How long did it take you to start earning $$ with freelancing?

To get paid at all? About a month. I sold a kinda goofy "personal essay" for $10.

To earn a full time living at it? I'm still working on that. I've been at it for about a year (although it's been a crazy year--messy break-up, legal problems, temporary homelessness, etc.) and I'm usually making between $200 and $700 a month with writing. But that's just squeezing writing in around a full-time day job and random other life stuff. I'm afraid I don't have any real advice other than just keep on keeping on.

My experience tells me that if you can dedicate 8 hours a day to freelancing, then you can earn at least $40,000 a year. It really depends on how much effort you put into it. Effort equals applying Jenna Glatzer 's(and many, many other freelance writers') suggestions, focusing on improving your craft, and perservering despite countless rejections and cold, hard silence.

It's not easy and it requires effort.....I freelanced part-time for about a year and a half, then jumped into it full time 9 months ago. I've been earning a minimum of $3,000 every month -- and I'm not even breaking into new markets. I keep knocking at the same old doors (that's a mistake!).

Anyway, it's not easy to earn a living as a freelance writer -- but it's definitely do-able. It does take time, though.

I was first paid for my writing last July. Three years after I started trying to get my work published. But, that's more due to my working, parenting, and going to grad school fulltime, simultaneously! It was actually for the just for fun section on aw. O Dear Muse. Hope it makes you laugh!

I lucked out in Phase One of my freelancing career back in the '80s. Sold an article early on and got into a nice niche with my topic where I was selling very steadily. I was up and running within a couple of months.

Phase Two (year and a half ago) actually started more quickly than I thought because I linked up with a couple of regional pubs. right at the start. That kept me going till I got myself back into the bigger mags., which happened within a few months.

Andreya said:

Inkkognito, your story sounds wonderful & very inspiring too!! What kind of a niche niche did you get into, if you don't mind my asking? /I know things have changed since the 80's, just curious... /

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Horses were my niche back then. I wrote regularly for Horse Illustrated, a now-defunct mag. called Horseman, and a regional horsey pub. I was doing news stringing back then too whch was a nice little income supplement.

These days my niche is animals in general as well as self-help (I got my psych. degree during the break from writing). Ironically, although I've sold to Bird Talk and Dog Fancy recently, I haven't been able to break back into Horse Illustrated.

It only took a couple of months to get hired writing for web markets. For print markets it took a lot longer. Almost a year.

Andreya, I have a subscription to the newsletter. That's where I submitted. Writer's guidelines are on aw. Good luck!

I'm afraid I don't have any real advice other than just keep on keeping on.

possibly the best advice!

I lucked out when I started writing in general and found a web content company that hired me on right away. I was making a pretty steady $100 a month without trying, and a grand or more every month by the time I got burned out and quit last May. I'm writing exclusively for magazines, now, and while it's taken me a while, I'm starting to feel myself picking up. I took the dive in May, and at this very moment I have... (counting)... six assignments open and two that are in the editing phase with the magazine. I also just got paid for a few, so things are starting to roll. Just gotta keep on it!

Way to go Wild!

I was very fortunate to get assigned (and paid to write) the first article I pitched to a magazine.

I'm with Nancy. The first article I submitted was accepted, then I was gutsy enough to ask for an assignment. It was about a month into freelancing that happened.

Two months after I was offered a blog job, which I still have today. All I can say is to work hard, research, and do all the research you can into this forum. There are some older threads that will help you locate work.

Not to mention, sometimes you can meet people who will help you find work. Don't take adavntage of that, though. Be sure to reciprocate when you are able!

I got paid for the first article I ever submitted - wasn't much, but I got paid. I think it is important to think of your writing career just as you would starting a business. In the beginning, you may not make a lot, but as you go along your earnings increase.

I started out making a little bit here and there.....now, I make between $800 and $1500 most months....and I intend to continue increasing that amount until I am making enough to support my family plus on my earnings from writing.

Best of luck to you!

Cindy

I haven't made a penny. I am starting to feel like the one in a hundred who makes nothing at this. I hope you guys are right because my bank account is dwindling. 12 - 14 hours a day and no money at it. *shrug* Keep on keeping on I suppose.

