Luke Leighfield

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How to be a freelance writer

👋

Hi, I’m Luke.

I’ve spent the past seven years working as a freelance writer for people like BT, Christian Aid, Facebook, Mailchimp, Memrise, Monzo, Nike, OVO Energy, Siemens, Stack Overflow, Tracksmith, Volvo and Wonderbly.

This post contains everything I’ve learned.

Contents

  • Introduction

  • Reading things

  • Writing things

  • Making a website

  • Finding work

  • Using tools

  • Making money

  • Bonus tips

  • Talk to me

Introduction

✏️ What’s a freelance writer?

A freelance writer is someone who gets paid to write words for different people. These words can appear in lots of different places.

I’ve mostly written words for people’s websites, social media or marketing emails but I’ve also written words for things in print – like brochures, activity books and adverts.

Freelance writers sometimes work at one place for a period of time (anything from a couple of days to a couple of years) or at a mix of places on an ongoing or temporary basis.

Other names for ‘writer’

🦦 Is freelance life for you?

Freelancing can be great. You typically earn more money per day than you would as a full-time employee. You have more freedom to decide when, and how much, you work. You can work for multiple clients at the same time, gaining experience at lots of different places and learning a tonne of new stuff.

But it can be rough, too. There’ll be times when you have no work, or way too much work. You need to know how to run a small business as well as write words. Not everyone likes that. It can be lonely. Sometimes you have to take on work you hate just to pay the bills.

Freelancing is a lot easier if you have a partner with a steady income, which gives the two of you some stability. You can do it as a single person (obviously!) but you need to be good with money. Make sure you’ve always got a safety net of a few months’ income in case the work dries up. 

If you’re the kind of person that spends all their money as soon as it comes into your account, you’ll probably find freelancing pretty stressful. It’s worth investing some time in making a personal budget.

🏅 Are you a good writer?

If you want someone to pay you to write, you need to be good at writing. The trouble with writing is that the ‘rules’ are pretty loose. It’s not maths or science. It’s all about taste, so there are lots of different ‘right’ ways to do things.

Here are some things to think about.

What were your English grades like at school? 

Were you good at writing essays? Don’t get me wrong – school’s not always the best indicator of one’s abilities. I definitely hated writing about Shakespeare. But if you’re not sure whether you can write, thinking about your school grades isn’t a bad place to start.

Can you spell good? 

Do you find it easy to write without making spelling or grammar mistakes? Are you a stickler for accuracy? As a freelance writer, you need to deliver work that’s flawless. Mistakes can be costly for your clients – and for you, too.

Do you have a degree? 

I think degrees are bits of paper that don’t mean very much – but lots of people still like to know that you have one. If you’re trying to be a freelance writer, it can help if you have an English or humanities degree.

To be clear: you don’t need a degree, but some employers might want you to have one, particularly when you’re starting out. Thankfully, many employers are starting to put less emphasis on degrees. Hopefully that’ll continue.

Reading things

If you want to be good at writing, you need to be good at reading. It all helps: books, articles, adverts, short stories, poetry – anything with words. Read widely, take notes, and develop a love for language.

While it pays to read lots of stuff, it’s also important to pay particular attention to the things you want to get paid to write. I write a lot of web copy, app copy, emails and content. So when I read those things from other brands, I try to think about what I like and what I don’t like.

📚 Recommended reading

My writer friend Thom Wong has a super-helpful website about getting paid to write: paymeforwords.com.

These are some of my favourite books about creativity and work:

These are some of my favourite books about writing, but more on the writing books side (not freelance writing):

Finally, these books are more in line with freelance writing. Whenever I speak to writer friends, it seems like lots of people own them but not many people have learned much from them. Still, take a look and see if you think any might be helpful for you:

P.S. Don’t buy these books from Amazon. It’s the worst.

Writing things

Getting that first bit of work is always the hardest thing. Before anyone’s going to pay you to write, you need to show that you can do it. These ideas might help.

✍️ Start a blog

It’s your blog so you can write about anything you like. On my blog, I write about my dog, running, money, tech, books and personal projects. At this stage, it doesn’t really matter what you write about – you just want to show people that you can string sentences together.

When you write about stuff you care about, it tells people what you’re interested in – which can lead to the kind of work you actually want to do.

