<rant>
The writing community, as a whole, is very supportive to writers who are new or struggling. I’ve received support and I’ve paid it forward,too. But, I’d bet that a lot of writers will agree with me in what I’m about to say. Many writing communities are littered with complaints about editors, about rejections, and so forth. But it seems like a lot of the writers out there are afraid to say the obvious..
Not everyone is cut out to write for a living.
Only you can decide this, of course,and I’m not here to tell any one person what they’re cut out to do or not to do. But…
Maybe you’re not.
I have supported my family with my writing business for over 5 years, had an ongoing and evolving writing team for almost 4 years, and now employ my husband and my teenager (part-time). My business has seen a lot of ups and downs. Like any job, there are days when I can’t imagine doing anything else and days where I want to pull my hair out. Throughout this time, I’ve had rejections, I’ve had kudos, and I have seen a lot of writers come and go.
I’ve had some startling realisations over the years as some writers have come to me for assignments with talk of how experienced they are. In more cases than you’d expect, I’ve realised that despite how someone portrays themselves online, they’re not always cut out to do this professionally.
Some don’t really write all that well, some aren’t conscientious enough, and some just aren’t putting the effort required into it unless it has their own name on it. Not everyone can sit and focus on creating with words day after day to eek out a living. They’ve got to research and write and make it read well, worry about keyword density, lexical density, and meta data, tags and yada, yada, yada… Then, after it looks like it meets the brief it has to be something the client actually likes. It ain’t always easy!
But just because some people are doing it doesn’t mean that everyone should. Some of the writers I tried out a few years ago are still chasing the penny-per-word gigs today. Maybe they’re happy with that. Maybe they should see that as a sign that either they aren’t cut out for this or that they’re just not putting enough effort into it to make it a real career.
Are you cut out to run a freelance writing business?
- Do you like negative feedback? Probably not. But you’ll get it. If you can’t handle it (and learn from it) at least sometimes, you’re not going to excel.
- Are you willing to write about something that’s not in the least bit interesting to you and produce something that looks like you loved every minute of writing it? If not, you should just write for fun.
- Are you prepared to take really shitty-paying work at times so you can get food on the table? And are you prepared to put polish on that work just as you’d do if you were being paid double or writing about your life’s passion?
- Will you stay up until 3:30 AM to hit a deadline when you have to get up at 7?
- Will you sometimes write despite being as sick as a dog because you just have to?
- Will you do 5 rewrites of something until they client (difficult as they are) is finally happy?
This ain’t the glamorous life. Sometimes it’s a roller coaster. I’ve seen freelance writers produce work that makes my jaw drop because it’s so effing good. I’ve seen work turned in that isn’t worth selling on one of those five dollar job sites (by writers who claim they’re professionals). I’m sure I’ve produced some winners and some lukewarm stuff over the years.
Not everyone wants a business. Some just want to write a quick article and get paid for it. And, that’s ok. But you’ll only get out of it what you put into it.
What’s my point?
If you find the process truly frustrating, are continually being rejected for web writing jobs, keep getting fired after you do a job for a new client, or find that people who try you out once, pay you and then never come back again…. I’m going to tell you what many won’t…
You might not be cut out for this.
Yes, you might love writing. Sure, you might want to find a way to make money from your computer with the ability to set your own schedule. But maybe this isn’t your thing. Maybe the editors aren’t mean megalomaniacs. Maybe you just aren’t that good. Or maybe it’s something you, deep down, don’t really even want to do and that’s why it’s not wowing anyone.
Is it time to assess your business, your income, your hours, your job satisfaction? Success is subjective but passion fuels success. Do you have a passion for becoming great at what you do?
So, while people on the forums might say “there, there” or “Nazi editors!” when you’ve complained for the tenth time this month I’m going to say,
If you’re going to be a shoemaker; strive to be the best damn shoemaker there is. If shoemaking isn’t a labour of love that you’re willing to work at becoming a master at, maybe it’s time to find something else.
</end rant>
So true, Dana. I’ve had many of the same experiences. Sometimes it’s not about writing skill, but about having the other personal and business qualities that support it. Heading into my 6th year of full time freelancing, I know that there are times that it hasn’t been easy, but most of the time I can’t imagine doing anything else or delivering less than my best whether my name is on the work or not.
