There are some people who will write for anywhere, and other who will write for a select few places. There are some people who will write for a pittance, some who want to get paid what they’re worth, and some who write for the love of it. I fall in between the ‘write anywhere’ and ‘select places’ people, and some might argue that I also fall between the ‘paid a pittance’ and ‘paid what I’m worth’ categories. I’m not going to side with either group at this point.

What I’m here to do instead is talk about the places I generally write for at the moment, because some of you out there are probably looking for tips on how to get into freelance writing. I know that when I was starting out, this kind of information was what I spend days trawling the Internet for. So here we go: my take on freelance writing from the perspective of a modern British writer.

The Pitch

When it comes to trying to get into print publications, the pitch is still the most important part of the game. It’s also the most annoying, frustrating, time-consuming and difficult part to get right. Until you get your technique down pat, it’s the single largest time sink you’ll have in the whole freelance writing profession. Put simply, you will spend more time writing pitches than you will writing, or even researching, articles.

It’s not that they take a long time to write, it’s that until you’ve got a few published articles under your belt, most editors will reject your pitch on sight. Remember that when starting out. It will save you heartache. What you’re up against (especially now, while the global recession is still in full swing and most editors are having to close ranks just to keep their publications afloat) is the same in writing as it was when I was in sales: 97% will say no to you no matter what, so develop a thick skin early on or you’ll not make it to those 3% who will say yes.

Finding Your Niche

It’s important for both print and Internet writers that you find a niche that suits you and develop it. It can seem like going after every article idea that strikes you is a good thing because it keeps your options open but let’s face it, you’ll be a small fish in an enormous pond if you do that. The best way to get anywhere in writing is to be recognised as a big player in your field. Being an expert is a great way for editors to come to you with requests for articles and if you’re playing a wide field, you’re going to have a very difficult time making that happen.

If you find a niche that suits you, you’ve just made that big pond a lot smaller. It’s easier to develop your reputation in one or two clearly defined areas than it is to even get noticed when playing the field. The niche doesn’t have to be tiny (we’re not talking about “Hey, I’m Jane Smith and I review 7mm ratchet handles!” here) but it should be possible to define yourself in one sentence.

Some niche ideas are:

• Popular science writer, specializing in astronomy;
• Ancient Egyptian art and sculpture;
• Expert in Renaissance architecture;
• Newspaper comics of the 19th century;
• and so forth

For my part, I tend to specialise in two areas when writing for pay: English Law, and popular science. I do this because my background is originally in particle & nuclear physics, and now I’m studying law. I’ll admit to wandering outside those areas when I need to earn a bit more money but my core topics are what I base the foundations of my career on. It’s working out rather well.

The Places To Work

Writing is a mainly freelance endeavour and as such, everything you do comes down to personal preference. From the point of view of a British writer, one of the most frustrating aspects of trying to make a living online is that the majority of writing sites are US-only. When I started out, I lost track of the number of sites that don’t even bother telling applicants that they only accept American writers; or only tell you on the second (very long) page of an application. Some sites are better at listing their requirements but it’s best to check each one you think might work for you.

I’ve split my work across four sites, not counting my own blogs. I would write for more but, again, that means diluting my efforts and losing focus seems like a bad idea to me. The sites I write for are therefore:

1. Suite101
2. Demand Studios
3. Bukisa
4. Triond

I’ve listed these in order of preference but, again, this is all down to personal needs so don’t take my word as evidence of anything more than what I want to get out of writing. I go with Suite101 first of all because its reputation is excellent and everyone involved with the site is incredibly professional. They also have an excellent forum that’s full of friendly people to chat to, which makes the often lonely writing process not so lonely

They require a couple of articles worth of writing samples during the application process but given that you’re wanting to be a writer, putting together short articles (which you can then use on the site, if you so wish) shouldn’t be a tall order.

Next is Demand Studios. You’ll find a lot of bad press about these guys online and I’ll be the first to admit that some of it is justified. They recently opened up to applications from the UK and Canada so they’re one of those decent sites that actually accept non-US writers and for that they should be applauded. However, there is some resentment of the new influx of ‘foreign’ writers and I do detect that in some of their editors, from time to time. My advice is therefore to develop a thick skin when dealing with these guys.

The money is good (I make between 20 and 30 pounds an hour on average when working for them and some people make far more than that) but some of the editors don’t seem to understand that how they come across on screen isn’t how they would come across if talking to you; i.e. they’re confrontational and somewhat unreasonable. Not all of them, but enough to be annoying as hell.

Bukisa is a new one for me. I’ve been using it as a place to dump articles that I’ve written for Demand Studios but decided the editors there were asking too much of me in terms of rewrites, or just being unreasonable in general. So far, I’m having trouble making much money from them but I think with time and effort, it’s somewhere that can earn its keep. Unlike Suite101 and Demand Studios, there’s no real application process and you can log in using your Facebook account so it’s somewhere to consider as a dropping off point for work you can’t use elsewhere, if nothing else.

