by Rachel Smith
28 March 2014
I know freelancers with more print commissions than they can handle. And I know many others who’ve lost regular, long-time gigs and who’ve watched editors (who once gave them heaps of work) getting the sack. If that’s you, of course you should hit up other mags and make some new editorial connections. But my advice is to also start sticking your finger in a few other pies. Some of the income ideas below may not suit everyone, but if you’re strapped for cash, they could help pay the bills.
1. PR companies. It sounds funny, but many journos can pen a bang-up press release that gets attention, and often, PR consultants are so flat out on campaigns they welcome the chance to hire a writer. It’s worth a shot hitting up some major PR companies to see if they outsource.
2. Government entities. I’m really happy to see some government departments starting to advertise on the List and I hope there’s more to come. So many government departments need and hire freelance writers – from national parks to health to agriculture. Where might you fit in? Do some research and start cold-calling.
3. Not-for-profit groups. You may have to lower your rate, so NFPs might not be worth it to you. But, many charities may not have the resources for an in-house communication team so offering your services could lead to ongoing work and great portfolio-building opportunities.
4. Web designers. Got experience writing for the web? Comfortable writing the succinct, snappy copy required? Start talking to web designers. Many may be more than happy to team up with a copywriter and offer package deals for design + copy.
5. Marketing departments. Product brochures, sales letters, newsletters … the written material produced out of marketing departments in almost every corporation is enormous and often outsourced to copywriters and business writers.
6. Tertiary markets. Universities, colleges and private schools could also be potentially untapped markets. Spend some time doing a ring-around some of the departments to see if they (or other departments they know) outsource writing articles, orientation materials, internal communications, website copy.
7. Digital agencies. We’ve said it before: the internet is a hungry beast, and digital agencies are often on the hunt for good content writers who specialise in certain areas, such as health, lifestyle, travel, food, technology. Google, make a list and start ringing around.
8. Digital marketers. If you run a popular blog with 25,000-50,000+ unique visitors a month, consider monetising it with occasional ‘sponsored’ content (essentially advertorial). Often you can negotiate a paid post on a topic you’d write about anyway, with a link back to the client’s website.
How much of your work these days comes through magazines / newspapers? Are you finding you’re now getting more work from clients you’d never have imagined working for in the past? Feel free to share in the comments!
Photo by Alesia Kazantceva on Unsplash
