Freelancers - Pros and Cons

By Samiya Anwar

Writer’s life is a good life. It is simple and easy going. Just writing few paragraphs and getting paid. A high-speed Internet connection, good contacts and writing skills is all you need. No commuting and interestingly no office politics. They have more flexibility and more convenience than other professions, people says.

But is the life of a writer that easy? Are writing jobs really elastic or pliable? Does being a freelance writer or journalist have less to do compare to other vocations? What is actually a freelance writer’s life like? In this article you may get to know what a writer really does with his/her life, the pros and cons of being a freelancer.

Unlike other professions freelancers always have to think about writing, if they are doing other work too. From waking up in the morning to sleep the mind works on a particular assignment as what best can be written and a freelance writer thinks, sweat and sweat. All the time the deadline is showing the clock. On Saturday, this and this should be submitted. On Wednesday this has to be on publishers table. Oh my god, what if I am late.

Well, being a freelancer, you’re your own boss. You need to set the timing and work structure. If you keep doing other things you wouldn’t be able to complete the task. You have to self-motivate yourself, otherwise at the end you have to blame nobody but yourself.

In the early days of your freelance writing career, you must have another income stream so that you can support yourself while experimenting with this field because in the starting you will have low payouts and sometime no pay at all. The low paying job may only help you to build a confidence but doesn’t fill the bank balance.

Interestingly writer means not just to write anything and everything under the sun. It is a difficult area to explode your mind. You cannot write anything. The ability to write fast, accurate and interesting copy is important. A successful freelance writer should have a good nose for news, people skills, research skills, initiative, and most importantly the ability to handle rejection.

You need to be able to deal with rejection. When you are starting out, it’s quite possible that every idea you come with up will be rejected. People may not like what you think on a particular topic. Or your idea seems to be an old notion of another writer in past. Something novel and creative is welcomed.

Moreover even successful freelancer writers and journalists will have only a one in ten or a one in twenty success rate. The trick is to keep churning out ideas and not to take rejection personally. If you start thinking more like ‘why am I rejected after working for so many days’? Am I not a good writer? Will I never get published or something likes that. Some writers who are really sensitive and didn’t find a chance to get publish their piece of hard work or any job in freelancing end up writing-even for pleasure.

And there is a misconception that freelancers are paid well. Not really high they are paid. If you are writing for an Indian magazine or paper, you will probably be paid an average of Rs 1 per word or sometimes Rs. 2 per word. Most features are about 1000 words, so you will make an average of Rs 1000- Rs. 2000. Some Indian papers do pay Rs 3-4 per word, but they are rare. And those high rates are usually for established freelancers. You need to have a fame and experience in writing to be paid higher amount. The pay for foreign magazines varies, but rarely goes much above Rs 20,000 for an article

If you are working for money your probably at wrong place. Freelancers are badly paid and also treated badly. Your cheques will be late, or they won’t arrive at all. You wait, wait and more wait. Your mails and phone calls to editors will be ignored astonishingly. It is because many, if not most editors believe that people freelance because they can’t make it as regular staffers. They whine of not meeting the deadlines, submitting badly written copy and plagiarising all the time.

However, freelancing is a best option for women who want to take some time off to marriage and have children. Freelancing is a boon and will help you keep your hand on something. But if you’re fully dependent on freelance writing for paying the bills, school fee, and furthermore on eating and running the house through the salary paid, you’re at err. It will result only in frustration and nothing else as writers work 40-50 hours in a week and no holidays, no Sundays in a writer’s life.

No way here, I am telling not to freelance it is a good job, not easy though. Patience is fruitful. You need to work, rework and add flavour to the writing to sell them to editor. Only then the work is published. The freelancers should understand what makes a good story? What is the current happing around the country?

Because there are no new stories except in the scientific field finding out something new. The same bomb blast, serial killings, racism, child labour, fall and rise in the prices of commodities and share market. What is new? The newspapers and magazines have just new instances.

The ability to sell the story is to make the old story appear fresh and flavoured with new examples. The presentation in a different way helps an old story to look real and new. This is what the freelancers do. All the old stories are presented in a fresh way in writing world.

The writers are smart people indeed. Presenting a story in new angle always succeed. You have to find out what is not written about the story before, only then the story can take a new form adding new ideas. Talk to friends, chat and stay connected to Networking Sites; establish a writer’s network and communities where you can easily find the information share and discuss the current happenings. Also excavate your own life for giving instances.

Unless you know the pros and cons of writing it is hard to survive here. The rules are important. Grammar, spellings, structure of sentences and moreover the presentation and tone developed in a different angle then never before. Freelance writers have to chase the editors for selling the work

Remember always, Writing is a crazy profession. You have to be crazy for writing new piece creativity all the time. Persistence, patience and perseverance: The three Ps of survival for every writer who plans to succeed. So freelancers, happy writing!