You better believe it

Being a writer presents may different paths for those who choose to take up such a career. Different paths include writing for a publishing house, writing for certain publications, journalism and being a freelancer. When writers who are starting out have to choose a writing path, they will most commonly have to consider the prospect of freelance writing.

There are many freelance writing jobs available online, and these are some of the many positive aspects of becoming a freelancer. In this article, we will consider whether or not freelance writing is the best career for writing, and what writers are suited best for freelance writing.

Advantages

First, we will start out by discussing the advantages of freelance writing over other writing career paths. The first advantage of doing a freelance writing job online is the fact that freelance writing has a low barrier to entry. This means that you do not need years and years of experience to gain acceptance as a freelance writer, or to be hired for jobs as a freelancer. For this reason, there are many freelance writing jobs for beginners available online.

Therefore, if you are just starting out as a writer, it can be a good idea to become a freelance writer. This does not, however, mean that you can get away with bad writing. Your writing skills need to be up to par, and you should be able to write with near flawless punctuation and grammar. The good news is that it is relatively easy to brush up on your English skills.

Another advantage to becoming a freelance writer is that your income stream is not dependent on one person. As a freelance writer, it is likely that you will be writing for multiple clients. This means that if one client stops sending you work, you can find another client and your whole income stream is not adversely affected, if you took the initiative to expand your income streams.

This is not the case for other types of writers. If a publication house folds, the writers working for the publication will be out of a job, and will need to find another publication.

Another reason why many writers choose to freelance is due to the freedom the job offers. As a freelance writer, you are able to write whenever you want; you can be up at 1am in your pajamas working, or choose to be saner and treat it like a typical 9-5.

Many freelancers have used their job as an opportunity to move to another country abroad and to experience a different lifestyle than the one they are accustomed to back home.

For this reason, freelance writing jobs for college students are plentiful online, as freelance writing offers students to be flexible with their schedules while also attending classes. Academic writing is a route that many college students can go into, as it will also help them with their own studies.

Disadvantages

Now, we will discuss some of the main disadvantages to being a freelance writer. Firstly, the pay is significantly less compared to other types of writing careers when starting out. The reason for this is that, due to the low barrier of entry, there is a lot of competition between writers to get their first job as a freelance writer.

The good news to this is the fact that if you stick it out as a freelance writer, the pay rises exponentially, and you can see yourself earning more than your writing counterparts in other sectors of the writing industry.

A very common disadvantage for writers from Western countries is the fact that you will be competing with writers from significantly less off countries such as Thailand and India. This means that when you are applying for freelancing positions, you will be undercut from writers from such countries.

The good news is that writers from those countries do not have a good grasp of English, and you can show your worthwhile to your clients by writing in good English and by providing them with a good writing service.

There are many freelance writing jobs in Chicago, since many large clients are based from there, and require someone living in the same time zone. By utilizing this article, you can see the many advantages and disadvantages to doing an online writing job and evaluate whether or not freelance writing is the best fit for you.