Writing professionally can be a very rewarding career. If you love to write, then you may be thinking about trying to turn your hobby into a paying job - which is definitely possible to do. You could be a blogger, a copywriter, an author, a novelist, or any other kind of writer you think you could succeed as. Being good with words isn’t always enough to launch a successful writing career though, but there are things you can do to give yourself the best start possible.
Take Advantage of Every Opportunity
No matter how good of a writer you are, without professional experience, it will be challenging to find high-paying work. Fortunately, there are usually people out there who will take a chance on novice writers and these are the opportunities you need to make the most of. Low-paying writing jobs aren’t ideal but they might be the best you can do while you are trying to build your professional reputation. As soon as you have a few samples of your work that have been published and are out there for everyone to see, you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to secure higher-reward writing work. Writing for free isn’t usually a good idea unless you can benefit from it in some other way such as exposure or a way into a paid role - just remember that you can’t be a professional writer if you are writing for others for free.
Build Relationships
As crazy as it sounds, a successful writing career isn’t just about being a good writer - a big part of it is being a good person to work with. There will be many professional writers out there who are making decent money but aren’t actually that talented as a writer. The key is that they are easy to work with and can communicate and build effective relationships with people they work with/for. Obviously, some level of writing skill is required but strong relationships can make a huge difference. If you can become a master writer and the perfect person to work with, there’s no reason why you won’t have a queue of people wanting to use your services.
Think About What Type of Writer You Want to Be
Being a writer is a pretty generalized title. There are copywriters, script writers, technical writers, speech writers, journalists, and many more. While it may be a good idea to try your hand at a few different types of writing, you’ll likely have more success if you specialize in 1 or 2 of them. Specialist writers can charge more for their services as they’re experienced, knowledgeable, and highly competent in their area of specialization. You might already know what kind of writer you want to be but, if not, you’ll quickly learn which types best fit your style and preference.
Write A Lot
When starting out as a writer, it’s a good idea to write as much as you possibly can. Even if you don’t have a lot of paid work, you should still be writing as much as possible. Whether you start a blog, a journal, or some kind of online portfolio - one of the most important things about being a successful writer is to write a lot. Not only will this help you develop and grow your skills, but it’ll also give you some authentic writing samples to share with potential employers or clients. Examples of your work are worth a huge amount so, even if you’re just writing for fun, for now, your work could end up making you some money in the long run.