Having been a freelancer for nine years now, I knew I'd be disappointed with the insight offered by the clickbaity title"Do You Have What It Takes to be a Moneymaking Freelance Writer?"
But because I really am a curious person who checks things out rather than assuming they are what I believe them to be, I clicked it to find out for myself.
All the advice in that post focuses on writing well and being disciplined about sticking to it, reading voraciously, and being curious. In other words, we have the old cliche of work hard to follow your dream, and you will attain it.
Utter nonsense! Real life doesn't work like a Disney movie.
The difference between those who really make money and those who don't is not the skills you develop but the connections you make... and a touch of serendipity.
Why skills alone don't cut it
You can be a writer on par with Jane Austen, but if you don't get your abilities noticed by the right person at the right time, you could end up churning out blogs for just $5- $10 a piece on sites like Upwork. Just working hard won't advance you that far.
The content mill proposition
In fact, that myth is what content mills use to lure writers into complicated reward structures that assure them of only fractions of a cent per view payable at some unattainable threshold level. "Just keep generating content, and you'll increase your earnings," they say, dangling that carrot that will forever remain out of reach for the poor souls caught up in such systems.
Fame without fortune
A similar ploy is used by those sites that will offer you no compensation other than exposure, which, they say, will, ultimately lead you not just to fame but at least some fortune.Don't you believe it!
Those who get sucked into such system will be mired in the false reality of low rates, which are not a reflection of quality of work as much as they are of the resources or generosity of the publisher.
The only way forward as a freelancer
You have to connect with people who either have the power to hire or who can recommend you to those who do. You also need to get on board when the publication is flush enough with funds to offer a decent rate rather than demanding you work fora pittance. That's where the next quality comes in.
Serendipity
The way I ended up writing on tech was due to serendipity. In 2010, when I was starting to see possibilities in freelancing, I discovered an ad for work on Internet Evolution (it no longer exists). It was offering writers $10 per comment (that not per blog but just per comment). It seemed easy enough, so I signed on and then signed on to comment on additional sites form the same publisher.
After a short while I was invited to writer at the rate of $200 a blog. For someone who was still at the beginning of her writing career, it seemed to be pretty good rate, particularly as it had the buying power beyond what $200 buys today. In fact, some would still consider that a good rate because there are publishers out there that won't pay more than $100 or even $25 a blog. I know this because every once in a while I reach out to a publication or have it reach out to me and get offered those very low rates despite having hundreds of publications to my name now.
The point is that without having connected with the people who were then offering a rate that they considered fair rather than what they considered what was the least writers would settle for, I had an anchor amount that didn't put as far down as those plugging away for $25.
As it turned out, my timing was especially fortuitous because some time later the comment compensation dropped to $5, and newer sites tried to get writers to work for just $150 a piece. I only still got the $200 because I insisted on it.
Myths of merit
Did I retain what was becoming a higher than average rate it because I'm that much of a better writer? No, nor do I believe that writers who have positioned themselves to consistently earn $1 a word are necessarily better wordsmiths than I, though they likely are better negotiators and networkers.
That merit is always rewarded and that better performers are always compensated better because they're worth is is a myth. While it's good to read myth-like stories and fairy tales to build you imagination as a writer, it's not good to believe that virtue, hard work, or event talent is inevitably rewarded in real life.
Reality
As in any business, for freelancers to prosper, they need to make those vital connections that will give them opportunities for work and income.
