Considering Freelance Writing as a Way to Make Money?
Some Things to Consider Before Getting Started
Is Freelance Writing Dead ?
About 2 1/2 years ago, I started really falling out of love with freelance writing. Let’s be clear, I don’t know if I was so much in love with freelance writing or the potential for high earnings. The thing was, I have (not had) I have a number of friends who have become high earning freelancers over the years. As a person who loves writing I thought that this may the way that I grow my income as an online content creator.
Instead, I discovered the hard way that I don’t enjoy freelance writing. It stressed me out. The different editors, each organization had different writing protocols and it felt like I had to constantly plan for the moment when my client would eventually go away. Then there was all of the friction in the business model.
In particular, potential legislation that could negatively impact people doing contract work. I just didn’t enjoy it so I slowly phased out this part of my business and I’m glad that I did. One thing I forgot to mention-my editors were assume and I loved the content I wrote. I just strongly disliked the business of freelancing. If you’re thinking about freelance writing I’m not saying don’t add a freelance writing revenue stream. Instead, I’m sharing some things to consider before you begin working on your next freelance project.
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Podcast Episode
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Case Studies
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Paulette Eratto-Latinas in Podcasting (Building a Virtual Summit)
Freelancing and Artificial Intelligence
There is no way that I can write a post about freelancing without discussing how AI is harming freelance writers. The harm is happening in a couple of unexpected ways.
Organizations are opting to eliminate whole teams of contract and in-house writers to use AI generated content.
Overcorrection on the organization side specific to fact checking and source requirements for posts. I’ve noticed that companies/organizations are setting content standards that aren’t unreasonable…until you look at the rates freelancers are being paid. Companies are putting an unfair burden on their writers and it feels like they aren’t being compensated for that additional work.
Content approaches being changed drastically vs. slowly testing out their new process. Because they’re changing systems quickly (likely with lowering costs) in mind-freelancers are getting burned in the process.
The Verdict
It’s my opinion that the faster an organization switched to AI-the more problems they’ll encounter with content quality, audience dissatisfaction and likely will have to backtrack some of the changes that they’ve made. However, it will likely take time to manage the lack of trust that previously employed freelancers were left feeling after initial changes.
Google (Seems to) Hate Freelance Experts
One of the most disconcerting changes that my high earning freelancer friends have reported is that Google is signaling that it prefers content written by “in-house” experts vs. freelancers. There are so many freelancers who are credentialed, legitimate experts in the content spaces that they’re creating in. The problem is that Google is scrapping data and finding that freelancers are writing posts for different companies…because they’re freelance writers. I actually think that companies will pushback on this for a couple of reasons.
Expense placed on the company-A freelancer is cheaper than a part-time or full-time employee. Google is placing an expectation on companies that they might not be able to afford to fulfill.
Workflow-There may be different points in the year when a company is producing content. Again, they might not need a dedicated staff person to fulfill those needs. And companies might not have the resources to train a team member to produce this type of work. That may cause companies to fall back on AI content potentially creating lower quality content and now you see where this is going.
Search Results Prioritization-If you’re a regular listener of Niche Pursuits with Spencer Hawes and Jared Baumann spend a lot of time discussing the issue of results prioritization and the quality of results being pooled up by Google. There has been an obvious change in quality, search doesn’t results don’t seem to be as good as before. The question now becomes how can creators get back in front of the people they’re trying to reach?
The Verdict
It sometimes feels like Google has purposely broken their algorithm with the goal of putting it back together. They may have unintentionally caused lasting harm to their business as creator faith in the product has dropped over the years.
Is This The End of Formulaic SEO as a Content Business Model?
What Should You Do?
There seems to be a very clear signal that for certain types of niches-SEO only in the content design won’t work. And that means that freelancers in those spaces will find it increasingly challenging to find work.
Some Strategies to Consider
Outbound Pitching-In 2025 you’ll find me referencing outbound pitching quite a bit. No one knows you’re wanting to work until you tell them. Outbound pitching as a freelancer means setting aside dedicated time to get in front of the editors/teams making hiring decisions for writers.
Expanding Your Niches-Are you solely positioned in one content area? Moving forward you may want to expand the different types of niches you write in.
Ghostwriting-If you don’t care about always having a byline, expanding into ghostwriting could be a great opportunity to earn more in your business. All of my friends who ghostwrite charge more than they do for their bylined work.
Rethink where you’re finding clients-There are so many organizations an that produce written content for their audiences. Here’s a random list that I thought up while working this post:
Specific departments or areas of study at a University
Business school
Journalism school
Medical School
Alumni Associations
University Publications
Any large organization that produces in-house content
Nike
Your favorite restaurant chain
Costco
Create a Mastermind Group-Even though I don’t actively freelance anymore, I’m still a member of a freelance mastermind. It has given me a direct view of what is and isn’t working in the freelancing space, the drop in clients and how my friends are shifting their business models in real time.
Change Your Niche
I listen to a ridiculous number of podcasts. And one of the podcasters that I listen to is a freelancer who is (still) making great money. In a recent podcast episode they shared that they primarily work with industry associations and membership groups who need written content/collateral.
This got me thinking about what other industries produce written content that is designed to educate and engage their community members?
Share your suggestions below. Maybe these ideas will help a freelancer out.
Freelancer Newsletters
Need help finding leads? Here are some places that publish weekly leads.
Harlow-I’ve had the pleasure of working with the wonderful founders of this resource.
The Freelance Beat-When you land on the main page, make sure to click on the three horizontal lines on the left corner of the page. You’ll find the opt-in details their.
Qwoted-The leads here are really good. You’ll have to join but I’m pretty sure it’s free or really inexpensive (under $20) to join.
Kaitlyn Arford-She curates a pretty amazing list of leads every week.
The Writers Job Newsletter-I’ve received this newsletter for several years.
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