prospective employers and connect them with other writers. Joining a freelance writers organization and asking questions such as what the going fee is and what to do and anticipate when you start a job is also a good idea.

Job Descriptions for Freelance Writers

If you want to start working as a freelance writer, you need to be aware of the various types of freelance writing employment available.

a) Writer of Web Content

In essence, an online content writer works for and on the internet. The job could entail anything from producing material for websites that advertise a certain product or service to writing blogs. It mainly entails conducting keyword research and skillfully incorporating them into your text. In this situation, your primary goal is to use your writing to drive traffic to the website.

b) Writer of technical documents

As a technical writer, you’d have to decipher difficult technical terms and turn them into understandable information or instructions for your audience. Writing manuals, instructions, or pertinent articles could be part of your responsibilities here.

c) Writer for the newspaper or magazine

Newspapers or magazines may be regions in which you can chart both offline and online media. A newspaper reporter must report on specific occurrences in an objective and unbiased manner. Other journals or newspapers may ask you to write book or movie reviews or express your thoughts on a certain subject.

d) Ghostwriter

Bloggers, website pages, and eBooks are all written by ghostwriters, but not under their names. A different person is given credit for these articles.

2. Educate yourself with the abilities and writing tools.

While you may be a fantastic writer, you cannot simply write whatever you want on a sheet of paper (or MS Word) and expect it to suffice in today’s world. You must understand the platform you will be utilising, how it functions, and what you will be required to do. Though many people claim to be able to teach you how to use WordPress or CMS, this is not always the case, and you may end up losing money if they believe you don’t know how to use these platforms.

It’s a good idea to set up a WordPress or CMS Blog and master a few fundamental skills and tools if you want to have a higher chance of thriving in the writing profession. Aside from these technical talents, you should have a few more skills that every writer should have at his fingertips, such as:

a) Ability to Work in a Team

You’ll need to keep track of your projects, invoicing information, client information, pitches received, and content schedule as your business grows. Each writing project will be distinct and have different needs, so you’ll need to know exactly what the customer wants and when in the writing process they want it done. You don’t want to make mistakes or miss a deadline, so having a structure in place is essential to your growth.

b) Efficacy of Blogging

You need to start your blogging page, as indicated before. This helps you not only collect basic voice press or CMS capabilities but also keeps you on the digital media platform alive. This would only be one location to display your skills and give your prospective employer an idea of what you are capable of. Writing blogs will also help you increase your following and in some instances serve as a venue for more projects.

Mostly writing blog articles to give a sample of my job to those wishing to recruit me and my opinion, which you sometimes can’t do on another website. Writing your blog also allows you to better understand the format and exactly what the headers, subheadings and white space may be used for. This can also assist you to understand how you may attract a reader and your audience.

c) Program and capabilities for image editing

It is also vital to master some basic image editing skills besides writing skills as many of your customers may expect you to take pictures yourself for your content and if you know how to do it, you may lose your audience. Although many of these customers are not as demanding, these modest qualifications help you obtain more people and, in turn, make your work more easily. It is also crucial to know how to add text to blog photographs, as the viewpoint of your post is more profound and the added keyword can be used to gain you more audiences. You can start using a free image editing software such as Canva or PicMonkey, but you can advance to products such as Photoshop which provide you with more editing possibilities.

3. Writing Practice

A blog also helps you practice and sharpen your skills in writing and gives your client a feeling that you are an active writer and not just someone who sometimes writes and does not know current trends. You can also update the latest WordPress and the CMS.

Apart from strengthening your writing talents, you also keep in touch with regular trends and exactly what is now in demand. Regular writing enables you to maintain contact with your public and keeps them interested in returning for more and not forgetting you and getting to another writer.

4. Creating your work portfolio

Just as you do with a CV, keeping an online or digital work portfolio that you can share with your customers is a good practice. You must recognize that even freelance work, just like conventional employment, demands a work portfolio that you may use for freelance writing. A prospective customer wishes to view samples of your published work, thus updates constantly with recent work and written content are also a fantastic idea.

When you are fresh and are just starting, link your website to your blog, which contains your latest work as well as a list of previously published work. This will make it easier for you to be hired since the prospective customer can really tell you what your type of writing is and what exactly. You can generate samples for your work and attach them to your online work profile if you don’t or don’t want to publish your blog’s content.

5. Start work pitching

When you are confident enough in your career and ready to take on a self-employed job, start pitching for employment and search for a space to work. It is important to note that while you can start from your home, this is not an excellent practice, rather you should work out café or coworking areas such as my headquarters because it will not only help you better to focus on your work but also provide you with better networking possibilities and support in collaboration with other independent employees. Never forget that as a freelance writer, you don’t have stable employment, therefore you have to keep on your toes and hustle hard. At first, it may sound like a difficult task, but as you grow up, you will gradually gain awareness. And that’s exactly your goal, to secure customers with work and not around.

Once you’ve finally achieved the stage above, you won’t only be able to work as you like but also respond to the questions of other people – how to become an independent writer in India.