Hi Sharon,
Yes…business skills and work ethic are important, too. I once hired someone from a forum to work on a project and she handed in work that really wasn’t very good despite my being impressed with the samples she’d sent. A few days later I saw her comment on a writing forum thread that she just refuses to do her best when she’s ghostwriting. I never used her again.
Hi Dana,
Well, another great post, somehow I missed it – I can bet I will not miss any of the upcoming ones.
So it seems like most of the writers go through a similar initial phase. I typically work on a couple of freelancing portals, and I wish I could get a negative feedback. I have finished countless projects but I remember only one moan from any of my clients. It was that I used to write too long sentences which obviously were confusing and I am still grateful to that gentleman. Flattering feedbacks obviously sound great but I really wish if someone would highlight my mistakes.
However, now I have found a way to sort out my shortcomings… I regularly read the writings by past masters (including you) and compare my writing samples with them. And one more thing, luckily when I put myself to test according to your checklist, I find myself cut out to be a freelance writer
Couple things here, Dana.
You are dead on about negative feedback. It’s part of the job. Just make the corrections and the rest is water off the duck’s back.
But:
I will not write about things that don’t interest me, and I never did, even as a newb. Life’s just too short. This career was my stab at not dreading work everyday, and that’s a big part of it.
I also will not do multiple rewrites. I generally build that right into the contract: 2 or 3 rewrites, that’s it. If it goes beyond that, obviously there is something else wrong.
Just found your blog, don’t know why you weren’t in my Igoogle before but you will be now.
Hi Allena,
This blog hasn’t always been here. It used to live on Blogger. I think you’ve visited it there, too.
In response to your responses:
I wrote this blog post in response to a combo of being exasperated with some whining from writers in a writing forum and having problems with a few people who had joined my team.
When my business started I was brand new to writing for a living and willing to write about almost anything so I didn’t have to go back to the dreaded cubicle so it was a necessity for me and it fit the type of writing business I was starting. If you don’t have to write 24 articles about synthetic rubber stable mats, by all means, don’t. (Yes, I really did that. LOL.)
Writing (at times) about things that didn’t interest me taught me a lot about the web content industry, about creativity, about running a writing agency that took on a lot of different projects, and it did teach me things about the type of work I wanted. I guess that’s partly why I started a team…because I wanted to pick and choose what I wanted to work on without giving up the busy volume clients. I write for several SEO companies and having access to volumes has meant that I’ve needed to be willing to research and write like a subject matter expert on a wide variety of different topics — not all of them fun.
If someone is going to accept assignments from someone else about specific topics, they need to be willing to do the work required to collect the fee. If they don’t want to, they shouldn’t accept the assignment. I’ve seen people take work from me with full disclosure of the requirements and then turn in something half-assed OR come to me on deadline day saying they can’t do it because they don’t know anything about the topic (after having held the assignment for 2 weeks)
In terms of rewrites…I’ve dealt with people who moan and complain at revision requests that are totally reasonable. I agree with you…if you’ve taken 2 attempts at it and there are still serious things wrong with it, there’s either a problem with you or the client is either out-to-lunch or just totally unreasonable. My reference referred to the sort of person who thinks they can just write, bill, and collect the invoice 100% of the time without ever having a revision. I prefer to have the mindset that I work to get it right and delight the customer. If it gets to a point where the rewrite counts are getting out of hand, I generally do whatever I can to get it right. If something requires more than 1-2 rewrites (very very rare) I do a post-mortem to find out where the disconnect lies. I’ve given more than one unreasonable client the heave-ho.
So, this post was definitely based on my experience as a writing agency dealing with some writers who probably shouldn’t call themselves pros and based on seeing a lot of online whining about editors or agency team leaders from writers who wrongly think that being a writer is an easy gig that should be quick and easy money.
Thanks for popping by
I was searching for more blogs to follow when your site came up. I’m a newbie freelancer who has asked myself this very thing. Am I cut out to be a full time freelancer? Do I have what it takes, especially when it comes to the business side? I really don’t know at this point. I’ve had several content mill refusals, but I’ve had the excellents as well.
I’ll definitely be reading more of your posts in the future.
Hi Shelley,
Welcome
I think that the fact that you’re asking these questions is a good sign.
Good luck!
I just discovered your website. I’m a newbie at writing my first blog. I’m nowhere in your league, but… I do enjoy reading and learning. Thank-you. Granny Gee… Gloria
Thanks so much, Granny Gee…
best of luck with your writing!
Cheers,
Dana