freelance writing
 

I've been wanting to do freelance writing for some time now, and I was wondering if anybody here does it, and might have some useful tips. Obviously music would be my subject of choice, but I'm not so naive as to think I wouldn't have to write about things I find far less interesting in order to get started.

A pen-for-hire, ay? A loose tongue? A literary mercenary?

gmku's whole means of subsistence is freelance writing, and I think !@#$% does some too.

They say it involves a lot of cupping hairy balls and swallowing their "pride"

better than bending over for lawyers shilling for oil companies! :p

i don't do freelance writing-- gmku does, but business is scarce these days.

i used to write a column for a local magazine, but that was just for the glory.

;)

these fucking lawyers.

I've been a freelance writer for about ten years now...and the only advice I can really give you is to start small and know what markets you want to go for.

But yeah, Rob, you're pretty much right.

barnacle, I too have take it hard from and for these fucking lawyers man.

work is work.

I'm going to compile an anthology of my SYG posts and sell it to the highest bidder.

EASY STREET

I'm sorry but I already own the copyright to all your posts. In fact I own the copyright to everyone's posts.

Either don't do it, or do it excessively. You'll make fuck all being a part-time freelancer. I have a friend who does it, and he basically does more work than my 37-and-a-half hours a week (assuming I worked all 37 1/2 hours) for less pay. But it's worth it when you're my other friend, who works a quarter of my hours for twice my pay.

I figured as much. I only would prefer to do freelance at this moment to ensure that I am good at it. I like to write, but I don't have enough confidence in my writing yet to apply for a job and quit my current one. If I do freelance and am able to create an admirable portfolio, then I may have more confidence to go further.

do it first for free and see if you can meet deadlines and editorial standards, and then you have a portfolio and you can start charging money.

no editor is gonna hire an unproven unpracticed writer out of the blue-- much less with the economy as it is.

practice.

I used to do it.

The plus-ponts:

You get free records/DVDs/gig passes
You meet famous people
You work from home mostly

The Negatives:

Money isn't good to start with, but can be very good in the end.
An idiot sub-editor will re-write your particularly brilliant review or article into something that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Deadlines

The reality:

You will become very jaded, very fast.
You will end up reviewing albums you haven't actually listened to, films you haven't seen, books you haven't read and gigs you never went to, just because it's easier.

And I wouldn't expect them to. I hadn't thought of doing them for free; my greed seemed to prevent this idea from crossing my mind. If, though, it leads to greater things, I am all for it.

here's my tip: internet.

hope it helps.

I did think of making a blog for this purpose, so that I could then have it on my resume and as somewhat of a portfolio (whether or not any place would view it as a portfolio or not, I don't know).

this man speaks the truth.

i shall add to the pros and cons demonrail posted (mostly spot on).

positive:
you get to destroy whatever cd/dvd/gig passes if it doesn't tickle your fancy.

negative:
you get into screaming matches you won't win over the subject of your article.

advice: you're going to get fucked over and your article will be changed, so wh y not write about what you want?

and don't expect money, period.

now i have to go, need to review ten cds and make three feature articles...

Yes, it's how I've made a living, full-time, for the past 18 months or so. Somehow I've made it work. I was fortunate to start with a lot of connections in the area I wanted to write in (they were editors of university research magazines around the country, mainly, whom I'd gotten to know over the years through my work at Iowa). I had some lucky breaks, too. In the first year, I easily surpassed what I'd made as a full-time editor at Iowa.

So I'll say this: You can do it, but you really need those connections if you expect to work full-time. If you don't have them yet, you'll probably spend some time establishing those before you get much work.

Second, you had better have some kind of experience, a body of work, published samples, that you can show editors. Editors are very skittish about hiring unknown entities.

Third, be prepared for the isolation of working by yourself. Many people warned me about this, and I didn't think much of it at the time, but I can honestly say, after 18 months of mostly working in a room by myself, that it gets a bit lonely. I've gone back to work half-time (see below), and I can sincerely say that I enjoy being part of an office work staff again.

And a big thing--be prepared to handle the stress of not always knowing where the next job is coming from, or when the client's check will arrive, and for ups and downs in monthly salary, and that kind of thing. There's seldom any such thing as a regular paycheck in this business.

As I said, I recently had to start working for the man again, as many places, universities included, have slashed their publication budgets, and the first thing to go seems to be the freelance budget. I personally think it's a very tough time to venture out as a freelancer, and even, as my case illustrates, to continue as a freelancer. But if you're really determined, you can do it. It takes a lot of hard work, especially in the beginning when you need to establish a client base.

I am quite aware of the fact that I won't make much money doing this; at least not at first. I simply look foward to seeing something of mine in print. I think it would be an enjoyable challenge, and as I mention in my original post, I'm not ready to quit my job just yet. :)

I'm kind of lazy about reading through a thread before posting, so I won't now as well, but I'll ask, do you have any background or education in writing? Journalism? Etc?

I'm not sure if I admire you for wanting to publish without making money or if I just think you're a fool. By the way. Writing is hard work! I want to get paid for every single word.