I’ve been a writer since I was 18, but going full-time freelance has been different from what I imagined. Not necessarily better or worse, just different. And it is all exactly what I would have predicted if I had sat down and thought about it. Let me elaborate, in case you are thinking of trying to go freelance yourself.
Full-time writer working as an employee
This was how I started. When I was 18, I got a job working as a reporter for a magazine in Hong Kong. It was my first ever job and I had a card with my name followed by ‘Reporter’. It was great. I was trained in story construction, such as the ‘inverted pyramid‘ and other techniques. Most were related to print journalism, not online stuff, so I won’t go on about it. I was also paid pretty well, certainly better than most of my bar/waiting staff friends. I also got to attend events, learn how to do interviews, and even wrote some bar and restaurant reviews.
I have had a few of these proper employment positions over the years. The most recent was as the staff writer for a university. Again, it was pretty relaxed, I only had to go in a couple of times a week. This job taught me less about writing, but quite a bit about the god-awful jargon favoured by marketers, PR people and academics. (Enough with the word ‘leverage’!)
These jobs all paid decently and provided a regular and constant income. The problem was that they felt stifling after a while. You are always writing about the same things. You have to apply for holiday leave. You’re working for ‘the man/woman/other’. At some places, I even had to have annual HR reviews which are one of my most hated things in the world.
However, working for the same place year after year is something some people enjoy. I do not.
Freelance but working for several magazines as a contributor
I did this for several years, on and off, depending on where I was. And it was great. For example, I spent a couple of years in the mid noughties in Bangkok. I wrote for most of the main expatriate magazines, knew all the other writers, hung out with the editors, and so on. The work was varied and fun. This was full freelance, but in a form that no longer really exists in Bangkok. Maybe in London or New York or somewhere, but it is a rare work-model these days.
The main downsides were that the pay was just about ok and most of the magazines were struggling due to the internet. Slowly but surely, they tried to pay less or went out of business. I could have worked online for others, but that was a whole other kettle of fish. The fish kettle I am now in. Ok, this metaphor is getting weird. The point is that this model was no longer viable where I was and nowadays, you might as well write purely online. Magazines of all shapes, sizes, and most importantly, budgets, are at your fingertips. Geography is no longer an issue.
Freelance online with clients or on platforms
This is what I am trying out now and, as I said, it isn’t quite what I imagined. I don’t know why. I have four main clients and top that up with work for Medium and Fiverr. So what’s it like?
I have one client that just needs one 600-word article a week. Another that wants two articles a week – 300 words and 500 words. The other two are somewhat random but coincidentally gang up and send me loads of stuff at once. I also write a couple of Fiverr articles a week for mostly repeat clients. In the rare moments when I am free, I try and squeeze in a Medium article.
Recently, I have been down to about one or two Medium articles a month. This sucks, as Medium has been one of the best payers on random months. My best period was when Here Is the Real Reason Why Photos Are Banned in the Sistine Chapel went viral with 36k views. Then the next month North Korean 105-floor ‘Hotel of Doom’ Deserted for 30 Years got 53k views, followed by The gorilla who was brought up as a boy in an English Village with 63k views. That month, I received $2900. I mention this not to gloat but to contrast this with last month when I made just over $100. Sure, I am writing there less, but it is not exactly a steady income.
Financially, like so often before, it all pays ok. I have enough clients that everything averages out about the same each month. The great thing about being freelance like this, is that there is a lot of potential to make more. I put my prices up fairly regularly. I has taken a year to get to this point however.
What did I not expect?
The constant workload and guilt when I’m not working was unexpected. There is always something I could be doing and never a moment when it is all done. In all my work before, I had set jobs and deadlines. I have forced myself to set a time when I just stop for the day. Otherwise, I could just keep going and burn out. It is kind of odd. Now that I have also decided to do Nanowrimo and finally write the novel I’ve been mulling over, that clocking-off time my have to change.
You CAN work from the beach BUT I have found it less productive. I have spent the last three weeks staying at the Centara Grand in Hua Hin – and I’m still here – but I write less than in my creaky chair at my desk in my pokey Bangkok condo. It is a damn nice life and it is cliche how much I am ‘living the dream’ but my bank balance is dropping and I am simply not as productive. Plus, sand and laptops aren’t buddies. This is a very, very, first world problem though.
Juggling clients and ongoing paranoia are ever-present.I no longer work ‘for the man’, I now work for loads of them (although most are actually women). There is the constant mild paranoia that I might get fired. There is the bad feeling when I tell a potential Fiverr client or email client that I am not a good fit for the job. There’s the pressure to accept more work, all the time, just in case. Again, nothing major to really worry about. I have multiple bosses and backup platforms but it is still a niggle.
There are other things I could mention, but then this would turn into a whinge rather than a mildly helpful insight for anyone thinking of going freelance. As I mentioned before, these are all issues I knew would happen, but still caught me a little off-guard.
I should also add that if you are thinking of taking the plunge, but have never written professionally before – try it out first. There will be a lot of fear and probably self-doubt if you’re new to this. As pointed out above, I have been writing for a while and have been freelance before.
Still though – go for it. Life’s too short.
