Become a Freelance Writer — Like Me! It’s Easier Than You Think

Freelancing pays better than Medium — and it’s easier than you think

Medium doesn’t pay much. Although technically it doesn’t pay you at all since it’s a revenue-share model, and it wasn’t designed for people to have careers on.

If you’re not making enough moolah writing on Medium, I’ll give you some advice by channeling my inner grumpy grandfather: ‘get a job, hippy’.

But specifically: get a writing job (hippy).

I write for a living, and have for a long time. There are tons of freelance writing gigs out there — and yes, even now that AI is around, there are still gigs. And they pay wayyy better than Medium.

‘Easy for you to say, Robin. I haven’t been writing forever like your old ass has’

True, my old ass has been doing this for a while. My first article was in cuneiform on a cave wall. I had to promote it on my IG (In-stoneGram).

Despite me being an OG internet writer here’s the thing though — this is not a hard field to break into. I’ll show you the super easy TWO steps below. Two. You can do this. And you’ll make way more money writing in your free time than you do here.

Before I etch my 2-step formula in stone, a few points to keep in mind:

• You can’t write whatever you want. You write what the client wants. ‘But Robin, I want to write whatever the hell I want’…well then keep making the Medium bucks. Which are small.
• Freelance writing can be fun and you can pick the topics you write in! You just apply to gigs in the (available) verticals that you like. If you’re not in a rush — start checking for gigs regularly, so you can wait for really cool ones to turn up.
• You can make more in one or two articles freelancing than some do in an entire month on Medium.
• You don’t have to give up on Medium either. Let’s say you write 10 posts a month on Medium…find a freelance client looking for say 5 articles a month. Do 5 articles freelancing, then come back to Medium and have fun writing 5 of whatever you damned-well want.
• Keep in mind that when writing for freelance clients you often don’t have to do the formatting, image selection, etc. You don’t have to find a publication either. So in a way, it’s easier.

Let’s say you get a client wanting 5 articles a month, and they pay you even $25/article (which is a low and attainable pay rate in the freelance world) that’s $125/month. Do you make $125/month on Medium? Statistically 92% of people here don’t.

Willing to give it a whirl? Heck yeah — that’s the ‘tude to have. Literally, the worst that can happen is you don’t like it, or you don’t find clients. In that scenario you wasted a little time…but nothing bad happened, right?

Hell to the yeah — let’s do this.

How To Get Freelance Writing Gigs

Getting freelance gigs is so much easier than people think. It takes two steps, and technically you don’t have to have the first one (but it helps, a lot). Here are the two steps:

1. Setup a Portfolio
2. Apply to Jobs

That’s it.

1. Setup a Portfolio

You’re already a writer, so you’ve already got some writing samples. Depending on what writing niches you’re applying to you may need to write a couple more examples to balance it out.

For example, if all your writing is on personal development, baby gorillas or crocheting crotchless panties — you may want to write a couple of other examples. This can be done once you see what freelance gigs you’re leaning towards in step 2 below.

Now you need to put your writing samples in one place, and make it pretty. And you have some options here.

Here are a few places where you can create a portfolio for free, or cheap:

About.me

This company offers free portfolio pages that are super easy to set up.

Wix.com

Wix has a free plan and paid plans (starting around $6/month). They have really professional-looking site designs and a drag-and-drop editor.

Canva

I’ve been a Canva cheerleader for a while now. I haven’t used their portfolio website builder, but I know their systems are incredibly easy to use and produce banging results. It’s free (but there might be paid add-ons like a small cost for a premium template). Canva is probably easier than Wix.

https://www.canva.com/create/portfolios

Medium

You could create a portfolio right here on Medium. You could create a pub to set it up all pretty if you’d like, then publish the articles you want in your portfolio to that pub.

It’s super easy, and can look slick. The only catch is those articles shouldn’t be behind a paywall (or at least not all of them) otherwise the potential clients can’t read more than a couple of examples.

If I were doing this I would use the pub banner space to show a graphic with me on it (you can make this easily in Canva…with your face, not mine — that would be weird), make the top post a bio, and then have my portfolio stories beneath it.

That white space at the top could remain white with just your name, or you could make a swanky graphic for your portfolio in Canva.

Pick an option for your portfolio and set it up. ‘Really Robin, isn’t that rinky dink compared to professional writer websites?’. Just look at my portfolio site, it’s not great — but it works.