Finally, there’s Triond. I’ve used Triond for a while and never really made much money from it but I like its style. It’s very similar to Bukisa but, I believe, it’s an older site. You write articles and their editorial team selects which of their many magazine sites to put it on, then you get paid a small amount per page view. I used to use it as a dumping ground for articles I’d written for small press newsletters once their circulation had expired but I’m considering writing new content for it to see how well SEO will work there. Again, it’s worth having an account with a site like this because if anything, you can use it as a drop point for work you can’t sell anywhere else.

In summary

If any of this sounds a little mercenary, it’s because it is. If there’s one thing that’s not said enough about freelance writing it’s that you have to be harsh sometimes. You’re working for yourself and the only person who’s going to look out for you is you. You’re going to have to be part writer, part salesperson, part one-person-marketing-team and that means making decisions you probably don’t want to, at times when you’d rather not.

Nevertheless, if writing is what you want to do for a living, there’s no better way to do it. Find your niche, find the sites (or magazines, newspapers, etc.) that you can enjoy working with and go at it. Give it all you’ve got and enjoy it.

Just remember to pop back here and tell me how you get on. I’d love to hear from you, because writing can be a lonely game if we don’t make use of the Internet to chat to one-another.

It has been a busy time here.  Not only am I working hard on getting back to a regular routine with the comics after a few false starts caused by problems with the graphics tablet (the pen is starting to not function correctly – it judders or simply stops working, which is a shame) but I’ve been taking part in the 15 in 15 challenge this month on Suite101.com.

For those of you who don’t know, Suite101 is an online magazine where writers can post articles on topics they are interested in, and earn revenue based on ad clicks on those articles.  I have 58 articles on there at the time of writing; fifteen of which were added in the last fortnight because of this challenge.  It was hard work, of course, but it was so definitely worth it, too.

Normally I don’t get involved with the Suite challenges because I’m wary of spending too much time and effort working on projects for one outlet.  It feels like having all my eggs in one basket, plus all my chickens too.  However, I’ve been ill over the last few months and so I decided this was a good way of checking whether I could build up my stamina again long enough to get back to writing full time.  It seems clear that I can, so I feel I’m a winner here even if I don’t actually claim a prize in the competiton.

Alongside the comics and the writing for Suite101, I’ve been working on my End of Course Assessment for the Company Law course I’ve been studying with the Open University.  The deadline for this is Friday 02 April, which meant I could have left it until after the 15 in 15 challenge but if I did that, I’d never forgive myself. I’d have had maybe a day to write the thing after postal times are taken into account, which is nowhere near enough time.  What if something went wrong? I’d be screwed.

My office, as viewed from the doorway. Yes, it's a mess.

So I wrote it all over the weekend.  This meant taking time out from 15 in 15, so I had to push ahead last week in order to be able to even consider getting to the finish line.  I entered the weekend needing to write 4 articles, produced two of them on Saturday while taking breaks from my note-making for the assignment and then turned all my attention to writing the assignment.

It was a 4000 word job, about double the word count of a standard assignment and with less indication of what the University was wanting me to write than is normal.  In other words, my kind of challenge.

I started working on it when I sat down in my office late on Sunday morning.  Because I’d spent Saturday working on my notes, I was able to come to the project with a clear view of what I needed to write for the majority of it.  This is always a good thing; I work best when I can quickly fill a blank computer screen with basic notes that I can then flesh out.

I’ll freely admit that I didn’t work on the assignment all day because a) I’m still not 100% fit and healthy, so I need breaks and b) burnout sets in easily if you don’t take steps to fight it, so I need breaks.  I had about 80% done by the end of Sunday, which was technically sometime about 4am Monday.  I set my alarm and went for a few hours’ sleep.

My office, from in front of the bookshelves. I love it in here.

When I woke up, it was 11am and I was now eating into the time I had set aside for proofreading the final draft of the assignment and then writing the last two articles for the 15 in 15 challenge. I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t pleased about losing so much time.

Because I have a reasonably bad case of mixed connective tissue disease, it’s difficult for me to get going in the mornings. The fact that the disease has caused arthritis in my back and neck usually means I get a very poor night’s sleep, so I was surprised I’d slept through my alarm.  Anyway, the first thing I need to do is have a long, hot bath to relieve the muscle tension that builds up and calm the arthritis.  That means another two hours or so before I can be fully dressed and at my desk for work.  Not great when you’re already falling way behind.

However, I used the time in the bath to think through the last few parts of the assignment that needed writing, so it was fairly easy to get the writing done on that.  I had a third draft written, proof-read and stuffed into an envelope by 4pm.  A quick walk down to the Post Office and it was on its way to the University on the day I’d planned to send it.  Not bad, I think.