I’ve landed work with running brands because I write about running, for example. That’s a win-win, because getting paid to write is even more fun when it’s a subject you enjoy.

👭 Write for someone else

There are loads of places that would love to publish your words, particularly if you’re offering them for free or cheap (just to get started, of course). Think about curated Medium pages, indie magazines, or your mate’s blog on obscure 90s trance music.

When you’re travelling around the internet and reading things that you like, think about what you might be able to contribute to those sites. Send an email. Make a pitch.

🆓 Offer some pro bono (free) help

You probably know loads of people who’d chew your arm off for some free words. Tell your social media pals that you’re looking to build up your writing portfolio, and to contact you if they’re interested.

Making a website

The first thing potential clients will want to see is some examples of work. The easiest way to show this is on a website.

First, you need to buy a domain. There are loads of options but I recommend Hover.

Then, you need to make a website. Again, there are loads of options but I recommend Squarespace.

Next, it’s time to put something on the website.

👋 Introduction

Tell people who you are and what you do. This page can be a mix of professional stuff (like where you’ve worked) and fun stuff (like your passion for D&D). Sharing a little about your personality, not just your passion for words, helps you to find clients that you’ll click with.

Here’s mine: lukeleighfield.fyi/writing.

🖼️ Portfolio

Some people display their portfolio in a visual way if they do a lot of writing for things like adverts. If your work’s word-heavy (like long-form content) then it might be better in a wordy format, like my portfolio page.

I also have five case studies on my website, which allow me to go a little more in-depth: Boords, Finimize, Stack Overflow, Volvo, Wonderbly.

Whenever you work somewhere, remember to send a copy of the finished work to your personal email address so you can still access it once you’ve left the company. It’s really easy for work to go missing, which means you can end up not having anything to show for spending three months at someone’s office.

Download work or take screenshots throughout the process so you have different versions. If your work has a positive impact, like increasing the clickthrough rate on an email, save that information somewhere so you don’t forget it. All this stuff is like gold dust in your portfolio.

📄 CV

There are myriad ways to format your CV. As with lots of these things, it comes down to personal preference. Some people include a photo. Some CVs run for three pages. I keep my CV simple and short.

On my website, I link to a live version of my CV in a Google Doc so I can update it whenever and it’s always accurate.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social media

Lots of writing requires you to know how social media works. So if you have a presence on any social networks, it’s good to pop links on your site so people can take a look. 

I link to my profiles on Goodreads, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, Spotify and Twitter at the bottom of every page on my website.

📬 Contact details

I only have my email address on my website because I don’t really want unknown numbers calling me all the time. Lots of other people put their phone number on their website as well as their email address. Some people use contact forms (I think they suck).

🗣️ References

I try to ask clients for a quote once I’ve finished the work. It helps to have a few of them on your website to let future clients know that other people have enjoyed working with you (assuming they did).

You could ask them to send over a quote in an email. Or, even better, they could leave a recommendation on LinkedIn so it’s more visible – and also so it’s clear that you didn’t make it up.

💁‍♀️ Examples

Check out some of my writer friends’ websites for more inspiration.

Finding work

Now that you’ve got a sweet website, it’s time to get some work.

📣 Tell all your friends

When I decided I wanted to be a freelance writer back in 2013, I posted about it on Facebook and Twitter. A couple of friends told other friends, and I landed my first bits of work. Seven years later, I’m still doing it.

Over the years, most of my freelance work has still come organically through word of mouth – friends telling other friends, clients telling other people.

While it can be daunting to put yourself out there and announce your new career to the world, I still think it’s the best way to get work.

Here’s a sample post for you to use:

Hi friends, I’ve started working as a freelance writer! If you know anyone who needs help with words – like web copy, marketing emails, social posts or blogs – please send them to [your website]. Thanks! ✏️

You might also want to email 50 of your closest friends with the same message. They’re more likely to see it, it feels more intimate, and – if you have time – you can customise it for each person.

If you send a group email, remember to use bcc.

💼 Check out job listings

In the UK, most ‘creative companies’ post their job listings on LinkedIn. Websites like The Dots and If You Could are smaller but still good.

It’s definitely worth creating a job alert on each of those sites. But, like I said above, I think most work comes through word of mouth – so make sure you tell your pals, too.

