Freelance writing jobs abound, and, depending on your skill set, you might find yourself working anywhere across the broad fiction-nonfiction spectrum.
Several jobs let you earn by authoring creative, technical or informative pieces. Let’s explore them in detail.
Also known as content writing, web content's commercial and informational facets have melded deeply over the last few years. Now, content writers are just as often required to incorporate content marketing techniques as research and review products and services.
Writing blogs and articles in various niches, from education, tech, and finance to household retail and construction, helps client websites attract more visitors. As a blog writer, you're responsible for providing valuable information to online visitors while giving them more reasons to stay on the page.
Whatever industry you're writing in, blog writing is a good starting point for beginners. Over time, you can specialize in a specific niche.
Copywriting is any piece written to compel an audience to take an action. For this reason, good copywriting combines straightforward language with exceptional imaginative ability.
The best ads, sales pages, emails, or social media copies focus on the benefits of the product or service, writing persuasive content to help businesses increase their sales and boost conversions.
Unlike content writing, which isn't always related to advertisement, copywriting is always an ad. The marketing-heavy side is what differentiates this writing job from content writing and other writer jobs online.
Slightly linked to content writing, technical writing is a fraternal twin that involves providing information about complex and systemic topics in understandable ways. From writing manuals to guides or instructions, documentation, and whitepapers, technical writing prepares you to explore topics like software, engineering, or science.
Technical writers often work with companies that produce technical products. For example, you might write a user manual for a new software program.
Creative writing is one of the most dynamic freelance writing jobs online. It's for writers who purely use their imagination to churn out stories, poems, or scripts for books, screens, or other mediums such as social media.
Creative writing can help you earn as a ghostwriter online. You can also work with clients who need creative content in short stories and creative nonfiction for magazines or video scripts. This type of writing is ideal if you enjoy storytelling, as it allows you to express your ideas and emotions.
Some students or professionals hire freelance writers to help them. As an academic writer, this is where you come in writing essays, research papers, or reports.
You need good research and writing skills for this job. Academic writers often work on complex topics and need to follow specific formatting and citation styles. This job is ideal if you have a strong academic background.
Freelance journalists write news articles or features, report on events, and even interview people for newspapers, magazines, or online blogs.
Requiring good research and fact-checking skills, freelance journalism involves curating exclusive, informative content for a specific audience. Similar to content writing, freelance journalists have various niches, including tech, lifestyle, entertainment, health, and news.
Nonprofits and organizations often need grants to fund their projects. Grant writers help them write proposals, explaining why they need the money.
This job requires good research and persuasive writing skills. Grant writing can be very rewarding, especially if you help organizations achieve their goals.
E-books are digital books that people read on devices. Freelance writers can write e-books for clients or sell their own.
The e-books themselves can be about any topic, from self-help to fiction. Writing an e-book requires time and effort, but it can be enriching. You can sell your e-books on platforms like Amazon or work with clients who need e-books for their businesses.