Flick-- what on earth are you doing for 12-14 hours a day that doesn't earn a dime? I mean, Associated Content will buy just about anything and pay you around $4 for it, which is abysmal, but at least it's something. And there's about a billion other sites out there that pay even less--but still something.

I just find it hard to believe that a person could spend that much time writing and not earn anything. It can be tough to make a decent living freelancing, but it's fairly easy to make some pocket change. I wouldn't normally recommend AC or other extremely low paying content sites, but if you're seriously hurting financially, something is better than nothing.

I'll use today as an example. I woke at 7:30 in the am and (not counting showering and eating) have been working until about 10 minutes ago. That would be 5:30 my time. I'll probably write some more tonight.

Today I wrote 7k words in my newest novel. I have written 5 in two years now, none published.

I wrote 7 automotive reviews on cars I tested last weekend (a hobby of mine that I would like to write about).

I wrote 2 game reviews. 2 movie reviews. 4 program reviews for 3D modeling. 3 articles about snowboarding (another hobby I like to write about).

I also spent 2 hours reading books about writing, but I consider that working as well.

My wrists hurt and my fingers are numb. Now I am going to make my wife some dinner and reupholster 4 chairs.

I have, according to my properties tab, a little over 6 thousand individual files in my "writing work" folder.

That's an average day for me. I think I'm like a car with too much horsepower and not enough torque. I'm burning my tires and throwing away all my speed because I can't put the power to the ground. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places for work.

I know my stuff isn't rubbish because I've had a lot of great compliments from people I have done work for in the past. (Non-paying of course) At least I enjoy what I do though, right?

EDIT: I've never heard of AC, but I'm going to check them out now. I have plenty of stuff making nothing, might be worth a shot.

Where in your day did you query magazines and websites with your reviews? How much time did you spend working on your query letters to agents or publishers about your novels?

With that many files already written, you need to devote major time to getting your work out there! If you aren't spending time trying to get paying jobs, where do you think the money is going to come from?

Hi, I'm new here. I'm doing this full time after losing my job. I started out blogging, but was making zilch from that, so I went into article writing. It took me about a month to sell my first two articles, for $10 each, but it was something, and made me feel like I was good enough to get paid. I write for a couple of online sites now, and it took me about a month to start getting paid on the one I do most of my writing for. Now I write mostly for requests, but I make a couple of sales a day. I'm taking the articles that don't get picked up for the request and recycling them onto Associated Content just to get something out of them, and keep the cash flow going. I don't make a bunch, but I can see that if I keep going, I'll do o.k. Doubt I'll ever get rich, but I'll survive.

SouthernFriedJulie said:

Not to mention, sometimes you can meet people who will help you find work. Don't take adavntage of that, though. Be sure to reciprocate when you are able!

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This made me think...if you're not in a writers' group already, you might want to find one. I tarted writing for a local publication that way, as did another member of the group. I also pointed a fellow group member to a magazine I was working with and they bought one of his poems. If you link with a good group, it can be a great networking opportunity.

I started getting paid pretty much straight away, but it took me a couple of years to make a full time wage from it. Mind you, I did a LOT of mistakes in the start, such as not targeting my queries enough, not understanding the markets well enough etc (thus wasting a lot of time on things that didn't stand a chance).

What changed for me was that I one day told myself I no longer wanted to apply for jobs in journalism, instead I wanted to be a freelancer full time. It sounds incredible, but overnight I went from earning between $500 and $1000 a month to earning $3300 and upwards. Since making that decision five years ago, I've supported myself solely from freelancing. I now work roughly 75% (the rest of the time I'm supposed to write fiction, but I mostly just waste it online ...) and earn around $4000 a month. (I haven't read The Secret and from what I've heard about it, it sounds a tad cheesy and newagey, but looking at my own freelance history, I can't help wondering if it might not be something in it.)

Ok, I don't know if you guys have some sort of supernatural abilities or what, but about 3 days after I posted here that I never make money freelancing...um, an environmental mag just picked me up. I don't expect to make more than a few hundred a month, but it's a start.

I don't really know what to say other than I need to learn wordpress. And quickly.