According to “the Savvy Couple”, “You could become a paid freelance writer pretty easily.”
Might as well throw away all of those books by Bob Bly, Peter Bowerman, and others! Since becoming a paid writer is so easy, who needs ’em?
There are hundreds if not thousands of sites that describe freelance writing as “easy”. Hogwash. If it were easy, people wouldn’t buy scores of books, courses, and advice to help them make money via freelance writing.
Another site, “Amelia and JP”, also claims that writing is “easy”. Here is a screen grab of their site listing from a Google search for side hustle ideas:
At this point, you get the idea – countless bloggers are selling something as easy, when in fact, it is not.
Consider the following:
- New freelance magazine writers often pitch dozens or more queries before landing a paid job. There’s an article on The Write Life titled What 200 Rejections Taught Me About Being a Freelance Writer. It isn’t uncommon for new writers to experience a high failure rate. Does any of this sound easy?
- New freelance B2B writers that operate as generalists often struggle to land that first client. There’s a reason that there are so many courses designed to help people land their first client. More on that later.
- New direct response copywriters are up against A, B, and C list copywriters that have proven track records of copy that sells.
- New bloggers and content writers are up against cheap labor and high failure rates. If you’re starting your own blog, know that at least 80% of blogs fail. If you’re writing content for others, there’s a ton of demand, but also many roads to failure.
It Isn’t All Doom and Gloom
My goal isn’t to discourage you from freelance writing as a side hustle, rather, I want you to view this side hustle realistically. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that it is easy. It isn’t. But you can use that to your advantage. If most aspiring freelance writers, regardless of their chosen writing discipline, fail quickly. That means less competition in the long run, if you’re able to stick it out.
About Writing Courses and Books
These days, it seems like everyone is offering courses on how to make $100k as a freelancer. Some courses are great, and some are rubbish. We are going to do some digging for our readers to see which ones pass the B.S. test.