The Post Office is, at most, half a mile from my house but I walk everywhere I can because a) I need the exercise (I work at home, on a computer – I need all the exercise I can get!) and b) I can’t drive anyway (never took the practical test).  As it stands, I didn’t get back home until 5.30pm and I had a meeting that night at 8.30.  If I was going to get these last two articles done, I would be working hard and cutting it fine at the end.

I had one article written by the time I went out for my meeting.  It meant furious typing and I’m probably going to have wrist pains for a few days as a result but it was worth it.  The article reads rather well and I’m proud of it, but it had taken a lot longer than I’d planned.

So anyway, I headed out again for this meeting. I couldn’t postpone it at the last minute, that would have been bad form.  I went along, said my piece and came back as soon as I could. It was about 10pm when I got back, and I went straight to work on the final article.

By 11.45, it was ready to be uploaded. Finding the right image to use took a minute because I’d already worked out which of the images from my own library I’d use on it.  Linking it to other articles took a while, however.

When I clicked ‘publish’, I checked the clock.  00.03.

My heart sank.

Without really thinking about it, I clicked on the link to view the article in its published form.  I always do this, it’s a good way of making sure there have been no silly coding errors that I’ve missed when writing the thing or copying it over from OpenOffice into Suite101′s website.

At the top of the article was the date. It said it was published on Monday.  At first, I didn’t understand why.  Then I remembered: Suite101 is in Canada. Because of the time difference, it was still Monday for almost 8 more hours.  In the end, I’d been rushing for nothing.

Still, at least it’s done now. I’m pleased I took part and I’ll consider doing it again if the opportunity arises, but not if my coursework is going to be due at the same time.

For those of you who are interested, the articles I wrote for the challenge are:

• What does actus reus mean?
• The Norwegian calendar
• Ulterior Motives and the law of intentions
• How to Retweet using Twitter and TweetDeck
• How to tell the time in Norwegian
• How to count in Norwegian
• Jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice
• Development of strict liability in English law
• Accomplices and the Accessories and Abettors Act
• Conspiracy law and agreement to commit a crime
• Inchoate offences and the Criminal Attempts Act
• The Chronicles of Riddick movie review
• How to edit MediaWiki wikis and create wikilinks
• The rules of statutory interpretation
• The postal rule in English contract law

As you can see, I write a lot about law; and a fair amount about Norwegian, too.  These have become my key areas on Suite101. I’m looking to expand into other areas such as popular science (it would be a good opportunity to use my Physics degree, for a start) but for this challenge I thought it prudent to stick to my core areas for the most part, as this would make it easier to get a footing on the thing.

Having now managed to complete the challenge, I think I’ll look into branching out.  I’ll consider it a “well done” treat, maybe.

I think I’m starting to get to grips with the SEO requirements that go with making a living from sites like Suite101.  I’m set to get a small payment from them this month and I got one last month too, which means I’m starting to earn a small income from my writing there.  It’s only a tad over ten dollars (about six quid in English terms) but it’s something.

If I can build it up, perhaps I’ll get to the point where I can pay my bills through writing articles for Suite, as some other writers have managed.  It will be a long haul but one has to remember that freelance writing – and especially freelance writing on the Internet – is a business.  No business has ever made enough to pay the bills without a lot of damn hard work being put into it.  I am therefore both up for the challenge and prepared for the realities of hard, uncompromising work that come with it.

Speaking of work, I have spend the day drawing the Best New Comic Award ceremony for the Webcomic List Awards.  I wrote an article on the awards back in December and won an Editor’s Choice Award for it, which was nice, and now I’m happy to announce that my part in this year’s events is pretty much done.

I’m happy not because I don’t want to be involved (I do and I’ll join in again later in the year, when the next set of awards begin) but because now the art requirements are over, I can get back to finishing my own comics.

All over the mouse is nearing completion now and I’m sorry to say that I’m glad it is.  It has been a long, hard slog – longer and harder than I had planned – and I need to get back to the joke-a-day format if I’m going to keep up being able to write and blog as well as draw comics.  Doing these massive comics is a lot of hard work, and quite frankly they’re taking up too much of my time.  I can’t devote eight hours a day, three days a week to producing a comic; not when I also have writing to do.  It’s just too much.

So, when the comic finishes in about 5-6 episodes time, I will be happy to get back to the old 3-panel format.  That’s not to say I wish I’d never started the story because I’m glad I did.  I’ve told a story that needed telling and I’m happy to get some of the Nob Mouse backstory fleshed out, plus I got to explain the consequences of Emily and Tesrin’s time-travel escapades so, overall, the story has been a success.  I’m just sorry that I feel like I’m dragging it out.