Getting Started in Writing Often Means Lower Pay
I’m always encouraging writers to charge more. This reflects my own experience of not charging enough for my writing for years. It was a problem of self-worth, etc.
But in the beginning most of us had to charge less and perhaps even under-earn to get started. It’s better, at least when starting a freelance writing career, to get paid a little than not get paid at all. So if you’re new to freelancing and get an opportunity to get paid, take it. Even the lowest paid gigs give you practice and a credit you can claim and at least a bit of money in your pocket.
How long do you accept low pay? Not a minute longer than necessary! The goal, of course, is to earn a decent living with your freelance writing. How you define “decent” is up to you of course, but don’t sell yourself short.
Write well and often,
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Tags: employment, fees, freelance-writing-fees, freelance-writing-pay, freelancing, money_in_your_pocket, pay, self_worthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Business of Freelance Writing, Notes from a Writing Coach
8 opinions for Getting Started in Writing Often Means Lower Pay
Matt Keegan
Jan 29, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Sage advice Anne! In my opinion, oOnce a portfolio has been established then rates should rise. This could mean moving away from low paying customers who won’t accept higher rates and wading into a more lucrative field.
Jessica
Jan 30, 2007 at 1:37 am
Having only written for magazines until a year ago — it was hard to convince people I could write web content and copywrite so I took LOW pay — but once I got a few clients that would pay more, goodbye to the old, I pretty much have an entire new clientele. Great words there Anne.
alicia
Jan 31, 2007 at 9:34 am
I completely agree - starting out most often means taking lower paying gigs. You have to get credentials and establish yourself somehow, and a degree in english or any other related field doesn’t always cut it. I accepted lower paying gigs for a long while, and the experience landed me two well-paying jobs that are on-going. (One of which I got from your job listings!) I actually blogged about this not too long ago: http://writingspark.com/?p=301
Anne Wayman
Jan 31, 2007 at 10:32 am
Once you start getting gigs, you also need to start upping your pay.
The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource » Freelance Writing Jobs - 45 New Writing Jobs Today
Jan 31, 2007 at 10:40 am
[…] As I suspected, I got some agreement on my post about being willing to take lower pay if you’re just starting as a freelancer writer. Pros seem to agree it’s perhaps the only way to get started. […]
Lisa
Jan 31, 2007 at 10:53 am
Anne, thanks for this post. In my own work and in my work with clients, I am tenacious about three, practices: 1. Create a writing plan, 2) Improvise, and 3) question the hype.
My 2 cents is that if a writer has a plan and a goal, writing a $3 an article may be the one of the strategies in the overall design of her writing career.
However, if choosing to write $3 articles is something she discovers while brainstorming and improvising, wandering around the net, she might ask “would this be valuable to add to my plan?”
There are so many bells and whistles, come ons and distractions out there. We might even think we’re not worthy writers if we’re not a part of the hype. As long as we’re consciously choosing, it may be worth the effort, or at the very least it may serve as a learning experience.
Anne Wayman
Jan 31, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Lisa, tell us more about putting together a writing plan… sounds good, but I’m not sure I do that.
A
Lisa
Jan 31, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Thanks for the invitation to blab, Anne, and I think you probably do have a plan…I just may not have phrased things very well.
If you are a “declared” writer (I don’t mean famous or even published here) it is important to acknowledge that you are in business for yourself. As an entrepreneur, then, how would your business plan look? What are the elements? In this model, we typically flesh out things like vision, mission, objectives, strategies and plans. (I know those odious screaming banshee words are hideous to many writers, including me).
So if your mission is to build a thriving copywriting business, one of your objectives might be to generate $25,000 in 2007 writing copy for websites.
To achieve that objective, one of your plans might be to identify 10 potential web-based resources for articles on your area of expertise. Another objective might be to generate a subscription-based newsletter via your website.
The overall point here is that some of the opportunities we sieze as credible and worthy can often be big fat distractions in disguise. But if we can hold up these opportunities to the light and scrutiny of our plan, we’ll be better able to distinguish whether it’s a good use of our energy and talent or not. Will it feed the plan or keep me hungry?
I came to this through my own stupid mistakes, but also in working with coaching clients who are not writers. We work so much in the beginning to discover core values, and work toward truing up our values with our actions. So if we are writers with a vision and a plan (core values + commitments) and we find ourselves running a dog grooming business…hmmm…we’ve just gone astray of our whole big idea.
This was incredibly hard work for me as I love to fly by the seat of my pants, put the cart before the horse, etc. But to honor the fact that I value my marriage, my son, my health, etc., I had to come up with a plan that served my writing life and my WHOLE life as well.
What are your thoughts?
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