You Bet Experience Matters! But You Can Get Your First Writing Gig Anyway
September 11, 2008 by Anne Wayman
Filed under Jobs
(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
Without a doubt, the biggest interest freelance writers have is how to get a gig. Experienced writers are almost always looking for the next writing job while, obviously perhaps, new writers are longing for their first. Writing experience does matter; I’d be fooling you if I said anything else. It’s way easier for me to get a gig than the first time I went for one. I’ve got so many credits they can seem intimidating. You may, however, have more experience than you think. Over time I’ve rarely if every run into people who truly want to earn their living via freelance writing who haven’t done some writing they can claim as credit, even if they didn’t get paid for it.
Have you, for example, written any of these:
- A newsletter for your church or other organization
- An article for a newsletter
- An article, even a short one, for a neighborhood newspaper
- A letter to an editor that got published
- A classified ad that sold what you were advertising
- Business letters
- An essay that got you into college or graduate school
- A winning entry to a contest requiring some writing, maybe a slogan or a jingle
This list is just to get you started. Make you’re own. Jot down anything at all that could remotely be considered a writing credit.
Part of the reason for this list is to encourage yourself so you can begin to see that you do have some writing experience, even if they seem obscure. Another reason is so you can begin to build your own credit list.
You may have to be a bit creative in how you state the items on your list. So if your classified ad sold your old birdcage, frame it as “successful classified ad writing” or some such. Don’t lie, but feel free to frame the truth so it shows your writing at its best.
I wrote an article called: No Writing Clips? No Problem! You might find it helpful.
Write well and often,
Two newsletters:
Abundant Freelance Writing – a resource for freelance writers including 3x a week job postings.
Writing With Vision – for those who want to get a book written.
Image from http://www.sxc.hu
This is always an interesting topic to me.
It always sort of begs the question how anyone who doesn’t have writing experience could know that they want to get a writing gig in the first place. Certainly, anyone who has the potential to be a writer has much writing experience they won’t have to spin too much – they will have written papers in college; press releases or newsletter blurbs for their club or organization; and other legitimate, if unpaid, writing projects. But it seems to me that someone who truly has no writing experience truly has no reason to want to be a writer.
It also begs the question of what really constitutes writing. Too often, writing is cast as an activity that anyone with interest in it can do. I appreciate your example of the bird cage ad, Anne, but let’s be honest—that’s not writing experience. Even for someone seeking a position as a classified ad writer.
Just because we all cook does not make us all chefs. Just because we all jog does not make us all athletes. And certainly, just because we all use words does not make us all writers. Like other industries, we denigrate ours when we open it to unqualified people.
Lauri, I knew I wanted to write in 6th grade. No experience at all at that point and it was years before I got a paying gig, although as I look back I should have been applying all along.
Actually, in terms of sales writing, the bird cage example may be a good one. It’s not fiction writing, but it is copy writing. At least it is in my opinion. Of course, I learned a great deal about what works in writing when I was writing classified ads for my father’s real estate co. We tracked the ads ruthlessly so I got great feedback.
Of course, I have no control over opening or closing writing to qualified or unqualified people since I don’t hire writers. Or rarely. When I do, I determine the qualifications based on what I need. When I was editing magazines and newspapers I got to decide who got paid a pittance and who didn’t. I had quality standards and I occasionally took a flyer on someone with few or no credits. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost.
I like the idea that writing is one of the few trades left that’s open to anyone who can write well enough to get a gig or get published.
I’d have to agree with Lauri. I think there are a lot of people trying to get into it now because they see it as something unskilled that anyone can do. I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was eight, but I couldn’t have done it at that point. I may have been interested in it, but the knowledge and experience wasn’t there.
I have to agree with her about the classified ads writing as well. I knew a lot of ad people when I was a reporter and it’s a skill like any other. I definitely don’t think that anyone could do it and be successful at it for any length of time. Selling one item is one thing, but being a professional writer who can sell for clients is another.
I don’t think that being interested in something means that you could necessarily be good at or that you should bypass the practice and study that others undertook to learn the trade. If you have to trick your way into a profession, is it one you really need to be in?
This is great! In the late 90’s, I wrote a regular column for a local newsletter. Plus I recently found a notebook full of old essays for my Economics class from high school. Though, not sure how much those count for. :)
the regular column, even for a newsletter, does two things… gives you samples and shows you can keep to deadlines.
Hello there! I was interested in reading the article “no clips, no problem” and when I click on the link there is nothing there. Anyone know where I can find it? I have been writing short stories and poetry since I was 10 years old. I now am 34 and am interested in maybe making this a career. I have always loved it. Writing has always been a wonderful creative outlet for me along with photography. I have been encouraged for years that I should try and do something with it. I have been doing a lot of research on line and know that I need a resume before I can start trying to apply for freelance writing gigs. Any help would be greatly appreciated! God Bless!
Angela Johnson
Hi Angela, that content is “left over” from when I ran this blog as The Golden Pencil… I now blog at http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/2009/01/no-writing-clips-no-problem/ is the link to the updated version of No Clips? No Problem!
A