🏆 Bag some big names

I was lucky to start my ‘career’ at a cool tech company, SoundCloud. Even though I didn’t do a lot of writing there, people still liked to see that name on my CV. I’m sure it’s got me work that I wouldn’t have managed to get without that name.

If you know friends who work at companies that people admire, try to get those companies on your CV. Even if it’s just doing a day’s work on something absolutely mind-numbing. That name will pique people’s interests, and might be the thing that elevates you above a bunch of other comparable writers.

Using tools

Picking the right tools can make your life simpler.

🧰 Google Docs

I always use Google Docs for sharing work with clients and gathering feedback. Never Word. With Google Docs, there’s only one live version of the document, so no one gets confused about which version is the right one. It’s also easy to set different access levels so you can choose who’s able to view, comment or edit the document.

🧰 WorkFlowy

Lately, I’ve been using WorkFlowy to track everything in my life. It’s great for making lists, taking notes, and a tonne of other stuff. In the past, I’ve used Bear, Notion, Trello and lots of others. 

Don’t trust people who claim to have The Perfect App when it comes to this stuff. There’s no right answer! Find the app that works for you, get comfortable with it, stick with it. And if you get bored and want to try something new, do that.

🧰 Grammarly

Make sure you install the Grammarly plugin to spot any sneaky typos or grammatical boo-boos. Even the best writers make mistakes.

🧰 Hemingway

This nifty little website will help you simplify your writing. I use it all the time.

🧰 More tools

Check out this post: 29 tools I use to get things done.

Making money

It’s time to get paid.

💰 Set your rate

There are a few different ways to charge for your work:

  • By the hour

  • By the day

  • Per project

I try not to charge by the hour because that’s not how brains work. You don’t have eight hours of productive brain time every day. I reckon I have about three. Just because you can grind out an 800-word blog post in one hour, it doesn’t mean you should. Good luck doing that eight times in succession.

I prefer to charge by the day. There’s not much point in me telling you how much I can get done in a day, because you might be able to do more or less. We’re all different. You’ll learn this through trial and error. As a guide, I would ask for a day’s pay to write an 800-word blog post, or a couple of smallish web pages. Not everyone will agree with me.

You can also charge per project. Some businesses prefer this, particularly if it’s a meaty project, because they know exactly how much the work’s going to cost them. The trouble is that it can be really hard to estimate how long it’s going to take you to do a large piece of work.

If a client really wants to charge a project fee, here are some tips on charging the right amount:

  • Do a section of the work first to get a feel for what’s involved. Multiply the time it takes you to do it by the amount of work (e.g. pages) there is to do.

  • Create an estimate as best you can, then add on another 25-50% to cover any surprises.

  • Make sure you’re clear about how many rounds of feedback and amends your fee includes. Some clients (not many!) will continually squeeze you for more. Don’t let them.

That said, I’m not great at estimating the time it takes to do things. Instead, I try to provide a range (e.g. ‘I think this will take between 10 and 15 days, so £x to £x) and I keep the client posted throughout the process about how long I think it’s going to take.

The most important thing is to be empathetic. The client doesn’t want an unexpectedly large bill at the end of the project. But you also don’t want to misquote and end up doing a tonne of work for free. A good client will understand this.

📊 Facts and figures

There’s lots of information out there about how much you should charge for your work. This is my best estimate if you’re a writer working in London. You might want to reduce the figures slightly for other parts of the country where life isn’t so damn expensive.

  • Junior writer (no / limited experience): £150-200 per day

  • Middleweight writer (a few years’ experience): £200-300 per day

  • Senior writer (4+ years’ experience): £300-400 per day

  • Lead writer (6+ years’ experience): £400+ per day

ProCopywriters says that rates are higher. I don’t really know any people getting paid that much money. It’d be nice, though.

If you’re charging by the hour, I’d advise dividing your day rate by six, so you’re getting a bit more per hour than you would on your day rate.

🙅‍♂️ Don’t budge on your rate

Lots of people will ask if you can give them a discount on your day rate. They might justify this by saying it’ll lead to more work, or that they’ll pay you more in the future. 

Sadly, that rarely happens. Clients ghost people all the time. It’s like Tinder but worse ‘cause you need that money to pay rent.

If you change your day rate for a client, it’s really hard to get that rate back up. I only do this if it’s a client I really want to work for. Or if I’m really desperate for money. But it’s pretty much always a bad idea. If you can, hold out for a better client. 

