When I was a broke, struggling author, I wanted nothing more than to be published. It wasn’t just about the money (although that certainly helped) it was about the respect, the fact that I would actually be doing something with my life and my work. I thought it would be a full-time thing. I thought I would be making enough through advances and royalties and that I could devote all of my time to being an author.
Then it happened, and I discovered that being published is no ticket to fame and success, and that for the vast majority of published authors, it’s barely enough to constitute a full-time wage. Don’t get me wrong, I have made a lot of money as an author and I am thankful for every penny, but it’s not quite how I pictured it.
Luckily, there are other ways to make money in this game, and the best one is freelancing. I have actually made more as a freelancer than I ever did as an author and the best thing about freelancing is that all authors, academics and anyone with something to their name, can instantly become successful.
That’s what The Online Writer’s Companion is all about. This is a must-read for all freelancers and was created as a way of guiding freelancers into this industry and showing them how to exploit it. If you have the credentials, then you can plug the gaps in your schedule and keep things ticking over until the next royalty check comes in. And if you don’t have the credentials but still want to make money from your writing, then you still can. It won’t be as easy and you might not make as much, but freelancing could be the thing that gets you onto the ladder, the thing that helps you to make a career from your writing.
I was away from Newsblaze for a long time. I began here many years ago, I enjoyed my time and then I lost track. A lot has happened in the interim period and I have grown as a writer and a professional. The vast majority of that is down to freelancing, to freelancing sites like Upwork and Guru, and to the endless opportunities they bring.
