How to become a freelance writer with no experience

With more companies looking towards remote distributed teams and increasingly flexible work arrangements around the world, there has never been a better time to start asking how to become a freelance writer with no experience.

Freelance writing has relatively lower barriers to entry for most beginners, and it’s part of the arts and media sector that’s experiencing a huge boom in freelancers today. Yet with so more opportunities and even more self-styled guides to getting started, choice fatigue is really starting to set in.

Wondering how to become a freelance writer with no experience? Looking for content writing jobs for beginners? Become a freelance writer today with our list of freelance tips here.

How to become a freelance writer with no experience in 5 tips

Tip 1: Pick a niche that works for you.

When people ask how to become a freelance writer, often the first piece of advice they’d get is to hop on either Upwork or one of many ‘content mills’ and start writing anything from the get-go. This might sound intuitive, but it’s actually harmful to your prospects of becoming a freelance writer.

When you write anything and everything, you’re not really contributing any ‘flesh’ here. Clients can’t see anything that potentially differentiates you from other freelance writers out there. Generalist freelance writers are like the low-hanging fruit companies have abundant access to. What you really should be doing is picking a niche that you’re interested in and can earn you a handsome profit.

Not sure which niche works for you? Check out this sweet list of the most lucrative blogging niches here. Personally, I’d advise writing about something you truly feel passionate about or interested in rather than something that gets you a high pay-out at the start. Let the interest build up into expertise – that’s how freelance writers get serious dough.

Tip 2: Always pitch and never beg.

It’s pretty common to see lots of new freelance writers requesting for jobs and offering ridiculously low rates on job forums and community boards. That’s a cardinal sin for any freelance writer.

If you’re serious about figuring out how to become a freelance writer with no experience, stop waiting on writing assignments or begging companies to give out projects. Start cold-emailing potential clients – send them a well-crafted email telling them how you can work together with them to add value to their business. Guest post wherever and whenever you can. Cover a story, pen your opinions down and share them with folks you’d like to get published with often.

People often talk about freelance blog writing jobs, but what freelance writers should be doing is simply putting themselves out there and creating the opportunities they want for themselves. Not sure how to start pitching? Get more tips from The Guardian here.

Tip 3: Have a portfolio space ready

If you wondering how to become a freelance writer with no experience, this might seem like a chicken-and-egg problem to you. It’s pretty common advice for freelancers of all stripes, and it’s widely considered among the best freelance tips because it’s really about getting the fundamentals down.

Before even looking for freelance writing assignments or pitching clients, you should have a space ready to showcase your projects. A portfolio space should be easily accessible, ideally online, well-curated and frequently updated. If a client wants to see some writing samples, simply send them a link to your portfolio.

For a more in-depth look at getting started with a writing portfolio, click here.

Tip 4: Put your audience before yourself

Now this is something a lot of new freelance writers often fail to recognise: You write to appeal to others, not yourself. Before you ask how to become a freelance writer with no experience, start by first thinking about what exactly gets different people ticking.

Consider these examples:

1. if you’re writing an article on motherhood for parents, you would want to use a casual, friendly and highly personal approach. But if you’re penning it for a corporate audience, say a company offering maternity care services, you need to write it from a more authoritative perspective.
2. If you’re writing an article about how healthier office pantries make for happier employees with employees in mind, you’ll keep things more personal, maybe even anecdotal. If you’re writing it for employers in mind, you’d want to couch it in terms of business returns and productivity gains.

Different audiences are persuaded by different approaches. As a budding freelance writer, always seek to understand your audience before writing. There are lots of guides to understanding audiences, and this one from Indiana University of Pennsylvania is a great place to start.

Tip 5: Focus on quality, not quantity

Again, this goes back to the whole point of writing anything and everything. Churning out 800 to 1000-word long pieces is easy once you’ve gotten the hang of basic structures, but how do you know if what you’re writing is actually delivering results.

This is a big mistake to make, and it’s also one that I’m guilty of. People don’t pay you to make a writing canvas out of their blogs, they pay you for bringing them more business. Do your blogposts, sales copy or product descriptions result in a higher conversion rate? Is there more engagement with your social media posts or blog articles? These are the sort of questions you need to consider when you ask how to become a freelance writer with no experience.

BONUS Tip: Get a professional phone number

Figuring out how to become a freelance writer with no experience can be confusing and frustrating, and a simpler step you can take is to start with a professional phone number.

Having a professional phone number is the closest thing to having a professional ‘presence’ for many freelancers. There’s really no need to get a hot desk or work area in a co-working space, but that also doesn’t mean you can completely neglect maintaining a professional image.

When you have a professional phone number you can readily share with clients, it also helps keep your work and personal life separate. Maintaining a good work-life balance is a huge struggle many freelance writers face, and you can avoid the problem by getting yourself a professional phone number for your freelance writing work.

Become a better freelance writer with Phoner

With Phoner, you have access to unlimited phone numbers from around the world you can use immediately without having to get yourself a new phone or SIM card.

As an aspiring freelance writer, our numbers can provide you with not only a professional business number, but also help you reach out to international clients at cheaper rates. Want to promote your services online? Use our second phone numbers and keep your actual phone number safe from potential scam calls and robocalls while you grow your freelance writing career.

And that’s our quick look at how to become a freelance writer with no experience. Get Phoner now and start your freelance writing career on a stronger note today!