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How to Boost your Freelance Writing Income

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Title: How to Boost your Freelance Writing Income
Author: Emma Hitt
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Many things in life are more important than making money: having a kind and loving significant other, good health, well-adjusted kids, an honorable career that fulfils. But there's nothing wrong with earning a gainful salary. Indeed, the size of a paycheck is a measure of value to society, except when it comes to teaching and some other hideously underpaid occupations.
Science writers should consider themselves of tremendous value to society. They have a huge responsibility to those they serve. For the most part, science is only here for the good of society. But some scientists do not communicate well.
Some don't know how, some don't want to, and some don't know they should. A skilled science writer benefits society by accurately interpreting science for its users. That, I believe, is a tremendous responsibility, as important as any other well-paid profession.
The trouble is, when one starts bandying the word "writer" around, no matter if the word "science" precedes it, then that professional image starts melding into something more bohemian: starving artist, romantic dilettante, bottle-clutching visionary, etc. Many people, even writers themselves, do not expect writers to be able to make a real living at what they do. Especially freelance writers.
I'll never forget when one of my science professors asked me why I would want to "eke out" a living as writer. Despite the fact that I was earning more than his annual salary just from part-time freelancing while in graduate school (I didn't have the heart to tell him that), his comment really bothered me. Why? Because, although I'm sure he didn't mean to be offensive, I felt he was reiterating the idea that society doesn't view science writing, especially freelance science writing, as being of much value. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr! sore spot!
But is there a decent living to be made at freelance science writing? At the time of this writing (June 2001), the dot.com fireball, which initially created thousands of jobs for writers, appears to have fizzled out or has at least gone into remission until someone figures out a workable business model.
Despite the current quagmire, however, a decent living (like 80K a year and up) can still be made at freelance science writing. In the current climate, it just requires a bit more effort, some chutzpah, and a basket-load of belief in yourself.
Here are some actions that I think keep the checks rolling in. You don't have to do all of them all the time, but if you do many of them most of the time, you'll do more than "eke out a living:"
Do whatever it takes to impress new clients (and old clients for that matter) so that they consider using you again. Regular clients, especially ones that assign work to you without you having to pitch ideas, are key to making a living as freelancer. If you have to, bend over backwards and conform yourself to the shape of pretzel to keep them happy.
Visit your clients at least once if possible so they know you by more than just your name. A brief "just-in-the-area" pop-by works well. For some reason, this seems to encourage them to select you for assignments over a face they don't know.
Do your best not to turn down work, so that regular clients don't get in the habit of calling someone else who is available (but don't take on so much that you compromise quality--see first bullet).
  • Send out 25 or more emails/letters each week with your resume and samples.
  • Send freelance applications to fulltime positions (make sure you tell them you know it's fulltime but...).
  • Network. Talk to people in the press room at conferences, go to local NASW meetings, help other science writers who are just starting out, offer to talk to schools/colleges about a career in science writing.
  • Sign up for conferences and pitch to several clients/prospective clients that would be interested in that particular conference.
  • Gently remind clients that you would like them to recommend you to other clients. Best time to do this is after a client has paid you a compliment.
  • Hire an assistant that can transcribe tapes and answer the phone for less than your hourly rate.
  • Employ technology to increase your speed and efficiency.
  • Consider yourself a specialist. Be a generalist. Example: I have lots of experience in writing about cancer, which helps me get jobs in that field. But I write about any topic in medicine or the micro life sciences. Can't write about physics, engineering, or the space program though.
  • Diversify your client list and write for academia, big pharma, news outlets, journals etc.
  • Create a professional-looking website with a resume and samples to which you can refer prospective clients (if you don't know what "professional-looking" means, find out. Having a cheesy website with pictures of your pet, you flying a kite, and a cover page that scrolls to infinity makes a worse impression than having no website at all).
  • Always be reachable during working hours by phone and email.
  • Focus not so much on the per word rate, but the hourly rate. It doesn't pay to be a $1 per word snob, although there's no harm in seeking these jobs. All you need to do to make 100K a year is to work five 8-hour days a week at $50 per hour, or some combination thereof. I won't do a job for less than $50 an hour, but I have a couple of jobs that pay as little as $0.25 a word.
  • Only pitch to print magazines if there's some reason that your idea is likely to be accepted (like they know you) or if you desperately want to write for them. The querying process takes too much uncompensated time, and it's too much of a gamble. This process is what people think freelancers do all day long and is the reason why they think freelancers can't make a living. And based on this assumption, they'd be right.
The key is not to search for great gigs, it's to find lots of gigs that collectively work out to a decent hourly rate. The most important thing is to find a few core clients who regularly pump work into your in-box with little or no effort on your part.
Emma Hitt is a freelance medical writer specializing in oncology-related physician continuing medical education materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Hitt has been freelancing since 1998 and went fulltime in 2001 after she earned a PhD in nutrition and health sciences (molecular biology/cancer emphasis) from Emory University. Dr. Hitt has also earned an MS degree in technical and professional communication.

Copyright, 2006, Emma Hitt
Republished with permission

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