Problems Faced by Freelance Writers

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The freelance writer faces two challenges that are often opposed to each other. A freelance writer feels the need to create material that is within the scope of his or her interest. At the same time, the writing must be able to attract readers and publishers because that is where money is earned. Without some type of income from the writing, the freelance writer will end up in another profession. Like any other artist, the writer may not always want or feel like producing material that is marketable to others. This can lead to writers block when the writer has accepted an assignment that is outside of the writer’s field of expertise or interest.

Getting material accepted by publishers can be a major obstacle to freelance writing.

If the writer chooses to create material without a specific assignment, the risk is that no one will want to publish what was written. No matter how well the piece is crafted, if it does not fit what a publisher is seeking, it will not make it into print. Since the vast majority of freelance writers are unknowns, it is imperative that the writer do some research and discover what type of material that a given publisher is seeking. If the amount of time between beginning to write and submitting the article is more than a few days, the wants and needs of the publisher may have changed. Other writers may step in and submit articles on the same topic and make the next piece submitted superfluous. More trendy and news based articles are especially susceptible to this problem.

Online writing does not tend to pay enough to be a living.

The extremely talented writers who produce huge amounts of Internet content can live on this income as long as the words continue to flow. This can become excruciatingly hard work even for the most energetic writers. For the person who has a life in addition to writing, even a few days without large amounts of material being produced can cause income to begin to slide. It is the fresh content that keeps readers returning to your work. Another drawback to Internet writing is that the search engines change the algorithms that are used to find content. This can result in somewhat permanent and significant losses of revenue within hours of the change. Most Internet publishers reserve the right to adjust their submission and payment guidelines without notice. This means that there are no guarantees of future revenues to the writer both as payment for articles and pay per click or view. So, income reliability is a problem in this type freelance writing.

Straight competition is a challenge for the freelance writer.

Many writing opportunities are not exclusive. Writers are invited to become part of a pool of content producers. Invitations to produce the content may be offered to a dozen writers. All of the writers take the time to produce quality content, but only one is published and receives a payment. This deliberate competition can benefit the publisher by allowing the publisher to select the piece that best fits the desired direction. However, the other writers have lost the time spent producing the material and, in some cases, the rights to the work. Since the same writer does not always come out on top, this amounts to the writers playing the lottery for their livelihood.

A freelance writer can struggle with staying motivated to write.

Freelance means doing it when you feel like it to many people. Doing it later can become the bane of the freelance writer. If the topic is outside of the writer’s area of interest, it can seem dull and uninteresting to compose the article. This becomes more amplified if the piece requires extensive research or has to be forced into a style that is uncomfortable for the writer. Deadlines can be termination dates for the writing career. Any new thing seems exciting and challenging for a while. After a time, it will become a job. This is just as true for writing as any other endeavor. If the freelance writer can land work that is always inside his or her area of strongest interest, this type of lethargy can be avoided. It is rare for a writer to always be able to maintain this situation.

Writing for various editors can become challenging.

Every editor has his or her own interpretation of what makes clean writing. Some like short powerful sentences while others consider this style to be choppy. Many are sticklers for punctuation and some are not as long as the writing makes sense. The list of editor vagaries is extensive. Word choice, paragraph composition and length, topic sentences, and a long list of other troubles can get between the writer and the editor. The freelance writer does not enjoy the opportunity to develop a long term close relationship with one editor very often. Another difficulty that this can create is that the writer may be unable to develop a consistent style that reflects his or her best work.