Can You Freelance Write Straight Out of College?
by Christopher Gerlacher
During my junior year of college, I took a business writing class.
One of our assignments was a 650-word opinion editorial about any topic we wanted to cover.
I wrote about the sexual misconduct survey results that just came out at my school, and my professor helped me get it published in the Daily Camera six weeks later.
Getting that article published was an incomparable high, and that’s when I knew I wanted to become a freelance writer.
How a Business Major Became a Freelance Writer
I studied Strategy & Entrepreneurship and Human Resources, so I had some options straight out of business school. However, I didn’t get a rush from any of them like I did from writing. I always wanted to work for myself, so freelance writing was a natural next step.
The most important thing my degree taught me was how to pivot my business idea when it wasn’t working. That flexibility came in handy when my cold emails and query letters fell flat.
I learned how to adjust my pitches so I could get work. There are a lot of little things you have to be good at to make freelance writing work, so that willingness to learn is invaluable.
Getting My First Freelance Gigs
My first freelance gig was a blogging job that advertised on a bulletin board in the business school. I reached out to the email on the slip of paper, sent a link to my Daily Camera op-ed, and wrote for WellWallet.com. Word got around the business school, and I briefly ghostwrote for a lecturer at CU Boulder.
I’ve also always wanted to write a book. I’d written a non-fiction manuscript in college, but it was a terrible piece of writing, and I didn’t have the platform to go anywhere with it anyway. I ghostwrote a non-fiction manuscript that was much better, but it wasn’t mine to sell.
However, I always loved fiction, and I thought I could learn to do it. By the time the first two freelance gigs ended, I’d started my first attempt at a novel, and by the end of the year, I was writing at least 2,000 words a day.
Tumbling Down the Fiction Learning Curve
I spent a full year working on a thriller novel. About six of those months were spent tumbling down the learning curve.
I didn’t get any positive feedback until the third draft, and the only pages that were good were the last eight chapters. I still had to start over to get something I could submit to agents.
Then I had to learn how to write a good query letter and make sure my sample chapters – the first three – were gripping. My first two final drafts of my query letter were bad, and I didn’t get anyone to ask for the full manuscript until my fourth month of querying.
Writing a novel, revising it, selling it to an agent, selling it to a publisher, and then finally working with the publisher toward a release is a massive investment of time and energy. I wanted to start that process early while I had time to fail if it didn’t work.
But as of this writing, I’ve had two agents ask for full manuscripts in the past week. Progress is slow, but it’s a steady march forward.
What Do I Write About?
Most of my content writing is a mix of business and social issues.
I’m currently writing for My Green Living Guide, a brand-new green living blog. It’s a great gig because I decide what I write about, and it’s a good chance to test and expand my Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge. I still end up researching different topics depending on who I’m writing for, though.
In fiction, I’m a thriller writer through and through. I love putting readers on the edge of their seats. In fact, I still have Chapter 11 of Killing Floor dog-eared because the twist was so good.
I get a kick out of getting reactions like that to my writing, and thrillers just fit everything I love about a good story into one genre. Same goes for horror and most of Stephen King’s novels.
Making Good Impressions on Current and Future Clients
To woo new clients, I lean heavily on past work. I have a page on my website that links to all the freelance work I’ve done. It includes everything from resumes I’ve uploaded to links to my work across the internet.
The nice thing about writing is you usually apply with writing samples. That means you can get a lot of mileage out of past work. I treat every article as a potential sales tool, because every article really is a potential sales tool.
I keep current clients happy by providing an editorial calendar at the beginning of the month and letting them know what and when I’m going to write.
Clients like dependable writers.
Little things like being organized and proactive help you stand apart from writers who are scraping by doing the bare minimum.
The Most Lucrative Writing Gigs
Content-writing gigs are my favorites, but they’re only lucrative if they’re priced correctly.
At the beginning of my freelance career, I was paid by the word. Sometimes, I still get paid by the word. However, my goal is to be paid on a monthly retainer instead. It’s more stable and it gives writers more flexibility to mix long and short-form content.
This is where SEO knowledge becomes critical for online writing. If you can make a case for increasing a website’s organic traffic, conversion rates, or incremental sales, then you can make a strong case for charging a monthly fee for a set of articles.
To get that far, you need more than writing ability. You also need to understand how to write content that search engines can find.
Remember that you’re being hired to help your client rank on Google or to convince more their customers to buy from them. Telling your clients how you can accomplish those things for them will greatly improve your pitch.
The Hardest Part about Freelancing
Freelance writing is a rollercoaster. Sometimes you’re doing a job you love, and then your client runs out of money and the gig is over. Suddenly, you have to go back to querying for free instead of writing for money.
Luckily, I have supportive family and friends to lean on during the lows and to celebrate with during the highs. It helps when it feels like there are other people who feel like my career is going somewhere, too. That support system has made a huge difference in my young freelancing career.
Three Must-Haves for a New Writer
If you want to write for a living, then you need to know:
How to get paid
How to get work
How to do keyword research
I use QuickBooks to get paid. It’s easy for new business owners to understand. It generates invoices for you and keeps track of when payments are due. You have enough to worry about without learning finance in an Excel file. Pay the QuickBooks fees and thank yourself later.
I also love WritersWork.com. It pulls writing gigs from six or eight different websites and displays them in a clean feed. It’s about $50 for full access, and it saves me a lot of time when I’m querying.
Finally, I use Google’s Keywords Everywhere browser add-on. I love it because:
It’s free.
It shows monthly search volumes, related searches, and keyword competition.
Those are all great pieces of information if you’re trying to build a keyword strategy for your clients. It’s great for coming up with articles, too.
Advice for New Writers: Write When You Don’t Feel Like Writing
Learn to write when you don’t feel like writing.
That’s a hard muscle to work at first, but it is critical that you strengthen it.
If you become a content writer, then you’ll be expected to produce content on a reliable schedule. If you write fiction, then you’ll have to write a certain number of words a day just to get the book done. You’ll also be on a publishing schedule if the book does well and writing only when you feel inspired just won’t cut it.
Besides, the more you write, the better you’ll get. That’s valuable in and of itself.
Final Thoughts and Book Recommendations
Writing is a tough business, but if you keep submitting, keep learning, and keep writing, then you can make it. There are a few books that made a big impression on me while I was learning how to become a freelance writer. Here are the big ones:
Content Writing:
The Art of SEO by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, and Jessie C. Stricchiola
SEO for Dummies by Peter Kent
How to Write Copy that Sells by Ray Edwards
Fiction:
On Writing by Stephen King
Save the Cat Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
Story Genius by Lisa Cron
Books similar to what you want to write
There’s a lot you can learn from experts, but at some point, you have to just go out and do it. Submit an article. Write something new.
Rinse and repeat.
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Christopher Gerlacher is a freelance writer tucked under the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado. He started his career by writing opinion editorials in the Daily Camera. Christopher got his B.S. in Business Administration from CU Boulder and launched his freelance career straight out of school. He developed his search engine expertise on several green living blogs and cover letter edits. Now, he primarily works as a remote content writer.
He’s also written a thriller novel that he’s been querying since April 2019. His query letter has resulted in two full manuscript requests, and he hopes to secure an agent and pursue fiction writing.
In his free time, Christopher is an avid runner, hiker, and classical guitarist. Although he’s a Dallas native, he’s come into his own as a Coloradan.
For more information on Christopher and his work, please see his website and LinkedIn page, or connect with him on Twitter.