You’d be surprised how many writers don’t even have a portfolio to send. I had to hire another writer before, and I was shocked. The bar is low people — that’s why this is easier than you think.

2. Apply To Freelance Gigs

Here’s the hard part right? Nah. This is easy too. Find the jobs, write a cover letter (you can find examples to mimic online if you want), and apply. Make sure you triple-check your spelling and grammar in the cover letter and portfolio.

‘This won’t really work like that, Robin’

It really does. The key is volume. Don’t apply to one job expecting to get it (you’re not Shakespeare). I generally apply to at least 25–50 to get a gig.

‘You’re going to tell me Upwork aren’t you?’

Upwork

I know, I know — people crap on Upwork constantly. But I have gotten a lot of long-term, well-paying clients off of Upwork. The key to that platform is that you have to sift through some junk to find the good ones. I generally filter out any jobs not in Canada, the US, or Europe.

The key is to get hired for something, then get a 5-star review (4-star is ok too). Once you get a couple of good reviews getting gigs is way easier. I wrote a few articles for less than my desired rate, and that got me more gigs (at a higher rate) because I had almost 5 stars.

Upwork does have ample freelance writing gigs, and I’ve gotten a lot of gigs from there. I don’t know why people crap on Upwork so much. They think they’re too good for it I guess. I’m not. I like it, because I get gigs and the payment is put in escrow (basically they hold it so the client can’t decide to pull a Houdini and disappear) once both parties accept an agreement.

Freelance Job Boards

For some bonkers reason there are people who scour the web for freelance writing gigs to give to you. I have no clue why, but it’s frickin’ awesome.

There is competition for these gigs (it’s why applying in volume matters), however if you check every day and apply to gigs regularly you’ll get one (as long as you can write decently and have a pretty portfolio).

If this sounds like a lot of work to apply to gigs, remember that you will build up long-term gigs so this is only temporary. Spend 10 minutes a day for two weeks checking for gigs on these sites. I double-dog dare you to try that.

Here are my fav job boards:

• FreelanceWritingGigs (I have gotten soo many gigs from this site — it’s my fav)
• ProBlogger (Samesies — this has been around forever too and I’ve gotten lots of gigs off over the years)
• WritingJobsCanada (This one looks like it’s paused but I love it, so check back later on…and you don’t have to be Canadian by the way)
• WritersWeekly
• PeakFreelance
• BestWriting

I personally would sign up for the email blasts of jobs from these sites. That helps you get notified about them quickly. The quicker you apply the more likely they are to read your application! It’s like that old adage, the early bird has worms…or something.

Content Mills

‘Oh gawd, Robin — really?’ Hear me out! I don’t know why content mills have such a bad rap. I started in writing working for content mills. No, they don’t pay super high…but they pay more than Medium (let’s face it, some Medium articles earn $0.67, bupkis).

I think writers who trash-talk content mills are elitists. We all started somewhere. None of us started out charging $75+/hour. When I started I was thrilled to earn $15 an article! I know that many of you would be happy to make that much here on Medium. Fuck elitists.

One thing I like about these companies is that you don’t have to look for the work, do the billing, worry about getting paid, or over/under commit yourself. You write according to availability, and writing is all you have to do.

Don’t let fancy-shmancy-pants opinions stop you from trying them out Also, fuck pants. I think they’re a great place to start out, to earn money for writing in your spare time.

With the editorial process at these places, my writing grew leaps and bounds too. Then I was able to get freelance clients on my own and went full-time in a career writing…from home, in my undiepants.

Here are a few options:

• Scripted
• WriterAccess
• SkyWord
• TextBroker
• Verblio (I think for YankeeDoodleDandies only)
• WritersDomain

Don’t let elitist haters paint your opinion. It’s transactional writing you can do in your spare time and get paid for.

That’s It — Try It

This isn’t a get-rich scheme. It’s a put-a-few-bucks-in-your-pocket-for-doing-something-you-like (PAFBIYPFDSYL) scheme. You’re already writing here on Medium. If you’re interested in making a few bucks (maybe you’re saving up for a new computer, or vacation) give it a whirl.

Freelance writing can be a really fun little side hustle. You already have some writing samples, just zhuzh them up in a pretty portfolio and check the gig sites above.

Who knows — you might love it. You might get enough clients to quit your day job, then you can work at home in your underoos like me! Or wear pants, you’re self-employed and nobody can tell you what to do now, muah ha ha!