5 Ways to Hone Your Freelance Writing to Meet Your Editor’s Standards

Summary

The article outlines five strategies for freelance writers to enhance their writing skills and meet editorial standards, including reviewing guidelines, studying editor feedback, utilizing online tools, practicing writing daily, and taking online courses.

Abstract

Freelance writers aiming to elevate their craft and satisfy their editors' expectations can benefit from the article's guidance. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and adhering to content platform guidelines, valuing and implementing editor feedback, leveraging online resources like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor for grammar and readability, consistently practicing writing through personal blogs or writing platforms, and investing in learning through online courses or professional tutoring. By following these steps, writers can refine their skills, produce professional content, and advance their freelance writing careers.

Opinions

The author suggests that freelance writers should actively seek to improve their skills and adapt to the standards set by various content creation platforms.
Editor feedback is presented as a crucial element in a writer's growth, advocating that writers should take such feedback seriously to enhance their work.
Online tools like Grammarly and Hemingway Editor are recommended for their ability to go beyond basic spellchecks and improve the overall quality of writing.
The article promotes daily writing practice, such as maintaining a blog or contributing to writing platforms, as a means to hone writing skills.
Engaging in online courses or seeking professional writing tutors is encouraged for continuous learning and skill development in the field of freelance writing.

“To write is human, to edit is divine.” — Stephen King

If you’re a freelance writer, your skill level is likely different today than it was when you first started writing in this field. Hopefully, you’re committed to continually growing and developing your skills as a writer. When you work with various content creation platforms, you’ll have to work together with editors to ensure that you’re providing the highest quality professional work for clients. I’d like to share five ways that you can start to improve your writing skills to meet your editor’s standards.

1. Review Guidelines

It’s important that you thoroughly read all the guidelines for each content creation platform that you write for. Take notes if necessary or print out the information and keep it in a folder or notebook. That can provide you with easy access to the guideline information when you need to be reminded. Follow this process for each of the content writing platforms that you write for. Doing this can be especially helpful if you’re writing for more than one content creation platform since each platform likely will have different guidelines.

2. Study Editor’s Notes

Don’t discard your editor’s notes. Take them seriously and make any necessary changes. Then resubmit your content for further review. Learn to value their advice. If you want to continue to grow as a freelance writer, it’s imperative that you stay open to constructive criticism from editors. They have your best interest and the interest of the client at heart. Take notes on your editor’s comments and suggestions. It’s a good idea to keep those notes in your notebook with the platform’s guidelines for future review as necessary. You may need to refresh your memory on comments they made — especially if you continually make the same errors.

3. Use Online Tools

A variety of online resources are available to help you improve your writing skills and make sure you’re presenting a professional product for clients. One well-known editing tool is Grammarly. This online tool is free, and there are some services available for a fee. Grammarly has more helpful editing suggestions than simply using the grammar and spellcheck from the Microsoft Word program. With the Hemingway free online editor, you can enhance the readability of your content by listening to the suggestions to remove unnecessary words.

4. Practice Writing Skills

If you want to become a better writer, you need to write each day and learn from your mistakes. Consider practicing your writing skills by starting a blog. This will take work, and you don’t want to take too much time away from your freelance writing projects. However, it can help you improve your writing skills. You can join popular writing platforms to help you develop your writing skills as well. You can write for free on many of these platforms. However, there are more options available to you through their paid monthly subscriptions. Editors review all your submitted content on such platforms before it gets published. Take notes on any editing suggestions. You can publish directly to your own profile on some platforms without any review from editors. However, you should submit to publications on the platform so your work is reviewed by editors. You can get some invaluable editing advice that way.

5. Take Online Courses

Consider taking online courses or even enrolling in a local university to take writing classes. Udemy is an online learning platform that offers both free and paid courses. The free courses are not as in-depth as the paid courses, but they can still provide value for you as you start learning more about writing. The class’s central website offers over 175 free writing courses that can help you improve your writing skills. You may want to work with a professional writing tutor to help you hone your freelance writing skills. You can find professional writing tutors at the Take Lessons site online.

Start Growing as a Freelance Writer

In your journey to grow as a freelance writer for various online content creation platforms, make sure that you always review the guidelines for each platform. Become more adept at studying your editor’s notes and putting their advice into practice. Use online tools to help you provide the most professional content you’re capable of writing. Practice your writing skills each day and consider taking online courses.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” — Bill Gates

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