If a client wants a discount because they’re offering you a longer contract, or more days of work, make sure you get that in writing. Better still, get the money upfront. These things have a habit of falling through.

📑 Make an invoice template

Here’s mine. Make a copy then add your details.

🤑 Get paid (and charge late fees)

Clients legally have to pay you within 30 days of receiving your invoice. Most of them do this. Some of them need a little cajoling. Here are some tips.

  1. Before you send your invoice over, ask for the email address of the accounts person. When you send the invoice, send it to the accounts person and cc your contact at the company

  2. If you’ve still not been paid three weeks after sending your invoice, reply to your original email reminding them that it’s due in a week

  3. A day before the invoice is due, remind them again – and say that you’ll have to charge a late fee if it’s not paid on time

  4. One day after the invoice is due, send an amended invoice that now includes a late fee (this link tells you how to calculate it)

  5. If you don’t get a reply about this within a couple of days, email again with the new, higher, late fee

  6. If you start to get the willies and are wondering if you’ll ever get paid, I recommend pursuing more aggressive tactics:

    • Email every day

    • Call / text your contact at the company (daily, if needed – unsociable times work well)

    • Resend your email and cc someone important at the company, like the CEO

In my experience, the more aggressive tactics at the end of that list will ensure you get paid. You deserve to be paid on time. Don’t feel bad about it.

I always follow these steps – even if I can survive without the money. Why? Because I know it’s a huge problem for other freelancers, and people aren’t always able to speak up about it. If you’re able to make a fuss, do it.

Side note: if you go down this route, you’ll probably never get work from this company again. But you probably don’t want it anyway.

🏦 Get a business bank account

Mixing up your business money with your personal money is a bad idea. Don’t do it! You can get a free business account with Monzo (my preference), Starling, Tide, and loads of others. It takes two minutes and it’s a smart idea.

🧾 Expense things

Use your fancy new business account to pay for your business expenses, like travelling to the office, buying tasty lunch, ordering books, getting a computer, and anything else related to your work. These are all valid expenses if you’re a writer.

📈 Track your income and expenses

Lots of people use whizzy accounting software like Xero to sort out their accounts. I use a simple spreadsheet in Google Sheets. It’s free and it totally does the trick. It just means that I have to spend a few minutes every month inputting some data.

Here’s my accounts spreadsheet template. Make a copy then add your details.

🏢 Optional: register as a limited company

If you think you’re going to stick at this freelance writing thing, you might want to register as a limited company rather than working as a sole trader. It can be more tax-efficient, so you’ll make a little more money. But you’ll also need to file an extra tax return for your business, as well as your personal tax return.

If you go down this route, you might want to hire an accountant. It costs money, but a good accountant will save you far more money than you pay them. Ask your freelance friends who they use.

You might also want to start a pension. After all, you’re not getting a fancy company pension like your full-time mates. PensionBee is a good option if you’re in the UK. If you sign up with this link, we’ll both get £50 – so we can retire a little bit earlier.

Bonus tips

  • Try not to work with assholes (unless they pay really well)

  • Try not to be an asshole

  • Help your fellow freelancers out – they’ll return the favour

  • Charge late fees!

  • Consider joining a community of like minded folk, like Leapers or ProCopywriters

  • Don’t work too late – your life is more important than your work

  • Don’t rely on freelance writing for creative satisfaction. Keep some side projects on the go. Do other things to stay sane and stretch your creative muscles. Some freelance writing work will be humdrum – and that’s okay!

  • Take a full hour for your lunch break. Never eat at your desk

Talk to me

If you’ve enjoyed this post and want to pick my brain about writing, email me to arrange an online meeting. I can help with:

  • General writing questions

  • Making your portfolio pop

  • Reviewing work

  • Ongoing mentoring

  • Other stuff, probably

I charge £60 per hour or £35 per half hour. If you’re a student, on a low income or out of work, email me to discuss a discount.

🙇‍♂️ Say thanks

If you got some value from this post and want to say thanks, you can send me some money for a beer at monzo.me/lukeleighfield.

During June 2020, I’ll be donating all the money to anti-racism charities.

If you want to keep in touch, sign up to my newsletter, Ten Things.

writingLuke Leighfieldwriting, copywriting, freelancingComment